Can I be a friend of God? Will God speak with me (Exodus 33:11) ‘face to face, as a man speaks with his friend’? Like Moses, can I be a friend of God? Can we, each one of us, be friends of God?
Well, in the unfolding story of God’s dealings with Moses and the Israelites, God has rescued them from slavery, suffering and affliction in Egypt. God has delivered them; and God has given the 10 Commandments, so that they will know how to live in relationship with God, and in relationship with each other. However, within a month the Israelites had broken the first two commandments, first constructing and then bowing down and worshipping a golden calf.
God was angry with them. Moses had been on a 40 day sabbatical come study leave up the mountain.
He left his brother Aaron (the deputy pastor, the ‘curate’) in charge! When Moses returned, his ‘curate’ Aaron had a bit of explaining to do. He’d really made a mess of things! In just 40 days the congregation had forgotten God, and started to worship a beautiful golden cow! The Bible doesn’t tell us whether Moses took any disciplinary measures against Aaron! But the problem was that the people ‘en masse’ had ignored and rejected God. They had put pressure on Aaron, and he also had then disobeyed and rejected God’s commands.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, this is a sobering reminder that in the (temporary, 3 month) absence of our own leader we must be faithful to God. The best way to do that is to open our bibles on a weekly basis here, and also on a daily basis in our homes, hearing the word of God for ourselves; because the better we know the word of God, the better we know the voice of God, we will also know what is not of God!
The University of N. Iowa in America once offered an art course that included an unusual exercise. The teacher brought to class a shopping bag filled with lemons and gave a lemon to each class member. The assignment was for the student to keep his lemon with him day and night, smelling, handling, and examining it. Next time the class met, without warning, students were told to put their lemons back in the bag. Then, each person was asked to find his lemon. Surprisingly, most of the students did so without difficulty. (This was adapted from an illustration found at www.sermonillustrations.com).
Those students recognised their lemon because they had spent time with it. They had studied it and held it close. It was their lemon! In fact most of them knew their own lemon so well that as they looked at other lemons, other ‘false’ lemons, they knew it was not theirs. So it is with us and the word of God. So it is with us and the commands and the call of God.
So it is also with us and the friendship of God, because the friendship with God is like none other!
Now if you’re looking at your bibles right now and thinking, “OK, so when are you going to preach from this morning’s 5 verses from Exodus 33?” Here we go!
In Exodus 33 verses 1 to 6 we learn that God wants to send the Israelites off to the Promised Land with an angel. God is not going with them. He’s sending an angel instead (Ex 33:2). The Israelites have rejected him, and God knows that if they reject him again he might destroy them all (Ex 33:3). Moses passes on this news to the Israelites and they take off their jewellery as a sign of sorrow on their part (Ex 33:4-6); but let’s note, there is sorrow, but there is not repentance!
Is there anything which we have done for which we feel sorrow, for which we feel ashamed? Have we actually confessed it to God and asked for his forgiveness? Friends; being sorry is not the same as repentance. Being sorry sometimes means we are gutted that we got found out! Repentance is a change of heart, a change of mind, turning away from wrong and embracing God’s way of doing things; and that is true whether the sin is chasing after other gods, or lying, or adultery.
When we do or say something which hurts a friend, we want to put things right. We want to make sure it never happens again. We want the relationship to be restored. That’s how God views his relationship with us. He wants us to have the same view towards him!
The Israelites were sorry, but not repentant! As a sign that God is still near but no longer dwelling with them, Moses pitches a tent outside the camp (Ex 33:7).
The ‘tent of meeting’ – a forerunner of the Tabernacle which held the box containing the commandments – the ‘tent of meeting’ was pitched outside of the camp. It was here that Moses would now speak with God (Ex 33:9).
As Moses entered the tent “the pillar of cloud would come down and stay at the entrance, while the LORD spoke with Moses.” In verse 10 the King James Version and the NIV say that when the people saw the cloud they “rose and worshipped”, or they “stood and worshipped”. Most other modern translations capture the full force of what was happening, for example the GNB and the CEV: “they would bow down”; and the NRSV: “they would rise and bow down.” Almost certainly the Israelites were coming out of their tents and prostrating themselves on the ground when they saw the pillar of cloud descending upon Moses in the tent.
(Verse 11): “The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend.” How good is that! How blessed was Moses!
How about us? Can I be a friend of God? Will God speak with me (Exodus 33:11) ‘face to face, as a man speaks with his friend’? Like Moses, can I be a friend of God? Can we, each one of us, be friends of God?
In the midst of a rebellious people, God spoke with Moses, but outside the camp because the people had rejected God. When God came clothed in human flesh the world rejected him. The world rejected Jesus and crucified him; and in the New Testament of the bible, the writer to the Hebrews says this (Heb 13:12): “…Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood.” When Jesus (the image of God) was rejected, he suffered outside the city.
Hebrews (13:13) continues like this: “Let us, then, go to him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore.”
As Moses pitched his tent outside of the camp, he was once again foreshadowing Jesus the Messiah. (Ex 33:11) “The LORD would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend.”
Jesus was crucified outside of the city of Jerusalem and we read in Luke 23:45-46 that “…the sun stopped shining; and the curtain of the Temple was torn in two. Jesus called out with a loud voice, ‘Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.’” A bit like Moses, Jesus had direct access to God; but with his death, the dividing curtain in the Temple was torn in two!
God broke out of the curtain, and we now have the opportunity, through the Holy Spirit dwelling within, to have God speak with us. Jesus calls us his friends!
So, like Moses, can I be a friend of God? Can we, each one of us, be friends of God?
Yes, we can. Even in the midst of a rebellious people, we can be friends of God. Perhaps you live within a rebellious family, or a rebellious home church; God knows!
God says to us (Hebrews 12:14-15): “Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no-one will see the Lord. See to it that no-one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.”
Perhaps you don’t feel holy! Well if you’ve humbled yourself before Jesus then you are! When we confess our sins God is faithful and just, he will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness and it is Jesus (Heb 13:12) who “suffered outside the city gate to make [us] holy through his own blood.” Amen!
