Intro: Exodus chapter 3 is the continuing journey of God to set His people Israel free. Moses failed in his own power to set his people free. He fled to the desert and seems to be leading a normal life.
Remember failure does not disqualify you for being used of God. Only men determine that you are of no use because you failed.
Moses is about to find out what we all need to find out, God uses broken things!! Soil must be broken to produce a crop, grain must be broken to produce bread, the pots of Gideon had to be broken to produce victory, the alabaster jar had to be broken to anoint Jesus, Peter had to be broken of his pride in order to be restored to be humbly used of the Lord.
Psalm 51:17 “The sacrifice pleasing to God is a broken spirit. God, You will not despise a broken and humbled heart.”
Right before this passage it says that God doesn’t desire offerings. God doesn’t want offerings that come from pride and self-reliance. He wants us to offer ourselves as living sacrifices. Broken over our sin and rebellion against His holiness.
Paul gave a vivid picture of what we are as people. 2 Corinthians 4:7 “Now we have this treasure in clay jars, so that this extraordinary power may be from God and not from us.”
An earthen vessel is nothing other than a clay pot. JB Phillips translates it, “a common, earthenware jar.” That is in reference to our bodies and abilities in the power of the flesh. All we are to God is a container. You may be brittle but beautiful china. You may chip and break easily. Or you may be a rugged scarred hunk of heavy pottery not very attractive but really useful. You want to know something amazing? It isn’t the condition of the pot but the value of the treasure inside it. The treasure in our clay pots is the light and glory of Christs’ salvation! All the better if a few dings, dents and cracks allow others to see the beauty and glory of Christ!!
Don’t you imagine that Moses must have felt like a useless pot? Raised a son of the Pharaohs daughter, taught, trained and forgotten. Exodus three gives us an up close and personal look at how God views and chooses to use broken vessels.
I. Just another day
Moses has gone 40 years without a word from God. Moses was just like us. He probably told his sheep good night and laid down to rest. When he woke up it was just another day with the sheep. He washed his face, had his breakfast, counted his sheep and was off to the office
There was no shooting star, no signs above, no neon signs that said, “God will peak to you today!” It was just another day to make it through. Getting sheep out of crags, leading them to green pastures. We do the same. You wake up get breakfast and go to work. You get up get dressed and take the kids to school or take care of them. Expecting to go through just another day!
Moses day was so normal that if he had a calendar he would mark off his 14,600th day as Jethro’s assistant shepherd. (Some of you know there is nothing like begin an assistant manager!)
What we can easily miss is that God loves stepping directly into ordinary days and doing amazing things! He shows up in an otherwise normal routine day and speaks to ordinary routine people.
The Bible tells us that Jesus return will be this way. Matthew 24:37-39 “As the days of Noah were, so the coming of the Son of Man will be. 38 For in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah boarded the ark. 39 They didn’t know until the flood came and swept them all away. So this is the way the coming of the Son of Man will be”
People will be going about their daily business oblivious to the coming of Jesus. That is God’s method. He doesn’t need to announce, or put up a billboard, Hey, get ready today your life is going to change. Some of you came in here expecting to sing and hear a sermon and didn’t realize that God was going to change your life forever!!
God works by simply stepping into the ordinary, normal routine we call life and saying what He wants to say. Here’s what I want you to be, here’s what I want you to do!
II. Just another bush
A) A moment of curiosity
Isn’t it amazing how God can use our curiosity?! What I want you to recognize is that Moses was not curious about religion. It would be easy to make a leap and say he was curious about God and curious about religion. No! This was just another day in the desert taking care of dumb old sheep. What on earth does God use to break through the dry and barren desert that Moses was in? A bush! Another ordinary thing used in a supernatural way!
I don’t know how you picture this bush but the word in the Hebrew just simply means “a thorny shrub.” Just an old dry prickly bush. Notice it wasn’t the bush that was special. Moses had probably seen thousands if not hundreds of thousands of these. What was different about it was, Exodus 3:2 “Then the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire within a bush. As Moses looked, he saw that the bush was on fire but was not consumed.”
If I were face to face with a bush that burned but didn’t burn up I might be a little spooked. It seems to me like Moses had no idea God was in the bush, he was simply curious about what was going on.
Again it was not the bush that was special but what was happening to it. God will do that in our lives. Use ordinary things in an extraordinary way to get our attention. What some call coincidences is actually God’s divine providences. (need examples)What should we do when these unusual events happen? Call ghost adventures, Ripley’s believe it or not? No!! We should ask ourselves, “What is God trying to tell me or teach me in this moment?”
Realize that this text is telling us that in every ordinary day through every extraordinary moment God is seeking you!
The old saying is curiosity killed the cat, in this instance curiosity was used to call the prophet.
B) A moment of clarity
Because the bush was so curious Moses says in Exodus 3:3 “So Moses thought: I must go over and look at this remarkable sight. Why isn’t the bush burning up?”
Doesn’t that make you feel good? He didn’t see any theological or life changing meaning in it. But his moment of curiosity is leading to a moment of clarity.
If you pay close attention it is at this moment that God chose to speak to Moses.
Exodus 3:4 “When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called out to him from the bush, “Moses, Moses!”
Do you realize how hard it is for God to get people to simply look? All type of tragedies and disasters. Global and social, financial and personal, physical and mental. Car wrecks, plane crashes, hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis, terrorist attacks, heath problems, loss of loved ones, loss of jobs, finances etc!! How do most of us respond?
Shrug it off and chalk it up to coincidence or luck. Man I was lucky I got out of that one. No you weren’t God brought you out by His strong right arm and burning bush and you missed it. That lost job was not bad luck it was the burning bush of God!
I believe the reason so many Christians never hear from God is because they never take time out of their busy schedule to turn and look at the bush that God set ablaze for them! (Do you cultivate a time of turning toward God in the mornings or evenings?)
God all the while is clearly saying, “What on earth will it take? What will finally convince them to stop in their tracks and turn aside and consider what just happened?”
When God spoke he said, “Moses, Moses!” Why did God say it twice? Why did he do that to anyone? Abraham, Abraham, Samuel, Samuel. Moses, Moses.
It is a semitic way of showing endearment. God was showing Moses that he cared for, was concerned with and loved Moses.
God started revealing Himself (The story of redemption doesn’t start with us)
He didn’t start with Moses or Moses failure he started with His compassion and concern. Then he revealed His person and power. God never starts with us!!
You mean even after Moses failed, fled and feared what Pharaoh would do? Yes the same is true in your life. The moment God spoke, Moses came face to face with his destiny.
C) A moment of destiny
So after 40 years in the wilderness how did Moses respond? Just one word, hinaynee, which means I’m here or It’s me. What might Moses have done 40 years before? Pulled out his resume and said bout time you found me. Moses expected a special call now he can just say I’m here.
Moses is finally humbled, broken ready to be filled with God’s fire!!
Understand this God is not impressed with anything about you. He is examining your humility, sensitivity and availability. Your destiny for God’s kingdom is not based on the vessel but the treasure that God desires to put in it!
Then God says, “Do not come closer, Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.”
If you study ancient eastern custom this is shows respect for the owner of the house. What on earth is God trying to say to Moses?
Holy ground is separated ground. While Moses is meeting with God, God wants him to separate himself from the past failures and present responsibilities. God wants his undivided attention.
It was not the bush but it was the moment with God that was set apart!! I am the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. These were the heroes of the Hebrews. But if we look closely at their lives what do we find? Each one of these men were broken. Each had to be humbled so that God could exalt them.
Moses hid his face and would not look at God. What was Moses problem? He was looking at himself. God wanted Moses to see him as the God of failures, mess-ups and mistake artists. In this moment as Moses humbled Himself before God, God began to reveal Moses’ destiny. You will never see yourself rightly until you clearly see God!
If you look at Exodus 3:7-8 God is clearly telling Moses I know what is happening to my people in Egypt.
Listen God knows exactly where you are and exactly what you are going through!
He sees, He cares, He is aware and most important He is moved by your misery!
What does the devil the enemy of our souls want you to think?
God doesn’t care. He’s left you in this mess for months, years.
How unfair! People at work, school, even in church live however they want and no consequences. Not true God is about to use a nerd to judge Egypt.
You may say it is more than I can bear! So did Israel. God knows and has a plan for you!
The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob still lives, cares and delivers.
So God lets Moses know what’s going on in Egypt and then as Moses stands with his head bowed and mouth agape, God says, 3:10 “Therefore, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh so that you may lead My people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.”
What? What is God trying to say to Moses and us? Moses before you fell from grace in Egypt, before you became a lowly shepherd you weren’t burnable or fillable. You were so full of yourself there was no way you could be full of me!!
God is looking for bushes that will burn for His glory. God is not looking for special vessels or bushes. God is looking for burnable bushes and fillable vessels. Doesn’t matter how dry and thorny the bush or how cracked and broken the pot.
Chuck Swindoll shares 3 mistakes we can make as bushes that God wants to light.
1) We run before we are sent
2) We retreat after we have failed
3) We resist when we are called
