Sermon Tone Analysis

Who Am I?

INTRODUCTION

Setting The Stage

Story of Moses’ background.

Joseph brings his family to Egypt at the close of Genesis.

When the book of Exodus opens up, we find that Joseph’s descendants have grown.

The number of Israelites in the land of Egypt has grown so much that the Pharoah realizes he has a potential problem on his hands.

So the king enslaved the Israelites and had them in forced labor.

He then instructed that all male Israelite babies were to be killed upon delivery in order to further control the population.

It’s at this point that our character comes onto the scene.

His name was Moses.

Moses was born into the tribe of Levi, and his mother knew that Moses would be killed if he was discovered, and so she took a basket, coated it with tar and pitch to waterproof it, then she placed Moses in the basket, and placed the basket in the Nile River.

Moses was discovered by the Pharaoh’s daughter, he was taken in and he was raised in the house of the King, even though he was a Hebrew child.

He was given the privileges afforded an Egyptian child.

Moses grew to be a young man in the house of Pharaoh, yet the heart of who he was - a Hebrew child, an Israelite - burned within him.

One day, while on a walk, he observed an Egyptian guard beating a Hebrew slave.

In an act of rage, Moses killed the Egyptian guard.

Because of this, he had to flee Egypt for fear of his own life.

He fled to Midian, where he eventually was married and began to work as a shepherd.

It is here where we pick up with our text for this morning in .

Moses is tending his flock and in the distance he sees a bush that is on fire, but it is not burning up.

This intrigues him and so he goes to see what is happening when the bush begins to call his name: “Moses!

Moses!”

Moses responds, “Here I am.”

Then, in those moments, God reveals that Moses is in the presence of the Creator God, Yahweh.

In fact, he tells Moses to remove the sandals from his feet because this is holy ground where he stands.

God goes on to tell Moses that he has seen how the Hebrew children are suffering in the land of Egypt and how he intends to do something about it.

Surely we can imagine that Moses was pleased to hear this from God. Finally - after 40 years!

I’ve been waiting for something to be done!

Finally, something is going to be done about the mistreatment of his people!

Finally, God is going to intervene and rescue the Hebrew children from their slavery.

God tells Moses, I hear their cries.

I see their pain.

I know they are hurting.

I am going to intervene.

And then he says this: I am sending you.

Exodus

Now, if we can just imagine for a moment exactly what Moses might have been thinking: he goes from excitement and expectation that God is finally going to intervene and do something about the situation that has existed for generations.

He is finally going to free his people from their bondage, from their physical abuse, from the death.

Yay, God! Right?

And then God says: By the way, I am sending you to lead them out of that mess.

What?

Who? Me?

Yes, you.

But God, I have these sheep to tend to, my wife, I mean, I have been here for 40 years and that’s a long time to be gone.

I am not sure they’d even remember me back there.

Surely there’s someone else that can go and fill this position.

I don’t even think I am really qualified.

And couldn’t YOU do this, God? Couldn’t you just handle this…I mean, you’re talking to me right now out of a bush.

It’s burning, but it’s not.

But instead, God looks down at Moses and he says, “ So now, go.

I am sending you.”

What?

Who? Me? Yes, you.

CORE

The problem is that when God says “I am sending you,” there are often objections and questions...

Moses raises some objections and he raises some questions.

First, he asks this: “Who am I?”

Exodus

Who am I?

What a great question.

Who am I? I mean, what do I have to offer this situation?

I am just an orphaned child that grew up in privilege, but lost it all because of my temper and now I am here, just taking care of these sheep.

Who am I to be the one to lead the Hebrew children out of their slavery?

I am not a warrior.

I am not a leader.

I am nobody of any significance.

All of these things are good arguments, right?

No training, no natural talents or gifts that we know of, just a shepherd on the hills of Midian tending his sheep.

Moses’ response makes a lot of sense: who am I?

Have you ever asked that question of God? Who am I? Who am I to talk to someone about God? Who am I to lead a person to Jesus Christ?

Who am I to offer a piece of wisdom or advice?

Who am I to be doing what you are asking me to do?

Who am I to be teaching a class?

Who am I to be leading a small group?

Who am I to be serving the community?

Who am I to be serving in ANY capacity in this church?

I am nobody.

I have done nothing of significance.

I have no training, to equipping, not to mention the fact that I have done some things I am not proud of in the past.

I have made decisions that were giant goose eggs, I have been a failure on multiple occasions...

Who am I?

But I gotta tell you: I think that is one of the best places we can be

I have been through this with 3 kids now, but the most recent memory would be of my son, Samuel.

He learned to ride his bike right here in this church parking lot.

Up until that point, he had the training wheels on his bike, but two summers ago when we lived just across the way, we convinced him to let go of the training wheels.

You know the story - if you have a child, you have probably been through it already.

We came over to the parking lot and with fear and trembling began to work on riding without training wheels.

I can’t do this!

I don’t know what to do! Don’t leave me alone!

I need you to hold on to my seat!

It’s kind of like Moses.

It’s kind of like me.

So I tell Sam: I am right here.

I will be right here.

You got this.

God did the same thing for Moses.

Oh, what a promise!

What a thing to hear from the Creator God, the Most High God: I’m going to be RIGHT HERE!

I am not going anywhere.