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Third Sunday in Lent
St. Stephen's Anglican Church
The Rev. Jeffrey O. Cerar, March 3, 2013


Adventuring with God


Text: Exodus 3:1-15

There are many stories in the Bible which most of us know quite well. But despite the fact that we have heard them many times, we have much to learn from them as we hear them and talk about them again. They are about the one true God interacting with real people. So they tell us about God, and about how He does things. And they tell us about people, and how we respond to God.

One such story is the account in Exodus Chapter 3 of God and Moses at the burning bush. The God who did this has not changed. And the man whom God approached that day responded much the way you or I would have. So let's learn about God and about ourselves today as we look at this story.

The Bible tells us that God has a plan for our lives. In the Book of Exodus, we see God beginning to work out His plan for Moses from the day he was born. Moses was born at a time when the Hebrew people were living in Egypt, and had become slaves building the pyramids for Pharaoh. Life was hard for them, but they flourished and multiplied, and became so numerous that the Pharaoh was afraid of them. So he ordered that all the male babies would be put to death at birth. Moses was one of those boy babies, but instead of being killed, he was set adrift in a basket. He was picked up by an Egyptian of the royal household, who raised him as her own son. And yet, as he was raised, he knew of his Jewish heritage, and he had a heart for the Hebrew people.

One day, Moses saw a slave master abusing a Hebrew slave, and it so angered him that he struck the man and killed him. Word got out, and Moses became afraid for his life, so he fled. He ran far away to Midian, a place that is known today as Saudi Arabia. There, he found a wife, and became a shepherd in the mountain wilderness. For 40 years, Moses lived that isolated life. He probably looked over his shoulder for a time, fearing that the Egyptians would come and take him into custody for his crime. He probably also felt remorse for the plight of the Hebrews. But he was far from the action.

Then, one day, he encountered God. God came to Moses in a burning bush. Now a burning bush isn't in itself a miraculous thing: lightning strikes in the desert and starts fires sometimes. But the thing that got Moses transfixed on this bush was that it didn't burn up. It was like a flaming torch. And as he watched it, God called to him from that bush: "Moses, Moses." And Moses answered, "Here I am." God told him to take off his sandals, because he was standing on holy ground, and God introduced Himself to Moses: "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob." Knowing he was in the presence of God, Moses was afraid to look at Him.

So here we see two things about God. First of all, He had a plan for Moses which He was working on the very minute he was born. And second, He came to Moses and confronted him. We think of Moses as a great man, for he was the leader of God's people through the most memorable of times. But he was just a man, an ordinary man, even a broken man with a sinful past and a terrible secret. He was a man who had run away to keep from facing punishment for his sin. And God insisted on coming to Moses with a big assignment.

You and I are Moses. God has plans for us. God has brought us through the things that we have done, the things that have happened to us. God knows of our sinful past and our terrible secrets. And He wants to use us for His work. Keep that in mind as we look at the rest of what happened that day.

What God said next would have made Moses' heart sing. God said,

I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. 8 So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey.... [Exodus 3:7-8]

Imagine what Moses thought as he heard God say that. Moses felt a deep connection with the people of his blood. He was concerned for their plight. He undoubtedly felt guilty, because he had been in a position to do something about it as a royal son. But he had blown it in a fit of anger. And then he had taken the cowardly path of running away. And now, 40 years later, God is not only going to set them free from slavery in Egypt, but He is going to give them a plentiful and beautiful land of their own. What better news could Moses have received that day? Without question, his heart rejoiced.

But then God dropped the other shoe:

And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt." [Exodus 3:9-10]

Say what?! Think of all that would have run through Moses' mind at that point:

So Moses began to backpedal. "Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?" (Exodus 3:11) Do you hear yourself there? Do you see why these stories of God working through people are so important for us to pay attention to? When God says He's going to do something great, you rejoice. And then when He says, "And I'm going to use you to do it," the first thing you say is, "Who am I?"

If we keep reading on through Chapters 3 and 4, we find that Moses raised one objection after another. He even asked God to send someone else to do it. It got to the point where God got angry at him. But God kept insisting.

Do you ever wonder about the people God approached with an assignment who refused to do it? Surely, God didn't force all the reluctant prophets, kings, and servants in the Bible to do what He asked them to do. Surely there were ones who simply said, "No," and God found someone else. But isn't it interesting that we don't read about them? Jonah said no initially, but ended up going to Nineveh as a reluctant (even petulant) messenger for God. But he went. There must have been others who just said, "No." And they are not part of the story. What a shame for them!

Let's go back to Moses' first objection, "Who am I that you should send me?" What was God's response? It wasn't, "Moses, you are a great man." It wasn't, "Moses, I have given you amazing gifts and talents that suit you for this job." God's answer to Moses was, "I will be with you." (Exodus 3:12) I will be with you. If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? (Romans 8:31-32) That is the God with whom Moses was dealing that day at the burning bush. And that is the God with whom you and I deal—the God who says, "I will be with you."

Why would we want to say yes to God? Well, I can think of lots of reasons:

1. Because He is sovereign, and He deserves to have us say yes to what He wants.

2. Because we should be honored that He wants to use us to carry out His plan.

3. Because Jesus tells us that if we love Him, we will obey His commands.

But let me suggest another reason for saying yes to God. We see it all through the Bible, but you may not have thought about it. When we say yes to God, we walk in the power of God. "I will be with you." That doesn't just mean, I'll be encouraging you. It doesn't just mean I'll be there comforting you if you fail. It means, "I, the sovereign God of the universe, the all-powerful God, will be working through you." You will be an instrument through whom God is going to bring His power to bear on something He wants done in this world.

St. Paul said in his letter to the Philippians,

I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings...." (Philippians 3:10)

Can you imagine any greater power than the power that raised Jesus from the dead? Well, that is what God is going to bring to the table when you say yes to Him. Look at what God did when Moses said yes. He parted the Red Sea. He fed the people with Manna in the wilderness. He gave them water out of the rock. Moses would have missed all that if he had continued on hiding out in Midian. But when he said yes to God, God was with him. The power that raised Jesus from the dead was manifested through Moses' obedience. And he was able not only to witness the miraculous, mighty deeds of God. He was able to hold the staff in his hand that God used to part the Red Sea. It isn't a matter of pride for Moses. It is a matter of awe. It is a matter of partnership with God.

And yes, it was not an easy road for Moses.

But all that pales compared to the glory of knowing the living God so intimately that He used Moses to work His power in the affairs of men. That is what God wants from you and me. It wasn't just the Old Testament. It wasn't just the Apostles. It wasn't just the great men and women of history. It is everyone who puts their trust in Jesus, and who is willing to say Yes to God.

Now, if you think the way I often have, you are saying to yourself that there is a difference between us and Moses, or Isaiah, or Jeremiah, or Mary, or Paul or all the others to whom God came with these kinds of assignments. The difference, we think, is that God doesn't speak to us the way He did to them. God doesn't come to me in a burning bush. He doesn't send the Angel Gabriel to talk to me. He hasn't knocked me to the ground on the road to Damascus.

Let me ask you a question. Are you just hiding out? Is it that hard to hear God calling you to do something for Him? Think back to the times you have said no. Don't you remember saying to yourself afterward, "I should have done that?" And those of you who have said yes: didn't you know it was not just your own ego encouraging you to take on that task?

You don't need a burning bush to tell you that God wants you to share the Good News of Jesus Christ with your neighbor who doesn't know Jesus.

You don't need a visit from the Angel Gabriel to know that God wants you to offer to pray with your friend whose marriage is in trouble.

And even if your initial reaction is, "Who am I that you should ask me to do this?" God's answer is, "I will be with you." And, you will walk in His awesome power.

Most of us question why God would want to use us, unworthy and inadequate as we are. But from a Biblical perspective, it all makes perfect sense:

And that causes us to praise Him. When God calls us to adventure with Him, and we say yes, the result is that we love Him and we praise Him. And that is the whole purpose for which He created us.

Listen for His call.

Say yes to Him.

Love Him.

And praise Him.

Jeffrey O. Cerar, 2013

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