“IS THE LORD AMONG US OR NOT?”

            Exodus 17:1–7 ⁷And he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the quarreling of the people of Israel, and because they tested the Lord by saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”

            Last week we talked about God calling us to leave our comfort place to be brought into a better place.  In truth in the last 50 plus years we left one comfort place after another and entered into other comfort places.  I left family and friends to study at the seminary, I left the single life of 8 years and got married, graduated from seminary and moved to the Snow Belt of Ohio, and from engineering moved to ministering.  I left all that I loved before God called me to love anew through faith in the call of God and you.

            You have all come here to Peace Lutheran Church with a story to share as well.  And, Peace Lutheran Church has a story to tell also.  From the time that a group of people were called to step out and be the founders of Peace Lutheran Church, to those who put their faith in God and built the building that we worship God in.  The congregation of PLC has stepped out of one comfort place into another many times.  Peace Lutheran Church called 5 pastors and each time you called a pastor you stepped out of one comfort place into another.  And me being the latest pastor to be called and prayerfully not the last you most certainly have been lead out of a comfort place and prayerfully into a comfort place that will enrich us through growth in God’s word and in growth of God’s kingdoms.

            Once we get used to the new surroundings we start to get comfortable, settled, and complacent.  In your secular life that might be the way to go, but in the kingdom of God, the body of Christ, we need to stay alert and continuously exercise the gifts God has so graciously given us.  Here is the good news God has shown us in the last 50 years that you have stepped out of your comfort place and you have shown yourselves that with God you are capable of doing much and what you have done you have made a difference in the lives of the community around you.  Yet we have seen turmoil, and a lack of great growth, and we might even be asking right now as the Hebrews did, “Is the Lord among us or not!”

           

Maybe we have more comfort places to step out of and other comfort places to step into.

            Romans 5:1–8 ¹Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. ²Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. ³More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, ⁴and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, ⁵and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

            The Hebrews out in the wilderness roaming around in a desert certainly had left the comfort of having a home with shelter, food, and even a means of making a living.  Their means of making a living was painful at times and even dangerous, but it was still a living and they knew what each day had to give.  However, Moses had to come and ruin it all.  Who did he think he was?  Someone called by God?  What right did he have to tell us we had to leave all the comforts of slavery and tyranny of the Egyptians?  What will we do out there in the desert besides dying younger than we should?

            We ask the same things, why should we give up our precious time in our lives and spend more time with God?  When we look at the Hebrew people we have to be seeing ourselves.  To the Hebrews it was more important to whine to Moses about their situation then it was to go to God and pray together for His intervention.  Instead of being in the word of God and seeing how God’s intervention works, it is easier to ask, “Is the Lord among us or not!”  God is with us still and the Comfort Place He wants to share with you is His Word.  I can tell you how much His Word has made a difference in my life.  What I can’t tell you is why you don’t want to take that step to find out what joys and comfort await you by getting together with others to share in that Comfort Place God calls you to enter into.

            John 6:45 ⁴⁵ It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me—

            Philippians 1:3-6 ³ I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, ⁴ always in every prayer of mine for you all making my

 

prayer with joy, ⁵ because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. ⁶ And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

            God calls us to fellowship in learning from Him, which is learning the joys he has bestowed upon us through His word by being in His word through fellowship.  Those who are already in the fellowship of God’s word can witness to the joys they receive.  I tell you the truth I experience joy every time I study God’s word, and that joy is multiplied every time I study God’s word with others.  And here is just part of that joy.

            Romans 5:1–8 ⁶For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— ⁸but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

            You can’t imagine the joy you witness through God’s word unless you experience it firsthand.  Christ even in our worst times of sin died with those sins on His shoulders. Christ taking the full weight of all “my” sin, and all of “your” sin went to the cross being obedient to the Father and suffered and died not for the pain but for the love to be poured out on all of us.  This is awesome, this is the greatest love. This is the very word of God to be experienced in great joy.  Our God, Lord Jesus died so that we may all live in the eternity of God’s joy in having an eternal relationship with each and every one of us.  What Awesome Joy is this!?