“Facing the Adventure: Facing who we are” @ WFMC

“Facing the Adventure: Facing who we are”

Exodus 2:1-10; Hebrews 11:24-26; Acts 7:20-39

April 29, 2007

God’s Perfect Will vs. God’s Permissive Will

(God’s perfectness vs. our imperfectness)

Goal of Message: To help the people understand and act upon who God has made them to be within the context God chose to have them born and raised and to embrace the kingdom influence God has given them.

Over the next few weeks, we are going to look at life as an adventure. Moses’ life was actually a lot different than most people realize. When we look Charleston Heston, we get one view of a great man of faith, and it’s not off the mark very far, but what we don’t realize is that there is more to the story, if we understand some things about Egypt and Israel that are not exactly in the passage we know as Exodus.

Why did you end up in the place you are today? Why did you get born into the family you are in today? How did you end up in Westland, Michigan, the US of A, rather than in another place? What kind of Basket did you get put in?

West Virginia folklore carries a tale about a couple who called for a doctor late one night as the wife was ready to deliver a baby. The country physician turned the rustic farmhouse into a makeshift delivery room. The husband was handed a lantern and instructed to hold it up so the doctor could see. After a healthy boy was born the man lowered the lantern. The doctor shouted for this new father to get the lantern up as he delivered another baby – this time a girl. The father was thrown into shock when the doctor once again insisted that the light be held up. He said “we can’t stop now, it looks like there’s another one.” The shaky father then asked the doctor, “do you think it’s the light that’s attracting them?”

Whatever situation you were born into, you can be confident that God almighty has perfect intentions for your life.

When we look at the history of Israel and how the Messiah came from the line of David, we find so many faithful patriarchs who were led by God and took their place in the long line faithfulness. You are in that line. Although not Jewish in descent maybe, Christ brought the promise of salvation through the Jews for all mankind. Moses is one of those patriarchs who was led by the spirit. But before we talk about Moses let’s get the picture straight about how all this came about.

We find Jacob and his sons in quite a plight in Israel when they went through the severe famine. You might remember that in their sin, Jacob’s sons were jealous of Joseph, a younger half brother who was favored to serve the Lord uniquely. So the sold Joseph into slavery. It was when Joseph was in slavery in Egypt that God used Joseph to save the lives of thousands in preparation of the upcoming famine. It was Joseph who saved his family, including the betraying brothers, from the famine. Jacob and his other sons were invited to find refuge in Egypt where there was plenty of food to survive the 7 year famine. The reason I tell you this, is that this is where the Israelites lived for several centuries. This immigration took place probably about 350 years before the birth of Moses. This is where they found refuge, and yet in time the Egyptian leaders found that the Hebrews were multiplying too fast and they were worried about control of their country and culture. So they began to oppress the Israelites, put them into slave labor, and treated them with contempt.

This is the setting in which we find Moses. Our text reveals that Moses was born into Pharoah’s Egyptian court, and raised in that setting. Acts 7:22 says, that Moses “learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians”. If you watched any of the renditions of Moses life, you have seen the incredible time of history this was for the church. You see, we might know about Moses, but what kind of life did he grow up in. There isn’t agreement on whether Moses knew he was a Hebrew Jew as he grew up in the Pharoah household. It was even possible that through some means he might one day rule over Egypt. What kind of basket did Moses find himself.

Sometimes I wonder if we really know what moses gave up to be who he was meant to be. That’s next week’s message. But for now, let’s really visit Pharoah’s court and wonder just how good Moses had it. There is no doubt in my mind Moses grew up with Pharoah’s son as a sibling. What did they do? What life did they live. Watch this short episode and get a taste of Moses rich, top of the heap life in an overly abundant culture.

Movie clip - Moses

Who was Moses and what kind of life did he have to face:

Moses was no ordinary child.

Acts 7:20 “No Ordinary Child”

Exodus 2:2 “she saw that he was a fine child”

What was it about Moses that made his mother and father look upon this 3^rd born child as different. Isn’t it true that the Holy Spirit is always speaking, always influencing, always directing the heart of man. What an amazing truth we see here about even an infant. He wasn’t the Messiah. There were no dreams or visions that we know of. Yet, these parents following the impressions of the Holy Spirit, saved this child. You see Pharoah was so concerned that the Israelites were so numerous that he ordered all the infants among the Hebrews killed at birth.

How are you set apart as no ordinary child? All parents think their child is better than ordinary. So this is extraordinary. So extraordinary that the parent’s risked their life to save their son.

Moses’ beginning was risky.

Hebrews 11:23 says Moses parents “were not afraid of the king’s edict.”

It says that Moses’ mother placed him in a basket among reeds of the Nile near where Pharoah’s wife went to bathe. What circumstance are you in that is the result of other’s actions?

Moses’ upbringing was dysfunctional at best.

Acts 7:21 – “Pharoah’s daughter took Moses and brought him up as her own son. Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action.”

Moses was named by Pharoah’s wife. What name did he have from his biological parents? What is Moses to do about this in time. She called him Moses “for,” she said, “out of the water have I drawn him” . The name “Moses” was actually appropriate in both the Hebrew and Egyptian languages. To the Hebrews, it was understood as a play on a term meaning “to draw out.” To the Egyptians, “Moses” suggested the common meaning as “child” or “son.”

Here we have a name of Moses, the drawn out one. It really is God’s way to present prophecy on the lips of a secular life, when in fact Moses would later be the one who God used to launch the Israelites into their freedom.

Keil and Delitzsch say it this way: “thus the wisdom of Egypt was employed by the wisdom of God for the establishment of the kingdom of God.”

Moses was taught in the ways of the enemy.

Acts 7:22 “Educated as an Eyptian”

Remember that the Egyptians in time treated the Hebrews as slaves. They punished them, whipped them, killed them, kept them from the priveliges of life. In one way, Moses could continue to be a slave to a culture unlike his own, or become a slave of the very culture he not only participated in and accepted, but promoted. Slavery of many kind’s. That’s another message we will look at later.

It is possible that for a time, Moses did not know his roots. We see in Acts 7:22 Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action.”

Then in Hebrews 11:24 it says, “Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharoah’s daughter. He chose to be mistreated among with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time.”

So it is possible that Moses did not know his Hebrew roots. Sometimes, God has a way of putting us in another place in another time for a reason. We still wonder why the great linebacker Tillman left the NFL to serve his country, and why all the details of his death as a soldier was covered up.

Moses became quite an influence in Egypt.

Acts 7:22 “Powerful in speech and action”

We can assume that in the Pharoah’s court Moses was exposed day and night to a litany of complaints about the enslaved Israelites. He heard that they were no good, they were different, they were not the same race as the Egyptians-probably not even really human—and their lives were cheap and expendable.

It seems reasonable that for time Moses may not have cared, He was Egyptian. There is a tradition recorded by Josephus that Moses took a lead in the war which was then waged between Egypt and Ethiopia, in which he gained renown as a skillful general, and became “mighty in deeds” (Acts 7:22).

Moses had nothing to gain and everything to lose by embracing his roots as a Hebrew. What’s right does not always promise good fortune in this life, except that God promises his presence and provision through it all.

There is also reason to believe that in time, Moses knew of his roots, and the n change began to happen inside his heart. One commentary put it this way;

“Beneath the smooth current of his life hitherto, a life of alternate luxury at the court and comparative hardness in the camp and in the discharge of his military duties, there had lurked from childhood to youth, and from youth to manhood, a secret discontent, perhaps a secret ambition. Moses, amid all his Egyptian surroundings, had never forgotten, had never wished to forget, that he was a Hebrew.”

And now I wonder about you? What kind of basket did you get put in? We all live in a world that is imperfect. Whether we have it all, yet have nothing, or have nothing, yet have it all, God says that we are where we are for a purpose. You have your physique on purpose, you have your demeanor on purpose, although it is imperfect in development. How many times do we find ourselves questioning our past, present or future? God has wonderful reasons for setting you in the very place you find yourself. The sin of others has affected you, not to mention your own, but in it all, God has in mind to change the world through the very place you find yourself today.

4 Ways to seek peace about where you are:

Recognize God’s providence in your life

+ I was invited on a canoe trip in the summer of my sophomore year of college. I had worked at Sky Lodge Camp that summer and the director got a two day trip together for some whitewater canoeing. It didn’t seem to difficult to recognize God in this situation.

Accept God’s providence in your life.

There were 4 of us. My partner, a HS junior. Little experience, and a fully loaded canoe with gear to camp out that night half way. I didn’t know if we were ready to face the challenge of the rapids with such a load. Sometimes we just need to face the providence of what God has given us.

Ask God to use your place in life for his glory.

We had gone through some pretty rough waters the first day. But there was this ongoing discussion of Beaver dam. On our second day, we faced a rapids where the water dropped 7 feet within 20 feet of the river. We did our best as we dumped our canoe in the middle of those rapids. As soon as you ask God to use your life for his glory he will. Oh, we were having fun, but think about your life for a moment, Just about the time you think you are having fun, life turns you upside down.

That’s why we need to Seek and use God’s unique imprint on your life.

At the end of the day, we were glad to see our final destination. You see, God chose to give us unique imprint ending to our 2 day trip. Whhat they failed to tell us was that the huge dam below us was being let out for repairs, and the upper river was going to be largely emptied. By the time we got to our contact, the river was so low, we were a good 50 yards walk through knee dee mud portaging out canoe.

You know, whatever Moses had to face, it was a challenge. And when you are willing to face the challenge, don’t be surprised at what it will cost and God sets up for the ride of your life.