Do you remember your first staff meeting at your present place of employment? Probably not. Staff meetings are usually boring. They’re necessary to keep everyone at the company on track but boring. My first staff meeting, however, was anything but dull. In fact many of you know the details of that meeting even though it happened over three thousand years ago. Perhaps I should introduce myself. My name is Aaron. I am the older brother of Moses – yes, the same Moses who led the children of Israel out of Egypt. Everyone knows about the crossing of the Red Sea when God told my brother to raise his staff before those waters and then God caused them to part. Well that wasn’t the first time that a staff was an important tool in God’s plan of salvation. I had a staff too and God used it in one of our meetings with Pharaoh. That’s what I want tell you about today. I want to relate what I learned about God at my first staff meeting.
Can you believe that I was 83 years old when I attended my first staff meeting? God had told Moses and me to go to Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and demand that he let us Israelites leave Egypt and be freed from slavery. It wasn’t the first time we had stood before Pharaoh and made this demand – a demand which angered the king so he chased us out of the palace and made the lives of our countrymen more miserable. We slaves now had to gather our own straw to make the bricks the Egyptians demanded of us. Our people sure weren’t happy with Moses and me for stirring up such trouble!
I was pretty apprehensive then when God told us to go to Pharaoh again - especially when God added: “Pharaoh is going to demand a miracle but even when you perform one, Aaron, he won’t be persuaded to let you Israelites go.” I was to perform a miracle? Yes! God said that I was to throw down my staff and promised it would turn into a snake. Moses’ staff had done that before but never mine. And so I was nervous when we entered the palace again. To Pharaoh I was just some old geezer who had been a slave his whole life and who now wouldn’t leave well enough alone. But here’s one thing that I learned from my first staff meeting. I learned that God delights in using the humble and the unlikely in his service. God could have come down himself and appeared to Pharaoh. Or he could have sent one of his many angels. Instead he used two old guys who up to that point hadn’t done much with their lives.
Pardon me for saying this but you don’t look to be among the movers and shakers of this world either. Most of you probably aren’t the smartest, the funniest, or the fastest in your class. But it’s people like you, ordinary sinners, that God delights in using as his ambassadors. No, he hasn’t called you to stand in front of a pharaoh to demand the release of slaves but he has called you to tell your friends and neighbors that they have been released from the slavery of sin. Does the thought of sharing that news make you nervous? God will go with you, just as he went with me when I stood before Pharaoh. Let me tell you more about that.
As God had prophesied, Pharaoh demanded a miracle when we asked him again to free our people. And so here was something else I learned about God at my first staff meeting: God knows all things. He knows the thoughts and plans of all of his enemies. And he knows your thoughts and your plans too. Nothing is a surprise to him. That’s both comforting and scary isn’t it? Whatever sin you’re planning, he knows about it already and you won’t get away with it. Yet whatever difficulty you might run into like illness, he knows about that too. And so the God of the Bible is someone worth paying attention to! You can ignore him but he won’t ignore you. That was a lesson Pharaoh never learned and he suffered because of it as you’ll hear in a little bit.
When Pharaoh demanded a miracle my brother turned to me and told me to throw down my staff which was supposed to turn into a snake. This was the moment! “But,” a thought flashed through my mind, “what if the staff doesn’t turn into a snake? What if it just clatters across the polished floor of the palace?” What a joke I would have been then. But I wasn’t put to shame. God made good on his promise and my staff turned into a real live hissing snake as soon as it hit the ground.
Do you see what else I learned about God at my first staff meeting? I learned that his promises, no matter how silly they may seem, can be trusted. Think of what that means for you. It means that when water is poured on a baby’s head and God’s name is pronounced in baptism, you can trust that the Holy Spirit really comes to that child, creates faith, and grants the forgiveness of sins. Likewise when you come to Holy Communion you can really trust that the little wafer you receive and the sip of wine is also Jesus’ body and blood given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. Through these gifts you also receive the power to live as a child of God. Because the Holy Spirit lives in you, you can be patient. You can forgive. You can be kind to the mean kids at school. Don’t doubt any of God’s promises. He always, always does what he says he will do!
Before I could do a little “boo-ya!” dance to celebrate that my staff had turned into a snake, Pharaoh called in his magicians and sorcerers and they, with Satan’s help, turned their staffs into real snakes. But before my excitement could turn into disappointment, I watched in amazement as my snake swallowed the other snakes! I learned at this staff meeting that while Satan is real and is powerful, God is greater.
That truth leads me to ask you this question: who are you relying on in life? Pharaoh didn’t think he needed the God of the Bible. He had his magicians. He could rely on them and live as he wanted. Is that what you think? You might not have a sorcerer living with you at home but do you suppose that modern technology has the answer to life’s problems? Do you suppose that enough money can buy happiness or that the right doctor can cure all your aches and pains? Are you under the impression that you really don’t need the God of the Bible? If so, the events of my first staff meeting should serve as a wake-up call. Just as my God-given snake swallowed up Satan’s snakes, divinely-ignited fire will swallow everything in this world on Judgment Day. Nothing is going to be left. Nothing will survive except for you who will then have to stand before God on trial for your life. Only one thing will matter then: not whether or not you made a million dollars and managed to retire at 55, or whether you recorded an album that people other than friends and family purchased. The only thing that will matter is whether or not you had faith in Jesus. For this Jesus, God’s Son, swallowed your sin so that it is now hidden from God’s sight. Without Jesus, however, you will have to answer for those sins and suffer eternal punishment in a real place called hell.
Don’t be like Pharaoh. He hardened his heart in spite of the miracle and told us to get out. I learned that day that miracles don’t convince people of the truth. So if you’re skeptical of what I’ve been telling you this morning, I won’t be able to change your mind by throwing down a staff now and asking God to turn it into a snake. Even if that happened, you would just find a reason to doubt the miracle. Do you want to be convinced of God’s existence? Do you want to believe that a person named Jesus died on the cross to pay for your sins and then came back to life? Do you want to believe that through faith in this Jesus you too can look forward to eternal life? Don’t demand a miracle from God to convince you; study the Bible instead. Learn more of what it has to say. This is how God will convince you of the truth and work the miracle of faith in your heart.
When Pharaoh said that he would not give in to our demands, I wondered why God didn’t use my snake to bite him right then and there and put an end to that tyrant. God didn’t do that, however, and so here’s something else I learned about him at my first staff meeting. I learned that God is patient. He loved Pharaoh and the other Egyptians. He wanted them to turn from their idols and their witchcraft and to put their faith in him. As I speak, God is extending his patience to you too. He could have destroyed you a long time ago for your self-centeredness but he hasn’t. The Bible says that God doesn’t want anyone to go to hell. That’s why he brought you here this morning so that you would hear his call to repentance and come to believe in the forgiveness Jesus has already given you. Don’t be like Pharaoh and ignore this call. Instead imitate the Apostle Peter who said to Jesus in the Gospel lesson this morning: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (John 6:68).
My first staff meeting didn’t last very long but I sure learned a lot. I learned that God knows all things; he knows our thoughts and our plans. I learned that God is more powerful than anything or anyone else in this world. Most importantly I learned how much God loves sinners. I mean why did he even bother with Pharaoh? For that matter why did he bother with us Israelites - we, who constantly grumbled and complained against him? God “bothers” with sinners like us because he really wants us to spend eternity with him in heaven. And so I say again, don’t be like Pharaoh and harden your heart against him intent on living life your way. Instead of throwing down a challenge like that before God, throw down your pride and embrace his grace. You won’t be disappointed. Amen.
