A Coaches’ Lesson

Exodus 32:15-24

 

 

Coach Steward stood 6 feet 8 and weighed about 275. It was half time and we were been behind so he lit into us like there was no tomorrow. As the volume and intensity of his words hit a fever pitch, he slammed his fist against the clip board in his hand, breaking it into pieces. He had our full attention.

 

^19 “When Moses approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, his anger burned and he threw the tablets out of his hands, breaking them to pieces at the foot of the mountain.”

 

Aaron then responded to Moses’ question about what had happened by saying, ^24 “So I told them (the Israelites), ‘Whoever has any gold jewelry, take it off.’ Then they gave me the gold, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf!” 

 

Obviously Moses wasn’t impressed, because following this explanation he instructed the Levites, “Each man strap a sword to his side. Go back and forth through the camp from one end to the other, each killing his brother and friend and neighbor.” About three thousand Israelites were killed that day. God had their attention.

 

Have you ever had consequences to sin in your life like that? The correct answer is yes! Two thousand years ago Jesus paid the price for our sin. Maybe you’re thinking that you would never do anything like the Israelites did; nothing so bold and in your face. Even the Lord admitted that they were a “stiff necked people”.

 

But if we are honest with ourselves, we have to admit that we aren’t that different from them. After all, what motivated the Israelites if it wasn’t pride and control? And how many times every day does our pride lead us to try to take control because we don’t trust God?

 

Coach Steward’s actions were to motivate us to not be lazy, but to be the best that we could be; to recognize that the little mistakes we were making could cause us to lose.

Moses did the same thing, but with more severe consequences because the result of sin is not losing, it’s dying... and Jesus came to bring life.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Let Your Light Shine

1 John 1:1-10

 

 

She dumped me! I couldn’t believe it! We were planning to get married. I’d given her a ring, and although we hadn’t set a date yet, it was understood. Apparently though it wasn’t understood, and she dumped me for another guy. I thought our relationship was strong and would last a life time; now it was broken.

 

What does it take to break a relationship? Unresolved anger; a lack of trust; secrets and lies? There’s a long list of possibilities, but the bottom line is that it means there is a barrier between you and the other person, and until that barrier is torn down, the relationship is broken.

 

The heading in my NIV Bible preceding verse 5 reads: “Light and Darkness, Sin and

Forgiveness”. If you apply those words to human relationships, they pretty much describe how a relationship could break, or be reconciled.

 

If one person sins against another, or hurts another, they need to make amends; to ask for forgiveness. If they don’t, a wall has been built. Communication stops. Anger builds. Resentment follows. Soon the relationship breaks.

 

The same is true in our relationship with God. If we sin against Him, we need to ask for forgiveness; to make amends; to communicate. Otherwise, our relationship is broken.

 

John uses the word fellowship several times in this passage. In our culture, that word has become virtually meaningless, typically referring to having a meal together. But John means it in a much deeper way. It is a form of communion; of sharing; of relating, not just to one another, but to our Lord and Savior.

 

Have you ever been in a cave when all of the lights have been turned off? (The guides do that on one of the tours at Mammoth Cave.) You literally can’t see your hand in front of your face.

 

That’s what it’s like to be out of fellowship with the Lord. You’re in the dark. Living in the light doesn’t mean living without sin, it means turning back and repenting when

you do sin; it means letting your light shine.

 

 

Single Mindedness

Luke 23:26-31

 

 

My wife and I recently watched the remake of the 1977 TV miniseries Roots. Like the original, it depicted the atrocities of American slavery. However, about half way through the series I found myself getting quite emotional.

 

For me, there was an even greater message than the abuse of slavery. It was the commitment and single mindedness of Kunta Kinte, and those who followed him, to remember their African heritage; to be a great Mandingo warrior; but mostly to make their forefathers proud.

 

Jesus was truly single minded. He obeyed his Father even to the humiliating and painful death of the cross. In today’s passage he reminds the grieving “daughters of Jerusalem” of God’s judgement on Israel by quoting the prophet Hosea.

 

The high places of wickedness will be destroyed—
    it is the sin of Israel.
Thorns and thistles will grow up
    and cover their altars.
Then they will say to the mountains, “Cover us!”
    and to the hills, “Fall on us!”    NIV

 

Jesus was intricately involved in God’s judgement and in God’s plan of redemption. Without his sacrifice, you and I would suffer judgement; there would be no redemption. Jesus was single minded in his desire to do his Father’s will; to fulfill the prophet’s warnings; to make His Father proud; to please Him.

 

There is a powerful scene in Roots when Kunta Kinte is being whipped until he will say his slave name of Toby. It is painful to watch. Time and time again as the lash, laced with nails, tears his flesh, he says, “My name is Kunta Kinte”. I found myself whispering, “Just say Toby”. But he was single minded in his commitment to his African ways.

 

The single mindedness of Jesus suffered God’s judgement for you and for me. If only we could be single minded like that. What great things we could accomplish for our Heavenly Father who sacrificed everything for us.

 

 

 

Turning Point

Genesis 3:1-13

  

Turning points, and the decisions that lead up to them, come in all sizes and shapes; some barely noticeable while others are life changing.

 

For instance, between my sophomore and junior year of college I had two summer opportunities to choose from. The most exciting was to go to California as a summer intern for Campus Crusade for Christ. The second was to go to East Lansing, Michigan, find a job and participate in a local church sponsored discipleship training program. I chose the latter.

 

As a result, I changed colleges, degrees and careers; met my wife, started our family and bought our first house. The impact of that small, barely noticeable decision to go to East Lansing for the summer, literally changed my life.

 

James wrote how decisions that starts small and seemingly insignificant, can have an adverse life changing effect. ^15 “Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.” This is the pattern of Adam and Eve. Unfortunately, it is our pattern too. It all started in the Garden of Eden.

 

The serpent was the craftiest of all the creatures the Lord God had made. So the serpent came to the woman. “Really?” he asked. “None of the fruit in the garden? God says you mustn’t eat any of it?”

^2-3 “Of course we may eat it,” the woman told him. “It’s only the fruit from the tree at the center of the garden that we are not to eat. God says we mustn’t eat it or even touch it, or we will die.”

⁴ “That’s a lie!” the serpent hissed. “You’ll not die! ⁵ God knows very well that the instant you eat it you will become like him, for your eyes will be opened—you will be able to distinguish good from evil!”     TLB

 

This conversation in the Garden was absolutely a turning point, not just for Adam and Eve, but also for you and me. As a result of their decision, our lives would never be perfect; our relationships would always have pain and suffering; our faith in God would always include failure...

 

Every day is another turning point in your life. What decisions will you make today? Will you choose life, or will you choose death?