Presence Crisis

Sermon, 20^{th A} Pentecost, Wed October 14/Sun October 18, 2020

Exodus 33:1-3, 12-23

Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Leave this place, you and the people you brought up out of Egypt, and go up to the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, saying, “I will give it to your descendants.” ² I will send an angel before you and drive out the Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. ³ Go up to the land flowing with milk and honey. But I will not go with you, because you are a stiff-necked people and I might destroy you on the way.’

¹² Moses said to the Lord, ‘You have been telling me, “Lead these people,” but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. You have said, “I know you by name and you have found favour with me.” ¹³ If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favour with you. Remember that this nation is your people.’

¹⁴ The Lord replied, ‘My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.’

¹⁵ Then Moses said to him, ‘If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. ¹⁶ How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?’

¹⁷ And the Lord said to Moses, ‘I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name.’

¹⁸ Then Moses said, ‘Now show me your glory.’

¹⁹ And the Lord said, ‘I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. ²⁰ But,’ he said, ‘you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.’

²¹ Then the Lord said, ‘There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock. ²² When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. ²³ Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be seen.’

Watch this week’s Worship and Sermon here >  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oi7lBQgVQBM

I heard a term this week that I think names a real situation that we Christians experience at times: “Presence Crisis”. A crisis of God’s presence.

It is one thing to know in your head that God is present. But it is another thing to then know for sure that the Lord is still FOR me.

When it has been a terrible week, when you have endured great heartache or pain, or you said or did the wrong thing, or you stayed silent when you needed to speak up or when you are dealing with some bad news that has cast a shadow over your future, you know in theory that God is still around, but you want to know for sure again that he is still FOR you; that you have hope and future.

Moses is right here. He is in a ‘presence crisis’.

The people have done very badly around that golden calf. God is God and is still here, but is he still FOR us, after what we did to him?

Moses, the who is reported to have been a the man “who spoke face to face, as one speaks to a friend” (Exodus 33:11), again speaks with the Lord.

The conversation does not start well.

God has said that he will NOT destroy his disappointing people. That is good!

But things are different now. The best the Lord can now do is send a third party to lead his people as they leave the scene of their great crime.

Leave this place, you and the people you brought up out of Egypt, and go up to the land I promised….. ² I will send an angel before you and drive out the ‘locals’….. ^3 .…..But I will not go with you, because you are a stiff-necked people and I might destroy you on the way.’

Like a mum who has had enough of a strong-willed little guy for the day and hands the little man to Dad saying, “Here, you take him!”, the best God seems able to do at this point to keep his promises, is to lead them via one of his ‘messengers’, his angels. Good luck, Mr Angel!

The conversation continues….. And can you sense just how close, personal, trusting and bold this conversation is? I wonder why?

Moses says,

‘You have been telling me, “Lead these people,” but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. You have said, “I know you by name and you have found favour with me.” ¹³ If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favour with you. Remember that this nation is your people.’

What’s Moses doing in the ‘presence crisis’? Three things…. Moses….

1. Names it: name the issue. “You are not coming with me and without you I have no confidence to keep going let alone lead”.
2. Remembers: Remember the promises. God, you remember your promises because I do! He asks the Lord to remember. “You said, Lord, you would be our God and we would be your treasured people of promise in the world with a sure future in you”.
3. Asks: He asks for what he needs. “…teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favour with you”. In other words, “Lord to teach him how to lead well and keep these people in your promises”.

That’s what you do in a presence crisis.

1. Name it: Name the issue as you see it. Lodge your complaint openly and honestly to the Lord.
2. Remember the promises. Recall the Lord’s promises to you and ask the Lord to remember his promises to you.
3. Ask what you need from him in the moment.

God listens. God agrees to remain with Moses and the people (Exodus 33:14).

Moses is on a roll. Now he is showing us the heart of it.

¹⁵ Then Moses said…., ‘If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. ¹⁶ How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us?

What’s at the heart of this conversation? It is definitely not some impersonal deal or demanding of rights on Moses’ part? Why?

Because Moses is asking for the Lord, not just what the Lord can give. That’s what is at the heart of this conversation. That is why it is so honest, straight and bold. It is a conversation between friends who know each other and want to know each other, more than just securing what can happen.

Moses does not just want safety, security, things, power, achievement or even the Lord’s blessing by themselves. He wants the Lord. Moses wants the Lord himself more than what the Lord can give.

Is that you today? “Lord, I need You, not just what you can do”. Would you characterise your talking with the Lord as being based on a relationship with him, more than what you can get from him?

The Spirit is speaking into our time. He is calling us back to the Lord; his character, his promises, his presence way above what he can do for us or give to us.

Sure, we pray for things and people and situations and gifts and power to live in the Spirit of Jesus every day. But if that is all we ever speak about to the Lord, we are living in a distant relationship.

It is one where we want what the Lord can give us but not him. We want the gifts without the conversation, the blessing without the talk, the good stuff without the relationship stuff.

The Lord ends up being for so many a Jeanie in the bottle that we speak to when we are desperate enough, but with little interest in actually knowing him and his promises and purposes for us.

God becomes our private butler whose sole purpose in our day is to serve the drinks, meet our personal needs, make sure we are comfortable without ever calling us to a face-to-face relationship that lives and breathes and challenges us.

Moses shows us here that prayer is a relationship not a check list. It is a conversation not a deal.

The Lord responds……

¹⁷ And the Lord said to Moses, ‘I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name.’

Prayer is conversation founded on knowing not just doing.

Can you hear this for your present presence crisis?

Friends, we can speak this way to God. We have Jesus, the new Moses+, the very Son of God who prayed and lived in his Heavenly Father’s love more than Moses speaks this to you now, friend.

If you ask anything in my name, I will do it (John 14:14)

With Jesus, you are now free to speak with his Father and yours as you;

1. Name it: Name the issue as you see it. Lodge your complaint openly and honestly to Jesus.
2. Remember the promises. Recall Jesus’ promises to you and ask him to remember his promises to you.
3. Ask what you need from him in the moment.

Moses wants the Lord and nothing less. He goes on where angels fear to tread.

¹⁸ Then Moses said, ‘Now show me your glory.’

“Lord, reveal your holy, pure wonderful presence to me. That is what I really need more than anything. I need you, not just what you can do”.

We have this too, and even more! The Lord has revealed his grace to us in all his glory.

“The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. (Hebrews 1:3)

For Moses here, the Lord reveals himself in the famous crag in the rock passing back of the Lord flashing across Moses life.

For us, the Son of God himself lives, speaks, dies and rises to rule as one of us.

Friend, The Lord ids present with you and he says he is FOR you in any crisis.

He still hides himself – not in a rock but in human flesh and blood so fragile, but now gloriously raised and ruling.

So be like Moses. Confidently:

Name it. Name your struggle.

Remember the promises of the Lord in Jesus to you.

Ask the Lord Jesus for what you need.

But under it all and after it all and before it all, seek his presence. Seek him more than what you want, or he can give.

Go ahead.  “(your name), speak face to face with Jesus, as one speaks to a friend”.