Reality 7: The Fruit of Obedience

Exodus 3:7-15; Isaiah 46:9-10

Cascades Fellowship CRC, JX MI
November 14, 2004
Series: Seven Realities of Experiencing God

A very good friend of the family came to belief in Christ by a very difficult

route. Raised in a nominally Catholic home, she had seen the form of religion but

never got a real glimpse of Christianity. Conditions in her home conflicted with she

had learned in catechism and Sunday school.

As an adult, she remained nominally Catholic, but approached it with

cynicism. For a brief period, she participated in a Christian Reformed Church, but

felt that the congregation she was a part of did not put into practice what they

preached. Yet, something inside would not let her abandon faith altogether.

The turning point came when she began feeling the yearning of motherhood.

Being single, she began looking into adoption. I remember when she told me the

story of what she went through to adopt her daughter. The trial, disappointment,

and distress she endured on the path of adoption were truly biblical in proportion.

Near despair, she finally received word – your baby is waiting.

With tears welling up in her eyes, she said her faith was affirmed and she

knew that Jesus loved her “When I held that tiny little girl in my hands – that God

entrusted this precious life into my hands – I knew then that he loved me.” She had

heard it all her life, from various sources, but those sources failed to be channels of

grace. She had never seen it.

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 Now, the evidence of God’s love lay squirming in her hands – an infant, a

baby, meant for her. She could see the love of God, the answer to prayer that

made sense of the painful, yet enriching journey. She understood then that the

yearning for motherhood she felt was God’s call and her dogged persistence as

obedience. The result of her obedience was God revealing his love to her in a

tangible way. She now knew God and could trust his heart toward her.

It was Job who, after being reminded that he was accusing the Sovereign

Lord of all creation of unfair treatment, said, “My ears had heard of you but now

my eyes have seen you. Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and

ashes.” Something dramatic happens when God comes on the scene. We see

that the God we thought we knew is more glorious, more wonderful, more worthy of

praise than we ever imagined.

For a little over a month now we have talking about seven realities of

experiencing God. We began this journey by recognizing that God is always at

work around us. He is actively engaged in carrying out his purposes for his creation

– even in the small details of our lives. We then spoke about the reality that we

were created for a love relationship with God. God expresses his love to us by

including us in his redemptive work.

This is a critical reality for us to grasp because when we realize that God

demonstrates his love toward his people by including them in his work, the third

reality begins to really hit home. God’s primary means of working is through those

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who love him. Our response to God’s invitation to join him in his work is a vital

indicator of our love and gratitude for him.

The fourth reality we observed is that God still speaks to his people, even

today. We hear his voice the Scriptures, the indwelling Holy Spirit guides us and

reveals truth, God nudges us in prayer and through circumstances into his ways.

He even speaks to us through the church to reveal himself and his purposes.

The fifth and sixth realities are closely tied together. You must make major

adjustments in your life to follow after God. To join God in his work often requires

life adjustments. This will lead us to a crisis of belief, because God reveals himself

through us by calling us to do things we cannot do without him. What he calls us to

will always require faith and action. What we do at the point of a crisis of belief

says volumes about what we believe about God.

Which leads us to our seventh – and at least for this series – the final reality

of experiencing God. We come to know God by the way we experience his

redemptive work in our lives as we obey and follow him.

Now, that statement requires a little unpacking, because we have already

talked this year about the way we come to know God. You may remember when

we discussed Article 2 of the Belgic Confession. Then, we spoke of two ways. We

know him first by general revelation – or more simply put, we know God by all that

he has created. We see how intricately the human body is made, how specific the

tilt of the earth has to be to create the sort of atmosphere needed for life, how exact

the distance is between the planets that keep the solar system in place, how the

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birds that do not store up food for themselves have plenty to eat and the lilies that

do not sew are radiantly adorned and in these things we see evidence of the power

and goodness of our Creator.

We know him secondly by special revelation – that is God revealing himself

more specifically through his Word. In the Word become flesh – that is Jesus – we

see the perfect image of the Father. Jesus said, “If you have seen me you have

seen the Father.” In other words, if you get to know me, you get to know God. But

also in the Word of God – what we know as the Bible – we have the character of

God revealed to us. We see clearly his heart toward us and have an outline of the

redemption, the salvation that he promises us in Jesus. We come to know God by

reflecting on how he has acted in history in tangible ways to bring about our

salvation.

So how is it that the seventh reality can be that we come to know God by the

way we experience his redemptive work in our lives as we obey and follow him?

That’s what we want to grapple with this morning and we begin by taking a look at

our text from Exodus 3:11-15.

But Moses said to God, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh

and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” And God said, “I will be
with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent
you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will
worship God on this mountain.” 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?” God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is
what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”

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 This is a text that is familiar to most of us. In fact, it was used as part of our

series on the Belgic Confession in the latter part of August. Many a Christian has

sat and scrutinized God’s oblique reply to Moses’ question, “Who am I going to say

sent me?” “I AM WHO I AM.”

The basic meaning of God’s answer to Moses, when boiled down to brass

tax, is that God is saying, “I am the only, true, self-existent, self-sufficient, eternal

God. Tell them that the real God – the One whom their forefathers served – is

going to deliver them.” In other words God is revealing himself and what he about

to do to Moses and, by extension, to his people Israel.

What we often find when we study this passage out of Exodus 3 is that most

people will spend the lion’s share of their time unraveling God’s “I AM Who I AM”

statement. And I also fell into that category. But in studying for this message, I

noticed something that I had missed before. God promises a reward to Moses – a

fruit of obedience.

“Why sure!” you say. “ Everyone knows that. The Promised Land, a land

flowing with milk and honey!” But I am not talking about the Promised Land. God

promises something – in my mind – a little more profound. What does he promise?

Look again at v.12. “And God said, ‘I will be with you. And this will be the sign

to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out

of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.’” God is offering himself.

This past summer, Rachel and I took the girls to the “Y” for “swimming

lessons. Really, it was a class to help the girls become familiar with the water so

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that they wouldn’t be afraid to learn to swim. One of the games we played to

familiarize them with getting in and out of the pool was called “alligator.” They

would stand up on the side of the pool with us beneath them in the water. Then we

would say, “Alligator, alligator stand so tall. Alligator, alligator jump off the wall!”

[explain what happens]

You can imagine how popular this game was. It was a blast for parent and

child alike. As the girls listened to us, and learned the rhythm of the game, they

learned that water can be fun. But the greatest reward was not the promise of fun.

That’s what made the game so exciting and therefore an excellent tool for teaching.

But something greater was gained. Abby and Joy learned something very

important about their mom and dad. They learned that their parents could be

trusted because things went just as we said they would. The relationship between

parent and child was strengthened because our hearts for the girls were revealed

as they obeyed our call to “jump off the wall.” We bonded. That was the real gain,

the fruit of their obedience.

God promises Moses that as the reward for his obedience in going to Egypt,

not only will he see the saving arm of God flexed in all its divine might to lead Israel

out of slavery, but God will meet with him and the Israelites, will commune with

them, right there on that same mountain. In essence God says, “Do this, Moses,

and you and the children of Israel will come to know me in ways you have yet to

imagine.”

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 What a promise! The fruit of obedience is a deeper love, a broader trust, and

a fuller knowledge of God. When we walk in his ways and obey his commands,

when we go where he tells us to go and do what he tells us to do, our relationship

with God is enriched. And not because he loves us more when we obey, but

because we can see him more clearly – see him at work around us. The more we

see, the more our hearts are smitten with love for him. As the old song goes, “To

know, know, know him is to love, love, love him, and I do, yes I do.”

Again, it comes back to the relationship we have with God. We see again

and again in the Scriptures how God reveals himself to his people by what he does

– how he rescues, how he preserves, how he redeems. It is no different today.

“But Chris” you say, “God doesn’t appear in a pillar of cloud by day and a

pillar of fire by night to lead us. He doesn’t invite us to the top of the mountain any

longer and let us see the backside of his glory. How can we know him if he doesn’t

speak?”

But he does speak. We have the great acts of God recorded for us in the

Scriptures. God speaks to us through his Word. If you want to know God, read his

Word. Let him speak to you.

He also speaks top us through the voice of the church. We hear testimony

after testimony of how God has changed lives. Changed the very nature of people.

Do realize how hard that is? We have an old saw, “A leopard never changes his

spots.” By natural means it is impossible to change a person’s nature. We can

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suppress through chemicals and therapy – even surgery for the most severe cases.

Only God can change the essential nature of person and we see it all the time in

the church. We see God doing what he promised to do.

And he speaks to us through the internal witness of the Holy Spirit. His Spirit

bears witness with ours that we are his children, giving us a confidence in the

redeeming love of Christ that to the outside world appears irrational. God still

speaks to us, the question is, “Are we willing to listen and obey?”

You see, the reality is this: as we see the God of the Scriptures acting in our

life, confirming what he says about himself in his Word, we learn to trust him. We

see him as reliable, as true. We dare to commit more to him, dare to step out in

faith, knowing that he will keep his promise. When we come to the point of crisis in

our faith – that task that is bigger than we are – we won’t hesitate to go forward

because we know that he has called us to the task. And if God says he is going to

do something, we know it will happen. We may not see how, in fact we may only be

able to see the obstacles, but we know that nothing can thwart his will. We will

recall the words of Isaiah 46:10, “I make known the end from the beginning,

from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: My purpose will stand, and I

will do all that I please.”

Here is the beauty of joining God in his work – the end is sure! When God

calls us to a task, the end is not in question. In reality, what God is doing is

revealing to us what he is about to and inviting us to join in. Why? Because he

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loves us and wants to reveal himself to us. And what is our reward for joining him,

for obeying the call? It is the Lord himself. He reveals himself, he gives himself

away so that we may know him more fully, trust him more completely, love him

more deeply.

Let me ask an uncomfortable question. Are you experiencing God in your

life? Maybe you’re saying, “I really want to, but I just don’t seem to be able to get

beyond a certain point. I’ve tried devotions, prayer, even fasting – but I can’t seem

to get beyond this plateau.”

Your problem may not be devotion. Your problem may be that you’re trying to

love God and stay where you are. Maybe you’re unwilling to make major

adjustments in life. Or maybe you don’t really believe that God is at work around

you and as a mark of his love, wants you to join him. How much are you willing to

sacrifice at the feet of Jesus?

People of God, the Sovereign God of all creation is deeply in love with you.

He wants to be known by you, even as you are known. He longs for you to know

and trust his heart, to experience for yourself how great his passion is for you. But

that experience only comes by stepping forward and joining him in bringing the love

of Christ to others. Let us seek his face, earnestly in prayer – let us unite in prayer,

unceasingly – until he points us toward that crisis of belief, the task bigger than us.

Then lets follow him knowing that the fruit of our obedience will be a greater love

and increased faith.