Once upon a time, in a land far far away, there was a boy named Francis. His birthday was approaching, and his father called him aside and asked him, You’re birthday is approaching and what if I threw a birthday party and just cut one cake and everyone went home? How many of your friends do you think will come? He said, ‘probably a few of them’. Now, what if for your birthday party, I rented out an entire play area, kept a carnival with free food and lots of free games, how many of your friends do you think would come? He said, if that’s the case then, my whole school might come. And the father did the same, on his birthday, he rented out an entire sports area, put up a carnival and everyone was enjoying the food, games and the party and the father calls the son aside and asks him, look closely, how many of you do you think came here for you? And how many came to the party?
Friends, this is our lives most of the time.
I would like to entitle my sermon for today as, ‘Seek His Presence, Not His Presents’
A simple question to ask ourselves, we all seek God, What exactly are we seeking? Are we seeking his presence or just the presents he gives?
Let’s turn our Bibles to Exodus 33:12-17
Now, this is a very common passage, we all know this story. Just to give a little bit more, this is an event that takes place between Moses and God. God’s chosen people Israel, they rebelled against God, not just once or twice, on a constant basis. They forget God’s great deliverance and all the good things he has done for them, and they rebel against God. And Moses intercedes with God in these couple of chapters. This particular one is the Third Interaction of Moses.
There is a lot of things that we can learn from this particular event. But I just want to focus on a particular aspect of it. I would like to look at it from the eyes of Moses. In this narrative, Moses is the central character and let us take a quick look into how Moses desired for the presence of God.
We know Moses played multiple roles in his life and we will just focus on 2 of those. When we look into the title and look at the life of Moses, we can know that he was somebody who lived according to that. He never cared about presents or titles, the book of Hebrews states it to us. He chose none of the great things he could, he chose God! So I am guessing you all figured out what I am going to speak on, for those who didn’t get it yet, I would like to talk to you about how we must desire each day, for the presence of God. And we will look into the life of Moses and take 2 characteristics from his life in light of Him seeking the presence of God.
Two things that I want to bring out from these 4 verses are
1. Moses sought the presence of God as a friend of God
Verses 12-15 we can see the conversation Moses and God are involved in. We can see that Moses had a close relationship with God. He talks to God like a friend. Makes us wonder, are we in that same position of Moses, or we God’s friend just in our songs? Because we sing, I am a Friend of God, he calls me a friend! Question is, ‘Does He? Are you a friend of His?
The relationship Moses had with God was really deep, in verse 14 God says, ‘I will go with you’, it literally means, ‘my own presence shall go with you’ not an angel, not something else. I myself will go with you. And it is a result of the pleading of Moses. He was close to God and his only desire and only interest were God. Moses had his priorities right. He knew that the opportunity he had once a very rare one, an opportunity that usually nobody else could get. He was in the presence of God, talking to Him. He wasted no time. When we also understand this, we will know that the presence of God we should be in, is so glorious and amazing. But unfortunately, we get distracted and get side-lined. Our priorities tend to change as time goes by.
Just imagine that my lifelong dream is to own a luxury car. To be clear, it is not my dream! Say, I worked my whole life really hard for it, earned a lot of money, saved every last penny and when I had enough money I walked into the Lamborghini showroom and I booked the latest car. So when I made the purchase, the company would give me free merchandise. They would give me a Lamborghini cap, maybe a T-Shirt, a keychain, a wrist band or something like that. My question is did I buy that car for the free merchandise. What do you think I will be more excited to see? My dream car or the caps and the keychain.
The problem with us many times is that our priorities get shifted. We many times don’t have that desire for the presence of God. Our attention is side-lined. But that’s not how a true friend of God must do. Are we really excited to be in God’s presence and enjoy Him rather than finding happiness in what he gives us? Moses was a true friend of God and that should be our desire too.
God says, ‘I will listen to you because you have found favor in my eyes’ I really love how The Message version puts it, ‘I will do this because you are special to me, I know you by the name’. Now that’s a compliment and a privilege.
So when God says that, he means, ‘Moses I know your every need, every struggle, every fear, and every vulnerability’. So what God says here, can be applied in our lives too. God is saying to us, just relax. I know you, I know your worries, your fear, your pain and everything that you are going through. And I will take care of all that. Don’t let those distract you, because we are easily distracted because of these. God is assuring us not to worry and distract ourselves from all those. Let us focus only on God because we serve a King who knows your name.
This also shows us the relationship that they had. Moses was really stressed out because it is not easy to take care of these people. They are a really rebellious, ungrateful and disobedient group of people, and to lead them it is not an easy task.
Friends look into our lives, will God say the same? Are we really a friend of God? Unless and until we desire for His presence and truly yearn for him, it is not the case. Moses could have asked for anything, he could have asked for God’s provision, God’s power, but he didn’t ask any of it. Because he knew the most important thing a child of God can have is His presence. Let that be our desire too, many times, the presence of God is somewhere we run to when we are out of option. Earnest Holmes puts it like this, ‘I live in the faith that there are a Presence and power greater than I am that nurtures and supports me in ways I could not even imagine. I know that this presence is all knowing and all powerful and is always right where I am’
The second thing I want to bring forward is
2. Moses sought the presence of God as the leader of God’s people
Moses asks God to go with them, and God answers his prayer. But Moses wasn’t satisfied with that, it could be just assurance for Moses, he requested God to show a visible sign that his presence would go with him.
In Verse 33:12 Moses says, ‘remember that this nation is your people’
Verse 14 says, ‘My presence shall go with you’, and God is in a way ignoring the words of Moses. Because God says, ‘My presence shall go with ‘you’, and I will give ‘you’ rest’. It was like God made his decision, the people would be left behind, and only Moses will be taken. But Moses responds by saying, ‘If your presence doesn’t go with ‘us’. Not just me but ‘us’ because you have given the responsibility of these people to me. Moses is not giving up. Because Moses knew that if the presence of God is not in them, then they are just an ordinary group of people. What makes them different and what made them special is the presence of God with them.
In the end, we see, God, moving to compassion towards these people because he was pleased with ‘Moses’. God says, ‘I will go with the people, because of You’. We can learn a lot of truths from this passage, but one thing that I want to focus on is, the relationship Moses had with God. His relationship was so strong that God decides to listen to him. I know I am speaking to future leaders today and this should challenge us on a regular basis. Moses fought for his people, Moses fought with God so that his presence would go with them.
In order for a leader to fight for his people, first, he must be in a really strong relationship with God. In this process, Moses uses a lot of ways to intercede with God, he says ‘if you found favor in me’, he took the personal approach, he took the covenant approach, ‘do not forget these are your people’, etc.
Moses could have agreed to it because he was alone with God and nobody would know. And also, if we look at it, those people actually deserved it. But Moses links himself with the people of God. He wasn’t willing to enjoy the presence of God alone. He knew the responsibility that was upon his shoulders. And God listens to the petition of Moses. Israel was only spared because Moses stood in between and interceded.
A leader who knew the power and the importance of the presence of God. On one side, we see a generation that doesn’t care about God or his presence, on the other side we see a leader, who knew that the most important thing is the Presence, the one who pleaded for it and that entire generation was spared.
I would end this sermon by inviting you to take a look into our lives. We are all called to be the children of God, to plead for a generation that runs away from God. Can we be like Moses? To be like Moses, we must understand and desire for his presence. Because then only we can plead for a generation.
We learned about how Moses desired for God’s presence. He was a friend of God and he was the leader of God’s people. And I am speaking to people who belong to both these categories. Are we like Moses? Do we seek the presence of God? Or are we focused on other things? Are our priorities set on the right things?
We looked into two aspects, Moses was a friend of God and a leader of his people. He played both those roles very well, and he knows that the Presence of God is the most important thing that he ever needs. He knew that, in order to fulfill both the roles he has, he has to continuously seek the presence of God. We are all friends of God and we are all called to lead the people of God. And each day as we fulfill these roles and any other roles we take on in this life, let us run to Him at all times, desire for his presence and seek His face over everything else. Set our priorities straight, make God the center of it all.
You may forget everything that I have said when you walk out that door but just remember this one. I will with this one sentence, ‘Love God for who He is and not what He can do!’
