When Presence is the Difference | Exodus 33

Exodus tells the story of a God who isn't distant, but moves toward His people in power and mercy. God reveals Himself as I Am, leading Israel out of slavery and into the life-changing reality of His presence. Let's take our Bibles, can we? Exodus chapter 33, we're going to jump right in to a wonderfully heavy chapter, 23 verses.

It's the second section of the saga, I believe chapters 32 through 34 really are one story. We're looking at over a period of three weeks. This is the middle section, chapter 33.

As you're finding that, I want to let you know that about halfway through the chapter and about halfway through our time together, it will intensify, it will escalate. I will not be adequately able to put into words what I think the chapter is pressing in on us. I'm telling you that up front.

I love words, I could read the manuscript, I write one every week. I don't always follow it perfectly, but I'm pretty disciplined in doing the best we can to simplify and clarify. And yet, I want to admit to you up front, the chapter is so weighty that as we approach the end of it, I will be probably grasping and reaching for the best way to say what I think God's Word is saying.

And I welcome that, because the Holy Spirit will never fail. Amen? I might not be the best vessel, but the Holy Spirit will never fail in eliminating God's Word to you, to bring it to weigh upon you. And that's the sweet spot in a service, right church? When we know that the Word of God does its work.

So, I'm just giving you a heads up. It's going to be a fantastic hike today. I can't wait for this chapter to unfold in our eyes, to watch God's Word do its work.

Because we believe wholeheartedly that it's the Word that does the work. Let's see it happen in front of our eyes, Exodus 33. Again, the middle section of the saga, Moses has dealt with the covenant breach of the people in chapter 32.

He's now going to God to intercede in some aspect for them, and to make a case for what comes next. We'll see the covenant renewed in 34, so there's the end of the story already. But this middle section is quite intriguing, as it's really just about Moses and the Lord.

Follow along with me as I read this chapter. It'll be read to you in four sections, so have your series guide ready, your pen handy. I'll kind of walk you through it.

I'll explain some parts that could be difficult. Verse 1, the Lord spoke to Moses, go up from here, you and the people you brought up from the land of Egypt to the land that I promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Here's the promise.

I will give it to your offspring. Now He's going to tell them what He will do in the current moment. How that's going to happen at the current time.

He says in verse 2, I will send an angel ahead of you. Now that's different than what was initially prescribed when God said He would go with them. In chapter 23, I believe, of Exodus, He does actually mention an angel who will have His name.

This isn't the first mention of an angel, but it does seem to be a little different, by the way, because you'll see why in the next part of the verse. He says, I'll send an angel ahead of you. I'll drive out the Canaanites, Amorites, Hethites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.

Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey. All that will say the same. You'll receive the promise, but I will not go up with you.

Wow, that's different. So the angel now is the tour guide. Here's why, because you are a stiff-necked people.

It's reminiscent of chapter 32, do you remember? They're so stiff-necked, God says, that if He were to go with them on the way, He says in the remainder of 3, I might destroy you on the way. When the people heard this bad news, they mourned and didn't put on their jewelry. Now there may be some questions as to why jewelry suddenly appears in the narrative.

Verses 5 and 6 tell us, I think there's some connection here to the golden calf, because the calf was made out of their gold jewelry. Now this doesn't say gold jewelry, but I think there is some connection between what the jewelry must have brought to mind. So now they're using what tempted them, or I should say, they're using what they used to form an idol.

They're removing that so that there's a sense of repentance and mourning. In fact, 5 and 6 kind of explain that. The Lord said to Moses, tell the Israelites, you're a stiff-necked people.

If I went up with you for a single moment, I'd destroy you. So take off your jewelry and I will decide what to do with you. So the Israelites remained stripped of their jewelry from Mount Horeb onward.

So there's a sense of repentance occurring in the people of God, this corporate posture of returning to the Lord. It involves taking off their jewelry, getting rid of anything that would be a reminder of the previous idolatrous covenant breach. All that's going on here.

There is a return to the Lord. There's a repentant posture. But this is a serious moment, so it's taking some time, can we say that? It's slow going, we'll say it like that.

After these first six verses, will you write this word? Just write the word threatened. I'll show you more in a minute, but for now, just think threatened. God's presence does seem to be threatened.

In fact, He actually says, I'm not planning to go with you. I'll make sure you get what I promised, but it will be via an angel. This occurs, seems to be the new order of events.

Moses takes a tent, pitches it outside the camp at a distance from the camp. He called it the tent of meeting. Anyone who wanted to consult the Lord would go to the tent of meeting that was outside the camp, meaning he would go see Moses.

Moses would go into the tent and consult with the Lord about what the people needed or what they were curious about. Everything here, write this word down, is at a distance now. Presence was threatened.

God said, I'm not going. To remedy that to a degree, there's a distant presence. Notice how verse 8 describes it.

Whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the people would stand up, each one at the door of his tent, and they would watch Moses until he entered the tent. There's somewhat of a posture of repentance. They're like, we're longing to get close again, but there's still this distance.

The angel's all they've got to go on. He's the new tour guide, but God is nearby. It's not what they want, but at least he's not absent, so to speak.

This is how they're thinking about it. When Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would come down and remain at the entrance to the tent, and the Lord would speak with Moses. The sense being, I'm not speaking to the people.

If I did too much of that, he said, I would probably destroy them. They're stiff-necked people. Verse 10, as all the people saw the pillar of cloud remaining at the entrance of the tent, they would stand up, and then they'd bow and worship, each one at the door of his tent.

There's a distance again. There's a posture that's appreciated. It seems like there's repentance occurring, but it's still to someone who's nearby, not with.

He's only with Moses. In fact, this is how much he was with Moses. I love this verse.

The Lord would speak with Moses face to face, just as a man speaks with his friend. You should underline that verse. We're going to see it exemplified in just a moment.

That's how God and Moses would relate. Then Moses returned to the camp. When he came back to the camp, of course, to give what God had instructed him with, his assistant, the young man Joshua, son of Nun, he would not leave the inside of the tent.

This was the place of preparation for Joshua, by the way, for he would be the next leader eventually. Imagine how prepared he was after this amount of time inside the tent of God's presence. Just write the word distant presence.

We've seen it. Threatened presence. I'm not going with you, but I'll be nearby.

There's distant presence. Because Moses and God related very closely, personally, they were relationally tight, if we can say that in our own terms. Moses decides to have a face to face conversation with God.

Beginning in verse 12, we actually get a picture of what verse 11 states. It's getting ready to escalate. It will intensify.

Buckle your seat belts. Moses said to the Lord, look, you have told me, lead this people up, speaking of the promised land, but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. Now your mind right now should stop and say, that doesn't seem accurate because I thought previously he said he would send an angel.

So what is Moses missing? Is he accusing God of something that isn't true? I'm not sure what gives here. It's a good question. Your mind should be wondering that.

Notice the textual distinction. When God promised an angel, look at verse 2, he said the angel would go ahead of you. So even the angel is not actually with them.

He's in front of them. He's going ahead of them. He's clearing the path, but he's not with them.

God's nearby in a tent of meeting. So in a very textual sense, they're kind of alone. They've got a front guard and a rear guard, perhaps, right? But because of their stiff-neckedness, they're really walking just between the angel and between the tent of meeting.

Moses recognizes this and he says, listen, God, you've not let me know whom you will send with me. Moses is not content with just an angel in the front and God in the distance nearby. That may be stark language to you, but I'm telling you what the text is saying to us.

He's not content with distant presence. So he's pursuing closer presence. Write down the words pursued presence.

This is what Moses is doing now. He's pursuing God's presence. He's not content with this arrangement that's been verbalized.

Would you agree with me this is a pretty honest, face-to-face, friend-to-friend conversation? This is why I'm saying it. This is an example of how close Moses and God were. He continues like this.

He says, you said I know you by name and that you also found favor with me. Now, if I have indeed found favor with you, please teach me your ways and I will know you so that I may find favor with you. Now, consider what this nation or that this nation is your people.

You'll notice that this phrase found favor is mentioned twice now, three times. It's going to be mentioned five times total. Moses seems to be saying, God, we're in a relationship.

You have found favor with me. You say, I know your name. I want to know you more.

I want you to teach me your ways so that I will find favor. Like, what's up with all these words and phrases? Let me explain to you what found favor means in this text. It generally means this across the scope of Scripture as well.

When the Bible speaks of God's favor, when the Bible says God has found favor, it doesn't mean that he's looked upon you. This is true of Noah. It's true of Moses, other characters.

It doesn't mean that God looked upon them or looks upon you and says, you know what, I see something in you, Aaron, that I find favorable. And so because of you, I will now take this action. That's not what that means.

Finding favor, it's the word for graciousness. It means that God, in spite of you, because of his own character and graciousness, extended favor to you. In other words, he granted you, blessed you.

He was kind to you. He showed grace to you, not because of you, but in spite of you and because of who he is. That's the essence of the idea of finding favor.

So Moses says, God, you have found favor with us. He's saying, in spite of who we are, we're stiff-necked. We don't listen.

We don't follow well. In spite of all that, you have found favor with us. You've given us grace.

So will you take that posture again? Let me get to know you. Teach me your ways. Moses is pursuing a closer relationship with God, not based on Moses, but based on God's character.

That's what he's asking here. And he's saying that this people that is stiff-necked, of which I'm a part, he's saying, they are your people. So I think in a very real sense, can I just kind of put this into some very human terms to you? And I'm not at all being irreverent and for sure not anything close to blasphemous, but I think Moses is saying this.

Hey, you want me to lead them up? You're giving me an angel ahead of me? There'll be a distant tent of meeting, but they're not my people. They're your people. You are the one, because of your graciousness and character, that chose them in the beginning.

We didn't deserve it, but you were kind to us. So, God, they're your people. You got to go with us.

That's kind of the sense of this text. It's very bold, wouldn't you say? I mean, Moses is a pretty brave guy. He's known as the most meek and humble man ever to live.

And yet, this humble, meek man is very honest with the Lord. You can see why they're talking face to face. To that, the Lord replies, My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.

Isn't that beautiful right there? Pursued presence is paying off. Moses is getting exactly what he's asking for, which makes the next verse odd to me. Do you see verse 15, which really is the theological center of this chapter? It seems like he got what he asked for, so he says, If your presence does not go, Moses replied to him, don't make us go up from here.

I think he's just reassuring the Lord, like, Okay, you said you'll go with us. Not just with an angel, not just at a distance, but this presence that's with us, you're going to go with us? I'm just double-checking. We are a stiff-necked people.

We don't follow well. We can really frustrate you. You even said you might destroy us on the way.

But you're saying now you'll be with us, just making sure. Because if you don't go with us, we don't want to go. And he's just kind of laying out his values, isn't he? You've got to love Moses in this moment.

His reasoning in verse 16 is quite interesting. He says, How will it be known that I and your people have found favor with you unless you go with us? Like he said, I don't want to go if you don't go. And if you don't go, then we'll be in this land with this angel.

We'll receive what you said you would give us. We'll have external benefits, but we'll not be known as your people. Why? Because you're not with us.

In fact, the remainder of this verse says, That's our distinctive mark from all other people on the face of the earth. Wow. So, again, he's reasoning.

He's pursuing the very presence of God with his people. Not at a distance. Not through an angel.

But you must dwell with us because that's what makes us who we are. I love that phrase, don't you? Because we often think, oh, and just hear me out on this. Not to step on your toes too hardly, but a little bit.

We often think, oh, they're God's people because of a land. They belong to a geographical piece of territory. Or they're God's people because of a temple or a tabernacle.

This passage says they're God's people because of his presence, period. It's powerful. And Moses was not willing to sacrifice that.

So he is, in a very real sense, pleading with God here on behalf of the people. You have to go with us. If you are not with us, we aren't anybody.

It doesn't matter what the externals are. If you aren't with us, we're just like everyone else. And it's beautifully powerful.

And so verse 17 says this, In other words, once again, I will bestow blessing and grace on you in spite of you. Yes, you're stiff-necked. You don't follow will.

All these things are true. But guess what, Moses? I'm going to extend a favor because of who I am to you and these people. And I'll do the very thing you ask.

I will dwell with them. Now, at this point, when Moses actually receives what he's been pursuing, the presence of God, he's no longer in a place where the presence is threatened. It's not even now distant.

He's saying, moving forward, I'll be with you like I was in the past. You would think Moses would do this. This is what you would do and I would do.

We'd say, great. We got the deal done. Let's get back to the camp.

Let's organize the troops and let's head out to the promised land. He doesn't. I mean, let's read what he says.

This will blow you away. Then Moses said, please let me see your glory. You know, as a reader, my first response is like, hey, Moses, are you not satisfied, bro? Like, could you just show a little contentment first? Like, dude, God just said he would go with you even though you're stiff necked and that you don't listen and that this people, they just, they break covenant.

God has said he'll still extend you grace in spite of you. And you can't just say, got it. You want more? When I read that, I'm wanting the appetite of Moses.

Like, that's exactly the posture we need. What Moses discovers is that closer he gets to God, the more he wants of God. And so he says, show me your glory.

Verse 19, God says, I'll do that. This is amazing. It's what I call revealed presence.

It's a step, if I can be frank with you, beyond just pursued presence. Moses has what he needs, by the way, at this point. The covenant's going to be intact in 34.

The land's going to be given. Like, there's no danger in the external blessings. And yet he's saying, God, show me your glory.

And so God says, let's do that. And notice how that has to be done. He says in verse 19, I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you.

Circle the word goodness. And I'll also proclaim the name the Lord before you. Circle the words of the Lord.

Because those two phrases help us define what glory is. It's God's goodness, which is a word very similar to favor and graciousness. Okay? Compassion.

And then his name. God says, Moses, I will pass before you and these two things will happen. My goodness will be in front of you and you will hear and see my name.

Now notice the next verse, or the last part of verse 19, he says, it's almost like a sentence that seems out of place. What it is, it's a description of his name and his goodness. Does that make sense? So the last part of 19 actually extrapolates the first part.

Here's his goodness and his name. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious. And I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.

So God's name and his goodness is all about his compassion and grace, his favor, finding favor. He's saying, Moses, I'll pass in front of you. And if you want to see my glory, then what you will see and what you will hear will be a moment and a picture, a glimpse of who I am, my character that I am compassionate to whom I want to be compassionate.

I am merciful to whom I want to be merciful. That is who I am and that's what I do. In other words, God's not got a committee to which he sends a list of names.

God's not looking at lists of people and how good they were and how bad they were and said, well, I think I'll let them in because of how good they were. Or though they can't get in because of how bad they were. In other words, God is the sole decision maker about his mercy and compassion.

And he has that right because he's God. That's his name. He's not got a consultant.

He's not looking for someone to approve of his vote. He's God. And so his name and his actions are solely merciful and compassionate and good.

Do you follow me? This is hard to hear, but this is the point of the text. That when he passed in front of Moses, the glory that Moses would see would be an aspect of his character and his conduct. And it would be so overwhelming, God would say next, that I'll need to shield you from that full view because if you got the fullest view of who I am and how I conduct myself, of what I do, if you saw that in full view, Moses, you would die.

Look at the text. He said, you cannot see my face for humans cannot see me and live. The Lord said, so here's a place near me.

You're to stand on this rock and win my glory, which is his name and his goodness. That's what the text tells us. When those things pass by you, I'll put you in the crevice of the rock and then I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by.

That alone is gracious of God. So he's actually honoring Moses's request to let him see an aspect of his character that is paralyzing and in one sense terrifying. It's overwhelming so much so that if he didn't shield him, it would kill Moses.

But he's so gracious and kind that he shields Moses. So Moses does get a glimpse of God's character and conduct and then he says, when I take my hand away, you'll see my back, but my face will not be seen. Can I just explain this to you? It's not helpful for you to think about God in a form or a body because God is not in a form or a body.

This is anthropomorphic language. It's a language used to help us understand what's being communicated and what's happening. The Bible says God is a spirit.

So what he's saying is, Moses, when my spirit passes by you and I shield you from its terrifying, even deathly impact, just remember, I'll take my hand away and you'll then see what's left behind. You'll see the remnants of my glory as well. So you'll get a shielded view and then when I move my hand, you'll get the remnants.

In fact, I would just say to you, in all humility, when the phrase says you'll see my back, it's probably better in the Hebrew, you will see what's behind as opposed to like God's back. That's not his point. Just as Moses didn't speak to God face to face literally because God's got not a face, it's language to help us understand their relational proximity.

It's not an ontological phrase here. So understand, all this is to communicate something, that when Moses pressed in and wasn't satisfied with his level of spiritual intimacy, God granted it and gave him a glimpse of his character and conduct that would have been deathly, but instead it was life changing. I love this passage because all through it we see God's graciousness and that his actions towards us are his own actions and they're always good and gracious and merciful and kind, and yet Moses leans into this and in a very real sense is not content just to kind of accept what the current status quo is.

He wants more of God and the closer he gets to God, the more of God he wants. That's why this is so convicting because God's presence wasn't just desired on Moses' part for the people or for the journey. God's presence was desired by Moses for his own personal life.

He said, show me your glory. You know, some people have a hard time with the phrases in our songs, and these are songs that churches across the world sing, but we sing them. Some of them have the phrase, show me your glory.

We sang one this morning. There's another one we sing, and some folks say, man, I don't know if I like that phrase. What are we asking God to do? I'll tell you what we're asking to do this right here.

We're asking God to give us a glimpse into his character and conduct, and here's how you can know it happens. If in those moments you're overwhelmed, you're almost spiritually paralyzed in one sense. You're terrified but not scared.

You're like, wow, what a God. In that moment, watch this. I feel like biblically, theologically, I can say to you, God showed you his glory.

He showed you a part of his character and conduct. Here's why. The word glory here means weight.

It means brilliance, majestic. Those are all good synonyms, but because it's so majestic and brilliant, it carries a weightiness. It has the idea of heaviness.

We're not talking about poundage. Don't think scales. Think value.

When God shows us his character and conduct, often in a moment in which his presence is manifestly displayed to us, it is so heavy. It is so weighty that often you don't know how to respond exactly. You're left speechless.

Sometimes you take a worship posture. You may lift your hands. You may say hallelujah.

Maybe you don't say anything. Maybe you shed tears. There's a number of ways you can respond, but it's different than the normal status quo.

This is what Moses is talking about. God, weigh in on me in a moment that is so heavy, I'll never get over it. I'll just say to you quite transparently, I want to pray that prayer.

I know some of you struggle with that, possibly, not to believe the worst about people in the room, but I'll be frank with you. Sometimes guys like me in our tradition, very reformed, everything's in a doctrinal box. It fits nicely.

This prayer is hard to know how to categorize it, and this is where you're going to find me stumbling for words. I don't know what to make sometimes of Moses saying, God, show me your glory, when he already had everything he needed. Somewhere, Moses was not satisfied just to lead the people corporately.

He was like, God, I want to know you personally. Show me your glory. I love the fact that in that moment, God said, Okay, Moses, it's going to take some work.

I'm going to shield you. I'm going to put you in a rock. It's going to be a crevice, but I'll give you a glimpse of who I am and what I do.

I have mercy. In whom I have mercy. I have compassion.

In whom I have compassion. That's the God I am. It's my sole choice, and I am merciful and good and gracious and kind.

I'll give you a brief glimpse of that, Moses. And when I'm done, I'll remove my hand, and you'll just see the remnants of that, but it will change your life. I want to pray that prayer, because I want to move beyond pursued presence.

I'm kind of curious. Do you want to pray that prayer? Can I just ask you boldly and blatantly? Do you want more of God? Or are you content with what God gives you? Are you satisfied with the externals? Like, hey, we got the thing, Todd. We're saved.

We're not going to hell. Heaven's our home. We got some really good blessings.

I got a great family. He's promised to provide for my needs. I got a really wonderful church.

God seems to be moving. There's neat things happening. We're on mission.

Like, don't rock the boat, Todd. And I'm telling you, Moses rocked the boat. He said, I want more.

I want to know what you're really like. Don't you find it odd that in this passage that describes Moses as speaking with God as a friend, with face-to-face, Moses says, teach me your ways. That's like a stranger to me.

He says, help me to know you. That sounds like someone who's not really face-to-face. The point is this.

Moses knew there was so much more of God that he didn't know, and he was thirsty for more. Are you thirsty for more? Now, this four-stage presence progression, in a nutshell, shows me something about how we return to God, because I don't want to extract this from its context. It is the middle section of a saga about the people's return to God, right? So I think this progression that we see in this single chapter gives us insight into maybe what it's like when we return to God, whether corporately or personally, that there is, from our side of the fence, some stages we go through.

I want to qualify by two comments. This is not to unbelievers. We may have some unbelievers in our room this morning listening, our campuses.

You're checking out Christianity. You're trying to figure out, is this true or not? You're curious. I love that.

That's fantastic. And you know me, I'm every week going to invite you to trust Christ, to believe the gospel, put your faith in Jesus, the only way to be forgiven of your sins. And Christ made that possible by his death on the cross, his resurrection.

But this return to God is not your return in the sense of coming to Christ to be saved. This is a return to God from sinning as a Christian. This is the context of this section.

It's the people of God that he graciously chose of his own will, brought them to himself, and then they broke covenant with him. This describes that return, which I think, by a pattern, helps us understand how we return to God when we break covenant with God. And if you think you never have, you're just wrong.

I've broken covenant with God. I've sinned against God. Welcome to the club, you have too.

Even as a Christian, it may be secret sin, it may be lingering sin, it may be a coddling of sin, but in some way, at some point in your life, and maybe it's going on currently, you have sinned and you returned to God. This passage gives us insight into what that's like, that at first you do feel like, man, there's a gap. God's not with me.

His power's not on me. David said in Psalm 68, if I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. That's a distance, but it's by a man who belonged to God.

But do you hear what he's saying? If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. There'll be a distance, a gap. Isaiah said, to the people of God, your sins have separated between you and your God.

So sin does create a distance. Even John in the New Testament would allude to this when he says, if we confess our sins, he will cleanse and forgive us. So if you say, well, Todd, I've been saved.

There's no distance. Theologically and eternally, redemptively, you're right. God has secured you.

If you're truly saved, you'll always be saved. Amen. But in your journey to heaven, there are moments when you break fellowship and you must return and restore fellowship.

That's what I'm talking about. And this chapter here shows us that that journey often begins with realizing, man, God and I are at odds. My sin is broken fellowship.

And so you begin to show postures of repentance. You begin to come back to God. From God's point of view, it is simultaneous.

It's instantaneous. When you ask forgiveness, he grants it. But I think from our point of view, it seems like it takes time.

Like we're learning new habits. We're figuring out how to walk closer with God. We're taking off the old clothes.

Galatians says we're putting on new clothes. Those are processed things. And so we kind of sense that there's a distant presence.

We know God's nearby. We're getting closer, but we're learning new things. We're discovering new habits and disciplines.

As we learn those over time, we realize that we are pursuing presence and God is gracious and kind and we're close to him. And often right there is where most of you stop. It's where often I stop because God gives us everything we need.

We have all the externals in place. And I don't think you or I are being selfish, but we're seeing the benefits of belonging to God and it's a good place to be. You have pursued presence with God.

He's forgiven you. You're restored in fellowship. It's a good day for you.

And so you kind of say, hey, I think I'll just stay right here. And what you don't know is there's more. I know that language can sound weird to some of you.

I expect to get a few emails this week about Todd, are you trying to get mystical on us? Are you adopting some new kind of a technique? I have no plans for anything like that. But I will tell you when I read this chapter, I want to pray that prayer even when God's blessing me with everything I need. Here's why I think we don't.

Because we fear that revealed presence could actually be harder than pursued presence. What if God's way of refining me and revealing to me more of who he is comes through hardship or trial? What if suffering was the way that I actually learn more about God? So Todd, you know what? Yeah, I'm out on the revealed presence. I'm pretty good at pursued.

Like we've got a good deal. I'm staying right there. And you have no idea what you're missing.

Neither do I sometimes. You see, I think when we stay at pursued presence, and I'm just going to kind of highlight that because I think this is the place in the progression that we often get stuck. I want to encourage you to move beyond that by praying this prayer right here.

Lord, show me your glory. That's not a bad prayer. I hope I've textually and theologically defined for you what that phrase means.

It means asking God to give you a glimpse of who he is and what he does. They always go together. When you get that glimpse and it overwhelms you, that's a moment in which you see God's glory and your life changes.

I like the way this is described by Paul when he says we are changed from one degree to another, from one glory to glory. So pray with me. God, I want to know you more.

I thirst for more. Show me your glory. Bring me deeper into who you are, what you do.

This is a fantastic prayer to pray. Because when you pray this prayer, here's what happens. You're voicing this reality that what matters most is not what God gives you, but that God is with you.

This is our presence principle for today. I'm going to have you say it with me and then I'll wrap things up. But could you just say this with me? All of Exodus 33 in one single sentence, even knowing the presence progression, just say this with me, that what matters most is not what God gives us, but that God is with us.

In fact, this is what makes you distinct, or to use a better word, peculiar. Okay? If God is not with you, if his spirit isn't in you, but you've got blessings, you've got externals, then you're like everybody else. But with God's spirit in you, then you belong to God.

You are his. That's what makes you distinct. So long for that.

And I want to just press on you as one of your pastors. Be rightfully discontent with the level of your spirituality right now. Be wholly discontent, H-O-L-Y, with the level of your relationship with God.

It's not saying it's bad. I'm not trying to diss on it. I'm not saying God's not blessing you.

I'm just saying we all have room to grow. Let's not be content with the status quo. Now let me land the plane by sharing some practical application.

And it's still going to escalate. I'm going to be struggling for words here. But some things that have pressed on my heart, as I've been very convicted by this chapter, and I thought even about this prayer and trying to define it and see where in Scripture it's, you know, how we can make this... I was like, God, in my life, I want to experience this and know this.

I think there's probably a couple, maybe three reasons we don't do this. There are some reasons we don't say to God, show me your glory. Bring me deeper into this relationship with you.

The first one is the very thing we've been discussing. It's presence with a T. Some of you, you can't imagine God extracting external blessings in order to refine your spiritual character. You're like, I couldn't live without that.

I don't want to suffer at all. Don't ask me to pay a price. I mean, you kind of agree with suffering, you know, mentally.

You agree with bearing your cross theologically, like it's in the Bible. I can't disagree with it. But if I were to ask you practically, like, hey, would you give that up? If God were to say, I'm going to take this.

And by the way, in Job's experience, he said the Lord gives and the Lord takes away. If God were to remove something from your life in order to make you closer to him, would you be upset with God? That shows you value what he gives, not who he is. So I think presence with a T is one thing that we just sometimes don't want to admit, but many of you love your Christian life in good ways and sometimes negative ways.

Like, you've got so many good things that have turned into little gee, God things that they're keeping you from a really deeper walk with God. And you do not want to ask God to refine you and sharpen you and bring you closer because you know it could mean suffering. I'd remind you, when Paul said in Philippians 3 that his end game was to know God, and this is Paul praying after he's born again, Philippians 3, my goal is to know him, and then his next phrase is this, and the fellowship of his suffering.

Like, I'm out on that, Todd. Like, I'll take the first part, don't give me the second. I think that's why many of us refuse to go deeper.

We're settling at pursued presence because of the externals. I'm just going to pray you loosen your grip and realize that life with God, even without your things, is exponentially sweeter and greater than status quo with God and all your extras. That's pretty blunt, wouldn't you say? Here's another reason I think we don't want to pray this prayer.

Typically, it's pressure. And I'm going to say here probably more cultural pressure. Some of you cannot imagine being mocked.

You can't imagine being made fun of or being ridiculed. It would just crush you. And until you let go of that, until you realize misinterpretation is part of the landscape of following Jesus, especially in our culture, until you actually believe that when they say, all manner of evil against you, you're blessed, until you actually believe what God wrote, you're going to abstain from any kind of action that's going to make you distinct and peculiar.

I find this especially true in how Christians adopt the biblical sexual ethic. We just adopt any reason for divorce. We allow remarriage in any case it seems.

We allow incredible things to be viewed. We have terribly questionable habits in regards to how we communicate to the opposite sex and who we're with and when we're with them. And you can just go down the list of the sexual ethic and you can see we're not a whole lot different than the world.

We're about 15 years behind the world. We don't allow what they allow now, but give us 15 years, we're starting to allow what they allow. It almost always happens.

And I just want to say to you, if you read in the New Testament, 1 Corinthians 6, where we're described as God's people because His Spirit lives in us, that's in the context of Paul dealing with sexual sin. It's in chapters 5 and 6. It's in that set of chapters that he says, don't you know the Holy Spirit of God lives in you and you are not your own? And my contention for a number of years as a pastor in this culture and as a pastor of pastors at times is that until we grasp the fact that we are distinctly God's, especially in the sexual ethic, we will rarely have impact in our culture. We need to be comfortable with the fact that the culture will laugh at our sexual ethic and quit trying to find their stamp of approval on it.

We are God's people, not the culture's. In fact, I would just say to you in a... I'm already on thin ice, I'll just keep dancing as hard as I can here. I'm a strong proponent of life from conception to natural death.

You know that. Often I don't tell you this though, that as much as I hate abortion, elective abortion, I hate that. I just despise what our country has done.

The reason they will not let go of that, the death culture, the pro-death culture, the reason they will not let go of that as their primary idol is because they actually want sex their way. That's their real idol. But if you loosen all moral restraint on sexual activity, what you end up with is children.

You know that, right? You can't change biology. So because they can't change biology, what they want to do is legalize murder. So as much as I have preached on abortion and stand against it and not afraid of all of whatever criticism comes, the truth is abortion is the result of a sex ethic gone crazy.

If we could live by the biblical sexual ethic, we would save millions of babies. So do you see what I'm saying? All this is wrapped up in the package of whose people are we? Some of you feel the pressure from the culture so strongly that you are so unwilling to pray, God, take me deeper. I want to know you more because you know that means your neighbors will know what you stand for and what you believe.

You're like, Todd, I just can't afford them to not like my latest post. I can't afford them not to give me thumbs up. I just want to say to you, do not fear Him who can destroy the body.

Fear Him who can kill both body and soul in hell. He's speaking of God. The third reason I think sometimes we don't pray this prayer is because of our past.

And I struggle with this a little. Some of you struggle with it more. I can say that to you now because I'm within 18 years of being 80.

Can you believe that? It's hard for me to say. Church today is not quite like it was when you were, you know, 40. You're now 80 and you don't like this or you don't like that or it's not like it was when you're home church.

You may not believe me, but I have those thoughts sometimes. I grew up in a fantastically God-ordained, sovereign environment. That was a greenhouse for me.

It was just on fire, mission-minded church planting, thousands in attendance, people being saved. We baptized every single week for years. I mean, it was normal to me.

So sometimes I look around and I'm like, man, we should go back to what we did. And then God says, excuse me, it's not 1980. I'm doing a new thing.

Same principles, same mission, but just a different way. And I have to realize to let go of the past and embrace what's happening now. You know what? I find that some people, they actually love Jesus, but what they love more than Jesus is their experience of Jesus 40 years ago.

Ouch. I heard that this week when I was with about, oh, several hundred pastors who were in our environment, our convention. They're all planting churches.

We all met in Atlanta for a few days. Best practices, encouragement. One of the guys works with only churches who are getting revitalized.

That means they're dying. They've only got a remnant of people left. And he said to me and to the group, he said, most of those churches, and he says most, like 99% of them, no one below 80 is in them.

And the six that are 80 in them, they refuse to change anything. And he says, I try to tell them, what you did 40 years ago wasn't bad. It was what was needed.

But today's not then. And could you let things adjust, not theologically, but just methodologically. And most of them, he says, if they don't, they just end up dying.

The church closes and the building's sold. On the rare occasion that those group of 80-year-olds are willing to change, he said, it is the hardest thing in the world, he says, but they're always glad in the end. And he says, most of them say to me, what I loved was my experience of Jesus 40 years ago.

And now I'm actually loving Jesus and what He's doing now. That takes a lot of humility. Some people can't make that journey.

I'm praying that I'll be like my parents, who at 88 and 89 love their new church. It's not the new church, they've been in it for 50-something years. But they've made some changes and they just, they're just so gracious and kind.

I'm praying you and I, as we at some point here finish up, we stay in these chairs as members, and as we hopefully are just buried in this city and you do our funerals, that we're always like, hey, let's see what God's doing, let's get after it in what's best for that time. But some folks, they don't want to pray for God to take them deeper because of their past. They're too in love with their past as opposed to God.

And I just say that to you quite honestly and frankly. Pressure, the past, presence with the tea, they keep us from this prayer. And I don't know where this boat's landed with you this morning.

I just want to ask you a question. In the midst of me probably struggling for words a lot. Will you pray, God show me your glory.

After He's given you everything you need. When you could just sit content, stay the course, and probably be just fine. Would you press in? Will you lean in and say, God, show me more of who you are and how you act so I can learn your ways.

I want to know you. It sounds like David in Psalm 27 when he said, one thing I've desired of the Lord, to be in His presence forever. Sounds like Asaph in Psalm 73 when he said the Lord is the only one I have on the earth.

Sounds like Paul when he said, I want to know God. I'd say Paul knew God by then and yet his thirst was so on the table. So I want to ask you to join me.

And just pray, God, I want to know you more. Let me close with one last word. I know we're running late and I'm going to be good with that this week.

If you need to get your kids, feel free to, but I want to just share this with you as we close. I think it will help you practically process what I'm asking you to do. What I think God's words call us to, this prayer of show me your glory.

This week, a couple of our kids celebrated anniversaries. Brett and Meredith celebrated 15 years of marriage. Matt and Bethany celebrated 14.

They're in Columbia in Valle de Par. Brett and Meredith live here. And conversing with both of those at various times this week, here's the line that I got from both of them.

From Bethany and Brett. Yeah, thanks Dad, but man, it was just another day. I told Meredith or I told Matt, like, happy anniversary.

I got dishes to wash or kids to take care of or errands to run. It's like, Dad, sometimes, you know, after a certain amount of years of marriage and kids, it's just like another day of the week. And I thought, that's true.

It doesn't sound very romantic. But I thought, I can relate to that. I remember once our kids were born and we were married in December, late December.

December 30th. Yeah, you knew what I was doing, saving face there. That's exactly right.

Sometimes we'd go to her parents and we'd have all the kids. And, you know, a night by yourself somewhere or a special dinner. It's just not going to happen.

Like, we've got all these things we've got to do. We want to see your family. We've got little kids.

And we didn't utilize many babysitters at all until probably, I think, our first time with someone overnight with them was when they were like, I think maybe like eight. So, you know, at some points, like in the first two or three years, you get anniversaries that are really sweet. And then years 25 and later, you get some really sweet ones.

But there's a set of years in which you're like, hey, happy anniversary. See you later, right? And if you're married, you kind of get that. Here's what would be even weirder than that, because that doesn't sound romantic.

You're kind of like, I don't know if I like that. But it is real life. Every one of you who's married, you know that.

Here's what would be way weirder than that. Is if Brett or Bethany last week would have said, hey, it's our anniversary. I know we can't do it, but I'm going to that restaurant.

I'm going to have a nice dinner without you. Somebody's got to watch the kids. And somebody's got to take care of responsibilities, but it's our anniversary, so I'm going.

And so they go to this nice place, white table cloth, you know, candle, and they're sitting there alone. Happy anniversary to me. They give themselves a card.

They roll out a nice gift. And the chair across the table is empty. Like, that's weird.

You should admit that. Like, no one does that. You know why? Because what makes anniversaries special isn't the externals.

We like those. But if you were pressed in a corner, you would rather be with your spouse in the worst of times than alone at a nice restaurant. That's what I'm saying to you.

Some of you are at the table with God. For all the externals, I don't know if it's a sin, but it's preventing you from going deeper. And I just want to push on you.

And say, ask God to show you His glory even if it costs you. It will be worth it.