What, Or Who, Will We Gather ‘Round When Things Get Dire?
And Moses built an altar and named it, “Yahweh Is My Standard.” Exodus 17:15
In keeping with my new, weekly practice, I’m posting here a portion of this past Sunday’s sermon. The text for the morning was Exodus 17:8-16, and the sermon focused on the massive statement there at the end of the passage, “Yahweh is my standard.”
It’s such a remarkable shift in what is happening in the hearts and minds of God’s people. Just a few verses up, we heard them asking one of humanity’s most important questions: “Is Yahweh among us, or not?” And now this, “Yahweh himself is my standard!”
If you’d like to check out the whole sermon, just click here.
Again, below you’ll find the sermon excerpt.
Grace to you!
Pastor Matthew
…that’s what the story is about, isn't it?
Amalek is the first enemy and first attack, but it won’t be the last. God’s people will face many enemies and attacks along the way, and they’ll need his power, they’ll need to express trust and faith in him, they’ll need to place themselves in his hands, they’ll need to rely on someone on overwatch, on the hill, as a mediator of God’s power on their behalf.
And for those on the field of battle, what they’ll need is a battle cry.
You know, it is no accident that last week the story ended with a question: “Is Yahweh among us, or not?”, and that this week the story ends with a rousing statement of war: “Yahweh, my standard!”
You see, brothers and sisters, Yahweh himself is the standard — you know, like those standards that you see in the movies when the Romans are marching to war, carrying battle standards? or those soldiers on Iwo Jima planting the flag in the mountain? rallying points, yes? around which people gather to feel inspired, motivated, geared up for war — well, Yahweh himself is the standard around which Israel — and all God’s people forever-after — will assemble in order to defeat all of the enemies that are too strong for us to defeat on our own.
And do you know what’s so encouraging and amazing about this? That Yahweh himself is our standard, around whom we gather?
It means that God is not outside the fray. It means that he’s with us in the battle, in the mess, in the muck and the mire of it all. And it means that when enemies too strong for us mess with us, well, it means that they are setting themselves up against God himself. It means God wars with them.
Oh, do you see now how absolutely relevant this story is to our stories, to our lives!?
I mean, think about this, ponder this, consider…
Consider your need for God’s power.
Consider how every day you face an enemy — enemies, actually, the world, the flesh, and the devil — who are too strong for you, who you cannot face or defeat on your own.
Consider how much you need God in the fray with you.
Consider how much you need a mediator on the proverbial hill, as a channel through which God’s power flows to you.
Friends, you are in a war every day as children of light with the powers of darkness. And even though Jesus conquered our greatest enemies through his cross and resurrection, a “mop up operation” still exists. Shoot, I don’t have to tell you this, you know this, because you’re up against it every day. I don’t care if it’s cancer in your body or conflict with a friend, if it’s slander from a co-worker or sin from within, if it’s the emotional upheaval of a child or the economic upheaval of unemployment — you face enemies in all shapes and sizes and forms.
And later in the story of our redemption and rescue, writing to a church family he dearly loved, the apostle Paul was clear about this ongoing war from Amalek to today, and he pulled back the veil of the seen world to show us how fierce the enemy actually is. He said, dear friends, that “our [battle] is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this darkness, against evil, spiritual forces in the heavens.” We have to fight against “the schemes of the devil” himself. We will face “the flaming arrows of the evil one.”
So do not be naive. Do not face the day in denial. You are in a war against a foe that is too much for you. You are redeemed, and on your way to a land of restoration. But you will face enemies along the way. So, to war! And take up the full armor of God, and take your stand, declaring, “Yahweh, my standard!” Stand! with truth like a belt around your waist and his righteousness like armor on your chest and your feet sandaled with readiness for the good news of peace and shield of faith and helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit — which is the Word of God, with which you will poke and slash the evil one, for one little word — Jesus! — shall fell him! And speaking of Jesus, pray in his name at all times in the Holy Spirit.
