A message by a friend in the Muslim world
Text: Exodus 3:1-10
Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his
father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the
flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to
Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 There the angel of
the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from
within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was
on fire it did not burn up
Text: Exodus 3:1-10
3 So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this
strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.”
4 When the Lord saw that he had gone over to
look, God called to him from within the bush,
“Moses! Moses!”
And Moses said, “Here I am.”
Text: Exodus 3:1-10
5 “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off
your sandals, for the place where you are standing
is holy ground.” 6 Then he said, “I am the God of
your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac
and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face,
because he was afraid to look at God.
Text: Exodus 3:1-10
7 The Lord said, “I have indeed seen the misery
of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying
out because of their slave drivers, and I am
concerned about their suffering.
Text: Exodus 3:1-10
8 So I have come down to rescue them from the
hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out
of that land into a good and spacious land, a
land flowing with milk and honey—the home of
the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites,
Hivites and Jebusites
Text: Exodus 3:1-10
9 And now the cry of the Israelites has reached
me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are
oppressing them. 10 So now, go. I am sending
you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites
out of Egypt.”
Text: Exodus 4:24-26
24 At a lodging place on the way, the Lord met
Moses and was about to kill him. 25 But
Zipporah took a flint knife, cut off her son’s
foreskin and touched Moses’ feet with it.
Text: Exodus 4:24-26
“Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me,”
she said. 26 So the Lord let him alone. (At that
time she said “bridegroom of blood,” referring
to circumcision.)
Lordship
• 3:6 “I am”
• 3:10 “So now, go.”
Lostness
• Vs. 7 “I have indeed seen the misery”
• Vs. 7 “I have heard them crying out”
• Vs.7 “I am concerned about their suffering.”
• Vs. 8 “So I have come down to rescue them”
What lies between Lordship and Lostness?
The “&” (ampersand)
Between Lordship & Lostness is:
• Vs. 8 ”So I have come down to rescue them”
• Vs. 10 “So now, go. I am sending you.”
But something happened
• Between the holy place where God called
Moses and the fulfillment of the mission to
rescue the lost something happened:
• 4:24 At a lodging place on the way, the Lord
met Moses and was about to kill him.
What in the world happened?
• How could the Lord who just commissioned
Moses, now seek to kill him?
• What has become of the Lord’s concern for
those in misery, crying out, and suffering?
Possible explanations
1. Something to do with the need to circumcise
Moses’ son (Ex. 4:25 – 26)
2. There were signs of marital conflict (Ex. 18:2)
3. Cultural accommodation may be a major
factor (Gen. 17:13 – 14)
Key Principles
• Issues that could bring a disconnect between
Lordship and Lostness
• In Moses’ life things surfaced that threatened
to compromise the mission
Disconnect #1
• Wanting to proclaim the message without
fully living it
– God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in everlasting
covenant (circumcision)
– Moses disobeyed the covenant by not
circumcising his own son
God would rather we die and
replace us with someone else than
let us misrepresent Him and His
message to a lost world
It is imperative that we never forget
that we do not address lostness with
anything less than Lordship in the
sense that the Church does not meet
lostness with just a spoken message,
but a live-out message.
Disconnect #2
• Accommodating culture to the detriment of
the message
– Moses accommodated culture to the detriment of
covenant
– Thus he was going to be the carrier of a blurred
message
I believe in contextualization no
matter what people group we’re
working with. But I believe that it
should be done within biblical
parameters.
God calls us to cultural
contextualization, not camouflage!
Disconnect #3
• Allowing a personal character issue to derail
the mandate that rescues the lost
– Moses had a problem with anger.
– He left an Egyptian buried in the sand
Egyptian buried in the sand
• Because Moses didn’t deal with his anger it
continued to be a problem
– Ex. 11:8 Moses, hot with anger, left Pharoah
– Num. 20:11 Moses struck the rock instead of
speaking to it
Whatever character issue keeps
recurring in our life and walk, we
better devote our fullest attention
and spiritual resources to have the
victory over it and keep it at bay.
Egyptian buried in the sand
• Because Moses didn’t deal with his anger he
couldn’t enter the Promised Land
– Num. 20:12 “Because you did not trust in me
enough to honor me as holy in the sight of the
Israelites, you will not bring this community into
the land I give them.”
Disconnect #4
• Losing sight of the nature of lostness in its
fullest dimension
– Keep in focus that people are perishing
– The platform is only what we stand on so we can
present the good news to lost people
So let the meeting of needs and
everything we do be about lostness,
about evangelism, and not just
about improving the lot of those we
serve.
Conclusion
• Reflect and refocus on our responsibility
Reflect and Refocus #1
• We must unreservedly and unconditionally
live out the message, and nothing but the
message that the Lord of the Harvest has
entrusted to us.
Reflect and Refocus #2
• No “Zipporah,” virtual or real, denominational
or cultural, should ever have the last say in
how the message is lived and expressed. Only
the Lord of the Harvest should.
Reflect and Refocus #3
• Let us give ourselves no rest until personal
character issues are brought under the control
of the Holy Spirit.
Reflect #4
• Let us not lose sight of the true condition of
lostness.
What is God revealing to you?