March 13, 2016 | Exodus 18

Here is the sermon from Sunday evening taken from Exodus 18.

Now Jethro, the priest of Midian, Moses’ father-in-law, heard of all that God had done for Moses and for Israel His people, how the Lord had brought Israel out of Egypt. ² Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, took Moses’ wife Zipporah, after he had sent her away, ³ and her two sons, of whom one was named Gershom, for Moses said, “I have been a sojourner in a foreign land.” ⁴ The other was named Eliezer, for he said, “The God of my father was my help, and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh.”
 
⁵ Then Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, came with his sons and his wife to Moses in the wilderness where he was camped, at the mount of God. ⁶ He sent word to Moses, “I, your father-in-law Jethro, am coming to you with your wife and her two sons with her.” ⁷ Then Moses went out to meet his father-in-law, and he bowed down and kissed him; and they asked each other of their welfare and went into the tent. ⁸ Moses told his father-in-law all that the Lord had done to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel’s sake, all the hardship that had befallen them on the journey, and how the Lord had delivered them. ⁹ Jethro rejoiced over all the goodness which the Lord had done to Israel, in delivering them from the hand of the Egyptians. ¹⁰ So Jethro said, “Blessed be the Lord who delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of Pharaoh, and who delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians. ¹¹ Now I know that the Lord is greater than all the gods; indeed, it was proven when they dealt proudly against the people.” ¹² Then Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, took a burnt offering and sacrifices for God, and Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat a meal with Moses’ father-in-law before God.
¹³ It came about the next day that Moses sat to judge the people, and the people stood about Moses from the morning until the evening. ¹⁴ Now when Moses’ father-in-law saw all that he was doing for the people, he said, “What is this thing that you are doing for the people? Why do you alone sit as judge and all the people stand about you from morning until evening?” ¹⁵ Moses said to his father-in-law, “Because the people come to me to inquire of God. ¹⁶ When they have a dispute, it comes to me, and I judge between a man and his neighbor and make known the statutes of God and His laws.”

¹⁷ Moses’ father-in-law said to him, “The thing that you are doing is not good. ¹⁸ You will surely wear out, both yourself and these people who are with you, for the task is too heavy for you; you cannot do it alone. ¹⁹ Now listen to me: I will give you counsel, and God be with you. You be the people’s representative before God, and you bring the disputes to God, ²⁰ then teach them the statutes and the laws, and make known to them the way in which they are to walk and the work they are to do. ²¹ Furthermore, you shall select out of all the people able men who fear God, men of truth, those who hate dishonest gain; and you shall place these over them as leaders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties and of tens. ²² Let them judge the people at all times; and let it be that every major dispute they will bring to you, but every minor dispute they themselves will judge. So it will be easier for you, and they will bear the burden with you. ²³ If you do this thing and God so commands you, then you will be able to endure, and all these people also will go to their place in peace.”

²⁴ So Moses listened to his father-in-law and did all that he had said. ²⁵ Moses chose able men out of all Israel and made them heads over the people, leaders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties and of tens. ²⁶ They judged the people at all times; the difficult dispute they would bring to Moses, but every minor dispute they themselves would judge. ²⁷ Then Moses bade his father-in-law farewell, and he went his way into his own land.

Audio
Notes


For more:
January 10, 2016 | Mark 1:1-15: Jesus is the Gospel, Stupid
January 17, 2016 | Mark 1:16-20: The Correlation Between Repentance and Obedience, or, If Jesus Jumped Off a Bridge Would You Follow?
January 17, 2016 | Malachi 3:13-4:6: Is it Vanity to Worship God?
January 24, 2016 | Mark 1:21-28 - This Means War!
January 31, 2016 | Mark 1:29-45: Rusted and Weathered
February 7, 2016 | Mark 2:1-12
February 14, 2016 | Mark 2:13-17: God Helps Those Who Cannot Help Themselves
February 21, 2016 | Mark 2:18-22
February 28, 2016 | Mark 2:23-28
March 6, 2016 | Mark 3:1-6 
March 13, 2016 | Mark 3:7-19 - How to Change the World

March 13, 2016 | Mark 3:7-19 - How to Change the World

Here is the sermon from Sunday morning taken from Mark 3:7-19.

⁷ Jesus withdrew to the sea with His disciples; and a great multitude from Galilee followed; and also from Judea, ⁸ and from Jerusalem, and from Idumea, and beyond the Jordan, and the vicinity of Tyre and Sidon, a great number of people heard of all that He was doing and came to Him. ⁹ And He told His disciples that a boat should stand ready for Him because of the crowd, so that they would not crowd Him; ¹⁰ for He had healed many, with the result that all those who had afflictions pressed around Him in order to touch Him. ¹¹ Whenever the unclean spirits saw Him, they would fall down before Him and shout, “You are the Son of God!” ¹² And He earnestly warned them not to tell who He was.

¹³ And He *went up on the mountain and *summoned those whom He Himself wanted, and they came to Him. ¹⁴ And He appointed twelve, so that they would be with Him and that He could send them out to preach, ¹⁵ and to have authority to cast out the demons. ¹⁶ And He appointed the twelve: Simon (to whom He gave the name Peter), ¹⁷ and James, the son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James (to them He gave the name Boanerges, which means, “Sons of Thunder”); ¹⁸ and Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Zealot; ¹⁹ and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Him.

Audio
Notes


For more:
January 10, 2016 | Mark 1:1-15: Jesus is the Gospel, Stupid
January 17, 2016 | Mark 1:16-20: The Correlation Between Repentance and Obedience, or, If Jesus Jumped Off a Bridge Would You Follow?
January 17, 2016 | Malachi 3:13-4:6: Is it Vanity to Worship God?
January 24, 2016 | Mark 1:21-28 - This Means War!
January 31, 2016 | Mark 1:29-45: Rusted and Weathered
February 7, 2016 | Mark 2:1-12
February 14, 2016 | Mark 2:13-17: God Helps Those Who Cannot Help Themselves
February 21, 2016 | Mark 2:18-22
February 28, 2016 | Mark 2:23-28
March 6, 2016 | Mark 3:1-6 
March 13, 2016 | Mark 3:7-19 - How to Change the World

Worship Minimovie: What is Your Next Step?

Here is the worship minimovie from Sunday morning which promotes the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering.

March 6, 2016 | Mark 3:1-6

Here is the sermon from yesterday morning taken from Mark 3:1-6:

Another time Jesus went into the synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. ² Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath. ³ Jesus said to the man with the shriveled hand, “Stand up in front of everyone.”
 
⁴ Then Jesus asked them, “Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they remained silent.

⁵ He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored. ⁶ Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus.

Audio
Notes


For more:
January 10, 2016 | Mark 1:1-15: Jesus is the Gospel, Stupid
January 17, 2016 | Mark 1:16-20: The Correlation Between Repentance and Obedience, or, If Jesus Jumped Off a Bridge Would You Follow?
January 17, 2016 | Malachi 3:13-4:6: Is it Vanity to Worship God?
January 24, 2016 | Mark 1:21-28 - This Means War!
January 31, 2016 | Mark 1:29-45: Rusted and Weathered
February 7, 2016 | Mark 2:1-12
February 14, 2016 | Mark 2:13-17: God Helps Those Who Cannot Help Themselves
February 21, 2016 | Mark 2:18-22
February 28, 2016 | Mark 2:23-28

March 6, 2016 | Mark 3:1-6 
The Bible Project: Mark
Worship Minimovie: The Gospel According to Mark

Jesus is a Better Adam: How Gethsamane Corresponds to Eden - Part 2

Jesus is a Better Adam: How Gethsamane Corresponds to Eden - Part 1
Jesus is a Better Adam: How Gethsamane Corresponds to Eden - Part 2


In part one, I introduced the basic exegetical concept that Jesus fulfills all that the Old Testament anticipates. In that post I provided Isaac and Israel as examples. The parallels force us to see their connections with Jesus. We must conclude, then, that Jesus is a true and better Isaac and Israel.

With all of that as background, let us turn our attention to Jesus' Gethsemane experience and how it relates to Adam and Eden. One way to see Gethsemane as the fulfillment of Eden is to note the numerous contrasts.

• Eden is a beautiful garden full of life. Gethsemane is marked by tragedy, betrayal, and death. 
• Adam failed. Jesus persevered.
• Adam's temptation took place in the daytime. Jesus' took place at night.
• Adam ate the forbidden fruit. Jesus drank the cup of wrath.
• Jesus says, "not my will but yours." Adam says, "not your will but mine."
• Paul describes Jesus as the second Adam (Romans 5)

We should note other connections. First, there is an emphasis on "sorrow." In handling out his curses, God repeatedly says there will be sorrow. Eve, for example, is told that God will "increase her sorrow" in childbirth. In Gethsemane, we clearly see a sorrowful Savior. Regarding this point, author Patrick Henry Rearden elaborates:

The context of this assertion indicates that Jesus assumed the primeval curse of man’s sorrow unto death, in order to reverse Adam’s disobedience. In the garden he bore our sadness unto death, becoming the “Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief” (Isaiah 53:3). . . . In the garden Jesus returns to the very place of Adam’s fall, taking upon himself Adam’s sorrow unto death. (The Jesus We Missed, 160, 161)

Ultimately, what we need to see at Gethsemane in narrative is what Paul described in his epistles. Jesus, as the second Adam, succeeds where our first father failed. Jesus, then, is a true and better Adam. Another important theological point needs to be made clear here. Yes Jesus is Israel's messiah yet he is not only Israel's messiah. By taking upon himself the story of Adam, the Evangelists make the central point that Jesus is man's messiah. He is the Savior of both Jew and Gentile, Israel and the rest of the nation.

Jesus is a Better Adam: How Gethsamane Corresponds to Eden - Part 1

Jesus is a Better Adam: How Gethsamane Corresponds to Eden - Part 1
Jesus is a Better Adam: How Gethsamane Corresponds to Eden - Part 2


Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of all that the Old Testament anticipates. Proper exegesis must take into consideration this important theological principle. Before connecting Gethsemane to Eden, perhaps it would be beneficial to provide other examples in order to illustrate this principle.

All four Evangelists unfold the crucifixion story in a way that forces us to see that Jesus is a true and better Isaac. In Genesis 22, God commands Abraham to offer his son - his only begotten son - as a sacrifice. It is an appalling commanding and we should be offended by Abraham's obedience. Consider briefly the following parallels between Jesus and Isaac:

• Isaac and Jesus were both sons of a promise that was given many years before their birth.*
• Isaac and Jesus were both born to women who could not have conceived apart from a miracle.
• Isaac and Jesus were both firstborn sons. 
• Isaac and Jesus were both sons of Abraham.
• Isaac and Jesus were both greatly loved by their father/Father.
• Isaac carried his own wood to the sacrifice just as Jesus carried His own wooden cross to his crucifixion.  
• Isaac and Jesus each willingly laid down their lives to their father/Father.
• Isaac and Jesus were both laid down as a burnt offering for sin. 
• Isaac was brought back from the dead figuratively and Jesus was brought back from the dead literally.
• Isaac was almost sacrificed in Moriah which many believe became Jerusalem.

More parallels could be given. We should further add that Abraham promised his son a lamb would be provided by God(Jehovah-Jirah). And yet, no lamb was provided in place of Isaac. The text is clear that Abraham ended up sacrifices a ram after the Angel of the Lord (a pre-incarnate Jesus?). The reason for this is that Jesus, the Lamb of God, is the fulfillment of Abraham's prophecy.

Another example to consider regards Jesus and Israel. Jesus, we conclude here, is a true and better Israel. We see this the clearest in Matthew's Gospel though the other Synoptics hint at this connection.

In Matthew's version of the Nativity, Jesus is forced to flee to Egypt (of all places) due to the rampage of a king who sought to kill the innocents. Clearly, Matthew is drawing a parallel between the nameless Pharaoh in Exodus and Herod. Likewise, Jesus is spared the king's wrath just as Moses Israel's great deliverer, was.

The narrative quickly comes to the beginning of Jesus' ministry marked by his baptism. He enters the Jordan river from the west and is baptized "to fulfill all righteousness." But instead returning to Israel the way he came, Jesus continues to march east entering the wilderness where he will be tempted by the serpent for forty years.

All of this should sound familiar. Israel, following its emancipation, is symbolically baptized by marching through the parted waters of the Red Sea. They, like Jesus, immediately enter the wilderness. Israel faces constant, demonic temptation for forty years and ultimately fail. God is forced to wipe out an entire generation before leading them to the Promise Land. Jesus, however, conquers where Israel failed.

The parallels should be obvious, but they go even further when we look at the temptations themselves. In each of the temptations, Satan questions the Sonship of Christ (this is more clear in Luke where he introduces the temptation story with Jesus' genealogy). "If you are the Son of God," Satan says. Israel is said to be God's son by adoption. Christ, the Evangelists proclaim, is God's only begotten Son - one with the Father. Furthermore, the first temptation in Matthew's account regards bread. Interestingly enough, it is bread that makes Israel desire to be slaves again.

More parallels can be drawn but you get the point. One cannot interpret the first four chapters of Matthew's Gospel without stepping back and seeing how Jesus fits in redemptive history. Christ is the climax of the story and all that takes place in the Old Testament is anticipated and fulfilled in Christ.

In the next post, we will turn our attention to how Jesus' experience in the Garden of Gethsamane parallels that of Adam's in the Garden of Eden.


*Much of the following is taken from Mark Driscoll, Abraham Nearly Sacrifices Isaac. See also his notes here.

Worship Minimovie: Great Love

Here is the worship minimovie from Sunday morning: