People of the Presence

Exodus 23:20–33 (ESV)

“Behold, I send my angel before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared.

Pay careful attention to him and obey his voice; do not rebel against him, for he will not pardon your transgression, for my name is in him.

“But if you carefully obey his voice and do all that I say, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries.

“When my angel goes before you and brings you to the Amorites and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Canaanites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, and I blot them out,

you shall not bow down to their gods nor serve them, nor do as they do, but you shall utterly overthrow them and break their pillars in pieces.

You shall serve the Lord your God, and he will bless your bread and your water, and I will take sickness away from among you.

None shall miscarry or be barren in your land; I will fulfill the number of your days.

I will send my terror before you and will throw into confusion all the people against whom you shall come, and I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you.

And I will send hornets before you, which shall drive out the Hivites, the Canaanites, and the Hittites from before you.

I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the wild beasts multiply against you.

Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased and possess the land.

And I will set your border from the Red Sea to the Sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness to the Euphrates, for I will give the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you shall drive them out before you.

You shall make no covenant with them and their gods.

They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against me; for if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you.”

PRAYER

My family just came home on Friday evening from Wisconsin.

We drove to Wisconsin Dells to celebrate Azaria’s 13th birthday

And if you don’t know this, Aziza and I have 6 children and all but one of them can talk.

And here’s the thing about taking a road trip with children who can talk: they will inevitably use that talking ability to ask two fundamentally unsound questions:

The first road trip question: Are we there yet?

The second question - though less familiar - is like the first: Where are we?

I say that these questions are unsound for two reasons:

Reason #1: Is because they are not really questions. They are veiled commentary:

When the children ask “are we there yet” it is not a question.

They know where we are going.

They have some idea what it looks like.

At a minimum they can deduce that if we had reached the destination, I would not still be on the highway.

No, this is not a question: it is a veiled way of saying: THIS TRIP IS TAKING LONGER THAN I THOUGHT IT WOULD.

When the children ask “where are we” it is not a question.

They are not so much interested in a geography lesson about the contiguous 48 states or the background information on some random rural town in Southern Wisconsin.

They are telling you that the surroundings do not look familiar and THIS IS NOT THE WAY I THOUGHT WE WOULD GO.

Reason #2: (And this is the more important reason) is that these questions tell me that my children have lost sight of why we are on a road trip in the first place.

Family vacation is not fundamentally about the destination.

And family vacation is not fundamentally about the route we take to get there.

Family vacation (at least for cheesy dads like me) is about the time we are able to spend together.

Well, beloved, here’s one thing that I have come to realize: As adults, we are not all that different from children.

As we journey with the Lord on this road trip called life: The destination ultimate destination eternity and there are many stops on the way:

There’s this place called promotion in your career that the Father wants you to see,

There’s a spot called joy in your marriage.

There’s a place called fulfillment in your relationships.

There’s a little town called “Proud of Kidsville” that He really wants you to check out.

Oh, and there’s a really nice diner on the road called “Fruit Of My Labors” and the Father wants to take you there to eat.

But like children, we so often find ourselves asking the same two questions:

Are we there yet?

Where are we?

This is taking longer than I expected.

And this is not the way I thought we would go.

I don’t know about you, but if I’m honest, there are some destinations on this journey called life that would have thought I would have reached by now, and I’m not there.

Financial goals and family goals

Professional goals and personal goals

And I don’t know about you, but there have been some roads that I have had to travel that I still don’t understand why we had to go that way:

Why did I have to be laid off on my job?

Why did I have to write a funeral song for my father and eulogize my older brother?

Why did have to experience public defeat and personal desertion?

Are we there yet?

Where are we?

This is taking longer than I expected.

And this is not the way I thought we would go

Well, if you’ve never experienced this. I want you to do me a favor and pray for the rest of us while I preach.

But, if you’ve ever found yourself asking God these kinds of questions. If you’re in midst of asking God these kinds of questions right now, I have a word for you.

God is not goal oriented or hustle motivated.

That means that God’s people are not defined by their accolades and accomplishments.

That means that God’s people are not defined by their grit and their grind.

God’s people are defined by HIS presence.

Here at the foot of the mountain, we see God making efforts to communicate His Father-Heart to His children as they prepare for a journey.

God wants them to realize something before they set out from Sinai and head toward the land of Canaan:

There is a promise…I made it Abraham a long time ago…you will inherit this land.

But, do not prioritize the promise.

Because the promise is not what makes you my people.

It's not broad borders and the vast landscape

It’s not the milk or honey…the cattle or the crops

None of that is what makes you my people.

There is a process. It will be meticulous and strategic.

But, do not prioritize the process.

Because the process is not what makes you my people.

It's not the battles and the conquest.

It is not the sacking of Kingdoms or the willful surrender of Kings.

None of that is what makes you my people.

Before I give you the promise and before I take you through the process, I brought you to this mountain so that I can give you MY PRESENCE.

This phrase in verse 20 of Exodus 23 is very important, “Behold I send my angel before you”

This Hebrew phrasing hearkens back to Exodus 3 where “The Angel of the Lord” appears to Moses in the burning bush.

It is literally “The Messenger with Yaweh in Him”

This is an Old Testament appearance of the Holy Spirit

Sometimes, we forget that the Holy Spirit is God

Holy Spirit was not created after the resurrection of Jesus,

He is a Co-Equal member of the Godhead

He is Co-Eternal with God the Father and God the Son

Beloved, this is not a created Angel that manifests on Mount Sinai, it is God who meets His people at the mountain.

You see, the core of the promise that God made to Abraham was not that his descendents would inherit a land.

The core of the promise to Abraham concerning his descendents is that YAHWEH WOULD BE THEIR GOD AND THEY WOULD BE YAHWEH’S PEOPLE.

It is My Presence that will make you mine.

My Presence will be a guarantee of the promise.

My Presence will be a guide in the process.

The people of God must prioritize the presence of God.

We are headed on a journey (individually and as a congregation).

And the enemy wants us asking all the wrong questions.

Are we there yet?

Where are we?

Why is it taking so long?

Is this really the best way to go?

Beloved, you can make yourself anxious asking the wrong questions…and they do not even get to the heart of what the journey is all about in the first place.

Apart from the Presence, the Promise can become burdensome.

I know who I’m called to be, but I’m not that yet.

I know where I’m called to be, but I’m not there yet.

I know what I’m supposed to have, but I don’t have it yet.

Apart from the Presence, the Process will become frustrating.

Did we have to go straight through divorce?

Wasn’t there some route around it?

Before you ask a question about the Promise (Are we there yet?)...and before you ask a question about the Process (Where are we?)... make sure you lean into the Presence.

The question we must ask God (before “are there yet” and “where are we”) is a question that I have often asked you in this sanctuary: “Are you with me or am I by myself?”

Because God, if you are with me, I can make it.

I don’t have to go under.

I’m not going lose my mind.

The bills are due, and I don’t know where the money is coming from. But, God if you’re with me…

I gave my life to this relationship, and things just fell apart. But, God, if you’re with me…

I don’t know how I can make it through another attack on my health. But, God, if you are with me…

I don’t know if I can handle another piece of bad news, but God if you are with me…

The people of God must prioritize the presence of God.

I think Moses understood something about the priority of the Presence in Exodus 33: When he says to the Lord, “If our presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here.”

I think the Psalmist understood something about the priority of the Presence in Psalm 84: When he says, “Better is one day in your courts than a thousand anywhere else”

I think the songwriters understood something about the priority of the Presence when they wrote the words we sing so often, “There’s nothing worth more that can ever come close”.

The people of God must prioritize the presence of God

What I like about it is that when it comes to the Presence of God, we have something that the Israelites we’re reading about in Exodus could never have imagined.

You see, while they had to look to the Sinai experience, we get to look to the Pentecost experience.

Acts 2:1–4 (ESV)

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.

At Sinai, most of the people stood far off. At Pentecost even more people were drawn in.

At Sinai, the Holy Spirit appeared as smoke and fire in the mountain that everyone looked at together. At Pentecost, He appeared as cloven tongues of fire and sat upon each one individually.

In those former days, God called Moses up into the midst of the cloud. But in these last days, God has poured out His Spirit upon all flesh.

For Israel prioritizing the presence meant continually returning to a spot. For the church, prioritizing the presence means continually walking in the Spirit.

Beloved, here’s the upshot of the message: Everybody in here today needs the Holy Spirit

Maybe you came here today and you are not saved. You have never asked Jesus to be your Lord and savior.

God the Son won the victory through His death burial and resurrection.

But, it is God the Holy Spirit who comes and seals you for salvation when you ask for it.

Maybe you are already saved, but you have never been filled with the Holy Spirit. Never had a second experience.

Speaking in tongues is evidence, but being filled is so much more than that.

It is power to live holy.

It is power to overcome hardship.

It is wisdom and guidance and discernment.

It is power to share boldly share the good news about Jesus.

Maybe you’ve been filled.

But Paul encouraged Timothy to “stir up the gift that is you”

You’ve been filled, but its time for you to be stirred.

Everybody here needs the Holy Spirit. You need to be sealed. You need to be filled. Or you need to be stirred. But, we all need the Holy Spirit in here today.

I’m going to ask the band to play and singers to sing. And as they go forth, you go for God.

I want to read you this passage of scripture: because this is a promise you can stand on.

Luke 11:9–13

9 And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 11 What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; 12 or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

Ask the Father to send the Holy Spirit:

I don’t know if I’m saved…save me, Lord. Send your Holy Spirit to seal me.

I want to pray in the language of the Spirit and have spiritual power. Send your Holy Spirit to fill me.

I want a fresh outpouring, Lord. Send the Holy Spirit to stir me afresh.