In Exodus 33, we see the people of God presented with a dilemma,
a choice, essentially a choice that will reveal their heart.
And the choice is this. If I give you the progress that
you're hoping for without my presence, is that enough for
you? If I give you the progress that
you're hoping for, but without my presence, are you good?
In the back story of this passage here in this moment in
Israel's history, the people of God essentially have been
rescued from slavery and oppression in Egypt.
They've been liberated and brought out, and they're on
their way to this land of promise, this special place
where God has promised to root them deeply.
And in the between these kind of two chapters of their story
there in the desert, I don't know if you've spent much time
in deserts, but based on what we read here in the Pentateuch, and
this is a tough space. There is not water to drink.
There is not food to eat. Everything looks like everything
else. It is barren.
And the people have got to find themselves in this place, in
this space, in this desert where essentially they are
uncomfortably dependent on the provision of God, like
uncomfortably so. Like if, if God doesn't show up
tomorrow, we don't get to eat food.
That level of dependence on God. I don't know, some of you have
been in a season like that in your life.
You've you've had an experience where it was like, if God
doesn't show up right now, I don't know how I'm going to pay
the bills. If God doesn't show up, like I
don't know how I'm going to make it another day.
And maybe you haven't had that kind of experience from the
outside. I can tell you like before I had
had an experience like that, I thought, wow, that would be so
cool to see the provision of God and God just coming in and
supporting and providing guys. It's, it's rough.
It feels deeply, deeply, deeply uncomfortable.
I don't know if any of you have ever jumped out of an airplane
and like then been hoping for the parachute to open up when
you pull the cord. It kind of feels like that.
It's like, it's like I'm entirely out of control right
now. I'm entirely dependent on
something that like, I'm going to do this thing and hope it
works out for the best, but I'm really at the mercy of someone
else. And I don't know about you.
I I don't prefer that. I don't like that.
I don't enjoy that. I don't think most of us do.
And certainly we see here in Exodus chapter, it's really the
whole section 24 verse through chapter 32.
Israel is not a fan of the situation, right?
They're really uncomfortable. And that's especially true after
their leader Moses says, Hey, I got to go pow wow with God.
I'm going to go up to the top of this mountain and he takes off
for days and then weeks. And then there's like this crazy
thunderstorm that happens at the top of the mountain.
And then he's gone for more weeks and the people are like,
like, what happens? Where did he?
Is he coming back? We don't know what's going on.
And so we, we see at the, the beginning of the previous
chapter, right before this, essentially the people rally to
Moses's brother-in-law and they say like, Hey, we're going to
need you to make us another God because this whole situation is
just not working out for us. Like there's, there's too much
discomfort, there's too much uncertainty, there's too much
vulnerability. We, we need a God right now that
we can see physically. That's right here.
And we know, like I bring an offering and then it, it takes
care of us, just like we saw in Egypt, like a God that I can can
see and control is the kind I would prefer to worship.
I know this sounds really foreign to most of us.
And also like some of us relate to our investment accounts in
that way, right? That God is cool, but like I
would prefer to to worship this God that like I know exactly
what I get out of it. And this is where the people of
Israel are resisting this dependence on God, trying to
manufacture control in chapter 32.
And all of this results in some severe discipline, some painful
consequences based on their idolatry that we read about in
chapter 32. And that gets us to the
beginning of chapter 33. Our, our texts today where
essentially God comes to them and he asks them a question we
read in verse in the beginning of, of chapter 33 and verses 3.
God basically he says, hey, I'm going to offer the situation to
you. I'm going to give you everything
that you want. I'm going to defeat your enemies
for you. I'll take care of the Midianites
and the parasites and all of these others that have stand
have stood in your way. I'll give you the provision that
you want the the milk and the honey that you are are longing
for. You know, you're not going to be
dependent on my provision. All this mana, all this, all
this undependable, vulnerable stuff anymore.
You you'll get to just be secure and taken care of enemies out of
the way. But here's the catch.
I won't go with you. You don't get my presence
anymore. And this, I think, raises the
central tension of this passage, the passage, the point of the
passage that I think really is an invitation for us to sit with
this morning, to wrestle with. How would you, how would we
respond to that offer? If God gave you everything that
you wanted, all the things that you prayed for, healing of our
family members, bank accounts, all set vocational purpose and
significance in our work, that significant other you know who
you've been longing for. You got all the goods, but you
didn't get caught. How would you respond to this?
This is a test. I will not go with you.
And the question for Israel and also I think for us is simply
this, do we want what God can give us or do we want God?
Are are we satisfied with progress if it doesn't include
presence in the series? We've been talking a lot about
prayer and stepping into prayer. And I hope you've been stepping
into prayer. I know I've been trying to take
some baby steps in that direction to lean into more
depth in my own prayer life. And any prayer is good prayer.
So if you've taken any steps towards more prayer, well done,
keep going. And also, I've noticed as I've
prayed especially and sometimes as I've listened to other people
do it like our prayers. I think one of the reasons it's
vulnerable to pray in front of other people is our prayers
reveal a lot about our hearts, right?
When you start to pray at like your heart tends to come out in
a way that sometimes is uncomfortable to share in front
of other people. And sometimes when I like step
back and listen to my prayers, I'm like, it sounds kind of like
a kid was writing Santa A wish list, you know, and, and I, I
think sometimes our, our prayers are, are a little bit like this,
right? Dear God, please give me clarity
about my career. Please send me a girlfriend.
Please help us get pregnant. Please help this offer be
accepted on the House. And if there's a room in the
sleigh, could you fix this toxic relationship with my coworker
too? And we ask for all of these
things and, and look, that's good.
Please keep doing that. Nothing wrong with asking.
But so often I think we get in a posture where especially if that
is all that is true in our prayer life, where we or begin
to relate to God, almost as if he is a heavenly vending
machine. You know, if I, if I punch the
right buttons, then hopefully he dispenses the things that I'm
longing for in life, you know, fills up the cravings that I
have. And if the vending machine
doesn't work right, we tend to, we tend to get irritated with
God, annoyed with God. God isn't showing up.
God isn't taking care of me. God's presence is distance.
And I think this is so important, so instructive for us
because here when God actually distances himself from the
people, when he says, go ahead, I'm going to give you the stuff
that you want, but just not me. Honestly, I'm fed up.
If I stay here in this room one minute longer, I'm a blow you
up. So God says I'm I'm I'm taking a
time out. You can go ahead.
You can have the stuff that you want and Israel having
completely face planted in the test in chapter 32 here in
chapter 33, learns from their failures.
They turn to God and they it we read, they mourn, they cry out,
they grieve. They say, God, don't whatever
you do, don't take your presents for us.
The text tells us that they they strip off their jewellery.
They say I'm not getting dressed up.
I'm putting on my yoga pants. I'm sitting on the couch like
this is a this is a grief moment because even if I get the goods,
but I don't get God, it's not a win.
I want your presence, God, this is this is so important.
And I think when we think about this, we understand, you know, a
dad who writes the check every month, right, who mails some
presents, but is completely absent in his kids life.
It's not a good dad, right? And and what we need from God is
not just stuff from God. What we need is actually God's
presence and Israel here, having missed this in chapter 32, here
in chapter 33 recognizes this and they respond to the risk of
losing the presence of God with grief, with mourning, crying out
in their desperation for God's presence.
Friends, I think it's a vulnerable thing when God pulls
back in our lives and I don't maybe, maybe you haven't
experienced this in your spiritual journey.
Maybe you have, if you've been, if you've been a believer for
very long, I would suggest I, I, I know this has been true in my
life that there are seasons of life.
Often times right after we come to faith, there's seasons of
just this incredibly robust connection to God, right?
It's, it's very, it's fervent, it's brilliant.
It feels like God is right there.
He's right next door. We're learning to relate to him
as a friend. You haven't had that season.
It's available. I want to talk to you about how
to, how to enter relationship with Jesus.
But I, I think sometimes in, in a similar way to like in a
dating relationship, we get in that and we're like, Oh, what's
going to happen at the first will be the whole totality of
the relationship forever. And it's not, it's not like as
we go on in our spiritual journey, not, not always for bad
reasons, God sometimes steps back a bit and acts a bit more
distant. He's not being coy or, or weird.
I think I think God, in a similar way to how we do with
our own children at times is like, Hey, I've given you some
things. I want you to work this out a
little bit on your own right now, right?
Use the wisdom I've given you learn to build some muscles of
of discernment and judgement. You can, you can walk in my ways
without hearing from me step by step.
I, I would suggest to you that the like highest form of
spirituality is not the one that's like, what shall I eat
for lunch? Will it be chicken or fish?
You know, I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with that
necessarily, but, but, but there's a, there's a form of
spirituality which is like every I can't, I am completely
impotent to make any decisions or moves in my life unless I
hear a word from God about it. I don't actually think, please
hear me. I'm I'm talking about dependence
on God, but that's not what I'm advocating for.
But on the flip side of that, sometimes when God feels
distance, when he pulls back, I know, at least for me, like
feels vulnerable, like, and, and there's a tendency for for me at
least, it's it's like I want to blame God for the situation.
I want to shamestorm about like something's wrong with me.
Or sometimes I just want to make do And I just like, OK, well, I
can't count on you. I've got to figure stuff out.
I'm just going to keep going in my life.
Do you know what I'm talking about?
Right. And sometimes it God feels more
distant in our life. He, he's less accessible.
And, and so we, we make it well, God's not real.
God can't be trusted. I'm, we blame God sometimes when
we, when we don't have that encounter with God, we don't
show up to church and we're not deeply moved.
We don't feel the presence of God in the way that we, we once
did. We, we say, you know, like
something's wrong with church or something's wrong with me, like
I must have done something wrong.
Maybe God is punishing me in some way.
Or I think the most dangerous is honestly that we just like we
make do we say, well, all right, that's a bummer.
I wish God was closer, but I'll figure it out.
After all, I've got what it takes to run my life.
I'll manage. And so we just kind of move on
without him. We we avoid the the
vulnerability of actually doing what Israel does here.
We're in a space where God's presence is less available.
They cry out in desperation. They say, God, we need you, we
need your presence, we need you to go with us.
And I, I love this. I love how Moses talks about
this here in verse 16. Moses says to God, he says, God,
what else will distinguish me and your people from all the
other people on the face of the earth if your presence doesn't
go with us? Moses says, hey, this is this is
Our Calling card. This is our very identity and
desperation. They cry out for God.
Friends, I think this is instructive for us.
I think this is important for us because it is so easy to be
self-sufficient. It is so easy to manage life on
your own terms and for a while that can work.
I think a lot of what we do in church, a lot of what I do, even
as a a spiritual leader, often times it's so easy to lean into
your own gifts, your capacities, your strategies, ChatGPT,
whatever, right? And just kind of figure it out
on our own. AW Tozer wrote these searing
words that have really stuck with me.
He says we have become so self-sufficient that we can get
along quite well without God. Goes on to say if the Holy
Spirit was withdrawn from the church today, 95% of what we do
would go on and no one would know the difference.
Ouch. It is if the Holy Spirit have
been withdrawn from the New Testament church, 95% of what
they did with stop and everyone would know the difference.
It's convicting to me, friends. I want to be a man, a person
who's dependent on the Spirit of God.
I want us to be a church community that is dependent on
the Spirit of God that's in tune with that, that's In Sync with
that, that, that when, when God's present feels a little
distance, we don't just say, OK, you'll catch up later.
Here we go. We're on to the next thing.
We're going to figure it out on our own.
We're going to, we're going to tackle the next challenge
without you and, and hopefully you'll get there eventually.
Or conversely, I think sometimes we relate to prayer, right?
And we relate to it as though it's, it's the emergency valve,
right? It's like, I've got plan A and
Plan B and plan C and I can handle all of these on my own.
I'm good. But then if all three of my
contingencies fail and I'm like really desperate, then I'm like,
prayer, God help God, friends, What?
What if God wasn't a backup plan for us?
What if he was like the first option?
What if, what if he was one a the the first thing that we went
to, the first one that we went to, If we understood, as Israel
does here in this text in Exodus 33, that that the presence of
God is essential to the promised land without the promisor is
just dirt. The promised land without the
promisor is just dirt. They understand in desperation
that that it's not a win to get the things they want if God
doesn't go with them. This is like, I don't know if
you've ever been in a situation, Hopefully you are have less ADHD
brain than I do. But I remember very vividly,
quite painfully, a moment a little while back where I went
grocery shopping and I did all the things, you know, I got to
the store, got the car rolled back and forth down all the
aisles, filled it up, got the like kind of salad dressing that
Ali likes and the right kind of tortillas and all these things,
you know, roll up, pass everything through.
It's all bagged up. And then I go for my wallet.
This is, this is before Apple Pay, guys.
And it was that moment. And some of you have these
knowing smiles. It's like, I can't pay for this.
Yeah, I, I mean, I have money, but I don't, I cannot prove it.
I cannot transfer it to you right now.
I do not have anything with me at this very moment in time.
And you're just looking. The bag person is like, dude,
the people behind you in line are like, come on.
But sometimes I think we try to live even the Christian life,
friends without, without the key ingredient, without the one
thing that makes it all go like there's lots of emotion happen,
there's lots of activity happening.
There's maybe even spiritual practices.
We're going to church. We're trying really hard to be
good people, but we kind of just left the presence of God, the
power of God, out of the equation.
We're over here trying to to do it on our own.
And that that check doesn't cash because nothing of profound
significance in the Kingdom of God happens without the power of
God. As Jesus said in John without
me, you can do nothing like it's, it's actually all about
him. We are vessels, we are channels
and when we abide in the vine, then we get fruit and when we
don't, we get a lot of activity. We get grocery carts running up
and down the aisles without the ability to cash the check and
and actually take anything home. So friends for us this morning,
I think, I think the question is, will we be a people like
Moses Here is a stand for in Exodus 33 when he says what else
will distinguish me and your people from all of the other
people on the face of the earth? How will anyone know that you're
pleased with us? If you're present doesn't go
with us. If you don't go with us, don't
send us. I would prefer to to sit here in
the desert than to be the kind of people who who worship a cow
that I think I can control so that I can make progress without
your presence. How about us friends?
Like how about, how about me? How about you like are are you
in your life willing to trade in the the presence and power of
God for a cow that we can control for for the ability to
get the gifts of God without God himself?
Are you like Israel's wisdom in in chapter 33 here at a point
where you've realized the whole game is God.
It's not his gifts, it's him friends, what if we recognized
that God was the best thing that we could possibly offer?
What if we were people like in Acts 3 when Peter and John are
are walking into the temple one day and.
Somebody hits them up for cash. A pan handler, his lame says
hey, can can I have some money and they say like silver or gold
I don't have, but what I have I give you in the name of Jesus
Christ. Walk like the early church to
Tozer's comment. They had nothing.
They had nothing, but they had the power and presence of God.
So often this is true for us today.
I'm I'm we're part of a a global collaborative churches here at
the garden called the Ethnos Network.
And man, I can't tell you what a what a challenge, conviction,
blessing it is to be on the phone with pastors from Nigeria,
pastors from South Africa, pastors from places in the
Middle East and, and Southeast Asia who are like, like poor as
dirt in some cases, don't have a lot going on.
And like freaking was in a conversation with this dude
who's pastoring in the immigrant context in Cleveland this week.
And, and they do not have two nickels to rub together, but
they are seeing signs and wonders of God supernaturally
showing up week in and week out. Friends, so often I think we
miss out on the power and presence of God because we're
we're privileged, we're competent, we're running out
ahead and just kind of hoping that God will bless our plans
with a splash of grace. He the presence of God is the
whole meal. The presence of God is the whole
meal. What if we were known friends as
a church where God showed up? What if we had a reputation as a
community? Just one of the banners you
passed on the way in here. It says we attuned to the Holy
Spirit. What if what if we really lived
that not just not just people on stage, but all of us day in and
day out. If, if, as that value states,
You can go read the full text on our website.
But but if, if we pursued intimacy with Jesus as our first
calling, if we prioritized our our our prayer life and and
believed that being with Jesus comes before doing for him.
Contribution flows from connection.
Friends, this is Israel got it wrong a lot.
They didn't live in Exodus 33 mode all the time.
The space of faithfulness was not necessarily indicative of
the whole journey, which maybe gives us some hope.
OK, so if you're not there today, like OK, they weren't a
chapter earlier either, but in Exodus chapter 3, they got it
right. In Exodus chapter 3, they
recognized that that to to pursue the plan of God, they
needed the presence of God. The gift without the giver was
bankrupt. So, friends, I want to invite us
into this posture this morning to truly believe that the best
thing about us is not our intelligence.
It's not our gifting. It's not the school we graduated
from. It's not the professional
network that we have. It's not how aware we are or how
politically correct we are about something.
It is the presence of God. Will we live in His presence or
rush ahead and impatience?