SCRIPTURE: Exodus 17:1-17
TEXT: 2The people quarreled with Moses, and said, “Give us water to drink.” Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?” THEME: Prayer is a key component to building our relationship with God. INTRODUCTION The people of God have attitude. They are a bit snippety. With their backs up against the Red Sea they complained, “Are there no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness?” “We would rather be alive as slaves in Egypt than die in the wilderness.” Hungry they complained, “We sat by pots of stews and ate bread until we had our fill; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.” It was very unlikely that they had it so good in Egypt, but this is how they felt. This story has two setting. The Wilderness where the people of God are being led by Moses out of Egypt, and Babylon where the people of God are held in exile from Judea and were the first readers of the book of Exodus hoping for their Exit back home. So, it is a recorded history of Israel and faith, and an encouragement to the present-day captives for freedom in the wilderness. SCRIPTURE And now without water they quarrel, “Why did you bring us out of Egypt, to kill us, but not only us but our children as well, and also our livestock, and our dog and my cat, with thirst?” I embellished this a little bit but we get the point. They have been slaves for generations. So, when they are confronted with adversity, their ‘go to response’ is complaint. Except in this passage, they quarrel. A complaint is a grievance, problem, a concern, “it is too hot, it’s too cold, I’m hungry, I’m thirsty, I’m bored.” A quarrel is a verbal dispute, an argument, a disagreement. “You are leading us in the desert, you better make sure there is water. If you are so mighty then why were we captive? We are dying here, why don’t you do something? Couldn’t you have prevented this? How hard is it to get us from here to there? If you think that I am going to take another step in these conditions, then you’ve got another thing coming.” These weren’t just the complaint of the Israelites in the wilderness, but also the quarrels of the ‘captive exiles’ in Babylon. Their complaint took on a personal attack against God. In the Mana story, when they were hungry, they complained, but Moses was quick to tell them that they were complaining against the Lord. Having this ‘quarrel’ against Moses is a bone that they are picking with God. These are the primitive beginnings of prayer. They are living into their relationship with God. They are far from being model citizens, but God loves them, cares for them, protects them, listens to them, provides for them and is forming a relationship with them, in their freedom in the wilderness, that will form and shape them into the people of God. God tells Moses to take the staff that he used to turn the Nile into blood, and a few elders and go to a place he will show him, on a rock at Horeb. This could be the site of the burning bush, Holy Ground and Moses’ call, When Moses lead his sheep ‘beyond the wilderness in Hebron, God spoke, “I will be with you; and this shall be the sign for you that it is I who sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God on this Mountain.” Exodus 3:1,12 Now why do you think the people of God are here in Horeb, where there is no water. To prove that God keeps promises and confirm that the journey may seem tedious but God is among them, it is God who sends and is their help. Moses strikes the rock and in front of the elders and water comes out. But he doesn’t name the place “water from a rock” after the miracle, instead he names this place, “Testing” (Massah) and “Quarrel” (Meribah) because the people of God quarreled saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?” APPLICATION The people of God are learning that when they feel like complaining, it can be a signal for them to turn to God in prayer. They quarrel, “If you don’t do what we want, we are going to take our marbles and go back home (to Egypt),” - This is probably how they communicated to their masters as slaves to get their needs met. Knowing that God is present and listens to us, even when we have doubt, complain and are quarrelsome, what are we learning about praying to God? How does prayer change our relationship with God? When complaining and quarreling has been the only way that we have been heard in the past, when we find ourselves in a new relationship where we can be a part of each other’s lives, it takes some adjusting. The inmates are learning how to live in the outside world. The former slaves are learning how to live with freedom. The unloved are learning what it means to be beloved. The time, Israel will spend in the wilderness will be transformational. They are building a faith history of stories, of their relationship with God. It is beginning with their whining, their complaining and now their quarreling. Often, this is how a prayer life begins. Later they will have a ‘Psalm Book’ filled with such prayers. As they become more reflective rather than reactive, their prayers will have a chance to move to include, gratitude, praise and thanksgiving. In Exodus 15, after Moses and the Israelites successfully fled through the Red Sea there is a song of deliverance. Followed with more singing with tambourines played by Miriam and dancing women. Their life with God is beginning to shape them. So, whenever they get to a place when they hear themselves Quarreling or Testing God, this can be a trigger for them to stop their complaining and remember that God can provide in impossible ways, they just need to pray. Prayer helps us to get to know God. As we are seeing, prayer can include reflective work and not only complaint. As well as the celebratory praise of deliverance. So, even though the captivity in Babylon is dragging on, the God of promise is among you, and is there is help for the captive. CONCLUSION The people of God have attitude. They are learning that when they have something to complain about or even quarrel with God, that they can include it in prayer. It may not be the nicest way to talk to God, but it is a beginning and God hears, and provides what we need. It could be from the staff that turned the Nile into blood, it could be Moses who follows where God leads and does crazy things like strike a rock in the wilderness with a stick. Or it could be, being in a special spot, where bushes burn without being consumed, or shoes have to be taken off, or de ja vu, I feel like I have been here before with God, it is all God. Their story is revelatory of the kind of relationship all of us, can have with God. As their story becomes our story, and our complaint become a trigger for prayer to a God, who is among us.
0 Comments
SCRIPTURE: Exodus 16:2-15
TEXT: 12“I have heard the complaining of the Israelites; say to them, ‘At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall have your fill of bread; then you shall know that I am the Lord your God.’“ THEME: When we begin to complain to someone we trust, our relationship begins to deepen. INTRODUCTION When a premarital couple comes to me, I ask them, “How have your fights been?” and if they say to me, “Oh no Pastor, we never fight.” Then a red flag goes up and I say, “Then at least one of you doesn’t feel safe in this relationship because they are afraid to say what they really think.” Relationships are about getting to know about each other, good and bad, and being willing to work through the difficulties. The other red flag is when a couple says all they do is fight and I end up being the referee at the premarital session. SCRIPTURE The people of God have had an adventurous relationship with God so far. They have been on the run and now the food they have brought with them has run out. From their camp site in the wilderness they have nothing but time to think about their hunger and complain to their leaders and object of their misery, Moses and Aaron. When we hear their complaint, listen for the feelings being expressed. They are afraid. They are fearful for their lives. They are so hungry they are grumpy and irritable. They have doubts about what they are doing and where they are going. They feel desperate enough or comfortable enough to voice their complaint to God. They are willing to be their true selves, to speak up and reveal how they feel. They are getting to know God and are dropping certain pretenses. Then God says to Moses. I don’t know why God can’t send a text message to everyone but speaks only to Moses, “There will be Bread from God, follow these instructions because it included a way for you to rest one day of the week. Don’t be greedy, trust that there is enough for you each day.” If their ancestral lineage, family stories, grouping by familial tribes, and their common Parent/Uncle Joseph’s historic bringing of the family to Egypt wasn’t enough to know about God, this daily meal will give them taste of God for themselves. God listened to their complain, heard their feeling and is their Provider. But not only that. Wait there is more. In the evening you shall eat meat. As quails wander into the camp. Together with the flaky white bread stuff and quail, they have the ingredients to make Chicken Manapua, Chicken Flautas, Chicken enchiladas and Chicken sandwiches. APPLICATION Tired, busy, stressed, hungry, doubt filled, anxious and scared, we admit our need for rest, our spirit needs time and our hunger satisfied. When our eyes are opened to what we receive from God, we can begin to live our lives with gratitude and trust. How can Our relationship with God create a life changing economic? This story is of the people of God beginning to form their relationship with God. They complain against Moses, which means that they are complaining against the Lord, and the Lord hears and answers. Remember, God saw, knew and heard them in Egypt as slaves and now hears their complaining to Moses. This is progress in their forming of their relationship with God. This is a like a couple who are being honest with each other and finding that they can entrust their differences with each other. In a covenant of love, they can hear each other and finds constructive ways to resolve the differences. God will provide for them in the desert in a miraculous way and they will recognize that it is God who feeds them. Daily Mana will be a regular reminder of God’s love, protection, deliverance and provision. As a community, they are developing a corporate, communal memory of their experience with God and who God is. Having God in our lives, brings a whole economy of stewardship to live. Eric Law’s “Holy Currency” identifies 6 areas of stewardship: 1. Leadership, 2. Truth, 3. Relationships, 4. Wellness, 5. Money and 6. Place and Time. These are the 6 areas where we are to practice stewardship, or dominion, or as theologian Ellen Davis translates it, “skilled mastery”, the artfulness of being human. They need to have “skilled mastery” of their leadership given by Moses, they must apply “skilled mastery” for the truth that they are learning, discovering and hold about God who loves them and preserves their life. They must have “skilled mastery” practiced in their relationships with family, people and with God. They must be artful in maintaining their wellness traveling and camping with Shade and Warmth, Mana and Quail. They need to practice “skilled mastery” with the extra portion on the sixth day so they can have sabbath rest, and rhythm to their lives. In the wilderness, God provides for them in all of these ways which will be represented by money in another setting. Their value is not in the wealth they possess but in being loved and loving God and others. This economy flows, as it is shared with each other and is used, reuses as currency. The community of the people of God is being formed, through an interdependence of relationships with God and each other, that flows in the current of life and does not hoard. Getting to know God, means getting to know a different way of being and living in flowing ways. What our church does, is being formed by an interdependence through relationships with God and that participates in ‘skilled mastery’ of God’s gifts. Those ladies at our Food Pantry, minister to feed those who need a little more to eat, with loving spirits, nonjudgmental, generous and accepting. Our Rummage Sale has become a thrift store of sorts, that gave out donated camping gear and car seats, now school supplies and backpacks, and we are weeding out toys to give away for Christmas. The “skilled mastery” of the Mission Ground for housing, is using this property in the current of God’s flow, instead of having it sit idle. Our interdependence upon God and each other with “skilled mastery’ creates new relationships with our neighbors, our community and our County. CONCLUSION If I were to ask the People of God how their relationship with God was going. They may say that there is whining and complaining but they are working things out as they get to know each other. This passage is not so much about the Mana reinforcing whining behavior, as it is about the people of God learning to be honest with God and to be comfortable enough to share their true self by complaining. God hears their complaint and understands how they feel and shows them God’s true self, with Mana and quail. They are getting to know each other, getting to know all about you. I hear the lyrics of the song “Getting to Know You” from The King and I playing in my head. “All the beautiful and new things I am learning about you day by day.” Relationships are influential. We copy the behaviors, accents, mannerisms of those around us. When God is among us, we copy God’s mannerisms, becoming the people of God, becoming formed, shaped and influenced by our relationship with God. “Getting to like you, hoping that you like me”, “Suddenly I’m Bright and breezy”. Complaining maybe a first way that we begin to open ourselves up to God, but it is not the only way to get to know God. The Israelites journey into the wilderness also represents their spiritual journey in getting to know God. Mana is a spiritual food of this relationship. SCRIPTURE: Genesis 14:19-31
TEXT: 22The Israelites went into the sea on dry ground, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left. THEME: Our God is stronger than any earthy ruler. Cleaving to God for all that we need enables us to develop new behavioral habits. INTRODUCTION When we are set free, we are in a wilderness of discovering how to live in a new way. We can be tempted, to go back to the captivity we left. When things get difficult there is a tendency to ‘snap back’ to our old ways of doing things, that we must resist. We instead should take the opportunity to live creatively and inventively. We can be the same person, but taking opportunities to respond to the same problems in new ways, to apply new skills in these situations, to develop new strategies and behaviors. This is what the liberated Israelites must do as they cross the Red Sea and enter the wilderness. They are no longer slaves. They are not running someone else’s agenda. But they are not alone, God is with them. They are freed to discover what it means to be tethered to God, as a people of God, living in community. SCRIPTURE There are some, who believe that the book of Exodus was written during the Babylonian Captivity of Israel (700BC). If so, the authors have Egypt as Babylon, pharaoh the King of Egypt as Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon and Israel’s slavery as their present-day captivity. As God releases the People of God from Egypt, the message, to its first readers, is that God is stronger than any earthly ruler, stronger the Pharaoh and stronger than Nebuchadnezzar. The Israelites step into the sea, executing their new found freedom to move towards the unknown. Lead by Moses, God’s pillars of fire and cloud protect them. Their past life is actively pursuing them, to re-enslave them. The mark of God’s love was a sign for death to Passover their household and save them. Their ancestral God, initiated plagues that made their lives miserable, but now they are escaping their enslavement and are set free. On the run, Moses feared that if this group encountered military resistance, they would turn back to Egypt, so he takes them on a southerly path to avoid any skirmishes. But now they stand on the shores of the Red Sea with nowhere else to go. The Egyptian army was dispatch after them. Pharaoh regretted letting his work force go. So, he loaded up chariots and an army to get his slaves back. The pillar of cloud that has been leading them, now moved to the rear, creating a darkness that kept the Egyptian army from advancing on them. Moses was stretched his hand out over the waters, as the seas separate into walls and the South wind blew the sea bed dry. God, who loves them, had death Passover them again. The Israelites step into the sea and towards an unknown future, trusting in the God of Moses towards further freedom and tethered by faith. APPLICATION My friend Wayne Ibara, the pastor of Makiki Christian Church, is also preaching on this lectionary passage today. As he prepared, he posed a few question on this passage that brings the journey of the Israelites, into our current setting. Today the church is caught between the pandemic on one side and an economic downturn on the other, not to mention national chaos and natural disasters. We want a way back to "normal." But "normal" to us is like the Hebrews wanting to return to Egypt. We're on the bank of the sea, waiting while the wind of the Spirit blows all night to part the waters. What is the way into a new wilderness of formation for the church to be radical and different? We are learning what it is to be church without "going" or "coming" to church;
Well we did it. We signed the MOU with EAH which is the beginning of our partnership with this non-profit developer to build 40 affordable rental units on the Mission Grounds. We saw the signs along the way and when the waters parted, we decided to step onto the dry sea floor. This is craziness or is it faith?! When has any of our dreams ever come true? This was a turning point for Israel, this is a turning point for us as we enter into the wilderness to get to the other side. The MOU is the beginning of our partnership and is like the closing of the Red Sea, behind us, with no turning back. Ahead, the wilderness represents an intense time with God, where our relationship with each other deepens. In the wilderness, we will have three years to strategize for famine. As part of the Predevelopment Cost, we will be paid for the estimated loss of rents from the demolished Kennan House and the Iao Parsonage. After that, the church could experience 15 years of decreased finances. Our struggle with God during this time will form us to be the people and church, God wants us to be. As we trust God into the Red Sea with the MOU, God will journey with us. Some of the habits and patterns we bring with us won’t work in this wilderness. Our dependence on old resources will be gone. We will have to go where God leads and do some new things that God wants. We have become a monolith in our community. It is time for us to be part of the community and allow the community to become a part of us. Our building of these homes can become a sign of a new relationship with our community. In the weeks to come we will begin to communicate our plans for the Mission Grounds with our neighbors. CONCLUSION The pandemic wilderness has me working from home. But while I am at home, I cannot ignore my family, so I have had to learn new behaviors such as to be okay when I am interrupted. I am finding that when I address something right away, it will take me about 5 minutes, but if I wait and keep on putting it off, it drags on and takes much longer. Another new behavior I have started during the pandemic is to have my sermon almost finished before Saturday night, this has never happened in my 38 years of sermon writing. And my last new behavior is waking up around 5 in the morning to get a head start on my work before anyone else is up. Released from the pandemic captivity, we enter into the wilderness as a church, it is an opportunity to change our behavior to accomplish new things tethered to God. As the church our relationship with our neighbors, the community and with the County is going to change. As a church, we want to be a witness of God, who is real, who is discernable and calls us to participate in what God is doing. This is what we are doing with the Wailuku Mission Housing project on the Mission Grounds. This will be a sign to all, that our God is stronger than any earthy ruler. SCRIPTURE: Exodus 12:1-14
TEXT: 13The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live: when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague shall destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. THEME: God’s love for us is a sign for the spirit of death to Passover us. INTRODUCTION The discussion on the Lamb of God is a pivotal piece in the formation of the ‘theology theory’ called Original Blessing. We are more familiar with Original Sin, the Theory that most of us were raised on, where the Lamb of God pays the price of a sinful world. But in the Original Blessing theory, everything that God creates is good, especially us, because we are made in the image of God. So, God never stops loving us, even though our ‘greed’ or selfishness gets the better of us in the garden. Our indiscretion does not disqualify us from God’s love, as seen in the faith misadventures of Abraham and Sarah. If we believe this, then the Lamb of God does not need to be a sacrificial payment, to offset our debt of sin, but instead it is a profound a sign of love. If you notice, in the Passover story, the lamb has nothing to do with sin but everything about God loving and saving the people of God. SCRIPTURE After Moses and Pharaoh’s battle with plagues, the negotiations for Israel’s release from Egypt was stalemated. This all leads up to a final challenge, with death. The Israelites are instructed to gather as families and include their neighbors if need be, in sharing in this communal meal and marking the door post and lintel of their houses with the blood of the lamb. A lamb is to be prepared in a special way and eaten it as if an Uber will arrive at any moment to pick us up and take us to the airport. The left overs and anything else are to be burnt up like an offering. God will pass through Egypt and strike every firstborn both human and animals. No one will be spared, except for those who have the sign of this blood on their homes. The blood of the lamb of God, is a sign of God’s love for the people of this household and for death to Passover, leaving its inhabitants unharmed. This lamb is not a sacrifice to pay the price of personal or corporate sin. This lamb is not settling any obligation or debt. This lamb is a sign of God’s initiative of liberation towards the misery, suffering and cries of Israel. This is an act of love, creating a way out in a captivity when every other way has failed. This lamb of God brings liberation to the captive under the protective love of God. So, when death comes to Egypt, those embraced by God’s love will be saved. 1,300 years later, when John the Baptist see Jesus and says, “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world.” he may not have been talking about a sacrifice to pay a debt of sin, but the Passover lamb, is a sign signifying God’s love and death to pass over those whom God loves. Jesus reveals God’s love to us and exposes sin as ignorant hatred and violence. This is not the usual way that we interpret the Lamb of God. We bring in a scapegoat theology where sin is transferred upon a goat and beaten to free us from sin’s punishment of death. If that actually worked, John the Baptist would have said, “Behold the goat of God” so, Jesus as the Lamb of God, is a sign of God’s love incarnate, that signals death to pass over. APPLICATION Although thinking about the Lamb of God in this way can be troubling, because it goes against how we were brought up to think about this. But if this is true then it changes how we practice our salvation but not our belief in God, not our belief in Jesus or our belief in the Holy Spirit. We have made our sin a bigger problem than it is to God. We have become a problem that needs to be fixed rather than a people that are loved by God. We create a legalism that needs to be satisfied, with a payment that is never good enough. It also has made our God too small, held to so some cosmic sense of balance and justice. We have made the standard of righteousness an impossibility to be observed, with false images of piety as poor substitutes for the creative, imaginative, loving relationship with God. If parents can take past the wrong doings of their children and love them without requiring them to produce a worthy sacrifice, why can’t God can do the same with us? How does viewing the Lamb of God as a sign of God’s love, rather than a payment of sin, inform our understanding of the Lord’s Supper with Jesus? Salvation is about being loved by God and welcomed, forgiven, adopted and accepted. What Jesus reveals about God’s love for us is transformational not transactional. When we have Jesus dying for our sins, we acquire a righteousness that makes us feel superior to others with an image we believe we have to project of perfection. Salvation is not found in the facade of perfection, success, wealth or prestige but rather in the mark of the lamb’s blood, as a sign that we are loved by God. Being loved by God is the only way we can live a truthful relationship with God that defines who we are and our relationships with others. The Lamb of God is a sign of God’s love, marked by Jesus love for us. Sitting at the Passover meal with Jesus as our host is a sign of God’s love. It is a sign of God journeying with us, seeing our misery, hearing our cries and knowing our suffering. Having Jesus mark us with a sign of God’s love, brings forgiveness, acceptance, hope and new potentials of life. The reality of God and being beloved by God changes our lives, as we live as a sign of this Love. CONCLUSION The lamb of God is a sign of God’s love for us that signals death to Passover us. Jesus is the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world by dramatically marking us with love and exposing sin; as ignorant hatred and violence. George Floyd’s death exposes ignorant hatred and violence. Jacob Blake being shot seven times in the back expose’s ignorant hatred and violence. The young man who goes to the protest in Kenosha with a rifle and kills two demonstrators exposes sin as ignorant hatred and violence. Jesus living with us, in our good world, is the sign of the Lamb of God, refusing to stop talking about God’s ways and not giving in to the repressive religion or authoritarian power in order to love us. The sign of the Lamb of God exposes the world’s ignorant hate and violence but also reveals God’s gracious, life giving, encompassing love for all. |
Pastor robbSermons Archives
April 2024
|