Today’s Scripture

Psalm 126     Exodus 3:1-8a, 10-15     1 Corinthians 10:1-13     Luke 13:1-9

 

            Abraham Lincoln, in the Gettysburg Address states that we cannot “dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground.”  The brave men who had struggled there had already hallowed it “far beyond our power to add or detract.”  Anyone who visits Gettysburg or any other place where people made a great sacrifice on behalf of others gets a sense of awe.  Visiting our nation’s capital, Washington D.C., the stately buildings tell one that he is in an important place in the world.  Whether you feel worthy or not, you can still walk on those grounds, stand where persons larger than life once stood, and use these places as they are intended to be used.  You have access to such places.

 

            Moses was living in self-imposed exile from Egypt.  He had fled Egypt afraid for his life.  He was now content with his family and his responsibilities tending to his father-in-law’s flocks.  Life was simple and fulfilling.  Now he sees a most unusual miracle of nature, a bush was on fire but not burning up.  Moses was like you and I are, curious.  But we find this is all be design, God’s design.  As Moses approaches the burning bush, God makes his presence known.  “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.”

 

            When your shoes are wet and muddy, what do you do when you enter the house?  You take the dirty shoes off.  Why?  You take them off so you don’t mess up a clean house.  God is giving us all a message here.  He is holy.  Holy means, “without sin and evil.”  Holy is perfect in every way.  Any one of us, Moses included, is going to muddy up God’s presence if we enter it as we are.  We note that when he hears God, Moses does not stop at shedding his sandals, but hides his face, “because he was afraid to look at God.”

 

            God proceeds to speak to Moses telling him of the work he has before him.  It is an overwhelming task.  Moses really does not want to do this.  But God does not give him any options and erases all of Moses’ objections.  In this conversation God holds with Moses, God makes four main points.

 

1. God begins by stating that he has “come down to rescue” his people.  He has heard their cries for his mercy.  He is answering their plea for his deliverance.  God does not sit on a heavenly throne and run things by remote.  He gets involved himself.  As holy as his ground is, it is not sterile ground but productive.  God is always working his ground to rescue his people.  As he called Moses to this holy spot, he invites all people to come to him as he has already come to them.  You know, if someone is knocking at your door, they do not come in until you open the door and invite them in.
2. “I am sending you,” God says to Moses.  God does not come and communicate with each and every person one and one.  He speaks to people through his appointed messengers who carry his word.  First of all are the prophets and apostles who record his words and those of his son, Jesus.  Second of all are the preachers and teachers, men of the pastoral office who carry his word throughout the world.  And thirdly but of equal if not greater importance, through faithful witness of countless numbers who hear his word and keep it as you, individual members, share the message of God’s love in Jesus Christ to others.  God chooses and sends people out.
3. Moses questions God with the same question you and I and everyone else does, “Who am I that I should go…?”  There are a couple of things here.  We get pretty comfortable in our own lives, just as Moses was tending Jethro’s flocks.  There is no confrontation if we keep our business to ourselves, especially that of faith.  It is an individual thing, isn’t it?  Secondly, each one of us feels pretty inadequate.  Carrying God’s word to others is overwhelming.  What if I mess up?  What if they laugh at me and run me out?  I am not good enough.  God, you need to find someone better than me.  And thirdly, Satan loves to put you on the guilt trip, “You do not deserve to be God’s chosen person.  Give it up.”  Sometimes we find our heel marks in the ground as God does drag us, but he sends us out just the same.   
4. God makes the greatest promise of strength and comfort, “I will be with you.”  God did not send any one of his prophets or apostles out alone.  Neither does he send you out alone.  He has declared that no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the power of the Holy Spirit.  [1 Cor. 12:3]  Jesus did not let the disciples go out into the world until he sent the “counselor,” the “comforter,” his “spirit.”  Neither Moses, David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Micah, Peter, Paul, Philip, or any other speak God’s word on their own.  For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.  [2 Peter 1:21]  For you and I today, knowing God’s word through hearing it, reading it, and studying it, is preparation to speak it confidently to others.  You practice good stewardship of God’s gifts of intellect and ability when you grow in knowledge and faith through regular attendance in worship and Bible Study in addition to your personal prayers and devotions.

 

Holy ground is the place where God reveals himself to you.  Holy ground is all of God’s creation because he made it, preserves it, and gives it to you for all mankind’s benefit and to bring him glory.  Holy ground is where God’s people walk in lives of faith in their hearts and faithful living following his word and his commands. 

 

There was a pastor in a small rural village.  It was one of those towns where everyone knew everyone else.  That pastor walked out of the grocery store into the midst of a group of men and their conversation was not very holy at that moment.  The first one to recognize the pastor said in a startled voice, “Oh, excuse us Pastor.  We didn’t mean to offend you.”  The pastor responded, “You didn’t offend me at all.  Who you are really offending is God.”  When people think they are offending or rebuking faithful witnesses, they are really offending and rebuking Jesus.  And those who offend and rebuke Jesus are offending and rebuking the one who sent him, God our heavenly father.

 

In today’s Gospel, Jesus calls on people to repent or perish.  He uses the parable of the vineyard worker who begged the owner to give another year’s grace regarding an unproductive fig tree.  The worker pledged to till, prune, and fertilize that tree to make it productive.  We too, in our lives, are called to be vineyard keepers like that.  Where there are unproductive plants, God sends us out to till, prune, and nurture those plants with his word and acts of his love to make them productive in faith too. 

 

Here at Immanuel we have the fellowship shared in services.  We have the strength of God’s word proclaimed and sacraments celebrated to create and strengthen faith.  We have over a dozen different Bible Study groups to keep growing in faith and confidence in that faith.  We have the membership of well over six hundred members who can gather together to pray with and for each other.  We have the membership of well over six hundred members whose abilities, contributions, prayers, and leadership can make a difference sharing God’s love in various ways in this community.  We have over six hundred members whom God has called to step forward in his holy ground (beginning here in Des Plaines) to share his love in Jesus so that others know they too are walking on holy ground, the holy ground of the one true God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. 

 

Yes, we might feel all alone and incompetent and unworthy as Moses did that day near Mt. Horeb.  But God has heard your cry and the cries of so many others for his mercy.  He has come to save you and all people in the miraculous ways through his word and sacraments.  He knows no one can save himself.  That is why he gave his one and only Son, to save all who would believe in him.  His will and command is to send each believer out to lead others in faith.  And, when you wonder and debate with him if you are the right one or not, remember his words to always be with you as you go out to make unproductive trees productive again.  You are on Holy Ground, not only within these walls, but everywhere God leads you to serve him in the many and various ways he gives. 

 

Go now, in the peace knowing you are his dear child in Jesus Christ.  Go now, in the confidence that he is with you always, even to the end of the ages.  Go now, knowing that it is his word alone that both convicts and saves.  Go now, knowing that he has sent his holy angels to guard you in all your ways.  Go now, knowing that you are not treading in enemy territory, but always walking on God’s holy ground by his grace alone.

 

Amen.