ÿþ <html> <head> <title>Welcome to First United Methodist Church, El Dorado, AR, The Ten(der) Commandments:  A Mediator for the People </title><!--- Jan 3, 2010 --> <meta name="description" content="First United Methodist church, El Dorado, AR, FUMC, F.U.M.C. First Church, First Methodist, Methodist John Wesley, Methodist, United Methodist Youth, United Methodist women" /> <meta name="keywords" content="First United Methodist church, El Dorado, AR, FUMC, F.U.M.C. 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Two weeks ago I said that we were finally finished with the 10 Commandments, and I meant it. I ve changed my mind, though. As I began thinking about Holy Week and how to move from our focus on the Old Testament law (think Moses) to New Testament grace (think Jesus), it hit me that the context of the Ten Commandments gives us a great way to do so. </font></p> <p align="left"><font face="verdana" size="2"> Let s go one more time, then, back to Mt. Sinai. The scene has not changed. In Exodus 19, after a three-month trek in the desert, the people of God had arrived at Mt. Sinai. God called Moses to come up the mountain, but told the people to stay behind. <b>  Put limits for the people around the mountain and tell them,  Be careful that you do not go up the mountain or touch the foot of it. Whoever touches the mountain shall surely be put to death. "</b>(Ex 19:12-13) </font></p> <p align="left"><font face="verdana" size="2"> It wasn t as if the people wanted to get close. After all, the fire and smoke and rumblings were still going on. The Israelites saw and felt and heard God s power and trembled with fear; the mountain was clearly a dangerous place. Even the possibility of contact with the divine presence was enough to make them shrink back in fear. </font></p> <p align="left"><font face="verdana" size="2"> <b>  When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled in fear. They stayed at a distance and said to Moses,  Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die  </b> (20:18-19). The people knew that they needed to hear from God. They also knew that the overwhelming holiness of God s presence would be too much for them to bear. It wasn t that they didn t want to hear God s words, but rather that they were overwhelmed by God s voice. </font></p> <p align="left"><font face="verdana" size="2"> They needed a mediator. They needed Moses. If Moses would speak on their behalf to God, they would be content. If he would speak on God s behalf to them, they would gladly listen. Whatever doubts they may have had about him back in Egypt were now thrown aside as they recognized that their only hope was in this mediator, this man who would stand between them and God. </font></p> <p align="left"><font face="verdana" size="2"> In a remarkable scene, Moses accepted the role of mediator between God and the people without hesitation. <b> The people remained at a distance, while Moses approached the thick darkness where God was </b> (20:21). </font></p> <p align="left"><font face="verdana" size="2"> I can see Moses now... eighty years old walking slowly yet deliberately toward God. In my mind his shoulders are stooped, not from the weight of a long life but rather from the burden of leading a people who could so often and so easily forget the goodness and power and provision of God! He was walking toward God, crossing an impenetrable barrier, while the people stayed behind, looking at his assent with eyes wide with wonder. The thick darkness that descended upon Mt. Sinai was understood by everyone to be a barrier that would bring death to them if they even attempted to cross it. Yet it also signified the place where God dwelt in glory and majesty. It was an impassable barrier that every human being nonetheless had to pass if they were to be in the presence of God. Moses accepted the task of being mediator as he went into the cloud to the very presence of God, alone, the one man out of all the earth who could represent the people to their God, and God to his people. </font></p> <p align="left"><font face="verdana" size="2"> So many years later, that same God who had come in smoke and fire on Mount Sinai and who had provided a mediator sufficient for the people at that time, would come again and would provide yet another man, Jesus Christ, to be the perfect mediator. He would cross the thick darkness of death itself so as to bring the people into God s presence forever. What God did at Mt. Sinai with Moses for the people of Israel was simply a shadow of the greater work that God would later do through Jesus Christ. <b> Therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess. He was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was faithful in all God s house. Jesus has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself... Moses was faithful as a servant in all God s house, testifying to what would be said in the future. But Christ is faithful as a son over God s house. And we are his house, if we hold on to our courage and the hope of which we boast. </b> Heb 3:1-6 </font></p> <p align="left"><font face="verdana" size="2"> In Jesus Christ, God completed what he had begun at Sinai. If the covenant of the law had been given to help create the people of God, so now the covenant of grace was given to bind them - us - to God forever. Jesus Christ would be the mediator of that new covenant, bridging forever the gap that had existed between God and Man. <b> This pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as the ransom for all men - the testimony given in its proper time </b> (1 Timothy 2:3-6). </font></p> <p align="left"><font face="verdana" size="2"> It is a matter of fact that we still need a mediator today. Moses was well-suited to be a mediator of the first covenant. He was in great favor with God, so that the Lord listened to his voice. But even he was not equal to Jesus Christ, our true mediator. In Hebrews 7:23 - 8:1 we read, <b> Now there have been many of those priests, since death prevented them from continuing in office; but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them. Such a high priest meets our need - one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself. For the law appoints as high priests men who are weak; but the oath, which came after the law, appointed the Son, who has been made perfect forever. </b> </font></p> <p align="left"><font face="verdana" size="2"><b> The point of what we are saying is this: We do have such a high priest, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, and who serves in the sanctuary, the true tabernacle set up by the Lord, not by man. </b> </font></p> <p align="left"><font face="verdana" size="2"> At the beginning of this Holy Week, on this Palm Sunday, we need to look past the simple story of a triumphant entrance into Jerusalem to the much deeper story. See Jesus the Christ, our mediator, who willingly entered not a thick cloud of smoke and fire, but the thick darkness of death itself... and came back! That is what was beginning on Palm Sunday, and what we celebrate on Easter! </font></p> <p align="left"><font face="verdana" size="2"> I fear that in our complacency we have forgotten what it is like to be in the presence of God. The people of God in Moses time approached the mountain of God in fear, but we can approach the throne of grace with confidence! <b> Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are - yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. </b> Heb 4:14-16 </font></p> <p align="left"><font face="verdana" size="2"> Never forget the awe-inspiring experience of God s people at Sinai and the very real gap that separated them from God. Just as their only hope was in Moses, their mediator, who would represent them for a time before God, so our only hope today is in Jesus, our mediator, who is able to represent you for all eternity before God. </font></p> <p align="left"><font face="verdana" size="2"> I entreat you this morning to accept the gospel in Christ and come to God through him. There is no other way, and there could be no better way. Come, then, come at once to Jesus and place your faith in him, our true mediator. Approach the throne of grace with confidence, and receive the mercy and grace that will help you in your time of need. Amen. </font></p> <br><br> </td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> </table></td> </tr> </table> <TABLE width=800 border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"> <TR bgcolor="#d8d2d8"> <TD width=800 valign="baseline" bgcolor="#d8d2d8" align=right> <!--- beige F2F2E6 ----> <font face="verdana" color="#000000" size="1"> This site designed and maintained by <a href="http://www.hipdogwebdesign.com">HipDog Web Design&reg;</a><br> Copyright 2005. All Rights Reserved.</TD> <TD width="19%">&nbsp;</TD> </TR> </TABLE> </td> </tr> </table> </body> </html>