YOU ARE NO ACCIDENT
Exodus 2.1-25
S: God’s Plan
C: Following God’s Call
Th: Movin’ On Up!
Pr: REALIZE YOUR SIGNIFICANCE IN GOD’S STORY.
Type: Inductive
I. DELIVERED
II. PREPARED
III. FIRED
IV. HUMBLED
PA: How is the change to be observed?
• Realize that you are an unfinished work
• Don’t take your mission into your own hands
• Humble yourself before God
• Allow the changes He needs to make
Version: ESV
RMBC 10 February 08 AM
INTRODUCTION:
Well, we have survived Super Tuesday, and if there is one thing that comes out during election time is the clamor for change.
1. People are always crying out for change.
And every politician promises it.
Whether it is Hillary or Obama…
Whether it is McCain or Huckabee…
Each one promises that if they are elected, we will finally have a voice there; someone we can count on to represent us.
They will bring the change that is needed in Washington, and to the rest of us.
ILL Politically Correct (H)
For some time now, there have been those in the political process that have been redefining traditionally accepted words and concepts to be more inclusive and neutral. It is an attempt to be what some call “politically correct.” Here are some examples of just ordinary situations.
• Your bedroom isn’t cluttered, it’s just "passage restrictive."
• Kids don’t get grounded anymore. They merely hit "social speed bumps."
• You’re not late, you just have a "rescheduled arrival time."
• You’re not having a bad hair day, you’re suffering from "rebellious follicle syndrome."
• No one’s short anymore. They’re "vertically challenged."
• You’re not shy. You’re "conversationally selective."
• You don’t talk a lot. You’re just "abundantly verbal."
• It’s not called gossip anymore. It’s "the speedy transmission of near-factual information."
I think that often, this is really what politicians are about.
They don’t want change that would affect them.
They want to change us.
So, who can you trust with change?
Maybe we can trust these guys! [slide of Muppet guys]
They seem as trustworthy as the next one.
But let me tell you, there have been times in history that change was really needed.
We learned last week in our study of Exodus 1 that the Israelites were no longer living freely in the land of Egypt.
Instead, they were oppressed, enslaved, hated, misused, and maligned.
The end of chapter 2 describes it this way:
2.23-25: …and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. God saw the people of Israel—and God knew.
Note this…
God heard.
God remembered.
God saw.
God knew.
In other words…
2. God was willing.
He was willing to do something about it.
And as we return to the beginning of chapter 2, we see that God has someone in mind to lead the change.
OUR STUDY:
I. DELIVERED (2.1-10)
3. Enter center stage: Moses.
Now a man from the house of Levi went and took as his wife a Levite woman. The woman conceived and bore a son, and when she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him three months. When she could hide him no longer, she took for him a basket made of bulrushes and daubed it with bitumen and pitch. She put the child in it and placed it among the reeds by the river bank. And his sister stood at a distance to know what would be done to him. Now the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, while her young women walked beside the river. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her servant woman, and she took it. When she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the baby was crying. She took pity on him and said, "This is one of the Hebrews’ children." Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, "Shall I go and call you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?" And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, "Go." So the girl went and called the child’s mother. And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, "Take this child away and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages." So the woman took the child and nursed him.
Amram and Jochebed had two other children of whom we are aware:
• Miriam, who was about12 years older than Moses (the sister in this passage), and,
• Aaron who was about three years older.
Moses was born a condemned baby by the pharaoh.
He had commanded that all Hebrew baby boys were to be thrown in the Nile River, and it was to be enforced by the Egyptians.
But for Moses…
4. His faithful parents did all they could.
…to see that this did not happen.
You know what babies do, right?
They cry.
They cry when they are wet.
They cry when they are hungry.
And they cry for a lot of unknown reasons as well.
For three months, they have kept the life of this baby secret from the Egyptians.
Certainly, there would have been house-to-house searches for hidden babies.
For three months, they have succeeded.
The text tells us that this was a good baby.
It is the same word that is used in creation.
Somehow, someway, they understood that their destiny was wrapped up in these blankets.
This baby was God-sent, special, and unique.
Jochebed put a plan into motion.
We are told in Hebrews that it was a plan based on their faith in God.
So where does she put her baby boy?
She places him in the river, but in the high reeds, so there was no danger of him going downstream.
She places him in the reeds right where the daughter of pharaoh bathed.
In a sense, she places the baby right at the door of the man, pharaoh, who hates him the most.
And what happens?
5. Pharaoh’s plans are thwarted by his own daughter.
Jochebed has set this up so that the pharaoh’s daughter would hear the cries of the baby.
They were cries that broke her heart.
They quickly broke down her defenses.
And she claimed the baby for her own.
Ironically, the very thing that the pharaoh is attempting to prevent is set into motion.
The very person that is going to deliver the Hebrews is saved by the his own daughter.
II. PREPARED (Acts 7.22)
When the child grew up, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses, "Because," she said, "I drew him out of the water."
And Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was mighty in his words and deeds.
So, look what happens to Moses…
6. Moses gets the best education available.
In God’s providence, Moses is given his name by pharaoh’s daughter and he becomes her son.
And when it comes to college, he gets all the financial aid he needs.
He studies science, literature, military tactics, management, philosophy, law, theology, astronomy, mathematics, and hieroglyphics.
And because the pharaoh had no son, he has the inside track for royalty.
He is nurtured for the throne.
III. FIRED (2.11-15; Acts 7.25; cf. Hebrews 11.24-25)
But the throne is not something he aspires to.
Moses knows who he is.
He is a Hebrew, and by the time he is 40, he throws in his lot with them.
One day, when Moses had grown up, he went out to his people and looked on their burdens, and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his people. He looked this way and that, and seeing no one, he struck down the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. When he went out the next day, behold, two Hebrews were struggling together. And he said to the man in the wrong, "Why do you strike your companion?" He answered, "Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?" Then Moses was afraid, and thought, "Surely the thing is known."
You see, somehow, someway…
7. Moses understands his calling.
God has appointed him to be a deliverer.
Whether it was ingrained into his early upbringing by his parents, or God revealed it to him, he feels it is time.
He is anxious to become what God has called him to be.
So he goes out to His people and comes across an Egyptian giving and Israelite a severe beating.
In retaliation for this, Moses kills the Egyptian, with the intent to keep it a secret.
But it does not work that way.
His secret is known and the response he gets is not what he expected.
In Acts, it is described this way:
He supposed that his brothers would understand that God was giving them salvation by his hand, but they did not understand.
What we see here is a huge character flaw in Moses.
He is impulsive and violent.
He possesses a terrible temper.
And he is running on the energy of the flesh.
We learn a simple lesson here.
God’s will must be done God’s way. [repeat]
He was right in who he was, but…
8. Moses fails miserably in trying to fulfill it.
When Pharaoh heard of it, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from Pharaoh and stayed in the land of Midian.
He had hoped to come as a hero, be received by a grateful population and lead the rebellion.
Instead, he is exposed, denounced, and penalized.
His status as a prince and a judge is challenged and rejected.
He has risked everything.
Now that he has tipped his hand, pharaoh has to put a warrant out for his arrest.
Pharaoh couldn’t put up with a disloyal, out of control prince.
He had to die.
So, Moses takes off…
IV. HUMBLED (2.16-22)
…because…
9. Moses has to receive further training.
The interesting thing here is that nothing is going to be wasted here on Moses.
You see, God chooses to school us His way, knowing the work He has in mind for us in the future.
But Moses fled from Pharaoh and stayed in the land of Midian. And he sat down by a well. Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came and drew water and filled the troughs to water their father’s flock. The shepherds came and drove them away, but Moses stood up and saved them, and watered their flock. When they came home to their father Reuel, he said, "How is it that you have come home so soon today?" They said, "An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds and even drew water for us and watered the flock." He said to his daughters, "Then where is he? Why have you left the man? Call him, that he may eat bread." And Moses was content to dwell with the man, and he gave Moses his daughter Zipporah. She gave birth to a son, and he called his name Gershom, for he said, "I have been a sojourner in a foreign land."
Moses has new lessons to learn.
He is no longer a statesman in the palace.
He is now a shepherd in the desert.
He gets married, and settles down, and forgets Egypt.
ILL Moses
I like how D. L. Moody describes Moses:
Moses spent his first forty years thinking he was somebody.
He spent his second forty years learning he was a nobody.
He spent his third forty years discovering what God can do with a nobody.
Moses is going to be the deliverer.
He is going to be effective.
But it is not until he is 80 years old.
God is going to use him, because when it comes to the injustice of His people…
God heard.
God remembered
God saw.
God knew.
He is not ignorant.
He is not indifferent.
He is on time.
CHALLENGE:
So what do we learn from Moses that applies to us as individuals and as a church?
First…
10. REALIZE YOUR SIGNIFICANCE IN GOD’S STORY.
You and I are significant.
We have been created in the image of God, and that alone means that we have worth.
So, you are no accident, even if your parents told you that you were.
God makes no mistakes.
You and I have been created with purpose.
You and I have a place in God’s story.
We have value and significance.
And this also applies to us as a church.
I believe God has a place for us that is unique in this community.
We have a role to play.
It is significant, and it is our task to be in tune with the Holy Spirit, so that we can be at work where He calls us to be.
We have significance.
But you and I must realize something else as well…
11. Also realize that you are an unfinished work.
You and I are unfinished.
The picture of this is Moses running away from pharaoh into Midian, and sitting at the well.
He needed to drink.
And so do we.
We need to drink the living water.
God is at work in us, and He is faithful to complete what He has begun.
So drink at the well.
Know the refreshment of the Lord.
For He will meet us in the midst of our heartache and pain.
He will meet us in the midst of regret and missed opportunities.
And in His providence, He will use them.
God is not done with us as a church.
We are an unfinished work.
He has important things for us to do.
We have purpose – to reach others for Jesus, to create followers of Him, to worship, to know His Word, to be a community characterized by love and grace.
But we have not arrived.
Not even close.
We have to grow.
We have to take the significance that God has given us and make good use of it.
But we must be careful.
We don’t want to make the same mistake that Moses did…
12. Don’t take your mission into your own hands.
We can be so excited about what God has given us to do that we run out ahead of Him.
In fact, it can be a matter of pride.
We think, “God is going to use me, so I had better get out there, and get it done.”
But that is always a mistake, for we are not independent creatures.
No, we are dependent.
When we act on our own power, we are, as Moses, destined to fail.
And Scripture over and over again tells us to “wait on Him.”
We are to wait on God’s timing.
I think that is something we have to learn here at Randall.
Over the past couple of years, there has been a growing urgency that I think that we have needed to feel.
We know that we are not meeting our potential.
So, there is a tendency to rush ahead with this idea or that, and not take time to listen to God.
Listen to this…this is really important…our future is absolutely dependent on our spiritual health.
We can make all the changes in the world in terms of worship, outreach, and structure, and yet, if we are not spiritually healthy, it won’t mean a thing.
This is why the pastors, deacons and our advisory teams are working together – deliberately – patiently – looking to hear from God and understand His timing.
Again, spiritual health is so key for us, as individuals, and thus as a church.
So…
13. Humble yourself before God.
ILL Personal
I have a personality that fights humility.
I know this.
This is why I have longed for the quality that eventually Moses came to be known for – humility.
I deliberately worked on being more humble, at the beginning of 2006, in all areas of my life.
I had no idea, though, that the Lord would strike me down so fiercely by the end of the year with depression.
It was a difficult time.
I had physical symptoms of constant weariness and bouts of unexplained dizziness.
I was filled with a sadness that is impossible to shake.
I dealt with unsympathetic voices that told me to “snap out of it” or thought I was just trying to get attention.
But the good news about this, is that when you come to the end of yourself, you find that you are not alone.
The depression that I dealt with over the past year became precious.
It was just me and the Lord.
The curse became a blessing.
There is a paradox in all of this.
For though I have never felt closer to God as I do now, never have I ever felt so far away.
God’s voice has never been so dear, yet at the same time, I seem so distant from where He would have me to be.
So for all of us, this last point applies…
14. Allow the changes He needs to make.
Let’s humbly come before the Lord and let Him make the changes that need to happen.
Moses had to change.
I have to change.
You have to change.
Randall has to change.
We all need to change into something better.
God has given us significance, as individuals, and as a church.
You are no accident.
We are no accident.
It is time, then, for us to humbly make use of the significance we have been given.
For Further Study: Deuteronomy 8.2; Psalm 103.4; Isaiah 55.8-9; Acts 7.17-34; II Corinthians 12.7-10; Ephesians 2.10; Philippians 1.6; Hebrews 11.23-28
BENEDICTION:
After the postlude has concluded, I will be returning to the platform. If you have any prayer need or want to discuss a change that you feel God wants to make in you, please feel free to come up and meet with me.
Celebrate your significance today…
And then make good use of it.
Allow God to make the changes that need to happen.
Allow Him to change your attitude.
Allow Him to give you courage to speak good news to others.
Allow Him to fill you with His grace so that you will be gracious in manner and speech.
Allow His Spirit to fill you fully so that we will, in turn, be a church characterized by unity.
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:
Boyd, Sheldon Not by Accident
Hamby, John Learning in God’s School of the Desert
Landry, Bruce Into Whose Basket Will You Place Your All?
Pankow, Joel The Birth of Moses Has the Making of a Movie
____ How Can I Make a Difference?
Phaneuf, David A Love that Keeps
Yap, Victor Love Is Stronger than Death
____ What’s the Rush?
Books:
Briscoe, Jill. "Here Am I -- Send Aaron!" Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1978.
Gispen, 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.
