Restoring the Awe Part Three: Take Off Your Sandals By Remy Diederich Cedarbrook Church 5.29.16 Text: Exodus 3 Outline: 1. If you ve only heard that God loves and forgives you, you might be missing an awe of God. 2. God uses fire to communicate his holiness in a way that s hard to put into words. 3. Moses sandals represent what is acceptable to humans but unacceptable to God. 4. Encountering the holiness of God changes you forever and makes you useable for God s purposes. Message When my older sister was in high school, she lived in Austria for a summer as a foreign exchange student. I was only about six at the time. It all seemed so exotic to me my big sister living in another country. She wrote home every week, so I d go out to the mailbox every day to see if there was a letter from her. I remember the special blue envelopes she used that were used just for foreign mail. Fast-forward fifty years. My youngest daughter, Becca, went on an eleven-month mission trip where she served in eleven different countries. When we wanted to communicate with her, we didn t have to walk to the mailbox to send her a letter. We just opened up our computer and called her on Skype. We kept in touch with Becca in every country as she traveled the world. Now, for me, using Skype was awesome, literally. I was full of awe at the technology and so thankful for it. I mean, I remember writing and receiving those letters from my sister. But there was lots of waiting and disappointment when the letters didn t come on time. A couple letters didn t even make it to us until she had already returned home. And so, to instantly see our daughter, and talk to her in real-time, was amazing. But for kids growing up today, Skype is like, old news. It s soooo 2005. That s ancient history in today s world of technology. They are NOT impressed. I mention this because this same phenomenon has happened with God. We ve come to take God for granted. We ve lost our awe of him. Our problem is, we grew up in an age of grace, much like the young kids today have grown up in an age of technology. Just like they don t know what it s like to have to wait to communicate, we ve never known the full weight, or dread, of God s holiness like the Jews 1
did before Jesus. In fact, the Jews had a saying: It s a great and terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God. I wish we could all travel back in time before Jesus walked the earth, when God s Spirit was hidden behind a veil in the Temple. The only person allowed into the presence of God was the high priest, and he could only enter God s presence once a year, and he could only do that with the blood of a lamb. If he failed to follow procedure, he would die. It was serious business. People lived in a healthy fear of God, but Jesus changed all that. Jesus made a way into the presence of a holy God. That s why they called the message, the gospel it meant good news. You see, the people in the first century knew what it was like before and after Jesus. They knew the awesomeness of God before they knew the love of God. I m afraid that most of us today have lost that knowledge. My point is, if you grew up only hearing that God loves you and forgives you there is a good chance that you have no awe of God. The truth is: to fully appreciate God s love, we must first be in awe of his holiness. I read a blog recently where the author was in a worship service. The pastor said he wanted people to call out an end to this sentence: Lord you are. The blogger said that people called out words like: love, or mercy, or compassion. No one said, Lord you are just, Lord you are holy, Lord you are righteous. And he found that odd. He said it was apparent to him that we ve selected out a God who is full of love but has no glory. He is no longer holy. The author added: We evangelicals love talking about God s love. Just drop in on one of our church services and listen. You ll hear worship choruses dripping with lyrics that border on romantic. The sermon will gush with assurances of God s affection. While such affirmations are good we need reminders of God s love rarely do we speak of God s majesty, let alone whisper a word about his wrath. Among young Christians, this one-sided view of God is especially striking. Jesus is a homeboy or boyfriend. God is the big guy upstairs. Talk of divine holiness is dismissed as legalistic or judgmental. Drew Dyck The purpose of this series is to help us recapture a sense of God s glory and holiness. I want to restore a sense of awe to the way we think about God. Until we can grasp the weight of God s holiness, I don t think we can fully know God. Last week we looked in the first book of the Bible, Genesis, to learn about God s holiness. Today I want us to move to the second book, Exodus. It s interesting that the word holy or holiness is only used once in the book of Genesis. But in the book of Exodus, the word appears 78 times. That got my attention! Clearly something happened to cause the word to spring up like that. So let s see what that was. 2
First, a little context. When the book of Exodus begins, God s people were slaves in Egypt. The Pharoah was killing Jewish baby boys to prevent future rebellions. But one mother was smart enough to save her son by floating him in the river, hoping someone would find him and raise him. Of all people, the Pharoah s daughter found him, not knowing he was a Jew. She adopted him as her own, and ironically, raised a Jew in Pharoah s palace. One day, Moses saw an Egyptian beating a Jewish slave and so Moses killed the Egyptian. Then Moses ran away to live with his father-in-law, hiding out as a shepherd in the desert. And that s where I ll begin the story: Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb (Mt. Sinai), the mountain of God. Exodus 3:1 It was called the mountain of God because it s the mountain where God gave the Ten Commandments. Moses was no longer a privileged aristocrat. He went from living in the palace to sleeping with sheep in the desert. It had to be humbling for him. He must have felt like a loser, destined to just live out his days in obscurity. I have to smile at this because, here he is, dejected, and alone, having no clue that God was just about to speak to him and radically change the trajectory of his life. So, if you are feeling like a failure today, this is a good story for you. You might be closer to God radically changing your life than you realize. Let s keep reading: There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. Exodus 3:2 What I want you to notice is that God revealed himself with fire. He didn t come as a big teddy bear. He came in fire, and that was intentional. He communicated something foundational to his nature: something central to what he wanted to be known for throughout time. God often revealed himself with fire, as when he appeared to the prophet Ezekiel: Then I looked, and behold, a whirlwind was coming out of the north, a great cloud with raging fire engulfing itself; and brightness was all around it and radiating out of its midst like the color of amber, out of the midst of the fire. Ezekiel 1:4 God also appeared to Daniel with fire: The Eternal God took his seat. His clothes were as white as snow. The hair on his head was white like wool. His throne was blazing with fire. And flames were all around its wheels. A river of fire was flowing. It was coming out from in front of God. Thousands and thousands of angels served him. Daniel 7:9,10 3
It s hard to put the holiness of God into words, so God communicated his holiness with fire. Fire is something that we can all relate to. We understand the power of fire. Its power can help you. But its power can destroy you too, if you aren t careful. The letter to the Hebrews calls God a consuming fire. worship God in a way that pleases him: with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming-fire. Hebrews 12:28,29 In other words, treat God like you treat fire, with ultimate respect. But honestly, Moses probably didn t get the symbolism at that point. The fire just made him curious. Let s keep reading: So Moses thought, I will go over and see this strange sight why the bush does not burn up. When the LORD saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, Moses! Moses! And Moses said, Here I am. Exodus 3:3,4 I m sure Moses wasn t expecting to hear a voice. He was probably a little freaked out by it. Bushes don t usually talk in the desert, unless you are eating desert mushrooms. So he didn t fully know what was happening. Then God said: Do not come any closer, Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. Exodus 3:5 This is only the second time the word holy is used in the Bible. But after this experience, Moses refers to God as holy all the time. Now, why do you think God wanted Moses to take off his sandals? Remember, he was a shepherd. His sandals probably had a variety of things stuck to the bottom. Right? Shepherds aren t always aware of how they smell. I remember one winter I wore boots to church that I had worn in the barn that morning. They weren t my work boots, I just had to walk through the barn before I left for church. When I got to church I met in a small group of people and I took my boots off, and set them by my chair. My friend, who lived with me on the farm, looked at me like I was crazy. He picked up my boots and took them to the far side of the room. I didn t realize it, but apparently they smelled like the barn. Moses sandals were probably like my boots. They stank and God was making a point. When you come into his presence, things are different. It s holy ground, that is, ground set apart for something special. You don t approach God like you approach others. You play by new rules. His rules. He s not like us, so he has a different set of standards by which he wants to be treated. I like how God described himself through the prophet Isaiah: 4
Let the wicked forsake their ways and the unrighteous their thoughts. Let them turn to the LORD, For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. Isaiah 55:7-9 That s a great description of the holiness of God. So, sandals represent what is common and acceptable to humans, but what is unholy and unacceptable to God. We might be fine with what we are doing, but God has higher standards. Now, we have to assume that Moses obeyed God and took off his sandals. But if Moses was a modern day Christian I can imagine him responding in a lot of ways besides obedience. He might say, But, I ve always worn these sandals. What s the big deal? Or he might say, Everyone else wears sandals. Why can t I? Or, How does wearing sandals affect the way I hear your voice? Or maybe he would say: The government has determined that it s discriminatory to demand the removal of my sandals. You can t make me take them off. It s my right to wear them. I realize it s a hypothetical conversation that never happened. We ll never know what God would have said or done, but here s my guess. If Moses would have disobeyed God, I can imagine him doing one of two things. One, he might kill Moses. That s harsh but not beyond the range of what God would do. When you come face to face with the holy God, death is always possible. Remember, he s a consuming fire. Next week I m going to look at different times that God killed people in the Bible. It will be a great time to bring your friends to church! I know we don t like to look at those verses, but those stories help us understand the holiness of God. So that s one reaction God might have. The other reaction would be much milder. I can see God saying, Moses, Moses. You are absolutely right. You can hear me just as well with those sandals on as with them off. And it is your right to wear them if you d like. I love you more than you know, but I don t play by your rules. You either play by my rules or you don t play at all. So, I m going to say good-bye and look for a more willing candidate. I mention this little scenario because not many people would respond like Moses did, that is, removing his sandals. We want to serve God on our terms. We want him to play by our rules. We will only consider God s call if it fits our schedule and our comfort level. If suffering or sacrifice is involved, we won t do that. But God is looking for people that worship him on his terms. He is the God of love and forgiveness, yes, but he is also the God of judgment and wrath. He is the god of mercy and grace. Absolutely. But he is also the god of holiness and awe. 5
We can t pick and choose the attributes of God like we are making a pizza, only adding the toppings we like. We need to worship God with all of his attributes in mind. God loves everyone, but he uses the people that are willing to take off their sandals: people willing to obey his commands even though they may not be politically correct. Are you that kind of person? I hope you are. Well, up to this point, Moses isn t so sure who he s dealing with. He thinks it s an angel. But like the Wizard of Oz, God pulls back the curtain and reveals himself. Only unlike the Wizard, who was quite pathetic, God is overwhelming awful (full of awe): 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. Exodus 3:6 I would love to have seen Moses just then. The look on his face must have been priceless. He thinks he s having this nice little conversation with an angel, kind of a novelty, and then he realizes that he is speaking to the Lord God Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth, the God he s heard about for years. This is the God who called Abraham to Canaan and made an everlasting covenant. This is the God who delivered Isaac from death and promised to bless him. And this is the God who wrestled with Jacob through the night. Moses finally gets it and realizes that he s in WAY over his head. So he hides his face because the thought was that if you ever saw the face of God you would die. Now, I don t have time to keep tracking this encounter verse by verse. I hope you ll go home and read the rest of it yourself. But God called Moses to go back to Egypt to rescue his people. It takes a little convincing, but Moses finally agrees. Was he qualified? Not in the least. But he had one thing going for him. He respected the holiness of God. He stood in awe of God and obeyed him. God can do a lot of great things through a person like that. When Ezekiel saw God in a vision he fell down before God and worshipped him. When Isaiah encountered the holiness of God, he said: Woe is me, for I am a man of unclean lips. When Paul encountered the holiness of God, he said: What would you have me to do? What I want you to see here is that there s something about encountering the holiness of God that is transformative. It changes you. It alters you. And it qualifies you to be used by God. Each of the men I mentioned were used in powerful ways, but not until they first bowed to a holy God. I want all of us to worship the fullness of God and not just the God of our choosing. One author put it like this: If you don t delight in the fact that your Father is holy, holy, holy, then you are spiritually dead. You may be in a church. You may go to a Christian school. But if 6
there is no delight in your soul for the holiness of God, you don t know God You re out of touch with God. You re asleep to his character. R.C. Sproul, Choosing My Religion So let s not be asleep to God s character! Let s restore the awe to his name. The book of Proverbs says: The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. Proverbs 9:10 I want to pray that this would be true for all of us today. Prayer: Father, the first commandment says that we should have no other gods before us. I m afraid many of us have broken that command. We have created a god of our choosing. We have created gods like we order ingredients on our pizza, just including the characteristics that we like. We ve created gods that we can handle without Jesus, forgetting that Jesus came to make us acceptable to a holy, awesome God. So please help us to see you as you really are, in all your fullness, and help us to worship you as you are awesome and holy and full of glory. Might we take off our sandals in your presence so that you might use us like you used Moses. Going Deeper: use the following questions for personal reflection and/or to discuss with family, friends, and small group. 1. What is some new technology that has amazed you but is unimpressive to the younger generation? 2. What does it take to create a sense of awe (for technology, God, or anything)? 3. When you think of the spectrum of God s character, his love, mercy, kindness, patience, justice, righteousness, holiness, wisdom, etc. which characteristics have you been exposed to the most? Which ones do you gravitate to the most? How do you think that s affected the way you see God and live your life? 4. Read about some of the encounters that people had with God. Notice the presence of fire. Why do you think that fire is such a common element in these encounters? a. Ezekiel 1 b. Daniel 7:9,10 c. Revelation 1:9-18 d. Isaiah 6:1-8 5. What did Moses sandals represent? Reflect on your life. What might God see in your life that is like Moses sandals? That is, what are the things that you find totally acceptable, and even have your friends/culture approval, but upon reflection, realize that God might not think are right for your life? 6. How might a full appreciation for the holiness of God help you to let go of your sandals? 7. Remy mentioned how Isaiah, Ezekiel, Moses and Paul all were launched into a new phase of life after they encountered the holiness of God. Do you believe that your life could change if you gained a healthy awe of God s holiness? How so? 7