Which Way Is Up

The Lord has a simple plan for our lives

Maybe this has happened to you before

You know, you can’t really see very well underwater in a lake.

Maybe you were diving and you didn’t land well

Or maybe something happened, you ended up in the water unexpectedly

And you can’t see and your first instinct is, “I’ve got to get out of here.”

And your second thought is: “Which way is up?”

If you could bring yourself to relax you’d feel your body starting to float to the top

But it’s hard to relax in the middle of panic.

I suspect every one of us at some time or another has found ourselves in such a panic that we wonder

“Which way is up?”

“How do I get out of this mess?”

“Can I get out of this mess?”

Children, if you are using our worship guide, and I’d encourage you to get one of out the kids cart each Sunday

Your three words on the worship guide are Moses, Jesus and Egyptian.

What we want you to learn today is that the Lord has a very simple plan for your life.

Our scripture today is in Exodus.

Turn with me to Exodus 2:11-22.

Last week, Moses was born.

This week, probably about 40 years later, Moses is in a mess.

Hear the Word of the Lord from Exodus 2:11-22

Exodus 2:11–22 ESV

One day, when Moses had grown up, he went out to his people and looked on their burdens, and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his people. He looked this way and that, and seeing no one, he struck down the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. When he went out the next day, behold, two Hebrews were struggling together. And he said to the man in the wrong, “Why do you strike your companion?” He answered, “Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid, and thought, “Surely the thing is known.” When Pharaoh heard of it, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from Pharaoh and stayed in the land of Midian. And he sat down by a well. Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came and drew water and filled the troughs to water their father’s flock. The shepherds came and drove them away, but Moses stood up and saved them, and watered their flock. When they came home to their father Reuel, he said, “How is it that you have come home so soon today?” They said, “An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds and even drew water for us and watered the flock.” He said to his daughters, “Then where is he? Why have you left the man? Call him, that he may eat bread.” And Moses was content to dwell with the man, and he gave Moses his daughter Zipporah. She gave birth to a son, and he called his name Gershom, for he said, “I have been a sojourner in a foreign land.”

This is the Word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

Exodus 2:11 “One day, when Moses had grown up, he went out to his people and looked on their burdens, and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his people.”

Moses had been raised by his parents until he was probably 11 or 12 years old.

No one knows, but I suspect that when Moses reached the age that the Egyptians expected him to go to work is when he went to Pharaoh’s residence.

He would have been trained how to be Egyptian.

He would have learned about the Egyptian gods

And how to dress like an Egyptian

How to act and rule like a royal Egyptian.

At some point, someone decided Moses had had enough training and most certainly was given a job.

The text says he was “grown up” - not just age wise or size wise, but grown up in wisdom and discernment and mental ability.

Moses saw an Egyptian foreman beating a Hebrew slave.

Now notice how the story is told.

He went out “to his people.”

He saw the foreman beating “one of this people.”

Moses may have been wearing an Egyptian costume, but his heart was Hebrew.

These were his people, and this wasn’t right.

Somebody needed to do something.

Remember that for later - somebody needed to do something.

Exodus 2:12 “He looked this way and that, and seeing no one, he struck down the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.”

Again, do you hear how the story is told?

“He looked this way and that...”

Moses, with malice aforethought, isn’t that a legal way of saying premeditation.

Moses set out with intent to kill this guy and then “bury him in a shallow grave.”

Listen, Moses knew what he was doing was wrong.

No, there were no Ten Commandments yet, no “Thou shalt not murder.”

But we know that since God created us

He is the moral law giver.

He impressed the moral law on everyone’s heart.

Moses knew.

If Moses didn’t know better, why did he sneak around?

He looked this way and that… [he] hid him in the sand.

Just a bonus lesson for us here - if we are busy looking this way and that before we do something

Maybe that’s God’s sign to us that we shouldn’t be doing that thing.

Moses wasn’t sneaking out of the house at night

Or dating the gal your parents hate

Or cheating just a smidge on your taxes

But it all falls under the same warning sign

If you’ve got to look this way or that and then hide the evidence, chances are Jesus didn’t lead you there.

So the next day Moses goes back out feeling pretty good that he had helped his people just a little bit.

He sees a couple of Hebrew men fighting and he confronts them: “Why are you fighting.”

Exodus 2:14 “He answered, “Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid, and thought, “Surely the thing is known.””

Here’s the “Which Way is Up” moment.

Now think about this with me - Moses is no longer Egyptian - he betrayed that.

Moses was Egyptian nobility and he just killed one of his foremen for oppressing an enemy of the state.

Moses just commited treason.

But when he goes to his people, they reject him too.

At least one of his people saw him kill the guy and now everyone knows.

Including Pharaoh.

Exodus 2:15 “When Pharaoh heard of it, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from Pharaoh and stayed in the land of Midian. And he sat down by a well.”

It’s just over 300 miles from Rameses in Egypt to Mt. Sinai.

A man who was hoofing it could probably travel at least 15 miles a day.

Moses walked and talked to himself for at least 20 days.

Looking over his shoulder - wondering what in the world was going on in his life.

Look at the last sentence in verse 15 - “And he sat down by a well.”

Lots of practicalities there - he’s going to get water there - there wasn’t a rest stop with a well every other exit on highway he was on.

He’s going to meet people there - that’s important since he will need a way to make a living.

But I hear something else.

Back in verse 14, we hear Exodus 2:14 “Then Moses was afraid, and thought...”

That word thought literally means, “He said to himself.”

Let me tell you a little story.

It was Spring of 1987.

I was beginning my final year of seminary.

I should have been graduating that spring - but with my Hebrew class fiasco

And my cutting back on class hours so I could work more - well, I got behind.

It was a beautiful day.

The campus of the Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary is most beautiful - the most beautiful of all of the seminaries.

There was a very large Magnolia tree.

I sat on the ground and leaned up against the tree and sat my JanSport book bag beside me.

And I sat there.

I watched the students going from class to class.

I watched the grounds crew working

And professors coming and going

And I said to myself, “What kind of loser are you?”

“31 years old still going to school, working two part-time jobs loading and unloading trucks.”

“You were going to be a doctor - a missionary - everybody said you’d be something.”

“And yet here you are, a 31 year old school boy.

“What kind of loser are you?”

Have you been there?

Maybe it was the failed job, the failed marriage

The fight with the family

It could be any of a myriad number of things that made you sit by the well and wonder.

“How did I get here?

“Where do I go from here?

“Which way is up?”

As you saw from the map, Midian is a little bit to the side of where Moses is.

But the Midianites were a bit nomadic and they would have wandered all around the gulf of Aquaba.

On this particular day, they were near this well in southern Sinai.

While Moses was wistfully reviewing his life, a group of young ladies came to fill up the water troughs to give their sheep and goats some water.

Now, please indulge my inner nerd for a moment.

The word translated seven can mean two things.

It can mean literally seven as it is translated here.

But it is also a phrase that the Hebrews used to say, “a bunch of”

Or, as a good southern boy might say, “That man had a slew of baby girls.”

I like the southern translation best.

One other thing to notice in verse 16 - “Now the priest of Midian...”

I’m not going to take you through all of the historical things here - as exciting to me as they are.

But, this man is identified as “Reuel” in verse 18 - “Reuel” means “Friend of God.”

Later he will be called Jethro - which can mean Jethro - or it can also be a title - “Your excellency.”

It would be like calling a Pastor a Reverend.

Jethro as he is more commonly called is a descendant of Abraham - only on the wrong side of the family tree.

So he knows of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob - but not nearly like he is going to find out later.

Do you reckon this is a coincidence?

That Moses flees for his life.

He ends up pining away about the uselessness of his life by a well

That it just so happens a priest with a slew of daughters sends them to that well to water the animals?

Yeah, this is all providential - so hold on to that thought too.

Here’s how the story plays out.

Moses is pining and the girls are pulling water out of the well.

Once they got the troughs filled, the neighborhood bullies came, ran them off and then watered their own flocks with the water the girls had drawn from the well.

Moses once again bristled at the injustice and doing his best Iron Man imitation, whipped all of the bullies.

He refilled the water troughs and then got the slew of girls to come over and finish watering their flocks.

One thing leads to another.

He finally gets introduced to Jethro Reuel.

After a little time, Jethro offers Moses a job, and having no better prospects, he accepts.

Obviously over time Jethro really likes the boy - Moses marries Jethro’s little bird - that’s what Zipporah means

Moses has a baby he names “Sojourner” because, as far as Moses is concerned, that’s the story of his life.

Just a wanderer - He has no home.

And Moses settles in to live happily ever after

Having failed as a royal Egyptian

And having failed as a Hebrew deliverer.

He figured he’d just make the best of tending sheep for the rest of his life.

So, you may remember that twice I’ve said, hold that till later - here’s later.

Thought number one: Moses thought “Somebody’s got to do something and I’ve got to be that somebody.”

We aren’t called to do all good things - only the good things the Lord calls us to do

Moses got ahead of his skis.

Moses had a compassionate heart.

He loved his people.

He knew someone needed to do something.

But no where do we see Moses talking to the Lord about it.

What we do see is Moses doing something he absolutely knows is wrong

Thinking - just like we do sometimes - that this time I can do it and it will turn out ok.

And it never does.

It might stay hidden for a moment - but what are those verses?

Luke 12:2–3 ESV

Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. Therefore whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in private rooms shall be proclaimed on the housetops.

Moses gets ahead of the process

He jumps on a very good thing to do - deliver his people from oppression.

That’s a giant - worthy goal.

But he did it without prayer or thinking.

One of the things we are working on here - you’ve heard us lately saying “Make Jesus Known.”

That’s what we are about.

We’ve done lots of good things and in those good things we’ve talked about Jesus.

But we’ve started with good things.

We want to back up.

Start with Jesus.

We want to make Jesus known where we live.

Now, how do we best do that?

And there are a lot of good things we can do but we aren’t called to do all of the good things.

The Lord has good things He has planned for us, specifically, to do.

I believe Ephesians 2:10 is literally true.

Ephesians 2:10 ESV

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Works God prepared beforehand - planned out for us to do.

Which means instead of hurtling head first into everything - we stop and pray and seek to find out if this is the Lord’s thing.

Which brings us to the “hold this thought number two.”

We asked if Moses sitting by that well on that day at that time was providential.

And the answer is absolutely yes.

And if that is the case:

You never have a right to call yourself a failure

If the Lord has good works prepared for us to do since the beginning of time

We’re going to do them, right?

So your failure is actually preparation for your success.

I’ve talked with several people about this lately.

If I could go back and change anything in my life - I wouldn’t change a thing.

Yes, there are things I wish I had never done

Things that I am sorry for and will still pick up guilt for sometimes.

But everything in my past was redeemed by the blood of Jesus.

When I was saved, when Jesus rescued me from myself

My past was redeemed too - I was born again.

And everything I’ve ever done was re-purposed so I could be useful for Jesus.

Does that mean Jesus led me to be sinful.

Absolutely not.

It means Jesus knew that I was sinful and He never stopped me from being sinful.

The Holy Spirit warned me.

I just did it anyway.

And suffered the consequences.

And now that I can look back and see the Lord’s will working in my life

I can see how all of those things have added up

How the Lord has used all of the good, bad and ugly of my life to bring me to this moment in time

That I can stand as an ambassador to Christ and tell you that you have no right to call yourself a failure.

If you are a Jesus follower, you are being trained - and sometimes training hurts.

Don’t you remember what we studied in 1st Corinthians?

After reciting this long list of sins of people who will not “inherit the kingdom of God.”

Paul says, 1 Corinthians 6:11

1 Corinthians 6:11 ESV

And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

You were that kind of sinner.

But you were saved and baptized.

Then you were sanctified - you were taught - you were grown.

The Holy Spirit has worked in your life to make you more like Jesus.

So we would know the good work that was ours

And we would do it when the time was right.

Jesus really does have a simple plan for our lives

Follow Him to the best of our ability.

Enjoy the Lord

Love the Lord.

Trust the Lord to do what He says He will do.

Obey His will, commands and laws to the best of our ability.

And Jesus really will take care of the rest.

Let me invite you today to join us on this journey.

We are Christ followers at First Baptist

We know what we are - we know we do things wrong

But so does everyone.

The difference for us is, our leader Jesus uses our wrong to teach us what is right.

So we can make a difference in this world for Jesus.

And we want you to join us.

Jesus will remove your guilt and shame.

And when you do like me and pick it up again sometimes, He’ll remind you it’s not yours to bear.

Jesus took my guilt and shame.

He’ll take yours too.

Won’t you talk to someone about Jesus?

In a moment we’ll pray and sing.

You can come down and talk to me then

Or grab me, Matthew, Austin, anyone after the service

And we’ll tell you how to start following Jesus.

Today can be your very best day.

Let us pray.