But Moses said to God, "If I come to the Israelites and say to them, 'The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' what shall I say to them?" God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM." He said further, "Thus you shall say to the Israelites, 'I AM has sent me to you.'" God also said to Moses, "Thus you shall say to the Israelites, 'The LORD, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you':
This is my name forever,and this my title for allgenerations."
-- Exodus 3:13-15 (NRSV)
"Before Abraham was, I AM."
-- John 8:58 (NRSV)
____________
At a recent retreat for pastors, one of the presenters, Rick Melheim from the Lutheran Leadership Institute in St. Paul, Minnesota, said something which really describes our times:
We live in a push-button society. We have the control panel in our hands. When we don't like what is on the television, we push a button and change the station. We are in control. That makes for a very distorted picture of reality. We think that we can control everything.
It's true. We can push a button and change stations. We control what we will see and hear from a control panel which gives us a distorted view of life. If we don't like something, "click, click," and it's on to another station.
In addition, many modern people can control their VCRs and their tape decks in much the same way. "Click, click," and the things we see and hear change, at our command. Some people live in gated communities. "Click, click," and the gate opens at the flick of a thumb. Some people even have automatic house door openers, and car door openers.
One man said he has a control panel which operates six functions in his home. That's power. It gives us the feeling, "I am in charge." That's the problem! That's the lie.
The biblical corrective for being the center of the universe is contained in our texts which insist that "THE GREAT I AM" is in charge. God told Moses that his name is I AM. Jesus said, "Before Abraham was, I AM."
The Push-Button Society
"I Am In Charge"
Button, button, who's got the button? "I have it and I'm going to keep it," we reply.
During Lent, Christians think about Jesus' life, suffering, and his death. We also think about our lives. On Ash Wednesday we have ashes placed on our foreheads as a sign that we are limited creatures who have sinned, people who need a Savior. We are signed with the sign of the cross and we hear these words as the ashes are placed on our foreheads:
Remember your mortality.Anticipate your eternity.
Button, button, who's got the button? To remember our mortality means to confess that we are not in charge. Our greatest sin is to stand in the middle and think that we are in charge and that like spokes in a wheel, everything revolves around us.
Button, button, who's got the button? We forget to remember that we are creatures, not the Creator. We forget to remember that we have limits and that one of those limits is that we were never intended to stand in the middle. We forget to remember our mortality. Along comes Ash Wednesday and the ashes remind us to remember. "You come from ashes, to ashes you will return." We stop and remember our mortality.
Button, button, who's got the button? "Not me," we reply in confession. "My life is out of control when I hold the control panel and change the stations as I desire. It doesn't work for me to be at the control panel." "Yes," says God in reply to our confession. "I know. I made you that way. You were never intended to be in charge."
Button, button, who's got the button? "You do," we say to God when we receive the ashes for remembering. "You, O Lord, have the control panel. My life is broken and dysfunctional unless you are the One who rules." God replies, "Remember your mortality, my son, my daughter. Now you are in touch with me. Anticipate your eternity. I AM in charge."
The Kingdom Of God
"I AM" Is In Charge
Button, button, who's got the button? "You have it, O King of the Universe. Only you are the great I AM."
Enter Moses. Behold a burning bush on the mountain near Midian. Listen to the voice of God. "Take off your shoes. The ground on which you stand is holy ground."
It was the custom in Eastern countries that to show reverence, shoes were taken off when a person went to a holy place. Moses did as he was told. Moses then entered into dialogue with the living God. God said to Moses, "Moses, go down to Egypt." Moses said to God, "I cannot go." God said to Moses, "Moses, I'll go with you." Moses said to God, "I cannot go." God said to Moses, "Moses, you will be my spokesman." But again, Moses objected. He said, "I am not eloquent." God said, "Moses, I made your tongue." Moses said, "I know, but I am still afraid." On and on went the debate, until God finally promised that he would send Moses' brother Aaron to be a spokesman for him. Moses finally agreed, but before he went Moses asked: "What name shall I give when the people ask, 'Who sent you?' " Moses was asking for the name of God. God gave him this name: "Tell them 'I AM WHO I AM' sent you."
God was telling Moses that he is the one who has no beginning and no ending, the Alpha and the Omega, the A and the Z, the beginning and the end of all things. God is the One from whom all things come, and the One to whom all things go. Remember this name: "THE GREAT I AM."
THE GREAT I AM is the One in control. When we give up the push-button control panel to God we discover that our lives work. There is power in this name: I AM.
It is time to give up control to God. It is not easy to give up control, but it is necessary. It's the one thing needful and the hardest thing of all. Submission replaces rebellion with no little conflict.
Enter Jesus. Conflict comes in the presence of the I AM. Read the eighth chapter of the Gospel of John. It is filled with conflict. The chapter opens with the story of the woman caught in adultery. It's a trap set by Jesus' enemies. "Tell us, should we stone her or set her free?" they ask. If Jesus says, "Stone her," they will reply, "We thought you taught mercy and forgiveness." If Jesus says, "Set her free," they will reply, "Are you above the law of Moses which teaches that a woman caught in adultery should be stoned?" A perfect trap, or so it seems. Jesus writes in the sand. What does he write? Perhaps the names of the men who had stones in their hands. Then Jesus looks up. He looks into the eyes of the trembling woman. He looks into the eyes of the accusers. "Let him who is without sin cast the first stone," he says. Sinners quietly drop their stones and depart. The great reversal. Conflict. Tension. But it's only the beginning. "Has no one condemned you?" Jesus says to the adulterous woman. Her bottom lip is trembling with fear. "No one," she says. "Neither do I condemn you," he replies. Submission leads to freedom, but not without conflict and tension.
More conflict and tension comes with verse 12. "I AM the light of the world," Jesus says. There is that name I AM again, God's name. Jesus is using it for himself. Conflict and tension. Are you testifying on your own behalf? Are you bragging, using God's holy name for yourself? The conflict and tension rise a notch, but go on and read the rest of the chapter. You haven't seen anything yet. Submission is not easy for the proud and arrogant religious leaders.
Let's pick up the story in verse 24. Jesus says, "You will die in your sins unless you believe in me" (8:24). "Just who do you think you are? How can you, an itinerant nobody, tell us that we are going to hell?" The conflict goes up a notch.
Now look at verse 31. The conversation about Abraham gets hot. The volume on the conflict is shouting level, "God's true children, the real children of Abraham, would hear God's Word," Jesus says. "You are not Abraham's children. You just don't get it."
Can you turn up the volume above a yelling and screaming level? That's where the religious leaders are. They are in a rage. That brings us to Jesus' calm, soft, poignant resolution, which encourages them even more. "Are you greater than our father Abraham?" they cry out cynically (8:57). Quietly, but with a resonance which cannot be missed, Jesus boldly steps up the conflict to the ultimate level: "Very truly, I tell you, before Abraham was I AM."
The ultimate insult! I AM is God's name: Rage turns to physical violence. They pick up stones to throw at him, just like some of these same people had picked up stones to throw at the woman caught in adultery at the beginning of chapter eight.
But Jesus slips out of the temple before they can put him to death.
Button, button, who's got the button? That's what this chapter is all about. Jesus through word, deed, and name has the control button.
Almost a century ago, Adelaide Pollard was at the end of her rope. She was terribly discouraged and depressed. She had been trying to raise funds to underwrite the cost of a long voyage to Africa where she planned to work as a missionary. Her efforts left her far short of her goal and she wondered "Why doesn't God help me when I'm trying to do his work?" In desperation she went to a prayer meeting at a local church, but her spirits were so low, she couldn't take part.
An older woman in the group prayed first and Adelaide was surprised by what she heard. Instead of the usual petitions for blessings in the form of improved health, the safety of her loved ones or food upon their table, the woman simply prayed: "Lord, it really doesn't matter what You do with us -- just have Your way with our lives." Adelaide was stunned when she realized that by contrast, she was practically telling God what he must do to make her dream of missionary work a reality!
She went home in silence and opened her Bible to the 18th chapter of Jeremiah:
The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, "Come, go down to the potter's house and there I will let you hear my words." So I went down to the potter's house and there he was working at his wheel. The vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter's hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as seemed good to him. Then the word of the Lord came to me, "Can I not do with you, O House of Israel, just as this potter has done? Just like the clay in the potter's hand, so are you in my hand, O House of Israel."
-- Jeremiah 18:1-6 (NRSV)
That same evening Adelaide Pollard composed the words to a well-known hymn which has inspired countless believers the past century:
Have Thine own way, Lord, have Thine own way.Thou art the potter, I am the clay.Mold me and make me after Thy willWhile I am waiting -- yielded still. Button, button, who's got the button? God. God is THE GREAT I AM, and we are his creatures.
God has the button. When I hold it and change stations and try to control things so that I will be satisfied and entertained, everything goes out of control.
"Thou art the potter. I am the clay." The One who understands you is standing with you. The One in control wants only the best for you. Jesus showed us what the I AM is like. Once we get this straight, we can pray the prayer Jesus taught us, "Our Father..."
Behold, THE GREAT I AM, who created the heavens and the earth, is your "Abba," your daddy.
Questions For Reflection Or Discussion
1. How many push-button controls do you have at your house?
2. What do they open, close, change?
3. What's so wrong with "a push-button society"?
4. Why was Moses so reluctant to go for God?
5. Why are we so reluctant to serve?
6. How do the words, "Have Your Own Way," affect you personally?
7. In what areas?