Sinai & God's Prerogative

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0:00 So I was totally I was really grateful for Aaron and I watched that message and I hope that some of you all took away I love that idea of that legacies that outlasts us and the simplicity of faithfulness the significance of simple faithfulness in life I love that and it got me kind of thinking about my like stake what did I need to hear from the Lord and I was thinking about two things what did I need to hear from the Lord right now and also who were some mentors

0:34 for me in my life and I think my dad was very naturally a mentor for me in my life but he got very focused on that as I left the house and went to college he like took me out to lunch a couple of times and gave me some very practical advice he also gave me some books to read and that's how I was thinking about a mentor I remembered one of these books that he gave me to read by this Renaissance era monk who had written a series of devotions like like devotional

1:08 almost like a guided prayer experience written out the author of the book is named Francis Dixal and there is one meditation in that book that really stuck out with me always because it was really poignant the meditation started by encouraging me to close my eyes and that it has closed your eyes and then it says it says imagine where imagine the world before you existed and

1:43 consider that there there was a time before you were in the world and that in that space before you existed the God the source of all creation called you forward out of nothing that God called you forward not because God needed you to do anything not because of some lack not that there was some tact in the

2:17 world that needed to be accomplished that would only be accomplished with you God called you you forward out of the nothing just because God loves you and that really stuck with me almost couldn't move past that book this idea that but for the love of God the world would have gone on without me and been just fine but for God's forethought and care the world would have spun and continued

2:53 to spin without me just fine the reason I'm here is because God wouldn't have a world without it's one of the key lessons I took from my dad as a mentor when he gave me that book and I stuck on it and it has stuck with me part of it part of the reason it sticks with me is because this character trade of God where God moves towards us and we respond plays itself over and over and over again not

3:23 only in the story of scripture but also in our lives plays itself over and over and over again in our lives and so it sticks with me and I wanted to look at a couple of places over the next several weeks where we see that happen because this this reality that the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob the God of creation and life moves first and we respond is critical for us understanding how we make our way in the world for us living full vibrant lives unencumbered

3:57 by by both guilt or obligation but set free to live with joy and peace and so the first place I want to look for this story is in Exodus chapter 3 we're going to go to a couple places in Exodus this morning as we think about this character trade of God our God that he moves first as you're looking for Exodus chapter 3 let me pray for us hey Lord be with us here this morning

4:31 Holy Spirit we say you are welcome in our hearts and minds you're welcome into our fears and our joys you are welcome this morning into our anxieties and our hopes hey Lord we say this morning collectively that we trust you and we are open to your leading this morning in Jesus name we pray amen at this chapter three starts out the heading on my scriptures says the burning books one of my favorite stories in scripture this burning books is like a fascinating

5:04 story and it's like it's a it's an archetype of so many other encounters of God it says now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law Jethro the priest of Midian and he let his flock flock to the west side of the wilderness in case the whore of the mountain of God remember how Moses God here Moses is like this amazing character in the history of our people where the Egyptians are killing all of the boys they want to cull the people of

5:36 the Hebrew they want to they want to keep their population under control because they're they've enslaved them and they're afraid of them in Moses is miraculously provided for and saved first by his mother with the courage to not follow the genocidal rules and then by the daughter of the king the Egyptian king Pharaoh and he grows up in Pharaoh's house and then realize if you the Hebrew then kills an Egyptian slave master and then realizing he's a murderer and wanting to avoid punishment runs through the desert miraculously survived

6:11 running through the desert by himself and comes across a group of people on the other side of the desert led by this like kind of nomadic clansmen headed by Jethro it's interesting Jethro it's not an Israelite or a Hebrew and yet throughout the story his story he's always referred to as a priest he's actually referred to as a priest who makes sacrifices that are acceptable to God he gives directions and Moses on how to govern people one of the things that you see when you pay close attention to the story of scripture is that while Israel

6:45 follows family lines it is not exclusive Israel is always inclusive Israel is intended to pull all people towards God not exclude people from God this is the character trait of God throughout the whole story of scripture that sometimes gets misconstrued and the reality of Jethro could give us a glimpse of that but I want you to see that first Moses has this miracle after miracle after miracle from his failure he's born because God would not have a world without him he's protected by a mother who loves him not because of anything that he did he's

7:18 picked up by a woman in Pharaoh's house not because anything that he did but because God goes in front of him when Moses has a chance to take action he kills and then he runs away and God provides for him in the priest of Midian Jethro and he's there keeping the herds on the side of the mountain Moses is an amazing man but will see that Moses is an amazing man because of the prerogative of God not because of the will intent for thought even fortitude

7:48 of Moses he's he's just minding his business reveling in the lifelong provision of God his life his saving of his life his preserving through the desert now his life was Zephora and Jethro guarding the flock and he goes to the west side of the wilderness and came to the

8:19 horror of the mountain of God and an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush and behold he looked the angel of the Lord this is like a proper noun this is like a name so Hebrew has a construction we're talking about an angel it's a maulic or a messenger and

8:49 then this like when you see if you're looking at a copy of the scriptures you can see the Lord is written in all caps and you know it's the proper name of God it's not Elohim God in general it's what we might translate as Yahweh those vowels are hard to figure out it's the angel of the Lord this proper now this is the messenger of God the messenger of God and Jesus are the only ones who ever let people bow down and worship them Gabriel other angels when people bow down

9:21 they say get up don't be afraid right they don't let people they don't receive worship John the Baptist doesn't receive worship the angel the Lord the maulic Yahweh always receives worship as does Jesus right tell them to be quiet even the rocks would cry out so the angel of the Lord appears to him in a flame of fire in the midst of a bush and he looked and behold the bush was burning yet it was not consumed and Moses said let me go see this great tight why the bush is not burned up and when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see God to see God called to him out of the bush Moses Moses and he said here I am

9:58 and then he said hey don't come near take your sandals off your feet for the place which you are standing it's holy ground and he said whoa I'm the God the father of the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob and Moses hid his face for he's afraid to look at God calls him out says who he is Moses gets it this is the actual presence of God why take off his shoes the unbounded infinite God for a minute has bound himself into the flame on the on the

10:28 bush why it's not consuming it's not actual combustion it's the presence of God and then the Lord said I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters I know their sufferings and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that landed to a good and broad land to land flowing with milk and honey to the place of the king nights the hit ties the aminites the parasites the hip-eyes and the Jebusites and now be holes the cry of my people of the cry of the people Israel has come to me and

11:00 I've also seen the oppression which with the Egyptians oppressed them come and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people to the children of Israel out of Egypt and then Moses goes on and says how will they know that that who you are tell me a name to give you this is so fascinating first part of the story is fascinating because God the God tells Moses I've heard the cries of my people and on one level if we had took the time to read the whole story this morning we

11:33 say oh yeah you've heard the cries of your people it's been like 200 years homie like where have you been God always moves first but we cannot predict or decide or determined or order when God will move I love this story because God says I have known I have seen I have felt I have heard the suffering of my people and brutal suffering genocidal

12:04 suffering not just the suffering of enslavement but having to kill people children that we love right and so on one level this story the story of the burning bush is this like miraculous solidarity of the God of the universe with the subjugated and the poor and on another level it's like what have you been what have you been waiting for and we hold these two intention we cannot

12:43 predict the cries of the people the Israelites in Egypt make their way up to God and when they do God moves this is a crazy idea it's hard for us to grasp just how crazy of an idea it is that Moses the spurned one of the enslaved

13:15 people will walk to arguably the most powerful man in the world and say let the million or so slaves walk out of your land the ones who are building your empire so Moses is understandably afraid and then he says who I call you who will I say sent me and God gives him a name this is where he makes up his name say I am that I am remember we talked about names being referenced to who you belong

13:49 gatzas I can't give you a name that references who I belong to because I belong to myself man so I am tell them I am who I am sent you this is compelling to me because when you follow the story they don't know who their God is when they've been crying with God says I have heard their cries they've not been crying to the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob they've forgotten the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob mostly God moves on their behalf not because even they know

14:26 enough to ask him to move on their behalf they they are just lamenting the sorrow of their life and God seeing it moves right and he sends Moses and Moses goes courageously like I mean with fear and trepidation but the dude does it right in exes 19 the dude does it right we could go through the plagues and the

15:01 sea the Red Sea and the Malatites but by exes 19 he's back at the mountain of God and I want to look there together exes 19 verse 1 on the third new moon after the people of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt on that day they came into the wilderness of Sinai they set out from refugee and came into the

15:37 wilderness of Sinai and they camped in the wilderness there Israel and camped before the mountain of God a lot of people think that Moses figured his job was done here because when you pay attention to the story of the burning bush God just does get Israel and bring him here to worship me Moses tries to talk him out of it God says no I pick you man you're the guy go and do it now go with you so Moses goes and then of course he has some significant troubles if you

16:09 recall all of the plagues then the Passover terrifying right we're like the angel of death is running around in the streets and you have like smeared some blood on the doorpost and you hope that protects you and then like this fanfare where you're leaving and some of the Egyptians even come with you they're so convinced about the power of the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob you can't believe it you're taking treasure from the Egyptians with you you're walking out you've been played for generations and then you get to the Red Sea and then

16:41 the Cheerios the strongest military power of the day is coming on enslaved people with like out any weapons and then then you like stop a sea and you walk across then you close the sea and you defeat the army and you sing songs again and then you're like attacked by these crazy people at the end of the train with the Melatized and then finally you make it now you've got to be like okay I'm going back to Zapora and Jethro I'm like take care of this flock good luck

17:13 right I did it and they get to the mountain of God and it's like shaking and the people don't want to go up and so Moses goes up by himself because he and God have this friendship and here is chapter 19 on the third new moon after the people of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt on that day they came into the wilderness of Sinai they set out from refugee and came into the wilderness of Sinai and in camps in the wilderness their Israel in camps before the mountain and while Moses went up to God the Lord called out to him

17:49 called to him out of the mountain saying thus you will say to the house of Jacob and tell the people of Israel you yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians and how I bore you on Eagle's wings to myself it's one of the famous phrases of God that I bore you up on Eagle's wings when in the in the Israel and the Jewish tradition when they outline what have come to be called

18:19 the Ten Commandments for a long time we're called the Ten Words when they outline these Ten Commandments they always start in the Israel tradition with this one as the first I am the Lord your God who brought you up on Eagle's wings because this is critical God doesn't send Moses to make a treaty with the Israelites before he rescues them he's not like hey I've got this deal if you act in a certain way behave in a certain way if he doesn't even say if you sign

18:50 on a certain line and believe a certain number of things people don't constitute themselves as Israel in order that they would be saved they are Israel because God saved them got this I brought you up out of before you knew who I was when you told Moses to go away because you did not believe in the potential of myself when you were so overwhelmed by the situations of the world that you could not bust your face to say that I would protect you or provide for you when the

19:24 problems of your day were too great so great that you could not believe I was undeterred God says I pressed through your unbelief through your fear through your anxiety and saved you anyway God said now because you are mine life can look different you guys you all are Israel not because you believe the right

20:04 things not because you say the right things not because you act the right way not because you vote the right way not because you do the right things with your money you are the people of God in the world you all are Israel because you because God has saved you of his own prerogative of his own prerogative he calls you into the world and at every turn when when death or fear or anxiety

20:38 when sin and unrighteousness when evil behavior selfish behavior self-serving actions continue to repeat in your life over and over again the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob comes down through them in order to rescue you and bring you out time and again the manifest presence of God Jake Mount Sinai looks like a storm

21:13 on top and the voice that called the world into existence echoes down to Moses and says you yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians I vanquished your enemy and how I bore you on Eagle's wings and brought you to myself now therefore if you obey my voice and keep my covenant you shall be my pressured possession among all the peoples for all the earth is mine and you

21:43 shall be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation this is where I want us to land for the day he says look you see what I did for you you are Israel now if you if you can if you decide to live as Israel if you he says if you now therefore if you obey my voice and keep my covenant you are Israel who you are you can't run out of it or run away from it it's the prerogative of God that makes

22:14 you is your if in response to that reality you decide to live as Israel then he says for the whole earth is my you'll be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation this is you'll be the people who represent the God of the world to the world pre-represents God they usher people into the presence of God and they usher the presence of God out to the people and he says you'll be for me a kingdom of priests you'll take the presence of God out into the places where

22:46 you go says you are Israel if you decide to live as Israel you'll be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation why he says for the whole earth is mine because God has intended that all people find their way into their true identity as his people the way they find it is an encounter with the kingdom of priests with you all

23:27 you all are the testimony of God to the world your sheer existence announces the faithfulness the creativity the love of the God of the universe it does not matter the circumstances of your life it does not matter the number of failures and shortcomings just after this

24:09 conversation God goes out to outline what now their lives will look like because they are Israel and then he goes into Leviticus to announce a way to repair and restore them as Israel through the sacrificial system and we know that of course Christ complete the sacrificial system so that it never needs to be done again which means every failure of yours is given a new beginning you cannot undo who you are you are Israel for the world because God

24:45 because of God's prerogative not yours my prayer for myself and for each of you is that in this season of life whatever it is for you whether it looks like more work or less work whether it looks like rest or hurry whether it looks like a new challenges or monotony of old challenges whatever this season of life

25:22 looks like for you my prayer is that you would know your identity is secure because it rests not in your prerogative but in the prerogative of God the one who made you sustains you and saves you forever or any pray towards that and hey Lord reassure us with the faith of your goodness in our lives this morning remind us that you move towards us through

25:59 failure and doubt and lack of faith you move towards us and that we can respond towards your love with love in return we can respond to your faith in us with faith in return we can respond to your mercy towards us with mercy in return it teaches to be people Lord who receive your goodness and respond in

26:31 kind in Jesus name pray