Sermon – Exodus 19:2-8a - What Have We Seen?

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard

Beaver Dam and Pitts Creek Churches

Sermon – Exodus 19:2-8a - What Have We Seen?

June 15, 2014

Just before Moses climbed the mountain to receive the Ten Commandment and the other laws from God he assembled his people together. While they assembled, Moses ascended the mountain to pray and listen for God's voice. God told him to tell his people to look around and see all the things he was doing for them. I suggest that we all look around and see all the things God is doing for us as well. We will get to this, but first let's pray.

God of wisdom, as we go forth this day, show us how to testify to your grace and truth. Give us the chance to speak and the words to say, so that we may glorify your name; through Jesus Christ the Lord. Amen.¹

Exodus 19:2-3a 2 After they set out from Rephidim, they entered the Desert of Sinai, and Israel camped there in the desert in front of the mountain. 3 Then Moses went up to God,

The people of God had been slaves in Egypt. They suffered under harsh conditions. They were persecuted for their faith. Their God sent Moses to perform spectacular miracles to free them from slavery. And once they were free their God led them through the wilderness with a pillar of smoke during the day and a pillar of fire at night. And he led them all the way to the mountain where he could be found. Along the way this God blessed them richly. They had food to eat, and water to drink. God protected them from their enemies. And now they were camped at the foot of Mr. Sinai.

Moses ascended the mountain and began to pray. He prayed, not by telling God what he wanted, but by listening to what God had to say. Let's hear what God told him.

Exodus 19:3b-4 and the LORD called to him from the mountain and said, "This is what you are to say to the house of Jacob and what you are to tell the people of Israel: 4 'You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself.

So what God wanted from his people was to remember how he had blessed them. And this is what God wants from us: to look around and see how much we have been blessed. I know that many of you feel that you too have been richly blessed by God. You have seen God at work in you lives. You know that your faith has made a difference. Let me tell you a couple of stories of people who have been richly blessed by God.

I recently talked to a woman who lives in Philadelphia. Her name is Linda. Linda has always been a good church worker. She volunteered for everything that was needed. She cooked meals and took care of kids in the nursery. She worked so hard, in fact, that she began to burn out. She did so much she just got tired of doing it. So she went to her pastor to talk about her feelings. He told her to pray for three days to see what God had to say about it. The first day, God said nothing. When she met the pastor in the hall and told him he said, “Keep praying.” The second day, God was still silent. She saw the pastor at a Bible study that night and told him. He told her “Keep praying for still another day.” On the third day, while praying something happened. Linda described it as “a light went off in my head.” Suddenly she realized that she had been doing things around the church to please people. She wanted to please her friends. She wanted to please her husband. She wanted to please her pastor. But no matter what she did, or how hard she worked it was never good enough. She tried to please herself, and found that she was her own worst critique. But God told her that the reason to do things around the church was not to please others. She was to do things around the church for one reason, and one reason only: to Glorify God. Once Linda realized that all the work she did pleased God very much she was filled with joy.

So as you volunteer around this church remember that your purpose is not to please others with you service. Rather you do things for the church that glorify God. This pleases God. And making God happy is the source of our greatest joy.

I have another story for you about a young man named Raymond. Raymond now lives in New York, but he was born in Korea, and grew up in Argentina. As a boy he saw that his family suffered from many problems. Life was difficult. This bothered his mother so much she visited a local shaman. The shaman told her to pray to her ancestors, and ask them to help with their troubles. So she took her son up the mountain to a cemetery where should could ask her ancestors for the help she needed. But no help ever came. The ancestors never did anything.

Eventually the family moved to Argentina, but their troubles remained. His mother kept praying to idols, and nothing happened. Several years later, Raymond, now a teenager was in a coffee shop in Argentina. He saw another Korean man there and they began a conversation. Eventually Raymond told this man about his family's troubles. The man listened intently and then said, “I know what's going on. The reason for all your troubles is that you and your family are separated from God.” With that he began to explain the reality of sin and our total inability to deal with it. Our only hope was to find a savior who would remove the sin and reconcile him with God. And he explained that we have such a savior, Jesus Christ. After a three hour conversation Raymond was ready to give his life to Christ. They prayed together and Raymond started attending church. And his problems began to go away. He graduated from college, got married, and now lives in New York City. He credits all this to his relationship with Jesus Christ. And he feels truly blessed by God.

Raymond and Linda are not alone in feeling blessed by God. My guess is that many of you feel blessed as well. And I urge all of you to look around and see how God is blessing you. The Hebrews also felt blessed by God as they camped at the base of the mountain of God. They had seen all that God had done for them. And so they were ready to enter into a covenant with God. Let's hear what happened.

Exodus 19:5-6 5 Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, 6 you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.' These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites."

God made them an offer: Obey my commands in full and I will create for you a holy nation, set aside for my purposes. This deal is offered to us as well. We have been richly blessed by God and now if we just obey him, he will continue to bless us more than we can imagine. Are we ready to accept this offer? Let's see what the Hebrews did.

Exodus 19:7-8 7 So Moses went back and summoned the elders of the people and set before them all the words the LORD had commanded him to speak. 8 The people all responded together, "We will do everything the LORD has said.”

And so they promised to obey God's commands and God promised to create for them a nation that would exhibit his holiness to the world. God offers this to us as well. We have been richly blessed by God in many ways. Look around and see all of God's blessings. Are we now ready to obey him? Are we ready to be formed into God's own people? I think we are ready for this. And if we are ready, here is what we are to do.

Exodus 20:1-17 ^NIV Exodus 20:1 And God spoke all these words: ² "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. ³ "You shall have no other gods before me.

⁴ "You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. ⁵ You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, ⁶ but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.

⁷ "You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.

⁸ "Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. ⁹ Six days you shall labor and do all your work, ¹⁰ but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. ¹¹ For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

¹² "Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you.

¹³ "You shall not murder.

¹⁴ "You shall not commit adultery.

¹⁵ "You shall not steal.

¹⁶ "You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.

¹⁷ "You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor."

We have been richly blessed. And God has offered to make us into his treasured possession. All we have to do is obey him. Let's pray. Father in heaven, you have blessed us so much. In gratitude for all you have done for us, we pledge to keep these commandments. Form us into your royal priesthood, a holy nation. This we pray in your son's name. Amen.

1Kimberly Long, Feasting On the Word Worship Companion A-2 (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2013), 39.