少收的也没有缺
Whoever Gathered Little Had No Lack
出埃及记 Exo 16:9–26
Remember these points
I put these points at the top of my sermon-prep template to remind myself every week:
- Show that main point of passage relates to Jesus and his saving work
- (1 Cor 1:18) A truly gospel-centred message will not be acceptable in a synagogue or mosque
- Did I proclaim the gospel as the headline news of the sermon, rather than as a “by the way…”?
- Unbelievers are called to repent, believe, and be saved
- Believers are encouraged to abandon their old self, renew their minds, put on the new self in Christ
- Preach simple sermons, so that God’s people can see Christ more clearly and love him more dearly
News
Hook
What’s happening in this picture?
Free food samples at Costco!
- Ever sampled free food at Costco? If not, you definitely should!
- How many samples do they expect you to take?
- Do you take just one sample, or do you take several? Why?
- If there’s no one watching over the samples, would you take more than one?
Consider now some other situation, like free food at a company lunch event. Would you grab more food than you can eat for lunch (i.e., you’re saving up for later, like dinner)?
Passage
The picture was generated using Microsoft Copilot (AI 人工智能). Tried a few options, but didn’t spend a lot of time. This is the best of several alternatives, even though there are several things that aren’t quite right in relation to today’s passage.
Can you spot the “errors” in the generated image?
Click here for the passage in English.
Passage in Chinese CUV
Click here for the passage in Chinese.
Passage in English ESV
Outline
Section 1 我是耶和华 I Am the LORD 16:9–12
Quick recap of last time we shared Exodus:
- Whenever we grumble, we’re really grumbling against God.
- Israel was a new nation, new people, just like a newborn.
God it teaching them so that they know what he’s like. - Christians are the same, we also need to know God, know Jesus Christ.
Note the sequence: YHWH to Moses, Moses to Aaron.
Moses goes back to using Aaron as his spokesman, like he did back when he first spoke to Israelites.
YHWH heard their grumblings. They grumbled against Moses & Aaron, but all that grumbling is really against YHWH.
Same thing for us. Grumbling is a serious sin.
The 2nd time the glory of YHWH is mentioned (1st time in Exo 16:7).
The last time the glory of YHWH appeared in a cloud was back in Exo 14:24, at the Red Sea crossing.
Tonight (presumably it’s during the day when Aaron was speaking to them), they will eat meat.
In the morning there will be bread. CUV translates it as food 食物, which is fine, but 饼 is probably more proper.
So you notice that translation necessarily involves interpretation.
The goal of all this (testing, theophany, etc.) is to let them know YHWH.
They knew YHWH as great military leader, able to defeat the world’s greatest military might. Now he wants them to know that they can depend on him for sustenance.
Pharaoh and the Egyptians now know what YHWH is; the Israelites will also come to know him.
We will also know YHWH through these stories.
Section 2 鹌鹑和吗哪 Quail and Manna 16:13–16
The 鹌鹑 quails are only for that night, but the manna will come everyday for 40 years!
When they ask “What’s this?” in Hebrew it’s “Man Hu.” Later the “What” became “Manna.”
They know what quails are, so they didn’t ask about it.
Even though quails are familiar, it’s still a miracle: God provided enough quail for 2 million people!
YHWH provided food for them.
They shouldn’t try to gather more than they need.
An omer? Omer appears only in Exo 16, nowhere else in the Bible.
Lessons
- God provides for their needs,
in the same way, God provides for our daily needs. - Whenever we confess our sins and repent…
Whenever he heals us of our illnesses…
Whenever we trust in his promises…
We see a little bit of his glory, we know him a little better. - Remember Psalm 103:7
Section 3 少收的没有缺 Whoever Gathered Little Had No Lack 16:17–21
Omer seems to be a measure that’s relative to each person’s needs.
If you eat a lot, your omer is a larger quantity than the omer of your neighbour who might eat less than you.
The main theme here is: God’s provisions are sufficient.
With this topic, we can go to applications, like Paul (1500 years after the Exodus)…
This passage from 2 Corinthians 8:14–15 shows Paul applying Exo 16:18, to encourage the Corinthian church to offer their money to help out the Jerusalem church.
The same application for us today, 2,000 years after Paul.
Of course, some will not listen! Surprise! (Not)
Why would they want to keep some manna overnight?
Because they don’t trust God enough, thinking, “What if there’s no manna tomorrow?”
God is forcing them to gather only what they can eat for the day. Why?
To teach them that God will provide for them.
Compare the patience of God against the lack thereof of Moses.
If you get up too late, that’s it! No manna for you!
This teaches them not to sleep in.
Lessons
- Israel needs to learn to depend on God.
- We also need to learn to depend on God every day.
- God’s provision for us is sufficient, no need to hoard.
- Whenever we offer our money, time, talents, etc.
Whenever we help others…
We are God’s representatives, we should act like it, and be generous like God.
Section 4 不臭没有虫子 Didn’t Stink, No Worms 16:22–24
The 6th is which weekday? It’s Friday, next day is Sabbath day.
Sunday is the 1st day of the week, NOT Monday.
Again we see that God provides: On Friday, they gathered 2x the portion, enough for Saturday.
God is introducing the Sabbath to them, especially the Sabbath rest (there’s no rest when they were slaves).
Again we see God’s miracles. Every Friday, they get to have double portions, and every Saturday, there’s none.
This shows how important a day of rest is.
Chick-fil-A has almost 2x the sales of McDonald’s, almost 4x that of Starbucks.
But McDonald’s has 4.7x more outlets, Starbucks has 5.6x more.
On top of that, every Chick-fil-A is closed on Sundays.
Section 5 安息日 Sabbath 16:25–26
On the Sabbath, God rested, so we should too.
与我有什么关系? So What?
- We need to trust God, his provision is enough for us.
- This includes the gospel: we need to share the gospel with others.
- God didn’t bring them immediately into the Promised Land,
because they need first to know God. - We are the same. We’re now living in the wilderness,
waiting to enter God’s Kingdom. We are God’s representatives, we need to tell others about God. - Jesus is the bread of life, don’t you want this bread of life?
- Look at John 6, and also Deut 8:3.
