moses bsf – The Notes are Good

25.3 Moses 25, Day 3

Whom do you live for?

I love the question in our lesson about what would you do/pray if you found you only had one week to live? I think the answer to that question, at its heart, reveals for whom we live.

If you live for yourself, with one week to live, the focus of that week will be on yourself. What will make you feel better? What is on your bucket list? Where to go, what to see, what to do. Sky diving. Rocky Mountain climbing. You would want to cram in as much “living” as you could in the time you had left.

If you live for others your focus is going to be on provision. What can you do to get your accounts in order, line up documents, accounts, people to leave a legacy and take care of those on whom you are focused.

If you live for God your focus is on His will and mission and expanding the kingdom. What message can you leave? Whom can you reach out to? How can you use your circumstance to invite others into God’s family and live as an example of pure faith and trust in your final days?

As human’s we are all on a scale of all three of these. Thinking of it as a three dimensional graph, we fall somewhere in the X,Y,Z space with few (if any) of us totally along one axis.

The reason I think this is a wonderful question is not because it helps identify where I am (if I answer honestly), but it gives me the ability to assess where I would like to be so I can continue to change my life and my priorities to move more in that direction.

As Christians, most of us would like to live less for ourselves and more for God and less for ourselves and more for others. That is definitely the example we see in Moses. When presented with the deadline (no pun intended) of his life, his concern was for the continuation of his mission work for the Lord and the care of a people that he loved.

So where are you now and where do you want to be in regard to the priorities of your life?

How will you live differently if you start “living like you are dying?”

How will you live differently if you start “living like you are going to live forever?”

If you are a Christian (and the rapture doesn’t occur in your lifetime) both of these are true statements.

My Answers:

5.
a.
He allowed him to see the promised land. He honored his request for succession planning

b.
who would God appoint as the leader over the people

c.
provision for my family

6.
God picked him. God had Moses give him some of his authority (when he did, the Holy Spirit transferred to him). He did not see the Lord face-to-face. He did not stand in the tent of meeting with God, Eleazar served as the intermediary.

10.2 Moses 10, Day 2

Perfect Purpose

We know that God is all powerful. The Creator of everything has the ability to do anything, any way He wants.

As we begin the study of the tabernacle, I think this point is important to keep in mind. Every thing and every way that goes along with the tabernacle is God’s intentional plan. He did not need the people of Israel to bring gifts. He did not need the gold, precious stones and yarn that they had taken from Egypt. He didn’t need them to build the table or lampstand or even the tabernacle. He does not need a tent or building. He didn’t even need their sacrifices.

God chose to do these things in these ways not for Himself but for the people. He allowed them to be a part of this. He enabled them to have the joy of sharing and giving. He accepted the sacrifices and obedience that they offered.

God did all of this with purpose. The stated purpose of the temple may have been for God. He would dwell among the people. But God was already everywhere and in everything. The physical representation of the temple was for the people, so they could physically experience God with them. It was a touch point, not unlike a favorite chair that you might have sat in and cuddled and read books with your mother.

Today we don’t have a tabernacle or temple. We have something far superior. God chose to fulfill the promises of the temple through Jesus. When Jesus was born, Immanuel, God with us, He take on human flesh and walked and lived and ate and slept among His people. Then, as the ultimate sacrifice, He gave up that human life so that His blood would pay the full price of our sin as a covering, sufficient for everyone for ever.

All of this that we are reading in Exodus was not just a specific design, it was a specific revelation of God’s plan done with purpose.

My Answers:

3.
a.
everyone whose heart prompts them to give – not forced, but a joyful giving

b.
Remember Malachi 3:8-12

c.
A living sacrifice. My heart, my time, my talent, my devotion, my order, my attention.

4.
a.
It is for God. He will dwell among the people

b.
Christ was born “God with us”, He was made flesh, we are adopted as brothers/sisters to Christ, we will dwell with God forever.

c.
God would dwell in their midsts. He would look down from above the mercy seat and see the laws (all that we broke) but in between is a covering of sacrificial blood

09.2 Moses 9, Day 2

Stumbling Block

The people of Israel no longer simply represented themselves; they now represented God. When He committed in his covenant to make them a holy nation, to make them priests, He was welcoming them onto His team. Not just as spectators, but as fully uniformed members of the team.

When you wear a uniform, your words and actions, the things you do and don’t do, your character, reflects not only you but also on everything that uniform stands for.

God provided Israel with laws and training to develop themselves as a community. For 430 years all they had to witness was Egypt, but now God was beginning the retraining to set them on a new path to become a holy nation, set apart, to be His people and for He to be their God. But the laws were not just for them. The laws also set a higher standard so that as other tribes and nations looked at Israel they saw this was something different. There was something here that was missing from their nation and their lives.

We have the same obligation. When the lives of the Christian community look the same as non-Christians, we misrepresent the uniform that we choose to wear. We face the same struggles, temptations and battles as non-Christians, but we are held to a higher standard. We are not just held to the rule of law, but also to the New Covenant of Jesus Christ.

My Answers:

3.
a.
Book of the Covenant

b.
Because of their time in Egypt and because of the specific Mosaic covenant

c.
Luke 12:48; Ezek 34:1-10; James 3:1; Heb 13:17; Matt 5:14; 1 Cor 4:2; Rom 3:19

d.
Teaching responsibility has made me study deeper. Parenting responsibility has made me a more conscientious role model

4.
They spent 430 years in Egypt. He is starting with community as they have known it and beginning the retraining to shape them ultimately into a holy nation. This does not necessary mean that God is condoning these behaviors (slavery, seduction, etc.), but he is starting them on a journey and training them as they go.