Exodus 3:1-8b,10-15 Sermon

the third sunday in lent

Shepherd of the Hills Ev. Lutheran Church (WELS)

Replacing Excuses with Repentance

Exodus 3:1-8b,10-15

¹ Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. ² There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. ³ So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.” ⁴ When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!” And Moses said, “Here I am.” ⁵ “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” ⁶ Then he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.

⁷ The Lord said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. ⁸ So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey. ¹⁰ So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”  ¹¹ But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” ¹² And God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.”

¹³ Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?” ¹⁴ God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’” ¹⁵ God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’ “This is my name forever,
 the name you shall call me
 from generation to generation. (NIV)

Can this be the same individual?  Did we really already meet this meek shepherd who now appears before the Lord God full of fear and awe?  Do we know this timid tender of sheep who cowers while covering his face to avoid looking at God?

Yes, we have met him before, but we may not recognize him as he stands before the burning bush.  No, when we met him previously he was a cold-blooded killer.  Unable to control his zeal for his fellow Hebrews, in a fit of rage he stepped in and murdered an Egyptian whom he witnessed beating down a fellow Hebrew.  Thinking he had gotten away with it, he hid the body in the sand so that no one would uncover his crime.  But his plan began to unravel the very next day when he discovered that someone had witnessed his act of murder.  Word had gotten out, and after it did, Pharaoh wanted Moses’ head.  So he fled to Midian.

That is where he was when the Lord came to him and called him into service.  And make no mistake, it was the LORD God himself in Moses’ presence when he was called.  It was God’s own voice that called to him, “Moses! Moses!” (v.4).  Only God’s involvement could explain the phenomenon of a burning bush that failed to burn up.  The flames were there, but there were no ashes from burned leaves or branches.  The flames were clearly there, but the bush was not being consumed by them.  It was unmistakably God revealing himself to Moses.  The demand that Moses slip off his sandals in God’s presence was another reminder that being before God was to be in the presence of holiness.  Moses knew it full well, as he hid his face “because he was afraid to look at God” (v.6).  There was no question – it was the Almighty God of his ancestors who stood there calling to Moses.

Then God revealed the purpose of his visit. “The Lord said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering.  So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey.  So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt” (v.7-8a,10).

Ah, now if we have in mind the over zealous killer he was when first met Moses, we should think he would be more than thrilled to be called on to lead the rebellion, to throw off the Egyptian shackles of slavery and lead his people to freedom.  His action then seemed to beg and scream for such an opportunity, to be at the front of the fray and put an end to the savage abuse and mistreatment of his fellow man.  But perhaps the forty years (cf. Acts 7) that had passed had changed him, because where we might expect his eager and willing spirit to respond with a “Yes sir, at your service,” instead we hear from the eighty year-old Moses, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” (v.11).

Gone was the fiery zeal of his youth.  It had been replaced with a spirit of humility, which time tends to do to a man over the years.  Moses didn’t see himself being the caliber of individual that the Lord needed to confront Pharaoh himself.  He didn’t feel he had the charisma or the charm or the personality that people would want to get behind and follow.  He must have thought to himself, “Who in his right mind would get behind a simple shepherd, eighty years-old, no less, and why on earth would Pharaoh listen to anything I’ve got to say?”  At that point Moses’ reaction to God’s call stemmed from feelings of humility and inadequacy.

But the longer the discussion between the LORD God and Moses went on, Moses continued to rebut God’s responses with what he most certainly felt were legitimate reasons for excusing himself from the task at hand.  “Who should I say sent me?”  “What if they don’t believe me?”  “I’ve not been known to have a way with words – what about my poor speech?”  Finally, Moses revealed his true colors when he begged, “O Lord, please send someone else to do it” (4:13).  At first Moses’ reluctance appeared to be based in humility, feeling that he just wasn’t cut out for it.  But the longer he questioned, his humility seemed to dissolve into doubt, as if to imply that he didn’t feel that God really knew what he was doing in calling him to lead his people out of Egypt.

So which was it, humility or doubt?  Does it really matter?  Even humility at its core can represent a lack of trust, can’t it?  Openly doubting is one thing, as it’s pretty easy to connect doubt with a lack of trust in God, but humility is a little more subtle.  In lacking confidence in himself, wasn’t Moses also lacking confidence – or not trusting – God’s choice? It is a subtle dig at God, who obviously called Moses to lead his people out of Egypt because he could do it.  So for Moses to presume – even with a humble heart – that he wasn’t the man for the job was tantamount to telling God that he made the wrong choice and that he didn’t trust it. 

So how did God finally get Moses off his duff and on his way?  Well, if you skip toward the end of their discussion, he made it clear to Moses that Moses was pushing it.  “Then the LORD’s anger burned against Moses…” (4:14).  But even before that, God resorted to a simple, yet effective method that he has used throughout history: he reminded man who he was.  When asked who he should say sent him, “God said to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’’  God also said to Moses, ‘Say to the Israelites, ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers – the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob – has sent me to you.’  This is my name forever, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation’” (v.14-15).

“I AM.”  Such a description can only apply to the One who was, who is, and who always will be.  I AM needs no introduction.  I AM needs no referrals or recommendations from men to establish his credibility or reputation, for I AM was in existence before man was even around.  I AM is synonymous with grace, mercy, and compassion, and through Moses, I AM intended to showcase that mercy by bringing deliverance to his enslaved sons and daughters of Israel.  Through that deliverance I AM would also provide a picture of the deliverance that would come through I AM in the flesh – the Savior, Jesus Christ.  And the I AM who would come in the flesh is the very same I AM who had previously made himself known to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  The very same I AM who had given and applied his promises to their ancestors was now making a promise to Israel, and just as he had with their ancestors, so would he keep his promise to this generation as well. 

We need to be reminded of who the LORD God is as well, because just like Moses, we need a bit of an attitude adjustment periodically.  While God hasn’t called us to the task to which he called Moses, he has called us, nonetheless.  He has called us to grow in his grace (2 Pe. 3:18).  He has called us to serve one another in love (Gal. 5:13).  He has called us to take of his body and blood frequently (1 Cor. 11).  He has called us to spread the good news of Jesus to the ends of the earth (Mt. 28:19).  He has called us to do and to be so much for his kingdom.

And we’ve taken a page right out of Moses’ book and come up with every excuse under the sun not to.  Do I need to list them all?  No, just look into your heart and you will see all the excuses right there.  You’ve heard them all and you’ve used a lot of them; I’ve heard them all, and I’ve used a lot of them.  We might even try to call them “reasons,” but God can see in our hearts that often times those are  nothing but dressed up excuses.  See, our sinful nature is so adept that it can pass off an excuse and make it appear as a legitimate reason for avoiding something that God has called us to.  What’s funny – no, what’s sad – is that we think we’re actually fooling God.  Oh, we might be fooling others around us, but we can’t hide what’s really in our hearts from God.  He knows an excuse when he sees one, even if we think we’ve successfully disguised it as a legitimate reason for neglecting our calling as children of God.

So what is the answer?  What is always the answer when it comes to soul-torching sin?  Repentance.  We quit with the rebellious excuses and replace them with repentance.  We confess that like Moses, we don’t fully trust God’s choice in appointing us to live out the calling attached to our Christian faith.  We admit that we’re frequently guilty of spending as much time trying to wiggle our way out of our calling as we are of faithfully carrying it out.

And through that process of repentance, painful as it is, God quite literally changes our hearts.  He transforms us.  He adjusts our attitudes.  When we’re open enough to admit our shameful excuses to him, he is gracious enough over and over and over to quickly point our eyes in the direction of Calvary and remind us who he is.  Just as quickly as we expose our sin before him, he is right there to dispose of it, assuring us that the bitter suffering of Lent took place to forgive our excuses and pay them off with the precious blood of Christ.  That is the beauty of being called by God into the Christian faith: we are not called first and foremost to do, do, do; rather, we are called to be, be, be – be forgiven in Christ Jesus.  And the greater awareness we have of that reality, that in Christ Jesus and by his grace alone we are forgiven and purified, holy and righteous, perfect and at peace, the more natural it is for us to cling to our calling and faithfully carry it out.  When we recognize that we’ve been reconciled in Christ, the excuses have a tendency to disappear and the new life in Christ inside each one of us delights to live out Christ’s claim on our lives.  Lord, help us to replace the excuses with repentance, that in your forgiveness we might live joyfully and freely to carry out our calling.  Amen.

“For the freer confidence is from one’s own works, and the more exclusively it is directed toward Christ alone, so much better is the Christian it makes.” (Luther)