Our Sermons

Bible Passage: Exodus 34:5-9
Pastor: Pastor Berg
Sermon Date:  August 27, 2023

God’s people had hit rock bottom. It was their own fault. Patience is a virtue in which they were lacking. Moses has been up on Mt. Sinai for more than a month. And so rather than patiently wait, they turned their backs on God and asked Aaron to make them a new god, and he did.

A celebration ensued. Just as the party was getting in full gear, Moses came down the mountain with God’s Law from God’s own hand in his hands. Moses could hear them before he ever saw them, so wild was the celebration. Moses was irate! He threw down the stone tablets and they broke at his feet in the same way the people had broken their promises to God. It was a debacle.

Sin leaves a bitter aftertaste and Moses was determined that the people would taste it. So he threw the idol into the fire and ground it into powder and made the people drink it. What a way to repay God for all that he had done for them! They had brought this on themselves. 

But Moses interceded. Even though he was angry, and rightfully so, he approached the LORD on behalf of his people. He made no excuses. He admitted that the people had committed a very serious sin. He knew that God was holy and just. But he went to the LORD anyway, because he knew something more. He went to the LORD and reminded him of his promises. He pleaded with him for mercy on the basis of his grace. Moses knew God’s promises. Moses knew that even in his wrath, God would see him in grace. And this gave him the confidence to say, “Yes, this people has committed a very serious sin: They have made a god of gold for themselves. Yet now, if you will, please forgive their sin–and if not, please erase me from your book, which you have written.” 

Can you imagine? Can you imagine speaking those words to God? “Erase me from your book…” Moses said them because Moses knew God’s goodness; he knew God’s promises. But all was not good initially. God told them to get out. To go to Canaan without him. He couldn’t be in the presence of these stiff-necked people. They wouldn’t survive for even a moment.

Imagine having to share that news with the people! Imagine if I said those words to you. For we too can be stiff-necked people. We too so often deserve to have God remove his presence from our lives. How would you react? I imagine the same way Israel did. They were struck to the heart. They mourned. These people who had so quickly abandoned the LORD now refused to go without him. 

But Moses wouldn’t give up. Persistent in prayer,  Moses goes back to the LORD again. And God heard him. God promised that he would go with them. “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” What a relief! Good enough, right? Not for Moses. Moses doubles down, “If your Presence is not going to go with me, do not send us up from here. After all, how would people know that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Isn’t it in this way: that you go with us, so that we are distinguished,m I and your people, from all the people who are on the face of the earth?” And the LORD again agreed. “I will also do this thing that you have said, for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name.” 

What a turn around. Surely this is enough, right? Again, not for Moses. With all of this positive momentum, Moses goes all in. “Please show me your glory.” he asks. And how did God answer? “I will make all my goodness pass in front of you, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD in your presence.” God promised to show him his goodness. You see, God’s glory is his goodness; and his goodness is his name. God would show Moses who he was by proclaiming his name, just as he shows us who he is today in the bread, wine, and water of the sacraments connected to his name.

But this wouldn’t be easy for Moses. God told him, “You cannot see my face, for no human may see me and live.” So God would protect him. He would hide him in the cleft of a rock and cover him with his hand until he passed by. Then he would remove his hand so Moses could see his back, but not his face. For their own good, sinners can’t see the face of God.

But first, the damage had to be undone. The LORD told Moses to cut two tablets of stone so that he could write his will on them like he had done before. So Moses did. And in the morning he went back up the mountain. But before he could reach the top, “The LORD came down in the cloud. He took his stand there with Moses and proclaimed the name of the LORD.” The LORD descended to him. And isn’t that always how it is, God is coming to us, reaching down for us, seeking us. The LORD descended and he preached a sermon on his name. It was mercifully short, and it was full of mercy. 

“The LORD passed in front of him and proclaimed: “The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, and overflowing with mercy and truth, maintaining mercy for thousands, forgiving guilt and rebellion and sin. He will by no means clear the guilty. He calls their children and their children’s children to account for the guilt of the fathers, even to the third and fourth generation.”

Too many people hear these words and get stuck at the end of the sermon. If you get stuck on the last part of the sermon, you’ve missed the point. By no means will he clear the guilty. That’s what people focus on. That’s where people get stuck, because we see so much evidence of such a thing around us. We see how we are called to account for things that happened in the past. We are products of our homes, our parent’s homes, and their parents’ homes. We live with the decisions of communities made long ago. And that’s why every man-made god is looking to be appeased or else. People are very used to the threat of judgment. No, what would have resonated with these people is the first part of the sermon. That’s the part that is so different. This is the John 3:16 of the Old Testament. This is the Old Testament Gospel in a nutshell. This first part would have sounded so foreign, so out of place, especially at that moment. And it sounds the same way to us because the LORD is so utterly unlike anything or anyone else, including us.

The LORD, the LORD, the only compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, and overflowing with mercy and truth, maintaining mercy for thousands, forgiving guilt and rebellion and sin. God keeps his promises. He forgives. And we see that so clearly in Jesus. As Peter so clearly confessed in our Gospel, Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God. He is the one God sent to fulfill all righteousness as our substitute. He did for us what Moses could only offer to do. He perfectly kept the Law. He endured God’s wrath against our sin so that like Moses, we receive God’s favor, his grace. 

What these people deserved is the exact opposite of what they received. Our story is the same. We know that God is holy and just. We know that sin has consequences. We know that God will by no means clear the guilty. Like Moses, though, we know something more. And we have an advantage. We can see God’s face. The LORD took on flesh and gave us his Word, his name. In our baptisms, God placed his name on us with all of its wonderful promises!

And what impact did seeing God’s glory, his goodness, hearing his name proclaimed have on Moses? “Moses quickly bowed to the ground and worshiped.” Moses’ response is what the believers’ response to God’s gospel revealed in Word and Sacrament will always be: reverence, trust, and love. We see his reverence as he bows down and worships. Verse nine shows us his trust and love. 

“If I have now found favor in your sight, Lord, please let the Lord go along with us. Although this is a stiff-necked people, pardon our guilt and our sin, and accept us as your possession.” Moses prays for the people. And notice, he included himself with them. “Let the Lord go along with us…pardon our guilt and our sin, and accept us…” He trusts that God will keep his promises, that he will live up to his name as “compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and overflowing with mercy and truth, maintaining mercy, and forgiving guilt and rebellion and sin.”

And so too with us! God has descended to us. He has proclaimed his name to us in Word and Sacrament. He has made us his possession through water and the Word. He unites and communes with us in his Supper. He keeps his promises! Let our response be Moses’ response: one of reverence and trust and love. Let’s reclaim the glory that belongs to God’s name. What he says about himself is what he wants us to say about him. 

In just a few moments we will once again pray, “Hallowed be your name.” It’s the first petition of the Lord’s Prayer, the first thing Jesus taught his disciples and us to ask. Let’s close today by seeing how we can reclaim the glory that belongs to God’s name. 

What does this mean? “God’s name is certainly holy by itself, but we pray in this petition that we too may keep it holy.” How is God’s name kept holy? “God’s name is kept holy when his Word is taught in its truth and purity and we as children of God lead holy lives according to it. Help us do this dear Father in heaven! Amen.