Facing the Adventure Part 2 @ WFMC

“Facing The Adventure: Facing Our Failures and Weaknesses”

Exodus 2:11-25; Acts 7:23-29

May 6, 2007

We began our adventure last week, looking at who we are. Our character is Moses, but we saw him raised as Egyptian royalty. Before we look next week at Moses and who he was meant to be, there is an important interlude. At first glance it looks like Moses heads out into the desert to run from some oppression, but then we see that it has more to do with Moses doing than first realized.

Facing our failures and weaknesses are sometimes the best things we can do for ourselves. It doesn’t mean we are a failure, because as one person said it, Failure is an event, not a person. But by facing the reality of our fallen life, we can become better a better person. I remember the first time the baseball ran through my legs, and now it doesn’t happen nearly as often. Why? Did I learn from my failure?

We have weaknesses too. Do you face your weaknesses? Guys, we like to fix things right? Fixing things is what we do. Ever fix something that didn’t need fixing? I have been married 25 years come this August, and one thing I learned my wife does not always want me to fix things. Sometimes just listening is the key. After 25 years, I only blow it half the time. I have a weakness.

We pick up the story of Moses. He had this same kind of weakness. So far we have seen that through a rescue the Israelites are in Egypt because of the famine. Since they settled there, it was now 350 years later when the oppression was so great, for the Israelites had become so populated. This is when Moses was born, and raised by Pharoah’s household. So we have an Israelite, being raised as an Egyptian royal subject. At some point where we do not know, Moses finds out about his being a Hebrew, and his heart begins to yearn for a better life for the Israelites. Hebrews 11:24 says, “By faith, Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharoah’s daughter. He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time. He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward.”

One writer ordered Moses’ life in three 40 year parts. The first 40 years he grew up, the second 40 years he wandered, and the third 40 years he obeyed.

When it happened we don’t know for sure, but Moses had a growing passion of love for the Israelites. There is reason to believe that God gave Moses a passion for the plight of the Israelites well before the burning bush experience 40 years later. His devout following of the Egyptian protocal had come to an end. It certainly had been noticed by Pharoah, and even though Moses was known as a son, authority was authority, and befriending the Israelites had to be greatly noticed by Pharoah by that time.

Today I want to talk to you about how Moses ended up in the land of the Midianites, away from pharaoh and Egypt, and in the middle of a barren empty space for 40 years.

Ever made plans and carried them out, and then in the middle you have this sinking feeling that your plans may not have been as carefully laid out as you thought? Let’s look into why we fall into our failures and weaknesses so easily.

Why we fall into our failures and weaknesses so easily:(Chuck Swindoll gives us some good thoughts to ponder regarding Moses life in his book entitled “Moses”)

Step 1 – The Self-Life follows their own inclinations and leadings, not God’s.

You see, we get caught up in what is called the self-life. We can call God’s will, we can call it whatever we want but it’s nothing but us making sense of life, no matter what God’s word says, or even what God is saying to us in a moment. What matters is what we think is best at the time. We make sense of life. That is a self-life.

Acts 7:23 – “But when Moses was forty years old, he decided to visit his fellow Israelites.”

Why is Moses going to his “fellow” Israelites? Something was churning in Moses. That’s when he saw the terrible episode of an Egyptian beating a Hebrew. So he took matters into his own hands. He saw the opportunity and took it. Landing now in Egypt was Superman Moses.

Exodus 2:12 – “Glancing this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.”

No where in the text of Hebrews, Acts, or Exodus does it say or even hint at God sending Moses to go and deliver the Israelites. You can’t find it.

Why do take matters into our own hands. We do that don’t we?

Step 2 – Even in their sincerity, the Self-Life reacts in the flesh.

You see, Moses knew the much of the will of God in his life. He already had a calling, or at the least a passion to do something for the Israelites. He had to be thinking, “Would someone around here do something?” We think the first moment Moses thought about himself being a solution to the problem came at the burning bush, but the text clearly states Moses’ passion for the plight of the Israelites.

Chuck Swindoll said this of Moses: “He dedicated himself to the will of God, but not to the God whose will it was.”

Did the cruel taskmaster who was beating the Hebrew need to be punished? Yes. Was it wrong to beat that Hebrew as he did? Certainly. But what Moses did was out of the flesh, not the Spirit.

Doing what we think is right does not mean that God is in it. And don’t think that you are beyond this. Here are some excuses:

“I am more mature than that” - Moses was 40 at the time this happened

“If I were brought up right it wouldn’t have happened” – Moses was skilled in the wisdom of the Egyptians. They had the best Ivy league schools. He was top of the class.

“If I had the right resources, it is amazing what I could do” – Moses had it all, even the clout to lead in amazing ways. He was possibly a general in the army.

“I know how to be successful, I can lead anywhere anytime” – Moses was powerful in speech and action.(Acts 7:22)

Moses was ready to have everyone fall into place. Get in line. I am your leader.

Here is a good way to know if you are a leader. Take a look behind you. Is anyone following you?

I love Henry Blackaby’s 4-fold system to knowing God’s will and timing if I might add that, for your life.

1) Prayer

2) The Bible

3) Church

4) Circumstances

Our sincerity is fine and great, infact it is a wonderful trait, but acting out in the flesh, under our own power and decision making is not of God.

q I remember when we were traveling across country in our old station wagon with us 6 kids and mom and dad on vacation. We’d stop for gas, and before we’d go, dad would take attendance. He’d call out our names and we’d respond. So when dad called out 4 year old Greg, someone called out “he’s here”. About 5 minutes reality gripped us, and we announced that Greg was not in the car. We got back at the station only to find Greg standing next to a state trouper.

Sometimes our flesh gets in the way of our love for one another. On one day it might be funny, but for the Moses, he had a dead man on his hands. He acted out of the flesh.

Step 3 – The Self Life thinks they are the one who will be the deliverer.

Oh, we won’t say that, but we think it. Some might not even think it, but they act it out.

You see, scriptures reveal “we plant and we water, but we do not make it grow.” Moses did not understand this truth yet. He really struggled with not controlling his destiny.

Acts 7:24-25 – “Moses saw one of them being mistreated by an Egyptian, so he went to his defense and avenged him by killing the Egyptian. Moses thought that his own people would realize that God was using him to rescue them, but they did not understand.”

And then the next day, after Moses saw 2 Hebrews fighting, it says,

Acts 7:27 – “But the man who was mistreating the other pushed Moses aside and said, ‘who made you ruler and judge over us?’”

Moses was making this huge mistake in thinking that he was the solution to the the problem of the Israelites bondage. It is in our self-life that we find ourselves constantly giving out orders that we believe will solve the next big problem. God does not need us to build his kingdom. God does not need our fix it solutions. God does not need us to give a million dollars to pay for buildings or even support missionaries. He calls us to simply obey him in the simple matters already laid out in his Word. It’s not about a new word. It says in John 1 that the Word became flesh. He is the one who makes all things grow. He need us to be faithful to his simple instructions. We are to plant the seeds and water the plant, but it is God who makes it grow. He is the deliverer. He is the solution. He is the answer.

We follow our own inclinations. We act in the flesh. And we then we stand with a big superman S on our chest declaring the deliverance. But then comes the ultimate teacher in life, when through all these things we face ultimate failure.

Step 4 – The Self-life results in failure.

Exodus 2:14 – “Then Moses was afraid and said, “surely the matter has become known.”

As the story goes, Moses ran, and ran, and ran until he could run no longer. But what’s so cool about God in our lives is how he meets us when we run. You see, in our failure and weaknesses, we find God the most. It’s as if true faith in God is best found in failure and weakness. Don’t worry. If you are in that place of ultimate failure, you are about to experience God is the most incredible way.

The Solution: The God-Life

When the self-life has run it’s course, we settle in a desert.

Moses ran from the problem and took time to gather himself. The desert was the place for Moses. What is your desert? Don’t leave that desert until you are ready. For Moses it took 40 years until God would call him again through the burning bush. But it doesn’t have to take that long. Do you know how long it takes before you get the “God-life”? When you give up the self-life. And God knows how long it will take for you. He knows what you will have to go through to get it right. He knows how long you will need.

You see, when the self-life finally sits down, the well of a new life lies near.

It says that after Moses wandered into the desert, he finally sat down next to a well. That was where Moses would find living water. When you sit down, give up, let go, and release whatever you think you have delivered, and the will of a new life will be right there.

How long will your desert walk need to be until you simply give up?

Is your self-life filled with you being the deliverer?

Are you following your own leadings, not Gods?

Are you doing things in the flesh?

Are you tired of failing?

Then just walk out into the desert and give up. For when you sit down and give it all to God, the well will be right there.