Untitled Sermon (2)

THEY NOT LIKE US

EXODUS 1:18-21 NLT

With this week being the opening of the NFL Season, it pushes me to remember the last game in February of this year, the Super Bowl between the Chiefs and Eagles, as just as many people were interested in the game, as the half time show which featured Kendrick Lamar, and the overall tension was would he perform his legendary diss-track (?) - They Not Like Us. He did and the choreography and underlining messages were amazing, and people talked about it for months. The content of the song is based on his ongoing feud with Drake, and I”m not going to pretend like I’m in the complete know of the overall feud between the two, but when it comes to the back and forth between them, I’d just say that Lamar is winning the rap battle, especially after the half-time show. But in this song Kendrick expresses a deeper message about authenticity, identity, and cultural belonging. The song draws a sharp line between those who genuinely live out the values, morals, and experiences of Black culture—and those viewed as outsiders or imposters, particularly within the hip-hop world. Lamar uses his conflict with Drake as a lens to highlight broader themes of integrity, resilience, and standing firm for one’s community. As we enter this series of sermons from the Book of Exodus, we will discover the same, especially with the examination of the midwives, on what it truly means to live out the values, morals and experiences of living as a child of God, especially in difficult and troubled times. And make no mistake about church, we are living in troubled times. Everywhere we look, we are surrounded by crisis and uncertainty at every level of society.

Violence in schools, our communities and even our churches, to

wars that are shaking nations, to

conflicts that split our neighborhoods and families

Political instability - Cracker Barrell, Target boycotts,

Economic instability

Fear and tension

Wherever you go, we are surrounded by crisis and uncertainty and these midwives remind me, that even in the spaces of crisis and uncertainty, there should be a resolve from the Christian community that we must live out the values with integrity regardless of political threats, a cancel culture and a world that evolves further away from what it means to be a child of the Most High God. That’s what this Exodus Experience will teach us, that we will worship God as we navigate through all the complexities of life, for this is why we have been liberated! This has to speak to us today, in 2025, where we live in what it appears to be a 2025 Exodus Experience! And I hope you had a chance to read and study Exodus 1 this week, because like I said last week, I can’t preach the whole chapter, but what we find is that there arose a king who knew nothing about Joseph - didn’t know Joseph and lacked personal knowledge or appreciation of Joseph's past services to Egypt. Therefore, from my assumption, this king knew nothing of the God that moved through Joseph - all he felt was a threat that Israel was growing and getting stronger, so he enslaved and oppressed Israel, and made their life bitter. Isn’t it amazing that people who don’t know God, but try to be god, find themselves in the same circumstances as people of the ancient text, who tried to oppress God’s people. And the text says that the more they were oppressed, the more they grew, adn this alarmed and amazed the Egyptians. I could hang our hope right there, because this reminds me that if God is for us, who can be against us!

What we read in Exodus brings striking resemblance to 2025 - and just like in the text, this is the time for the children of God, to show the striking difference between us and the world, so that the world may see Jesus in us and be drawn to this Liberator, so that we may worship Him! They Not Like Us, is a call of authentic dedication and commitment to our God, letting everyone we encounter know that there is nothing this world can throw at us, that will cause us to not to worship our God with our life, standing firm in who we are as God’s people, living out faithful resilience and unwavering integrity amid the pressure to conform or compromise our values in a culture that often misunderstands or sidelines us. This is a lifestyle that has no age limits. You’re not to young to stand firm, and you never retire from it.

In a world filled with pressure to conform, go along with anything and everything that comes up, and voices that challenge who we are, our message today is clear and urgent: we are not like the world, and they are not like us - God’s people are called to stand firm—living distinctly as resilient and faithful followers, committed to worshiping Him regardless of the cost.

1 Pet. 2:9 - 9 But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests,* a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.

Eph. 5:8 - 8 For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light

Rom. 12:2 - 2 Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.

Child of God, remember who you are! When you remember this, you walk accordingly. Look at these two sista midwives, Shiphrah and Puah. They moved differently because they knew they were different. Their names speak to the value of who they are! Shiphrah - Hebrew means “beauty” and Puah - root word means a fragrant flower or blossom. It’s important to remember who you are, because it will be a necessary attribute when the pressures from the world surface in your life. In our text, as the Israelites constituted to multiply, the Egyptians became increasingly fearful and imposed harsher labor conditions, forcing them to work with clay and bricks and in the fields. And despite this oppression, the Israelites continued to increase, so in response, Pharaoh devised a new plan, ordering the Hebrew midwives to kill all male infants at birth. But pharaoh didn’t take into account, these beautiful sista midwives, who knew who they were and were willing to authentically remain true to the God they served.

And what they teach us today is critical for our current context. As political legislation and laws continue to arise and surface, as ICE raids continue, as unemployment rates still impact us more than anyone else, as our personal relationships challenge our desire to be all God calls us to be, as social media influences us to be everything else, but a child of God, we need for Shiphrah and Puah to teach us what we need to develop in our Christian character, that will help us not to compromise who we are.

So church, as we consider the example of Shiphrah and Puah, it’s clear their strength came from a deep and unwavering foundation—a foundation that shaped every choice they made, every risk they took, and every stand they held. Today, we’re going to explore three vital attitudes that empowered them to live faithfully and boldly in the face of severe pressure. These qualities aren’t just for ancient midwives; they are essential for us as God’s people today. We know they not like us, because

We Fear God

This is a critical point to consider. The midwives feared God.

This is what separates us from them. Shiphrah and Puah - they feared God. When you fear God, you move differently.

The fear of God is a central concept in both the Old and New Testaments, often described as the beginning of wisdom and knowledge.

Proverbs 1:7 - The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.

In the Bible, this fear does not mean terror, but rather a reverence or respect that produces a submissive attitude toward God. It implies recognizing God's existence, His omniscience, and His role as judge

This is what we are like. We are children that have a fear of God. We can’t go along with everything. We can’t watch everything. We can’t do everything!

When you fear God, you move on the narrow road - hard - not many people on it - but this is the road that leads to life.

Oswald Chambers (Utmost to His Highest) - The remarkable thing about God is that when you fear God, you fear nothing else; whereas if you do not fear God, you fear everything else

Illustration - https://www.preachingtoday.com/illustrations/2014/march/8031014.html

This denotes reverence and respect for God, rather than respect. For me, the fear of God is the central component of the relationship we have with God.

When you fear God, you dread displeasing God. This is spiritual maturity, when you know you’re out of pocket we should dread it because we know we are not pleasing God.

We Follow Faithfully

Because we fear God, we then follow God faithfully.

Fear of God moves us to follow God, not the world, not man or woman.

Verse 17 says because the midwives feared God, they refused to obey the kings’s orders. They allowed the boys ot live, too.

They not like us - we move different. We don’t abide by unjust or unmoral rules and laws. We protect and care for the resident alien within our communities. We have compassion on the poor and needy. We refuse the kings orders when they harm others.

The midwives knew they were different - they even said it in v.19 - they said Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women. They knew Hebrew women were stronger (more vigorous) than Egyptians.

We Flourish in His Favor

How can we cultivate a deeper fear of God in our daily lives to distinguish ourselves from the world?