Here is the sermon I preached on July 20, 2014. Sorry about the big spaces in some areas.
BY FAITH MOSES
INTRO
This past week was the 85 Major League Baseball All Star game. The All Star Game is where the best players in baseball play and show off their talent. If you want to know anything about the best baseball players in the game, you watch the the All Star Game. They have a home run derby and the Toronto Blue Jays had their home run hitter there. If you watch any of this on tv, you hear a lot of stats that show the accomplishments of these players. This year they were honouring Derek Jeter. He is playing in his 20th and final season in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Yankees. A five-time World Series champion, Jeter is regarded as a central figure of the Yankees during their success of the late 1990s and early 2000s due to his hitting ability, base running, fielding, and leadership. He is the Yankees' all-time career leader in hits (3,363), games played (2,645), stolen bases (349), and at bats (10,786). His accolades include fourteen All-Star selections, five Gold Glove Awards, five Silver Slugger Awards, two Hank Aaron Awards, and a Roberto Clemente Award. Jeter is the all-time MLB leader in hits by a shortstop, and the 28th player to reach 3,000 hits. I mentioned accomplishments that none of us really care about. But, in the baseball world, he and all the players at the All Star Game, are the players that people look up to, the ones kids dream about, the ones they try to imitate.
The list of people mentioned here in Hebrews 11 is like an All Star list for the Christian. They are the people who are our examples, people we are to imitate, people to be motivated by, especially when it comes to faith - what faith is and what it looks like. These people were commended by God. And, according to 10:36-39, the Christians in Rome needed motivation because of the cost they were enduring.
The cost isn't that great for us now, but I think as the years go by, it will be more costly. But it is costly for Christians in Iraq at this moment. In fact the lasts of the Christians have left Mosul - NY Times article. The book of Hebrews and chapters 11 is all about perseverance. He gives us examples to help us. Today we are going to look at Moses...what can we learn about faith?
I. Faith Courageously Fears God (23)
Look at what it says...he is not taking about Moses specifically, he is talking about his parents. The author recounts the story of Moses' birth, which is recorded in Exodus 2.
The author points out two significant things about Moses' parents and his birth: 1) Parents saw that Moses was beautiful.
- Exodus 2:1-2 - 1 Now a man from the house of Levi went and took as his wife a Levite woman. 2 The woman conceived and bore a son, and when she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him three months.
- Acts 7:20 - At this time Moses was born; and he was beautiful in God's sight.
I am not sure how they could have sensed that. Babies generally look the same. So how could they tell he was something special. We don't know. The Scriptures do not tells how the inside knowledge. One commentator suggests that there was something about the appearance of the child that suggested God's favour rested on him. He appearance somehow pointed to the future. It is as if the parents had a spiritual insight to his significance. All parents think their baby is special and significant, but they saw something more which gave them hope. What they saw gave them courage because the second significant thing about Moses' birth is that.
2) Parents were not afraid of kings edict. Look back in Exodus 2. They disregarded the kings command to drown the boy in the Nile - 1:22. They disregarded the kings command at a great risk...they could have been put in jail...they could have been killed themselves. It was a great risk to hide the baby. We don't have any other record of other Hebrew parents doing this but probably were not successful. The greater question becomes, when is it ok to disregard the kings command? It seems as though that everyone else obeyed the kings command. When it is ok to go against the laws of the land?
- Romans 13:1-7 - it seems pretty clear. According to this, Pharaoh was put there by God.
- Acts 5:17-42 - Are there times when we disobey God because we fear human beings?
Question becomes, "Who are we to fear most?" According to Hebrews fearing God is more important. Fearing the king who opposes God is not.
- Heb. 4:1 - Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it.
- Heb. 10:31 - It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
Who do we fear the most?
- Matthew 10:28 - And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
So a person of faith courageously fears God. Do when it is ok to disobey the king? When it causes you to clearly disobey God, right !!! Stop the church from meeting...bow to and idol...illegal to witness.
II. Faith Identifies with God's People instead of the World (24-26)
We see this in the story of Moses when he grew up. We all know how the story of Moses goes...his mother put him in a basket so that Pharaoh's daughter would find him. And she did and she adopted him as her own (Exodus 2:10). By when he grew up, Moses did 2 things by faith:
1) He refused (neg)
i) To be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter...just imagine what his position would bring him, all the wealth, all the privilege, all the pleasure, luxury. He wouldn't have to work a day in his life. He would be royalty. Imagine how hard that would be to give up?
ii) To enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin...think about this refusal. To remain in Egypt would have put him outside of the purposes of God...he would have been an apostate. Faith sees sin as fleeting...as having a shelf-life...but sin does not tell you that when it is tempting you, now does it? How do you feel after you sin? You shouldn't feel great about it!!!
2) He chose to be mistreated (pos)
This would go against all what we desire today in our comfort, pain-avoiding, culture. People around him would have thought he was crazy. Do you see this separation? What is choosing here? He is choosing holiness over worldliness and pleasure. When did he do this?
- Exodus 2:11-15...he renounced by intervening...
This has huge application for the Christians:
- Choosing to go to church, instead of sleeping in, committing to a local church, membership.
According to Scripture, Why Should Every Christian Join a Church?
Mark Dever - Every Christian should join a church because Scripture requires it.
Granted, there is no direct command in Scripture that says, “Every Christian must join a local church,” but two factors in Scripture indicate that every Christian should be a member of a local church. 1) Jesus established the church to be a public, earthly institution that would mark out, affirm, and oversee those who profess to believe in him (Matthew 16:18-19, Matthew 18:15-20). Jesus established the church to publicly declare those who belong to him in order to give the world a display of the good news about himself (John 17:21-23; see also Ephesians 3:10. Jesus wants the world to know who belongs to him and who doesn’t. And how is the world to know who belongs to him and who doesn’t? They are to see which people publicly identify themselves with his people in the visible, public institution he established for this very purpose. They’re to look at the members of his church. And if some people claim to be part of the universal church even though they belong to no local church, they reject Jesus’ plan for them and his church. Jesus intends for his people to be marked out as a visible, public group, which means joining together in local churches. 2) Scripture repeatedly commands Christians to submit to their leaders (Hebrews 13:17; 1 Thessalonians 5:12-13). The only way to do that is by publicly committing to be members of their flock, and saying in effect, “I commit to listening to your teaching, following your direction, and to submitting to your leadership.” There’s no way to obey the scriptural commands to submit to your leaders if you never actually submit to them by joining a local church.
That can be an application of Moses' example...
- Choose not to be unequally yoked with unbelievers...2 Cor. 6:14 - Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?
- Choosing to speak about Christ.
- Choosing to treasure Christ more than sin and wealth.
2 Reasons why he refused to be called son of Pharaoh's and chose to be mistreated with people of God:
1) He considered the reproach of Christ more valuable. What this means is that he was driven by a greater wealth than what was found in Egypt.
1) He considered the reproach of Christ more valuable. What this means is that he was driven by a greater wealth than what was found in Egypt.
- Gen. 12:10 - Now there was a famine in the land. So Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land.
- Gen. 42:1-2 - 1 When Jacob learned that there was grain for sale in Egypt, he said to his sons, "Why do you look at one another?" 2 And he said, "Behold, I have heard that there is grain for sale in Egypt. Go down and buy grain for us there, that we may live and not die."
When there is a famine, they go to Egypt because there is always food and resources in Egypt. Egypt was the wealthiest country at the time. But there was a greater wealth that he saw, something that was more valuable, and paradoxically, it is described at the reproach of Christ. What does this mean? The word for Christ can also mean "Anointed". And so it is not that he literally saw Christ and saw the sufferings of Christ himself. In Psalm 89, it says, "50 Remember, O Lord, how your servants are mocked, and how I bear in my heart the insults of all the many nations, 51 with which your enemies mock, O LORD, with which they mock the footsteps of your anointed."
I think firstly it is referring to the stigma and reproach the people of God faced. It anticipates the suffering of following Christ.So becoming, as one commentator puts it, one of the people of God who were suffering disgrace, Moses joins himself to a type of the future reproach of Christ. But this suffering with God's people, which anticipates the suffering of Christ and those who follow Christ as worth more than the wealth of Egypt.We need a little help with this...
- Phil. 1:29; 3:7-10 - he wants to become so Christ-like that he wants to suffer for Christ
- Acts 5:40-41 - 40 and when they had called in the apostles, they beat them and charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. 41 Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name.
This is radical thinking, isn't it? There is more worth in identifying with the people of God, there is more worth in living and suffering for Christ, than living in sin and enjoying the pleasures of this world outside of Christ. This is radical thinking? They did not fear what other people might think. They were more afraid of what God might think. This is divine economics, we lose now and gain so much more in the future. This is not what the prosperity gospel tells us. This gospel tells us to live for now, to gain now, that our reward is materialism. They want heaven on earth and that's attractive. It instantly gratifies.
But the bible does not promise that. Moses chose to suffer along with God's people and to identify himself as child of God and part of his family. Do people know where you stand? Who you are? I am not saying that we are to go looking for suffering. But we are living radically for Christ, if we are living boldly for Christ.
Don't you think you would be opposed more for Christ? We get comfortable in our little cliques, in the Christian or family bubbles that we create. The result is that we do not know anyone who is not a Christian. We have done a good job in insulating ourselves from the world. That is good in one sense. But it is not Christlike in another sense. We are called to be a gospel salt and light in our world. We cannot expect the world to come to our church. We are called to go and make disciples. We are called to be fishers of men and women. The church is not a fishing hole. We are called to go where the fish are!!! Makes sense doesn't it? I know I need to be way more bold in this...
2. He was looking to the Reward. The reward he was looking for is not on this earth, but it is in heaven.
- Phil 3:17-4:1 - he wants us to have our eyes on the prize.
Piper - "Nothing fits a person to be more useful on earth than to be more ready for heave." Why is that? Boldness, courage brings joy to our lives. That is how Christians can endure persecution...Hebrews 10:32-34
III. Faith Recognizes the One who is Invisible (27)
By faith he left Egypt, he left Egypt twice...
- Exodus 2:14-15
- Exodus 12:51; 14:14-20
His focus was on the one who is invisible. But when would be have seen this? Go thru plagues...
What was the result?
1) He made the right choices...
2) Endured hardship...he did not run from it...although he wanted to at times...
3) Persevered...it means to persist...
And that is the summary of living by faith...you make the right choices, by God's grace and the help of the Holy Spirit. Endure hardship with God's help...and you keep at it...you persist, keeping your eyes on heaven.
IV. Faith Follows God's Instructions (28)
- Ex. 12:28 - Then the people of Israel went and did so; as the LORD had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did.
They went out and did so. It wasn't complicated for them. They didn't wait for others and didn't make excuses.
- Matthew 28:19-20 - 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."
- Ephesians 4-6
- Col. 3-4
Are we doing these things? Faith takes action. Faith does not allow bitterness, envy, lust, jealously, anger, gossip. The question is, What is radical about your faith?
If you are here this morning and you know that your faith has been very comfortable because you don't really step out in faith, I want you to be challenged, inspired and motivated by these examples.
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