Transfiguration Sunday

SERMON - God’s Calls Come!

INI

Text: Exodus 3:1-6

Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. And he led the flock to the back of the desert, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. And the Angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed. Then Moses said, “I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush does not burn.” So when the LORD saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” Then He said, “Do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.” Moreover He said, “I am the God of your father—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God.

In Christ Jesus, who calls upon us to serve even as He did Moses, dear fellow redeemed:

We pray in the Lord’s Prayer, “Thy kingdom come!” What exactly is God’s kingdom? On a personal level, it is God’s rule in our hearts. The Holy Spirit uses the gospel to create faith, to inform faith, and then to motivate faith, so that we all live our lives in accordance with His gracious, good will. By extension God’s kingdom involves His rule among all believers—His holy Christian Church. In addition, we can say that God’s kingdom involves His rule in and over this world, and His providential care of this world.

God can and does exercise His power directly, as when He created the world and when He “makes His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matthew 5:45). But God has chosen to do much of His kingdom work indirectly through us—His children. He calls upon us in any number of ways to carry on that work in any number of settings. Some of those calls are formal, as when a congregation extends divine calls to various individuals to serve as pastors or teachers. For instance, you have extended a formal call to me to be one of your pastors. Many of God’s calls, however, are what might be termed “common” calls, which God extends to all believers in various ways. When you get married, you are called by God to be a faithful spouse. When you train for a particular vocation and obtain a job, you are called upon by the company who hired you, but also by God to do a good job. God works through our multiple callings to bring His blessings into our lives and the lives of others, while carrying out His overall kingdom work.

Our text this morning provides an excellent example of how this all works. Let us, therefore, consider the fact that GOD’S CALLS COME! They come upon occasion in unusual places, upon occasion at unexpected times, but always to advance His Kingdom!

I.

Yes, GOD’S CALLS COME upon occasion in unusual places! That certainly was true for Moses. Moses’ call to lead Israel out of Egypt came in a most unusual place—out in the middle of a desert region in the midst of a mountain range called “Horeb.” Moses was tending his father-in-law’s sheep, as he had for forty years. It was probably early summer and, as was customary, Moses was driving the sheep up into the plateaus of the higher elevations where the grass and water would be available during the hot summer season.

As he was “tending the flock,” we are told that “the Angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush.” What first attracted Moses’ attention was a rather common sight. Lightning would often strike these acacia bushes, which grew to the height of about fifteen feet, and which therefore stood out in the rather barren landscape. What kept Moses’ attention, however, was that “the bush was not consumed.” Generally, the little bit of foliage on the acacia bush quickly burned and the fire then died out. This fire kept on burning and beckoning!

Moses told himself, “I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush does not burn (up).” It was then that the LORD “called to him from the midst of the bush and said, ‘Moses, Moses!’” Moses quite astonished, for God had not talked directly to man for centuries, answered, “Here I am.” God then instructed him, “Do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy.” He then identified Himself, “I am the God of your father—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Moses, overcome with fear, “hid his face” unwilling to look upon God! My dear friends, God’s call came to Moses upon this occasion in a very unusual place!

II.

Yes, GOD’S CALLS COME upon occasion also at unexpected times! Moses was eighty years old when God extended to him the call to lead Israel out of Egypt. It was most unexpected! Moses had once anticipated God’s call. In fact, at age forty, he had assumed he had God’s call when he did not. At that time, as a rising star within the Egyptian political system—the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, he had taken upon himself to rescue a number of Israelites being abused by an Egyptian taskmaster. He murdered the man and buried his body in the desert sands. When he attempted to settle a dispute a short time later between two Israelite men, their contemptuous response to his efforts revealed that Moses’ secret misdeed was known. He was forced to flee from Egypt, and he had left behind any aspirations of leadership.

Now, after forty years of herding sheep in the wilderness of Sinai, when his fierce pride had been replaced by a deep sense of humility, and when he knew the wilderness through which he would lead God’s people like the back of his hand, Moses was finally ready for God’s call. Oh, yes, he would ask, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?” (Exodus 3:11) He would plead inability—“I am not eloquent…I am slow of speech and slow of tongue” (Exodus 4:10). He would suggest that God send someone else (cf. Exodus 4:13), but God knew that Moses was now prepared to fulfill his role in His kingdom! My dear friends, God’s call came to Moses upon this occasion at a most unexpected time!

III.

Yes, GOD’S CALLS COME, but always to advance His kingdom! When God identified Himself as the God of Moses’ fathers—Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, He was tying Himself to His people’s past and future. God had promised Abraham that “all the families of the earth” would be blessed through one of his descendants—that descendant being Jesus, the world’s Savior (cf. Genesis 12:3). God had promised the patriarchs the land of Palestine in order to provide them a place to preserve the promise of the Savior on behalf of all people. God, however, did not want the children of Israel to be absorbed by the heathen population living in the Land of Canaan. He, therefore, arranged through a series of nature events, among them devastating and repetitive famines, to remove His people from Palestine and allow them to grow into a great nation in Egypt.

Now God was calling Moses to advance His kingdom work by fulfilling His promises to the fathers. Moses would lead the children of Israel out of Egypt, despite its great power, after inflicting ten devastating plagues and decimating Egypt’s military forces. Moses would lead the people to the very edge of the Promised Land, where under the leadership of Joshua, whom Moses would train, they would enter that land and begin a whole new era of God’s kingdom work on this earth. My dear friends, God’s call indeed came to Moses in order to advance His kingdom!

IV.

Yes, GOD’S CALLS COME! Is that still true for you and me today? Indeed, it is true! We are all called in numerous ways to serve in God’s kingdom and to help that kingdom advance in our world today. Those calls may be formal calls into the preaching and teaching ministry, where you are daily using God’s Word to spread His gospel message. But beyond that we all receive numerous common calls to serve. All of us who are married have calls from God to be good and faithful husbands and wives, so that God’s kingdom will come within our homes and His power revealed in our individual lives. All of us who are employed have calls to fulfill our vocations with faithfulness, for it is through those vocations that God’s everyday blessings are bestowed upon all those around us. All of us are called upon by God to be good citizens of our country for thereby God promotes peace and freedom.

There is another area, however, that I would like to address this morning, because it involves a call to each of us from God in an area that will have a direct impact upon our congregation and its ministry for years to come. That area is the upcoming decision regarding the purchase of the Muellerleile property for the possible relocation and expansion of our ministry here at Immanuel. In the last day or two most of you, if not all of you here this morning, received a letter from our church council. That letter was intended to bring you up to date on the work that is being done during our period of due diligence. From the drawing that was included in that mailing or from the poster size drawings available in the narthex this morning, you can see that the lower portion of the property we are considering would work well for future expansion. While there are any number of matters that must still be considered the key matter before each of us as members of our congregation is God’s call to consider the role we might each play in this aspect of our kingdom work.

God’s call for some individuals in this matter may come in unusual places—some of our members live at a distance and Immanuel’s physical plant really does not affect them, others are serving our country in Iraq and Afghanistan and so may prayerfully consider their role while in places similar to Mount Sinai, while still others may have a hard time imagining Immanuel Church being located anyway but at 421 North 2^nd Street, but we are called upon to consider what we might be able to do to advance this kingdom work.

God’s call for many individuals in this matter may seem to be coming at an expected time of fiscal hardship. Our country is facing hard times financially. Many of us have lost significant financial resources, while others have lost their jobs. Yet, let us remember that we are but stewards of God’s possessions. That which He has taken away from us is His to take, and He no doubt has a reason for doing so. The question, then, is will we consider how we might best support this kingdom work with those resources God has left under our control—the goal being the advancement of His kingdom.

My dear friends, fifty years ago this year—four families in our congregation pooled their limited resources to begin a new Lutheran high school and college—Immanuel Lutheran College, now in Eau Claire. This weekend the faculty and students of ILC are scheduled to move into the first half of a 2.6 million dollar educational building. Would any of the four families involved in the founding of Immanuel Lutheran College ever have anticipated what God has done through the call He extended to them? It is imperative, my dear friends, that hundreds of us sit down this week to answer God’s call—to determine how we might, as weak as we might be individually, help our congregation collectively to prepare for future ministry. Will our grandchildren and great-grandchildren fifty years from now be able to look back at us and say: “They answered God’s call and look at how God used their efforts to advance His kingdom and consider the blessings that have resulted!” Yes, GOD’S CALLS COME upon occasion in unusual places, upon occasion at unexpected times, but always to advance His kingdom! May we answer His calls with faithfulness and then rejoice in His blessings, which are sure to follow! Amen.

—Pastor Paul D. Nolting
To God alone be the glory!