Intro:
This morning marks the first Sunday of Lent. This is a period of six weeks, leading up to Easter, in which we prepare for the glorious resurrection of our Redeemer. Our deliverer is coming. That’s not a new sentiment. Indeed, it even predates Christ by nearly two millennia. And yet, even in our day, we still feel the grip of sin.
But before we can discuss a Deliverer, we need to spend some time understanding what it is that we are being delivered from.
Lent is typically celebrated by breaking bad habits. The idea is to be delivered from the sin that so easily ensnares us. Maybe you give up chocolate or TV or if you’re really hard-core, your snooze button on the alarm clock. It’s really a liberating experience to see the sunrise or have an extra hour with your wife. It’s a time of practicing what it means to be free.
And that’s why I want to spend sometime this Lent chronicling what that path to freedom looks like.
For hundreds of years the children of Israel were in bondage, enslaved to the Pharaoh of Egypt. But they knew for a fact, that their deliverer was coming. I want to show you how, in the beginning part of Exodus, God delivered his people from what oppressed them.
I am going to begin talking about the Exodus, but before we get there, I need to start where it all began, in Genesis. If you’ll indulge me, I want to link two of the great stories of the Bible. And, in doing that, I want to show you why it is in fact that we are all still in need of a Deliverer today.
I want to start by giving you a quick reminder of Genesis. You remember Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. You probably even remember the trials and tribulations of Jacob’s son, Joseph. You’ll remember that as Rachel’s first-born, Jacob loved him more than the rest. He gave him a coat of many colors. This made his brothers jealous. And so, Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery. Jacob – the same man who had tricked his father into thinking he was Esau, was now tricked by his own children into thinking his favorite son was dead.
But Joseph was able to make the best of a bad situation. He rose to prominence in Potipher’s house. But he had an unlucky break – in the form of Potipher’s spouse. Because Joseph wouldn’t lie with her, she lied about him. And so, he ended up in jail yet again.
But Joseph was delivered. Pharaoh had a dream, and Joseph knew its interpretation. Seven years of feast followed by seven years of famine. Joseph knew a basic principle of life skills. Save in the good times so you’ll have something for the bad times.
But Joseph did more than just provide for Pharaoh. Their savings plan had left them as the only country capable of providing grain anywhere. That ‘anywhere’ includes Canaan – where Jacob’s family was. You can see then, why Jacob’s family would need to go to Egypt to do their grocery shopping. They really had no choice.
By God’s providence, Joseph is able to see his family again. And, what’s more, he’s even able to forgive the same brothers who had sold him into slavery. Genesis seems to have a happy ending.
Now, if you end there and just start reading in Exodus, all the sudden you just hear, ‘There was a new king who didn’t know Joseph,’ and everybody is a slave. It seems like a big jump.
But then there’s this curious little interlude that ties Genesis and Exodus together. It’s one of those little details that makes me have to stop and ask, “Why did they record this?” Let’s pick up the story now right in the middle of the seven year bad years.
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Selling yourself into slavery is a common practice back then. After all, being a slave is a job. It puts food on the table. The only difference between a servant and a slave is that the servant can be fired. The slave is there for life.
So, everybody in Egypt is now a slave. But history is full of reversals. You can see why resentment might build, how the grudge match begins. Who wouldn’t want to turn the tables?
But understand why it is that these Egyptians became slaves in the first place. They needed food. They had no options. Our lives can be a lot like that. Oh, we live in a land of plenty, but we still have needs. And, there are still bad choices out there that can fill those needs, albeit at a high price. When we run out of “options” we truly are in slavery. Our only option is to stay with whatever provides for our need. Sometimes, that can be a good master. Sometimes, not so much. Sometimes, it seems there is no option at all, but my friends, that is precisely why we need a Deliverer.
Again, what I find interesting in this story is that it answers a simple question, ‘How did the people become slaves in the first place.’
The History of Slavery
Now, in some ways, it seems like Joseph is a bit crafty – shrewd. Really all he is doing is doing his job. Pharaoh is going to make some cash off his information. And he’s going to do a bang-up job.
Interestingly enough, what little archeological evidence there is completely corroborates this story. You see, in Joseph’s time, we know that the Pharaoh is the King, but he’s just a ruler. Fast forward a few hundred years, all of the sudden he’s become the sole landowner in Egypt. Interestingly enough, during this period the Pharaohs aren’t even Egyptian – they’re a people called Hyksos, basically foreigners from the East. You can see how a foreigner might be a little more receptive to an upstart Palestinian slave who can interpret dreams. And one more thing – these Hyksos – they’re hated within Egypt. They get kicked out, and all the records are erased. Awfully convenient, no?
But why were they hated? Well, if you had essentially enslaved an entire country, that might tend to put people off, no? Imagine you were an Egyptian here. You’re probably going to see two types of reactions. The people who are starving? You’re going to see what you see in the text. “Oh Pharaoh, we’re happy to be slaves. Just keep some mutton on the table, eh?” But imagine their great grandkids. “Great grandpa turned us all into slaves, for what? A few bowls of stew?”
You might well understand what happens, when there comes as Exodus puts it, “a new king who did not know Joseph.” I don’t know about you, but I might want to turn the tables a bit.
The Slavery of Addiction
But you all know me well enough by now to know that my plan this morning isn’t to give you a history lesson. Instead, I want to answer a very basic question. Why slavery? Why is it that anybody chose slavery in the first place? Why is that you and I find ourselves in bondage to sin today?
The answer to all the questions is the same. Somebody becomes a slave when they have needs and run out of options. Let me say that again – slavery = needs and no options.
In our day, the classic example of slavery is seen in a drug addict. They all start out the same way; With a simple need – a pain that they don’t want to feel, and a drug that promises to do it. Before the addict knows what’s happening, they’re shackled to needle that they hate but that they can’t get rid of. Slavery was nothing more than a lack of options.
But if you think that drugs or drink or pornography are the only addictions out there, think again. Anything that has you hooked is an addiction. I know how much time I used to sit glued to the television. Oh yeah I can always turn whenever want. Right? I remember one year Chuck Colson advised that you should unplug your television whenever you’re not watching it. That way, you have to literally get down on your knees to plug it back in before you watch it. It’s a great image if you think about it.
I’m not saying I still don’t fall into that trap - but it’s fair to ask, what did it ever give me? God be praised, someone encouraged me to give up TV one year for Lent. It’s amazing how much time I got back.
The Slavery of Hate
But you know what? Even sins that aren’t so obvious like addictions are bad masters.
Have you ever found yourself hating someone so much that you are obsessed with revenge? I have to ask. If you hate somebody, who is controlling who? The miracle of forgiveness really is just that – it’s miracle that you can delivered from the cycle of hate.
I know a person from my High School who still hold grudges about what people did to me back then. You know what? I’ve gotten over it. Honestly, I’ve forgotten what those people did. But this friend of mine is still trapped. It makes me sad. I wish they could be free, too.
You know, Joseph had known slavery first hand, and what that meant. I think that’s why he was able to forgive his brothers. If he lacked the option of reconciliation, then he was still in their power. Why would he want to do that?
Slavery is simply not being in control. It’s a lack of option. Pharaoh’s number two surely would not have wanted to be out of control.
I’ve said it before. Nobody sets out to sin. But once you’re in it, you are stuck. I don’t hate people who are stuck. I pity them. I feel for them. I can sympathize for them precisely because I am one of them.
We all have our slaveries. We can all be delivered. I want to show them the Way … out. You see, I know that my Deliverer is coming. And he will liberate us all.
Would you pray with me?
Long Branch Baptist Church
Halfway, Virginia; est. 1786
Sunday, March 05, 2006
Enter to Worship
Prelude David Witt
Invocation Michael Hollinger
*Opening Hymn #31 (1,2,3)
“Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee”
Welcome & Announcements
Morning Prayer
*Responsive Reading [See Right]
*Offertory Hymn #373 (1,2,3)
“Take My Life and Let it Be”
Offertory Mr. Witt
*Doxology
Scripture Genesis 47:10-26
Sermon (Series: “My Deliverer is Coming”)
“Choosing Slavery”
Preparation Hymn “Love Lifted Me” #462 (1,2)
Communion
The Bread
The Cup
Invitation Hymn “Take My Life and Let it Be” #373 (4)
Benediction
Congregational Response
May the grace of Christ of Savior / And the Father’s boundless love
With the Holy Spirit’s favor / Rest upon us from above. Amen.
* Congregation, please stand.
Depart To Serve
RESPONSIVE READING
What then are we to say? Should we continue in sin in order that grace may abound?
By no means! How can we who died to sin go on living in it?
We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin.
Therefore, do not let sin exercise dominion in your mortal bodies, to make you obey their passions.
No longer present yourselves to sin as instruments of wickedness,
But present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and present your members to God as instruments of righteousness.
For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.
What then? Should we sin because we are not under law but under grace?
By no means! Don’t you know if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are their slaves?
Either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?
But thanks be to God that you, having once been slaves of sin, have become obedient from the heart to the form of teaching to which you were entrusted.
For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to greater and greater iniquity, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness for sanctification.
When you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.
So what advantage did you then get from the things of which you now are ashamed? The end of those things is death.
But now that you have been freed from sin and enslaved to God, the advantage you get is sanctification.
The end is eternal life.
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
- Romans 6:1-23
