If You Will Listen

When I went to college, I was a sociology and political science double major.

And I loved those classes.

I loved learning how societies work. I loved learning how power works. I loved learning how groups form and fracture and change. I loved learning about institutions and justice and law and history and how all of these things shape the way human beings live together.

Those classes made sense to me. The classes that did not make sense to me were the gen-eds. Maths and physical sciences. Yuck.

But then something strange happened.

I took economics.

And I really understood economics.

Which surprised me, because economics has math in it, and math and I have never been best friends. But economics made sense to me because economics helped make sense of the world I was living in.

I was starting college in 2003. I was beginning to learn how to be an adult. I was starting to see that there were these invisible forces shaping life all around me. Jobs. Debt. Housing. Wages. Gas prices. Healthcare. Poverty. Wealth. Choices people made and choices people never really had.

Economics helped me see that our world runs on systems of value.

Every economy is a way of answering basic questions.

What matters? What is worth protecting? Who gets what? Who gets left out? What do we owe each other? What do we do when there is not enough? What kind of people does this system produce?

And the older I get, the more I realize that money is not the only economy we live in.

There are relational economies. Family economies. Workplace economies. Church economies. Political economies. Attention economies. Even spiritual economies.

We are constantly being taught what counts, what matters, who matters, and what we have to do in order to be safe.

And what blows my mind theologically is that the economy of God is so different from the economies of the world.

The economy of the World runs on production. God’s economy runs on grace.

The economy of the World runs on fear. God’s economy runs on trust.

The economy of the World says, “People are useful if they can produce something.” God’s economy says, “People are beloved because they bear the image of God.”

And that is where we are in the story today.

We are still in our series called The God Who Hears.

We started with Moses at the burning bush, when God said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people. I have heard their cry.”

Then God confronted Pharaoh and said, “Let my people go.”

Then God made a way through the sea.

And now Israel arrives at Mount Sinai.

And now God is going to speak.

Exodus 19:1–6 NRSV

On the third new moon after the Israelites had gone out of the land of Egypt, on that very day, they came into the wilderness of Sinai. They had journeyed from Rephidim, entered the wilderness of Sinai, and camped in the wilderness; Israel camped there in front of the mountain. Then Moses went up to God; the Lord called to him from the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the Israelites: You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession out of all the peoples. Indeed, the whole earth is mine, but you shall be for me a priestly kingdom and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the Israelites.”

Before we go any further, we have to notice where God starts this thing.

God begins with grace.

God says, “You have seen what I did.”

I carried you. I bore you on eagles’ wings. I brought you to myself.

That matters, because what comes next is going to be some of the most famous laws: The Ten Commandments.

When people talk about the Ten Commandments, we often talk about them as if they are the entrance exam for belonging to God. As if God is saying, “Here are the rules. Keep them well enough, and then I will love you. Keep them well enough, and then I will save you. Keep them well enough, and then you can be my people.”

But that is not the story.

God has already heard them. God has already come down. God has already confronted Pharaoh. God has already brought them out. God has already carried them.

The commandments are not given to enslave rescued people. The commandments are given to teach rescued people how to live free.

Now there’s something difficult in that scripture…

“If you will listen.”

That is the line that gives this sermon its title.

And I know that line creates some tension for us.

Because if you have spent much time in church, you have probably heard that we are saved by grace through faith. And that is true. Deeply true. Essential Christian truth.

We are not saved because we are impressive. We are not saved because we are morally superior. We are not saved because we have obeyed well enough to force God’s hand.

We are saved by grace.

And yet here, at Sinai, God says, “If you will listen to my voice and keep my covenant…”

So what do we do with that?

Because there is a strong current in modern Christianity that looks at this moment and says, “That is exactly the point. God gave the Law to prove that we could never obey it. God gave the commandments to show us that we are failures. God gave Israel an impossible standard so that one day everyone would understand why Jesus had to die.”

And there is truth in saying that none of us loves God perfectly.

There is truth in saying that none of us loves our neighbor perfectly.

There is truth in saying that sin runs deeper than behavior and that we need more than advice and rules. We need Jesus.

But we have to be careful.

Because if we tell that story the wrong way, we can make it sound like God rescued enslaved people from Pharaoh, brought them through the sea, carried them on eagles’ wings, and then handed them a curse.

As if the Law was bad news.

As if the God who heard their cry gave them something cruel. But Exodus does not tell the story that way.

The Law is not Egypt all over again. The Law is God teaching former slaves how not to rebuild Egypt.

Israel has been delivered from Pharaoh’s economy. But now they have to learn God’s economy.

They have spent generations in a world where people were valued by production. Generations in a world where their bodies were tools for someone else’s empire. Generations in a world where power meant domination and the vulnerable were crushed under the demands of the strong.

So when God says, “If you will listen,” God is not saying, “This is how you earn your rescue.”

God is saying, “this is your opportunity to listen to a different voice you will be different than Egypt.”

Because Pharaoh had a voice, and it was a voice that use power to oppress people and build an empire.

And now the God who hears says, “Listen to me and you will be set apart”

And then we get to Exodus 20

Exodus 20:1–2 NRSV

Then God spoke all these words: I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery;

Again, notice the order.

Before God says, “You shall,” God says, “I am.”

Before God tells them what to do, God reminds them what God has done.

“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.”

That is grace. Then of course the first 2 commandments come.

You’ll have no other Gods

You’ll not make any idols to worship.

I think those are pretty self explanatory. But here’s where things get really interesting for this topic:

Exodus 20:7 NRSV

You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name.

This is more than not using God’s name as a swear word.

This is about carrying the name of God truthfully.

Israel is being called to be a kingdom of priests, a holy nation. They are going to represent God to the world. And God says, “Do not carry my name in a way that lies about who I am.”

Do not use God’s name to bless injustice.

Do not use God’s name to protect cruelty.

Do not use God’s name to make oppression sound holy.

Do not use God’s name to justify slavery.

And for the sake of all things holy, Do not use God’s name to silence the voices of women in your churches and exclude them from preaching in your pulpits

Do not use God’s name while ignoring the people God hears.

And then comes the commandment that I think is one of the most important commandments for understanding the whole thing.

Exodus 20:8–11 NRSV

Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work—you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it.

This is not just God saying, “You should take a nap.” Although some of us probably should take a nap.

Sabbath is bigger than that. Sabbath is God building justice into time.

In Egypt, slaves do not rest. In Egypt, Pharaoh owns your time. Pharaoh owns your body. Pharaoh owns your production.

But in God’s economy, everyone rests. Not just the powerful person at the top.

Your son. Your daughter. Your male servant. Your female servant. Your livestock. The immigrant within your gates.

The people most likely to be used by the powerful are specifically named by God.

That is not accidental.

The God who heard the cries of enslaved people now commands his people to create a community where exhausted people are protected.

A community where workers are not machines.

A community where immigrants are not invisible.

A community where nobody’s body belongs to anyone else anymore.

Sabbath is resistance. Sabbath says the economy of God is not the economy of Egypt or whatever state humans live in.

Sabbath says people are not worth what they produce. Sabbath says the vulnerable have a claim on the life of the community. Sabbath says rest is not a reward for the privileged. Rest is a gift of God for all creation.

And that brings us back to the question underneath the whole sermon.

What kind of salvation is God giving them?

Because if salvation only means escape, then the story could end at the Red Sea. They were enslaved, and now they are not. They were trapped, and now they are free. They were in Egypt, and now they are out.

But God is doing more than changing their location.

God is changing their imagination.

God is not only rescuing them from Pharaoh. God is forming them into people who do not live like Pharaoh.

That is where our Wesleyan Methodist theology helps us understand God’s movement in Exodus.

Grace comes before we know that God is at work. We call that Prevenient Grace. - I heard your cries and I saw you

Grace forgives and reconciles us when we turn toward Christ. We call that Justifying Grace - I led you out

And then grace keeps working in us. Grace heals us. Grace frees us. Grace reshapes us. Grace teaches us how to love. We call that Sanctifying Grace. - Listen to me

John Wesley called the goal of that journey Christian perfection, which does not mean we become flawless people who never make mistakes. It means love becomes complete in us. Love of God and love of neighbor becomes the center of who we are.

So when God says, “If you will listen,” this is not God replacing grace with works.

This is God inviting rescued people into the journey of holy love.

This is God saying, “I did not bring you out of Egypt so that you could build a smaller Egypt with my name on it.”

I brought you out so the world could see what life looks like when people live under the mercy, justice, rest, and compassion of the living God.

Then the commandments continue:

Honor your Parents

This is about family, yes. But it is also about refusing to build a world where people are discarded when they become inconvenient.

Don’t Murder

Because life belongs to God.

Don’t commit Adultery

Because people are not objects to consume.

Don’t Steal

Because your neighbor’s life and livelihood matter.

Don’t give false testimony

Because lies can destroy lives, corrupt justice, protect the powerful, and crush the vulnerable.

Don’t covet what your neighbor has.

Because desire has to be discipled too.

The commandments are not random religious rules. They are the shape of a community learning to live free.

And then Jesus comes. And when Jesus is asked which commandment matters most, he does not say, “None of them, because you are saved by faith.”

He says, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.” And, “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Jesus does not erase the Law. Jesus reveals its heart. The goal was always love. Love God. Love neighbor.

And Jesus is the clearest way we hear God. Jesus shows us what God sounds like. Jesus shows us what obedience looks like.

Jesus shows us what love does when it meets the sick, the sinner, the stranger, the poor, the enemy, the outcast, the exhausted, and the ashamed.

And yes, Jesus dies for us.

But not because the Law was bad and God needed to rescue us from something God should not have given.

Jesus dies because sin is real. Because evil is real. Because death is real. Because we are not able to save ourselves. Because the powers of Pharaoh are not only out there in the world; they also get inside of us.

So the question is not, “Can I obey well enough to make God love me?” That question has already been answered in Jesus Christ.

You are loved by grace. You are forgiven by grace. You are held by grace. You are saved by grace.

But grace does not leave us unchanged. The grace that rescues us begins to form us. The grace that forgives us begins to teach us how to listen. The grace that brings us out of Egypt begins to get Egypt out of us.

So maybe the question is this:

Are we listening?

Are we listening to the God who heard us when we cried?

Because the God who hears us wants us to hear him.

And when we hear him, really hear him, we begin to hear what he hears.

We hear the cries of the poor. We hear the cries of the immigrant. We hear the cries of the worker and the single parent who is exhausted. We hear the cries of the lonely, the grieving, the ashamed, the addicted, the hungry, the forgotten. We hear the cries of the queer people in our world that have been called abominations by the churches of their youth.

And we do not hear those cries as interruptions.

We hear those cries as the place where God will meet them. We hear those cries as our call to be the voice of Jesus, saying come home child. You belong to me. My grace is enough for you.

Who needs to hear God’s voice through you this week? You already thought of them. Don’t let this moment pass. Listen to the Spirit and go to them.