4.13.8 – Exchange

When you go to buy a car, there is often a bit of haggling. We’re used to that. “I can offer him less than the ticket price if I trade in my old car.” “They’re always willing to come down a little.” “I can get a better interest rate if I put more money down.” Whatever. Our assumptions may be incorrect, but there’s an underlying assumption that’s usually true: the dealer wants to sell you a car and he’ll make some sort of concession.

At some point, though, if you want to car you have to pay (or make an agreement to pay). And gone are the days of beads and livestock as bartering materials. If you want the car (or truck, or tractor) you’re going to either pay or make a commitment to pay actual American dollars. Do dollars, no truck. (Oh, you might get it for a while, but if those dollars don’t come through eventually, the repo man will come through the door).

Romans 3:10 says, “None is righteous, no, not one.” (ESV) Further on in the same chapter, Paul writes, “everyone has sinned and is far away from God's saving presence.” (vs 23, GNB)

What we have here is a dilemma. God is throwing an enormous, incredible, party. The problem is that, like the car dealerships, a certain kind of currency is required to get in.

In this case, the currency is: R-I-G-H-T. Only by being “right” can we get into the party (heaven, in case you haven’t picked up on the imagery).

But those verses we just read said none of us was right. It looks like God is throwing a party and no one’s going to be there. However, God accomplishes what he set out to do and if he’s going to throw a party, he’s also going to come up with guests.

How?

Psalm 23:3b
He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. (ESV)

Now, a lot of us are familiar with that verse, just as we’ve been familiar with the entire 23rd Psalm as I’ve gone through it. But the thing about familiar things is that they sometimes get so familiar we stop paying attention. We can rattle them off without even thinking about what they mean.

So let me read that verse to you from a version you may have never see before, or haven’t seen often. It’s called the “Contemporary English Version” and it says that verse like this:

You are true to your name, and you lead me along the right paths. (CEV)

I hope you read your Bible on your own at home (or on lunch break at work, or wherever, I hope you’re reading Scripture on your own), because the Bible is God’s written word. Wouldn’t we like to know God? Well, he wrote a book and it’s readily available. As we read, we need to be asking, “Why did God put this in here? What does this tell me about God?”

Let me back up for a moment and repeat something I said when we started this study. David begins the 23rd Psalm with two words: The LORD. Then, he spends the next 90+words (depending on which translation your using, the word count’s going to differ) explaining those first two words. The 23rd Psalm is a passage of great comfort because of it pastoral setting and it’s words of triumph. But the comfort and the triumph come from a single source: The LORD.

“He makes me lie down … ”

“He leads me beside … “

“He restores … “

Paul said that no one was righteous, not anyone. Paul wasn’t onto something new there. David had already realized the same thing and, so, he says that to even be on the path of righteousness, we’re going to need someone to lead us. Isaiah realized this, too.

Isaiah 64:6
All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away. (NIV)

Pardon me (sort of) for getting a bit gross here for a moment. Our English translations are kind of wimpy here. The NIV says “filthy rags”, the ESV says “polluted garments”, even the Message—which usually doesn’t have an aversion to offending people—says “grease-stained rags”. But the original Hebrew is very specific. Our righteousness—in other words, the very best that you and I can produce—is akin to a menstrual rag.

Disgusted? We should be. During her monthly time, a woman in Old Testament times was unclean. That means she couldn’t go to worship with the group—in fact, she couldn’t go anywhere with the group. Until she was purified (following her time) she was little better than an outcast.

What hope do we have?

Matthew 9:20-22
Just then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak. She said to herself, "If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed." Jesus turned and saw her. "Take heart, daughter," he said, "your faith has healed you." And the woman was healed from that moment. (NIV)

We think about this woman and the first thing we may think of is the physical discomfort of twelve years of bleeding. Not her. For twelve years, she hadn’t been able to attend worship. For twelve years, any of her family members who hugged her would have been considered unclean. For twelve years, she was an outcast.

We read a story a few weeks back on Wednesday night about Dr. Paul Brand, one of the world’s leaders in doctoring and ministering to people with leprosy. He told a story of treating man with leprosy in India. He put his hand on the man’s shoulder and said, “I can help you.” The man began to cry. Dr. Brand asked the translator why the man was crying. Through the translator, Dr. Brand learned that no one had touched the man in years. He was crying with joy at the touch of a human hand.

You and I are just as outcast as that leper, just as outcast as the woman with the 12 years of bleeding. There’s only one person who can touch us.

The Shepherd.

And check this out: our Shepherd doesn’t just touch us, he leads us along a better path—for his name’s sake! which is the only name that can save us—to a better future!!

1 Peter 3:18

For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. (NIV)

What do I DO with this?

Stop trying to do it yourself. “What’s ‘it’?” Anything. Everything.

One last note: this Psalm 23 that we all know so well, have you noticed something? It’s not just a sweet little passage of comfort, it’s a manual for our relationship with God, a road map for eternity!