Gracepointe Church (Dover, OH)
Gracepointe Church (Dover, OH)
Exodus Series, Part 9 | Embracing Our Purpose | Randy Garcete
What happens when two brothers share a profound love for South African choral music? Join us as we begin with the heartfelt story of Brother Ruben and Elmer, whose shared passion sets the tone for our exploration of identity and purpose. Especially during Pride Month, the universal human desire for belonging and meaning becomes even more pertinent. Drawing from a Harvard study, we discuss the struggles young adults face in finding their purpose, and how this search resonates with everyone.
We then turn to the transformative narrative in Exodus, where the Israelites experienced a dramatic shift from slavery to becoming God's chosen people. Envision the thunder, lightning, and divine presence at Mount Sinai as God established a new identity for His people. This powerful moment of consecration and covenant provided the Israelites with a renewed sense of self and purpose, preparing them to receive the Ten Commandments and embrace their divine calling.
Lastly, we reflect on the enduring role of the Israelites as God’s representatives and how this calling extends to us today. 1 Peter 2:9-10 serves as a reminder of our identity as a chosen race and royal priesthood, urging us to live out godly principles in our daily lives. Through practical examples from the community in Holmes County, Ohio, we illustrate how mercy, kindness, and honesty can transform us from slaves to sin into God’s treasured people. Join us for an enriching conversation that bridges ancient teachings with modern-day issues of identity and purpose.
Thank you. Well, I've never met Brother Ruben before, but I do know his brother, elmer, very well. Elmer and his wife are neighbors with my parents in Sugar Creek where I grew up, and I got to know Elmer very well back at Crosspoint, especially when we had our chorus, and Elmer and I spent a lot of time bonding over South African choral music. So maybe after church I'm going to ask you if you enjoy that type of thing as much as your brother, but it's good to have you here. I want to say welcome to all the visitors. It's good to have you all here with us this morning. I hope you can just make yourselves at home with us this morning. I really enjoyed our time of worship together this morning. Thank you, kim, for leading out with that. It was a very, very enjoyable time. So we are in the month of June right now, and one of the significant aspects of the month of June, at least right now, is that it's Pride Month. How many of you know what Pride Month is or stands for? Okay, I am not going to talk about that necessarily this morning, but Pride Month is a month where the LGBTQ plus community celebrates the, celebrates the, the lifestyle of alternative sexual identities. It's a whole month that's dedicated to the celebration of an embrace of things like transgenderism, homosexuality, basically everything that's not traditional marriage. We live in a time, in a culture with a constant message that we're hearing to follow your heart, to do what feels good, to do what you want, to chase after your own identity, to seek your own identity, to find your identity, and the LGBTQ plus community is just one of those ways that people today are trying to find a sense of belonging and a sense of identity. But with all of this searching and the seeking for a sense of purpose and a sense of belonging, we're still one of the most unhappy and unfulfilled societies in the world. There's a study done by Harvard just I think it was 2023, that found that more than a half of young adults aged 18 to 25 reported that they quote lacked meaning or purpose in their lives, and half of adults reported that their mental health was negatively influenced by quote not knowing what to do with my life. So we live in a time when we have more options available to us than any other time in history. We have more information, we have access to more information, we have more options on the table than any time before. But we're more unfulfilled and have less of a sense of purpose and belonging and identity than we've ever had before.
Speaker 1:And I think at the heart of every person is this desire to know a sense of identity and a sense of purpose. A sense of identity and a sense of purpose. Every person is seeking the answer to the questions of who am I? Who am I at the root of who I am as a person? Who am I? Who is Randy Garcetti and what is my purpose in life? Who am I and what is my purpose in life? Who am I and what is my purpose in life?
Speaker 1:Now, some of you here might have a very clear picture of what that looks like. You might have a very concrete sense of your identity and your purpose in life. You might be somebody like Myron I'm just going to pick on. You Might be somebody like Myron who's like I am a man of the land, I was born a farmer and I'm going to die a farmer, and it's what I find fulfillment and purpose in and it's the way that I can most glorify God in my vocation.
Speaker 1:For others of us, you might have a really hazy idea of what your purpose in life is and what your identity is and what your purpose is. You might not necessarily know what you're called to do in this life. Maybe you've just graduated from high school or from college and you're not sure what the next step is. You don't know what am I going to do for the rest of my life. Or if you, maybe you're stuck at a new job where you like it pays the bills, but you're like this is I'm not doing what I've always dreamed of doing. Somehow life looks way different than what I always dreamed of it looking like and there's this loss of identity. Who am I in this? Or if you're maybe a mom, with your kids all grown up, moved out of the house, you're not quite sure what it means to be a mom anymore. It's like who am I? What's my purpose? Now I know there's some of you here who've just moved into the area and I think this question really comes up for you. It's like, okay, who am I here? Who do I belong to? Where do I fit in and what's my purpose here? Like, why did God bring me to Holmes County? Of all places? We all, at the core of what it means to be human, is to have a desire to know who I am and what I've been called to do, what my purpose is. And today we're going to look at and see what God says about our identity and our purpose as followers of Christ, as followers of Jesus. And I'm going to do that by we're going to look back in Exodus, exodus, chapter 19. We're going to see what God says about the Israelites' new identity and purpose when he meets them at Mount Sinai.
Speaker 1:Turn your Bibles to Exodus, chapter 19. So over the past several months I've been preaching through the book of Exodus. We've been following the story of the Israelites in Egypt. We saw them. We saw how they suffered under Pharaoh as his slaves in Egypt. We watched as God delivered them up out of Egypt through Moses. And then, more recently, we saw them enter into the wilderness, into a time of as they made their way to the promised land. And today we're going to catch up with the Israelites as they finally arrive at Mount Sinai. And for the next year not here but back then they will spend a year at Mount Sinai, where God will reveal himself to the Israelites. He will give them the law, he'll give them instructions on the tabernacle. And this next year, the rest of Exodus is a time when Israel receives its new identity as a people of God. So we're going to start reading in verse 1 of chapter 19. I'm going to read the whole chapter and then we will. Primarily, I'm going to focus on verse 4 through 6 for the sermon this morning. Let's read On the third new moon.
Speaker 1:After the people of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt on that day, they came into the wilderness of Sinai. They set out from Rephidim and came into the wilderness of Sinai and they encamped in the wilderness there, israel encamped before the mountain. While Moses went up to God, the Lord called to him out of the mountain, saying Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob and tell the people of Israel you yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself. Now, therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel. So Moses came and called the elders of the people and set before them all these words that the Lord had commanded him. All the people answered together and said All that the Lord has spoken we will do. And Moses reported the words of the people to the Lord. And the Lord said to Moses Behold, I am coming to you in a thick cloud that the people may hear when I speak with you and may also believe you forever.
Speaker 1:When Moses told the words of the people to the Lord, the Lord said to Moses Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow and let them wash their garments and be ready for the third day. For on the third day the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people and he shall set limits for the people all around, saying Take care not to go up into the mountain or touch the edge of it. Whoever touches the mountain shall be put to death. No hand shall touch him, but he shall be stoned or shot. Whether beast or man, he shall not live. When the trumpet sounds a long blast, they shall come up to the mountain. So Moses went down from the mountain to the people and consecrated the people and they washed their garments. And he said to the people be ready for the third day. Do not go near a woman.
Speaker 1:On the morning of the third day there were thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud on the mountain and a very loud trumpet blast so that all the people in the camp trembled. Then Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God and they took their stand at the foot of the mountain. Now Mount Sinai was wrapped in a smoke because the Lord had descended on it in fire. The smoke of it went up like the smoke of a kiln and the whole mountain trembled greatly. And as the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, moses spoke and God answered him in thunder. The Lord came down on Mount Sinai to the top of the mountain. And the Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain. And Moses went up. And the Lord said to Moses go down and warn the people lest they break through to the Lord to look and many of them perish. Also, let the priests who come near to the Lord consecrate themselves lest the Lord break out against them. And Moses said to the Lord the people cannot come up to Mount Sinai, for you yourself warned us, saying set limits around the mountain and consecrate it. And the Lord said to him go down and come up, bringing Aaron with you, but do not let the priests and the people break through to come up to the Lord lest he break out against them. So Moses went down to the people and told them Amen.
Speaker 1:We see the next chapter. Then God gives his people what we call the Ten Commandments and further the law of Moses. So we see, israel has been, they've been in this time in the wilderness. They're not sure they're headed to the promised land. They're following Moses. They come to the mountain and they come right back to the place where, back in Exodus, chapter 3, God had met Moses in the burning bush. They've come, made a full circle. Moses started off in this place. He had met God in the form of the burning bush and God had called him to go back to Egypt and he said this is the sign that I will give to you when you come back. You will come back here as a people and worship me on this mountain. And so we've seen God fulfill that promise here. They're finally back and God is going to show up in a mighty, mighty way, in a powerful way.
Speaker 1:We see in verse 3 that Israel is encamped in front of this large mountain and I don't know, when you guys read this, what you guys picture. There's debate around where this exact mountain actually is, but I picture something like a really big sort of barren rocky mountain and I almost picture like the people of Israel down below in almost a plain and Moses going up to the top. And there's significance in the language here when this verse says Moses went up. In this very chapter, the word up, going up or coming up to God or went up is used eight times when we think of God today, it's almost ingrained in us to think of God as above us. So much language in Scripture is used of God in relation to us as being above us.
Speaker 1:Isaiah has a vision where he says to us as being above us. Isaiah has a vision where he says holy is the Lord. He says I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and this is a literal picture of this idea that God, by nature, is above everything. He's higher than us, he's greater than us, he is above us, literally above us, and we see this play out here. I think it's interesting. In contrast, then, to Egypt, where Moses went down to Egypt, egypt is down and that's where the Israelites started off. They start off at the bottom and God has been bringing them up.
Speaker 1:He says, he reminds Moses in this statement here, focusing here on verse 4 through 6. God reminds Moses of their previous identity. He says you yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians. So he reminds them remember who you were as a people. For 400 plus years 430 years you were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt. You had an identity and that identity meant that you were Pharaoh's property and your purpose was to serve the empire. It was to build up Pharaoh's kingdom. That was who you were and that was your identity.
Speaker 1:I had to think back. I had to think of how many years is 430 years? So if you just subtract 430 years from our day today, it's like in the mid-1500s. That's how long. I guess it puts into perspective how long that's all they've known. They've been slaves for generations and that's been their primary identity. Now they're out here, they're not slaves anymore. God says I delivered you. You saw what I did to Egypt. You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians. You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians.
Speaker 1:God had brought them out of Egypt into the wilderness. And in the wilderness we had seen I think it was two sermons ago this idea of liminal space, this time of being in between two places where they're not slaves anymore. They're not in Egypt, but they're also not in the promised land yet, and they're in this in-between place where they're not sure, okay, who's in charge, where do I fit in, where do I belong? And there's a time when I think it's in Numbers, where they say something like did God just bring us out here to kill us? Like would that we had remained in Egypt? Egypt is so ingrained in them they just want to go back. And they're saying God, like why did you just bring us out here just to kill us? And God says no, no, I did not bring you out to kill us, I brought you up like an eagle. I brought you up like an eagle out of Egypt and I've been carrying you to myself and your time in the wilderness, your suffering. That is not me just making you suffer randomly, that is me. That was me carrying you, bringing you to myself.
Speaker 1:I think it's a beautiful, beautiful picture here of what God is doing. And this is probably my favorite portion of Scripture here in all of Exodus, where God gives Israel a new identity and if you think of yourself, what it would have been like to be an Israelite slave, where that's who you were. And you come to to this place and God says this about you and he invites these former slaves into a covenant relationship and he says this is your new identity. You once were slaves, but this is your new identity. And listen to this If you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, ye shall be my treasured possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is mine. If you will enter into this covenant with me and you will do what I ask you to do. I'm not forcing you into this, I'm not going to chain you up and force your hand, but I'm inviting you. Join me in this covenant and this is who you are to me a treasured possession.
Speaker 1:I had to think back when I was a kid, or maybe for you children. Do you guys have, like? How many of you children and I should maybe ask how many of you adult men have a little treasure chest at home where you keep your most like precious possessions? Raise your hand. Okay, tony, you have a little treasure box or something. Can I ask what you have in it A bear, okay, like a teddy bear, or a? Okay? I'm sure that means something special to you, right? It doesn't?
Speaker 2:Okay, like a teddy bear or a? Okay, I'm sure that means something special to you, right it?
Speaker 1:doesn't Okay. Okay, anyone else there's Go ahead. Jaden, arrowheads Okay. Why do you have arrowheads? Okay, why did you pick them up and keep them in your box? Why wouldn't you just drive past it? They're kind of cool, okay, they mean something to you. It's like you have your brothers have other things that are like okay, you all have certain items. You all have clothes that your parents maybe bought for you, but you have something that's set apart and special that you keep in a box.
Speaker 1:For me, when I was a kid, it was a sticker book. I had this tablet and my siblings would collect stickers and we each have our own little sticker book and this was the most precious thing that I owned. We would collect stickers wherever we could, and me and Amy were always in. Amy and I were always in a heavy handed competition. This is how God views Israel. He said the whole earth is mine, all the people in the world are mine. I've created the Canaanites, I've created, I created everybody. But you're like like that special treasure. You're set apart, you're different and this is what you mean to me. So imagine hearing that, as a former slave where you weren't anything except just a slave, all of a sudden you belong in God's little treasure chest and he's going to use that. He's going to use you to show the rest of the world who he is. He goes on to say to show the rest of the world who he is, he goes on to say you shall be so. That's their identities. Their identity is you're my treasured possession, that's who you are. And it answers that question for them who am I? But he goes on to say this is what you're going to do in the world. You are, you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. And these are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel. So in these verses we see God give them a new identity, but also a new vocation, a new job in the world, a new purpose A kingdom of priests. Now, we don't have priests today. We have pastors or, as I prefer, reverend Randy, but we're not priests. We don't have a sacrificial system. I'm not a priest. The Catholics, I guess, would maybe have priests. So I wanted to know what exactly is the role of priests?
Speaker 1:In the Old Testament, god would go on to give his people the laws of the tabernacle and tell them this is how you're going to worship me when you get to the promised land. And there was an order of priests set up. The Levites were God's priests. What did priests do exactly?
Speaker 1:Without getting into all the nitty-gritty details, primarily priests were served as God's mediators. They were primarily mediators between God and the people of Israel. This meant they stood between God and the people. They were God's servants and they served God by serving the people. They would bring the sacrifices of the people to God and they would talk to the people about the law, about God's will, how they were to live their lives. So they were God's mediators.
Speaker 1:But secondly, they were God's, I guess, models. They were to model by their lives, by their conduct, by their words, what God's will was. So that when we watched the priest, when we looked at the priest, we could say, okay, that's what God is like. God talks like that, god acts like that. So God is calling them as a whole people to become this in the world, to become a nation of priests, a kingdom of priests, to become a nation of priests, a kingdom of priests. And they were supposed to model as a people. They were to model in the world around them what God's will was by the way that they lived their lives so that, when they reached the promised land, the whole world could look in and watch them. Okay, the way that they take care of their children, the way that they love their wives, the way that they treat the foreigner, the things they eat, the things they wear, everything about them was to represent God to the rest of the world. God is saying you're going to be that to me, you're going to be my representatives, you're going to serve as the mediators between God and the rest of the world. God says if you will keep this covenant, this is what you're going to be, this is what you're going to do.
Speaker 1:And we see in verse 8, moses goes down to the people and he tells them this. And the people, voluntarily God didn't have to chain them up, god didn't have to make slaves out of them they all unanimously say all that the Lord has spoken, we will do. And there's this collective response of saying yes, god, we want what you just laid out, we want that identity and we want that job in the world. We want to join you in this covenant relationship. And in doing that, they were to be a model to the rest of the world of who God was. But you and I know how that turned out. Without diving really deeply into all the details, we know that, time after time after time, israel would break that covenant. They had responded wholeheartedly yes, everything you say we will do. But we know they didn't. Time and time again, they would break the covenant, they would walk away from God. The priests would become corrupted, they would start worshiping other gods. They would walk away from God, they would pursue the sinful practices of the people around them and eventually, because Israel couldn't keep their end of the bargain, they couldn't keep their end of the covenant.
Speaker 1:God himself came down in the form of Jesus and by his life he met the fulfillment, or he met the requirements of the covenant itself. By the way that he lived his life, the way that he, he, he lived out the covenant. He modeled for the, for the whole world, what, what it looks like to be faithful to God. And not only that he, he took on, he paid be faithful to God. And not only that he took on, he paid, actually paid the penalty for the breaking of the covenant that Israel had broken. So, god, in essence, he came and fulfilled the requirements of the covenant, but he also paid the price for the covenant that was broken when he died on the cross. When he rose again, he paid that price for the whole world, not only Israel, but also for you and I, for the Gentiles, and his death would pay that his resurrection. Through his resurrection, he became our high priest, our great high priest, and he served as a mediator. We were to be mediators between God and the world, but Jesus became our great high priest and a mediator and our way to access the Father, our way to access God. So Jesus changes everything. Jesus changes everything, and what this means for you and I is that we don't have to be an ethnic Jew, I don't have to have Jewish blood to be part of this covenant, because, in the same way that Israel was once slaves, you and I were slaves as well, not to Pharaoh, but we were slaves to sin, slaves to the flesh, slaves of the devil. Maybe some of you here today are still in bondage and still in slavery. Maybe you're still in slavery to sin and to the devil, but Jesus changes that. He changes all of that through his death and his resurrection, because he paid that price and in doing so, he changes our identity and our purpose.
Speaker 1:Turn to 1 Peter 2. 1 Peter, 2. We're going to read verse 9 through 10. Peter here is writing to a church made up of Gentile and Jewish believers, and listen to how he describes their new identity through the finished work of Jesus, through Jesus, what their new identity is. He uses the same language here as the story that we just read in Exodus. He says this of the church there, but also to us today. This is who we are, this is our identity, but you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession. Remember that treasure, that picture of a special treasure. That's a people for his own possession. That you may, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of him, who called you out of darkness, like the Israelites were called out of Egypt, called you out of darkness into his marvelous light, into this new covenant. Once you were not a people, you were slaves, but now you are God's people. Once you had not received mercy, but now you are God's people. Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. You and I are you and I.
Speaker 1:Well, everyone is looking for a sense of belonging and identity and purpose in the world and regardless of where you find that and maybe even how secure you feel about where you're at in life right now, who you are and what your purpose is at the very root, if you're a follower of Jesus, if you've entered this covenant through the blood of Jesus, this is more true about you than anything else and this is who you are. Peter describes who you are and what your responsibility is in the world. You're God's people, you're part of a priesthood. You're a priest. Every one of you, if you're a follower of Jesus, are a priest or a priestess and this means that I have belonging and I know, know who I am. I can say confidently when I ask the question who is randy garcetti? Who am I? Or who's cordell weaver? Or who's beau miller? Like at the core, not sean's son, not not like like I'm in high school, or none of that.
Speaker 1:At the very underneath all of those layers, the core of who you are is a member of God's people, a member of and with that, that's your identity and with that, a call and a vocation in the world. You have a job, and that is to be a priest in the world. You have a job and that is to be a priest in the world to do? What to reflect? I guess. What does that mean for us? It means you have a purpose. You have a purpose in this life and that is to be a mediator between God and the world, to stand between God and the world and to call people, lost people, to God through your life. It means everything that you do should point the world to God so that, on a for Ivan, when you're working this coming week with dealers, the way you talk, the way you deal with them in business, the way you handle money, then when they look at Ivan Yoder, they say that's how God is, that's who Jesus is, because you represent God to the world.
Speaker 1:And I think that's why we are so shocked when we hear of scandals in ministry, when we hear of the Ravi Zacharias's or the Catholic priest you know sex scandals, and we're shocked and it's so disconcerting to us because they didn't live up to their identity as God's representatives. We expect them to live a life that models God, that shows God to the world, that shows his character to the world. Gandhi had a Gandhi I'm not sure how to say his first name had a quote and you've probably heard it. It goes like this had a quote and you've probably heard it. It goes like this I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians.
Speaker 1:Your Christians are so unlike your Christ and it's a really tragic statement, because as Christians, we're supposed to be priests that represent and model to the world who Jesus is, and when the world sees us, they should see okay, randy's a follower of Jesus. The way that he talks to his wife, the way that he talks to his kids is the way that Jesus would, way that Jesus would. I wish so badly that we could change that and he could be around long enough to see this change to where he would say I like your Christ because I like your Christians. Your Christians showed me who Christ was. I wish that was the way it was. That's what we're called to do. So what does it look like for each of you here at Grace Point to be a priest, a priest of God? I'm just going to open that up and see what kind of feedback we get. What does it look like for you in Holmes County, ohio, to be a priest of God that represents God to the world and points the world to God?
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Thank you Jordan. Yeah, yeah, they're not just coming for cheese and good quality furniture and Park Street pizza Like they're coming here because maybe they are, but I hope that when they come, they can see a group of people that are God, people that are Jesus, people that are like. Those are like. I know who Jesus is because I saw the way they treated me in their business or the way that they were honest with me, the way they raise their children or the way all of these things Anyone else Thank you, hmm, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, amen, amen, everyone.
Speaker 2:And how they treat them, as well as how they treat them on the road, as well as how they raise their kids literally like this is one of the things that I hear people talk about okay especially people who come from worldly cities, okay, okay columbus is very affluent, but cleveland there are people who are wives. They come in their buses. Black churches will come all down and it reminds me of areas where I did ministry um in youngstown largely african.
Speaker 2:It's a hard, hard city, yeah but they really are learning from watching you so like, and people can smell judgment so I think it's really important throughout the week that we actually give people a benefit of the doubt, like Jesus would have to sinful people, show mercy. That was his big thing to the Pharisees was. You would do well to learn the meaning of the words.
Speaker 1:I desire mercy. Yeah, amen. Yeah, that's good. I think you could just stand up and like go for another half hour on that. Yeah, that's good.
Speaker 2:He's probably here, too, okay yeah.
Speaker 1:So you are. This is who Grace Point is. I want us to. Actually, if you have the ESV, hopefully you can this will work. I should have had it up on the screen, but I want to read these verses by Peter again, echoing what God said about the Israelite people at Mount Sinai, because it really ends here with us. It started back then, but it ends here with us and it's supposed to keep going.
Speaker 1:That the question of my identity, of who I am at the root and what my purpose is in this life, I think is summed up in these verses right here. So we're going to read it out loud together and we're going to substitute the word you. We're going to say we instead of you, okay. Whenever you get to the word, you say we and then towards the end, where it says us, yeah. Basically, we'll just make it. We'll make the verse plural, chris, you got it. It's 1 Peter, 2, 9 through 10. Yes, sir.
Speaker 1:So Grace Point and visitors, if you're a follower of Jesus, this is who you are, this is your identity and your purpose in life. Let's read it together. But we are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, god's special possession. That we may declare the praises of him who called us out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once we were not a people, but now we are the people of God. Once we had not received mercy, but now we have received mercy. Amen, thank you, and God bless you, and I hope you can take this and really sink your teeth into it and live this out this coming week. In the way you treat your customers, the way you talk to your wife and children, the way you, everything that we do should represent God to the world. So God bless you all.