A cartoon showed Moses coming down from the top of Mt. Sinai with the Ten Commandments written on stone tablets in his hands. He’s giving a report to the children of Israel and says, “It was hard bargaining — we get the milk and honey, but the anti-adultery clause stays in.” That is seen as bad news for many people in our society. Many today see the Ten Commandments, or commandments of any kind for that matter, as obsolete. Ted Turner, creator of Cable News Network, told members of the National Newspaper Association in Atlanta that the biblical Ten Commandments do not relate to current global problems, such as overpopulation and the arms race. “We’re living with outmoded rules,” he said. “The rules we’re living under is the Ten Commandments, and I bet nobody here even pays much attention to them, because they are too old. When Moses went up on the mountain, there were no nuclear weapons, there was no poverty. Today, the commandments wouldn’t go over. Nobody around likes to be commanded. Commandments are out.”
Actually, the commandments were out even in Moses’ day. It wasn’t long after he had told the people what the commandments were that they broke the commandment on adultery. Moses came down from Mt. Sinai and gave the people the commandments in the twentieth chapter of Exodus, but in chapter 31 Moses went back up Mt. Sinai to receive the commandments of God in writing. But before he could make it down the people had broken the first two commandments by worshiping other gods and making idols of them. They broke the seventh commandment by engaging in sexual revelry.
Leading the Israelites was a difficult job. There was a lot of whining and complaining. The people grumbled and even tried to kill Moses. They blamed him for everything, and he did not always handle everything well. He was the man in the muddle. He was in the middle of a confusing relationship between God and his people. This morning we want to look at the life of Moses and the lessons we can learn from his life. The first point I would like to make is that: Moses was a mortal. Moses was not a righteous man in the first part of his life. He lived for forty years as a prince of Egypt. He lived an indulgent lifestyle. But God began to move his heart for his people. He realized he was a Hebrew and not an Egyptian. Perhaps his adoptive mother, the daughter of Pharaoh, told him. One day he saw an Egyptian slave master beating a Hebrew. He quickly looked around to see if anyone was watching an then killed the Egyptian. He was a murderer, and when his crime became known he had to run away from Egypt.
He lived for the next forty years in Midian, a country adjacent to Egypt. Here is where God began to deal with him in earnest. As Moses was tending his sheep, God spoke to him from the burning bush. He called him to lead his people out of Egypt. God promised Moses that he would be with him and give him the power and ability to do what he was calling him to do. But Moses protested to God the whole way. First, he said that the Hebrews would no longer recognize the God of their fathers since they had been in slavery so long. Then he complained that the people would not believe that the Lord had appeared to him. Then he told God that he was not a good public speaker, and to stand in front of Pharaoh and his court was not his cup of tea. Finally, he simply pled with God to send someone else. He was full of doubt about himself and he even doubted God’s ability to carry this out — even when he was face to face with God and saw the miracle of the burning bush.
Moses was a mortal, he was a hot tempered man. His tempter led him to kill the Egyptian. His temper flared when the people began to grumble and complain. Once, when God told him to speak to a rock so that water would come out and refresh the people in the desert, Moses pounded on the rock in frustration at the constant complaining of the people. He even failed to mention that God was the source of the water for the people. Listen to the Bible as it describes the scene: “[Moses] and Aaron gathered the assembly together in front of the rock and Moses said to them, ‘Listen, you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?’ Then Moses raised his arm and struck the rock twice with his staff. Water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank. But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, ‘Because you did not trust in me enough to honor me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them’” (Numbers 20:10-12). We see Moses at his best and at his worst as he responds to the challenges of leading the people of Israel. He made a serious mistake, but it proved that he was mortal.
Quite frankly, this is one of the things I like about the Bible. Whenever we come into contact with one of the great people of God in Scripture, we see them warts and all. There are no plaster saints in the Bible. We see them at their worst as well as at their best. The Bible does not pretend that these are perfect people. But this is what gives hope to me. It says to us that if God can use an imperfect mortal like Moses, then he can use someone like you and me. We don’t have to be perfect before God can use us. In fact, God does his greatest work through the lives of failures. It was Martin Luther who once said, “God can shoot an arrow strait even when he uses a crooked bow.” In other words, God can get the message through even when the messenger is imperfect. God’s work does not depend on a perfect person to get it done, but on a perfect God who uses us in spite of ourselves.
The second point is that: Moses was a mentor. A mentor is a trusted counselor, guide and friend. That is what Moses was to the people of Israel. He was a leader of the highest caliber, in spite of sometimes losing patience with the impetuous, foolish and rebellious people God had called him to lead. He really cared about the people. You can’t be a real leader if you do not care about people. You can be the most educated, experienced and talented person alive, but if you do not care for people you will never lead them — whether that is in your home, in church or your business. You may occasionally lose your cool, but if down deep in your heart you do not care about people you will never be able to lead them. People have to know that you love them. John Maxwell, who holds leadership conferences all over the country, says, “People don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care.”
Moses cared for these people, but he lost his patience because there were some people who could not be pleased no matter what. Whatever decision he made it was always the wrong one as far as they were concerned. Leaders realize that 5% of the people will cause 95% of the problems in any organization. They will demand the most attention, demand their way and detract from the main purpose of the group. They will do less and criticize more than anyone else. Five percent will create 95% of the problems, and the other 95% of the people will pay for it. Not all the Israelites were critical and rebellious. Not all of them worshiped the golden calf. Not all of them revolted against Moses, but all of them had to stay in the desert for another 40 years because of the rebels. And Moses was kept from entering the promised land as well. The challenge for leaders is to focus on the positive 95%. It is all too easy to let the 5% drive the organization. It is even easier to put everyone in the same box.
But Moses’ heart was very big, in spite of his occasional failures. He stilled loved his people. I think you will see that in the next point. The third characteristic of Moses is that: Moses was a mediator. God was as fed up with these people as Moses was, and God tested Moses to discover the quality of his love for the people he had called him to lead. The people were fresh out of Egypt. God had delivered them by his omnipotent hand with miracles and wonders. He had led them through the Red Sea. He had entered into a covenant with them, and the Bible says, “When Moses went and told the people all the Lord’s words and laws, they responded with one voice, ‘Everything the Lord has said we will do’” (Exodus 24:3). But they did not do what the Lord said. No sooner was Moses’ back turned than they began to worship other gods. Then the Lord said to Moses, “I have seen these people, and they are a stiff-necked people. Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation” (Exodus 32:9-10). But Moses fell on his face before the Lord and said, “Oh, what a great sin these people have committed! They have made themselves gods of gold. But now, please forgive their sin — but if not, then blot me out of the book you have written” (Exodus 32:31-32). Incredible!
Understand now what was happening. God had said that he would do away with these troublesome people and make Moses’ descendants into a great nation. This new race of people would be called by Moses’ name and look to him as their patriarch instead of Abraham. He was turning down a place in world history that would be unique. He was bypassing the opportunity to be rid of these troublesome people. And furthermore, he was willing to have his name removed from God’s book rather than have these people destroyed. That takes a man of stubborn love and commitment! He could have asked God to send them all to hell, but he was willing to go to hell in order to save them. Moses was never more like the Christ who would follow him than when he offered his life for the life of his rebellious people. Jesus said, “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). He became a mediator between God and the nation of Israel. He was not only the man in the muddle, he was the man in the middle — between God and the people. He stood in the gap and was willing to lose his place in glory rather than have the Israelites lose their standing with God. The apostle Paul took his cue from Moses when he wrote: “I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, those of my own race, the people of Israel” (Romans 9:2-4). As a result of Moses offering his life for the life of the Israelites, God forgave them and let them live.
It was this and many other things in the life of Moses that makes us realize the truth of the fourth point: Moses was a man of God. The writer of Hebrews says about him: “By faith Moses’ parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict. By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time. He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward. By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible. By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel” (Hebrews 11:23-29). Moses was a man of God. He talked with God as no one else has and had an intimate relationship with him. The Bible says, “Since then, no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, who did all those miraculous signs and wonders the Lord sent him to do in Egypt — to Pharaoh and to all his officials and to his whole land. For no one has ever shown the mighty power or performed the awesome deeds that Moses did in the sight of all Israel” (Deuteronomy 34:10-12). He led nearly 3,000,000 people out of Egypt. He delivered the Ten Commandments and the other laws of God, and the laws of modern civilization are still based on the system of civil and moral laws he instituted in the Sinai wilderness. He wrote the first five books of the Bible — a fourth of the Old Testament, and almost as much material as in the entire New Testament. His name is mentioned over 800 times in the Bible. His face shown with the glory of God, and he was present with Jesus at his transfiguration (Matthew 17:3).
How did he do it? How did he maintain grace and triumph through all the trials he faced? He could do it because he was a man who placed his complete confidence and trust in God. He was a mortal, but because his trust was in God he was able to do things that no one else in the history of the world has done. All the oppressed people of the world look to Moses as their hero, because he delivered an entire nation from slavery and defeated the nation which had enslaved them. He trusted God and was able to endure the tests he faced in the desert. He was able to able to overcome his frustration at the constant grumbling and complaining of the people he led and still be a person who led with love. He was able to be a mediator and intercede for a group of people who did not deserve what he offered on their behalf. He delivered and defended the laws of God. And it was all because he stayed close to God and had a living relationship with him.
When the Japanese invaded Yangcheng, China, a missionary named Gladys Aylward was forced to flee. But she would not leave without those she had cared for in the mission orphanage. She led more than a hundred orphaned children over the mountains toward Free China with the help of only one assistant. In the book The Hidden Price of Greatness, the authors tell the story of her adventure: “During Gladys’s harrowing journey out of war torn Yangcheng... she grappled with despair as never before. After passing a sleepless night, she faced the morning with no hope of reaching safety. A 13-year-old girl in the group reminded her of their much loved story of Moses and the Israelites crossing the Red Sea. ‘But I am not Moses,’ Gladys cried in desperation. ‘Of course you aren’t,’ the girl said, ‘but Jehovah is still God.’” Gladys and her orphans made it through that impossible journey over the mountains and proved that God is still God regardless of how inadequate we may be.
The problem is that there are many people today trying to make it on their own. They are trying to find meaning and purpose in their lives without any reference to God. They are trying to be good without God. They are trying to be strong without God. Look no further than the stars of Hollywood and TV who have lived their lives according to their own laws and witness the devastation in their lives. Is it the people who are genuine Christians and live their faith whose lives are a mess, or is it those who have no time for God or interest in him? If ever there was a time to stop playing church, this is the time. If ever there was a time when we need to get serious about living what we say we believe, this is the time. If ever we needed to do more than just go to church and start having a real relationship with God, this is the time. The moral foundations are crumbling, and the task to which God has called us may look impossible, but the only thing that will keep you and your family in a time like this is a living, ongoing, intimate relationship with God. And a relationship like that takes time and effort. It will not just happen. You will have to work at it. You will have to commit time to it. You may not be perfect, but the promise is that even though you may not be Moses, God is still God.
Rodney J. Buchanan
February 20, 2000
MOSES IN THE MUDDLE
Numbers 11:1-15
“The rabble with them began to crave other food, and again the Israelites started wailing and said, ‘If only we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost — also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic’”
(Numbers 11:4-5).
1. Moses was a ____________________________________ .
2. Moses was a ____________________________________ .
3. Moses was a ____________________________________ .
4. Moses was a ____________________________________ .
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION (Feb 20, 2000)
1. How do you deal with grumbling and complaining at home or work?
2. Why do the Ten Commandments and other biblical laws create such hostility among some people?
3. Read 1 Corinthians 2:12-14. What is this verse saying — especially verse 14? What response does this call for?
4. What were some of Moses’ failures, and how do identify with him?
5. Why do you think the Bible is so open about the failures of its heros?
6. Read Hebrews 11:24-29. What were some of the things Moses gave up in order to follow the calling of God? What do people have to give up today to do God’s will?
7. Read Exodus 32:7-10. What offer was God making to Moses? Why would that be difficult to pass up? Why was he willing to do it?
8. Read Exodus 33:11-13. What does this tell you about the kind of man Moses was? If you followed his example, what request would you make of God?
9. Read Exodus 34:28-33. Now read 2 Corinthians 3:13-18. Why did Moses put on the veil? What is the symbolism for New Testament believers?
10. Read Hebrews 2:1-5. Why are we under a greater obligation than people in Moses’ day?
