When The Government Is The Enemy

Faith empowers us to stand up against impossible odds

What do you do when the government is the enemy?

If you remember, the book of Hebrews is written to address that very situation.

The government was cracking down on Christianity

These Christians, they have this weird notion that Jesus is Lord and King

So they refuse to worship the emperor, or Caesar, or the President.

Christians will submit to a just government

But we will not worship the leaders and if the government becomes immoral enough, we will not submit to it any more either.

That makes us dangerous.

Powerful people don’t like it when you don’t do what they want you to do.

And, other than God, the government is the most powerful authority in our lives.

Christians needed to be taught a lesson.

If the government was going to maintain it’s power over everyone, everyone needed to see the Christians being taught a lesson.

And mercy me, it got very hard for the Christians.

No one wants to be on the receiving end of the government’s guns.

And yet, here they were.

Here we are.

Last week a young man who said he was a girl but also said he was very confused about who he was shot up a Catholic School.

He killed two children who were praying in Mass.

He injured a whole lot more.

Then he killed himself.

Now before you think I’m going on a rant about his stated identity and that of others

Let me say this about that.

That young man was created in the image of God.

He deserved the love and respect that all of the people that God has ever created should be afforded.

Now, that doesn’t mean Christians had to affirm his beliefs

But it does mean that we should have treated him with the dignity and respect we owe all people.

Think about this - that young man who was obviously tormented by demons on this earth

Has now met those demons face to face - where he will be imprisoned with them for all eternity.

I pray somehow in the last instant of his life, the Lord intervened on his behalf, somehow.

I shudder to imagine his eternity if the Lord did not.

But here’s the point.

The government created him.

The government created the culture of death with Roe vs. Wade.

The government normalized immorality with Obergefell vs. Hodges.

Title IX which was originally written to make sure women had the same opportunities in sports as men

The government expanded the definition to include what one considered oneself to be rather than what biology said.

And then the government went on a campaign to normalize all of it.

And before you go he’s bashing Democrats, I’ve heard a lot of barking from both sides, but no one is doing much more than political theatre.

If you are on X, you might have noticed the comments made about people sending their thoughts and prayers to the folks at that school.

There are a lot of folks bashing Christians - “Prayers are not enough” - they cry.

“Take away their guns!”

Not a soul is posting about what could have been done to soothe that young man’s troubled soul.

He didn’t need to be recognized for what he was unsure he was

He needed to be loved into mental health and into the kingdom of God.

The government isn’t going to help that happen.

They’ve picked sides.

Now, what do we do?

What do we do when the government is the enemy?

Turn with me if you would in your Bibles to Hebrews 11:23-28.

If you don’t have a Bible, there is one in the pew rack in front of you

And if you don’t have a Bible at home, please take one of ours as a gift

We believe every home should have a Bible and we’d be proud if you received one of ours as a gift.

While you are looking for the scripture for today.

Kids, you are growing up in very interesting times.

And while it might seem scary and spooky sometimes, the fact of the matter is that Jesus loves you very much.

And He has made a way for you to be strong and courageous, even when you don’t feel strong and courageous.

There is no doubt in my mind that you will be called on in your lifetime to make a courageous stand for Jesus

And instead of me being afraid for you, I’m confident that you were created for such a time as this.

You will stand firm and you will help change your world.

As you listen to the sermon today, listen for the word Jesus.

He’s the one who is going to give you the power to stand up for him.

If you’ve got your Bibles open now, please hear the Word of the Lord from Hebrews 11:23-28

Hebrews 11:23–28 ESV

By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw that the child was beautiful, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict. By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward. By faith he left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible. By faith he kept the Passover and sprinkled the blood, so that the Destroyer of the firstborn might not touch them.

This is the Word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

Let us pray:

Sovereign King,

Help us to hear through the power of the Holy Spirit, how we can stand strong in you in the face of overwhelming opposition.

Help us to hear what faith looks like, so we won’t faint or falter.

We so want you to be proud of us. In Jesus’ name. Amen

Faith empowers parents to stand up for their kids

Hebrews 11:23 “By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw that the child was beautiful, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict.”

Let’s review the setting very quickly

When Moses was born, the Hebrew children had been in captivity in Egypt for 400 years.

They were slaves and one day the king ding, Pharaoh noticed his census numbers and realized that there were too many Hebrews in Egypt.

He was concerned that if a foreign country invaded, the Hebrews would ally themselves with the invader and they’d overthrow the government.

So Pharaoh made a law that said every boy baby born had to - well - not be born.

And into that situation, this happened Exodus 2:1-2

Exodus 2:1–2 ESV

Now a man from the house of Levi went and took as his wife a Levite woman. The woman conceived and bore a son, and when she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him three months.

Now, I want to give you permission here to do what I did - I want you to question the text.

The pastor said of Moses’ parents, “they were not afraid of the king’s edict.”

Yet, they “hid” him

You don’t hide something you aren’t afraid of being found

So the Pastor must be telling us something else here.

There are several types of fears.

There are fears that you allow to compel you to comply.

The guards at Auschwitz - they knew the atrocities being committed there but they feared if they did anything it would happen to them.

So they chose to comply.

There are fears that you allow to compel you to defy.

Moses’ mom and dad knew that if Moses was found, the entire family would suffer horrible consequences.

You know they were afraid every time Moses cried someone would hear and some do-gooder would turn them in.

But something compelled them to defy the king.

What was it?

“…they saw the child was beautiful…”

The word literally is beautiful or handsome.

They fell in love with their baby.

They knew Moses was a gift from God created in the very image of God.

They decided that their fear would become their defiance

That they would stand in the face of the most powerful man on the planet at that time and say no.

You cannot have my child.

Parents, by faith, they did this.

It wasn’t Moses faith.

It was Moses’ mom and dad’s faith

That God gave them a gift they should nurture and protect

That God gave them a responsibility to do it

And that God would give them the power to do it.

So they did.

Parents, pay attention to what is going on with the folks who have your children as many awake hours of the day as you do.

Be willing to stand in the face of the government, in the face of experts, in the face of whoever or whatever

By faith, show your children how Christian parents stand up for their Lord and their kids in the marketplace.

By faith, choose to stand as Christians in defiance of anyone who demands you act contrary to Jesus.

Faith empowers us to refuse unGodliness

Hebrews 11:24–25 “By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin.”

We really could spend days here.

Briefly, Moses has grown up - He’s old enough to have a job in Pharaoh’s kingdom

Exodus 2:11 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.

Moses knew he was a Hebrew.

Moses knew the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Moses knew to whom he belonged.

So he went outside and saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew

And Moses chose sides.

He killed the Egyptian.

Now when Moses did that, realize the choice that he just made.

As an Egyptian being raised as one of Pharaoh’s grandchildren

Moses had power.

He could have said nothing and lived a life where he essentially did as he pleased

A rule, all to himself.

People bowing down to him.

Moses had wealth

Verse 26 refers to the “treasures of Egypt.”

I mean think about it.

Moses won the lottery.

Instead of dying at birth, he’s rescued by none other than Pharaoh’s daughter.

His own mom gets to raise him

He ends up in the palace.

He can have anything he wants whenever he wants it.

These are the people who built the pyramids and the Sphinx.

He had within his grasp the American dream.

And with power and wealth, Moses could have had the world of pleasure.

He could have been the Egyptian version of a jet-setter.

Everyone would have fawned all over him.

People would have thrown themselves at him.

He could have had any pleasure that he wanted.

And in one moment, Moses chose against it all.

“[Moses] refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter…”

That word refused also means to repudiate or disown.

Everything that the world offered was at Moses fingertips

What we are trained to strive for, power, wealth and pleasure - it was his.

And he chose against it

As verse 25 says, he chose against “the fleeting pleasures of sin.”

That young shooter had maybe an hour of ‘pleasure’ as he got his revenge on the people he hated

Now he will wrestle with the consequences forever.

If we live to be one hundred - what does the song say?

“When we’ve been there 10,000 years, bright shining as the sun, we’ve no less days to sing God’s praise, than when we’d first begun.”

100 years is ‘fleeting’ according to the Lord.

Faith that looks forward, not backward

Faith that sees a city with foundations not built with human hands

Faith that understands that we don’t belong here - we are just passing through

That faith empowers us to choose against fleeting power, wealth and pleasure

And choose to follow the one who gives us eternal power, wealth and pleasures untold.

Faith empowers us to refuse unGodliness.

Faith empowers us to suffer for the cause of Christ

Look at verse 26 & 27, Hebrews 11:26-27

Hebrews 11:26–27 ESV

He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward. By faith he left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible.

My faith needs to grow here - a lot.

I suspect yours does as well.

“He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt…”

I don’t even like to be talked bad about.

I used to get my feelings hurt because of a snarky or insensitive Facebook post.

The Elders help me cure that by coaching me to get off Facebook - which I’ve done.

But I never - here’s the confession - I’ve never considered getting talked bad about or being attacked

Or whatever, I’ve never considered that greater wealth.

Honestly, I’ve never given it much thought.

I was too busy having hurt feelings.

Jesus was talked bad about his entire ministry.

The Scribes, the Pharisees and the Sadducees - all of the folks a religious person would want to hang out with

And look up to - those are the ones who ragged on Jesus all of the time.

They were the local government as it were.

They had him arrested

He was beaten, spit upon, mocked, slapped

Yelled at, crucified.

Nobody’s done most of that to us and what little has been done we’ve gotten all apoplectic.

What’s missing for us?

It’s the by faith part.

Remember, our faith is looking forward - way forward

Our faith looks toward the reward that is coming so it can endure whatever is thrown at it.

At the very end of Paul’s letter to the Galatians, he brags:

Galatians 6:17 ESV

From now on let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus.

Faith transforms the fear of ridicule into the power to persevere.

And maybe, and maybe there’s a little something else in here too.

Just maybe there is something for us to take heart in here.

Again, we have to ask a question of the text.

Verse 27, Hebrews 11:27 “By faith he left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible.”

But Moses WAS afraid of the king.

Exodus 2:14–15 ESV

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.

Moses was afraid.

He was afraid of dying - of the king having him killed

I mean what Moses did really was an insurrection - it really was treason

He went against the kingdom.

But maybe the Pastor is telling us that there was more to Moses than simply fear of dying.

Maybe he is telling us that Moses’ understanding of God was deeper than that fear

That Moses understood that God was going to deliver his people

That God would deliver him.

So that belief, that faith motivated, it empowered Moses to endure.

Remember week before last we talked about what faith looks like when God makes no sense.

I can almost guarantee that Moses’ head was spinning around and around.

One minute he’s sleeping on a fluffy mattress being fanned by slaves.

The next minute he’s sneaking out of town with only what he can carry

Walking hundreds of miles until he sits down exhausted and God starts the next adventure.

Have you ever said, “I don’t know what I’m supposed to do, but I know God wants me to do something?”

How much you want to bet that Moses was sitting by that well in Midian thinking the same thing?

And it took God 40 years to show Moses the next step.

What kept Moses going?

He saw the invisible.

He looked forward to what the Lord was going to deliver.

So he kept going.

Faith empowers us to stand up against impossible odds.

You know the end of Moses’ story with Pharaoh, right?

Moses stood before Pharaoh again - and Pharaoh lost - big time.

It took a long, long time but in the end, the little guy won

Because he was faithful to the King of kings and Lord of lords.

Listen to me,

Following Jesus isn’t easy

But the rewards are out of sight.

Hebrews 11:6 “And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.”

I know it’s noble sounding to say, “I’m not in this for the reward,”

But I am.

I want to see Jesus.

I want to see him face to face.

I want to hear his voice, to feel his handshake, to hear HIM teaching.

I want to see the little children coming to Him.

I want to see those who He’s healed walking up to Him.

I want to see Jesus.

That’s the reward I want.

Friends,

You can have that reward.

It’s as simple as asking the Lord to forgive you of your sins and trusting Jesus to save you

And it’s as hard as giving up all of your hopes and dreams to Him, to allow Him to send you where He wants you to go.

There is nothing you can do better than to follow Jesus.

In a moment, we’ll pray then we’ll sing - I’ll be down front if you want to talk about Jesus.

Let us pray.