August 13, 2006 Exodus 24:3-11

When Moses went and told the people all the LORD's words and laws, they responded with one voice, "Everything the LORD has said we will do." 4 Moses then wrote down everything the LORD had said. He got up early the next morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain and set up twelve stone pillars representing the twelve tribes of Israel. 5 Then he sent young Israelite men, and they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed young bulls as fellowship offerings to the LORD. 6 Moses took half of the blood and put it in bowls, and the other half he sprinkled on the altar. 7 Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the people. They responded, "We will do everything the LORD has said; we will obey." 8 Moses then took the blood, sprinkled it on the people and said, "This is the blood of the covenant that the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words." 9 Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel went up 10 and saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was something like a pavement made of sapphire, clear as the sky itself. 11 But God did not raise his hand against these leaders of the Israelites; they saw God, and they ate and drank.

If there's one thing the Israelites could not accuse God of - they couldn't accuse Him of being secretive - of not being up front with them. After the LORD delivered them from the Egyptian slavery through the Red Sea He took them to the foot of Mt. Sinai. With His own voice, God called down to the Israelites and told them EXACTLY what He expected them to do in the Ten Commandments. On top of this - through the mouth and pen of Moses He laid out plenty of other civil and ceremonial laws. Three times a year the Israelites were to come back to Jerusalem for three different feasts. Every seventh year they were to let their fellow Israelites free from bondage to slavery. There were all kinds of regulations - and God made it clear to them. He wanted them to know what they were getting into as they entered the Sinai wilderness.

Jesus intimated the same thing when He said to His disciples -

Luke 14:26-30 "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters--yes, even his own life--he cannot be my disciple. And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. "Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, saying, 'This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.'

Do not think that Christianity is an easy thing - as if the devil will see a little halo around your head and say, "oh no - there's a Christian - I better leave him alone." The very nature of being a light in a dark place brings trials that none of us want. This isn't meant to be a country club or a little social gathering. Be ready for a battle.

The Israelites were told straight up what God expected of them. What did they say? When Moses went and told the people all the LORD's words and laws, they responded with one voice, "Everything the LORD has said we will do." They committed themselves to follow the LORD by obeying His laws - each and every one of them - not one person dissented. Commitment is a big word among today's Christianity - especially among the Baptist ranks - almost ad nauseam - as they constantly call on people to "make a commitment" and they keep recommitting themselves and getting baptized a hundred times over. On the other hand, we don't hardly ever talk about commitment - when we really should. We are so worried about our people doing things willingly and not under coercion that we never press for any commitment whatsoever. What happens as a result? The old sinful flesh refuses to make a commitment to anything. Fathers are not being committed to spending time with their families or their church. Those who should be offering much more aren't giving even their leftovers to the LORD. Worship services stay the same with over half of our members remaining unwilling to commit themselves to every Sunday attendance or any Bible Study. If I were to stand up here and demand an every Sunday commitment from you except for definite sickness or extraordinary circumstances, I would probably be called a legalist, judgmental and unloving freak. Yet, isn't that what God EXPECTS of us - to make a commitment - even to the point of death? Doesn't He expect us to give our firstfruits - to be committed to His Church? You bet it is.

When you put aside the fact that the Israelites didn't KEEP their commitment - you still have to admit that making a commitment is what God expected of them - and it is what God expects of you. In reality, it is what the Holy Spirit in you wants as well. But how can we be committed? That's what we learn about today.

Learn About True Commitment

I. It starts with sacrifice

The Israelites were just pups in the faith at this point - as they sat at the foot of Mt. Sinai. Yet they had already experienced some awesome things. Don't forget what it took to get them out of Egypt. God had to bend the will of the Egyptians and their hard hearted Pharaoh. He did it with frogs, gnats, darkness and the death of the firstborn. After having gone through the Red Sea on dry ground, they had no doubt that their God was the true God - and that He both loved them and would protect them. They had a unique and special relationship with their God who lived in the fire and the cloud. Both the old and the young would have experienced this first hand.

What they perhaps wouldn't have known at this point was the magnitude of this relationship. Perhaps they never had the opportunity to actually ask the question - "why does God treat us this way and give us such privileges?" It is natural for human nature just to take these things for granted. Any of you who have children know this to be true - as they grow to expect their parents to wait on them hand and foot unless brought back to reality from time to time. If left to their own sinful reason - the Israelites could have easily assumed that God must have chosen them because they were some how better than the other nations around them. Any relationship that we sinful beings have with our holy God is a privilege and an honor on OUR part. We don't deserve to have him listen to us to take care of us at all. This is clear from Isaiah 59:2 which says, "your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear."

How would God make this clear in the Israelites minds? How would He keep them from taking this new relationship for granted? (Moses) got up early the next morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain and set up twelve stone pillars representing the twelve tribes of Israel. Then he sent young Israelite men, and they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed young bulls as fellowship offerings to the LORD. Moses set apart what could have been the future leaders of the Israelites and had them slaughter animals - both burnt and fellowship offerings to the LORD. In both cases an underlying message was being sent to the Israelites and their young men. God was saying, "you cannot have a relationship with me without a sacrifice." Why? Because even if they were committing themselves to keep the covenant and the laws that He laid before them, they would still sin against them - no matter how committed they were. Therefore, the holy God would demand a payment - a sacrifice for their sins.

But instead of demanding them to sacrifice themselves and pay for their own sins - God had these innocent animals sacrificed. This was laying out the principle of substitution. This sacrifice was hinted directly after the fall in Genesis 3:15 as God said, "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel." Notice that in this promise God referred to the bruising of only ONE heel - not everyone's heel. This principle was also displayed in Abraham's near sacrifice of Isaac. Instead of sacrificing Isaac, God provided a ram. Here also, even though these animals had done nothing wrong - they were sacrificed. This was pointing forward to the Lamb without blemish or defect - our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

We now live in the fulfilment of this principle. God committed Himself to send His Son - and He made good on this commitment. This is the basis and starting point that needs to happen before any commitment to Christ can be made. You have to know who Christ is and what He did. He committed Himself to a cross and death. Peter wrote in 1 Peter 3:18, "Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God." Christ made the payment to the holy God - making it possible for us to serve Him and be committed to Him. Who would want to commit themselves to a God who only yelled at them and demanded them to do what He said out of fear of punishment? You've got to see the commitment the holy God has made for you - the sacrifice He made and believe in it. Without this foundation, you can't really make any meaningful commitments to God. Hebrews 11:6, "without faith it is impossible to please God."

II. It means being bathed in blood

Since we are saved by grace in Christ we could say Christianity is completely a spectator sport - in the area of our salvation. We don't have to commit anything. All we do is sit and watch Christ do all the work - the sacrificing, the dying, and the raising from the dead. Yet Christianity is more interactive than that.

How did God get the Israelites involved? Moses took half of the blood and put it in bowls, and the other half he sprinkled on the altar. Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the people. They responded, "We will do everything the LORD has said; we will obey." 8 Moses then took the blood, sprinkled it on the people and said, "This is the blood of the covenant that the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words." Moses did two things - he reiterated the words of the Law and had them once again state their commitment. Then he did something that would never be repeated again throughout the Old Testament. He took the blood of the animals and actually sprinkled on the people! Imagine standing there and having blood spattered on your face and your garment! What was he trying to convey with such a radical action? He was telling the Israelites that this blood was shed because of them. He was saying to them, "this is a blood covenant - a very serious covenant that you are binding yourselves to." If blood was shed and lives were sacrificed in order to ratify it - it must have been serious. He wanted to emblazon this moment on their minds and their hearts for the rest of their lives - to make it last - so they would never forget the agreement they were entering into. They were more than spectators in this religion.

The same rings true of us. Even though this new covenant of salvation is a completely one sided covenant - and it all of the sacrificing is done by Christ - we are still intimately involved in the story. We aren't just innocent bystanders. In the act of baptism, God says that He intimately connects us with the sacrifice of Christ that happened two thousand years ago. Galatians 3:26-27 says, "You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ." Through the simple sprinkling of water, God takes a part of us - our sinful nature - and connects it with Christ - who died on the cross two thousand years ago for us. He then completely clothes us in Christ and drains all of our sins down into the grave of Christ. In this simple act of baptism God also actively binds Himself to us and puts His name us - calling us His children and giving us the gift of the Holy Spirit. (Acts 2:38) His Holy Spirit enters into our mind, heart, and soul - and infects our way of thinking and actions. He becomes a part of us.

With this act, God is saying to us, "I did this for you! I want you to be intimately involved in this story. I want to see yourself dying on that cross. Since you were baptized, I want you to commit everything you are - all of your sins and everything you take pride in - and lose your identity in Christ." You can't just look at the cross and see it as a dry historical fact that has nothing to do with you. You have to be involved in this Christianity. You have to be baptized into it. You have to see yourself connected to it in an eternal covenant - absolutely covered in it - where God says to you - "you are mine, annd I am yours. I am your righteousness and you are my sin. I became what I was not, and I gave you what you were not. We are now eternally connected - you and I. I became you, and now you are Me." You see, before we ever make a commitment - with this act of baptism - as God sprinkles His Son's blood on us in baptism - God intimately commits Himself to us and says, "if you want a lasting relationship with me, recognize that I have bound myself to you eternally in your baptism. I'm here for the long run."

III. It ends in beholding the beautiful God

The Israelites were binding themselves to a two sided covenant - which ended up being impossible to keep in many respects. Just because they wanted to keep the covenant and even committed themselves to it, didn't mean they would be able to. Yet the LORD wanted to encourage them in their commitment. He had already scared them to death by speaking from the fiery cloud of Mt. Sinai. Now it was time for a little positive motivation.

Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel went up and saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was something like a pavement made of sapphire, clear as the sky itself. But God did not raise his hand against these leaders of the Israelites; they saw God, and they ate and drank.

Imagine what an awesome scene this must have been. Before Moses saw the LORD's backside in Exodus 34, he describes at least getting a vision of the footstool of God. In this way, God gave them a veiled vision of Himself, and they ate and drank. Isn't this just an incredible scene? Instead of coming down to man and eating with man - as God did with Abram and Jesus did with the disciples - the LORD invited the elders up the mountain to eat with Him. Wow. Isn't this similar to how God describes heaven? In Luke 13:29 Jesus said, "People will come from east and west and north and south, and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God."

This picture reminds me of how Jesus loved to go and eat and drink at people's houses. You regularly see him eating at feasts. Some of Jesus' parables involve wedding feasts. The first miracle was at the wedding in Cana. The picture I get from God is that He loves to feed His people and take care of them. He loves to see us enjoying His gifts - drinking His wine - eating His steaks - swallowing His beans. This is what He did for the Israelites - He gave them a wonderful meal - to show them what a beautiful and gracious and giving God He is. When a man considers a woman to marry - he picks a woman who not only looks beautiful to him - but he also hits the jackpot when that woman can cook! They say a way to a man's heart is through his stomach. In the same way, God provided for the Israelites eyes and their stomachs. He was showing Himself to be immaculately beautiful. He gave them plenty of reasons to want to keep the covenant - by giving them this wonderful meal.

After God reveals His commitment to you in the cross and your baptism - God directs your eyes to other hidden sources of beauty. You may not get a vision of His feet on a pavement of sapphire, but you can still see His beauty in other hidden ways. You can see Him and even taste His body and blood through the eyes of faith - hidden under the bread and wine of the Lord's Supper. Yet you can also learn to see Him in even the most mundane things of life. When you eat your meal this evening, see your meat and potatoes as having been grown and given by God. See Christ in your wife and husband. When your place of employment gives you your paycheck, envision it as if God were handing it to you. Look at your children as gifts from your gracious God. Learn to see God in the rain, the snow, the wind, and the sun. See Christ in your house - in a good night's rest - in the peace of being able to sit in front of the TV and relax. The writer of Ecclesiasties writes, "A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment?" (2:24-25) When you see God as giving you your food and drink - and you see how committed He is to you - it will help remind you that He is a giving God and a gracious God.

Yet even giving the Lord's Supper Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it anew in the kingdom of God." (Mk 14:25) This wonderful meal was given in expectation and hope of a greater kingdom and feast to come - the feast of heaven. Think about what a wonderful thing it will be to actually eat and drink at the great feast in heaven - where God gives you all of His gifts without hiding them behind anything. Job said in chapter 19:27, "I myself will see him with my own eyes--I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!" Instead of just looking at His footstool, we will get to see God face to face in all His glory. What a wonderful feast this will be. This is why God committed Himself to us. He wants to see us in heaven enjoying the Feast.

It's really hard to get people to commit themselves to anything nowadays. You ask someone to go to a movie with you and they say, "we'll see." You ask someone to help you move to your new house and they answer, "we'll see." I heard my child once say, "we'll see" means "no." "We'll see" usually means, "it's not real important to me - but if I'm absolutely bored and I somehow by a miracle end up at the movie theater, I'll be there."

Unfortunately, the same runs true within Christianity. Will you come to the new Bible class? "I know I should, but we'll see". Will you come to church every Sunday this month? "I'll sure try." We want to be warriors for Christ , but we like to think of it more like the national guard. We signed up to do it on the weekends - inwardly hoping and praying we don't get called up to full duty. The last thing our sinful nature wants to do is to be called to battle.

God expects more - He wants a full commitment out of you - a willingness to even die for Him. Having this kind of commitment doesn't come from making a decision in your head and saying, "I'm committed myself today." It only comes about by learning about true commitment. True commitment is seen in a God who planned out and executed His salvation plan after waiting for four thousand years. It is seen in His only Son stayed on the pathway to the cross even though He knew it would make Him suffer through hell. It is seen in His prayers for us as He sees us stray from our commitments. True commitment is seen in His Holy Spirit who entered you and gave you faith - and continues to stick with you - even through your weak commitment. He will never leave you or forsake you. He has prepared a wonderful feast for you in heaven. He has committed Himself to come and take you there. If you find yourself not being as committed as you could be or should be - just look to the LORD - and it will give you all the motivation you need to recommit yourself every day. Amen.