Who go to church Sunday?
Exodus 15, “The Song of the Sea,” was joyously sung by Moses and the people after God brought them through the Red Sea but drown Pharaoh’s army. Moods change quickly, and soon the people are complaining to Moses about drinking bitter water. Is God only as good as His last show? A Jewish commentator wrote, “Pharaoh is gone, but his work remains; the master has ceased to be master, but the slaves have not ceased to be slaves. A people trained for generations in the house of bondage cannot cast off in an instant the effects of that training and become truly free, even when the chains have been struck off” (“The Torah, A Modern Commentary,” 494).
The rescue from Pharaoh foreshadows our rescue from the eternal death of sin. That’s our justification by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. But then comes the life of sanctification, of learning and living out the implications of our rescue. Note “abide” in what Jesus says. “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:31-32).
Why go to church Sunday? Because the DNA of slavery still is in us. The Word keeps calling us to the attitude God intends for His redeemed. “For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery” (Galatians 5:1).
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