Exodus 19: Kingdom of Priests

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0:00 The rest of us, we are going to look at Exodus 19, that story about the Israelites going to Sinai. If you want to turn there or punch it up on your phone, Exodus chapter 19, we're going to get there in just a minute. But we're working our way through this kind of story about the church and what God's doing with the church. A couple of weeks ago, we're looking back at where Jesus says he's going to start his church.

0:32 Remember, he's gathered the disciples and he asks them the disciples at a particular point in his ministry. Hey, who are people saying that I am? And they say, well, some people say that you're John the Baptist, another say that you're one of the prophets and he's like, okay, fine. But in an interesting moment of vulnerability, Jesus asks his closest friends, these disciples, who do you guys say that I am? And Peter answering for the 12 has a moment of clarity and says, Jesus, we know that you are the Christ, the Son of God.

1:05 And Jesus is like, Peter, this is a miracle that you would believe this. He's like, humans didn't reveal this to you. God must have revealed this to you. There's no way that you would grasp this on your own. And he's like, I'm going to start my church with this miracle. And we know that Peter believed in that moment when he answered that question and then later didn't believe and then later believed again and then later didn't believe. He has this flickering light of faith that's on and off, but it's enough.

1:36 Jesus sees the light flickers on for a minute and he says, I'm going to build my church here, this called out group of people. And we've been saying what a miracle it is that the church has endured. It's a miracle the church started and it's a miracle that the church has endured through all of the abuse and exploitation and misappropriation. The fact that you and I might gather in a warehouse in Orlando on a Sunday morning is a miracle. And the fact that you and I have a light of faith that turns on periodically is some sort of miracle.

2:11 And so we're looking back through the story of scripture to consider why God is working through a church, what it might mean that he works through a church. And two weeks ago we looked at Abram and we saw that God, even though Adam and Eve had failed as his proxies, his image bears in the world, that he doubles down and he says, Abram, I'll work through you. Let's rename you, Abraham, and you'll be my proxy in the world. If you bless people, they'll be blessed. If you curse people, they'll be cursed. I'm going to work through you.

2:42 And then he works through Isaac. And then last week we looked at Jacob and the story about Jacob as someone to emulate because though he is conniving and capable, he's able to multiply wealth and convince people to get what he wants. And although he is tricky and resourceful, when push comes to shove, Jacob knows who gives him good things.

3:13 He knows the blessing of God is what he wants. And when he's looking to secure his future at that critical moment when he wrestles in the evening, he recognizes that Esau doesn't hold his future. That his camps and his money doesn't hold his future. But the place from which he gets blessing is God. And so he says, everything else can go away. I'm not leaving here until I get a blessing from God because that's what I need.

3:44 And so, God then renames Jacob Israel and Israel in the Old Testament is the church. And Israel is defined as wrestle with God. And so God is working through Abraham, Isaac and then Jacob to set up a group of people in the world who will let him be God. Meaning the source of all good things. The arbiter of the future.

4:14 The provider for today. The judgment seat for all time. That he's building a group of people in the world who will let him be God. And if we're going to be church, that's what we're called. And I want to look forward now in the story into Exodus 19 where we see God make another kind of not pivot but step forward in what the church is in the world.

4:45 For the role that the church will have in the world in Exodus chapter 19. Before we start it on it, let's pray together. Good Lord, thanks for bringing us here. We agree that you are the reason we've come to meet with you. We agree like Jacob, all good things come from you. Would you call our fears and our anxieties this morning, encourage our hopes and turn on our little flickering lights of faith this morning that we might believe in your son and the call that you put on our lives.

5:23 Speak to us this morning through your word. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Exodus chapter 19 is a big deal because like I told the kids, Israel's made their way back to the mountain of Sinai here. God told Moses on this mountain, go get your people out of Egypt, bring them back here and worship me on the mountain. Miraculously, that's happened. They're there. Exodus chapter 19 starting at verse 1.

5:54 On the third new moon, I decided that's probably about a month. How often do we get two months? It takes two months to get a new moon. Thank you Beverly. So the third new moon, Salah, six months. Okay. So 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. And then they set out from Raphodim and came into the wilderness of Sinai and they encamped in the wilderness.

6:32 We get it. The wilderness, Moses. There Israel encamped before the mountain. Well Moses went up to God. The Lord talked to him out of the mountain saying, Thus you shall 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 and brought you to myself.

7:02 He did some work already. He starts his very first thing as telling him, God's gone through a lot to get them here. And he's reminding them that he did it. You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians and how I bore you on eagle's wings and brought you to myself. Just a quick recap of what God's gone through to get Israel to this moment. Remember that Moses was the one who was saved when they were killing all of the boys. And Moses was miraculously saved out of the Nile by Pharaoh and his family.

7:35 And then through a series of events where he takes the life of an Egyptian and then flees across the desert and settles with a Jethro and Zapora. And he's lives there for 40 years and he's shepherding sheep and he's up on the mountain and God comes down out of wherever he dwells infinitely and bodies a flame in a bush that doesn't burn up and talks to Moses. You would think that God himself coming down to manifest in front of you and ask you to do something would be enough.

8:09 But Moses in his insolence is like, I'm not the right guy, send somebody else. So God not only has to figure out how to get down into the burning bush but has to talk Moses into doing the thing that Moses needs to do. But God is determined. He will not be dissuaded. And so then Moses goes and he picks up his brother Aaron and then they go to Pharaoh and Moses is like, hey, the God of creation in life. The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The God of my people commands you, let the people go. It's not enough, right?

8:42 Pharaoh is like in his insolence is like, I'm stronger, I'm better, I know better than God. Moses thought he knew better, Pharaoh thinks he knows better. And then God systematically over a period of time demonstrates his authority over each of the deities of Egypt with these ten plagues. From frogs and locusts and the Nile and all of these plagues one at a time demonstrating. And finally he demonstrates his authority over Pharaoh as a God and takes the oldest son.

9:13 Now the Israelites are able to leave. God's gone through all this. Then they get to the Nile and the Egyptians change their mind, right? And they're coming down on him, right? And the Egyptian army is coming. So Moses under the command of God holds up the staff and God splits the Red Sea and the Israelites walk across the Red Sea on dry ground. As soon as they get through they turn around and close the Red Sea on the Egyptians and the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob has defeated the strongest military power of the day.

9:44 At every point the Israelites thought God's plan is a bad one. Quit trying it. Moses didn't want to go. The Israelites when he got there told him to leave. When they ran up against the Nile they were sure God did not know what he was doing. They said, why did you take us out here to die? In the six months since he brought them out the three new moons, two months per new moon, six months since he brought them out of Egypt.

10:15 They have asked to go back already even though he's defeated him. We'd like to go back. And so when they finally get there to the mountain God's like, hey, take a minute and look back at what I did for you. And if God were a jerk he would say, when did you ask me to do that?

10:46 When did you do to earn my intervention on your behalf? Of course he's not. He just said, when you forgot my name and told me to leave, I saved you anyway. I brought you out of all these places, right? Through all this work. Exodus chapter 19 verse 4, you yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians

11:23 and how I bore you on Eagle's wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all the peoples. For all the earth is mine and you shall be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. God has gathered now a group of people. Folk debate how many there were, but there was more than a million of them.

11:59 Remember the promise in Genesis chapter 12. Maybe more than 400 years ago, maybe 600 years ago. 430 years ago maybe, right? God makes his promise to Abraham and he says, look I know you're old, you've never had any kids, but if you leave everything you can manufacture and go forward counting on me,

12:30 you'll have more children than there are sand on the sea shore or stars in the sky. And God's not done adding to Abraham's number, but at 430 years there's well over a million of them. And he gathers them at the holy mountain, Sinai, and says you now will be for me a kingdom of priests, my treasured possession, a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.

13:03 It's phenomenal that they got to that point, isn't it? God makes the promise to Abraham and we talked about it. Abraham, his most redeeming and admirable quality is that when God says I'd like to give you good things, generational blessings,

13:35 Abraham says you know what, that sounds good, I'll take it. That's it, that's what Abraham is good at, receiving things from God. It's not a high bar, someone comes and says I'd like to give you a present, you say thank you, I'll take it. Maybe there's a little bit of humility involved that you're letting somebody give you a gift. But it's not like you had to merit the gift or earn it, it's not like there's some quality, you had to run some obstacle course to get it.

14:09 Abraham's defining characteristic is he lets God give him good things, but on multiple occasions in his life, in the stories that are recorded, not to mention the ones that are not, Abraham fails at his defining characteristic. We told the story a couple of weeks ago, he's going into Egypt and rather than trust God for his provision and protection for his family, he comes up with a scheme to lie and misrepresent. Sarah, just tell them you're my sister so they don't kill me to take you.

14:42 He cannot trust God. On multiple occasions, as he's dealing with Laban, as he's moving through the Promised Land, Abraham fails as a proxy for God, and yet God sticks with him. Because Abraham doesn't believe and also he believes. Abraham doesn't trust God and also he does trust God. And that's enough.

15:19 God continues the promise. And the same with Jacob, right? Jacob does trust God and he doesn't trust God. God, he rips off his uncle and he knows where his blessing comes from. Manufacturers of the situation to get more than one wife and he knows who holds his future. He believes and he doesn't believe and God pushes forward anyway.

15:52 And then with Israel, he does the same. What's phenomenal to me is what's happening right here at the moment at Sinai. This conversation that God has with Israel is pivotal for the people of God in the story of Scripture. We learned so much about God and about people, what he's trying to do in the story where he says,

16:23 you'll be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. By now we know if we're Israel, what priests are. Moses had a father in law who was a priest named Jethro. Abraham worked with a priest of the king of Salem named Melchizedek. And whether we have priests pre-Israel and Leviticus where God describes what the Israelite priests will look like or post Leviticus after we know what God describes the Israelite priests will look like,

16:53 we have a sense of what a priest does. So Jethro and Melchizedek and then the priest after Aaron and his sons, they do a very specific thing a priest does. A priest goes to see people, listens to who they are, what they're up to, what they need, where they've erred, where their heart is, what their relationship to the God might be. He takes all that information and goes back to the God.

17:26 And says, here's the people, here's their situation, what should we do? God communicates the holiness and truth to the priest. The priest comes back to the people waiting to hear what God might say and communicates the holiness of God out to the people. Priests are this intermediary between the God and the people. In seminary they say priests mediate the holiness of God out to the people.

17:56 And God looks at Israel, slaves who've forgotten the name of God, who have brought idols with them from Egypt. He looks at them and he's like, you all are going to be a kingdom of priests. A holy nation, a nation set apart to mediate the holiness of God out into the world.

18:28 Israel is intended, Israel has their own little priests inside, but the nation itself is intended to receive the holiness of God and push it out to the rest of the world. This is why he says very critically in Exodus chapter 19, where he says, now therefore in verse 5, if you will keep my covenant, you will be my treasured possessions among all the peoples, for all the earth is mine.

19:09 Right here it's like a mission statement for what he's going to do with Israel, the people of God on earth. He could say, you all are going to be my treasured possession because I'm done with everyone else. He could say, look, I can't contend with all the world, I'll just contend with you.

19:40 He could say, we're walking into Canaan, put up walls and let none in. But he says, the whole earth belongs to me. Therefore you people of God will be priests. Mediate the holiness of God out to the world. Remember the promise to Abraham. All the world will be blessed through you.

20:15 God has in mind to work through people. Israel at this moment in Exodus 19 stands on the precipice of this 430 year old promise. It's just a number, but I was like trying to imagine myself what's 430 years prior to now.

20:53 That's almost a civil war, right? That's right around the civil 16? 400 years from now. That's 200 years? Wait, what's 400 years ago? Yes, 1600. That's Mayflower.

21:26 1860s is a civil war. That's only 200 years ago. 150 years ago. Okay, that's even further. Can you imagine if somehow by stories from our parents and our grandparents and our great grandparents, there was something preserved that our people had received a promise from the God,

21:58 that we were destined for something significant, meaningful in the world. And at a critical point, God calls all of us together, though we had been downtrodden for generations, for centuries even. Most of us had forgotten, but a few old people remember that they're standing at this mountain about to receive the culmination of a centuries old promise. And the promise is, I love you dearly and have purpose for you,

22:44 meaningfully in the world. What we learn about the God in Exodus chapter 19 as his story about working through people in the world unfolds is that the God, though people fail, Abram failed, Jacob failed, everyone failed in between. Moses was sure he knew better than God, though they've all failed, God honors his promise.

23:20 And in this case, his promise was to work through them. You can see how Jesus doubles down on it then, in his sermon on the Mount, when he says, Hey, y'all are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden.

23:53 Neither does one take his light and hide it under a bushel, but puts it up on the lamppost that all around might see the holiness of God mediated to them by the church in the world. Just like Israel, God has made a promise to you that he loves you dearly. Treasured possession.

24:23 You are his very favorite. And as his favorite, he has set aside a purpose for you, a priest for the world. Mediate the holiness. Communicate the nature, the character, the love of God out to those around you. Church. That's why the miracle persists.

24:55 Why does God put up with the flickering faith? Why does the church continue to endure past indulgences and failures and exploitation and abuses? Why does the church persist here amongst us in a city where the places have been so broken? The church persists because God is committed to the world. And he works through people who get it and don't get it, who believe and don't believe,

25:34 who make good choices and bad choices. He works through all of us. He always has. And he always will. Let's pray that he does today. Good Lord, thank you for the story of your people. Thank you for Mount Sinai. Thank you for your persistence and your faithfulness. Teach us to receive good things from you and to share them freely and generously with those around us.

26:06 In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.