Drawn Out To Be Drawn In Series

Every nation has its heroes. George Washington, for example, is a name that every American child knows, and why not? He was a formidable general and our nation’s first president. Is your name one that every school child will one day know as well? There’s George Washington and then there’s (call out the names of a couple people present). Don’t think the people I just named will ever be as famous? Maybe not. Such recognition is reserved for those who accomplish something really important.

However, we’re starting a sermon series today that focuses on the biblical truth that each one of us is important even if we never accomplish anything the world thinks is worthwhile. You could say that each of us has been made for more—for more than just surviving from one day to the next. This was something Moses found out. He went from being a cry baby (that’s what he was doing when he was “discovered”) to being God’s premier prophet and leader of the Israelites. For the next twelve weeks, we’ll study the life of Moses to see how he (and we) are “made for more.”

We were of course all made by God for the purpose of serving and praising him—but not in a slave-ish way, as if God just needed a bunch of gardeners, janitors, and maids to do his bidding. Rather, we’re like the Grand Canyon, the Swiss Alps, and the Great Barrier Reef—things of beauty God made to bring glory to himself. But just as the natural wonders of this world can be ruined by pollution, humanity lost the beauty it once had because of sin. Only God can make us morally beautiful again. He does this by drawing us out of this world to draw us in to himself. Let’s see how God literally did that for Moses in today’s text.

Moses was born about 3,500 years ago—shortly after a new dynasty had taken power in Egypt. This new dynasty was not good for the Israelites who had been living in Egypt for over 300 years. Do you remember how they got there in the first place? Joseph, the son of Jacob, had been sold into slavery by his brothers who were jealous of the attention he received from their father. God was with Joseph, however, and he eventually went from slave to sultan—second in power only to the pharaoh. Thanks to his administrative prowess, Joseph brought much wealth to the pharaoh. However, when a new pharaoh from a new dynasty took over, he didn’t acknowledge the service Joseph had given. On the contrary, he saw Joseph’s descendants as a threat. At first, he tried to deal with the “problem” by making the Israelites do the backbreaking work of making and hauling bricks for several building projects. But just as an egg only hardens when you boil it, the backbreaking work only strengthened the Israelites and made them increase even more. Undeterred, Pharaoh next instructed two midwives, Shiphrah and Puah, to kill the Hebrew baby boys the moment they were born. But these women respected God more than they feared this pharaoh. They refused to kill any babies.

There is something worth bringing to your attention here. The second book of the Bible, from which our text is taken today, is not called “Exodus” in the Hebrew Bible. It goes by the title: “And these are the names.” The title comes from the first two words of the book. What then follows are the names of Jacob and his 12 sons. The only other names listed in Exodus 1 are the two faith-filled midwives: Shiphrah and Puah. The pharaoh, on the other hand, is NOT named even though he may have been the mighty Pharaoh Ahmose I (c. 1539-1514 B.C.)* who expelled the Hyksos, the former Asiatic rulers of Egypt. Ahmose I also extended Egyptian control over present-day Sudan and restored neglected temples and trade routes. But as far as God was concerned, because of his persecution of his chosen people, Ahmose I was a nobody. The midwives, Shiphrah and Puah, who carried out their work faithfully and in humble service to others were more important to God than the pharaoh. Their names, and not the name of the pharaoh, are recorded in the Bible.

Do you feel like a nobody? Is the job that you have, the social circle you run in considered to be on the margins, like a forgotten forestry road? Don’t fret it. Be faithful in serving your God and doing what is right. God knows and sees. And in time, God will acknowledge your faithful work. You have been made for more—to serve the King of kings. Even if no one else in the world thinks that you are very important, he does. But conversely, if you are opposed to God and are not doing his will, don’t think that your high social standing or your fat bank account means anything. Repent and humble yourself. Jesus was not kidding when he said the first will be last and the last will be first.