A Fireside Chat
Sermon
A 'NEW AND IMPROVED' JESUS?
Sermons For Lent And Easter
Radio and television have introduced the nation to the fireside chat: dignitaries who sit down before a fireplace, and there, in a more or less person-to-person manner, address the listeners. The intention, of course, is that each hearer will feel it is a personal message on an important mater. Franklin Delano Roosevelt had fireside chats, via radio, when he was president. Later, Jimmy Carter did the same thing, only by television. Even Billy Graham on his Christmas special has, from time-to-time, sat by the fire and talked to us. But the fireside chat of our text is not an easy, comfortable, warm conversation. It is a mighty confrontation of God with Moses that will forever change the destiny of the man and the Hebrew nation!
Moses, in the training school of God, has come a long way already. He was set afloat, by his mother, on a waterbed on the Nile. He was found by Pharaoh's daughter and subsequently grew up in the king's court. After his Egyptian education he was found interfering with a quarrel between two men, and wound up killing one of them. He ran away to Midian, married a wife, and is now living out his day-to-day existence herding sheep in the desert for his father-in-law.
As old as this encounter by the fire was, it still has lessons for us today:
Curious
In the midst of that drab, everyday, humdrum existence God invades his life with intentions to use him in his mighty plan to deliver his people. He has heard their groaning, seen their tears, remembered their covenant with Abraham, and is moved with concern and compassion for them. And when God is concerned, it's not an easy, little, temporary thought of "I'm-sure-sorry-and-I-wish-I-could-help," but it is an active empathy that enters into the problem with Divine help.
And Moses is the unlikely man that God intends to use for this purpose. Moses may not know it yet, but all of his life, until now, has been a preparatory school for God's larger plan for him. I wonder if we realize that each day, whether it is dreary or exciting, we are just getting ready for the next step in God's plan for us? We are people of destiny!
It is here, in the text, that Moses becomes curious because of a phenomenon. Do you know what a pheomenon is? I lately heard a definition: "If you go out to the country and see a large field with a cow in it, that is not a phenomenon. If, over that same field, you hear a lark singing, that is not a phenomenon. But, if, in that field, you see a cow, sitting on a thorn bush, singing like a lark, that is a phemonemon! But what Moses sees is no joke. It is actually a miracle. God grabs Moses' attention with a burning bush. Moses must have thought:
"Odd, how did that bush catch fire out here in the desert?" But even more strange, as he continues to gaze at the bush he noted it was not burned up! Things that burn are ordinarily consumed by the flames, or they melt down, or are blackened, or turn to ashes. Why is this bush different? So, curious, he thought, "I'll go closer. I'll see why it does not burn up. I'll get the answer. I'll figure it out. I'll see why!"
How typical of us humans. Most of us figure that anything we don't fully understand, just give us time and we can figure it out. We can find the answer, we can solve it. After all, everything has a sane, sensible, logical, rational, cause-and-effect solution. "Give me time and I'll find it!" Of course, God created us to think, and human solutions are fine in most instances. But some things you can never explain by human logic. Miracles are not "explained" away. The only reason Moses ever found for a burning bush that was not consumed was God! Sometimes that's the only logical conclusion we can reach, too. It's God, plain and simple. No other conclusion will suffice. No other answer makes sense. It's God, and that's all you can finally say! Of course, when you've said God, you've said it all!
Confident
Now begins the fireside chat. When God sees that he has captured, through his curiosity, the attention of his man, he calls his name, "Moses! Moses!" And Moses answers with what appears to be supreme self-confidence, "Here I am." This is the response of a man still in control of his own life. Moses has lived long enough to believe himself fairly capable. Things have always worked for him in the past. He's a self-made man; maybe not perfect, but others have done far worse than he. Of course, if we'd ask Moses (as we must also ask ourselves), he might have confessed that he maybe could have done better, but he is certainly not "all bad." Many of us would conclude the same: we are not perfect, but all-in-all, we've done fairly well as a wife, mother, father, husband, child, friend, worker, whatever - on a scale of one to ten, maybe we're not a ten, but we are at least a seven or eight, and what's so terrible about that? We have read books on self-esteem and patted ourselves on the backs until we believe most of our own press, and feeling pretty good about ourselves we look with magnanimity on others and say, "I'm okay and you're okay."
True, we further defend ourselves, maybe we are a bit self-centered, self-serving, self-concerned, self-confident; but what's wrong with that? If we don't watch out for ourselves, who will? Don't all the self-help books, programs, and courses say you have to have self-esteem, self-love, and self-worth before you can amount to anything? So, what's wrong with Moses' response, in the face of an unexplained miracle, to say with absolute self-confidence, "Here I am."
Of course there's nothing actually wrong with it. It's a fact that every human being must have a sense of value and worth in order to function well. It just seems sad that his self-confidence made him so secure that he was totally insensitive to the fact that he was standing on sacred soil. There was no hint that he ought to tread lightly here. He was rather rash, almost to the point of arrogance, as he stood on holy ground. Gregory Peck was standing in line, it is said, in a restaurant, waiting to be seated. Someone suggested, "Why don't you just tell them who you are?" Peck, with marvelous acumen replied, "When you have to tell them who you are, you aren't." Maybe we are too self-confident when we can't tell that the sacred has invaded our secular territory. Maybe our self-confidence has blinded us to our need to fall in awe and reverence before a holy God. Maybe, in the presence of the Divine, we are a tad too confident.
Confused
God immediately puts Moses in place by commanding, "Slow down, don't come any closer. You are standing in a place you have never stood before. Take off your sandals. You are on holy ground." As the fireside chat continues, God explains further, "I am the God of your fathers; of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." Suddenly this self-confident man hides his face; his self-certainty disintegrates in the presence of the holiness and greatness of God!
Then God really nails his man, Moses. He tells him he is sending him as a deliverer to lead his people out of Egypt. Moses' answer is no longer a confident, "Here I am," but his response is now re-arranged into a confused, "Who am I?" It always happens; the awareness of God's holy self awakens in us a sense of our own smallness and sinfulness. When God is near we see ourselves as we really are. Most of us, deep down, in spite of all our self-esteem, in spite of all our braggadocio, in spite of all our declarations of worth, are not always so sure. Psychologists say that even the most successful of us often suffer from what they have named the "Imposter Syndrome." We have a feeling we are really very ordinary and, in spite of money, power, success, we just got lucky and don't really deserve it after all. It is especially true that when a sense of God's presence is felt, we begin to recall the lies we've told, the sexual sins we've indulged in, the tests we've cheated on, the shady deals we've arranged, the people we've hurt, the selfishness we've shown - oh, my, the things we remember when God is near!
When God comes near we become cowards, all. I heard a story of some office workers who were discussing weekend sports activities. One man said, "I can't indulge in water skiing, mountain climbing, snorkeling, or scuba diving because of my back." "What's wrong with your back?" asked a coworker. He replied, "It's got a big, yellow streak!" Our yellow streak begins to show when we are confronted by God. We are not so sure who we are and what our worth is. We can readily sympathize with Moses who plaintively now queries, "Who am I?"
Now, actually, Moses was, in fact, the finest, fittest man for the job of deliverer. His realization that he is on holy ground and in Divine Presence brings out a healthy, new humility in him, thus the "Who am I?" Strange, isn't it, the more fit we are, the less high the opinion we hold of ourselves. God can always use brokenness. It takes broken soil to produce a crop, broken clouds to give rain, broken grain to give bread, broken bread to give strength, and broken men and women for God to reveal his greatness through them. Martin Luther said, "God cannot make something of us until we are nothing."
A story is told of the funeral of Charlemagne, one of the greatest early rulers of the earth. The mighty funeral procession came to the cathedral, only to find the gate was barred by the bishop. "Who comes?" shouted the bishop. The heralds answered, "Charlemagne, Lord and King of the Holy Roman Empire!" The bishop replied for God, "Him I know not! Who comes?" The heralds, a bit shaken, replied, "Charles, the Great, a good and honest man of the earth!" Again, answering for God, the bishop replied, "Him I know not! Who comes?" Now, completely crushed, the heralds give answer, "Charles, a lowly sinner, who begs the gift of Christ." Then God's representative replied, "Him I know. Enter! Receive Christ's gift of life.
So now, this humbled Moses; confused, uncertain and insecure, begins to make excuses. Who can blame him? When such an overwhelming task is given and one sees oneself as we truly are, we all begin to make excuses. Moses asks, "Suppose I go to the Israelites, suppose I tell them my father's God sent me, suppose they ask me your name, what shall I tell them?"
Committed
God tells his man his name: "I AM THAT I AM." "You can fully commit yourself to me, Moses. I have committed myself to you in giving you my name. You can be, not self-confident, but God-confident!" In revealing his name, God is indicating that he has his being of himself ... "I AM." God is self-existent, and dependent upon no other. He is both self-sufficient and all-sufficient. This is God's name forever; "I AM WHO I AM." He is eternal and unchangeable. God is himself the inexhaustible fountain of all being and bliss.
It is utterly mind-shattering to know that our Lenten journey is leading us to see our crucified Lord, the One who is exactly like God - nay, is God - the One who showed himself to Moses. The record says of Christ, "Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8)." Jesus is making the same claim as God. The Son of God, who proceeded from the Father, calls himself by the same name; "Before Abraham was, I AM." Can it be, oh, yes, it can be, that Jesus is adopting the very same name that God revealed to Moses, is presenting himself to us a Yahweh-Jesus! All that God promised to be to Moses and his people is fully realized for us in Christ, our New Testament "I AM THAT I AM." What the Old Testament Lord was to the Israelites, so Christ, our New Testament Lord is to us. That means that all God is and was, so is Jesus to us. When he says, "I AM" it means he is for us, too, Deliverer, Provider, Guide, Protector. He has identified himself to us further by saying, "I AM the Bread," "I AM the Vine," "I AM the Good Shepherd," "I AM the Light," "I AM the Door," "I AM the Way, the Truth, and the life," "I AM the Resurrection and the Life," "I AM the Redeemer," "I AM the Savior." When God tells you his name, it means that all of the advantages inherent in its meaning become yours and mine. All that God in Christ was, he is, and will be forever and ever!
The "I AM" Is With Us
A man once decided to buy a puppy for his little girl. He took her to the pet store and there, among all the many choices she might have made, she finally picked a scrawny little puppy for her own. Her daddy asked, "Are you sure you want this one?" "Oh, yes," she responded, "I love them all, but this one loves me. Can I name him, too?" When the father said she could choose what the new pet would be called, the child held it close to her face and said, "I'm going to call him 'Mine.' "
The fireside chat between Moses and God is ended for now. Moses leaves the spot called "Holy Ground" and goes to unhallowed places to become the Deliverer God called him to be. But the great I AM who promised to be with him, goes along. For the great I AM is not only beside burning bushes, but in conflict with the enemy, providing manna and water in the wilderness, on long marches with grumbling people, and finally leads them to the Promised Land. And our great I AM is not only with us as we worship in the holy places we've named as church, but he is with us on the dusty road of life, he is dying for us on a cross, he is interceding for us as Intercessor, he is Guide, and Comforter, Savior, and Friend, and finally will lead us to heaven's promised land. Our "I AM" is always in the here and the now!
Moses, in the training school of God, has come a long way already. He was set afloat, by his mother, on a waterbed on the Nile. He was found by Pharaoh's daughter and subsequently grew up in the king's court. After his Egyptian education he was found interfering with a quarrel between two men, and wound up killing one of them. He ran away to Midian, married a wife, and is now living out his day-to-day existence herding sheep in the desert for his father-in-law.
As old as this encounter by the fire was, it still has lessons for us today:
Curious
In the midst of that drab, everyday, humdrum existence God invades his life with intentions to use him in his mighty plan to deliver his people. He has heard their groaning, seen their tears, remembered their covenant with Abraham, and is moved with concern and compassion for them. And when God is concerned, it's not an easy, little, temporary thought of "I'm-sure-sorry-and-I-wish-I-could-help," but it is an active empathy that enters into the problem with Divine help.
And Moses is the unlikely man that God intends to use for this purpose. Moses may not know it yet, but all of his life, until now, has been a preparatory school for God's larger plan for him. I wonder if we realize that each day, whether it is dreary or exciting, we are just getting ready for the next step in God's plan for us? We are people of destiny!
It is here, in the text, that Moses becomes curious because of a phenomenon. Do you know what a pheomenon is? I lately heard a definition: "If you go out to the country and see a large field with a cow in it, that is not a phenomenon. If, over that same field, you hear a lark singing, that is not a phenomenon. But, if, in that field, you see a cow, sitting on a thorn bush, singing like a lark, that is a phemonemon! But what Moses sees is no joke. It is actually a miracle. God grabs Moses' attention with a burning bush. Moses must have thought:
"Odd, how did that bush catch fire out here in the desert?" But even more strange, as he continues to gaze at the bush he noted it was not burned up! Things that burn are ordinarily consumed by the flames, or they melt down, or are blackened, or turn to ashes. Why is this bush different? So, curious, he thought, "I'll go closer. I'll see why it does not burn up. I'll get the answer. I'll figure it out. I'll see why!"
How typical of us humans. Most of us figure that anything we don't fully understand, just give us time and we can figure it out. We can find the answer, we can solve it. After all, everything has a sane, sensible, logical, rational, cause-and-effect solution. "Give me time and I'll find it!" Of course, God created us to think, and human solutions are fine in most instances. But some things you can never explain by human logic. Miracles are not "explained" away. The only reason Moses ever found for a burning bush that was not consumed was God! Sometimes that's the only logical conclusion we can reach, too. It's God, plain and simple. No other conclusion will suffice. No other answer makes sense. It's God, and that's all you can finally say! Of course, when you've said God, you've said it all!
Confident
Now begins the fireside chat. When God sees that he has captured, through his curiosity, the attention of his man, he calls his name, "Moses! Moses!" And Moses answers with what appears to be supreme self-confidence, "Here I am." This is the response of a man still in control of his own life. Moses has lived long enough to believe himself fairly capable. Things have always worked for him in the past. He's a self-made man; maybe not perfect, but others have done far worse than he. Of course, if we'd ask Moses (as we must also ask ourselves), he might have confessed that he maybe could have done better, but he is certainly not "all bad." Many of us would conclude the same: we are not perfect, but all-in-all, we've done fairly well as a wife, mother, father, husband, child, friend, worker, whatever - on a scale of one to ten, maybe we're not a ten, but we are at least a seven or eight, and what's so terrible about that? We have read books on self-esteem and patted ourselves on the backs until we believe most of our own press, and feeling pretty good about ourselves we look with magnanimity on others and say, "I'm okay and you're okay."
True, we further defend ourselves, maybe we are a bit self-centered, self-serving, self-concerned, self-confident; but what's wrong with that? If we don't watch out for ourselves, who will? Don't all the self-help books, programs, and courses say you have to have self-esteem, self-love, and self-worth before you can amount to anything? So, what's wrong with Moses' response, in the face of an unexplained miracle, to say with absolute self-confidence, "Here I am."
Of course there's nothing actually wrong with it. It's a fact that every human being must have a sense of value and worth in order to function well. It just seems sad that his self-confidence made him so secure that he was totally insensitive to the fact that he was standing on sacred soil. There was no hint that he ought to tread lightly here. He was rather rash, almost to the point of arrogance, as he stood on holy ground. Gregory Peck was standing in line, it is said, in a restaurant, waiting to be seated. Someone suggested, "Why don't you just tell them who you are?" Peck, with marvelous acumen replied, "When you have to tell them who you are, you aren't." Maybe we are too self-confident when we can't tell that the sacred has invaded our secular territory. Maybe our self-confidence has blinded us to our need to fall in awe and reverence before a holy God. Maybe, in the presence of the Divine, we are a tad too confident.
Confused
God immediately puts Moses in place by commanding, "Slow down, don't come any closer. You are standing in a place you have never stood before. Take off your sandals. You are on holy ground." As the fireside chat continues, God explains further, "I am the God of your fathers; of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." Suddenly this self-confident man hides his face; his self-certainty disintegrates in the presence of the holiness and greatness of God!
Then God really nails his man, Moses. He tells him he is sending him as a deliverer to lead his people out of Egypt. Moses' answer is no longer a confident, "Here I am," but his response is now re-arranged into a confused, "Who am I?" It always happens; the awareness of God's holy self awakens in us a sense of our own smallness and sinfulness. When God is near we see ourselves as we really are. Most of us, deep down, in spite of all our self-esteem, in spite of all our braggadocio, in spite of all our declarations of worth, are not always so sure. Psychologists say that even the most successful of us often suffer from what they have named the "Imposter Syndrome." We have a feeling we are really very ordinary and, in spite of money, power, success, we just got lucky and don't really deserve it after all. It is especially true that when a sense of God's presence is felt, we begin to recall the lies we've told, the sexual sins we've indulged in, the tests we've cheated on, the shady deals we've arranged, the people we've hurt, the selfishness we've shown - oh, my, the things we remember when God is near!
When God comes near we become cowards, all. I heard a story of some office workers who were discussing weekend sports activities. One man said, "I can't indulge in water skiing, mountain climbing, snorkeling, or scuba diving because of my back." "What's wrong with your back?" asked a coworker. He replied, "It's got a big, yellow streak!" Our yellow streak begins to show when we are confronted by God. We are not so sure who we are and what our worth is. We can readily sympathize with Moses who plaintively now queries, "Who am I?"
Now, actually, Moses was, in fact, the finest, fittest man for the job of deliverer. His realization that he is on holy ground and in Divine Presence brings out a healthy, new humility in him, thus the "Who am I?" Strange, isn't it, the more fit we are, the less high the opinion we hold of ourselves. God can always use brokenness. It takes broken soil to produce a crop, broken clouds to give rain, broken grain to give bread, broken bread to give strength, and broken men and women for God to reveal his greatness through them. Martin Luther said, "God cannot make something of us until we are nothing."
A story is told of the funeral of Charlemagne, one of the greatest early rulers of the earth. The mighty funeral procession came to the cathedral, only to find the gate was barred by the bishop. "Who comes?" shouted the bishop. The heralds answered, "Charlemagne, Lord and King of the Holy Roman Empire!" The bishop replied for God, "Him I know not! Who comes?" The heralds, a bit shaken, replied, "Charles, the Great, a good and honest man of the earth!" Again, answering for God, the bishop replied, "Him I know not! Who comes?" Now, completely crushed, the heralds give answer, "Charles, a lowly sinner, who begs the gift of Christ." Then God's representative replied, "Him I know. Enter! Receive Christ's gift of life.
So now, this humbled Moses; confused, uncertain and insecure, begins to make excuses. Who can blame him? When such an overwhelming task is given and one sees oneself as we truly are, we all begin to make excuses. Moses asks, "Suppose I go to the Israelites, suppose I tell them my father's God sent me, suppose they ask me your name, what shall I tell them?"
Committed
God tells his man his name: "I AM THAT I AM." "You can fully commit yourself to me, Moses. I have committed myself to you in giving you my name. You can be, not self-confident, but God-confident!" In revealing his name, God is indicating that he has his being of himself ... "I AM." God is self-existent, and dependent upon no other. He is both self-sufficient and all-sufficient. This is God's name forever; "I AM WHO I AM." He is eternal and unchangeable. God is himself the inexhaustible fountain of all being and bliss.
It is utterly mind-shattering to know that our Lenten journey is leading us to see our crucified Lord, the One who is exactly like God - nay, is God - the One who showed himself to Moses. The record says of Christ, "Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8)." Jesus is making the same claim as God. The Son of God, who proceeded from the Father, calls himself by the same name; "Before Abraham was, I AM." Can it be, oh, yes, it can be, that Jesus is adopting the very same name that God revealed to Moses, is presenting himself to us a Yahweh-Jesus! All that God promised to be to Moses and his people is fully realized for us in Christ, our New Testament "I AM THAT I AM." What the Old Testament Lord was to the Israelites, so Christ, our New Testament Lord is to us. That means that all God is and was, so is Jesus to us. When he says, "I AM" it means he is for us, too, Deliverer, Provider, Guide, Protector. He has identified himself to us further by saying, "I AM the Bread," "I AM the Vine," "I AM the Good Shepherd," "I AM the Light," "I AM the Door," "I AM the Way, the Truth, and the life," "I AM the Resurrection and the Life," "I AM the Redeemer," "I AM the Savior." When God tells you his name, it means that all of the advantages inherent in its meaning become yours and mine. All that God in Christ was, he is, and will be forever and ever!
The "I AM" Is With Us
A man once decided to buy a puppy for his little girl. He took her to the pet store and there, among all the many choices she might have made, she finally picked a scrawny little puppy for her own. Her daddy asked, "Are you sure you want this one?" "Oh, yes," she responded, "I love them all, but this one loves me. Can I name him, too?" When the father said she could choose what the new pet would be called, the child held it close to her face and said, "I'm going to call him 'Mine.' "
The fireside chat between Moses and God is ended for now. Moses leaves the spot called "Holy Ground" and goes to unhallowed places to become the Deliverer God called him to be. But the great I AM who promised to be with him, goes along. For the great I AM is not only beside burning bushes, but in conflict with the enemy, providing manna and water in the wilderness, on long marches with grumbling people, and finally leads them to the Promised Land. And our great I AM is not only with us as we worship in the holy places we've named as church, but he is with us on the dusty road of life, he is dying for us on a cross, he is interceding for us as Intercessor, he is Guide, and Comforter, Savior, and Friend, and finally will lead us to heaven's promised land. Our "I AM" is always in the here and the now!
