Exodus 3:5 - Take your sandals off your feet...

Take your sandals off your feet… – Preaching

Preaching Outline on Exodus 3:5- “Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground…”

“The four teachings for Moses”

Introduction to Exodus 3:5

When we look at the men God used in biblical times, we realize that before delegating a function, God prepared them to carry it out, and used knowledge and resources that these men already possessed.

When God used Moses to free his people from slavery in Egypt, he wandered in the desert for forty years so that he could get to know the people, their culture and their beliefs. Then he made him live another forty years in the desert of Midian to familiarize himself with that environment.

Development

Before using him as a deliverer, God teaches Moses four lessons:

1- Exodus 3:5- “Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground…”

What God wanted to teach Moses was that in his presence man needs to change the way he walks. Moses’ old, dusty sandals symbolize man’s walk in this world, he goes where he wants, he walks according to his own will. In God’s presence, it’s different: the man who wants to serve him must follow him. In 1 John 2:6, we read that he who says he is His must also walk as He walked.

2- God’s second teaching to Moses comes next, when he sees a bush on fire, but the fire didn’t consume it.

It was common for a dry, twisted bush to catch fire in the desert and then turn to ash and mix with the dust on the ground, but this one was different, it wasn’t consumed. What God wanted to show his servant was that the bush was a symbol of man. Man turning to dust happens every day, every day someone dies, because we are fragile, today we are here, tomorrow we are underground. But that bush was different, it didn’t consume itself, showing that the fire of God’s Holy Spirit burns in man’s life, man will be preserved amidst the heat of the desert that is this world.

3- Moses was a shepherd and used a wooden stick in his work with the flock. God tells him to throw the stick on the ground, and when he does, it turns into a snake and Moses runs away from it. God tells him to catch the snake by the tail, and it becomes a useful tool in leading the flock again.

What God wanted to show Moses was that that stick of wood was like a man in the hands of the Lord, the High Shepherd. The man is a useful instrument for the flock, for the church, but the man on the ground, fallen, ceases to be an instrument in God’s hand (stick of wood) and becomes a target for the adversary (snake). Moses kept this teaching.

4- God’s last teaching to Moses was the one where he was tested the most. God orders him to put his hand on his chest, and it becomes leprous; when he takes it off, it becomes healthy.

In the Bible, leprosy symbolizes sin. The act of putting your hand on your chest represents acting (hand) with your heart (chest). When we act with our heart we sin. In Jeremiah 17:9 we read: “The heart is deceitful”. In spiritual things, we cannot act out of sentiment. How many men of God have sinned because they felt sorry for someone in their family, or felt sorry for someone and ended up making a mistake, and so many other situations.

Moses learned this last lesson so well that when his nephews sinned and were struck down by God, he didn’t even cry, and warned their father to do the same (Leviticus 10:6). When his brother Aaron was involved in the golden calf episode (Exodus 32:21), he was harshly reprimanded by Moses. When Miriam, his sister, became leprous, he only prayed for her at the request of his brother Aaron (Numbers 12:11-13).

Conclusion of Exodus 3:5

If you want to be used by God, to fulfill the plan he has for your life, learn these four lessons, and like Moses, you will be an instrument used by God for a great Work.

Preaching Outline on Exodus 3:5- “Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground…”