Dear friends,

The notice sheet is here: https://stgeorgechorley.co.uk/brochure/theway.pdf

Some from our parish have been on pilgrimage. What sort of things have they been up to?: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUVgHcHL5q4

God bless,

Fr Mike

Dear All,

Please find this week's sermon attached and don't forget to join us for our 4pm 'Closer' service this afternoon!

Next Saturday we're launching our men's ministry off with a bang at our men's breakfast at the Henry Tate at 10am! You're welcome to come and join us

This week's sermon:

Exodus 19: 3-6

3 Then Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain and said, “This is what you are to say to the descendants of Jacob and what you are to tell the people of Israel: 4 ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. 5 Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, 6 you[a] will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.”

I’m about to ask perhaps the most controversial question I’ve ever asked in a sermon. Honestly, I’m a little worried that by asking this question to you people that I’m going to incite a riot of some sort. Forget Brexit, forget culture wars, this question in the north of England could end in a blood bath. “How do you make the perfect cup of tea?”

As far as I’m concerned you put the tea bag in first and let it brew, then a splash of milk, before taking the teabag out. I once worked with a clear social deviant who, for some reason, insisted that you should put the milk in first to stop the tea from being burnt? Heresy. Regardless, we all know that when it comes to a good cup of tea, the order in which you put it together actually matters, right?

Well, as we continue to look through the book of Exodus, we come to one of the most important moments, this is the place where the people of Israel have come to receive the ten commandments, they don’t get the ten commandments in this section, but they arrive to meet with God to get the commandments. This is so important that it keeps being references all the way through the bible afterwards.

But today I want to talk to you about the order of the gospel in Exodus, which won’t make sense yet but I want you to hold on with that idea. The order in which things happen in this book matters.

So the first few verses of this reading you need to understand the situation the Israelites are in. They were led out of slavery in Egypt on the promise that the God of Moses would take them out of slavery and lead them to the promised land. When you think about all the manifestos being unveiled in the UK today, all of the promises that politicians are making, and remember the old promises that were made and broken in years gone by, you can be a bit sceptical, but if you’d followed Moses out of Egypt, what you’d have found was that – at this stage in Exodus – you would be further away from the promised land than you were in Egypt. If you look at a map, Mount Sinai is south and further to the East than Egypt was to the east. They’ve ended up further away from the promised land and in a desert. This is pretty rough.

When they get to Sinai, they’ve been on a long journey and found things are not there yet. There’s still a long way to go. They’ve put their trust in Moses and so far it’s not looking great.

Maybe that’s how you feel by the way. Maybe you’re a bit fed up because you feel like you’ve become interested in faith, you’ve followed God and now what? You’re further away from where you’d hoped to be than when you started. Well hold on and keep listening because I’ve got a message for you today.

Because at that point, God invited Moses up the mountain and he says this, “You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” So God, in the middle of this sort of anxious moment reminds the people of the order with which he is acting by first of all saying that he rescued them from Egypt. Then he is asking for obedience – which is a reference to the law he is about to give them – and then he reminds them that he will bless them by making them Holy.

So God points out a pattern. He says that he had saved them first, then he will give them a way to live, then he will give them a blessing. Grace, obedience and blessing.

I mean when it comes to grace, let’s be clear. I mentioned earlier the Gospel in Exodus, well think about it, an Israelite at this point in Exodus could say “I was in chains, I got out by the blood of the lamb of God, God rescued me, gave me a way to live and although I’m not in the promised land yet, I will follow him.”

So the grace came first. It was totally free. God saved his people and brought them out of slavery on eagles’ wings. Next he’s going to show them how to live in the ten commandments and they are told that if they stick to that, if they are obedient to God’s law, he will make them a holy people. That is his promise to the people as he meets with them at Sinai, in that order. It is grace, obedience and then closeness to God.

A big part of being able to understand the bible actually hinges on this order of things. Not law, then grace then closeness to God, not another way around, but grace, obedience and closeness to God.

God saves first, he offers forgiveness and a way out of our chains, not a perfect life, you still have to spend some time in the desert before you get to the promised land, but you get given grace as a gift for free; just as you’ve got to live through the crucifixion to get to the resurrection. Next, you are shown a way to live, look at Jesus’ disciples, look at what they received. They were chosen and shown grace, they were shown the way to live, they were shown in the life and teachings of Jesus, and then when they were obedient they were brought closer to God.

So that pattern is important to remember as the order of things. Partly because I think in the church we sometimes expect people to obey God’s laws and live a Christian life before they’ve understood the amazing nature of God’s grace. But also it’s important because it helps us to understand the place that God starts from. The salvation that we all experience, the total freedom and removal of chains that me and you and every human being the world over can have, no matter what you’ve done or who you are – no matter what social background, no matter whether you’ve never thought about it, whether you have always been a sceptic, or whether you’ve come to church every day of your life and maybe not quite understood until now. All of us can receive that free gift of grace first. All of us can know with certainty that we can be saved. It’s totally free for us to accept it. It’s beautiful and an amazing gift that sets us free, by eagles’ wings. I.E. God has done that bit and carried us through.

So brothers and sisters, maybe you are going through a desert right now? Well remember that the promised land is there, the desert is the path you are on to get there. Or maybe you know someone who needs God’s grace, maybe that someone is you? Receive that free gift today, and because of that gift, may you move forward in your obedience of him and come closer to your God, who loves you and has set you apart. Amen.