August 17, 2003 Exodus 17
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 memory of Amalek from under heaven.”
15 Moses built an altar and called it The LORD is my Banner. 16 He said, “For hands were lifted up to the throne of the LORD. The LORD will be at war against the Amalekites from generation to generation.”
Dear Fellow Soldiers in Christ,
Our God is a God who is accustomed to war. His very name, “Lord, Almighty,” literally means “Lord of the Heavenly hosts”, which draws for us the picture of a commander in chief over an army of angels. He has fought against the Philistines, the Babylonians, the Assyrians, and the Egyptians, and conquered them all. In his judgment of Edom the LORD says in Isaiah 34, My sword has drunk its fill in the heavens; see, it descends in judgment on Edom, the people I have totally destroyed. The sword of the LORD is bathed in blood, it is covered with fat— the blood of lambs and goats, fat from the kidneys of rams. For the LORD has a sacrifice in Bozrah and a great slaughter in Edom. (5-6)
We are not accustomed to such pictures of God. We are more accustomed to the gentle pictures of Jesus holding children in his arms. Yet even Jesus was not afraid of a battle. More often than not Jesus was the one who picked a fight. When the Pharisees didn’t want Him to heal on the Sabbath, Jesus did anyway. When they wanted Him to wash His hands, He didn’t. He was looking for an argument - picking a fight. If you think about it, would they have put to death a nice Mr. Rogers kind of guy? No. Jesus reflected His lordship in the courage he showed to fight a battle.
We see this same Warrior God in action in today’s text. As the Israelites are in the middle of the desert on their way to Mt. Sinai, they are attacked by a people called the Amalekites. Earlier, he decided to have his people stay away from the Philistines. But here, God decided it was time not only for Him, but also for them to fight. Moses said to the Israelites -
It’s Time to Fight an Amalekite
I. We have to fight
How many of you have ever heard of the Amalekites before today? Well let me tell you a little bit about them. Amalek was a grandson of Esau. If you remember Esau and Jacob didn’t have the best of relations ever since Jacob stole Esau’s birthright. Ever since that time, the two were never able to live with one another. It seems that his angry and bitter attitude was given to the generations to come. In Deuteronomy 25 God reminded the Israelites - When you were weary and worn out, they met you on your journey and cut off all who were lagging behind; they had no fear of God. As the Israelites were journeying to the Promised Land, the Amalekites cut off all of the Israelites who were lagging behind - which would have been the elderly, the young children and the women. This gives you a good idea as to what these Amalekites were like. They were cheap shot artists - attacking and killing the weakest and the sickest of the Israelites that couldn’t keep up with the group.
This may seem like a despicable thing to do, and it is. But don’t be surprised at it. This is the way that the world works. It goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden. When the devil tempted Adam and Eve - he tempted him with power - you will be like GOD! When Satan fell, he did it because he wanted MORE POWER. And so throughout the ages, the world revolves around power. It lives by one motto - only the strong survive. Little children establish early on who is the strongest. When one child can’t kick the ball as hard as others, he is labeled as a reject. At the work place, if you can’t yell at people or talk big, you’re depicted as being “not hungry enough.” It’s all about power, and everyone’s struggling for it.
Like it or not - you are in the middle of this power struggle - in more ways than one. The god of this world studies you, finds out where your weak spots are. Like the Amalekites, he hits you at your weakest spot. He knows when you are apt to let your guard down. He knows where you are the weakest. If you have a weakness of pride, he will have someone ridicule you. If you have a weakness of lust, he will come calling through a late night rendezvous on the internet. He knows no limits. He’ll attack your marriage. He’ll attack your children. He’ll attack your past. He’ll take the dirtiest shot he can take - anything to hurt you. He’ll use whatever power he has to rip you away from God. Even though the Israelites weren’t looking for a battle - it came to them. In the same way, the battle will come to you, whether you are ready or not.
The question is - are you ready to fight an Amalekite? Joshua had spent his whole life up to this point being Moses’ aid. Whatever Moses needed, Joshua got - a change of clothes, a scroll - Joshua was there. But now Moses called him to something greater - to fight a battle against a violent and ruthless enemy. This wasn’t just a one time thing either. 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 memory of Amalek from under heaven.” This was to be an ongoing battle against the Amalekites - a lifelong fight to completely eliminate the Amalekites from this earth. When God fights, He doesn’t back down. He doesn’t quit until the enemy is gone. This would take work. It would be scary and tough work. Blood would need to be shed. Muscles would have to be exerted. It was war, and the Israelites were all of the sudden in the middle of it. Joshua was called to lead this battle.
If we are going to call ourselves Christian “soldiers”, then we must realize that a part of being a soldier is not just signing a constitution or joining a roster. Christianity is more than just singing nice songs and putting on dress clothes on Sunday morning. It’s more than smiling and forgiving and turning the other cheek. When it comes down to it - it’s a battle. The problem is that we don’t look at this as a battle - as a war.
Make no doubt about it - we are in a war - and we’re LOSING the BATTLE. It’s starting with those who are supposed to be spiritual leaders. In the church, the Episcopalians are now allowing homosexual priests into the mix. One delegate flew home from their latest convention accepting the gay bishop and said, “I’m tired of the fighting.” The Evangelical “Lutheran” Church of America gave up the fight long ago, and the Presbyterians are doing the same. Now more than ever the Church is at war - war against false teachings, against immorality, against evolution, against pluralism, against materialism - against the world. We need everyone in this church - in this world - that’s going to call themselves a “Christian” involved in this battle.
This isn’t just a battle for theologians. We need you to pick up your Sword - the Word of God - and start using it - learning it, speaking it, and applying it. But the sad thing is that we’re not. In the pew, it starts with our fathers - those who are supposed to be the greatest warriors. Our men have somehow been mislead into thinking that in order to be a Christian they have to talk with soft voices and cry a lot. Being a Christian man means having Christian principles based on a solid knowledge of God’s Word and standing up for them. It means protecting your daughter from going out with a sex starved teenage boy. It’s telling your son that vulgar language and drunkenness isn’t cool. It’s not being too proud to say I’m sorry and I believe in Jesus. It means being able to look a false teacher in the eye and tell him, “you’re lying!” These aren’t feminine things. They’re bold things and strong things and tough things to do sometimes. What’s really sad is when Christian parents KNOW their children are misbehaving. Some know their children are going out drinking and having sex, but just shrug their shoulders and say, “what can I do about it”. They might even provide the alcohol and “protection”. They’ve given up the fight. When you stop nagging, stop saying anything - you’ve put down your gloves - you’ve lost the battle. That’s part of the war - part of the battle. But instead, we’re not fighting.
This lack of leadership in battle is filtering into our children. Where’s the courage in our teenagers - the ability to say no to sex? Where’s the courage to not give in to peer pressure? To earn your grades instead of cheat? To be respectful of the teachers while the others aren’t? Where’s the courage to stand out? It isn’t easy - it’s a battle. But it seems that we are raising a bunch of pampered and spoiled Christians - who don’t want to fight - don’t want to learn their Scriptures - don’t want to come to Sunday School or Midweek School. So we just say, “ok, Johnny you don’t have to go if you don’t want to.” What do we teach them by this? Where’s the dedication? Where’s the fight? Where’s our warriors? Do we have any? Or have we totally given up?
II. We don’t fight alone
Joshua was now being called to be a warrior, and he accepted the challenge. Instead of running in fear, he gathered some Israelite men, and went to battle. It doesn’t say what the odds were of these slaves traveling through the enemy territory and fighting them on their turf. But NONETHELESS - whether they were tired, outnumbered, or scared, they WENT and fought. What was it that gave them the courage to go and fight this battle? Moses tells us what.
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.
Whenever Joshua and his men looked up, they saw Moses standing there - holding the staff of the Lord high in the air. God had told Moses in Exodus 4:17 to take this staff in your hand so you can perform miraculous signs with it. They had seen God split the Red Sea with that staff and turn the Nile to blood. They had heard of how it could turn into a snake and how it swallowed the Egyptians snakes. This staff had the promise of God’s miraculous power behind it. This same LORD had promised them that they would make it to the Promised Land. He promised them a Savior through their offspring. With that encouragement of LORD’s promise behind the staff - the Israelites fought on and won the war.
So what was the key to winning the war? Would we honestly say that Joshua won the war? Obviously, the true victory this day was in the power and blessing of the LORD. But everyone worked together through faith in the LORD to win this victory. You had the men fighting the battle out front, Moses’ helpers holding his arms up, and Moses holding onto the stick. The funny thing is that this would seem so foolish to the Amalekites. Could you imagine the army joking, “Why on earth is he holding that stick up in the air? Do these guys honestly believe that that piece of wood is going to save them?”
The foolishness of this whole scenario showed God’s strength. God saved the Israelites through a piece of wood. God also saves us through a piece of wood. We call it a cross. We say the cross saves us. We put it on our altar. We talk about it. We put it around our necks. Now, the world would call us superstitious for putting a piece of wood up on our altar. They say, “look at those fools - believing in someone who died a criminals death over 2,000 years ago to save them from their sins!” But they don’t understand - we’re not worshiping the piece of wood or trusting in the wood, we’re worshiping and trusting in the promise behind the piece of wood. Peter says in 1 Peter 2:24 that Jesus himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. We believe that on that cross God put us to hell and condemned us for our sins. We believe that all of our sins have been paid for - and so now we are “healed” by his wounds. The foolishness continues in the sacraments. In that water of baptism we believe that God saves children and infants. (1 Peter 3:21) We believe that in baptism God actually connects us to Christ. It’s not that we trust in the water - but the promise behind the water where God says, were therefore buried with him through baptism into death. (Ro 6:4)
It was that promise that encouraged Joshua and the Israelites to go and fight their battles. From this day forward Joshua was a warrior - probably the most successful in the Old Testament. He never met a battle he didn’t like. He led the Israelites into the Promised Land and conquered it. While ten of the other spies were afraid to enter the Promised Land because of the giants that lived there, Joshua said, “let’s do it.” Why? Because he believed in God’s promise that they would live in the Promised Land. It’s what kept him going.
Why are we so worn out? Why don’t we want to fight the battles that God calls us to fight? I believe it is because we are trying to go it alone. The Israelites fought this battle against the Amalekites together. Aaron and Hur supported Moses arms when he couldn’t hold the staff alone. Some men fought the battle. And even though it doesn’t say, I would venture to guess that most of the women and children most likely cheered them on and encouraged them. Could it be that we are worn out because we aren’t looking at our piece of wood and remembering that Jesus won the war? Could it be that we aren’t finding strength from the Lord’s promises in His Word and sacraments? It’s one thing to take the Lord’s Supper. It’s another thing to honestly believe that as you take it Jesus really did die for you. Through faith in this promise, it can and will strengthen you. It’s one thing to come to church. It’s another thing to work together with the fellow members - pray with each other - and encourage each other with God’s Word.
After Jesus sent out his disciples to go and make disciples of all nations, he promised them, “I am with you always, to the VERY END of the age.” This is also a promise to US. This isn’t just our battle. God is on our side. He has commissioned us. He has even promised us that his word “will not return to us void”! We need to remember that we have the most powerful Being in the universe on our side - and His name is the LORD. After the Israelites won the battle it says, Moses built an altar and called it The LORD is my Banner. He wanted all to remember WHO WON the war - it was the faithful LORD. This same LORD is still fighting for us. That’s the KEY to winning this battle - holding up the cross and keeping it up throughout the battle - and looking to the cross for courage and strength to fight. That’s the only thing that will give us courage and energy to keep on fighting. My arms will get tired - but you can keep them up. I’ll need you to keep on fighting for your children and neighbors. We need to fight this battle against the “Amalekites” together - not with sticks, hatred, or vengeance - but with the cross of Christ - our most powerful weapon of all.
We recently received an email from Daniel Einert, a member of our congregation who is now fighting a war against the Iraqi rebels and followers of Saddam Hussein. He wrote that some men, “publicly spoke out against Saddam. They were taken from their homes, imprisoned and starved for two weeks. Finally these men were brought some meat to eat, which the starved men gladly ate. The guards praised Saddam, saying, ‘Saddam brings you food and takes care of you.’ Then the guards mocked the men and showed them pictures of their mutilated, beheaded children, the source of meat they had just eaten.” This is only one story of many more. Knowing that this evil was going on, Daniel wrote, “I know what these people have suffered. I had heard and now have seen it first hand. The U.N. and the American people can no longer stand by and let the atrocities in the Middle East continue. It is our duty as free Americans to do the right thing.”
I see a lot of similarities between his descriptions of being in Iraq to our situation of being in the world. We live in a world that is being absolutely exploited and slaughtered by Satan. Even our own children are being attacked with messages of sex and violence. As Christians who have been freed from Satan’s power, we need to open our eyes to the suffering and slavery of the world. Thankfully, Jesus has forgiven our fear and laziness and set us free. We know that the cross has paid for our sins. But now we have been silent long enough. It is our duty as free Christians - free from guilt, sin, and fear by the cross of Christ to do the right thing. We can’t just ignore the evil. It is time to fight evil. It is time to put on the sword of the Spirit and proclaim the truth of God’s Word. With the LORD on our side and the cross of Christ held high, it’s time to fight an Amalekite. Are you ready? Amen.
