How tO Serve God Effectively

introduction

Exodus 4:18–31 CSB

Then Moses went back to his father-in-law, Jethro, and said to him, “Please let me return to my relatives in Egypt and see if they are still living.” Jethro said to Moses, “Go in peace.” Now in Midian the Lord told Moses, “Return to Egypt, for all the men who wanted to kill you are dead.” So Moses took his wife and sons, put them on a donkey, and returned to the land of Egypt. And Moses took God’s staff in his hand. The Lord instructed Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, make sure you do before Pharaoh all the wonders that I have put within your power. But I will harden his heart so that he won’t let the people go. And you will say to Pharaoh: This is what the Lord says: Israel is my firstborn son. I told you: Let my son go so that he may worship me, but you refused to let him go. Look, I am about to kill your firstborn son!” On the trip, at an overnight campsite, it happened that the Lord confronted him and intended to put him to death. So Zipporah took a flint, cut off her son’s foreskin, threw it at Moses’s feet, and said, “You are a bridegroom of blood to me!” So he let him alone. At that time she said, “You are a bridegroom of blood,” referring to the circumcision. Now the Lord had said to Aaron, “Go and meet Moses in the wilderness.” So he went and met him at the mountain of God and kissed him. Moses told Aaron everything the Lord had sent him to say, and about all the signs he had commanded him to do. Then Moses and Aaron went and assembled all the elders of the Israelites. Aaron repeated everything the Lord had said to Moses and performed the signs before the people. The people believed, and when they heard that the Lord had paid attention to them and that he had seen their misery, they knelt low and worshiped.

It is history that teaches us to hope.”

That’s a profoundly Christian view of history. We see so little. Only God sees the big picture. We get discouraged because what we see often makes no sense.

Only God sees the big picture

History teaches us to hope.

That’s the advantage of studying history from God’s point of view. It gives us hope!

We get impatient. We want progress. We demand action.

God says, “Check back with me in a hundred years.”

Old church would say.. You will understand it better by and by.

Only in this case, it’s more like 80 years, At long last, Moses is about to deliver his people. He’s gotten his marching orders.

He’s ready to face Pharoah—almost!

Let’s remind ourselves where we are in the story. After calling him at the burning bush, God gave Moses his marching orders. Moses knows what God wants him to do. After making his excuses, and after hearing God’s answers, he thinks he’s ready to go back to Egypt.

He’s not.

That shouldn’t surprise us. After all, when we think we’re ready to move, God says, “You’ve got more to learn!”

Our text reveals three lessons Moses must learn before he is ready to go back to Egypt and deliver his people.

Do The Hard Thing

Exodus 4:18–23 CSB

Then Moses went back to his father-in-law, Jethro, and said to him, “Please let me return to my relatives in Egypt and see if they are still living.” Jethro said to Moses, “Go in peace.” Now in Midian the Lord told Moses, “Return to Egypt, for all the men who wanted to kill you are dead.” So Moses took his wife and sons, put them on a donkey, and returned to the land of Egypt. And Moses took God’s staff in his hand. The Lord instructed Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, make sure you do before Pharaoh all the wonders that I have put within your power. But I will harden his heart so that he won’t let the people go. And you will say to Pharaoh: This is what the Lord says: Israel is my firstborn son. I told you: Let my son go so that he may worship me, but you refused to let him go. Look, I am about to kill your firstborn son!”

Context:

God is telling Moses to go back to Egypt in which Moses finally accepts after mutiple excuses, and if we are honest some of the excuses were justified.

Some were really good. Like telling me to Go back to the crime scene, ok if I do go back who shall i say sent me, okay cool now speaking is not my thing, lets be honest I have been to school or socializing in the last 40 years, so public speaking not my thing… Ill go.... but what you want me to tell Pharaoh??? Let your people GO! and he will reject you then tell him and if you dont I(God) will kill his firstborn son. This task was impossible, and difficult duty.

Exodus 4:18 CSB

Then Moses went back to his father-in-law, Jethro, and said to him, “Please let me return to my relatives in Egypt and see if they are still living.” Jethro said to Moses, “Go in peace.”

He was to cut family ties and move to a new location / a hard hearted pharoah / deliever a message that people dont want to hear.

In other words, God is saying, “I am sending you back to guaranteed failure.” Strange as it may seem, that’s the first step to freedom.

Because God will never tell you to do something that is Unatural with out His Supernatural Power.

God will put you in a position, to where you have no other choice but to deend on his presence and strength, not your on abilities.

If you are able to serve without leaning on God, then you might not be in the right ministry.

Because sometimes serving God requires us to do what is hard things.

Telling the world I choose Christ over Culture / Christ over Goverment / Telling the people what they need to hear and not what they want to hear brings unwanted heat to the spokesman. We are required to do what God said, and what God tells us to do is not always easy.

2 Corinthians 1:8–9 CSB

We don’t want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, of our affliction that took place in Asia. We were completely overwhelmed—beyond our strength—so that we even despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death, so that we would not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead.

two chapter later

2 Corinthians 3:5 CSB

It is not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God.

Check this...

When God gives an impposible command, the meeting of the need does not depend on you or your resources, but it dependes on God.

Moses had nothing but a staff / samson had a jawbone / david needed a stone / jesus needed a small lunch from a lad/ mustard seed faith / God is aware of your resources and can use the little you have to accomplish liberation to whomever he pleases.

You supply the willingness,

God supplies the power. —

God's resources are always equal to His requirements.

To serve God Effectively You Must Be Willing to Do the Hard Thing .

2. Do The RIght Thing (24-26)

Exodus 4:24–26 CSB

On the trip, at an overnight campsite, it happened that the Lord confronted him and intended to put him to death. So Zipporah took a flint, cut off her son’s foreskin, threw it at Moses’s feet, and said, “You are a bridegroom of blood to me!” So he let him alone. At that time she said, “You are a bridegroom of blood,” referring to the circumcision.

God is about to kill moses… wait wait

Now think about this. God was going to kill Moses because he hadn’t circumcised his son.

And this comes after the burning bush, After the call of God, After God answered all the excuses, After telling Moses to go back to Egypt, and After promising to be with him.

After all that, God is about to kill his own man.

What message is God sending? Moses is not ready to deliver his people until he gets serious about serving the Lord.

He will fail utterly unless he obeys completely.

Why? Because as Saul will learn centuries later, to obey is better than sacrifice (1 Samuel 15:22). Partial obedience is disguised disobedience. When God gives a command, he won’t accept excuses for non-compliance.

illustration: My way or the highway (my coach said that after play)

You cant please others and God! Scholors say this may have happened because Zipporah disagreed with the ceromony. instead of pleasing God moses pleased zipporah.

Galatians 1:10 CSB

For am I now trying to persuade people, or God? Or am I striving to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.

loving others doesnt always equate to pleasing them.

If pleasing other people leads to sin and not honoring God, then you are a people pleaser rather than a God pleaser.

There must be real commiment if we are going to serve god effectively.

3. Do The Next Thing… (v27-31)

He had been scared about this meeting. He had worried and worried and worried about it. This was at the heart of his objections.

But the text is brief.

It was a breeze. Aaron did his part, Moses did his part, and the people believed.

Simple. Just like God promised, which reminds us of the old adage that 95% of what we worry about never happens. The problem, of course, is figuring out which of our worries are in the 5% that actually happens.

But the lesson is clear. Go! Take the next step. Head back to Egypt and let God take care of the details.

There will be huge problems to come, big mountains of impossibility to traverse, but all that is in the future.

Remember, Moses doesn’t know about the frogs, the gnats, the hail, or the darkness. He certainly has no idea about the death of the firstborn.

All that is yet to be revealed.

The question is, will he take the next step in front of him? That’s all God asks for the moment.

After 80 years of preparation, Moses is ready.

After all his doubts, Moses is ready. After all his fears, Moses is ready.

He’s back home in Egypt at last. Pharaoh doesn’t have a clue. God’s man has come to town.

With God’s help he will lead the Jews to the Promised Land.

In the end it will all happen just as God had said. It won’t be what Moses expects, but that’s OK.

God’s people will be free at last when it’s all said and done. And Moses will be remembered as one of the most extraordinary men who ever lived.

That brings me back to the quote from Robert E. Lee. History teaches us to hope. More specifically, history teaches us to hope in God.

What lessons should we learn from all this?

History teaches us to hope in God

Because God is sovereign, do the hard thing. Because God is holy, do the right thing. Because God is faithful, do the next thing.

He calls us to obey and leave the results wiith him. He doesn’t promise us an easy road. But he does promise to lead us to the Promised Land, and what could be better than that?

Do the hard thing. Do the right thing. Do the next thing.

Everything else is just details.

closing

In The Tapestry ([Word], pp. 60-62), Edith Schaeffer tells of the early morning when Fran, then a teenager, came downstairs to leave for college. As a new Christian, he had stated to his unbelieving father his intention of becoming a pastor, but now he was leaving. His father gave Fran a hard look and said, “I don’t want a son who is a minister, and—I don’t want you to go.” After a moment of awkward silence, Fran said, “Pop, give me a few minutes to go down in the cellar and pray.”

While he later would not advise this, he was desperate for guidance. So through his tears, he flipped a coin! Three times the coin came up indicating that he should go against his father’s wishes. So he went upstairs and said, “Dad, I’ve got to go.” His dad looked hard at him and went out to slam the door. But before the door hit the frame, his voice came through, “I’ll pay for the first half year.” Many years later, Fran’s dad came to faith in Christ, but Fran thought that that moment was the basis of his salvation.

Have you made that commitment to trust in Christ as Savior and serve Him however He may lead? It won’t be easy, but you can serve Him effectively as you depend on His presence and strength, are ready for difficulty, obey Him even when difficult, and work with willing people.