“But What Happens When People Don’t Listen to God?” Exodus 4:18-6:30 (Sermon Recap)

It can be extremely frustrating when you sense that people are not really listening to you. And it is especially frustrating when people aren't listening to you who really should be listening to you. Parents regularly face this with their kids. Kids should listen to their parents. But many times they don't, and this can be frustrating as we then see them going in directions that we know they will later regret.

However, just because your kids aren't listening to you one day does not mean that you stop being their parent. In fact, the mark of a good parent is when you are able to still lead and guide your children even when they aren't really listening to you. You do so because you are their parent, and that always remains the same, even when they aren't listening to you.

What we have in Exodus 4:18-6:30 is a whole section of Scripture where God is setting things up to save his people, the Israelites. During this process they experience some apparent setbacks and face some major difficulties. The Israelites soon become frustrated and begin to doubt God and even stop listening to what he was telling them.

So what does God do? Well, just because God's people aren't listening to God doesn't make God any less their God. Instead, God makes clear that the situation they were facing would be an occasion for them to see just much God truly is God, and specifically their God. This is in essence the main theme for this section of Scripture – to show that God is the Lord God, and he is the Lord God especially for the salvation of his people.

Some examples of people not listening to God in this section of Scripture are:

1. Moses' failure to circumcise his son (Exodus 4:24-26). Circumcision was a required rite for God's people. It was a sign of the covenant between God and Israel. Moses' failure to obey God in circumcising his son was essentially a rejection of this covenant. God was fully ready to judge Moses for this but Moses gets saved when his wife steps in and does what Moses was supposed to have already done.

2. Pharaoh rejects God's command to let Israel go. Pharaoh saw himself as equal to the Lord (see his sarcastic response in Exodus 5:2). For Pharaoh there is no "thus says the Lord" (Exodus 5:2), there is only "thus says Pharaoh" (Exodus 5:10). Pharaoh reinforces this point by making the Israelites work even harder, forcing them to find straw in order to make their daily quota of bricks (Exodus 5:10-11).

3. The Israelites doubt God in the wake of Pharaoh's actions, even though they had already witnessed several powerful signs that God was with Aaron and Moses (see Exodus 4:29-31). It's as if they no longer saw themselves as God's people but as Pharaoh's slaves, and so their main concern was to make sure that things didn't get worse for them as slaves.

4. Moses again doubts God after all these setbacks. At this point he wonders why God sent him to Egypt in the first place!

God in response shows Moses how none of these setbacks will get in the way of his plans. God is still God, and he is still in charge. Several times in Exodus 6:1-8 God states, "I am the Lord." God is stating that everything that has happened and will happen is meant first and foremost to remind his people and to show the world that he alone is the Lord God. There are also a number of "I will" statements in these verses. God is stating his intention to follow through on everything he's promised concerning his people. He will save and redeem them, he will adopt them as his own people, and he will bless them. All of this will be entirely God's work. God will get the credit for every aspect of their salvation and future blessing.

The Israelites sadly remained discouraged and depressed, even after Moses relayed God's words to them (Exodus 6:9-13). Difficult situations can deeply affect us and often threaten to break our spirit. However, God still speaks. God still gave the charge to Moses to lead his people out of Egypt. He still intended to accomplish his purposes.

In the end, it is all about God. He alone is the Lord God - self-existing, self-sustaining, mighty and strong, able to do all that he wants, even to a supposedly powerful man like Pharaoh. And this powerful, mighty, Lord God shows who he is especially in relationship to his people, and especially when he acts to save his people for himself. He does this even when they don't listen to him and doubt him.

This is the kind of thing God has always done and still does today. God still declares, "I am God. I am the Lord God. There is no other besides me. And I am the Lord God who is still shaping and forming a people for himself." Today the people of God are called the church. And the Bible tells us great things about the church – for example, that we are God's children and that we are God's special possession. But all those things are true of the church not because of any great listening habits on our end. They are true not because we are so much smarter or more spiritual than the Israelites were. No, God's people are made God's specially chosen and blessed people in the same way that it has always happened, namely, through God taking the initiative and acting as God for the saving sake of his people.

See for example Romans 8:28-32. Verse 28 tells us how "all things" are brought together for good for God's people. All things includes all our difficult circumstances. It includes all the times we disobey God and all the times we fail to listen to God. God is able to take all those things and still work out good for us. Why is this? Because we were "called according to his purpose."

Indeed, God foreknew us and predestined us (v.29) so that ultimately we might say, "If God is for us, who can be against us?" (v.31). What we are seeing here is God's relentless, dedicated pursuit of his people. There is nothing that can get in the way of God grabbing people for himself. This is why Jesus came. He came because God sent him, so that through Jesus God might forever secure a people for himself, sons and daughters who are siblings with Christ in God's family.

As a believer in Christ, you may at times feel unsure about whether or not you belong to God. You may doubt whether or not God is truly your God and if he has acted to save you. You may feel like God really has forgotten all about you and that he's not really on top of things, especially when it comes to your life. So where can we find the assurance we need? It's Jesus who gives it to us in John 6:37, "All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out."

Thus, God gets all the credit for saving us and keeping us saved as his people and him as our God. And thus, we have all the security and assurance we need for our salvation and all the blessings that God promises for those he saves through Jesus. We also have the encouragement and motivation we need in order to really live and stand out in our world as God's people.

Truly, only a Lord God could save a people like us! In fact, the initial failures of Moses and Aaron set things up so that it would be clear that it was the LORD GOD who was saving his people, and it is only the LORD GOD who is able to save his people.

“God Tells Moses to ‘God Up’” Exodus 4:1-17 (Sermon Recap)

Moses had major doubts about his ability to do what God asked of him during his meeting with God at the burning bush. His doubts are frankly not all that surprising. God regularly asks people to do big, hard things, and usually to do these things means going in directions where we feel weak and inadequate and where there is some risk to us.

Why does God do this? Couldn't he check out how we test out in our personality test and our strength finder quiz and then make sure that whatever he calls us to do lines up with where we feel the strongest and most comfortable? Well, the reason for this is because God is not looking for us to do things because of who we are but because of who he is. In everything he calls us to he wants us to have to "God up." By "God up" I am talking about doing things out of the fullness of the Spirit of God, where the question that constantly drives us is, "How much more can God do through me?" Where the big things that happen in our church and in our city do not make people more aware of how gifted and talented and strategic our church is but instead make people more aware of how gifted and talented and strategic God is! Where the people around us are sometimes dumbfounded that God could accomplish such big and amazing things in and through a humble, simple, even insignificant church like us. In so much of what we do we ask ourselves, "Can I do this? What do I bring to the table?" To get to the level of doing big Godlike things in our world, we must begin to say, "We've got God at the table! So let's go and do as much as he will let us do!"

Unfortunately, our strong natural bent is to become overwhelmed by fears and doubts that lead us to think that we really can't do all that God wants of us. These fears and doubts lead to a kind of spiritual paralysis. This is where Moses is at during his meeting with God. Moses gives three objections to what God wants in Exodus 4:1-17. In his mind these objections should show God that what he wanted of Moses did not fit with his strengths and his comfort level, so it made no sense for Moses to move forward in the direction to which God was calling him.

God though had answers for every one of Moses' objections, answers which we do well to consider when we begin to complain to God like Moses did.

Objection #1 is found in Exodus 4:1 - Then Moses answered, "But behold, they will not believe me or listen to my voice, for they will say, 'The Lord did not appear to you.' "

God answers this objection Exodus 4:2-8 by giving Moses powerful signs to perform that will validate him in front of his people. However, these signs are given so that the people will not necessarily believe in Moses but believe in God and believe that God is really with Moses (Exodus 4:5). Again, this is all about God, not Moses.

It is interesting to note here that these signs were to be done through the use of Moses' shepherd staff. This would have been an ordinary stick, certainly not the kind of thing you would expect a mighty magician to use. The Egyptian magicians would have had elaborate charms and staffs and they would perform their "magic" through special words and incantations.

God however has Moses use his simple shepherd's staff and then has him do only what he tells him to do, nothing more, nothing less. The emphasis throughout Moses' mission in Egypt will be on God. Moses will be proven to be God's leader not because of any fancy spells or techniques. He will be proven to be God's leader through God's power working through Moses' simple actions.

Objection #2 is found in Exodus 4:10 - But Moses said to the Lord, "Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue."

God's answer to this objection is very interesting. God doesn't say, "Man you're right. Let me send you to Toastmasters; they'll help you become a better public speaker. Oh, and here are some great books to read on public speaking." No, instead God tells Moses, "I'm the one who makes people able to speak! For that matter, I'm the one who makes people able to also hear or see!" (Exodus 4:11)

What was God doing here? He was once again emphasizing that doing big things in God's system depends not on us but on God. God makes this point by emphasizing his complete sovereignty over all things. This means then that God has complete control over human life, even specific aspects of human life like hearing and seeing and talking.

In hearing this we may be tempted to think that perhaps God has messed up a bit in how he made us. If he really is calling us to big things, then he should have given us a more engaging personality or intellectual ability or creative skill. We think to ourselves, "God, why did you make me this way? How can you expect me to talk to people about Jesus, or be a leader in my family and in my church, or to be a successful parent, when you made me this way?"

God's answer to Moses here is an answer to all these kinds of personal doubts and excuses. His answer is, "Yes, I made you. So who you are is no surprise to me! Now go and be who I've called you to be and do what I've called you to do, because I will be with you." Notice how in Exodus 4:12 God tells Moses that he will give him the words to speak and that he literally be "with his mouth" so that he can speak these words. God did not say, "Alright, I will take away your weaknesses so you can do what I need you to do." Instead, God leaves Moses' weaknesses in place and tells him to go, but with the conscious awareness that God is with him and that he will need to directly depend on God.

I believe God has designed each of us in uniquely imperfect ways so that have we will have regular opportunities to depend on God. 2 Cor 12:9 says as much. Our weaknesses are occasions for God's divine power to be perfected in us.

This is a new way to look at yourself. Instead of ignoring or being anxious about your weaknesses, you can look right at them and see them as unique, specially designed ways to "God up."

Objection #3 is found in Exodus 4:13 -
But he said, "Oh, my Lord, please send someone else."

There are some who, no matter what is said to them, just don't want to do what God tells them to do. This is what Moses does here. He tells God, "Look, I don't want to do this. Send someone else!" It's possible to focus so much on yourself that your fears and doubts overwhelm you, to the point that you let them become the operational God ruling over your life.

God's response comes in v.14-17. He is obviously angry with Moses. He easily could have wiped the slate clean and moved on from Moses to someone else. Yet God shows grace towards Moses. He encourages him by promising that Aaron will go with him and be Moses' spokesman; Aaron will do the public speaking for Moses. However, it is worth mentioning that Aaron does this only in the beginning; eventually it is Moses that does all the speaking. This is because God's way will always win out in the end, even when we disobey him. It just means that we will miss out on knowing the fullest expression of God and his power working in our lives. Thankfully, God does not let go of his people. Notice in the end of the conversation, in v.17, God says, "Don't forget the staff. Because YOU WILL be doing the signs I've given you." God will still work through Moses, even if he's not still quite ready for the tasks set before him.

God does big things, and he intends to do them through his people, and intends to do them in ways that are often uncommon, surprising, unexpected, and risky. Basically, all the ways that will make it clear that what's happening is not based ultimately on you or me but on him. For if depended on us, the reality is that nothing would ever happen. The Bible describes all people as being naturally sinful, meaning that we naturally doubt and disobey God.

Thus, to expect much of sinners would be like expecting a drowning person to be able to go and save another drowning person. If you are drowning, you'll find it impossible to do anything else but be overwhelmed by your fears and anxieties caused by the fact that you are drowning. It is no surprise then that our doubts and fears and anxieties get in way of much of what God wants of us. All of us have pushed God out of the center of our lives, and by doing so we lost the anchor we needed to stay afloat and so we spend our lives adrift, slowly being suffocated by our sin. How then can God use anyone in this world in any significant way?

Well, God can use us, and it's because God sent someone into the world who never did push God out of the center of his life, someone who was perfectly obedient to God and so never went adrift. This someone was Jesus Christ. Since Jesus was perfectly obedient, he was able to answer God's call to do the biggest thing of all – give up his life - so that his obedient perfect life would make up the difference in our failure to do all that God wants. When we put faith in Christ, we are wholly changed so that we can be free from the downward drowning pull of sin and the constant echoes ringing in our minds that tell us that we aren't good enough, smart enough, pretty enough, talented enough, important enough, or cool enough to do much in this life. This is because faith in Christ brings Christ into our life. And because Christ is the Son of God, that means we now have God in our life. Not just with us, but in us. Faith in Jesus then is the means by which every person can God up!

This makes the ultimate difference for us. Moses had the promise that God would be with him, which was a great promise, and it really was all he needed in order to do what God wanted. But through Jesus, we have the promise of God actually being in
our lives. So now we can truly do all that God calls us to. We can be salt of the earth. We can be God's witnesses. We can be God's ambassadors. We can speak and act with all boldness, even through our weaknesses.

And what people will notice when they interact with us is what they noticed when they interacted with Peter and John. In the eyes of that culture, Peter and John were uneducated, common men. They should not have been able to do the big and bold things they were doing. So what was the difference? The people "recognized that they had been with Jesus." (Acts 4:13)

Embrace all of how God has made you, especially your weaknesses. Bring them to the cross of Jesus; by doing so you are saying, "This can't be about me. It's got to be about you, and it's got to be about Jesus in me for you."

What kind of amazing surprises would God bring about in your life if every day, you took one big weakness or one big anxiety or one big doubt, gave it over to God, and asked him to transform it through Jesus into a big expression of God's power working through you?

It would be something special, wouldn't it?

Revival in Phoenix Part I (Sermon Recap)

Revival is sought by many, but not rightly understood by many. Indeed, what many call revival is in reality just superficial experiences, more emotionally driven and spiritually authentic. In contrast, true revival always brings real long-lasting transformation. As Iain Murray writes in his book Revivals and Revivalism, "Every true revival begins in the church and a proof of the genuineness of the work is that it does not leave believers where they were before. They are filled with new wonder, joy and praise, with a new sense of the privilege of serving God, and with renewed energy that comes from being constrained by the love of Christ." Revival is really happening when people's old selves are being crucified such that they come away living new lives in an obvious and ongoing way.

How might this begin to happen? It will happen as we better understand who God is and who we are. Indeed, the word "revival" implies that someone is going from one state to another state (i.e. from being unconscious to conscious). So also spiritual revival will mean us waking up out of the sleep of moral and spiritual apathy and becoming much more aware of God and ourselves.

What then of God and ourselves should we be more aware? I believe it is one basic truth, namely that God is holy and that we in relation to this God are unholy rebels. To say that God is holy is to say that God is utterly unique and distinct. He is set apart from all things in perfect excellence, goodness, and beauty. God's holiness is the one attribute of God in the Bible that gets repeated three times in a row, to emphasize how much this attribute describes the essence of God. This is seen for example in Isaiah 6:3. Note also in this verse that a connection is made between God's holiness and glory ("Holy, holy, holy is the Lord…the whole earth is full of his glory!") In fact, the Bible regularly makes a connection between God's unique existence as a holy God and this resulting in some expression of glory and praise. See for example 1 Kings 8:10-11, 1 Chronicles 16:9-10, and Revelation 4:8-11. The Revelation passage is especially informative. God is acknowledged as holy and totally unique in his existence (Rev 4:8). Because this is the case, he naturally deserves all the glory and honor. And in particular, everything that he creates should give him glory and honor.

Let's be sure to grasp this point. All created things are meant to point to their creator in some way. The more finely crafted the created thing, the more attention it should bring to its creator. A well written, bestselling book naturally brings praise and honor to its author. Several artistic masterpieces will inevitably bring renown and fame to the name of artist who made those masterpieces.

The Lord God has been eternally perfect in his distinctiveness and uniqueness. He decided to further display his eternal perfection, his holiness, by creating everything in the universe. But then, in particular, he decided to place a unique stamp of himself, his image, upon one being in all the universe – mankind. Man then is God's masterpiece. Our fine and unique craftsmanship should naturally point to the excellence of our Creator.

For example, while all the creations of Leonardo Da Vinci are notable, the Mona Lisa still continues to be an especially potent display of the unique talent of Da Vinci. People are consistently drawn to look at this unique masterpiece in the Louvre museum, and in doing so they are drawn ultimately to give praise to Da Vinci. Here is the purpose then of each human life – to see the evidence of God finely crafting every part of you, and to rejoice in and praise God for your expert design as a masterpiece that displays the glory of your God. We find the most meaning in our lives when we are giving the maximum amount of glory and honor and praise to our holy Lord.

The real horror here comes when we realize that instead of being masterpieces displaying God's glory we instead have become like ugly, broken down clunker cars leaking oil wherever we go. We rightfully belonged to God but have wrenched ourselves away from him by focusing in ourselves through our words, actions, and desires. Doing so has horribly damaged our God-displaying ability. And the Bible makes clear – our God defying and God rejecting ways are nothing less than a direct personal attack against God. As Colossians 1:21 makes clear, we are alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds against God. Romans 5:10 is even more clear, telling us bluntly that we are enemies of God. Sin is not primarily an offense against other people. It is an offense against God. See for example David's view of his adultery with Bathsheba and his subsequent cover-up. He writes that it is against God primarily that he sinned (Ps 51:3-4).

The lie so many people live is that they really aren't so bad, especially compared with other people. God's answer to that in the Bible? We are all bad! "None is righteous, no not one, no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one." Sin ultimately makes us worthless! In light of this, the question we should ask is not, "Is it fair for God to judge us?" The question we should ask is, "Why wouldn't God judge us?!" Our worth came from our creation by God but we have totally squandered and wrecked our worth through our rebellion against him. It is as if we were a multimillion dollar mansion that is now falling apart and worth nothing due to our arrogant and foolish misuse of the mansion. The best that can be done is to just bulldoze the whole property.

We are by all appearances living in the days described by Paul in 2 Timothy 3:1-4. These are days when many think of themselves as being good or godly, yet in reality they are far from any true goodness or godliness. There are many who have the appearance of being godly Christians but none of the power of it. Many in the church have a spirituality that is like a well-dressed corpse. There is lot of fancy clothes being worn that bring lots of attention, but the reality is we are admiring a dead person.

What's needed in the church today is real honesty. It's a real honesty rooted in humbleness and an almost desperate need to get past the superficial surface behaviors and instead get to the heart, to see the pride, selfishness, and self-righteousness that's rooted there, and to then kill it. The Bible gives us great encouragement along these lines, for we are told that for those who are humble, who are truly aware and ashamed of their sin, God will be ready to meet them where they are at and bring revival to their hearts (see Isa 57:15). God's word is a crucial and practical means by which this occurs (see Isa 66:2). As we read lots of God's word into our lives, letting it teach and convict us, and then pray God's word back to God in humble prayerful confession, we will find God. For God's word is truth, and thus meditating deeply on his word will us truly understand God and ourselves, and such understanding will always draw God near to us and revive us (see Ps 145:18, 19:7).

And what will God do when he draws near to us as we cry out to him? What will he reveal to us so that we might have revived hearts? What God will do is show us who he truly is. What he will do is show us Jesus. The hope we have that we will experience a true revival within our lives, within our churches, and within our city, comes as we look at God and see how he acted to save us out of sinful rebellion and reconcile us to himself through Jesus (Romans 5:10). As Richard Lovelace writes in Dynamics of Spiritual Life, "The cross is the perfect statement both of God's wrath against sin and of the depth of his love and mercy in the recovery of the damaged creation and its damagers."

More than ever we need God and even more than ever we need Jesus! Any hope we have for revival comes as we put our faith in Christ, linking ourselves to him in his death to give the final deathblows to our sin and living anew in his resurrection and so forever have freedom over the power of sin.

Obviously, these are things only God can bring about. Only God can really change hearts and make them brand new and bring revival. It is this divine action in people's lives that is the foundational step for any true revival.

So, what are your thoughts? What will revival look like in our city? In our church? In your own life?

“Meet the Lord God” Exodus 3 (Sermon Recap)

All sorts of things can get in the way of us moving forward in life. Things like past failures, personal doubts, fears of the unknown. The way we fight through these things and move forward is by knowing who God is. This is what God does for Moses in Exodus 3, and in particular in Exodus 3:14-15. In this passage God reveals his name to Moses. God refers to himself as Yahweh, which literally means "I AM," or more fully, "I AM WHO I AM" (Yahweh is usually translated as LORD in our English Bibles). God's name reveals two things about him.

1. God's name describes God's unique existence

This point is strongly hinted at with the uniqueness of the burning bush and even more strongly shown by the instruction that Moses was now on "holy ground." To be in God's presence is to discover that God is holy, in other words, he is wholly distinct and separate from us. God is someone who so uniquely is who he is, Moses could not even look at him directly and had to stay at a distance from him.

But also in God's very name itself – "I AM WHO I AM" – it becomes clear that God is a unique being. God is the one who always IS. He has always been who he is and always will be who he is. God is fully self-existing, self-sufficient, and self-sustaining. Certainly there is a bit of a paradox here. God invites us to know him by revealing his name to us. But in so doing God shows us that really he can't be fully known by us. He is utterly unique and completely incomparable to anything in all creation. A truth like this should fill any honest person with great awe and reverence for God.

2. God's name highlights God's special presence

God not only just IS, he just IS especially for and with his people. Several times in chapter 3 God is described as the "God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob" or as the "God of your fathers." God is showing Moses how he was especially present with his ancestors. The promise now is that just as God was with them he now will be especially with Moses and later with all of Israel (v.12 – "I will be with you."). God then is a God who personally and particularly involves himself with his people. He is a God who exists with all his full GODness alongside his people no matter what they may face.

This is a wonderful thing to consider, but it also presents a problem for us. If God is as fully GOD as he has revealed himself to be, then none of us will be able to stand in his presence. We would be overwhelmed by him in an instant. Fortunately for us, God knew of this problem and then addressed it by essentially changing himself. God came down to earth and took on human form in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus was very clear about who he was. Before a crowd of Jews he proclaimed himself to be "I AM" (John 8:58). This was a clear statement by Jesus that he was Yawheh, the great I AM WHO I AM. Indeed, in Jesus what we have is God himself personally coming to mankind so that each of us might have the opportunity to experience the full unique existence and presence of God in our lives.

This gracious act of God should lead us to three responses.

1. Faith in Christ – We can approach God

As Jesus says in John 8:24, "You [will] die in your sins…unless you believe that I am he." Our sins which keep us locked in place and away from God will end up eventually kill us. There is an alternative however. The alternative is to take the journey, or an exodus if you will, out of the living death of sin and to enter into life with God. The only way we can begin to take these steps forward and begin this relationship with God is by faith in Jesus. By "faith in Jesus" we mean to say that one must believe Jesus to be the LORD God and to acknowledge him as the LORD God over one's entire life.

2. Security in Christ – We stay with God

When Jesus was born it was the fulfillment of the ancient Jewish prophecy that there would one day be one who would be to humanity "Immanuel," which means, "God with us" (Matt 1:23). In Jesus we experience God with us in all of his GODness. Before Jesus God was with people, but there was nevertheless the constant reminder that there was still a fundamental separation between him and mankind, as seen in the tabernacle and temple system. In Jesus there is no longer any separation (cf 2 Cor 3:18, Heb 10:19-22). God is fully with each person who has acknowledged Jesus as their Yawheh.

This gives us great security and peace. All our past failures and present and future doubts begin to shrivel and fade away when you realize that there is only one timeline that matters – God's timeline – and in Christ you are forever tied into that timeline. To be with him means no longer being enslaved to the past, present, or future – you now view all things from his eternal vantage point.

3. Purpose in Christ – We now GO with God

Like Moses many of us might think, "Who am I? I'm a nobody." God tells us, "It's not about who you are but who I AM!" Things don't depend on our understanding of ourselves, they depend on our understanding of God. This understanding of God should then motivate us to get going and doing the things God wants of us. God revealed who he was to Moses so that he would then get going to Egypt. So also God reveals himself to us in Christ so that, after being encouraged and strengthened, we might then get going! In large part, in order for you to know for sure that God is with you, you will need to first step out in faith. Notice for instance in Exodus 3:12 that the sign that God was really with Moses would come after he had gone to Egypt and then led his people back to the Mount Horeb/Sinai. In Exodus 3:18-12 the full sense that God was with his people would come after everything had occurred in Egypt according to how God had predicted it would in these verses.

Thus, the best way to get the assurance that in Christ God is with you, with all his eternal GODness being behind you, is to go and start doing the big, radical, hard things that God wants done.

“God Always Remembers” Exodus 2 (Sermon Recap)

The relationship between God and his people is often described in parent-child terms. We are to look on him as our Father. Certainly, having God as a Father causes us to have some big expectations of him. This is God we're talking about! Real life, however, makes us doubt God and makes us wonder if God truly is our Father, if he truly is someone who will, like any good father, follow through on what he promises us. Do we really have a God who notices us, pays attention us, and acts in accordance with what he promises us? Exodus 2 will go long way to showing us that we do indeed have this kind of God.

When Exodus 2 begins the situation remains desperate for the Israelites. Pharaoh the king of Egypt has instituted a nationwide program to drown every Hebrew boy. Into these horrible circumstances a baby is born. We would think that this baby would immediately be killed but the baby is miraculously saved and in fact adopted by one of the daughters of Pharaoh. This boy gets named Moses, and he grows up in the royal court getting the finest education a person could get back then. By v.11 he is full grown adult man, 40 years old according to Acts 7:23. Moses seems like the person in perfect position to save the Israelites from their slavery and oppression under Pharaoh. In just one act, however, everything falls apart. Moses kills an Egyptian who was beating one of Israelites and the word gets out on what he did. Moses is forced to flee the country and go to Midian. There he gets connected to a family, marries one of the daughters of the family, and settles in for the next forty years working as a shepherd.

So Moses for the time being is out of the picture. Exodus 2:23 tells us that the king of Egypt then dies – perhaps now things might change? Sadly, they do not. The people of Israel remain enslaved and oppressed. Things seem to be over for these people. But the truths contained in Exodus 2:23-25 tell us differently. These people will survive and be set free, and it's because of the relationship they have with God. Here are a few things to note from these verses:

1. God's people must cry out to God. When a kid gets hurt they immediately cry out for the parent. This cry can be very loud at times and probably even a bit over dramatic. But what parent would have it any other way? The cry of a child to their parent is a cry that invites, that begs, for the parent to come into that child's experience. It's a cry through which the parent is able to bring healing if needed ("Here's some bandages Johnny"), encouragement ("You're going to be okay!") and context ("It's really not that bad. Look, you don't have any scratches on you.")

In prayer, we are able to cry out to God as a child cries out to their Father. And in so doing we will see the Lord move towards us to bring the healing, the encouragement, and the context we need for whatever situation we are in. The problem today is that too many of us are crying out to everything but God for help. Israel had this problem later on when instead of crying out to God they began to cry out to other nations for help. People today cry out for help to trendy self-help books, to horoscopes, to alcohol, to drugs, to various relationships or people. The problem inherent in all this is that none of these things can really give us the outside unbiased perspective we need on life since they all are themselves deeply part of the life of this world. But even more importantly, these things are unable to give real transforming help in and of themselves. In fact, I would argue that no matter what we do or where we turn it all largely ends up back in our laps, with the onus on us to deal with things on our own strength.

God gives us a much better direction to turn to – one that can give us real help. God invites us to turn to himself. See for example Ps 18:6 and Ps 121:1-2. Real life, with all its fears and doubts and anxieties, is a unique opportunity to connect with God. It is a regular means by which we can really see how powerful it is to have God as a Father. Indeed, to live and grow as a Christian means regularly crying out to God saying, "God, my Father! Help me every day!"

2. God hears the cries and responds to the cries of his people. Notice the words used to reinforce this for us in Ex 1:24-25. We are told that God heard and God saw. Like any good dad, God's senses are specially tuned to his kids. In fact, before we could even give attention to ourselves God was giving deliberate attention to us. As we are told in Eph 1, God "choose us in him before the foundation of the world," and "predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ."

We are also told that God knew. The idea here is that God entered into the situation of the Israelites. He didn't just know about what was going, God personally resonated with what they were going through.

This of course is not the only time God has done this. Indeed, the story of Jesus is the story of God entering into our world and knowing us, knowing what we go through, knowing why we cry out and what it is to cry out. There's nothing that anyone has experienced - no rejection, no depression, no heartache, no trial, no illness, no temptation, nothing! - that God can't resonate with at some level.

Finally, we are told that God remembered his covenant. Here is the key phrase. This phrase tells us that we have a God who will ACT. He will always follow through on his promises. To say that God "remembers" is not to say that he had forgotten about Israel and all of sudden needed to have his memory jogged a bit. Rather, to say that God remembers is to say that he always does what he promises to those he is in relationship with. The whole history of God in relationship with his people can be described as a series of promises and fulfillments. God promises, then he remembers and acts at the right moment in fulfillment of his promises.

Thus, in Exodus 2 we see God remembering the promises he made way back when to Abraham (cf Gen 12:2-3, 15:13-16), which got passed on to his son Isaac, then to his son Jacob, and finally all the way down the line to the Israelites in Egypt. God remembered them, which is to say that God would now begin to accomplish the great things he had promised to do for them.

But an even better example for us is Luke 2:25-35. There we read about an old man named Simeon who was waiting for God to remember the biggest promise of all. This was a promise to bring a salvation for all peoples. It was promise whereby God's people would be made up of both Jews and Gentiles. Simeon knew and rejoiced that God had in fact remembered his promise the moment he set his eyes on baby Jesus.

Jesus provides the way by which we become part of God's people and can now look to God as our Father. In Jesus we can cry our hearts out and know that God will hear us, see us, know us, and respond to us. Because of this, we can know that if we have Jesus in our life we have a Dad who will give us the healing, encouragement, and context for every struggle and oppression and difficulty we face. This can, and should, release us to cry out boldly to God every day for his help and to live boldly for God every day, leaning on his help.

“God Is There (Even When He Seems to Not Be There)” Exodus 1:1-21 (Sermon Recap)

The first two chapters of Exodus stand out because of how little mention there is of God. He seems for the most part to be completely absent and largely passive. This begs the question - what should we do or think when we expect God to show up big for us and he doesn't show up? God's people, the Israelites, had every reason to think that God would show up big for them. Exodus picks up right from where Genesis left off, and based on where Genesis ends we would think that Exodus would immediately launch into the story of God's people triumphantly returning to the land God had promised to their ancestors.

This however is not what happens. The Exodus story begins with the Israelites still in Egypt and being brutally oppressed by Egyptians under the direction of Pharaoh the king of Egypt. Pharaoh was afraid of how many Israelites there were in Egypt, believing that they were a potential future threat to the empire. So his plan was to make sure they remained under Egyptian power. His plan began with enslaving the people, and soon escalated to an effort to slowly decimate them by killing their newborn boys. To do this he enlisted two Hebrew midwives. However the midwives we are told "feared God" (Ex 1:17). They recognized God's authority over all things and thus refused to obey the king's commands. Their fear of God is recognized by God and ends up blessing these midwives with families. And despite the king's efforts, the Israelites continue to increase in number (Exo 1:20).

How then should we view all this? Often, the reality is that while God's people today, the church, have great ideas and plans and great expectations of God, roadblocks come up, problems arise, and we find ourselves feeling quite alone and wondering where God is and what he's doing. The temptation is to give up and resign ourselves to defeat. What Exodus 1 shows us is that God is there and that he's always there with his people, even when it most seems like he's not there. In fact, throughout this chapter we can see God's "invisible" hand working. The Israelites kept growing even under oppression only because of God. The midwives were kept safe and were successful in their efforts only because of God.

It would be much later when God finally began to do big things on behalf of the Israelites in visible and obvious ways. It certainly happened much later than the people wanted. But it happened when God wanted, which means it happened at the perfect time so that the most perfect display of his greatness would be witnessed and experienced by his people.

Suffering and God's seeming absence often seem to be preconditions to God working great triumphs on behalf of his people. This first story in Exodus is one example of this, and it points ahead to an evener great example of this in the story of Jesus. Those around Jesus definitely thought God was going do big things through him. Jesus was the Son of God after all! But then Jesus was arrested, beaten, and crucified. And on the cross Jesus hung there forsaken, alone, abandoned, crushed. God seemed totally absent. If there was any moment to doubt God and his promises it was that moment of Jesus hanging on the cross.

Yet this bloody shameful death served as the setup for the greatest and biggest act of God in human history, namely, the rising of Christ from the dead, and his victory over all evil and death and sin. The story of Jesus reinforces and amplifies the main lesson to be learned in this beginning story of Exodus – that even in suffering, even in doubt, even in disappointment and discouragement, God is there, he's always there, working on behalf of his people and for the sake of his great name.

To become a Christian means looking through all the evils done to you and all the evils you've done to others until you see the God who was there, who was always there, steadily leading you to himself. It's seeing how the first big act of God in your life was setting Jesus before you and saying, "Trust me by trusting in what I did for you through him."

This trust sets a pattern now for our whole lives. To accomplish God's mission will for mean each of us a deliberate trusting and fearing of God. We will only be able to move forward with confidence when we know and trust that in the end God wins and that nothing can threaten that. Indeed, with only two midwives God was able to stop the murderous efforts of the mightiest king of that time. And above all, God was able to use his Son Jesus to stop every evil, dark, sin infested power from ruling over our lives.

This is a great encouragement! We should be honest though. It is likely that we will go through suffering and even doubt and discouragement before experiencing the fulfillment of God's promises for us. However, we will persevere, we will fear and obey God and stay "on mission," if we look with strong focus and dependence on Jesus. Jesus is the constant reminder that God is there and that he is always there working.

A Thought(full) and Purpose(full) Community - Remember the Mission Sunday (Sermon Recap)

Last Sunday we took time to consider what kind of church God would have us be and what God would have us do as a church. More specifically, we asked, "How does the Lord want Roosevelt to fit into his mission to transform all things and bring everything under the reign of Jesus?"

I believe the charge to Roosevelt is twofold. First, we must be known as a thought(full) community. By "thought(full)" we are saying that we want to be a community that is full of thoughts about God. Over and over in the Bible we see that God is deeply concerned to have his people have their minds and hearts filled with thoughts, remembrances, reflections, meditations, upon God. Some examples include Exodus 3:15, 13:3, 1 Chron 28:9, Ps 1:2, 119:15-16, 77:11-12, Matt 16:22-23, Phil 4:8, Heb 10:16. There is one subject however that should tie all the thoughts of minds and hearts together, and that is Jesus. Jesus is the key work of God that must be at the center of all our reflections. See for example Eph 3:14-19, 2 Cor 4:6, Col 3:1-2.

Practically speaking, this means the mission of our church will always be tied into digging deep into God's word, for that's where we find what God wants us to think about, and more specifically continually meditating upon the gospel, for that is the main storyline of God's word.

Thoughts full of God must lead us in a certain direction. So, secondly we must be known as a purpose(full) community. By "purpose(full)" we are saying that we want to be a community that is full of purpose for God and specifically full of purpose for Christ. So for instance in Col 3:1-2 we are directed to have our minds set towards the direction of Christ. In so doing we then must be actually seeking Christ and the things that are associated with Christ (v.1). Some other examples of purpose set alongside thoughts are 2 Cor 10:5 and Phil 3:14-15. Arguably Matt 28:18-20 can be seen through this grid as well. Jesus gives his disciples two things to set their minds and hearts on, the fact that all authority in the cosmos belongs to Jesus and the fact that he will always be with them. Now, with those two facts in mind, the disciples are given a purpose, to go and make disciples of Jesus from all the nations.

Practically speaking this means that the mission of our church should be directed towards seeing as many people as possible encounter Christ for themselves. With that in mind I set before us the vision of a Roosevelt community that is known for boldly and constantly connecting with those who don't know Christ and boldly and constantly speaking the gospel to them. I have in mind a church where the majority of us, at least 60% of us, are the kind of people who are constantly talking to other people about Jesus. Some will of course be better than others at this. But all of us at the very least can be asking people, "Hey, this may be an awkward question but I want to know, 'What do you think about Jesus?'"

This could be a very big missional step forward for our church. Be praying that we take this step with confidence that the Lord truly wants to bless this kind of thing. By God's grace, let's be known as a church so full of Jesus that we just can't shut up about him.