A Time to Leave

Fall is one of my favorite seasons. I couldn’t wait to get here this morning to see the beautiful mountain view from your over look. That spot out there has become one of my favorite places to be. I love seeing the colors of fall, smelling the brisk air, hearing the crunch of leaves under my boots, pulling on a big sweatshirt or sweater. For some people Fall is a depressing time of year. For some people the colors of the trees signal impending death of the leaves. For some people fall signals shorter days, longer nights, cold. It is a time of year they would rather not experience. The colors are brilliant but just when you start to enjoy them they are gone. Ecclesiastes says There is a time for everything, a season for everything under the sun. Today we are going to focus on a time for leaving. We all experience leaving and we all experience being left. A loved one leaves, as Ms. Bernice did, to go to their “next” assignment. A loved one moves away, our health gets to the point that we have to leave our homes, friends and loved ones die. We all know what it feels like to lose something/or someone.

Today our passage of scripture records the end of Moses life. Moses knew his life was coming to an end. It doesn’t seem fair to those of us who are reading the account. To remind you Moses had had quite the life in his 120 years. He was born at a time when the death of all Hebrew boys under the age of two was called for. His mother sacrificed being able to raise him, in order to save him. She put him in a basket and put him in the river. The Pharaoh’s daughter finds him and takes him home and Moses is raised as an Egyptian. He was raised with the best of everything and became a strong leader and warrior under Pharaoh’s direction and instruction. As an adult Moses fled Egypt and went to Midian where he married and began tending the flock of his father. It was during this time that God appeared to Moses and told him that the was to return to Egypt and lead the Israelites out of Egypt. Moses did not feel capable for the task but God told him different. God gave him his brother Aaron to help him with his speech as Moses had a problem with Stuttering. Moses went back to Egypt as God ordered. He led the people out of Egypt toward the land of Canaan; the promised land. As the story unfolds we experience the Israelites to be on a roller coaster ride of trust and faith in God, anger and questioning of God. They are at times very faithful to God and at other times so far from faithfulness that the slip back into practices of Idol worship. God never fails them. God always forgives them. During the time of wandering in the wilderness God provided manna for food and water from a rock. He sent clouds for them to follow. He provided the 10 commandments during this time as Moses spent 40 days and 40 nights on a mountain communicating with God and receiving instruction. Moses faithfully followed God’s directions and faithfully lead the children of Israel to the promised land. However, we learn in today’s passage that Moses dies before he gets to enter the promised land. In fact just a few chapters previous to this one God reveals to Moses that because of his sin he would not enter the promised land. What was Moses’ sin. I mean we’ve listed all that he has accomplished. Well back when the Israelites were grumbling about not having water, which was right after they had grumbled about not having food and God provided them with food, rather than trusting God, Moses questioned if God was going to provide for the Children of Israel. When God gave him direction Moses didn’t follow the directions precisely. He altered what God told him to do and did it his own way. This way brought the water. God still supplied but he was not pleased with Moses. For me this is a little bit scary here. Moses made one mistake and he doesn’t get to go in is that really fair? Let’s think about this for a moment. We are in the old testament. The Israelites are just getting to know God. Their view of God now is clearer then it was in the beginning of time. For them, sin brings death. There is no one sin greater than another. Sin is sin and Romans 8:28 tells us that the wages of sin is death. The early church got this view from the study of the Torah, the books from which we read the stories of Moses. Let’s look at that verse in Romans thought. The wages of sin is death BUT…..the GIFT of God is Eternal life through Jesus. What we have today is Jesus who paid that wage for us. We all have sinned. So, while it doesn’t seem quite fair, doesn’t seem like the mistake outweighed all the good Moses did. Moses doesn’t get to enter the promise land. He does get to see it. He climbs the mountain, He sees the land and he dies. If we read the previous chapters though we know that before he dies he reminds the children of Israel where they have come from. He reminds them of the history of God being wit them. Moses is 20 years old and in perfect health. No one but him is expecting this. Isn’t that how it is with us sometimes. How many times have we heard after someone dies, ” I just saw him yesterday, he was fine.” It just doesn’t seem fair. It certainly doesn’t seem fair that God would take someone’s life for one small mistake. Let’s think about that a minute. I want you to think about someone you know very well. Think about the first time you met them. What did you know about them? What did you think you knew about them. I’m thinking about my friend Allison. I first met her when she became my office mate at work. She came into our relaxed office with a business suit. She was rather quiet. I knew her name was Allison. What I thought was that she was stuffy and stuck up and that I was in trouble if she was going to be my office mate. Well, today I know much more about her. I know that she is funny, adventuresome, loyal. I know that when my son is in the ER she will come and sit with me. I know that when I am having to sit at a mental health facility with my son all night, waiting for him to be assessed and transported to a treatment facility that she will come and sit right beside me all night long. I know that she sees good in the people that most people have given up on. I know that she is one of my best friends. What does this have to do with our story today. Well, this. Think about the children of Israel. Think about Moses. They are of the first to begin to know who God is. They are wrapping their brains around how God responds to things and where God is in world happenings. As you read through the Bible you’re going to find that the view of God and the world changes the more that persons get to know who God is. In Deuteronomy we’re told that The sins of the father will be visited upon the son. In other words not only will the father die for his sins but his son will also.. That was Moses understanding of sin and God and consequences. Then we turn to Ezekiel 18 and we’re told to erase that, not to go by that. We’re told that each person is responsible for their own sin. We’re told that if the father is sinful, he will die but that if his son sees the error of his father and lives a righteous life that he will live. That is Ezekiel’s understanding. Then we go on into the new Testament and Paul reveals that God is full of grace and forgiveness. He understands that God loves unconditionally and that his gift is eternal life. When we look back on the history of the Israelites we know this has always been the case. Adam and Eve lived after they blatantly disobeyed God. Cain lived after he killed Able. Noah was in a drunken state and lived. Sarah laughed and mocked God when she was told she was going to have a baby, yet she still gave birth to Isaac and she lived. Jacob lived after tricking his father and his brother. Not only did he live but he became the father of the nation that God called his very own. Joseph’s brother sold him into slavery, they lived. The children of Israel doubted God, worshipped idols, over and over they failed God and over and over God forgave them and provided for them. They had all the evidence there that God is a loving and gracious God but it took years upon years for them to get it and understand it. Why even today don’t we find ourselves asking what we have done to deserve the bad that happens in our lives. We still sometimes hold onto the belief that when something bad happens we must be at fault. God must be punishing us. The truth is this Moses died. He was healthy, there was no sign that he was ill but yet he died. We don’t know how he died. Perhaps he had a heart attack, perhaps he had an aneurism. These are things that rob us of people too soon, unexpectedly.. I think of John Thomas a young pastor in Asheville who had a great vision. He walked among the homeless on the streets of Asheville. He had a heart for sharing God’s love with the least, the last, and the lost. He had started a new church. HE was in the prime of his life at 40 y/o. He was healthy. He had a beautiful wife and two sons who depended on him. He was close to realizing his dreams and his vision yet one day his wife went to the church to find him face down on the floor, dead. These things happen. So, our first lesson in today’s lesson is that perhaps Moses death was not a punishment at all. Perhaps God gave Moses a gift by letting him know that he was not going to make it to the promised land. Perhaps it was a gift that knowing Moses’ time on earth was through that he was able to climb that Mountain and see all that God had promised, to know that his work had not been futile but that he would die knowing that God kept his promise of bringing the children of Israel to the promised land. The second lesson is that we need to get to know God. How do you get to know God. You get to know him the same way you get to know anyone, by spending time with him, reading about him, asking questions.

What else does this story of Moses death have for us this morning? Following Moses Death he was buried by God but know one knew where his grave was. Why was this? How was this? Some persons believed that God used Angels to bury him, some believe that Moses went into a cave to die, thus burying himself. Some believe that he went straight to heave with God just as Elijah had. This would make sense because in Matthew Jesus appears to the disciples with Moses and Elijah. The How is not as important as the Why. It seems that all scholars agree that the reason Moses’ burial place was unknown was because of God’s knowledge of the Israelites propensity toward idol worship. There was a fear that the Israelites would idolize Moses through his burial place. The message here is that while it is important to hold onto the lessons we are taught by our mentors and those who teach us and lead us to the promised land. We are never to idolize them. Moses knew he was dying. He knew his time with the Israelites was almost over. What we see in the previous chapters is him gathering the tribes around him and giving each tribe a departing message of hope. It’s important that we share those lessons we have learned over the years with those around us and within our circle of influence. It’s equally important that we point them away from us and toward the only being worthy of worship……God.

Next, this passage of scripture illustrate to us that there is a time to mourn. The Israelite upon learning of Moses’ death mourned until the time of mourning was up. Joseph mourned for his father for 7 days. The Israelites mourned for Aaron for 30 days. Popular belief was that the time of mourning for Moses was 30 days. In Jewish tradition 30 days was the normal time of mourning. There is a very strict formula for what is to be done during this period of mourning with the first 7 days after burial being a private time of mourning just for family. The family sits in the home of the deceased during those seven days finding comfort in each other and comfort in their memories. Following the 7 days, the family continues to mourn but friends and acquaintances are welcome to join with them. They begin doing more day to day activities but it is not until after 30 days that they resume their normal day to day activities such as work. Grieving is an important time of healing and this is recognized by the Israelites. They take time out to remember all that Moses had been to them. They celebrate his life, they mourn his loss.

Then comes the next lesson. Vs. 9 “Now Joshua son of Nun was filled with the spirit of wisdom because Moses had laid his hands on him. So the Israelites listened to him and did what the LORD had commanded Moses.”

A new leader takes over. God, through Moses had been preparing Joshua to be the next leader of the Israelites. If we look back at the story we know that Joshua was one of the friends who held Moses’ hands up during the battle against the Amelikites when Moses was getting too tired to hold them on his own. We know that of the spies that were sent into Canaan to assess the situation that only Joshua and Caleb saw the good, the potential and had the confidence that they would be able to invade the Promised Land. All others became fearful and distrustful and wanted to give up. It was Joshua who God chose to lead the children across the Jordon to possess the Promised Land. God had earlier instructed Moses to lay hands on him, commission him and give him authority which he did.

I’m reminded here of the recent loss of a 21st century icon, Steve Jobs. Steve Jobs knew he was dying and 1 month prior to his death he resigned as CEO of Apple. “Steve has made countless contributions to Apple’s success, and he has attracted and inspired Apple’s immensely creative employees and world class executive team.

Steve Jobs knew for Apple to continue to be successful after he was gone it would be important to attract the most creative and world class executives he could. He brought them in and he taught them all he knew. When his death was near he commissioned the next CEO of Apple.

There are a couple of lessons to learn from this. First, know that when someone leaves God has gifted another to continue the vision and mission. Secondly, know that it’s important for you to share your expertise, knowledge and wisdom with others. I have always said that when someone loses a loved one that as long as they continue to share the memories and the lessons they learned from that person, a piece of that person will always live on.

Lastly in this passage we are told that there is never another prophet such as Moses who has seen God face to face. This is an end of the error. This is the end of the Torah. NO longer is the Torah enough to bring us to the promised land. We are pointed forward, beyond the land of Canaan, to a promised land of God’s Kingdom. From this point forward that is what we as God Followers strive for. We strive for the establishment of God’s kingdom right here on earth.

So friends, as you think on this passage of scripture today remember the following:

The Israelites do not yet fully know God. It is important that we get to know God fully through spending time with him, asking questions, reading about Him.
Do not idolize people but recognize them for the unique contribution they had on your journey.
There is a time to mourn, take that time during periods of life.
There is a time to move forward and God will be with you and prepare a way for you to move forward.
While you are here on this earth make sure you share your stories, experiences, wisdom and expertise with others so that your contributions to the journey will live on.
Pass on wisdom you learn from those who are in your life.
Do your part in establishing Kingdom here on earth.

Finally friends, it is fall, a time of leaving. Don’t miss out on the colors for fear of what comes after. What comes after is going to come whether you take time to enjoy the colors or not. And never forget that the God of love, grace, forgiveness and mercy is with you every step of the way.

What do the 5 Best Pizzarias in Atlanta have in common with the Children of Israel?

This week’s passage of scripture transports us back into the Wilderness where the Israelites have escaped bondage in Egypt and are headed to their destined Promised Land. When we left the wilderness two weeks ago God had just made provisions of food for the Israelites. To catch you up on what has happened since then: They camped in a place where there was no water. The children of Israel again complained that God was not with them. God, again shows up and provides them with water. Following that there is battle with the Amalekites, giants, and God is with them through Moses and through two friends of Moses as Moses holds up his hands becoming a symbol of force bringing the Israelites victory over the Amalekites. Moses was then visited by his father-in-law wife and children. His father-in-law recognizes that Moses is up from dawn until dark surrounded by the children of Israel who are bringing their disputes and questions to him and he passes judgments and makes decisions. His father in law wisely tells him he can’t do it all and gives him some advice for being a delegator of responsibilities. That leads us to today as Moses stands at the foot of Mount Sinai, leaving the people to climb the mountain and be in the presence of God in a way that no man had ever been before. Look at the description. This is in Chapter 19: Listen with all your senses, imagine what this scene would look like in a movie:

16 On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast. Everyone in the camp trembled. 17 Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. 18 Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the LORD descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, and the whole mountain[b] trembled violently. 19 As the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and the voice of God answered him.[c]

These are the only words that could describe that moment of being in the presence of our awesome God. Then we get the famous Ten Commandments. When I saw that the passage this morning was the Ten Commandments, I was stumped. What do I do with the Ten Commandments? A sermon could be written on each one alone. Whole books have been written around the ten commandments. The Ten Commandments have been the subject of much controversy. There are people who do not wanting them displayed in court houses and people who think it blasphemy not to display them. . What do I do with the Ten Commandments? A Whole Movie is made of the Ten Commandments. I put my usual posting on face book in search of reactions. The First reaction: “Thou shalt not break any of the ten.” Well now that is short, sweet and easy. We could leave now and beat the entire church crowd to the lunch tables this morning. Then there was this from my brother: “Thou shall put no other brother before me, though shall make my brother dinner once a week, thou shall clean my brothers house, thou shall bring your brother breakfast every morning....for starters” He came from the angle of creating his own ten commandments, ones that would be advantageous to him. Do we do that sometimes? A mention to my Uncle about the subject of the Ten commandments brought about a discussion of law vs. grace. Many people believe that being a Christian is all about living by a code of thou shalt nots. There are lots of judgments against people who break the thou shalt nots. The thing that I’ve realized over the years however are that many of the thou shalt nots are about things that have nothing to do with the ten commandments. They were human made commands or understandings of commands. This was my face book prompt for this week. What are some of the “commands” you associate with Christianity and others views of Christianity. This is kind of how those go:

Thou shalt not drink alcohol.
Thou shalt not dance.
Thou shalt not wear make-up.
Thou shalt not curse.
Thou shalt not have tattoos.
thou shalt not cut your hair.
thou shalt not wear your hair long,
Thou shalt not wear makeup.
,Thou shalt not pierce your ears,
Thou shalt not wear jewelry.
Thou shalt not marry someone of another race, denomination, gender, faith etc.
Thou shalt not listen to secular music.
Thou shalt not eat meat on Friday.
Thou shalt not do anything fun or pleasurable from sun down on Friday until Sundown on Saturday.
Or maybe thou shalt not do anything for pleasure at all.
Thou shalt not do anything resembling work on Sunday, ,especially mow the yard.
Thou Shalt not seek truth about God or the afterlife outside of the Bible or you will be cast into hell.
Thou shalt not ever play any kind of card game.
Women shalt not wear pants ever.

The list could go on and on. I imagine if I opened the question up to the congregation this morning we could make a list of 30 more. Let me make it clear that I am not endorsing nor negating any of these as being right or wrong. The point is many times ones perception of Christianity encompasses the above rules that are outside the Ten Commandments. The focus becomes so much on law and rule following that we completely miss out on what it really means to be a follower of God. What happens to the God of I John 4:7-8? “Beloved let us love one another for love is of God and everyone who Loves is born of God and Knows God. He that Loves not knows not God for God is Love.” What happens to the God of Grace and Mercy. The God that is the focus of Micah 6:8 “And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” Is there a place for rules and commandments and law in the midst of this mercy and grace? I like what my friend, Russ Conner had to say about this. He says As he read all of the responses above he replied: “Wow...we really have no idea who our God really is. Looks like everyone else grew up with the same bad theology that I did. Very sad that we were not taught that he gave us gaurd rails to protect us from pain, but instead we were taught He is this big, mean, angry God with all of these impossible rules. So glad I finally learned the truth...it changes everything. To clarify further he states: “These "rules" came from my family and church, not from God. God gives us gaurd rails because he knows if we go off the path we are going to experience pain. What I have recently learned is that the actual commandments were given in love to spare us pain. Much of what I was taught was not biblical, but "religion", and in my humble opinion religion is what pushes people away from Christ.

The other thing I really like about sermon writing is making sure that I find out what Jesus has to say about a particular topic. What does Jesus have to say about the Law? Look at Matthew 22:36-40. 36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

If you look at these two commands and then look at the 10 commandments you will find the truth in this. The commandments can be divided into two sections. The first section defines how we love God and the 2nd sections defines our relationships with others. There is a third component to this however. Love your neighbor as yourself. I remember my 4th grade Sunday School teacher, Marietta Crayton, doing a Sunday school lesson around this verse. She had three boxes we looked in to see what we were to love based on these two commands. Why three boxes? The first box had a picture of God. The second box had a picture of other people symbolizing our neighbor. But what would be in the third box. As we veered into the third box there was a mirror, we were viewing ourself. She explained, to love your neighbor as yourself first implies that we love our selves for who God created us to be. What a powerful lesson to learn at 8 or 9 years old.

So the question? Is there a place for Rules and Laws in the midst of an atmosphere and love and Grace. This weekend at cousins weekend we had a pizza contest. My Uncle and cousin and her husband have been in search of the best pizza in Atlanta for the last 6 months or so. They narrowed it down to their 5 favorite Pizzerias.. Last night they brought in a pizza from each of the 5 pizzerias and we voted on which we felt was the best pizza. As I sat at the table writing this sermon, they sat around the table picking the pizzas they were going to order, deciding how they were going to keep all the pizza’s warm while picking them up and bringing them to the house, and deciding on how the vote was going to go. They decided that they would need a vote monitor who would serve to make sure that none of the tasters voted twice or cheated in any way. Well I got to thinking if we needed rules and monitors for a pizza contest, how much more do we need rules for life. I go back to what my friend, Russ Conner, said. God gave us guardrails to keep us from experiencing pain. That IS the God of Love and Mercy. What kind of parent would I be if I allowed my son to just do what he felt like doing when he felt like doing it. What kind of parent would I be if I didn’t set up those guardrails to keep him from experiencing pain, or worse death.

Barbara Brown Taylor has written a sermon on the text in chapter 19 of Exodus that sets the scene for today's passage, when Moses went up high on the mountain at Sinai, and an extraordinary (and very long) conversation began. She entitles her sermon, "Peculiar Treasures," because that's what the people were to the God who had brought them out of bondage, out into the wilderness on their way to a new life. One is reminded of treasures in the way she describes the story of this people: "God's covenant with their grandfather Abraham had three shining jewels in it: descendants as plentiful as the stars in the sky, a special relationship to God, and a land of milk and honey all their own." But "something was still missing," she writes, "something Moses went up the mountain to get" (Gospel Medicine).

When you are searching to reach your promised land, make sure you have the right guardrails to guide you along the way. And remember God’s presence with you along the way.

We remember God’s presence this morning as we come to the table together this morning not just as one community of faith but with the world community of faith. We are reminded that at God’s table there is no male or female, Greek or Jew, black or white, there is no nationality, no denomination. God’s table is for all. Let us prepare to come to God’s table.