Exodus 3:1-15 Matthew 16:21-28 Romans 12:9-21
I’m almost certain that you are familiar with the phrase, “I’m not worthy.” It’s been used in the Marvel superhero movies, Raiders of the Lost Ark movies, cartoons like The Simpsons, quite famously in the Wayne’s World sketches on Saturday Night Live, and in the movie of the same name. But of course, though re-popularized in our culture in movies and television, this phrase, or words like it, is hardly new. It appears in ancient literature from a host of time periods. Medieval monks were known to say that they weren’t worthy, and we even hear words a lot like it in scripture.
“I’m not worthy” is a phrase that could easily come with a warning label because while it can be used as an honest expression of humility, it can also be used, and frequently is used, as an excuse to avoid doing work that we don’t want to do. And so, as we read today’s scriptures, I want you to listen for the phrases that sound as if someone is saying “I’m not worthy,” though not in exactly those words, and then we will consider whether they are genuinely not worthy of the thing that has been asked of them, if they’re just trying to get out of doing something they don’t want to do, or if the answer is somewhere in between. We begin by returning to the story of Exodus, this time skipping from the infant Moses that we saw last week, all the way to the story of Moses and the burning bush eighty years later in Exodus 3:1-15.
3:1 Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. 3 So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.”
4 When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!”
And Moses said, “Here I am.”
5 “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” 6 Then he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.
7 The Lord said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. 8 So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. 9 And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. 10 So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”
11 But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”
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, youwill worship God on this mountain.”
13 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?”
14 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.’”
15 God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’
“This is my name forever,
the name you shall call me
from generation to generation.
When God calls Moses to return to Egypt after forty years in Midian, Moses’ answer is, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh?” Who am I, that I should go, which, in other words, means I’m not worthy to go, I’m not important enough to go, nobody knows me there any longer, I’m wanted there for killing a man, or just more plainly, I don’t want to go or, I’m afraid to go.
Whether Moses’ actual words were, I don’t want to go, I’m afraid to go, who am I that I should go, or I’m not worthy… what Moses is doing is just making excuses to avoid doing what God was calling him to do. But God knew that. And so, God calms Moses’ fears and sets aside his excuses, and simply says “I will be with you.” Of course, Moses isn’t done making excuses, but God patiently responds, teaches Moses what he must do, and what he must say, so that he is prepared and equipped to do God’s work.
And when we read the story about Peter’s rebuke of Jesus in Matthew 16:21-28, and put it in context, instead of just reading a few verses at a time as we often do on Sunday morning, we discover that the motivation of Peter’s famous rebuke of Jesus could easily have had roots in his feelings of unworthiness. We remember that this story immediately follows the passage we read last week when Jesus changed Simon’s name to Peter and declared that “on this rock I will build my church.” And with that in mind, let us continue reading with where it says…
21 From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests, and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.
22 Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!”
23 Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”
24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 25 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. 26 What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? 27 For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done.
28 “Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”
Knowing that Peter’s actions immediately follow the events we discussed last week in which Jesus told Peter that “on this rock I will build my church,” it isn’t hard to imagine that at least a part of his knee-jerk response to Jesus teaching that he must die, is a reaction to his understanding that without Jesus, Peter would be the one responsible to take charge of the other disciples and of Jesus’ ministry in general. It’s one thing to consider what might happen in the future, but our reaction, even to those events for which we planned, can be quite different when faced with the reality of them happening. It was one thing for Jesus to tell Peter that one day he would be in charge, and quite another to announce that he was on his way to Jerusalem to make that happen. In the latter case, Peter reacts by saying, “This shall never happen!” Peter says, ‘No way Jesus! I want you to always be in charge.’
Peter, like Moses, despite planning for the day when Jesus would no longer be with them, doesn’t want the responsibility of carrying out those plans and rebukes Jesus for saying that it was about to happen. No way Jesus, I don’t want to be in charge yet. But Jesus’ reaction to Peter is much sterner than God’s was to Moses. While God patiently told Moses that he would be with him, and answered many of his questions, Jesus calls Peter’s resistance an attack of Satan and calls Peter himself a stumbling block to Jesus and his ministry. Whether we say that Peter’s resistance was hesitancy, or reluctance, or making excuses, Jesus condemns his actions as being focused only on human concerns and not being sufficiently mindful of the concerns of God.
But once again, we ask ourselves, why does this matter? What do Moses’ excuses, or Peter’s reluctance, or any of this have to do with us? And that is what Paul is getting at in his letter to the church in Rome as we hear these words in Romans 12:9-21:
9 Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10 Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. 11 Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. 12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. 13 Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.
14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. 16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.
17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. 18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19 Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. 20 On the contrary:
“If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”
21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
Paul emphasizes that love simply isn’t love unless it is sincere. Love that is faked might be beneficial, but it isn’t love and the recipients of that fake love will know the difference. Real love, honors others above ourselves. We cannot just be motivated; we must be zealous for our cause so that we can maintain our spiritual fervor.
Do you hear the words that Paul is using here? They aren’t average, common, boring, monotonous, or plain vanilla. Paul uses words like love, sincerity, hate, cling, devotion, zeal, and fervor. These are words that express strength, power, energy, and excitement. Our faith was never meant to be boring, and it shouldn’t be, if we’re doing it right. Paul encourages us to bless the people around us, even if they aren’t nice to us in return, to share life with others, to live in harmony and not to be proud or conceited, but to be willing to associate with “people of low position” who are often looked down upon by our culture.
But don’t be misled by Paul’s encouragement to honor others above ourselves, to not be proud, and to associate with people of low position. We should not misunderstand these instructions to mean that we are not worthy. Jesus often set aside his own needs so that he could care for the needs of others. He wasn’t proud, and he wasn’t afraid to associate with all sorts of outcasts.
Rather, it is because we are worthy, because God has chosen us, because we have been adopted into God’s family, that we should engage the people around us regardless of their social class. Like Moses and Peter, God will not allow us to use “worthiness” as an excuse to get out of the work he as placed in front of us.
It is because we are worthy that we must never be lacking in zeal and be continually motivated to serve others so that we can overcome evil with good and call all the worlds’ people to repentance.
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*You have been reading a message presented at Christ United Methodist Church on the date noted at the top of the first page. Rev. John Partridge is the pastor at Christ UMC in Alliance, Ohio. Duplication of this message is a part of our Media ministry, if you have received a blessing in this way, we would love to hear from you. Letters and donations in support of the Media ministry or any of our other projects may be sent to Christ United Methodist Church, 470 East Broadway Street, Alliance, Ohio 44601. These messages are available to any interested persons regardless of membership. You may subscribe to these messages, in print or electronic formats, by writing to the address noted, or by contacting us at secretary@CUMCAlliance.org. These messages can also be found online at https://pastorpartridge.com . All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.comThe “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™
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