As you know, if you read this blog regularly, I am a big fan of space exploration. I wrote a series centered around the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing beginning here. So today was to be another milestone of sorts: a test of the SpaceX rocket Starship. Except it didn’t go quite according to plan: it exploded shortly after launch. Or, as SpaceX described it:

Starship just experienced what we call a rapid unplanned disassembly.

What you and I would call an explosion, SpaceX calls “a rapid unplanned disassembly.” As CNN reported, this is not the first time they used that term, and they have a very unusual culture:

SpaceX is known to embrace fiery mishaps during the rocket development process. The company maintains that such accidents are the quickest and most efficient way of gathering data, an approach that sets the company apart from its close partner NASA, which prefers slow, methodical testing over dramatic flareups. – CNN, April 20, 2023

A fascinating philosophy. Embracing fiery mishaps. A very gutsy leadership style. Most churches (and NASA) are risk-averse. But if you try something and it fails spectacularly, you learn something if you’re paying attention, and you don’t quit. SpaceX won’t quit:

Although it ended in an explosion, Thursday’s test met several of the company’s objectives for the vehicle. Clearing the launchpad was a major milestone for Starship. In the lead-up to liftoff, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk sought to temper expectations, saying, “Success is not what should be expected. … That would be insane”

With a test like this, success comes from what we learn, and today’s test will help us improve Starship’s reliability as SpaceX seeks to make life multi-planetary,” SpaceX tweeted after the explosion. – CNN, April 20, 2023

SpaceX won’t quit, but some churches do. Years ago, I was on staff at a large church and helped engineer something that would have been a paradigm change. The church excelled in what they called “ministry teams,” groups of volunteers doing various functions: e.g., the third Sunday 9:30a ushers, the second Wednesday kitchen crew. I suggested and the senior staff agreed that these ministry teams could also be discipling teams if the team leader (or someone else on the team) understood that they had two functions: one, do the job they were supposed to do; two, disciple the team members. We kicked off the new emphasis with a large Sunday night gathering of leaders. Despite initial enthusiasm from a number of folks, within a week, the idea was killed. Why? “Well, some of the members were confused.”

In the spirit of SpaceX, so what? What if some members were confused? Let’s unconfuse them. We may not have done a good job explaining things. Let’s try again. But this was not a church that “embraced fiery mishaps.” It was a church that didn’t like its members confused, even for a short time. So the initiative died, and when I think about it, I’m still bummed.

Embrace fiery mishaps. It’s not a bad philosophy.

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. (Isaiah 43.2, ESV)

On Wednesday of Holy Week, BreakPoint published a piece on Johnny Hart, creator of the comic strip B.C. I recommend the article in its entirety, which includes not only the story of Johnny Hart but also links to some of the strips discussed. Why did BreakPoint publish this during Holy Week? Because Johnny often included Holy Week themes in his strips. For example, as reported in the article (and I remember reading this one last year):

A caveman says, “I hate the term Good Friday.… My Lord was hanged on a tree that day.” Another caveman replies, “If you were going to be hanged on that day, and he volunteered to take your place, how would you feel?”

So why am I publishing this blog two weeks later? First, because I didn’t want to interrupt our Holy Week blogs on the Stations of the Cross. Second, to make a point about Christians in the workplace. Here’s a guy writing a comic strip – a comic strip! – which from time to time included a Christian witness. And the readership? Up to 100 million people, making him “the most widely read Christian of our time!”

As Chuck Colson wrote back in 1999, “Johnny Hart can be an inspiration to all of us to find ways to bring a Christian worldview to bear on our work, whatever it may be. Healthy humor is one of God’s good gifts to us, and even writing comic strips can be done to His glory.” John Stonestreet, Breakpoint, April 5, 2023.

The Apostle Paul would agree:

And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. (Colossians 3.17, ESV)

If you’re reading the Pentateuch with us this year, you know that we’re taking a break to read Matthew’s gospel. I was delighted to find something new and exciting about Joseph, Jesus’ earthly father, the very first day! I’ve written about Joseph before, but this observation is new:

Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: when His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit. And Joseph her husband, being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly. (Matthew 1.18, 19, LSB)

“A righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her…” Some “righteous” men would have wanted to disgrace her with great fanfare. A Pharisee, for example. Or even Judah back in Genesis 38:

About three months later Judah was told, “Your daughter-in-law Tamar is guilty of prostitution, and as a result she is now pregnant.” Judah said, “Bring her out and have her burned to death!” (Genesis 38.24, NIV)

But “righteous” Joseph seems to have a different standard. “Righteous” equals kind and merciful, rather than judgmental.

He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6.8, NKJV)

Joseph would have done precisely that: love mercy and walk humbly with God. Maybe that’s one reason God didn’t choose a Pharisee or other religious leader to be Jesus’ earthly father. Some of us don’t walk humbly with God. We act like God should be glad to have us.

Also He spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men…'” (Luke 18.9 – 11, NKJV)

Within the past few weeks, I had several exchanges with someone who wasn’t all that encouraging, and I felt it. Or I should say, I felt the lack. Around that time, Seth Godin came up with one of his priceless little blogs, which I repeat here in its entirety:

500 Ways

There are thousands of ways to express encouragement and enthusiasm and support. Few of them require a blood oath or even much inconvenience.

“I’m thrilled that you’re contributing.”

“Can’t wait to see how this turns out.”

“I know someone who really needs to hear about this.”

“Go make a ruckus, it matters.”

If we want things to get better, it helps to encourage people who are eager to make things better. – Seth Godin, March 31, 2023

As I read this good word, I couldn’t help but contrast it with the Ten Commandments. I don’t think encouragement is in there. But it is in here:

One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’  This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22.35 – 40, NIV, Jesus quoting Deuteronomy 6.5 and Leviticus 19.18)

We left off yesterday trembling in the spectacular of the giving of the 10 Commandments. The presentation was spectacular, but keeping them would be pretty day-in, day-out nitty gritty.

A friend of mine told me one day that now that we are under grace, the law doesn’t apply. I said, “Of the Ten, which is not worth keeping today?” The only one he could come up with was the fourth – the Sabbath. I said, “So you want to work all the time? Not take a weekly break?” Keeping the law isn’t for earning salvation or favor with God, but which of the Ten would you want to break?

Just 10. Do you know what they are? If not, or if you want an easy way to remember and teach them, here is a version I learned from John Schmidt, now pastor of CenterPoint Fellowship Church in Prattville, Alabama. I don’t know whether these are original with John or if he borrowed them. Just 33 words:

1. No other gods
2. No idols
3. Honor God’s name
4. Honor God’s day
5. Honor your parents
6. Don’t take your neighbor’s life
7. Don’t take your neighbor’s wife
8. Don’t take your neighbor’s stuff
9. Don’t lie
10. Don’t covet

(You can read the “official version” in Exodus 20.) It’s a good list, but it’s not complete. More tomorrow.

Then the LORD spoke to you out of the midst of the fire. You heard the sound of words, but saw no form; there was only a voice. And he declared to you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, that is, the Ten Commandments, and he wrote them on two tablets of stone. (Deuteronomy 4.12, 13, ESV)

[Jesus said, ] “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5.17 – 19, ESV)

We’ve had the plagues, the crossing of the Red Sea, manna in the morning, and water from a rock, the first two, especially, being pretty spectacular. Now we go into Exodus 19 and 20, spectacular manifestations at Mt Sinai, beginning with a reminder of the exodus:

You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself…And the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, I am coming to you in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with you, and may also believe you forever.” …On the morning of the third day there were thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud on the mountain and a very loud trumpet blast, so that all the people in the camp trembled. Then Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they took their stand at the foot of the mountain. Now Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke because the LORD had descended on it in fire. The smoke of it went up like the smoke of a kiln, and the whole mountain trembled greatly. And as the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him in thunder. The LORD came down on Mount Sinai, to the top of the mountain. And the LORD called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up. (Exodus 19.4, 9, 16 – 20, ESV)

Cloud, thunders, lightnings, a very loud trumpet blast, smoke, fire, “and the whole mountain trembled greatly,” as did the people! And after the law was given in chapter 20, more of the same:

Now when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled, and they stood far off and said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die.” Moses said to the people, “Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin.” The people stood far off, while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was. (Exodus 20.18 – 21, ESV)

The purpose of the spectacular was clear: that the people may hear when I speak with you, and may also believe you forever. To give Moses credibility and to emphasize the real presence of a real God whom they should fear and obey.

Today, we have to experience our “spectacular” by faith:

For you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them. For they could not endure the order that was given, “If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned.” Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I tremble with fear.” But you have come to…

• Mount Zion and to
• the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to
• innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to
• the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to
• God, the judge of all, and to
• the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to
• Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to
• the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

See that you do not refuse him who is speaking (Hebrews 12.18 – 25, ESV, emphasis mine, bulleted for clarity)

I’m just hitting highlights in Exodus, and I won’t write again about “A Day’s Portion Every Day,” a nice metaphor for daily time with God from Exodus 16. So God provides food in chapter 16 and water (again) in chapter 17 – this time through Moses striking the rock.

I love Exodus 18, the account of Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, the first management consultant. here’s how the consult starts:

The next day Moses sat to judge the people, and the people stood around Moses from morning till evening. When Moses’ father-in-law saw all that he was doing for the people, he said, “What is this that you are doing for the people? Why do you sit alone, and all the people stand around you from morning till evening?” And Moses said to his father-in-law, “Because the people come to me to inquire of God; when they have a dispute, they come to me and I decide between one person and another, and I make them know the statutes of God and his laws.” Moses’ father-in-law said to him, “What you are doing is not good…” (Exodus 18.13 – 17, ESV)

I love Jethro’s direct approach. I studied “coaching” for a while, where we were taught to guide people into coming up with life solutions through questions. I wasn’t very good at it. Jethro does open with a question: “What are you doing…?” But he follows quickly with a declaration: “What you are doing is not good.” And he explains to Moses that he will wear himself out doing what he’s doing, that he should find “trustworthy men who fear God” to help him.

Moses could have been like some pastors. “I am the only one who can teach, counsel, etc.” Not Moses. What’s really cool in this story is that Moses did what Jethro suggested:

So Moses listened to the voice of his father-in-law and did all that he had said. (Exodus 18.24, ESV)

Take advice from a non-Jew? Hear the word of God from someone on the outside? Moses did.

The ear that listens to life-giving reproof will dwell among the wise.
Whoever ignores instruction despises himself, but he who listens to reproof gains intelligence.
The fear of the LORD is instruction in wisdom, and humility comes before honor. (Proverbs 15.31 – 33, ESV)

The 10 plagues, culminating with the deaths of the firstborn of Egypt, resulted in the Exodus, the “exit” from Egypt:

At midnight the LORD struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of the livestock. And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians. And there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where someone was not dead. Then he summoned Moses and Aaron by night and said, “Up, go out from among my people, both you and the people of Israel; and go, serve the LORD, as you have said. Take your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and be gone, and bless me also!”…And the people of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides women and children. (Exodus 12.29 – 32…37, ESV)

And they’re off…but they don’t get very far:

Then the LORD said to Moses, “Tell the people of Israel to turn back and encamp in front of Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, in front of Baal-zephon; you shall encamp facing it, by the sea. For Pharaoh will say of the people of Israel, ‘They are wandering in the land; the wilderness has shut them in.’ And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will pursue them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, and the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD.” And they did so. (Exodus 14.1 – 4, ESV)

Of course, when the Egyptian army came out, and the people saw they were trapped, they panicked, and God explains this fascinating division of labor:

The LORD said to Moses, “Why do you cry to me? Tell the people of Israel to go forward. Lift up your staff, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, that the people of Israel may go through the sea on dry ground. And I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they shall go in after them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, his chariots, and his horsemen. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I have gotten glory over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.” (Exodus 14.15 – 18, ESV)

The jobs:

• The people are to go forward.
• Moses is to lift up his staff and stretch out his hand over the sea.
• God…
  • Divides the sea (Moses’ staff doesn’t do anything!).
  • Hardens the hearts of the Egyptians to pursue them.
  • Gets the glory over Pharaoh.

A great story. A spectacular event. One that should help the Israelites keep their faith up…but, of course, it doesn’t. They sing a celebratory song in Exodus 15 (Sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea.), but before the chapter is over, the grumbling begins:

When they came to Marah, they could not drink the water of Marah because it was bitter; therefore it was named Marah. And the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?” (Exodus 15.23, 24, ESV)

They could have said, “Wow! After the plagues and the Red Sea, I can hardly wait to see how God will handle this problem!”

I don’t know why God puts up with us…

Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain. (Philippians 2.14 – 16, ESV)

Monday, we reminded ourselves that the tenth plague against Egypt occurred in the context of the Passover Lamb, a foreshadowing of Jesus’ dying on the cross.

Now let’s take a quick look at the other nine plagues, summarized in the picture below.

I encourage you to read the account of the first nine plagues in Exodus 7 – 10. In addition to the specifics pointed out in this chart, I’m fascinated by Moses and Aaron’s involvement:

• “stretch out your staff” – water to blood, frogs, locusts
• “strike the ground” – gnats
• “toss soot in the air” – boils
• “stretch out your hand” – to start and stop the hail, darkness

There was no power at all in Aaron’s or Moses’ actions, but God lets them “participate” anyway! Their words were certainly important, declaring to Pharaoh what was going to happen and asking him to let them go. The purpose of it all was clear:

• A sign to Pharaoh

For this time I will send all My plagues against your heart and amongst your servants and your people, so that you may know that there is no one like Me in all the earth. For if by now I had sent forth My hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, you would then have been wiped out from the earth. But, indeed, for this reason I have caused you to stand, in order to show you My power and in order to recount My name through all the earth. (Exodus 9.14 – 16, LSB)

• A story for the Israelites to tell

Then Yahweh said to Moses, “Come to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants with firmness, that I may set these signs of Mine among them, and that you may recount in the hearing of your son and of your grandson, how I dealt severely with the Egyptians, and how I put My signs among them, that you may know that I am Yahweh.” (Exodus 10.1, 2, LSB)

Have you heard about ChatGPT? It’s the free Artificial Intelligence (AI) application that will generate an article in response to a prompt. It’s not hard to find A LOT of information on it including arguments for and against. I used it just the other day to generate a short biography about the composer who wrote the piece June was playing in a performance group. I asked it to include that piece in the bio, and the result was more than acceptable. We used it “as is.” Once, just for fun, I asked it to write a short homily on the Parable of the Prodigal Son from Luke 15 with emphasis on the older brother. Again, it did a credible job. I expect more than one pastor will be using it to generate sermons or sermon ideas.

On April 10, 2023, Wall Street Journal (WSJ) published an essay by Gerald Baker with the provocative title: The World Is Ending, But It’s Been Ending Many Times Before. He opens with a list of things people say will result in disaster, among them:

• Climate
• Thermonuclear war
• Plague (e.g., COVID)
• Artificial Intelligence (“the latest terror”)

With respect to AI, he cites an article by AI Expert Eliezer Yudkowsky: The Only Way to Deal With the Threat From AI? Shut It Down. Here’s his opening salvo:

Many researchers steeped in these issues, including myself, expect that the most likely result of building a superhumanly smart AI, under anything remotely like the current circumstances, is that literally everyone on Earth will die. Not as in “maybe possibly some remote chance,” but as in “that is the obvious thing that would happen.” – Eliezer Yudkowsky, Time Magazine, March 29, 2023

If you read the article in its entirety, you’ll find links to yet other articles, one describing Microsoft Bing’s AI threatening users.

As I read the articles on the potential destructive force of apps like ChatGPT, I asked myself, what does the Bible say about that? As I wrote that question in my journal (which I keep on my iPad, one file per week), I looked up just 1/3 of a screen and found what Jesus said in Matthew 6:

Do not worry about tomorrow. (Matthew 6.24, LSB)

Then I thought about a similar instruction in Isaiah:

For the LORD spoke thus to me with his strong hand upon me, and warned me not to walk in the way of this people, saying: “Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread. But the LORD of hosts, him you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. And he will become a sanctuary and a stone of offense and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel, a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And many shall stumble on it. They shall fall and be broken; they shall be snared and taken.” (Isaiah 8.11 – 15, ESV)

Back to the original source: Gerald Baker’s WSJ article. Mr. Baker wrote the piece in the context of Easter! Here’s the opening:

America and the world are living through a very long Good Friday. Like Jesus’ terrified and defeated disciples, we have no inkling of any Easter rising in our future. We are figuratively locked in an upper room of our own fears, bereft of hope, pondering the many ways in which the world is going to demolish us. – Gerald Baker, WSJ, April 10, 2023

He closes with the suggestion that people living in fear should

…read the Gospels. It might cheer them up.

He is not here, for he has risen! (Matthew 28.6, ESV)