Ripe For The Pick'n
Notes
Transcript
Reading:
17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love,
18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth,
19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us,
21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
Introduction:
When we lived in Fort Myers the community had a pool we could enjoy all year.
If you came and swam there you would notice the palm trees and just below the palm fronds there were coconuts.
We were spoiled with free coconuts on a lot of trees, and even on the ground.
I remember thinking the first time I gathered coconuts: “How can I tell which ones will taste good and are ready?”
Ultimately I was looking for that perfect window for when the coconut was ripe and ready for eating.
In Exodus 3 today we can see that perfect moment when Moses was ripe for the pick’n.
Moses had been prepared since birth for that moment he would receive God’s calling for him.
Moses had lived for 40 years as an adopted grandchild of Pharaoh.
He was a little too zealous and desired to protect his kin from the mishandling of the taskmasters.
He wanted to free them in his way: by force and to fight.
God had another plan.
In Exodus 2 Moses didn’t seem ready to let the Lord lead so God waited.
He waited until the rashness and vehemence of his youth was spent.
He allowed Moses’ ambition to die as his worldly success seemed like a non-existent goal.
Transition:
In Exodus 3 we get a window into that moment when Moses had been humbled enough to accept what the Lord desired for the Hebrew people.
23 During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God.
24 And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.
25 God saw the people of Israel—and God knew.
God heard their cries and knew what should be done and that it was almost time.
Yet he wasn’t done with stripping away the unnecessary pieces of clay from the trophy called Moses.
It took another 40 years.
It kind of reminds me of that moment the Apostles asked Jesus a question:
1 At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”
To which Jesus responded:
3 and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
4 Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
Jesus was teaching a principal that God revealed in Moses as he went to Midian and became a shepherd.
John says it best:
30 He must increase, but I must decrease.”
Connection:
We rarely depend on God when we can do it ourselves.
Only when we have been reduced to almost nothing are we forced to depend on the Lord.
Moses had been reduced from next in line for the throne to a lonely shepherd who wandered around on the back side of the desert.
He was content to do it.
He found peace in his life and accepted his position.
God had bigger plans for Moses.
Moses had:
A Meeting With God (1-5)
A Meeting With God (1-5)
1 Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.
2 And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed.
3 And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.”
4 When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.”
5 Then he said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.”
What was Moses doing?
He was caring for a flock of sheep.
What did the Egyptians think of shepherds?
34 you shall say, ‘Your servants have been keepers of livestock from our youth even until now, both we and our fathers,’ in order that you may dwell in the land of Goshen, for every shepherd is an abomination to the Egyptians.”
Moses was definitely humbled by God from the status he once held.
We all should be careful about how highly we think of ourselves and the possessions we have.
God may choose that it’s best to humble us and strip them from our life, just as He did to Moses.
A shepherd wasn’t respected by Egyptians, yet here an adopted grandson of Pharaoh has been reduced to an shepherd.
Who’s flock was He tending to?
1 Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.
The sheep were Jethro’s, they weren’t even Moses’.
Here at 80 he had a wife and 2 children, yet it doesn’t seem like he had anything to call his own.
How humbling that would’ve been.
And Moses took pride and care in the job he was doing.
He found himself in an area of the Sinai that was very remote that was known as the mountain of God.
It was called that due to it’s height and that it would be fit for God.
The name was suiting as that was where God met with Moses.
2 And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed.
3 And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.”
I wondered what he thought when he saw this random fire.
Who started that fire?
Where is the person who started it?
Moses realizes something unnatural: the fire wasn’t consuming the bush.
The fire was fueled and sustained by something other than the bush.
This fire was super-natural.
Note:
The bush not being consumed can be an emblem.
An emblem of the state of Israel with their many distresses and persecutions. It was in the fire of adversity, yet not consumed.
An emblem of the state of the church in the wilderness, in persecutions, in the midst of it’s enemies, yet not consumed.
An emblem of each believer: cast down but not forsaken; tempted; but not destroyed; walking through fire, yet not consumed.
Point:
These are all preserved because God is in the midst of them all.
In the bush God revealed Himself to Moses.
4 When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.”
5 Then he said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.”
Moses’ path in life has been that of sin, and taking off his sandals could be representative of no longer walking in a life of sin.
This is reminiscent of how our culture removes our hats for prayer and the national anthem.
A show of respect and reverence as well as the symbol for laying aside the pollutions that attach themselves to us as we are walking.
God also changes anywhere that He is into a holy place like a light that enters darkness.
Illustration:
This is a picture of the worlds blackest substance created, it’s like a paint.
It is called VantaBlack and it was created by MIT which is a carbon nanotube substance.
It absorbs 99.965% of light.
If you were to cover a room in it, you could feel the walls; but not see a thing, including your hand.
It would look like you’re standing in nothingness.
Even in a room with the most light absorbent material light is still visible.
The light displaces the darkness.
Just like God can always impact the darkest places.
Only what the light directly hits will be seen.
Connection:
God’s holiness penetrates the darkest of places. Light is stronger than darkness.
For anyone who is in the darkness of sin and selfishness can be changed into God’s holy place, by asking God to enter your darkness and make you holy. He will bring His light and begin cleaning the place up.
Moses was told:
5 Then he said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.”
You are in the presence of a Holy God!
6 And he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.
The God of your fathers is now meeting with you.
Transition:
God met with Moses to commission him for His will.
Just like with Moses’ father, and his forefathers God presents Himself to give an official
Call and Promise (7-12)
Call and Promise (7-12)
7 Then the Lord said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings,
8 and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.
Moses hasn’t been in Egypt for 40 years, he may have had no idea what was happening to the Hebrew people there.
He has been a shepherd in the desert away from civilization.
God gives Moses information about his people.
They are still being afflicted and are still slaves to the Egyptians.
Their cries to God are frequent and they are suffering.
Moses needed reminding of the situation his people were in.
9 And now, behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them.
He also needed reminding of the promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
8 and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.
God calls Moses from the desert to be His deliverer for the Hebrew people.
10 Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.”
Moses was ready and would be the Hebrew’s deliverer from slavery!
When we approach God’s word, whether during personal devotions or in a sermon with our church family.
We must look into it as looking into a mirror.
It provides a perspective and realism for how God may be working in our life; but it also allows the scripture to come alive.
I ask that you place yourself in Moses’ sandals here.
How would this impact you, how would you feel at 80 to be called to this by God from a bush that isn’t being consumed by a fire?
To a people that you fled from because you were ashamed of your choices.
Would you do as He asked?
Would you accept His calling and not fear what would happen if you went back to Egypt?
Would you trust God to take you from your comfort zone for His will?
Moses seemed content with the life he was living.
Would he want to disrupt that to place himself and his family in turmoil and ridicule?
Connection:
Many times we are too comfortable with our lives that if God came to us and told us what we would do for Him, would we do it?
We are all called to something great; but are unwilling to pursue it. Why?
Fear is one of the biggest reasons.
That isn’t what others would expect of me is another.
If God called you to go on a short term mission trip would you go?
If God called you to teach a children’s class would you do it?
It is simple to say what we would do for God; but when we have the opportunity does fear or pressure cripple us?
Hear how Moses responds to God’s call:
11 But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?”
Can you hear what Moses’ reason was for hesitation?
Fear of not being enough for the task.
God provides the fatherly comfort that Moses needs and us too.
12 He said, “But I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”
It should give him confidence, knowing that God will be right there with him.
Transition:
God meets Moses where he is.
Moses isn’t sure how to represent God to people or that he is the best person for the job.
Many of us aren’t sure of the same things when were talking about our faith with people.
Where do you start, how do you point a conversation towards Him and properly represent Him?
We have His word that He is with us and we are right for the job. He placed us there and not someone else.
God goes further and provides more confidence through:
His Authoritative Name. (13-22)
His Authoritative Name. (13-22)
13 Then Moses said to God, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?”
Moses has a legitimate question:
Who do I say sent me?
14 God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I am has sent me to you.’ ”
15 God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.
“I AM” has sent me, if you didn’t know His name before now you do.
He is the God of our fathers, have another name for Him other than Elohim
The term is what Moses wrote; but one commentator states that it would say: “I AM/CAUSE TO BE” has sent me to you.
“I CAUSE TO BE because I cause to be.”
This term can only be attributed to thee one and only God.
The God whom the Hebrews follow, the one which we believe is the cause of all in existence and that we know here in the New Testament as Jesus.
Jesus even re-iterated this title as His with His 7 I Am statements.
All of which attest to His deity.
The Hebrew people could trust the message Moses had and we can trust any message Jesus gave through the disciples.
The one who caused all is speaking to us.
He isn’t just another god.
The Egyptians were Poly-theists.
The Hebrews and us are Mono-theists.
God instructed him who to talk to first:
16 Go and gather the elders of Israel together and say to them, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has appeared to me, saying, “I have observed you and what has been done to you in Egypt,
17 and I promise that I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, a land flowing with milk and honey.” ’
God is stating that the slavery time is over, the time of a great nation who’s God is the cause of everything, is beginning.
I have not forgotten you or my promises.
The elders out of everyone should accept Moses’ message from God.
They should believe it so much that they will go with you to Pharaoh’s court when you request to worship for 3 days in the wilderness.
18 And they will listen to your voice, and you and the elders of Israel shall go to the king of Egypt and say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us; and now, please let us go a three days’ journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God.’
God prophesies what Pharaoh will do because of where his heart is focused: on self.
19 But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless compelled by a mighty hand.
20 So I will stretch out my hand and strike Egypt with all the wonders that I will do in it; after that he will let you go.
21 And I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians; and when you go, you shall not go empty,
22 but each woman shall ask of her neighbor, and any woman who lives in her house, for silver and gold jewelry, and for clothing. You shall put them on your sons and on your daughters. So you shall plunder the Egyptians.”
God will reveal His authority over all idols the pagan’s worshiped and reveal that He has chosen the Hebrew people as His nation.
God knows the pride of Pharaoh will not allow him to just let them go freely.
Most of all God knew Pharaoh’s heart would harden towards I AM and would continue with each show of power by God.
God would use the narcissistic personality of Pharaoh for His will.
Conclusion:
God saw that Moses was ready for His will, that he would represent the Lord and deliver his people from Egypt.
To move forward He called a type of Christ to be the deliverer.
Moses cast a big shadow on this world for the future that only Christ could fill in.
Moses received a call and a promise from the Lord Himself.
The name He provided was one which the Lord Jesus claimed as His and fulfilling a prophecy just as Moses did by having faith in God’s call.
What fear are you allowing to rob you of God’s will?
How can you represent Him as Moses did boldly, without fear because you know He is with you?
There is a world out there who need Jesus and the salvation He offers.
Most of all the relationship that He provides, then how He will clean up their life to best represent Him.
You are holy because He is Holy.
Don’t let fear cripple you, you are enough for Him.
- Pray!
