Moses: Redeemer

Scripture: Exodus 19:1-8

Exodus 19:1–8 NIV

1 On the first day of the third month after the Israelites left Egypt—on that very day—they came to the Desert of Sinai. 2 After they set out from Rephidim, they entered the Desert of Sinai, and Israel camped there in the desert in front of the mountain. 3 Then Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain and said, “This is what you are to say to the descendants of Jacob and what you are to tell the people of Israel: 4 ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. 5 Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, 6 you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.” 7 So Moses went back and summoned the elders of the people and set before them all the words the Lord had commanded him to speak. 8 The people all responded together, “We will do everything the Lord has said.” So Moses brought their answer back to the Lord.

1/28/2024

Order of Service:

Announcements

Opening Worship

Ministry Celebration

Prayer Requests

Prayer Song

Pastoral Prayer

Kid’s Time

Offering (Doxology and Offering Prayer)

Scripture Reading

Sermon

Closing Song

Benediction

Special Notes:

Week 4: Ministry Celebration

Opening Prayer:

Gracious God, all creation is Yours, yet You call us together to be the most beloved of all Your works. We praise Your name for saving and redeeming us in Jesus. Send us Your Holy Spirit to help us love you with all we have and all we are. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.

Moses: Redeemer

Freedom (From or For)

Most parents teach their children that they have choices and consequences. Even if they only give their children a limited number of options, they offer them choices so they grow to understand themselves better and learn responsibility.

When people lack responsibility and make poor choices, the consequence is often a loss of freedom. Both prisons and many rehabilitation programs are based on returning to the basics and reteaching how to make good choices again and earn back that freedom.

Rehab can be a very politicized topic, so let me give you an example on a simple level. Think about a medical rehabilitation clinic for a moment. I knew a lady from church who was in and out of a nursing home for rehabilitation about six times in two years. She had multiple surgeries related to falls and medical complications and struggled with poor health for many years. These were trying times for her, but she had a very positive attitude and learned to do exactly what her doctors asked her to do. I told her she could write a book about how to get out of rehab as quickly as possible.

It didn’t matter whether she ended up there because of a poor choice she made that caused an injury or through something else that was no fault of her own. During those stays, she lost her freedom, and because she made good choices, she eventually regained that freedom again. This is the world we live in: Freedom to make choices and the responsibility of dealing with the consequences of those choices, both good and bad.

So freedom is a good thing. It is a good thing to work to have or increase your freedom. But it is not the most essential thing in life. Consider your calendar. Most of us have full calendars and do not feel much freedom in our schedules. However, the path to complete freedom is to get rid of everything on your schedule and sit at home and do nothing. We have several shut-ins who have that kind of freedom and miss the busyness of their lives filled with activities and responsibilities. Room service sounds nice until you are stuck in bed in a nursing home, and that is all you get.

Last week, I told you that Abraham received three promises from God that were tied together with a unique purpose. God promised Abraham land, children, and a name that would become famous throughout all time. But God gave Abraham those gifts so that his family would bless others. When Israel refused to live into that purpose of being blessed to be a blessing, they lost their land, their families, and their name.

Our scripture today comes from Exodus, where God came to the enslaved descendants of Abraham and offered them freedom once more if they would be willing to use that freedom to choose to share God’s blessing with the rest of the world. This covenant reminds us that, like the Hebrew people in Exodus, God calls us to live for Him.

Homeless

It had been three months since they crossed the Red Sea and declared themselves independent from Pharaoh and Egypt—twelve weeks without anyone checking in on them. For almost 90 days, they lived in tents, trying to keep their massive herds fed in the desert and doing their best to find food and water for themselves each day. These families that were used to living near the river valley of the Nile River were tired, hungry, and thirsty, and the shiny glaze of their freedom had worn off. As the natives became restless, Moses knew it was time to ask God for help.

They were free from their old life of slavery in Egypt, but they did not know how to live their new life yet. They were homeless. As the excitement of newfound freedom wore off, they began to find themselves in a very similar place as their ancestor, Abraham. They, too, had followed God out into the wilderness with the promise of a new home. But they already had a family history with the Promised Land. However, it had been many generations since any Hebrew people set foot there. God intended them to be the generation that took it and held it as the covenant promise God made with Abraham.

I believe that’s why God let the Hebrew people wander in the wilderness for so long before going into the Promised Land. He could have led them straight there and used an army of angels to remove the people already living in Canaan. But I think God, in His wisdom, knew that if they did not follow and obey Him in the wilderness, where they were entirely dependent upon him for food and water each day, they would have no respect, love, or desire to be with Him once they had their own wells and farms. They would do as they pleased, regardless of how it affected each other or the land, and they would not be interested in God’s plan to bless the rest of the world. Their bodies may have been free from slavery, but their minds and their hearts did not know any other way to live. At that moment, these homeless people needed a God to love and guide them more than a home.

So, facing the frustration of his people, what did God do? He reminded them of his promises. And, in this case, He reminded them of the promises he had already kept to them.

When we read through the Old Testament books of Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy, our eyes sometimes glaze over at the long lists of commandments and laws in those pages. Was it really necessary to specify what to do in each and every one of those situations? Probably. All the way back to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, we have been tempted to look for loopholes. But, through the Law, God commanded the Israelites to love Him and be loved by Him in return and to love one another the way He loved them. In the scripture, once or twice in every chapter, God paused the list of Commandments, letting us all breathe for a moment, reminding us why we are to live this way.

You were slaves, and I set you free.

You were not a people, and I have made you into a nation that can stand against the world’s greatest armies.

You had nothing, and I have given you more than you know what to do with.

I did not have to choose you, but I did.

And now, with your newfound freedom, how will you live?

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Treasured

Verse 5 of our scripture begins:

5 Now, if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations, you will be my treasured possession.

Did you hear the “if” in that statement? The Jewish people have always known there is a choice between living for God and living for ourselves. When we live for God, He treats us as His treasured possession. When we live for ourselves, we get kicked out of the Garden, the Ark, the Promised Land, and the Kingdom of Heaven.

That sounds harsh. We often hear from our songs and catchy sayings that God loves you no matter what. It allows us to assume that we can live any way we want, and God will scoop us up at the last second and let us spend eternity in our paradise. But that is not God, that is not heaven, and that is not the way things work. Yes, God loves us despite ourselves and what we deserve, and He wants us to be with Him in heaven. But heaven does not belong to us. If we are going to live in God’s house, we are going to learn to live by His rules. If we choose to go our way and do our own thing, we will face the consequences of those choices.

The bottom line is this: God loves you and has a place He holds for you in HIs house. He wants to adopt you as His child forever. But if you are going to live with Him, you must live by His rules.

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If you think back to the stories of rehabilitation again, it does not take long for us to realize that our hurts and hangups are often more complicated and entangled than we can grasp without a lot of work. For example, someone with a gambling addiction might go to others, asking for a little bit of money to help them out. They probably would offer to pay the money back as well. To them, that money could get them out of debt and back to the gambling table where, in their mind, they would be living a productive life earning money. Instead of helping, that gift of money would only reinforce their bondage. They need a whole new way of looking at life and work in the value of money before it will do them any good.

We need a whole new way of looking at life if we are going to receive that adoption into God’s Kingdom. God gives us that by offering us a new purpose. To the Israelites and to us as those adopted by Jesus into that great family, God gives this purpose:

“You will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” - from Exodus 19:6

What does this mean?

Priests were the people that mediated between the people and God. They made sure the sacrifices were offered correctly. They helped interpret the law for the people. The priests had a strong relationship with God and were the connecting point for everyone else.

To be a kingdom of priests means that God wanted every Israelite to have a relationship with Him. They would not need mediators. They could go directly to Him.

And God also calls them a holy nation. That means they were to be set apart, not like other nations. As a nation, they were to help the other nations develop a relationship with God.

So, our purpose is to have a good relationship with God and help bring others into a relationship with Him.

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The Call to All

So, how do we become a kingdom of priests and a holy nation?

The Israelites asked that same question, and God answered them by giving them the Law of the Covenant. Each of those many rules that God gave them in the Ten Commandments and beyond was given so that every Israelite man, woman, and child could live for God and bring others into a relationship with Him. Some did it as actual priests, both young and old. Others did it as farmers or laborers. Most of them did it as parents and grandparents. No one was left out.

Everyone had a sense of two callings among the people. They had a general calling -- to be that kingdom of priests and citizens of a holy nation. The Law of God, like our own US Constitution for us, applied to every person among the Israelite people. And everyone had a second calling as well. This second calling was a little more specific to individuals and helped them know what kind of work they would do with their lives. Some had the calling to be priests and work in the Tabernacle. Some had a second calling to be hunters or farmers. Others were craftsmen and women. Some were called to take care of children. Others were trained to protect the people. Where did this second calling come from? Their family. You inherited your second calling from whatever your family trade was.

Today, we do not always inherit our second calling from our families. Many times, God calls people to leave their family traditions, like Abraham and Moses, and serve Him in new places and ways. However, our first calling, our primary calling, is always to have a relationship with God and to bring others into a relationship with Him. God gave us the Law, the Old Testament, and the stories around these covenants so that we could lay that as a foundation of our faith. Without having that solid foundation, we can easily be led astray if we try to find God’s will for our lives and our secondary, more specific calling. Instead of seeking God’s will, we will chase after whatever makes us feel happy at the moment, and that puts us right back in the Garden of Eden, talking with snakes about which trees have the best fruit.

Our hearts can lead us astray. Our minds can be deceived. But God gave us His Word, His Law, and Jesus Himself --that Word made flesh so that we always have a compass pointing us to God wherever we find ourselves. We know we cannot be good Christian leaders, teachers, parents, or servants in the kingdom if we struggle to follow Jesus daily. We have to receive and work on the first part of our calling, the one that applies to us all, before we can find the specific place we fit and the specific things God wants us to do for and with Him.

Closing Prayer

Almighty God,

You have created us in Your image and raised us to do good work according to Your will. We know we cannot do that without Your direction and power. Thank You for giving us the Law through Your people, the children of Israel, so that we can find our way into a redeemed relationship with You. Thank You for showing us the way our sins keep us from living the life You desire for us and for making ways for us to turn away from that sin and return to You.

We hear You calling us by name today and we know You have plans and purpose for us in this world today. We know you have set us all here in this place today as visitors in this world who will never truly be home until we are home with You. While we travel, as witnesses of Your righteousness and grace, help us to keep near to You and share You faithfully with everyone You bring across our path.

By the blood of Your precious Son Jesus, You have bought us. We are Yours, Lord, now and forever.

In Jesus’ name. Amen.

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