Journey to Freedom Lesson Two Exodus 3-4:7

I. Important things.

A. 3: 12 And God said, “I will be with you.”

B. 3:14 God said to Moses, “I am who I am.”

For the first time God has given us a name by which we can know him and communicate with him.

In the Gospel of John, Jesus uses this most holy name of God “Yahweh," which is translated "I am" to show that he is the Messiah.

John 8:58 “Jesus answered, ‘I tell you for certain that even before Abraham was, I was, and I am.’ The people picked up stones to kill Jesus, but he hid and left the temple.”

Revelation 1:4 “From John to the seven churches in Asia. I pray that you will be blessed with kindness and peace from God, who is and was and is coming.”

C. The presence of God– Fire.

Burning bush, cloud of fire by night, Elijah and the prophets of Bail, Holy Spirit at Pentecost, etc.

II. Interesting things

A. The Mountain of the Lord 3:12 “And God said, ‘I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.’ "

Mt. Horeb = Mt Sinai. On this mountain Moses received his call to deliver the people out of bondage, and on this mountain he would receive the tablets of the law.

B. Angel of the Lord. See pg. 23 in your notes

III. Strange things

A. 3:1 “Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian.” (Gen. 25:1-4)

B. Aaron. 4:14 “Then the Lord’s anger burned against Moses and he said, ‘What about your brother, Aaron the Levite? I know he can speak well. He is already on his way to meet you, and his heart will be glad when he sees you.’”

IV. Exodus 3:1-14. God’s Call of Moses

A. What is our relationship with God really about? Is it about what we can do for God?

    The LORD is my shepherd;
       I have everything I need.

    He lets me rest in green meadows;
       he leads me beside peaceful streams.

     He renews my strength.
    He guides me along right paths,
       bringing honor to his name.

    Even when I walk
       through the dark valley of death,
    I will not be afraid,
       for you are close beside me.
    Your rod and your staff
       protect and comfort me.

    You prepare a feast for me
       in the presence of my enemies.
    You welcome me as a guest,
       anointing my head with oil.
       My cup overflows with blessings.

    Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me
       all the days of my life,
    and I will live in the house of the LORD
       forever.

D. The only thing that seems to be required of us is to live in the house of the Lord.

E. Is this another clue to what freedom might look like? Does Freedom have something to do with staying in God’s presence?

V. God’s Call.

A. 3:10 “Now go, for I am sending you to Pharaoh. You will lead my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt."

Moses was not a happy volunteer. “Please get somebody else, God…please any one but me.”

It would appear that God is in the habit of calling people, including us, to do things they (we) can not do. At least, we can not do them without God’s help.

B. 3:12 “Then God told him, ‘I will be with you.’”

Impossible task + inadequate person + faithful God = Success (not always)

Impossible task + inadequate person + faithful God = perfect outcome (not usually)

Impossible task + inadequate person + faithful God = a job well done (maybe)

Let’s try again.

Impossible task + inadequate person + faithful God = God’s help so that we can remain faithful.

C. In faithfulness we find freedom. Going our own way leads to slavery.

“My dear friends, continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.”

Philippians 2:12-13

“Humility in the biblical sense is not a place of weakness. It is a disposition of yieldedness to God’s guidance and authority which allows God to give us His strength.” Lesson 2 (pg 19)

D. So if the path to freedom is having a disposition of yieldedness…how do we get there? How did Moses get there?

VI. A burning bush and bare feet

A. Being barefoot is a little like learning to walk this path of yieldedness. We sometimes call this yieldedness, Holiness.

Moses’ call happened on a very ordinary day, while Moses was doing very ordinary stuff – taking care of his father’s sheep.

He was just doing his work – nothing special – and then God appeared.

B. The journey to freedom takes place in the most ordinary of ways. It is in our everyday lives that we learn to let go of the chains that bind us. It’s in our everyday lives that God shows up.

Oregano and Crabgrass

All of us have impulses from time to time to live a holy life – life lived as it should be, life true and good and beautiful, life lived for and in and by means of our Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier. And then someone telephones with an invitation to the hockey game, or we notice that the salad needs oregano, or the crabgrass in the lawn suddenly becomes a pressing priority. We are distracted by the mundane and forfeit, for yet another time, the holy. Or so we assume.

And then we find ourselves in the company of a writer or writers who penetrate the surface pieties and show us what the holy life is really like, that it is the hockey game and the oregano and the crabgrass that provide the raw material for holiness. Holiness is not being nice. A holy life isn’t a matter of men and women being polite with God, but of humans who accept and enter into God’s work of shaping salvation out of the unlikely material of our sin and ignorance, our ambition and waywardness – also our loves and aspirations and nobilities, but never by just smoothing over rough edges. Holiness is not polish.

From: Living the Message: Daily Reflections with Eugene Peterson

1 Peter 1: 14-16 As obedient children, let yourselves be pulled into a way of life shaped by God’s life, a life energetic and blazing with holiness. God said, “I am Holy; you be holy.”