Senior Pastor Damein Schitter continues our Exodus series from Exodus 24:1-18.
Thanks, Evan. Good morning, thank you, thank you. My name is Damien. I'm so grateful to be here today Before we get started this morning. I've sometimes I'll do this. I felt a desire to do this this morning. You know all of the things that happen here, like we just walk in, but there have been people here for a long time this morning prepping and preparing so that you and I can be in this room now. And so let's give a round of applause and thank all those who are serving today. Applause Sincerely.
Damein:It takes 20, I don't know 30 people at least every week in order for us to be here, and we're grateful. Also, I want to thank Josh, who thoughtfully every week creates such a wonderful liturgy for us to come. Thank you, josh, and thank you Ryan and the liturgists. It's a lot of work. I remember the first time that one of the residents led liturgy right In seminary. We don't do that as much. We don't practice that as much. We practice preaching, which is good, but he came down after the first night and he said that was harder than preaching. And the point is is that there's something powerful about setting the tone and inviting everyone into what God is inviting us into, and there's something different, unique about it. So thank you, ryan, for all of your prep today and prayer. Thank you, josh. Yeah, let's clap for them too, applause.
Damein:I suppose one of the reasons that my attention was so focused on those things this morning is that in Exodus 24, what we actually read about is a worship service. It's a worship service. You might not see that on the first reading or the second or the third or the fourth, but it is. I promise you it's a worship service and we'll explore that a little bit today. You may say how do I know it's a worship service? Well, they're the basic elements of every worship service that we see, and I'm going to walk through some of those today.
Damein:But just at the outset it starts off with a call to worship. God actually calls Moses and others to himself. We see after that. We see the shedding of blood. Now, I won't be shedding any blood today, but later on I'll tell you why. There's no need to shed blood or to throw blood on you or any altar up here, but nevertheless, blood is still required for you and I to come. It's just already been shed once and for all. It's the blood that allows us to respond to God's call. Also. We hear God's word and we respond to God's word. We're invited to a meal, a fellowship meal, and then we're sent with the promise of God's presence. We see all of that here, actually in Exodus, chapter 24. We've been singing of covenant today, and all of God's promises only make sense in the context of covenant. When we speak of God's faithfulness, it only makes sense in the promise of covenant, in that context.
Damein:And so at New City you'll notice if you've been here with us before or for several years we do a lot of the same things. We have a basic call to worship, we have a basic order of service, and the reason is because we didn't make it up. Our denomination didn't make it up, the Reformation didn't make it up. It goes all the way back to texts like this, where we learn what gathered worship is and what the basic elements are. And one of the things that I've come to really deeply appreciate about gathered worship is that it happens weekly. We also didn't make that up, but rather God invites us, he gives us gathered worship weekly, and one of the reasons I love this so much is because all of us need rhythms of remembering to shape us properly. We all need rhythms of remembering to shape us properly.
Damein:Think about the reality is story and repetition are the most powerful things to shape us in our lives. Have you noticed that Story and repetition Think about repetition. What you do over your entire lifespan. The first thing when you get up will shape you over time. What you do at a stoplight every time you stop will shape you over time. What you do right before you go to bed will shape you over time. What you will do every time someone gives you constructive feedback, what is the first thing you do that's going to shape you over time. Are you okay with it? Do you like what you do in the morning? Do you like what you do at a stoplight? Do you like your initial reaction when someone offers you constructive feedback? Do you or do you not? Because that thing, that repetition, is shaping you. Now, gathered worship is the same. This repetition that we come and gather together every week in this order of worship, year after year, week after week, shapes us.
Damein:I had a seminary professor one time talk about how sometimes people will think the fact that the order of worship doesn't change much, that we'll get bored of that, but he said that's based on an assumption that human beings and our hearts are more like a factory line when you build a car. Because what would happen then? You have certain stops. You'd be invited to the first stop and you would to use the analogy you would grasp a truth and then you would move along to the next place in the assembly line and then you'd get the next one, and then you'd move along to the next place in the assembly line and get the next one. I've worked in a factory and I'll tell you this it's bad news when you start trying to ship things backwards. It doesn't work, and sometimes we think our Christian life and the way in which we're shaped is more like an assembly line. But it's not.
Damein:We regularly need to go back and be reminded weekly in fact of the basic foundations of our faith, and today this passage is about the basic foundations of our faith. It's about God's covenant. It's about the fact that God himself makes covenant, he keeps covenant, he confirms covenant, he renews covenant. Okay, so those aren't my points. I actually only have two points. Today, you're welcome. I could have gone. I had a lot of Cs, I had like seven Cs and I decided, no, we shouldn't do that today. So we're only doing two. We're only doing two Cs today. The first one is verses one through nine, which is covenant confirmed, all right. But before I get to one through nine, I wanna ask a question.
Damein:When I was in college and you would date people in this college ministry I was in, we had this phrase and it was called a DTR. Do you guys know what a DTR is? Yes, you do. That's great. Let's just dialogically go back and forth, because we never do that. What is DTR? Anybody? See, a lot of you guys do this by show of hands. How many of you didn't know that? Don't do that, I'm just kidding. So define the relationship DTR. In a sense, this is what God has been doing ever since Exodus 19. He's been defining the relationship.
Damein:In Exodus, chapter 19,. God brings his people now to the mountain and he tells them that they are his people and he is their God. In chapter 20, he gives them essentially their covenant stipulations. In chapter 20 is the 10 commandments and then, as Ryan mentioned, in 21, 22, 23, he gives case law and essentially that's him taking the Constitution, the 10 commandments, and applying them or working them out, giving examples of what these would look like in their everyday life. And now at the end, in chapter 23, before, after this, he'll give them instructions in the rest of the book to prepare a place for him to dwell in their midst. He wants to confirm the covenant, and so that's what's happening here in one through nine.
Damein:So let's look at verse one in chapter 24. Then he said to Moses come up to the Lord, you and Aaron, nadab and Abihu and 70 of the elders of Israel and worship. What is this? Does this sound familiar? Come and worship a call to worship. So it's the first thing that happens is God invites them to come and worship, and what we're gonna see is that two things happen in this worship service. One is that God reminds them of his promise of complete redemption. Complete redemption there's nothing they can do, there's nothing left undone. He has fully redeemed them. So we'll explore that. The other thing that we'll see in this worship service is that complete redemption has a proper response, and that proper response is complete obedience, not partial obedience, not sort of obedience, not I tried really hard obedience, but complete, whole, utter obedience, because it's to match God's complete whole, other redemption.
Damein:But let's think about a call to worship here just for a moment, because I don't wanna pass over it. Why do we start every worship service with a call to worship? Of course, it's not only on Sundays that God calls you to worship. God's call on your life is comprehensive. It's always there. Every part of our life is to be a response to God's call to be his people. Every part when you wake up, everything you do between that time and when you go to sleep. All of it, every aspect of your life. And what's interesting is that you and I, if we don't recognize that, what we might also not recognize is that it's not just God calling us every day. It's lots of things trying to call us every day, things that call us to live our life.
Damein:In light of Now, you may think that's abstract. What do you mean? Who else calls us? What else calls us? Well, you and I might experience the call of reputation. We might feel the need to respond and live all of our life motivated by creating and keeping and sustaining a particular reputation. Think about in the workplace. Is it God really who calls you into that place? Is it God really who's calling you into that boardroom? Is it God really who's calling you as you craft the agenda for that meeting as you lead a team into the next quarter's goals, or whatever it is. Is it God, really, or is it reputation? Is it the call of approval? Is it the call and allure of power? Is it the call of productivity? Is it the call of comfort? Is it the call of complacency?
Damein:You see, there are lots of calls every day that draw you and motivate us to do what we do. But we have to remember it's the call of God, who calls us moment by moment and then, once a week, calls us into his presence to renew that call, to remind us of that call, and that we can be reminded and respond again to that call. That's what's happening here. God's already called them and now he's renewing that call. He's reminding them of that call and so when he calls them and when he calls us, we're responding to his comprehensive call on our life. Something else that happens when God calls in this way is that he actually makes something new. He makes a new people when he calls them to himself. You see, in the scriptures, when God enters into a covenant relationship, he calls out to his people and he makes them new. Sometimes you'll hear the church refer to as the called out ones.
Damein:But I wanna show you that Moses, as he recounts this, is giving us a hint that that's happening here too, that God is making a new people Now. That already was clear in chapter 19 when he said you're to be a holy nation, a priesthood, you're to be my people. That's something new. But I wanna point something out in verse 15. If you wanna look with me here, we won't say much more about this today.
Damein:But verse 15 says then Moses went up on the mountain and the cloud covered the mountain. The glory of the Lord dwelt on Mount Sinai and the cloud covered it six days, and on the seventh day he called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud. Is there any other language that you've heard before? Six days and then a seventh day. Well, this should remind you of Genesis, chapter one, creation. This is the God who created in the beginning and this is also the God who's creating again. He's calling, as he did Adam and Eve, who now failed. He's calling a new people to embody his calling in the world, that they would represent him, that they would take his plan and his mission over all of the earth. That's who Israel is to be. And so God calls them decisively, comprehensively, to himself. He's not just a God of their religion, whatever that might be, he's a God of their entire life, comprehensively. And so now we see God's called them.
Damein:And then, in verse five, something really important happens. Before that, moses again he's been doing this several times reads to them the commandments of God. He's already written them down. He reads them to him, and then, in verse five, he sends young men of the people of Israel who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the Lord. And so sacrifices are already happening in this way. God's people called into worship. It's really dangerous for them. We're gonna find out out more and more in the book of Exodus. This should be. This is a terrifying thing.
Damein:And yet the way God makes this possible, that is, for them to respond to his call, is shed blood. So what does Moses do with his blood? In verse six, moses takes half of the blood and puts it in a basin, and half of the blood he throws against the altar Verse seven. Then he took the book of the covenant and read it in the hearing of the people, and they said all that the Lord has spoken, we will do and we will be obedient. And so what's interesting about this?
Damein:I just wanna point this out quickly. When Moses takes half the blood and puts it on the altar, what is he doing? Well, he is making atonement for their sins. Right, because what is happening? What is the altar representing? But the presence of God and his word and his commands. And so, in order for the people to come and respond, there must be sacrifice made, there must be blood put on the altar. Okay, this is the first thing that is necessary. Moses has to sprinkle half of the blood on the altar, because the primary need in this worship service is that God would be satisfied, that God, in his mercy, would provide substitution. Okay, you see, they would have been endangered by his wrath, but yet the way they're accepted into his presence is by sacrifice.
Damein:And the reason this is crucial is because, in covenant renewal, the promise is for complete redemption, and the purpose of redemption is fellowship, it's worship, it's to come and dwell with God. God moves toward us and then invites himself to us, and I just wonder what do you think the purpose of the Christian life is? Is the purpose of the Christian life to make your life easier? Is it to make you happy? Is it to give you comfort? Is it to give you clarity and direction? What is the primary purpose in your mind of the Christian faith? Is it because it's the right morals? Is it because this is how you've been raised? Why are you here? Well, all of those things have their place, but ultimately, what we find out is the purpose of the Christian life. The goal is fellowship with God, that he would dwell with us and that we would dwell with him, and that's what the sacrifice is making possible.
Damein:And one of the things I love about Christianity is that how can that work its way into all of our life? How can dwelling with God? That sounds like a very religious activity, almost like we'd have to put it into a compartment that we have the religious part, maybe Sunday morning from 9 to 1130, or wait a minute 10 to 1130,. Some of you've all been here since nine. We may think, oh, that's where Christianity is, or it's in my reading of the Bible in the morning, or maybe it's in family devotion. But what about my commute? What about work? What about email? What about my leisure? What happens then Is fellowship with God over here, communing with him, and then the rest of life is over here.
Damein:No one of the things I love about Christianity is that when we are united to Christ, the vision is that we get to live with God and before his face in all of life. In all of life and on these weekly gatherings, we come to be reminded, to be renewed in these promises and to respond to fresh to these promises. It's a beautiful thing, and so let me tell you what happens, briefly, when we begin to grasp that God's covenant provides complete redemption, complete redemption, what happens is that you, finally you and I finally know that we are completely loved, completely loved. We no longer have to strive to be loved by God, but rather we're completely loved and we're completely safe. There's nothing we can do to make God end this covenant. We didn't do anything to get him to make this covenant and there's nothing we can do to get him to stop this covenant. We are completely safe. By knowing that we are in this covenant with God, our lives are made meaningful, every single one of them.
Damein:I was thinking about this this week. I was thinking about how many of us we don't say that our lives are compartmentalized, but we live as though our lives are compartmentalized. We live as though this is our worship area of life and this is the rest of our life. And then what ends up happening is that we think, well, the priority in our life is this religious bucket and the rest of our life. We just sort of make our way through it and try not to transgress too many things that might be in this religious bucket. And again, we don't necessarily set out to do this, but this is something that can happen.
Damein:But let me tell you from experience, when we do that, when we live a compartmentalized or a conflicted life, because we're made to live in a story, to give ourselves to a purpose that is so awe-inspiring, that is so comprehensive, that is throughout all of our lives, right through our heart, in our imagination, if we live a compartmentalized life, it's not that grand vision, but because we're made for that, what ends up happening is we actually try to find other things to supplement our life with God, things that capture our imagination, things that drive us and give us a vision of the future. Maybe it's starting new businesses, because the kingdom of God isn't enough Now, those go together. But if we don't give ourselves wholly to understand how we end up living compartmentalized lives, pushing earnings in this quarter, family planning in a certain way, hobbies, right. Some of us are like driven and we think, well, I need to run a half marathon, I need to run a marathon, whatever it is for you.
Damein:What ends up happening when we don't have this comprehensive vision that Jesus has so comprehensively called us to himself, decisively, that everything in our life is to come under God's purposes in his kingdom. We end up trying to supplement our life. But the invitation is actually much more comprehensive than that. God has comprehensively redeemed us, which means that all of our life is to be a comprehensive response. This is what I'm getting at All of our life is to be a comprehensive response to what God has done. You'll notice that three times once in 19, two times here the people hear the word of God and they say we will do it. There's no nuance. There's no, maybe we'll do it. There's no, we'll think about it. There's no, we'll try. There is, we will do it. We will do it Now. This is a proper response because God has comprehensively redeemed them, so they are now to live their lives comprehensively for him. But think about this when we think about complete obedience to God, we have to also think okay, well, what are areas in our lives that we're actually not responding to God's call. What are areas of our lives that, intentionally or unintentionally, we've basically bracketed off? Maybe it's relationships, and I don't only mean romantic relationships. It could be relationships with coworkers, it could be relationships with a brother or a sister or a mother or a neighbor, literally a next door neighbor. It could be a relationship with your spouse.
Damein:You know, I was talking this week with a person I was with who's in the construction industry and we were talking about the challenge in that industry of getting contract workers. When you contract with people to get them to do their job. And this person was telling me about there is a culture that has been formed in this industry where you almost have to treat these people as subhuman in order for them to respond and get them to do what you do. And now there's one way to respond is to say that's just the way it is. And but this person was talking and saying but I don't want it to be that way. And so you see, what had happened was they had recognized that they couldn't just shut off their Christianity. They couldn't just shut off this comprehensive call to God and say, well, god will understand. I can treat this person as subhuman because in my industry that's how you get things done. That may be true for now, but this person was wrestling with this and I wonder, in your own industry, where do you just shut it down? Maybe you're in medicine, you're in the emergency department, and I had an emergency room doctor who went through a residency where they gave them this mantra move, meet. And essentially what they were saying is get these people through quickly. Why? Because it's a commodity, this is how we make money.
Damein:There was a cynicism in the pain of that work that had overcome this residency program and this is what they were steeped in. But you see, they pushed back and they said how do I comprehensively respond to who God has called me to be? How do I do that in that place? You see, there is no compartment. We have to push against the darkness. What about your finances? What about your dreams for the future? Is all of this in line with God's call on your life? Do you dream with Him or do you dream apart from Him? Bring those dreams back to Him and say bless my dreams. Bless my dreams.
Damein:The comprehensive call of God is just that comprehensive. And when we come back for covenant renewal every week in this place. God is reminding us of His covenant promises and the proper response is covenant obedience, because God is good and he saved us and he's called us to Himself. I wanna end this point here. You see, in covenant renewal, what we see is that God holds nothing back from us. Jesus didn't empty Himself almost to the point of death. He didn't mostly empty Himself, but in fact he emptied Himself completely and he didn't suffer on the cross to the point where he almost died, but he died. He gave His life wholly. He suffered unto death.
Damein:As the apostle says, god offers all of Himself and what he wants to do is, every week he wants to show you in this place that he offered Himself fully for you. He held nothing back. He loves you. There's nothing you did, there's nothing you can do to elevate His love for you. It is comprehensive and you may think what about that Covered? What about this God Covered? God wants to remind you that you are completely loved because of what he has done. His covenant promises are comprehensive.
Damein:Now, the only proper response to that is to joyfully respond with complete obedience, to renew again our desire to do all that he has commanded. As the people of Israel said three times, we'll do all that you have commanded. There was no coercion. There was no coercion, it was kindness that drew them and draws them when God calls us to obey. There's no coercion, there's kindness. That's what the apostle Paul says in Romans that it's the Lord's kindness that draws us to repentance Week in and week out. When we see all that God has done for us, we respond because of His kindness. He's not here with a paddle, he's here with open arms, Week in and week out, moment by moment, day by day. This is the God of covenant. This is the God who came to us to make a way and continues to hold that way and call us into that way. Even when we go astray, we repent and come back. And so, okay, I'm going way past my notes. Now let's go to the second point so we can land this plane. So not only in covenant renewal do we see that God's confirming His covenant by reminding us week in and week out of His comprehensive promises, but also our comprehensive obedience. And then every week, we get to celebrate this covenant Covenant celebration.
Damein:Look with me in verses nine through 11. Then Moses and Aaron, nadab and Abihu and 70 of the elders of Israel went up and they saw the God of Israel. There was under His feet, as it were, a pavement of sapphire stone, like the very heaven for clearness, and he did not lay His hand on the chief men of the people of Israel. They beheld God and ate and drank. Okay, this is the sermon series nine through 11.
Damein:So many questions and they saw the God of Israel. This is remarkable. And Moses, writing this, just says yeah, we saw Him, like you saw God. Yeah, that's what I said. Now, of course, we find out later. They didn't see His face.
Damein:Most commentators will point out that they probably saw something like His feet right, something that he's standing on, but His presence was palpable. He was really there. He was really among them, which is why I think, when we go back, when I preached about the Amalekites and that war, one of the things the Amalekites did is they tried to put their hand on the throne of God. What they tried to do is they tried to grab the throne, they tried to take down God's lordship. So what did he do? He put His hand on them, which is judgment. And here we're told God did not put His hand on them. Why? Because the way had been opened, judgment was not brought down on them. And so there's this amazing reality where God has made a way for them. He calls them close to Him and judgment has been taken care of. They're not judged, but they get a commune with God.
Damein:And then what happens? They eat, they beheld God and ate and drank. What is this eating and drinking? Well, the importance of meals. You can't really overstate that.
Damein:In the Bible, in the ancient Near Eastern culture, you and I, when we signed contracts which in your mind you think that's probably the closest thing we tend to think about with covenants is we signed contracts, and that's how you know. It used to be a handshake, maybe, and that was the way in which we confirmed an agreement. Now we signed pieces of paper. In the ancient Near East, covenants were ratified with a meal. So it wasn't a handshake, it wasn't a signing, it was a meal, and that's why, over and over, when covenant is made, you commune together. It's really hard to eat with an enemy, isn't it? What happens? Even now, when we draw people to a table, there's fellowship in a unique way, especially when we invite them. We're inviting them into a particular type of fellowship, and that's what's happening here.
Damein:When God renews covenants, when he makes covenants, there's always a meal. Now I'm not going to go back for too long, but the offerings that were given one was a burnt offering, and you burn that up wholly, and it represents two things. One is God's atoning for your sin. There's a substitution, but then also the thing is burnt up completely, which is then to represent our natural response, which is to give ourselves wholly to God. Just like that thing was burnt up wholly and completely. But the other one was a fellowship offering. It was a meal. It was this reality where God was calling them to fellowship. And I'm not going to steal Ben's thunder. I know he's trying to decide what he's going to say right now at the Lord's table, but I'm just going to point to this this is a fellowship meal. You can build on that if you want.
Damein:This is a fellowship meal. God is inviting us to eat with him as we renew this covenant. This is one of the many reasons why, at New City, we do this every Sunday. Every Sunday there's a part of me and it's really the most part of me, but I'm nuancing this because I'm being recorded right now is that. I just don't know what sets this apart as a covenant renewal and gathered worship. Unless we do that, unless we take this meal together Because there are many conferences we go to where we sing, where we read scripture and where we hear teaching but only here, in the smorgasbord of grace, in God's gathered worship with his church, do we also get invited. He invites us to this fellowship meal where we get to eat together because he is the host and we are his guests and he wants to renew this fellowship. He's saying in essence look me in the eye, look me in the eye. There's nothing separating us, there's nothing in between us anymore. I've taken care of all of it.
Damein:The St Corinthians 3 say we now, with unveiled faces, beholding the glory of the Lord, what did they do? They beheld him and they ate, but we now in a new way, in a fulfilled way, not fully fulfilled until Jesus comes again, but in this unique way we get to behold the face of Jesus and he invites us to this meal and we fellowship with him. By the way, this is why you eat at weddings is because what's happening there's a covenant, isn't it? There's a covenant between these people and we get to watch it. It wasn't our idea. God gifts us marriage and so historically, traditionally this is a reason why we eat at weddings is because you eat when a covenant is formed. Isn't this amazing the power of God inviting us to a meal. This is not merely a memorial we're eating with Jesus.
Damein:And where I want to end today is God confirmed his covenant in Exodus 24. There's a celebration of this confirmation, and I said that this informs what's happening right now that God calls us to worship, and while the covenant's already been confirmed week in and week out, we come here for it to be renewed. Now I want you to know Ryan said it at the beginning many things have happened this week. Many things weigh on your conscience. You're not outright disobedience, but just uncertainty. Your conscience isn't clear. You're not sure if that was the right thing to do, the right thing to say, or if you should have said something that you didn't.
Damein:All of these things may fill your mind, they may fill your heart, but the invitation at this covenant renewal is not to leave them out there and somehow try to have a religious experience, but rather it's to bring all of that here and to bring it to the Lord and to offer it to Him, to bring your whole self in repentance and worship and gratitude, and it's to receive His whole forgiveness because of His life and death and resurrection. You see, this covenant renewal, I said I wasn't going to throw any blood on you guys. Today it's because all the blood that needed to be shed is shed and you say but I didn't keep the covenant faithfully, I didn't fully obey. I know and so does he. But you see, jesus is the ultimate covenant keeper so that you and I, who are covenant breakers, can return in repentance and be restored and renewed. We are safe, we are loved, we are adopted into the family. And so, as I send you as we move on, I won't send you yet.
Damein:That's benediction as we move on into this next part of reflection, there are a number of things that you can reflect on.
Damein:Ben's going to lead you into that, but I tell you what I'm going to reflect on in these few moments.
Damein:I'm going to reflect on the reality that Jesus is my covenant keeper, that Jesus and his life and death and resurrection is now my record, and that my desire for obedience is not to earn anything my obedience earns me nothing but rather it's true response and worship to the God who gave himself completely, and I just want to grow in my desire to give myself completely to him, who is good.
Damein:Let's pray, father, we thank you for your covenant. We thank you that you're a covenant keeper, that you invite us, week in and week out, to renew this promise and to call for renewed obedience, reminding us that you have secured our adoption. You've secured our adoption, you've secured our status in the family, and we ask that, holy Spirit, you would give us peace and you would give us a glimpse of the goodness and beauty of our Lord Jesus, that somehow, even a little bit, we would see what those men saw, that we would experience that and that we would respond and worship In His Jesus name. We pray Amen. Deputy Mayor Beebe Russell has been Cooking for 15 years now and you'reMark weeks soon, I hope.