Who are you in the New Year? New Years 2006
Exodus 3:1-15
Matthew 28:18-20
The Children stayed in the service, so I began the sermon by reading "You Are Special" by Max Lucado to the children
The Story – Joseph has brought his family into Egypt, they are given the Land of Goshen to raise their sheep and to live. The Family of Israel grows and becomes the people of Israel. A Pharaoh comes to the throne who does not know Joseph, he become afraid of the Israelites, so he enslaves them. Moses is born into this slavery, but he is raised in Pharaoh’s house. He has to flee Egypt because of a murder and he ends up shepherding sheep out in the wilderness.
Exodus 3:1-15
When God tells Moses that he will free the Israelites, he asks a very Canadian question, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”
Have you ever asked that question when you have felt the call to do something big? “Who am I to speak up, or do this, or make a change?”
It’s a pretty common question, and if we don’t ask it, others might: “who do you think you are to speak up, or question the status quo, or make a change?”
God doesn’t say to Moses, “ah, you’re alright, you were raised in Pharaoh’s house, you know the ins and outs, you’ll know what to say, you’ll do just fine.”
He says, “I will be with you.”
There are times when I pick my kids up from school and they want to have a friend back to the house to play, so I say, “sure, you go ask their mom.” That is often a little to daunting for them, so I say, sure you can do it, you know their mom, she’s right over there, you can do it, just ask her.” My encouragements don’t usually work until I say, I’ll go with you – then they have the ability to do it.
When God calls us to do tasks that seem greater than ourselves, he doesn’t remind us of our abilities, he says, I’ll go with you.
Moses learns the same lesson that Punchenello learns – that if we gain our self understanding and our self-worth by how other people see us and judge us, our ego will be up one minute, down the next and up again, down again…
They said I’m a goiod preacher, they said nothing, they said I’m a good preacher, they said nothing…
But if we gain our self-understanding, our self-worth and our power to accomplish our calling through the presence of God in our lives. We remain stable – we always know that he is our righteous judge who loves us as his children.
Paul says: “I can do everything through him who gives me strength.” Philippians 4:13
Even when we go through difficult things, God’s promise is that he will go with us
Isaiah 43
Israel’s Only Savior
1 But now, this is what the LORD says—
he who created you, O Jacob,
he who formed you, O Israel:
"Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have summoned you by name; you are mine.
2 When you pass through the waters,
I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire,
you will not be burned;
the flames will not set you ablaze.
3 For I am the LORD, your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Savior;
Moses asks “who am I?” and God replies “I will be with you.” So Moses says, “great, who are you?”
And here we have that great response that God gives: “I AM WHO I AM” and if you follow the little footnote down in your Bibles, it could also be translated “I WILL BE WHAT I WILL BE.”
I told you a few months ago that I was listening to a recording of this radio show hosted by Steve Bell. The radio show was called “Can God be trusted?” One of the people Steve interviews is a Presbyterian minister named Chris Vais. Ad Chris reflects on this great passage of God’s name and he says that a Jewish theologian named Martin Buber has said that a better translation of this name is “I SHALL BE THERE.”
While the name, I AM WHO I AM is very esoteric, mysterious and self-defining, (a name Renee Descartes would have loved), it is also cold and distant, where as the name “I Shall Be There” grabs on to the innate relational nature of God. It is part of his very nature is to be present with us.
Moses asks “who am I?” and God says I will go with you, he asks “who are you?” and God says “I will be there.”
At the very end of Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus gives his disciples, and us, a very similar commission to Moses’. He says Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in[a] the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”
Just as Moses was to lead the nation of Israel out of captivity and slavery in Egypt, we are to lead people of all nations out of captivity and slavery to the Devil, Sin and Self! You might say, but I have trouble just asking a kid’s mom if he can come over for a play date, how can I invite people to follow Jesus?
What does Jesus say at the end of the commission?
And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
He says, “I will go with you, I SHALL BE THERE.”
