Freed to Serve

“Freed to Serve”      Text: Exodus 3:1-12
Elpis Christian Church
October 4, 2009

 Today I want to start with a basic premise that I want you to consider carefully and see if you agree with me that it is true.  Here it is: REAL FREEDOM IS NOT JUST FREEDOM FROM SOMETHING – IT IS FREEDOM TO SOMETHING.   Almost four thousand years ago a fugitive from justice, a murderer, a nomad, making his living incognito as a shepherd in a desolated place, tested that premise.  His name was Moses.  And his story is one of the most recognized and remembered stories of any in the Bible.  Even the smallest children among us usually have no trouble telling us something about this man.  They may know that he saw something strange like a burning bush that wouldn’t burn up.  They may tell you he told “old Pharaoh” to “let my people go.”   They may even start singing a little song about that.  They may tell you about plagues of flies and frogs and rivers turned to blood and staffs into wriggling snakes before your very eyes – little boys are especially fond of that part of the story.  But one thing is certain – they will get the basic idea across – somehow, mysteriously, this man Moses and God worked together to get some people out of bondage.  And, that’s about it.  It’s accurate as far as it goes.
 But what I want to explore with you today is the idea that when God freed Moses from his self-imposed bondage in the desert, and when Moses in turn answered God’s call to go and announce God’s freeing of the people of Israel from their bondage in Egypt – something was happening that is true not just for the people of Israel but for all people.  Again – that premise – that true freedom is release not just from something but to something.
 Let me come at it another way.  The story of Exodus is clearly a story of God’s compassion.  Exodus 2:23 makes it crystal clear.  “The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God.  God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob.  So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them.”  We can’t speak of Exodus without first and foremost acknowledging the startling fact that the God we worship is a God of compassion and caring.  And in particular he heard the cries of the Hebrews.   In turn, he released them in a miraculous way.  And that, in itself, is a good enough story.
 But there’s more.  God called Moses – a man who was ill-equipped, unsure, frightened – not to mention a wanted criminal – and transformed him into a liberator, a law-giver, a champion for the eternal covenant that God had with a particular people in a particular time.  Why?  Because I think God wanted Moses and Israel to somehow lead the way for the rest of humanity itself.  He freed them from bondage because He loved them – yes.  But he also freed them so that they could be the instruments by which we would bring salvation to the world itself.  Through them would come the One who would one day free the world from every form of slavery it has ever known.  Because from the Jews would come David and through David’s line would come Jesus – the Messiah – our Savior and our Lord.
 God freed the Hebrews and formed a nation which, granted, would suffer various forms of slavery and oppression again and again.  But he freed their spirits in such a way that to this day they lead the way to freedom for us all.  Because they, and we by adoption, are God’s “chosen” ones.  And yet – and this is key – we are “chosen” not as a privileged people – better than other people.  We are chosen for a special purpose.  We have been freed from bondage so that we can offer real freedom – a freedom that can never be taken away – to the entire world.
 I believe that every one of us who claim the name or designation Jew or Christian live under a cloud that is both a blessing and a grave responsibility.    The Bible makes it clear that God loves us.  It is clear that the God we worship is not unfeeling or unreachable.  God is compassion itself – embodied in a Lord and Savior who is the suffering servant and who sacrificed himself willingly on a cross of humiliation and pain.  We are the recipients of grace that defies description.
 But if we stop there – we have missed the point.  God saved the Hebrews, the Gentiles, you and me – to call us into service as liberators for others.  The scripture puts it well, “Freely you have received; freely give.”   We didn’t choose God – God chose us.  Moses didn’t one day look to the heavens and say to himself – my people are in horrible bondage – I need to do something about it.  God set a bush on fire and got his attention – and called him into holy service.  We, in the worldwide fellowship known as the Church, didn’t form this organization because we are such a loving and caring and a compassionate people that we just thought it a good idea for a better world.   The Church was born out of the conviction of those who had been released from spiritual death.  And in our individual lives – we are here – not just because our parents taught us to come here or else.  We are here because at some deep level it resonates with us – this idea that we find freedom here that the world simply cannot offer.  And – I pray we are here – because we have a deep desire to somehow help others find that same freedom.  A church that is self-centered and self-absorbed and self-assured in its so called freedom isn’t free at all.  But a church that is sure that it is called to reach out to those who are oppressed physically, mentally, and spiritually – and offer them hope – that is a free church indeed.   And that friends, is our noble calling and destiny.
Now – that’s a lot of lofty thought – isn’t it?  To ponder the eternal consequences of this mission God and Moses undertook together four millennia ago.  And to think about the mission you and I have in turn because of it.  That’s a lot to chew on and digest.  So, let’s bring it down to earth a bit – to the real, present day application of it for you and me.
 Every one of us who walks through these sanctuary doors on a regular basis need to be released from something.  And we need to be released not just once but frequently time and again.  I believe that.  I believe that life, for all of its joys and wonders, is hard.  It’s painful.  It’s challenging.  It’s exhausting.  Even on our best days –and I hope you have many – I know that life is hard.  We live in a fallen world, with pain and suffering and deep questions all around us all the time.  We need release from that on a regular basis.  And I believe that what God offers us through Jesus Christ IS that liberation.  How did Jesus put it?  “You shall know the truth – and the truth shall set you free.”
 I think as surely as God took a fugitive named Moses, plucked him out of the desert, sent him to Egypt and used him in a miraculous way to free the Hebrews, so God frees us from whatever bondage oppresses us today.  And that is something to celebrate and give thanks for on a regular basis.
 But we can’t stop there.  We must use that freedom to bring others out of bondage as well.  Otherwise we are like a small, greedy child clutching a beloved toy and hatefully keeping it from others.  God loved us first so that we can love others.  Otherwise we remain in the greatest bondage of all – self-centered, self-absorbed, alone.
 That’s one of the most wonderful things about our particular church – and it’s affiliation with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).  From the beginning, when we have been at our best, we have understood that the table, around which we gather every single week, is an open table that invites to dine anyone and everyone who is spiritually thirsty and hungry.  There are no walls – no barriers – no requirements – other than a sincere desire to come and receive what Christ offers.   We, who were hungry and thirsty and in bondage, openly and joyfully call those who are in need now.  And the circle grows and grows from there.  That is – if we offer the invitation.  Unfortunately, that’s often where we fall down on the job.
 There are many reasons for this – most of which have nothing to do with how compassionate or caring a people we are.  I think one of the main reasons we don’t reach out to others more than we do is that we are just too overwhelmed with our own lives.  I don’t think we are, at the core, selfish and uncaring.  I do think it is sinfully easy to get so busy and so concerned with our own needs that we forget the needs of others.  That’s one reason it is important to drag ourselves out of bed and get here on Sunday mornings – even when we are tired from working at a church “Fall Festival” like the one we had yesterday.  Because as we gather here – tired and a bit overwhelmed – we remind ourselves of God’s grace and love and how that will always renew us again.  We remind ourselves that what we receive here as a free gift releases us from that Evil that so desires to oppress and destroy us.  And, I hope we are reminded, that such freedom is not just a gift from God to us personally – it is a gift from God, through us, to all the world.
 In just a moment we are going to come to the table.  We are going to take the bread and the cup.  Today it’s especially significant because today is World Communion Sunday.  All over the world, from the greatest cathedrals to the tiniest chapels, Christians are doing the same thing.  They are taking the bread and the cup that somehow we understand is intimately, eternally connected to the broken body and spilled blood of Christ.  And we are renewed by what we receive here.  But we must not take it and horde it and go home thinking it is ours to enjoy exclusively.  God’s amazing grace has freed us to serve.  Or we are not free at all.