Don't Beat Around the Bush

Introduction

The title of this morning’s message is “Don’t beat around the bush.” There is a saying we all note in the business world, “time is money, get to the point.” In life, time is mission. Every moment we waste, we are missing the mission the Lord has for us. As I think about a theme this morning of not beating around the bush. And, obviously realize that I am speaking of the fact we will read that Moses beats around the burning bush discussion with God. He hems and haws and just makes excuses.

We do not want to beat around the bush this morning. I am speaking this morning to the fact that God wants to use you and to use me to do His work here on earth. Every moment we delay we are missing the blessing of seeing God at work in your life and the life of others. Amen. We have much to offer for His use if we will only offer ourselves us to Him and quit beating around the bush to allow His purpose for our lives.

Let’s not beat around the bush. Let’s go to the end of the story of the Exodus. Did God’s people make it into the Promised land, yes. But, did Moses make it into the Promised land? No.

You would say there were many other events and actions that caused God in His sovereignty not to allow Moses into the Promised land and I would agree. But, I note today there is no profit, there is no gain in telling God “no”. Beating around the bush equates to lost blessings in Christ. Let’s read Exodus 4:1-17.

Exodus 4:1-17

Exodus 4:1–17 NKJV

1 Then Moses answered and said, “But suppose they will not believe me or listen to my voice; suppose they say, ‘The Lord has not appeared to you.’ ” 2 So the Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?” He said, “A rod.” 3 And He said, “Cast it on the ground.” So he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from it. 4 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Reach out your hand and take it by the tail” (and he reached out his hand and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand), 5 “that they may believe that the Lord God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.” 6 Furthermore the Lord said to him, “Now put your hand in your bosom.” And he put his hand in his bosom, and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous, like snow. 7 And He said, “Put your hand in your bosom again.” So he put his hand in his bosom again, and drew it out of his bosom, and behold, it was restored like his other flesh. 8 “Then it will be, if they do not believe you, nor heed the message of the first sign, that they may believe the message of the latter sign. 9 And it shall be, if they do not believe even these two signs, or listen to your voice, that you shall take water from the river and pour it on the dry land. The water which you take from the river will become blood on the dry land.” 10 Then Moses said to the Lord, “O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before nor since You have spoken to Your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.” 11 So the Lord said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing, or the blind? Have not I, the Lord? 12 Now therefore, go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say.” 13 But he said, “O my Lord, please send by the hand of whomever else You may send.” 14 So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses, and He said: “Is not Aaron the Levite your brother? I know that he can speak well. And look, he is also coming out to meet you. When he sees you, he will be glad in his heart. 15 Now you shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth. And I will be with your mouth and with his mouth, and I will teach you what you shall do. 16 So he shall be your spokesman to the people. And he himself shall be as a mouth for you, and you shall be to him as God. 17 And you shall take this rod in your hand, with which you shall do the signs.”

Prayer

Message

By this point and time we see that Moses had become too relaxed with the Lord in his time at the burning bush scene. Moses had entered the very presence of God and by this point in time He has become too comfortable with his surroundings. He is literally beating around the burning bush encounter with God Himself.

Realize something important, we are no different in how we come across to God when we procrastinate, come up with excuses, or out and out say no to God. It angers God. We will discover that today in the text. God wants us to follow His will for our lives.

You may be in a raging battle right now with God as to what he wants you to do in your life. It may relate to something He wants you to do on mission for Him. It could be that He wants you to take action in a relationship that is not what it should be. He may be asking you to work toward overcoming a demand on your life that is a deterrent to your life in Christ. Maybe there is sin problem you have not repented of and its chronic in nature. The sin is the hold back to being all you can be in Christ Jesus.

Now, I do not know about you, but I do not want to see what “angering” God looks like, do you? Let’s continue.

Moses first excuse was in Exodus 3:11 “11 But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?””

Lord-I'm a nobody.

Exodus 3:13-14 “13 Then Moses said to God, “Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to them?” 14 And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ ””

The Lord will not call us to task that He doesn’t offer us the resources to complete the task at hand. Furthermore, He promises when we trust Him and obey His call that He will be with us and help us carry through the assignment He has called us to task to.

As we study this text this morning, God is calling Moses to operate outside his wheelhouse, or at least Moses thought. Maybe this morning, God is literally calling you, calling this church to get out of its wheelhouse, trusting in faith, and asking us to walk trusting Him.

Moses had natural fear and apprehension to what God called Moses to do. And, usually for good reason. God normally asks us to do things that are beyond our scope of thinking. Attempting to accomplish what He asks without Him is hopeless. Dearly beloved, listen closely, God is the cog, He is the synergy of any equation you are encountering in this life. Amen.

1. Apprehensiveness to God’s Orders

Exodus 4:1 “1 Then Moses answered and said, “But suppose they will not believe me or listen to my voice; suppose they say, ‘The Lord has not appeared to you.’ ””

Moses lacked certainty that the Egyptians would listen to Him. Suppose they say, “the Lord has not appeared to you.” These thoughts were real in Moses’ mind. They were valid fears. In intellectual, in human terms, this were real and valid fears.

Moses was not necessarily doubting God, He was doubting how the Egyptians would react. Is that not in essence doubting God? Why is that? We place limitations on God’s ability to intervene in life circumstances. The Lord chose two Hebrew terms that seals our understanding of God’s engagement when we are apprehensive to trust His ability to help see us through in what He wants to do in us and through us.

Suppose-hypothetical participle-let’s pretend type of statement.

Similar to “if so and so happens.” Do you know I am amazed at how many things we worry about that never come to past. But, I think in this case the chance that the things Moses were worried about are answered in the second Hebrew word.

Moses used the word believe that the Egyptians in an intellectual sense would not have buy in to his story. He did not incorporate the Hebrew meaning of belief in its full capacity. God’s ways are higher than man’s ways. God has the ability to influence the outcome in one’s thinking.

Believe-אָמַן ʼâman, aw-man'; properly, to build up or support; to foster as a parent or nurse; figuratively to render (or be) firm or faithful, to trust or believe, to be permanent or quiet; morally to be true or certain;:—hence, assurance, believe, bring up, establish, fail, be faithful (of long continuance, stedfast, sure, surely, trusty, verified), nurse, (-ing father), (put), trust, turn to the right.

God providentially by His divine will would set the stage for what was to happen as Moses did those things He asked Him to do. What am I saying? When God calls you to task and in your humility and understanding of your limitations, God is working behind the scenes to see you through due to the fact you trusted Him and stepped out in faith.

Ill. This summer I will celebrate my 8th anniversary as pastor. I have sat around many conversations of our people’s apprehensions or insecurities to serve in certain capacities in the church.

For those of you that missed our Wednesday night service, you missed a real treat, a very intimate Holy Spirit filled time in the Lord. I heard from no less than six people that said the service was amazing to watch God move in that service. I sincerely believe there was 100% participation at some level within that service. People lead a song and in some cases they almost sung solos because we would not know all the words to the song. Others prayed eloquently that usually do not pray. Others quoted a verse. It was amazing and some of the same people that responded were the same people that stated they would not sing a solo or pray out loud or speak in worship. God intervened on last Wednesday night and caused numerous to believe that He was with them and God through them brought something angelic to the table. Amen?

2. Answers to your Objections

Well, what is interesting is that the Lord is always miles ahead of us in knowing our weaknesses, our objections and insecurities. He already knew that Moses would offer up objections and He already had answers to how He would meet those objections.

Firstly, He asked Moses, “what’s in your hand?” Moses was holding a shepherd’s staff or rod in his hand. The Lord turned the shepherd’s staff into a snake and then Moses would reach down in faith and grab the snake by the tail. Grabbing a snake by the tail is a no-no. And in faith, Moses did as God requested and the staff turned the snake turned back into his staff. Moses witnessed what we call transformation.

In the past, Moses in his first forty years of life was holding a Prince’s scepter, a rod of authority, a rod of respect for his position. All he had at that moment was his shepherd’s rod. Why is that important? The shepherd’s staff represented everything about Moses. It represented his identity. The staff represented all that he possessed which was not much since the sheep were his father-in-law’s. The rod represented his livelihood, his skill set, his protection and the list goes on.

This day, if you and I were touring Israel and we saw a man with a shepherd’s staff, that visual depiction would tell us a great deal about that man. The shepherd’s rod represented everything about Moses when God asked him what he had in his hand.

Exodus 4:20 “20 Then Moses took his wife and his sons and set them on a donkey, and he returned to the land of Egypt. And Moses took the rod of God in his hand.”

You have all you need right this moment to serve God in the way that He wants you to. Yo have all that God wants you to have right now to accomplish His will for your life. He wants you to take what you have, offer it to Him and watch Him transform situations, circumstances and relationships all around you that He has called you to trust Him in empowering you to be an agent of change. What excuses have you offered up to God as to why you will not trust Him today?

If you will trust Him, He will reveal His transforming power in the lives of others He calls you to minister to. The snake was something that Moses could witness. The rod transformation into a snake was a visual, external transformation that Moses could witness. If you will trust God, He wants you to see firsthand His transforming power as He brings about change in your life.

Secondly, God called Moses to place His hand inside his garment at the place of his heart and pull his hand back out. The hand was leprous. Then the Lord asked Moses to put His hand back inside his garment and pull it out a second time and his hand was totally cleared, healed, and it appeared in its original state.

What was God communicating to Moses and what is He communicating to us today? Not only will I bring transformation in the externals that you can see when you trust me, but I will bring about heart change, I will bring about transformation internally in people’s soul if you will trust me. If you trust me and you give a relative, a spouse, a friend, a coworker over to me and you trust my guidance in the situation, you do the things I ask, then you will see real heart change both in you and the other person.

IN verse 14, the Scriptures state that God’s anger was kindled against Moses” for this continuation of lack of trust in God. I can’t speak for you but I do not want to know what God’s anger toward me looks like, do you? But there was a third sign God offered up if Egypt does not respond to the first two signs.

Read with me:

Exodus 4:9 “9 And it shall be, if they do not believe even these two signs, or listen to your voice, that you shall take water from the river and pour it on the dry land. The water which you take from the river will become blood on the dry land.””

Listen dearly beloved, the third sign is a dark sign. The third sign is when we do not trust God and do those things He tells us that there are consequences for our actions. The third sign is a sign of judgment. When the people do not heed Moses’ words and do not respond to the signs, judgment, death will come. Oh listen to me dearly beloved, do you want the blood, the death of another on your conscience?

Ill. Murdaugh trial-Alex Murdaugh was found guilty of the death of wife Maggie and son, Paul. Double life sentence.

Oh listen dearly beloved, God offers answers to our objections when we are fearful. If we will trust Him He will reveal external transformation in the life of others that we can eye witness to reveal the power of God at work. Moreover, we will see real heart change in both ourselves and the lives of others as God does only what He can accomplish through us if we will listen and do as He would have us to.

3. Allies in fulfilling God’s Objectives in your life

I would love to say that Moses stopped with the excuses at this point, but He did not. He then shared specifically about his lack of ability to communicate.

Exodus 4:10 “10 Then Moses said to the Lord, “O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before nor since You have spoken to Your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.””

I will remind you that in Acts listen to what the Word reads:

Credentials

Acts 7:22 “22 And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and deeds.”

Those forty years had passed since he lived in Egypt. He had forgotten how well he could speak and how learned he was. The reason, he lost his:

Confidence

1 Corinthians 2:1-4 “1 And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. 2 For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. 3 I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. 4 And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,”

Exodus 4:11 “11 So the Lord said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing, or the blind? Have not I, the Lord?”

This morning as you sit under my voice, you have a skill set, a gift, a talent that God recognizes, but you do not. It has been so long subdued that you have forgotten that you even have the gift or ability. And because you have forgotten it from your past, you have lost your confidence in using it. Offer yourself up to the Lord and see how He will hone that skill and use it for His glory.

May I say to you this morning that I wish I had the mercy and grace for others that the Lord does. The Scripture revealed in verse 14 that the Lord angered over Moses’ excuses and His rejection of God. Rejection of God---that is strong words. It sure is. When we do not answer the call, the opposite of answering is rejection.

Exodus 4:13 “13 But he said, “O my Lord, please send by the hand of whomever else You may send.””

Oh dearly beloved, listen to me this morning. Rejection of God comes with consequences. God was merciful and patient and God offered up Aaron to provide assistance and as we discussed last week, that is yet another reason God gave us His church. We are allies together to uphold each other and lift each other up. Moses was given Aaron and we are given God’s church here at Mt Zion.

Exodus 4:16-17 “16 So he shall be your spokesman to the people. And he himself shall be as a mouth for you, and you shall be to him as God. 17 And you shall take this rod in your hand, with which you shall do the signs.””

Dearly beloved, in closing, it is natural to offer apprehensiveness to God. But understand one thing, God has the answers to every objection you have. He wants you to see both His transforming power working in you and through you in the lives of others externally, but more importantly, He wants you to see heart change in you and the lives of others you touch. When we choose not to, judgment is the ultimate price for our excuses. People who God had in the plans for us to minister to are left by the waste side and their souls, their blood could be on our hands.

Trust Him and note that He does provide us allies to serve along with Him. You have within you right now all that God needs to make a difference in you and through you. Let’s pray.