OUT OF WEAKNESS…STRENGTH - Moses: “I Can’t Speak So Good”
Exodus 4:10-17 (p. 41) August 13, 2017
Introduction:
I had someone this past week ask me if I would do something I really didn’t want to do…it was to attend a luncheon and discuss social media and it’s effects on the Church…now don’t get me wrong…I want to use every possible means in the most effective way to promote the Gospel…but this is not my thing. I immediately started to formulate an excuse…“Sorry, I can’t attend, my worm farm needs attention on that day.” “I can’t be there because I’d rather eat dirt than spend four hours talking about this subject.”
And then I thought of the best way to get out of it…I told them, “I’d forward the request to Bobby Cairell, our Associate Minister who has great skills in this area.” I’m a genious!
Wayne Smith defined an excuse in his way: “It’s the skin of an alibi wrapped in a lie.”
I’ll bet a thousand dollars that almost every one of us made some excuse this last week to get out of something we didn’t want to do! Or maybe get out of a situation we didn’t want to be in.
[I heard about a police officer in a small town stopping a motorist for going 25 mph over the speed limit.
The guy said, “But officer, I can explain.”
The cop said, “Just be quiet…I don’t want to hear it! I'm going to let you cool your heels in jail until the chief gets back.”
“But officer I just wanted to say.”
“Keep quiet! You’re going to jail!”
Later the officer looked in on his prisoner and said, “Lucky for you that the chief will be in a good mood when he gets back…He’s at his daughter’s wedding.”
The guy responds…“Don’t bet on it…I’m the groom.”]
I suppose some excuses are better than others…but usually we have them because we’d just rather not do something.
In our text Moses found himself in just such a position…He’d been saved from slaughter as a baby by Pharaoh’s daughter. Raised in the palace until he kills a man for beating a Jewish slave, he ends up in the desert shepherding the flock of a man named Jethro. And he married his daughter…one day while on Mt. Horeb, God speaks to Moses from a burning bush… “I am who I am…the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob…I’m sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people out of Egypt.”
But Moses argues with God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt.”
Moses has an excuse: “I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant I am slow of speech and tongue.”
Loose paraphrase… “God, I can’t speak so good!” It’s ironic that Moses is arguing with God using his speech and tongue. He’s formulating his excuses pretty eloquently.
And the lesson…there are times we should just keep our mouth shut…especially if someone in authority is speaking.
I read an article about America’s dumbest criminals…This one came from Lt. Ricky Ramie of the Bay County Sheriff’s Office narcotic task force. He said on June 13, 18 year old John Douglas Sheetz and 17 year old Misty Ann Holmes called police to report that their half pound stash of marijuana had been stolen from their apartment. They said they needed it back because they wanted to sell it. When deputies arrived, the couple allowed them to search their apartment. They found almost an ounce of marijuana, paraphernalia, scales and baggies. They were arrested on possession and intent to distribute.
The couple were being held in Bay Co. jail with bail set at $17,500.
Sometimes it’s better if you just keep quiet. But Moses didn’t. He tells God, “You’ve got the wrong guy”…I wonder how many of us have told God the same thing?
Maybe we should realize like Moses that:
I. GOD WILL PROVIDE THE POWER WE NEED TO SPEAK
The Lord says to Moses: “Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I the Lord? Now go! I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.” (Exodus)
This is God saying, “I made you…I can direct you…I will provide the words you need…now go!”
How many times do we have the opportunity to be sent by God to rescue people and we’re afraid to speak…Just like Moses we don’t think we’re eloquent enough or we might say the wrong thing, or we believe someone else should do it? And God says, “My spirit does not make you timid, but gives power, love and self discipline…so do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord…” (2 Tim. 1:7-8)
[I’ll never forget the first time I shared my testimony about Jesus. It was at a Lexington Christian Women’s Club Youth Luncheon. I was so scared I threw up before going to the Continental Inn to speak. I was petrified and wondered why anyone would want to hear my story. When I got there they sat me at the podium next to a guy about my own age. His name was David. I learned he was going to play the trumpet for special music. He looked at me and asked, “What are you doing here?” “My mom roped me into this!” I said “mine too.” and then I just started talking (shocking I know). I told David about the drugs, dropping out of school, the car wrecks, being burned, hurting my parents. I told him my whole story and what Jesus had done to save me. And he started crying. I said, “Are you OK?” And through the sobs he said, “That’s my story too…do you think Jesus could save me?” I said, “I know He can.” Just then they asked him to stand up and play…He was still crying and said, “I can’t play…but you all need to listen to this guy…and I stood up and shared the exact thing I’d just shared with David.]
I’ve had powerful things happen in my life since then, but I believe with all my heart that God put David there at that table for a reason. It taught me…it’s my job to tell people what Jesus has done for me…It’s his job to arrange the circumstances and soften hearts…the miracle takes place when you and I are obedient enough to trust Him. Trust His power, not my eloquence. God will provide the power for the words we need to speak.]
Secondly:
II. GOD ALSO PROVIDES THE PEOPLE WE NEED FOR SUPPORT
When Moses says, “Pardon your servant, please send someone else.” (Ex. 4:13)
God gets angry at Moses and says, “What about your brother Aaron the Levite? I know he can speak well… “I will help both of you to speak and teach you what to do.”
Is God awesome or what!? Even though He’s angry at Moses for doubting His ability…He doesn’t let Moses off the hook, He doesn’t provide a substitute…He provides a partner…a brother for support.
When Jesus sent his disciples out He sent them out in pairs…why? Because a “strand of two is hard to break.” When someone stands next to you in the scary times…it’s not quite as scary.
God tells Moses… “Aaron’s already on his way to meet you and his heart will be glad when he sees you.”
It’s the power of relationships…the pooling of strength, resources and wisdom. (God already knew he was coming lol.) Serving alone is frightening, dangerous and cold.
No wonder Solomon wrote:
ECCLESIASTES 4:9-12 (p. 463)
This is the design God has for the church. A unity provided by intimate relationships. A support structure that goes forward to rescue those enslaved in sin.
Listen to what God’s Spirit did in His Church:
ACTS 2:45-47 (p. 759)
God would lead through Moses and Aaron to deliver the Israelites out of slavery, and God leads through the Church to rescue people from the bondage of sin. One of the miraculous ways He does that is to provide a brother or sister who shares the same purpose for support and encouragement.
Think about the pairs listed in the New Testament. James & John, Paul & Barnabas, Aquilla & Priscilla, Paul & Timothy, Paul and Silas…
[Kari is my Aaron…or I’m hers. I'm not sure which. I’ve counseled many ministers whose wives didn’t enjoy ministry or were soured by it. Kari and I love to be able to do ministry together. This last week one of our members bought a ton of sandals for Natalie’s Sisters, a ministry we support that works with women in the sex industry. So, Kari and I bought a bunch of water and took them downtown. I can’t go in the center, but she can. It works for us as a team. Tuesday we had a friend who had surgery…I needed to take care of mom and Sam and she went to the hospital and I stayed home. I got to see them the next morning. It’s a privilege to serve with my best friend and partner. She doesn’t think she has eloquent speech either. She knows I’m the big mouth! But she has an eloquent life and always has my back…and ministry is still a joy for both of us because of this truth.]
Find someone to share ministry with…make the focus others and I promise you God will deliver people out of bondage and the slavery of sin. Whether it’s in Egypt or on Limestone…It’s His great plan…He will provide the power.
God tells Moses “Take this staff in your hand so you can perform miraculous signs with it.” Moses has been sent by God to speak for God, but Moses says, “what if they don’t believe me.” God says, “throw the staff on the ground…and when he does it becomes a snake…Moses runs from it…(Can you blame him?) And then God says, “Pick it up.” I bet you a thousand dollars Moses was thinking “Uh-uuh!” But he picks it up and it becomes a staff again.
God never sends us to rescue someone without the support and power we need.
Our Lord is good, but He isn’t safe! He shatters prejudice. He breaks hardened hearts. He invades the darkness. And just when we’ve gotten comfortable, He says “Pick it up.”
[I went out to the car this past winter to get some papers and I had left a green plastic Super America Coffee Mug in one of the holders. So I grabbed it too. It was my favorite mug and it was very cold…I rinsed the cup out and then put it under the coffee maker. As it filled with coffee it shattered…cup and coffee went everywhere…especially on Rick.]
Barbara Brow Taylor wrote these words:
When the hot word of God is poured over a cold, cold world, things break, and it is into that brokenness that we are called, into whatever big or small piece we find in front of us, with fire in our bones, to show a frightened world that it is not the heat of fire that we fear, but the chill that lies ahead if the fire goes out.
We speak…God shatters. People are rescued!
Let’s pray.
