Fulfilling Our Mission Through Intercessory Prayer

Introduction

How can I fulfill the mission that God has for my life?

Last week we saw that we have been commissioned by God to be active in the local church, to make disciples, to baptize disciples, to teach disciples, and to be ever mindful of Jesus presence with His church.

This week we will be challenged with another important way to fulfill the mission God has for our life: To develop the habit of intercessory prayer.

Key Passage: Exodus 33:12-23

Contextual Information:

Israel’s Problem:

Exodus 33:1–3 ESV

The Lord said to Moses, “Depart; go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought up out of the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, ‘To your offspring I will give it.’ I will send an angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanites, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; but I will not go up among you, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people.”

Why did this happen?

Golden Calf incident was kind of a straw that broke the camel’s back...

Notice that God says “the people” instead of “my people.” And He says “an angel” instead of “the angel of the LORD.”

He was distancing Himself from His people, least He consume them in His righteous wrath.

What were the implications for Israel if God didn’t go with them?

While they would still inherit the Promised Land, God would not personally be with them.

Moses knows full well that without the continued presence of God Himself, no inheritance would be worth anything.

How did the people respond to this?

Surprisingly, we see a real sense of repentance in the people in verses 4-7.

Israel’s Hope: Moses the Intercessor in the Tent of Meeting

Not to be confused with the Tabernacle, which hadn’t been built yet. The tent of meeting was the place where Moses went to meet with God “face-to-face.”

Obviously, Moses didn’t literally meet with God face-to-face. The idea here was that Moses had both intimate communication with God and unique communication with God.

In this passage we are brought into the tent of meeting to hear the exchange between God and Moses.

Read Exodus 33:12-23

Big Idea: In order to fulfill the mission that God has for our lives we must develop the habit of intercessory prayer.

What is intercessory prayer?

Intercessory prayer is desperate prayer in which we come to God to both intervene and plead to God about a matter of great importance.

Many of our prayers are circumstantial…some are desperate, many are not...

Desperate prayer comes when we are so aware of our need for God’s presence that other things become less important to us.

In this passage, Moses is a desperate man appealing to God on behalf of his people.

Three Intercessions of Moses:

Verses 12-13

Moses understands his calling by God to lead God’s people.

Moses’ first issue: You’ve told me to lead these people, but you haven’t told me who you are sending with me. What does this mean?

God had earlier said that He was not going with the people on their journey to the Promised Land. Thus, Moses would not meet with Him in the tent of meeting as he did now.

So, Moses is concerned about God just sending the mysterious angel, instead of God’s personal presence with him and the people.

Yet, Moses believes that since he has found favor in God’s sight, God should meet with him, because he knows he cannot lead these people without God guiding him.

Moses’ First Intercession: Show me your ways.

Hebrew word translated as “show” in my Bible here is “ya da.” In this sense it means to reveal information.

Can also be translated “to teach” which holds the same idea and probably better explains what Moses is asking here.

This request is not simply to understand the situation at hand, but Moses wanted an ever deepening understanding of God.

He wants to know the God of the universe as well as one can know Him.

But Moses isn’t simply focused on himself. In fact, he is more focused on God’s people, Israel, thus he says, “Consider too that this nation is your people.”

This counters God’s earlier, “this people.”

Philip Graham Ryken: “In order to lead people effectively, Moses needed to know the mind of God. He didn’t want God to simply send down orders; he wanted to know the purpose behind God’s plans.”

God’s First Answer - Verse 14

God promises Moses that He will be present with Moses and that He will give Moses rest.

The point being that God will go with Moses, but not necessarily the people.

Which is why Moses continues on in verses 15-16.

Verses 15-16

Moses responds by affirming that if God’s presence doesn’t go with him, then he doesn’t want to leave Mount Sinai. Why?

Because then no one will see that they are God’s people.

The only thing that made Israel distinct was that they were God’s people and He had a covenant relationship with them and no one else.

It wasn’t the land, their places of worship, their wealth, or anything else. Just their relationship as God’s people.

Moses’ Second Intercession: Be present with your people.

Notice that Moses emphasizes that God’s presence must be with all the people, not just with Moses.

Moses is interceding on the part of the people he truly loves and cares for.

Moses understands that all the blessings of the Promised Land would mean nothing if God was not with them.

It is no trade-off to trade an inheritance for God’s presence. God’s presence is better than inheriting the entire world.

God’s Second Answer - Verse 17

God promises that His presence will go with Moses, because Moses has found favor with the LORD.

But, His presence will also go with the people because of Moses.

Moses is the people’s mediator here. He is asking God to be present with Israel on account of the favor that God has for Moses, not on account for their own righteousness, because there was none to be found.

This is a vital reminder for us of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

As Ryken writes: “God agreed to go with Israel because he was pleased with his prophet. The Israelites were save by the merits of their mediator. The grace and love that God elected to show Moses also extended to them.”

Lest we forget, our salvation depends on the pleasure God takes in our mediator, Jesus Christ.

God is not pleased with us because of us. We are sinners who were not only born into sin, but continually are willful in our own sin.

No, God is pleased with us only because He is pleased with Jesus. And Jesus is our mediator.

1 Timothy 2:5 ESV

For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,

Hebrews 9:15 ESV

Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.

Verse 18

Moses’ Third Intercession: Show me your glory.

Moses’ third intercession is audacious.

ra ah = to make visible or noticeable

ka voo d = God’s glorious presence

Thus, Moses is asking to see God in a visibly.

In essence, what Moses is saying here is that in spite of the fact the he has experienced God in a way that no one else had up to this point, he wanted to experience God even more.

That is true knowledge of the One True God, to know Him, yet to want to know Him more.

A.W. Tozer: “To have found God and still pursue Him is the soul’s paradox of love.”

How is this an intercession on behalf of Israel?

No people of God can be effectively led by a man who does not have a deep longing to know God and to know Him more.

Take King Saul as just one example...

God’s Third Answer - Verses 19-23

God’s third answer is yes and no.

Yes:

I will show my goodness to you...

Moses will be allowed to see just enough of God’s overwhelming goodness to satisfy him for now.

Moses will experience this, however, interestingly enough, he never attempts to explain what he saw. It’s indescribable.

I will proclaim my name to you...

YHWH = I am that I am

This is how God first identified Himself to Moses at the burning bush.

What God is doing is reaffirming that Moses and the people will be the people who will carry with them God’s holy name.

In the ANE mindset, the name encapsulated the totality of the person. Thus, by being the bearers of God’s name, they claimed the One True God as their own God.

I will show my divine grace and mercy to you...

Notice that God’s grace and mercy are not obligated.

Obligated love is not the same as willful love.

Thus, no outside source can influence God to show grace and mercy to His people. It is only through the willful love of God.

No:

You cannot see my face, because His holiness would overwhelm any sinful man to the point of death.

Yet, God was going to graciously protect Moses while he experiences a glimpse of His glory (i.e. God’s back).

Not literally, of course. The idea being that Moses will see only a small part of God, as much as one man can handle.

How can we apply Moses’ intercessory prayer to our lives?

What I’m learning about habit forming…(Prayer Mini-Habits…)

Developing the habit of intercessory prayer:

Teach me your ways.

We ought to pray everyday to understand God and His ways better.

It is absolutely vital that we understand that the greatest gift we receive from salvation is our relationship to God through Jesus Christ.

Heaven and God’s blessings on earth are wonderful things, but nothing should compare to our relationship to God. He is enough, everything else is a bonus.

We know God by learning His ways.

We do this through the committed study of God’s Word, through continual walking with Him, and by serving alongside other believers.

But, what’s often missing is habitual prayer that He would teach us His ways.

We will only know what God reveals to us. And, when our minds are not open and ready to learn, we won’t.

Be present with me and with your people.

Tony Merida: “Perhaps the greatest problem with the church today is the attempt to do the work of God apart from the presence and power of God.”

We must have God’s presence in all we do.

Like Israel in Moses day, the church today is God’s people.

Sometimes we allow our “stuff” to become what makes us distinct, but in reality all we really gave is our status as the blood-bought children of God.

How often do we truly pray that God would be present with us as His people?

I hear Christians often attributing things to God that I’m not sure He had any part in...

When God is present with His people He often lays out a path for us that we would not go on our own.

When God is present with His people His people He will do things that we could not do ourselves.

When God is present with His people He will provide for our greatest needs through His own power and might.

Show me your glory.

Do you ever pray to God is an audacious way, like Moses did?

“Lord, show me Yourself in a new way.”

“Lord, help me to see Your handiwork around me.”

“Lord, show me Your glorious goodness today.”

I believe we need to pray to see God’s glory everyday.

Maybe we will actually see the back of God.

Or maybe, God will reveal His glory through a a still, small voice.

Or maybe, we will see His glorious goodness in ways we never have seen it before.

You will never know until you actually pray an audacious prayer like this.

Three Intercessory Prayers:

Teach me Your ways.

Be present with me an Your people.

Show me Your glory.