Our relationship with God - all about grace

Our relationship with God -all about grace Exodus 33: 12-23, 1 Thess. 1:1-10 I'm sure that we can all think of those times when we've been carrying out some task, maybe trying out a new and complicated recipe, putting together some flat-pack furniture, having a shot at some sort of sporting pastime for example, when suddenly, or perhaps only gradually, it's dawned on us that our aspirations didn't quite match up to our capabilities. We've compared our own efforts with what we've seen can be done, and we've realised that we fall somewhat short of the mark. But when that's happened to us what did we do? Did we continue on regardless, closing our minds to the truth of our situation, content to be taking the lower position? Or do we give up altogether? Or did we push ourselves to get better, persevering, striving to reach that higher plane of excellence? Perhaps, in fact, how we do react when we find ourselves in such a situation says quite a bit about us. Now when we meet Moses in our passage from Exodus chapter 33 you could say that he was at just such a point where reality, regarding his and the people of Israel's situation, had kicked in and he'd come down to earth with a bump. Since he first met with the Lord, before the burning bush at the foot of Mount Horeb, life for Moses and the Israelites had you might say been one long round of adventure and blessings. Firstly there was the judgement of the plagues on Pharaoh and the Egyptians, then there was the Passover when the first-born of Egypt were killed whilst those of the Israelites were spared, and then there was the flight across the Red Sea and the death of the Egyptian army when the waters engulfed them. Then after that Moses had led the people across the desert to Mount Sinai whilst God provided them with water along with food in the form of Manna from Heaven and quail from the skies. He'd helped them too to defeat the Amalekites who attacked them as they journeyed along. This had been a time then of rich blessing for the people, with the Lord always there with them night, and day. Then in the third month they'd arrived at Mount Sinai, and it was there that God had made a covenant with them saying that he was to be their God and they were to be his obedient people, his "treasured possession"; "a kingdom of priests and a holy nation" as we read in Exodus chapter 19 verses 5 and 6. There Moses had then gone up onto the mountain for forty days and nights, and there he'd met with the Lord in the midst of a cloud which covered the mountain, and therefore Moses and the Lord, from the people's sight. And it was during that time that the Lord had revealed his plans for the Tabernacle to Moses, which would make it possible for him to dwell amongst the Israelites. And the people had waited below whist all this was going on, and you'd have thought they'd have been full of great joy and anticipation about what this all was going to mean for them. But then things don't always happen as we expect. Moses was longer on the mountain than they thought he'd be and they became restless, thinking that he'd gone and left them, taking the invisible Lord with him. So they decided to do something about it, asking Aaron to make them their own gods out of the gold that they'd brought with them from Egypt. Gods that they could keep with them and that could make sure would continue to go before them. And then they worshipped and sacrificed with great enthusiasm to the golden calf that Aaron made them ... immediately breaking the first three of the Ten Commandments that the Lord was giving to them. And so, because of their great sin, the wrath of God, that had been until then turned against their enemies, came upon the people of Israel instead. Though Moses did pray earnestly for them and as a result they weren't completely destroyed. Nevertheless though, many of those who'd sinned were killed and what's more the Lord told Moses that He'd send his angel ahead of them as they continued on their way but that He himself wouldn't go with them ... so that he wouldn't wipe them out in his anger. The full force of their sin, then, and its implications in separating them from God, hit the people. And, in particular, it hit Moses who we find in verse 12 of our passage, at the tent of meeting and in anguish of spirit, bringing his fears for the future of the whole enterprise to the Lord. It seemed to him that now he was on his own, and he wondered how on earth he was going to cope without God being there as he probably felt his need of God like never before, aware, for the first time, of the full implications of sin in terms of separation and death. Aware, too, that God's continual blessings can't be taken for granted. So what did Moses do? Well, as we mentioned earlier with regards to our own experiences, he could have carried on regardless hoping for the best. Then again he could have been forgiven if he'd just given up altogether, just given them up as a bad job. Or, Moses could have done what he did. The fact was that he'd been growing ever closer to the Lord over these last months as he'd spoken with him and continually experienced his hand at work. So that, by now, he'd have been able to understand and echo the words of David the psalmist, when he says in Psalm 34 verse 8, "Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him." Because Moses had tasted and seen. Which was why he couldn't stand the thought of that close relationship coming to an end, of no longer being able to taste and see. And so, in verses 12 to 17 of our passage, he pleaded with God for both himself and for the people. Reminding the Lord of his promises to be with him. You see Moses wanted to know that God hadn't now forgotten those promises. Notice here that Moses responded to God in the way in which the Lord wants his people to respond. That is believing in His word, reminding Him of His word, trusting in his word. And so it shouldn't be surprising that here the Lord honoured the one who honoured him, giving Moses an understanding of the true situation. Which was that the angel that went before the people, who Moses had met at the burning bush, was in fact the Lord himself accommodating himself to the people so that he could come amongst them. As we read that "The Lord replied, 'My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.'" And again in verse 17, "I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name." And this positive response from God made Moses brave, just as had been the case with Abraham when he'd pleaded for the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. So that Moses now asked for even more because, having seen, he wanted an even clearer vision; an even greater knowledge of God than this ... "Now show me your glory", he said in other words "give me a full appreciation of who and what you are", as once again Moses showed the attitude to God and his ways, that He delights in ... a desire for more and more of Him. "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness," says Jesus on the Mount, "for they will be filled". And the Lord agreed to his request. But only as far as any man was able to experience his glory. Because as He said to Moses, "you cannot see my face, for no-one may see me and live." However, God still revealed himself to Moses to an extent that he'd not done for any member of fallen humanity before. Though this wasn't because Moses had earned the right to be treated this way. Rather it was purely because of God's grace, because of his freely given love for those whom he chooses to love. Which becomes clear from God's subsequent proclamation of his name and character to Moses in verse 19: "I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion." Actually, in a sense, Moses' prayer to see God's glory was finally answered on the Mount of Transfiguration when we're told that, along with Elijah and three of Jesus' disciples before the cloud enveloped them, he briefly saw that glory in God's Son, Christ Jesus when, as Matthew tells us: "His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light" (Matt.17 verse 2). Which points us to the new and far greater knowledge of God that was issued in by Christ himself when he died, rose again and ascended into heaven. That knowledge which comes to us through the light of the Gospel, the Good news of what God has done for a lost world in Christ Jesus. That knowledge, which came for the first time to God's people at Pentecost. Because, as Paul tells the Corinthian church in 2 Corinthians 4 verse 6: "God who said, 'Let light shine out of darkness,' made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ." A knowledge that the Church at Thessalonica, which Paul also writes to, is a witness of. He'd visited the City during his second missionary journey along with Silas and Timothy, bringing them the gospel. And Acts 17 verse 4 tells us that "Some of the Jews were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a large number of God fearing Greeks and not a few prominent women." But then the majority of the Jews became jealous and hired some local thugs to drag a number of the new Christians before the local magistrates on trumped up charges. They were then released on bail but, because of the riots that started up, Paul and the others were forced to flee for their lives. Then, a few months later Paul wrote this letter to the newly formed church that was still being persecuted since he'd left them. And yet in his letter Paul is able to express his confidence about the church because he recognises, verse 1, that it is "the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ". These are people who are all sinners who, verse 9 of our passage tells us, used to worship idols, false gods. Just like the people of Israel did when Aaron made them the golden calf. They're people who've only just begun to adopt the Christian morals and way of life, and yet Paul is able to thank God for them because he recognises that what has happened to them in those few short months has been all of God. They aren't dwelling on their own inexperience, their own shortcomings, but rather they're trusting in Him and allowing Him to mould and to change them. Actually, says Paul, the reality of God's presence amongst them was evident from the very start when he was with them. Verse 5: "Our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction." In other words the Holy Spirit, he realises, opened the people's eyes to the truth of the Gospel as well as empowering Paul and his colleagues as they preached it. Also, they didn't just hear the word, acknowledging the truth of it only with their lips. No, they threw themselves into the gospel, welcoming the message with the joy that was given them by the Holy Spirit, and so became imitators of Paul and the others. As well as, of course, the Lord the one who they sought to imitate. As a result they, the church in Thessalonica, have become a model to follow for the Christian churches round about them, and their faith in God has become known everywhere. Everyone is speaking about them and about the changes that have come about in the city since the gospel reached it. So much so that Paul jokes that his job is being done for him as they themselves are now preaching the gospel they've received. And all this, as we've seen, is from God who's freely given them the gifts of the Holy Spirit. The faith that, we read in verse 3, is producing good works in them. The love which motivates them to labour in their service of others. And the hope in Christ Jesus which enables them to endure the hardships that they're suffering as they wait for his return. They're receiving, in other words, the reality of that for which Moses longed when he begged to see God's glory. Because now the Lord, by grace, is enabling individuals to freely know his salvation purchased by Christ Jesus. And still this is the case today as we, like them, live in the period between the Cross and Christ's return. So much is available to us in Christ Jesus our Lord. And yet I wonder if at times we here in church don't think and act as if we still lived in the days of Moses. Straining ourselves to know more of God, and then becoming disillusioned because we don't seem to be getting anywhere. Not recognising the truth that's clearly there in God's word ... the good news that all that we seek for is, through grace alone, there in Christ Jesus for the asking. Instead becoming overwhelmed by the sense of our own inadequacy and resigning ourselves to failure. Rather than seeing our failings as the reason to yield our lives to Christ ... so allowing him to change us, to increase our faith, our love, our hope. Let's remember the example of the Church at Thessalonica. Let's remember the hunger of Moses for God. Wouldn't it be wonderful if it were said of us that we became a model for all the believers around us, that the Lords message rang out from us, that our faith became known everywhere? By God's grace, may it be so! May this be our prayer as we continue forward into this new year with the Lord Jesus Christ! Amen