Recognizing God’s Leadership and Presence Among Us

Sermon delivered Sunday, October 30, 2011 at St. Augustine’s Anglican Church.

Lectionary texts: Joshua 3.7-17; Psalm 107.1-7, 33-37; 1 Thessalonians 2.9-13; Matthew 23.1-12.

In the name of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

In today’s OT lesson, the writer makes it clear how important it was for God’s people Israel to recognize God’s Presence in and through them. That is why God took special care to bring his people out of Egypt to the promised land in this spectacular and unforgettable way. They would face great opposition in the coming days and years and apparently God wanted to reassure them that he had both appointed a new leader for them and that he was indeed leading them throughout it all.

And we can relate to the need to know that God is with us and leads us because our world is every bit as scary and uncertain as was the ancient Israelites’ world. Like them, we still have to deal with sickness, setbacks, heartaches, failure, aging, death, and a host of other stuff we would rather not deal with. Like the Israelites entering the promised land, we wonder about, and sometimes fear for, our future. And like the ancient Israelites did, we too desperately look for God in our midst to guide, protect, and lead us.

But it is precisely at this point that I am convinced many of us miss the mark and lose hope in God because we are busy looking for God in all the wrong places. We are looking for God to show himself to us in ways similar to when he brought his people out of their slavery from Egypt with great power and glory. We want a God who will part the Red Sea of our lives, so to speak, who will zap all evil and fix all our problems with the wave of his hand because we believe (and rightly so) that God has the power to do just that. But when that typically does not happen (although sometimes it does), we can lose heart and hope (and sometimes even our faith), and dismiss God as being a fraud or unreal or irrelevant to our lives.

The problem with this thinking, however, is that this is not the how the God of the Bible typically chooses to reveal himself to his people. Yes, there are stories of God revealing himself in great power and glory, today’s OT lesson being among them. Certainly Scripture makes clear that God is all-powerful, all-knowing, and ever present. There is nothing too great or too hard for God. But typically God has not chosen to reveal himself to his people in spectacular displays of power and might, at least not as the world defines power and might, or as God did when he delivered his people out of Egypt (or even in today’s OT lesson). This is especially true in the NT, with the exception of Jesus’ resurrection and some of his other works. But even with something as breathtaking as the Resurrection, there are many who do not see it as God’s mighty act of power. Jesus himself even predicted this would be true (cf. Luke 16.31; Matthew 12.38-39).

Consequently, this morning I want us to look briefly at some biblical criteria for recognizing God’s leadership and presence in our midst so that we do not miss God’s presence among us. When that happens, I am equally convinced that it will be a game-changer for us, if it is not already, because we can face the trials of our life with more courage and hope when we know God is with us and guiding us.

So how does God typically show himself to his people? More often than not God shows himself through the lives of faithful people whom he calls and we need to get our minds firmly around this fact. In the OT, for example, God used his prophets to show himself to his people and guide them. Prophets served as God’s mouthpiece and called God’s people to repentance so that they could be the people God called them to be, his agents of healing and redemption for a sin-sick world. You don’t have to read very much of the OT to see that God frequently used human agency to communicate with his people and often what God’s prophets had to say was not well received. Just ask the prophet Jeremiah, for example. Tradition has it that he was sawed in two by the disgruntled recipients of his message as they were living in exile in Egypt, an exile caused by their bad behavior in the first place! It seems that God’s people regularly forgot why God called them to be his people and expected God to be at their beck and call, not vice versa.

Then of course in the NT we learn that God became human and died on a cross to deal with the intractable problem of sin and the alienation it causes between God and humans. So if we want to see what it looks like when God shows himself to his people to lead and guide us, we look to Jesus. And what do we see? Paul tells us in several of his epistles that God condescended to our level and became human. He gave up the trappings of power, prestige, honor and glory, and humbled himself, even to death on a cross, so that we would have a real hope and chance to live with God now and forever.

Jesus tells us essentially the same thing about humility in today’s Gospel lesson when he contrasts behaviors that reflect God’s image in his world to selfish and proud human behavior. Jesus seems to be telling us, “Do you want to see God at work in your life? Do as I do, not as these Pharisees do. Be humble, not proud. Be content to use your gifts in God’s service and you will find God’s presence among you.”

All this reminds us that if we want to learn to recognize God’s leadership and presence among us, we had better start looking at behavior offered in Jesus’ name that is selfless, humble, and service-oriented because as we have just seen, in God’s kingdom up is down and down is up. The folks whom the world considers the weakest—that is, those who are humble and loving and willing to serve God and others tirelessly—are those who will be the leaders in God’s kingdom. And in their humble and loving service to others, we see God’s presence and leadership among us.

We see this same principle illustrated in today’s epistle lesson. Paul has been reminding the Thessalonians about his ministry. In both last week’s and today’s lessons he reminds the Thessalonians that he has worked hard and selflessly for them. He has tried to be a father to them by encouraging them to adopt humble lifestyles that will allow God to work in and through them to be the people God called them to be. None of this is sexy or glamorous and it will surely disappoint many because they would rather see God as a mighty ruler who beats the snot out of his enemies when they cross him. They are more interested in following a strong leader because we all can respect displays of power. But a crucified Messiah? Not so much.

But overt displays of raw power is typically not the way of the God of the Bible and it is certainly not the way of Jesus, God become human. No, we find God present in us and leading us when we observe his people denying their urges to be self-centered and make life all about themselves. Instead they look to the needs of others as much, if not more so, than their own needs and then they do something about it. Let me repeat that. They don’t just talk, they act.

We also see God’s presence and leadership among us when we see forgiveness being offered instead of revenge being exacted. We see God’s presence and leadership at work in the voices and work of all who strive for peace and justice and healing of all kinds. Again, most of the time, we will not observe anything particularly sexy or spectacular, at least by the world’s standards. Instead, we just see God working in and through his people to bring his healing and transforming love to bear on his world, just the way our Lord did in his life and through his death.

Why God has chosen to show us himself in this way I cannot say because Scripture does not say. What I can tell you is this. When we see God’s people faithfully following Jesus and using our respective gifts to bring his healing love to the world through selfless love and humble service, we know that God is here among us and that gives us heart and hope because our faith is bolstered by what we see and hear.

So what do we do with all this? First and foremost, if we want to recognize God’s presence and leadership in and among us, we had better get intimately familiar with Scripture so that we can sharpen our ability to recognize examples of when God is present among us and when he is not, just the way Jesus told his followers to do in today’s Gospel lesson. The old adage is true. The more you practice something, the more proficient you become at it, and that is also true when it comes to reading God’s word in Scripture. The more we read, the better we become at recognizing God’s presence and leadership of our life.

As we delve into the word, both individually and together as God’s people, we will want to roll up our sleeves and get to work so that God can use us and the gifts with which he has blessed us to be present to those who need it. This means we have to open our eyes and look around us to see what needs we can reasonably address and then act on those needs in some way, shape, or form. This is never easy and that is why we must come together regularly, both in small groups and on Sundays, so that God can use the reading and exposition of his word, our fellowship, and the sacrament of holy communion to sustain and encourage us in the work he calls us to do. We will then be able to remind each other that God’s work is all about humble and loving service to others. When we serve others, we not only show God in a powerful way that we love him, we also demonstrate to all who have eyes to see God’s presence and leadership among us.

God has chosen to reveal himself and lead us primarily through the selfless and humble love and service of those whom he calls. When we think about it, this really is a good thing, even though it is often hard work, because it gives life meaning and purpose. What an awesome privilege it is to open ourselves up to God so that he can use us to bring his love to bear on his world! We simply have to train ourselves to recognize God’s presence and leadership in this way so that we do not miss it and become discouraged. And when, by God’s grace, we learn to recognize God’s presence and leadership in our lives in the humble and selfless service and love of his people, we know that we really do have Good News, now and for all eternity.

In the name of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.