Sermon Tone Analysis

Dedication of Elders

 

! Moses – Dialogue with God

 

This evening we are breaking away from our series in the signs of John’s Gospel and considering an example of Old Testament Ministry and leadership style.

As styles go there is none quite like it – Moses.

Our problem is obvious – how to distil the long and impressive ministry of Moses into a few points for a Sunday evening.

I want to suggest to you that all service of the Lord – like that of Moses – involves a dialogue, a conversation with God.

In fact if you wish you can trace all the events in the great man’s life to conversations he had with God.

I want to focus on three aspects of his ministry:

 

v    The Bush           How God called Moses to the task

 

v    The Bridge         The kind of task that Moses was given

 

and

 

v    The Burial          How much it cost Moses to serve God

 

 

These aspects of his leadership will give us pointers that are appropriate to the elders we have appointed tonight – so in a sense I am delivering a charge to these three men; advice for us a Church in seeking the man of His choosing for ministry, and for ourselves as followers of Jesus – of whom a life of service is expected – not as an optional extra – but as a natural consequence of His having bought us at such a great price.

I have been reading  /“After Eating the Apricot”/ a series of OT biographies by John Goldingay – he beautifully summarises Moses’ life like this:

 

“/Forty years learning to be somebody; forty years learning to be nobody; and forty years showing what God can do with somebody who has learned to be a nobody/.”[1]

Here then are some of the conversations in the life of Moses the man of God:

 

! A.  The Bush  How  God called Moses       Exodus 3

 

It is absolutely true for Moses as for other men of God – that God was at work with Moses before he was born – and certainly for all the days afterward.

His birth was overseen by God, his upbringing in the Egyptian court intended by God, and his outburst and murder of an Egyptian used by God to prepare him in the wilderness of Midian – not far from the mountain where God would speak to him so uniquely.

In the course of a run-down, nothing special sort of occupation as shepherd in the backside of the desert God attracted Moses attention with a burning bush.

That first interruption marks out the rules for any ministry of the Lord.

1.

God, as always, takes the initiative

 

You do not walk into Christian service – and certainly not the Lord’s service by way of an application, or a CV or an interview – although in fact the events at The Bush are a sort of interview.

God steps into view – an ordinary desert bush burns – but is curiously not consumed.

So Moses’ attention has been caught and God will speak to him about a certain job that He has for him.

It is worth noting that God often called to His service those who were engaged in their ordinary duties.

What makes it different is that God who has taken the initiative – lays down the rules Himself.

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.

 

I’m sure there were times when Moses regretted ever having seen that bush!

But in truth the great adventure of service – as distinct from being one of God’s people and largely unemployed – began there.

2.

God requires respect as well as a willingness to listen.

That’s an important lesson for all church-goers, for all worshippers, for everyone who ever hopes to hear God speak personally.

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.

 

Moses’ first words “HERE I AM”  are like a universal pattern for responding servants.

The words must be accompanied by actions of humility and worship.

They are rewarded with an INTRODUCTION that is full of God’s personal ways with His own people.

“I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.”

3.

God sets out THE BACKGROUND TO MOSES’ CALL

 

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

 

I HAVE SEEN, I HAVE HEARD, I AM CONCERNED, I HAVE COME DOWN…

 

And the terms of employment…

 

10 So now, go.

I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”

It is at this point that the conversation really gets going – for Moses casts doubt upon his suitability – to the point of insubordination.

The dialogue continues into the next chapter.

And at each point God reassures Moses of two things :

 

I AM GOD

 

YOU ARE TO DO AS I SAY

 

4.

In the course of this conversation Moses will be reassured and equipped

 

He must learn that God is …        Holy

                                                Compassionate

                                                Promising

                                                Personal      “I AM…”

                                                Empowering

                                                Insistent

 

 

God does not promise Moses an easy ride – but He assures him that He will be with him and provide that power in which God is the supreme specialist.

You don’t have any choice.

State your case – certainly – but recognise that I’m in charge.

! 2.  The Bridge – What Moses does     e.g.

Exodus 17

 

8 The Amalekites came and attacked the Israelites at Rephidim.

9 Moses said to Joshua, “Choose some of our men and go out to fight the Amalekites.

Tomorrow I will stand on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hands.”

10 So Joshua fought the Amalekites as Moses had ordered, and Moses, Aaron and Hur went to the top of the hill.

11 As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning.

12 When Moses’ hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it.

Aaron and Hur held his hands up—one on one side, one on the other—so that his hands remained steady till sunset.

13 So Joshua overcame the Amalekite army with the sword.

14 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write this on a scroll as something to be remembered and make sure that Joshua hears it, because I will completely blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.”

15 Moses built an altar and called it The Lord is my Banner.

16 He said, “For hands were lifted up to the throne of the Lord.

The Lord will be at war against the Amalekites from generation to generation.”

Of course Moses did many many things – and for that reason is remembered as the supreme leader of God’s people.

I choose this one as an example because it extends the idea of CONVERSATION or DIALOGUE to include that most significant of conversations – *PRAYER*

 

 

Moses prays for the people of God on numerous occasions.

He intercedes for them when God is angry with them.

It is his ministry to be A BRIDGE

 

A living connection between God and God’s people.

A role of course perfectly epitomised in Jesus – but foreshadowed in Moses, and indeed in so many of God’s servants – men and women.

The battle against Amalek is an easier occasion to remember and to learn from.

The components of the piece are:

 

v    A badge of office                “the rod of God in my hand”

 

v    A partnership in intercession                Aaron and Hur on either side

 

v    A partnership with battle             Joshua overcomes the enemy with the sword

 

Moses’ ministry will always be a combination of PRAYER and PROPHECY

 

He will intercede for the people – he will also judge their cases – and tell them what God requires.

In this story we see that ministry which was often lonely – a SHARED MINISTRY