Journey of Becoming

Exodus 3:1-15; Matthew 16:21-28 (August 30, 2026)

Brothers and sisters, have you ever noticed how God shows up right when we least expect it? We carefully plan our lives and build routines, expecting God to fit into the spaces we leave for Him. But the scriptures show a different picture. The God of the Bible does not wait politely at the door of our convenience; He interrupts.

Today we explore two key moments in the great story of redemption. The first takes place in the desert with a man named Moses. The second happens on the road to Caesarea Philippi with a fisherman named Peter. Through these men, we will see what it means to be called, broken of self-reliance, and what it costs to follow Jesus.

Let us begin with Moses, once a prince in Egypt. He grew up in Pharaoh's palace with power, position, and prestige at his fingertips. But after committing a terrible crime, Moses fled. He ended up on the backside of the desert in Midian, spending forty years as a simple shepherd. He was not looking for a divine encounter anymore—just tending his father-in-law's sheep, day after day. He got accustomed to that life now.

But God interrupted his ordinary life. Scripture tells us the angel of the Lord appeared to Moses in a blazing fire from the midst of a bush. The bush was burning, yet it was not consumed.

Actually God broke into Moses' reality as an unmanageable power. He does not wait for us to be perfectly together or in the right place. He comes to us in the middle of our everyday routines and turns the ordinary dirt beneath our feet into holy ground.

The fire of the burning bush is a powerful metaphor. It illuminates and purifies, shining light on our darkness and burning away our impurities, yet the bush survives because the fire is the very presence of God Himself.

1. The Wilderness and the Purpose of Our Brokenness

When God called out to Moses, he was a broken man. This brings us to the beautiful purpose of our brokenness.

Why did God leave Moses in that desert for forty years? Pastor Charles Stanley points out that this long season was God's chosen method of preparation. He was calling him to liberate millions of Hebrew slaves from Pharaoh. Moses could never have accomplished this in his own strength. The man who once relied on his own arm and education had to learn that his own resources were utterly insufficient.

Often, in desert seasons, we feel like God has abandoned us. We look at the barren landscape and wonder where He is. But the wilderness is not a sign of His absence; it is a sign of His preparation. Spiritual maturity is not about great wealth, great reputation, or great ability.

According to Oswald Chambers, true spiritual readiness means allowing our little "I am" to be shriveled up in the face of the Great "I AM WHO I AM". God is not looking for us to be a beautiful, expensive vase that just sits on a shelf.

As Pastor Stanley illustrates, God wants us to be like a humble five-dollar bucket. That bucket might be battered and worn, but if it is empty of itself, it can be filled with God's grace and carry refreshing water to a thirsty world. God breaks us not to punish us, but to empty us of our self-centeredness so He can fill us with His Spirit.

1. The Way of the Cross and the Cost of Discipleship

This leads us to the New Testament, where Jesus teaches His disciples the true cost of this spiritual journey. In Matthew's Gospel, Jesus tells His followers He must go to Jerusalem, suffer many things at the hands of the elders and chief priests, be killed, and on the third day be raised. Jesus made it clear that the Kingdom of God could only be established by the way of the cross. There would be no shortcut, no detour around the suffering, and no throne without the crucifixion.

When Peter heard this, he was horrified. He took Jesus aside and rebuked Him, saying, "God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you" (Matthew 16:22). Peter's reaction was based entirely on human reasoning and carnal admiration. He wanted a victorious Messiah, not a suffering servant. He wanted glory without the cross. But Jesus answered sharply, telling Peter that he was setting his mind on the things of man, rather than the things of God. The very man who had just been praised for his confession was now being used as a stumbling block.

Jesus then laid out the ultimate demand for anyone who wants to follow Him: "If any wish to come after me, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me" (Matthew 16:24). To deny oneself means to completely resign our claim to sovereignty over our own lives. It is saying no to our independent ego so that the divine will can reign supreme. It is a daily death to the self that wants to be its own king.

This is not an easy message. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. preached powerfully on this exact tension. He warned that we have often turned Christianity into sentimental teachings, seeking the soothing lemonade of escape instead of the bitter cup of reality. Dr. King said that we have substituted a cushion for a cross. True Christianity demands what he called a dangerous and costly self-sacrifice. It asks us to stop living for the "I" and plunge into the deep waters of the "Thou".

King used the Good Samaritan to explain this perfectly. When the Priest and the Levite saw the wounded man lying in the ditch, their egocentric question was, "What will happen to me if I stop to help this man?". But the Samaritan asked the opposite question: "What will happen to this man if I do not stop to help him?".

Trading our cushion for a cross means we stop prioritizing our own comfort. It means we look at the suffering in the world and choose to get involved, reaching out to the broken and the forgotten even when it costs us something. We do not do this to earn salvation; we do it because we have experienced the sacrificial love of Christ.

To help us understand the cross, imagine a father and his disobedient son. After coming home late and breaking the rules, the son was given a punishment dinner of a single slice of bread and a glass of water. Meanwhile, his father sat across the table with a delicious plate of meat and potatoes. The boy's heart was crushed as he stared at his meager meal. But then the father silently took the boy's plate and placed it in front of himself. With a loving smile, he slid his own rich feast of meat and potatoes in front of his son.

This is exactly what Jesus did for us. On the cross, Christ took the plate of human judgment, absorbing the fire of God's holy wrath, so that we might feast forever on the righteousness and eternal riches of God. When we grasp the magnitude of this exchange, how can we not take up our cross and follow Him?

III. Embracing Grace in Our Human Resistance

However, it is natural to feel resistance when faced with this call. When God told Moses to go back to Egypt and face Pharaoh, Moses started making excuses. He cried out, "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?" (Exodus 3:11). He was terrified of the mission, pointing to his faltering speech and his many past failures.

Likewise, Peter fiercely resisted the idea of a suffering Messiah, even pulling Jesus aside to argue with Him. Human nature inherently recoils from the path of sacrifice and divine calling.

If you feel resistance when God asks you to forgive someone, let go of a grudge, or step out in faith, you are not alone. It is a normal human response. We can compare God's patience with us to gentle parenting. Sometimes, when a parent needs a child to do something uncomfortable, they will say, "I know you do not want to do this, but you have twenty-five minutes to wrap your head around the fact that we are going to do this". The parent gives the child space to process their frustration, but holds firm to the necessity of the task.

God deals with us the same patient way. He listens to our resistance, our fears, and our doubts. He did not strike Moses down for his reluctance; instead, He gave him a simple promise: "I will be with you" (Exodus 3:12). He does not demand that we become fearless, self-sufficient heroes. He only asks that we lean on His presence, not our own strength. Our capability is never the point; His divine presence and power are the point.

When Jesus told His disciples they would have to lose their lives to find them, He was offering the greatest invitation in history.

John Wesley warned us of the tragic folly of trading our immortal souls for the fleeting, temporary pleasures of this world. Whether it is the pleasures of the senses, the desire for wealth, or the thirst for praise, none of it can truly satisfy the deep hunger of the human heart. Wesley painted a vivid picture of eternity, reminding us that gaining the whole world for a few decades means absolutely nothing if we lose our souls forever.

The Choice of Eternal Significance

Therefore, let us not be like those who cling desperately to the comfortable illusions of this world. Let us embrace the disruptive, unmanageable power of God that breaks into our lives. Let us welcome the breaking process, knowing that it is God's loving hand molding us into vessels of His grace.

Let us be the humble five-dollar buckets, emptied of ourselves and filled with His Spirit, pouring out the love of Christ wherever we go.

Let us trade our soft, safe cushions for the cross of discipleship, and let us love our neighbor with the costly, dangerous love of the Good Samaritan.

And as we move from fear and resistance into trusting acceptance, let us rest in the promise that the Great I AM is with us every step of the way.

The Afternoon "Samaritan Shift"

Throughout your day, you will hit moments of interruption—a coworker who needs to vent, a family member needing help, or a stranger in a difficult spot. In those moments of friction, our natural instinct is to protect our own "cushion" of comfort and time.

Pause and catch your internal dialogue. Reject the natural, self-centered question: "What will happen to my schedule, my energy, or my comfort if I stop to help?".

Ask yourself the Samaritan's question: "What will happen to this person if I do not stop to help them?". This simple reframing pulls us out of self-centeredness and into the self-giving love of the cross.

By starting our days empty of self and ending them poured out for others, God gently molds us, step by step, on this beautiful journey of becoming.

May God give us the courage to follow Him from the desert to the cross, losing our lives for His sake, so that we might truly find them. Amen.

Concluding Prayer

Heavenly Father, prune away our superficial pride and empty our hearts of self-reliance today. Help us trade our comfortable cushions for the rugged cross of discipleship, trusting that the Great I AM is with us always. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.