Standing in the gap...

Would you be willing to give up your salvation so that an entire people group could be made right with God?  I am not suggesting that this is theologically possible, but I do think it is a question we all need to ask.

I have been reading in Exodus.  This week I came to the story of the golden calf, in Exodus 32.  You remember the story.  Moses had gone up Mount Sinai to meet with God, but had not come down as quickly as the Hebrews thought he should.  They went to Aaron and requested that he make them gods that they could follow.  Aaron gathered up all of their golden earrings.  He threw all of the earrings into a fire and, poof, out popped a golden calf.  The Hebrews started worshiping the idol and they had a big party.  God told Moses what was going on and then said that he was going to destroy the Hebrews and start over with a great nation from Moses.  Moses stood in the gap for his people:

But Moses implored the Lord his God and said, “O Lord, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians say, ‘With evil intent did he bring them out, to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from your burning anger and relent from this disaster against your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your offspring, and they shall inherit it forever.’” And the Lord relented from the disaster that he had spoken of bringing on his people.  Exodus 32:11-14

I have read this story many times and have always been intrigued by the fact that Moses changed God's mind.  I have not explored the theological implications of this, but it is truly amazing and it does speak to the impact our fervent prayers must have on God. 

I have read the rest of chapter 32 many times over the course of my life.  This week, however, I noticed something I haven't noticed before:

The next day Moses said to the people, "You have sinned a great sin.  And now I will go up to the LORD; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin."  So Moses returned to the LORD and said, "Alas, this people have sinned a great sin.  They have made for themselves gods of gold.  But now, if you will forgive their sin - but if not, please blot me out of your book that you have written."  Exodus 32:30-32

Did you get that?  Moses not only stood in the gap for his people, he also offered his own salvation in their place.  I immediately underlined this passage and wrote a note out in the margin:

Would I be willing to do this for Muslims, or Hindus, or Buddhists, or...?

The Holy Spirit then reminded me that Moses was not the only example of this kind of sacrificial prayer.  I remembered that Paul prayed a similar prayer.  It took me a day or two to find it, but Paul prayed this about his own people:

I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit— that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh.  Romans 9:1-3

I know what most of you are thinking, because I thought it too.  I mean, this is Moses and Paul and, well, these guys were spiritual superheroes and we can't be expected to live up to their standards, can we?  Oh, the slippery slope of dualistic thinking...

Father, help me to walk in this way.  Help me to love my neighbor as I love myself.  Here am I, send me.  Do your work among all Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists and ALL who have yet to hear of your great love.  Do your work in me until my heart breaks with great sorrow and unceasing anguish for the unreached.  Father, forgive them, but if not, please blot me out of the book you have written...

Go here for a good place to begin praying for the unreached...

Comments

[Kimberly]

reminds me of "The Ones Who Walked Away From Omelas". of course, in that case someone was made a sacrifice, not willingly choosing to become a sacrifice. the moral people in that story walked away because they understood their "greater good" was not so virtuous because of the child who was suffering on their account. but when a person willingly steps into those shoes, that carries some weight. I think that is what attracts me to "Make Affluence History", intentional community, voluntary simplicity... it is sacrificing your greater good to bring about good for others. But then we get into the question of whether or not pure altruism actually exists, or if it is just its own form of egoism. But we are called to sacrifice... to love... to serve, and God had to know that our "sacrifices" would never be as pure as his Son's. Maybe the action is enough (while seeking first His Kingdom), even if the motivation can get a bit skewed?

[Kimberly]

So I got to read more of Sander's book at lunch, and (surprise) it held application to my previous blabbering about sacrifice and altruism.

"Church can be bigger than the individuals who comprise it. Some call that synergy, I call it liberation. How long will we live under the tyranny of our self-serving lifestyles?... To love the poor and to love the lost and, really, to love anyone at all ahead of ourselves is an invitation into the character of God... We do not mature in Christ, because we do not follow him. We only age, stepping every day closer to spiritual death. But when we follow, we grow, we mature, we step away from the lure of selfish gain and are wooed to follow the love that gives itself for its enemy... When I follow him, he leads me to a place of service, concern and even sacrifice for others."

(yeah, what he said.)

[Eric]

Kimberly,

Good to see you are reading these days. :-)

I like that quote from Sanders; I like it a lot. As we follow Jesus, the severity of the question I asked at the first of this post is reduced to something that doesn't really matter. The more we follow Jesus and allow him to be who he is in us, the more we have his heart. The heart of Jesus is such that service, sacrifice, and the giving of one's life for others is natural. It is who we are meant to be.

Thanks...

[Ines]

i can truly (and to my embarrassment?) say that the first time i've ever cried for lost people was the week that i was in phoenix at Common Ground-- yes, i have felt compassion in the past, i have felt pity, even urgency to "go and tell", i have felt the response to God's glory who deserves their worship; but never cried for someone. I really hope that one day I can be like Moses and Paul! I'm still searching my own heart and asking Him to purify it...