What’s In Your Hand?
Exodus 3-4
Dr. Roger W. Thomas, Preaching Minister
First Christian Church, Vandalia, MO
Introduction: A college professor, an avowed atheist, told his class that he intended to prove to them that God didn’t exist. Addressing the ceiling he shouted: "God, if you are real, then I want you to knock me off this platform. I’ll give you 15 minutes!" The lecture room fell silent. You could have heard a pin fall. Ten minutes went by. Again he taunted God, saying, "Here I am, God. I’m still waiting."
He smiled at the class as he counted down to the last couple of minutes. Near the rear of the class, a student looked around and quietly stood up. He was a big guy, a Marine - just released from active duty and newly registered in the class. The Marine walked up to the professor without saying a word. He approached the teacher, reared back and hit him full force, and sent him tumbling from his lofty platform.
The stunned professor just lay there for a minute! The students were shocked. The young Marine took a seat in the front row and sat silent. When the professor finally came around, he looked up at the young Marine. “What’s the matter with you? Why did you do that?" he demanded. "God told me to tell you he was busy so He sent me!"
It may not be exactly like that but God has an assignment for you today. He wants to send you into his service. Today we move to the fourth purpose for which God made us. Using Rick Warren’s roadmap for our search for the Bible’s answer to “what on earth am I here for,” we’ve discovered that we are “planned for God’s pleasure. God put us here to worship him. Secondly, we were formed for God’s family. He fashioned us to live in fellowship with others. True believers need the support and encouragement of others in the family of the church. Last week, we examined the third purpose. We were created for Christ-likeness. The Bible calls this discipleship. Becoming a Christian means following Jesus’ teachings and accepting his example as our model for life. This brings us to our next purpose. We were shaped for God’s service. The Bible terms this purpose—ministry.
The story of Moses provides a good case study for our look into the purpose and nature of our ministries. Our view of Moses tends to be larger than life. When we think Moses, we see Charleston Heston. We see a strong, powerful, determined saint of God, nothing like us. But that’s not the whole story. It’s not even close.
Moses’ life was about to turn in a whole new direction. That was no small thing for an eighty year old man. But it had happened to Moses before. He was born to slave parents during the dark days of Pharaoh’s persecution of the Hebrew people. To save his life, Moses’ mother hid him in the river. He was unexpectedly discovered and rescued by Pharaoh’s own daughter. Moses moved from the slave quarters to the king’s palace. His Hebrew mother became his private nurse. She taught him that though he may be Pharaoh’s grandson to everybody else, he was still one of God’s people.
For forty years, Moses lived as a prince of Egypt. Life was good. Then one day he intervened in behalf of a Hebrew slave. In the brawl that followed, he killed the Egyptian slave master. Now a murderer, Moses fled for his life to a distant country. One day he was one of the most powerful men in the kingdom. The next day he’s living in the middle of nowhere.
Life goes on. Moses settles down to life as a poor shepherd, marries a local girl, and raises a family. He no doubt remembered Egypt, the real Hebrew grandparents his children had never seen, maybe even the palace halls where he had romped as a child. Maybe he even longed for those bygone days. But there was no way going back. Then one day when Moses least expected it, God showed up. The when, the where, and the how are not our concern today. What happened is!
God speaks to Moses from the burning bush. He has some good news and some bad news. First, the good news! The Lord knew the plight of the Hebrew people and he was going to do something about it. He was going to set his people free. Moses was all for it. Now for the bad news—Moses had been selected to lead the way.
Moses may have been surprised. We shouldn’t be. God almost always uses people to accomplish his tasks in this world. Sometimes God uses an angel to do his bidding. Occasionally he might use a dumb beast or the brute forces of nature. But the vast majority of the time God calls ordinary men and women. He equips them for his service. He then sends them out in ministry. God certainly could do otherwise. But most of the time he chooses to invite us (people like you and me) to come along side and be part of his work in the world.
This is where we get easily confused. A lot of folk tend to think that ministry or doing God’s work is the task of professionals like ministers or missionaries. Some suspect that God only calls saints or super-believers to do his bidding. Such has never been the case.
That’s the focus of this fourth purpose in the Purpose Driven Life. God has shaped us for service. He has made us for ministry. Every one of us! That second text I read a few moments ago reminds us, “Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms” (1 Pt 4:11). There are no exceptions. In reality this church doesn’t have two ministers. It has scores of ministers, men and women, young and old, through whom he works. That’s the way God planned it!
God’s plan or otherwise, some are reluctant to get involved in ministry. Moses certainly was. At least four times, Moses tells God that he must have made a mistake. “Who am I for such a task?” “How can I convince them?” “Nobody will believe me.” “Please, send somebody else.” Our assignments may not be as big or bold as Moses’ but we can identify with his doubts.
Moses didn’t feel qualified. He knew his weaknesses. He knew his past. He had failed before. Maybe he was afraid to fail again. Or maybe it was just the opposite. A lot of us are just as fearful of success as we are of failure. We’re afraid we will get in over our heads. If things succeed, we might lose control. Sometimes we’d rather not try than risk that.
There’s another side to the reluctance. Moses wasn’t rich or powerful, but he was comfortable. God’s service would upset all that. That’s true for us as well. A lot of stuff that needs doing isn’t all that glamorous. We have to get our hands dirty, our priorities rearranged, and lives filled with other people’s needs. And for what? No pay, little recognition, and lots of heartaches. Mother Teresa, the Catholic missionary to the poorest of the poor, explained the choice we face, "We can do no great things; only small things with great love."
Here’s where the plot thickens. Moses tries to find a way out of his assignment. But God answers his every excuse. “You’re not going alone. I’ll be with you every step of the way. It’s not your job. It’s mine. I’ll be working through you.” In the midst of the interchange, to make his point, the Lord asks Moses a strange question. “What’s in your hand?”
Didn’t God know what Moses had in his hand? Of course, he did—He’s God! The question was for a demonstration not information. And what was in his hand? Nothing but his simple shepherd’s rod! It was a tool of his trade. It wasn’t anything special. For forty years, Moses had carried it. It was what every shepherd carried.
“Throw it down,” God commands. It miraculously changed. It became a writhing serpent. “Pick it up!” It was a simple shepherd’s staff again. Moses learned a lesson that day. When God calls a person into service, he equips that person for the task ahead. And more often than not, the tools of ministry are not new. God takes what he has been building into our lives all along and uses them for the new assignment. For forty years, God had been training Moses to use that rod. For the next forty years, he would teach him to use it in new ways. That rod would become the instrument of God’s power. With it, Moses freed his people, parted the Red Sea, brought water from dry rock, and victory over his enemies. In his hand, it was a shepherd’s rod. In God’s hand, it was the power of heaven.
You have more in common with Moses than you may suspect. You may never work a miracle. You will likely never meet God in a burning bush. You may never change the course of history or set a nation free. But God has still called you to ministry. He has shaped you for service. He has been preparing you since the day you were born. He has placed in your life, in your heart, in your experiences, in your hands—every thing you need to do his bidding.
Moses’ question is your question today. What’s in your hand? What is it that God has already built into your life, though it seems quite ordinary today, could become something quite different if used for the Lord? What passion for service has God sparked in you? What needs do you see that other may not? What abilities, talents or spiritual gifts has he equipped you with? What experiences have you had that God could use to touch the lives of others? You may have always thought those were coincidences. They weren’t. They were God’s providences!
Here’s the bottom line. You’ve been called. You’ve been equipped. You have been shaped for service. Now what are you going to do about it?
Over thirty years ago, rock legend Bob Dylan wrote and recorded a hit song that provides the note to end our look at this fourth answer to that question “what on earth am I here for?” The verses of the song list the many directions that a persons’ life can take. The chorus keeps coming back to the ultimate conclusion.
You may be an ambassador to England or France,
You may like to gamble, you might like to dance,
You may be the heavyweight champion of the world,
You may be a socialite with a long string of pearls.
You may be a business man or some high degree thief,
They may call you Doctor or they may call you Chief.
You may be a construction worker working on a home,
You may be living in a mansion or you might live in a dome,
You might own guns and you might even own tanks,
You might be somebody’s landlord, you might even own banks
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed, You’re gonna have to serve somebody,
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord, But you’re gonna have to serve somebody.
(Words and Music by Bob Dylan,
1979 Special Rider Music)
Joshua, Moses’ right hand man, said it right. “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” That’s all I am asking today. You’re gonna serve somebody.
Let’s make it the Lord!
***Dr. Roger W. Thomas is the preaching minister at First Christian Church, 205 W. Park St., Vandalia, MO 63382 and an adjunct professor of Bible and Preaching at Central Christian College of the Bible, 911 E. Urbandale, Moberly, MO. He is a graduate of Lincoln Christian College (BA) and Lincoln Christian Seminary (MA, MDiv), and Northern Baptist Theological Seminary (DMin).
