This past week I got to wondering about a few things… for instance:
1. If you throw a cat out a car window, does it become cat litter?
2. When a cow laughs, does milk come out its nose?
3. Since a fool and his money are soon parted, how did that fool and his money get together in the first place?
4. How do they get deer to cross at that yellow road sign?
5. We’re presently in hunting season, and it got me to thinking: when it’s tourist season, why can’t we shoot them?
6. What is another word for thesaurus?
7. Why is abbreviation such a long word?
8. How do you know when it’s time to tune your bagpipes?
9. Why is there an expiration date on a sour cream container?
10. Why do they call it a TV set when you only get one?
11. If you shoot a mime, should you use a silencer?
12. Is it true, that cannibals won’t eat clowns because they taste funny?
13. Why isn’t phonetics spelled the way it sounds?
14. Why do TV stations report power outages?
15. What hair color do they put on the driver’s license of a bald man?
16. If a bald man comes to Charlie for haircut (a local barber who’s deacon here) does he charge half price?
APPLY: Those are all silly Questions. They don’t make sense and they’re not supposed to.
And - at first glance – in our text today, God Himself seems to be asking a silly question: (pause) “Moses, what’s in your hand?”
I. Didn’t God know what Moses had in his hand?
Well, of course He did – He’s God. So why ask the question? Why ask something that is so obvious to both God and Moses? Well, God asked that question because there was something about that staff …something that it represented for Moses.
You see, this staff symbolized everything Moses owned. He was a shepherd, and his sheep were down on the side of the mountain grazing on what grass they could find there. Well, actually they weren’t even his sheep, they belonged to his father-in-law. Quite literally, its possible that Moses was something of a hired hand not even able to lay claim to the flocks under his care.
But, whatever his financial status, this staff represented the totality of Moses’ wealth. He may not have had much, but this staff represented all he had. At one time Moses had been a prince of Egypt, with power, prestige and palaces. Now, he was lowly shepherd living out in the middle of the desert in a tent that’s moved whenever they needed to find new pasture for the flocks.
Moses had little that was really his own… except his staff. But, as little as it may be, this staff symbolized all that he was & all that he had.
II. “So, (God asked) Moses what is your hand?”
Whenever God calls us to serve Him, that’s what He asks us: What’s in your hand? What do you have?
ILLUS: A man once had a dream where God offered him a pearl of great value and he felt a need to pay for it:
"I want this pearl. How much is it!"
"Well," the God said, "it’s very expensive.
"But, how much!" he asked.
"Well, a very large amount."
"Do you think I could buy it!"
"Oh, of course, everyone can buy it."
"But, didn’t you say it was very expensive!"
"Yes."
"Well, how much is it!"
"Everything you have," says God.
Consumed with a desire for the pearl the man said, "All right, I’ll buy it"
"Well, what do you have!" God wants to know. "Let’s write it down."
"Well, I have ten thousand dollars in the bank."
"Good-ten thousand dollars. What else!"
"That’s all. That’s all I have."
"Nothing more?"
"Well, I have a few dollars here in my pocket."
"How much!"
He starts digging through his pocket "Well, let’s see-thirty, forty, sixty, eighty, a hundred, a hundred twenty dollars."
"That’s fine. What else do you have?"
"Well, nothing. That’s all."
"Where do you live?" God asks.
"In my house. Yes, I have a house."
"The house, too, then." He writes that down.
"You mean I have to live in my camper!"
"You have a camper! Good… What else!"
"I’ll have to sleep in my car!"
"You have a car!"
"Two of them."
"Good, both become mine - both cars. What else?"
"Well, you already have my money, my house, my camper, my cars. What more do you want!"
"Are you alone in this world?"
"No, I have a wife and two children. . . ."
"Oh, yes, your wife and children, too. What else?"
"I have nothing left! I am left alone now."
Suddenly the God exclaims, "Oh, I almost forgot! You yourself, too! Everything becomes mine-wife, children, house, money, cars and you too."
Then God went on. "Now listen--I will allow you to use all these things for the time being. But don’t forget that they are mine, just as you are. And whenever I need any of them you must give them up, because now I am the owner."
Did you realize, that’s what you signed on for when you became a Christian? When you confessed that Jesus was now going to be your Lord – you were saying: Everything that I have is yours. Maybe you DIDN’T realize that… maybe you kind of glossed over that part.
ILLUS: Kind of like when a young couple get married and they say “for better, for worse; for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health…” They realize these are the kind of words they need to say, but they really don’t understand the impact of them until sometime after they get married… Then they begin to question whether it’s worth it to have that kind of a life long commitment to someone who isn’t always easy to love.
It’s only when they’ve been married a while that the words begin to take on a special meaning.
AND, it’s only after you’ve been a Christian for awhile that the idea of God owning everything you are and everything you have – begins to register in your mind.
What’s that in your hand?
What do you have that you haven’t given to God yet?
What are you still hanging on to, that hasn’t been signed over to God yet?
III. There are people who will say: Oh, if I were a rich person, or retired, or win the lottery,
… then I’d give this to God, or do that for the church. There are people who forever are saying, one of the days - then I’ll do something special… but not right now. I haven’t got enough money, or time, or resources to make a difference.
God says to Moses – what do you have in your hand RIGHT NOW. It wasn’t much. It was just Moses’ staff. But once Moses gave it to God - once he threw it down before the burning bush -then it became God’s staff, not his. We’re told in Exodus 4:20, that once Moses started back to Egypt to lead the Israelites out of slavery, “he took the staff of God in his hand.”
And once that humble shepherd’s staff was given to God – God used it shake an empire. With that staff of God,
· Moses struck the Nile river and turned it to blood (7:17)
· He stretched it over the waters of Egypt & brought a plague of frogs upon the land (8:5),
• He struck the dust of the earth and up from the dust rose a plague of gnats (8:16),
• He stretched it toward heaven and down came fire, thunder, and hail (9:23),
• He waved it in the air and a horde of locust invaded the land (10:13),
• He stretched it out over the Red Sea and the waters parted for Israel to pass on dry ground (14:16),
• He struck a rock and water poured forth to quench the thirst of God’s people (17:6)
• and when he held it high in the air, the Israelites prevailed in battle over their enemies (17:9).
No longer was this a mere shepherd’s staff. It was as though God had placed in Moses’ hand the very power of the universe.
What? Had the nature of the wood changed? No, it was still the same shepherd’s staff – but with a difference. Now, it was no longer a mere piece of wood. Now, it belonged to God.
So, what do you have in your hand? What is it that YOU OWN – rather than what God owns? It may be your finances, your home, your family, or your leisure time. Or it might be your very soul. Throw it down before God – give it to God. Let it be His to use. And (very possibly) it can be used to shake the very foundations of the world around you.
CLOSE: A young boy by the name of James had a desire to be the most famous manufacturer and salesman of cheese in the world. He planned on becoming rich and famous by making and selling cheese and began with a little buggy pulled by a pony named Paddy. After making his cheese, he would load his wagon and he and Paddy would drive down the streets of Chicago to sell the cheese. As the months passed, the young boy began to despair because he was not making any money, in spite of his long hours and hard work.
One day he pulled his pony to a stop and began to talk to him. He said, "Paddy, there is something wrong. We are not doing it right. I am afraid we have things turned around and our priorities are not where they ought to be. Maybe we ought to serve God and place him first in our lives." The boy drove home and made a covenant that for the rest of his life he would first serve God and then would work as God directed.
Many years after this, the young boy (now a man) stood as Sunday School Superintendent at North Shore Baptist Church in Chicago and said, "I would rather be a layman in the North Shore Baptist Church than to head the greatest corporation in America. My first job is serving Jesus."
So, every time you take a take a bite of Philadelphia Cream cheese
- sip a cup of Maxwell House,
- mix a quart of Kool-Aid,
- slice up a DiGiorno Pizza,
- cook a pot of Macaroni & Cheese,
- spread some Grey Poupon,
- stir a bowl of Cream of Wheat,
- slurp down some Jell-O,
- eat the cream out of the middle of an Oreo cookie,
- or serve some Stove Top,
remember a boy, his pony named Paddy, and the promise a young man named James L. Kraft made to serve God and work as He directed.
