Yahweh

Victories: 1. Thanks to all who invited for Back 2 Church, Thanks to all who helped 2.

Prayer: Upland Community Church Mark Biehl - Also pray for the community after the teen death.

Missionary Prayer: Doug & Jenny McGee / China - Pray for their family

Intro

If given the chance to change your name as an adult what would you change it to? There are people who do this thing and usually it is ridiculous. Rachel has a cousin who works with inmates and she told us about an inmate who legally changed his name to Squirrel McNutty. In Wisconsin a man named Jeffery Drew legally changed his name to Beezow Doo-Doo Zopittybop-Bop-Bop, or there are athletes who join the ridiculous renaming like Chad Johnson who changed his last name to Ochocinco for the number 85 on his jersey or NBA star Ron Artest who changed his name to Metta World Peace. So there’s that kind of ridiculousness but what if you actually put some really thought behind it what would you change it to? Would your career choice play a part? A plumber might change his name to Pipe or a Lawyer to the name Justice. Perhaps you might want to make it say something about your hobbies like a motorcyclist might change their name to Harley or a Gardner might change their name to Rose or Sweet Pea. Perhaps you want your name not to be about what you do but instead about what you want your life to stand for. So you might change your name to Faith, Grace, Truth, Strength, Purpose, or Hope. No matter what the change reason would you do it? You know that your name is the first thing that someone knows about you so what do you want that person to know?

Today I want us to start a series on the Names of God which is actually a continuation of this series I did back in 2019 and todays message is the only one that I am going to repeat from that original series. God’s original name is given as Elohim in Genesis 1:1 but His name was rarely used by the people because as we will see in our scripture today Moses doesn’t know what to call him so Moses has to ask God what He wants to be named? God at that point is able to not only give a name but it is a name that define Him for us human beings. Why did God choose this name? We will get into that more as we go throughout this study but what we know about God is that He does not do anything without purpose and to glorify Himself so this name obviously does both and through this name we get to share in that purpose and glory. Bible Reading: Exodus. 3:1-12

When introducing Himself to Moses God did not introduce Himself as a new god but instead He told Moses that He was the God of His ancestors. God introduced Himself by telling Moses whom He knows. Exodus 3:6 “I am the God of your father—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” God introduced Himself as the God of Moses’ forefathers and therefore God is and should be Moses’ God as well. But beyond this introduction of who in Moses’ past God was the God of, God wanted Moses to know His name. It is the name that God gives Himself that we are going to focus on. Stay there in Exodus 3 and read with me verses 13-15. Bible Reading: Exodus. 3:13-15

Yahweh - The Great I AM

“To be or not to be that is the question.” Shakespeare wrote this famous line in Hamlet somewhere around the year 1600, but the question of existence is much older than that. We have always wanted to know why we exist, and for what purpose. Does our existence matter? Does life have a bigger meaning? What will give our lives purpose? These are questions that we have wrestled with since the beginning of time and we will continue to wrestle with them till Yahweh calls us home. We don’t see this philosophical question come from Moses in this passage but we do see it from Yahweh in the way that He names Himself. “I AM WHO I AM”. Yahweh is making a statement of existence through His name.

We as Christians have one very foundational principle that without it everything else falls apart. That principle is “Yahweh Exists.” We believe that before anything else was there was Yahweh and we have come to the conclusion because Yahweh exists we exist. This then gives us an answer to the meaning of life question but also the purpose of life question. The meaning of life is given to us by Yahweh to serve Him and the purpose of life is to give Yahweh the glory that He is due.

You probably didn’t come to church today planning on getting a lesson on the philosophical meaning & purpose of life but that is at least a portion of what Yahweh is trying to teach Moses with those simple two words, “I AM”. Most of us try to avoid philosophy because philosophy is the art of explaining the simplest concept with the most words possible. And most of us would rather leave these philosophical questions of the meaning and purpose of life to Pastors and Theologians who have the desire and need to answer those questions. But why shouldn’t you ask that question and what if the answer could change the way you worship or maybe even change your life entirely. The Theologian AW Tozer said, “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.” and then he asked some very basic but very necessary questions. “What is God like? What Kind of God is He? How may we expect Him to act toward us and toward all created things?” He went on to say, “Such questions...touch the far-in reaches of the human spirit, and their answers affect life and character and destiny.”

The Name which God gave to Moses to give to the people of Israel was “Yahweh.” Well kind of. It was and is still considered so holy that the Jewish people will not spell it out as we have here nor will they pronounce it. In Hebrew it looks like this: יהוה. Jews throughout history have always substituted it with Adonai which means “My Lord” or HaShem which means “The Name”. But it is Yahweh by which God wanted to be known by to His people Israel. And it is because of what Yahweh means. He says it right there in verse 14 “I am who I am.”

So why does Yahweh want to be known as “I am who I am?” it is because He is. The word “AM” is a verb and action word but it is also a building block of language itself. In my first Spanish class in college, the very first class we learned the Spanish statement, Yo Soy, which means I am. The reason that we learned that statement is because it is the foundation of language itself. So much of what we say starts with “I”. I need, I want, I have, I am doing, I am going, I am trying. These statements are what we teach our children first because we need to know what they need, what they want, and what they are doing, where they are going, etc. Therefore, it makes a lot of sense that God gives the name Yahweh to Moses as it is a building block of faith as well. If Yahweh is the great “I AM” then that means there is a reason for Yahweh’s existence and therefore there is a reason for my existence. Yahweh wanted Moses to know that He is the great I AM.

To Exist

So the first thing we take from God being Yahweh the “I AM who I AM” is that He exists. Dr. Bill Barrick of Master’s Seminary says, “God doesn’t defend His existence; He declares His existence.” Therefore Yahweh is the first to declare that He exists and because He exists we have been given what Acts 17:25b declares “since He gives to all life, breath, and all things.” The opposite of that conclusion is also true, If He didn’t exist you and I couldn’t exist.

Yahweh is Self-Existing. He doesn’t need you or I to exist. Genesis 1:1 says, “In the beginning, God” and in John 1:1, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” In both these verses we see that there was a beginning to both our world and our own lives and at that point Yahweh was already there.

But as I said Yahweh’s existence does not depend on us. If we expand what we read before there in Acts we read, Acts 17:24–25 “God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. Nor is He worshiped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things.” Yahweh does not require our worship in order to power up His strength, Yahweh does not require us to build Him any place to live. Yahweh does not need us but we need Him and the verse says, “since He gives to all life, breath, and all things.” Yahweh’s existence means my existence. How does Yahweh’s existence make our lives different?

To Live

John 10:10b says, “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” We are created unique. Life was breathed into us but more than just life we were made differently. There is a difference between how Adam and Eve were created and how the rest of the animal kingdom was created. That difference is made evident in the fact that after our creation we were given purpose and responsibility. We were to have dominion over the earth. This dominion was to be our normal operating procedure and through it we were to live abundant lives. Abundant life is the “Good” which Yahweh saw in our creation He wanted Adam to be blessed and subdue the creation and in all of it Yahweh said, “It is good”.

Genesis 1:27–28 “So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”” , Genesis 1:31 “Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good.”

This is the life which Yahweh had planned for Adam and ultimately for us as well. An Abundant life filled with the knowledge of Yahweh through a perfect relationship with Yahweh and provided for with perfect care and leadership. But our sin put an end to that Abundant life.

And what did we gain by denying the Abundant life which Yahweh wanted for us. Pain, toil, evil, all these effects and more. Yahweh never wanted for us to experience these things and yet they are apart of our everyday lives because we choose to live our lives separate from the way Yahweh wants us to live them.

And yet Yahweh the I AM who I AM willingly chose to give up His own “Abundant life” in order to give ours back. That is what Jesus did for us on the Cross. Jesus the Son of Yahweh who is Yahweh Himself and He left Heaven in order to become part of Humanity so that He could live the Abundant Life we were created for. His own Abundant Humanity in exchange for our own. His Life for ours, His blood shed so that our lives might be spared.

Jesus again told us in John 10:10b “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” Yahweh the “I AM WHO I AM” came to bring us abundant life, and that abundant life is only found when we center our existence on Him.

I AM WHO I AM

Enough

Not only does Yahweh exist but He is also self - sufficient. I already said that Yahweh doesn’t need me but it is more than that Yahweh’s need is in nothing but Himself. The theological term for this is Aseity and is defined as Yahweh being completely self-existent, self-sufficient, and He depends on nothing outside of Himself for His existence. John Piper speaks to this in his book called the “Pleasures of God.”

“Without doubt, for human beings the affection of love is “well-placed and successful” when placed in God. For this is the first and greatest commandment: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart” (Matthew 22:37). So the most excellent soul is the soul that loves God most. And to the degree that such love is openly manifest, to that degree is the loving soul revealed in its worth and beauty.

So it is with God. The worth and excellency of God’s soul is to be measured by the object of his love. It is even more true for him than for us that love is that powerful and prevalent passion of the soul on which both its perfection and happiness depend. So if God’s love is his powerful and prevalent passion—the omnipotent energy of his approval and enjoyment and delight—then “the pleasures of God” are the measure of the excellency of his soul.” Piper, J. (2000). The pleasures of God: meditations on God’s delight in being God (Rev. and expanded, pp. 19–20). Multnomah Publishers.

So what is the object of Yahweh’s love? What is the pleasure of Yahweh? Let me warn you it is not us. Yes, Yahweh loves you but the true object of Yahweh’s love is Himself. Does that sound wrong? Does that sound like Yahweh is a attempting to get all the attention?Let me quote John Piper again and you tell me if it sounds wrong or not. “God lives for God’s glory.” The first thought that comes to mind is, “Woah, that makes Yahweh vain.” You see we find it really easy to say that my existence has meaning and purpose in Yahweh which means that Yahweh breathe gives me meaning and my action of worshipping Him as Yahweh gives me purpose. That makes sense to me but somehow I can stumble over the idea that Yahweh doesn’t need my meaning or purpose, because He has His meaning and purpose in Himself. For Yahweh, His own presence is ENOUGH.

Actually the most loving thing that Yahweh can do is give the glory to Himself. I can never love Yahweh enough, you can never love Yahweh enough. Our love will always be tainted by our sin. The love of the population of the whole earth from history past till history future will always be tainted by sin. Therefore, the most loving thing that our Yahweh can do is to give all the glory and love to Himself. Perfectly. But not only is Yahweh “Enough” but He also offers His sufficiency to us. We will never be enough but we can find our fill in the one who overflows with love for Himself.

John 6:35 “And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.”

I have down inside my soul a need for love, care, affection, and acceptance. It is a felt need which is always there. Rachel calls it the Love Bucket, and we all have one. There is this deep seated need inside of our lives to be loved. We choose to fill that bucket with all kinds of things, like: Money, Power, friends, toys, homes, Sex, even Drugs and Alcohol, but in the end the bucket is never full. Jesus says that we will always be hungry and we will always be thirsty unless we choose to believe in Him, and then He will give us the Bread of Life. These bring us a portion of the self-sufficiency of Yahweh. Yahweh alone fills the bucket in a way that nothing here on earth can.

This is our God. Yahweh the “I AM who I AM.” He is and Always will Be. He Created everything and without Him nothing was created and Yet He remains uncreated, Self-existent and Self-sufficient. He is in need of nothing and yet we can do nothing apart from His will. He is our Yahweh and in Him we find life, and breath. But Apart from Him there is no mercy and no love. In Him we can have Abundant Life! Are you ready today to make Him your Yahweh?

Gospel

Jesus died for our sins, and because He did, we can place our belief in that sacrifice. 1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” We have the promise of Yahweh that if we ask for forgiveness and believe in the saving power of Jesus, we will be saved. And from the saving power of Jesus, we become new creations. 2 Cor. 5:17 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” This means that as Christians, we get a fresh start, we aren’t who we used to be, and we have the power of Yahweh behind us to change who we are becoming. Glory to Yahweh in the highest, for He has saved my soul, and He can save yours too if you will let Him. If you aren’t sure, then you can confess Him as your savior. If that is your desire today, you can say this prayer with me. Bow your heads.

Dear Lord, I know that I’m a sinner. I’m sorry for my sin, and I ask you to forgive me. I believe you died for my sins and rose from the dead. I repent of my sins, and I ask you to come into my life and take control. I make a commitment to follow you, and I trust you as my Lord and Savior.

Friend, if you prayed that prayer today, I ask that you come and speak to me after the service.

Benediction: 1 Timothy 1:17 “Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.”