Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:00:07 Hey, welcome to village sermon, Q and a pastor Michael, here with you. I'm in the studio with our communications manager at the village church. Vicki Basinger. Welcome Vicky. All right. So Vicki, we got a question today and our question comes from our series and May, 2021, um, uh, through our decision sermon series, bunch of laws after the 10 commandments. And, um, so one of the laws is about, um, a bunch of the laws are about really following God, no matter what, and they're very weird laws or they actually don't even make sense. Like, for example, I don't know if you know this, but you know, when you wanted to boil, um, that baby goat and it's mother's milk, do you remember that? Yeah, that was a really emotional, um, God says, don't do that right now. If you were to ask me why. Yeah. I'd be like, I have no idea
Speaker 1 00:00:51 I can surmise
Speaker 2 00:00:52 Who finds themselves. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 1 00:00:56 I have an idea. And so they're all a whole
Speaker 0 00:00:58 Bunch of laws in this section though, that just are kind of random. They don't seem to make sense. They seem to be pulled out of thin air. And so the question for today is, uh, when the Bible asks me to do something that doesn't feel right or even it doesn't even make sense. Um, what do I do? How would you respond to someone who says that?
Speaker 2 00:01:14 Well, initially I would just say, well, listen or read further, right? Because sometimes people can take a verse out of context or you read one verse or maybe two, and it has absolutely no bearing on what is actually going on in that chapter section of scripture. Um, so looking further into the text, looking for supportive texts that are appropriate, um, would be something that I would say lean in to seek counsel from pastor or somebody in your life that has, you know, kind of that godly gift of wisdom. Um, but to if the Bible says something that you think doesn't make sense, ask yourself, is this actually what the Bible is saying? Yeah.
Speaker 0 00:01:48 It is very easy to interpret something poorly or wrongly on a first read. Yes, for sure. Especially for a book that's like two to 4,000 years old. Exactly.
Speaker 2 00:01:59 Well, and if it's going into this set of laws that today make absolutely no cultural sense because when you're talking about, you know, back in the Exodus, I mean, thousands of years that is they're coming out of a particular seasons of history, they're coming into a new season. God knows what's coming, he's preparing them for it. So when we're sitting here today in the Chicago land area, looking at boiling mother goats and their babies, like, I don't even know where to get a goat actually. Yeah. I can help you. Like we're talking about, I don't know where to get help, where can I get it? Yes, it is
Speaker 0 00:02:42 Funny because, uh, one of the points that pastor Craig made and, and the sermon from this past Sunday, it's the last Sunday in may, is that what God is bringing Israel into, which is the promised land filled with Canaanites and tribes is exponentially more evil than where they coming from, which is incredible on its own, correct? Yeah. To the point where, uh, when God looked at Egypt, he'd never said to himself, I need to destroy this entire nation and kill all of the women and children. Right. And to eradicate them from the face of the planet. But it's interesting because whatever was happening in the tribes of Canaan, they were so evil and so terrible, uh, that, that literally they needed to be raised from the face of the earth. God, as he looked at the Panorama of history, decided like, like humanity will be better off without them. If these people survive. Um, so many people will die, you know, which
Speaker 2 00:03:32 Seems so harsh. And I think a lot of the time when we're talking about people today, reading the Bible, being like, well, how could God be so horrible to wipe out this entire, you know, it's just kind of like, here's
Speaker 0 00:03:44 What, here's, how, here's how they would respond. If you go to most people and say, would you kill Hitler? If you had the chance? Most people would say yes, the, the, the badness of killing Hitler far outweighs the badness of letting him like remain alive and start world war two in genocide, all that matter stuff, you know? Um, but it's very, so the Israelites have zero categories. What they're walking into. In fact, we don't know when they got the command to don't boil a goat and it's mother's milk. Um, we don't even know if they knew what that meant, right. Because they're in there in the wilderness that they're not even there yet. They've been slaves for generations. Yeah. And what was interesting is that God is preparing them with laws, um, so that when they see the evils that are happening, uh, that they know, oh, wait a minute, God warned us of that. Interesting. I didn't know that was coming. So there are a lot of things that seemed strange at first, but God is preparing. And I thought that was one of his, like, just best points was like, it may not make sense, but if it is right and it's understood and it's context and it's interpreted correctly, um, don't underestimate that, that got us smarter than you.
Speaker 2 00:04:45 Exactly. Well, and anybody who's a parent would know in this situation, I have a four year old at home and the other day he was eating cereal and then decided to drink a giant glug of water. And a piece of life cereal got like literally lodged in his throat. And he started to choke. I had to do the Heimlich on him and when everything was settled down, he was just like, I just didn't know that would happen. And I said, well, now you do. Right. Like, I didn't know that I had to specifically say, Hey buddy, chew your cereal, swallow it before you drink some water. But like, God is going before us and doing that for this group of people, for his people, his children. I mean, it's just really loving when you look at it that way. Yeah.
Speaker 0 00:05:29 Um, I often like will be chewing and then drinking. And I, I cough and choke on all the time. It does not surprise me because I'm like in a hurry, you know what I mean? I'm like, I'm like, oh, really
Speaker 1 00:05:39 Fast. It's a little, this is a problem. Um, so
Speaker 0 00:05:44 One of the, I mean, one of the opposite ends like is that people just don't interpret it correctly. Right. So sometimes it is just true and it's right. And it's good. Um, but like sometimes it's legit. Like, I don't think I am interpreting this correctly. So you mentioned it earlier, but like, uh, advice would be, um, you said, um, look at other Texas scripture. Um, what else would you say? Um,
Speaker 2 00:06:04 Supplemental texts that are, you know, actually theologically sound, um, would be important, um, seek godly counsel, um, pray. And there are a lot of different ways that you can, you know, go and find what that Bible, I mean, if you're really feeling like, wow, the Bible is telling me to do this, don't go like all in on that one verse. Um, don't jump into the deep end of the pool there. Make sure that you are looking
Speaker 0 00:06:25 At everything. Yeah. Yeah. Can I give you an example? Yeah. Um, when I'm, when I'm working with college students, young adults and, um, it is, I mean, God has put inside of us the desire to love and be, to be connected to a person and to be married, all that kind of stuff. It's like a God infused thing. But when a Christian Young woman or young man is looking to date a non-Christian, it's very interesting because all they see is what their hobbies, what they, how they get along, all the emotions that go through this, you know, they have a lot of fun together. It feels, it feels right. And it's interesting because like, we'll always tell them like, no end, it don't even start those relationships just end it right now and walk away. And it, most of the time they don't. Yeah. Um, because they didn't listen to God beforehand.
Speaker 0 00:07:10 Right. And when they're in it, it's exponentially more difficult to get out once you're in it now, fast forward. And let's have a conversation with every man or woman married to the non-Christian man is their spiritual life takes off. And they're not raising kids with somebody who doesn't share their faith. It's excretion under get me wrong. They love the man or woman they're married to. Right. Um, desperately would do anything for them. But, um, when you are not equally yoked, as the Bible says, uh, it is a level of excruciating pain that most people don't get. And the pain is for your love for them. Like, I want them to know Christ so they can experience salvation so that I know they will be with me forever in heaven. Like there is a love for the person. The pain is not like, oh, my life is so terrible. It's like a, it's a pain for their salvation. And there are added complications. I wish I could. Fast-forward every student who is dating a non-Christian and have them sit down and interview husbands and wives who married an unbeliever, you know what I mean? And a missionary, but like, God is like, trust me on this. Yes. But then our emotions blind us from seeing what is true in real. So did you have to break up with your non-Christian boyfriend or did,
Speaker 2 00:08:19 Um, well, eventually I came to right to my senses as well. It was a little dramatic, but, uh, initially it was, uh, initially it was my dad who was just like, ah, this is not cool. Um, you should not be doing this. This is why we raised you with these principles. You need to understand and obey, you don't understand. You don't know. And then now as a parent, I'm just like, I know all of these things, like just listen. Right. But, um, you know, then eventually, because I was still involved in youth group because I was still reading my Bible because I went away from the, I saw myself start to pull back from who I was in Christ. Like I knew who I was before I dated this person yet. All of a sudden I turned into this different person. And even if it was small behaviors,
Speaker 0 00:09:09 Every time I've watched so many students start dating on Christians and they all, they never
Speaker 1 00:09:13 Ever dragged the person up, they was dragged down. It's like, oh, but they can't see
Speaker 2 00:09:17 It actually. Well, and because I'm really smart, I did it multiple times. Um, and, uh, well, am I, yes, you're an idiot.
Speaker 1 00:09:27 You said that that's my phrase out of the idiot. Come on.
Speaker 2 00:09:31 Yeah. My, my parents always taught my sister and I in particular because we were really close in age that if you envision yourself as standing on a chair, how easy is it for you to pull somebody up to stand with you on that chair versus them pulling it down to the ground. And it's always easier. You pulled down to the ground and there's like that missionary. Oh, a hundred percent. Yeah. Well then you could probably go on his shoulders and make human pyramid and like all this crazy stuff. But, um, I mean, that, that really stuck with me even when I was, I think I was 15 years old and I was just like, well, yeah, I guess that makes sense from like a physics standpoint, but like I could do it. Like I'm stronger. I'm smarter. I know all those weak links. Yes. Forget that.
Speaker 2 00:10:16 Yes. So smart me did it multiple times, but you, you lose your sense of identity in Christ. If you don't have a strong identity in Christ, we don't hold on to that with as much force as you possibly can. Like that's when just like little things a little bit further, you're going a little bit further and you're a little bit further. And then soon enough, like I have had multiple times in my life, particularly as a young adult, I was like, where am I? How did I get here? Oh, my word, like, Lord, forgive me. I'm going all the way back. You know, saying like, audio's like, I know that we were dating and whatever, and I know that this was really like awkward and you know, kind of out of nowhere to you, but I've been feeling like not the holy spirit prompting me for quite some time and was just like, well, yeah. And that's why audio's like, yeah, that's good word, but yeah,
Speaker 0 00:11:03 Let's summarize. So, uh, if you are reading the Bible and it tells you to do something, it doesn't feel right. It's possible. You're wrong. Um, seek others, passages of scripture, get some really good counsel, spend some time praying on that's really good. Um, and if it doesn't feel right, but it is right. Um, this is where we trust the Lord and we say no to our flesh, our desires, our logic, when our logic disagrees with the logic of the word of God and it's interpreted correctly in its context. Um, then we just say goodbye. My logic, I submit to the authority of the word of God. It's excruciating, uh, future. You will always thank you for doing that, man. Amen. All right. Villa church. I want to thank you for joining us. We have more questions and sermon Q and a join us next time.
