Sabbath Economy
Wilderness Wanderings
Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the LORD your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore, the LORD your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day (Deuteronomy 5:15). Many of us have heard the 10 Commandments often but have rarely paused to consider the impact these commands were meant to have on God’s newly freed people. This command regarding Sabbath, which we have already considered several times, was much more than a command to stop working. It was God’s way of shaping the economy that Israel would initiate once they...
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The Road to Victory
Wilderness Wanderings
A Sunday Sermon edition of Wilderness Wanderings! The text is Galatians 5:24-26. Dive In discussion questions are below for further reflection! To see this sermon in the context of the worship service it comes from, find it . Or, head to our website to connect with the worshiping community of Immanuel CRC: Dive In What was the sermon exploring? How does belonging to Jesus encourage us on the Christian Road? What does it mean to crucify the flesh? How long does it take for the flesh to die? Is it just about the things we do? What does it mean to walk in step with...
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My Neighbour's Keeper
Wilderness Wanderings
“You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife. You shall not set your desire on your neighbor’s house or land, his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor” (Deuteronomy 5:21). It is commonly understood that the fourth commandment, the one about resting on the Sabbath, is the glue that binds the ten together. It reaches back, gathering our relationship with God into full expression on this day of joyous rest. “Joyous?” you ask. It was meant to be. As God delighted in his creation in Genesis, so his covenant people were invited, once a week,...
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Just Do It
Wilderness Wanderings
Praise the Lord (Psalm 150:1). Once, I took a two-week class with the late Dallas Willard. He began with two instructions. Each of us was to sleep 10 hours a night and we were to find a lonely place and shout Psalms 145-150 to the Lord. He explained that fatigue was one of the greatest problems in the North American church today, especially among church leaders. Fatigue hinders our ability to pay proper attention to things, especially to our own hearts and to the quiet movements of God’s Spirit. Willard also explained that praising God is difficult. We resist....
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Work is Sacred
Wilderness Wanderings
The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it (Genesis 2:15). In her book, Letters to a Diminished Church, Dorothy Sayers has a few paragraphs about work. She argues that our financial system has subordinated people to economics. Workers are merely part of the machine in which they can earn a paycheque sufficient for living and some leisure time. The worker does not recognize the work as valuable. She quotes a very able surgeon to show the results of this system: “What is happening is that nobody works for the sake of getting the thing done....
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The Battle Within
Wilderness Wanderings
A Sunday Sermon edition of Wilderness Wanderings! The text is Galatians 5:16-23. Dive In discussion questions are below for further reflection! To see this sermon in the context of the worship service it comes from, find it . Or, head to our website to connect with the worshiping community of Immanuel CRC: Dive In! How have you viewed the battle within? have you fought with hopefulness? How do you tend to drift away? What desires do you tend to follow? What does the Spirit desire? When and how have you experienced this desire becoming your desire? How has your...
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Sabbath Multitasking Taken to Task
Wilderness Wanderings
When will the New Moon be over that we may sell grain, and the Sabbath be ended that we may market wheat?”—skimping on the measure, boosting the price and cheating with dishonest scales, buying the poor with silver and the needy for a pair of sandals, selling even the sweepings with the wheat (Amos 8:5-6). Amos’ oracles regarding Israel are eerily descriptive of our own economy. He describes those who are numbed by their obsession with making money. They have such tunnel focus that they do not notice that their extravagant lifestyle is based on cheap labour. The economy operates to...
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Desire for God
Wilderness Wanderings
My heart is filled with longing for your laws at all times…LORD, I call out to you with all my heart (Psalm 119:20, 145). One more reflection on Psalm 119. Via this Psalm we have explored what it might mean that David was ‘a man after God’s own heart’ (Acts 13:22). We have looked at four things that may have caused God to describe him this way: obedience, humility, integrity and worship. Today, something that brings these different things together. Not something at the top of the list, but something, pardon the pun, that lies at the heart of the matter. Years ago, I read a...
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Begin with Hope
Wilderness Wanderings
“Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters…You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands (Isaiah 55:1, 12). On Friday, we considered the opening verses of Isaiah 55. Today, we focus on verse 12. This is not merely a poetic flourish. It is the picture of what happens when God restores his people. Those who once walked in exile now walk in freedom. The journey with God is not a forced march but a joyful procession. Joy becomes the atmosphere; peace becomes the guide. ...
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Eat it!
Wilderness Wanderings
“Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and you will delight in the richest of fare. Give ear and come to me; listen, that you may live” (Isaiah 55:1-3). God’s invitation in our text is worth repeated reflection and meditation. It needs savouring. It requires deep breathing so that we discern its various aromas. It must seep down into our hearts to...
info_outlineA Sunday Sermon edition of Wilderness Wanderings! The text is Galatians 5:1, 13-14. Dive In discussion questions are below for further reflection!
To see this sermon in the context of the worship service it comes from, find it here on YouTube. Or, head to our website to connect with the worshiping community of Immanuel CRC: immanuelministries.ca.
Dive In!
- What does freedom mean to you? What kind of things would you like to be free from?
- What does it mean to be human? How would you describe the best human? How can we become like that?
- Give some examples of good laws (not the ones Pastor Michael mentioned). What laws are you afraid of breaking? Are you afraid of God? What does it mean to be under the ‘curse of the law’?
- How is the curse of the law broken? What do we have to do to help break it? What does it mean that Jesus set us free?
- When we are free in Christ, how will we live? What will be our desire and goal? Where will the Spirit lead us?