Sunday Worship Service January 14,2024

Call to Worship John 8:29
Hymn JBC # 260 Set my soul afire, Lord
The Lord’s Prayer
Offering
Scripture Exodus 3:13~22
Prayer
Sermon “This is My Name Forever”
Prayer
Hymn JBC # 86 O Lord my God! When I in awesome wonder
Doxology JBC # 672
Benediction
Postlude

　Today's scripture is the second half of Exodus chapter 3 in the Old Testament. Moses, a Hebrew who grew up in the royal palace in Egypt, came of age and killed an Egyptian in order to protect his fellow Hebrews.
　This was brought to the attention of the king, Pharaoh, who then sought to put Moses to death, so Moses had to flee Egypt.
　Moses, out of his own sense of justice, probably thought he was trying to help his fellow Hebrews.
But in killing the Egyptian, Moses was guilty of sin, revealing his own arrogance and acting as if he were God.

Yet, God had prepared a way out for Moses. God had prepared a way for Moses to begin a new way of life.
Moses fled to a region called Midian, where he married and had children.
　At the beginning of Exodus 3, God appeared to Moses and told him, "Lead my people (Israelites) out of Egypt, who are living in slavery and suffering. I will send you to Pharaoh.”
Moses, commanded by God to do so, replies in Exodus 3:11,
“Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”

Moses hesitated. He must have been terrified at the thought of going before Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, a man of absolute power, and leading the Israelites out of Egypt.
“Who am I? Why must I go to Pharaoh and lead the Israelites out of Egypt?" In fact, this Moses' fear and hesitation is common to all of us humans.
　Moses' first question was, "Who am I?” How would we ourselves answer this question? Do we even know who (what) we are?
One of the things the Bible teaches us is “who we are”. We discover who we are through the Bible and in our relationship with God.
Moses could never have imagined that he would be able to play such a pivotal role in leading the Israelites out of Egypt.

Perhaps Moses had been haunted by his past, in which he had killed an Egyptian, albeit in defense of his fellow Hebrews, and had to flee Egypt.
Moses may have been spending his days with a resigned feeling, thinking that he would spend the rest of his life hiding in a foreign land to him.
But God had other plans for Moses. God chose Moses, and through Moses (by way of God's power), God was going to deliver the Israelites from Egypt.
Moses could not believe that he could do such a thing. But God said, "I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you...” (v. 12)

“I will be with you," "The people of Israel will recognize that the Lord God is with you (Moses).” God said that these will be the signs and evidence that He sent Moses.
　 A new year is now here. What plans do you think God has for our church this year in 2024?
And what plans does God have for each of us? When God's path is presented to us, we may hesitate like Moses in today's passage.
　We may limit our own abilities, overlooking the abundance of God-given gifts and thinking, "I (we) can't do it.”
　But God is with us. That is a promise that will never change. Let us pray and seek God's will and plan, and trust in Him as we walk together the path He has shown us.

　　Moses says the following in verse 13 in today’s passage:
　Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?”
　Moses thought, "If I go to the people of Israel and say, "God has sent me to lead you out of the land of Egypt," they will ask me, "What is the name of this God of yours?”

　Thus God answered Moses with His name: “I am who I am.”
　“I am who I am" is a very mysterious name. The Hebrew text could also be translated, "I will be what I will be.”
　The name that God Himself revealed to Moses is so mysterious that I believe it is open to many interpretations.
　But what is certain for us is that God did indeed reveal His name to Moses. And the name "I am who I am" means that God does not depend on anything else for His existence.
　God is complete in Himself and was not created by anything else. God is the Creator who made everything in our world. The Bible consistently tells us this.
　Moses asked God, "Who am I?" Just like Moses, none of us truly know who (or what) we are.

　　As I said earlier, we can truly know ourselves only through a relationship with the Creator God who made us, through His (God’s) own eyes.
　If we look at ourselves only through our own eyes, we will only find a very unstable individual. We are unstable because we have no roots or foundation.
　But the Bible tells us that there is a God who made us, whose name is known to us, and whose name will never change.
　The fact that God's name will never change means that God himself will never change and will always be with us. It means that God will keep His promises forever.
　Isaiah 46:3-4 says the following. God made us and He will continue to carry us.

“Listen to me, you descendants of Jacob, all the remnant of the people of Israel, you whom I have upheld since your birth, and have carried since you were born.
Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.

　God made us and promises to carry and rescue us in times of need. Even when we fall, God will be there to help us up.
But this does not mean that there will be no hardships and difficulties in our lives.
　In today's passage too, God promises Moses, "I will be with you," but also says, "But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless a mighty hand compels him.”

　In other words, God always reassures Moses that He is with him, but He also makes it clear that the king of Egypt, whom he (Moses) is about to face, will not listen so easily.
　God is with us, but the path we walk is sometimes long and hard.
　However, as we navigate this long and hard path and overcome crises along the way, we gain a deeper understanding of God's unwavering power and love that surpass our own abilities and thoughts.
　God is with us. Therefore, let us live our days with peace of mind, trusting in God in the midst of difficulties and troubles.

　God is with us. These words also describe the coming of Jesus Christ to this world as prophesied in the book of Isaiah.

Isaiah 7:14
Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.

“Immanuel" means "God is with us" in Hebrew. God has fulfilled what was already promised to Moses to all of us as well through the birth of Jesus Christ.
　God revealed His name ("I am who I am") to Moses, allowing him to tell others this name to show that God really appeared to him.
　We, too, have the steadfast name of God, the name of Jesus Christ, and the grace of Jesus Christ, given to each and every one of us.
　The questions “Where is God?" and "What is His name?" we can always answer, on the basis of the Scriptures.
We can answer with confidence, "A creator God really does exist," "God became a man and gave us everything we need in the form of Jesus Christ," and "God is always with us.”

This confidence comes not from within us, but from the steadfast name of God and the coming of Jesus Christ into the world.
Let's thank God for the good fortune of being able to live each day with the confidence, security, and peace that comes through faith.