THE CALL TO STAND ON HOLY GROUND

THE CALL TO STAND ON HOLY GROUND
Exodus 3:1-10
Most of the people you meet each day, good bad or indifferent,
live by their wits in this dog-eat-dog world and never think about God
at all. If they ever do consciously think of God they probably think
in terms of restrictions and oughts and shoulds.
But at the same time most of the people we meet each day at some time or other have stopped and asked themselves the question, "Is this what life is all about?"
For when we live by our wits or not, life is full of hard places.

If we were to be brutally honest, it isn't just the most of the
people we meet that are frustrated with life at times-- and who do not
think of God most of the time. People LIKE YOU AND ME who should know
better, or who may have been taught better, or even people who in
earlier times at a youth camp somewhere or a revival meeting or a VBS
made a commitment to God find that they can live a whole day a whole
week a whole month without ever looking to God, and then one day ask
that same question, "Is this what life is all about? Isn't there more
than this?"

THIS IS WHERE THE EXODUS STORY COMES IN....

In the most modern, progressive, intelligent civilization the
world had known to that time-- a nation that had already produced
man-made wonders like the great pyramids of Giza that were evidence of
knowledge of celestial orbits-- in that nation were several hundred
thousand men, women and children who were descendants of the Hebrew
Patriarchs. Four hundred years earlier Jacob had taken his tribe in a
time of famine into Egypt, following his son Joseph who was viceroy of
the entire land. They had been honored guests of the Pharaoh. At that
time there were a total of 72 Hebrews.

But in the intervening 400 years governments had changed, and
generations had passed and now the Egyptians had brutally dominated
the Hebrews. The descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were
reduced to living by their wits in the absence of God-- or so they
thought. But from time to time they raised their heads and hearts and
voices and said, "O God! Is this all there is to life?"
And so far as they knew -- nothing! Nothing happened! Day followed day, and
nothing happened.

WHAT A GREAT STORY THIS IS!!

Just as these people were praying almost in despair-- several
hundred miles to the southeast there was a solitary shepherd on the
backside of the desert near a mountain called Horeb. He looked like
any other shepherd, perhaps. He was a shepherd with a very
interesting life story. He had been a prince. He tried being a hero.
He became a fugitive.

I have no idea what was going through this
man's mind as he stood, a tiny isolated little speck of humanity in a
vast dry wasteland south of the Negev. But Moses was about to have an
encounter with God.

GOD MEETS ONE LONE MAN IN THE MIDDLE OF A BARREN DESERT--

The man, Moses, saw a fire. It was a fire that burned and burned
and burned. Moses turned aside to see it. (Significant!) The
scripture says (4) "When the LORD saw that (Moses) turned aside..."
then Moses was confronted with Almighty God. Moses was drawn, but he
was also almost in terror. It was electrifying.

After more than 3,000 years this story has tremendous
significance. For it tells in language deeper than words can express,
to those who will listen, something about what happens when we come
into living contact with God.

THE WONDER OF GOD REACHING TO A HUMAN BEING
[All Moses could do was "draw near"...not generate the experience;
also extreme reverence of Jews for this name "YWHW" and LORD in our
OT...]
Rudolph Otto, a respected German scholar, used three Latin
adjectives to describe encounters with God in the Bible in general,
and this Burning Bush story in particular. Those three words are
tremendum, and mysterium, and fascinans.
Tremendum: Otto used the word tremendum to express three aspects
of a divine-human encounter. First, he said was (1) A sense of
awe. It is, in his words, "a quite specific kind of emotional
response, wholly distinct from that of being afraid, though it so
far resembles it that the analogy of fear may be used to throw
light upon its nature." The Scripture says "Moses hid his face
for he was afraid to look at God." Later, when God had brought
all the people to this place again they, too, were afraid and
trembled and stood at a distance.
But there is more. Tremendum means also (2) an overpowering, a
majesty-- a majestic distance-- realizing the infinite difference
between the ineffable God and our mortal humanity. The prophet
Habakkuk said: "I hear, and I tremble within; my lips quiver at
the sound. Rottenness enters my bones, and my steps tremble
beneath me." Daniel said, "My strength left me, and my
complexion grew pale, and I retained no strength." Both these
men stated later that they felt greatly beloved and yet they were
shaken physically and mentally and spiritually.
Finally tremendum has elements of what can only be described as
(3) sheer "energy." The "energy" is sometimes represented in
fantastic ways-- Ezekiel's wheels within wheels-- the four living
creatures of Revelation-- even the picture of the living Savior
in Revelation chapter one-- (words like Psalm 29: 5 - 9)
The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars;
the LORD breaks the cedars of Lebanon.
He makes Lebanon skip like a calf,
And Sirion like a young wild ox.
The voice of the LORD flashes forth flames of fire,
The voice of the LORD shakes the wilderness;
the LORD shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.
The voices of the LORD causes the oaks to whirl,
and strips the forest bare;
and in his temple all say, "Glory!")
"Awe" like Abram in Genesis 15 when "a horror" came over him as
God passed between the pieces of the sacrifice "Overpowering" like
Habakkuk who says, "I hear, and I tremble within; my lips quiver
at the sound. Rottenness enters my bones, and my steps tremble
beneath me." Energy beyond any human-generated excitement!
[THAT IS A LONG WAY FROM BODY SURFING AT A JESUS ROCK CONCERT]
But AWE is not all when God asks us to turn aside: [Another word:]
Mysterium: Encounters with God can never be really described.
And they cannot be duplicated or summoned up at will. Ezekiel is
never ever willing to say he saw God or even God's glory-- but he
IS willing to say he saw something LIKE the glory of God:
And above the dome over their heads there was something LIKE a
throne, in appearance LIKE a sapphire, and seated above the
likeness of the throne was something that SEEMED like a human
form..." and so on.
When the Bible tells about people coming into contact with God it
never confuses this great I AM THAT I AM with the physical
setting nor does it give any glory to the humans involved. God
is not in the whirlwinds or the fire or in the burning bush or
even in the mountain or the tablets of stone. Moses does not
fast and pray until God has to do as Moses says. There is always
mystery involved when the great God reaches out to communicate
with people.
One might say God has a big problem. How does he get near to us
without on the one hand consuming us with his energy, and on the
other hand convince us that He really is interested in us if we
will listen and respond in humility and faith. There will always
be mystery.
[Finally-- and wonderfully-- there is another aspect:]
Fascinans: The final adjective Rudolph Otto uses to describe
encounters with God is fascinans, or the root word for
"fascination." There is a tremendous attraction within the human
heart for the holiness of God. For God is white hot passionate
caring LOVE. To think that someone just simply downright LOVES
you is just about the most fascinating thing in the world.
"Love" of some kind or other is the dynamic that drives most of
the dramas and novels of the world-- the concept of loving and
being loved. But no love can compare with the purity and
intensity of the LOVE that emanates from an encounter with God.
Awe. Mystery. Great fascination! Moses is awed. He covers his
face. He certainly does not understand. But what is this-- this I AM
THAT I AM finally saying to Moses?
THIS GREAT GOD CARES ABOUT PEOPLE
He is saying, to Moses,
"I have been listening to a bunch of people who are living by
their wits, and who haven't really ever thought much of Me,
except that I am "absent" from their lives. I have been hearing
them ask 'Is this all there is to life?' And I have even heard
some of them cry poor, broken prayers like, "O God, if there IS a
God-- like I have heard about in fairy tales and myths and
stories about Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob-- why don't you show up
here and help me? ' Well, Moses, I AM is going to show up! And
GUESS WHO is going to introduce ME and begin the process of
answering their prayers??"
God went on to say that the proof that He was really God would be that
right here-- right at the base of this mountain-- one day you will be
standing with those very people who are praying to Me right now-- and
together you will worship. And then, and then only, the fire
disappeared. It did not "go out." It simply was gone, and there
stood Moses all alone in the vast expanse of desert.
THERE IS A CONNECTION, OF COURSE, BETWEEN THE PEOPLE IN EGYPT ASKING
"IS THIS ALL THERE IS TO LIFE?" AND THE BURNING BUSH EXPERIENCE OF
MOSES-- DO YOU THINK THERE MIGHT BE A CONNECTION OF GENUINE WORSHIP
AND GOD'S LOVE FOR PEOPLE "OUT THERE"??
A lot of things happened in the next few months to Moses and to
Egypt and the people who were slaves but were to become the people of
God. Great miracles took place, and God nearly destroyed Egypt
getting the people out and away from their old masters. But the
bottom line is this: one man met God-- Almighty God-- and obeyed Him.
When this one man invited the slaves in Egypt to follow God they
believed him, they responded to the promises of this God. And one day
the living descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob stood at the
Mountain of God, and they saw the fire and they experienced tremendum,
and they experienced mysterium, and yet at the same time they knew
fascinans.
When WE think of the Exodus we think of the details of the
journey-- the parting of the sea, the manna, the water from the rock--
and that is only natural.
But really Exodus is about a God of fire and holiness and mystery
who calls people to look up and believe and to walk with Him and trust
Him and find they have never been so free and so happy. Exodus is
about being drawn out of life that goes around in circles into a life
that ascends in spirals that never, ever, ever end. Exodus is about
an invitation to fellowship with the eternal God, the I AM THAT I AM.
THE WONDER OF EXODUS IS THAT GOD WANTS TO COME NEAR
HIS PEOPLE AND NEVER, NEVER LEAVE THEM AGAIN!
So-- who are we? and where is God? Are we saying "Is THIS all?"
Can we ever see God inviting us to come nearer to Him? Will we take
time to "turn aside"??
THE MESSAGE OF EXODUS IS THAT ORDINARY PEOPLE CAN EXPERIENCE THE
TREMENDUM AND THE MYSTERIUM AND CERTAINLY THE FASCINANS OF COMING INTO
GOD'S PRESENCE-- AND THAT ORDINARY PEOPLE CAN WALK WITH GOD AND NEVER
NEED TO LEAVE HIS FELLOWSHIP EVER AGAIN.

(Preached at Wollaston, September 1, 1996)