Sermon
Builders
in the Bible: Moses
August 27… the last Sunday in
August. Does it feel like summer is winding down?
·
School
o
University
o
Boyz
o
Lessons
·
Chapel Singers
o
Retreat & Rehearsals
o
Recording
Summer winding down reminds me of something I saw on a blog a few weeks
ago. Have you noticed that some people will put the strangest things on church
reader boards? I have a sort of love/hate relationship with these reader board
signs… I’m usually sort of embarrassed by the cheesy (or even weird) things
that we Christians will put up on these signs… but I’m also strangely addicted
to web sites that post pictures of the weird things we’ll put up on these signs
outside of our churches (don’t even get me started about the strange things
that show up on the signs around this church… it is out of my jurisdiction). I
couldn’t resist so here are a few:
This one will keep people from
taking advantage of your parking lot.
I suppose some of them really
do give you something
to think about.
I’m not sure what to say about
this one.
Note to self: If you wouldn’t say it inside your church, don’t say it
outside your church.
This one might take you a
moment.
Here’s one for summer.
I love spreading the love and grace of the Lord on our church signs.
And finally… here’s an approach that one church tried for summer…
Here’s one that made we wonder:
Maybe we should have given that a try!
And NO, I will not tell you where
you can find that church.
But I have endeavored to keep this short and simple.
We are wrapping up this short Builders in the Bible series with
Moses.
·
Noah –
·
Solomon –
·
Nehemiah – Walls
When I put the little series together, I thought I might take my choice
between the Tabernacle and the
The Ark of the Covenant, the
central article in the Tabernacle signifying the presence of God. Not an image
of God… something that looks like an animal or even a man… but a place where
would manifest his very presence. A container, too, that held remembrances of
when God demonstrated his power and presence.
We could have focused on the building of this important object and all
it represents.
Or we could look to the
Tabernacle itself.
God freed his people from
God’s people were delivered from the tyranny of
There are lots of sermons that could be preached about meeting with
God, approaching God, worship and such with the Tabernacle as our focus.
The more I thought and read the
more creative I became. It wasn’t just the Tabernacle or the
·
Reputation as Royalty
·
Family
·
Relationship with God
·
Ministry in Leadership
·
Army
·
Government
·
Successor
·
Pentateuch
And I realized… I’ve done it yet again… I’ve scheduled a sermon when I
should have scheduled a whole series! Maybe we’ll put a Moses series together
down the road.
So in order for this to be a short and simple sermon suitable for one
of our last glorious summer days… I had to pick one.
I decided that today we should
learn a bit from how Moses built a people.
In this little series we’ve made a point out of the work God gives us
to do and the product of our work (like Noah’s Ark, and Solomon’s Temple, and
Nehemiah’s Walls)… but today I want to be sure we don’t lose sight of the
priority we must place on people. Individual people and a people (the bodies of
people that God calls us into).
It has been hard to get away from the idea that people ought to be our
priority. Last week, we learned that from the yoyoman; relationships was a
focus of John Fox’s message to us.
Many of you joined us at Al Adan’s memorial service yesterday. These
are moments when we remember again the priority we must place on people. The
cliché is true; you can’t take it with you. Stuff is not eternal. Only people,
eternal souls, last forever.
Yesterday I remembered that I had a lot in common with Al. We came from
the same place:
Al was truly a great man,
evidenced by the moving tributes that came from his family and friends. Even
though Al worked hard all his life, really hard work setting up and operating
printing presses to help distribute God’s word in really tough places, nobody
talked much about the stuff he made. Mostly, they talked
about the people he touched, the friends he made, the family he built, the
example he set, and the lives he had a hand in changing. These are good lessons for us.
So when we think of Moses, and
all that God called him, and enabled him, to build, the “building” that has to
be considered the most important was the building of a people for God… God’s
people.
We can look to those closing chapters of the Pentateuch. George read
from there in Deuteronomy 30. It is the sort of last sermon from Moses to the
people he faithfully led.
It really starts in Deuteronomy
29 and again we ought to take our time because there is so much here… but let’s
take a birds eye view and pick out the building blocks that build a people.
Building Blocks for a Godly
People
Redemption
Throughout this sermon the Spirit of God, through God’s servant Moses,
reminds these people, all of us really, about redemption. First and foremost,
and all the way through, God’s people are God’s people because of God’s work.
In this case, the constant reminders are:
·
Redemption from Bondage - Pharaoh
·
Redemption from Failure – 40 years in the wilderness
was a long redemptive process.
·
Redemption Promised for the Future – The beginning of
chapter 30 contains prophecy of future failure… but also promise of future
redemption.
We enjoy these same positions:
·
Devil
·
Our Sin
·
Our Future
Provision
Manna from heaven, clothes that did not wear out, defeat of enemies…
God’s people under the leadership of Moses experienced God’s miraculous
provision. A Godly people is marked by a dependence on God. When our Savior
Jesus taught us to pray, he taught us to pray for daily bread… every day
looking beyond our good work and the fruit of our labors to His provision.
Obedience
The best worship isn’t some sort of show on the surface… but obedience.
Following God’s commands is not only good for us, it puts us in a position of
focusing on God. Obedience develops Godly character in God’s people.
Legacy
There is a thread woven throughout this sermon in which Moses
emphasizes legacy. Not just these people, who stood before him at that moment,
but also those who have gone before (ancestors) and those who will follow
(children). God calls a people who will persist with him throughout
generations.
Life
Finally, the main point of the passage that George read, “choose life.”
To us today that might sound like a bumper sticker, but it is really a profound
statement.
19 This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live 20 and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. [1]
Choose life… choose to live… choose to enjoy a robust life lived well.
This is a distinguishing mark of our faith. Our value for life, these lives
redeemed by God, makes us different. Our faith, the Christian faith, is marked
by value placed on these lives.
This is a distinctive lost on many modern thinkers today. If you listen
carefully, even to the evening news, you may realize that some people think you
are just as dangerous as the terrorists that threaten our freedom. To many,
religion is the problem, or more specifically, people who really believe there
religion is the problem. So… fervent Christians could be just as dangerous as
fervent Muslims. You sitting here today who have this sort of unmoderated faith
are dangerous… you true believers ought to be feared.
Those who think that are simply wrong. They fail to understand that
Christian’s are certainly concerned about eternity, just like Muslims, but a
well grounded Christian understands that these lives are redeemed as well as
our eternal lives. God says it here, “Choose life.” Jesus validated these lives
we live as well by healing them, and raising them, and (most of all) taking on
human life himself, as well as human death, and redeeming if for good through
resurrection.
Choose life, these lives, live full robust lives and thus honor God as
a Godly People.
So what? Where do we take this
today? This is a handy list and all but how does this hit home?
If we want to be a Godly people, we simply must be intentional about
these encounters with God. We have to insist that our times of worship
together, and encountering God’s word, do something to make us different.
Today, the call is simple. It
is a call to people.
Each of us has meaningful work to do.
I wouldn’t claim to be the hardest working of us here today, but I
think a lot of people would venture to say that I have a fairly high capacity for
work. I like work. I come from hard working people.
I get to do some pretty great work. I get to make stuff, and write
stuff, and even build stuff. I’m really grateful that I get to be involved in
the work that I do today and the work that I’ve been involved with over the
years. I have had a great deal of fun running ads in national publications, and
publishing promotional materials, and buying and building buildings, and all
the kinds of stuff that I have been able to do in my various jobs.
As I look over all the really gratifying work I’ve enjoyed, I’m
realizing that the most gratifying work has been the people work. The top of
the list includes the kinds of things I’ve been involved in that builds people…
individual people and teams of people. You, this church that we have built
together, is right in there at the top of the list.
I say all that to encourage you. In your lives and work, look for
people opportunities. That isn’t to say that the work we do that seems far
removed from people isn’t important. But let us all be encouraged to look for
opportunities to impact lives, to help people, to build people. In our homes,
and jobs, and church, let’s choose to build Godly lives… our own, sure, but in
those around us.
Let’s pray to that end.