Extraordinary Call

I can't do it. I'm not the right person. I don't have the skills. Get someone else to do it.

All of these thoughts ran through my head as Alyssa and I stood on the doorstep of Westmead

Hospital when our son Isaac had been born and we were about to leave the hospital.

How could we be responsible for this person? Did the people in the hospital realise that we had

no idea what we were doing? Now we've figured out most parts of what it means to parent,

at least parent small children, and we still have many left to learn. But in that moment,

Alyssa and I had a moment where we were filled with, plagued with doubts and fears. We can fear

failing because we're ill-equipped. We don't have the right knowledge. We can fear failing because

we think we're just the wrong person for the task. Maybe I don't want to fail, so I'll just say I'm not

the right person. Alyssa, I'm not the right person to change a nappy. I don't know how to do that.

Unfortunately, she didn't let me get out of the one and I had to learn how to do that.

But when somebody else asks for help, when somebody calls for help outside of our comfort zone,

we can respond, I can't do that. I don't know how. I'm not the right person. And I wonder if we can do

the same thing with God. God calls us to follow Jesus. He calls us into his family and he also

calls us out. He sends us out to love and serve other people. But I wonder if we can hear that call

of God and say, no. No, no, God, I'm not the right person to go out. I'm not equipped to share my faith.

I can't help that person over there. God, send someone else. My friend needs help. They're grieving,

but somebody else can comfort them with the gospel. That person over there, they're asking for help.

God, can you send someone else to fix this problem? And the reality is, we are all faced with situations

like this. Moses was in a similar position, which Nolene has just read for us. Last week,

we started our series in the book of Exodus. And this book shows us that we are very ordinary,

but we have an extraordinary God. And Moses, he'd fled out of Egypt out of fear of Pharaoh.

And he's fleeing his own people as well. And he's living in a place called Midian. He's been there

for around 40 years. He's gotten married, but he's still plagued by his past failure. He's lonely

and lost. So much so that he names his son Gershon. Gershon means foreigner. This is how Moses is feeling.

He's in a distant land. He's feeling like a foreigner. And into this context, God is going to call him.

God's going to give him a new identity, not one based on being a prince in Egypt.

But Moses, he's still plagued by his fear to follow God's call. And so as we have a look at chapters 3 and 4

today, we're going to see how God calls ordinary people to do extraordinary things. And how he calls

and prepares and sends us out. So please, let's pray as we jump in. Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, I thank you

that you, as I thank you every week, that you are a good and kind and loving God. God, help us to hear

this morning about your love for us and about how you want to use us, Lord, because you are extraordinary.

Amen. So today, we have three points. First of all, we're going to see an encounter with God.

Then we're going to see Moses called out by God. And then what it actually means to follow God's call.

An encounter with God, called out by God. And then what it actually means to follow, to follow that

call of God. So Moses is tending a flock of sheep on a mountain called Horeb. Its other name is Sinai.

And God appears in a burning bush. Now fire is something that we are all just instinctively

drawn to. I don't know, there's just something marvelous about fire. Have you ever been camping

and you just want to sit around that fire, even though it's going to make you stink with smoke?

We're just instinctively drawn to fire. But also, we don't go and sit in the fire. We keep our

distance from fire. It is attractive, but it's also dangerous. It gets Moses' attention.

And perhaps God is using a fire itself to draw Moses to him, but also remind him that there is

difference between God and man. Now Moses goes over thinking that this is a strange sight. This bush,

it should have been burnt up by an hour. But that's not the only strange thing about this bush.

The bush starts speaking. God calls to Moses through this bush. And God reveals who he is.

Have a look, Exodus chapter 3, verse 5.

Exodus 3:5

Do not come any closer, God said. Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.

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. God speaks to Moses. He reveals who he is.

And this God is awesome, but also terrifying to behold. The space around the bush was holy because

God was speaking. And so when Moses hears it, he falls flat on the ground. He hides his face

because he is terrified. And there is a rightness to this response. God is not our mate. He is not our

buddy. He is not our friend. He's not even the type of God who's a vending machine that we put our

prayers into and we get the things that we want out of. If we met this God face to face, we would fall

in our feet just like Moses does. And look at what this God says in verse 7. The Lord said,

God says he knows what has been going on for his people. His people have been enslaved in Egypt,

because there was a Pharaoh who feared them. God had blessed Israel. They had grown large

and they'd been enslaved. And God says, I see your misery. I've heard your crying. I'm concerned

about your suffering. And God has come down to deal with this situation. It is easy for us to take for

granted God being among us when we forget how above us he is. It's easy to take for granted that God would

come down when we forget how far he comes down and how awesome he is. He is so far above us. He is

holy and perfect. Moses couldn't even stand before God speaking through a bush, let alone God himself.

But this God who is different and holy and good and perfect and awesome, he also comes down. He is present.

And the wonderful encouragement for Moses here is, I know your condition. I know the suffering you're going

through. This is a God who does not remain separate. He knows our problems. He rolls up his sleeves and he's

going to get involved. He has appeared to Moses in a bush to say, I'm with you. He's going to appear to

Israel in a pillar of smoke and a pillar of fire to say, I am with you. I know you're suffering.

And he ultimately appears as Jesus, the second person of the Trinity, who we get to encounter

through the words of the Bible to meet. And we get to meet this God face to face.

And so God says he will do something. This God is going to get involved. He's going to deal with

this situation. Verse 10, so now go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites,

out of Egypt. God is going to deal with this situation. He's encountered Moses so that Moses

can be the one that God uses to deal with this situation.

God is going to use Moses to bring them out of slavery. And I can imagine at this moment,

Moses thinking, do you know what, God? I've tried that. I've tried to save Israel in the past.

And look where it's gotten me. I'm in exile now in Midian. I've been here for about 40 years.

What Moses had done was he saw an Israelite being abused and beaten by an Egyptian.

And so Moses got involved and he killed the Egyptian.

And so Moses looks at the situation and goes, I've tried to save Israel before.

It didn't do so well. And so Moses has five different excuses for God.

This is our second point today, God's call to Moses. But Moses has five different excuses.

He says he's unfit. He says he lacks knowledge. He's not going to be effective. He can't speak.

And do you know what? He just does not want to do it. Five different excuses of Moses.

We didn't read all of these out. We're going to have a look at these now.

But God answers these and his promises are wonderful.

And so we're going to go through Moses' responses here.

But I wonder, as we do this, have a think.

Which of these responses would I give to God?

If God spoke to me right now through a burning bush or spoke to me over coffee through someone at church

and said, hey, can you go and do this?

Can you go and love this person?

Can you go and speak the gospel to this person into their life?

Which of these five excuses do we default to?

How do we answer God's call?

Do we say, I'm not the right person?

I lack knowledge.

You know, I don't have the words.

Do you know, God, I could do that, but I'm not going to be effective.

Or maybe, God, I just don't want to.

As we go through this, have a think.

Which of these do I default to?

We'll come back to that at the end.

First of all, we're going to see Moses' fear of failure.

As him being unfit.

He just thinks he's unfit for the role.

Verse 11.

Moses said to God,

Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?

Who am I?

Now, the reality is,

Moses is the perfect person for it.

He was raised in the Egyptian court.

He knows the Egyptian situation.

He knows how to deal with them politically because he was raised in that situation.

He's also an Israelite so he can speak for them.

There is no one like Moses for this situation.

And yet he says,

Who am I, God?

Who am I?

He feels inadequate for the task.

He's already tried to save Israel once before.

He's had to flee Egypt.

And he's saying,

God, you've got the wrong person.

And God responds,

I love God's answers here.

God's answers are just truly wonderful.

And what he does,

he actually doesn't answer the question,

but also gives the best answer to the question.

Moses asks,

Who am I?

And God says in verse 12,

I will be with you.

Your identity is a former child of the Egyptian royal family.

That's actually not important.

Your identity as a lost son of Israel.

That's not important.

What is important is my identity.

I am God.

And I am with you.

Despite God's promise that he'll be with him,

Moses is not convinced.

He comes back to God with his second fear.

Verse 13,

effectively asks,

Well, who are you?

Verse 13,

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 do I tell them?

Moses' first question was about his own fear of his identity.

Who am I to do this?

Now, in questioning God,

he says,

Well, who are you, God?

Who am I to explain who you are?

I don't have knowledge of who you are

to explain that to the Israelite leaders.

And God's response is one of the most studied parts of the Old Testament.

God answers with his name.

What is known as Yahweh.

Verse 14,

God said to Moses,

I am who I am.

That's the word Yahweh.

This is what you are to say to the Israelites.

I am has sent me to you.

Now, this is a name that is meant to burst our definitions.

When we meet people and introduce ourselves,

we define ourselves by other things.

So, you know,

when I met, you know,

Nick,

it's,

Hi, Nick.

I'm James.

I'm a father.

I'm a husband.

I'm a teacher,

an accountant.

We communicate who we are

by the things around us.

We give ourselves titles

to help other people understand us.

We define ourselves

by other things.

But God does not do that.

His argument actually circles back on itself.

I am who I am.

God is not defined by anything else.

He doesn't need to say,

you know,

for me,

I am Alyssa's husband.

I explain who I am

by reference to somebody else.

God doesn't do that.

He says,

I am who I am.

God,

he's not constrained by external factors.

He doesn't depend upon other people.

And that means that when he makes promises,

he can keep them.

I am who I am

can also be translated as,

I will be who I will be.

And so,

in four out of five of Moses' questions and objections,

God actually answers,

I will be with you.

The God of the universe is with you.

But this God of the universe

has also made himself known

to a specific group of people.

Verse 15,

Say to the Israelites,

the God of your fathers,

the God of Abraham,

the God of Isaac,

and the God of Jacob

has sent me to you.

This God,

who's not defined by other people,

has come to know and love

a particular people.

This is not a new God.

This is the God of Israel.

Moses had questioned who he was,

and then he had questioned who God is,

and now Moses asks,

well,

how are you going to be with me?

God has,

and God sets out this wonderful plan.

You're going to go and speak to the elders.

They will listen.

Pharaoh,

his heart will be hardened.

He won't want to let you out of Egypt,

but I will work miracles through you,

and you will go,

and you will plunder Egypt.

You will have obstacles,

but no matter how big they are,

you will get through them,

not because of you,

but because of me,

because I am is with you.

Moses has heard God's wonderful plan.

He has heard about who this God is.

He's heard these assurances from God,

but he still isn't willing to give up.

He fears that he won't be effective.

He has his third fear here,

in chapter 4, verse 1.

What if they don't believe me,

or listen to me,

and say,

the Lord did not appear to you?

Moses still has a lot of issues

trusting in God,

and trusting in other people.

But more seriously,

he's just disagreed with God himself.

God has said,

this is the plan,

this is what's going to happen,

and this is how it's going to work out.

And Moses stands back and goes,

I just want to,

God,

I just want to clarify point 2.

I don't think that one's going to work.

Can you imagine Moses' audacity here

to do that to God?

It appears that verbal assurances

are just not good enough.

And so God gives him an immediate sign.

God says,

Moses,

throw down your staff that you've got.

Moses throws it down,

and it turns into a snake.

And Moses runs away

out of fear of a snake.

God says,

go and pick the snake up by the tail,

and he picks it up by the tail,

and it turns back into a staff.

God calls him to overcome his fear.

And this shows that God is more powerful

than Moses' fear,

but it also validates his authority.

You are sent by God,

you have my authority.

God tells Moses to put his hand into his cloak,

and it comes out covered in leprosy.

It goes back in,

and comes out clean,

because this God is in control

of life and death and disease.

God promises Moses,

Moses,

take water out of the Nile

and pour it out,

and it will turn into blood

because this God is in control

of the Nile,

which gave life to the people of Egypt.

These three signs

were to give confidence to Moses

that God is in control,

and that God was with him.

His name himself,

I am,

is with you.

But somehow,

Moses has a fourth excuse.

If you're not getting frustrated

with Moses at this point,

you are far more patient than I am.

I'm getting quite frustrated

with Moses here.

His fear comes up.

His fear is that he just,

I don't have the right gifting.

I can't do this

because I don't have the right gifting.

Chapter 4, verse 10.

Moses said to the Lord,

pardon your servant, Lord.

I have never been eloquent,

neither in the past

nor since you have spoken

to your servant.

I am slow of speech and tongue.

I don't have the gifting of words.

So somehow he has the ability

to speak to a burning bush,

and that's been fine,

but he can't go and speak to Pharaoh.

He's seen a staff turn into a snake

and pick that up.

He's turned his hand leprous and back,

and yet he says,

God,

I don't have the gift to do this.

And God reminds him

that God is the one

who made mouths

and speech.

Verse 12,

now go,

I will help you speak.

I will teach you what to say.

Again,

God is promising

based on who he is,

I am with you.

Moses' fifth

and last excuse.

Verse 13,

send someone else.

He's just unwilling.

I just don't want to do this, God.

God appears to have a tone of irritation,

if not rebuke,

in verse 14.

Then the Lord's anger

burned against Moses,

and he said,

what about your brother,

Aaron the Levite?

Verse 15,

you shall speak to him

and put words in his mouth.

I will help both of you speak

and will teach you what to do.

God is going to use Moses to speak.

Moses is going to be the one who speaks,

but Moses is going to speak to Aaron

and then Aaron will speak.

And God's anger here,

it's tinged with mercy.

He doesn't get rid of him.

He doesn't use someone else,

but he appoints a spokesperson for Moses.

Moses could not shrink away from God any longer.

Someone else was going to do the talking,

but Moses was going to be the one

leading Israel out of Egypt.

God has defeated every single one

of Moses' excuses.

Moses has been plagued by fear,

and that's influenced his desire

not to return to Egypt.

And really,

this example of Moses

just highlights

how unimpressive people are

and how God chooses to use them anyway.

It's really wonderful here

because God doesn't encourage Moses

with nice words or platitudes.

God doesn't say to Moses,

everything will be fine.

You can do this.

Moses, actually,

you're a great speaker.

You've just got to start doing it.

You're going to be great.

You're going to go there,

and you're actually going to be really convincing.

Pharaoh's going to hear you,

and it's going to be awesome.

You can do this, Moses.

I believe in you.

God doesn't do that at all.

God doesn't try and puff him up at all.

This is not an issue of Moses

having more self-esteem.

This is an issue of Moses

having more God-esteem.

As Moses lists his list of excuses,

I imagine the burning bush just nodding.

Yeah.

Yeah, no, you are not gifted.

Yeah, you do really suck.

You are quite unimpressive.

No, that's right, Moses.

You can't actually do this.

But none of this depends on Moses.

God's answers all the way through are,

I am with you.

This is all about God and not Moses.

The joy of our God

is that when he calls us to follow him

and sends us out,

he doesn't leave us on our own.

God answers every single one

of Moses' questions

with power and strength

that is from God.

When God calls someone

like a prophet or Moses here

in this situation or us,

he gives us our resources

to do what we've been called to do.

And God is with us.

God uses unimpressive people

to do impressive things

because we are ordinary people

with an extraordinary God.

This is how God calls people.

He calls us to the same thing.

He calls us to follow and serve him.

He doesn't bring people into him

without also sending them out

with love and compassion

and the words of the gospel.

And he equips us

and resources us

to be on about his ministry.

And most importantly,

he is with us.

So what does it look like

to follow God's call?

When Jesus is about to ascend to heaven

after the resurrection,

he says in Matthew 28,

Jesus sends his disciples out,

just like God sent Moses out,

go out against the authorities

of the land

because Jesus has all authority.

Jesus calls the disciples to go

and promises,

I am with you.

This is Jesus using God's name.

It's a direct reference

to Exodus 3.

God said,

this is who I am.

This is the name of God.

And Jesus said,

I am with you.

You can go up against rulers

and nations.

You can go up against

the Jewish church disciples.

You will be persecuted.

You will share the good news

that I am alive

all because Jesus was with them.

Not only was he with them,

he also gives them what they need.

They're given the Holy Spirit

so that they don't go out empty

and they don't have to go out

with fear like Moses was.

Jesus said in Luke 12

that when they're confronted

with authorities,

don't worry how to respond.

Don't worry about what you have to say.

The Holy Spirit will give you

the words to say

at the moment when you need them.

Moses was given a staff.

We have been given the Holy Spirit

equipping us

and enabling us to serve God.

He gives us the courage to speak

and he gives us the words.

And yet,

despite God's call to us,

resourcing us through the power

of the Holy Spirit

and promises from Jesus

that he is still with us,

we can be like Moses.

Out of our fear,

we can say,

I can't do that.

I'm not the right person.

And our fear of the situation

can be larger than our fear of God.

Our concern,

as Kel said for us before,

our concern will be,

oh,

what happens when I speak

these words about Jesus?

What happens when I just

drop that into a sentence?

How are they going to respond?

These problems we face

are larger than our God

in our eyes too often.

I asked you earlier

how you'd think you'd respond

if you were in Moses' shoes.

Which one of those

do you think you'd default to?

Do you think you would

just say,

oh,

I can't do this,

I'm not the right person,

I don't have the knowledge?

Maybe,

maybe you don't.

And so,

do you know what,

as Kel has encouraged us,

we need to have information,

and we need to have tactics.

And so,

come along to the

How to Share Your Faith course

starting in a couple of weeks.

Because,

we will have those then.

God has worked salvation

through Jesus,

and when we are saved,

we are called

to go out

to serve Him.

We're called to

serve each other with love,

to serve the world.

And God wonderfully

gives us all

different gifts.

calls some of us

to preach

on the stage

like this,

and He calls some of us

to preach

over coffee,

over the fence,

to our neighbours.

Some

to go out

to other nations

to love

and serve people,

and some to go

across the road

to serve

and love

other people.

He calls

all of us

to give

out of compassion.

He calls

some of us

to evangelise

with a capital E,

to congregations

of 10,000

in stadiums

like

has happened

years ago.

But He calls

us all

to evangelise.

And so,

a question is,

well,

how do I know

what God

has called me to?

I don't want

to do the wrong thing.

You know,

it was easy for Moses.

He had God speak

directly to him

through a burning bush.

Where's my burning bush?

God,

I want to know

what you want me to do.

Tell me what to do.

We all have a desire

to be purposeful

and to make a difference.

Let me encourage you,

start where you are.

God has placed you

where you are

for a reason.

He wants you there

and you can make

a difference for God

where you are.

So begin where you are.

If you are a parent,

disciple your kids.

Imagine the impact

you can have

through your kids

and your kids'

friendship group,

let alone

your kids'

friends'

parents.

If you are at school,

the impact you can have

on friends

and teachers.

If you are part

of a family,

if you have friends,

ask God,

God,

you have me

in this situation

where I am.

It is unique

to me.

How can I

be serving

and loving

these people here?

God,

how are you

calling me

right now

to do this

in this situation?

Even before we think,

oh,

God's calling me

to go overseas,

which is quite difficult

at this moment.

God's calling me

to go and serve

another people.

How is God

calling us

to serve the people

he has placed

around us now?

And yet,

even when we know

exactly what we are

to do,

we can still struggle.

In the 2013

Superman film,

Man of Steel,

I'm not sure

if you've seen it.

It's a fine movie

if you like Superman.

In this movie,

Superman is confronted

with a large challenge.

He's got to go

and fight the villains.

But he's wracked

with fear

of what he should do.

He doesn't know

what he should do.

And he goes to church.

It's really interesting

that Superman

would go to church.

He goes to church

and he talks

to the pastor there.

And he's trying

to work through

his doubt

and his fear

and to understand

what he needs

to do next.

What is he called

to do to fight

these villains?

And it's quite

interesting

because this is a guy

who has

all of the skills.

He can fly.

He's bulletproof.

He's got laser eyes.

And yet,

he's still sitting

in a position of,

I don't know

what I should do next.

We can have

all the gifting.

We can have

all of the ability.

And we can just sit there

like Moses'

very first

and last response

and go,

who am I?

And I just

don't want to do it.

We can have

all the training

in evangelism

and discipleship

and care

and compassion.

We can sit

with Kel.

We can get

all the words.

We can know

how to evangelize.

We can have

the ability

to do it

and we can

also just

pull back

and say,

I don't want

to do it.

God

sends someone else.

What helps us

in that situation

is not more knowledge.

It is not more training.

It's not more self-esteem.

It's not more courage.

I just need to pull up

my socks and do it.

It is not more self-esteem.

It is more

God

esteem.

The insurmountable,

unfathomable,

incalculable

God

encounters us

in Jesus.

The Jesus

we see

in the Bible.

We can know

him not because

our minds

can understand

the infinite

but because

he made himself

low.

Bound by skin

and muscles

and bone

which could be

pierced and whipped.

This God

chooses us

unimpressive people

to achieve

his extraordinary work.

He finds us

I'll describe

I'll talk about me

because I don't want to say

you're all unimpressive

and ordinary

even though I think

I already have.

He finds people

like me

ordinary people

and says

I am

with you.

I have got this.

It actually doesn't

depend on you.

I have got this.

got this.

You follow me

when I call you

obey me.

In the coming weeks

we're going to see

that God does

some amazing things

through Moses.

But he also

promises to do

amazing things

through us.

That he would

first of all

save us.

God's plan for us

is that he would

sanctify us.

He is making us

more like Jesus

today.

And God also

chooses to use

people like us

to do his amazing

miraculous work

of seeing people

saved to come

to know and love him.

When we trust him

and know he is

with us

we can obey

his call.

Let me pray.

dear heavenly

father

I thank you so

much that

you do choose

to use

unimpressive

normal people

like us.

Lord

that is

in and of

itself

a wonderful

miracle.

Lord

you have done

so much

for us

in Jesus

and Lord

we want

to see

you do

wonderful miracles

in our lives

and through

us.

Lord

help us

to hear

your call

to listen

to what you

have to say

to us.

Make it

obvious

so that

we can

obey.

Lord

with our

fears

with our

desires

to pull

back

and avoid

doing this

Lord

don't give us

courage

give us

trust in you

Lord.

Amen.