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Our reading for the day. It's found in Exodus 21 verses 1 to 6. These are the
laws you are to set before them. If you buy a Hebrew servant he is to serve you
for six years but in the seventh year he shall go free without paying anything. If
he comes alone he is free to go alone but if he has a wife when he comes she
is to go with him. If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or
daughters the woman of her children shall belong to her master and only the
man shall go free. But if the servant declares I love my master and my wife
and the children and do not want to go free then his master must take him
before the judges. He shall take him to the door or to the door post and pierce
his ear with an awl then he will be his servant for life. This is God's word.
Thanks Cami and good afternoon everyone. Welcome to City Church and particularly
warm welcome to you if you are new or this is your very first time. You're
joining us at the very beginning of our kind of new series on the book of Exodus
we've kind of done chapters one through to 20 and so we're picking up on a
second go of the book of Exodus looking at chapter 21 onwards. Why don't I pray
before we dive into what is a very very strange passage. Heavenly Father we do
thank you so much that you you are a God who speaks to us as your word is open
and we come before you now with every confidence and every anticipation that
your spirit will reveal to us your truth. May you speak to every single one of us
here knowing the details of our circumstance the life that we have lived
and our week ahead. We pray that as we unpack these words none of us would leave
this place unchanged. Amen. So we're back in the book of Exodus and for those of
you who were with us last week I gave you a little bit of a summary of the
book of Exodus a bit like a kind of teaser campaign a little bit of a trailer
to remind you but effectively for those of you who have no idea about the book
of Exodus it begins in Exodus chapter 1 where the Israelites are slaves in Egypt
they've been slaves for about 400 years and then God rises up a leader called
Moses who challenges Pharaoh to let the Israelites go. Pharaoh says no there's a
whole bunch of plagues and eventually Pharaoh agrees and Moses leads the
Israelites out of Egypt through the parting of the Red Sea that many of you
probably be familiar with and then out into the wilderness on their way to the
promised land. So here we are in the wilderness the chapter we're starting
with chapter 21 we are in the wilderness we've escaped from Egypt we're heading
to the promised land but we're in the wilderness and God in chapters 21 to 24
gives the Israelites some instructions on how to be a new community and what we
have in chapters 21 to 24 are a selection an excerpt of different
instructions that God had given the Israelites and Moses who's put this
book of the Bible together has interwoven a selection of those
instructions and these instructions over these chapters and you'll be relieved
we're not doing kind of all or three chapters over our time together but God
has given these instructions in order for the Israelites to become a community
who will showcase God's goodness his wonder his kindness his love his
compassion to the whole of the world and trust me these chapters are anything
but dull you see the whole thing kicks off with these six verses that Cami has
just read to us they're gonna set the tone of all of the chapters to come and
they're gonna help us interpret all of the other instructions but I wanted to
focus on just these six verses because they kind of kick it all off and the way
that I want to do this is over our time together we're gonna have one strange
story in these six verses that I'm going to unpack for you but I'm gonna give you
three considerations three moments I'm just gonna pause the story I'm gonna
step out of it and then I'm gonna explain a little bit so that's what's
gonna be happening we're gonna travel fast it's a seat belt song okay let's go
well we begin our strange story particularly in verse 2 look with me at
verse 2 in your Bible God declares that at the end of the six years a slave can
go free the end of six years a slave can go free now in the ancient Near East
slavery was as commonplace in the ancient economy as a meal deal is for
lunchtime in Manchester it was just something that happened in all of the
different communities and economies at the time and so what we see here in
verse 2 is God seems to be creating what we might describe as a back door a back
door out of slavery and when we look at that it must be for us as 21st century
readers a massive fist pump because we're thinking to ourselves yes this
community that God is forming in the wilderness that he's rescued from
slavery in Egypt they are about to be a community that are gonna be really a
light to the nation so they're gonna live differently to the nations it's gonna
be a community of goodness and justice and blessing to the world but let me
pause there let me pause our story there for our very first consideration before
we go any further let me ask this question surely if God was inventing a
brand-new community why didn't he just ban slavery from the beginning it's not
interesting questions why building a back door to slavery rather than just
abolish it all together well think about it like this when Jesus is asked in
Matthew chapter 19 verse 8 okay about 1300 years after our passage when Jesus
is asked in Matthew 19 verse 8 about divorce he's challenged on the subject
of divorce Jesus says that the community that Moses led so the israelite
community that we're reading about in Exodus it describes how they had a
function of writing significant certificates of divorce they write a
certificate of divorce for this and they wrote a certificate of divorce for that
and if you needed a divorce for something over here you could have one
and if you needed a certificate of divorce for something over here you could
have one there but Jesus says Moses gave permission for the Israelites to write
these certificates not because God in all of his might and wisdom has a very
low view of marriage but Jesus said that they had these certificates of divorce
because the Israelites were hard-hearted people meaning that the
community that Moses was leading in Exodus wasn't given instructions for a
perfect community it wasn't the instructions for how to build a
community that was absolutely flawless like the one in Eden before the fall or
the one in the new creation that is to come no no no these instructions that we
have in Exodus they're like damage limitation for a community of Israelites
who were already broken who were already sinful a community of Israelites who if
they were left to their own devices would be as cruel as the Egyptian slave
masters that just come from or they would be as violent as the Canaanite
communities that were around them in the wilderness so what we'll see in
chapters 21 to 24 of Exodus you are going to see the blueprints for a new
community but it will have aspects as you read through those chapters that
will make us feel as 21st century readers a little bit uncomfortable but
though these instructions themselves were written for a very specific group
of people all those years ago actually the principles behind these instructions
the principles behind these laws actually they sing a beautiful melody
that was begun in Eden and that will reach its climax in the new creation and
that is what we have to particularly pay attention to when we apply these
instructions to us today okay so that's consideration one as we look at these
laws so back to our strange story in verses one to six look at me at verse
five in your Bibles verse five in your Bibles suddenly we see in this verse
something utterly confusing happens do you feel the drama of this particular
situation we're told that a slave who has perhaps sold themselves into slavery
because life has been turned upside down and in a desperate attempt to not to
starve to death they have sold themselves to a master when that slave
we're told has worked for six years they now have the opportunity to walk away
as free back into society they're free to make their own decisions again they're
free to no longer have to obey a master as property yet and here's the
surprising moment just at the moment they were allowed to walk away free they
are given the opportunity to say well actually I'm gonna remain bonded to my
master actually I could walk away but I'm gonna choose to stay it's not
remarkable now this passage gives us two reasons why someone who's been a slave
might choose to to stay someone might choose to make this absolutely
eye-popping remarkable decision and the first one is that their family was still
slaves what if they were were a slave and then they got married whilst they
were a slave and they had children whilst they were slaves well that might
be a reason to choose to stay themselves but of course you're probably sitting
there thinking well hang on a minute why didn't the guy then just wait for his
wife and his family to do their six years and then they would be free all
together as a family it's a little bit like someone doing a prison sentence but
after they come out of prison then we can be the family or someone doing a
tour of military duty a long campaign but when they come back then then we can
be family surely just a little bit more patience would mean that everything
would be okay why give up your freedom for that well the second reason that
someone in our story might give up their freedom for the rest of their life it's
for the rest of their life well do you see it in that in that passage that
we've had read I love my master I love my master that's the second reason
someone might extraordinarily choose to be a slave in fact it kind of makes sense
of the whole motivation here let me let me put it like this because you know
we're 21st century people in Manchester the idea of slavery is a strange thing
but let me put it like this what if a slave comes to the end of their six
years and they realize that nobody cares for them quite as well as their master
or they realize that actually nobody provides for them as bountifully as
their master did or maybe no one shows them as much dignity or humanity as the
way that their master treated them or perhaps no one looked after their
family or invested in their marriage like their master did or what if no one
gifted them clothes or ample food perhaps a safe place to live no one did
that for them to the same extent that their master did what if in a world of
danger and uncertainty nobody offered them protection as a family like their
master did by a master whose resources were so large he would never be
desperate and by a master whose character was so trustworthy he could
always be counted on well then maybe then you would have someone who loved
their family and their master so much that the best decision that they could
make in the ancient world to see their family flourish was to choose to bond
themselves to their master for the rest of their life in fact this very
instruction is repeated in Deuteronomy chapter 15 verse 16 and the reason given
in Deuteronomy 15 for someone doing this is stated as I do not want to leave you
because my family is well off with you do you see if you trust the master then
actually what looks abhorrent actually suddenly possibly makes sense now let's
pause here for a moment and step out of the story and and ask ourselves as
21st century people living in Manchester how do we feel about this well of course
we're repulsed aren't we by the idea of slavery that a human could own another
human and yet as we peer through the lens of this passage into a community
3,300 years ago and we see someone being offered a safety that they've always
longed for a sense of belonging that they've always craved for an environment
that they always knew their family needed and a security for their future
they always dreamed of even us right as 21st century Mancunians though we dare
not even utter it deep down do we not kind of understand why someone 3,300
years ago might say actually I'll stay well back to our strange story for the
strangeness continues that the master the master takes the man before the
judges now this would have been a very public thing it would have been
probably in a kind of main communal square everyone would have seen and he's
taken to the judges if he's decided to go ahead with this crazy decision in
order to make sure that it's all legal that it's all above board it would be
like seeing your personal life broadcast on the BBC News website for everyone to
see because it's publicly saying I forevermore will not be my own but I
will belong to another imagine saying that publicly before everyone and once
that happens look with me at verse 6 because verse 6 tells us it describes
to us one of the weirdest acts in the whole of Exodus because this ritual
contains three things an ear and all and a door post you see that very strange
isn't it very strange well come with me to consideration number three let me
pause there for a moment let me step out of the story here's a point of note
whenever you read something in the Bible particularly you'll often find it in the
Old Testament that just seems to be random or strange or very odd you need
to remember that the Bible is an ancient literature it is designed to be read and
reread and read again over and over and over for a lifetime so that you can make
links from one passage to another because as you make links from this
passage to this passage to this passage to this passage suddenly things that
were very strange begin to make sense so let me show you how that works in this
passage here let's get a little bit Sherlock Holmes about this shall we clue
number one the ear the ear now there is an there isn't actually very much said
about ears in the first five books of the Bible you might be surprised to hear
that now the very first books of the Bible are written by Moses and ears
don't come up very much but there is one mention of particular note in Leviticus
14 also written by Moses where the induction of a new priest a new priest
is told that he had to rub oil on his big toe that's right this is another
strange set of rituals right on his big toe because that symbolized that he
would walk in the way of the Lord right secondly he had to put oil on his thumb
because that would show that he was set aside to do the works of the Lord and
thirdly and this is for us he had to put oil on his earlobe because that would
signify that he was listening only to the Lord so in our Sherlock Holmes
trail of evidence in our so that strange strange story today we've got to bank
the first clue and the first clue is this the ear equals who you will obey
okay the ear equals who you will obey clue number two the all okay AWL now
this is a kind of pointy tool as you can see to pierce or to mark leather or wood
or other materials and for those of you who are a bit squeamish like me piercing
really is a theme right throughout the whole of the Bible in Genesis 40 verse
19 Pharaoh's Baker was pierced as a wooden pole was was thrown right through
the middle of him as a humiliating and gruesome punishment piercing right
throughout the rest of Scripture commonly refers to someone being killed
in a horrible and humiliating way but Moses remember Moses is the writer of
our passage in Exodus he actually uses this word pierce in Leviticus 24 and he
uses it to describe someone in the Israelite community who says something
bad about God says something to humiliate God our word blasphemy that we
would have translated in our own Bibles literally means in Hebrew to piss the
name of God so an all is to pierce someone and our clue is to pierce
someone equals to hurt and humiliate someone now come with me to clue number
three on our Sherlock Holmes trial clue number three is the doorpost that's
right the game is afoot now this clue many of you be thinking now this is the
easy one because you're thinking where have I heard doorpost before where have
I heard it in something that Moses would have written wherever I heard it in
Exodus well on the night that the Israelites left Egypt you'll remember
you'll remember God sent the angel of death to kill all of the firstborns of
every household unless they took the blood of a lamb and they put the blood
on the doorpost so unless you had blood dripping down your doorpost you were in
great danger if you were the firstborn and so in our passage when we see a
ritual that requires human blood to be dripping down a doorpost that's what
you'd get if you pierced an ear isn't it we know a doorpost equals a life for a
life exchange so back to our strange story what does this all mean let's
piece the clues together how can I describe it to you well I want you to
imagine in our story an Israelite slave called Jacob yeah an Israelite slave
called Jacob he's done his six years and so he decides actually rather than go
free he wants to be bonded as a slave for his master for the rest of his life
and as Jacob goes before the judges of his community and everyone's watching
like they are now and there's sniggers and laughter perhaps heckling from the
balcony there it is well Jacob would have to remind himself that his true
identity as an Israelite was not his freedom it was not his status within
society his true identity as an Israelite was he was loved by God as one
of God's special people that's who he really was and as Jacob as Jacob's head
is placed against the wood of the doorframe and his earlobe is white hot
in pain as the metal point of the all slices through the soft flesh and
pierces through it and act at the very front of a house or a tent or a dwelling
with all of the neighbors watching absolutely dumbfounded by anyone would
want to do this or why anyone who would agree to be humiliated like this well
Jacob Jacob would have to remind himself that from now on his attention would not
be focused on the crowd not focused on the heckling from the balcony his focus
would only be listening to the voice and instructions from now on from his
master because he knew that his master was trusted and was good and would have
the best intentions for him and his family and think about it like this is
his master as his master hears Jacob's shriek of pain as the all goes right
through his ear piercing it pinning him to the doorpost and his master watches
the blood gush from his ear down the wood well his master would know that
this man was giving up his freedom that this man yaka was dying to himself
exchanging his life to devote himself entirely to his service not because he
had to but because he chose to and I wonder I do wonder for those who sniggered
for those who laughed for those who mocked for those who said who would
ever do such a thing I I kind of wonder whether they thought themselves as they
watch that do you know I kind of wish I loved and trusted someone so much that I
was willing to do that for them or I wish that I was loved I wish that I was
trusted so much that someone would be willing to do that for me this is an
obscure passage isn't it exodus 21 verses 1 to 6 it's the introduction to
all of the other instructions in the book of Exodus about how people should
live in a community with each other and it begins with this very beautiful and
very rare ritual that sets the tone and template for every other instruction
that you will read but what does it mean for us that's the big question isn't it
what does it mean for us well let me speak to those of you who is sympathetic
to the gospel you know you've come to City Church you're not a member here you
wouldn't even describe yourself as a Christian but you are sympathetic to the
gospel but the thing that holds you back is the obedience thing to God because so
many of the things that Christians seem to live by just don't seem to make sense
in the 21st century and that puts you off well if that's you let me say two
things firstly pretty much all of the laws that exist today that protect the
values that you enjoy whether it's justice for the vulnerable compensation
for victims fairness in business restitution when trust is broken they
all find their route and they all ultimately flow out of Exodus 21 to 24
and without them our civilization would be built on the foundations of survival
of the cruelest so be thankful number two all of the laws and instructions that
you will find weird in Exodus the ones you'll find difficult or even
downright offensive even in the Bible they all flow out they all flow out of
God's heart to create a community built on love trust and self-sacrifice now
this is relight community is not hear me it is not the ultimate expression of
love trust and self-sacrifice we don't get that until we get to the new
creation as described in Revelation 21 but this is the equivalent of like a
duplo Lego set version of that community it gives you a sense of the masterpiece
that is to come but only in the very basic building blocks and that doesn't
mean that when we read some difficult things in the Bible we shouldn't feel
uncomfortable it doesn't mean that we shouldn't ask questions about it but it
does mean that verses 1 to 6 give us the blueprints of actually where these
things written for a community three thousand three hundred years ago where it's all
ultimately heading but finally let me talk to those of you who have put your
faith in Jesus those of you here you think actually it's very easy to be a
Christian surely God just wants me to tick the box that I want to be forgiven
for the rest of my life and it's job done I'm a Christian that's really it
that's all I'm signing up for well this passage teaches us that such an
attitude where it's just what I can get from God well that is a shallow husk of
a faith it's like going to the turquoise blue ocean of a Caribbean island and
only paddling in a puddle because you think actually wading into the sea water
is just too intense for you it's not a shame you see some of you here have been
remaining on the fringe of a Christian community perhaps it's this one perhaps
it's another one somewhere else and you intentionally have chosen never to be
known always to do church in the shadows because you think it allows you to be
devoted to the Lord without being bonded to him it allows you the freedom to do
what you want Monday to Saturday and because you tip your toe into the pool
of church on Sunday you think actually well I'm fine I'm not a spiritual
orphan I have some commitment to the Lord a foot inside the camp but not
accountable to anyone if that's you that is not the picture of spiritual health
that Exodus 21 verses 1 to 6 paint for if you were a believer if you are a
believer you have bonded yourself to God in a more radical way than this three
thousand three hundred year old ritual foreshadows and just as the ear of a
slave was willingly pierced when you committed to a relationship with Jesus
it changes everything everything it means that if you know that you're in a
relationship that doesn't honor the Lord that is not the way that God describes
how relationships should be in his word but all of the voices around you are
saying it's absolutely fine if you are committed to Jesus his voice is the only
one you should be listening to even if it's hard to obey or for those of you
who are involved in a practice at work that you know is not honoring to the way
that the Lord has asked you to live but all of the other voices around you are
saying look you better do it because if you don't your reputation is going to be
utterly destroyed the only voice you should be listening to is the Lord's
because when you committed to following Jesus whenever that was for you it was
as radical it was as public it was as stigmatizing and it was as permanent as
having your ear nailed to a doorpost now perhaps this passage of such radical
commitment actually reveals to you that your heart has grown a little bit cold
to the Lord and perhaps you don't love him as you ought to well the key to
remember that God is worth trusting and it's worth remembering that he never
asks us to do something that he hasn't done first for us you see 1300 years
after our Exodus passage Jesus went before the judges because he chose to
bond himself for us he went before the judges and they condemned him and the
community of Israelites considered him a man of shame and sorrow his freedom was
taken from him and Jesus allowed his flesh to be pierced and as he saw his
blood run down the wood not of a door but of a cross he knew that he was
giving up his life so that he can serve those he loves namely you you see the
remarkable message of Exodus 24 verses 1 to 6 is that Jesus chose to be nailed
to a piece of wood so that he could bind himself to you forever that's where this
passage ultimately points and only when we see our King do that for us first it
leads us to willingly pledge our lives to him second let me finish by it by
saying this I wonder if you've heard the story of Genesius of Rome he was a he
was a playwright and an actor during the time of Diocletian he wasn't a Christian
and he heard that Diocletian was coming to town and he thought this is my chance
he was a famous playwright and writer he thought this is my chance to totally
make my career he wanted to write a comedy about how ridiculous Christians
were how ridiculous they were and so he wanted to do some research he snuck into
a Christian community and he sat with them when they gathered at their weekly
service and he even mouthed along to the songs he even learned their doctrines
and he could say the right things he even got known by them and some of them
even called him their friend but he never had allegiance he was never loyal
he was just going through the motions just serving himself and when the
Emperor came to town he was ready the play was set and he walked away from
that Christian community ready to make his fortune he got onto the stage
Diocletian the Emperor was there at the back and he performed his piece it was
hilarious it took the mick out of Christians it showed them to be surely
ridiculous people who followed ridiculous instructions from a ridiculous
old scripture but in the midst of his performance he actually came to faith
the Lord Jesus revealed to himself there and then when he was on stage and he
ended up saying to the Emperor on stage put your trust in Jesus it's not
remarkable you see the Lord has a great sense of humor doesn't he he was dragged
away and they said look you can have your freedom back but you need to
renounce what you said and he said no I can't I can't I belong to Jesus they
said we will torture you and kill you unless you renounce you can walk away to
the life that you had just say it's not true and he said I can't so they tortured
him and just as he was about to have his head chopped off this is his final words
there is but one King I know it is he that I love and worship if I were to be
killed a thousand times for my loyalty to him I would still be his servant
Christ is on my lips Christ is in my heart no amount of suffering will take
him from me it's haunting words isn't it if I were to be killed a thousand times
for loyalty to him I would still be his servant every one of us here is
currently facing a micro death something that if we if we choose it
perhaps it will do well for us but it will not be as God asked us to live and
if we turn away from it perhaps it will cost us something that's very dear to us
and very precious to us and it will hurt every one of us faces a tiny death
today whatever that might be in your life will you turn to serve yourself or
will you turn to serve Christ your master I wonder what you'll do let's
pray heavenly father we we praise you and thank you that you are a good God and we
do ask we do ask that you would help us see how trustworthy you are how your
love for us is more extravagant remarkable and to our world ridiculous
than we could ever imagine and yet it moves us it moves us to commit ourselves
whatever the suffering whatever the stigma whatever the agony to serve you
no matter what amen