Moses’ Calling; “Who Am I?”

God calls all of His people to serve in some way. Paul tells the Corinthians as he teaches them about spiritual gifts, ” But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.” (1 Corinthians 12:11) and “But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased.” (1 Corinthians 12:18) God calls, gifts and employs the members of His Church as He wills. The question is, How has He called, gifted and employed you as a member of His Church?
Who Am I? – SERMON AUDIO
As we read Exodus, chapters three and four, we see God’s preparation and calling of Moses to be the leader and redeemer of His people from the slavery of Egypt. God created Him for that very purpose, bringing him through the decree of Pharaoh to kill the male babies of the Israelites, making him a prince of Egypt and putting in he heart to look upon the affliction of his brothers. Yet Moses failed the first time he set out to redeem his people (See previous post, The Birth of Moses and the Providence of God). As we enter the third chapter of Exodus, we see that God has not given up, but was waiting for the appropriate time to call Moses to the task for which He had created him.

Exodus 3:7-10  And the LORD said: “I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows.  8  So I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites.  9  Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to Me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them.  10  Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.”

Even though God had done everything to prepare him for the task, Moses was too focused on himself and his own failures to see that it was God’s power and authority that would be used through him to accomplish God’s purpose.

Exodus 3:11  But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?”
Exodus 3:13  Then Moses said to God, “Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to them?”
Exodus 4:1  Then Moses answered and said, “But suppose they will not believe me or listen to my voice; suppose they say, ‘The LORD has not appeared to you.’ ”
Exodus 4:10  Then Moses said to the LORD, “O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before nor since You have spoken to Your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.”
Exodus 4:13  But he said, “O my Lord, please send by the hand of whomever else You may send.”

In a sense, it is good to acknowledge our own weakness and our need for God to do the work through us. Moses takes it a little too far and tries to get God to call someone else. But to each of Moses’ doubts, God answers with His own sufficiency.

• When Moses asked, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh…? God said, “ So He said, “I will certainly be with you.” (Exodus 3: 12)
• When he needed assurance that they would receive him asking, Whom shall I say sent me? (vs. 13) God says, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ “  (Exodus 3: 14)
• When he says, They won’t believe me!” God answers by giving him miraculous signs to perform (Exodus 4:2-10)
• When Moses complains that he isn’t good with words, God says to him, “Now therefore, go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say.” (Exodus 4:12)
• Only when Moses suggest that God send someone else does God get angry. Yet God supplies him with the help of Aaron, his brother to get the job done. (Exodus 4:14-16)

Likewise, God gifts and prepares all of His servants. Feeling inadequate is good for us, but it is not an excuse to refuse to serve God. We must remember that we are not able or even worthy to serve the living God. But He enables us and works through us to accomplish His purpose through us.

1 Corinthians 1:25-27  Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.  26  For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called.  27  But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty;

This does not mean that we should try to things that we are not called to do, but to trust God that as He puts it in our hearts to serve in a particular place in the Church, that He will gift us and prepare us to do the work that He has called us to do. We all have the call to evangelize and disciple, to live godly lives in the world. We cannot even do these basic things without God working in us and through us.  We need to count on the I AM do work with the power that we could never produce. There is a lot more to this. I hope that you will listen to the audio of the sermon and search your own heart to see what God is calling on you to do. It will likely seem to big a task for you to do in your own strength so then, once it is done, He alone will get the glory!
Who Am I? – SERMON AUDIO
In Christ!
Kevin