The Exodus Pattern

Reading through Exodus I am starting to make sense of some of those "boring" chapters. There are several chapters devoted to property laws, treatment of slaves and appropriate degree of punishment for various offences (of course, not as detailed as Leviticus). It is interesting that those chapters come after Israel has been delivered from Egypt and seem to be God's way of teaching His people how to live as a redeemed people. So, the emerging pattern is redemption first, instruction second. Israel experienced God's power and is now expected to live under God's rule. God has credibility and authority in Israel's eyes, so it is only natural that they accept His instruction in the new and better lifestyle.
We are prone to reverse this sequence. We expect people unfamiliar with Christ to first learn to live like a Christian promising that manifestations of God's power will follow. It does sometimes happen this way, but more often then not God's redemptive power remains but a hollow promise. We argue with them that our faith is logical and believable, that the Christian lifestyle is the safest one, that they need to believe what the Bible say, etc. What if we just invited them to participate in our life and witness and experience God's redemptive power? What if we relied on God to redeem them before we start reforming them? In other words, what if we put evangelism before discipleship? God needs to become credible before they will follow His instructions.