The Story, Unit 1: Point of View Sermon 4: Deliverance September 28, 2014

Transcription

1 The Story, Unit 1: Point of View Sermon 4: Deliverance September 28, 2014 (Dueling Banjos) No, no, not that kind of Deliverance. I told Steve that the theme for this week would be Deliverance, and he starts thinking Dueling Banjos. Now if you are under the age of 40, you might not get it. But if you are a little older, you ll remember Burt Reynolds, Jon Voight, Ned Beatty on a canoe trip in Georgia gone really, really bad you may still squirm a little. But the deliverance we ll be focusing on this morning is actually the second greatest rescue in The Story. This deliverance defines Israel. The other deliverance, the big one, defines us. And here s our take home: whenever God does something amazing to you, he ll also want to do something amazing through you. We are blessed to bless. We are delivered to deliver. Now, those of you who remember the movie Deliverance will probably also remember Cecil B. DeMille s, Ten Commandments, with Charlton Heston, and Yul Brynner. Now, that s the Deliverance we re talking about this morning. You younger guys are probably more familiar with this movie version (Prince of Egypt). Same story; either one of these will get you to the same basic place. It s the story of Moses. And this Moses has one of the biggest parts in this whole Story. In fact, in the Bible the only guys mentioned more than Moses are Jesus who is #1 of course, and King David. Moses is #3. And the most vivid picture most people have of Moses, especially you old guys, is this one (Video: Moses parting the Red Sea). Did you hear about the little boy who was asked by his mom, What did you learn in Sunday School today. He says, Mom, it was incredible! God sent Moses behind the enemy lines to rescue some people. And when they are getting away there is a huge river in front of them, and the Egyptian army behind them. So Moses tells his guys to build this pontoon bridge across the river, and all his people get across. But the Egyptian army is right behind him, so Moses calls in this airstrike. And there were apache helicopters, and stealth bombers, and cruise missiles, and they blow the bridge up and the people are saved. And mom is listening, her eyes getting wider and wider, and she says, That s what they taught you 1

2 in Sunday School? And the little guy says, Well no. But if I told you what they said you d never believe it. But this crossing of the Red Sea is just the final scene of this intricate showdown between Moses and the Pharaoh of Egypt. You see, Moses was sent by God to demand the release of God s people, who were slaves in Egypt. Moses tells Pharaoh, I am here on a mission from God the real God. And the real God, Let my people go! But the Pharaoh, who actually thought he was a god himself, and who was the leader of the most powerful country in that part of the world, wasn t about to let these Israelite slaves go. So God says, If you aren t going to listen to Moses, or me, maybe I ll need to do some things to kind of get your attention. And God starts causing these plagues on Egypt, and on the pharaoh personally. You remember the story. How many plagues were there? Right, 10. First, God turns their water into blood. Then there is mega swarm of frogs. Frogs in the bathroom, in the kitchen, in the bedroom. Then gnats, huge swarms of gnats. Ever been in a swarm of gnats? Annoying! Then flies, flies everywhere, on everything, in everything. Then some kind of disease on their livestock. Then boils, all over their skin. Then God sends a gigantic hailstorm, that destroys their crops and dents their camels. Then there is this swarm of locusts, kind of like grasshoppers on steroids, eating everything. Then there is this intense darkness that lasts for 3 days. Now my whole life I have heard natural explanations for the plagues. There is this algae bloom that turns the water red. And that causes this explosion of frogs. And when the frogs die there are all these gnats and flies. And all those biting flies spread disease to the livestock and boils to the people. And the darkness was this huge dust-storm, or maybe volcanic ash. You get the idea. That kind of musing doesn t bother me. I don t care. There are two things going on that are huge. #1: God calls it. God calls it in advance. You see, the In the beginning God God can do that. In fact, it s child s play for him. He tells Moses to announce in 2

3 advance what is going to happen, and it does. And it blows their minds and eventually bends Pharaoh s stubborn will. But there is something else is going on here that is huge. You see, these plagues are signs. These Egyptians were polytheists, the worshiped a boatload of gods except for the real one. You see, it doesn t matter how spiritual you are if it is not directed to the In the beginning God. The Egyptians worshiped Hapy, the god of the Nile. So when the real God turns the Nile into blood, and all the Egyptians are praying to Hapy, their Nile god, they are getting nothing. It s a sign! God is saying, I AM God. They worshiped Heqet, this goddess of fertility, pictured as a woman with the head of a frog. So when there is the plague of frogs, and the Egyptians are praying to Heqet, they get nothing. God is telling them, I AM God. They worshiped Apis, the bull god; and Imhotep, the god of medicine; and Set, the god of storms; and Osiris, the god of crops. All powerless before the God of Israel. They worshiped Ra, this sun god. And when it all goes dark, they are praying to Ra, and getting nothing. And God is telling them, I AM God. You get the idea. These plagues not only bent Pharaoh s will, they also challenged their idolatry. It s kind of like Moses is singing to himself, Our God is greater, our God is stronger, our God is higher than any other. In fact, there are no other gods. And then there is this plague #10. That s the big one. That s the troubling one for so many people, and it is the most significant plague for our story. You see, the Pharaoh had told Moses, I m done with these games. In fact, The day I see your face again I will kill you. So this is what Moses tells him. This is hard. He says, This is what the Lord says: At midnight tonight I will pass through the heart of Egypt. All the firstborn sons will die in every family in Egypt, from the oldest son of Pharaoh, who sits on his throne, to the oldest son of his lowliest servant girl who grinds the flour. Even the firstborn of all the livestock will die. Then a loud wail will rise throughout the land of Egypt, a wail like no one has heard before or will ever hear again. (Exodus ) 3

4 Guys, if you are a firstborn son, stand up. It doesn t matter how old you are, if you are the firstborn son, stand up. God tells Pharaoh, In the morning these guys are all dead. Would that get Pharaoh s attention. Now this may not make God s command easier to take for some of you, but let me illustrate what Pharaoh had already done to the Jews. -- All the rest of you guys stand up. If you are a guy, stand up. Earlier in the story, Pharaoh had commanded that every male baby of the Israelites be killed at birth. You would all be dead if Pharaoh had had his way with that one. But this is about way more than breaking Pharaoh s pride, and bending Pharaoh s will. And it s even about way more than rescuing the Israelites from their Egyptian slavery. You see, what God told the Israelites to do to spare their firstborn sons was kind of weird, from our Point of View. God told each family to take a male lamb, without blemish perfect. Then they were to slaughter that lamb near the end of the day. And they were to smear some of the blood on the wooden doorframes of their houses. And that night, when the angel of death came to kill the firstborns, any house marked by that blood on their doorposts would be passed over (the first Passover). Isn t that weird? Why would God ask them to perform such a strange, almost macabre ritual? Because because from God s Point of View, it wasn t just about the rescue of his people from Egypt. God was thinking ahead about an infinitely more important rescue mission that was coming over a thousand years later (God can do that). And God was leaving some clues, God was dropping a trail of bread crumbs that would lead directly to Jesus. Over a thousand years later God would send his first-born son his only son to die. He would be called the lamb of God God s sacrifice for us a perfect, unblemished lamb. And he would be crucified at the same time of the evening they were killing their lambs to remember this first Passover. In their Passover meal the Jews were to eat unleavened bread, to remember how fast they had to move when God came to rescue them. Jesus said, That unleavened bread is now my body, given to deliver you. The Jews would drink these cups of wine to remember what God had done, when they painted their doorposts with blood, so the angel of death would pass over them, spare them. Jesus said, That cup now represents my blood. That s my blood on your doorposts. 4

5 It s strange to some that Jesus would take the Passover meal and give it a brand new meaning, that he would make himself the focus of the Passover meal from that point forward. But you see, that was God s intent all along. In this story over a millennium before Jesus God was dropping clues that would lead us to Jesus. You see, the story of the Exodus, the story of the deliverance of Israel, is really just a foreshadow of Jesus. And what God could see, looking forward a thousand years, we see looking backward 2000 years. And we see, and we understand, and we are dazzled, and we are amazed by his grace Because, Now my debt is paid, It is paid in full, By the precious blood, That my Jesus spilled; Now the curse of sin Has no hold on me, Whom the Son sets free, Oh is free indeed Lord s Supper Now How many of you read chapter 4 last week? That s so cool! Guys, if you can get in the habit of reading a chapter a week, you will discover something really cool, and powerfully important every week. And if you can figure out a way to read together as a family, or talk about the chapter together as a family you will be doing some amazing and Godhonoring parenting. Well, if you read your chapter last week, you ll know that I kind of skipped to the end of chapter 4 in the first part of the sermon. Well, now we need to step back and see what led up to this Passover, to this Exodus from Egypt. You see, if you were here last week, of if you read chapter 3 of the Story, we explored the story of Joseph. Joseph was a Jew, sold into slavery by his brothers because he was kind of a jerk, and his brothers were jerks on steroids. Joseph served in the house of an Egyptian official named Potiphar, until Potiphar s wife accused him of attempted rape. So he goes to jail. But eventually he gets out, and rises up to become the Vice President of Egypt. It s an amazing story! And he brings the rest of his family to Egypt, where they get some of the best land, and start multiplying like rabbits. So at the end of chapter 3 life is really good for the Israelites in Egypt. But at the beginning of chapter 4, about 400 years later, life has become awful 5

6 for the Israelites in Egypt. Well, here s what happens. The Bible says, Eventually, (after Joseph) a new king came to power in Egypt who knew nothing about Joseph or what he had done. He said to his people, Look, the people of Israel now outnumber us and are stronger than we are. We must make a plan to keep them from growing even more So the Egyptians made the Israelites their slaves. They appointed brutal slave drivers over them, hoping to wear them down with crushing labor. (Exodus ) But it says, But the more the Egyptians oppressed them, the more the Israelites multiplied and spread, and the more alarmed the Egyptians became. (Exodus 1.12) You see, Plan A wasn t working: work them like dogs. So they went with Plan B: kill their kids. It says, Pharaoh gave this order to the Hebrew midwives: When you help the Hebrew women as they give birth, watch as they deliver. If the baby is a boy, kill him; if it is a girl, let her live. (That s brutal!) But because the midwives feared God, they refused to obey the king s orders. They allowed the boys to live, too. (Exodus ) Then, it says, Pharaoh gave this order to all his people: Throw every newborn Hebrew boy into the Nile River. But you may let the girls live. (Exodus 1.2) First they try slavery, then genocide. And this is more than just brutality, this is darkness; this is the darkness rising up against God s Story to try to snuff out the light But here s the deal: It is God s Story, and it can t be snuffed out! Anyway, Moses mama is pretty crafty. After she gives birth to Moses she devises this plan. She knows that Pharaoh s daughter comes to bathe in the Nile every day. So she takes a basket, coats it with tar and pitch, so it will float I found this picture beautiful: the terror of a mother about to abandon her baby in order to save his life. And then Pharaoh s daughter comes down to the river, and she sees the baby, and she falls in love babies can do that to you! And she has this conversation with dad: Daddy, can I keep him? Please? (She s batting her eyelashes, pouting a little.) He s so cute? Please daddy? And the more things change, the more things stay the same. Pharaoh can t say no to his little girl. And after all, What one little baby going to do? It s just one little baby. Now, we don t want to skip past this part of the story too quickly. If Pharaoh s daughter hadn t delivered Moses, Moses could never have delivered Israel. God uses a pagan girl, who had no clue what she was 6

7 doing he uses an unwitting pagan girl to move his story forward. God can do that. Anyway, Pharaoh s daughter takes him in, she names him Moses, which means, drawn from the water. And he grows up as Egyptian royalty. So he s born an Israelite slave, but he grows up a prince of Egypt. But Moses knows he s different; he knows his biological kin are slaves. And one day when he is full grown he sees this Egyptian putting a beat down on a Israelite slave, he s beating the guy to death. So Moses jumps in and beats the Egyptian so badly he ends up killing him. And he looks around, hoping no one is looking. But somebody saw the whole thing, and word gets back to Pharaoh, and so Moses went from Prince of Egypt to fugitive he runs. Moses runs to a far away place completely out of touch with the rest of the civilized world a place called West Virginia. I m just kidding. If you were looking for a place completely out of touch with the rest of the civilized world today, you d go to Washington D.C. And there in the land of Midian he finds a wife, and becomes a shepherd. And apparently he would have been perfectly content to spend the rest of his life there. (Exodus 3.7, 10 on screen) Until one day he s out with his sheep, and there is this bush, on fire, and it just keeps burning, and burning. And he hears a voice from the fire telling him to take off his shoes it s holy ground, because God is there. And the voice says, I Am the God of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob. The voice says, I have seen the oppression of my people, and it s time. I want you to go back to Egypt and set my people free. (Exodus 3.14 on screen) And after Moses changes his drawers, he says to the voice from the bush, Who are you? And God says, I AM the I AM. I AM the one who is; the one who always has been; the one who always will be. I AM the In the beginning God. Now go! Rescue my people! Now, there are two kinds of people who respond to a call from God. There are exclamation point people, and there are question mark people. A few of you may be exclamation points. A whole lot of us are question marks. You exclamation points tell God, Cool! I m in! Let s do this thing! Where do I go, when can I start? But we question marks tell God, 7

8 Who, me? Are you serious? Are you sure you dialed the right number? Have you considered the fact that there are others way more enthusiastic, and way more qualified than me? Now, if you have seen the movie Braveheart, you ve seen an exclamation point leader: William Wallace bold, fearless, confident. And if you saw any of the Lord of the Rings films, you saw a question mark leader: Frodo Baggins: nervous, timid, inadequate. Well God uses both kinds: he uses exclamation points, and he uses question marks. Listen to Moses, this is amazing this is one of the two most important guys in the Old Testament story. God says to him, Now go! Rescue my people! (Exodus 3.11 on screen) And Moses says to God, to the In the beginning God, he says: Me? And God says, Look around, twit. You are all alone in the middle of a desert, talking to a burning bush. Who do you think I m talking to? One of these sheep? And Moses says, But Who am I to appear before Pharaoh? Who am I to lead the people out of Egypt? (Add Exodus 3.12a) And God says, Take it easy, I will be with you. And Moses keeps pushing back, arguing with God, evading. (Exodus 3.13 on screen) He says, But what if they don t listen to me? What if the people of Israel won t accept me as their leader? What if they have they are afraid to follow me because they are not sure about you any more? In fact who are you anyway? Who do I tell them you are? And God answers with some of the most mystifying, most powerful words ever spoken to anyman. (Exodus on screen) God says, Tell them I AM who I AM. Tell them the I AM sent me to you. The only one who just IS who always has been, who always will be. The uncreated one. Kind of mind blowing, isn t it? Tell them I am the In the beginning God, I am the God of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob your ancestors and now I m here for you. Wow! You d think that would cinch it for Moses But it doesn t. Let s see: the In the beginning God is sending you on a mission; he tells you he ll be with you; and you just keep kicking back. How stupid is that? But we do it all the time! (Exodus 4.1 on screen) Moses protests again. He says, What if they don t believe me? What if they don t listen to me? What if they think I m making this whole thing up? What if, what if, what 8

9 if? And God actually gives Moses the power to work a couple of miracles so they d listen to him. Do you think that s enough for Moses? Guys, he s a question mark on steroids. (Exodus 4.10 on screen) Moses says, But God, I don t talk good! I get all confused, I get all tongue tied, my words get all tangled up. God you are making a big mistake telling me to go talk for you. You ever push back when God nudges? And I love God s response to this little whiner. (Exodus on screen) God says, Who made your mouth, you twit? Who decides whether a person can talk, or not? Who made your eyes? Who made your ears? Do you get it? Just go! I told you, I ll be with you! And I ll give you the words! And that s still not enough for Moses, and a lot of us! Moses the question mark tries one more time. (Exodus 4.13 on screen) He says, God, please! Please! I m begging you: please send someone else, anyone else! Don t mock him: you ve been there, done that. And I just wonder if part of all this squirming is due to something Moses doesn t say. I wonder if Moses is thinking, God, you re forgetting I have a past. You know what I have done. I am not a good man. I killed a man, in anger. How could anyone who has done as bad as me, ever do anything this big for you? And and what if they remember, and what if they arrest me, what if they kill me? And God knows, he knows what Moses is thinking. (Exodus 4.19 on screen) God says, Go on now, all who wanted to kill you are now dead. What he s really saying is this: It s okay. I know about your past; I can still use you. And if I call you, I ll help you do what I need you to do. Just go! You see, it s not about what you can do for God; it s about what God can do through you. Guys, what hold you back when God calls you? Some doubt about God? God, I don t even know your name. Probably not. Some doubt about your fitness for the job? God, I m not smart enough, I m not strong enough, I m not old enough, I m not rich enough, I m not healthy enough, I m not schooled enough. I don t have the time, I don t have the resources, I don t have the heart. Really? We try that one on the In the beginning God? Or maybe it s some doubt about your past. God, I m not good enough. My sins are too big, my sins are too many, my life is too 9

10 broken. I have this addiction, I have this secret sin. Guys, God will use you too. Or maybe, it s just too overwhelming. The need is too big, and you feel too small. What real difference can you make you think. You d rather just try to mind your own business, live your own life, be a good person. You d like that to be enough. But it s not. Whenever God does something amazing to you, he ll also want to do something amazing through you. We are blessed to bless. We are delivered to deliver. What would hold you back? What would cause you to push back on God when he wants to use to make a difference? You see, when God calls, he also promises: I ll be with you. Isn t that enough? Well Moses finally gets past his question marks, and he challenges the most powerful man in that part of the world, and after 10 plagues, an incredible Passover meal, and leading his people through a sea on dry land, he becomes one of the most impactful players in our Story. Because this isn t just their story Moses, Pharaoh, Aaron, and all those old dead guys. This is God s Story. And the In the beginning God is going to get it done. If he says it s going to happen, it s going to be. But it s also my story, and your story. And there are some lessons we need to learn from this chapter of the story. Guys, God s story isn t just about blessing those who trust him; it s about God blessing the world through those who trust him. Did you get that? We are rescued by God, to be used by God. We are delivered, so God can use us to deliver someone else who is in a mess. Guys, if you are a Jesus follower, God has forgiven your sins, he has made you part of his family, he has given you life that will never, ever end. And he has given you a mission, to drag as many others with you as you can. And he ll help; in fact he ll do the heavy lifting. You just have to go when he nudges. And I know that a few of you may be exclamation points. But I know that a whole lot more of you are question marks. Some of you, when you are nudged by God, you get all excited. You can t wait. You are raring to go. You have to be restrained a bit some times, because you ll run all over people to get it done. That s so cool! 10

11 But most of us are question marks. Who me? Are you serious God? But I don t have the time, and I don t have the money, and I don t have the gifts, and I don t even have the heart to go there and do that! And aren t you forgetting my past? Doesn t that disqualify me, God? I ve been too many dark places, I ve done too many dark things -- I wouldn t even listen to me. Guys, when god nudges, when God calls: just go! God specializes in using twits like you. This whole story is about God using twits like us. When God nudges, just do it. Because he will be with you. That s his promise. One more thought. Sometimes God calls you to rescue many. But usually God calls us to rescue just one. I love the part of this story where Pharaoh s daughter, just one young pagan girl, is used by God to rescue Moses. If she hadn t rescued Moses, Moses couldn t have rescued Israel. In reality, she is just as important to this story as Moses. Without her, there would be no Charlton Heston starring in the Ten Commandments. Guys, if you are a Jesus follower, God will nudge you to rescue someone. Just do it! Has he given you a name? Has he given you a face? Is there someone he has put you close to that you can nudge towards Jesus? Guys, he ll take you as he finds you. Whatever your fears and failures, he ll use you. Just give it up. Give it all up. Give your life to follow him. It will be worth it. 11