Sermon – Just a Little Favor
1 Thessalonians 1:1-10; Exodus 33:12-23
Farmville Presbyterian Church
October 22, 2023
-Finding ourselves in God’s favor
The other day I took my youngest daughter on a college trip to tour her top choice college. It was a lovely day on a beautiful campus. Leaves are happening, and the weather was just about perfect fall. Of course, it was also fairly nerve-wracking. I had gotten used to not having to think about college things for a while. My other two daughters have not been in school for years, and we are working very hard to address college loans which (if you have been paying attention to the news) are back on now with interest. So I am back in the boat with our third daughter exploring the wide world of college life, college applications, and college loans, again. We must love her a lot.
What I found particularly interesting was watching my daughter engage with people from the admissions office and other school staff throughout the day. My little Rachel was getting all grown up before my eyes, and she was presenting herself to these people who might very well walk with her into her next phases of life. You know it is important how you meet others in those interview kinds of situations. This was not an interview, per se, but good impressions are crucial regardless. You want to make sure the staff walk away with a positive, accurate picture of who you are. That same little girl that used to go tromping with me through the woods or playing games for hours or working on puzzles was showing us all who she was now, and I am glad to say that she did well. She knows better who she is and who she wants to be – at least for now.
You and I are not the same people we were 10 years ago, 20 years ago, or however many years ago. Sure, there is a part of us that is constant, but just imagine how different you are from that 5-year-old that you once were – absolutely the same person on the one hand but completely different on the other. In fact, we are never just one person but are constantly on a path of change and growth. Things happen to us all the time that nudge us one way or another, that refine who we are as individuals. Most of the time, we are probably not aware of those nudgings, but occasionally something dramatic happens that gives us a big push as people. It may be something good or not so good. My daughter getting an acceptance letter to college would kickstart her on to the next big time of growth into adulthood. Successes, failures, additions, and losses all lead us in directions. Positive routines and bad habits shape us. Time itself wears on us as our bodies wear out. The mind is a tricky thing, too. Before you know it, you are something of a different person. It might not be so easy to know clearly who we are.
What I have realized about the journey in Exodus is that through this whole story what the people are really trying to do is discover who they are and who God is. Moses is right there asking these same questions, too. They were slaves. Then, they were runaway slaves. Now, they are wandering, hungry non-slaves. A part of them will always think of Egypt. They might be God’s people, but they don’t know who that God is. This God showed up, did some big signs, opened the way for them to leave, but it was hard to know if this God was still with them. It is not too hard to get people to wonder that same question today.
One big difference between then and now, however, is that we have had thousands of years to figure things out. We cannot help reading these stories from the standpoint that we already know where it is headed. We have an understanding of God; they really didn’t. We have an appreciation of Moses; they really didn’t. It seems like everyone in these chapters is trying to figure out who each other really is. Every follower of Jesus has to walk their own Exodus, too. We say Jesus is our Lord, but do we know what that really means for ourselves? How I know Jesus is not exactly the same way that you know Jesus. How God sees me might not be the same way God sees you. Who are we? To take that one step further, there is some kind of connection to being blessed in knowing who we are. In other words, to be blessed or to find God’s favor is to know who God is and who we are.
That’s what Paul is calling to the attention of the followers of Jesus in the churches in Thessalonica. He reminds them how they followed his example, and they became an example to others of living in Christ. Their lives were changed to be like Paul in his practice of faith in the Spirit of God. He rejoices because they grew into faithful people. They found out who they were, who they were created to be, and they discovered God’s favor.
Someone else who really wanted to know God’s favor was the Israelites and Moses. After the debacle last week and the golden calf, the people did not know what way was up. Moses didn’t know either. Even God was not sure. The beginning of Exodus 33 has God saying that they can go on to the land of Canaan, their new home, but without God’s presence among them. They can have an angel leading the way, but if God were to go with them, they might not survive. This is that road trip that pushes the parents in the front seat to their breaking point. Rather than pulling the car over, though, God is telling them to drive themselves.
Thankfully, Moses steps in, again, to ask if that is really what anyone needs. Who are you, God? Who am I to be your agent? Who is this people you called and claimed? It is time to sort this out.
With that in mind, I’m going to read Exodus 33 now. [Read Exodus 33:12-23]
In this great book of discovering who is who, we begin to see answers for their Exodus, for their journey. Our journey is still a little tricky today. Who is Moses or who is God is one thing, but who are Americans, who are Republicans and Democrats? Who are men and women? Who are Palestinians or Jews? Who are friends and enemies? Who are our sisters and brothers? So much of politics, so much of religion, so much of culture, so much of our life is identity based. In order to find God’s favor, we need to work on our identity, but so much gets in the way.
Moses’ blessing ended up being more than he bargained for. He found out that God was still going to travel with them to the Land of Promise, that God was going to be with them in the divine presence. The people needed to know that they had a God who cared. Just after this, God even proclaimed God’s own identity:
The Lord passed before Moses and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for the thousandth generation, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, yet by no means clearing the guilty,
but visiting the iniquity of the parents upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.”
And Moses quickly bowed down to the ground and worshiped. He said, “If now I have found favor in your sight, my Lord, I pray, let my Lord go with us. Although this is a stiff-necked people, pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for your inheritance.”
Moses found out that this was a God of forgiveness but also a God you did not want to betray. The people found out that God was invested in them, and they were invested in God. That is the inheritance language. They spent the rest of the 40 years out there working out what it meant to be God’s people, to live in God’s holiness, to grow as God’s people, and to remember God’s worship. They discovered that it was with God and only with God that they would cross into their promised land. When they doubted themselves, they also doubted God, but when they believed in God, they also believed in themselves because God was with them. Yes, it is one thing to say, another thing to live. They continued to struggle, and it was their children who eventually entered their hoped for home.
Please do not lose sight of who you are first. Yes, you have a name and a history. You have a genealogy and a family. You have friends and a community. You have a nation and work. You have political leanings and commitments, but you are a child of God. When all else is said and done, we have to come to this time as children of God. As God’s children, we are also related in Christ. That’s why we are sisters and brothers, literally, in Christ. To find God’s favor means to begin there. No matter what we are facing or what box people might be trying to put us into, what labels we might be trying to use or abuse, we are still children of God. This is something we share will all people, even the ones we don’t like so much, even the ones we hate. Children of God will find God good and gracious, and they will know God’s favor. To God be the glory. Amen.