CALLING GOD’S PEOPLE

Ex 19:1-6

Yesterday – Gen 18:18-19 – “Announcing God’s Plan”

Today – “Calling God’s People” – the people whom God has called and created for his mission

Raises the question – “who are we?”

-    “what are we here for?”

What is the church?

What is the purpose of its existence on earth?

If you ask that question at a personal level – “who are you, what are you here for?”

The answer depends on what story you think you are part of – where that story is headed/will end, and what part you are playing in it

We all live with some sense of being part of a larger story or project

Eg. Story of human progress – has governed our culture

“I want my life to help make the world a better place”

“for our children and children’s children”

even if some tragedy occurs, someone is killed in helping others, or their death results in some good change – “she didn’t die in vain”

Why not? Because somehow the story of human progress will go on

Things will get better

If we all do our bit

We hope……..

For atheists even that story is hard to sustain

Universe came from nowhere

Heading for possible extinction

From Big Bang and Big Church, and we are simply the random and purposeless product of replicating genes

No story at all

Dawkins advert on London buses:  “There probably is no God. Stop worrying and enjoy life.”

Not much of a story. Gives no meaning, purpose or future

London Church at bus stop put up a sign saying,

“There probably is no bus – step inside and enjoy God”

So, coming back to our text, we could ask the same question:   who were these OT Israelites and what were they there for?

Answer: they were part of a very big story.  This exodus story is just one part of God’s big story

God’s great drama that shapes the whole Bible

That spans the whole universe

And that includes the past, present and future

This is the story that told the Israelites who they were and why

And it is part of the story that tells us the same things

For it is part of the story that gave us Jesus Christ and that told him who he was and why he had come

And therefore part of our story – giving meaning and purpose to our own Christian lives

I want to concentrate on Ex 19:1-6

New at last – ch 19 – God has got Israel all to himself

Time to explain – to make sense of the story

To tell them who they were, what had happened, and what the point if it all was to be

V4-6 is God explaining Israel’s identity and mission – in light of God’s own mission

In v4-6 God points back (explains past), and forward (points to future)

Calls for response in the present

1. PAST GRACE – GOD’S SALVATION

V. 4

First thing God says is – “You have seen what I have done….”

True – 3 months ago – slaves

Now – free

All because of God’s own initiative – out of his compassion, love, faithfulness to his promise

Ex 2:23-25 

Ex 3:7-10

So God points to his grace in action – saving liberating, delivering them

Whatever is going to come next (which = 10 commandments, law, covenant, etc)

Will all be founded on grace

Responding to grace already experienced

Grace comes first

Common mistake about Bible –

OT – saved by obeying law

NT – saved by grace”       FALSE!

God saved Israel  first – then said – let’s talk about your obedience in response

Shape of exodus – 19 chapters of salvation before single chapter of law.

Grace and salvation came first – “You have seen what I have done…..”

Obedience comes second, as a response – “Now then – if you will obey me….”

Even 10 commandments  - begin “I am the LORD your God who brought you up out of Egypt….”

Same for us – same truth in NT

We love, because he first loved us –

 forgive one another….as God in Christ has forgiven you

You can’t live as you think a Christian ought to live unless you have first experienced the grace of God – bringing you forgiveness and salvation through what God has already done – through Christ on the cross

It is as if God points to the cross and says – “You have seen what I have done….”

And then calls us to trust in Christ and go out and live in grateful response and obedience to that – also applies to mission

You can’t participate in God’s mission – or encourage others to do so, except on the basis of God’s grace

So like the Israelites, we need to remind ourselves regularly of God’s past grace and live in response to it

Including all that we do in “mission” – motivated by grace

But of course, the story isn’t just in the past

So we move on from the past grace of God’s salvation to

1. FUTURE GRACE – GOD’S MISSION

V. 5

I wonder what the view was like from the top of Mt Sinai?

God tells us – pretty wide!

Israel, at foot of mountain – may have thought they were special – only people there! And they were right

God did have a special relationship with them – “my treasured possession”

-    family treasure/personal belongings

But did not mean Israel were only people God cared about

No – we hear these strong words:   “all nations…….whole earth “ v.5

God has a particular interest and relationship with Israel,

But God has a universal perspective  (as it were from the top of the mountain!)

He had just rescued one nation from bondage

but his goal was to offer salvation to all nations

He had just demonstrated his power in one land – land of Egypt

But whole earth belongs to him

This is the scope of God’s interest and mission

Ex 9:13-16 (READ)

Of course it is – for who is this God?

As Moses had asked  at the same place months earlier, “Who shall I say sent me??”  – “I am the God of Abraham….” Ex 3:6,15,16

Abraham – the one to whom God promised , ‘Through you all nations on earth will be blessed” Gen 12:3

So God’s business with Israel is really his unfinished business with all nations, whole earth

That’s the big picture – the big story. That’s the ultimate goal.

God’s mission to bring blessing to all nations

That’s what makes sense of what God had done for Israel and what he now expected from them – all pointing forward to a future for whole earth and all nations

So here is the past grace of God’s historical act of salvation. (“You have seen what I have done”), and the future grace of God’s intended mission (“whole earth…all nations”).

And the whole story of Israel in OT – and indeed our story as disciples of Christ – is slung in between these two poles

All our response to God – who we are and what awe are here for lies between:-

Past     and   future

Grace     and   glory

Salvation    and   ongoing mission

What God has done and   what God will do

Where we came from and  where we’re going to

Who are we?

We are the people

a)  whom God has redeemed out of bondage and sin – we know his past grace

What are we here for?

b)  through whom God is working to bring blessing to all nations and whole earth

That is the story -  past and future – makes sense of my life (personally)

What is the point of being me? In this vast universe?

What meaning or purpose in my one single tiny human lifetime?

Iguassu Conference – Missions – 1999 – Groups

What does it mean for you that you are a Christian?

Richard Tiplady (now principal ICC) – “It means that I have an identity and a place of belonging in this vast universe”

(not what I was planning to say!)

True! This universe or the whole history of our planet is not just a meaningless story

I have a history

It is governed by the mission of God – that had its beginning long before I ever came along and has a future that may lie long after I’m dead

I have a future

But in it all – my little life played a part. My life will be part of God’s great story and mission. It will have been worth living

But so what?

What did that then mean for Israel in their present?

-    and what for us?

-    In between the past and the future lies the present

We move on from past and grace – God’s salvation

And future grace – God’s mission,  to:

1. PRESENT GRACE – GOD’S PEOPLE IN GOD’S WORLD

V. 6

“You will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation”

What do these phrases mean?

Very old fashioned, religious language – not relevant to today?

a)  Priesthood

To understand, need to understand role of priests in Israel’s society

They stood in the middle between God and the rest of the people of Israel

Working in two directions

i)      Teaching God’s Law to the people

Eg Lev 10:11

  Deut 33:10

The job of priest was to make God known to the people – teaching his word, his ways, his laws

Through priests, people should know God

That’s why when people of Israel went astray, prophets (eg Hosea) said – “No knowledge of God”

Whose fault? Priests – for failing to teach

ii)     Bringing the sacrifices of the people to God

If you had sinned – out of fellowship – therefore unable to come into presence of God in worship

What could you do?

Bring your animal/sacrifice/blood on altar

Priest would say – “Your sins are covered, cleansed/atoned”

You could come back to God

Picture of atoning blood of Christ

Job of priests was  - as representative

-    to bring God to the people

-    to bring people to God

God says to Israel as a whole

“You will be for me to all the rest of the nations, what your priests are to you”

Through you, I will become known to the world

Through you, I will draw the world to myself

We know this was ultimately fulfilled by Jesus Christ – but God’s people have a priestly role in the world - to represent the living God and point people to him

That is our mission in life

This is exactly what NT says is true of us as Christians

Paul said it about his own life’s work as a missionary to the nations

Rom 15:16 (READ) -  he describes his evangelistic work among the Gentiles as ‘priestly work’

- but Peter applied the same text to all Christian believers

1 Pet 2:9-10 (READ) “you are that priesthood”

You plural – men and women, young and old (Acts 2)

We are God’s representatives in the world

So if somebody reads on a bus advert “there probably is no God” – they should think – “that can’t be right – I know John or Sally, and they are Christians, and God is clearly alive in his or her life.”

We are called to be living proof of the living God

To bring God to people

To bring people to God

That is our mission

Ah – but how? What sort of life can do that?

A holy people

b)  Holy

Another misunderstood word – sounds very off-putting

Not = specially religious

But = different, distinctive

Israelites were to be different from surrounding nations – not just in religion, but in everyday, practical, life – social, political, economic, legal, family life – all areas

Lev 18:1-5      Holy = distinctive

Lev 19:2      not idolatry of Egypt or Canaan

Just like Jesus said – “You are the salt of the earth, You are the light of the earth”

Salt and light – distinctive, penetrating, transforming

That is what Israel was called to be – a priestly and holy people

So are we! But how were they to live it out? How can we?

Lev 19  God’s people – called to be “holy” = different – in every area of life – as essential part of their universal calling – “priesthood”

Just look at what God means by “holiness” – so many of the principles in this chapter anticipate by 3,000 years aspects of UK legislation of modern day (and we like to think we are advanced)

- Family law - v3 – children’s duty to parents

       v29 – parent’s duty to children – not to exploit or defile them

- Social welfare – for poor and need – 9-10

       - rights of gleaning (+ many others)

- Disability legislation (1990?) – 14

-Employment law and workers rights – 13

- Libel – 16a

- Health and Safety – 16b

- Criminal justice system – 15 (+ elsewhere)

- Neighbourhoods – 18

- Equality – for all races – 33-34

- Weights and measures – 35-36

ALL = HOLINESS

V. 5a – “If you obey me fully and keep my covenant – then….”

Obedience – of course – in OT context, means obedience to the law of God that follows immediately ch 20, 21-23

But remember again the double context of grace (past salvation) and mission

Obedience is not a condition of salvation but it is a condition of mission

We cannot earn our salvation through good works. But we cannot fulfill our mission without good works

God did not send Moses to Egypt to tell the Hebrew slaves:  – “here are the 10 commandments – obey them and then I will save you and you can be my people”

He already had; they already were!

BUT – “I am the Lord your God – who brought you up out of slavery (Ex 20:1)

In other words – for Israel, as for us – obedience is a matter of grace

-    grace of obedience

-    responding to the grace of salvation

-    living in the grace of mission – ie for God’s purpose of bringing salvation to others

That is how we take part in God’s mission – by how we live as well as what we say

That was to be the story of Israel – even though they so badly failed

That is to be the story we live by

Let’s summarize and conclude:

Who are we? What are we here for?

1. Like O.T.  Israel – we are people who have experienced past grace – God’s saving work – exodus – cross
2. We are people whom God wants to use for the mission of his future grace – to bring people of all nations, in the whole earth, to know and worship him. Our mission starts here – not just in sending people overseas.
3. We are called to live in response to that grace, with lives that can represent God (as the priest did) and show the difference between the holiness of the living God and the degraded ugliness of all the false gods around us. This draws others to faith – No. 1 reason why Muslims become followers of Jesus

In other words, we are exactly as Peter describes us, and with same identity and same mission in the world

1 Pet 2:9-12 (READ)

Peter takes Ex 19:4-6 and applies it directly to Christian believers

You’ve had your exodus experience

You’ve tasted God’s grace and mercy

You are his precious, treasured possession – his very own people

Now then – Live by that story

-    Live out that identity

V12 – so that people around simply cannot believe the lies about ‘no God’

But rather will come to glorify him as we do

That’s what makes sense of my life

-    I have a history – way back before I was born

-    I have a share in the future – way beyond my own life

May God’s grace enable it to be so