Sunday 09/27/20 - Sidney UMC
Sermon Title: “You Can’t Get Water From A Rock!”
(“Exodus: The People of the Covenant” Series: Part 4 of 7)
Old Testament Scripture: Exodus 17:1-7
New Testament Scripture: Philippians 2:1-13
Gospel Lesson: Matthew 21:23-32
My friends, brothers, and sisters, welcome once again on this the 17th
Sunday after Pentecost.
This morning, we are going to dive
right into our sermon series from the Book of Exodus. In this seven-week sermon
series, we have been looking thus far at the story of the Israelites fleeing
slavery in Egypt. This all started in our Book of Exodus reading with God
speaking to Moses through a burning bush. God told Moses that he would use him
to free the Israelites, or the Jews, or “The People of the Covenant”. This
group of people, this nation, that God chose to speak through, will be led out
of slavery in Egypt, to the promised land, or the land of milk and honey.
In the first week of this sermon series,
Moses kept telling Pharaoh to let his people, the Israelites, who where slaves
in Egypt go. Pharaoh refused, and 10-plagues later, he finally let the
Israelites go. They then fled through the divided waters of the Red Sea.
Last week, after years of slavery,
bondage, and oppression, the Israelites, or “The People of the Covenant” were
finally free. In no time though, these same people began to run out of food. In
this happening, they turned on Moses, and desired to go back in slavery in Egypt.
God then provided the Israelites or the Jews Manna or bread from heaven and quail
to eat daily. God would do this for the next 40-years as the Israelites
wandered through the wilderness, on their way to the promised land, or the land
of milk and honey.
What I said last week, reflecting on
this, was how quickly the Israelite people lost faith in God and Moses, when
things got hard. These people were no longer grateful to God, but instead were demanding
and were full or doubt.
I would love to tell you that when God
provided the Israelites with daily Manna from heaven, and daily quail to eat,
that this would be the last time that they would ever rebel and turn on God and
Moses. Unfortunately, this turning to and then from God will be the saga of the
Israelite or Jewish people all through the Book of Exodus, and the entire Old
Testament. In fact, in the Old Testament of our Bibles, God called the
prophets, such as Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Jeremiah. God called these prophets to
call His people back to holiness, righteousness, and faith in him. God is in indeed
patient, as his covenant people go back and forth from being faithful to
unfaithful. Each time God corrects, and this cycle seems to start all over
again in the Old Testament.
The word repent, in fact, can mean to
walk away from. When we repent of our sins, we are not just apologizing to God
for them, we are supposed to walk away from recommitting our sins. Maybe we, therefore, are not all that
different from the ancient Israelites or the Jews. Sometimes we are faithful and
trusting of God, and maybe at other times our faith weakens.
This is where we pick up in the Book
of Exodus for this morning. So, guess what? Things for the Israelites or the
Jews start going south again. This morning, things get tough again. Yet the
Israelites are not going to lose faith, and will not turn on God and Moses again,
right? Wrong! Yet, maybe sometimes in our lives we go through phases of coming
to God and then running from God.
So, let us drive right into our
reading once again from our Book of Exodus reading for this morning. Once
again, it starts with Exodus 17:1 that says:
“From the wilderness of Sin the whole congregation of the Israelites journeyed by stages, as the Lord commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. 2 The people quarreled with Moses, and said, “Give us water to drink.” Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?” 3 But the people thirsted there for water; and the people complained against Moses and said, “Why did you bring us out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and livestock with thirst?” 4 So Moses cried out to the Lord, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.” 5 The Lord said to Moses, “Go on ahead of the people, and take some of the elders of Israel with you; take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. 6 I will be standing there in front of you on the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it, so that the people may drink.” Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7 He called the place Massah and Meribah, because the Israelites quarreled and tested the Lord, saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?” (Ex. 17:1-17, NRSV).
Upon getting this water, the Israelite people were then given
water to drink, to bathe with, and to cook with. Order was restored, faith in
God was restored, and everything was good. Well, for now at least!
So unruly, rebellious, and questing of God were the
Israelites this morning though, that Moses named the places where these things
took place to reflect the events that had just occurred. As one of my bible
commentaries puts it well of this scripture reading, it says:
“As the Israelites journey, one of the
places where they set up camp is Rephidim, which is the south part of the Sinai
Peninsula. Once again, there is a lack of water (17:1). And once again the
people turn on Moses and blame him for their plight (17:2-3). The situation is
so bad that Moses names the place Massah, which means ‘testing’ and Meribah,
which means ‘quarrelling (17:7)”.
“Exasperated by the people’s lack of faith, Moses cries out. What am I to do with these people? (17:4). God replies, telling him to go ahead of the people with the elders and strike the rock at Horeb with his rod (17:6). This use of the rod with which Moses had already struck the Nile serves to remind the people and the elders, who seem to be regretting ever having left Egypt, of what God has done for them in the past (17:5). Moses obeys God and the water flows in abundance” (Africa Bible Commentary, pg. 107).
It is amazing to me, just how quickly
people can turn against you. Someone might have full faith and trust in you,
and then just like that they turn on you. I can only imagine how Moses felt this
morning. I mean God is feeding the Israelites Manna from heaven and quail
daily. Did they think that God would let them die of thirst? When will they
just fully trust God? When we will just fully trust God?
So, I remember one time when I was with my
late Grandpa Winkelman. I think I was about 6 or 7 years old. He was working on
something, and he just could not get the thing that he was working on working.
After trying various things, he just said, “Well, I guess you can’t get water from
a rock”.
I then went home that night and thought,
“why did grandpa say that? You can’t water from a rock!” What I realize years
later is that my grandpa was quoting this story from the Book of Exodus, whether
he realized it or not. Anyone here every heard someone say, “you can’t get water
from a rock?”
Most reasonable people would
completely agree with the idea that you cannot get water from a rock. I would
agree with it to. Yet, God can do all things. There have been theories about a
water source right next to the rock that Moses struck with his staff, but in
general “You Can’t Get Water From A Rock!”
Again, I would love to tell you that
the Israelite people will never doubt or rebel and against God and Moses again,
but they will. Next week in fact! Yet are there times in our lives that we have
rebelled, or that we have lost some faith.
Next Sunday, we will have the epic
story of Moses going up Mount Sinai. Moses will be given the covenant or the
agreement with God for the Israelites. Specifically, the 10-Commandments. Yet
Moses will get delayed on the mountain. You know what they say, “When the cat
is away, the mice play”. Next Sunday and the following Sunday will be looking
at Moses going up the mountain to commune with God, to receive the
10-Commandments, and I wonder if the Israelites will behave themselves in his
absence. I bet you can guess on this one! That is the next two Sundays though.
In briefly touching upon our other two
readings from this morning from Philippians, and the gospel of Matthew, in the
reading from the Philippians, Paul reminds us to love each other, serve each
other, and to be united with each other. The Apostle Paul said that even though
Jesus was God in earth, he still humbled himself, even to the point of death on
a cross. The Apostle Paul tells us to work out our faith with fear and
trembling, and to love and serve like Christ (Phil. 2:1-13, NRSV).
In our gospel of Matthew reading for
this morning, Jesus’ authority to teach, to love, to heal, and to forgive, is
challenged by the chief priests and the elders. They ask Jesus by what
authority he is doing and saying the things he is. Jesus then agrees to tell them
if they answer a question for him. They are not able to answer this question,
and as a result, Jesus will not tell them were his power and authority come from.
Jesus then in further response tells
the parable or the story of the two sons. In this parable a father asks his two
sons to go and work in the vineyard. One refuses, but later goes and works in
the vineyard, and one says he will go, but then does not. Jesus then asked
which one of the two sons did the will of there father? The chief priests and
elders respond that the first son did the will of his father. Jesus then
concludes this morning’s gospel lesson with Matthew reading from 21:31b-32 that
says once again of John the Baptist:
“Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you. 32 For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him; and even after you saw it, you did not change your minds and believe him” (Mt. 21:31b-32, NRSV).
Jesus challenges their unbelief and their lack of faith.
The reality of trusting God, and then rebelling, is a theme not only in the Old
Testament of our Bible, but also in our New Testament, as well. All of us, every
day, need to surrender our lives to Christ and put our trust in him.
In getting back to our Book of Exodus reading for this
morning though, no rational person would try to get water from a rock. There
are various scientific exceptions that I have read about this, as well as a few
scientific phenomena, but in general, you cannot get water from a rock.
So why is it that we lose faith sometimes? Is it that the pains and the struggles that we are experiencing are just too much to bear sometimes? Is it because our own personal plans did not work out? What prevents us from truly, I mean truly, trusting God? What would need to happen so that we would trust God with everything that we are and have? If we trust God this much, this God who created us and loves us, then maybe we could believe that this God, and only this God, can even “Get Water From a Rock!” Amen.
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