The Great I Am
The Great Deliverer
As the world changes, the value of things change and price tags change. The expensive things now have cheap labels, and the cheap things have expensive labels. Today, we have what might be called a transvaluation of values. Everything is turned upside down. Important values have become unimportant for many people. Unimportant values have been turned into seemingly valuable categories.
Just look at the advertisements on television, in movies, or in magazines. From the perspective of popular media, you may think that getting more and more material things is important to happiness and self-value. But God and the Bible are somewhat pushed to the sideline. The values of the modern era have been turned upside down. It has happened gradually, so many of us have hardly noticed that it has happened.
The Biblical corrective for this situation of upside-down values is found in the name of God -- the great I AM. We learned and discussed about the Name of God in last week’s sermon. This is the name that God gave to Moses when Moses agreed to go to Egypt and lead the people out of bondage. "Give me your name that I might tell the people who sent me," Moses requested.
"Tell them that I AM who I AM sent you," God replied (see Exodus 3:13-15). God is the center of life. When we put something else in the center of our lives, we cannot work correctly. God is the great I AM. We must pay attention to how He reveals Himself and what He says. According to the gospel of John, Jesus used the name I AM for himself on numerous occasions. In last week’s sermon we discussed how He says of Himself, "I am the bread of life". He who comes to me shall never hunger and he who believes me shall never thirst. John 6:35; also see 6:48 and 6:51He says, I am the living bread which came down from heaven. In John 8:12, Jesus says, "I am the light of the world." He who follows me shall not walk in darkness but have the light of life. In John 10:7 Jesus says of himself, "I am the door of the sheep" and in John 10:11 he claims, "I am the good shepherd." The good shepherd gives his life for the sheep.
"I am the resurrection and the life" He who believes in me, though he may die, he shall live. (John 11:25). "I am the way, the truth, and the life" (John 14:6). "I am the true vine" and my Father is the vinedresser. (John 15:1). Most assuredly, I say to you, "Before Abraham was, I AM" (John 8:58).
In the gospel of John, Jesus identifies himself as the great I AM that Moses met in the wilderness. Jesus was a great teacher, but those who claim that He was just a great teacher, and not divine, have to eliminate the value of Jesus saying “I Am”. I AM is God's name. Jesus claims that name for Himself, because He is both God and man. Exodus 3:13-15 states, "This (I AM) is my name forever, and this is my title for all generations." That is the holy and exalted name God uses for Himself.
The Lord, Yahweh, came to deliver the Israelites out of the bondage of slavery. He was the Great “I Am.” Now in the New Testament, God came down to earth in the form of man to deliver us from the bondage of sin and death. He is our Great Deliverer. Understand, since Jesus is the great I AM, that means He is in control. We are not in control, but our sinful tendencies can try to take control. The entire Bible can be outlined around this theme of God's rule over us. In Genesis 1, God created us in His own image. He commands that the fruit of one tree is out of bounds. Chapter 2 of Genesis tells us that Adam and Eve rebelled against God's authority and ate that one forbidden fruit. And like Adam and Eve, sometimes we rebel against God's authority, and we also try to make excuses instead of repenting for our wrongdoings.
The rest of the Bible, from Genesis 2 through the last verse in Revelation, is about God working to restore us back into God's reign over us. Because, right now, we are slaves to sin, corruption, and death. But God wants to free us from that slavery. God works to restore us in His own way, not by forcing us under His direct control and power, but by inviting us back into His control through free will.
This invitation comes to us because God gave us the option of saying "Yes" or "No" to Him. We have the freedom to reject God's offer of accepting us in Christ. Before we were able to come to Him, He sent the power of the Holy Spirit to create the faith we needed to be saved. Through the Holy Spirit, we are guided in faith to everlasting life. As Luther said, "I cannot of my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ or come to him, but the Holy Spirit called me by the gospel, enlightened me with his gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith...." While sin is fighting to keep us away from the rule of God, God is at work in us to bring us back into His reign. That is the classic battle in our souls between God and the devil.
God has accomplished our salvation by Jesus dying on the cross. From the cross Jesus said, "It is accomplished." It is like a check gift of a million dollars, given to us by God's grace. It has been given, but unless we turn it over and sign it, we do not receive the benefits of that gift. Some foolish and stubborn people refuse to sign the check. They refuse to listen to the great I AM, Yahweh, the Lord. Instead, they are blinded by the world and put other things in first place, thereby committing idolatry. Do you watch more movies than you spend time with God? How much time do you spend on worldly things, and how much time do you spend with God? Nothing on this earth should be more important than God, for this is also another form of idolatry. Do not get caught up in worldly pleasures and forget to the wholeness of God.
As mentioned earlier, many people have turned the importance of Biblical values upside-down. They value things that are cheap and worldly, but devalue things like faith and the gospel, which is precious. That is what is happening in our world today. The truth of life is, we are called to love the Lord our God above and beyond anything else. Jesus is the great I AM and the deliverer of our souls.
From the perspective of the gospel of John, there are two options in life: either we are in charge, or the Great I AM is in charge. When we are in charge, life does not work the way it was designed. When I AM, when Yehwah, is in charge, life works the way it is supposed to work according to God's plans and purpose.
There once was a man named Harold who was trapped in alcoholism. As far as most people knew, Harold was a respected judge and a good family man. But Harold had a secret. He drank to solve his problems. When drinking became his main problem, he drank to solve that problem too. This is the cycle of alcoholism. Harold claimed that he was not an alcoholic, and he could stop drinking any time he chose. When his life began to cave in, he tried to stop drinking, but he failed time and time again.
From that point on, Harold arose every morning and prayed, "Dear Lord, I can't handle my drinking. I commit my life and my problems to you. Without you being in control, I will only mess things up as I've done before. You are the only one who can keep me from drinking today. I turn my life over to you today, one day at a time. In Jesus' name. Amen." From that point on, for the rest of his life, Harold never drank a drop of liquor. As he looked back on his former life, he said, "one drink was always too much and a thousand were not enough." If people complimented Harold about his decision to stop drinking, Harold would always reply, "Not me, God."
Harold began his life thinking that "I am in charge of my life", but soon he began to realize that "I AM (Yehwah) is in charge of my life." Jesus became the nourishment Harold needed in his life. For the last years of his life, he listened to and depended on the great I AM. He also became a witness of the power of Jesus Christ to other people.
When the great I AM speaks, we must listen. The great I AM has spoken, and what He has spoken is called the Word of God. In addition, that Word is the Bible and the preaching and sharing of the gospel. Will we listen to the worldly calls of idolatry or will we listen to the Word of God and pass it on to others? God is our Great Deliverer.
Dear brothers and sisters, today God wants to deliver you from your wrongdoings and from the slavery of sin. And as Jehovah delivered His people out of slavery in Egypt, Jesus is the God who delivers and sets captives free from sin. In our daily lives, He continues to rescue us from ourselves, from the power of sin, from the power of our flesh, from the entanglements of sin and this world, and from the devil. One day, He has promised that He will deliver us fully, completely, and forever from the very presence of sin! He is our Deliverer!
