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We tend to go to extremes when dealing with sin in others. We can excuse it too easily or we can execute too harshly. That’s true in our families, in our friendships, in our churches, in our workplaces, and in our judicial system. Whether we excuse it too easily and execute too harshly, the end results are the same. We add sin to sin, we do no good to the sinner, and we do not glorify God. In Exodus 32:15-35, we can observe and learn from Moses’s response to the Israelites’ sin of idolatry. He punished sin and prayed for sinners.

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How should we pray when we hear that a Christian has committed a terrible sin? It happens doesn’t it. A Christian we know and love falls into a gross sin or even a pattern of immorality. We get angry with them and decide to stop praying for them. They let the side down and therefore we let them go and turn our attention to others more faithful and godly. That’s the right thing to do, isn’t it?

Well, I think Moses would have a thing or two to say to us about that. While Moses was meeting with God on Sinai, Aaron had led God’s people into worshipping a golden calf. God saw what was happening and told Moses of his intention to judge them: “I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people. Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them, in order that I may make a great nation of you” (9-10). Moses’s response provides us with a model prayer for backslidden Christians.

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Yesterday we learned about working for God. Today we learn about resting in God. We’re considering Exodus 31:12-18 where God expands on his Sabbath command, and we’re asking, ‘What does this teach us about God?’ As we’ve worked our way through Exodus, we’ve seen how God used everything to teach Israel about who he is. Nothing happened by chance, but rather God organized providence, people, and places so that Israel could learn who God was. Same goes for this Sabbath command. What does it teach us about God?

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Many people look down on manual labor and the trades today. So-called ‘head-work’ is elevated and ‘hand-work’ is devalued. It’s then a small step from demeaning manual work to demeaning manual workers. Manual workers often feel they and their work are not valued in our culture.

If our culture doesn’t value manual work, it’s easy to think that God doesn’t value manual work, that such work is not so worthy or useful in God’s eyes. But, in Exodus 31:1-11, God helps us to re-assess the dignity, value, and spirituality of manual work, with many positive spiritual consequences.

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How many diets have you tried in your life? Yes, me too. It’s such a struggle isn’t it? In fact, I think it’s even harder today than it used to be. Diets used to mean separating from sugar and carbs. But now diets also mean buying and eating healthy food, or ‘clean’ food as it’s often called. I find separating from sugar and carbs hard, but it’s almost impossible to eat Tofu

The struggle for holiness has the same two challenges. We are to separate from unholy sin but also separate to holy service. The good news, as we’ll see in Exodus 30:22-33, is that God has provided a Separator. Let’s see how God’s Separator can cut us off from sin and secure us in his service.

I started a new sermon series today called The StoryChanger: Changing your Story with God’s Story. 

The first sermon is titled “Our Messy and Meaningless Stories” and you can find the notes here.