The 3rd week of Lent at Tapestry Church in Stevens Point. In Exodus 17:1-7 we see Israel and Moses not really respond in faith, but the gospel isn’t about our faith. It is about the faithfulness of Jesus.
Lenten 3 – 3 12 2023 – exodus 17 1-7.mp3
Auto Generated Transcript
Would you join me in prayer?
Father, may we be near to you.
We know that doesn’t come from our actions.
It comes from your faithfulness and your steadfastness.
So help us to be near to you.
I pray this in your son’s name. Amen.
Please have a seat if you’d like.
11 way to kill it? I mean way to kill it 2 some of you had the mystery of the Lord’s Supper ruined for you as you saw me suddenly realize that I had left the grape juice out in the vehicle and run outside to get it and then have to cut it out of the package of Welches.
I’m going to use that because I am a preacher and therefore everything is always an illustration, but I’m going to use it actually.
I mean, yes, they did an amazing job.
But you let us and I appreciate that.
And I don’t know about you, but I enjoy that moment where it’s like.
And it’s easy to get into that moment and enjoy that feeling because that is a feeling that we don’t just have at church.
You may have been at a concert before or at a musical.
Pam and I will go to Les Mis next year because Les Mis is coming to Appleton.
Kaylee apparently knows that cause.
She is smiling greatly and when they get up there and start waving the flag and singing.
I’m going to feel like going outside and fighting for something.
It’s purpose and connection.
But singing in the church, while it does produce that feeling is not about that feeling.
People want just that sometimes.
Real worship, because we experience that feeling but singing in the church is so that we say the same thing at the same time so that we help each other to remember. It teaches us our theology. It reminds us of God’s faithfulness singing in the church.
Which is so that when you are in the midst of that pit in the midst of that darkness, you have words that come back to you and you say nearer to God and my God to thee.
When you don’t feel like his presence is anywhere around you at all.
Singing in the church is about.
And the feeling comes with it.
But it’s never just about the feeling.
Our concerts and our plays are about the feeling.
The reason I bring it up is the Lord suffers the same way.
I get these warm fuzzies with.
When I when I say the words or when I hear someone else say the words, whenever you do this, do this in remembrance of Maine.
It produces that feeling in me, but the Lord’s supper, while it does produce those feelings, is never just about those feelings.
It’s about reminding us of what the Lord has done.
So that we remember, he will do it again.
It’s about uniting us in that group. I talked earlier about the church growing at its fastest time period from 100 to 300 a day.
It’s really remarkable if you look at the coinage of the Roman Empire and 100 Caesars are on the coin and 300 suddenly Christian Saints are on the coins.
The largest empire in the world has changed by 120 people in an upper room.
Over 300 years, it’s remarkable.
And that’s not because they got warm fuzzies for the Lord’s supper. It’s because the Lord’s Supper prepared them to live that lifeout.
So what we’re about to do, hopefully you feel unity and when you see this on video, you feel unity and that’s a good feeling.
Don’t hear me say that it’s wrong.
But it’s not just about that feeling.
Producing in us the life that follows Jesus, it’s about producing us the life that remembers that he is faithful, even when we don’t feel like following him.
It’s always coming back to life.
It’s never just about the emotional element.
The emotions are meant to help encourage that.
But it’s always about coming back to, well, I always think of Nacho Libre when I say this phrase to the nitty gritty, OK.
It’s about the stuff that happens outside of this when we don’t have the warm fuzzies.
So we’re going to do the Lord’s Supper.
And for that reason, I’m kind of glad that the mystery was broken, that I forgot to take the bread out of the plastic bag that the hotties put it in.
Because when everything goes right.
It’s easy for us to focus on the emotions.
When it doesn’t go right.
We have to remember what it’s actually all about.
So what is this all about?
It’s about us remembering the Lord’s death until he comes.
It’s about us remembering that he took a bunch of scallywags, a bunch of people who had no worth in and of themselves, the weak and the people who were perceived as strong but were actually weak.
The people who others thought had resources and were rich but actually saw themselves as fallen.
And him making a family out of that brothers and sisters.
They aren’t warm emotions that happen with that.
But the daily life is the important thing.
Paul tells us in the 11th chapter of his letter to the Corinthians that he gave the Corinthians what the Lord had given to them.
On the night that he was betrayed.
When he was about to go to be crucified and he he knew his death was coming, he took elements that were around him for a remembrance of God’s setting the captives free from his from Egypt.
He took those elements and he then used them as a way to remember his death until he comes to unite a new family.
That would no longer just be made of the chosen people, but would be able to declare chosen those who had been thought unworthy.
And he shared it with his friends.
And he said whenever you eat this.
It is a reminder of my body.
Took the cop that was in.
And he said whenever you drink this cup.
As a reminder of my blood.
Blood of the new covenant.
He said this to people that had promised that they would be with him to the end and yet they ran away in fear.
He said this to people who said you are the chosen one.
You are the Messiah and yet they sold him for 30 pieces of silver.
He said it in love to every person there who he would wash their feet literally.
This is not about your faithfulness.
It is not about you getting it right.
You will never get it right.
I will never get it right.
This is about the steadfastness of Jesus.
He loves you and he loves me.
So would you join me in prayer in asking the Lord’s blessing as we remember him? And then when you are ready, come up here.
I will serve the first person.
I’ll give you a piece of bread.
I will ask you to take that piece of bread and dip it into the juice.
And as you taste, the tartness of the grapes and you feel the texture of the bread, I ask that you remember.
And I will say remember and what are you remembering? You’re remembering the Lord’s death until he comes.
Because that death and that resurrection make us family, and we now get to live that family out.
And that is the greatest witness of the.
When they’re forsaken or claimed, when people who have nothing in common other than Jesus say that is all that’s necessary and we come together as a family.
We proclaim his resurrection, and we know that he will come back again.
So would you join with me in prayer?
We desperately need your help to remember.
We have promised again and again that we would.
But since the fall, our hearts are bent towards unfaithfulness rather than faithfulness.
But your character is always the same.
You are the God who accepts us.
When we are prodigal and run back to you, and we barely ever take a step to you before we realized that you were running towards us.
Even if only for a brief moment.
I pray, father that you bless us through this bread and through this juice.
You bless us with memory.
I pray this in your son’s name.
When you were ready, come and remember.
I’m gonna steal my stool from you.
Also, you are a very brave man.
So we’re in the third week of the Linton season and I am not a very creative person most of the time.
Every now and then to into thinking that I’m a creative person, but I basically just repeat the same stuff over and over and over again.
And that’s what’s going to happen today.
But I’m going to begin by telling you a story.
Most of you can tell even though.
We’re low attendance today because of daylight savings time and snow.
But we’re a young church.
I mean, it’s it’s really weird to me.
I was talking with somebody this week on a church.
That’s a good bit bigger than us and and as a result of the age we have like.
Probably 4 times as many kids as they do.
It’s it’s really kind of weird in the history of the church.
I have performed one funeral.
Because like Pam and I today are the senior adults in the room.
OK, we don’t have very many, and I’m thankful for the ones we do.
My mother and Jan and Jan, if you’re watching this, we miss you.
We need you back here soon.
I’m glad you’re someplace warm.
But we need you back here soon.
But we’ve done a lot of weddings, a whole lot of weddings.
Part of that, maybe because if you’re active in the church, I tell people I don’t want you to pay me anything.
You can give me a gift, but I don’t want you to pay me.
And so a gift is not like.
So like one of my favorite gifts ever was somebody gave me a fishing lure and they bought a fishing kit from World Vision and the fishing lure was just the way they told me about it.
It was wonderful. Made my day. If you see it. So I did Nathan Elizabeth’s wedding. And if you ever see me riding, I have pain ears.
Which are the bags that you put in the back of my bike?
Because they gave me those as my wedding gifts, my wedding gift?
So one of the first weddings I did for the church was for somebody.
Who helped start the church and his name is Anthony.
He lives in Stevens Point and I what I I honestly don’t really enjoy doing weddings.
I enjoy helping people prepare marriages.
OK, so I love premarital counseling.
I don’t like even for people outside the church is like, here’s what I charge for you outside the church for me to do the fee or do the wedding cause I just don’t want to.
But I don’t charge a dime for premarital counseling like I do that for free.
That, and I did all their premarital counseling.
It was just really into it.
The wedding went off without a hitch.
Everybody comes up afterwards and you know, with the preacher, what you do is you walk.
That’s just really good, preacher.
It’s just really good, really good.
And people were just real thankful.
And then we went to the banquet.
And Anthony got up and he did this.
And he started saying before we eat, we’re going to ask somebody to thank the Lord for the food.
And what you need to know is this is somebody who has just has really meant the world to me and my my faith in Jesus and.
Has also meant a lot to my bride.
He’s just helped us so much in preparing for our our marriage.
Not only our wedding, but our marriage.
And we are so thankful for him.
And I gotta be honest and say I started to turn red at this point and I started to get a little embarrassed.
And Anthony kept on talking.
Praising you and you’re just like I just want.
And Anthony goes well, we’re going to ask him in just a second to come up here and thank the Lord for the food because we’ve been so thankful for his prayer.
And I finally had just reached a point like I am turning bright red and I stood up and said, Anthony, you, it’s enough.
I will gladly come and say the prayer for the meal for him to say.
I was talking about Uncle Joe.
This is not a preacher story.
Everybody in the room staring at me.
One sweet little old lady at another table looks over at me and goes.
I thought he was talking about you too.
I want you to think while we’re reading the scripture.
Of a time where you just completely didn’t get it.
Where you were sure you knew what was going on and you just did not get it.
Because that’s what I was feeling at that moment.
So this is what the word of the Lord says.
We’re going to read verses one through 7.
This is what the word Lord says.
Can you operate it for me?
The whole Israelite community set out from the desert of sin, traveling from place to place as the Lord commanded.
They camped at Rafidi M Rafidi M, but there was no water for the people to drink, so they quarreled with Moses and said give us water to drink.
Why do you quarrel with me?
Why do you put the Lord to the test?
But the people were thirsty for water there, and they grumbled against Moses and they said, why did you bring us up out of Egypt to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?
Then Moses cried out to the Lord.
What am I to do with these people?
They are almost ready to stone me.
The Lord answered Moses go out in front of the people, take with you some of the elders of Israel, and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile.
I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb.
Strike the rock and the water will come out of it for all the people to do.
So Moses did this in the sight of the Elders of Israel, and he called that place Masa and Miraba because the Israelites quarrelled, and because they tested the Lord saying, is the Lord among us or not.
Now think of that passage that we just read.
Have just come out of just absolute slavery.
They’re in the desert, wandering around now, but they’ve been set free and they have seen God do miraculous things.
And that’s important because our faith is a faith of miraculous things also.
OK, it is not just giving us good intellectual.
It’s not about ethics, it’s not for us to just come here and think through things.
We call upon the Lord and we ask him to do the impossible because we have seen him do the impossible before, and the Israelites case.
Here’s just some of the things that they had seen him do.
Was that you or was that me?
So here’s a few of the things just pop them for a few times.
They’re freed from slavery.
Israel crossed the Red Sea on dry land.
They were not just freed from slavery by nobody.
They were not freed from slavery by a group of people that were about to fall.
This was Egypt, the most powerful nation in the world.
And the Israelites were held captive, and God made it possible for them to not only be set free, but set free where they they literally looted the Egyptians as they were leaving, not by purposely taking their stuff, but by the Egyptians giving them stuff, giving them gold that they eventually turn into a false idol.
Giving them things while they’re leaving.
They are set free and then as they think they’re about to be attacked and killed, they cry out to the Lord and the Lord makes a way for them to make it across on dry land in the midst of the red or the Reed Sea.
While he’s doing that, he not only uses the dry land.
To make it to where they’re able to go free, but he then reverses the process and destroys the most powerful army at the time in front of them, without them having to do anything.
Next one place, they complain saying we have nothing to eat after they have just seen God do all of this and God provides them with manna, which.
One of the best words in all of Scripture.
Does anybody know what manna means?
And apparently it tasted really good.
But it’s just I love the work.
God provides food out of nothing for them.
And they eat this and they get their fill, and he provides every day for them, and then they begin to complain, saying we need meat.
He provides them with quail. They have seen this again in matter of fact, if you look at the previous two chapters, we just read 171516 and 17.
All three are God meeting needs as the people of Israel grumble, and what I don’t want you hearing here is this mindset of.
They just forgot what terrible people they are.
They should have remembered.
Let’s see if it works this time.
It does not go ahead and hit it.
They should have remembered all that God had done.
But the reality is since the fall, our bent is not towards faithfulness but towards unfaithfulness.
We forget things right and left.
God did incredible things, but those things were in the past, and the thing we’re facing right now seems so big because the miraculous things that were done in the past, they shrink in our memory.
And the things we face right now.
People of Israel are no different than we are.
Maybe they’re different from you, but I forget all the time I have seen God do incredible things.
I have cried out to him for help and he has more than provided.
One of the things I love about Lent is it’s a reminder of discipline, but one of the things I hate about Lent is it’s very easy for us to think that the message of the gospel is about discipline.
I need that reminder of discipline.
OK, I know that my life works better when I wake up earlier.
As much as I don’t like daylight savings time, and I really don’t like it now.
Because Mariah gave me 3 reasons more to despise it.
I know that because I woke up earlier today and I shoveled my driveway, my life will be easier when I go home and there’s still more snow and the stupid plow truck.
And please forgive me for saying stupid kids, but I really don’t like the plow truck.
OK, the the the plow truck will have come by and there will be a big.
Mound on the front of my driveway and I know it’s not going to be enjoyable, but I know because of the fact I had the discipline this morning to to shovel.
But the temptation is to think.
It’s about our discipline.
The disciplines of lent, the things we give up, the things we take on, can very easily be if I do all of this, I will remember.
And the story of Israel again and again and again is.
They forget, but even more importantly, the story of Israel again and again is how did God respond when they forgot?
It provides manna to people that are complaining.
Going did you just bring us out here to die?
It’s not even like we can really compare and contrast with Moses, which hit the next slide place.
Moses doesn’t do a great job here either.
This is Moses’s prayer. OK, it says he cried out. Excuse me. This is their prayer. Would you hit the next line or their statement and then hit the side after that?
It says cried out to the Lord. What does it mean to cry out to the Lord? That’s prayer. Moses’s prayer here is not God. I’ve seen you do remarkable stuff before.
You’ve brought these people out.
He expresses just frustration.
What am I to do with these people?
They’re almost ready to stone me.
This is not a stellar moment for most.
He’s supposed to be their.
Leader and he’s just like I.
He’s the one that God has expected to stand up all the time, saying you have to protect these people because it reflects on your name.
We’ve seen God call him to that again and again, where Moses has said Father, you have to take care of your people.
It reflects on you, but that’s not what he’s doing here.
Moses is no different than the people of Israel.
He’s just as big a failure.
He messes up just like everyone else.
That’s why I love Lent, but I see the danger of Lent to I mentioned this image that Sarah Reeve sent to actually sent it to Pam to share.
To me this past week I’m going to do it just because I think it’s fine about Lent.
Would you hit the next slide?
It could be somebody I know.
We focus on Lent because in, in Lent we remember that we came from dust and we will return to dust.
But the answer to that that is not.
I will work harder to be faithful.
The answer to that is I depend on God’s steadfastness.
I depend on his faithfulness.
Yes, we should try to discipline ourselves.
But you are going to fail.
One time I’m not going to shovel my driveway and we all know what happens then it’s just going to get worse and worse.
And when you don’t shovel your driveway once and the mound forms, it becomes all the more difficult to shovel it later on.
This is the time of season where if you look around at driveways, what happens is people say I’m not shoveling anymore.
And it builds up until it finally gets warm enough to melt it.
I’m just going to depend upon the sun to do.
The beauty is in our faith, while God calls us to be faithful, he understands that our bent again and again and again is towards unfaithfulness.
We are constantly saying, did God really say this to use the words of the serpent?
It’s what the people of Israel were saying.
He brought us out of that, but he brought us here to die.
Did he really say he was going to set us free?
Lent is a constant reminder of God’s faithfulness.
Which is the next line now in in the Christian tradition, this story, the rock is a reminder of Jesus.
And why is it a reminder of Jesus?
It’s a reminder of Jesus, because Jesus talks about how he will give to us living water.
If you remember, we were going through the Gospel of John before.
Lent began, and we read through the 4th chapter of the Gospel of John the two weeks before Lent began.
Jesus goes and has a drink of water with a Samaritan woman.
He asked her for a drink but tells her that he can give her water.
He can give her water that will fill her up for the rest.
And the Christian tradition has come back and and looked at the story and realized that Moses could not take care of his people.
He could not free them, they could not remember and.
Just to simply hit the rock.
And if you hit the rock, water comes.
And therefore the church has constantly come back and said the rock is a symbol of Jesus because that’s what we do on Lent.
The reminder of Lent is not to say discipline yourself harder, even though we need the discipline, it is not to say you have sinned and you have to pull yourself out of that, even though we need to remind you that we have.
End the discipline and the reminder of Lent is that Jesus Christ is the one who.
That he is the one we fall upon, and living water comes out.
He is the one we hit, and living water comes and that’s the whole purpose of church.
Every Sunday is not to beat us up and make us think how terrible we are, but to realize that we have a need and to come and to hit the rock.
And sometimes you hit the rock much like the prodigal son.
Who runs and falls into the arms of the father?
We hit the rock literally just by collapsing on Jesus.
And yet water still comes forth.
It doesn’t come forth because you are so great that you go.
I will study Jesus well enough to get hope from him.
It comes because Jesus is the one who just gives us living water.
It’s never about our faithfulness.
And you can think of times right now.
Where you knew you weren’t faithful.
Where you knew you had every reason to believe that Jesus was going to take care of the situation he was going to give you the hope he was.
Going to help you to make it through it.
And you were still going?
Did I just come here to fall down?
Did I come here to die here?
But Jesus Christ is always faithful.
Regardless of what you’re going through now.
Worry, anxiety, feelings of inadequacy.
There’s nothing life changing about it.
Except for the fact it’s completely life changing.
The world will say work harder.
The message of the gospel is.
That the Lord is with you.
If you look, the people of Israel ask that at the end, would you hit the next sign?
Is the Lord among us or not any interesting?
They’re longing for water. They’re thirsty, and their question is, is the Lord among us or not? Because if the Lord’s there, they know that he’ll provide.
We just forget far too easily.
And what we always have to try to remember, and we have to trust that even when we can’t remember it, he will still be faithful.
Is that the answer is always yes.
So you come to church today, you watch the video today with your struggles.
And what I want you to do.
Is if you can’t hit the rock and receive the living water, allow somebody else to hit the rock and remind you of the living water.
Because when we approach Jesus and fall on him, he.
So before I close this out, does anybody have anything to add?
Like they weren’t Moses, so they didn’t have.
The privilege of talking.
A lack of needs and needs not being met.
Situation just to see if he.
Has always great things to have.
Like I find myself kind of empathizing with.
The Israelites here because.
You know, I have been in a desert without water.
Yeah. Yeah, metaphorically.
What could be Israelis have?
How could they responded better other than?
You know the obvious, sort of just.
Turning back on that, but like.
And and wanting to be honest and say what I’m struggling with is the word wrong there.
Because I think Scripture shows again and again.
Jesus is really OK with us coming and doing things that we would think we’re wrong with other people.
Like, oh, if you love me, you would trust me type thing and he seems to be OK with that a lot.
One of the things I actually love is.
The Israelites come to Moses and come to God, even though they’re doubting them, they still come to Moses and come to God, and we see examples of that.
You actually see examples of that Jesus and the garden of Jasmine is like I don’t want to do this and he’s he’s arguing with the father to some extent.
But you have examples of this and some of the heroes of the faith.
One of my favorite actually is.
She has a dream with Jesus.
This is not scripture, but she’s interpreting scripture through her dreams and her dream basically as her complaining.
Saying I don’t like this situation at all and Jesus saying Theresa, this is how I treat my friends and her response is Lord.
No wonder you have so few.
And the thing that I like that the the Israelites are doing here is they’re not trusting while trusting at the exact same moment.
You only complain to the person saying.
Why aren’t you doing this when you expect that person to do that?
So I I struggle with the word wrong there because.
We never kind of sneak up on him and and suddenly surprise him with our fallen and untrustworthy nature.
He knows exactly who I am.
The fact that I I can trust very easily at one moment and then I struggle with an entirely different moment.
That truthfully for other people may seem insignificant, and for me it’s this mountain that I just can’t get over.
What I know is that even in their unbelief, they still somehow believed.
And and I don’t want to point it out like they failed.
Probably they didn’t, but they didn’t succeed either. It’s completely about God’s success in the sense of his character is he’s there.
I mean literally one of his names is Emmanuel.
When he chose to give us a name.
Part of that name is just this constant reminder of, oh, I’m there.
Think of the the the really holy names of God.
It’s so much about who he is.
He gives names that say this is his character and one of his names is.
I’m with you even when you don’t think I’m there.
So I know I’m not answering your question, but is that kind of answering your question?
It’s just hard not to put yourself in.
The shoes of the Israelites.
Obviously they’re the ones.
That we’re supposed to be kind.
Part of the danger of of Linton practices and spiritual disciplines is it can make it come back to if you do the right things, then you’ll remember.
And that’s never the message.
So I, to be honest, I kind of hope you fail with your Lenten practices.
OK, it’s part of the beauty of like I can’t do.
I can’t even do this simple thing.
I can’t even give up social media effectively.
So how am I going to do the big things?
And it’s not like I don’t have to do anything.
It’s that I can’t do anything really significant.
And he still calls me to be holy.
He still calls me to try, but.
I’m going to forget that he not only forgave me, but he overcame this big thing in the past.
This probably bigger than what I’m dealing with right now.
He’s overcome that in the past.
And he knows I’m going to forget that and I’m going to focus on this other thing.
That may be a really big deal right now, but I have every reason to believe that he will take care of it.
I’m going to forget that.
And he’s not going to turn his back on.
I think the temptation so often is to think that God reaches a point of that’s it.
You will be my people and I will be your God and you have not been my people.
So I’m not going to be your God anymore, but the story of the gospel again and again and again is that he will be our God regardless of whether or not we live as his people, though he’ll still call us to be like to to live as his people.
He is faithful when all others, including me, myself and I, fail to be faithful.
You got anything you want to add to that?
And what I love is that really is good news.
Because it it makes our burden, the one we receive from Jesus really light.
Very easy and all the other burdens.
Anybody else got something?
OK, then I’m going to end with with this cheesy little joke that everybody in the room is too young to to get, and I don’t think my wife knows rock music enough well enough to know this.
This is all about timing here, Charlie.
If I had my clicker so the Israelites ask is the Lord among us or not?
This is the 1970s band, Yes.
Did you know who they were?
Would you join with me in our closing prayer, please?
Praise God from whom all blessings from praise him.
All creatures here be lo.
Praise Father, son and Holy Ghost.
When you failed this week, when you fail this Linton season.
Hopefully one little small speck of you will remember that he does.
He is still there with you.
I hope that brings hope to you and I hope that is good news to you.
Those of you on video, thanks for joining us.
Have a great week everybody be safe.
