Journey to Promise: Staff and Stoll (Exodus 5:1-9, 22-23; 6:1-8)

 Sermon for Milledgeville and Centenary UMC...

[Title Slide] Journey to Promise: Staff and Stoll

                     (Exodus 5:1-9, 22-23; 6:1-8)

 

[Slide] A mother told her children what to pack for vacation. Once they were done, she inspected. Instead of finding enough underwear and socks, they had packed 6 dolls and two toy trucks. The children didn’t pack what’s practical. They packed what brought them joy.

 

[Slide] When God sent Moses to Egypt to confront Pharaoh, God told him to take his staff.

 

[Slide] Take in your hand this staff, with which you will do the signs.” (Ex 4:17)

 

That staff was the only thing God told Moses to take to Egypt. With that staff, Moses unleashed 10 plagues upon Egypt. He turned the River Nile into blood and split the Red Sea. With that staff, God broke Egypt and freed His people.

 

[Slide] In our reading this morning, Moses and Aaron meet with Pharaoh for the first time. It does not go well. Pharaoh refuses to let the Hebrews go. He makes their lives more miserable by making them gather their own straw to make bricks.

 

Moses cried out to God, revealing his insecurity. Moses experienced his first failure and crumbled.

 

[Slide] “O Lord, why did you ever send me?” Pharaoh has not let Your people go. Instead, he has made trouble for them! And You have not delivered your people like you promised!”

 

At the first sign of resistance, Moses admits, “I’m not the right man for this job!”

 

 

I remember, early in my calling, feeling just like Moses. God called me to serve in ordained ministry. I was a 32-year-old chemical engineer with a promising career. When God called, I could not think of anything I’d rather do less than being a minister. I didn’t spend my youth dreaming about being a pastor. But God did call and I ran from it until I couldn’t any longer.

 

I was like Moses. “You got the wrong guy!” God’s call persisted until I surrendered. I enrolled at Christian Theological Seminary. I led Whitestown UMC as a lay speaker. I was unprepared, untrained, and insecure. It was baptism by fire. It made no sense to me at all. I felt like I was throwing away a good career to chase after something I believed God wanted. We sold our home, moved into a parsonage, and started our life in the fellowship of traveling ministers.

 

I’m sure Moses felt lost as he started his mission to free the Hebrews and lead them to the Promised Land. “How is this ever going to work? How did I ever get into this mess? The people hate me now because I went before Pharaoh! And The Lord hasn’t done a thing to save them! Oh, it’s all going wrong! This was a huge mistake!”

 

Have you ever felt like this before… in over your head? I remember dealing with a case of domestic violence. I was alone at the altar and crying out to God, “I do not want to be here!” Just send me back.

 

[Slide] One thing this story teaches us is that we should never expect God’s mission to be easy. We should expect resistance, even trouble, as we enter into the work of God.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Slide] The world is not aligned with God. The world stands in opposition to God. It always has. God calls us out of the darkness of this world, and its lies, and into His marvelous light. And God sends us, the followers of Jesus, into the mission field. The work is hard and filled with many obstacles before fulfilling God’s vision. It’s like a journey through the wilderness.

 

But let’s not be like Moses, ready to throw in the towel at the first sign of trouble. [Slide] God promises to be with us in our work as we love our neighbors, set the example of faith, and offer them hope. God will be with us as we work to make strangers into friends, friends into family, and the family of God into followers of Jesus. We are in the business of making disciples of Jesus Christ. God will be with us, so long as we are aligned with God’s mission to bring His kingdom to every human heart.

 

[Slide] God told Moses to take his staff with him. That staff was a symbol of God’s authority and power with Moses, for through the staff God would work His wonders.

 

This staff was a gift to me. I’ll save the story for Scout Sunday. It’s a personal reminder that I am not alone. I have a community behind me supporting me. How about you? What symbol reminds you that you are not alone?

 

[Slide] Many of us carry crosses. Does that symbol give you strength? Does it keep you on mission, knowing that one day you will be rewarded? Does the cross help you to remember that Jesus suffered trouble for the gospel? He calls all who would follow Him to pick up their crosses, to make the sacrifices necessary to advance God’s kingdom among our neighbors. What symbol reminds you that God is with you?

 

[Slide] Jesus sent out His disciples with the Great Commission.

“Go and make disciples, baptizing them… and teaching them all I have commanded you.” (Mat 28:18-20)

Jesus bookended the Great Commission by first saying, “All authority in heaven and on earth are given to me.” And lastly, He said, “I will be with you always, even to the end of the age.” How much authority? All authority. All the authority of the creator of the universe is given to Jesus. Jesus shares His authority with His church. He promises to be with us always in the mission to make disciples.

 

What symbol reminds us that we live in the authority of Jesus, and He is with us always in this work?

 

Along with this staff, I wear a stoll which I will drape over the altar. The stoll is a symbol of priestly authority. But the stoll is really a symbol of servitude. [Slide] The stoll is a yoke. Not the yellow center of an egg, but what oxen wear as they pull a plow or cart. A yoke connects two oxen side by side as they share the burden of work. Christ has promised to be with us always in our work in God’s mission. We share the burden of the work together with Christ. Christ pulls His share. We pull our share as God’s sent ones.

 

[Slide] God told Moses,

 

I am the Lord your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt, from being their slaves, and I broke the bars of your yoke and caused you to walk upright. (Lev 26:13)

 

God broke their yoke, so that the Hebrews walked free from slavery to Egypt, but we will see that walking free from Egypt means learning how to live free. Freedom does not mean living for one’s own desires. The community of Israel got into a lot of trouble because of selfish thinking and behavior. No. [Slide] True freedom is attained when one chooses the yoke of Christ. We serve a new master, not Egypt, not ourselves, but Christ.

 

 

 

The world does not acknowledge that true freedom comes by willingly submitting your life in service to Jesus. It makes no sense to the world to say that you are free, if you aren’t the master of your own life. Living to fulfill the selfish desires of the heart is to live in bondage to cravings and empty hedonism. Serving oneself is a form of idolatry.

 

[Slide] Paul wrote to the church,

 

Many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction, their god is the belly, they exult in their shame, focused on earthly things. (my Paraphrase) (Php 3:18-19)

 

Humanity has this central problem. Who or what are you going to serve? To choose selfishness is to choose sin. One tenet of Satanism is “To Thine own self be true.” The words come from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, but has been adopted as a central mantra of hedonists, sorcerers, witches, wiccans, pagans and satanists. Their god is their belly, whatever they desire. “Do what Thou wilt” is a similar mantra, given by the British occultist Aleister Crowley. Again, their god is their belly. A life of serving your own selfish desires leads to destruction, just like every other addiction. It is a trap. It is slavery.

 

The good news is that Christ delivered us from slavery to sin and death, so that we might choose His yoke. Paul wrote,

 

[Slide] Do you not know that if you present yourselves as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or obedience resulting in righteousness?  [Slide] But thanks be to God that though you were slaves to sin, you obeyed from the heart that pattern of teaching you were entrusted to, ¹⁸ and having been freed from sin, you became enslaved to righteousness. (Rom 6:16-18)

 

 

[Slide] Paul continues…

But now, freed from sin and enslaved to God, you have your benefit leading to sanctification, and the end is eternal life. ²³ For the payoff of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Rom 6:22-23)

 

Grab staff and stoll from altar

 

The staff is a symbol of God’s authority and power with us. The stoll is a symbol of our servitude. We are yoked with Christ to serve God’s mission in the world.

 

We were set free from sin and selfishness so that we might live freely under the yoke of Christ who gives us eternal life. That sounds to me like a great deal! The absolute best.

 

[Slide] As we continue our journey together, picture the future in your heart and mind. What picture of our future is God showing this congregation? What does our destination look like?

 

Moses was given a picture of a Promised Land, good and spacious and flowing with milk and honey. Moses followed that promise all the way to the heights of Nebo overlooking the Promised Land. What picture of the future guides you?

 

As we journey forward into our future, keep the staff and stoll in mind. God’s power and authority is with us, and we are yoked together with Christ in service.

 

[Slide] May the wilderness ahead teach us faith. May we be guided by hope. And may we always love one another.