Rev. Dr. Brent Russett – Asbury Free Methodist
July 16, 2023 – Exodus 19
We are on our second last sermon in our series, “When God….” Last week we looked at When God Provides. This week I want to look at, “When God Shows Up.” Let me tell you what I mean by that.
God is everywhere present. Wherever you go this week, God will have been there before you. There is no place where God is not. But Jesus, who is fully God as well as being fully human, comes along and says, “Wherever two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” While God is present everywhere, there is a sense that when we gather in Jesus’ name that He is present – in a different way. The Bible says that God inhabits the praises of his people; God’s presence is there in a different way when his people worship.
It would not be proper to say that God is more here and less there. God is everywhere present. But what we can talk about is the manifest presence of God.
While God is everywhere present, there are sometimes when God chooses to show himself in ways that we can see or feel. There are times when you can sense God’s presence. Today, when I talk about God showing up, I am describing the times when he is present in ways we can see or feel or hear or sense. That is the manifest presence of God.
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There is your theology lesson for today. But practically, there are sometimes when I come to church, and I sense that God is close. There are other times when I come to church, and we sing the songs and preach the sermon, and pray the prayers, and we have done church – but I haven’t sensed the presence of God. That doesn’t mean that God is not here, but he didn’t show up in a way that I could feel.
I know that there are some of you who know what I am talking about. And there are others of you who are saying, “What does God feel like?” I have yet to be successful in describing a sense of God’s presence, but let me attempt to anyways.
I know that quite often, we will have people walk into church, and they will start crying. There is something about the presence of God that affects them that way. I know that others will have the sense that the pastor is talking to me, and that is a sign of the presence of God. There are times when you just know that you are in the presence of God. Sometimes it is a holy hush that comes upon a place. Sometimes, you get goosebumps – but it is different than going to a concert and having one of those moments at a concert – you know there is something sacred going on. Sometimes the air just feels thick with the presence of God.
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I used to think if we were the kind of church where God made himself visible in some way every Sunday, if God showed up in ways that we could see and feel, then we would have a full church. I have since learned that when God shows up, some people find it beautiful, and others find it scary. Some people are attracted to the presence of God, while others are repelled by it.
You will see that in today’s passage.
Exodus 19:9–14 (NLT)
9 Then the Lord said to Moses, “I will come to you in a thick cloud, Moses, so the people themselves can hear me when I speak with you. Then they will always trust you.”
Moses told the Lord what the people had said. 10 Then the Lord told Moses, “Go down and prepare the people for my arrival. Consecrate them today and tomorrow and have them wash their clothing. 11 Be sure they are ready on the third day, for on that day the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai as all the people watch. 12 Mark off a boundary all around the mountain. Warn the people, ‘Be careful! Do not go up on the mountain or even touch its boundaries. Anyone who touches the mountain will certainly be put to death. 13 No hand may touch the person or animal that crosses the boundary; instead, stone them or shoot them with arrows. They must be put to death.’ However, when the ram’s horn sounds a long blast, then the people may go up on the mountain.”
14 So Moses went down to the people. He consecrated them for worship, and they washed their clothes.
God has a purpose when he shows up. Moses was used to the presence of God. He spent a substantial amount of time in the presence of God. The Bible says he talked with God as one would with a friend.
The people of God had a sense that God was around. After all, they were being led by a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. But he was still somewhat distant. God wanted something different for them. God was going to come closer. He wanted them to experience a little of what Moses regularly experienced. God wanted his people to understand that He spoke to Moses. He wanted the people to trust Moses. (vs. 9)
God has a purpose in showing up. God has not changed. God has a purpose in showing up. I have noticed that God has a way of showing up in response to people’s prayers. I suspect his purpose is to show that he responds to the prayers of his people. I have noticed that most of the time, when God shows up, he is affirming something. It may be to affirm his love for his people or to affirm their faith and cause it to grow. It inspires a sense of awe in who he is. Sometimes he shows up to show his pleasure.
Sometimes when he shows up, it is to convict people of what they are doing wrong. Even that is a mercy. He wants people to experience life, not death, so he calls them down a different pathway. But God always has a purpose in showing up.
The purpose is not our entertainment. The purpose is not to give us a feeling for feelings’ sake or an experience for experience’s sake. God wants to do something in us and for us.
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Sometimes the presence of God is scary. God told the people, Mark off a boundary around the mountain. And if an animal or a human cross the boundary, kill them. Now as far as we know, no animal or human was executed. But God wanted to impress on them the seriousness of this encounter.
If you have trivialized God, if you want a warm fuzzy God, then this is going to rub you the wrong way. But God wanted his people to know that meeting with Him was serious business. He wanted his people to know that when God shows up it was not a causal encounter.
He says to his people I want you to consecrate yourself. Wash your clothing. Get prepared for an encounter with Me. He says to consecrate the people and then consecrate them again. Get them ready to meet with me.
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Now we are pretty casual around Asbury. You don’t have to dress up in a suit and a tie or a fancy dress to come to church. We want you to come as you are. You don’t have to wash your clothes or take a shower, although I recommend both, but that is about personal hygiene, not worship. So why do we do what we do? And yet God asked his people to get prepared.
Well, in the Old Testament, people were made holy by the things they did. We are made holy because of what Jesus did for us. In the Old Testament, the people followed ceremonial laws, like the washing of hands before worship. In the New Testament, we consecrate our lives through the person and work of Jesus.
Now there is a sense that we should prepare to meet with God. It is not our dress or our washing rituals, but we can consecrate ourselves. That means we set ourselves apart for the purposes of God. It is a wonderful thing, on a Sunday morning, to spend some time reflecting on our walk with God. Are we in right relationship with him? We prepare to meet with God by allowing God to apply the work of the cross to our lives.
When the work of the cross is applied to our lives, we can, as the writer to the Hebrews says,
Hebrews 4:16 (NLT)
16 So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.
Before the mountain of God was roped off. Now we are invited right into the throne room of God. If the Israelites touched the mountain, they would die, yet we can walk into the throne room and live. We can come into the presence of God and find help. This same awesome God who roared with thunder is the God who invites us to call him Abba Father. He invites us to call him Dad.
We are invited to the throne room because of what Jesus has done. He has made us holy. He has given us his righteousness. We have right standing before God.
But many of us who have become accustomed to the gospel take for granted that we can come before God. We do it like it is no big deal. But it was a big deal. It is a big deal. The people in our passage couldn’t touch the mountain of God. The presence of God is not to be taken for granted.
This does not mean that we have to be sombre in his presence. Come with me to Exodus 24. God has made a covenant with his people.
Listen to what it says.
Exodus 24:9–11 (NLT)
9 Then Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel climbed up the mountain. 10 There they saw the God of Israel. Under his feet there seemed to be a surface of brilliant blue lapis lazuli, as clear as the sky itself. 11 And though these nobles of Israel gazed upon God, he did not destroy them. In fact, they ate a covenant meal, eating and drinking in his presence!
These people made a covenant with God. Then they had a party in the presence of God. There was joy. Being in the presence of God does not mean that it always must be serious, but it is never trite.
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I think this is a good corrective for modern-day, North American Christianity. Now I do not want to go back to the days when the really spiritual people were always serious and never smiled. I do not want to go back to the day when one could never laugh in church or celebrate in church. I think this is also a perversion of who God is and who he has called us to be. I believe that laughter in church is a sign of a healthy church because God is a joyful God. But I do think one of the big dangers in our lifetime is that we have trivialized God.
We want God to be at our beck and call. We do not so much want to be at his. We want God to be like a fuzzy playful kitten rather than the roaring lion of Judah. We want God to be the man upstairs or the good grandfather figure. We are not sure that we want to see him robed in majesty as the Lord of the universe.
We want a tame God, not a wild God. We want a God who is good, but we are not so sure that we want a God who is great.
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At least, that is who we think we want until we are faced with problems that are way too big for us. When I am praying about the problems of life and the problems of this world, I don’t want a trivial God I need a God that is substantial. I need a God who is greater than the problems, that is stronger than the enemy, that is mightier than the opposition. I need a God who is both great and good. I need a God that is more substantial than the man upstairs or the friendly uncle figure. I need a God who is strong and wise and good. That is who God is.
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In the person of Jesus Christ, God has made a way for us to come close. He has brought us into a personal relationship with the God of the universe. Jesus did not somehow tame God; he just made a way that we could walk in relationship with God. He actually made a way that we could be friends with God.
The fact that you can be a friend of God speaks to the power of the work of the cross. The fact that you can be in a relationship with God, does not somehow lower who God is; it just shows how much you have been raised in Christ. You are seated with Christ in the heavenly realms.
But if you miss the power of the work of the cross and take for granted the privilege of walking in relationship with the God of the universe, then you will trivialize who God is. You won’t get what an honour you have to walk in relationship with him.
The God who thundered on the mountain is the God who invites you to call him father. He invites you to call him friend. This is not a trivial matter, and He is not a trivial God.
Exodus 19:16–20 (NLT)
16 On the morning of the third day, thunder roared and lightning flashed, and a dense cloud came down on the mountain. There was a long, loud blast from a ram’s horn, and all the people trembled. 17 Moses led them out from the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain.
18 All of Mount Sinai was covered with smoke because the Lord had descended on it in the form of fire. The smoke billowed into the sky like smoke from a brick kiln, and the whole mountain shook violently. 19 As the blast of the ram’s horn grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God thundered his reply. 20 The Lord came down on the top of Mount Sinai and called Moses to the top of the mountain. So Moses climbed the mountain.
The thunder roared, the lightning flashed, the ram’s horn blasted, the mountain trembled, the people trembled. They went out to meet with God. God showed up. God thundered. God spoke.
God had a purpose in showing up like this. He was revealing something of himself to his people.
But here is what you need to know. God does not always show up the same way. Let me tell you about Elijah as he met with God.
1 Kings 19:11–13 (NLT)
11 “Go out and stand before me on the mountain,” the Lord told him. And as Elijah stood there, the Lord passed by, and a mighty windstorm hit the mountain. It was such a terrible blast that the rocks were torn loose, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. 12 And after the earthquake there was a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire there was the sound of a gentle whisper. 13 When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave.
The mountain quaked, and the fire fell, but God’s presence wasn’t in any of that. His presence this time was found in a gentle whisper.
God’s presence may not come to you in thunder and lightning as it did to the people of Israel. It may not come with mountains trembling – but God has a way of showing up. Sometimes it is just a gentle whisper.
Just because God showed up in one way in the past does not mean that he will show up in the same way in the future.
That is really helpful to understand. It is important for churches to understand. Many churches and many denominations, including our own, were started by a movement of God. God showed up.
But if you study church history, you will find that those movements have a way of turning into machines that just keep things going, and then they turn into monuments of what God has done in the past. You have great church buildings that serve as monuments to a time when God showed up.
Often those churches have spent a lot of time trying to recapture what God did in the past. But just because God showed up in one way in the past does not mean that he will show up in the same way in the future. God says, behold, I am doing a new thing.
This is really important for you to understand as well. How God showed up to you 10 years ago may not be how he wants to show up for you now. Your job is not to recapture the past but to see what God is doing now and get on board with that.
What that means is that your devotions may take on a different shape than they used to. How you relate to God may take a different shape than it used to. The point is not the means you use to connect with God. The point is that you connect with God.
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God showed up in thunder and smoke to the Israelites. Remember how he showed up to the early church?
Acts 2:1–4 (NLT)
On the day of Pentecost* all the believers were meeting together in one place. 2 Suddenly, there was a sound from heaven like the roaring of a mighty windstorm, and it filled the house where they were sitting. 3 Then, what looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled on each of them. 4 And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other languages, as the Holy Spirit gave them this ability.
Our job is not to somehow try to replicate the upper room. But our job is to be ready for God to show up.
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In our passage in Exodus 19, the people consecrated themselves, they prepared themselves, they washed their clothes. We no long consecrate ourselves by ceremonial washing, but we do so by consecrating our hearts and our lives.
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What that means is that we come before God, and we say God, my life is yours; my whole life is yours. If there is anything I need to confess, then allow God to bring that to our mind. To consecrate ourselves means to commit ourselves to the purposes of God in our lives.
God is everywhere present. But I am convinced that he wants to show up so much more than he does. But I think he is looking for a people who are looking for him. I think that he is seeking a people who are seeking for him.
Do you want God to show up? I know that many are frightened by the presence of God. But, child of God, that is not who we are.
Ephesians 3:12 (NLT)
12 Because of Christ and our faith in him, we can now come boldly and confidently into God’s presence.
Do you want God to show up? Let me remind you of his promise.
James 4:8 (NIV)
8 Come near to God and he will come near to you.
What we need is his manifest presence in our lives. Are you willing to move towards him? He has promised that if you do that, he will move towards you. Will you do what you need to do for God to show up?