Out of Despair and Into Celebration
Notes
Transcript
p / George Danzig
In 1939 George Danzig got to class late
On the board were two math problems, and he assumed they were a homework assignment
He solved them, and turned them in a few days later—believing he was turning in his assignment late also
The day he’d come to class late and copied the problems from the board, he’d assumed they were homework. In fact, his professor had put them up on the board as two of the most famous examples of unsolvable problems in statistics
Six weeks later his professor, Jerzy Nehman, called him in and told him he’d prepared one of his solutions for submission in a mathematical journal
He went on to get a doctorate in Math from Berkley and spent much of his career teaching in Stanford
/ Sometimes in life we learn that the impossible isn’t impossible at all. And for those of us with faith in a God who makes himself known in history, who has a special interest in those who love him, sometimes the impossible turns out not to be impossible at all.
/ As the angel Gabriel tells Mary:
For nothing will be impossible with God.”
/ Today’s text describes the Israelites at the edge of the Sea. Pharaoh and his army are pursuing them. And it seems, quite literally, that there’s no place to go. It seems the Israelites have reached the end
The end is not the end
The end is not the end
*Impossibility* : The Israelites face an impossible situation—the sea ahead, the empire behind. The end has surely come.
As Pharaoh drew near, the Israelites looked back, and there were the Egyptians advancing on them. In great fear the Israelites cried out to the Lord.
Sometimes we think there’s no way out and the Lord makes a way
If you want a wonderful experience, take your New Testament and use a concordance to look up the two little words, "but God." See how many times human resources have been brought to an utter end; despair has gripped the heart and pessimism and gloom has settled upon a people; and there is nothing that can be done. Then see how the Spirit of God writes in luminous letters, "But God," and the whole situation changes into victory.
Source: Ray C. Stedman, Man of Faith. Christianity Today, Vol. 30, no. 5.
/ This is what happens at the edge of the Sea. There seems to be no way and God makes a way.
p / This seems to the be case with Abraham and Sarah—they can’t possibly have a child, but they do!
p / This seems to be the case with Joseph: Sold into slavery by his brothers, falsely accused of sexual assault, jailed and forgotten. His story can’t possibly have a happy ending—but it does! He becomes second in command of all Egypt, and gets a chance to show kindness to those who showed no kindness to him
Sometimes we think there’s no way out and the Lord makes a way
++Sometimes we reach the end and realize that what we think is the end isn’t really the end at all
/ This is exactly what happen on Good Friday when Jesus is crucified and his body is taken down from the cross and placed in the tomb. It looks like it’s all over. No one can imagine any way forward. Death is the end and it looks like death has had the last word. But what looks like the end really isn’t the end at all.
p / Image of the empty tomb
p / This is exactly what happens when Stephen, the first Christian to give his life for the faith, dies. For those who wonder if death is the end, let this account of Stephen sink in. The end really isn’t the end!
But filled with the Holy Spirit, he gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.
“Look,” he said, “I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!”
p / Image of the Israelites at the shore of the Red Sea
The end is not the end
The end is not the end
/ It’s quite natural for the Israelites to fear. But the advice they receive from the Lord, through Moses, seems like unlikely counsel.
Unlikely counsel
Unlikely counsel
To the Israelites’ natural fear, God says, “Do not be afraid!” “Stand firm.” “Go into the sea on dry ground.”
*Fear*
Words of advice as Egypt closes in:
“Do not be afraid!”
++“Stand firm.”
++“The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to keep still” (Ex 14.14)
++ “The Israelites may go into the sea on dry ground” (Ex 14.16)
/ Notice here the need to recognize the right time. There’s a time to be still and a time to move:
When the time is right, stand still and receive the deliverance of the Lord.
++When the time is right, do what God has called you to do—Walk into the sea.
/ We live with many types of fear. A 2022 study out of Chapman University describes the fears Americans have:
Corrupt government officials 62.1
++People I love becoming seriously ill 60.2
++Russia using nuclear weapons 59.6
++People I love dying 58.1
++The U.S. involved in another world war 56.0
Pollution of drinking water 54.5
++Not having enough money for the future 53.7
++Economic/financial collapse 53.7
++Pollution of oceans, rivers, and lakes 52.5
++Biological warfare 51.5
/ These can be boiled down to 5. And if we’re real and honest with ourselves and those around us, we probably will admit to sharing many of these concerns
Government corruption
Harm to a loved one
War
Environmental concerns
Economic concerns
Unlikely counsel
Unlikely counsel
Knowing when to be still
Knowing when to move forward into a strange and unknown future
/ Let’s face it. Sometimes we need to be still and let God be God, doing the delivering we can get from no place else. We need to receive God’s work on our behalf, because nothing we can do will make any difference whatsoever. And sometimes we need to recognize God’s work, know that he’s done what we can’t do, and step forward into the sea
Powerful antagonists
Powerful antagonists
The Egyptians and Egypt play a huge role in this narrative. Study the “Egypt” language here.
*Oppressors*
In these 9 verses, “Egypt” & “the Egyptians” occur 9 times. Egypt is the empire, the bogyman, the oppressor, the antagonist to be feared.
/ The question for Christians is, “What is it we fear?” Let’s look at two favorite verses from Romans 8 that reveal to us the kinds of things Christians in the first century feared, and keep in mind that their biggest fear was, Who or what will separate us from the love of Christ? But here are some things that Paul addressed that name the fears of our brothers and sisters from long ago, these forces both personal and impersonal that were powerful antagonists to people of faith:
Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,
nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
/ As impossible as it seems, these things don’t separate us from the Lord who loves us and the life he gives us
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
Powerful antagonists
Powerful antagonists
/ We face powerful antagonist, but a more powerful God is with us
Known & unknown
Known & unknown
/ Egypt was oppressive—but Egypt was known.
*Known v. unknown*
/ Sometimes we settle for far less than God intends for our lives because we’re more comfortable with the lives we know, even if those lives have been miserable, than we are stepping out into the unknown
What the Exodus … taught: first, that wherever you live, it is probably Egypt. Second, that there is a better place, a world more attractive, a promised land. And third, that "the way to the land is through the wilderness." (Michael Walzer)
p / Israelites at the Sea
/ Why are you clinging to the known, when Jesus offers you himself? When you can live a Spirit-led life, accompanied by the God who made the universe? Why be afraid when God calls you out of despair? What can separate you from him?