Word of Salvation – Vol.41 No.15 – April 1996
God Goes With Us, It’s OK
Sermon by Rev. D. Groenenboom on Exodus 3:11-14
Scripture Readings: Exodus 3:1-14; Matthew 28:16-20
Suggested Hymns: BoW 211; 181; 357; 182; 404; 359; 180
Beloved congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Why is it, that sometimes when we are faced with a call to serve, to help, or just to be with someone, we often get an attack of the seconds, and hold back? Why is it that when someone comes to ask if you can help with some activity or ministry, and even though we may have the time, we decide against it? There might be many reasons. But sometimes our conscience pricks us because we know our reasons are not very good.
- Holding Back
There are several things which often cause us to hold back, which rob us of our confidence to get involved, and destroy our desire to serve. One reason is the pain and frustration we encountered when we have served before. Our ministry might not have been appreciated. Our talents may have been rejected, or wasted. The failings of people can sometimes cause those who serve great pain.
Another reason we have second thoughts is that feeling of being overloaded. It’s where we say, “There is just too much to be done.” The moment someone asks us about something we immediately think of how hard it will be to do what’s asked of us – as well as carry the world on our shoulders. The task is too big. “I have enough to think about.”
Still another reason we often hold back is because we feel personal unworthiness. “I’m not good enough.” We especially see this when leaders are required. It’s when we say, “I know that there is a task to be done, but given my own failings, my lack of understanding, and my sin, I just don’t think I’m the right sort of person. You’d better look for someone else. If you really knew what sort of person I was, you would never ask.”
These responses are especially relevant to our text. They have been felt by people of faith right through the ages. Even Moses knew those feelings and doubts. Moses wanted to hold back. He is the great empathiser with everyone who ever doubted their ability to serve the Lord.
His was certainly a case of mission overload. His was certainly a case of unworthiness. Moses’ story, to this point, reads like a tragedy. He had such a dream run. At birth, like all Hebrew boys at the time, he was marked out for ethnic cleansing more horrific than what we see in Bosnia. But before they could throw him in the river, he was found floating in a basket by – you guessed it – the King’s daughter.
He was raised in the palace, and went on to become one of the privileged ruling class. But one day he saw an Egyptian beating one of his fellow Israelites, and it made his Hebrew blood boil. He did not hold back. He grabbed the guard, and broke his neck.
But, he was found out, and he fled to the land of Midian. Moses became a refugee. That’s what he had earned for sticking his neck out. The label of outcast, fugitive, a coward.
- God’s Grace Comes Through His Presence
But now, 40 years later, at the burning bush, standing in the presence of God; the Lord had heard the cries of the Israelites enslaved in Egypt. They were suffering. They were oppressed. And the Lord of compassion was going to rescue them [read vss.7-9].
The catch was that the Lord was going to send Moses to Pharaoh and bring the people out. But Moses holds back. He doesn’t want to get involved again. Ex.3:11 – “But Moses said to God ‘Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?””
Moses knew the enormity of the task. The people of Israel had grown incredibly. Perhaps millions of people. A whole sub-culture would be leaving Egypt, and Moses thought that job was just too big for him.
Moses knew his own heart. He felt as if he had betrayed the people by running away. He knew he had angered Pharaoh, his adopted father. He knew the Israelites might doubt him because he had lived in the palace for so long. He knew the Egyptians would hate him because he was an Israelite. And he had killed one of their countrymen – they were sure to remember that. If ever there was a case of pain, mission overload and personal unworthiness, Moses was it.
But we also find incredible comfort in this passage. That comfort is so obvious that we miss it at first – and it’s this: the Lord knows Moses’ past. He knows this murderer, this coward, this unworthy refugee. But He still seeks him and calls out to him from the burning bush.
It’s not that Moses’ actions don’t matter to the Lord; it’s more that His grace has overcome them. Moses says, “I am a nobody, what can I do about it.” But God says, “Hey Moses, don’t get stuck on who you are. Think about who I am! I am the covenant Lord! I am the God of your Fathers! The faithful One! The Lord of grace and power, acceptance and new beginning.”
“Moses, you might wonder about how you can make a difference. On your own you can’t, but I AM’ will be with you!”
The name revealed the Lord as one without beginning or end. The One who would always be there for His people. The one who could be depended on. What reassuring words they must have been! All Moses’ weaknesses, all his impetuous actions were stripped of their power by those words of the Lord. “The Lord is going to go with me! The great ‘I AM’ will be by my side.”
What are your thoughts about your involvement in the Body of Christ? That’s not just a question to some people here, it’s addressed to us all. Many congregations are going through a period of change. Older pioneer members are moving to other areas for later retirement. The net result is that we now have a vacuum of leadership and human ministry resources.
If you are not already engaged in serving or leading in some way, you are very much needed. But perhaps the jobs seem too big, and your ability seems so small. Perhaps events in your life have made you think you’re not really good enough to do what needs to be done. You feel unworthy. You feel weak. You feel hypocritical.
People, we need to understand that a feeling of weakness, unworthiness and hypocrisy is no barrier to being used by the Lord in His Kingdom work. In fact, God does His most powerful work in the weak. He does his holiest work in the unworthy, and in those who see themselves as hypocritical, His most righteous acts.
His power is made perfect in people with failings, weaknesses, warts, and all the rest. His power is made perfect in weakness. And if that’s how it is, His power will go a long way with us! This is how God works. Israel was chosen as a light to the nations and as a kingdom of priests, a holy nation. Yet they were the weakest, most piddlingly insignificant people around at the time.
King David was a short tailed shepherd boy. Couldn’t even wear a soldier’s armour. But he slew Goliath and went on to be King.
The Lord Jesus, born in a shed, nowhere to lay His head, man of sorrows, died a criminal’s death. Yet He brought acceptance, salvation, love, forgiveness and grace through His death and resurrection.
For what sort of people did Jesus do this? For the weak. The unworthy. The hypocrites. The dead in sin. He brought them life. He brought help to the helpless. Grace to the graceless.
We often think of this work of grace as something God did despite our unworthiness. But God, in Jesus, did this because of our unworthiness, because of our weakness, because we were dead. Like this passage, God’s act of love and salvation has it’s motivation in His compassion for our condition. Grace is not first and foremost the demand to change. It is rather the means to change.
- God’s Grace Enables and Overcomes
God’s grace is amazing because it overcomes our weaknesses, our unworthiness, our inability. We know that because the Lord pledged to be with Moses. That promise made all the difference, for it said, “Moses, you are worthy to do this work because “I AM” is with you. You can trust me. You might think that things within you are all wrong, but My grace has made them alright!”
For us today, God’s grace and presence frees and enables us to serve. God’s grace and presence overcomes our weaknesses. We need to remember that when our Lord Jesus returned to heaven, he commissioned His followers to spread the gospel to all lands and disciple those who repented and believed in His Name.
The task was huge. Their weaknesses and inabilities were great. But the presence of the Lord was graciously with them. Jesus said, “I am with you always, even to the ends of the earth. Tell them ‘I Am’ has sent you.”
Today we say that we want to be known by the name of Jesus Christ. In the power of the risen Jesus, we take hold of His promises of nearness, grace and strength that are new every morning. There is a huge work to be done. God has called you to work with Him, to be his messengers, but He is not One to throw you in at the deep end and see how you go. “I AM with you,” He says. His presence will be your comfort. His grace will be your confidence.
There may be things in your life and your past which you see as wrong. But in Jesus’ death and resurrection they are now alright. As the Lord chose Moses to lead His people into the land of promise and hope, and as an agent of salvation, so the Lord calls us to be people who proclaim the salvation victory of Jesus Christ. He makes us His partners, calling people to His Kingdom of promise and hope.
What makes the difference is the promise of His presence and grace. He will work in us so that we can serve Him. We might not know what our specific task is today, but one thing is for sure, if we seek to live His love, speak His peace and build relationships of grace, He will be glorified in our lives.
The task is great. But the Lord enables us. Our weaknesses may be a worry, but “I AM” is with us. There is no reason to hold back any more.
Amen.