Take It To The Limit - Time Series

Take It To The Limit - Time

Exodus 18:1-27

January 27, 2008

Last week we begin a series of talks that I’m calling - "Take it to the Limit." The idea behind these 3 talks is that each of us has limits.

You and I have boundaries.

Fences

Borders

Lines of demarcation

When it comes to having children, husbands and wives decide on how many they want - no more than 2.

2’s their limit.

In our driving we have limits or boundaries that we do our best not to cross. For some of you it’s the speed limit - what the sign says - you do.

Others of us push past that limit during

Consistently going faster

Having a curfew is a limit. My parents told me that I had to be home by 11 - don’t push it.

You and I have limits. Either someone has chosen these for us or we have instinctively chosen boundaries that we will not cross.

Even though we do this, even though we know where our limits are, we have a culture that continually tells us to "Push these limits."

To test those limits.

To go beyond what we have chosen or been taught.

Culture says - buy a bigger house.

Drive a nicer car.

Dress in new clothes even if you can’t afford it.

That’s what a credit card is for.

Culture says - you’ll miss out on all the fun you can have if you keep your standards high. Come on join us - you won’t regret it.

Culture says - pack more into your schedule - you can do more - in fact you need to do more to keep up with everyone else.

So we are in this battle. This battle regarding limits. A battle between culture and what it pushes us toward and between our God and what he wants to lead us toward.

Culture pushes us Christ leads us.

Prods us Christ invites us.

Today we are going to talk about time. Time limits. After last Sunday’s marathon some of you are hoping that I’ll put a limit on how long I talk - we’ll se.

Before we jump into our text, let me remind you of 3 facts/rules about time. We talked in length about these in the fall; so let me simply remind you.

1. Your time is limited.

Each of us 24 hours.

No more - no less.

Though our time is limited we schedule like it is unlimited.

2. All of our time will be spent.

There is no such thing as leftover time.

We cannot bank time - accumulating.

- Stockpiling it.

On our deathbeds we can’t tell the doctor -I’ve "banked" 6 more months.

No - all of our time each day will be spent.

3. Someone or something determines how we use our time.

We like to think that we determine what happens in our days.

Sometimes -yes - sometimes -no

But families influence and use our time.

Clubs and organizations, Churches, sports these all compete for the limited time that we have.

Moses the man we are going to be looking at this morning could have related well to all 3 of these truths.

In our text, Exodus 18, we discover a Moses pressed for time, stressed, drained, near-exhaustion.

His work life, his responsibilities were pushing him to his limit.

I want to pick up his story in chapter 13 of Exodus on page 107. Let’s look verse 17. What is the heading above verse 17?

"Crossing the Sea" - This is the story that Charleton Heston acted out for us. Pharaoh and his army are chasing down Moses - the Israelites. Moses and the Israelites seemed to be trapped - yet God tells Moses in verse 16 of chapter 14 to raise his staff and stretch out his hand and you know what happens. The waters part and the people walk through on dry land.

It is a highpoint.

A victory.

A reason for celebration.

God used Moses to make a way for his people.

In chapter 15 - the people celebrate this. They sing one long song of thanksgiving.

But true to human nature, the people turn from celebrating into complaining.

See 15:24. After God parts the Red Sea for them the people journey for 3 days without find water and so in verse24 we read, "So the people grumbled against Moses, saying what are we to drink?"

They approach their leader complaining.

Skip down to chapter 16 verse 2 - It reads "In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron."

This time they want food.

And in verses 7, 8, 9, and 11 they continue to grumble for a total 8 times in this one chapter.

They do it one last time in chapter 17:3, They’ve traveled to a new spot, but they are acting like they did before,