The Hardship of Obedience

Introduction

Growing up I sometimes heard people say ‘Come to Jesus and He will take your problems away’. What a comforting phrase, right? If one gives their heart to Christ, things will get better. He will give you a better life. It would usually be added that Your burdens He will bear. There is some scriptural truth to these last two statements. To know God, that is to have an intimate relationship with Him, is to have peace with God () and eternal life (). The psalm writer in tells to cast our burden on the Lord. Peter repeats this true in . We repeatedly see the psalmist crying out to the Lord and bringing their petitions to Him. It is a biblical truth that God will give us the strength to endure. He will make a way of escape so that we don’t succumb to our trails. He will not let us fall. The first statement is somewhat problematic. Sometimes our problems don’t go away as our text today clearly demonstrates.

A point of clarification is in order. When I say this statement is somewhat problematic I don’t mean that one’s struggle with addiction of any sort can’t be overcome. Certainly the Spirit of God can deliver us from these things even as he breaks the chains of sin. What I mean is that the journey of the Christian life is not free of problems. Again we will see this a we move through our text.

Background

We find ourselves in Egypt just after Moses confronts Pharaoh. He has been confronted with the reality of Yahweh. He has been told that their is a God above him, the God of the Hebrews, who demands the release of His people. We saw last week Pharaoh asks the question, who is the Lord? Our text today shows his initial response and it is bad for God’s people.

It is simply untrue that salvation equals a problem free life. It is not true for the teenager seeking to serve the Lord in a school environment that ridicules their faith and calls them bigoted. It is not easy for the single man of woman seeking to stay faithful to God’s word in a sex saturated culture and environment. It is not easy to follow the rules when others are breaking them without impunity or consequence. Here is a more concrete example from Tony Merida: “You and your family leave your life behind in the States and head for the mission field. When you get there, your wife contracts a rare disease. Maybe you would wonder, “Why Lord? Didn’t You send us here?””[1]. This was the question Moses was faced with after Israel’s suffering increased. How are we to respond?

Pharaoh opposes God and oppresses His people

Verses 6 -14: Not only does Pharaoh refuse to obey, he responds by increasing his oppression of God’s people. He does so by beginning with the words ‘Thus says Pharaoh’. Pharaoh received a decree from the LORD and responds by issuing his own decree. This confirms his intent to oppose God and His messenger. This foreign god won’t tell him what to do. I can’t help but to think of Adam and Eve in the garden where they choose to cast off the life giving decree of God. It was a disaster for humanity even as Pharaohs’ action will be a disaster for Egypt and himself. Moses’s request for freedom of worship for the people is met with increased hardship. Most of the structures in Egypt were not made of stones but mud bricks. These bricks were made using a combination of clay mixed with straw. The Pharaoh’s of Egypt needed large numbers of these bricks all its building projects. Let me make a quick apologetic point: If one goes to the Field Museum in Chicago they can see bricks from the ancient Egyptian city of Dashur which will have visible strands of straw. We also have ancient text indicating the existence and fulfillment of quota’s. Critical OT Scholar Brevard Child remarks: “This section reflects a remarkably accurate historical knowledge of Egyptian slave-labor organization and its building techniques” [1] Efficient large scale projects received that those making the bricks had a ready supply of straw on hand. Pharaoh removed this supply and told the people to find their own, making their jobs much more difficult. He is doing this to discredit Moses and discourage the people so they ignore and forget the word of the Lord. The people have stopped working and have been worshipped the Lord, challenging his divinity and power. This can’t continue so he gives them a nearly impossible task: continue making the same # of bricks while having to gather your own straw. We know this can’t be done because it isn’t done. As a result the Israelite foreman are chastised and beaten () This isn’t surprising. This is what the Lord said would happen. This leads to our first point.

Service to the Lord does not equate with a life of ease or prosperity. OT Scholar Douglas Stuart makes an important point that: “God’s people must not assume that carrying out His commands will increase their own comfort.”[2] For Christians today, it must be stressed that the NT nowhere promises a life of ease for our obedience. The first few centuries of church history demonstrate this fact. An excellent representation of this is the movie Paul, Apostle of Christ. Paul was often beaten and jailed for his faithful service to the Lord. He sometimes found himself lacking all that he needed (). Yet he remained faithful because he believed God and His promises. This is we must do. Our second point follows from this first one: We often don’t know how the opposition will come. While Moses was told to expect opposition, he was not told the manner of opposition he would face. The same is true for us. We don’t necessarily know when and how opposition and persecution will come. We just know it will. But we should be encouraged to know that God knows and is sovereign over all. We must remember that He has already achieved the victory and we will inherit in the end. As David says, we must set the Lord always before us, knowing that the Lord at our right hand will keep us from being moved.

The people turn against Moses

Verses 15 - 21: The foremen approach Pharaoh concerning their mistreatment. They had been faithful in meeting their quota. Their inability to do so now comes from the decision of Pharaoh, not sluggishness on their part. They can’t do their jobs properly if they also have to gather straw themselves. The foremen’s willingness to confront Pharaoh shows us it is not wrong to confront leaders when they are acting unjustly. We don’t need to have a fatalist mindset. God has called to us to do justice () and seek justice (). If justice is not being rendered, the people of God can and must pursue it. While we do we must keep in mind that doing and seeking justice doesn’t equal salvation. It is the outgrowth of the regenerated heart as it is being sanctified. Pharaoh’s treatment is the nature of unjust persecution. It is not based on wrongness of the part of the faithful but the malice of the persecutor, usually someone in power. Peter clarifies the difference between the two. (, ) They are being punished for something they don’t have control over. More to the point, the reason for this is their desire to worship the Lord. This must be stopped and Pharaoh knows just the way to do. What Pharaoh doesn’t understand is oppressing God’s people hasn’t stopped God’s plan ‘til now (,, ) There is nothing to can stop the plan of God. His will shall be done and His people shall be gathered to Him. Praise the name of the Lord.

Unfortunately, the reaction of the people is not so positive. Their reaction to their increased hardship is to lash out at the messenger. They blame Moses and Aaron for the suffering, not the person actually responsible. They call upon God to judge them for the harm caused: ‘Now they hate us and want to kill us’. In seeing the reaction of the people, I am reminded of the words of Christ in ,. These words were spoken in context of the parable of the sower and this particular portion speaks of those whom initially receive the word with joy but fall away upon persecution. This causes them to forget to the word they heard. This is what appeared to have happened with the people here. In light of what they had been told by Moses, a better response would’ve been the words of the psalmist for the Lord to hear knowing that He will answer them. ()

Practical Application

It is simply untrue that salvation equals a problem free life. It is not true for the teenager seeking to serve the Lord in a school environment that ridicules their faith and calls them bigoted. It is not easy for the single man or woman seeking to stay faithful to God’s word in a sex saturated culture and environment. It is not easy to follow the rules when others are breaking them without impunity or consequence. If you don’t believe me let me direct you to several Christian business owners. Here is a more concrete example from Tony Merida: “You and your family leave your life behind in the States and head for the mission field. When you get there, your wife contracts a rare disease. Maybe you would wonder, “Why Lord? Didn’t You send us here?””[3]. This was the question Moses was faced with after Israel’s suffering increased. How are we to respond?

The gospel message brings both hope and hardship, salvation and judgment, joy and wrath. As the people of God we have a great inheritance. As the people of God we will have great toil along the way. There will be times like to psalmist when we ask: Lord, How long ()? We may even ask Why, Lord (). When this happens we must remember that: 1) God is Sovereign, 2) God told us this would happen, and 3) God will bring both victory and judgment. The same David that asked ‘how long?’ also declared ‘I have set the Lord always before me; because he is a my right hand I shall not be moved’. Our country is moving, practically running away from righteousness. As this continues we can expect things to get worse not better. As the happens we must stand firm on the word of God.

Gospel Application

I spoke earlier about the somewhat problematic claim that coming to Jesus means your problems will go away. I will again make another important clarification. There is one big problem that we do have: The wrath and judgment of God. This is because we are sinners in rebellion against Him. We are all in our own way Pharaoh in that we have refused to obey His law. Because God is holy and just, He cannot allow this to go unresolved and unpunished. This is a big problem indeed. The good news is this problem doesn’t have to remain. Jesus Christ came to save sinners. All who place their trust in Him shall be saved. If this is not you I call you to repent and believe the gospel. Acknowledge and confess your sin. Asked for forgiveness and to be received into His kingdom. Place your trust in Christ, recognizing that your only hope is found in God’s grace and faith in Christ alone, not in your good deeds. You will be saved. Don’t delay. Repent and believe the gospel today. Amen.

1. Brevard S. Childs, The Book of Exodus: A Critical, Theological Commentary (Lousiville: Westminster, 1974), p. 95 cited in Philip Graham Ryken, Exodus: Saved for God's Glory, (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2005), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, 151.

2. Stuart, D. K. (2006). Exodus (Vol. 2, p. 164). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.

3. Tony Merida, Exalting Jesus in Exodus, ed. David Platt, Daniel L. Akin, Tony Merida, (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman, 2014), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, 35

Biblical Studies Press. (2005). The NET Bible First Edition; Bible. English. NET Bible.; The NET Bible. Biblical Studies Press.