The Lord, however, has been very gracious, and every day we are thankful that in His wisdom, He put the two of us together. I wish that every couple could know the oneness of mind, body, soul, and spirit that Jessica and I share, and I must thank God for it, because without that, it would have been very difficult for us to make it through the summer without a great deal of marital conflict.
(Yes, conflict does happen even in the best of marriages--those of you out there who view wedded bliss as an oasis of sex, pleasure, and self-gratification will, I fear, find yourselves immensely disappointed after your marriage vows have been taken . . . )
Our text in this post is Exodus 15:22-27, but I'd like to begin with Matthew 7:13-14 because I feel that this passage has, for us, a very strong message. Listen to Jesus' words from the Sermon on the Mount:
Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
To some of you, I know, this probably sounds a lot like sandpaper grating in your ears, but given the context of the rest of the Sermon on the Mount, I think you will find that this passage offers a very hard-hitting diagnosis from the Lord concerning a problem common not only in first century Judea but in twenty-first century America. You see, not very many people in our society are interested in truth anymore--only in how to get ahead, how to gain more pleasure for themselves, and how to prevent other people from getting in the way of those two pursuits. Divorce is now "no fault," the killing of unborn children is "abortion," and sleeping with a member of one's sex (as one would sleep with a member of the opposite sex) is termed a "viable lifestyle choice."
People like me who would point out the major sin issues within our culture have a hard time fitting in at social gatherings--we're not very popular. My wife and I once listened to a "Lake Woebegone" segment in which Garrison Keeler recounted a time when he was offered (by the Almighty) the position of prophet, and he turned it down because it would have meant that he would spend a lifetime telling people the truth--and most of the time, people just don't want to hear it.
I don't blame him for making that decision.
Being a Christian is hard, ladies and gentlemen--and one of the first things we must be willing to sacrifice, I'm afraid, is our popularity. The fact is, we are not part of this world, and no matter how much we try to camouflage ourselves, those who are nonbelievers know, instinctively, who the real Christians are. If you were under the impression that you could be in Christ and still slip under the world's radar, I can tell you from personal experience as someone who was "of the world" most of his life that you are deeply mistaken.
What does all of this have to do with Exodus 15:22-27? I believe that in this passage, we see the essence of the narrow road that Jesus later describes--and a promise for those who are willing to walk that road.
Immediately after the songs that Moses and Miriam sang in praise of the Lord for leading the people of Israel through the Red Sea (and after all of the other miracles that the Lord performed in order to deliver the Israelites from the bondage of slavery), we find the following passage:
Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea and they went into the Desert of Shur. For three days they traveled in the desert without finding water. When they came to Marah, they could not drink its water because it was bitter. (That is why the place is called Marah.) So the people grumbled against Moses, saying, "What are we to drink?"
Then Moses cried out to the LORD, and the LORD showed him a piece of wood. He threw it into the water, and the water became sweet.
Isn't it amazing?
The Israelites, after experiencing the mighty hand of the Lord in freeing them from generational slavery, actually grumbled when they came to a place where water was bitter. Shouldn't they have expected that the Lord would provide for them in spite of their lack of water--and frankly, shouldn't they have been a little more respectful of Moses since he was the instrument the Lord chose to free them from the Egyptians?
Well . . . I guess we shouldn't be too hard on them. After all, as I will demonstrate later in this post, we are no better than they were.
After the account of the Lord's deliverance of the Israelites from thirst at Marah, we find the following 2 verses (25b-26):
There the LORD made a decree and a law for them, and there he tested them. He said, "If you listen carefully to the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the LORD, who heals you."
Clearly, the Israelites were presented with two alternatives: (1) Obey the voice of the Lord and really live, or (2) disobey the voice of the Lord and suffer the same fate as that of the Egyptians. We will cover those alternatives in more detail during future posts, but I would like for us to link this verse (26) together with Jesus' description of the broad and narrow ways.
As we have seen from Matthew 7:13-14, the broad way "leads to destruction" and "many" undertake it. I believe that the broad way of Matthew 7 and the way of disobedience from Exodus 15 are one and the same: disrespect for the Lord.
Ladies and gentlemen, I am not talking about the kind of disrespect for the lord that we see in the peoples and nations of this world today--the kingdoms of the world do not honor the Lord, and never have. Moreover, as we can see in Exodus 15, the Lord is presenting these two alternatives not to every man, woman, and child on the face of the Earth but specifically to the people of Israel, a nation already in a very real sense commited to the Lord.
Sadly, it seems, the disrespect that most grieves the Lord does not come from those who never gave their hearts to him at all but instead from those who, for whatever reason, gleefully accepted him only to spit in his face when the road he wanted them to travel does not seem as easy as they thought it should be . . .
Ladies and gentlemen, we live in a world that does not want to be convicted of its sins--and frankly, why should it be, when those who are supposed to be examples of Christ are, in many ways, some of the worst purveyors of sin, rebelliousness, and hypocrisy? As I have noted on numerous occasions, the divorce rate within Christian circles is actually higher than the divorce rate outside Christian circles--and the number of abortions commited among Bible college students is, according to a recent article in Relevant Magazine, one of the dirtiest secrets postmodern American Christendom has ever kept. Though almost all so-called conservative Christians agree that homosexuality is a sin, it is very rare that a homosexual will find him-/herself in a Christian environment which is safe enough to promote the confession of sins one to another (James 5:16).
And these are only the highlights, my friends. What a sad state of affairs Christianity has fallen to when the proposition of charismatic speakers, flawless choral singing, and various pseudo-gospels of wealth and success and social acceptability draws more people into the walls of a church than the hard-hitting, soul-winning, heart-convicting power of the Holy Spirit?
Are we that spiritually bankrupt?
I am afraid we are, ladies and gentlemen--and I am afraid that because of our lack of enthusiasm for the Lord, we will find ourselves one day in a nation that will use very unpleasant means to make us decide once and for all where our loyalties stand . . .
I would like to suggest 3 areas where the narrow road of Christ-obedience may touch our everyday lives, so that at the very least, some of you will be prepared for what Christianity may one day mean for you and your families:
1. It may mean that you will have to restrict television's impact on your life.
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the television which brings so many wonderful channels of entertainment into our homes 24 hours a day is, I fear, an increasing engine of hostility to the Christ of the Bible. I am not talking specifically about the relentless glorification of sexual perversion (or at the very least sexual immaturity), violence, and materialism--those things have been glorified long before humanity invented television--but instead, I am talking about the extent to which we have come to rely on television as a teacher. Television teaches us about a great many things, it seems, particularly regarding the expectations we should have about God, about the world, and about ourselves, and the doctrines it most often professes are very clear: There is no God, we are capable of greater wonders than we ever thought possible, and what we gain in this life (for ourselves or for others) is of paramount importance.
These doctrines may ring in your heart as inspirational and true, but they are not the doctrines that the Bible teaches. It may be, my friend, that you will one day have to choose between the Bible and your television set if you want to have a clear idea of where things stand--both in this world and in the world to come.
2. It may mean that you will have to revise the way you approach sexuality.
Our society, it seems, has tossed aside almost every restraint in its exercise of sexual intercourse for the sake of personal pleasure--and virginity is increasingly regarded as a sign of childhood rather than a stance taken for reasons of physical, mental, and spiritual well-being. Unfortunately, as I can attest to you, the union of bodies under the sheets is also a union of souls and spirits, and if you think you can switch partners without suffering serious personal and psychological repercussions, you are deluding yourself.
I know that a lot of bad teaching (in the name of good morals) has confused many people about what the Bible says regarding the exercise of sexuality, and we will cover this topic in more detail later, but what I want you to understand right now is that if you share your body with someone, you are sharing your soul with that person as well. Therefore, it is of the highest importance that, if you value your soul, you will only allow it (and your body) to be shared with whoever Christ would have you share it with.
3. It may mean that you abandon some of the institutions of this world.
Jessica and I are going to join the growing ranks of homeschoolers across the United States, simply because we will not commit our children to an institutional regime that (1) does not recognize Christ Jesus as the Son of God and (2) cares more, in general, for its own self-perpetuation than for the students it is designed to teach. We are, after all, only stewards of the beautiful human beings that the Lord has given us, and since the Lord has given us the responsibility of raising them, we do not want to leave that charge to the care of strangers.
Our departure from the institutions of this world may occur in other areas as well, however:
Finances--Jessica and I may find ourselves lead to create home businesses rather than depending on multinational corporations for what seems to be readily available jobs and income.
Medical care--Jessica and I may be forced to choose between a dietary and health lifestyle that prizes good personal health habits over prescription drugs, and a lifestyle that will see us visiting doctors and hospitals over and over and over again.
Church--Jessica and I have essentially abandoned the practice of attending a congregation of strangers for 2 hours a week and instead are focusing our attention on a congregation that has far more personal significance . . . our family.
Let us look at Exodus 15:26 again.
There the LORD made a decree and a law for them, and there he tested them. He said, "If you listen carefully to the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the LORD, who heals you."
Now, why in the world would the Lord end his statement to the Israelites with something as dopey-sounding as "I am the Lord, who heals you?"
I researched this verse using Strong's Concordance, and I found that the Hebrew word translated "heals" means more than simply healing a wound or healing non-functioning organs. In short, the Lord is saying, "I am the Lord, who is capable of healing you of every disease and making you completely whole."
As I said earlier, believers in Christ are not citizens of this world, and so they will receive none of its promises or benefits--but they have something better in store for them. They will be "whole"--completely healed of every sickness, disease, and imperfection, and they will be far happier for it than anyone ever could be in this life. As Paul once said, those of us who are in Christ are being changed every day, our bodies and souls and spirits brought closer and closer to Christ's ideal, and when our Lord comes, we will be forever united with Him, and never again will we stumble, or walk blind . . . or sin.
Isn't that worth a little heartache in this life?
Ladies and gentlemen, I am not directing this post to the millions and millions of nonbelievers out there who have never considered or accepted Christ Jesus as their Lord and Savior--I am instead directing it to those who at one time accepted Christ but who now find themselves attracted, for whatever reason, to the things of this world. I want you to know that I understand where you're coming from--sometimes it seems that the road Jessica and I are on in Christ is a very hard road indeed, and we've both wanted to get off--but I also know that you will get nothing of lasting significance or enjoyment from this world. Pleasure--whether it comes from popularity or entertainment or physical highs--is fleeting, and it leaves you always cold and always, always barren inside.
If you are in Christ, you can't love the things of this world--and moreover, the world can't love you. As a nonbeliever, I was automatically (for reasons I would not have been able to explain even to myself) hostile to anyone and anything that bespoke Christ or Christianity. I was open to other religions, including Hinduism, Buddhism, and Rastafarianism, but I hated Christ and everything He stood for--and so did all of my companions.
Make no mistake, my friend--if you accept Christ as your Lord and Savior, you are from that point on an enemy of this world, and this world will do whatever it can to demolish you. If you pursue what it has to offer, you will be tolerated but (in secret) laughed at and ridiculed as a hypocrite, and if you pursue the Lord at the cost of the things of this world, your very existence will be a stench of death to those who have not given their lives to Christ.
Either way, they will hate you.
Wouldn't you rather they hated you for the stand you took than for your lack of interest in following the Lord you profess to serve?
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