Sermon for the Twenty-third Sunday After Pentecost

Who Am I And Why AM I Here?

Text: Exodus 3:1-15 Moses and the Burning Bush

One of the rites of passage all human beings go through at some point in their lives is pondering a deep philosophical and existential question: Who am I? What am I doing here? And, for believers: What is God’s plan for me? What is God’s plan for this congregation? Why are we here? What makes an individual as good person, a good Christian?

Before we can answer that, we need to understand, as much as we can, who God is. We discover that it really isn’t about us at all, nor our abilities, but rather understand God’s nature, trust in Him, and in what He does in us and through us. What makes an individual or a congregation great is a foundation build upon God’s free gift of grace.

So the question we should be asking is: Who is God? It doesn’t matter who you are. The only thing that matters is who God is. When Moses or we default back to “who am I?” God turns it around, so we ask, “Who are you?” And He tells us. He tells us He is the Great I AM. “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty. (Revelation 1:8).”

He is God of our Fathers. God of Moses, Lord of all. He it is that will go with Moses back into Egypt. He will use Moses as His holy instrument. He will protect and bless him. He promises the same for us. He sent His son to redeem us. He gave His Son as the sacrifice for the sins of the world and the champion over death. He reveals Himself to us through His son.

Now we can ask the correct question about ourselves. Who are we because of Christ? Christ in you has changed you. We used to be individuals concerned only with ourselves. Christ has gathered us into one body of mutual support built atop the love shared between the Father and the Son. Now we can serve selflessly.