“Turning Points”
Exodus 4:1-17
I will start with a question this morning…..why is that we think that when it comes to things that God wants us to do in the church for Him that we are suddenly full of excuses…excuses that would never work somewhere else. People quit church…they quit working for the Lord for some of the craziest reasons….for reasons that would never fly anywhere else.
Let’s say you went to a football game and everything didn’t go exactly as you planned…would you use that as an excuse NOT to ever go to another one?
• For instance…maybe you went to a game and you sat by some people who just weren’t very friendly. Would you go to another game?
• What if the seats weren’t comfortable? Would you go back?
• What if they asked for money when you arrived at the game/gate?
• What if the band played some songs at half time you had never heard before?
• What if the following week the coach didn’t write you a thank you note for being there? The coach never called me or came to see me.
• What if the referee did something you didn’t agree with?
• What if the game went a little too long , even into overtime…would you stop going?
Many of us use these excuses at one time or another, fully aware they would never fly anywhere else. You’re asked to teach a class… here come the excuses. You’re asked to help with childcare on Sunday morning. More excuses. Someone has a need and you’re asked to go and see them. I’m too busy. Get somebody else. If we go back to chapter 3 we see God asking Moses to do a very specific job. Moses (1) knew it was God telling him to do it (2) he understood what the job was but still the excuses continued to flow. “Lord I don’t speak well…Lord what if people won’t listen to me?
Now I’m guessing God wasn’t surprised---in fact in 66 books of the Bible you will never find a time where the Bible says that God was surprised. But the scripture does tell us that “God searches the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him.” The Bible also says that “God searches our hearts and examines our minds—for this purpose—to reward us.” God is constantly searching for men and women who will give their whole heart to Him. But here’s the problem. And it’s been around for thousands of years. We still have a problem with wanting to walk by sight rather than by faith. We say Lord I know you said this but have you thought about this? We ask question after question until we talk ourselves completely out of doing what God has asked us to do. We’re a lot like the little boy whose mother asked him, why do you always answer a question with a question? He said, do I do that? When it comes to spiritual matters we all make mistakes. At least 3 of them.
(1) We run before we are sent. When Moses was younger that’s exactly what he did. God hadn’t sent him yet but he ran on ahead. Sometimes we just can’t wait for God to set thing up. We get impatient so we take action. We run ahead before we’re supposed to.
(2) We retreat after we have failed. If you run before you’re sent you will fail. You’ll fall into a ditch. And when that happens, a lot of us decide that it’s time to just go and hide. Because we’re insecure. We can’t stand the thought of failure. Listen whoever said that we have to succeed at everything we do? That kind of standard is set up by men not God.
(3) We resist when we are called. If you are going to have a heart that beats like HIS then you must practice obedience. Obedience is submission to authority and throughout scripture God demands it. You see, whether you realize it or not, God has the amazing ability to see right through us---He knows your every thought. He knows your heart. Perhaps you remember the story in the gospels when Jesus was teaching and some men came and brought a man who was paralyzed on a mat --- they tried to get the man through the crowd that was listening to Jesus but they couldn’t so they took him to the roof and lowered him down from the top. Because of their faith, Jesus healed the man and forgave his sins.
The Pharisees didn’t like it…Jesus looked at them and the Bible says Jesus knew what they were thinking. He asked them why are you thinking these things in your heart? He sees right though us. We can’t hide from God. He knows our every thought even before we express it. He saw straight into Moses’ heart that day and He knew that Moses had doubts. Do you? Do you doubt your gifts; doubt your ability; maybe you even doubt God? Well if you do, guess what? God already knows. I mean you can tell the church your faith is solid, you have no doubts, but God sees right through it. We just need to be honest because we’re not fooling anyone. So His response to Moses and His response to you and me is this… Let me show you to how to do this. God doesn’t want us to have to figure this out on our own. So He gives Moses 3 signs. Let’s look.
(1) vv. 2-5. This is the sign of the shepherd’s staff. Moses, David, Amos… many of the OT characters were shepherds. And the ones who weren’t, who had another profession/job were still often referred to as shepherds. The reason is because sheep need a shepherd and we’re like sheep. One of the most common professions in the NT was fishermen. So Jesus told them to become fishers of men.
God uses the shepherd’s staff here for a very simple reason. Moses was holding one in his hand. He says to Moses what’s that in your hand? What do you have that God can use? God then says to Moses, take it and throw it on the ground…. And when he does it becomes a snake. Moses does what many of us would do…he runs from it. God tells him to pick it up and then it turns back into a staff. Notice this, as long as Moses kept the staff in his hand it was useful, but the moment he laid it down, it became something that was useless…even harmful. When God gives you a gift, don’t ever put it down.
(2) Vv. 6-8. This is the sign of the shepherd’s hand. Leprosy was one of the most dreaded of all diseases in those days. Those who had it lived in great fear and they were social outcasts. They were required to wear a bell around their neck and ring it loudly when they came into town so that people would know not to come near them.
Every one of us has the ability to do certain things with our hands. We can affirm someone; give them a pat on the back, we can write a note, prepare a meal, we can shake someone’s hand to welcome them. We can write a check to bless someone. Here’s the lesson. There is great power in our hands to do good. All we need is a heart of obedience. If we fail to use what God has given to us it can be rendered useless. These gifts God gives us work like a muscle does in our bodies. If you use it, it will grow; if you fail to use it you will lose it.
We see this in the parable of the talents. A wealthy man calls
10 of his servants and gives them all an equal sum of money. When he returned, he calls them together and he said, now tell me what you did with what I gave you. The first one earned ten more. So he puts him in charge of ten cities. The 2nd one earned 5 more so he places him in charge of 5 cities. The 3rd one says I kept it laid away in a piece of cloth----in other words, I laid it down. The Lord then takes it away and gives it to the one who already had 10. Can you imagine his response? Lord, why does he need more? How come he gets everything? Luke 19:26. Use it or lose it.
(3) v.9 This is the final sign…the sign of the Shepherd’s future. We learn something very important here.. our future depends on our obedience. Moses’ first miracle would be to turn the water in the Nile to blood. God was saying you will do this too if you will just HAVE AN OBEDIENT HEART.
So what does Moses do? He begins to argue with God; to question God. “Lord I cannot speak well, not in the past or not now. I’m slow of speech. Lord are you sure you’ve got the right guy? Are you sure you know what you’re doing?” The Lord replies. Vv.11-12. Moses would never lack for words to speak. Now surely he is ready to commit but look at what he says…
v. 14 “Oh, Lord please send someone else!”
In many ways Moses was one of the greatest leaders we find in the OT. But he was far from perfect. He made mistakes, he got angry, he was impatient, he committed murder and as a result of his anger and his disobedience Moses missed the Promised Land. God said to Moses because you and Aaron didn’t trust in me enough and didn’t do what I told you to do, you will not be able to enter the Promised Land. You see, trust and obedience go hand in hand. There comes a time when we have to let go of all of our excuses and just say here I am Lord.
It was really at the age of 80 that God began to use Moses. If you were to look at his resume for the past 40 years it would have had one entry. ”I was a shepherd in the desert.” That won’t get you very many jobs. Not very impressive. But the Bible says that one day in the desert Moses saw a bush burning; it continued to burn but it didn’t burn up. Moses, says, “I’m going to check that out. Why is it not burning up?” And as he approached it ….God spoke and just said Moses, Moses. And you know what Moses said, “Here I am.” 40 years before that Moses would have said oh let me show you my resume Lord….all of my honors and my accomplishments. But not now. Because for the last 40 years Moses has been a nobody. So now when God speaks Moses simply says “Here I am.” And that was the turning point for Moses. Believe it or not when God speaks that’s really all He wants to hear from us. A simple “I’m here.” What can I do for you Lord?
Basically, Moses spent the first 40 years of his life trying to be a somebody; the second 40 years of his life as a nobody and the last 40 years realizing that God can take a nobody and turn him into a somebody…if he would just have a heart that was obedient. After 80 years, Moses was finally ready and willing.
Let me ask you, how long will it take for you? How long will you wait before you just say Lord here I am, use me. God is looking for one thing… a heart of obedience.
