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This Week's
Message
Sermon
for 5th Sunday after Pentecost –
June 15, 2008
Series A:LSB
Text:
Exodus 19:2-8 et al
Title:
“From Hollow to Hallowed”
“All
the people answered together and said, ‘All that the LORD has spoken we will
do.’ And Moses reported the words
of the people to the LORD.”
Promises,
promises! Do you ever feel that this
is all you hear? We might say this
if we hear someone promise us something over and over again, but they never seem
to get to what was promised. Pastor
has been promising a “memory bank” for the Sunday school kids to
“deposit” their memory work and receive some reward.
It hasn’t happened yet. I
remember the bus driver of the bus that carried me to kindergarten promised to
build a hot dog stand in the back of the bus.
Never saw it. As I hear these
words of the people of God camped before His presence on the holy mountain of
His dwelling it brings to mind these words.
Sometimes people speak empty words and make empty promises, saying that
which they do not intend to fulfill. From
where did these words from God’s people proceed?
A little investigating from Scripture shows us the mighty works of God
that brought them here only about 3 months after they came out of the
land
of
Egypt
. You can find these acts of
provision and protection in Exodus chapters 14 to 17.
Here are a few of the ways God made Himself known to His people:
The Messenger of the LORD appeared to them in the pillar of dark cloud by
day and pillar of fire by night that stood between the army of
Egypt
and the retreating people of
Israel
and which guided them in their wilderness wanderings
The LORD miraculously parted the waters of the
Red Sea
and gave them dry ground beneath to escape the armies and chariots of Pharaoh
The LORD defeated the army of
Egypt
in the
Red Sea
when He engulfed them with the same water He held back so that His people could
escape
The LORD sweetened the bitter, undrinkable waters of Marah that His people
would not go thirsty
The LORD
daily provided manna (miraculous, heavenly bread) and quail to the great
multitude (over a million people) that made up the people of
Israel
, the tribes of Jacob
The LORD provided water for the multitude of people from a rock at Horeb
The LORD defeated the Amalekites as Moses kept his arms uplifted during
the battle
The LORD brought His people nourishment and refreshment in His holy
presence to the mountain of His dwelling in the wilderness of Sinai
All
these grand and marvelous, these almighty, only God can accomplish things did
the LORD do for His people.
Their response even as He repeatedly did all these things for them: (we
look again to chapters 14-17 to get a sense of the heart of this people God had
set apart from the nations to be His holy people)
This on the shores of the
Red Sea
as the army of Pharaoh threatened them:
The
people cried out to the LORD and said to Moses: “Is it because there were no
graves in
Egypt
that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness?...For it would have been
better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”
Moses answer to them: “The LORD will fight for you while you keep
silent.”
At Marah the people grumbled and complained again to Moses saying, “What
shall we drink?”
In the wilderness of Sin they complained and grumbled some more saying:
“Would that we had died by the LORD’s hand in the land of Egypt, when we sat
by the pots of meat, when we ate bread to the full; for you have brought us out
into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”
And Moses responded, “Your grumblings are not against us (Aaron and
him), but against the LORD.”
And when the people reached Rephidim they grumbled yet again about the
water situation saying: “Why, now, have you brought us up from
Egypt
, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?” They
tested the LORD saying, “Is the LORD among us or not?”
So here now we find all the people of God encamped before the
mountain
of
God
speaking some words of promise to the LORD:
“All
that the LORD has spoken we will do!”
All these incidents happened in less than 3 months from the time that the
people received their freedom from slavery in the
land
of
Egypt
. If you were to judge by their
previous words, would you trust their words here?
Why is
it that the people of God can be surrounded by His mighty acts and His Fatherly
care every day, but daily struggle with their faith in trusting Him not only for
the physical things of life, but also the spiritual?
Do we sometimes speak empty words to the LORD?
Do we sometimes make empty promises, not unlike the promise the people of
Israel
made that day in unison before God Almighty at His holy mountain?
Why do sometimes our words and promises ring hollow before the LORD?
We too often base our faith not on God’s Word of life and promise to us,
but rather on what we see happening in our lives at a moment of time.
The Israelites grumbled and doubted the LORD when their lives were
threatened by enemies who sought to kill them.
We don’t have Egyptians with chariots and spears and swords seeking to
take our lives. We are not wandering
around in a barren wilderness wondering where the next water hole will be or how
we will feed ourselves, but what about when physical ailments and sicknesses
descend upon us, when cancer seeks to take our lives or when financial or
relational setbacks come against us. We
often lose sight of God’s great power to save.
We think our problem greater than God’s power.
We doubt that He loves us or will care for us as we would like Him to.
We may promise the LORD the world if only He will do this or do that for
us. We often make our promises to
Him as if we are making a deal with a future business partner or as a child
promising the world to a parent so that that parent will do what she wants.
Believe me, I’ve heard them as a parent.
And Moses brought these words of God’s children to Him.
How would He receive them?
The
LORD is not pleased with hollow words or promises.
They are a sign of a weak or misplaced faith based merely on the quality
of life at one moment in life. Consider
the children of
Israel
. When they had plenty of food and
water they could make promises to God that sound very convincing.
But send or allow a little hunger or thirst and the tune changes.
Their words and complaints and hearts doubted both the very presence and
power of the LORD. Just like
these chosen children of God we do not always grasp in faith His certain and
sure words and promises to us that will see us through every loss, every
tragedy, every need by the power that enables Him to subdue everything under His
feet, everything in life, even death itself.
Hallowed words and promises can only come to us and then through us by
His unchanging grace through the gift of faith that He gives to us and continues
to nourish in us.
God’s Word to His people then are just as important to His people today,
you and me. He reminds you His
children of His powerful care and concern for you.
He says, “I bore you on eagle’s wings, and brought you to Myself.”
This fickle and contentious nation did not choose God to be their God.
Rather God chose them to be His people.
If we can see a little of ourselves in them, maybe also we may be able to
understand God’s attitude and heart toward us too.
He chose you – remember this always – from the foundation of the
world. His mercy freed the children
of Jacob from bitter slavery to earthly masters, an earthly freedom for sure.
But in doing this the LORD was calling His chosen people to recognize His
greater gift of freedom that they might truly be known as a kingdom of priests
and a holy nation among the nations. The
great freedom of fear from sin and death is the greater freedom He offered them.
He offered them a holiness and priestliness that He was to bear for them
in perfection – that of salvation through His own sent Messiah.
He would give them their Savior’s perfect holiness that is seen in holy
and wholly serving both Him and in lovingly serving the neighbor.
We too
are given to see God’s power and mercy in His mighty works towards us, no
longer the parting of seas or the giving of water from rocks, but rather now in
the powerful ways of the Gospel of Jesus. He
does it – that is redeems His children. He
does it all in love. For while we
were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” We
are not hapless sheep. We have an
excellent Shepherd who sees us in all our need and is quick to rescue and help.
If
you have questions or would like to talk with Pastor, send your inquiries to:
Pastor
Paul Sajban: pastorps@windomnet.com
Stewardship
Devotion
Scripture Reading: “May
the God of peace... equip you with everything good for doing His will, and may
He work in us what is pleasing to Him, through Jesus Christ, to Whom be glory
for ever and ever. Amen” (Hebrews 13:20-21)
Seeking
to Please God, not Men
Is our primary concern to walk humbly with God and to please Him, or is our chief
concern worrying about how people think of us? We live with a tension of wanting
to please the Lord and also to receive the praises of people. God wants humble
and faithful followers who live to please Him. "And what does the Lord
require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your
God" (Micah 6:8). Peter wrote, "Humble yourselves, therefore,
under God's mighty hand, that He may lift you up in due
time" (1 Peter 5:6).
Jesus
warns us about seeking the praises of men. "I do not accept praise from
men, but I know you. I know that you do not have the love of God in your hearts.
I have come in My Father's name, and you do not accept Me; but if someone else
comes in his own name, you will accept him. How can you believe if you accept
praise from one another, yet make no effort to obtain the praise that comes from
the only God?" (John 5:41-44
Whether
we've been Christians for many years or only a few days, we are to humble ourselves
before our Lord. Believers who have sought to please the Lord all their lives
are to live just as humble as those new in the faith. "For whoever
exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be
exalted" (Matthew 23:12).
"God
opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble" (James
4:6). We are to abandon our pride and self-justification. Humbling ourselves
before God allows God to exalt us (Luke 18:14) and give us all His blessings.
Prayer:
Dear
Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your patience with us when we foolishly seek
the praise of men. Forgive us when we fail to seek to please You. Thank You for
Your unconditional love and Your promise to be with us always. In Your precious
name we pray. Amen
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