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

Believe That I AM

The place where many miss it, is in their understanding of who Jesus is. Jesus was not shy about sharing that information. In The Gospel of John, chapter 8, He spends 51 verses clearing the air about it. He begins this section by saying… ” I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.” (John 8:12 ) Light is the thing that reveals knowledge. When you walk into a dark room, you know nothing of what is in it until you turn on the light. The Apostle Paul said exactly this to the Ephesian Christians.   “But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light.” (Ephesians 5:13)

Believe That I AM – SERMON AUDIO

Jesus is the Light of the World. He is the One who reveals the truth to us about ourselves and about God.  That truth is that we need a Savior. We are in darkness and we need to be shown who we are (rebels against the Holy God who created us), and who God is (One who loves us enough to take on human flesh to redeem us and bring us back to Himself). Usually, we are too block-headed to get it. We are too absorbed in our sin and rebellion, so much so that we don’t even realize that it exists. We thing God ought to be satisfied with us just as we are though try to use Him to our own ends rather than subject ourselves to His. Humanity is both wicked and blind.
Much of the reason we do not understand that Jesus truly is God in Human Flesh is because we automatically downplay the intensity of our sin (which happens to be a still greater rebellion). In order for man to be reconciled to the God against whom he has committed treason, God must be the Initiator. He must be God to be a sufficient Sacrifice. He must be man to be a real one. He became the Second Adam ( See Romans 5 and 1 Corinthians 15), the new Representative for the redeemed human race. His perfections are imputed to those who put their trust in Him. This could not be done with a mere man. And God did it in such a way as to accomplish His original purpose in us. To restore us and to give us what Adam lost in his rebellion.
And so, the Jews were perplexed by Him;

John 8:25  Then they said to Him, “Who are You?” And Jesus said to them, “Just what I have been saying to you from the beginning.

That is the question that needs to be answered. They should have known, they had the Scriptures, they saw the works that Jesus did. But they would not acknowledge who He is.  Why? Because it takes a dose of great humility. They were more concerned about their own ability and their own righteousness.

John 8:40-45  But now you seek to kill Me, a Man who has told you the truth which I heard from God. Abraham did not do this.  41  You do the deeds of your father.” Then they said to Him, “We were not born of fornication; we have one Father–God.”  42  Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me.  43  Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word.  44  You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.  45  But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me.

They did ultimately kill Him for what He said about them and about Himself. Yet even this was a part of God’s plan (See Acts 4:27-28). All in order to redeem the rebels! All done by God Himself. Jesus ends this conversation with the bold statement of His deity.

John 8:58-59  Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.”  59  Then they took up stones to throw at Him; but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.

The Name that God gave for Himself to Moses at the burning bush is the Name that Jesus claims here (See Exodus 3:13-14). In acknowledging who He is we also must realize our own helplessness. We must see that our sins have separated us from God. That He is the rightful Judge of the universe. That unless and until He comes to take us back, we have no more hope of being reconciled to Him that a guilty traitor has of regaining the friendship of his king on his own terms. Jesus is God. He is the One who has come to save us from our rebellion, from the sin that we have committed against Him. He is the love of God that pardons the guilty and establishes him as a son. Only God can do that.
Listen to the audio and consider what He says about Himself!

Believe That I AM – SERMON AUDIO

In Christ!
Kevin