Below is my outline for my sermon on October 1 using the Call of Moses pericope from Exodus 2:23-25; 3:1-15; 4:10-17. Above are recordings from 2 services; there was some variations.
- Last week, Jacob gets the family’s blessing from God. Between then and now, basically, watch the movie Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
- The Israelites groaned under their slavery, and cried out.
- God
heard their groaning, & God remembered his covenant with Abraham,
Isaac, & Jacob. God looked upon the Israelites, & God took
notice of them
- People of Israel, Jacob’s sons, went to Egypt &left the land that was promised
- Under Joseph, they were protected.
Under a new Pharaoh, they were made slaves.
- They suffer & God knows. God wants to act & God wants someone to act thru
- God sees Moses, who has fled Egypt because he killed an Egyptian who was mistreating an Israelite
- God calls Moses and gives him this task
- Moses knows things are not going well for the people of Israel
- But he makes excuses why he can’t do it
- Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, & bring the Israelites out of Egypt?
- If
I come to the Israelites & say to them, ‘The God of your ancestors
has sent me to you,’ & they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I
say to them?
- O my Lord, I have never been eloquent, … but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue. Or, I’m not good enough
- O my Lord, please send someone else. Or, I don’t want to
- God rebuts all of Moses’ excuses and concerns
- I
will be with you all of the time. The God who created the world &
the God of your ancestors will be with you. I will give you the ability
you need. I will have others help you.
- It is a straight-forward rejection of all of Moses’ excuses.
- This
is a typical call story. A call story being when God calls someone to
serve, to do God’s will. After they answer, “Here I am,” after they are
told what God wants of them, then come the excuses.
- Usually the excuses are the last two that Moses used
- I’m not good enough. Or I don’t want to.
- Most people won’t tell God they don’t want to do what God wants of them, even if they don’t.
- Instead, they say they aren’t good enough, they don’t have the skills
- God does not call those who have the skills, but maybe not the will
- God gives the skills to those who are willing
- In other words, God equips those whom God calls
God doesn’t call the equipped
- God provides.
God provides the skills you need. God helps you find a way.
- If you are willing to answer God’s call, God will give you what you need. It may be in a way totally opposite to what you expect
- You just have to be willing to help and serve when God points out people who are in need, people who are in trouble
- The problem is, too often, we don’t want to
- The
Israelites groaned, and cried out. Their cry for help rose up to God.
God heard their groaning, & God remembered. God looked upon them,
and God took notice of them.
- The people of Israel were in trouble, and God was moved to help them
- God helped by moving Moses, then supporting him in his work
- When God calls us to help, are we willing to help?
- Or are we conflicted & compromised by our loyalties or sympathies?
- Are we willing to listen, are we willing to help when people groan and cry out. When they cry for help.
- Will we admit that their lives matter?
- I know that is a loaded phrase, and I use it intentionally.
- I’m not saying their lives matter more than anyone else’s.
- Actually, no one who uses that phrase ever said or implied that.
- Although, some people chose to hear it that way
- If you have been, or if you feel you have been, abused, mistreated, ignored, wronged, you have to wonder if your life matters.
- If you see that happening to your loved ones, to ones who you care about, you have to wonder if their lives matter.
- And so you act to find out: Does Your Life Matter?
- You march in the streets. You speak up and speak out.
- You boycott. You protest. You tell anyone who will listen.
- You register to vote. You refuse to give up your seat on a bus.
- You throw tea into the harbor. You help people escape.
- You sit at a counter where you won’t be served.
- You take a knee. You beg for help.
- When people groan and cry out. When they cry for help, will you admit that THEIR. LIVES. MATTER?
- Can you trust someone when they groan and cry out for help? Or will you have an excuse. Will you think their life doesn’t matter?
- Or will you say, “Here, I am. I will go.”
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