WEBVTT 00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:22.239 You'll remember last week we uh had the passage visiting the uh burning bush, and uh this week we find ourselves all the way to the passage where uh Sober begins God's Passover of the Jewish people so that they can escape. 00:00:22.480 --> 00:00:42.960 Uh in the middle time catching you all up is this grand dramatic interplay between uh Moses and Aaron, Pharaoh and God, with Moses or with God telling Moses, all right, get back to Pharaoh and say he's gotta let those Israelites go. 00:00:43.200 --> 00:00:55.759 And Moses and Aaron showing up there and saying, Hey, our God says you gotta let us go, and Pharaoh saying, No, God hardening his heart over and over again. 00:00:56.000 --> 00:00:59.200 Uh, and uh this happens over cycles. 00:00:59.759 --> 00:01:14.640 There are ten punishments or plagues that God delivers unto the Egyptians, unto Pharaoh, in order to get Pharaoh to understand how important this is to God. 00:01:15.280 --> 00:01:29.359 Ten plagues, including uh uh the final one, which is that the firstborn are going to die of all the Egyptians, including Pharaoh's own son. 00:01:30.079 --> 00:01:40.400 So heavy, heavy times uh stories designed to uh help us understand God's power, God's strength. 00:01:40.719 --> 00:01:43.920 But that story lands on our passage for today. 00:01:44.079 --> 00:01:48.799 And again, it's the passage that introduces Passover, right? 00:01:48.879 --> 00:01:58.319 Where God is going to pass over the is uh the houses of the Israelites when he does this final plague. 00:01:58.640 --> 00:02:04.959 Now, uh, for you guys who are exegetical heads, how many do we have out there? 00:02:06.480 --> 00:02:09.599 How many of you have no idea what I just said? 00:02:11.759 --> 00:02:18.719 How many of you like to really dig into your Bible and understand what was going on historically, critically, and all that other? 00:02:19.039 --> 00:02:22.319 For those of you who are into that, we needed Stephen here. 00:02:22.479 --> 00:02:23.360 He's my guy. 00:02:23.599 --> 00:02:25.840 And evidently Michael, I learned as well. 00:02:26.000 --> 00:02:28.960 He'll dig the he'll take a deep dive every now and again. 00:02:29.120 --> 00:02:29.759 Yeah. 00:02:30.800 --> 00:02:33.120 Well, so a couple of things here, right? 00:02:33.439 --> 00:02:34.719 We have this passage. 00:02:34.800 --> 00:02:36.960 It uh is an interesting passage. 00:02:37.039 --> 00:02:41.840 As you read through it, you're starting to go, wow, God does this, God does that. 00:02:42.080 --> 00:02:42.400 Okay. 00:02:42.960 --> 00:02:50.960 Uh, so first thing, it's a uh this the passage is important because it becomes a new way of living. 00:02:51.360 --> 00:03:02.719 All of those Israelites being enslaved had a whole different understanding of how to live life, guided by their the Egyptians who are controlling all of them. 00:03:02.800 --> 00:03:13.520 And so God's coming to them and saying, this is going to be a whole new way to live your life with with my guiding your behaviors and guiding them in a particular way. 00:03:13.599 --> 00:03:16.560 And those are going to be behaviors that need to get established. 00:03:16.719 --> 00:03:23.120 They need to become the way you live so that you can know the fullness of life and know the fullness of God. 00:03:23.439 --> 00:03:36.319 And so you'd probably notice that if you were paying attention, there were a lot of instructions there in that passage about what they were supposed to do to get ready for this Passover. 00:03:36.719 --> 00:03:43.039 Uh some of it, just realistically, pragmatically, they were going to go take a long, long walk. 00:03:43.360 --> 00:03:45.599 Best get some protein, yeah? 00:03:46.319 --> 00:03:46.639 Right? 00:03:46.719 --> 00:03:48.400 So there's a lot of it that was that way. 00:03:48.479 --> 00:03:50.080 It was just a lot of instruction. 00:03:50.240 --> 00:04:03.680 But secondly, and maybe uh more importantly, I think metaphorically, is that it became time for the Israelites to put some blood on the door. 00:04:05.039 --> 00:04:05.520 Right? 00:04:05.680 --> 00:04:08.960 Uh you might think, well, why was this important? 00:04:09.120 --> 00:04:12.080 Why is God asking them to mark their homes? 00:04:12.319 --> 00:04:14.080 Doesn't God know who's who? 00:04:14.240 --> 00:04:18.399 Isn't an omniscient God going to know who lives there? 00:04:18.879 --> 00:04:23.600 But then as you think about it, you go, oh, but that's not the point, is it? 00:04:24.000 --> 00:04:35.040 To me, the point is it's a symbol, it's an action that marks the Israelites' need to make a commitment to God. 00:04:35.600 --> 00:04:37.759 You've probably heard the phrase, skin in the game. 00:04:37.839 --> 00:04:39.839 He's got to get some skin in the game. 00:04:40.160 --> 00:04:42.000 Well, this is blood on the door. 00:04:42.079 --> 00:04:52.000 He's got to have some blood on the door, some way of making some commitment to God, some openness to what God has in mind for them. 00:04:52.240 --> 00:05:02.720 So, with this event, as I said, Pharaoh finally breaks, especially with his son dying, and he allows the Israelites to leave. 00:05:02.879 --> 00:05:08.480 The quick summary of the rest of the story through today the Israelites leave. 00:05:08.879 --> 00:05:14.879 Pharaoh's heart is hardened once more, and he starts to chase them. 00:05:15.360 --> 00:05:20.720 The Israelites are led right to the Red Sea where they're kind of stuck. 00:05:20.959 --> 00:05:28.079 Pharaoh and his army are on their way looking to uh deliver unto them some bad news. 00:05:28.720 --> 00:05:37.439 And then God has Moses use his staff to open the Red Sea, and the Israelites are able to cross. 00:05:37.759 --> 00:05:48.560 Once they get across, the waters converge, takes Pharaoh's army away, and the Israelites are finally free. 00:05:49.279 --> 00:05:51.680 Yay! Right? 00:05:52.000 --> 00:05:56.720 I mean, that's kind of where we're getting at with this story, the dramatic release. 00:05:57.040 --> 00:05:59.439 Now they are free. 00:06:00.480 --> 00:06:05.360 So two issues worth playing with just a little bit. 00:06:05.680 --> 00:06:12.240 First of all, why does God Pharaoh harden Pharaoh's heart? 00:06:12.399 --> 00:06:14.000 Did you ask yourself that? 00:06:14.240 --> 00:06:16.959 We asked it on Wednesday in Bible study. 00:06:17.120 --> 00:06:24.319 You know, in a way, does it seem fair that God is hardening Pharaoh's heart? 00:06:24.480 --> 00:06:33.600 That Pharaoh maybe isn't making his own decision, and so these plagues keep coming because God is uh kind of stacking the deck a little bit. 00:06:33.680 --> 00:06:35.279 I don't know, maybe you didn't go there. 00:06:35.439 --> 00:06:37.279 We did a little bit on Wednesday. 00:06:37.439 --> 00:06:48.959 Uh part of what's going on here is that in many ways our scriptures are a mix of the historical, but adding in some human involvement in there too. 00:06:49.040 --> 00:06:58.879 Uh they call it uh uh in one of the podcasts I uh suggested you might try, they talked about it as mythologizing history. 00:06:59.360 --> 00:07:09.920 So you're taking this historical event and kind of adding to it, and in that adding, maybe there's some projection onto God about who God is. 00:07:10.639 --> 00:07:25.120 Uh and in this case, with the Israelites having been oppressed for so long, it was probably pretty easy and maybe even a little joyous to have a God who was going to deliver some justice, right? 00:07:25.279 --> 00:07:28.480 And come and say, all right, you've been oppressed a long time. 00:07:28.720 --> 00:07:32.000 I'm coming to save you, I'm coming to even the score. 00:07:32.399 --> 00:07:37.040 So that's one question people will wrestle with with this passage. 00:07:37.279 --> 00:07:46.399 Uh, and in many ways, there are in our Bible, we're trying to emphasize God's power in a specific example of that. 00:07:46.560 --> 00:07:53.519 The Egyptians used a lot of snakes in their identity and their storytelling, serpents, right? 00:07:53.680 --> 00:07:56.000 We have the American eagle. 00:07:56.800 --> 00:07:59.680 Egyptians had these snakes, had these serpents. 00:08:00.000 --> 00:08:14.480 So when you see Moses's serpent that God created out of his staff eat their serpents, you don't have to be like a genius to figure out what is trying to be said here. 00:08:14.560 --> 00:08:22.560 All right, my God is more powerful even than your serpents, which you worship, the snakes that you have all over the place. 00:08:22.720 --> 00:08:25.600 And that's really what they're trying to get across. 00:08:25.839 --> 00:08:33.279 Our God is so strong, he will out serpent you, then he will outlocust you, he will outfrog you. 00:08:34.559 --> 00:08:36.480 Some of you know your plagues. 00:08:37.919 --> 00:08:40.559 Those are some of the things I had said. 00:08:40.960 --> 00:08:42.559 Anyone got them memorized? 00:08:42.720 --> 00:08:43.679 I did not. 00:08:45.360 --> 00:08:46.480 Extra credit. 00:08:47.919 --> 00:08:48.399 Nats? 00:08:49.200 --> 00:08:49.840 Yeah. 00:08:53.440 --> 00:08:55.279 Locust, we got the locust. 00:08:56.320 --> 00:08:57.679 Oh, yeah, bloody water. 00:08:57.759 --> 00:08:58.720 Yeah, all right. 00:08:58.879 --> 00:09:04.080 Well, Pastor with the bad ears is gonna end it there because somebody's gonna say something, and I'm gonna go. 00:09:06.720 --> 00:09:09.120 I better move on from that thing. 00:09:09.360 --> 00:09:18.320 Well, second question you might have with this passage, as we're kind of playing around with it a little bit too, is is God really this way? 00:09:18.720 --> 00:09:20.639 Is this the way God operates? 00:09:20.799 --> 00:09:38.559 It seems even though the Israelites were oppressed, and one would say there was some justice to all of that, it sure comes off God as this aggressive, maybe even vengeful presence in our Old Testament scriptures. 00:09:38.799 --> 00:09:56.799 What I will say to you on that one is part of our journey of faith as Christians is looking to understand God better, including the perceptions, the descriptions of God in our scriptures. 00:09:57.360 --> 00:10:02.159 So we have to do that unpacking for ourselves and with our own faith. 00:10:02.320 --> 00:10:05.679 And frankly, that's not the sermon for today. 00:10:05.840 --> 00:10:07.360 So I'm not going there. 00:10:07.679 --> 00:10:16.240 So I will tell you, hey, enjoy that journey of asking that question on your own of is that who God is? 00:10:16.639 --> 00:10:18.960 Is that who God has been for you? 00:10:20.240 --> 00:10:34.399 But where I really wanted to get to with this passage, because you you've heard the story, the theme I'm getting to, this journey of faith, this journey to faith that Exodus models. 00:10:34.879 --> 00:10:39.919 Uh I land there, and that's really where I wanted to focus. 00:10:40.639 --> 00:10:45.759 Because we now have these Israelites, and they are free. 00:10:46.399 --> 00:10:49.039 They are free from their enslavement. 00:10:49.200 --> 00:10:53.679 The Israelites they put blood on the door and God saves them. 00:10:54.639 --> 00:10:57.120 But what does that mean? 00:10:57.679 --> 00:11:01.039 What does it mean that they are saved? 00:11:02.000 --> 00:11:07.440 We Christians, we are pretty comfortable with that phrase saved, aren't we? 00:11:08.000 --> 00:11:10.399 We use it in a lot of ways, right? 00:11:10.480 --> 00:11:13.919 And and we sing it in our songs, right? 00:11:14.080 --> 00:11:21.039 We've all probably come to some sense of how we understand our lives as being saved by God. 00:11:22.159 --> 00:11:40.320 And yet, what do you think or how do you feel when you hear somebody preaching about being saved when you're out in the public square, when you're at the park, and somebody's handing out the leaflets, and they come to you and they say, Are you saved? 00:11:41.600 --> 00:11:43.519 Well different, right? 00:11:44.240 --> 00:11:48.399 You know, it's you know some of us would be like, Well, heck yeah, I'm saved. 00:11:48.639 --> 00:11:49.039 All right. 00:11:49.200 --> 00:11:51.120 Maybe even take the flyer. 00:11:52.000 --> 00:11:57.120 Some of us will go, Well, I don't really want to get into this, just take the flyer and keep walking. 00:11:57.279 --> 00:12:00.159 Anybody in all right? 00:12:01.039 --> 00:12:07.840 Still others of us, you know, there be in that conversation, and you think, oh, am I saved? 00:12:08.720 --> 00:12:13.120 I don't know that we would agree on what saved means, right? 00:12:13.360 --> 00:12:18.000 And you think, oh, am I going to get into that kind of conversation? 00:12:18.799 --> 00:12:24.000 We might not agree on what salvation even is supposed to be happening there. 00:12:24.240 --> 00:12:30.000 I personally I get kind of cautious when we start using a lot of saved talk. 00:12:30.639 --> 00:12:38.480 I feel like it starts us and it starts me down a path of giving ourselves permission to begin to judge others. 00:12:39.679 --> 00:12:40.720 Oh, okay. 00:12:40.960 --> 00:12:45.759 So so some of us are saved, and some of us are not. 00:12:46.159 --> 00:12:49.360 Some are in, some are out. 00:12:52.159 --> 00:12:55.759 Aren't we all a mix of both of the things? 00:12:56.559 --> 00:13:00.000 Aren't we a mix of the good and the not so good? 00:13:00.480 --> 00:13:02.240 Sometimes I'm really good. 00:13:02.399 --> 00:13:05.519 I trust in God, I do what God wants. 00:13:05.840 --> 00:13:08.080 Sometimes I'm not. 00:13:08.960 --> 00:13:11.840 You know, I'll be trusting in something else. 00:13:12.000 --> 00:13:15.759 I'll be worshiping at the altar of the chocolate chip cookie. 00:13:16.720 --> 00:13:17.360 Right? 00:13:17.600 --> 00:13:19.360 All of us have our thing. 00:13:19.519 --> 00:13:26.720 A lot of times when we are worshiping this other thing, it's not something in tune with God. 00:13:26.879 --> 00:13:29.759 It's not something that God would have us do. 00:13:30.240 --> 00:13:34.240 And we talked about that small things, but bigger things too. 00:13:34.480 --> 00:13:46.320 So when we start talking about being saved, underlying all of that is this assumption that we're in and they are out. 00:13:47.440 --> 00:13:48.879 Am I wrong? 00:13:49.679 --> 00:13:57.679 We start down that pathway and we start kind of categorizing sheep, goat, sheep, goat. 00:13:59.200 --> 00:14:03.360 It's kind of like um kind of like Noah's Ark. 00:14:03.840 --> 00:14:09.679 Where everybody had a chance to get on or to not get on. 00:14:10.480 --> 00:14:10.879 Right? 00:14:11.039 --> 00:14:19.200 And those uh who got on, we're loving being with them, or you know, we're loving all those folks that are in there on the ark with us, we're walking around. 00:14:19.360 --> 00:14:20.480 Hey, what do you need? 00:14:20.639 --> 00:14:23.120 Hey, they're serving drinks on the Lido deck. 00:14:23.279 --> 00:14:26.720 Just make sure you don't step in anything, right? 00:14:26.960 --> 00:14:35.759 It were real comfortable, and then those who didn't get on that ark, uh, so what do I really owe you? 00:14:37.360 --> 00:14:40.799 You had a choice, you didn't get in. 00:14:43.200 --> 00:14:56.879 To me, that saved language, it can be a really a slippery slope to that that kind of hubris of giving ourselves permission to decide what is good and what is not good, what is in and what is out. 00:14:57.120 --> 00:15:05.679 I prefer that level of humility, of doing the best I can and trying to offer love in the many ways that I can. 00:15:06.879 --> 00:15:23.919 Now, some of you may disagree with me and think, oh, that's not what's going on in the world, and that's fair too, but I would say I would love for you to explain to me today's political and cultural climate. 00:15:25.039 --> 00:15:36.720 Because to me, we are in that thick of everybody having decided for everybody else, including ourselves, what's in and what's out. 00:15:39.360 --> 00:15:44.080 These people are gonna bring on the end of things. 00:15:46.399 --> 00:15:49.120 That was my impression of both sides. 00:15:50.320 --> 00:15:50.720 Right? 00:15:50.879 --> 00:15:52.240 Do you feel that? 00:15:52.799 --> 00:15:54.480 I know I feel it. 00:15:55.919 --> 00:16:03.919 Friends, I don't think it works if we all feel like we're the ones who are saved. 00:16:05.200 --> 00:16:28.799 That we're the ones on the good side of the sea, not just because of the overlooking of our own imperfections, our own sin, but because we've also put ourselves in the position of assuming the sins of others, not to mention assuming their salvation or not salvation. 00:16:31.200 --> 00:16:34.720 So, with all of that, it brings me back to the question. 00:16:34.879 --> 00:16:37.919 So, what does it mean to be saved? 00:16:38.080 --> 00:16:42.480 What does it mean for these Israelites who are now free? 00:16:44.799 --> 00:16:52.639 Personally, I think that God is interested in reaching every single one of us. 00:16:54.080 --> 00:17:07.839 Paul tells us in his letter to the Ephesians, for by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God, not the result of works, so that no one may boast. 00:17:08.799 --> 00:17:14.799 Again, for by grace you have been saved through faith. 00:17:16.799 --> 00:17:18.160 God's grace. 00:17:18.960 --> 00:17:25.279 God's uncommit unconditional love is ours through faith. 00:17:25.440 --> 00:17:29.279 In other words, God's love is always there. 00:17:30.559 --> 00:17:35.920 But it's our but it's our faith that makes it real for us. 00:17:36.640 --> 00:17:41.519 Believing in God's love opens our hearts to that love. 00:17:44.240 --> 00:17:50.640 Maybe the promise of salvation, like grace, is already ours. 00:17:51.440 --> 00:17:53.359 We are already saved. 00:17:55.200 --> 00:18:07.279 We are saved, or it becomes real to us when we make that commitment of faith, when we open our minds and our hearts to the idea that it might be true. 00:18:08.640 --> 00:18:13.920 God saves us when we put some blood on the door. 00:18:15.519 --> 00:18:18.480 And isn't this the journey of faith that we're on? 00:18:18.640 --> 00:18:25.519 It involves the joy and often the challenge of accepting what's already true. 00:18:26.559 --> 00:18:34.240 Allowing it into our minds, allowing it into our hearts, allowing it into our souls. 00:18:36.720 --> 00:18:42.799 What would that mean to live like that is true? 00:18:44.559 --> 00:18:53.599 Have you ever done something with little more than the trust that God is real, that God's love is real? 00:18:55.359 --> 00:18:57.759 I mean, that's what the Israelites did. 00:18:58.880 --> 00:19:08.079 In fact, they did a lot of it because God gave them a lot of instructions, and they did every single one of them out of their faith and trust. 00:19:08.480 --> 00:19:12.160 And in doing so, that saving grace became theirs. 00:19:13.839 --> 00:19:16.319 That's been the Exodus journey so far. 00:19:16.480 --> 00:19:19.200 The Exodus journey that to me we are on. 00:19:19.359 --> 00:19:27.119 It starts with our recognizing that to a certain extent we live as if we're in this basket on a river. 00:19:27.279 --> 00:19:39.839 We're floating around among these different influences and pressures and temptations, and then amidst that God comes to us with a better way to live. 00:19:40.160 --> 00:19:45.920 God comes to us in some powerful way and says, There is a better way to do this. 00:19:48.319 --> 00:19:55.039 And at this point, it starts to uh come to us. 00:19:56.480 --> 00:19:58.400 It starts to be up to us. 00:19:58.640 --> 00:20:01.839 Are we going to trust in that better way? 00:20:02.000 --> 00:20:04.160 Are we going to make a commitment? 00:20:04.400 --> 00:20:09.039 Are we going to put blood on the door? 00:20:12.559 --> 00:20:16.720 Wouldn't that be the craziest place to end us end a sermon? 00:20:19.440 --> 00:20:19.920 Amen.