Humility Before God Exodus 33 October 22, 2017 What does the Lord require of us? What’s God want with me? You ever asked that question? What in the world am I supposed to do? God’s word spells it out…..right there in Micah….The prophet Micah records it this way: What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?" Justice, kindness, humility. In order to do all that, I’m thinking it’s about developing a relationship……relationship with God in action….doing justice…..loving kindness….walking humbly with God. You can’t, I can’t do all that without having experienced a strong relationship with God. We experience the presence of the Lord when we are in relationship with him. It just works that way. It’s pretty hard keeping up a long distance relationship. I mean, Melissa has been in Tennessee for two weeks now, and I don’t begrudge her in that and assure you as much as I appreciate what an awesome grandmother she is, I won’t mind having her back with me later today. It was pretty weird choosing to go to the same movie, yet we were 353 miles apart. We had something in common, but it wasn’t really relationship. Ya gotta share the bag of popcorn to be in relationship….don’t ya think? God desires relationship….God and Moses had relationship. God and God’s chosen people back in Old Testament times were in relationship too. Sometimes the relationship was a good one….sometimes it kind of stunk. Sometimes they’d walk humbly with God, other times they took off on their own. Moses tried to be the example to the people. God and Moses had a powerful relationship. They developed a very personal relationship. Not only were Moses and God in relationship, when things were going well, God’s chosen people were in a powerful relationship as well…..that’s certainly our prayer for you.
How do we know Moses had a special relationship with God. How can we see God’s people back in Old Testament times had a special connection with God then? Exodus 33: 7 to the end of the chapter. What a humbling and exhilarating experience. God’s presence through the Tent of Meeting with God’s people and God’s very personal presence passing before the very eyes of Moses. We come into God’s tent of meeting each and every week. Next week we’ll celebrate that folks have been coming into this tent of meeting for years, and years, and years. I pray along the way many have experienced a God moment like Moses experienced. Have you ever had a God moment? Have you ever had a time when you just knew the Lord was with you? Maybe even or most especially in a time of worship…..a God moment? Moses met with God in that Tent of Meeting. The people experienced it when they went to their entrance to their tents when the pillar of cloud was present. How do we experience God in our tent of meeting…..well, for one, in this our tent of meeting weekly we offer testimonies each week don’t we…? Not every church does that, believe me, but those testimonies are often so, so powerful! Did you realize that in those “testimony to God” moments in the life of the church someone who has not made a commitment to God in Jesus Christ might come to accept Jesus as Savior…..might come to the point of repentance, finding forgiveness, and might begin an eternal relationship with God that otherwise might have been missed. I’m humbled to hear your stories week after week. And that’s what God requires of us…..humility in word and deed. When you offer your testimony – it’s about God, not about you is it? That’s the way it is to be – praise to God. It’s about what God is doing in your life and the lives of others. It’s a moment of humility and praise to God. Now I know, humility has gotten a bad reputation in recent years. What used to be expressions of humility, I’m afraid have become expressions of pride…..I mean, Who takes a knee, why they’re taking
3. Now we need a new pair of glasses. A new glimpse of the glory of God will help put things into perspective…..a new pair of glasses will help us pay more attention to and work on our own faults and less on the flaws of others. We need to confess your failings, but don’t obsess—move on! Put on a new pair of glasses – looking first at ourselves in the mirror with a critical eye, and then maybe we’ve got a better perspective on the words and deeds of those around us. Look in the mirror – not so perfect after all, right? The New Testament expresses this in Matthew 7:3 saying, "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4. Then Don’t hide behind your dignity— it’s pride’s favorite hiding place. What does that mean? Well, how about when you see someone on the street who looks pretty down and out or you read about the faults of others every day in the paper or see it on the news….what do you think about them? Do you think, “Well, I’m not so bad….at least I’m not like that guy or that woman.” God must be pretty pleased with me. Or look at it another way….when you’re asked to do the right thing…the thing God is asking you to do……do you make up excuses…..to the point that in your heart of hearts it might actually mean, “I’m too important to do this or that…that’s beneath me.” Hiding behind our dignity…..ouch. Seek justice…..love kindness….walk humbly. Here’s the deal. Your real value lies in God’s eyes, not in the eyes of the world. Remember: “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble” it says in 1 Peter 5:5. Moses intervened for the people, not for himself. He actually said “go ahead and blot my name out of the book of life if need be…..just don’t take your anger out on your people.” Moses, hidden in the cleft of a rock, bowed down to the ground and worshipped when he heard God’s offer to pass by in glory. It wasn’t about Moses…it was all about God.
You are our hiding place, Lord God. Then a fifth way to have a humble relationship with God is to keep your eye on the prize….focus on God….not on yourself…..not on others. Here’s an example. In worship, do others appear to bow down before God when there’s prayer going on…..Do others lift holy hands in praise to God during praise music time. Here’s the deal. Lose yourself in worship at our tent of meeting – you want to lift your hands in praise – Do it! Don’t look to see if your neighbor is….if God is touching your heart in a meaningful way – express it. It’s very much OK to clap in church. We almost always clap for the efforts of a singer or the choir, right? That’s fine, but it’s ok to clap for Jesus in our praise time. It’s OK! So Number 5 in our list of six steps to walking humbly with God is…. 5. Try not to watch yourself worship. Give all of your heart and mind to God. It’s not a show……we just need to show up before God. And then when your relationship is going well, you naturally want to take the next step which is to serve others. So, number 6 is: 6. Serve others. Go out from this place to serve others….better yet, to start with let’s be sure we’re serving God by serving others IN the church…in the tent of meeting. Loving each other….forgiving each other….holding each other accountable in love. Serve God by serving others. The fastest way to humility is the way Christ chose. “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a RANSOM for many.” it’s recorded in Mark 10:45. Moses was about serving God’s people. He didn’t tell them to “come and take care of me.” Moses identified himself with the sins of the people, like others in scripture including Jesus. Many sincere people have tried to do God’s work their own way and then have asked God to bless it.
That’s backwards. In ministry, and we’re all in ministry friends, all of us are called to minister in God’s name…..so in ministry first we find out what God wants us to do, and then we do it in order to glorify God….not ourselves. It’s not about “look at Me”….it’s “look at God.” If we obey God’s will and seek to honor his name, then God will naturally come and bless the work with his powerful presence. Give of your best to the master. That’s just the way it works…..test God in that. Give of the best of yourself and see if you aren’t the one to say, “God has blessed me in so many ways, praise God.” So, how do we have a humble and powerful relationship with God? How do we seek justice, love kindness…walk humbly? 1. Remember who’s in charge and praise God! 2. Pray for a humble heart. 3. Pay less attention to the faults of others. 4. Know that pride is a killer of relationships – don’t go there. 5. Try not to watch yourself in worship – it’s not about you, anyway….focus on God, and 6. Take it to the next step….serve others. Serve others in the powerful name of Jesus. What does the Lord require of us?……What did the Lord require of Moses? To do justice, and love kindness, and walk humbly with our God.