Talk 4: The Mountain of God

(Part 1)
This is the last talk of our amazing series, Ascend.
We “climbed” 3 mountains so far: Eden, Ararat, and Moriah.
And today, we explore Mt. Sinai.
Welcome to Talk 4: The Mountain of God.
Do you know what’s astounding about Sinai? In the other mountains,
God met one guy or a bunch of guys. But in Sinai, God met an entire
nation. How wild is that?
Today, I want to preach to you, “God will meet you where you are.”
Let’s skip Moses’ childhood and go to that point in his life when he was
already a shepherd in the wilderness. One day, something extraordinary
catches his eye: He led the flock far into the wilderness and came to
Sinai, the mountain of God.  2  There the angel of the LORD appeared to him
in a blazing fire from the middle of a bush. (Bible scholars say that the
phrase “angel of the Lord” is shorthand for “Yahweh’s human form”. So the
bush was on fire because God was sitting on that tree.) Moses stared in
amazement. Though the bush was engulfed in flames, it didn’t burn
up.  3  “This is amazing,” Moses said to himself. “Why isn’t that bush burning
up? I must go see it.” (Exodus 3:1-3 NLT)
What’s the deal with the burning bush?
In Hebrew, it’s called the s’neh tree. And the s’neh tree is spelled with
the exact same letters as “Sinai”. You can almost see the Exodus writer
winking at you. Can you take a hint? The tree and the mountain are one.
You’ll see how important this later. But there’s another hint that ancient
readers would have picked up which we modern readers would never get…
The Amazing Purpose Of Tests
 S’neh and Sinai rhymes with the Hebrew word for “Test”. Again,
another wink from the writer. His not-so-hidden message? “Through this
Tree and Mountain, God will test you.”
Now if you’re like me, I don’t like tests.
I hated tests. Whenever my teacher announced, “Let’s have an
exam!”, my soul left my body. If you’re not like me, I guess your report
card was boring. Too bad. My report card was colorful. 😀
But when the Bible says “Test”, please remove the image of a school
test paper or the terrorizing face of your Chemistry Teacher. “Test” in the
Bible meant “God will reveal to you who you really are.”
Friend, are you going through a test right now? They come in two
forms: Trials and Temptations. Both of them are X-Ray machines. They
expose what you’re made of inside. Both of them will push you to 3 simple
realizations: (1) That you’re not God, (2) that God is God, and (3) you need
Him.
I repeat my over-all message: God will meet you where you are.
Here’s a problem. A lot of people don’t know where they are. A lot of
people don’t know how desperate they are for God’s Love. And that’s the
reason why they are tests. So you get bonked on the head and realize that.
(Share a short story of a test that woke you up spiritually…)
Let’s pray…
Prayer: Lord, I meet You “as is, where is”. I give myself to you with
all my strengths and all my sins. With all my warts, wounds, and
weaknesses. Come Lord, I need You. I am not the Savior, You are. Meet
me. Visit me. Change me. In Jesus name!
(Part 2)
The Two Trees
God will meet you where you are.
 Remember how S’neh Tree and Sinai rhymes with the Hebrew word for
“Test”? Here’s a big question for you. Is there another tree in the Bible (1)
that was filled with God’s Presence, and (2) that was connected to a test?
Any guesses? Going, going, going…
Here’s the answer (Drumroll please): The Tree of Life in the Garden of
Eden. Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, the author of Exodus was
pointing to the idea that the Burning Bush is the Tree of Life.
I hope you’re getting now a little idea of how brilliant these ancient
writers were. They used design patterns all throughout the Bible. They
buried thousands of hyperlinks in words, phrases, rhymes, names, places,
events, sewing the entire Bible together.
Yes, the Tree of Life is on fire. God is sitting on it.
In Talk 1, I said that Genesis never mentioned that Adam and Eve
eating from the Tree of Life. Why? Most likely, it was terrifying. God is
scary. So they go instead to eat from the other tree—the Tree of Knowing
Good and Bad—because it was “attractive” to the eye.
Isn’t this our own story too?
God is scary, sin is seductive.
Pride is seductive. Lust is seductive. Greed is seductive. Cheating,
selfishness, and arrogance is seductive. But…
Why Is God So Scary?
Let me tell you familiar story.
One day, a Farmer calls a meeting with the Chicken and the Pig in his
farm. He said, “On my way here, I found a poor little boy who was very
hungry. Can you guys help me feed him?”
The chicken said, “I know! Let’s make him a ham and egg sandwich!”
The pig froze in terror.
The chicken elbowed the pig and said, “I’ll give the egg. What will you
give?”
 For a lot of people, they think that following God means giving. Giving
an hour or two every Sunday, or giving 10% of their income to God, or
giving a service. May I correct your understanding? Following God is not
about giving, it’s about dying.
No chickens allowed in God’s Kingdom.😁
Here’s the truth: You cannot meet God and remain the same.
Because God is fire.
God is not a nice décor that you can hang on the wall.
God is not an amulet or good luck charm.
God is not about giving you goosebumps when you pray.
God will turn your life upside down.
Everything will change. Your values. Your goals. Your priorities.
God will overhaul you.
You will die.
The Burning Bush/Tree of Life will give you a software upgrade where
the old version of you must end and the new version of you must begin.
We Always Go Back To The Garden
But Moses was not like Adam.
Adam didn’t go the Tree of Life, but Moses went to the Burning Bush.
Instead of stepping away, Moses steps forward.
So God tells him, “take off your sandals, for this is holy ground!”
Moses is back in the Garden of Eden. He removes his sandals as a symbol of
the nakedness of Adam and Eve before the fall.
And instead of being burned by the Tree of Life/Burning Bush, Moses is
transformed by it.
(Share short story of transformation or dying for God.)
(Part 3)
Sinai Becomes The Burning Bush
Let me tell you what happened next.
 Sorry, but I’ll press the fast forward button on video player: Moses
goes down Mt. Sinai, travels to Egypt, and asks Pharaoh to set his people
free. After experiencing ten plagues, Pharaoh lets them go, and Moses leads
them through the Red Sea.
But that’s not where the story ends.
Moses leads Israel back to where he met God.
He brings them to the foot of Mt. Sinai.
But instead of a bush being on fire, the whole mountain was on fire.
Exodus says, “All of Mount Sinai was covered with smoke because the Lord
had descended on it in the form of fire… The Lord came down on the top of
Mount Sinai… (Exodus 19:18, 20 NLT)
Indeed, S’neh and Sinai are one.
But check out their response: “they stood at a distance, trembling
with fear.” (Exodus 20:18 NLT, emphasis mine)
“Who, Me? No, no, no, no, no….”
When Moses asked them to climb up the mountain, they said, “You
speak to us, and we will listen. But don’t let God speak directly to us, or
we will die!’” (Exodus 20:19 NLT, emphasis mine) In other words, they said,
“Who, me? No, no, no, no, no, no…. Sorry Moses, we don’t want to meet
God firsthand. He’s too scary. Please do it for us.”
Friend, may I ask you? How many times have you also said to God,
“Who, me? No, no, no, no, no, no….”
That’s why the Church is weak. Because we’ve delegated to priests
and nuns and religious professionals to communicate to God for us.
We Like Taming God To A God We Can Control
Repeat: S’neh and Sinai rhyme with “test”.
This was the big test of Sinai: Will you climb the mountain of the Lord?
Israel didn’t. Just like Adam and Eve, they didn’t eat the Tree of Life.
 And just like Adam and Eve, they went to the other Tree, choosing the
attractive and easy path. Because in Exodus 32, they became crazy built for
themselves a golden calf and worshipped it.
Why in the world did they make a cow?
Answer: God was so scary, they created a version of God that they
could control. In this insane story, the writer of Exodus was describing
perfectly, 3000 years ago, our problem today.
We like taming God. We like putting Him in the box of our selfish
expectations. We want Him to be predictable. “God, answer our prayer
now. If not, magtatampo ako. (I’ll get angry.)”
The moment you control Him is the moment He stops being God.
God Goes Down The Mountain
What I’m about to tell you will blow your mind.
After Israel falls into idolatry, Moses goes up the mountain to ask
God’s forgiveness. What happens next in the story is unbelievable: God
goes down the mountain.
How do we know?
Israel had a Tent which was their “Traveling Tabernacle”. Exodus said
that while Moses was in the Tent, the pillar of cloud would come down and
hover at its entrance while the LORD spoke with Moses. (Exodus 33:9 NLT)
Fact: The Tent was at the bottom of Sinai.
So the fire in Sinai went down the mountain.
“Can You Run That Down To Me Again?”
Let me recap this story for you, blow-by-blow.
First, God says, “Come up the mountain.”
And man says, “Who, me? No, no, no, no…..”
What does God do? He doesn’t shrug his shoulders and say, “You
don’t want to come up? Hmph. Bye-bye-you…” and turns His back at us.
God goes down the mountain!
 God meets us where we are.
God Is Not Only Our Finish Line
Let me close our series by telling you a personal story.
When I was in young and gorgeous, I joined a 400-meter race. (Now,
I’m old and my wife is gorgeous.)
I joined because I really thought I was a fast runner. As a kid, running
was my only weapon against school bullies. So I thought I still had it. I
forgot that was 15 years ago.
So without any training or practice, I signed up for the race.
When I heard the blast of the starting gun, I leapt out like a
firecracker. I ran full speed like I was The Flash. And I led the entire pack!
I made them eat my dust. I was ecstatic. In fact, I began to pity the 7
runners behind me. Why were they so slow?
But somewhere along the way, all of a sudden, my legs became jelly
beneath me. And I crash landed like Seri on Captain Ri (Hi Kdrama fans!).
While I was lying on the ground flat as a pancake, a dear friend—who
saw the entire thing as if it happened in slow motion—ran to my rescue. He
picked me up from the ground. That’s when I discovered both of my knees
were bleeding, and I could hardly walk, much less run. So my friend put my
arm on his shoulder, and together, we hobbled our way to the finish line.
While we were inching our way down the track, amidst the cheering
crowd, he whispered to me, “Bo, parang hindi dapat track and field yung
event mo. Dapat swimming. Your diving form was perfect.”😅
Why did I tell you the story?
Because for many, God is the Finish Line. The goal. The standard.
The summit. The perfection. The mountaintop.
But if God is just the Finish Line, we’re doomed. Let’s throw in the
towel and call it quits. Because we can’t make it.
But I’ve good news for you.
 God is both Finish Line and Friend.
God is also the Friend who runs to you when you fall, who picks you
from the ground, who puts His arm around you, and carries you all the way
to the Finish Line.
God is not just the Finish Line that waits for us at the mountaintop,
God is also a Friend who runs to us when we fall.
Jesus Is God Coming Down The Mountain
Who is Jesus?
Jesus is God coming down the mountain.
Jesus is God meeting you where you are.
In your fears. In our sins. In your tears. In your wounds.
May your dreams come true,

Bo Sanchez