READY FOR CHANGE
Exodus 1.1-22
S: Change
Th: Movin’ On Up!
Pr: BE READY FOR THE CHANGE GOD DESIRES TO BRING.
Type: Inductive
I. THE PAST
II. THE SMALL PICTURE
III. THE BIG PICTURE
IV. FAITH AND FAITHFULNESS
PA: How is the change to be observed?
• Understand that the blessings of the past don’t automatically apply.
• Have faith in God’s view of the bigger picture.
• Fear God over man every time.
• Be ready for change.
Version: ESV
RMBC 03 February 08 AM
INTRODUCTION:
Today, we are starting a new series based on the book of Exodus.
And the series is titled “Movin on up!”
Perhaps you remember that theme from this TV show.
Well we’re movin on up,
To the east side.
To a deluxe apartment in the sky.
Movin on up
To the east side.
We finally got a piece of the pie.
The Jeffersons dreamed of moving on up to the east side.
It was time to get away from the middle class way of life next to Archie and Edith Bunker and experience the change they longed for.
It was, in their opinion, the Promised Land.
Which brings us to this principle…
1. Change can be a welcome and needed event.
It reminds me of the time when someone…
ILL Change (H)
…dialed a wrong number and got the following recording: “I am not available right now, but thank you for caring enough to call. I am making some changes in my life. Please leave a message after the beep. If I do not return your call, you are one of the changes.”
Change is a part of life.
And granted, sometimes the changes come at us so fast, it gets our head spinning.
But there is a danger in how we react to this.
We don’t want to overreact and settle in and oppose change.
2. Let’s not be stuck.
That machine in the picture is stuck.
It is getting nowhere.
And sometimes, as individuals and as a church, we are like that.
We get stuck.
We are stuck in the mud.
And whether we realize it or not, we are missing a lot.
ILL Change (H)
A man appeared to be on his last legs. He constantly gasped for breath and his eyes popped out. The mystified doctors weren’t hopeful, so he decided to live it up.
He went on a shopping spree. At an expensive haberdashery, he pointed out a dozen silk shirts in size 14.
"Your neck looks bigger than 14," said the clerk. "You need a 16.”
"I know my size," the man insisted. "I want the shirts in a 14."
“I’ll get them for you,” replied the clerk. "But I want to warn you - if you wear a 14 you’ll gasp all day and your eyes will pop out!”
That can be so true of us.
We are stuck on what we used to be.
We so long for what it used to be like, that we fail to see the joy that is coming our way, if would just let go of 14 and try 16.
Our challenge today is to…
3. Let’s get our hearts wrapped around where God wants us now.
To do so, we are going to consider the story in chapter one of Exodus.
OUR STUDY:
I. THE PAST
4. At one time, the Hebrews were appreciated guests in Egypt.
It all began with a man named Jacob with twelve sons, his favorite being Joseph.
But Joseph was hated by his jealous brothers, and was kidnapped and sold as a slave to a passing caravan bound for Egypt.
Through time and a chain of incredible events, God greatly honored this young man and promoted him out of slavery, out of the bowels of an Egyptian dungeon, to the right hand of Pharaoh himself. [Swindoll]
Against all odds, this Hebrew became prime minister of the most powerful nation in the ancient world. [Swindoll]
As a result of performing brilliantly in this position, the pharaoh gave to Joseph’s family – Jacob and his eleven sons – Goshen, the best land in the land!
It was a relationship based on gratitude.
And…
5. God had blessed their stay.
It says in the text…
But the people of Israel were fruitful and increased greatly; they multiplied and grew exceedingly strong, so that the land was filled with them.
Forgive me for saying it like this, but they were breeding like rabbits.
The blessings had been coming in various forms.
Year after year, they were moving forward from being a small clan to a nation of people.
II. THE SMALL PICTURE
Things were changing, though.
The text tells us…
Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph.
Joseph was completely forgotten.
The relationship of gratitude between Joseph’s family and the Egyptians had come to an end.
6. Their welcome had worn out.
A different dynasty was now in power, and the new pharaoh faced the growth of populations that were non-Egyptian.
It was a highly distressing time as one-third of the inhabitants of the land were not natives.
The biblical text tells us that he felt he must deal shrewdly with this situation, but what it really was is inherently evil.
He resorted to slavery.
Because he felt the Hebrews were a threat from within, he dealt severely.
He oppressed them and received the benefit of a great source of labor.
They became his chief means of accomplishing great construction.
But pharaoh ran into a problem.
The more the Hebrews were oppressed by the Egyptians, the more they multiplied.
It had been pharaoh’s intention to put a crimp in the baby boom.
But, apparently, these men were not too tired to father children.
The biblical text tells us that because of this that the Egyptians were filled with dread.
It gave them a sickening feeling.
For what were they dealing with that these Hebrews had this uncanny knack of increasing in population instead of decreasing?
So they decided to the hammer down even more on these foreigners and become even more ruthless in the oppression.
Back then, there were no hospitals.
The babies were born at home.
There were no doctors.
There were no medications.
There was no anesthesia (I wanted it but no one gave it to me).
There were, though, midwives who helped with the birth.
They cut the umbilical cord, washed the infant, wrapped him or her up for the new mother to nurse.
Pharaoh’s new strategy was nothing less than abortion.
He orders the midwives to step in.
When the baby is on the way out, if it is male, strangle it.
Suffocate it before it cries out.
Then claim it was stillborn.
It has all the unfortunate earmarks of today’s partial birth abortion.
But the plan falls apart.
These midwives were staunchly pro-life.
And when they explain it to pharaoh, it goes something like this:
“These women are fast. When we hear they are about to give birth, we rush over to the house and zip, pop, it’s over! The baby is already there, and then what can we do?”
Meanwhile, the population boom continues, and we are discovering that something much bigger is happening.
This is not a conflict between the Hebrews and Egyptians.
This is God versus Pharaoh.
For pharaoh, this became a matter of honor.
So, he commissioned all his people to kill all male Hebrew children by throwing them in the Nile.
Everyone had the responsibility to see this happen.
For the typical Hebrew, they had to wonder…
7. Had God forgotten them?
Had His attention drifted?
Was He sleeping?
Where was He in all of this?
A lot of His people were suffering and there seemed to be no answer to it.
But faith believes He is there, even where there is no answer.
The small picture says He is not there.
The big picture says He is.
For we know, that when cry unto God, He will hear, He will look, He will see and He will provide.
III. THE BIG PICTURE
Interestingly…
8. God had predicted their predicament (Genesis 15.13-14).
Then the Lord said to Abram, “Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years. But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions.”
Why did it take so long?
I don’t know if I have the answer to that.
But one thing is for sure, it took time to grow into a nation.
When they first arrived in Egypt, Jacob’s clan would have filled two Greyhound busses.
In 400 years, they went from seventy to two million.
What it says to me, is that…
9. God is on time, even when it seems He is late.
God does not get confused.
He is not discombobulated by the amount of problems.
He does have it under control.
And He wastes no experience.
Even the times of severest trial have always been seasons of blessing to the people of God.
IV. FAITH AND FAITHFULNESS
Let’s step back into the story for a moment to Shiphrah and Puah.
You have to love their story that they told the pharaoh.
It was creative.
Not only that, it was a bit of a slam against the Egyptian women, who were apparently not as hearty.
But what we are really to see here is that these two Egyptian women feared the invisible God of the Israelites more than the visible pharaoh.
So note this…
10. In times of trial, God is on the watch for those that are devoted to Him.
The text says:
And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families.
He blessed them.
But is not that the problem?
Didn’t they lie?
It appears so, but it is not the lie that is rewarded.
It is the faith.
For faith sees real power.
Sight sees the immediate power.
Sight fears pharaoh.
Faith fears God.
CHALLENGE:
Well, how does this connect to us today?
11. Understand that the blessings of the past don’t automatically apply.
Here is a hard lesson that we need to understand as individuals and as a church.
The blessings of the past do not automatically apply.
You see, the sons of Jacob had found themselves living in the good land of Goshen.
It was prime land.
It was meant to be a temporary location that was to reflect God’s blessing on them.
But they were never meant to stay there.
The blessings and influence of their heritage did not automatically continue.
You can’t borrow faith.
You have to own it yourself.
You have to make your own way.
You can’t live in the past.
You build on it.
You have to keep building.
This means that every generation has to discern what is next.
And to do so, we must…
12. Demonstrate faith in God’s view of the bigger picture.
You see, if we are not moving, God will move us.
He will give us hard and difficult times.
So, we are not to lose faith when tough times come our way.
Hard times don’t erase God’s promises.
He has not forgotten.
His attention has not wandered.
Neither does harsh treatment escape God’s notice.
He is aware.
He is missing nothing.
Deliverance does not always arrive on our timetable or in the manner we expect it.
It will, though, arrive at the best time and the right time.
His love has not changed.
He can be trusted.
This means, then, that we are to…
13. Fear God over man every time.
Sometimes we are drawn into a time of conflict and trouble.
It is not our fault.
But it has happened anyways.
We do, though, have a choice of how we will respond.
We do have a choice to run to God or run away.
Trials are designed, I believe, to make us dependent on God.
They are the soil for growth.
ILL Trials (S)
There was a lady who took up planting and nourishing a young cactus as a relaxing hobby. She made sure to care for them very regularly, giving them plenty of water and cactus food. She was perplexed that she had been feeding them and watering them for a whole year and she didn’t see any noticeable growth.
It is true that cactus grows slowly, but often the slow growth results from what we do to them. You see, the woman went out of town for three weeks and she forgot to water her cactus before she left, and she forgot to have someone stop by and care for them. When she realized her mistake she feared that her cactus would be withered and dying when she returned. But to her surprise, it had actually grown and blossomed while she was away.
A cactus actually grows better under harsh conditions, but when you pamper it, it stunts its growth.
God may be allowing some harsh conditions in your life and in the life of our church.
But what will we do with that?
Will we run to Him or run at each other?
So what do we need to do with all this?
The essence is this…
14. BE READY FOR THE CHANGE GOD DESIRES TO BRING.
Are you comfortable in Egypt?
I must admit, I am beginning to think that if we ever get comfortable, we are not doing it right.
For the Lord always wants us “moving on up.”
He wants us moving on to the Promised Land.
So, be ready.
Have an attitude of, “Lord, whatever You want for me, whatever You want for this church, that’s what I want as well.”
Be ready to receive the new path God is bringing.
This is so important, for if we get entrenched in our past, and/or what we want or prefer, we are essentially stuck in Egypt.
Are you ready for the adventure God has for us?
It is exciting!
It is going to stretch us.
It is going to make us uncomfortable.
It is, at times, going to be painful.
The unexpected will happen.
And a time or two, it may even be scary.
But after all, consider this…
Where would you rather be?
Where would you rather be, but in the midst of change that God is bringing to each of us, individually, and corporately, as a church?
I will tell you, that is where I want to be!
For there is no safer place to be than to be where God wants you!
For Further Study: Genesis 12.1-7,49.22; Isaiah 48.10; Ezekiel 27.17-22; Matthew 2.16-18; II Corinthians 1.3-4; James 1.2-4
Communion:
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
We celebrate change this morning because God has changed us.
He has made us new.
We are no longer the same.
In fact, every day there is to be change.
We are to be ever conforming to His image.
So let’s not settle for where we are.
The table today is here so that we will remember that Jesus came so that we would no longer be the same.
He has offered us life – full and abundant.
He has offered us love.
He has offered us heaven.
And we have received it, by grace, through faith.
So we keep movin’ on up, growing closer to Him.
Those of us that know Jesus are invited to share in the elements of the table.
You do not have to be a member of this church to partake, but we do ask that you have a relationship with Jesus.
If you do not know Jesus, that is, you have not received Him as your Savior and Lord, you do not trust Him with your life, that is, you have not been changed by the message, just let the elements pass by.
Please wait until the time comes when you do have that personal relationship with the Lord Jesus.
We practice “communion” because we are to remember the death of the Lord Jesus.
We take the bread to remind us that it was by the body of our Savior that our salvation came.
He died in our place.
He became our substitute.
Being led in prayer by ____, let us take a moment and thank Him for being our sacrifice.
(Prayer)
The apostle Paul writes, "The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me."
Let’s partake together.
We take the cup to remind us that it was by the blood of our Savior that our salvation came.
He died for our sins.
He became our sacrifice.
It is here we rejoice in the forgiveness we have received.
____ will now come and lead us in prayer.
Again, the apostle Paul writes, "In the same way, after supper he took the cup saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me."
Let’s partake together.
II Peter 3:18
Now…grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.
BENEDICTION:
What does God want you to change today?
Is it an action?
Are you failing to do the good that you know you should be doing?
Perhaps you keep the good news to yourself when should be sharing it with others.
Is it an attitude?
Are you fighting the direction the Lord is taking you?
You know it, but you are still resisting.
Is it a relationship?
You know that you are not right with someone.
In fact, you know that you are refusing to make it right.
You want to hold on to it to prove you are right.
The problem is that it does not work that way.
For God calls us to a different approach.
We need to be ready for the changes God is calling on us to make.
Are you accepting them or resisting them?
If you want someone to talk to after the service, I will be available to you after the postlude is concluded, here on the platform.
Be ready…to move away from your past…and move on up…continually building, not settling, not staying, not getting comfortable.
Be ready…to let go of just what you can see – the small picture…instead, take by faith what you cannot see – the big picture – that God loves, God works, God answers.
Be ready…to move on up…by being right in our relationships with Him and by being right with each other.
Now may the God of peace equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
RESOURCES:
SermonCentral:
Appleby, Chris Faith and Failure
Boyd, Sheldon For Such a Time as This
McNeill, Ronnie Thank God that Trouble Don’t Last Always
Phillips, Damien The Pothole of Egypt
Shive, Rickey Puah and Shiphrah
Books:
Briscoe, Jill. "Here Am I -- Send Aaron!" Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1978.
Grispen, Willem H. Exodus. Translated by Ed M. van der Maas. Bible Student’s Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI: Regency Reference Library, 1982.
Pink, A. W. Gleanings in Exodus. Chicago: Moody Press, 1981.
Ramm, Bernard. His Way Out: A Fresh Look at Exodus. Glendale, CA: Regal Books, 1975.
Swindoll, Charles R. Moses: A Man of Selfless Dedication. Great Lives from God’s Word, vol. 4. Nashville: Word Publishing, 1999.
