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Sermon Date:	March 2, 2008 (Redeemer, Sanford)
Sermon Text:	Exodus 3:1-15
Church Calendar:	TKC Week 9
Delivered By:	Rev. Brian Roberts

"Sent with His Name"

Well, here we go again. A few months ago, I listed some of the Jesus sightings that have occurred around the county. Well, not only is Jesus continuing to appear in a variety of ways, but it seems that He especially likes Florida.

Back in November, the image of Jesus appeared on a pancake in Port St. Lucie, FL. And the next month in Homestead FL, Jesus appeared on a chest X-ray. And already this year the image of Jesus has appeared on a slab of granite in Tampa, and on a slice of raw potato in Marion County.

We have no shortage, in this world, of people who claim that God has appeared to them, or spoken to them, or is, otherwise, trying to contact them. And while, most of these claims belong in category of nonsense, there is one sighting today that we are going to have to pay some attention to.

In Exodus, chapter 3, Moses is herding sheep in one of the most desolate deserts of the world when he notices a bush on fire.

But this bush is not burning up. It just continues to burn and burn – like a candle. So, as verse 3 records, Moses says to himself, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.” And then something truly unusual happens. The bush starts to speak to Moses, which, I’m sure, was a bit of a surprise.

But not for us! We, already in verse 2, know that this is God appearing to Moses.

Even though, the verse says that “the angel of the Lord” appeared, we know that it’s God. There are several cases in the Bible where “the angel of the Lord,” is a figure of speech referring to God. But by verse 6 there is no doubt, because “the angel of the Lord” says, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.”

So, as Moses approaches the burning bush, WE know that God is there. But, Moses doesn’t – not yet – not until the talking bush says, “Do not come any closer. Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.”

And “at this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.”

When I was in 8th grade, I was attending Zion Lutheran School in Anaheim, CA. We had a school band, and I played the clarinet. I couldn’t, for the life of me play it now, but back then I could. It was a small band. There were only about a dozen of us. And we would play only occasionally at school functions.

Well, that 8th grade year our band director decided that he wanted us to be a marching band. You see, there was a parade coming up in the city of Anaheim, and he wanted us to march in it. Well, this was new to us, so we practiced and practiced, because playing AND marching is not exactly easy.

Since the school had no band uniforms, our band director borrowed some burgundy-colored jackets from somewhere. But that’s all we had. The rest of the uniform was up to us. We had to find white shirts, white pants, and we were supposed to wear white shoes.

But on the day of the parade I showed up wearing black shoes.

Now, I remember the band director talking about black shoes. But in retrospect, apparently what he had said about black shoes was, “Do NOT wear them.” So there I was in our little band, marching down the street, everyone in white pants and white shoes – except for me in my black shoes.

In the sea of white marching legs and feet, there was my black spot. It was SO obvious that I had got it wrong. We have pictures of this in our family. I stand out like a sore thumb. I can laugh about it now, but back then all I wanted to do was hide.

Now, I want you to imagine the embarrassment of having your error and imperfection so exposed – right there in the middle of the street. Not fun, right?

Now, multiply it by ten thousand and ten thousand, and you begin to approach what Moses felt as a sin-filled human creature in the presence of a holy, perfect, and majestic God.

You see, sin is not just being imperfect. Sin is who we really are. We are by nature sinful. It is our identity. It is what motivates and drives us. It is our nature. It is the evil, toxic thoughts that are so much a part of our thinking. It is that bubbling worry and discontent that is always there when we ponder tomorrow and the future.

It is that nasty way we always react when certain people push our buttons. It is the frustrating powerlessness to find and keep happiness.

And sin teaches us to keep ourselves in the dark about it all. It teaches us to deny that things are really that bad – that WE are really that bad. Sin instructs us believe that we are basically decent people. It blinds us to our real condition and our genuine needs.

But, God has no such handicap. Nothing is hidden from His sight. He knows better than we do how sin-stained we are. He knows better than we do that sin has brought ALL our problems down upon us. Sin is not just annoying imperfections. It is the poison in our soul that causes our problems with other people, with our families, with ourselves. It ruins any hope for true and lasting happiness, because it ruins our relationship with God.

Any human creature, who comes into the presence of God, sees clearly how unholy and black our sin has made us. And, as Moses stands before the holy God of heaven and earth, Who speaks to him in the midst of the flames and the bush, he hides his face – too terrified to look.

St. Peter experienced a little of that same terror shortly after he met Jesus, when Christ caused Peter and his friends to have a miraculous catch of fish. Realizing that he was in the presence of God, Peter also responded by hiding his face and begging, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord” (Luke 5:8).

How would you like to have your deepest, innermost thoughts or deeds exposed? Not me. I want to keep those things hidden. I don’t want ANYONE to know EVERYTHING about me. That’s why our unworthiness naturally drives us to run away from God in terror. He is the One Who DOES know everything about us.

We cannot come to God, so God comes to us. But He does not come to destroy us. He seeks us out to announce to us His salvation.

As John 3:16&17 proclaims, “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn [you,] but to save [you] through Him.”

As we began our Thy Kingdom Come journey back in January, do you remember what happened after the fall into sin? The Lord called Adam and Eve out from their hiding places. Remember, they too, had hid their faces from God.

He called them out to expose the deadly consequences of their sin, but also, to proclaim that the Lord was going to save us. He proclaimed that HE would save us from those consequences by over-powering the devil, taking on Himself the punishment for sin, and destroying death.

When God comes to Moses at the bush and says that He has seen the affliction His people, when He says “…I have come down to rescue them from of the hand of the Egyptians…” and when He declares that “I will send you [Moses,] to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt,” God is not only renewing the promise to save us, but He is also giving us a picture of how He will deliver us from the slavery of sin through Jesus Christ.

This SAME GOD will send a greater Moses, Who will take on sin, death, and the devil, Himself. THIS Messiah will go to the cross and will substitute Himself for us. One, Who is greater than Moses, and all the angels, and all creation will come and rescue us from our slavery to sin. And the ONE speaking to Moses will be the ONE who comes.

Here, at the bush, God says He is the great “I AM.” When Moses asks God for His name, God responds, “This is what you are to say to the Israelites: “I AM has sent me to you.’”

But what does Jesus say in John chapter 8? In speaking about Who He is, He says, “I tell you the truth, before Abraham was born, I AM!”

The God speaking to Moses is none other than Christ. How powerful this is – to see Christ, Himself, carrying the story forward, towards its culmination at the cross.

Through Moses, the Redeemer rescues the Israelites from certain death in Egypt, destroying Pharaoh and His armies at the Red Sea. This same Redeemer, Jesus, rescues us from certain eternal death in Hell. Nailed to the cross, Christ endures the curse and punishment of sin for us, battling all our spiritual enemies.

He drowned Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea, and He drowns our sin, death, and the devil in the “Red Sea” of His blood, shed on the cross. Then He rises from the dead on Easter to show that He has accomplished our rescue, and to guarantee that we have new life.

Because of the resurrection, sin is not who we are anymore. It is not our identity, anymore. It is not what drives or motivates us. Through faith we have Christ, Who live in us. HE is our new life, and hope, and future. In our baptism we put on God’s Name, I AM.

And then we are sent into the rest of our lives and our service to Him, bearing God’s Name. But we are not alone. While Christ doesn’t appear to us in the form of a burning bush anymore, He does still come to us in the form of bread and wine, which is His crucified and risen Body and Blood.

Do you ever feel weak, unholy, inadequate, troubled? The God who calls Himself “I AM” has come to you. The LORD has surely seen YOUR afflictions. He knows YOUR suffering. YOUR cries have come to Him. And He has come to you.

He has come to you in His holy Word. And He is about to come to you again, in the wonderful Sacrament of His Body and Blood. This is the God of your daily life, the God Who is with you and caring for you. This is the God of your salvation and the God of your eternity.

Trust Him. You bear His Name. You are sent out, with that Name to serve and tell of His salvation.

This Name will not let you down – after all, what does He say at the end of this passage? “This is my name forever, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation.”

Amen.

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