Sermon for April 27, 2025

Exodus 19:1-6

Exodus 19:1-6 

English Standard Version 

  You can tell how God loves God's people -- it jumps off the page.  God delights in the people.  Here on the mountain, God starts by reminding Moses of how great God's love for the people is.  Everything else is rooted in this.  

  Today, there will be all sorts of noise in the world.  The news will be bad, and it will be depressing, although there will be some good news.  You will worry or feel anxious, about yourself or someone you love.  There will be uncertainty -- lots of uncertainty!  That is always frustrating, no matter how many times we tell ourselves that we're growing more comfortable with it.  

  Remember, God has born you on eagles' wings across the gulf that separated us from God due to sin.  God brought you to himself.  You are God's treasured possession, and the earth is God's.

  So let us live with a sense of joy in our soul, and may we serve God as a holy people in the midst of all we do.

Exodus 18:15-18

Exodus 18:15-18 

English Standard Version 

  Do you have anyone in your life who can tell you that what you are doing is not good?  I should add a note that says there are different ways to do this... some people will tell you with delight, pointing out that you are wrong, while others will tell you with compassion.  Seek the ones who do so with compassion.  God sends these people into our lives to remind us that we don't have to do everything on our own.  God sends us these people to share the burden, to offer wise counsel.  God doesn't ask us to do everything on our own.  Look at Jesus -- he was in constant community, surrounded by people, serving alongside them.  God provides for us, for our material and spiritual needs.  Sometimes, we need to set down our pride to hear the wise words of others counseling us how to act.  That can be hard, but when we listen to those speaking with compassion into our lives, they are most likely the voice of the Holy Spirit guiding and leading us, that we can continue to grow in sanctification, the process by which God is shaping us into the disciples we will be for all eternity.

Exodus 17:5-7

Exodus 17:5-7 

English Standard Version 

  Here we have a people, parched for water in the midst of the wilderness, and Moses strikes the rock, and water emerges.  

  Sound familiar?

  All of this is meant to point ahead to Christ.  Christ is the rock who is struck down, and from him, the water of life emerges.  When we read all of Scripture, we get the image of the waters that flow from the garden of Eden and wind their way through Scripture, ending up in the garden in the Kingdom of God in Revelation, beside which grows the tree of life with fruit for healing of all the nations.  We who sojourn in this land are thirsty, and God provides, at great cost.  Christ is struck down, but for our benefit -- we would have otherwise perished, but are given the waters of life.  We are saved through the waters, and so we drink deeply.  Other waters may promise to save us, but only this water truly can.  Thanks be to God for generous provisions as we travel this way together.