Deliverance

 

 

                                                              

 Good morning!! Hope you are enjoying our beautiful early fall weather.  The message today is based on Chapter 4 of The Story.

Today we look at the story of the Exodus. Most of us are familiar with it. Moses goes down to Egypt to bring out the Israelites. Before that happens God sends plagues on Egypt to 'encourage' the Pharaoh to let the enslaved Israelites go....locusts, flies, frogs....other equally hideous things. This fall season seems to be a good time to talk about the plagues of Egypt what with the invasion of the very strange looking stink bugs (which I'm convinced crawled out of the pits of hell along with cockroaches and mosquitos) and those darn Canadian geese making such a ruckus on their flight down south. And how about those squirrels. They are absolutely manic about now. I seem to spend most of my time behind the wheel trying not to kill one of those varmints who seem set on jumping under my tires.  In fact, I almost flattened one this morning on my way to work.

Except......we are not going to be talking about those plagues at all today. Instead we will be looking a plague that many of us fight and that is lack of confidence in the gifts God has given us.  This plague causes spiritual paralysis and keeps us sitting on the sidelines instead of actively joining in the work of the Holy Spirit in the world.  The whole Exodus story almost didn't happen because the person God chose to lead the people out decided to focus on his weaknesses and not on God's own strength.

Just a little history first......The children of Israel weren't from a country called Israel. They were all descended from a man called Israel, who we also know as Jacob, son of Isaac who was the son of Abraham. I'm sure you remember that God made a promise to Abraham that from him God would build a great nation. So here they are. Abraham's descendants; a mighty nation, strong and powerful. Except........no......... they aren't......not even close. Instead they are in bondage. They have been living in Egypt for several hundred years and have been enslaved by the Egyptians. They are in misery, suffering, crying out to God for deliverance. Looks like God's promise has not come to pass. Could Abraham have been mistaken, after all?

Nope. Not at all. It is now time for action. We read that God speaks to Moses and asks him to speak to Pharaoh, to tell him to let the children of Israel go. "I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt. I have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters. Indeed, I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them from the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land.....so come, I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites out of Egypt." Exodus 3:7,8, 10.

I would like to tell you that Moses is thrilled and honored to be the one God was sending with such an awesome responsibility. Here's a big job to do and God goes looking for Moses,who is probably standing at that very moment knee deep in sheep dung. Right? It shouldn't be surprising. If you read through the Bible, you see that is how God calls people, right out of their ordinary, everyday lives.

But....that's not what happens. Too bad. There are a lot of people who desperately need help. While God has chosen Moses as the perfect person for the job, the perfect person replies, "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?" Exodus 3:11. Which is Bible speak for "Send someone else, I can't do it." Ouch..... Moses further elaborates in Ex 4:10, "O my Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor even now that you spoken to your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue."

It sounds as if Moses looks at what he perceives as his lack of abilities and totally ignores the fact that he is made in God's own image, and that he has all he needs to accomplish the formidable task that is set before him. There is not one of us here today reading this that can honestly judge Moses for refusing. Moses isn't a coward; he isn't disrespectful. He knows that this is a monumental job and he doesn't think he has the ability to save all these people. In his own misguided way, he is being honest with God.

The problem here isn't just Moses' lack of confidence in himself; he didn't listen carefully to God. Let's go back to God's call to Moses. "I have heard their cry.......and I have come down to deliver them from the Egyptians." God is going to deliver them. God. Almighty, everlasting, creator of all things. And here Moses is worrying because he is not eloquent and won't b able to get the job done.

So here we are today in 2014. Baptized, marked with the cross of Christ forever, sealed with the Holy Spirit. We've been set free from the bondage of sin and death by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We have been invited into relationship with the living God. Yet, how many times when we look in the mirror do we see the reflection of all we are not, instead of the reflection of all we are in Christ? Focusing on the negatives not only in our own characters, but in those around us and not the positives can certainly limit what we can accomplish in this life. Not only do we not value the gifts we've been given, we don't even take the time to find out what they are. Instead we lament the gifts we don’t have. 

The problem with thinking like this is that when we are challenged to do something out of our comfort zone, we ask God to send someone else, like Moses did. We have a much better example to follow. Jesus. He didn't ask God to send someone else. His humanity didn't stop him from doing the work set out before him. He had faith, like Abraham, that God was fully able to accomplish what God had promised. There are people all over the world who are crying out to God. People suffering, living in misery. Needing deliverance. And we are the ones being sent out to deliver them. That is, if we will move our feet and take the first step in faith.

God is working in this world through us. Us. Not aliens from outer space. Us. Humans. Full of weaknesses, yet full of strengths. We are called just as we are, all of us gifted in different ways. The challenge for us this week, which I pass on to you, is to trust that God sees in us the reflection of Jesus, bold and faithful. And that those traits that we hate in ourselves will be turned around so that they'll be a blessing to others.

Amen.