The Burning Bush

The burning bush reminds us that an ordinary thing can become extraordinary when God makes His presence known through it. An ordinary man or woman, an ordinary family, and an ordinary church can become instruments of God's glory when they are surrendered to Him.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20

“Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honour God with your bodies."

God eternally has chosen us to be His dwelling place.The same limitless power that created the stars, conquered death, and sustains the universe has chosen our heart as His home. Your body is a sacred space. Christ doesn’t live in buildings made of stone anymore; He lives inside you.

In the ancient world, the Greeks believed the body was just a temporary, disposable shell for the soul. Today, modern culture often tells us that our bodies are our absolute property and we can use it however we please.

Paul dismantles both ideas with a profound truth: Your body is not a disposable shell, nor does it belong to you—it is the literal dwelling place of the Living God.

Because you are a temple and because you have been bought, the ultimate conclusion is "Therefore honour God with your body."

The first place in the Bible where we see God revealing Himself in a remarkable way through a dwelling place is the burning bush in Exodus chapter 3. Moses was looking after the flock of his father-in-law when he came to Horeb, the mountain of God. There he saw a bush that was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed. It was an extraordinary sight. The fire was burning, yet the bush remained intact. And out of that burning bush, God spoke to Moses.

Think about the significance of that. God, who fills the heavens and the earth, chose to reveal His presence through an ordinary bush in the wilderness. The bush itself was not extraordinary. There was nothing special about it's appearance. What made it extraordinary was the presence of God in it. The fire of God was burning in that bush, and because God was there, the place became holy. God said to Moses,"Put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou stand is holy ground" (Exodus 3:5).

What made that ground holy? It was not the soil. It was not the mountain. It was not the bush. It was the presence of God.

And that teaches us a tremendous spiritual lesson: what makes something precious in God's sight is not its outward appearance, its size, its reputation, or its usefulness to men, but the presence of God dwelling in it.

We can apply that truth to our own lives. God does not merely want to visit us occasionally. He doesn't want to be someone we remember only when we attend a meeting, read the Bible, or face a difficult time. His desire is to make us His dwelling place.

The New Testament tells us in 1 Corinthians 6:19 that our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. Think of the wonder of that statement! The God who revealed Himself in the burning bush desires to dwell in ordinary human beings like us. Our bodies, our minds, our hearts, our words, our attitudes, our everyday conduct are all to become places where His presence is honoured.

That means Christianity is not merely about what we do on Sunday. It is about what we are everyday of the week. It is not merely about singing Christian songs, listening to sermons, or knowing the right doctrines. It is about allowing God to possess our inner lives so completely that His character begins to be seen through us.

Our homes, too, are meant to be dwelling places of God. I am not talking about having a Bible on the shelf, a Christian calendar on the wall, or a verse of Scripture displayed in the living room. These things can be helpful, but they do not make a home spiritual. A home becomes a place where Christ is honoured when the people living in it seek to obey Him, love one another, speak truthfully, show kindness and put aside selfishness.

A home can be small, with very little furniture and very little money, and yet be a place filled with the presence of God. On the other hand, a house can be beautifully furnished, financially prosperous,and outwardly impressive, yet have very little of God's character in its relationships. The question is not how impressive our home appears to visitors, but whether the Lord is truly honoured in the way we live together.

And the next level is our fellowship, the church.

Our local churches, too, are meant to be dwelling places of God. Paul says in Ephesians 2:22 that believers are being built together into a dwelling place for God by His Spirit. Notice that God is not merely interested in individual believers standing alone. He wants to build us together into a spiritual house.

That means a local church is not simply a place where people gather to listen to preaching. It is a community of people in whom God desires to dwell, a people who are learning to live together in holiness, love, humility, purity, and unity.

I never want to build a church that is merely a preaching centre, a place where we gather crowds, deliver powerful messages, and then everyone goes home unchanged. I do not want people simply to admire the preacher, appreciate the sermon, and say, ‘What a wonderful meeting!’ I want the Word of God to penetrate our hearts so deeply that it changes the way we live.

I want to see husbands becoming more loving, wives becoming more gracious, parents becoming more patient, children learning to honour God, young people choosing purity, and believers learning to forgive one another. I want to see people who were once proud becoming humble, people who were once selfish becoming generous, and people who were once easily offended learning to bear with one another in love.

That is what it means for a church to become a dwelling place of God. It is not simply that Christ is mentioned in our meetings, but that His character is increasingly manifested in our lives together.

Remember the burning bush. The bush was not impressive because of its size. It was significant because God was present in it. In the same way, the true glory of a church is not ultimately found in its numbers, its buildings, its programmes, or its reputation. Its true glory is that God is at work among His people, shaping them into the likeness of Jesus Christ.

The burning bush reminds us that an ordinary thing can become extraordinary when God makes His presence known through it. An ordinary man or woman, an ordinary family, and an ordinary church can become instruments of God's glory when they are surrendered to Him.

God is not merely looking for a crowd to listen to Him. He is looking for a people in whom He can dwell, a people through whom His character can be revealed to the world.

May our bodies become His dwelling place. May our homes become His dwelling place. And may our local churches become communities where the presence of God is not merely spoken about from the pulpit, but increasingly demonstrated through the lives of His people.

What do we learn from Exodus 3 experience?

A. Becoming a Burning Bush

You know, when we consider how God prepared Moses to lead His people, we must notice something very significant. Before God sent Moses to Pharaoh, before He entrusted him with the responsibility of bringing the Israelites out of Egypt, before He gave him the task of leading a great multitude through the wilderness, God first brought him to a place where he could see the burning bush.

I believe there is a profound lesson here about the way God prepares a man for spiritual leadership. We often think that God prepares a leader by giving him more knowledge, more ability, more experience, or more opportunities to serve. We think of leadership training in terms of learning how to preach better,how to communicate more effectively, how to organise people, how to manage difficult situations, and howto build a congregation. All these things can have their place. There is nothing wrong with learning to preach well, developing administrative abilities, or becoming more effective in serving God's people.

But I want you to see that God's first concern is something much deeper than all of that.

Before Moses could represent God before Pharaoh, he had to encounter God at the burning bush.Before he could speak on God's behalf, he had to learn something about the God whose words he would speak. Before he could lead God's people, he had to discover that the work of God could never be accomplished by human strength alone.

Think about Moses' life. He had spent forty years in Egypt, and then another forty years in the wilderness of Midian. In Egypt, he had received the education and training of a man who lived in Pharaoh's household. He was familiar with the wisdom, culture, and power of Egypt. And yet, when he tried to deliver an Israelite by his own strength, he failed. He had to flee from Egypt and spend years in the wilderness.

Those forty years in the wilderness were not wasted years. God was doing a work in Moses that could not be accomplished merely by education or worldly training. Moses had to learn his own weakness. He had to come to the end of his confidence in himself. The man who once thought he could take matters into his own hands was being prepared to become a servant who would depend upon God.

And then, one day, at the end of those years, Moses saw a bush burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed.

I believe God was teaching Moses something about the kind of man He wanted him to become.The bush was ordinary, insignificant, and easily overlooked. It was not a mighty cedar tree. It was not a magnificent palace. It was not an impressive monument. It was simply a bush in the wilderness.

But something extraordinary was happening there. The fire of God was burning in it, and yet the bush was not consumed.

Exodus chapter 3, you read in verse 2. The angel of the Lord. Now, I believe that the word angel means a messenger. Jesus Christ in his free, before he arrived in Bethlehem, before that, you read occasionally in the New Testament, he manifested himself by this expression, the messenger of the Lord.

It was the Lord himself, the second person of the Trinity. There, in a blazing fire from the midst of a bush, as far as I can remember, that's the first time in the Bible that you find Jesus Christ coming from heaven to this earth and appearing in spirit form in a burning bush. And there was a prophetic picture of what He was going to do on the day of Pentecost.

And Moses looked and the bush was burning with fire and it was not consumed. Burning with fire, no bug could stay inside that.

Whatever germs there were in that bush up till that time when the Lord came, they vanished. What a life, I want to be like that. That no bug of this world or sin will have any place in me.

Because the fire of God burns in my heart, no bitterness against somebody, no unforgiving spirit, no worldly attitude, it will all be burnt up by the fire of the Lord. And yet I myself am not consumed. My personality remains, that's what it means, the bush is not consumed. 

And the interesting thing here is that Moses had probably passed by that place many times. There were probably hundreds of bushes in that wilderness, but there was one bush that made him stop.

Dear brothers and sisters, I don't know whether you have that longing in your heart, but I remember when I read this passage, I said in my heart, "Lord, I want my life to be like that. I want my life to be such that when people get to know me better, they stop and wonder, 'How is it possible for a man to live like this?'”

How is it possible for a man to rejoice twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, and not be controlled by his moods throughout the year? How is it possible for a man not to be preoccupied with money or the things of this world, even when he has very little? How is it possible for a man like Apostle John in Isle of Patmos to be devoted to God and to be on fire for Him every single day, even when he is not attending meetings, even when nobody is around to encourage him, and even when there is nobody to stir him up spiritually?

I mean, if you get on fire for God when somebody stirs you up, that's good. We can thank God for meetings where we are encouraged, challenged, and strengthened through the ministry of His Word. But we need to go one step further. You need to come to the place where you are on fire for God when nobody stirs you up, when you are alone, when there are no meetings to attend, no inspiring preacher to listen to, and no one around to encourage you.

You see, this bush did not need somebody to come along and pour oil on it or add fuel to keep it burning. No! The fire was there, and Moses could see it.

And I tell you this with confidence: when God fills you with the Holy Spirit, your spiritual life should not depend upon attending special meetings to keep it alive. Meetings can encourage you, preaching can strengthen you, and fellowship with God's people can refresh you. But your relationship with God must go deeper than depending on these occasions to stir you up.

You need to learn to walk with God when nobody is watching, to pray when nobody is encouraging you, to rejoice in the Lord when circumstances are difficult, and to remain devoted to Him even if there is no outward excitement to sustain you.

That is the kind of life I long for—a life in which the fire of devotion to God does not depend upon the atmosphere around me, but flows from a heart that is continually surrendered to Him.

People around you may not agree with you, they may criticize you, but they'll never forget you. Because they met a saint who lives before God. And every one of us can be like that.

Years later, in Deuteronomy 33, when Moses was blessing the tribes of Israel, he gave a special blessing to Joseph. In verse 16, he speaks of “the favour of him that dwelt in the bush”.

Think about that! Forty years had passed since Moses saw the burning bush, yet he had never forgotten that encounter. He remembered God as the One who dwelt in the bush. 

B. God Meets Us in the Wilderness of Life

Moses encountered God while tending sheep in the wilderness. His forty years in the wilderness had stripped away much of the worldly wisdom, power, and influence he had acquired in Egypt. He was now living a quiet, isolated life, far removed from the prominence and privileges he had once known. He was alone with his sheep, and during those years, God was preparing him for the work He had called him to do.

When God called Moses, he felt inadequate and even said that he was not eloquent in speech (Exodus 4:10).The man who had once been raised in Pharaoh’s household had come to recognise his own limitations.

We, too, need to come to a place in our wilderness experiences where Christ becomes everything to us. We must learn not to depend upon our natural wisdom, human strength, the approval of men, or the acceptance of others.

These things may have their place, but none of them can take the place of Christ. Our hearts must come to the point where we can truly say, ‘Lord, You are all I need. If I have You, I have what matters most.’

Asaph expressed this beautifully in Psalm 73:25–26: “Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee.”

That is the place God wants to bring us to—not necessarily through physical isolation, but through a deeper spiritual experience in which every other source of confidence fades in importance, and Christ Himself becomes our supreme treasure. We can then say with Paul, “For me to live is Christ”(Philippians 1:21).

Deuteronomy 8:2–3 — God uses the wilderness to humble, test, and teach His people dependence on Him.

"And you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not.

And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord.”

Hosea 2:14 — God speaks tenderly to His people in the wilderness.

"Therefore I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the wilderness and speak tenderly to her"

Mark 1:12–13 — Jesus enters the wilderness before beginning His public ministry.

“At once the Spirit sent him out into the wilderness, and he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals,and angels attended him.”

C. An Encounter With God Must Lead Us to Obedience

God did not reveal Himself to Moses at the burning bush merely to give him a remarkable spiritual experience. He met Moses in the wilderness, revealed His holiness, and spoke to him personally. But then God gave him a command: “Come now therefore, and I will send thee.”

Moses had to leave the burning bush and return to Egypt.

This is an important lesson for us. God does not draw us into His presence merely to bless us; He also prepares us to become a blessing to others. Our fellowship with God must lead us into faithful service. The fire God kindles in us should set others on fire for Him too.” 

Sometimes we long for deeper experiences with God. We want to know His presence more, understand His Word more deeply, and experience the working of His Spirit in our lives. These are good desires. But we must ask ourselves: What is God preparing me to do with what He is teaching me?

Isaiah 6:8 — Isaiah responds to God's call, “Here am I; send me.”

Matthew 4:19–20 — The first disciples respond to Jesus' call by following Him.

“Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” At once they left their nets and followed him.

James 1:22 — Believers are instructed to be doers of the Word, not hearers only.

“Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.”

John 14:15 — Jesus connects love for Him with keeping His commandments.

“If you love me, keep my commands.”

Matthew 28:19–20 — Jesus commissions His disciples to make disciples and promises to be with them always.

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

May the Lord make our lives like that burning bush—ordinary vessels through which His presence is revealed, His character is seen, and His fire inspires others to love Him more deeply. 

By Pastor Renji George

Scriptures: 1 Corinthians 6:19, 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, Deuteronomy 33:16, Deuteronomy 33, Deuteronomy 8:2, Deuteronomy 8:2-3, Ephesians 2:22, Exodus 3:5, Exodus 3:2-10, Exodus 3, Exodus 4:10, Hosea 2:14, Isaiah 6:8, James 1:22, John 14:15, Mark 1:12, Mark 1:12-13, Matthew 28:19, Matthew 28:19-20, Matthew 4:19, Matthew 4:19-20, Philippians 1:21, Psalm 73:25, Psalms 73:25-26

Sermon Topics: Burning Bush, Burning For God, Angel Of The Lord, God's Dwelling Place, God Speaking, Moses' Calling, God's Appearance