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Psalm 105:1–6, 37–45 • Exodus 16:2–15 • Philippians 1:21–30 • Matthew 20:1–16

Today’s theme is God’s grace is greater than we can imagine. Our call to worship psalm recalls God’s faithfulness in delivering and providing for his people,  according to his covenant love. The reading from Exodus tells of God’s provision of manna in the wilderness, where God’s grace meets daily needs despite human grumbling. The epistolary reading from Philippians presents Paul’s reflection on life and death, showing in suffering and service the believer can rest in the surpassing grace of Christ even at the expense of personal gain. The Gospel text in Matthew offers Jesus’ parable of the laborers in the vineyard, where God’s generosity overturns human expectations based on comparisons.

Reminder: This introductory paragraph is intended to show how the four RCL selections for this week are connected and to assist the preacher prepare the sermon. It is not intended to be included in the sermon.

How to use this sermon resource.

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God’s Grace Is Greater Than We Can Imagine

Exodus 16:2–15 ESV

Over the past four Sundays, we’ve been following Israel’s journey from slavery toward freedom. We’ve seen God hear the cries of his people, confront Pharaoh with his power, and protect Israel through the Passover. At every step, God has been revealing who he is — the God who is at work to rescue us even when we cannot see him, the God who comes down, who keeps his promises, and does not abandon his children. God’s grace is greater than we can imagine.

Last Sunday, we saw a spectacular rescue from slavery. God led Israel out of Egypt through the Red Sea. But now the celebration has faded, and the wilderness lies ahead. Today’s passage asks an important question: What happens when God’s rescued people begin to doubt the God who rescued them?

Let’s read Exodus 16:2–15.

² And the whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness, ³ and the people of Israel said to them, “Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”

⁴ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not. ⁵ On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather daily.” ⁶ So Moses and Aaron said to all the people of Israel, “At evening you shall know that it was the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, ⁷ and in the morning you shall see the glory of the Lord, because he has heard your grumbling against the Lord. For what are we, that you grumble against us?” ⁸ And Moses said, “When the Lord gives you in the evening meat to eat and in the morning bread to the full, because the Lord has heard your grumbling that you grumble against him—what are we? Your grumbling is not against us but against the Lord.”

⁹ Then Moses said to Aaron, “Say to the whole congregation of the people of Israel, ‘Come near before the Lord, for he has heard your grumbling.’” ¹⁰ And as soon as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the people of Israel, they looked toward the wilderness, and behold, the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud. ¹¹ And the Lord said to Moses, ¹² “I have heard the grumbling of the people of Israel. Say to them, ‘At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread. Then you shall know that I am the Lord your God.’”

¹³ In the evening quail came up and covered the camp, and in the morning dew lay around the camp. ¹⁴ And when the dew had gone up, there was on the face of the wilderness a fine, flake-like thing, fine as frost on the ground. ¹⁵ When the people of Israel saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, “It is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat. Exodus 16:2–15 ESV

If Israel’s story ended with crossing the Red Sea, it would read like a fairy tale classic that concludes with “and they lived happily ever after.” However, today we see how it is going for the Israelites beyond the Red Sea.

In the wilderness, it becomes clear why God instructed Moses and the people to observe the Passover before their deliverance from Egypt — not after (as we discussed two Sundays ago). Passover was given as a built-in reminder. It was meant to help Israel remember what God had done for them when their natural tendency would be to forget.

But it was more than a personal reminder. It was also a way of preserving the story for future generations — so that even those who had never experienced the exodus firsthand would know that God is the one who rescues, provides, and keeps his promises.

God knows us well. He knows how quickly celebration fades into forgetfulness. When the music stops, we forget the song; when the dancing ends, we lose the rhythm that once filled us with joy. So, in his mercy, God gives us reminders — practices, stories, and signs — to keep us moving forward when the journey becomes difficult.

Because the journey rarely feels like “milk and honey.”

That phrase, “a land flowing with milk and honey,” was God’s way of describing the Promised Land — the land God promised to their ancestor Abraham. Speaking to Moses at the burning bush, God said:

So I have come down to rescue [the Israelites] from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey. Exodus 3:8 NIV

After being enslaved, what an abundant blessing to have a land of their own! “Milk” points to ongoing provision, the daily nourishment of flocks and herds. “Honey” points to sweetness, delight, and the richness of life as God intended it. Together, they paint a picture of fullness — of life not just surviving but flourishing in the presence of God.

But Israel was not there yet.

They were living in between — between the Red Sea, where God had already rescued them from slavery, and the Promised Land, where they would one day experience the fullness of God’s promises. God had already determined to make them his own, providing and protecting them and setting them free for relationship with him. But their current circumstance was the wilderness: uncertain, uncomfortable, and often disappointing. And it was precisely in that in-between space that their faith was tested.

And that is where we live, too. We sometimes call this the “already / not yet.”

Through Jesus Christ, we have already been delivered from bondage to sin and death. We are redeemed and reconciled to God. We belong to God, and our future is secure. We have not yet fully arrived at the “Promised Land.” We are still waiting for the fullness of God’s kingdom, when Christ returns and all things are made new.

So, we live in the wilderness of the present age — where we’ve been saved but evil still exists. That is why we need reminders.

Now, with that framework in mind, let’s return to our passage.

As we listen to this story, we need to be careful about where we place our focus. It would be easy to focus only on Israel’s poor response and miss the far more important response — the Lord’s response. It would also be easy to keep Israel’s grumbling at a distance, as if we would never do that. But their grumbling is a mirror held up to us as well.

And with humility, we can admit that we often respond in similar ways when our own wilderness becomes difficult. This story is not given to leave us wallowing in self-condemnation. It is given to show us how the Lord responds to his people in their weakness, and to encourage us to keep moving forward. God’s grace is greater than we can imagine.

The passage begins by telling us that the “whole congregation” grumbled against Moses and Aaron. This will become a repeated pattern throughout Israel’s wilderness journey. And it is a shocking response, especially so soon after their deliverance through the Red Sea. How soon they forget, we may think. And what’s worse, they are not just forgetting what the Lord did for them, but they are remembering wrongly what it was like in Egypt.

They focus their grumbling by fixating on food. They say they sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full. But was slavery really so abundant? Was life under Pharaoh truly better than life with God? Their complaint suggests that Pharaoh treated them better than the Lord. They are looking back to their former life of slavery and thinking it was not so bad after all. They have become so distracted by the hardship of the wilderness that they have lost sight of the promise of God.

Ultimately, they have forgotten that God revealed to them that he can be trusted. Now that the journey has got a little rocky, they start to think that God is not who he says he is.

At the heart of their grumbling is a misjudgment of their circumstances. But worse yet, they have misjudged God’s character. Instead of seeing him as the God who delivered them from slavery into life, they begin to believe that he has brought them into the wilderness to die.

Their circumstances have become louder than God’s promise. And if we are honest, we know this temptation as well. When our own lives become dry and rocky, we can begin to wonder whether God is truly good, whether he is truly for us, whether he really intends to give us life. We hear again the old whisper of doubt: “Can I believe what God says?” We begin to believe the lie that God is withholding life from us, rather than leading us into it.

So, we should ask ourselves: what are we allowing to feed our understanding of life? Are we measuring life by the diet of this present evil age? Are we tempted to prefer what the old tyrants once fed us, forgetting that every morsel came with chains attached? The world offers many things that promise fullness, but they cannot nourish the soul. Only God’s living Word gives life. Israel’s story warns us not to confuse bondage with blessing simply because the wilderness feels hard.

Yet this temptation is real, especially in the wilderness, and we all face it. So, what do God’s people need when fear, hunger, and disappointment begin to distort their vision? The answer is found in the Lord’s response. As surprising as Israel’s grumbling may be, God’s response is even more surprising. He does not abandon them. He does not send them back to Egypt. He does not answer their complaint with rejection.

He plans to feed them. Because God’s grace is greater than we can imagine.

That is not how we usually respond to unjustified grumbling and complaint. But there is hardly a pause in the passage between Israel’s grumbling and the Lord’s provision. There is no word of disdain, disappointment, or dismissal in God’s response. He simply tells Moses what he is about to do.

Once again, God reveals his heart and character through his actions toward his people. God hears the cries of his people. God is rescuing us, even when we cannot see him. God comes down, keeps his promises, and does not abandon his children.

Now notice how he feeds them. The bread from heaven will come one day at a time, with enough for each day and twice as much on the sixth day so they can rest on the Sabbath. In other words, God’s provision will also train their trust. They will have to learn, day after day, that the Lord is faithful to his word. The test in the wilderness is not simply about food; it is about faith. God is feeding their bodies, but he is also feeding their trust in him.

God gives them a daily reminder of his provision in the wilderness. And we can ask: has God provided for us in similar ways? Maybe not in dramatic abundance, like the lottery, but has he not given us daily bread? More importantly, when we see Jesus as the Bread of Life, we can say that every day we wake on this earth, we are met by the One who came down from heaven for us. Even when we grumble and complain, we find that his mercies are new. His grace covers the ground we walk on. He provides not only what we need, but also what strengthens our faith along the journey.

Regardless of our unfaithful responses, this is the grace God gives. God’s grace is greater than we can imagine. And thankfully, Jesus shares his perfect faith in his Father with us!

God’s greatest provision in this story is not the manna or the meat. It is his presence. After Aaron speaks to the people, they look toward the wilderness, and “the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud.” That is what they needed most in the wilderness. They needed to know that God was with them, that he had not abandoned them, and that he would see them through to the end. He is the same God in a cloud who stood between them and the Egyptians at the Red Sea.

That is what we need most as well. Living in this present evil age does not always feel like a land flowing with milk and honey. It often leaves us thirsty, hungry, weary, and longing for more. The journey includes disappointment, suffering, and sometimes great loss.

Yet when we recall our Lord Jesus on the cross, we are reminded that he entered our wilderness to restore it and bring us into his new creation. And by the Spirit, he continues to be present with us in the wilderness. So, no matter what wilderness you may be walking through today, look up. The God who brought us out will bring us home. And until the fullness of his kingdom comes, we can keep moving forward in hope.

Finally, at the end of the passage, God is faithful to his word. He gives Israel meat in the evening and bread in the morning. The quail and the manna both come from above. This is a picture of God’s grace that comes down to us. Ultimately, it is Jesus who was sent down to us as God’s grace. It is Jesus who is our Bread of Life who sends his Spirit to descend on us like a bird.

Israel’s story points us to the greater story — the final deliverance from every form of bondage and oppression, secured for us in Jesus Christ our Lord. In him, we see the full and perfect self-revelation of God. Through Jesus’ words and actions, we come to know the God who is holy, righteous, and relational — the God who is more committed to us than we are even to ourselves. Jesus shows us the Father that we are unable to see because sin has blinded us.

When we read Exodus in the light of Jesus, the two testaments stand together as one witness to the Almighty God we know as Father, Son, and Spirit. This is the God of love — the God who will not abandon his creation or surrender it to anything that stands against his children. God heals what is broken, reconciles what is estranged, and makes us into a new creation. God’s grace is greater than we can imagine.

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