kelly gillan johnston: December 2010

This summer, about a month into my internship at Grace Covenant Church in Chicago, I preached in front of a congregation for the first time. We were into the second week of a series looking at being faithful and depending on God, called “Do What?!: Divine Dependence.” I preached on Moses in Exodus 5, which I asked some youth to read dramatically before I preached (they did a great job, by the way). My manuscript is below.

"Speaking the Truth" - July 11 2010 by Kelly Gillan Johnston

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Last Sunday we began a summer series here at Grace called "Do What?!?" We're looking at people in the Bible who chose to follow God's call, even when it seemed like an impossible task...even if their initial response to God might have been, "DO What?!?" The Bible is full of stories of real people who, despite their weaknesses or insecurities, were called by God to incredible things and depended on God's faithfulness to carry it out.

I have to admit that over the last few years, I've definitely had moments with God when I have said – um... Do What?! Seminary? Ministry? Do What? In the last few days, as I've prepared to preach to you, to illuminate the Scripture and speak God's truth for us, I've had moments where I've said to God, Do What?! And as I got into this Exodus 5 text and saw a theme emerging of speaking God's truth, I kinda said, Do What??

This idea of divine dependence is not often easy, but it is what we are all called to do as disciples of Jesus Christ. It is humbling task I've been given, and I do not take it lightly. My hope and prayer this morning is that as we look at the text and we reflect on it, we might be able to discern God's truth for us and all be inspired to speak God's truth in our lives.

Let's pray: O God, thank you for the opportunity we have to explore your word and your will together. Move amongst us, Holy Spirit, and make my words and our meditations pleasing to you...our rock and our Redeemer. Amen.

CONTEXT OF EXODUS 5

I want to thank Forrest, Tirzah, Perry, Paxton, Kara and Maddie for bringing God's word to life for us this morning. They helped convey for us the situation that Moses was in when he went to deliver this message to Pharaoh.

The passage they read for us, from Exodus 5, is the first time that Moses confronted Pharaoh. Not long before this confrontation, God met Moses at the burning bush. Perhaps you remember this story, and I encourage you to look more closely at some time this week. Basically, God told Moses that he knew about the misery of the enslaved Israelites in Egypt, and that he had heard their cries for help. God revealed to Moses that he himself was coming down to save the Israelites from slavery and bring them into the Promised Land. This is the particular truth from God that we're dealing with in Exodus – that God loves his people and he wants to save them.

Then God tells Moses that he's going to send him to tell Pharaoh all this that God is going to do. And Moses says...what do you think he said?....Do What?! Go talk to one of the most powerful people in the world, face-to-face? Do what? Tell him that all his workers are going to quit at once? Do what?

This might be a little bit like one third grader going to the principle of her school – one of those scary principles – and declaring, “I've met with God, and he's told me that he wants every student in this school to leave and go to a better school.”

I don't know about you, but I can't imagine standing up and doing something like that. And when God asked Moses to give this message to Pharaoh, he couldn't really imagine doing it either.

But after God encouraged him over and over again, including letting Aaron go along with him to help him speak, finally Moses kinda gives up and he goes to Egypt. He's been given God's truth and now he just needs to get up the nerves to go speak it.

Right before the passage that the youth read for us, Moses and Aaron go to the people of Israel – the community of their people – and tell them everything about how God was going to deliver them, and at the end of chapter 4 it says that they believed and they worshiped this God who loves them and wants to save them.

So Moses had had a mountaintop experience with God, he had his brother as a support, and had been encouraged by his people when he told them why he was in Egypt. He had received God's truth and had spoken it to God's people, and everybody was on board and feeling good about it. He's all ready to go to Pharaoh and get it done and over with. He just had to speak God's truth to the king of Egypt, and it would be all good, right? (do what?)

MOSES & AARON SPEAK GOD'S TRUTH

Moses and Aaron go to Pharaoh, and they tell him what God said – let my people go! Give them a break so they can worship me in the wilderness! And Pharaoh's response is basically, “I don't know who this God of yours is, and I don't care – I'm the one in charge here. Nobody is going anywhere.” When they ask again, Pharaoh's answer shows that he is concerned about losing his labor force. The people of the land are numerous, he says – he can't afford to lose all those workers.

Not only does Pharaoh reject the word of the Lord, he makes the situation even worse for the Israelite slaves. Moses tells Pharaoh to let the people go, and instead Pharaoh makes their work even harder. He commands that they need to keep making as many bricks as they had to before, except now they also need to find all the supplies for the bricks as well.

The people complain to Moses about all this, and so Moses complains to God, which was the last part of the passage that was read this morning. God reminds Moses that he's the one who is in control, and his plan is still in place, his word is still his word, his truth is still his truth.

The thing is, God's truth doesn't always look the way you expect it to, and telling God's truth doesn't always get immediate results. Sometimes when you speak the truth, things get worse before they get better. Jesus' death and resurrection is the ultimate example of this...the truth about Jesus was that he came to redeem the world, but before completing that task, he was humiliated on the cross. God's truth doesn't always look the way you expect it to. Likewise, God's message of liberation for the Israelites didn't immediately result in liberation, but rather in worse oppression. Moses had to trust that God knew what God was doing.

TWO TASKS

In reflecting on this passage and what God might have for us this morning, I see two tasks for us. The second task is to speak God's truth. It's to be inspired to proclaim the word of God, even when it might be scary for us. But first, if we are going to speak God's truth, we need to discover God's truth.

Now, I don't intend to debate the concept of truth this morning. On a practical level, it seems like as soon as we come to understand that there is such a thing as a truth and a lie, we start to find all the possible gray area in between. The point I think is pertinent today is that truth that comes from God is deeper, better, truer truth. That's the kind of truth that we want to spend our time really thinking about, and that's the kind of truth that changes lives.

In Egypt, one Israelite might have turned to the other and said, “to tell you the truth, this slavery thing is simply awful. I'm struggling every single day and I don't know how much longer I can go on.” That was the truth about the situation. But Moses came to speak God's truth about their situation. God's truth was that he had heard the cries of the people, that he cared about their suffering, and that he would bring salvation. God's truth offers hope. It is not always easy, but it is the truer truth that God offers. It might get worse before it gets better, but it is God's truth.

You might say to a friend, “I've had some really stressful moments this week.” But to tell God's truth would be a little different, wouldn't it? To tell you God's truth, you might say, “God has been present with me every moment of this week, even when I haven't acknowledged it.” Perhaps we could tell the truth about our city. To tell you the truth, there are a lot of hungry people in Chicago. To tell you God's truth, there are a lot of people in Chicago that God wants fed, and he's calling his people to join him in that work. It might not be easy, but it's God's truth for our city.

HOW WE DISCOVER GOD'S TRUTH

There are a few ways that we discover God's truth in our lives.

Moses got to spend a pretty intense hour with God on a mountain...we may not get quite the same experience, but we do need to spend time with God. God is always with us, but it is important for us to take time to attend to the movement of the Spirit in our lives. We need to pray and be open to what God has to say to us. We need to know God. When Pharaoh rejected Moses' message, what was his first response? I do not know the Lord. To discover God's truth, we need to spend time with God.

Second, we need to spend time in the living word of God. We say over and over again in the Covenant denomination that we believe that the word of God is the only perfect rule for faith, doctrine, and conduct. We believe that the Bible is true, and is the best place to find God's truth. We need to be reading and reflecting on the Bible regularly so we can internalize the truth of the word. As we discover God's truth, we need to test it in the word. To discover God's truth, we need to spend time with God's word.

Third, we need to be here, with these people. If you're visiting Grace, I'm not trying to say that this is the only place that truth is discovered, of course. What I am saying is that if this is your church home, this is a place where we discern God's truth together. In John 14, Jesus promises his disciples the Spirit of truth – as a church body, we are called together by that same Spirit. To discover God's truth, we need to spend time with God's people.

Spending time with God, spending time in God's word, and spending time with God's people – these are all intertwined, or at least they should be for us. When we use all our resources to discover God's truth, we start to develop some consistent characteristics about God's truth.

To go back to Exodus, we can compare the characteristics of God's truth to the characteristics of Pharaoh's truth. The truth of God is the word that Moses is sent to give to Pharaoh, and then there's the truth that Pharaoh lives by. While Pharaoh's truth says that the top priority is production and power, even at the expense of human dignity, God's truth says every person has worth, and people were created not just to work, but to worship. Pharaoh's truth exploits people, and God's truth empowers people. Pharaoh's truth is boastful and is revealed in his proud, arrogant response to Moses, while God's truth is revealed in a humble servant who isn't very good at public speaking. Let the one who boasts boast only in the Lord. The truth of God brings life and the truth of Pharaoh brings death.

SPEAKING TRUTH

I hope that God's truth makes you excited. It can be easy to get caught up in Pharaoh's kind of truth though, can't it? I think our society often encourages us to care more about Pharaoh's kind of truth than God's. But God's truth, embodied in the gospel of Jesus Christ, says that there is more to life than producing as many bricks as possible in the shortest amount of time. God's truth says that you shouldn't work every day – you should stop, take a break, and worship your creator.

God's truth is exciting. God's truth offers us such hope that we can't help but speak about it. When we spend time exploring God's word together, we're going to discover there are things we need to say. God is going to call us to speak a word of love, to speak a word of liberation, to speak a word that values life over death.

It might get worse before it gets better, but when we know God is in control, we can trust that the one who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it. Do not be ashamed of these words, but with the help of the Holy Spirit, depend on God to speak God's truth.