Categories: Exodus, Old Testament, Word of SalvationPublished On: February 18, 2025
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Word of Salvation – Vol.47 No.26 – July 2002

 

God Is Never Finished With Us

 

Sermon by Rev. A. Quak on Exodus 2:11-3:12

Scripture Readings: Acts 1:1-11; Exodus 2:11-3:12

Suggested Hymns: BoW: 326; 334; Rej: 341

 

Congregation in the Lord Jesus Christ.

A few years ago there was a movie called “Forest Gump”.  When it first came out everyone was raving about it.  Many people went and saw it at the theatre.  The key to understanding the movie is in the opening scene when Forest Gump turns to a person waiting with him at a bus stop and he says, “My mama always told me… life is like a box of chocolates… you just never know what you’re going to get.”

From that point the movie traces the life of Forest and the way he bumps into significant people of history and his eventual marriage to a girl that he loved since he was 6 and the discovery that he has a child.

“Life is like a box of chocolates…!”  Is that all life is about?  It makes us stop and ask some significant questions.  Is life really just a matter of letting fate decide whether you get the ‘Turkish Delight’, or the ‘Caramel Cream’?  Are we locked into living 70 years on this earth, not knowing what we are going to get, being just victims of circumstance?  Are the times when all doesn’t go smoothly just the result of bad choices, while the good times can be attributed to good choices?  Is our view of life really that hopeless?

These are significant questions, and to help us answer these questions I want to focus our attention on Moses.

Our text opens with these words: “One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own people were and watched them at their hard labour.”

Moses didn’t have to endure the hardship that his fellow countrymen had shared.  And why should he?  His adoptive mother was the daughter of Pharaoh.  That doesn’t mean he was in line to sit on the throne, but it did mean he enjoyed the privileges of royalty.  Good food, plenty of entertainment, access to in-depth education, a measure of respect, a sense of dignity and power.

Moses had all these things.  So it is very interesting that we should find him among his own people.  We get the feeling Moses was beginning to resist his privileged upbringing and he knows he should be doing something about the plight of his countrymen.  The fact that Moses protects a Hebrew from being beaten is testimony to this truth.

Indeed, when Stephen the first Christian martyr recounts this event in Acts 7:23-25, Stephen says, “When Moses was forty years old, he decided to visit his fellow Israelites.  He saw one of them being mistreated by an Egyptian, so he went to his defence and avenged him by killing the Egyptian.  Moses thought that his own people would realise that God was using him to rescue them, but they did not.”

Moses thought that his own people would realise that God was using him to rescue them, but they did not.  Is that because fate had dealt Moses a cruel blow?  Is it because Moses had picked the wrong chocolate out of the box, so to speak?

If only… he had not killed that Egyptian.
If only… he had not been seen.
If only… his countrymen had stopped to talk to Moses about his motives.
If only… if only… then perhaps the outcome would have been totally different.

After all, the 40-year old Moses is a pretty good candidate for leadership isn’t he?  The 40-year old Moses is brash and confident.  He was educated in one of the finest systems in the world.  No doubt the best soldiers trained him for combat.  He had instant access to the inner circle of Pharaoh.  He spoke the Egyptian language and knew the names of people of influence.  Wasn’t he the perfect man for the job of rescuing God’s people?  He obviously thought he was – so why didn’t God?

As we see the crossroad Moses has come to, I think we know that we have been at the same crossroad.  Times when we were sure we were ready for a certain task.  Maybe one of service in the Christian world.  A position in the church.  A place in the community.  Maybe a job opportunity or career change.  A chance to step up.  A possibility to step out.

You could just have your eye on a wonderful change in circumstance that you are certain you are most capable of doing.  Times when you pray that a difficult situation will turn out in a certain positive way.  You’re the perfect person, with the perfect plan.  And yet it doesn’t go as you hope.

It’s disappointing isn’t it?  You become disappointed with yourself.  You may even become disappointed with God.  Even though we confess God is in control, there are times when we wished that God would use the ‘chocolate box’ philosophy.

Give me a different chocolate, Lord.  I don’t like the taste of the one I have at the moment.  I think the wrong choice has been made.  I feel uncomfortable.  This is far too challenging for me.  Please make a different choice.  Give me a different path to walk on.

It’s easy to say, “I believe God is in control” – but it is not always easy to accept that control when it works itself out in our lives.  And that is why it is worth looking at the response of Moses in this situation.  Moses has hit a crossroad.

He thinks it is time to do something about rescuing God’s people.  He has taken steps to actively put his desire in action.  And yet he is rejected by his own countrymen.

In such circumstances there must have been a real temptation to become disappointed with God.  But he doesn’t.  He doesn’t throw his hands up in despair and say, “What’s the use of trying?”  Rather, as Hebrews 11:24-28 shows, he acts in faith, patient faith.  Hebrews 11:27 says, “By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because he saw Him who was invisible.”  In the face of a setback, Moses trusts in God.  Moses trusts that God will fulfil His promises to the people of Israel.  He trusts the One who is unseen.

Disappointment did not bring him to a screeching halt.  Instead, it set him on a new path.  And that is a real comfort as well as a real challenge for us.  If Moses can trust the One who is unseen – how much more can we put our trust in the One who has revealed Himself in the flesh?  How much more can we be renewed and strengthened when our lives do not turn out as we hope?

That is what the cross of Christ is all about, isn’t it?  Renewal!  Hope in times of hopelessness.  Trusting a Lord who gave Himself as the sacrifice for our sin so that we may have life.  Trusting that this same Lord will continue to help us live life .for the glory of God.

Isn’t the promise of God’s continual love for us shown in the cross?  And isn’t that a promise which spurs us on in all occasions?  Even when we don’t quite understand how Christ is working it all out in our lives?  Even when there is the temptation to be disappointed?  Don’t we have a real reason to hold on to the One who says in His Word, “Being confident of this … He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus”?  (Phil.1:6)

In some ways Moses and we are in the same position – we must trust in a Saviour who has revealed Himself but who also, at this moment, is unseen.  It would be great to speak to Jesus face to face and get exact answers – but we don’t have that privilege.  We serve a risen and ascended Saviour, But such a situation doesn’t give us reason to have less faith – in fact it gives us more reason to have more faith.

Remember the effect of the ascension on the disciples.  At first they remained standing, rooted to the spot, completely overwhelmed by the fact that Jesus had returned to heaven.  But after the angels had spoken to them, their thoughts returned to earth.  There was work to be done (Acts 1:10-11).  Before Christ ascended He had commissioned them to carry on His work on earth.  The Lord said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me.  Therefore go and make disciples of all nations” (Mat.28:18-19).

Luke 24:52 and Acts 1:12 give us a clear picture of the disciples leaving the mountain of ascension and plunging themselves headlong into the needs of the world for which Christ died.  They preached and healed; they proclaimed the good news to all by Word and deed.  Christ’s ascension leads to a renewed commitment to that world, and new resources with which to meet its needs and cares.

Jesus knew this was going to happen, that is why He says in John 16:57, “I am going to Him who sent Me… because I have said these things you are filled with grief.  But I tell you the truth: it is for your good that I am going away.”

How can the departure of Jesus be good?  It’s good because He is there in heaven with the Father interceding for us – constantly bringing our needs before the Father.  It’s good because it is from there that Jesus distributes His gifts to the church, that the church together may do the work of the Kingdom.  It’s good because Jesus sends His Spirit, the Spirit that assures us of salvation.  And it is good because we know that, while Jesus is there, He is not finished working with us.  And He won’t be finished with us until He returns.

So, where does that leave us?  Well, certainly the knowledge of an ascended Lord forces us away from any approach that says, “Life is like a box of chocolates…” Knowledge of an ascended Lord takes away the need for self-pity and hopelessness.  Knowledge of an ascended Lord moves us away from the feeling that we are just victims.  Life is not like a box of chocolates – it’s a series of God-planned events unfolding as He brings us closer to Himself.

When things do not go well in our own life – let us dare not think, “Fate is dealing me a cruel blow”.  Let us dare not be tempted to become disappointed with God to the point where we give up hope and are beyond renewal.  But in faith let us come before God and say, “Lord I don’t quite understand  what is happening, but I know you are not finished with me yet.”

We see how this was so true for Moses.  He looked to the One who was invisible, the One seated in heaven, and He moved on in faith.  And by the time we get to the end of our text, we find Moses, a Moses who is now 80 years old, a Moses to whom God says, “I will be with you.  And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.” (Ex.3:12).

The 40-year old Moses may have been our choice for leading the people of Israeli for we think that the 40-year old Moses had all the qualities.  But it is the 80-year old Moses who is God’s choice.  An 80-year old Moses who had learnt the ways of the desert as he watched over the sheep of Jethro in Midian.  But also an 80-year old Moses who had learned to wait in faith.  And as he waited, all reliance on his own strength is broken.

Moses learned what it meant to surrender to God and to have faith in the One who is unseen.  Moses looked forward and saw the tremendous blessings God had in store for him.  It was the look of faith – having faith in the fact that God wasn’t finished with him and there was still a large part of the plan to be revealed.

My friends, because we trust in a risen and ascended Saviour, we have every reason, and more, to do the same.  Whenever we have a difficult setback; whenever life doesn’t work out as we plan; whenever our ideas of getting ahead actually get us behind; even when we are tempted to become disappointed with ourselves and God.

Whenever that happens, we can still look forward with the hope of renewal.  Life is not about living according to fate – it is living according to faith.  A faith that looks up and sees an ascended Lord who blazed a trail for us.  A faith that gives us a new perspective when we have difficulties – like seeing an oasis in a desert.  A faith that always trusts in an ascended Lord who sits at Gods ‘right hand.  A triumphant Lord who is not finished with us yet but who continues to promise that the best is still to come.

Amen.