I Will Be With You

Context

Our current preaching series is “Trust the Promise.” As we -- pastor and congregation -- begin a new chapter of ministry, we are exploring how God calls us forward. The promises of God are life-shaping, yet it takes time and experience for us to learn to trust them. This summer, we are seeking to respond fully and freely to God’s call.

Last week, we heard the story of God calling Abram. The divine promise was “I will show you.” And God showed Abram the promised land and gave him many descendents.

About 300 years later the descendents of Abram, the Hebrews, were enslaved by the Egyptians. Over the course of 400 years of bondage, the Hebrews continued to multiply and the Egyptians became more and more severe with them. The Hebrews cried out to God for a deliverer to come, but none did.

Then, around 1200BC, things came to a breaking point. The Pharoah, king of Egypt commanded that all male Hebrew babies were to be executed at birth.

One baby survived. Hidden by his mother, this baby was found by the daughter of Pharoah, and she adopted him and raised him as her own son. She named him Moses.

Moses grew up as Egyptian royalty. But his heart was also attuned to the suffering of his people. One day, in defense of Hebrew slave who was being beaten, Moses slew an Egyptian taskmaster.

He had thought the murder had been covered up, but the Hebrews shunned him and the Pharoah marked him for death.

Moses fled for his life into the wilderness. Eventually he found his way to the land of Midian where he started a new life. He married, became a shepherd, and left both the royalty and bondage of Egypt behind.

This week, we are hearing the story of God calling Moses.

The divine promise is “I will be with you.”

Text

Exodus 3:1–12 ESV

Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.” When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” Then he said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” And he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God. Then the Lord said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. And now, behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.” But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?” He said, “But I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”

Prayer

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen.

Introduction

two ways to travel: with or without baggage. Nice not to have baggage. Wouldn’t it be nice not to carry so much life baggage? Emotional history, negative experience that we remember and that gets in our way? Especially if that gets in the way of being part of what God is around us and through us?

Ancient Problem

Moses was shepherding his flock.

Out beyond the wilderness to Horeb. Also called “the mountain of God.”

There in the mountains, the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a burning bush that was not consumed.

angel of the lord, offers a visible sign of God, pre-encoueer.

God identifies to Moses. Connects to lineage of Moses and the Hebrews. Father Amram, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

He HAS seen and heard. He had seemed far off. Maybe Moses’ own faith had withered.

God says, SO. So, come and I will send you...

Moses replies. BUT Who am I to do any of that! Not meaning that I have no skills or leadership or ability. But that he had all those things but none of it had helped him help anyone. Torn between royal identity as Egyptian prince, and deliverer for Hebrews. None of which has worked out. I’m a failure, hated, not wanted by anyone there.

Who am I? The wrong guy. I can’t go back there.

There is a problem. There is a need. There is too much baggage. I am sending you. I don’t want to go. I’ve run away, for a reason. and I’m not going back.

Current Problem

Modern media example:

The last Jedi: (2017). Luke carrying all this guilt for the death of a dear friend, training of Jedi gone wrong. self imposed exile on a secret remote planet. Rey, an emerging leader seeks him out. She wants him to come back and set things right, save the rebellion from the evil Empire. Luke Skywalker, do you think I’ve gone to the most unfindable planet in the galaxy for no reason at all?

Like most Gen X guys, Luke a hero. Moses too.

Both tapping into archetypal experience. Being called to do something that we don’t want to do…but that needs to be done…and that we, not someone else, need to do. Others need us.

God sees the suffering, he says, I will send you.

To our spouse. Too much hurt. To an alienated parent or child. Too much failure. To a different racial, sexuality/gender person or group, economic group. I’m part of the problem. Problem too big. I tried and it backfired. They don’t want my help. I’ve got too much baggage!

We may put ourselves into exile, yet God calls us back into action.

God wants to bring love and salvation to all people, especially those who feel unheard and unseen, his people. He call us to share in that mission, yet we can feel blocked.

Hinge

what about all the baggage?

God’s solution: I Will Be with You.

Ancient Solution

Moses said, Who Am I? God said, I AM with you. I will go with you.

I will take the past and make it sacred and useful. Of yourself it would be impossible. But I will go with you.

Normal ground made holy by Gods presence. Moses’ dirt, will be holy.

bush burning but not consumed. Moses’ burnout will be rekindled and sustained.

your baggage to set others free!

I will be with you.

God went with Moses. He showed up in Egypt.

10 plagues.

Led them through the wilderness. The red sea.

A sign to work toward. This very mountain. As much as I am with you right now, I will be with you and all of them right here. You will bring them right here. I will go with you, to get them, bring them right here.

That happened. Horeb is Sinai. The mountain where God met with Moses and gave him the 10 commandments for the people who were standing at the foot of th mountain.

Consistent feature. God sends and goes with.

God was with Joshua. Joshua 1:9 “I hereby command you: Be strong and courageous; do not be frightened or dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.””

God was with David.

God was with the Prophets. 3 brothers in the fiery furnace. Daniel in the lions den.

Ultimately. God is with us in Jesus Christ. Immanuel, God with Us.

Jesus said, I am with you always, Even to the end of the age.

Burning bush of Pentecost. Fire descended again. Acts 2.

Paul said, Though all others fled, the Lord was with me. 2 Timothy 4:17 “But the Lord stood by me and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. So I was rescued from the lion’s mouth.”

Current Solution

God is with us today.

The burning bush of the Holy Spirit within us.

We are called to set people free from bondage and suffering of all kinds.

He takes all our baggage — holds us down — I got this. I am with you. We will go set others free.

How do we set them free. Forgiveness. Teaching. Giving. Serving.

If the church isn’t making an impact on the community, then they aren’t a church. — A local who saw our mission team working.

spouse. Child. Pray for the burning bush.

How Firm a Foundation: “Fear not, I am with thee, O be not dismayed, For I am thy God, and will still give thee aid; I’ll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand, Upheld by My righteous, omnipotent hand.”

The result is arrival to the promised mountain. The mountain of God.

Imagine if the person or people you thought was impossible to connect with…was right here worshipping with you.

Conclusion

Moses was called to share in God’s mission of saving.

We are called into that same mission.

We trust that God will be with us.