Sermon Tone Analysis
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Hunger
There are a lot of Bible stories that we come to and we may wonder why the people did the things that they did in rebellion to God.
It just seems like many times the people in the stories we know so well are rather daft and seem to miss how great and awesome God is.
In some stories though we really connect with what the people are doing.
In the case of the two passages we read this morning we can understand where the people are coming from.
We understand hunger.
I don’t think most of us have ever been to the point where our lives were threatened by starvation but we all understand what a big deal it is.
You have probably seen the commercials for Snickers candy bars where the person is hungry and they act like a completely different person.
In the wilderness there were no Snickers bars and so I think we can relate to what the people were going through.
In our New Testament lesson the people were looking to get what they wanted from Jesus.
Again, I think this is something we can relate to.
We have all probably prayed for something with selfish motives.
In other words as we heard these passages today we can easily grasp what the people are going through.
They are natural human things we are used to.
But today, in God’s word we see that we are to look beyond what is in front of us and what we want and trust that God has something greater than anything else for us.
He shows us that he is the one who rescues his people from their great problem.
As we start to look at our scripture passages today it is pretty easy to see why these two portions of scripture have ended up together today.
In fact, the New Testament lesson mentions what we read in the Old Testament.
This is important for us to understand as we settle into Exodus.
Think back on your story or the story of your family.
If someone asks you about your family history or your personal past you don’t tell them all of the details of your life right.
Maybe you would share a foundational story about your first day of elementary school and how you cried when you had to leave your mother.
What you don’t tell them is that three weeks later you colored for 25 minutes before you had nap time.
Not only is that incredibly boring but we don’t even know the details of our lives from moment to moment.
What we remember and what we focus on are the stories that shape us as individuals or as families.
The Bible is much the same way as the stories we tell about ourselves.
These are the most important and foundational things that define who the people of God are.
Your family has stories that are told across generations and are repeated at many gatherings.
Despite the repetition the stories are still significant for you.
This story in the wilderness is one that was told repeatedly.
It is foundational to the people’s understanding of not only who they are but also, who God is.
As we land here in Exodus 16 it is a story that we are quite familiar with but I want to make sure we understand where it fits in the grand story being repeated back to us.
Slavery
Plagues
Red Sea
Manna
Water from the Rock
10 Commandments
The people of God end up in Egypt and they are spared from a famine.
But soon they end up in slavery in Egypt.
Through Moses God leads them out by great and mighty plagues.
After the Passover they are let go but God leads them into a place where they are trapped in.
Water in front of them.
Mountains on each side of them.
Egyptians with hardened hearts behind them.
As you know the story God delivered them through the waters of the Red Sea.
It was his mighty hand that delivered them.
Like I said we know the story.
We know where it is going.
Soon the Ten Commandments will be given and we have the Golden Calf incident and everything that follows.
Between the Red Sea and the giving of the Ten Commandments we have two very big stories.
The giving of Manna and the water from the rock.
Right away in verses 2 and 3 we see why this becomes such a big issue.
The people are hungry.
Notice that it says the whole community grumbled.
This isn’t a handful of people.
Everyone is hungry and wondering what in the world they are doing out here in the wilderness.
We may have been in slavery in Israel Moses but at least our bellies were full.
At least we didn’t have to worry about whether our children were going to die out here in the wilderness.
If the choice is slavery in Egypt or being so hungry that I’m worried I’ll die.....I’ll choose slavery every single time.
We all would probably all make that decision.
It is understandable.
They didn’t leave Egypt thinking it was going to be this way.
Imagine that you are an ancient Israelite in slavery in Egypt.
You are thinking.
Slavery today and in a week or two we’ll be in the Promised Land and living the good life.
Look at all that God has done in the plagues on Egypt.
Surely a God with that much power will have us set up with the good life before we know it.
But things didn’t play out that way at all.
Take a look at this map of the Exodus.
God is leading them on the longest path on the way to the Promised Land.
A journey that shouldn’t take very long is going to take much longer.
This is a mass of humanity moving through the wilderness and they are going to run out of food.
What in the world is going on here?
This is a God who just decimated the greatest empire in the world with the 10 plagues.
He has brought the people safely through the waters of the Red Sea but he seems to have failed geography of the Middle East 101.
From our point of view it all seems out of whack but God knows what he is doing.
At every turn he is teaching the Israelites and us something very important about our relationship to him.
They cannot be saved from slavery in Egypt on their own.
It takes divine intervention.
The Pharaoh was not going to let them just walk out of Egypt.
God intervened and did everything that was needed to bring them out.
They were stuck at the Red Sea but God shows his power and saving mercy by rescuing them from the Egyptians.
Now they are in the wilderness with no food and they are desperate.
They are going to die.
Once again they are going to need a divine rescue from God in order to get to the Promised Land.
God reveals to Moses his plan.
He is going to test whether or not they will follow his instructions and laws.
He is going to rain down bread from heaven and they are to gather it each day.
There is one exception.
On the sixth day they are to gather double and they will not gather on the seventh day.
Now, remember what I said earlier.
They have not been given the Ten Commandments yet.
There is no fourth commandment to remember the Sabbath and keep it holy.
This tells us something important about the nature of God’s law.
This period of rest is not rooted in a random command but is from the created order.
God created for six days and rested on the seventh.
They are now to reflect the nature of God in this command.
The law of God is built on who God is and what he has done.
It isn’t as though the 10 commandments pop up and, huh, this is an interesting set of rules God came up with here on a mountain top.
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