Death to all sabbath breakers

Okay, so I'm reading through Numbers right now and I just sat down and started reading chapter 15. I don't get very far into it before I come across a very interesting passage. In this passage a man is caught gathering sticks on the Sabbath. The people arrest him and inquire of the Lord what ought to be done with him. God answers through Moses that he is to be put to death. Now I believe that every word is inspired and profitable and that God is infinitely holy and just and righteous. But I looked at this passage through the eyes of an unbeliever and someone of the world. At first glance it looks like God just went haywire and started going all crazy on people and killing them left and right. In fact, there are some chapters in this book that just start off with God launching a plague or fire or something within the camp and totally killing a few thousand people. What's going on with this. Especially this story. The dude was just trying to gather some sticks on a Saturday. What could possibly be wrong with that? I mean we don't go around killing people today because of that. I could see that person who looks at this passage totally blowing God and Christianity off as old and unprofitable and totally false. They wouldn't want to serve a God like that. We see this especially on all the tv shows that try to bring down Christianity by bringing up the (on the surface) crazy laws in the OT. So what's going on here? How can we answer this question?

I started thinking about it and at first the "easy" answer is that he broke one of the commandments of God and because of that he must be punished. And because God is infinitely holy and just, his sin required a punishment that was swift and brutal. We don't deserve mercy, we all deserve to die for even the smallest sins that we commit. This guy was just one that didn't get the mercy of God for his sin, but received a just retribution by the wrath of God.

That's all true, but I didn't find it completely satisfying. Don't get me wrong, this answer should be taught and it lays the groundwork for what I believe is the greater reason behind his death. In Hebrews it talks about the people of God receiving a rest (Heb. 3:7-4:13). In this section they reference the creation and how God rested from his works on the seventh day thereby establishing a sabbath rest that we all should follow. However, Hebrews doesn't stop at the physical requirements of taking a day off of work. It looks beyond that to see the spiritual meaning of our perfect and eternal rest with Christ. Hebrews 4:8-10 reads:

"For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on. So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from his." (emphasis mine)

The Sabbath rest that God instituted was to point us forward to the rest that comes in Christ both now (though not fully realized) and in heaven for eternity (fully realized). We are to rest from our works. We are to fully trust in God to provide for us the way of salvation. We are to find our joy and justification in Christ alone and that is to be our rest. When we come to true salvation we find rest for our souls from the endless and wearying toil of trying to make God happy through continual legalistic and religious ritual and rule. We must rest from our works. When we sin, we don't go though penance. Penance is a foul stench in God's nostril because it denies the Sabbath rest he promises us in Christ. We must rest from our works. The man in Numbers 15 didn't rest from his physical works and didn't trust in God to sustain him and protect him physically and therefore, because of that lack of trust in the mercy and grace of God, God put him to death. This is a great and terrible sign for us that if we don't trust fully and completely in the grace and mercy of Christ and rest from our works then we too will face the retribution and wrath of our just God. Praise God for his mercy and grace that we can find true rest for our souls. Seek the rest that comes from Christ and don't keep running to the chains of slavery to legalism and works. I need this most of all. Thank you Jesus. Thank you Jesus for saving my soul and giving me rest.

A long fortnight

I thought I would bust out some old english there and talk about my last couple of weeks. I was given the privelege by my pastor to preach the last two Sundays while he took a much needed break to focus on the vision and mission of our church. God led me to preach on the excellency of Christ. God prompted me to do this when I was looking out at an amazing sunset by Kayla's house and my mind went to a paper of Jonathan Edwards titled "The Excellency of Christ" where he talked about Jesus as the Lion and Lamb and the incredible beauty of Christ displayed in that amazing paradox. So I talked to Tom about him doing that series or something like that. A couple weeks later he asked me to preach a couple of sermons on that so he could take those weeks off. I readily agreed and was looking forward to it.

Needless to say, that subject is so far beyond me or my ability to preach on it. I found out quickly that I was biting off more than I could chew. That topic is beyond Edwards, let alone me. But, I trusted in the grace of God and pressed on with it and used my pitiful words to try to exalt our great God and Savior. I love the words of John Piper when he says that God loves to bless desperate pastors. I was desperate for His Spirit to take over and speak. He did. It was amazing. It wasn't of me. God spoke powerfully through me and gave me the grace to be a faithful servant. Last Sunday was especially powerful as I spoke on the humble and exalted nature of Christ from Phil. 2. I learned that it's not just about me. It's not just about that one man that stands and gives the message. It's about that one Man who came and died for our sins and rose victorious. And in order for that one Man to be exalted in our Sunday services it requires a great deal of men and women working together, building each other up in love, and serving our risen Lord to make it happen. I've known that intellectually and theologically, but never as experientially as last week. Worship was fantastic and Spirit-led and Christ-centered. That required the efforts of our worship leader and worship team (I was blessed to be on the team this week). During worship, one of the ladies in our congregation was especially moved by the Spirit to share some verses and ask us to repeat one of the songs so that we might enter into the joy of God and it was exactly what I needed to hear in that moment. Communion was powerful, as it usually is, and then I got up to speak. That doesn't even account for the numerous people that get there early to set up chairs, the stage, the sound, the greeters table, the coffee and food tables, and other ministries like nursery and children's church. So much happened that Sunday that led us to Christ in the power and grace of the Spirit so that we might see the Father. We were ONE body working toward ONE head in ONE Spirit with ONE mind. It was amazing. A couple weeks ago I thought I had been in one of the most powerful church services I could remember. This week topped that. Praise the name of Jesus. Praise His grace. Praise Him. Praise Him. Come Lord Jesus.

If you want to listen to those sermons, not that they're that great or important, you can download them at www.ccc-utah.com and click on the sermon tab.