7/13/25 I Don't Want To
Notes
Transcript
Think about this: Have you ever done what you were told in a different manner than the intended instruction?
Think about this: Have you ever done what you were told in a different manner than the intended instruction?
Good morning and thank you for this opportunity to share with you this morning.
I have really enjoyed sharing many of the instances of Jesus in the Book of Genesis and would have found many more had I had all the time in the world.
Today though we enter the book of Exodus. Genesis was packed full of history and covered just over 2,000 years of human history.
Exodus, much less so. In fact, to get to the next 2,000 years of human history we have to get all the way through the Old Testament and a then some.
I’ve had this question up for a few minutes and was wondering if anyone has a story that can answer this question.
Now, Exodus is the second book of the Bible and is all about 3 very important people.
The People of Israel Moses God
The People of Israel Moses God
So I thought and prayed on how to focus on this and with all the stuff I read and dug into I was confident I could have done a whole week on The people of Israel, then Moses, then God and wrap it up by connecting all three in week three. Kind of like Abraham Isaac and Jacob.
But as I reflected I remember my first day in my Gospel of John class in college. I really enjoyed the teacher, he was a mentor and my boss in the school library. We got along well.
After class however, he took me into his office and said, “David, something was off in class today, could you tell me where I lost everybody?”
Well, he hadn’t lost me, but I thought about it and just said, “Well, you spent an hour telling us everything you know about the first two verses in John Chapter 1. That may be a little overboard.”
So, we’re going to observe this scripture a bit more casually and see what we find.
First, there is the people of Israel let’s take a quick glance and see who they are in Exodus.
8 Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. 9 And he said to his people, “Behold, the people of Israel are too many and too mighty for us.
10 Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and, if war breaks out, they join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.”
13 So they ruthlessly made the people of Israel work as slaves 14 and made their lives bitter with hard service, in mortar and brick, and in all kinds of work in the field. In all their work they ruthlessly made them work as slaves.
22 Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, “Every son that is born to the Hebrews you shall cast into the Nile, but you shall let every daughter live.”
So this is our context of chapter 1 of Exodus.
Remind me how Israel came down to Egypt in the first place. (open comment)
So Israel came there willingly and have been there for over 400 years. This is home for them.
When you live in a place long enough, you put up with a lot of garbage before you say something. And you probably start with a little quiet rebellion.
Like the question I asked at the beginning.
Laws started coming down on Israel and they had to think of something
In Exodus 1 Pharaoh said to the midwives if a boy is born kill it, if a girl, she can live.
Today, in some states and countries you can ‘abort a child’ even during the birthing process. We know that is wrong on so many levels, but some people say, “well, it’s not born yet, so it’s not alive, so it’s okay,” but once it is born, case closed, ALIVE.
My guess here is that in Egyptian culture, that there was a time after birth, perhaps before the cry or the cutting of the cord, where Egyptian’s may have said, “it’s not alive yet.” So midwives learned to be late. Oh, by the time I got there the baby was born, cord cut and nursing. Nothing we could do.
I really wonder if there are doctor’s out there that have a heart for the unborn and don’t show up to those birth in progress abortions. I don’t know, but that would be wonderful if there are people alive today, because the doctor was too late.
Of course, Pharoah was smart. He changed the rules. Just throw the boys in the river.
That’s a hard one to work around.
And before we move onto that one let’s just ask one question.
Have you ever been so comfortable in a place, or job, that no matter how crazy it got, you just played the game, quietly rebelled, and just hoped it would go back to the way you remembered?
(Wait for responses)
Now there are times when change is good. Sometimes when it is beneficial.
But here with the Israelites, it was not. They were quietly taken into slavery and they said nothing, at least not loudly. That is until
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.
Quick question:
Who did Israel cry out to?
Who did Israel cry out to?
Generic call out, no one is named.
Who hears?
Very good.
Sometimes time moves fast in scripture, sometimes slow. This one is fast. From the end of chapter 1 to verse 23 of Chapter 2 at least 40 years have occured, but no more than 80.
It took a whole generation to finally cry out and ask for help. But they did and guess what
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.
The People of Israel are in distress, they have called for help, so we bring in Moses.
But to bring in Moses we have to go to the Beginning of Exodus 2 when the Pharoah was having people throw their boys into the Nile.
Moses is a neat guy and we are going to take a few minutes to compare him to another great guy, and I know you know who I’m talking about, but play along okay.
1 Now a man from the house of Levi went and took as his wife a Levite woman. 2 The woman conceived and bore a son, and when she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him three months.
Okay man and woman have a baby and have to keep his birth a secret. Where else did this happen?
13 Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.”
Now Moses is a great picture of Jesus in so many ways, but some times that picture is reversed.
What life was Moses BORN into?
Slavery, bondage, oppression.
But what rule did Moses’ mom not fully obey?
3 When she could hide him no longer, she took for him a basket made of bulrushes and daubed it with bitumen and pitch. She put the child in it and placed it among the reeds by the river bank.
Was that what Pharoah meant by “Throw the boys in the river”?
Did she throw him in the river?
Granted, his chances weren’t good. The Nile is a harsh river with lots of ways for little babies in baskets to perish.
But Moses had much better chances than a boy outside a basket.
Now when we think of Jesus eternally, as we should, what was Jesus before he entered creation through Mary?
That’s right a King? And we know what happened to Jesus once he entered creation. Poor, a part of a culturally oppressed people.
Moses on the other hand, despite his circumstances is found.
5 Now the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, while her young women walked beside the river. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her servant woman, and she took it.
And just like that, Moses is a Prince.
And we get almost no information about his time as a prince. In verse 10, he’s a baby, in verse 11 he’s 40.
Not quite Jesus’ story, but Jesus, we also don’t get much of his youth. A story from when he’s 12 and then boom, he’s 30.
And it’s at this crazy point their lives go crazy nuts.
Moses at 40, knows the Israelites are not being treat well and kills to defend one of them. It get’s found out and overnight, he’s exiled and goes from prince to shepherd.
Jesus’s journey is a little different. He went from King to being born and seen by shepherds, but when he grew up. While he was a part of a middle class family and more than likely successful trade, he left it all for ministry, in essence, to become a shepherd. But he didn’t kill anybody or run away, that’s important.
Moses becomes a shepherd for 40 years. Jesus about 3.
But it is at the end of each of these encounters that they each do something amazing for God’s people.
Moses’ starts with a meeting with Jesus himself.
Remember the Old Testament is full of God entering into creation and we call these Christophanies, when we see Jesus prior to entering into creation via Mary. Check this out
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.” 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. 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. 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. 10 Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.”
God is interacting with Moses in a different way than ever before. This shows that God shows up in many different ways. As a man, a burning bush, a pillar of fire, you name it.
This is where the person of God enters in and gives Moses the rules.
You see, we have the people of Israel and we have the Person of God and pretty quickly that the people of Israel like to keep God at arms length. So, God chooses the person of Moses to intercede on behalf of the people.
Just like Jesus is our intercession with the Father. Of course the difference is that Moses helped save people out of temporal slavery while Jesus saves us from eternal bondage. But again, Moses is a picture.
So God comes to Moses, says, I got this plan, it’s great, you’ll do great and Moses says, sounds good, God, whatever you want, right?
What does Moses do?
What are we supposed to do when God tells us to do something?
Because God is always right and he always knows what’s best. Why is it sometimes hard to listen?
Many of us are parents here. How many of us as parents when our kids disagree with us, do we say, “tough, that’s what I said, and that’s what you’ll do, I’m the boss, you’re the kid.” Or something like that.
God seems a little nicer than that in this circumstance. Not always, mind you, but here we see some grace.
11 But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?”
Clue number one that Moses doesn’t like what God is asking of him.
But God says, don’t worry, I’m going with you.
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?”
God says tell them I AM has sent you. Most of us know the story, but is there any excuse we can give to God that can get us off the hook?
God also makes a promise that everything will work out.
Moses is stubborn, another excuse.
1 Then Moses answered, “But behold, they will not believe me or listen to my voice, for they will say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you.’ ”
God’s like how many more you got, I’ll give you miracles to show I sent you.
10 But Moses said to the Lord, “Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue.”
Ever gracious God reminds Moses that he’ll be with him and that everything will turn out okay. But Moses isn’t done yet.
Most of us have been in a situation where we were invited to something and we don’t want to be rude so we say, Oh I can’t my car’s broke down.
Oh, I’ll pick you up then.
But I can’t leave my dog alone.
Oh my kid will take him for a walk and play with him.
I haven’t made dinner yet.
I’m buying.
I don’t want to go.
And that’s what Moses finally says.
13 But he said, “Oh, my Lord, please send someone else.”
Now, for you or me, that’s enough.
I know for me, if you had started with I don’t want to, it would have saved some time.
But with God. He doesn’t ask you to do something. He tells you. And while he’s gracious and merciful, if he tells you to go, it’s best for you to go.
But it still brings us back to our opening question.
Have you ever done what you were told in a different manner than the intended instruction?
Have you ever done what you were told in a different manner than the intended instruction?
I will conclude with, while God is gracious here with Moses and meeting him where he’s at, that won’t always be the case.
God sends Moses his brother Aaron and says that Aaron can do all the talking all Moses has to do is go along.
In the book of Esther, her cousin Mordecai tells her if she doesn’t talk to the King for her people, someone else will. It will get done.
Moses could have flat out refused and gone back to shepherding and avoided that burning bush for the rest of his life.
But God’s people would have been delivered. And maybe we’d have the 5 books of Aaron or someone else. It would have gotten done.
But God doesn’t just pick a person to do the Job, he picks the best person for the Job, the one who will give him all the glory, and do the Job the best.
Moses failed at some crucial junctures in his life.
During a time of great temptation, he chose murder and exile.
Mirror to Jesus in Matthew 4 where he’s tempted and chooses God.
Moses is in the very presence of God and says, I don’t want to go send someone else.
One night in a garden, with the weight of humanity’s sin weighing him down, Jesus prays, with such stress and intensity that blood drips from his face.
And even Jesus asks, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me;
In Jesus’ humanity he does not want to die. But Jesus in his divinity, knows that there is no one else.
God was able to change the method for Moses by sending Aaron to help.
Jesus is
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
He’s the only way. No substitute, no do overs. It’s Jesus.
Now, Moses continues on as a picture of Jesus and fails a lot.
And so will you. But if God asks you to do something, if you feel a pull to do something that is not your norm. Dive in.
Because in the end, God gets the glory and you will be better off than if you hadn’t done it.
As we pray today I’m going to put a prayer up on the screen.
It’s really the only scripted prayer I really like.
Write it down and practice it.
Lord, do in me all that you NEED to, so that you can do through me all that you WANT to.
Lord, do in me all that you NEED to, so that you can do through me all that you WANT to.
I’ll give you a moment to write that down, but I’m going to encourage you to begin saying that prayer.
You will be amazed at the outcome.
Let’s pray
