Moses - Part 3

Moses
 (Exodus 3-4)

1.      In the book the Power of the Plus Factor Norman Vincent Peale tells the following story:
Once walking through the twisted little streets of Kowloon in Hong Kong, I came upon a tattoo studio. In the window were displayed samples of the tattoos available. On the chest or arms you could have tattooed an anchor or flag or mermaid or whatever. But what struck me with force were three words that could be tattooed on one’s flesh, Born to lose. I entered the shop in astonishment and pointing to those words, asked the Chinese tattoo artist, “Does anyone really have that terrible phrase, Born to lose, tattooed on his body.” He replied, “Yes, sometimes.” “But,” I said, “I just can’t believe that anyone in his right mind would do that.” The Chinese man simply tapped his forehead and said in broken English, “Before tattoo on body, tattoo on mind.”[Power of the Plus Factor, Norman Vincent Peale]
2.      Truth is many people in our world go through life with “Born to Lose” tattooed on their minds…they feel totally and completely inadequate… they are plagued with feelings of uselessness and insignificance and do not believe they have any real worth or value…
--sometimes such feelings are engrained in them by parents who fail to understand the importance of helping children develop positive feelings about themselves…read this week that by age 5 most of us have developed the basic self-image which we will carry the rest of our lives…[Jack Eicholz in Homemade]
--sometimes feelings of inadequacy are the result of constantly being faced with the unrealistic expectations of others and the pressure to produce more than we’re capable of producing…even the most gifted of people can succumb to this kind of pressure…for example, Princess Diana of Wales was arguably one of the most glamorous and influential people in the world…but she faced tremendous pressure to be more than she could be and do more than she could do…and according to news reports near the end of her life her self-image had deteriorated to the point that she struggled with the eating disorder of bulimia…[Coming Home, James Dobson, pp.102-103]
--and sometimes we try to cover up our deep-seated feelings of inadequacy with an air of self-sufficiency bordering on arrogance which is only skin deep…learned long time ago when someone is constantly having to tell others how smart or strong or competent he/she is, deep down inside that person doesn’t feel very smart or strong or competent…
3.      In Exodus three we find Moses working as a shepher…for 40 years he had been a shepherd…he had come to think of himself as only a shepherd…he had come to view himself as a leader of sheep, not as a leader of men…but God had different plans for Moses…Exodus 3 and 4 tells the wonderful story of how God intervened in Moses’ life…
4.      From his example there is much to learn about overcoming feelings of inadequacy…

I.  To overcome feelings of inadequacy we must remember who we are
1.      Moses wasn’t always a shepherd…if you know his story, you know he actually was reared in the court of Pharaoh in Egypt…born during time when Pharaoh decreed that all Hebrew male babies be drowned in the Nile River…Moses’ mother hid him until he was three months and then put him in basket in Nile River to be found by Pharaoh’s daughter …God arranged it so Moses’ own mother was enlisted to take care of him in Pharaoh’s court…
2.      No doubt, Moses heard that story many times…he had been taught that God protected him and apparently had special plan for him…but somewhere along the way he forgot who he was…

1.      Lesson in that for us…we need to remember who we are…we are God’s creation…we have been made in the image of God…listen to these words from God’s word:
--Psalm 8:3-5 – “When I consider Thy heavens, the work of Thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which Thou has ordained, what is man, that Thou dost take thought of him?  And the son of man, that Thou dost care for him?  Yet Thou hast made him a little lower than God, and dost crown him with glory and majesty.”
--Psalm 139:14 – “I will give thanks to Thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; wonderful are Thy works.  And my soul knows it very well.”
2.      Need to remember that we are not here by chance…we didn’t come into being by accident… we are here because God chose to create us…

1.   There is a very interesting book entitled Show Me God by Fred Heeren…subtitle is “What the Message from Space is Telling us about God”…book looks at some of latest discoveries from space and what those discoveries tell us about God…one thing scientists have learned is that the conditions under which we live are incredibly rare in the observable universe…one scientist put it this way:  “On Earth, a long sequence of improbable events transpired to bring forth our existence, as if we had won a million-dollar lottery a million times in a row.  Contrary to the prevailing belief, maybe we are special…” [Robert Naye, Astronomy, July, 1996, quoted in Show Me God, Fred Heeren, p.63]
3.      The biblical message is that we are special…and remembering that helps us overcome feelings of inadequacy…one of my favorite poems was written by Herb Barber over three decades ago…
Believe it, you are a real find, a joy in someone’s heart.
You’re a jewel, unique and priceless.
I don’t care how you feel.  Believe it.
God don’t make no junk.
4.      And remembering that…remembering that we are God’s unique creation --sinful, yes…fallen, yes…feet of clay, yes…but still made in the image of God—helps us overcome feelings of inadequacy…

II.  To overcome feelings of inadequacy we must remember what we have
1.      And what we have is the presence in our lives of the God who made us …the biblical message is that God is intimately involved in His creation…He didn’t just make us, push us out into the universe, and leave us on our own…He made us to live in relationship with Him… He is with us…He gives the incredible gift of His presence and His strength and His direction for our lives…and when we lose sight of that and begin to think we have to rely on ourselves alone, that is a sure path to feelings of inadequacy…
2.      Think that’s the main point of the conversation between God and Moses in last part of chapter 3 and first part of chapter 4…Moses would raise an objection and God would say, in effect, “Moses, don’t worry about it.  I’ll be with you!”
--in 3:13 Moses said, “Behold, I am going to the sons of Israel, and I shall say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you.’  Now they may say to me, ‘What is His name?’  What shall I say to them?”…and God said, “Moses, don’t worry about what to say.  I’ll tell you what to say.”…and he gave Moses a preview…
--in 4:1 Moses said, “What if they will not believe me, or listen to what I say?  For they may say, ‘The Lord has not appeared to you.’”…and God said, “Moses, don’t worry about making them believe you.  I’ll take care of that.”…and then He gave Moses incredible demonstration of how He would convince the people that Moses was speaking for Him…
--in 4:10 Moses said, “Please, Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither recently nor in time past, nor since Thou has spoken to Thy servant; for I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.”…and God said, “Moses, don’t worry about your inability to speak well.  Remember, I am the One who made your mouth.  I will be with you and help you communicate clearly.”
3.      And the main point of that entire conversation is remembering that we have in our lives the presence of God is essential to overcoming our feelings of inadequacy…

1.      There is an important principle here don’t want you to miss…for the believer the remedy for inadequacy is not building ourselves up…not making ourselves stronger…not even making ourselves more competent, even though we should always strive for excellence…but for the believer, the remedy for inadequacy is looking to God…
2.      Think about some things the Scripture says about that…
--“I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:13)…not “I can do all things…” but…”through Him who strengthens me.”
--“My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9)…not our grace…not our power… but His!…
--one of my favorite verses in the Bible is Isaiah 41:10…God is preparing His people to return from 50 years of captivity in Babylon…had no idea what was before them…no idea what to expect when got back to Jerusalem…overcome by insecurity, inadequacy, fear…and to them (and I believe to us) God said, “Do not fear, for I am with you.  Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God.  I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.”…notice the repeated us of the personal pronoun “I””I am with you…your God…strengthen you…help you…uphold you…”
3.      What want you see in all that is as believers we overcome feelings of inadequacy not by being self-sufficient…overcome feelings of inadequacy by relying on God’s sufficiency…

Conclusion

1.   There is a very expressive painting that has made a permanent expression on my…not sure where I first saw it but I will never forget it…older man and young girl (assume his granddaughter) are in rowboat on small pond…little girl has her hands on the oars as if she is propelling the boat through the water…sitting behind the girl, the grandfather also has his hands on the oars…and it is obviously the strength of the grandfather which is causing the boat to move…

2.   That’s how we should approach life…ought to keep our hands on the oars …ought to do the very best we can do…but all the while remembering that in reality our strength come from God…and the way to overcome feelings of inadequacy is remembering that we are God’s creation and that God is constantly with us…

Moses - Part 2

Moses - 2
(Exodus 2:11-15)

We saw in our previous study that except for Jesus, Himself, there is no person in the Scripture more important than Moses...
·         He is one of the few people in the Bible whose life-story is given from birth to death...
·         He was the one through whom God communicated the law to the nation Israel...
·         He was prophet, priest, and king all wrapped up in a single person...
·         His life previews the life of Christ from the unusual events surrounding His birth, to his leading the Israelites from the bondage of Egypt as Jesus has led us from the bondage of sin, to his unusual departure from this world, to his appearance with Jesus on the mount of transfiguration…
The importance of Moses in God’s redemptive plan for humanity cannot be over-emphasized.  While Abraham is often described as the father of faith, in Moses we see an beautiful picture of a life lived in faith.

In the last session we explored the events surrounding the birth of Moses.  In this study, we are going to focus on the events in the early days of Moses’ life.  Moses grew up in the court of the Egyptian Pharaoh.  However, he never forgot his own people. 

We are going to pick up the story of Moses in Exodus 2:11-15.  From this event in life of Moses want share with you two basic truths.

I.       Every person, no matter who he or she is, eventually fails to measure up to God’s ideal.
1.      There is an old story about a young Jewish girl who brought her fiancĂ© home to meet her devoutly Jewish parents…the girl had shared with the parents that their relationship was very serious and they were contemplating marriage...before the girl and her fiancĂ© arrived, the mother instructed the father to take the young man aside at some point during the evening and find out as much about him as he could... so at an appropriate time the father invited his daughter's fiance to sit down a talk with him privately...he father began the conversation by asking, "So, what are you plans?"  The young man who was also a very devout Jew said, "I am a Torah scholar."  "A Torah scholar," the father replied.  "Very Admirable, but what you will you do to provide a nice house for my daughter to live in, as she's accustomed to?"  And the young man said, "I will study, and God will provide for us."  Then the father asked, "And how will you buy for her a beautiful engagement ring, such as she deserves?"  Again the young man replied, "I will concentrate on my studies, and God will provide for us."  Then the father said, "And children?  How will you support children?"  And, as before, the young man said, "Don't worry, sir, God will provide."  For some time the conversation proceeded like that.  Each time the father raised a concern, the very devout young man would insist that God would provide...later that evening, when the young couple had left, the mother asked the father how the conversation went the father said, "Well, he has no job and no plans, but the good news is he thinks I'm God!"...
2.      And while you don’t need me to tell you this, none of us is God!  The life of Moses is certainly and reminder of that great truth.  Here was man who made many right choices early in life...a man who chose to be faithful to God rather than sell-out to the temptations of Egyptian power and pleasure and possessions...
3.      Hebrews 11: 24 tells us that Moses "refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter"...to understand the significance of that statement need to understand that according to Josephus, the Jewish historian, the Pharaoh in power at the time had no other children except for the daughter...and the daughter had not children of her own except for Moses, her adopted son whom she had plucked out of the Nile River...so according, at least according to Josephus, by refusing to be called "the son of Pharaoh's daughter" Moses may well have been refusing the throne of Egypt itself...[Pink, p.19]
4.      And in the early days of his life, Moses no doubt did many other good things.  He seemed to have a great compassion for the underdog.  He intervened, albeit clumsily, we he saw an Egyptian abusing a Hebrew.  Later in this chapter we read about him standing up for the daughters of the priest of Midian, one of whom later became his wife, when some ruffian shepherds were trying to keep them from watering their father’s flock.
5.      So Moses was a good man who did many good things.  However, he was also a man who did a terrible thing...he took the life of another person...he broke one of the basic principles upon which God has established this world -- the principle that human life is sacred...some people have tried to justify what Moses did by saying he was defending another person or that the Egyptian slave master deserved to die because he was mistreating the Hebrews...but while Moses' motives may have been good, his actions were obviously wrong...and the account in Exodus makes it clear Moses knew that killing the man was wrong...for example--
--he looked around to make sure that no-one was watching before killing the man...
--he hid the man's body in the sand...
--he fled when he discovered that his secret was out...
Obviously, Moses was well aware that he had made a terrible mistake...he momentarily abandoned his faith, confidence in God, took matters into his own hands, and made a terrible mess of things...


1.   What's  the lesson in that for us?...well among other things we should learn from that if someone of the calibre of Moses --the man who led the Israelites from Egypt, the man through whom the 10 commandments were given, the man whose life previews for us the life of Christ-- if someone like that could have a lapse in his faith, it certainly can to happen to us as well...
2.   And if that is true, and I believe it is, it has tremendous implications for our lives...we must ever be on guard against spiritual arrogance and smugness...we must be diligent... careful...conscientious in our walk with the Lord...we must not over-estimate our spiritual strength nor underestimate our spiritual adversary...
3.   And if you look carefully at NT will find statement after statement to that effect...for example--
--James 4:7-8a - "Submit therefore to God.  Resist the devil and he will flee from you.  Draw near to God and He will draw near to you..."
--I Peter 5:8-9a - "Be of sober spirit, be on the alert.  Your adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.  But resist him, firm in your faith..."
4.   We must be diligent, for like Moses, we can easily falter in our faith...

II.  When we fail to measure up to God’s ideal, God does not abandon us
1.   Think that's really the main lesson from this experience in Moses' life...an interesting thing is said about Moses in Hebrews 11:27...verse says "...he left Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king..."...on surface that statement seems to be in direct contradiction to the story in Exodus 2 about why Moses left...obviously, he left Egypt to keep the Pharaoh from killing him...but point is, didn't live remainder of his life in fear of Pharaoh...Moses went on with life, allowing God to work out His purpose in him...
2.   The KJV says that Moses "forsook Egypt"...that's a good translation...because idea is that Moses didn't just physically leave, he turned his back on Egypt and all that it represented... he renounced it permanently...
3.   When this event occurred in Moses' life he had two choices... could spend life looking over shoulder in fear of the Pharaoh or spend life looking forward to what God had promised him... chose to do the latter...he chose to look to God or as the writer of Hebrews puts it "...as seeing Him who is unseen."
4.   And if read the remainder of Exodus 2 will see that God kept on working in Moses' life...he settled in land of Midian...met the daughters of Reuel, the priest of Midian, at a well...ended up marrying Zipporah, one of the daughters, and she gave birth to a son...and Moses spent 40 years in Midian being prepared by God for the monumental task that was ahead...

1.   What want you see in all that is that even though Moses had a temporary lapse of faith, God did not give up on him...kept working in him and through him...and what was true for Moses is true for us as well...may think because of some mistake in your past that you can no longer be useful to God... nothing can be further from the truth...as matter of fact God seems to delight in reclaiming those who have stumbled and fallen--
--He took a man like Simon Peter who utterly failed Jesus on the eve of His crucifixion, a man who denied even knowing Jesus and then who went out a wept bitterly over his lack of faith, and made that man the spokesman for the church just 50 days later on the day of Pentecost...
--He took a man like Saul, a man who ranted and raved against the church and whose mention in life was to persecute Christians, and made him the greatest theologian and missionary in church history...
--He took a man like David, a man who committed adultery and then in an attempt to hide his sin became an accomplice to murder, and made him the greatest king in Israel's history and the author of psalms which have blessed the people of God for generations...
2.   And if God could do that in their lives, He can do it in our lives as well...when our faith falters, it is good to remember that God does not stop working with us and in us....

CONCLUSION
1.   One of the great events in the history of college football took place on New Year's Day in 1929… Georgia Tech was playing UCLA in the Rose Bowl...Roy Riggles recovered a fumble for UCLA...but somehow, he got turned around and began running 65 yards toward the wrong goal line...just before he crossed the goal that would have given Georgia Tech a safety, one of his own teammates tackled him from behind...he forever came to be known as “Wrong Way Riggles”…
2.  But what is not widely reported is that event happened in the first half of the game...when the teams went to the locker room for half-time, everyone was wondering what Coach Price of UCLA was going to say to Riggles...when Riggles got into the locker room, he was so embarrassed, he sat in a corner with a blanket over his head....to everyone's surprise, Coach Price didn't even mention Riggles' mistake...
3.   When time came for teams to go back on field, the coach said, "The same 11 players who started the first-half will start the second-half."...all the players began to go back on the field except for Roy Riggles...he just sat, paralyzed in the corner...the coach walked over to him and said, "Roy, didn't you hear me?  I want you back in the game."...and Riggles said, "Coach, I've embarrassed my school, you, and myself.  I just can't go back out there."...and Coach Price said, "Roy, the game is just half over.  Get back out there!"...and realizing he was being given a second chance, Riggles went back on the field and according to those who witnessed it, played the best game they had ever seen football player play...
4.   That's good picture of how God has chosen to relate to us...even though we may make mistakes...even though may stumble and fall ...doesn't abandon us...stays with us...encourages us...and keeps doing His work through us...