Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?

The Lord’s desire is to call us and teach us how to be His people

Time is a peculiar thing, isn’t it?

A pleasurable 60 minutes seems to pass light lightning.

An unpleasant 60 minutes moves with the speed of a new bottle of ketchup when you are really hungry.

Some of you noticed that the sermon title is a song title that the great musical prophets “Chicago” released back in the day.

We all live this way.

We think we know the plan.

We think we are working the plan.

And then something totally unexpected happens and the plans not the plan anymore.

Does anybody really know what time it is?

Today we deal with a very famous story in the Bible - its in Exodus 3.

Moses’ life has been a disappointment - or at least I would think he would feel that way.

Rescued from the hand of Pharaoh

Raised by Pharaoh’s daughter as royalty, in the lap of luxury.

You just knew this boy was going to grow up to be something.

Moses murders a man when he is 40 years old

Becomes a fugitive from justice.

He runs hundreds of miles away into a place where a city boy like himself would end up dead.

He was rescued by a slew of young girls watering their flocks.

Their dad gave him a job and

This guy who missed his opportunity

Who didn’t live up to his potential

Who wrecked his life

He became a shepherd for the man.

Figured it was his destiny to live out his days wandering the hillsides

Making sure the sheep were fed and watered.

Had a wife - had kids and probably grand kids.

As Exodus 3 starts, Moses had been doing that for at least 35 years.

He’s 75 years old.

He’s way past time to make a major contribution to society.

And Moses was down with that.

But Moses didn’t know what time it was.

Everyone open your Bibles to Exodus 3:1-6.

Kids, you may have studied this story already in your small groups.

Try to remember what you talked about then and follow along with me now.

Your three words are Moses, bush and Jesus.

Listen for them and remember to talk with your mom and dad about them later today.

Hear now the Word of the Lord from Exodus 3:1-6

Exodus 3:1–6 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.

This is the Word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

Something that might escape us as we punch our time clocks everyday is

The Lord knows who you are

Exodus 3:1 “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.”

If you listen close to the story, you hear something about Moses.

He doesn’t own squat.

“Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law.”

Not Moses’ flock - his father-in-law’s flock.

Have no clue what’s happened for the last 35 years but one thing is for sure

Moses had no ambition to be rich

Or if he did, he wasn’t very good at it.

Sounds to me like he was content.

“Led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.”

(PLAY SINAI VIDEO) - This is the traditional location for this story.

There are other ideas from other scholars, but this one seems right from all indications.

You see the name Jebul Musa - the Mountain of Moses.

That’s what the locals call Mt Sinai.

Right near the mountain is a plain known as er-Raha.

It’s about 2 miles long and 7 miles wide - it would have been a great place to find grass for sheep.

And for a people of over 1/2 million to camp one day.

This mountain was not known by anyone as holy ground.

Remember now, Moses is not writing this as a blog

He’s looking back and writing it down.

Mt Sinai didn’t become holy ground until the Holy God touched it and make it holy.

This was simply a place Moses’ sheep had to cross to get to some other place.

As you can see, it’s pretty harsh country.

To me there is a kind of fearful beauty about it.

I can see someone who, if you didn’t know what you were doing, you’d get yourself killed out here.

But Moses had 35 years to learn.

He roamed these hills with the sheep.

Like every good shepherd, he knew where the green pastures and still waters would be located.

Moses was simply making a living, doing what he did everyday.

But the Lord knew him.

Just like the Lord knew Matthew who was just living his life Mark 2:13-14

Mark 2:13–14 ESV

He went out again beside the sea, and all the crowd was coming to him, and he was teaching them. And as he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him.

And just like He knew Simon Peter and Andrew, and James and John who were just living their lives Mark 1:16-20

Mark 1:16–20 ESV

Passing alongside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” And immediately they left their nets and followed him. And going on a little farther, he saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, who were in their boat mending the nets. And immediately he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants and followed him.

Not a single one of those men were looking for the Lord - just like Moses wasn’t looking.

But the Lord knows who we are and He has a plan.

The Lord wants you to know Him

Exodus 3:2 “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.”

It’s funny, the pictures I’ve ever seen of this scene always has a bush at least as big as Moses

And the voice of God speaks from inside the burning bush but that’s not what this says.

First, notice it was not “an angel” - it was “the angel” and there is a reason.

I’ve often wondered about something - later on in Exodus, Moses is going to ask to see God and God will answer him, “Exodus 33:20 “But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.””

But there are places, like when Jacob wrestled with the angel and a few other places where the people claimed to see God and did not die.

And the Bible doesn’t dispute that they saw God.

So how does that work?

One of the things that instills a bit of fear in me is the knowledge that God isn’t like me - He doesn’t look like me.

Created in his image doesn’t mean he’s a chubby, gray headed old white guy.

No one knows what He looks like and God Himself says, if you see Him, you will not be able to stand it.

But there is one who is God.

There is one we can see and that’s Jesus.

There are those, and I am one of them, that believe that “the angel” is indeed the preincarnate Jesus - that’s how we see God.

Whether we are right or wrong is irrelevant though - the point is there is only one “the angel” and this angel is identified as God.

The Lord did what He had to do in order to let Moses know it was Him.

Second, the Lord appeared in the flames “out of the midst” or over the burning bush.

You’ve had a campfire

You know what it looks like for flames to leap up over whatever is burning.

That’s where the Lord appeared and I only want to call this one thing to our minds.

Acts 2:1–4 “When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.”

There has to be a connection, right?

Anyway, the Lord has the burning, not burning bush going in the wilderness so Moses will see it and wonder.

Because, you see

The Lord knows what will draw you

Exodus 3:3–4 “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.””

Now, the bush was probably a bramble bush - no more than 2 feet tall and 2 feet wide.

Now let me ask you a question,

You are a shepherd

You’ve been walking these hills for years.

You’ve spent many a cold winter night out here counting on a fire to keep you warm.

You know about how everything out here burns.

What would make you so curious, what would be so fascinating to you that it’d be practically irresistible to explore?

Moses couldn’t help himself - he had to know what this thing was.

Listen, do believe that the Lord quit calling people when the Bible was finished?

Let me ask you this, what brought you here today?

Was it your decision to come?

Well, this is my church?

How did it get to be your church?

Well, mom and dad went to church here.

OK, lots of kids leave mom and dad’s church and go some where else or go no where at all.

Are we so prideful that we believe we run the show all on our own?

That we are here because we chose this without any input - any enticement - from the Lord?

I believe some of our brothers and sisters who have suffered addictions might understand this better than we do.

The Lord put something in their way that was so appealing that they had to turn to it to find out what it was.

It had to be - well - just the thing that would draw them away from what they were doing.

I watch my own development as a pastor and bible teacher.

I don’t study like I once did - I don’t think like I once did

But I didn’t set out to change.

I was trained and I’ve moved well beyond my training.

I’m more moved by the Lord’s presence than ever in my life - how did I get here?

I know it was the angel of the Lord.

It was the Holy Spirit of the Lord placing things in my life that were irresistible to me

My curiosity drove me to check it out

What is this?

How does this work?

And every time, every time the Lord met me there.

And if you will be honest with yourself, you’ll see the same thing in your life.

The Lord knows you better than you know yourself.

He wants you to know Him because He knows how wonderful your life can be when you know Him.

He knows what will draw you to Him and He puts those things in your way so you can’t help but check it out.

Something we miss in this verse because we don’t talk this way is the tenderness in this call.

“Moses, Moses” is a Semitic way of letting you know they really like you.

It’s how they express affection and friendship.

Is there someone who has a way of saying your name that melts your heart?

That’s this.

“Moses, Moses.”

This person isn’t my enemy - this person is my friend.

How do you respond to a friend who calls your name?

“Here I am.”

And once we enter into that relationship with the Lord,

The Lord changes you

Exodus 3:5 “Then he said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.””

The ground was not holy until a holy God inhabited it.

And because the Lord was in the house, the Lord explained how Moses needed to do things.

Please, please - many of you have heard this a thousand times but in the world we live in now, this is more important than ever.

Don’t tell people that they have to change the way they act, how they dress, how they talk - don’t.

And I know how hard that is.

There is a Prudential insurance commercial helping people who are becoming their parents.

They are in a store.

A person is walking towards them with BLUE hair

BLUE - Electric Blue.

The counselor says as they all stare

“We all see it, we all see it” in a very calm voice.

But one of them is holding back so hard, they finally explode.

“BLUE”

I’ve been told that commercial reminds my kids of ---- me.

It’s hard - it’s so hard not to look at what people are doing and how they are dressing

And the - in Randy’s world - bizarre things they do with their bodies...

But Randy is not their standard of behavior

To be honest, the only thing I know for certain that they or anyone need is just one thing, right?

They need Jesus.

And once they meet Jesus, Jesus will start the reno.

Moses had no clue he was on holy ground.

Moses had no clue what to do once he was on holy ground.

But look at what the Lord did.

Our of tenderness and kindness and friendship, the Lord Himself told Moses what to do.

“This is a special place Moses - we do special things here.”

We will never change people enough so they can come to Jesus.

But Jesus will love people enough to come to them and change them however He sees fit.

Finally, when we meet Jesus

The Lord overwhelms us

Exodus 3:6 “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.”

When Moses knew who it was he was talking to

This one who spoke to him with such tenderness and affection

This one who showed him how much he cared by telling him exactly how to act in such an unusual situation

Moses was overwhelmed.

He pulled his cloak over his face.

He was afraid

And yet as we are going to see next week, “the angel of the Lord” keeps speaking tenderly to Moses.

And He tells this man in his late 70’s, “have I got an adventure for you.”

As I wrote this, I know this sounds sappy but I had a satisfying warmth in my heart.

This is the story of my life.

The Lord came to me and He started showing me who He is

And who He isn’t.

He stuck with me during my seriously stupid years

And in my self-satisfied years.

The Lord reminded me of the title of an old song, “He was there all the time.”

He never abandoned me.

He never left me alone.

He’s with me today and I know, because I know he is “the God of [my] father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.”

I know He will be with me forever.

I wish I had words for you that would make it clear

But this really is something that you have to experience it yourself and that you and the Holy Spirit will have to work out.

Won’t you join us in this adventure?

Listen, you aren’t here today by accident.

The Lord put something irresistible in your path to get you here.

I can hear someone thinking, “It wasn’t irresistible - it was my nagging mother or my nagging wife.”

Dude, that’s pretty irresistible or you would be somewhere else.

Join us.

Follow Jesus.

He is the only person in all of eternity that knows you inside and out

And still loves you.

He will wash away your sins.

He will give you a brand new heart.

And then in a way that you’ll be able to handle

He’s make you more and more like him every day.

I promise there is nothing better.

And brothers and sisters,

Slow down today and think - how did you get where you are?

Do you have a little Moses story of your own to tell?

We’re going to stand and sing.

Please, if you want to follow Jesus - come to me or grab someone

We know how it’s done - we’ll help you.

Let us pray.