Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] You're listening to a live recording from Westside Church in Bend, Oregon. Thanks for joining us.
[00:00:06] We're in the last edition of our series going through the Book of Exodus. And really what it is is we're going through the story through the book of Exodus as well as the Lord's prayer, because the Lord's prayer and the story of the Hebrews and their relationship with God really overlay and play well together. And they both show us or help give us a blueprint for how we can interact and relate with God. So real quick, if you want to stand with us, me one more time, we're gonna say the Lord's prayer together just as we get started.
[00:00:38] This comes from Matthew six. All right, here we go. Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. Amen. You can be seated.
[00:01:11] The title of today's final message in this series of talks is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Father God, we just thank you that we get to take this time together with everything that we could be doing with summer schedules and everything, we decide to come and to gather here to be unified, to worship you, to learn, to be inspired, and hopefully to glimpse you in a way that will be transformative to our lives. We wanna be more like you, Jesus. Show us your way and your glory today. In Jesus name, amen.
[00:01:42] Amen.
[00:01:44] What I have discovered in the middle of summer, right, with my couple kids not going to school and us spending more time together, I've discovered that relationships are hard, especially ones where you spend a lot of time together, right? Have you noticed this? And the conversations are all different between whatever relationships you have, right?
[00:02:03] Acquaintances or co workers. Have you noticed that? You kind of slip into certain conversations really quickly based on that relationship, right? So you're talking to a coworker and you talk about the deal that you just made this last week or the joke that was made in the office. You're talking to your kid. You jump into a certain conversation, usually about schedule, where they're going to be, when they're going to be, what kind of attitude that they're going to have along the way.
[00:02:25] You have an old friend that you're spending a lot of time with. You've got similar jokes and vocabulary that you wouldn't necessarily share with anybody else. And within these conversations, we get a glimpse into the relationship. And what you'll notice about conversations with people that you've had relationship with for a long time is that you can quickly, usually more quickly, get to the point, and then usually things are a little bit more unedited. Right. With people that you know really, really well and have a close relationship, which means sometimes that we hurt the ones that we love the most.
[00:02:58] And that's a little sad and sometimes funny. For instance, I got to take eight weeks off this last year. It's what we call a sabbatical. Here you get every so often as a licensed pastor. And my wife came to me, and she said, one thing I want you to do on your sabbatical is I want you to fix the ice machine in the refrigerator. And I said, oh, yeah, of course.
[00:03:19] And then seven and a half weeks later, when she knew I was about to go back to work, she said, you said you were going to fix that ice machine. Can you fix the ice machine? And so I googled it, looked up a few different solutions. Ultimately, I decided to get the hair dryer, the blow dryer, and stick it into the ice machine and just melt everything and see if that would reset. And so it took a shocking amount of time, 15 minutes, 20 minutes to thaw this thing out. Everything melted out, cleaned it up, and then I closed up the fridge and was like, well, I hope it starts to make ice again. We'll see. And so me and my wife were in the living room near the fridge, and our friend Christina, who's actually our kids director, was in the living room hanging out with us as well. And wouldn't you know it, about 30 minutes later, I hear the tumble of ice cubes into the machine, and I go, right, am I amazing?
[00:04:14] You think I'm joking? I think I said, am I amazing? To my wife. And she kind of looked up at me, rolled her eyes a little bit, and said, I don't even use the ice machine.
[00:04:27] How dare you? I put in a lot of work standing like this with that blow dryer. It's very hot and cold all at the same time. Christina, who was with us, just. She let out a gasp when she said, I don't use the ice machine, and put her hand over her mouth, just, oh, my gosh.
[00:04:44] This is how you guys talk to each other, relate to each other.
[00:04:47] And what you'll see in this scripture is a conversation between Moses and goddess. And you can tell their relationship is at this level of closeness that is beautiful and admiral and difficult and complicated.
[00:05:05] But as we look into this and we see Moses heart. Now, remember, Moses, throughout all this story, has been through a lot. He's been through a bit of an identity crisis. He was born, and then, by happenstance or really by the will of God, was brought up in the house of Pharaoh, even though he was a Hebrew. But then he was raised by Hebrew for a little while. And then he's trying to make a decision, well, who am I and what do I belong to? And then he kills an Egyptian, which he feels like will endear him to the HebRewS. But then the Hebrews don't trust him. And then he ends up in the desert. And then God finds him out in the middle of that desert and calls him to a job of leadership. And now he's leading this group of Israelites out of slavery, and now into another season of the desert. And things have not always been easy or straightforward.
[00:05:52] And this is where we pick up this conversation with God and moses. It says, in Exodus chapter 33, it says, the LoRD said to moses, get going. You and the PeoPle you brought up from the land of Egypt, go up to the land I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. I told them, I will give this land to your descendants, and I will send an angel before you to drive out the Canaanites, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites. Did I pronounce all those correctly? Not completely sure.
[00:06:21] Go up to this land that flows with milk and honey, but I will not travel among you.
[00:06:26] Check that part right there. I'll read it again. But I will not travel among you. For you are a stubborn and a rebellious people.
[00:06:36] If I did, I would surely destroy you along the way. This is big dad on a road trip. Energy from goddess. I think every dad has gotten to a point in that car where they've said, look, here's the deal. You guys can finish the trip, but if I finish this with you, I will destroy you.
[00:06:55] It's too loud in this darn car.
[00:06:59] When people heard these stern words, they went out into mourning and stopped wearing their jewelry and their fine clothes. And it continues on. In verse twelve, it says, one day Moses said to the Lord, the conversation continues. You've been telling me, take these people to the promised land, but you haven't told me whom you will send with me. You've told me I know you by name, and I look favorably on you. If it's true that you look favorably on me. Let me know your ways so that I may understand you more fully and continue to enjoy your favor. And remember that this nation is your very own people. The Lord replied, I will personally go with you, Moses, and I will give you rest. Everything will be fine for you. And Moses said, if you don't go personally with us, don't make us leave this place. And how will anyone know that you look favorably on me, on me and your people if you don't go with us? For your presence among us sets up your people and me apart from all other people on earth? The Lord replied to Moses, I will indeed do what you have asked for. I look favorably on you, and I know you by name. And then Moses responded, then show me your glory.
[00:08:02] So, because this relationship is so close and it's so personal between God and Moses, they enter this point where God is so exhausted by the Israelites, and they're groaning and complaining. And this is one chapter after this nation has promised to God that we will not build idols, they immediately go and build idols again. It makes sense that God has the grumpy dad energy, right?
[00:08:30] I'm looking at you. Please eat your pizza. Eat your pizza. Eat your pizza. I will, dad, do it now.
[00:08:39] And God is looking at this nation and going, this is stubborn and rebellious and complaining people.
[00:08:46] And so what God does is he makes Moses an offer, a pretty good offer I might have had. He says, look, here's the deal. I'm gonna give you the land that I promised you. I'm gonna give you actually military favor over these other nations that might challenge you. You'll have provision, you'll have the milk and the honey, which means you won't go for food.
[00:09:09] I'll give you everything that you have wanted. I will give you a new kingdom, and I will give you power over that kingdom.
[00:09:19] But I'm not going with you.
[00:09:23] Now, we're met with this offer often in our lives, by the way. And the offer is that you can have a success. You can have everything that you've ever wanted. You can achieve all of the dreams.
[00:09:35] But sometimes in order to achieve those things, we believe it's okay to expense or to remove ourselves from the presence and the direction and the relationship with God.
[00:09:46] And I gotta be honest with you, there's been times in my life where that sounds like just fine to me.
[00:09:51] This relationship with God can feel cumbersome sometimes, right? The idea that I'm gonna stop and I'm gonna ask God through prayer what I should do or where I should go next or the fact that I could be submitted to a God that loves the whole world, right? And not just me and not just my situation and not just my people. Do you know how frustrating it is sometimes that God loves the whole stinking world? That means we got to care about people that we wouldn't normally care about.
[00:10:20] The scripture says that the gospel is good news for the poor.
[00:10:25] Oh, come on.
[00:10:27] To bring everybody along, God, it takes so much. There's so much struggle. There's so much pain. There's so many people to hold and to care for. I can move much faster all on my own.
[00:10:39] And if the nation of Israel would take this offer, they would take the offer of a new kingdom and their own kind of power. They wouldn't have to carry around these tents anymore to erect, so that the presence of God could come and live amongst them. It wouldn't have to do any of these things. They wouldn't have to answer to him anymore. They could make every decision based on exactly what they need and they want and they feel in the moment.
[00:11:03] But this is what Moses says, who's been through an incredible amount in his life, who has wandered the desert alone, who has wondered where his identity lies and what God might want to do with him. Or maybe he's even wondered if there is a God at all.
[00:11:17] Moses arrives at this place where he says, actually, if you're not going to go with us, I'd rather reject everything that you just offered, and I want to stay with you right here.
[00:11:31] That is somebody who is desperately trying to follow after the way of God and being shaped by him.
[00:11:39] Moses has been incredibly imperfect in this story, made many, many mistakes, fallen victim to rage and to shame. But in this moment of clarity, he realizes that all the good things in life, every good pleasure and perfect gift, comes from being in the presence of God.
[00:12:02] And I would encourage us today, as a church, there is no direction that we would like to go as west side that doesn't simply involve the presence of God.
[00:12:12] There are ways that you could grow a church and build an organization and become stronger financially and gain influence in this community. That many times come with the caveat of, this is not where God would go.
[00:12:29] We reject those opportunities and offers, and instead, we allow the presence of God to permeate our being as best we can, as we believe that wherever we go, we want the Lord with us also.
[00:12:43] And so what Moses says, he says at the end of this, he says, all right, if this is actually favorable to you and you will stay with us, I want to see and experience your glory.
[00:12:56] Now, it's a funny way and how it manifests itself a couple times in this scripture, and I'll tell you the reason why. God shows himself. Basically, at one moment, just his feet, he shows to Moses, and then at this moment, he shows Moses just his back.
[00:13:11] I will tell you the reason for this when I understand someday. I don't get it, you know?
[00:13:18] Yeah. God's got to play peek a boo for you in a little while. You see part just the toes.
[00:13:25] I don't completely understand it, but the biggest question that I've had, even ever since I was a kid was, well, why does God make us in the first place? You guys ever wondered this question? If God is real, and we're going to buy into that, then why does God create us in the first place? And the answer that I always got when I was a kid, which is at best incomplete, the answer that I always got as a kid is, well, we're made to glorify God, to give him fame and praise and love and encouragement. That's why we've been made.
[00:13:55] And maybe a lot of you are more holy than me and you're better and more faithful than me, but I would hear that response and be like, this is a weird. This is a weird relationship that God and I have. He makes me so that I go, wow, you're awesome. And God goes, I know.
[00:14:13] Thank you. More, please.
[00:14:17] This is fascinating to me. Seems narcissistic and a little self serving. And is this really the depth of our relationship with God? And we do give glory to God and we do give praise, and that's why we worship and we sing together and we give praise to God with our lives. But that's a. That's an incomplete understanding of why we've been created. The idea that God created people so that we would simply worship him would tell us that God was missing that peace for himself. But if you believe the christian tradition that God exists actually as part of a trinity, that God exists in community, right? The Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, that through this community, this loving community, it would exist like any loving community that we've experienced here. You can't have a loving community without the building up and exalting and encouraging and loving of each other. That's how it is in our friendships, in our families, and that's how you create that community. God has this community through the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. So we can't surmise, if we believe those things, that God was simply desperate to be in some kind of relationship or community in which he received love that he was not already receiving.
[00:15:31] So because we know that God has that community, we have to understand, we have to then believe that we have been created so that God could share that glory from the overflow of what he is already receiving and wanted to share this with another being.
[00:15:52] And that's where we experience the presence and the love and the glory.
[00:15:58] God and Moses has lived enough to know I have to have this in my life in order to make life worth living.
[00:16:07] David, who was a king himself, who wrote many of the psalms in Psalm, chapter 16, verse eleven, David says, you make known to me the path of life. You will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand. David, who has received everything that he could possibly want, has known the greatest riches and the greatest power, who owns the kingdom, is saying, the one thing that I know I must have outside of all this is the glory and the presence of God. It has to go with me, or I don't want to go anywhere else.
[00:16:38] Jesus says in John, chapter 16, Jesus says, Father, glorify me in your presence to the glory that I had before you before the world began. Father, I want those you have given to me to be with me where I am and see my glory, the glory that you've given me because you loved me before. The foundation of the world, the glory the presence is given because of this outpouring of love.
[00:17:01] That's where the very foundation of our faith begins. And that is where the continuation of our faith is found. We don't try to push the glory of God on the world around us again through this ownership of kingdom or this expression of power. We believe that the glory of God shines through us because of the death of the resurrection of Jesus. And then it is poured out upon the world through what? An extravagant overflow of love.
[00:17:30] That's what the church is built for.
[00:17:35] Have you ever had somebody try to tell you how great God is and that you should listen to them? Because if they don't agree, if you don't agree with them, then you're the worst, and you're a terrible, horrible, wretched person.
[00:17:49] You heard this? This is one of the most interesting christian sales pitches I've ever heard. Well, why should I love Jesus? Because you are a wretched human being. Oh, good.
[00:17:59] You sound like people I'd like to be with.
[00:18:06] It's the kindness of God that brings us to repentance.
[00:18:11] Jesus says himself, because you loved me, your glory would shine on me. And now it shines into the world.
[00:18:22] I want you to understand that God's motivation and relationship with you is born out of this incredible, everlasting love and our relationship with the world and the world coming to know Jesus should come from an overwhelming outpouring of our love.
[00:18:40] We know this because we are actually created in the image of Goddesse.
[00:18:45] And the shared building up of each other is actually what love is really made of.
[00:18:52] When we are in love, we glorify each other. And if it's true that God is a trinity, then it can't be true that we were made simply just to glorify God. He already had that. Instead, we've been created so that God can share with us his glory.
[00:19:06] He made us so that we can share with it and then reflect it to the world.
[00:19:13] And it says, in Exodus 30 319, it says, the Lord replied, I will make all my goodness pass before you, and I will call out my name, yahweh, before you. For I will show you mercy to anyone I choose, and I will show compassion to anyone I choose. But you may not look directly at my face, for no. 1 may see me and live. And the Lord continued, look, stand near me on this rock, and as my glorious presence passes, bye. I will hide you in the crevice of the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed. Then I will remove my hand, let you see me from behind, but my face will not be seen. And Moses experiences the glory of God in such a way that even his face is shining.
[00:19:54] And so what happens after the death and the resurrection of Jesus? We have the apostle Paul refer to this moment where Moses encounters God, and he actually says, now, because of Jesus in our life, when we turn to the Lord, we experience all the glory of God, but without any hiding and without any veiled faces, we experience the full, the full glory of God.
[00:20:21] Now, glory. In this specific context, the language actually refers to almost like a currency or really a kind of weight. It's the weight of glory, not just a shining light, but it's a weight of glory.
[00:20:36] And I love how Jesus refers back to this in Matthew, chapter eleven, because he's speaking to a group of people that understand what the weight of faith means. Have you ever felt the heavy weight of Christianity or the heavy weight of faith?
[00:20:50] In some ways, this is good. We understand that this life that we're choosing to live and following after Jesus will not always be easy, right? Just like all of our relationships, friendships, marriages, none of these relationships are easy. They require a sacrifice. And a going out of your way to care for and love one another.
[00:21:11] But the people that are listening to this teaching of Jesus that I'm about to share with you are a people that have been crushed by the weight of this law that they can't possibly fulfill.
[00:21:22] And then Jesus shows up, and so many of these people, we hear about the Pharisees and the sadducees, the teachers of religious law, who were so defensive of the law because that was kind of how their entire world was built. And they got their own power in their own little kingdom because of the law in and of itself. And then them teaching that and holding people to that law. But there was a lot of people following after Jesus that are hearing this, rabbi, and they're hoping that he can give them the trick to getting through or over or under the law, that he can bring some relief. And what Jesus does earlier in Matthew is he actually makes things way worse.
[00:21:57] Have you ever felt like Jesus made things way worse? He does in Matthew, chapter five, right? He talks about blessed are the meek. And it's very poetic and beautiful and wonderful. And then he goes on and people ask him questions about the law, and he says, well, let me tell you about the law. You guys have heard that it's bad to murder someone. Yes. Everybody agree? Good. Now, let me tell you, when you look at somebody with anger in your heart, that's just as bad as killing somebody.
[00:22:22] And you've heard it's bad to sleep with someone that's not your wife. But let me tell you, even when you look at someone with lust in your heart, it's the same as committing adultery with her. And all of a sudden, these people who are looking in a hopeful way to Jesus are looking around at each other and going, this is bad.
[00:22:38] We are already in huge trouble. This guy's terrible.
[00:22:43] I mean, miracles. Yeah, but he's nuts.
[00:22:47] And the weight piles on, right? It piles on and on and on and on and on.
[00:22:52] And they already felt the heaviness of this law.
[00:22:55] It has gotten so much worse.
[00:22:59] But this is why you continue to read and they would continue to listen. It says in Matthew, chapter eleven, it says, at this time Jesus prayed this prayer, o Father, lord of heaven and earth, thank you for hiding these things from those who you think themselves wise and clever and for revealing them to the childlike.
[00:23:19] Yes, Father. It pleased you to do it this way. My father has entrusted everything to me. No one truly knows the son except the father. And no one truly knows the father except the Son. And those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him, and then he says this. So Jesus says, come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I'll give you rest.
[00:23:41] Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I'm humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is actually easy to bear, and the burden that I give to you is light.
[00:23:55] So, just as God says to Moses, I will go with you, and you will find rest. Jesus teaches the people, feeling this additional weight now of the teachings of Jesus. He brings them all the way around, and he says, now, look, this law sounds hard, right? It sounds impossible. Do you think you can do it? Is what Jesus is asking to this crowd.
[00:24:19] Do you think you can have your kingdom and your power and do it well?
[00:24:26] Do you think you can have your kingdom and your power, and it can fulfill all the dreams and the feelings that you've always, ever wanted? Do you feel like you can obey this new law sufficiently? Can you cross all the t's and dot all the I's and have every detail down for the rest of your life? And if the crowd is honest, they're looking back at him and they're responding, no way.
[00:24:47] This is hard.
[00:24:50] And so Jesus says, good, now you're getting it.
[00:24:55] Come to me, and I'll take all of your burdens and your cares and this yoke that I actually give to you, especially in comparison to that weight that you felt like where you had to accomplish every goal, where you had to be perfect.
[00:25:14] My yoke that I put on you in this relationship together is easy to bear, and the burden that you now have is light.
[00:25:26] So I want to encourage all of you under the sound of my voice today, that maybe you do have this heart, like Moses, where you say, I want.
[00:25:34] I want that presence of God. I want to experience that glory. Well, it's so human nature to think that if we cross all the t's and dot all the I's and we find ourselves in a perfect place in a perfect moment, then we'll experience that closeness and that relationship. Jesus would say, stop trying to be God yourself, and instead find yourself attached and in my presence. If you're someone that's saying, I want to go and run into all these different places, I want to encourage you to stop and get a reminder or ask yourself, is God with me? Am I running with his presence and his glory? As we've heard this from pastors and preachers and teachers and philosophers, from people in scripture, we've heard it from rich and successful people who find themselves at the end of their lives. And they say, all of the fame and all of my own personal glory and all of the success and money somehow doesn't ever fit. Fill this hole in my soul that tells me if I get to the next step and the next level and the next thing, I'll finally feel fulfilled. Instead, I ask you to be like Moses today, in the middle of all your imperfections and frustrations. Say, I won't go anywhere unless I'm with you. And when we do so, we don't simply take the kingdom and the power for ourselves and abandon the glory of goddess.
[00:27:00] Instead, we give the kingdom and the power and the glory all to him, the one who cares for us and loves us and whose glory is born out of this dynamic, incredible and perfect love. God wants you to experience his glory. And God is so big, and here we are, it feels like we don't really matter so often. The beauty of a massive God is that he deals with us in such a personal way. We are seen in the glory of God, and he wants us to be confident and know and experience this thing. I love that we started this entire seven part series together with the story of Jesus and the woman with the issue of blood. A woman who hadn't been healed, who tried all the doctors, all the things, crawls her way through the streets to simply touch the hem of Jesus. It says, as she touched his hymn, Jesus began to look around. And then when he discovered who it was that had touched him and who had been healed, it says, he turns his face to her. Come on. Some of you find yourself in this place today feeling desperate, like healing has come from nowhere. I want to encourage you today, as we worship together, let's try to grab the cloak of Jesus. Let's simply get close. Let's crawl and scratch our way into his presence, and his face will shine upon us.
