ON EAGLES’ WINGS
III. “Called!”
9-25-05
Ken Peterson
Exodus 3-4 (selected)
INTRODUCTION
Someone once asked the great scientist, Albert Einstein, what question he would ask God if he could ask Him one question. Einstein replied, “How did the universe start? Because everything after that is just math.” But then, after thinking a few moments, he changed his mind. He said, “Instead I would ask, ‘Why was the universe created?’ Because then I would know the meaning of my own life.”
Do you know the meaning of your own life? As Christians, we know the universe, including us, is created for God for His pleasure and loving purposes. We spent seven weeks last year fleshing out that meaning with the Purpose Driven Life. (Note the banner Carol has put up again without any suggestion from me reviewing our five purposes). Yet, while we know that in general, the specifics of the meaning of our own lives is always being worked out and lived into– or at least it should be that way since it is fluid, changing, and growing as we follow Christ.
Christian author and educator, Howard Hendricks, tells of being on an airplane that had a long delay before take-off. The passengers became more and more irritated. But Hendricks said one flight attendant stood out because of her graciousness and self-control with grouchy, angry passengers. When they finally were airborne, he commended the stewardess for her wonderful attitude and said he’d like to write a letter of appreciation to the airline on her behalf. This stewardess replied that she didn’t work for the airline, but for Jesus Christ.
That airline stewardess didn’t have a career, but a calling. A career ends when we retire. A calling isn’t over until the day we die. Do you have that clear of a sense of calling in your life? Would you like to have it? If you’re not living in that calling, knowing that personal application of God’s purpose in whatever you’re doing, our Scripture this morning offers a lot. Moses’ dialogue with God at the burning bush is a wonderful case study for us in God’s call and our propensity for excuse-making. God’s Word has the power to move us beyond being caught up in the mundane business of “going through the motions” of life into the thrilling adventure of living-out God’s unique call to each one of us.
Before we read out text, let’s remember where we left off last week. The baby Moses was miraculously rescued from the Nile by Pharaoh’s daughter and raised in the palace. At age 40, he had thoughts of leading a popular uprising of the Israelites against their Egyptian slavery, coming to the aid of his people by killing an Egyptian who was abusing an Israelite slave. But his action backfired and it was instead resented by the Israelites as interference. Now wanted for murder by Pharaoh, Moses had to flee to Midian (part of present-day Saudi Arabia) to live. As we pick up the reading, he has now been there 40 years herding sheep for his father-in-law.
Exodus 3:1-15
TURNING ASIDE
God has to get our attention before we are ready to hear Him. Here it is a supernatural sign, a bush that’s on fire and yet was not being consumed by the fire. I picture the bush as something like our abundant sage bushes. And, Moses makes the appropriate response, saying, "I will go over and see this strange sight– why the bush does not burn up (Ex 3:3)."
Discovering what God has in mind for our lives always involves a turning aside– a willingness to stop what we are doing and explore. Moses doesn’t realize at first that this is the Lord. He seems to go over to it more out of curiosity for “this strange sight.” But, When the LORD saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, "Moses! Moses!" (Ex 3:4). While the initiative is with God, Moses needs to respond in some way– to make a choice. It is not much to start with, but it is something. Then as God calls Moses by name, Moses responds as a servant would to his master in that day, “Here I am.” The repetition of the name twice, “Moses! Moses!” was used in that day to convey urgency.
Sometimes God is in the interruptions of our lives or the unusual happenings. At times we refer to these events as “wake-up calls.” Maybe it’s a life-threatening event in which we reevaluate our priorities. Many of you, I know, can look at such times in your life where you’ve realized what you’re doing and/or the way your living is not lined up with what is of real value– what lasts. At those moments, we decide to make a life change for the better.
One of our members, Joe Miller, turned aside a couple of weeks ago at the fair to the Red Cross booth and asked if his training in networking computers in communications would have any value in the Hurricane Katrina relief effort. Indeed he was needed. As we discussed this, I could see in Joe a sense of calling from the Lord to do this. A few days later he was in Louisiana working 14 hour days in difficult conditions and loving it.
As soon as God gets Moses’ attention, He begins to define the boundaries in their relationship with the command, “Do not come any closer. Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.”(5). While God loves us and intervenes in our lives– He’s here to rescue His people– this is not a “buddy-buddy” relationship. It is to be governed by awe and respect. Muslims practice removing their shoes or sandals before going into a mosque based, I believe, on this Scripture. Jesus’ coming and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit bring us into even greater intimacy with God. Yet, there is to be this respectful awe always governing our relationship.
WHO AM I?– Objection #1
God commissions Moses in His message out of the burning bush with, So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt." But Moses said to God, "Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?" (Ex 3:10-11). This is the first in a series of five objections Moses raises to his commissioning. He is clearly not an eager leader to deliver his people. He may have been eager and rash at age 40, but now, after 40 years in the wilderness all his self-confidence is gone. It is likely he is enjoying the simplicity of his life.
God’s command to go and bring His people out of Egypt stirs up all the old memories of defeat. Perhaps his heart was in the right place when he tried to lead an insurrection 40 years before, and maybe he felt like God let him down. He may have been more than a little bitter over that. Certainly he is crippled by a sense of failure and inadequacy. Now God is telling Moses that he isn’t washed-up. God wants to use Him for more than herding sheep.
In response to those feelings, God gives Moses a new perspective in response to “Who am I?” God tells him, I will be with you (12). God is saying, who you are isn’t the question. Who I am is all you really need to know. Before it was Moses trying to deliver his people. Now it will be God through Moses. That makes all the difference. So it is that Moses asks the next question about who God really is.
WHO ARE YOU?– Objection #2
Moses said to God, "Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' Then what shall I tell them?" (Ex 3:13). In that day, names were a way of defining the essence of a person. Asking God’s name is like asking God to tell Moses about his nature, to reveal Himself. And in response, God defines Himself by a brand new name, I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites, ‘I AM has sent me to you’ (14). And, God concludes this with, This is my name forever, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation (15).
This is a whole new revelation of God in a way that was seismic to Israel. Up to that time God was generally referred to in the Hebrew as Elohim– the generic Semitic term for divinity, translated into English simply as “God.” A few other adjectives had been added to that in Genesis, further defining God. But now, an entirely new God-revealing name, I AM WHO I AM. This was shortened to four letters, YHWH, probably pronounced Yahweh. In our English translations it is usually translated, “LORD” (all capitals). It became the primary term for God in Israel, used over 6,700 times in the Old Testament as compared to 2,500 for Elohim.
I expect some of you are thinking at this point, “Just what does I AM WHO I AM mean? It doesn’t reveal anything to me!” I expect we could spend the rest of the sermon on this, and the more I read from scholars as they try to pin this down it seems like it can’t be pinned down. And maybe that’s the point. My brother expresses it well in Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places,
“God cannot be defined. ‘Yahweh’ is not a definition. God cannot be reduced to an ‘object’ of our inquiry or search. The earlier God names among the people of God are all nouns: the generic God, God Almighty, God the Most High, and God of Hosts continue to be useful but they all now must be understood under the primacy of the verb that cannot be pinned down.... but can only be received or responded to. God is actively present to us and our only option is to be actively present in our turn, or not.”
I AM WHO I AM is verb dominated, a God who acts and is the source of all being. Jesus adds even greater definition to this in His great I AM statements: “The Bread of Life,” The Light of the World,” “the Way, the Truth, and the Life,” etc. I AM means God is alive and active today. It means God is not aloof and distant but personal and ever present. Hannah Whitehall Smith said this unfinished name is like a blank check signed by a rich friend. Fill in whatever amount you need. I think that captures the flavor of this, as long as we don’t take that in a presumptive way thinking we’re in control and can use God for our ends.
We can be filled with our own “I ams:” “I am strong” or “I am weak;” “I am stupid”; “I am hurt;” etc. God wants to fill our little “I ams” with His I AM. That’s what Moses needs to know and the people need to know. God is adequate for all they need and will accomplish His purposes for them.
WHAT IF THEY DON’T BELIEVE ME? – Objection #3
After further instructions from God, Moses answered, "What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, 'The LORD did not appear to you'?" (Ex 4:1). Moses realizes they may not believe him. He lacks credibility. They can explain away his encounter as loneliness in the desert, seeing things, talking to bushes, mirages, and sun stroke. In response to this, God gave him three miraculous signs to perform– convincing proofs. At God’s command, Moses:
1) throws his shepherd’s staff on the ground and it becomes a snake. Then he grabs it by the tail and it becomes a staff again.
2) He puts his hand into his cloak and pulls it out filled with leprosy. He puts it back in and it comes out restored.
3) Finally, if they don’t believe the first two signs, take water from the Nile and pour it out and it will become blood on the ground.
God always equips us for what He calls us to do. Jesus sends out the disciples with the words,
As you go, preach this message: 'The kingdom of heaven is near.' Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. (Matt 10:7-8)
And, speaking of the Holy Spirit coming, which we have received, Jesus says,
"Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I go to the Father (John 14:12).
Here, in the equipping of Moses, God takes the ordinary things at hand (a shepherd’s staff, a hand, water) and by His power transforms it into something extraordinary– the power of God. Later, that same staff will devour the wizards’ staffs; stretched over Nile, the river will be turned to blood; striking the dust, gnats will overwhelm the land; and with that staff he parts the Red Sea.
So far, Moses objections and questions seem to be legitimate concerns. But now, he crosses a line and moves into excuses.
Ex. 4:10-17
MAKING EXCUSES– Objections #4 and #5
Moses’ concern about his lack of eloquence and being slow of speech and tongue seem best taken as feeling he’s not quick-witted enough, able to think quickly on his feet. Some have taken it to indicate a speech impediment such as stuttering. But Acts 7:22 affirms Moses was “powerful in speech.” Moses even seems mildly to put some blame on God in saying, O Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. In other words, I don’t feel like anything’s really different! God’s response to this is a series of short rhetorical questions affirming His sovereignty over our humanity. With these terse questions, you sense it would be wise to push no further.
But, Moses does take it further, begging off, asking for God to send someone else. While the Lord is patient and slow to anger, there is a time when we can incur His anger. This is a helpful warning to us. Yet in this whole dialogue we’ve looked at, you see God’s great patience and grace in supernaturally revealing Himself, explaining Himself, answering objections, and in equipping Moses for his task. At this point, if you’re reading this story for the first time, I think when Moses says, O LORD, please send someone else to do it (13), you’d think, “I can’t believe he just said that!” We all know he’s way over the line of legitimate concerns and questions to trying to find a way out.
Yet, in Moses’ pushing things this far, many of us find a kindred spirit. Even when we clearly understand God’s will, and we know He wants us to have a role, like Moses, we can begin backpedaling. We are comfortable where we are. We fear stepping out into a larger adventure. We’ve done our part. We’re too old– remember, Moses is 80 years-old here.
CONCLUSION
The fact that God chooses us and calls us to partner with Him in setting people free is a thrilling thing, if you think about it. Of course it all comes back to our need to relinquish our plans and wills to His perfect plan. It all begins with our willingness to step aside and see what God places before our eyes.
Ten years ago, Kevin Bradley was engrossed in the fast-paced, big-money world of Wall Street. He was a stockbroker with Legg Mason in Baltimore. He and his wife led a comfortable life. But every day as he walked to his office, it seemed God was drawing him away from that world to that of the homeless people he passed each day. He grew quite interested in them– who they were and how they got where they were. Sometimes he’d take one out to breakfast, lending a listening ear.
A ministry to the homeless wasn’t really what he had in mind, but it seemed like now God was asking him to fulfill a call to ministry he’d sensed as a youth. After much prayer and Bible study, Bradley quit his job and started a non-profit organization dedicated to helping the homeless become independent. In addition to meeting emergency needs, the motivational, spiritually-based program teaches men and women how to channel their God-given talents and desires into productive areas. It was tough for them at the beginning as they just lived off their savings. Bradley said, “There were times when I’d come home and we probably had less food in our pantry than some of the people we were helping.” But, their perseverance paid off, and with God’s blessing the program has grown and is being used by other groups nationwide.
But notice, Kevin Bradley’s burning bush was just noticing homeless people and becoming interested in their lives. A little turning aside occasionally on his daily trips to the office and there he began hearing God’s voice calling him to a new adventure.
As we close, it is important to remember that God uses those who have failed. Moses messed-up big time in trying to be a deliverer of his people on his own. He needed God’s call and the equipping that came with it. Perhaps you can identify with his reluctance in accepting that call. I’m encouraged by God’s patience with Moses and the careful way He restores him so he can fulfill God’s plan for his life– and what a glorious plan it is as we shall see in the next several weeks.