Arriving at the Stadium
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Entrance Video
Entrances matter...
Why?
Good first impression...
New beginning...
Set’s the tone...
Today, Moses enters the stadium
The arena where he will battle against Pharaoh
But in reality, it’s not Moses fighting at all
YouVersion: Arriving at the stadium
We’re in Exodus 5:1-6:13
Exodus 5:1–3 (ESV)
1 Afterward Moses and Aaron went and said to Pharaoh, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Let my people go, that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness.’ ” 2 But Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, and moreover, I will not let Israel go.” 3 Then they said, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us go a three days’ journey into the wilderness that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God, lest he fall upon us with pestilence or with the sword.”
What’s the first thing that strikes you?
To me, Aaron and Moses’ bravery
Go into your boss’ office Monday - I am going to hold a Bible study every morning for the first hour
You probably wouldn’t do that - it would be hard even if God told you directly!
Imagine Moses:
You stand behind arguably the most powerful man in the world
We think of “public servants” - the public existed to serve him!
He was thought to be a god
Plutarch - 1st century writer
Wrote of Egyptian statue called “Veil of Isis”
Egyptian Temple Inscription: “I am that which was, and is, and shall be, and no man has lifted my veil.”
However, Moses knew Pharaoh was a man...
Because he knew the real God! The only God!
So he had to do something:
Uncomfortable
Uncertain
Dangerous
And terrifying!
But he did it
Sometimes we have to make similar stands
At work maybe
Against the government maybe
Against our friends
Against family
1. Obeying God requires bravery
1. Obeying God requires bravery
In Moses’ case, he demanded freedom - why?
The Hebrews didn’t belong to Egypt, they belonged to God
And he was here to help take them back
Pharaoh responds, “Uh, who is The Lord?”
Of Pharaoh does one thing right, this is it!
It’s not about Moses, Aaron, or Pharaoh
It’s about the Lord
Moses doesn’t start at freedom, he starts at an opportunity to worship God
Exodus 5:4–9 (ESV)
4 But the king of Egypt said to them, “Moses and Aaron, why do you take the people away from their work? Get back to your burdens.” 5 And Pharaoh said, “Behold, the people of the land are now many, and you make them rest from their burdens!” 6 The same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people and their foremen, 7 “You shall no longer give the people straw to make bricks, as in the past; let them go and gather straw for themselves. 8 But the number of bricks that they made in the past you shall impose on them, you shall by no means reduce it, for they are idle. Therefore they cry, ‘Let us go and offer sacrifice to our God.’ 9 Let heavier work be laid on the men that they may labor at it and pay no regard to lying words.”
Pharaoh says, “No!”
In fact, you seem to have too much time on your hands!
You have time to make crazy requests
Your population keeps growing so you have time for other things
I think you’re lazy!
Now, not only do you make bricks, I’m not giving you the straw!
You gotta get your own straw now AND keep making bricks!
2. God never says freedom is easy
2. God never says freedom is easy
Too often we want to serve God, but when we don’t gain, we decide to quit
Feeding the homeless breakfast, but quitting when they complain
Often times we only want to do what God says when it’s convenient, or we feel good, or we like the person
We are called to do God’s will, regardless of the cost
E’yen A. Gardner: “To be comforted by God is a promise that few of us ever receive, because we are consumed with controlling our situations to avoid being vulnerable.”
Often times we deal with challenging things
Addictions, mourning, illness, failures...
And we keep them secret
We want to quit and give up, and we get angry with God
He wants to comfort us, He wants to use His people to comfort us...
But it never happens - why?
We can’t be vulnerable, we can’t be honest
We’re afraid of judgement and honesty
So we take that last bit of strength we have, and use it to cover it all up
I’ve been mistreated, I don’t trust people, they won’t get it...
1. You’ve never actually given them a chance
2. You’re hanging out with the wrong people
For Moses and Aaron, they were instructed to confront Pharaoh
Now there is a consequence - God never said there wouldn’t be!
Now we’ll see it gets worse before it gets better:
Exodus 5:10–14 (ESV)
10 So the taskmasters and the foremen of the people went out and said to the people, “Thus says Pharaoh, ‘I will not give you straw. 11 Go and get your straw yourselves wherever you can find it, but your work will not be reduced in the least.’ ” 12 So the people were scattered throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw. 13 The taskmasters were urgent, saying, “Complete your work, your daily task each day, as when there was straw.” 14 And the foremen of the people of Israel, whom Pharaoh’s taskmasters had set over them, were beaten and were asked, “Why have you not done all your task of making bricks today and yesterday, as in the past?”
Pharaoh increases workload, but expects same results
Doesn’t seem fair!
NC Youth pastor responsibilities
110% youth - neglected his family so more than he should
I’m 70% youth, 30% worship
And yet, every has the same expectations
What 30% of youth was I not supposed to do
Response - I don’t know, figure it out!
The answer was simply, disappoint people
Sometimes expectations are unfair
Sometimes honoring God requires being teated unfairly
Well God, if that’s how You’re going to treat me, see ya!
John Powell: “By afflictions God is spoiling us of what otherwise might have spoiled us. When He makes the world too hot to hold, we let it go.”
The Hebrews are going to learn a valuable lesson in this:
Exodus 5:15–19 (ESV)
15 Then the foremen of the people of Israel came and cried to Pharaoh, “Why do you treat your servants like this? 16 No straw is given to your servants, yet they say to us, ‘Make bricks!’ And behold, your servants are beaten; but the fault is in your own people.” 17 But he said, “You are idle, you are idle; that is why you say, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to the Lord.’ 18 Go now and work. No straw will be given you, but you must still deliver the same number of bricks.” 19 The foremen of the people of Israel saw that they were in trouble when they said, “You shall by no means reduce your number of bricks, your daily task each day.”
A study of bricks around ancient Egypts shows something interesting
Straw was important for bricks
Chopped it and mixed it with clay
First, straw gave structure and strength
Allowed the wet bricks to hold shape
Then, they dried in the sun
Straw would decay and release humic acid
Made the brick harder and stronger
When you need to make a brick, and there’s no straw, what do you do?
Stop using straw!
Then your bricks don’t hold up when drying, so that slows you down
Then they crumble when drying or being stacked, so that slows you down
Now they have to get their own
Egypt had an industry to provide this
What did the Hebrew slaves have? Nothing!
They had to scavenge
In looking at old Egyptian bricks:
Some have healthy chopped straw
Some were roughly pulled, still with roots and clumps in them
Some have no straw
Basically, this is an impossible situation
What are the Hebrews going to need to figure out?
Matthew 19:26 (ESV)
26 But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
That’s the key to this story, and any story about God
3. There is no “impossible” with God
3. There is no “impossible” with God
They’re not going to figure this out right away
But as the story goes, they’ll see it more and more
Kind of like our walk with God!
Smith Wigglesworth: “There is nothing impossible with God. All the impossibility is with us when we measure God by the limitations of our unbelief.”
If you believe something is impossible
It’s not God that’s the problem...
So let’s see how the Hebrews respond to Moses’ work...
Exodus 5:20–21 (ESV)
20 They met Moses and Aaron, who were waiting for them, as they came out from Pharaoh; 21 and they said to them, “The Lord look on you and judge, because you have made us stink in the sight of Pharaoh and his servants, and have put a sword in their hand to kill us.”
How many times in my life have I tried to do what God says is right...
And the very person I’m trying to help gets mad at me?
I let a guy live in my house for free
He ended up threatening to kill me
I tried to help an alcoholic face his addiction
I get cussed out for being a fake Christian - You call yourself a pastor?
I tried to counsel a guy facing hard times
I get told I’m the reason he doesn’t believe in God anymore
We let someone use our pool
We got a bag of poop on the front porch
Let’s see how Moses faces this:
Exodus 5:22–23 (ESV)
22 Then Moses turned to the Lord and said, “O Lord, why have you done evil to this people? Why did you ever send me? 23 For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has done evil to this people, and you have not delivered your people at all.”
In those moments, it’s easy to forget who we are
I’m righteous God, shouldn’t that mean everything is sunshine and roses?!
Who was the most holy and righteous man to ever live? Jesus...
Where did He righteousness lead Him? To His death on a cross...
John 15:18 (ESV)
18 “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.
What do you think we should expect when we try to do right
We’ll get rewarded in heaven!
But here, it might get a little tough...
Moses is asking a question here, is that wrong?
Let’s see how this plays out...
Flip over to chapter 6
This is more for Moses:
Exodus 6:1–5 (ESV)
1 But the Lord said to Moses, “Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh; for with a strong hand he will send them out, and with a strong hand he will drive them out of his land.”
2 God spoke to Moses and said to him, “I am the Lord. 3 I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by my name the Lord I did not make myself known to them. 4 I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they lived as sojourners. 5 Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the people of Israel whom the Egyptians hold as slaves, and I have remembered my covenant.
There’s three important lessons to learn here:
Moses says, “Why did you send me, You’ve done nothing.”
God says, “Don’t worry about it. I’ve heard the problem, and I know my promises.”
What do we do with that?
4. Questioning God is okay, accusing Him is not, and always trust His answers
4. Questioning God is okay, accusing Him is not, and always trust His answers
David Guzik: Moses was “too impressed by Pharaoh and not impressed enough by God.”
God makes us plenty of promises in Scripture
Many of them have not been fulfilled, or happened too long ago for us to “prove”
However, we have to continue trusting God regardless of what we see around us
What did they need to trust?
God promised Abraham’s descendants that:
They would be numerous as the stars
They would be a mighty nation
The would dwell in the land of Caanan
There is one more promise God makes to Abraham in Genesis 12:2-3
Genesis 12:2–3 (ESV)
2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
Whoever dishonors you I will curse
That’s a clue that Egypt is probably in trouble!
Then God tells Moses what to say to His people
This is more for the Hebrews:
Exodus 6:6–8 (ESV)
6 Say therefore to the people of Israel, ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment. 7 I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. 8 I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. I will give it to you for a possession. I am the Lord.’ ”
There’s a certain phrase repeated here: I will
He makes a set of promises here
Essentially, these are the same promises He gives to us in Christ:
I will:
…bring you out
…deliver you
…redeem you
…take you as My people
…be your God
Josh McDowell: “Knowing that God is faithful, it really helps me to not be captivated by worry. But knowing that He will do what He has said, He will cause it to happen, whatever He has promised, and then it causes me to be less involved in worrying about a situation.”
Thank God He’s given us the promises He has
But we don’t always do a good job of remembering - or trusting - His promises
Let’s see what the Hebrews do:
9 Moses spoke thus to the people of Israel, but they did not listen to Moses, because of their broken spirit and harsh slavery.
10 So the Lord said to Moses, 11 “Go in, tell Pharaoh king of Egypt to let the people of Israel go out of his land.” 12 But Moses said to the Lord, “Behold, the people of Israel have not listened to me. How then shall Pharaoh listen to me, for I am of uncircumcised lips?” 13 But the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron and gave them a charge about the people of Israel and about Pharaoh king of Egypt: to bring the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt.
We’re going to stop right there today
Pharaoh doesn’t want to listen
Hebrews don’t want to listen
Moses doesn’t want to listen
What can we learn about people from this? We don’t want to listen!
Here’s the take away though - it doesn’t really matter!
Why?
Let’s look at the life of Paul quickly
Pharisee, Christian persecutor, on his way to persecute more
Suddenly, the Lord steps in and Paul is blinded
Paul says this:
Acts 26:15–16 (ESV)
15 And I said, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ And the Lord said, ‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. 16 But rise and stand upon your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and witness to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you,
Paul went on to write 13 letter in the New Testament
He trained pastors
Witnesses to kings, foreign peoples, religious rulers...
Went to prison, was probably eventually martyred
Probably started 20 different churches
From a Christian killer, to THAT!
That’s who God chose to use
Do you think God isn’t going to use this stiff-necked people?
Oh, He’ll use them alright!
He STILL uses them!
What do we need to know
5. God will never fail
5. God will never fail
Ever
You may not like His goals or His plans
But He will never miss His target
Conclusion
Conclusion
Show airplane chart
Decided to reinforce those areas
Hungarian Mathematician Abraham Wald realized something
We have “survivorship bias”
Looking at things that survived
Should be looking at things that didn’t
Those planes made it home
The one that did not had holes in those other areas
They needed to rethink their perspective
In our culture we’re taught things
We believe we are entitled to
Comfort
Ease
Luxury
Fairness
I shouldn’t have a headache, give me Tylenol
I shouldn’t be cold, turn up the heat
I shouldn’t be poor, give me more money
If we have access, great! But sometimes there’s a point to suffering
When things get hard we look at God
If You don’t give me what I want, I won’t worship!
You won’t take this struggle away, I hate You!
Things are hard, I’m so angry at You God!
Here’s the truth - God uses trials and struggles for our good
Instead of anger, we should ask
How can You be glorified
What do You want to accomplish in this
How am I supposed to grow