Have you ever received a message that changed your day?

Perhaps it was a phone call offering a new opportunity. A letter confirming good news. An email saying, “You’ve been accepted.” Sometimes a single message can change how we see ourselves and how we see our future.

The Bible readings today are all about a message from God—one that changes not only how we see ourselves, but how we understand our purpose in the world.

In our first reading from Exodus, the people of Israel have recently been rescued from slavery in Egypt. They arrive at Mount Sinai not because they have earned God’s favour but because God has already acted on their behalf. Before there are commandments, before there is law, before there is obedience, there is grace.

God reminds them:

“You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself.”

What a beautiful image.

Israel’s story begins not with human achievement but with divine rescue.
God chose them.

God delivered them.
God carried them.
And then God gives them a calling:

“You shall be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.”

Notice the order.

Rescue comes before responsibility.
Grace comes before mission.
God does not choose Israel because they are special. Rather, they become special because God chooses them.

The same pattern appears in our reading from Romans.

Paul writes:
“Since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Once again, everything begins with God’s initiative.
The Christian faith does not begin with what we do for God. It begins with what God has done for us in Christ.

To be justified means to be put right with God. Through the death and resurrection of Jesus, the barrier of sin has been removed and peace with God has become possible.

This is not something we earn.
It is something we receive.
And Paul takes us even deeper:

“God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

There is the heart of the Gospel.
God does not wait until we become worthy.
God does not wait until we have our lives sorted out.
God loves first.

The cross is God’s great declaration of love to a broken world.
If Exodus tells us that God rescues His people, Romans tells us the cost of that rescue.
It cost nothing less than the life of His Son.
Then we come to Matthew’s Gospel.
Having experienced grace, what are God’s people called to do?
Jesus gives us the answer.

Matthew tells us:

“When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.”

This is one of the most revealing verses in the New Testament.
Jesus sees people differently.
Where others see crowds, He sees individuals.
Where others see problems, He sees people.
Where others see inconvenience, He sees need.
And His response is compassion.
Not judgement.
Not indifference.
Compassion.
The compassion of Jesus is not passive sympathy. It moves Him to action.
He heals.
He teaches.
He restores.
And then He sends His disciples to continue His work.
The sequence is important.

God chooses.
God saves.
God sends.

Israel was chosen to bless the nations.
The disciples were called to share the good news.
The Church today continues that mission.
We are not called merely to attend church.
We are called to be the Church.
We are called to bring Christ’s compassion into our homes, workplaces, schools, communities, and neighbourhoods.
Some people are called to preach.
Others are called to teach.
Others to encourage.
Others to serve.
Others to pray.
But every Christian is called to participate in God’s mission.

And all of this leads naturally to Psalm 100.

The Psalmist writes:

“Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.”

That is the response to grace.
Worship.
Thanksgiving.
Joy.

The Psalm does not tell us to come into God’s presence anxiously.
It tells us:

“Serve the Lord with gladness.”

Why?
Because we belong to Him.
Because His love endures forever.
Because His faithfulness continues through all generations.
The Gospel therefore gives us a wonderful vision of the Christian life.
We are chosen by grace.
We are justified by faith.
We are loved through the cross.
We are sent with compassion.
And we respond with joyful worship.

In a world searching for identity, purpose, and hope, these readings remind us who we are.
We are God’s people.
We are recipients of His grace.
We are ambassadors of His compassion.
And we are called to join in His mission.

May we therefore live as people who know the peace of God, trust the love of God, share the compassion of Christ, and rejoice in the faithfulness of the Lord.
For the God who carried Israel on eagle’s wings, who justified us through Christ, and who sends us into His harvest field, is still at work today.

And to Him be all glory, honour, and praise.

Amen.