We look at Moses encounter on Holy Ground and explore how through our worship God reveals more about himself, calls us to obedience in our daily lives and assures us that he is always with us.
What has bought you to church this morning?
If we’re honest there are probably a variety of reasons, but one of the reasons why Church meets, why we gather together is because as Christian’s we are called to do that, to gather, to worship God. In worship we praise God for all he’s done and we enter a Holy Space where we encounter God, through prayers, song, God’s word and its teaching. Coming to church, we should be expectant of meeting God in this holy ground.
But are we?
In our bible reading today. Moses encounters God when he’s not even expecting to and look what happened. When we encounter God, amazing things can happen. Things you never expected.
In Moses’ encounter with God, God is calling Moses into leadership.
Challenge of leadership
There is a great challenge in leadership. There are some tasks that sometimes seem too big and hold too much responsibility, really they can only be undertaken if there’s been a true sense of calling, a powerful encounter.
In my own call to leadership, there were definitely times when I thought why me and how on Earth God are you calling me to this?
Leadership holds massive responsibility
Paul has begun his three-month sabbatical, and it’s an exciting thing. A needed thing . A time of rest and refreshment, a time of digging into God, enjoying God’s presence, resetting the compass. Being in leadership can be tough, is a big responsibility. There can be many burdens, there are sacrifices. But In church leadership there are also many many joys and it is all fuelled by a strong sense of God, of being called by God, being given strength from his Holy Spirit and walking in an obedient relationship with him. It is great to continue to pray for Paul that he would have Holy Ground experiences in this time.
But these experiences and callings are not just for leaders.
In Moses’ encounter with God on holy ground, it is about a call to leadership, But this passage isn’t just about being called to leadership there are things in this passage for all of us.
This passage speaks of our God who reveals himself to his people and steps into their normal every day lives, it’s about our God who calls us to obedience to live the lives he wants for us his children and is about our God who also gives us the resources we need to live the lives he wants for us having called us to be children of God.
Moses and God
We began our series on Moses last week and we left the story with him, getting older and being taken back to pharaohs palace, and been given back to pharaohs daughter. He had been saved in order to save Gods people. We then get a story of Moses, being a fully grown adult, and seeing an Egyptian beating up a Hebrew man, one of his own people, Moses sees if anyone is around and seeing no one in his anger he kills this Egyptian man and covers it up. He buries him. He ends up, fleeing into Midian as pharaoh finds out and tries to kill Moses so Moses fleas. He stays in, midian and gets married and continues his life. Meanwhile, the Hebrew people back in Egypt are continuing to be treated harshly and cruelly. And then we get this encounter in ch3 between God and Moses on holy ground.
On Holy Ground
There are three things I want to draw out from Moses encounter. God reveals himself to his people out of compassionate love, he calls Moses and his people to obedience following Gods plan for their rescue and God assures Moses of his ongoing presence with his people.
God reveals himself to his people out of compassionate love.
Moses is going about his everyday business as we see in verse one, he is looking after his father-in-law’s Sheep and he sees this amazing thing a bush on fire, but it’s not burning up. He goes and looks closer, he wants to check it out, to see what’s going on. So he approaches and in verse 4, because he approaches God calls out to him.
God reveals himself to Moses as the God of his ancestors of Abraham of Isaac of Jacob. The reason God reveals himself to Moses and his people is as he tells Moses – he’s seen and heard the cries of his people his people suffering in slavery in Egypt, and that he is going to set them free. Leading them to a land flowing with milk and Honey, an image of abundance.
God sees the need of his people and he reveals himself to them.
Throughout the Bible and history, this continues to be Gods pattern. In the new Testament in Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, he writes: But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. It’s these words that are used in some of our communion liturgy: Father of all, we give you thanks and praise that, when we were still far off, you met us in your Son and brought us home. Dying and living, he declared your love, gave us grace and opened the gate of glory.
These words speak of our need for God that sin has separated us from God, and it’s Jesus that is able to reunite us and so God reveals himself to us through his holy spirit at work in the world, bringing us to relationship with him through Jesus. Every encounter we have with God is because of his love for us he wants to bring us into a close relationship Being more like the people he’s made us to be. Offering forgiveness and freedom.
Moses could have just walked away from his encounter with God. It would’ve been a good story to tell of this burning bush that didn’t burn and an amazing encounter . But it doesn’t end there because when God revealed himself to his people, to Moses, he did so expecting his people to be obedient to him
God calls his people to obedience.
In v 7-9 God is telling Moses his plan, and then he says in v 10 ‘So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”’ God is requiring obedience from Moses, he is requiring action.
And what does Moses do? He makes an excuse.
In v11 he says Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” Then in v13 he appears to be giving another excuse as to why he can’t do what God has asked him to do, it’s like he’s saying I can’t tell them that because they’ll just question in whose authority I can say these things.
He continues his excuses later on in the book as this conversation between him, and God about God’s plan for saving his people goes on into chapter 4. V1 What if they don’t believe me? V10 I’m not very good at speaking.
Moses was reluctant to obey and came up with many excuses. But if we read on through Exodus, we do see that following Moses’ encounter with God on holy ground, following his call to leadership, he obeys.
His obedience to God’s call despite his excuses, led to the rescue of all the Hebrew people from slavery in Egypt, on the journey to the promised land. This land flowing with milk, and Honey showing abundance fullness of life.
I wonder if you have ever made an excuse why you can’t do something – I wonder what has been your best excuse?
I wonder if we sometimes make excuses for why we don’t follow God’s way?
Excuses Why we can’t be patient with that annoying neighbour, why we find ourselves looking in unhealthy places for fulfilment and security and not trusting we can find those things in God.
In Paul’s letter to the church in Philippi he says – Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.” Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life.
Obeying Gods call on our lives to live as children of God enables us to be good witnesses to those around us to shine like stars so that others would be drawn to discover and enjoy an obedient relationship with God. That they would be saved from separation from God and be adopted into his family.
When Moses encountered God it led him to obey, despite excuses. As we gather to worship on holy ground and encounter God it encourages us in our obedience to living our lives day to day as children of God. And we can do this because that God is with us.
God is with his people.
The story of Moses’ encounter with God of the burning bush shows that God is with his people. He tells Moses in v12 he will be with him. And then In v 14 we read how God wants to reveal himself to the people through Moses who is to tell the people – I am who I am… I am has sent me to you. ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’
“This is my name forever,
the name you shall call me
from generation to generation.
This phrase I AM is the special name of God that Jewish people do not speak – Yahweh – it can be translated as I am the one who always is. God identifying himself as a personal God. One commentator writes that this phrase I AM is Not conceptual being, being in the abstract, but active being. God actively present with his people before, now and always. God is with his people and will be with his people as they are led out of Egypt, out of their slavery out of their present circumstance.
God says to Moses he will be with him and answer all his excuses providing all he needs to complete his calling.
We have recently celebrated Pentecost, where we remember that God through his holy spirit is at work in our lives, equipping and empowering us, giving us strength to follow God’s way, even when we don’t feel like we have any strength left.
Moses made excuses why it would be difficult to obey and we’ve thought about how we also might make excuses but knowing we are not alone that God is with us can give us the strength to face each new day, to rise to each challenge.
So as we worship God, May we be expectant in encountering God as he reveals himself to us through his word and through his spirit as he calls us to be his children living his way. May we strive to live out that calling in obedience every day, not making excuses and May we know we can do this because God is with us, as God said to Moses I AM Is with you. Our God who is present with us always and is the same yesterday today and forever, no matter what we face he will never leave us and so may that be reason to continue worshipping him.
St. George's Church Ramsgate 