Mountainside UMC
January 25, 2015
The Story – Message 4 – Deliverance
Recently I heard a funny story about a Texas farmer who had an
interesting way of solving conflicts. Apparently there was this real
affluent lawyer from Chicago who came down to go dove hunting
in Texas. So the Chicago Lawyer is out hunting in a field and
shoots at a dove and the dove lands across the fence in another
field. So he climbs over the fence to get his dove and he notices
this Texas farmer with his cowboy boots on sitting on his tractor.
The farmer yells over to him and says, “What are you doing?” The
lawyer said that he was walking over to pick up the dove that he
just shot. The farmer says, “Well you can’t have that dove because
it landed on my private property.”
The lawyer turned to the farmer and said, “I don’t think you know
who you are talking to. I am a high profile lawyer from Chicago
and if you don’t let me go over and pick up that dove, I am going
to sue you for everything you have..you old fool. The farmer said,
“Listen, that’s just not how we do things here in Texas.” “So,” the
lawyer said, “Just how do you do things here in Texas?”
“Well, we have what we call the ‘The Texas Three Kick Rule” the
farmer replied. What is that?, the lawyer said. Well I kick you
three times and then you kick me three times until someone gives
up and that’s how we determine the winner. So this younger
Chicago attorney then sizes up this older Texas Farmer and says to
himself, I can take this old guy no problem. “Let’s do this”he says.
So the old farmer gets off his tractor and walks up wearing his
Texas boots on and says “I’ll go first” and in a split second he
gives this lawyer a swift kick that knocks him off his feet and he
realizes this farmer has more “kick” than he realized. He then rolls
over to get on his knees but before he can get back up he gets a
second kick right in the gut. He is rolling in pain.
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He tries again to get to his feet and he gets a third hard kick in the
head and he falls to the ground seeing stars. A few moments later
he shakes the cobwebs off in his head and with the intensity of a
Chicagoan, he stands back up and puts his hands on his hips and he
says, “Now, old farmer, it’s my turn.” And the Texas farmer looks
back at him and says, “Nah, I give up, you can have the dove.”
So we all solve problems differently. We all solve conflicts
differently. That was a Texas way of solving a conflict and there
are of course others. So I want throw a conflict your way that you
are already familiar with and then ask you to ponder a solution.
Every one of us from birth are born with this fallen sin nature. Our
immediate response to life is based on our self-centered sin nature
and this is the one single barrier between us and God. Romans
3:23 “For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.”
This sin nature keeps us from a perfect relationship from God and
with others and it is also the cause of our physical death. Here is
the question. How are we going to confront and deal with this sin
nature that is the cause of a broken relationship with God?
Most all of us who are here today admit that this is a problem, it’s
real and can’t be solved alone. Part of the reason we are reading
through The Story is to get a clearer understanding of God’s
solution to this problem and to experience a closer walk with the
God who offers himself to solve this problem.
Today as we look at Chapter 4 called “Deliverance” we see God
making the even clearer the meaning to the solution to this
problem the source of our salvation. We got a hint of it when an
animal had to be sacrificed to cover the sin of Adam and Eve. We
saw another foreshadowing as Abraham takes his only son, Isaac,
the son of a miracle to be led up to Mount Moriah to be offered as
a sacrifice. Last week we also saw shadows of Jesus mirrored in
the life of Joseph.
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This week in Chapter 4 we see God setting up an event that will
become an annual feast or tradition that the Jewish people will
continue to celebrate even until today, which is the Feast of
Passover. It was the Feast of Passover that Jesus was celebrating
with his disciples where he clarified what Passover was really
about and today we celebrate this feast as a sacrament that we
know of today as communion. It is God’s Deliverance or solution
to the sin problem.
So how did the Passover get started that we celebrate today as
communion? In the opening of Chapter 4 entitled “Deliverance”
It’s been hundreds of years since the time of Joseph and the
greatness of the population of the Israelites threatened the
Egyptians who decided to place them in slavery. Then to
compound the oppression they made an edict that all newborn
Hebrew boys be thrown into the Nile river.
In the midst of this is born a baby boy whose mother refused to
allow him to be drowned by the Egyptians so she hid him and then
eventually made a little basket and put him in the river and this
baby was then found by Pharoah’s daughter. She named him
Moses meaning “drawn from the water.” Moses was then a
Hebrew raised as an Egyptian. This created a conflict.
It manifests one day when he is older. Page 44.(2/3rds down page)
“One day after Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own
people were and watched them at their hard labor. He saw an
Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people. Looking this
way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him
in the sand. The next day he went out and saw two Hebrew
fighting. He asked the one in the wrong, “Why are you hitting your
fellow Hebrew? The man said, “Who made you ruler and judge
over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?
The Moses was afraid and thought, “what I did must have become
known.” YA THINK?
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Notice Moses looks this way and that. He thought he could do
whatever he wanted and it not be known. We often think the
same. What Moses should have done and what we as followers of
Christ can do is not look this way or that but to LOOK UP! Don’t
look around but Seek First the Kingdom of God and his
righteousness. Moses didn't look up but killed a man in anger and
then tried to cover it up, but there was a toe still sticking out.
Jesus spoke a hard truth about this a number of times.In Luke
8:17 Jesus said, 17 For there is nothing hidden that will not be
disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or
brought out into the open. There is this day is coming for every
single person who has ever drawn a breath. Are we preparing for
that day? How do we prepare? One way is to agree with God over
those things that are sins in our life and in agreeing with God we
judge that which is sin in our life and seek forgiveness.
Be like David-Psalm 51:1-4,17 Have mercy on me, O God,
according to Your lovingkindness;
according to the abundance
of Your compassion,
blot out my transgressions. Wash me
thoroughly from my iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin. For I
acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.
Against You, You only, have I sinned,and done this evil in Your
sight,
so that You are justified when You speak,
and You are
blameless when You judge. The sacrifices of God are a broken
spirit;
A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not
despise.
So instead of looking “This way and that way” before making a
decision, we need to “look up” and then we won’t have to carry
the regret of a bad decision. The good news is for Moses is that
just because he did make a wrong decision God didn’t remove
him from his calling. However in no way did God overlook this
act of Moses. In fact it definitely made it harder when God did call
him to go back to Egypt and face those who wanted him dead.
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This is typical of God’s call of discipleship in our life. To fulfill
our calling, we often have to face the failures and the fears that we
once ran away from. The symbol of Christianity is a cross, Jesus
says take up the cross. One way to interpret that is that we don’t
seek to run away from the problems or fears we face in life, but
with God’s grace and strength we choose the High Road, the Hard
Road, we choose the cross.Moses had to go2this undesirable place.
Sometimes we find ourselves in places or situations we don’t
want to be in yet Jesus wants to be there and he wants to be there
and present through YOU. It’s hard but that is the place where we
find ourselves walking the closest with the Lord. Moses runs away
from Egypt to the Desert in Midian for about 40 years. Finally God
calls him up using a burning bush. Why a bush or tree? It reminds
me of two trees in the Garden. It’s a choice we have to make. God
tells Moses that he has seen the misery of his people and wants to
send him to deliver the Israelites form the Egyptian slavery. Help?
Here is Moses’ response. Middle of Page 46. “But Moses said to
God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharoah and bring the
Israelites out of Egypt. And God said, “I will be with you. In other
words what is important isn’t who you are in your eyes, but
whether or not God is with you. So often when facing problems in
our life we think the biggest issue or matter is who am I to face this
problem when the greater matter is who is the Lord in me and with
me to face this problem. It’s an opportunity for a Jesus revelation.
After Moses asks the “Who Am I?” question he then asks the
“Who are You?” question to God in the form of who am I going
to say sent me to do this. God says “I Am Who I Am.” Yes but “I
Am” what…I am the Way, the Truth, the Life, I Am the Alpha
and Omega the beginning and the end. I am the Light of the
World. I am the Door, I am the Good Shepherd and Bread of Life,
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the True Vine and I am the resurrection and the Life. I am all these
and more than you could imagine. What more do you need Moses?
Moses says, “I need an out… Please send someone else.”
Moses gives up and starts to go. So God is going to reveal the
greatness of his power through the unleashing of the 10 plagues
against Pharaoh and Egypt. The repeated conversation through
this part of the Story is how Moses says to Pharoah, “Let my
people go!” and Pharaoh says no then Moses says to God, then
send the plagues. 9 plagues unfold. Each of these plagues
confronts a false God worshipped by the Egyptians.
First plague attacks the River Nile and the Nile god called Hapi.
The Nile god had his waters turned to blood and was not so Happy.
My Favorite is the plague of Frogs. The funny thing about this
plague is that after there were frogs everywhere.. the boardroom to
the bedroom, Moses asks Pharaoh when he wants Pharoah to
remove the frogs. His response…tomorrow. He could have said
now. But for some reason Pharaoh says...tomorrow as if saying, I
just want to spend one more night with the frogs. Go figure.
Next is the plague of the gnats, then the flies, livestock, boils, hail,
locusts and the darkness. Then finally comes the plague on the
Firstborn which is not only a plague displaying God’s mighty
power but also a revelation of his plan.
Read from the story Page 51(near top-first full P) Then the Lord
said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt, “This month is to be for you the
first month…
…Eat it in haste; it is the Lord’s Passover.”
Everyone had to not just hear this instruction from Moses from
the Lord but they had to act on it. Believing wasn’t enough, being
an Israelite wasn’t enough they had to believe that what God said
mattered enough for them to act on it and they had to sacrifice a
lamb and paint the blood of that lamb on the door of their house.
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In fact in Exodus 12:22 it tells us that the Israelites were instructed
to take a hyssop branch and dip it in the blood of the lamb and
place that blood on their doorposts. In John 19:29 it is mentioned
that they took a hyssop branch put a sponge on it and soaked it
with wine and placed in on Jesus’ lips. It is the hyssop branch that
touches the Passover lamb and Jesus the Passover Lamb who takes
away the sins of the world. It was this plague and the death of
Pharaoh’s son that led to the release of the Israelites from bondage
in Egypt. What is it that God is saying through this story? The key?
The Israelites bondage in slavery to Pharaoh is teach us that we are
in the same situation. We are enslaved. We are not enslaved to the
Egyptians but we are enslaved to sin. We are enslaved to a reality
of the heart that keeps us from walking in the plan a purpose that
God created us for in the beginning. But only God has the power
to deliver us. Only the Lamb of God can set us free and his giving
us new life or new birth through the waters of baptism. In fact
when God parts Red Sea for the Israelites to pass through this is a
picture of a mass baptism which is deliverance for the Israelites
but judgment for Pharaoh and his army. Salvation starts with
Passover saying God I accept your Son-Jesus-the Lamb of God and
the offering of his life to cleanse me from my sin. His life for mine.
Then after that came baptism. Not through the Blue Sea, Green
Sea or the Orange Sea. It’s through the Red Sea, Crimson Blood
Red Sea. You walk through that sea and the enemy can’t rightfully
condemn you when you are in Jesus. Romans 8:1 – Therefore
there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
2 key questions.FIRST-Have we received Salvation? Once for all.
Deliverance eternally from our sins?THE Major eternal question.
SECOND-Is salvation being lived out today.Daily-Habits-Attituds
It really matters - Person share – co-worker – brags all goes to
church-being a good person. Report back gossiping/trash talking a
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co-worker for no reason. Gossip? Rude? Impatient? When God
delivers us it opens the door to Lead others to DeliveranceinChrist.