UNLIKELY - Your Place in the Battle
John 3:7-8 MsgB
“So don’t be so surprised when I tell you that you have to be ‘born from above’—out of this world, so to speak. You know well enough how the wind blows this way and that. You hear it rustling through the trees, but you have no idea where it comes from or where it’s headed next. That’s the way it is with everyone ‘born from above’ by the wind of God, the Spirit of God.”
Introduction: It was a surprise attack! The Japanese Imperial Army caught the American forces stationed at Pearl Harbor completely off guard early Sunday morning December 7, 1941. The Americans were going about their normal routine and missed the warning signs of an impending attack. It was a Sunday morning; a day to rest and sleep in, or for those who chose to get up and go to church. None were at their battle stations prepared for the sudden battle they would be forced to fight and lose.
At unlikely times and places we too find ourselves engaged in a battle. However, standing together in the strength of the Holy Spirit the battles we fight won’t be lost!
God has a place for the unlikely; the wind of the Spirit will blow us into surprising places to accomplish His purpose in our lives.
The Holy Spirit continues to surprise us; one breath of God is not enough.
Nicodemus found himself surprised by the place God brought him. Nicodemus thought he was good with God. He struggled to understand the God wanted him to be born again. Jesus explained this spiritual rebirth as being of the Spirit - the wind or breath of God.
The “PNEUMA” quickens us to be “born again” or “born from above.”
The Greek word PNEUMA is translated as both WIND and SPIRIT
Nicodemus understood this word play because it works the same way with the Hebrew word RAUCH. Rauch likewise is translated as both wind and spirit - it can also be translated breath. Here is what Nicodemus understood:
The root of rauch is simply rah, which is translated as a verb TRAVEL or as a noun PATH. Nicodemus understood this carried the idea of a PRESCRIBED PATH or what we might think of as a routine.
The wind follows a prescribed path - we don’t know the path the wind follows, but the wind does not deviate from the path determined for it to follow. The wind blows bringing the changing seasons; it accomplishes its purpose along it’s prescribed path.
The prescribed path of the wind likewise illustrates the idea behind rauch also meaning BREATH. Every breath we take follows the path of being inhaled and exhaled. Our breath follows this path without deviation and without our conscious thought; breath moves in and out according to the prescribed path giving us life.
Similarly, the spirit is the breath of a person following the prescribed path or purpose to breathe out the life and creativity within the individual. In the same way the wind is invisible but brings the changing of the seasons, so too the invisible spirit within an individual accomplishes the desires or purposes within the person. Therefore, the Holy Spirit breaths into our lives to fulfill God’s creative purpose in our lives.
The Holy Spirit follows a prescribed path blowing into our lives so we might be born again. But God’s work or purpose is not finished with one breath. Just as the winds continue to blow day after day following the prescribed path God has determined for it, the Spirit will come again and again into our lives- sometimes as a gentle breeze and at other times like a gusting hurricane we will discover the wind of God has blown us again into an unlikely place.
Will we yield to the Holy Spirit, or will we push back against the wind to resist the Lord? We can choose to either push against the wind, or we can open the sail of our hearts to be carried along by the Spirit of God being transformed to be more like Jesus.
God has a place for the unlikely. At unlikely times and places we will find ourselves engaged in a battle. The Holy Spirit comes into our lives along His prescribed path to empower and unite us to win every battle.
We are not innocent bystanders. You and I have a place in the battle.
To discover how God wants to work in and through our lives in unlikely places to win the battles we face turn in your bibles to Exodus 17. Here Joshua fights against the Amalekites as Moses looks on from a hillside with Aaron and Hur.
Exodus 17:8-15 NIV
8 The Amalekites came and attacked the Israelites at Rephidim. 9 Moses said to Joshua, “Choose some of our men and go out to fight the Amalekites. Tomorrow I will stand on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hands.”
10 So Joshua fought the Amalekites as Moses had ordered, and Moses, Aaron and Hur went to the top of the hill. 11 As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning. 12 When Moses’ hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up—one on one side, one on the other—so that his hands remained steady till sunset. 13 So Joshua overcame the Amalekite army with the sword.
14 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Write this on a scroll as something to be remembered and make sure that Joshua hears it, because I will completely blot out the name of Amalek from under heaven.”
15 Moses built an altar and called it The LORD is my Banner. 16 He said, “Because hands were lifted up against the throne of the LORD, the LORD will be at war against the Amalekites from generation to generation.”
If you’re familiar with this story of Moses, Aaron and Hur, then we are not going to focus on our place of intercession and agreement in prayer. Most of us have probably heard some great sermons on the importance of prayer using Exodus 17 as it’s text. I’m not undermining the importance of prayer; in fact prayer may be an important application in our lives from this story. However, I want us to take perhaps a fresh look at this story and find our place in the battle.
1. Put yourself in the story:
If I’m the Amalekites, then Israel has invaded our homeland and must be forcibly removed from our land or destroyed - the Amalekites are just protecting their homes and families.
If I’m Joshua, then I’m a little upset with Moses. If he is God’s chosen leader then why am I fighting the battle? Shouldn’t Moses lead the charge against our enemies rather than sitting on a hillside?
Moses is the frustrated leader. He’s doing what God commanded him to do, but the people he is leading are always complaining and now another enemy stands in their way. He just wants a break so he tells Joshua to go fight the battle while he watches from a hillside.
If I’m Aaron or Hur then I’m happy not to be in the valley fighting the battle. But the longer I’m just standing around I’m getting board; isn’t there anything more exciting to do?
If I’m one of the nation of Israel then I’ve got more to complain about. Moses said God was going to deliver us, but now we face another enemy who wants to destroy us. I think we might have been better off back in Egypt where we at least had a home to sleep in and a steady job!
2. It’s more than just the story of a miraculous victory in battle. It’s a picture of our place in the battle - lets dig a little deeper into the hidden meaning of this story:
Rephidim - place of REST.
Israel has been redeemed and brought out from the bondage of Egypt. They have passed through the Red Sea. They have had God’s provision of food and water. Following the Lord’s command they camped at Rephidim - God brought them into His place of rest.
Psalm 62:1-2 NIV
1 Truly my soul finds rest in God; my salvation comes from him.
2 Truly he is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.
Matthew 11:28-29 NIV
28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
The Amalekites - descendants of Esau; typifies THE FLESH.
Our flesh wants to be comfortable. We don’t like being told no. Our flesh wants to oppose anyone who stands in the way of what it wants - including God.
Romans 8:5-8 NIV
5 Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. 6 The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. 7 The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. 8 Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.
Joshua - Yehovah (Yahweh) is Savior - this is Jesus.
In God’s providence Joshua’s entrance into the biblical narrative is leading Israel in battle. It is Joshua who would lead Israel into the Promised Land to conquer and possess the land as their own. None of us should think this morning that we can take Joshua’s place in the battle. We are not capable of leading others into battle to conquer the promised land.
Joshua is a type of Jesus who defeats the enemy in order to bring us safely into God’s kingdom - our promised land.
Hebrews 9:23-28 NIV
23 It was necessary, then, for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. 24 For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made with human hands that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God’s presence. 25 Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. 26 Otherwise Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But he has appeared once for all at the culmination of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. 27 Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, 28 so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.
Moses - drawn out
Moses represents you and me as believers who have been “drawn out” of the bondage of sin into freedom in Christ. We have been brought from death to life, drawn out of darkness and into light.
1 Peter 2:9-10 NIV
9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
As long as Moses was in a posture of surrender with his hands raised, Joshua prevailed in the battle, but when Moses hands came down the Amalekites were overpowering Joshua and Israel.
WE MUST PLACE OURSELVES IN A POSITION OF SURRENDER BEFORE THE LORD…
ISRAEL OFTEN REFUSED TO DEPEND UPON GOD
→ Isaiah 30:15-18 NIV
15 This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says: “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength,
but you would have none of it. 16 You said, ‘No, we will flee on horses.’ Therefore you will flee! You said, ‘We will ride off on swift horses.’ Therefore your pursuers will be swift! 17 A thousand will flee at the threat of one; at the threat of five you will all flee away, till you are left like a flagstaff on a mountaintop, like a banner on a hill.” 18 Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you; therefore he will rise up to show you compassion. For the LORD is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!
WE TOO ARE GUILTY OF TRYING TO STAND IN OUR OWN STRENGTH INSTEAD OF RELYING COMPLETELY UPON THE LORD
→ James 4:4-10 NIV
4 You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. 5 Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us? 6 But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says:
“God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.”
7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.
Moses is not alone but has Aaron and Hur with him. - WE SHOULD NOT STAND ALONE EITHER . . .
Aaron - light bringer
We are not those who walk in darkness, we have been brought into the light.
Sin thrives in the dark. We need someone beside us to bring light into the dark places of our lives.
John 3:19-21 NIV
19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.
Hur - hole
This is not a hole you dig with a shovel, but an adder’s hole - it is the opening to the home of a viper or poisonous snake. Hur is given this name as one who will uncover and point out the danger hidden from sight.
We need those who will point out the dangerous places - the holes or pits of sin into which we might fall.
Hebrews 3:12-13 NIV
12 See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. 13 But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.
What is the Holy Spirit Saying to YOU today? As God gives you ears to hear and eyes to see will we now allow Him to transform our heart and empower us to respond in obedience to Him?
Is God wanting to breathe the breath of life into your soul so you might be “born from above?”
Describe the place you have taken in the unlikely battle you find yourself in. What place does God want you to take?
In what unlikely ways does the Holy Spirit want to help you come alongside others to help them in the midst of the battles they face?
