God Frees His People
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Introduction
Idol Worship Video - Skit Guys
Tension
This morning we are going to look into a very well known Bible story. It is the story of the 10 plagues that God sent to Egypt so that they would know that He is YHWY, the LORD. They saw His power over every aspect of their lives, and specifically they got to see how their “false gods”, the idols they worshiped were powerless against YHWY, the one true God.
As I was preparing for this message it occured to me that this story has a very distant feel to it. It seems so far away as it happened in a far away time and a far away place, but the title of this message is “God Frees His People”. It is not just that he “did” free his people way back then, but that he does bring his people freedom even today. One of the ways that we are going to see God free his poeple is “by confronting false gods” and I got to wondering how that would land on our hearts and minds. Would we be able to accept this as a true statement in our lives today, or would we just disregard it as something that happened a few thousand years ago.
That is why I wanted to show you this video. I felt like I needed something to challenge our idea of what a “false god” looks like. If our idea of worshiping “false gods” is limited to some weird looking tribal rituals from far away times and lands then we won’t really be able to relate to the freedom that God gives his people from “false gods” today.
“The 10 plagues was just something God once did, or maybe still does today in tribal lands somewhere else in the world but it has little to do with my relationship with God today.”
You see I believe that our culture struggles with “false gods” today as much as the Egyptians did in Moses’ day. In fact, Idolatry might even be more of a problem today, because of how difficult it sometimes is to identify it. Even people who would call themselves Christians are struggling with “Idol Worship” and they don’t even know it.
Let me try and explain what I mean.
First of all, let me just make it clear that I don’t think that sports enthusiasts are the only ones needing to grapple with this. This is something for all of us. As Christians, we live in this constant tension of being called to be in this world, but not of it. While we rightly understand our need to run from evil things, sometimes we don’t really know what to do with good things. As soon as we believe that something is not an evil thing, then we assume that it must be “good”. But I think that there are other questions that still need to be answered first.
And don’t think I am just trying to pick
While I do have a level of concern over the priority that sports has taken in our culture, I don’t think that sports enthusiasts are the only ones needing to take some time and grapple with what they have oriented their life around.
Same level of desire, just aimed a different direction.
Listen to how Tim Keller defines Idolatry:
“Idolatry happens when we take good things and make them ultimate things” - Tim Keller
I know right? How could I do this to you. Challenge your thinking about the priority that something like sports can have in your life. And on Superbowl Sunday no less. At least the Packers aren’t playing or half of you would probably be walking out on me right now. Who am I kidding, if the Packers were playing that half of you would still be home prepping for the pre-game coverage. That is horrible…or maybe helpful. Like it or not, one of my jobs is to come up front each week and challenge you on your pre-conceived notions. But I don’t want to just pick on sports enthusiasts, we can struggle with idolatry in many different areas.
In other words, good things can become bad things when we put them in a postion in our life where they are our ultimate thing. The ultimate thing is the thing that you live for. The thing that your life is aimed at. It is the center of all things you. The thing that you spend the most on in time, money and energy. We all have many good things that we enjoy doing in many different directions, but what is the ultimate thing for you.
That ultimate thing is your functional god. So depending on what you find there, it could be your “false god”. This is true even if you would say that you believe in Jesus. This is why verses like are so scary
Of course I don’t want to just pick on sports enthusiasts. I remember talking to this pastor who just couldn’t understand how other Christians could waste so much time on watching other guys sweat it out on some court or field and the whole time he was talking all I kept thinking about was how much time, energy and money I knew that he spent on his love for his motorcycle. So sports might not be that important to you…but is there anything else that you go crazy over like someone else might over their sports team?
I remember having this conversation with another pastor once who was commenting on how ridiculous he found it that people could spend some much time, money and energy on something as useless as professional sports. The whole time he was talking, all I kept thinking about was how much time, money and energy he spends on his racing motorcycle. Same level of desire, just aimed a different direction.
The thing that you believe that you have to have in order to be you. The thing that your life is really built around. Every aspect of your life is really built around this ultimate thing.
21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’
Another time I had a conversation with a distant family member who was really into fishing. I mean really into it. He lived further south and registered for bass tournaments most every weekend. I am sure his truck and boat together costs as much as my house. We happened to be standing lakeside at a wedding so naturally I asked him about fishing. I was surprised to hear him say that he gave it up. He told me that it was getting in the way of more important things in his life. I thought that sounded pretty smart to me, but in the very next breath he said, “So I took up golf instead. By the way, since we have about an hour before the ceremony do you know where I can get in 9 holes.” It appeared to me that he had just traded in one unhealthy obsession for another.
How do you know if something is the most important thing to you? Well there is a simple test for this.
So hopefully, as we move into this somewhat weird ancient story about how God confronting false gods, you won’t just be thinking about a far off time and far off land. I think that God wants to free us from false gods in our lives today.
Of course the
So hopefully, as we move into this weird ancient story about how God wants to free His people by confronting false gods - you will be able to find some meaningful for our life today.
Then I remember this other time when as a youth pastor I was meeting with some parents about their childs involvement in the youth group. They were sharing their concerns over their daughters involvement in the mid-week event. They said that their daughter just couldn’t relate to the other girls because all she cared about was Jesus. She wanted to be a part of a group where they would just read the Bible and pray and not spend so much time listening to other girls as all they seemed to want to discuss is the latest fashions, the latest movies and who was emotionally distraught over what relationship. Of course no pastor would criticize someones desire to read their Bible and pray, but when I thought about how this teen interacted with other girls who were interested in things that she wasn’t, I didn’t see the compassion and concern that prayer and Bible reading are designed to develop.
her disinterest in the thingw I know that the girls who came to youth group came for all kinds of different reasons, but the the small group leaders.
to her God, not be distracted by all of that other stuff. As they were telling me these things I was picturing in my mind the interactions that I had seen their daughter have with other girls, and I did notgot this sense that they were wanting me to told me this with a sense of
As Christians, we live in this constant tension of being called to be in this world, but not of it. While we rightly understand our need to run from evil things, sometimes we don’t really know what to do with good things. We think, well as long as it is a good thing then I guess it’s ok. But there are other important questions to ask as well.
Understand I am not talking about evil things here, you don’t need me to warn you against doing things that you know are evil, but what about things that you enjoy doing that are not evil. They are just good things that you enjoy doing. What do you do with them when you come across verses like”
How do you keep them from becoming a “false god” or idol like the video proposed?
But what do we do with verses like
Tim Keller is well known to have said that “Every time you take a good thing and make it a “god” thing then it becomes a bad thing.”
-2
So it could be athletic sports, watching, playing or both
In other words, good things can become bad things when they become the most important things. How do you know if something is the most important thing to you? Well there is a simple test for this.
Anything in your life that you have to have in order to feel whole and complete is your functional god. Another way of saying that is that you have uncovered a “false god” in your life. And I have seen many people who would call themselves Christians, but they have oriented their lives around “good” things that are not giving them the satisfaction that they are looking for. These “good things” have become counterfeit gods in their lives. They are “false gods pretending to offer what only the true God can.
God wants to free His people by confronting false gods.
So if you haven’t already open up your Bibles to Exodus chapter 7, p. 49 in the BIbles in the chairs, I’ll pray and we will dive into God’s Word together.
I know I have struggled at times when I am doing something purely for the enjoyment of it. I get this twinge of guilt thinking that I could be spending this time in something with more Kingdom value like reading, studying or praying. Does that mean that I have made a “false god” out of that good thing?
1 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
1 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.
Does setting our mind on things above mean that we spend all our time praying, reading out Bible or going to Church?
There is something missing in both of those perspectives isn’t there. Maybe for personal, political or some other reason you could less about the Superbowl today, but what if you did? What if your team was in it and your whole family was getting together and you were excited about enjoying that experience with them. Would that be badon’t care about sports, but there are other things that you desire. Other things that if you had a free day you would really love to aim that day at this particular desire. Instead of anything having to do with sports...
If we are NOT to se tour minds on things that are on earth then does that mean we can’t enjoy anything unless it seems to be Spiritual?
It Could be hunting, fishing or camping
How do you keep them from becoming a “false god” or idol like the video proposed?
Like going to a Bible study to talk and laugh with friends would be ok, but what about going to a ball game to talk and laugh with friends? Can we somehow still be seeking things that are “above” even at a Superbowl party?
It could be reading, writing or painting
It could be scrap booking, quilting or weaving
It could be swimming, tanning or just hanging out at a beach
It could be singing, playing an instrument,
The point is that none of that the desire ese things are intrinsically evil, but whenever you make a good thing into a god thing it becomes a bad thing.
Tim Keller has said “That anytime you turn a good thing into a “God” thing then it becomes a bad thing”. I think there is a lot of truth to that and some of us may need to evaluate some of the priorities in our life to see if we have taken something good and made it something where we find our identiy. I have heard it said that anything that you think you cannot live without, is a functional god for you. Some of may need to evaluate our lives according to those truths.
but to get to the heart of it we are going to take what I see to be the long way. We are going to look at the Idolatry of the people of Egypt found in the book of Exodus and how God feed them from the false gods of their day and see how that might apply to how he frees us from false gods today.
Others of us might be struggling with other questions like “How can a Christian enjoy something here on earth, without it become Is there a place for a Christian to simply enjoy something here on earth without iand not have them become a “false god” or an “idol”. I think there is, and it will be a journey to get there but I believe that the story of the 10 plagues of Egypt can help us to find the way.
So if you haven’t already open up your Bibles to Exodus chapter 7, p. 49 in the BIbles in the chairs, I’ll pray and we will dive into God’s Word together.
Just keep your “stuff for God” stuff seperate from your stuff you enjoy and make sure the first bucket is fuller than the second.
Isolationist: A vbandoned everything except
But what if there was a third way? A way that we could appreciate those things on earth that we know are good for the good things they are while still making sure that we are still doing everything for God’s glory?
You see today we are going to be talking about how God freed his people from Egypt, but the truth is that he freed them from more than just the oppression of a foreign King. He freed them from the dependence on the system of gods and goddesses that they had become accustomed to.
Truth
Well last week we met a reluctant rescuer named Moses. He was an Israelite by birth, but he grew up in Pharaoh’s household as the adopted son of Pharaoh’s daughter. The Israelites came to Egypt in a peaceful way but when new leadership took the throne, every ethnic outsider was considered an enemy. So the Israelites, the people of YHWY began to be oppressed by the new Egyptian Pharaoh and they cried out in their suffering. YHWY, the God of their forefathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob heard their cries and raised up this reluctant rescuer named Moses. After working through a long list of excuses, Moses finally sets out on his way to see the most powerful man in his world. YHWY’s message was clear, tell Pharaoh to “Let My People Go”. Pharaoh knew a lot of “gods” but he did not know this God and so YHWY introduces himself in an intentional and incredible displays of His power.
Empty Wells you keep going back to, but never find satisfaction in…we need a little more then we will make it?
In Exodus chapter 7 God tells Moses exactly what will happen, even before it does.
Tim Keller that Idolatry is “Whenever you take a good thing and make it a “god” thing”
“Know that I am the LORD”
The Israelites were “serving” Pharaoh - God says to let my people go, that they may serve…7:16, 8:1,9:1, 10:3,
We try and manipulate God like Pharaoh did - just take away the judgement and we will obey, God does we don’t
1 And the Lord said to Moses, “See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron shall be your prophet.
God Frees His People…by confronting false gods ()
God Frees His People…by confronting false gods ()
The Egyptians have many gods and many prophets, so YHWY tells Moses that He and Aaron will at first be recieved in a similar manner - but then YHWY will distinguish himself in such a way that the people of Egypt will see the powerlessness of their “false gods” and prophets. YHWY continues:
Exodus 7:2-
1 And the Lord said to Moses, “See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron shall be your prophet. 2 You shall speak all that I command you, and your brother Aaron shall tell Pharaoh to let the people of Israel go out of his land. 3 But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, 4 Pharaoh will not listen to you. Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and bring my hosts, my people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great acts of judgment. 5 The Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring out the people of Israel from among them.” 6 Moses and Aaron did so; they did just as the Lord commanded them. 7 Now Moses was eighty years old, and Aaron eighty-three years old, when they spoke to Pharaoh.
2 You shall speak all that I command you, and your brother Aaron shall tell Pharaoh to let the people of Israel go out of his land. 3 But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, 4 Pharaoh will not listen to you. Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and bring my hosts, my people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great acts of judgment. 5 The Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring out the people of Israel from among them.” 6 Moses and Aaron did so; they did just as the Lord commanded them.
2 You shall speak all that I command you, and your brother Aaron shall tell Pharaoh to let the people of Israel go out of his land. 3 But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, 4 Pharaoh will not listen to you. Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and bring my hosts, my people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great acts of judgment. 5 The Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring out the people of Israel from among them.” 6 Moses and Aaron did so; they did just as the Lord commanded them. 7 Now Moses was eighty years old, and Aaron eighty-three years old, when they spoke to Pharaoh.
Why did God send these 10 plagues? To Free His People, yes. But he could have freed his people without all the drama. He could have just wiped out all the Egyptians off the face of the earth to set his people free. God says as much about two thirds of the way through the plagues. Speaking to Pharaoh the LORD YHWY says
15 For by now I could have put out my hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, and you would have been cut off from the earth. 16 But for this purpose I have raised you up, to show you my power, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth.
that is exactly what happens, but in this interchange God is after more than just judgement, He is making his name, his power and his glory known to the entire world. Every episode of the 10 plagues has some mention of the LORD (YHWY) becoming known. That would be a great exercise for you this week, to go through the story and identify each place where God is making himself known.
Exodus Eventually God does wipe our the Egyptians empire, but God is after more than just the freedom of His people. He wants the Egyptians to know Him and his judgement. Through these 10 wonders YHWY is making his name, his power and his glory known to the entire world. In every episode of the 10 plagues we find some mention of the LORD (YHWY) becoming known. That would be a great exercise for you this week, to go through the story and identify each place where God says that He is making himself known to the Egyptians.
Through these 10 wonders YHWY is making his name, his power and his judgement known to the entire world. In virtually every episode of the 10 plagues God says that he is sending this plague so that the name of the LORD (YHWY) will become known. Why is this so important? That God would make his name known? Because false gods don’t do this. False gods don’t make themselves known to people. It is people who make false gods known.
Why is this so important? That God made himself known? Because false gods don’t do this. False gods don’t make themselves known to people. It is people who make false gods known.
Remember when God first called Moses, what was one of his first questions? ‘Who should I say your are? What is your name?” Moses grew up in this system of “false gods” where new gods and prophets were popping up all over. When the Egyptians found a new problem to confront or a new question that they could not answer they would try out a new “god”. If sacrificing something to that new “god” worked - even for a short time - then they would continue to sacrifice to that new “god”. That is how they got this whole system of false gods in the first place. And it didn’t work. At best it was just a system of public manipulation. At worst, as the New Testament points to, it was allegiance to demonic forces. So...
If you are thinking deeply this morning then you can see how this behavior is very alive and well today. Much of secular counseling practice is based on this idea of chasing after the “new you” We will come back to this later, but in this story we can see how
As I already mentioned, our first theme for this week is that
Exodus 7:1-
Walking through the first 9 plagues
The line up with many of the Egyptian gods - but it was really about God being greater than the entire system of gods that they had set up.
God Frees His People…by confronting false gods (-6)
God Frees His People…by confronting false gods (-6)
Maybe this is the first time that you have heard about the connection between the false gods of Egypt and the specific nature of the 10 plagues. If you were to just read the text for the first 9 plagues you might see this as just a contest between YHWY and the rebellious king Pharaoh. But if you were to keep reading into the 10th and final plague you will find that God is specifically targeting the false gods of Egypt.
12 For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord.
We find this idea again in other summaries of this story in ; and Numbers 33:4. These are not random acts of judgement, but specific and intentional events to show the powerlessness of what the Egyptians and the children of Israel had come to trust as a “god”
So lets take a look at the first 9:
11 “Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?
9 And Jethro rejoiced for all the good that the Lord had done to Israel, in that he had delivered them out of the hand of the Egyptians. 10 Jethro said, “Blessed be the Lord, who has delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of Pharaoh and has delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians. 11 Now I know that the Lord is greater than all gods, because in this affair they dealt arrogantly with the people.”
Exodus 18:
3 They set out from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month. On the day after the Passover, the people of Israel went out triumphantly in the sight of all the Egyptians, 4 while the Egyptians were burying all their firstborn, whom the Lord had struck down among them. On their gods also the Lord executed judgments.
NILE RIVER TO BLOOD The first wonder that God performs is to turn the Nile River, along with all the water in Egypt into blood. Then Pharaoh calls in his magicians and they do the same thing. So Pharaoh does not let the Israelites go
Numbers
FROGS cover the land of Egypt, but the magicians again pull of a trick with some frogs. This time, however, Pharaoh promises to let the Israelites go if Moses can get rid of the frogs. Moses prays and God takes away the frogs, and Pharaoh takes away his promise.
GNATS God instructs Aaron to strike up dust with his staff and the dust in air turned into gnats which covered all the people and animals of Egypt. This time the magicians could not reproduce the sign. The Magicians even declare to Pharaoh “This is the finger of God” But Pharaoh hardened his heart and he would not listen to them and he would not let the God’s people go. So YHWY sends...
FLIES Flies fill the houses and land of Egypt, except this time God keeps the plague from the Israelites. The land of Goshen has no flies, but Pharaoh’s world is full of them. At this point in the story, Pharaoh tries his first compromise. He promises to let them go, but they can’t go too far. The flies are all removed, not one remained. But Pharaoh changes his mind again. So God kills off the...
LIVESTOCK God again makes a distinction between the Israelites and the Egyptians as all of the livestock of the Egyptians die, but the livestock of the Israelites are all fine. Still Pharaoh does not let the Israelites go.
BOILS So God sends Festering boils break out on the Egyptians and their animals. These boils were so painful that the magicians in Pharaoh’s court could not even stand up before Moses. But Pharaoh has crossed over the line, and from here on out the text says that “God hardened Pharaoh’s heart”. So Pharaoh does not let the Israelites go. So the LORD sent...
HAIL God told Pharaoh that since he was still exalting himself over God’s people he would send Hail like Egypt has never known. But again no hail will fall on God’s people.
In this plague we also get a glimpse of God’s mercy because He tells Pharaoh exactly when the hail will come, and instructs him to seek safe shelter for his people, flocks and herds. Isn’t that interesting? In the midst of his judgement, God is still showing himself merciful to those who will obey His Word. And some Egyptians did. But Pharaoh still did not let God’s people go. So God sent...
LOCUSTS to devour every tree and plant in the land of Egypt. In a sense this plague seems out of order to us. Everything else seems to be escalating in severity, but we have already had the insect issues? That is just because we don’t understand the devastation of locusts. If you have ever watched a movie set in the Middle east, you know the devastation of the locusts. The people feared locust more than just about anything. Seeing the devastation, Pharoah tries to compromise again. Somehow he still thinks that he has something to lay on the table. At this point, even Pharaoh’s advisors are telling him to let the Israelites go, they said, “Do you not understand, Egypt is ruined?” But the hardened heart of Pharaoh would not budge. So God sent...
DARKNESS covers the land of Egypt for three days. Three days of darkness - that sound New Testament familiar. This was an affront to the god that the Egyptians believed to be the most powerful god in all of Egypt - the Sun god Ra. Pharaoh was said to be the embodiment of this so called “god” and yet he was powerless to do anything to bring the sun back. Pharaoh again promises to let the Israelites go, but changes his mind.
Each one of these plagues were directed at making a complete mockery of the Egyptians system of gods and goddesses. I am not going to spend a great deal of time on this but I want you to at least hear some of these false gods names and the areas that they were said to govern over so that you can make some connections.
The Nile River was considered sacred as it brought sustenance to all of Egypt. There were many gods/goddesses that were protectors or guardians of the Nile like Apis, the bull god, god of the Nile; Isis, goddess of the Nile; Khnum, ram god, guardian of the Nile; and others
Isis, goddess of the Nile; Khnum, ram god, guardian of the Nile; others
Frogs were considered sacred, Heqet, goddess of birth and new life, she had a frog head (metamorphosis)
Gnats and Flies were a pestilence brought in from the wilderness so Set, god of the desert storms was supposed to protect them from Gnats and their god Uatchit, had a head of a fly. Sunu, the pestilence god
Flies their god Uatchit, had a head of a fly
Death of livestock cows were considered sacred in Egypt and they were protected by Hathor, goddess with a cow head; Apis, the bull god, both were symbols of fertility and life
Boils Sekhmet, goddess with power over disease; Sunu, the pestilence god; Isis, healing goddess
Hail & Locusts Nut, the sky goddess; Osiris, god of the crops and fertility; Set, god of the desert storms
L Nut, the sky goddess; Osiris, god of the crops and fertility
Darkness Ra, the sun god; Horus, a sun god; Nut, a sky goddess; Hathor, a sky goddess
In some ways it is really hard to relate to a culture so steeped in “false gods” like these, but if we look deeper we can see that their concerns were not all that different from ours today. As I look at the areas of Egyptian life that these so called “gods” were supposed to help them with, I can see a lot of same values that you and I hold today.
The Egyptians were really looking for help in three areas: Provision. Protection and Procreation
You can see how making a connection between what could be our “false gods” and what they served as false gods takes some deeper thinking, but as I look back over the areas that these “false gods” were trusted to handle in the Egyptians life I see three areas:
Provision - They wanted to provide for their families, which for them meant things going well in the areas of crop farming, animal farming and fishing. We do what we think we should to provide for our families?
Protection - They wanted to be protected from the ill effects of disease, natural disasters and pestilence. Don’t we use hospitals, medicine, bug sprays and weather alerts to protect our families from things like this? We would do whatever we could to protect our families from these things.
Procreation - they wanted to grow healthy families to carry on their family name and to make their culture strong. We each want these things for our families don’t we?
Aren’t these things that we order much of our lives around? Aren’t these things that we want to have success in too?
These seem like good things to want, so how did they go from wanting good things to setting up this system of “false gods”?
WhAren’t these things that we order much of our lives around? Aren’t these things that we want to have success in too?
These seem like good things to want, so how did they go from wanting good things to setting up this system of “false gods”?
Look at this list, aren’t these things “good things” that they wanted? So how did they go from wanting good things to such a messed up dependence on this system of “false gods”?
Aren’t these things that we order much of our lives around? Aren’t these things that we want to have success in too?
So their desires were not exactly wrong, but they clearly went wrong somewhere.
We strive to provide a good living for our families so that they can have the things they need to be healthy and grow strong. These seem like good things to want, so how did they go from wanting good things to setting up this system of “false gods”?
As I look over this shorter list I can’t help but see things that I put a lot of time into. Aren’t these things that we order much of our lives around? We strive to provide a good living for our families so that they can have the things they need to be healthy and grow strong. These seem like good things to want, so how did they go from wanting good things to setting up this system of “false gods”?
The problem was not that the Egyptian people wanted bad things, is was that they made these things their ultimate thing. That is how they landed in such a sea of Idolatry. These things were their ultimate things and so they were going to do whatever they thought they had to in order to secure these things for themselves. A polytheistic system of gods promised them some level of success in this.
heir own terms. This is what every other world religion is all about. The people wanted gods that would serve them, not the other way around. We talked about this before in our series in Galatians when we talked about “Christian Idolatry”.
Remember that everyone of these false gods were “gods” of something. They were not even known apart from the area of life that they oversaw. So when you wanted something from them, you had to find out which god will get that for you and then pray, pledge allegiance or sacrifice to that god until you got what you wanted. That is how it worked. It gave the appearance of being some sort of “spiritual” exchange but at the end of the day it was just about getting what you ultimately wanted.
If you know anything about Greek and Roman mythology, and I know very little, but even I know that these “gods” that the people worshiped were all gods of something. They oversaw some area of the human life. So if you wanted something then you had to get in good with a particular god.
You needed to pray to that particular god,
Pledge allegiance to that particular god,
Sacrifice things to that particular god and so on and so forth
In fact aren’t these the same things that God promised Abraham? That he would have a place. That he would have people. That he would be blessed and be a blessing.
Then that god might give you what it was that you wanted. Of course you never really knew that it would work because everyone knows that the gods are fickle and at times would just do whatever they wanted, but you increase your chances of getting the things you want from the that “false god” if you sacrifice to it. And it that never works with that god, then you would just try another god in hopes that this god would serve you in the way that you wanted.
When we look back over the story of the plagues, what we see over and over again is that the LORD (YHWY) was showing all of Egypt that He does not work that way. That is why we translate his name YHWY to LORD in english. He is the LORD, the one and only true God, the boss, the one in charge, the one who created all things, is sovereign over all things and will bring all things to his intended desire. So in stark contrast to a system of “gods and goddesses” where you can either please of appease them into serving you - YHWY demands that His people serve Him.
So this was a religious system in which you, like UG, did whatever you could to try and please a god or goddess who was in charge of some aspect of your life.
If you were a farmer wanted a good crop you would sacrifice to the god of agriculture
The problem is not that the Egyptian people wanted bad things, is that they wanted them on their own terms.
If you were a lover and you wanted a good mate you would sacriice to the goddess of love, desire & beauty
If you were a soldier who wanted to win a battle you would sacrifice to the god of war
If you were sick and wanted to get well you would sacrifice to the god of healing, medicine and truth.
You see the LORD didn’t just say, “Let my people go” He said, “Let my people go that they may serve me”
You never really knew if you did enough so you kept adding more things and more valuable things to point where we read even in Scripture of pagan people who were cutting themselves and even degrading themselves to the point where they would offer their own children to the gods in hopes that maybe that would be enough to sway the so called “god” to get what they felt they needed in whatever division of the human existence that “god” was said to oversee.
Understand that this is what the system of polytheism was all about, the reason that they had this
Can you imagine how exhausting this must have been. You had to keep track of all kinds of different gods, what aspect of your life they were in charge of. After that you needed to know what they liked best in their sacrifice and when they wanted it. Why? To make them “happy” with you so that they would do whatever it is that you felt like you needed from them.
And you have no way to know if it would even work. You were trapped in this never ending wheel of effort, that you never seemed to get ahead in no matter how hard you tried.
Enter the Gospel.
Let my people go that they may serve me!!!!
This is an entirely different way of relating to God. The polytheistic perspective is to work the system to get the gods to serve you, but our God YHWY says that His people must be free to serve Him.
Tell me that w
This is at the heart of Pharaohs war with the LORD (YHWY). The Israelites, all 2 million of them are his servants and he wanted to keep it that way. In fact when Moses and Aaron first approached Pharaoh back in chapter 5 that is exactly what he said,
4 But the king of Egypt said to them, “Moses and Aaron, why do you take the people away from their work? Get back to your burdens.”
Exodus 5:
And that is when he demanded that his Israelites slaves continue to produce just as many bricks, even though they had to go find their own materials. Obviously they couldn’t do this. No one could. So who do they go to? YHWY? The God of their forefathers? Nope they go to Pharaoh”
15 Then the foremen of the people of Israel came and cried to Pharaoh, “Why do you treat your servants like this? 16 No straw is given to your servants, yet they say to us, ‘Make bricks!’ And behold, your servants are beaten; but the fault is in your own people.”
Exodus 5:15
They figure that Pharaoh must not know that this is going on, so they appeal to him as “His servants”. So God says: “Let MY people go so that they may serve ME”
“Let MY people go so that they may serve ME”
It was not, Let these people go because they have cried out to me and I am going to serve them...” That is a “false god” approach. “YHWY isn’t looking for new lords, He is the LORD”. He is the one who is going to do this thing for his name, for His glory, in his judgement so that His people can serve him as the LORD that he is.
How will his people be able to do this? Understand that the Egyptians are not the bad guys and Israelites are the good guys. As a whole, the Israelites had given into the culture of the Egyptians. They were idol worshipers too. They were trying to get “false gods” to serve them too. The only difference was that the Children of Israel were the children of the promise. God made a promise to their forefathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and He always keeps his promises.
So how are these people of the promise supposed to relate to his new God that they know little to nothing about. God shows them. YHWY will execute one lass plague on the land of Egypt to free His people to serve Him, but he will set his people apart in a new and profound way. So he institutes the very first Celebration of the Passover.
So that God’s people would know his power and care for them
So that Egyptians would know how worthless their “gods” were
It is this very God will then execute one lass plague on the land of Egypt to free His people to serve Him.
In covering this much text, I had to choose just one thing to focus on the most. So I do not have the time available this morning to go into all the connections and foreshadowing of the Passover Celebration. The only reason I didn’t focus more on this part of the text is that we are going to have a fantastic opportunity to learn more about this Jewish Celebration in just two months. On Tues April 9 at 6:30pm we are going to have a presentation here at Friendship Church from Jews for Jesus on “Christ in the Passover”. The presenter will walk us through so many more connections than I would even be able to present to you if I had an entire sermon to dedicate to is. Make plans to attend that night, you will not want to miss it. There is more information in your program.
So that God would get the glory He deserves.
But for this morning we will simply read the text and point out the over arching truth that..
God Frees His People...by providing a perfect sacrifice ()
God Frees His People...by providing a perfect sacrifice ()
3 Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month every man shall take a lamb according to their fathers’ houses, a lamb for a household. 4 And if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his nearest neighbor shall take according to the number of persons; according to what each can eat you shall make your count for the lamb. 5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats, 6 and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight. 7 “Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. 8 They shall eat the flesh that night, roasted on the fire; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it. 9 Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted, its head with its legs and its inner parts. 10 And you shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn. 11 In this manner you shall eat it: with your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord’s Passover. 12 For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord. 13 The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt.
3 Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month every man shall take a lamb according to their fathers’ houses, a lamb for a household. 4 And if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his nearest neighbor shall take according to the number of persons; according to what each can eat you shall make your count for the lamb. 5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats, 6 and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight. 7 “Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. 8 They shall eat the flesh that night, roasted on the fire; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it.
God’s people did not have to try and come up with a sacrifice that would please or appease YHWY. That could never be done. YHWY doesn’t work that way. So instead, the LORD gave the children of Israel the instructions that they needed. The lambs that each family slaughtered that night would forever be a sign that points to the lamb of God that would be slaughtered on a cross to rescue all of us from sin, satan and death.
3 Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month every man shall take a lamb according to their fathers’ houses, a lamb for a household. 4 And if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his nearest neighbor shall take according to the number of persons; according to what each can eat you shall make your count for the lamb. 5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats, 6 and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight. 7 “Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. 8 They shall eat the flesh that night, roasted on the fire; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it. 9 Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted, its head with its legs and its inner parts. 10 And you shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn. 11 In this manner you shall eat it: with your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord’s Passover. 12 For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord.
Passover Lamb
The blood of the lamb would protect the Chldren of God from the final plague, the final judgement of God on Pharaoh, the death of all the first born sons. It is in this final plague that the Israelites were freed to leave and serve YHWY.
12 For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord.
Death of firstborn Min, god of reproduction; Heqet, goddess who attended women at childbirth; Isis, goddess who protected children; Pharaoh’s firstborn son considered a god
God Frees His People...by preserving life in the midst of judgement ()
God Frees His People...by preserving life in the midst of judgement ()
As God was preparing Moses for this even he said back in...
22 Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the Lord, Israel is my firstborn son, 23 and I say to you, “Let my son go that he may serve me.” If you refuse to let him go, behold, I will kill your firstborn son.’ ”
Exodus 4:
Many Egyptian false gods were said to be protectors of the next generation.
Death of firstborn Min, god of reproduction; Heqet, goddess who attended women at childbirth; Isis, goddess who protected children; but even more significant than any of them was the fact that Pharaoh’s firstborn son was considered divine - so in this final act Pharaoh knew that he was beaten.
29 At midnight the Lord struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of the livestock. 30 And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians. And there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where someone was not dead. 31 Then he summoned Moses and Aaron by night and said, “Up, go out from among my people, both you and the people of Israel; and go, serve the Lord, as you have said. 32 Take your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and be gone, and bless me also!”
Exodus 12:
Gospel Application
Of course this is not the end of the battle between YHWY and this arrogant Pharaoh and his “false gods”, we will return next week to talk about the crossing of the Red Sea. But now that we have covered how God dealt with false gods back then, I want to bring us back to the questions that we have on how he deals with false gods today.
Remember, at their root the Egyptians wanted good things too, so how do we keep the good things in our lives, things that we enjoy but that are not evil, from leading us into “Idol Worship” or worshiping false gods? How do we keep these good things from becoming our ultimate things?
I would like to offer you Three well known verses for this as we close:
I have seen two different ways of handling this:
Two Bucket Approach: Just keep your “For God” stuff like prayer, Bible reading and Church going separate from your “Just good stuff” like enjoying sports, fashion, hunting or sunsets. They you just have to do your best to make sure the first bucket is fuller than the second. The Bible seems to have a problem with this approach in verses like:
17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
What
2. Isolationist Approach: Abandoned everything except for those things that are clearly “God stuff” like Bible reading, prayer and church going. That’s what I saw happening in the life of that teenager who parents had come int to see me. But then you run into verses like:
4 For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, 5 for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer.
So neither of those two approaches seem to work well, but you probably can see what does work in the common idea that each of those verses have.
The answer to how to keep the truly good things in our lives from becoming our ultimate things is to remember where good things come from and give God thanks. That is why Idolatry is so tricky today because we are not talking about things that are evil in and of themselves. Two people could be enjoying the exact same experience and one of them is worshiping God in thanksgiving in praise and the other has made that experience their false god. Gratitude is the answer to Idolatry. In this way, we have recognized God as our ultimate thing, and every other things is simply an extension of His goodness. So when we give Him the glory for all the good things in our lives then we are serving Him and His purposes. And we are far from Idolatry. Here is what to remember:
17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.
Landing
If it truly is a good thing, then God is the one who gave it to you. If that is true then the answer to Idolatry is gratitude. Whatever you are doing, whether it is enjoying a football game with friends, hitting the lake with some fishing poles or spending time with your children or grandchildren as they laugh and play - all of those good things can be returned to God in praise and thanksgiving. The good gifts of God only become “false gods” when our enjoyment of them stops short of God receiving His glory for them.
Of course there is a warning in this as well. If you find yourself doing something you thought was a good thing, but you cannot find a way to thank God for it. Then you probably need to re-evaluate if that thing is truly a “Good” thing or not.
Let’s pray.
Did you know that what we celebrate as communion, is really Jesus’ rewiring of the Passover. So when we celebrate it, we are obeying God’s command to remember this memorial day throughout each generation. Let me invite you to spend a moment now in quiet prayer to remember the ultimate thing that God did for us through Jesus’ death and resurrection from the cross.
Revelation will bring these judgments too.....
But what if there was a third way? A way that we could appreciate those things on earth that we know are good for the good things they are while still making sure that we are still doing everything for God’s glory?
God created all things and he gives every perfect gift wants us to serve him in all things -
When we stop at the