Week Six: Jesus and Moses

· We want our listeners to understand that the superiority of Jesus to Moses must be grounded in the perfect life of Jesus and His resurrection from the dead.

· We want our listeners to create an “I will statement” of obedience to King Jesus.

Dominant Thought: The Risen Jesus is the Raised-up prophet.

INTRO:

Back in September, Michael and I were in a class on the Psalms with Dr. J.K. Jones at Lincoln Christian University. The idea came to us that we should team preach. That following Sunday, one of our members, Jerry Lynch, said, “I think you two should team preach. So, here we are today on stage together to speak about Jesus and Moses.

So, Michael quick question, I know that answer, but who are you rooting for in today’s Super Bowl between the Chiefs and the Bucaneers? (Warren is also rooting for Chiefs)

Today, we begin week 6 of our Core 52 journey. Our core verse is Deuteronomy 18:18 (NIV), “18 I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their fellow Israelites, and I will put my words in his mouth. He will tell them everything I command him.” We have summarized this message this way, “The Risen Jesus is the Raised-up prophet.”

In our time today, we will look at three ways that Risen Jesus is the Raised Up Prophet.

1) Jesus is the Perfect Prophet. [Warren]

Deuteronomy 18:18 (NIV)

18 I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their fellow Israelites, and I will put my words in his mouth. He will tell them everything I command him.

Moses was called a prophet. In fact, the epitaph for Moses is found in Deuteronomy 34:10 (NIV), “10 Since then, no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face,” Throughout the gospels, Jesus is viewed as a prophet. From the woman at the well in John 4.19 to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24.19). Both Moses and Jesus were viewed as prophets who were close to God and spoke God’s words.

However, Moses was an imperfect prophet. On two specific occasions, scripture records how Moses sinned. The first picture we have of Moses as an adult is found in Exodus 2. Moses is walking through Egypt watching his own people working as slaves for the Egyptians. Moses saw an Egyptian taskmaster beating a fellow Hebrew. Moses looked both ways and killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand (Exodus 2.12). That sin becomes public and Pharaoh tried to kill Moses. Moses flees for to the land of Midian.

Fast forward in Moses’ life. He is leading the people through the wilderness. In Numbers 20, the community of Israel is in need of water. Several hundred thousand people and no water. The people are thirsty and quarreling. They gather in opposition to Moses and Aaron. Moses and Aaron meet with the Lord and the Lord instructs Moses, “Take your staff and speak to the rock before the eyes of the people and water will pour out” (Numbers 20.8).

Moses gathered the people and said to them, “Listen, your rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?” Then Moses raised his hands and struck the rock with his staff twice. Water came out. Problem solved right? Wrong.

Listen to God’s response to Moses and Aaron. Numbers 20:12 (NIV), “Because you did not trust in me enough to honor me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them.”

Moses’ sin caused him to miss out on entering the Promised land. He would lead the people through the wilderness for forty years and only see the land from a glimpse because he could not keep his anger under control and trust in God enough to honor Him.

Enter Jesus. In Matthew four, the Holy Spirit led Jesus to the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights in the wilderness, Jesus encountered three temptations from the devil. One, command these stones to become bread. Two, throw yourself down for God will command his angels to lift you up. Three, I will give you all the kingdoms of the world if you will bow down and worship me.

Jesus encountered each temptation from the evil one with Scripture that was in his heart and on his lips. With each temptation, Jesus countered with the words from the prophet, “It is written.” Each Scripture that Jesus quotes to the devil was from Deuteronomy. Guess who most people think wrote down the words of Deuteronomy? Answer: Moses. Moses wrote down the words that Jesus would pick up and slay the temptations of the evil one to the ground.

Moses was a great prophet, but was imperfect. He murdered an Egyptian and dishonored God in the presence of others. Jesus is the perfect prophet who overcame the temptations of the evil one. In Hebrews 4:15 (NIV), we read that Jesus “…has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.”

When I think about dealing with temptation, I think back to our junior high youth group when our youth leaders would remind us of James 4.7, “Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” When I feel tempted, I try to reach out to someone for help or not be alone.

Michael, what helps you when you are tempted? I want to you to speak to that and then lead us into another way Jesus is the raised up prophet.

Michael: That reminds me of the acronym HALT. HALT, when you are hungry, angry, lonely, or tired because those are the moments that we are most vulnerable.

But something that I’ll never forget is a preacher saying, “It is really hard to sin if you’re thinking about God.” And that’s true. So, one of the best ways I know to overcome temptations is to quote and meditate on Scripture, like Jesus did. For example, it’s difficult for me to sin while I’m in the middle of telling myself, “I am God’s masterpiece, created in Christ Jesus to do good works.” The two just don’t go together well! So I think following the model of Jesus and having God’s words in our mouths helps us overcome temptations.

But not only did Jesus have God’s words in his mouth to defeat sin, he also had God’s words on his mouth to teach his followers how to live the Good Life. The second way Jesus is the raised up prophet is that…

2) Jesus is the Final Lawgiver. [Michael]

Deuteronomy 18:18 (NIV)

18 I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their fellow Israelites, and I will put my words in his mouth. He will tell them everything I command him.

About 13-1500 years before Jesus, Moses was the first Lawgiver. We hear about the story in the book of Exodus 19 through the rest of the book. This is just after the Israelites had been delivered from Egyptian slavery, and God basically says to them, “I want you as my people. I want to enter a covenant, a relationship with you.”

So on a mountain, called Mount Sinai, God called Moses to meet with him. Exodus 24.12 gives us this picture. It says, “The LORD said to Moses, “Come up to me on the -mountain and stay here, and I will give you the tablets of stone with the law and commandments I have written for their instruction.” Fast forward to verses 15-18, and it says: When Moses went up on the mountain, the cloud covered it, and the glory of the LORD settled on Mount Sinai. For six days the cloud covered the mountain, and on the seventh day the LORD called to Moses from within the cloud. To the Israelites the glory of the LORD looked like a consuming fire on top of the mountain. Then Moses entered the cloud as he went on up the mountain. And he stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights.” It was there, on that mountain, that the Lord began to speak with Moses, and he told him the 10 Commandments and the other laws that the people were supposed to follow to be in a relationship with the Holy God of the universe. So, when Moses came down, he taught the Israelites these Laws. Moses was the first Law Giver.

But what we find out quickly in the story of Israel is that though they had these laws, they often missed the point of them. In fact, a constant refrain through the Old Testament goes something like this, “These people honor me with their lips but their hearts are far from me” (cf. Isa. 29.13; 58.2-3; Ezek. 33.31-33; Mt. 15.7-9). There was a heart issue that the Law just couldn’t fix.

So, Jesus comes along as the Final Law Giver. Just like Moses, in Matthew 5.1-2, Jesus goes up on a Mountain (sound familiar) and begins to teach his followers the words that God has placed on his mouth (see Deut. 18.18). And he begins to teach about how to live the good life, a life that is pleasing to God. And here, Jesus does not denigrate or talk bad about the first Law or the first law-giver, Moses. Instead, he says he has come and fulfilled the Law. In Matthew 5.17, he says, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” And so Jesus wants people to know he has come as the Final Law-giver, and teaches us what the Law was always intending for us to do.

So Jesus sums this up for us, first in Mt 6.33, “Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added to you.” My translation, love God first. Then he says in Mt. 7.12, “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.” In other words, Jesus, the Final Law-giver wants us to know that his law is to 1) Love God and 2) Love Others with everything we have. We never graduate from these two commands. They are what the Christian life is all about, and they will never pass away. Jesus later says in Mt. 24.35, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.”

Jesus is our final Law-Giver. And since he commands us to love God and love others, we should probably do that. But what does it look like for us to truly love God? We could talk about a lot of different ways, but I’ve become more and more convinced over this last year, that if we want to love God, we HAVE to spend time with him. It’s like any other relationship, whether it is a marriage or friendship, we have to spend time with them to love them well.

I was on a plane recently listening to a podcast and they quoted this section of the book by John Mark Comer called the Ruthless Elimination of Hurry. And here’s the quote from the book, “Most of us have more than enough time to work with, even in busy seasons of life. We just have to reallocate our time to “seek first the kingdom of God,” not the kingdom of entertainment. And on the rare occasion (and it is very rare) that somebody genuinely does not have time… I gently suggest that they are simply too busy, then, to follow Jesus.”

I was so struck by that quote because I know how easy it is, even as a pastor, to not spend time with God. This world is constantly pulling at us from so many directions, from our phones to social media to Netflix to our jobs… and we neglect the one who matters most.

And so one way I’ve been trying to love God lately is by being more intentional about spending time with him in the morning. I have my place at our breakfast table every morning where I listen through my Bible plan, and spend some time in prayer because I know if I wait until the end of the day… I’m not going to do it. And so one way to love God is by simply spending time with him.

Secondly, Jesus calls us to love others. So, I wanted to bring the question to you, Warren, since you embody loving others more than most people I know, how do you find ways to love others in your life?

Warren: I have a prayer list that I pray for lots of people each day. I set a goal to pray through the congregation each week. Praying for others is a way to love others. I also pray things like, “Help me to show compassion of Jesus in real ways.” Last week, I shoveled the snow on our front sidewalk. As I pulled out of my driveway, I remembered one of our widows asked if I could put some salt on her driveway a couple of weeks ago from a previous snow. I thought, “I bet her driveway could use some attention and in the next day or two her daughter would come for a visit. She doesn’t need to get out on a slippery drive.” So, I took my shovel and fifteen minutes and shoveled some snow and checked her furnace filters.

What’s cool is that loving others has a multiplying power. Afterwards, when I pulled into the church lot, one of our men was just finishing plowing the parking lot. He had a big smile on his face because he had the opportunity to love others and serve his church family. Loving others has a multiplying effect on others because we serve a risen Lord which leads us to the third way that Jesus is the raised-up prophet.

3) Jesus is the Risen Lord. [Warren] Deuteronomy 18:18 (NIV), “18 I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their fellow Israelites, and I will put my words in his mouth. He will tell them everything I command him.”

The third way Jesus is the raise up prophet is that He is the risen Lord. However, before we get to the rising from the dead, we must acknowledge that He died. On the night before Jesus died, he celebrated a special meal with his disciples. We call it the last supper. Jesus and Moses would have called it Passover.

Moses presided over the first Passover in Exodus 12. The Passover was the tenth and final plague against Egypt. The plague brought death to the firstborn throughout Egypt, unless the home had he blood of the lamb over the door. Exodus 12:13 (NIV), “13 The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.” The blood protected God’s people from death. It became an annual celebration that God’s people were commanded to celebrate and remember that God rescued His people from Egypt.

On the night before Jesus died on the cross, He met with his disciples and they celebrated the Passover meal to remember God’s deliverance of His people from slavery. As they are celebrating the Passover meal, Matthew tells us what Jesus said.

Matthew 26:26–29 (NIV)

26 While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body.”

27 Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. 28 This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. 29 I tell you, I will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”

As we think about Jesus as the Raised-Up Prophet, we must remember that He died as the perfect Passover lamb for the sins of the world. We celebrate a risen Savior, one that we will discuss more in detail in a moment, but I want to lead us in a time of communion before we focus on what Jesus did after the cross.

At this time, I invite that you gather your communion supplies. Let’s celebrate together, this meal that Jesus gave us to remember and celebrate His saving love. The bread represents the body of Christ that died and rose from the grave. The juice represents the blood of Jesus poured out for the forgiveness of sins.

Let’s pray. Risen Lord Jesus, our perfect Passover lamb who rescues us from sin, we celebrate your faithfulness and ask that we remember you well in this moment. We, also, look forward to the day when we will celebrate with you in the Father’s kingdom. Amen.

The good news is not solely in the death of Christ. Both Moses and Jesus died. However, Jesus rose from the grave. Our faith literally raises on the resurrection of Jesus. In fact, the words from Deuteronomy 18.18 where God says, “I will raise up a prophet.” That word is used later in the New Testament to describe Jesus raising from the dead.

After Jesus rose from the dead, he gave a command to His disciples to make disciples. Since Jesus fulfilled the command of God to give His life, now the Risen Lord gives a command to His disciples in Matthew 28.16-20:

16 Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Dale Allison in his book, The New Moses, wrote, “Jesus at the end of his earthly ministry he told his disciples to go into all the world and teach observance of all the commandments uttered by the new Moses; and then he promised his abiding presence” (p. 266). Mark Moore in our Core 52 book wrote, “The superiority of Jesus to Moses must be grounded in the perfect life of Jesus and His resurrection from the dead” (p. 43).

Jesus commands his disciples to teach people to obey everything He commanded. Where would you like to start? Everything must start with something. Michael, please give us some examples of how to form an “I will” statement from the Scriptures we’ve studied today.

Michael: What’s your “I will” statement? Obedience based discipleship.

I think this is where the rubber meets the road. The Bible is soooo massive you can learn so many things! And that’s great! But if that head knowledge does not turn into a heart transformation, then we are wasting our time with the Bible. So how does that transformation happen?

Well, we have to obey Jesus. I think every passage in the Bible (if we truly have ears to hear) is calling us to have some kind of response. So,with the teenagers I disciple, we always ask, “What is my I-will statement?” What will I do to obey Jesus that is specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time based (SMART) to obey Jesus this week?

So here are some examples for today. We first talked about Jesus as the perfect prophet, and we looked at his temptation account. He quoted Scripture during his temptation. So maybe an I will statement after reading this would be, “I will memorize James 4:7, ‘resist the devil so that he will flee from you’ so that the next time I am in temptation I can be equipped and ready to overcome that temptation by the power of the Holy Spirit.

We also talked about Jesus as the Final Law-giver, and Jesus sums up that Law by saying 1) Love God and 2) Love Others. So maybe an I will statement from that passage would be: “I will give my neighbor a batch of cookies on Tuesday to show them they are loved.” That’s one way to write an “I will” statement.

And then lastly, we talked about Jesus as the Risen Lord. And maybe you were struck by the doubt of the some of the disciples, or you just resonate with their fear. So maybe your I will statement would be something like, “Every morning, the first thing I will tell myself is that ‘I am strong and courageous because the LORD is always with me.”

So these are just some examples on how to obey Jesus. And this is not about trying to ‘earn God’s love’ because we already have God’s love. We see that in the cross of Jesus. This is all about showing God that we love him back. Jesus as the risen Lord says these words in John 14.15, “If you love me, you will keep my commands.”

So, I think that verse forces us to ask two questions, and I want to ask these questions to sum up our time together: 1) Do you love Jesus? It’s okay, wherever you are on the spectrum. You just want to encourage you to continue exploring more about him. 2) What is your next step with him? What is your “I will…” statement? Jesus is the raised up prophet, so he deserves our praise, our obedience and our worship.

Let’s pray.

Week 6 in Core 52 by Mark Moore

(These daily guides accompany the book, Core 52, by Mark Moore.)

Day 1: Read the essay.

Day 2: Memorize Deuteronomy 18.18.

Day 3: Read Exodus 2-3.

Day 4: Meditate on Joh 5.45-47; Acts 13.39; 1 Corinthians 10.1-4.

Day 5: Ask someone at work or school what the current president of the United States would have to do in order to be remembered as greater than George Washington. After he or she answers, share this concept of Jesus being greater than Moses, and us it as an opportunity to make Jesus famous in that person’s eyes.

Overachiever Challenge: Memorize Acts 13.33.

Bonus Read: Dale C. Allison, Jr., The New Moses: A Matthean Typology.

Moses and Jesus Sermon Notes

Comparing Moses and Jesus

- Moses went into exile, as did Jesus until the king seeking his life died. This was an event supernaturally communicated. Both return from exile with their family.

o Cf. Mt. 2.19-11 // Exod. 4.19-20

o “Just as there is an infancy narrative in the Book of Exodus showing God’s hand in his career even before he began his ministry of redeeming Israel from Egypt and of mediating a covenant between God and His people, so Matthew has given us an infancy narrative of Jesus before he begins his ministry of redemption and of the new covenant.” (Allison, 165)

- “As Israel entered the desert to suffer a time of testing, so too Jesus, whose forty days was the typological equivalent of Israel’s forty years of wandering. And just as Israel was tempted by hunger (Exod. 16.2-8), was tempted to put God to the Test (Exod. 17.1-3; cf. Deut. 6.16), and was tempted to idolatry (Exodus 32), so too Jesus.” (Allison, 166)

o Cf. Mt. 4.1-11 // Exod. 16-17

- Jesus goes up on a mountain, sits down, and authoritatively teaches the Law like Moses does at Mt. Sinai.

o Cf. Mt. 5.1-2 // Exod 19-20; Deut. 9.9 (yashab, sit)

o Cf. Mt. 5.17-48 where Jesus teaches Christians authoritatively how to live- instructions for the good life.

- Mt 14.13-21; 15.29-39 as an allusion to the manna in Exod. 16 or Numbers 11?—Moses fed the people the manna. Jesus IS the manna!

§ Possible Sequence offered by Allison, 268

· Mt. 1-2 Exod. 1.1-2.10 infancy narrative

· Mt. 3.13-17 Exod. 14.10-31 crossing of water

· Mt. 4.1-11 Exod. 16.1-17.7 wilderness temptation

· Mt. 5-7 Exod. 19.1-23.33 mountain of lawgiving

· Mt. 11.25-30 Exod. 33.1-23 reciprocal knowledge of God

· Mt. 17.1-9 Exod. 34.29-35 transfiguration

· Mt. 28.16-20 Dt. 31.7-9; Jsh. 1.1-9 successor

Core verse: Deuteronomy 18:18 (NIV)

18 I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their fellow Israelites, and I will put my words in his mouth. He will tell them everything I command him.

Objectives:

· We want our listeners to see the Scriptural connections between Moses and Jesus.

· We want our listeners to understand that the superiority of Jesus to Moses must be grounded in the perfect life of Jesus and His resurrection from the dead.

· We want our listeners to take a specific act of obedience to what Jesus says.

Sermon Type: Team preaching sermon, where Michael and Warren stay on stage together and dialogue/converse about these five themes.

Dominant Thought Ideas: In Jesus, the Lord RAISED up a prophet like Moses. Jesus fulfills what Moses began.

We could play on the word, “raise” ultimately pointing to resurrection, but in two other ways: 1) to raise/grow/bring forth; and 2) raise as in increase, get better. We could label them, “Moses was good...Jesus was better.”

Let’s choose five comparisons between Moses and Jesus and keep the N.T. texts with Matthew.

1. Temptation: The Lord raised up one defeats temptation.

a. It is written.

b. This is a cool perspective to reflect on Matthew 4 and the Deuteronomy passages that Moses wrote. Moses wrote down the words that Jesus would pick up and slay the temptations of the evil one to the ground.

c. What Jesus gains in Matthew 28.16-20 from the Father, he earlier refused from the tempter (Matt. 4.8-10) (Allision, p.171).

d. Temptation of haste, Irenaeus argued that Adam and Eve’s sins wasn’t arrogance or gluttony or lust or greed. But haste. (Between 2 Trees, p. 165, Irenaeus, Against Heresies 4.38.4; also 3.16.7)

e. This could be a good moment in the sermon to address that we wish our lives away or try to do things out of sequence, when the time is not right, we are not ready. Example, sex is beautiful in context of marriage, but when people rush into sexual relationship before marriage, then trouble comes. Satan tried offer something to Jesus that was already His. He also tried to offer Him a crown without a cross that was not in the plan.

f. Moses sinned when he struck the rock, but Jesus did not sin. Did Moses strike stone out of anger, haste, disobedience?

2. Lawgivers: The Lord raised up a New Lawgiver.

a. Jesus did not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it (Matt 5.17)

b. Beatitudes: Meekness (Matt 5.5; Num 12.3). Meek will inherit the earth in Matthew, Moses didn’t get to enter the land. (lesser to greater, Allison, p 181).

c. Pure in heart will see God (Matt 5.8)

3. Transfiguration: The Lord raised up His glory. (This one has always been hard for me to get my mind around).

a. Listen to him...Deut. 18.15

4. Last Supper/Passover: The Lord raised up a complete rescue.

a. could connect with rescue from sins/slavery

5. Death/Resurrection/Commission: The Lord raised up His Son.

a. “Jesus at the end of his earthly ministry he told his disciples to go into all the world and teach observance of all the commandments uttered by the new Moses; and then he promised his abiding presence.” (Allison 266)

b. The superiority of Jesus to Moses must be grounded in the perfect life of Jesus and His resurrection from the dead. (Moore, Core 52, p. 43)

c. Action Step: Jesus commands us to obey everything. Where would you like to start this week? Examples from Moses/Jesus: Want to trust God for daily bread/manna? Want to memorize Scripture to meet temptation? Want to address your anger so you don’t miss out on the blessings from God?

6. Infancy (infants were killed when both were born).

7. Names: Moses—saved from water, Jesus—Savior

8. Egypt/Exodus: rescue

9. Miracles (Allison 208): The Lord raised up...I would consider switching this out for the Transfiguration.

a. Daily Bread; Feeding the multitudes/Manna.

10. Shepherds (Matt. 9.35-38)

We could use some of these connections in 6-10 as passing comments in the introduction to set up the comparison before diving into the main five. I chose five to go with five books of Moses.

What’s the connection with the Holy Spirit between these two?

--Holy Spirit inspired Pentateuch

--Spirit rested on the prophets

--Holy Spirit at baptism; strong east wind drove the sea back (Ex. 14.21)

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