The curse of our selfishness and rebellion results in us being rebellious to the core and God being outraged to the core...

This week, we have been looking at the beginning of a famous and familiar story in the Bible. Wednesday, we saw that as a result of the reality that humanity was selfish and rebellious to the core, God was going to exercise His right and just response to that rebellion. Just as humanity had ruined the world because of the curse that their rebellion brought to the planet, God was going to ruin humanity. Today, we see God communicate this reality to Noah in Genesis 6:14:

"Make for yourself an ark of gopher wood; you shall make the ark with rooms, and shall cover it inside and out with pitch. "This is how you shall make it: the length of the ark three hundred cubits, its breadth fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits. "You shall make a window for the ark, and finish it to a cubit from the top; and set the door of the ark in the side of it; you shall make it with lower, second, and third decks. "Behold, I, even I am bringing the flood of water upon the earth, to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life, from under heaven; everything that is on the earth shall perish. "But I will establish My covenant with you; and you shall enter the ark-- you and your sons and your wife, and your sons' wives with you. "And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every kind into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female. "Of the birds after their kind, and of the animals after their kind, of every creeping thing of the ground after its kind, two of every kind will come to you to keep them alive. "As for you, take for yourself some of all food which is edible, and gather it to yourself; and it shall be for food for you and for them." Thus Noah did; according to all that God had commanded him, so he did.

The Lord commands Noah to build an ark that was 450 feet long by 75 feet wide by 45 feet deep, which would make the total deck area of the ark approximately 95,700 square feet. The Lord explains to Noah that he is to build the ark because He was going to bring a flood of water to the earth to wipe out every living thing on the planet in His right and just response to the selfishness and rebellion that filled His heart with sorrow and outrage.

With the exception of Noah and his family and two of every kind of animal, life on this planet was to be extinguished. Now an almost immediate question that arises here is “Well Dave how did Noah fit all the different types of animals on the ark? It is impossible to fit every kind of animal on the ark, so this story is a fable”.

If that question is running through your mind, here is my response: Notice the phrase “after its kind” in verse 19 and 20? Just as we saw in the “In the beginning series” the phrase after their kind refers to a specific species or order. So Noah did not take every single type of cat onto the ark. He took two cats. Noah did not take every type of bird onto the ark. Instead he took two birds.

In addition, notice that Noah did not have to go out and catch all the different types of animals that were going to go on the ark. Verse 20 tells us that God gathered that animals and brought them to Noah, who then placed them on the ark. Noah was responsible to gather enough food so that his family and all the animals would survive during the duration of the flood.

You see, as God was executing His right and just response to the selfishness and rebellion of humanity that filled His hearty with sorrow and rage, God had also chosen to extend grace to Noah and his family, along with some representatives of the rest of creation. The ark would be the vehicle that God would use to reveal His justice and His grace.

Noah responds to God’s command by beginning to prepare for the flood of waters by building the ark. The Bible tells us that it would have taken Noah approximately 75 years to complete this project. Now imagine being Noah. Place yourself in his shoes. God tells you to build an ark because there is going to be a flood that destroys all life on the planet. So you begin to build the ark. Now you live in a dessert. Can you imagine the conversations that took place?

“Noah, what are you doing? I am building an ark. Why are you building an ark? Because God told me there was going to be a flood of water. Noah, how is there going to be a flood? It’s going to rain. It’s going to rain a lot. Noah, what’s rain?” You see, in Genesis two, we discover that the earth was basically watered by an underground watering system. It had never rained before. Most likely, there probably had never been clouds.

So, Noah had to trust God and the promises of God. Noah had to place his confident trust in God and act on that trust in the midst of ridicule. “Hey did you hear what Noah’s doing. Noah’s building and ark because God told him that it was going to rain and that there would be a flood. What a loser!” Noah spent approximately 75 years building the ark in the midst of ridicule from others. Noah spend 75 years building what would serve to be a sign of God’s judgment to those who rejected Him and a sign of grace to those who trusted in Him.

And while Noah spent 75 years being ridiculed, things would change significantly, as Moses records for us in Genesis chapter 7:

Then the LORD said to Noah, "Enter the ark, you and all your household, for you alone I have seen to be righteous before Me in this time. "You shall take with you of every clean animal by sevens, a male and his female; and of the animals that are not clean two, a male and his female; also of the birds of the sky, by sevens, male and female, to keep offspring alive on the face of all the earth. "For after seven more days, I will send rain on the earth forty days and forty nights; and I will blot out from the face of the land every living thing that I have made."

120 years after decreeing His decision; 75 years after commanding Noah to build the ark, God commands Noah, his family, and the animals to enter into the ark. Moses tells us that it took seven days to get all of the animals and provisions into the ark. Part of those provisions would be extra animals that Noah would later use to worship God. After preparing and packing the ark, we see what happens next in verse 10:

It came about after the seven days, that the water of the flood came upon the earth. In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on the same day all the fountains of the great deep burst open, and the floodgates of the sky were opened. The rain fell upon the earth for forty days and forty nights. On the very same day Noah and Shem and Ham and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah's wife and the three wives of his sons with them, entered the ark, they and every beast after its kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth after its kind, and every bird after its kind, all sorts of birds. So they went into the ark to Noah, by twos of all flesh in which was the breath of life. Those that entered, male and female of all flesh, entered as God had commanded him; and the LORD closed it behind him. Then the flood came upon the earth for forty days, and the water increased and lifted up the ark, so that it rose above the earth. The water prevailed and increased greatly upon the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water. The water prevailed more and more upon the earth, so that all the high mountains everywhere under the heavens were covered. The water prevailed fifteen cubits higher, and the mountains were covered. All flesh that moved on the earth perished, birds and cattle and beasts and every swarming thing that swarms upon the earth, and all mankind; of all that was on the dry land, all in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, died. Thus He blotted out every living thing that was upon the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky, and they were blotted out from the earth; and only Noah was left, together with those that were with him in the ark.

Do you know what is often missing from the Sunday school stories of Noah and the ark? Do you know what I have never seen on the mural of the story of Noah and the ark that is painted on a nursery room wall? What is often missing is the sights and sounds of multitudes of men, women, and children drowning as a result of God’s right and just response to the selfishness and rebellion of humanity that filled Him with sorrow and outrage.

And it is in this story that we see God reveal for us two timeless consequences that the curse of selfishness and rebellion brings to humanity. And those timeless consequences are that the curse of our selfishness and rebellion results in us being rebellious to the core and God being outraged to the core. You see the story of Noah and the ark is not about a boat and some animals. The story of Noah and the ark is the story of the selfishness and rebellion of humanity.

The story of Noah and the ark is the story of the holiness and justice of God. The story of Noah and the ark is the story of the sorrow and outrage that God feels toward selfishness and rebellion. The story of Noah and the ark is the story that selfishness and rebellion is a big deal and that God responds to the selfishness and rebellion with sorrow and outrage.

So here is the question: if you were to place yourself in this story, where would you be? Would you be in the ark? Or would you be floating like deadwood in the water?

You see, apart from God’s grace, all of us are deadwood in the water. You see the story of Noah and the ark serves as a reminder of God’s judgment to those who reject Him and a sign of grace to those who trust in Him. Just as Noah placed his confident trust in God and His promises, we must place our confident trust in Jesus Christ as the fulfillment of God’s promises.

Otherwise, we are just deadwood drifting in the water…

Selfish and Rebellious to the Core...

This week, we are looking at a section of the very first letter that is recorded for us in the Bible called the book of Genesis. Yesterday we saw the Lord proclaim that since humanity had clearly demonstrated, by their very nature, that they are more than willing to selfishly rebel and reject Him, that in 120 years, He would exercise His right and just response to their selfishness and rebellion. Today, we see this reality revealed for us in stark detail beginning in Genesis 6:5:

 Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. The LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.

As the Lord looked at the state of humanity on the planet, He came to two conclusions based on the evidence He witnessed. First, the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth. In other words, humanity acted in an evil and perverse way toward God and one another. Humanities actions placed themselves in opposition to God.

Second, the Lord saw that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Now when the Bible uses the word heart, this word refers to center and the seat of our emotions and our will. The heart refers to the core of what makes up our being.  And as God looked at the core of humanity, what God saw was that every intent; every thought; every desire was on evil continually. In other words humanity was selfish and rebellious to the core. Humanities attitudes, desires, and actions were consumed with selfishness that willingly placed themselves in opposition to God.

And God’s conclusion based on the overwhelming evidence, led God to a response. And God’s response was twofold in nature. First, the Lord was sorry that He made man on the earth. God was filled with sorrow. You know that sorrow that comes when the person you have been pursuing rejects you. That hurt and pain that comes from betrayal. The Lord had created humanity for relationship with Him and one another and humanity responded by rejecting that relationship. And God was sorry and filled with sorrow.

Second, the Lord was grieved in His heart. What is interesting is that the word grieved here, in the language that this letter was originally written in, literally means to be vexed or bitterly indignant. God was grieved in the sense of being outraged. The Lord was outraged that humanity would rebel and reject Him openly and defiantly.

You see, God is holy and God is just. God does not simply look the other way at wrong and injustice. And as the Lord recognized that humanity was selfish and rebellious to the core, God, in His holy justice was outraged to the core. God was filled with sorrow and God was filled with a right and just anger at humanities rebellion.

Now the reason that this is significant is because God is everlasting and never changing. And God looks at selfishness and rebellion today the same way that He looked at selfishness and rebellion in this story. God is just and God is right. And when humanity selfishly rebels and rejects God and the word of God, God is filled with sorrow and God is filled with outrage. And God’s sorrow and outrage leads God to a response, which Moses records for us in Genesis 6:7:

The LORD said, "I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them."

God’s response to the selfishness and rebellion of humanity was pointed and powerful: "I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them." The phrase to blot out literally means to wipe out by washing. This phrase is a word picture of taking a wet dish cloth and wiping a counter to clean off the dirt and grime off a table.

All of the creation that had been corrupted as a result of the curse that the selfishness and rebellion of humanity brought to the creation was to be wiped out. God was going to exercise His right and just response to the selfishness and rebellion that filled His heart with sorrow and outrage. God was going to wipe the planet clean of the dirt and grime that selfishness and rebellion had placed on the planet. God was going to rightly respond in justice. And God was going to respond in a way that reflected another aspect of His character in verse 8:

But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.

The word favor here is the same word that is also translated grace in our Bibles. As God looked over selfish and rebellious humanity, God chose to extend grace to one man and his family. You see, it has always been about grace. It has always been about God’s pursuit and rescue from selfishness and rebellion. And here God chose to extend grace and rescue Noah and his family from the judgment that was to come. Moses then launches into one of the most familiar stories in the entire Bible beginning in verse 9:

 These are the records of the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time; Noah walked with God. Noah became the father of three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Now the earth was corrupt in the sight of God, and the earth was filled with violence. God looked on the earth, and behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth. Then God said to Noah, "The end of all flesh has come before Me; for the earth is filled with violence because of them; and behold, I am about to destroy them with the earth.

Here we see Moses begin to share the story of Noah and the ark. At least that is how we tend to refer to this story, don’t we? This is a story about Noah and his family and animals and a really big boat. This is a story that we tend to memorialize on the walls of our children’s nursery, don’t we? But let’s take our time and notice how God tells the story through Moses.

Moses begins by stating that Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time. But why was Noah righteous? What did Noah do to be right with God? The answer is nothing, because just a few verses earlier, we saw that as God looked at the core of humanity, what God saw was that every intent; every thought; every desire was on evil continually.

In other words all humanity, including Noah was selfish and rebellious to the core. Noah was right with God because Noah found favor in God’s sight. Noah was right with God because God extended grace to Noah. Noah walked with God because God pursued Noah and extended grace to Noah. When Moses says Noah was blameless, that does not mean Noah was sinless; it means that Noah lived a life of integrity that was based on his relationship with God that was the result of God’s activity in Noah’s life, not Noah’s activity for God.

As God looked at the reality that the world had been ruined as a result of the violence and wrong that resulted from humanities rebellion from God, Moses reminds us of God’s conclusion and response. When Moses uses the phrase “the end of all flesh has come before Me” this phrase literally means “I am resolved and have decided that it is time to destroy humanity.” God is saying “it is time to wipe humanity from the planet because of the dirt and grime that their selfishness and rebellion had placed on the planet.” Just as humanity had ruined the world because of the curse that their rebellion brought to the planet, God was going to ruin humanity.

Friday, we will see God communicate this reality and His response…

Sons of God, Daughters of Men, and Nephilim, Oh My...

During the summer have been spending our time together wrestling with a fundamental question. And that fundamental question is this: If the Bible tells us that God created everything that exists out of notheing...and it was all very good! If God created humanity to reveal and represent Him as they live in relationship with Him and one another... and it was all very good! If God created marriage to engage one man and one woman in a lifelong commitment that reveals and reflects God’s love for us…and it was very good! Then what happened? If everything was so good, then what happened to make things so bad?

We talked about the reality that there is something within all of us that recognizes that things are not the way they should be. There is something within all of us that senses that we are flawed and broken people. To find the answers to these questions, we have been looking at a section of the very first letter in our Bibles called the book of Genesis.

This week I would like for us to jump back into a section of the very first letter in our Bibles, called the book of Genesis, beginning in Genesis 6. However, before we can jump into Genesis chapter 6, we first need to understand what happened in Genesis 5. In Genesis chapter 5, we see Moses record for humanity throughout history the family tree of Adam.

When we look at this family tree, or genealogy, two things almost immediately jump out at us. First, we notice that people lived for a really, really, long time at the beginning of God’s story. The average lifespan of people during this period of history is between 750 and 970 years.

Second, we notice that the family tree, or genealogy, of Adam is incomplete. What I mean by that is that this genealogy does not give us a detailed description of every descendant of Adam and Eve. Throughout Genesis chapter 5, we read that so and so lived for x amount of years and became the father of y child and he had other sons and daughters.

Now this is significant for two reasons. The first reason that this is significant is this: just think how many sons and daughters one could have if you lived for over 700 years? A common objection that I often hear about the Bible is “so how did the earth get populated if there was just Cain, Abel, and Seth? Are you saying that Adam and Eve’s children had sex with one another?”

Just imagine how quickly the gene pool would diversify if Adam and his descendants were having 50 plus kids during their lifetime? While initially Adam’s immediate offspring would be marrying their brothers and sisters, within two generations of people that lived for between 700-900 years, the earth would be populated to the point where they would not be marrying what we would call today close relatives. You would not have a bunch of “blue blood” kids running around, because the genetic pool would become very diverse, very quickly.   

The second reason why this is significant is due to the reality that while the Bible records events that occurred in history, it does not record every event that occurred in history. And the Bible does not provide us an exhaustive genealogy of every human being that was ever born. The Bible records the lives of those in God’s story who played a significant role in God’s story.

Now, with that in mind, let’s look together at what is probably the most difficult passage of the Bible when it comes to trying to picture and understand what happened. We find this mind numbing section of the Bible beginning in Genesis 6:1:

Now it came about, when men began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them, that the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose. Then the LORD said, "My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; nevertheless his days shall be one hundred and twenty years." The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.

To which we say “What?” These verses have sparked great debate for thousands of years. And since none of us were around when this happened, we will never be able to fully answer the questions that these verses provoke with certainty. Now the reason why these verses spark such debate and provoke such questions is due to the phrase “sons of God”. In other words, who are these sons of God who married daughters of men and produced children who were referred to as the Nephilim?

In the vast majority of cases, the phrase “sons of God” is used in the Bible to describe angels. If that is the case then Moses is recording for us that there was a group of angels who had rebelled against God and married beautiful women. And as a result of those marriages, children were born, who were called the Nephilim, who Moses describes as mighty men, men of renown, which literally refers to a type of glory that never fades.

Now some of you right about now you are thinking “so Dave, you’re saying the angels had sex with humans and produced a group of half angel half humans who had superhuman powers?” That is one possible interpretation of these verses. There are a couple of problems with that view however. The first problem is that in the Bible, there are places where the phrase “son of God” refers to men as well, such as Psalm 82:6. The second problem is that Jesus stated that angels are not male or female and do not marry.

Third, Moses does not mention angels anywhere before or after this story. And finally, the story that follows involves God’s response to the selfishness and rebellion of humanity. God’s response would not have effected or impacted angels as only humans experienced God’s response. 

A second possible interpretation of these verses is that descendants of Seth had married descendants of Cain. This was forbidden per God’s command against Cain because of his sin of killing his brother Abel, which we looked at two weeks ago. However, instead of living as a wanderer Cain and his descendants defied God and began to have children. And over time, as Cain’s family tree grew and Seth’s family tree grew, they began to marry and have children, in rebellion to God’s command. However, the problem with this view is that the phrase “sons of God” is most often used to describe angels in the Old Testament.

So which view is right? The short answer is that no one on the planet can say with certainty, because no one was there and the Bible leaves sufficient room for debate. I personally lean toward the position that descendants of Seth had married descendants of Cain against God’s command. I lean that way based on the fact that God states that His response was to deal with the selfishness and rebellion of humanity. God does not mention angels of judgment of angels here.

While we may not be clear who the sons of God refer to, we are 100% clear on God’s response to the situation. God makes it abundantly clear that "My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; nevertheless his days shall be one hundred and twenty years." But what does that mean?

While some have held this to mean that God would only allow humanity to live for 120 years, the reality is that after this, we see humans who live longer than 120 years. If Moses was communicating this to us today in the language that we use today, this phrase would have sounded something like this: “since humanity has clearly demonstrated, by their very nature, that they are more than willing to selfishly rebel and reject Me, I am no longer going to contend and fight with them. Instead, in 120 years, I will exercise my right and just response to their selfishness and rebellion. Humanity has 120 more years and then they are going to deal with Me regarding their rebellion against Me”.

Tomorrow, we will see this reality revealed for us in stark detail…

We are to live as though our days are numbered, so that our days reveal and reflect wisdom...

This week, we are looking at graduation and the reality that while we live our life in the present and act as though the future is just that, in the future, the future does come. And the future comes sooner than we expected. Wednesday, we looked at a section of a letter in the Bible called the book of Psalms. Moses, who was the writer of this Psalm, after reminding us of the reality that life is short, wanted to make unmistakably clear that he proclaimed God as being who He was, which is the One who is the giver and taker of life that rules and reigns over time and life. 

Now a natural question that could arise here is this: “Well Dave, why is life short? Why don’t we live as long as Methuselah? Why are people here one moment and then swept away suddenly by either tragedy or sickness?” As Moses continues, we see him reveal for us the answer to these questions in Psalm 90:7:

 For we have been consumed by Your anger And by Your wrath we have been dismayed. You have placed our iniquities before You, Our secret sins in the light of Your presence. For all our days have declined in Your fury; We have finished our years like a sigh.

Here we see Moses, as he looked into the rearview mirror of his life, reflect on God’s right and just response to the selfishness and rebellion of humanity.  Moses had watched as God exercised His right and just response on the nation of Egypt who worshipped Pharaoh as god instead of the one true God.

Moses had watched as the Jewish people responded to God’s deliverance from slavery by selfishly rebelling and rejecting God and instead desiring to go back to Egypt. And Moses had watched as God exercised His anger and His wrath. What is so interesting in that the word anger here, in the language that Moses wrote his prayer in, is a word picture of the flaring of one’s nose in anger.

You see, the just and holy God of justice did not stand idly by and watch people rebel and reject Him in a way that diminishes Him to others. Instead, God exercised His right and just response to that selfishness and rebellion, which is what the word wrath means. God’s anger and wrath was not unwarranted or excessive. It was just and right in its response. God set their selfishness and rebellion clearly before the Jewish people. The selfishness and rebellion that was done in secret was exposed for all to see.

And as God responded to the selfishness and rebellion of the Jewish people, their years on earth turned downward. Moses watched as the Jewish people wandered in the desert for forty years as a consequence for their selfishness and rebellion, until all who were guilty died. And as they wandered during their death sentence, Moses remembers that the Jewish people finished their years with a sigh. In other words, the last years of their lives were completed with a groaning whisper. What started as loud rejoicing ended in groaning and whimpering.

Because that is what selfishness and rebellion does. We live in a fallen and broken world where selfish and rebellious people do things that hurt God and others. We find ourselves in rebelling against God and others and as the victims of others who are in rebellion. We experience tragedy, disease, and death as a result of the fallen and broken world we live in. Moses further unpacks this reality in verse 10:

 As for the days of our life, they contain seventy years, Or if due to strength, eighty years, Yet their pride is but labor and sorrow; For soon it is gone and we fly away.

Now if Moses was writing this in the language we us in our culture today, verse 10 would sound something like this: “As for the years of our lives, we are fortunate to live 70 years. If we are blessed with good health and a strong body, we might make it to our 80^th birthday. Yet even the best days of our lives are but trouble and sorrow, because before we know it our time is up and we die.”

Now isn’t that encouraging? Moses here is revealing for us the reality that as we live life here on earth, the years fly by and then we die. This week, I was reminded that in two years, my high school class will be celebrating their 30 year reunion. 30 years, where did they go? You see, the years go by, don’t they? Three weeks ago Julie and I celebrated our 20^th wedding anniversary.

You see, the years go by don’t they. Where did all that time go? This morning, can you relate? Moses point here is that the timeless reality is that the years fly by and then you die. And it is this reality that leads Moses to ask a powerful question in verse 11:

 Who understands the power of Your anger And Your fury, according to the fear that is due You?

In light of who God is as the One who is the giver and taker of life that rules and reigns over time and life.  In light of how the just and holy God responds to the selfishness and rebellion of man; In light of the reality that the years fly by and then you die; in light of all that Moses had experienced in his life; here is what Moses asks: “Who takes to heart the intensity of God’s response to selfishness and rebellion and gives Him the reverence and respect that He is due?”

So let’s ask ourselves that question. Do we take to heart the intensity of God’s response to selfishness and rebellion and give Him the reverence and respect that He is due? Moses asks that question because Moses has seen what you and I have seen. Moses asks that question because Moses has seen in himself what you and I see when we look in the mirror. Who takes to heart the intensity of God’s response to selfishness and rebellion and gives Him the reverence and respect that He is due?

Now this is not a very uplifting passage of scripture, is it? And for some, you might be thinking to yourself, “Dave, what would possess you to pick such a downer of a passage for Graduation? Couldn’t you have picked something a little more positive?” If you find yourself asking that question, here would be my response.

The reason that I picked this passage is because in the midst of this prayer, Moses makes a statement that is so profound; Moses makes a statement that is so powerful, that every person in this room that is over forty years old will immediately nod their head in agreement. Moses makes a statement that if we could have a do life over again, that we wish someone would have told to us when we were graduating high school. So let’s look together at this powerfully profound statement in Psalm 90:12:

 So teach us to number our days, That we may present to You a heart of wisdom.

In light of who God is as the One who is the giver and taker of life that rules and reigns over time and life.  In light of how the just and holy God responds to the selfishness and rebellion of man; In light of the reality that the years fly by and then you die; Moses prayer to God is that God would teach us to number our days, that we may present to You a heart of wisdom.

In other words Moses asks God that He would teach us to live as though our days are numbered. Now there are two reasons why Moses asked God to teach us to live as though our days are numbered.

First, Moses asked God to teach us to live as though our days are numbered because our days are numbered.  We are given a finite number of days here on earth. And as Moses has already declared, those days fly by and then we die. Graduates you are only 18 once. We only experience our 20’s once. We only experience our 30’s once. We only experience our 40’s…..uh, once. We only experience our 50’s once. We only experience our 60’s once. We only experience our 70’s once.

And here’s the thing: we all know of people who never had the opportunity to experience their 20’s. We all know of people who never had the opportunity to experience their 30’s. Their 40’s. And the older we get the less people will experience those numbers. And here is Moses, who experienced 120 years, looking back and recognizing that years fly by and now it is near the time for Moses to die. And his prayer for us today is that God would teach us to live as though our days are numbered, because they are.

Second, Moses asked God to teach us to live as though our days are numbered so that we may present to God a heart of wisdom. Now when you see the word wisdom in the Bible, the word wisdom refers to a developed skill for living life that brings positive results. Moses prayer is that God would move in the hearts of His people that they would live as though their days were numbered, so that their lives would produce positive results when it came to their relationship with God and when it came to their relationship with others.

And it is here, in Moses prayer, that we discover a timeless truth that is my prayer for you as you graduate and transition to what God has next for you. And that timeless truth that we are to live as though our days are numbered, so that our days reveal and reflect wisdom. You see, when we live as though our days are numbered, we live with wisdom when it comes to our relationship with God.

We live recognizing that God is the giver and taker of life and that every day of life is a gift from God. We live recognizing that there are consequences for selfishness and rebellion and that we will answer to God for how we live our life. We live our lives recognizing that time flies and that we will only have one opportunity to leverage our lives into what matters most in life at each stage of our life.

And when we live as though our days are numbered, we live with wisdom when it comes to our relationship with others. We live with wisdom when it comes to our dating relationships. We live with wisdom when it comes to our relationships with teachers and employers. And we live with wisdom when it comes to our relationships with those who are far from God so that we can be the vehicle that God uses to reveal His Son Jesus and the message of the gospel to them.

So, here is the question for all of us, regardless of age and stage of life. The question is this: are you living as though your days are numbered, so that your days reveal and reflect wisdom?

Because, as we have seen, they are.

The Looming Lord of Life and Time...

This week, we are looking at graduation and the reality that while we live our life in the present and act as though the future is just that, in the future, the future does come. And the future comes sooner than we expected. And in a latter in the Bible called the book of Psalms, we see in the perspective of a famous and familiar person that we see revealed for us a timeless truth when it comes to how we approach living life here on earth. And regardless of your age and stage of life, this timeless truth has the potential to challenge and change how you approach life. Today, we meet the author and this timeless truth together, beginning in Psalm 90:1:

A Prayer of Moses, the man of God.

Psalm 90 begins by revealing for us its purpose and author: A Prayer of Moses, the man of God. Psalm 90 is a prayer that was penned from the hand of Moses. Now Moses the man provides us an important perspective on life that we should lean into for two very important reasons. The first reason why we should lean into what Moses has to say is due to the fact that the Bible tells us that Moses lived to be 120 years old. 

But not only did Moses live to be 120 years old; in Deuteronomy 34:7, we discover that although Moses was 120 years old when he died, his eyes did not dim, nor his vigor abated. In other words, Moses was not in a wheel chair in a retirement home having to be clothed and spoon fed when he died. Instead, Moses had the same health and vitality that he did when he was a young man. In addition, the Bible tells us that there was no other prophet like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face. Moses was connected to God in a way unlike any other man in human history.

The second reason why we should lean into what Moses has to say is due to reality of all that Moses experienced during 120 years here on earth. If Moses life was a book, that book would be divided into four chapters. For the first chapter of Moses life, Moses lived as the adopted son of Pharaoh, who was the most powerful person on the planet at that time in history. Moses lived the life of privilege in palaces.

However, during the second chapter of Moses life, Moses lived as a wanderer on the backside of humanity. At age forty, Moses fled from Egypt and Pharaoh after killing an Egyptian who was abusing a fellow Hebrew. And for forty years, Moses lived in utter obscurity as a shepherd who lived in a tent in the desert.

Then, at age eighty, Moses entered into the third chapter of his life, where he was used by God in a mighty and powerful way to deliver the Jewish people from slavery at the hands of the nation of Egypt. Moses was a leader who led over one million people out of Egypt and toward the land that God had promised them. For two years Moses led the Jewish people to Mount Sinai, where they received the Ten Commandments, and toward the Promised Land.

However, after that period of two years, Moses entered into the fourth and final chapter of his life, which involved him spending the final 38 years of his life being challenged, questioned, and resisted by the very people whom he had led out of Egypt.

So when Moses talks about having a proper perspective in life, Moses knows what he is talking about, because he has seen and experienced it all. Moses has experienced power and poverty; rejoicing and ridicule; God’s grace and God’s wrath. So when Moses talks we should listen. And Moses, as he looked into the rearview mirror of his life, sat down to pen a prayer to God that was preserved for all of history. So let’s look at this prayer together, beginning in the second half of verse 1:

Lord, You have been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were born Or You gave birth to the earth and the world, Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.

Moses begins his prayer by proclaiming the greatness of God. Moses explains that throughout human history, God has been our dwelling place. In other words, Moses is revealing for us the reality that we exist because God first existed. Before there were mountains, land, or continents; before there was time or space; there was God.

You see Moses knew God by name. Moses knew that God was I AM, which literally means “I Be; I have always existed”. Even from everlasting to everlasting; from eternity past to eternity future; Moses knew who God was as the eternal creator of the universe and the giver of life who spoke the universe into existence. But not only does Moses proclaim God as the Creator and Giver of life. As Moses continues, we see Moses prayerfully proclaim something else about the greatness of God in verse 3:

 You turn man back into dust And say, "Return, O children of men."

Now doesn’t that sound like something right out of a “Lord of the Rings” movie? "Return, O children of men." You shall not pass. Here Moses is proclaiming that God is not only the giver of life; God is also the taker of life. It is God who is large and charge over life. It is God who sovereignly gives life and it is God who sovereignly takes life or permits life to be taken.

Moses begins his prayer by acknowledging God as the One who is large and in charge over His creation. And Moses, throughout his life had observed God give and take life. But not only is God large and in charge over life. Moses reveals another aspect of God’s greatness in verse 4:

 For a thousand years in Your sight Are like yesterday when it passes by, Or as a watch in the night. You have swept them away like a flood, they fall asleep; In the morning they are like grass which sprouts anew. In the morning it flourishes and sprouts anew; Toward evening it fades and withers away.

Moses continues his prayer by proclaiming that God is large and in charge of time. From God’s perspective, a thousand years in our eyes is a like a day in God’s eyes. A thousand years in our eyes is like a four hour shift in the middle of the night to God’s eyes. Now a natural question that arises here is “Why would Moses pick a thousand years as a point of comparison?” Here is why Moses picked a thousand years. The longest span that any person in human history lived is 969 years, which is the length of time that Methuselah lived on earth.

So now you know where the reference to Methuselah comes from when someone says that someone is as old as Methuselah. Moses point here is that the longest human life on earth is only like hours or a day to God. Moses point is that the longest human life is insignificant when compared to the eternal God. You see, God is not bound by time but looks down on time.

Moses further unpacks the greatness of God in verses 5 and 6 by painting two different words pictures to describe how God is large and in charge of time. Just like a monsoonal flood can suddenly sweep away people and property, as human beings we are here one moment and then suddenly gone the next.

Just as the dessert grass and flowers can bloom one morning and then be withered away by the scorching dessert wind, as human beings, life is short. And unfortunately, for some of you high school students you know this reality far too well, as classmates that you thought would be graduating with you this year are no longer here. And for many of us here, regardless of age or stage of life, we have experienced this reality as well. And Moses had experienced this harsh reality in his own life.

So as Moses penned this prayer, he wanted to make unmistakably clear that he proclaimed God as being who He was, which is the One who is the giver and taker of life that rules and reigns over time and life.  Now a natural question that could arise here is this: “Well Dave, why is life short? Why don’t we live as long as Methuselah? Why are people here one moment and then swept away suddenly by either tragedy or sickness?”

Friday, we will see Moses reveal for us the answer to these questions…

The Problem With The Future...

This past Sunday was a special day here at the church where I serve, as we celebrated the accomplishments of students who are graduating High School and beginning the next chapter of their lives. Actually, these students are not simply receiving a piece of paper that that tells them that they have completed their High School education. You see, the issue that these students face is not simply one of graduation; for these students, the issue that they face is one of transition.

A transition from living at home to living away from home. A transition from attending High School to attending college, trade school, or no school. A transition from working on homework for a grade to working on a job for a paycheck. A transition from being dependent to being independent.

And Graduation is a time to celebrate and look forward to the future. A future that filled with options and opportunity. At graduation, there is a sense that life is just beginning. At graduation, there is a sense that now is the time to begin to enjoy the many years that lie ahead. Whether you are here this morning and are graduating this year; or whether you are here this morning and graduated fifty years ago, graduation is and always has been that is far more focused on moving forward and leaving the past behind. That is why the most common question that is asked of those who are graduating is “What are you going to do after you graduate? What are your plans for the future?”

But I would like for us to take a moment to ask the graduates and ourselves a far different question. Instead of asking “What are you going to do after you graduate? What are your plans for the future?” I would like for us to spend our time together asking a far different question. And that question is this: When it is all said and done, when you come to the end of your life, what would you like people to remember about you? When you are no longer around, what do you want to be remembered for?

You see, so often we live our lives in the present with the sense that our future is just that, in the future. We live in the here and now as though the future will never come. However, the future does come, doesn’t it? And intellectually we know that this is the case, don’t we? We know that is the case because, graduates, only three years ago, you were freshman. We know that this is the case, because freshmen, you are looking forward to the day three years from now you will graduate. We know that this is the case because for many of us in the room we have arrived at the destination called the future that we had been looking forward to in the past.

The future destination called career. The future destination called parent or grandparent. The future destination called retirement. And in most cases, if we were to have a conversation at the courtyard coffeehouse, you would say that the destination future arrived sooner than expected. While there are exceptions, the consensus is that while we live our life in the present and act as though the future is just that, in the future, the future does come. And the future comes sooner than we expected.

So, how should we respond to this reality? Graduates, how should you live today in light of the reality that the future is coming and is coming sooner than expected? And regardless of your age and stage of life, what do you want to be remembered for at the end of your life? To answer these questions, I would like for us to spend this week looking at a section of a letter that is recorded for us in the bible called the book of Psalms.

The book of Psalms is the largest letter in our Bible and is a letter that is centered on worship. The book of Psalms contains the responses of worship by the Jewish people to who God is, what God has done, and what God has promised to do. The vast majority of the Psalms that are recorded in the book of Psalms were written by the Jewish nation’s most famous king, a man named King David.

However, in the midst of the book of Psalms, there is a psalm written by another famous person from Jewish history. And it is in the perspective of this famous and familiar person that we see revealed for us a timeless truth when it comes to how we approach living life here on earth. And regardless of your age and stage of life, this timeless truth has the potential to challenge and change how you approach life.

Tomorrow, we will begin to meet the author and this timeless truth…

What Estrangement and Envy Reveal...

This week, we have been spending our time together looking at a section of the very first letter that is recorded for us in the Bible called the book of Genesis. Wednesday, in Genesis chapter 4, we discovered that the curse of our selfishness and rebellion produces the consequences of estrangement from God and envy of others. Just as it was with Cain, just as it has been for humanity throughout history, our selfishness and rebellion produces estrangement from God and envy of others.

We can often find ourselves tempted to we want what others have and not want others to have what they have. We can often find ourselves tempted to worship out of duty with a focus on showing others how spiritual we are instead of a delight that is focused on who God is.  We can often find ourselves tempted to compete and compare ourselves with others when it comes to our relationship with Jesus. We can find ourselves battling the very same selfishness and rebellion that desires to dominate and manipulate us into rebelling against God.

Today, as the story continues, we see God confront Cain with the consequences of his estrangement from God and envy of others that flowed from his selfishness and rebellion in Genesis 4:9: 

Then the LORD said to Cain, "Where is Abel your brother?"

Now God is not asking "Where is Abel your brother?" because He did not know what happened to Abel. God knows what happened to Abel. Parents, have you ever asked your children where someone or something was at, even though you already knew where they were at and what had happened, as an introduction to a conversation? And usually that conversation involves dealing with something that your children have done wrong that they are trying to hide from you, doesn’t it?

That is what is happening here. God is engaging Cain here by saying “Where is Abel? What happened to Abel?”  God is seeing if Cain will own up to the selfishness and rebellion that is now dominating his life. Look at Cain’s response:

And he said, "I do not know. Am I my brother's

keeper?"

For Cain to say “Am I brother’s keeper” is like us today saying “I don’t know, it isn’t my day to watch him”. Cain responds to God’s question with deception and denial. This morning, how often do we find ourselves tempted to respond to God in the exact same way when we are confronted with our selfishness and rebellion towards others? We see God’s response to Cain’s denial and deception in verse 10:

He said, "What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood is crying to Me from the ground.”

Again, God is not asking “What have you done?” because God does not know what has happened to Abel. Instead God confronts Cain with the brutal facts: “The voice of your brother's blood is crying to Me from the ground.” Now this phrase “the voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me” conveys the sense of the life of an innocent victim crying out for justice. This is a word picture of the life of the innocent crying out to the just God for justice. And as the just God, we see God exercise His justice and judgment to Cain in verse 11:

"Now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. "When you cultivate the ground, it will no longer yield its strength to you; you will be a vagrant and a wanderer on the earth."

God responds to Cain’s selfishness and rebellion that resulted in Abel’s death by inflicting Cain with a curse. As a result of the envy that drove Cain to kill Abel, Cain would be cursed from the ground.  In other words, the very earth which received the innocent blood of Abel would now no longer respond to Cain’s efforts as a farmer to produce fruit. And as a result, Cain would be condemned to be a vagrant and a wanderer on the earth. Cain was sentenced to spend the rest of his days as a wandering fugitive. Cain’s life would be unstable and detached from communion with God and community with others. We see Cain’s response to God’s sentence in verse 13:

 Cain said to the LORD, "My punishment is too great to bear!  "Behold, You have driven me this day from the face of the ground; and from Your face I will be hidden, and I will be a vagrant and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me."

Cain’s response to his consequences is to express his outrage at their unfairness. This morning, do you see the irony in Cain’s response? Don’t you find it ironic that Cain feels that the possibility of death is too great a punishment after he willingly put someone else to death? Now, you might be here this morning, and for you, Cain’s response has brought out another question. And that question is this: Who is going to kill Cain? Who would be around to kill Cain if there was only Adam, Eve, and Cain and Abel on the planet?

Now some would point to this as evidence that the Bible is inaccurate and has errors. However, as we will discover next week, Cain and Abel were not the only children that Adam and Eve had, but they are the only children that are specifically mentioned in the Bible up to this point. You see, while the Bible records events that occurred in history, it does not record every event that occurred in history. And the Bible does not provide us an exhaustive genealogy of every human being that was ever born.

The Bible records the lives of those in God’s story who played a significant role in God’s story. And in this story, we see the irony that Cain, who killed one of his relatives, is now concerned that he must watch out for his relatives who would want to avenge his death. And as this story continues, we see Moses reveal to us how God extended grace to Cain in spite of his selfishness and rebellion in verse 15:

 So the LORD said to him, "Therefore whoever kills Cain, vengeance will be taken on him sevenfold." And the LORD appointed a sign for Cain, so that no one finding him would slay him.  Then Cain went out from the presence of the LORD, and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.

God responds to Cain’s outrage at his consequences by proclaiming that whoever would kill Cain, would experience God’s judgment. And to make sure that everyone knew who Cain was; and to make sure that everyone would be reminded of God’s decree concerning Cain; the Lord appointed a sign for Cain, so that no one would kill him. Now while the Bible does not specifically tell us what that sign was, we do know that this sign served as evidence of God’s power and as a symbol to others that identified Cain as being protected by God. And here we see God extend grace to Cain by rescuing him from almost certain death.

In verse 16, we see that Cain went from the presence of the Lord and began to travel to the East. When the Bible says that Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, this phrase is a way of saying that Cain began his life of alienation and estrangement from God. Cain was no longer an insider, but was now an outsider when it came to experiencing God’s presence and activity in his life. We see how Cain responded to God’s grace in verse 17:

Cain had relations with his wife and she conceived, and gave birth to Enoch; and he built a city, and called the name of the city Enoch, after the name of his son.

Cain defied God by building a city. Instead of humbly repenting from his selfishness and rebellion and trusting God, Cain responded to God’s grace with rebellion. And Cain and his wife, who would also have been his sister, just to answer that question before it is asked, started a family tree that continued in rebellion against God. In a few weeks, we will go into greater detail in talking about how the world could be populated by two people.

In verse 19, we discover that one of his descendants, named Lamech, rejected God’s design for marriage in order to take two wives and followed in his ancestor Cain’s footsteps by committing murder.  And a few verses later, in Genesis 4:25, we see, as this story concludes, God extend grace to Adam and Eve in the midst of the loss of their son Abel:

 Adam had relations with his wife again; and she gave birth to a son, and named him Seth, for, she said, "God has appointed me another offspring in place of Abel, for Cain killed him."  To Seth, to him also a son was born; and he called his name Enosh. Then men began to call upon the name of the LORD.

After Abel has been killed; after Cain has been removed from communion with God and community with others as a result of his selfishness and rebellion; we see Adam and Eve give birth to another son, whom they name Seth. This story concludes by explaining that it was Seth’s children that would begin to call upon the name of the Lord. Now this little phrase literally means to call or proclaim.

You see, as the descendants of Cain continued in the selfishness and rebellion against God, we see another part of the family tree of Adam and Eve begin to search after and seek God. And it is through a descendant of Seth, named Jesus Christ, that God would most powerfully extend grace and provide all humanity the opportunity to be rescued from the selfishness and rebellion that resulted in our estrangement from God and our envy toward others. 

Because, as we have seen, all of humanity is in desperate need of rescue. We are in desperate need of rescue because the curse of our selfishness and rebellion produces the consequences of estrangement from God and envy of others.  And it is only through what God has done for us through Jesus that we can experience the communion with God and community with others that we were created for.

So here is the question: Are you still estranged from God as a result of your selfishness and rebellion that causes you to want what others have and not want others to have what they have? Does your envy of others reveal the reality of your estrangement from God? Or have you come to the place in your life where you have allowed God to do for you what you could not do for yourself by responding to Jesus life, death, and resurrection, by believing, trusting, and following Jesus as Lord and Leader?