The fast track - Exodus 19:1-6

It took the Israelites three months to get to Sinai. They had been freed from bondage. After crossing the Red Sea there was no going back. They were free! Now what?

The Exodus wanderings make an excellent allegory for our spiritual journey in Christ. I will never forget the excellent teaching on this subject by Darrell Wafer at Redeemer Episcopal so many years ago. I think Darrell has gone on to his maker. I have heard quite a few anointed teachers since then but he was the first and therefore, in my mind, is the best. I have no way to be unbiased about this. They fact that he was reported to have had feet of clay in no way changes my opinion. That gives me hope that he can (and does) use a sinner like me.

They were on the fast track to maturity. God first brought them before him. He gave them some simple (?!) rules for living and then gave them their marching orders. In a few more months they would be ready to cross the Jordan and take the land God promised to them. God told them he was giving it to them. He told them He would be with them and with Him it would be possible. They had just seen him do some amazing things. They would have to do some work, some cleansing. Before going through the Red Sea they had no choice. They were passive actors pretty much.

Now God was asking them to partner with him. They had already fought a few battles, again mostly out of desperation. God had delivered them and taught them a bit about fighting. The victory goes to the Lord, not to the strongest.

But they were not willing to enter in. They did not have the faith. They looked at the circumstances and not at God. So now they have been willfully disobedient to God.

Now they take the slow track. God send them back into the desert. There will be some joys and some oases. But the ones who rejected God's command would die in the desert. God would let their children enter and take it.

I so greatly identify with the fast track, my sinning, and then getting moved to the slower track. I had a day when I accepted Jesus as my savior. I had my theophany in a trip to Ann Arbor (where I bought my first Bible), then back to Houston and soon a Baptism in the Spirit at the Way Inn Coffeehouse. For my more reformed friends that was like a public confession of faith. For my Anglican friends that was like a real Confirmation, where they do lay hands on you and ask you to receive the Holy Spirit.

Anyway I identify with being truly free and with having burned the bridges to my past. I was telling people about it with quite a bit of grace I think. I was sharing my good fortune like I would if I bought a new car or received a great birthday gift. I was writing psalms in my quiet time. (A co-worker who I found likes poems. So I shared one with her. She described them as being like psalms.)

But then I used my freedom for license. Things changed after that. It was like I was thrown out of my own personal Eden. Guilt had something to do with my change of feelings, sure. Some might say the effect would have eventually worn off. Perhaps.

But after I repented and recovered myself my relationship with God was different. Now I have to use boundaries to keep myself from sinning again. Here is Exodus 19 God speaks of boundaries to keep the Israelites from getting too close to the mountain and being killed. So boundaries are OK. God uses them.

But I do not think that is the freedom the mature Christian. Boundaries are like the law, the Ten Commandments. Paul says those boundaries are for the immature, the carnal. We are to aspire to freedom in Christ. We are to love doing God's work. We go from glory to glory. That is what I had after I became a Christian.

But after I sinned to come back using the slow track. Darrell Wafer, i think it was he, was the first to share the illustration of going around the mountain. If I do not learn the lesson God wants to teach me, I have to go around the mountain again and he offers me the same lesson again, until I learn it. God goes slowly with us because we are so often hard to teach. But he is determined to teach us so that we can grow in maturity, grow in Christ.

Back to the Israelites again: Those who refused to enter into the promised land died in the desert. We too will die but with a difference. We have the lively hop in the promise that Jesus has saved us and will save us. He will save us from sin. Jesus is our advocate before God. We have faith, those of us who are Christians, that Jesus has the standing to do this. He can have us found not guilty. It is not because we are worthy but because our advocate is worthy. Worthy is the Lamb who was slain. Praise be to God for devising a plan for our salvation!