(Props – 10 foot length of ¼ inch chain; a cross on stage that can handle the weight of the chain)
OPEN: I once read the story of a marketplace in northern India where people brought their wares to trade and sell. One old farmer brought in a whole covey of quail that he caught. He hoped to get the attention of passersby by tying strings to ring that fit loosely over a stick in the ground, and then attaching the ends of the strings he tied around a leg of each bird. He had taught the quail to walk in a circle.
But nobody cared. Nobody wanted them.
Then along came a devout Hindu holy man of the region. He believed in the Hindu idea of respect for all life, so his heart went out to these birds walking in monotonous circles.
He told the farmer "I want to buy them all.”
When he’d paid for them, he said, "Now, I want you to set them all free."
The farmer looked at him strangely and said "What's that sir?"
"You heard me. Cut the strings from their legs and turn them loose. Set them all free."
The old farmer shrugged, bent down and snipped the strings off the quail.
You’d have thought they’d have flown away… but they didn't. They simply continued marching around and around in a circle.
A little frustrated, the Hindu man shooed them off, but they only landed some distance away and resumed their predictable march.
Freed from their bonds – they just kept going round and round in circles as if still tied.
(Charles Swindoll in his book: “The Finishing Touch”).
Exodus.
When we hear that word, we think of the 2nd book of the Bible by that name.
But we rarely think about what the word itself really means.
Exodus means – “to leave”.
The Book of Exodus is the story of Israel LEAVING their slavery in Egypt.
But they didn't just leave.
God brought them out of Egypt with a mighty hand and rescued them from their slavery.
Throughout the Old Testament, that’s a repeated phrase.
In Leviticus God declared: “I am the LORD your God, who BROUGHT YOU OUT of Egypt so that you would no longer be slaves to the Egyptians; I broke the bars of your yoke and enabled you to walk with heads held high.” Leviticus 26:13
The night before God led them out of Egypt He commanded them to celebrate the first Passover… and Moses said to them:
"Commemorate this day, the day you came out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery, because the LORD BROUGHT YOU OUT of it with a mighty hand...” Exodus 13:3
When God gave Israel His law to Israel, the first of the 10 commandments said:
"I am the LORD your God, who BROUGHT YOU OUT of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.”
Exodus 20:2
When God commanded Israel to be honest people He declared: “Use honest scales and honest weights, an honest ephah and an honest hin. I am the LORD your God, who BROUGHT YOU OUT of Egypt.” Leviticus 19:36
About 40 years later, Joshua called the people to make a decision to follow God.
He made his famous statement: “As for me and my house we will serve the Lord.”
But in part of his speech that day, he declared:
“It was the LORD our God himself who brought us and our parents UP OUT OF EGYPT, from that land of slavery, and performed those great signs before our eyes....” Joshua 24:17
Over and over again, God reminded His people that they were once slaves.
But HE bought them and brought them out of their slavery.
Now, as I was preparing this sermon, a question came to my mind
Why would God do it that way?
Why allow His people to become slaves to begin with?
And why allow them to be slaves for so long?
Why didn't God rescue His people immediately?
Now we know HOW they became slaves:
In Exodus 1:8-14 we’re told that “… a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt.
Look," he said to his people, "the Israelites have become far too numerous for us. Come, we must deal shrewdly with them or they will become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country."
So they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor, and they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh. But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites and worked them ruthlessly. They made their lives bitter with harsh labor in brick and mortar and with all kinds of work in the fields; in all their harsh labor the Egyptians worked them ruthlessly.”
But even though we know HOW they became slaves there’s still the question:
WHY allow them to be slaves and then allow them to remain slaves for so long?
And the more I thought about that, several things became apparent:
1st – when Israel left Egypt - they had a destination.
Do you know where they were going?
That’s right. They were going to the Promised Land. This was the land that God had promised to Abraham He would give it to Abraham’s descendants as their homeland forever.
But when Israel first entered Egypt they couldn't take over a small city let alone a huge territory like the “Promised Land”. When they first came to Egypt there were only 75 of them. But centuries later - when they left Egypt they were a huge nation - their fighting force alone consisted of over 600,000 men.
ILLUS: Now, just to put that into perspective, during the American Revolution, when Washington fought against England, the Revolutionary army rarely numbered more than around 20,000 men.
And in WWII, On D-Day, allied forces landed about 156,000 soldiers at Normandy.
That’s a lot of men!
But when Israel left Egypt, they had 600,000 men capable of fighting their enemies.
It was Israel’s slavery that made them the fighting force that was needed to take Palestine. Exodus 1:12 says “the more (the Israelites) were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread”.
Not only did they grow into a huge nation under their slavery, but the harsh work they were forced to do made them a mighty people who were strong and capable of standing on their own if called to war.
So frankly speaking, it was the chains their slavery that made them ready to take hold of what God had promised them.
2ndly – when God sent the Israel down into Egypt, He sent them there to keep them out of the influence of the other nations of the land.
You see, the Israelites were NEVER really part of Egypt.
Egyptians were vegetarians.
They despised meat eaters, and that’s what the people of Israel were.
Israel never fit in in the Egyptian culture.
In fact, when Pharaoh gave them the land of Goshen to live in it was because the Egyptians really didn't want that land. It wasn't good for raising crops.
It was good ground for grazing cattle and sheep, but not so good for raising crops.
And so, even before they were made slaves in Egypt, the people of Israel were isolated from Egypt's culture, and the gods of Egypt, and from the immorality that Egypt and other nations engaged in.
The land of Goshen was on the south side of any region of other powerful nations.
This insulated Israel from the ebb and flow of other cultures and religions.
And thus, when they emerged from their slavery, they were they were prepared to be shaped and molded by God. They didn't worship the gods of Egypt. They didn't live the lifestyle of the Egyptians. They were a people that had been set apart from the world around them… and were prepared to be shaped by God’s kind of morality and lifestyle.
Lastly – Israel remained in slavery for as long as they did because… well, they never had asked God to free them.
It’s true.
It’s only after Moses was born that we’re told:
“During that long period, the king of Egypt died (the King who’d commanded that male Israelite infants be thrown into the Nile). The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God.” Exodus 2:23
Now, why would it take Israel so long to ask God for help?
Well, because people tend to want to do things themselves.
ILLUS: Back in 1988, the Los Angeles Times carried the story about a 19 yr. old woman who fell asleep while driving over a bridge. Her car plunged thru a guardrail and was dangling by one of its rear wheels. Rescue units and firefighters worked at rescuing her. But every time they would move the car… she’d yell and scream in pain.
It took 2 ½ hours to pull her to safety.
But all through the rescue effort the woman kept repeating a phrase over and over.
The fire captain at the scene said: “She kept saying: ‘I’ll do it myself.’”
The point is - Israel apparently had never gotten to the point where they bothered to ask God for help. They seemed to have felt that they could handle this all by themselves.
But God tells us in James 4:2 “You do not have because you do not ask God.”
Essentially: if you don’t ask… He’ll wait till you do.
Until you ask, God will not intrude.
You have to want His help badly enough to ask.
Until Israel got to the point where they were willing to ask for help, they were still in bondage to their own agendas and preferences… and they would continue to be in bondage until they realized they wanted to be free. Until that time, Israel would remain like that covey of quail that had been freed from their bondage.
They weren't ready, and they weren't willing, to have God free them from their slavery.
Now you might ask: Why am I telling you all this?
I’m glad you asked.
Jesus said He would free us.
In John 8:36 Jesus said “…if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”
That’s why Jesus came and suffered and died for us… to FREE US!
So, if Jesus came to Free us, then everything should be sweetness and light.
Shouldn't it?
But is that how it works?
Are your lives completely free of troubles and difficulties and hardships?
(Ask congregation to respond)
That’s right.
Life isn't always pleasant and pain free is it?
How come?
Well, part of the answer lies in the fact that we live in a fallen world.
As long as we live in this world, we’re going to encounter suffering and trials and difficulties.
In fact, Jesus said Jesus said: "In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." John 16:33
And in I Peter, we’re told: “Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.” I Peter 4:12-13
Trouble?
Fiery Ordeals?
Suffering?
Wait a minute!
I don’t want that!
I didn't sign up for that!
But that is how life happens isn't it.
That’s what Jesus said would happen.
There are many things that weigh us down and put us in bondage.
And there may even be times when God will permit us to be bound by chains.
There may be times when God allows chains in our lives.
And the reasons He would do that to us are the very reasons that caused Israel to suffer in their bondage.
(Pick up a 10 foot chain and hold throughout the rest of the sermon)
1st – God allowed their chains for a time so that they could become stronger.
To prepare to take hold of what God wants us to TRULY have in our lives.
One person put it this way: “No pressure, no diamonds”
ILLUS: Have you ever heard of “Post Traumatic Distress Disorder”?
It’s a condition that describes people who've gone through such terrible experiences in their lives that it unsettles them and throws their life off balance.
Back in 1995, researchers at the Trinity Western University in Canada found that such trauma can actually be beneficial… if it’s handled correctly.
They called the phenomena PTG, or Post Traumatic Growth.
Amongst other things, they found that Trauma Growth resulted in:
• Gratitude for being alive
• Positive changes in their priorities
• Stronger religious/spiritual beliefs
• A sense of control and security through their belief in God
• Greater meaning in their lives
• A stronger belief in their own competence and self-reliance
• Improved relationships with people they cared about
• Increased compassion and empathy for others
In short - their trauma changed and strengthened them and made them into better people.
And one of the things I noticed in that article was that these folks became stronger because of their faith in God.
God used the chains that bound others to strengthen the lives of those who looked to God for their help.
So, 1st – God allowed their chains so that they could become stronger.
2nd – God allowed their chains to protect them from the things of this world.
To isolate them from the influences of this world.
ILLUS: When I was younger, I wasn't very well liked. It hurt. I wanted to be part of the “in” crowd, but they didn't want any part of me. They didn't want me around. I hungered for to be liked and accepted… but I wasn't. It was like being bound in chains, I couldn't be freed to be accepted and included.
Years later I was talking with the Band director at the school and shared how difficult my High School years had been. He commiserated with me and then shared that my class had been one of the roughest classes he’d experienced in his teaching career.
Looking back… not being in the “in” crowd may not have been such a bad thing.
The chains that bound me so that I couldn't “join” their lifestyle insulated me and isolated me from being involved in things that I would probably have learned to regret. The parties, the alcohol, possibly even sex and drugs. My chains of rejection protected me from the things that would've hurt me.
3rd – God allowed their chains because they needed to be reminded of their need for Him.
Israel couldn't free themselves from their chains… and neither can we!
Until we ask, our chains will drag us down. Even knock us down.
Someone once said “Sometimes God allows us to be knocked down so all we can do is look up.”
CLOSE: What I found intriguing about this passage was that God used Israel’s chains to prepare them for freedom. It was when they gave their chains to God… that God used their chains to free them and give them a witness.
ILLUS: How many of you have ever read “The Tales of Narnia?” Me too. They were written by a great author named C.S. Lewis who was trying to share what he saw and loved in Christianity and in what Jesus offered.
Before I read “Narnia” however, I stumbled on his book, “The Great Divorce”. It was the first book of his I’d ever read, and I was immediately enthralled by the story. In this story, Lewis told the imaginary story of people who took a bus trip from hell to visit heaven.
On their visit they would be given the opportunity to renounce hell and travel to the fountain of life to live for eternity. The unique thing about heaven was that it was real… and hell wasn't. I mean, it wasn't that hell wasn't real – it wasn't composed of that which was “solid”, but heaven was.
The moment the visitors stepped off the bus they discovered how “real” heaven was compared to the hell like existence. The grass penetrated their feet. If they tried to step into a river, they found that they couldn't step into it, they stepped “on to” it, and it would carry them down stream before they realized what had happened.
The book told the stories of individuals who struggled with accepted heaven and rejecting their past in hell. And the one that most caught my attention was the story of one of these visitors who was in the act of returning to the bus. On his shoulder was a lizard who chattered annoyingly in his ear as they walked.
Suddenly, a huge flaming angel stepped from the bushes and startled him. The angel asked he would like for him to make the lizard be quiet and the man replied that would he would like that. Then the angel explained that to do that, he would have to kill the lizard. This began a conversation where the man expressed fear that killing the lizard would hurt him and maybe even kill him. The angel explained that he had never said it wouldn't hurt him to kill the lizard, but it would not kill him.
The man finally admits that it would be better to be dead than to live with this creature. And the angel put seized the lizard. The story continues:
“The next moment the Ghost gave a scream of agony such as I never heard on Earth. The Burning One closed his crimson grip on the reptile: twisted it, while it bit and writhed, and then flung it, broken backed, on the turf.
"Ow! That’s done for me," gasped the Ghost, reeling backwards.
For a moment I could make out nothing distinctly.
Then I saw, between me and the nearest bush, unmistakably solid but growing every moment solider, the upper arm and the shoulder of a man. Then, brighter still and stronger, the legs and hands. The neck and golden head materialized while I watched, and if my attention had not wavered I should have seen the actual completing of a man--an immense man, naked, not much smaller than the Angel.
What distracted me was the fact that at the same moment something seemed to be happening to the Lizard. At first I thought the operation had failed. So far from dying, the creature was still struggling and even growing bigger as it struggled. And as it grew it changed. Its hinder parts grew rounder. The tail, still flickering, became a tail of hair that flickered between huge and glossy buttocks.
Suddenly I started back, rubbing my eyes. What stood before me was the greatest stallion I have ever seen, silvery white but with mane and tail of gold. It was smooth and shining, rippled with swells of flesh and muscle whinneying and stamping with its hoofs. At each stamp the land shook and the trees dindled.”
The man expressed his thanks to the angel and “now free from his torment, climbed upon the stallion that had been his sin and rode into the glowing sunrise towards the Savior.”
(Adapted from C. S. Lewis, “The Great Divorce”, HarperCollins, 2009; pp. 106-112. Found at http://www.preachingtoday.com/illustrations/2011/october/3103111.html)
What was the point of the story?
That the creature that held this man in the chains of sin, was used by God to give that man the strength and power and the ability to walk with his savior. His very chains became the source of overcoming his sin.
But first, he had to surrender that which bound him to God.
There are many who come to church and just play the game.
They view church as a social club and the worship service as a religious duty.
They don’t live victorious Christian lives because they are bound in chains they have never given over to God.
(Taking the chain that I’d carried throughout the sermon, I approached the cross).
Jesus came to free us from the power of sin. From the chains of our lives.
But we can never be freed of those chains until we make up our minds to “give them” to Jesus.
(At this point I draped the chains over the cross and bowed down)
We have to get to the point where we surrender those chains to Him.
And once we do that, that which once bound us becomes the source of our strength and our witness, because we will have discovered the freedom from bondage that only Jesus can give.
INVITATION
