Exodus Overview

Who wrote the Book? 

Early Jewish tradition names Moses as the most likely and qualified person to be the author of Exodus. There are several reasons for this. We know that Moses was educated in Egypt's royal courts which would have prepared him for this (Acts 7:22). There are many conversations, events and details that could have only been known by an eye witness or a participant. For example, Exodus 24:4 says, “Moses then wrote down everything the Lord had said.” Books of Joshua and 1 Kings refer to Exodus as “the law of Moses” (Joshua 1:7, 1 Kings 2:3), implying that the rules within the book were written by Moses himself. 

The title of the book - Exodus - comes from the Septuagint, which got the name from the primary event found in the book. The deliverance from slavery and the “exodus” of the Israelites out of Egypt. 

What’s the Big Idea? 

Though Exodus takes place roughly four centuries after the death of Jacob, we see the fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham, Issac and Jacob in Genesis. We also see God miraculously save the children of Israel while they were enslaved in a foreign land and dramatically deliver them to freedom. In Exodus, God established Israel as a nation under His covenant at Mount Sinai. These were His chosen people. Exodus records the ten plagues, passover, the receiving of the 10 commandments, the building of the tabernacle, all foundational elements of the Jewish faith. And just as importantly, Exodus provides  crucial context in understanding of the Bible’s redemption story as a whole. 

How do I apply this?

Under the Mosaic Covenant, the Israelites would offer sacrifices of unblemished animals for the forgiveness of sin. In the New Testament, we know that Jesus’ sacrifice was the perfect fulfillment of the Law. Jesus was the unblemished lamb who took away our sin permanently when He sacrificed Himself on our behalf. Through this series, our hope and prayer is to find what it means to be freed and live free in Christ as we journey with the nation of Israel.

Interesting Facts 

-It took one night to take the Israelites out of Egypt, but 40 years to take Egypt out of the Israelites.  

-During the time Israel was in Egypt, Egypt became a world empire. 

-Approximately 3-4 million people left Egypt in the Exodus.

-The story of Moses constitutes 1/7th of the whole Bible. 

Prayer Overview

Prayer is truly a massive topic and an intimidating one at that. It is an area of the Christian life that is often fraught with questions, doubts, frustrations, and even misconceptions. We can often feel that our prayers are ineffective or have no ability to cause change. Those feelings can drive us to seek a “correct” way to pray in the hopes that if we get it, God will hear us and answer. 

We believe that there is an invitation here. Perhaps you are new to following Jesus and learning to pray for the very first time. Or you may be at a stage where you yearn to experience God in new ways. Or maybe you just find prayer tedious, but you have a sense that there’s more to it than just something we are supposed to do. Regardless of where you are, we are thrilled that you are here. 

What is prayer?

“Prayer is simply the medium through which we communicate and commune with God. The practice of prayer is learning to set aside dedicated time to intentionally be with God, in order to become like Him and partner with Him in the world.” - John Mark Comer, Practicing the Way.

If we agree that true communication involves the engagement and exchange of words between more than one person or entity, then we can say that true prayer only happens when an exchange occurs between ourselves and God. 

There is both comfort and caution in this. The comfort is that if we come to God with a sincere heart, He will hear our prayer and respond. The caution is that there are things we do that might be considered prayer, but it is not. Prayer is not a ritualistic form of speech spoken at God, coupled with a heart that has no intention of knowing or hearing from Him. The ultimate aim is not to “pray more” or “pray better”. The aim of prayer is to draw close to God, and to align your heart with His. It’s what ancient Christians called union with God. 

However, there is nothing wrong with a rhythm of prayer. When the disciples asked Jesus, “teach us to pray,” in Luke 11, Jesus gave them a script, or a liturgy, to pray. In various seasons of our lives when we’re exhausted, tired, traveling, grieving, doubting, or distracted, liturgies can carry us through and guide our prayers. As we learn the subtlety of prayer, we’ll begin fine-tuning a daily prayer rhythm. 

What does prayer look like - or - How do we pray?

The easiest answer to this question: we can pray however we like! As long as we are sincere in our desire to commune with God, prayer can look however we want it to. Historically, Christianity and Judaism have a rich history of prayer in a wide variety of forms! Intercession, petition, confession, blessing, thanksgiving, praying in the Spirit, praying in tongues, psalms and songs, contemplative/meditative/mystic prayer, prophetic prayer, artistic mediums, are all forms of prayer. This list illustrates that prayer is not one thing, but instead is filled with nuance and diverse ways of praying. 

Why do we pray?

This may be obvious but it’s worth stating anyway, we pray to know God. Prayer is one of the foundational practices to the life of the believer. God is the source of all that we are and we hope to be, and if we are to abide in Him as He abides in us, then we must pray.

Julian of Norwich said, “The whole reason why we pray is to be united into the vision and contemplation of Him to whom we pray.” Prayer is essential to live each day more aware of the Father; to be transformed into the likeness of Jesus; and to be filled with the Spirit, to do what He made you to do in the world.

This is an important journey for us as individuals and as a church community. If you would like to connect with our prayer team, email pray@citycollective.com.

Ecclesiastes 101

At one of his movie premieres, American filmmaker and actor Woody Allen was asked why his main characters were neurotic and believed that life was meaningless. He answered, 

“I firmly believe, and I don’t say this as a criticism, that life is meaningless… The truth of the matter is, when you think of it, every 100 years, there’s a big flush, and everybody in the world is gone. And there’s a new group of people. And that gets flushed, and there’s a new group of people. And this goes on and on interminably — and I don’t want to upset you — toward no particular end, no rhyme or reason… “

I wonder if Woody Allen has ever read Ecclesiastes.

Ecclesiastes is one book that makes up the wisdom literature of the Bible. Together with Proverbs and Job, Ecclesiastes tackles the question of how to live a “good life” and each of these books presents a unique perspective. Ecclesiastes explores three disturbing (and well, depressing) things of the world - time, death and life’s random nature. Arguably the most secular book of the Bible, Ecclesiates dares to face hard questions and shows the unglamorous life in a sinful world. Through this lens this book presents a convincing argument that apart from God, there is no satisfaction in life.

A word of caution before you dive into the book of Ecclesiastes. Watch out for isolated statements. They should be understood within the context of the book, and ultimately, that of the whole Bible. Remember that this book is not God’s arguments, but rather they are God’s accurate record of man’s thoughts on the purpose of life. With this in mind, let’s dive a little deeper. 

Who wrote the book of Ecclesiastes? 

According to most Jewish and Christian traditions the “teacher” in the beginning of the book is King Solomon, though many doubt this view. The “teacher” is identified as a “son of David, king in Jerusalem.” (vs 1), who has “grown and increased in wisdom more than anyone who has ruled over Jerusalem…” (vs 16), and who “has set in order many proverbs” (12:9). Solomon was the only son of David to rule all of Israel from Jerusalem, the wisest man in the world in that time (1 Kings 4:29–30) and wrote most of the proverbs (Proverbs 1:1; 10:1; 25:1). So we can see how many would agree Solomon to be the voice of the “teacher”.

The other viewpoints believe that the “teacher” may be one of the later kings from David’s line, or that this is an Israelite teacher that has adopted a “Solomon-like persona”. Others say this is a wise man who has collected the views of the teacher as a way to instruct his son. Bottom line is, no one knows for sure. 

We should clarify that this book has two voices - the teacher and the author. The author collects and presents the teacher's words, and at the end of the book summarizes everything and gets the final say.

What’s the big idea?

Ecclesiastes offers a philosophy of life. Nearly 40 times in this book, the Hebrew word “hevel” is used. While most of our Bibles translates this word as “meaningless”, a closer translation would be “smoke” or “vapor”. Life can be beautiful and mysterious but just as things settle into routine, life changes. As a parent, I can tell you that just as I figure out how to parent my baby, I blink, and now he’s a toddler. And so, I begin the process of figuring out how to parent a toddler. And that is just one of the many ever evolving variables in my life. Life is like smoke, always changing shape and something that can never be grasped. 

From Ecclesiastes 1:3 - 12:8 the teacher explores life without God. He says, if you are a person who strives to find identity or contentment in your career, other people, worldly pleasures etc. you need to stop and consider the linear movement of time. Centuries from now no one will remember us, but the mountains, oceans and the galaxies will still be here. You and me? We are just a blip in the timeline of eternity. The teacher also talks about death a lot - the great equalizer. All of humanity will succumb to death, making us no different from the animals. And because that wasn’t depressing enough for the teacher, he then moves on to discuss the random nature of life. 

                   “The race is not to the swift

Or the battle to the strong, 

Nor does food come to the wise

Or wealth to the brillant

Or favor to the learned;

But time and chance happen to them all.”    

Ecclesiastes 9:11 (emphasis mine)

How do I apply this?

One perspective that I, an eternal optimist, choose to take on this book is one of satisfaction. It is satisfying to know that even though our days may be new, our problems are old. The world can tell me how and where to find meaning to my life, my identity, my contentment, my worth and it is satisfying to see that experience echoed throughout Ecclesiastes. We can relate to the thought process and journey of the teacher because for many of us, it is our own. 

Even with the depressing tone of the book, God remains present. In fact, the key to a “good” life is (spoiler alert!) accepting that life is “hevel” and to find enjoyment in the “gift of God” - a good meal, your lot in life, wealth, possessions, etc. 

Ultimately, the great truth of Ecclesiastes lies in the acknowledgement of God’s ever present hand in our lives. When economies crash, wars and natural disasters hit, relationships hurt, injustice and uncertainty threaten to overwhelm us, we can fully trust and follow after Him. And when we adopt this posture of trust in God, it frees us to fully enjoy life as we experience it. This is how a Kingdom People are expected to live in a world governed by time, death and the fickleness of life. 

God’s Empowering Presence

Up until about a year ago, the idea of the Holy Spirit brought to mind visuals of people dancing and rolling on the floor, always uncontrolled and never lucid. Having been raised in a cessationist Christian circle, engagement with the Spirit was not just glossed over but warned against. In the words of our second-week speaker, Glenn Peterson, it was looked upon as the “unfortunate other.” This meant that my belief was one based on logic and resulted in a relationship with Jesus that held residence in my mind but didn’t inform my engagement with the world. I can look back and see the countless times that my intentions, however well-meaning or reasonable, came up short because I was operating from a place of self-sufficiency rather than dependence on a greater source. No matter how pure my motives might be, my actions are impacted by sin and are imperfect at best and harmful at worst, unless fuelled by God’s empowering presence.

Through the last couple of weeks, the role of the Holy Spirit has been presented to us not as ‘other’ but as a crucial element of Christian life. God’s perfect gift to us. This series has reinforced the reality that to endure as a follower of Jesus, without the Spirit dwelling inside of me, is to experience a relationship with Jesus that is hollow and one-dimensional. We are called to become people who don’t seek to understand the workings of the Spirit, but who desire and long for the closeness of His presence, in our hearts and our lives. To live from the knowledge of past experiences of the Spirit, be it from a misunderstanding of His character or an experience of deep pain, confines us to a state of lack. The Spirit is active and present and longs for us to engage in the same way. To become active participants in our journey of faith. This includes both the understanding of our minds as well as the state of our hearts. In order to experience the Spirit anew, we desperately need a fresh revelation that the Spirit is with us. 

I have come to believe that trying to live without the Spirit, is to turn gray what God intended to be technicolor. Where we create legalism, the Spirit brings freedom. While we protect ourselves with cynicism and bitterness, the Spirit longs to turn our hearts back into flesh. I no longer want to continue on this pilgrimage without Him leading me. Like Moses said, when commanded to return to Egypt,

“If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here.”

I want to go forward in faith, knowing that my fractured, imperfect, human intentions can never be enough because they were never meant to be. Perfection was never my purpose. I long for the Spirit to instill in myself and in our Church a sense of joyful anticipation. 

May all of us continue to say, “now show me your glory.” Come, Holy Spirit.

Unmet Expectations

“Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion!
Shout, Daughter Jerusalem!
See, your king comes to you,
righteous and victorious,
lowly and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”

— Zechariah 9:9 (NIV)

In the words of A.W Tozer, True faith is never found alone; it is accompanied by expectation. But how are we supposed to live in anticipation of what God is going to do while surrendering to His will? We all have deep longings and desires that inform our expectations of how God should act. For generations, the people of Israel longed for a specific kind of King. Despite their knowledge of the Old Testament and the prophecies of the coming Messiah, their human perspective informed what this savior should look like. 

However, Jesus was not a King in the way they were expecting - conquering all enemies. Certainly, he offended the religious leaders, upended their deeply entrenched practices, and fraternized with the wrong people. But rather than riding in on a war horse, Jesus humbly entered the scene astride the lowliest of barnyard animals. He didn’t just come to preach about the good news, He embodied the good news. And still, because of their preset expectations, they saw Jesus through a clouded lens. Many didn’t accept Him as King because He didn’t meet the image they had created, or toe the line their customs demanded. We can be the same. We know that God wants good things for us, He desires for us to be made whole, and yet we still pigeonhole Him into the vision we have in our minds: someone who should fulfill our desires and expectations in the manner of our choosing.

Through the good news of the Gospel Jesus defied their expectations. He is a King unlike any other; He provides more for us than we could ever think up for ourselves. What if our unmet expectations, deferred hopes, and dashed dreams are a result of us expecting too little, rather than too much? By scraping the bottom of the barrel, what if I am the vendor in the temple, selling my wares for mere pennies rather than playing host to the King of Kings? C.S Lewis encapsulates this very thought in his book, The Weight of Glory:

  “It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak… like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”

In the verse cited above, Zechariah paints the coming King in a somewhat contradictory light. In describing the Messiah with words like ‘righteous’, and ‘victorious’, I personally don’t feel prompted to envision someone lowly and sitting on a donkey. However, the prophet did not urge the people of Israel to rejoice despite his humility, but because of the humility of this Messiah. He was imploring them to sing, dance, and be confident in the fast-approaching presence of their Savior.  A Savior who, through His lowliness, would bring about the most radical victory ever seen. My heart has often yearned for a warrior God to swoop in and eradicate my suffering. However, I can testify that it hasn’t been through grand acts like these that God has made a way for me. Rather, through the persistent tending of my heart, God has drawn me back to Himself. 

Thanks be to God, Jesus is not confined to our expectations.

Valentines Ashes

As followers of Jesus living in a broken world, we are no strangers to both the joys and the sorrows that each day brings. To take up our cross and follow Him is to embark on a pilgrimage fraught with both joy and grief, celebration and mourning, the bearing of new burdens, and the beautiful gift of freedom. There is an irony to Ash Wednesday and Valentine’s Day falling on the same day. Holding that tension forces us to acknowledge the seemingly opposing themes these two days represent: repentance and love.

However, when viewed through the lens of the gospel, these themes are two of the most prevalent in the Bible.

The message of the gospel is one unlike any other. Rather than a religion constructed on a foundation of black-and-white rules, it is a message that forces us to acknowledge our brokenness while simultaneously believing that, despite our sin, we are unconditionally loved and cherished by God. Jesus came to flip the reality of the current religious circles, and the world at large, on its head; He came to confound the wise, humble the proud, and breathe life into those walking in darkness. He came to tell us that through repentance and surrender, we could experience a relationship and everlasting life with Him. Because of His love for us.

What if the requirement of acknowledging our sinfulness is actually God’s gift to us? What if, because of Jesus and what He’s done, we can repent with joy knowing that our sin isn’t our identity? Instead, we are pointed to a person who has brought wholeness to our brokenness. 

It has only been in recent months that my eyes have truly been opened to the fact that the good news is referring to the whole package. Jesus’ death and resurrection is miraculous because of the fact that I have fallen short and could never save myself. As a follower of Jesus, I want and need to constantly return to Him in repentance and humility. However, if I am spending all of my time ruminating on my failures, rather than choosing to meditate on His love for me, it doesn’t matter how many times I acknowledge my sin, I will never truly be able to be free.

The paradox of death and life, joy and sorrow, acts as an invitation to a relationship with Jesus. Throughout scripture, we are reminded again and again that God is both tough and tender, just and merciful, powerful and gentle. The very idea that God can hold all of these things at the same time, illustrates how His character is not one of stringent dictatorship but of Fatherly grace. He proves that He can be trusted with our whole being and that He desires for our whole being to belong to Him.

As we enter into this season of Lent, what if Jesus isn’t simply inviting us into a time of repentance, but repentance with joy?

What if Lent isn’t just forty days of living in remorse, but of living in celebration that He has and will continue to make beauty from ashes.

"The trouble with sin isn't that God has a tight moral grid - and coloring within the lines is how we prove we're on his side. It's that sin inhibits us from what we were made to do - love. To minor on sin is to minor on love because sin constricts the capacity for love. Sin is a big issue to God because love is a big issue to God. If I pretend sin is a minor issue for me, I unintentionally make love a minor issue for me too." - Tyler Staton