Take Your Shoes Off! Series

Take Your Shoes Off!

(Exodus 3:1-4:16)

1. This article surfaced in the news this week: LONDON, Nov 9 (Reuters Life) - Looking for safe excitement? November is fig month at the Dull Men’s Club, a place in cyberspace for men who feel "born to be mild" and enjoy watching grass grow and photographing garden sheds.

"Figs are good for you. High fiber and high nutritional value ... fat-free, sodium-free, cholesterol-free ... not to mention the great taste. And they are portable," enthuses the Dull Men’s Club Web site.

…an analysis of baggage carousels at 376 airports globally discovers that 44.8 percent rotate counterclockwise, 29 percent clockwise. The site also reveals the reason for that orientation.

"Many people - corporate executives and celebrities I’ve heard about - enjoy doing the dull things," the site’s author Lee Carlson… told Reuters.

"It’s an ordinary subject taken to extremes. Here’s one: take a bucket, fill it with water, put in some wood, and watch it warp."

For the Dull Men’s Club, watching water freeze is stimulus enough, as is discovering the history of soap.

One of the more adventurous pastimes for members is "Binge Flossing" - partly because it is "an inexpensive thing to do on a date."

Visiting museums is a favorite dull men’s activity, and the site contains references to a plethora of resources, from safety razors through aprons to water hydrants, via a comb museum in China and Jerusalem’s Tax Museum.

"One of the museum’s purposes was to be a place to learn about the routine work of the tax department. Wow ... it doesn’t get much better than that," enthuses the site.

2. I’ve met a few people over the years who should belong to this club.

3. As a matter of fact, for 40 years, Moses was living a life consistent with the Dull Men’s Club. And he had no intention of leaving that life.

4. But God knew that Moses, though comfortable there, did not belong there!

Main Idea: All of God’s servants are human beings with quirks and hidden agendas. God often uses us not because of who we are, but in spite of who we are.

I. Moses Gets DRAFTED

A. Begins with CURIOSITY (1-3)

Horeb is also called Mt. Sinai

1. ``Says F12 R. Eliezer, from the day the heavens and the earth were created, the name of this mountain was called Horeb; but after the holy blessed God appeared to Moses out of the midst of the bush, from the name of the bush "(Seneh)", Horeb was called Sinai.’’ [F12 Pirke Eliezer, c. 41. Aben Ezra in Exod. iii. 2. quoted by John Gill]

2. One ancient Rabbi sees the Bush’s burning as both symbolic of God’s holiness and God’s awareness of the Hebrew’s plight: “Aben Ezra has this note on (Exodus 3:2) .

``the enemy is compared to fire, and Israel to the bush, wherefore it was not burnt:’’

3. Walter Kaiser writes:

“What took place was a "strange sight" (v. 3) to Moses. Therefore, to explain what happened here as a temporary mirage of reflected sunlight on some red leaves or a campfire of some Bedouin … is to substitute our experience for Moses’ forty years in that area and his estimate that it was indeed unusual. The burning bush was not consumed; that was the miracle. Notice how miracle is used here, as it so typically is in Scripture, to accredit God’s message (or messenger). Miracles are not circus side shows intended to entertain; rather they accredit the Word of God given to his special messengers.” (from Expositor’s Bible Commentary)

B. Moses Hears the Bush’s CALL (4)

• Angel of the Lord is the Lord, as most of the Rabbis understood

Years later, just before his death, Moses blesses each of the 12 Tribes of Israel. Of Joseph, he said, “About Joseph he said: ‘May the LORD bless his land…with the best gifts of the earth and its fullness and the favor of him who dwelt in the burning bush.”

Deuteronomy 33:13-16 passim)

C. Moses Rightly RESPECTS God’s Holiness (5-6)

1. Remove Sandals

• To teach Moses respect for the God of Israel

• To instruct Moses that God is Holy

2. God Identifies Himself

3. Moses is Afraid to Look (wouldn’t you be?)

• What does He see, an angel or a vision of the Lord?

D. God Expresses His CONCERN

1. He has Come DOWN

2. He has an EXTRACTION Plan (8a)

3. He has a SETTLEMENT Plan (8b)

4. He has a right TIMING (9)

5. He has the LEADER (10)

All of God’s servants are human beings with quirks and hidden agendas. God often uses us not because of who we are, but in spite of who we are.

II. Moses Tries to RESIST the Draft

A. He just did not WANT to do it