July 11 Sermon Discussion Guide
Matt shared a message from Exodus 3 about God's enigmatic response to Moses when he asks what he should tell the people when they ask, “What is the name of the God who has sent you to deliver us?” It’s a multifaceted response that begins in verse 13:
13 Then Moses said to God, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” 14 God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I am has sent me to you.’”
God first provides a name that doesn’t seem like a proper name. “I am who I am,” or, “I will be who I will be.” Might God be highlighting that he is being itself? He has no limitations, no needs, no beginning, no end. And as such, when it seemed like Pharaoh’s power was absolute, God reassures Moses, I am not afraid. Pharaoh’s apparent limitless power, the perceived permanence of the Hebrews’ situation, and the personal limitations of Moses would not prevent God from bringing freedom to his people.
Here are some additional significant lessons we might learn about God as he shares his name:
1. It speaks to God’s freedom. We cannot control, domesticate or box God in:
Even when we find the personal name of God (Yahweh) in verse 15, it is still shrouded in some mystery, as we don’t even know exactly how this 4 consonant Hebrew word should be pronounced. Acquiring the precise name for God didn’t give his people control of him.
2. We learn who our God is and what our God’s name is as he acts in human history. Thomas Aquinas said, “God is not known to us in His nature, but is made known to us from His operations.”
“He is the God who brought us out of Egypt”
He is the “God who raised Jesus from the dead having before raised Israel from Egypt.”
(Robert Jenson)
3. He is a personal God who calls, delivers and journeys with his people.
The God of their fathers: the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Here are some questions to think about:
How is this mysterious/opaque answer confusing or frustrating?
How is this mysterious/opaque answer comforting or encouraging?
In our culture, naming God rightly might not be seen as a means of controlling God like it was in the ancient world. But are there other ways we might be tempted to manipulate or control God for our own purposes?