Renewal

Introduction

What allows you to feel refreshed and renewed? Vacations are taken as a means to feel renewed. Sometimes we feel very tired after a vacation and maybe a bit financially drained, but we go on a vacation to allow our minds to disengage from work and to allow our bodies to engage in different ways. We may feel like we need a vacation after our vacation but the reality is a vacation is designed to help with life. Others find that we can be refreshed through reading a book or watching a movie or some other form of entertainment. A distraction doesn’t always provide feelings of being refreshed but at times a distraction allows us a time to unplug from the routine of life and find another way to rest mind and body.

God knew that his people would need times to rest and times to celebrate. Having spent centuries enslaved—with the intent of their captors to overwork and kill—these people have probably not known a time to renew. Their very lives were arranged and planned by their captors. But in establishing a new nation whose purpose was to reveal the holiness of God, the people needed a new way of thinking. They needed to know that there would be times set aside for renewal and celebration. In our text this morning, God brings the people to a calendar. Plans are made to incorporate holidays and festivals. Plans are made for weekly renewal. And plans are made to celebrate what God has done and will do in Israel’s future. This section isn’t merely about prescribing set times for these things, these things have a purpose to remember who God is and for the people to know that this new nation is built on God’s holiness and grace.

Renewal Times

A calendar is a marvel. I know very little about calendars but I do know that our current calendar was adopted in 1582. It is called a Gregorian calendar named after Pope Gregory XIII. It is a solar calendar based on the earth’s rotation around the sun. Every four years (with some exceptions) we have a leap day (Feb. 29) in order to catch up. The Julian calendar preceded the Gregorian calendar. It was used by ancient Rome and it, too, is a solar calendar. The names of our months come from the Julian calendar. Most of the months are named for Roman deities or rulers. But there is a different calendar used in the Old Testament. It is the Jewish calendar and it is a lunar calendar. Periodically the Jewish calendar adds a month to adjust for the solar events.

We are very accustomed to our calendar. Most of the world uses the Gregorian calendar but some cultures use the Julian calendar. When you look at our calendar there are certain things that we take for granted. Seven days in a week. Some calendars before the Julian calendar had 8 day weeks. But there are certain events that we know are going to happen. Holidays are usually the same year after year. New Year’s, Independence Day, Halloween, and Christmas always are the same days each calendar. Other holidays occur at the same time each year but the specific date floats, Memorial Day, Labor Day, and Thanksgiving. But these holidays mark the rhythm of life.

God knew that his new nation would need certain reminders each week and each year. These reminders were not intended to limit, punish, or create hardship. They were ways that people could remember their connection to God. In fact, these reminders were there to renew or refresh the people and the land. So in verses 10-12 the land is to be given time to renew. Every seventh year, the land was left fallow. Why? It was one of the means that God used to care for the poor. No tending of the grape vines would still produce grapes and the poor could have food and drink. The olive trees would still bear olives and the poor would have oil to cook and olives to eat. The fields would still grow crops from scattered seed at the harvest and the poor would harvest what grew. Farmers would have rotated fields so that they could still grow food for their own family.

Every 7th day, the people were to rest. No work. Why? So that all could be refreshed. But the key is verse 13. All of this was to remind them of their connection to God. Verses 14-19, three holidays are set as annual reminders of God’s love, grace, mercy, and their dependence on him. Verse 15, the Feast of Unleavened Bread coincided with Passover (Exodus 12). This week long feast was a celebration. No leaven was used in cooking. A reminder of how quickly they had to leave Egypt. This feast typically takes place in the Spring and as followers of Jesus his resurrection took place at the end of Passover.

Verse 16, the Feast of Harvest was to occur at the beginning of the wheat harvest. Eventually we have come to know this feast as Pentecost. This festival took place 50 days after Passover so it would have been late Spring. The last feast was the Feast of Ingathering which would be celebrated at the end of the harvest. This feast coincides with our month of late September or early October. We know it better as the Feast of Tabernacles or Booths. This feast eventually formed a dual purpose. Here in Exodus 23, it is to remember the harvest and to thank God for his blessing. Later it becomes a time to remember the 40 year wandering in the desert and living in tents for all those years.

Verses 17-19 remind the people that all are expected to be a part of these feasts. While men are mentioned here, Leviticus and Deuteronomy mention that men, women, children, and servants would all participate. Sacrifices were to be meaningful and verse 19 the refusal to cook a young goat in his mother’s own milk is prohibited. This was a Canaanite practice and God forbids a worship approach before they encounter it.

Principles

Two things to take from this text. First, worship matters to God. Three festivals that centered on worship. God’s injunction in verse 13 that no other gods were to come before him. No other gods were even to be spoken. All three festivals are given greater definition and further instructions in Leviticus and Deuteronomy. These were not casual affairs in the sense that people could engage the way they wanted. God gave clear instructions about how each festival was to be carried out. People didn’t engage in ways that pleased them. People didn’t try to find new and creative ways to worship. God was very specific about what he wanted. This is not to make the case for our own worship but it is to make the point that worship is about God not about our feelings or thoughts. In context, it makes sense for God to give clear instructions. These people had been worshiping other gods for a long time. God defined what his worship was going to look like. In verse 15, all are to bring something into worship but God defined how those things were to be used and offered. Worship is about bringing our heart to the presence of God and offering what we have to him. Worship is about pleasing God; about praising him; about speaking only his name. Worship that focuses on what we feel or what we get out of it is to make ourselves god in the process.

Do not misunderstand. Worship is filled with emotion. Worship is filled with feelings. But those feelings are directed toward God.

To say you get nothing out of worship is to say that your experience was central and you are now god. Turn your focus on God and praise him. Do not allow your experience to determine the quality of worship.

Second, God set up a calendar for his people to increase loyalty. While our calendar isn’t a Christian calendar, there are times during the year and week that we are reminded that God matters. Sunday is more than just a time to be at the building or online. But it is also a time to remember that God is central. Yearly events like Resurrection Sunday allow us to focus on what God has specifically done in Christ. Maybe you add your own celebrations. Thanksgiving is a national holiday but as followers of Jesus it is certainly a time to remember God’s gifts. While I do not believe that Jesus was born on Christmas day, it is a great opportunity to engage a world that likes the music of the season reminding us of that Holy Silent Night when Christ was born. Maybe you add your own calendar events for celebrating what God has done. Perhaps now is the time to mark on your calendar that as soon as this pandemic is over, you and your family will be back in this building to celebrate our common faith.

Follow Jesus

If you’d like to respond to this message or learn more about following Jesus, please reach out.