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Cape Elizabeth Church of the Nazarene |
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Texts:
Exodus
1:8-2:10 A
number of years have passed since we left Joseph offering his brothers
forgiveness and grace there in the courts of Egypt.
Joseph’s brothers went home to bring their father the great news and to
bring him back to Egypt to live out the rest of the famine.
During the journey to Egypt, God spoke to Jacob in a dream, saying:
“Jacob! Jacob!...I am God, the God of your father....Do not be afraid to go
down to Egypt, for I will make you into a great nation there.
I will go down to Egypt with you, and I will surely bring you back again.
And Joseph’s own hand will close your eyes.” (Genesis 46:2-4)
And so, all of Jacob’s children,
grandchildren and their wives traveled to Egypt with all of their possessions
and livestock. When
they arrived in Egypt, Joseph met them and took them to see Pharaoh.
Pharaoh gave instructions for Joseph to have them settle in Goshen, the
best part of the land. The famine
continued severely as Joseph had predicted based on Pharaoh’s dream, but
because of Joseph’s careful and shrewd management, the lives of the Egyptians
and the Israelites were saved. Jacob
and his descendents lived in the land of Goshen, where they grew in number,
acquired property, and thrived. Jacob
lived in Egypt for seventeen years, and as he was nearing his death, he made
Joseph pledge to him that when he died he would not be buried in Egypt, but
would return to the Promised Land of Canaan and be buried in the same cave as
Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Rebekah, and Leah. Jacob
blessed his sons and grandsons, and breathed his last breath.
Scripture tells us that the entire land of Egypt mourned the death of
Jacob for seventy days. Pharaoh gave
Joseph permission to take his father and bury him as he had requested, and all
of Joseph’s brothers and their households accompanied by all of Pharaoh’s
officials traveled to Canaan to bury Jacob and mourn his death. When
Joseph and his brothers returned they lived in Egypt for many years.
Joseph provided for his brothers and for their children, and treated them
kindly. Joseph lived a total of
one-hundred-and-ten years. Before he
died, he told his brothers that “God will surely come to your aid and take you
up out of this land to the land he promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and
Jacob.” (Genesis 50:24)
Joseph also made them swear an oath that they would carry his remains
back to Canaan with them. 8
Then
a new king, who did not know about Joseph, came to power in Egypt.
9 “Look,” he said to his people, “the Israelites have
become much too numerous for us. 10
Come, we must deal shrewdly with them or they will become even more
numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and
leave the country.” 11
So they put slave masters over them
to oppress them with forced labor, and they built Pithom and Rameses as store
cities for Pharaoh. 12 But
the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread; so the
Egyptians came to dread the Israelites 13 and worked them ruthlessly.
14 They made their lives bitter with hard labor in brick and
mortar and with all kinds of work in the fields; in all their hard labor the
Egyptians used them ruthlessly. 15
The king of Egypt said to the
Hebrew midwives, whose names were Shiphrah and Puah, 16 “When you
help the Hebrew women in childbirth and observe them on the delivery stool, if
it is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, let her live.” 17
The midwives, however, feared God
and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them to do; they let the boys
live. 18 Then the king of
Egypt summoned the midwives and asked them, “Why have you done this? Why have
you let the boys live?” 19
The midwives answered Pharaoh,
“Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women; they are vigorous and give birth
before the midwives arrive.” 20
So God was kind to the midwives and
the people increased and became even more numerous.
21 And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families
of their own. 22
Then Pharaoh gave this order to all
his people: “Every boy that is born [to the Hebrews] you must throw into the
Nile, but let every girl live.” 2:1
Now a man of the house of Levi
married a Levite woman, 2 and she became pregnant and gave birth to a
son. When she saw that he was a fine
child, she hid him for three months. 3
But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him
and coated it with tar and pitch. Then
she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the
Nile. 4 His sister stood
at a distance to see what would happen to him. 5
Then Pharaoh’s daughter went down
to the Nile to bathe, and her attendants were walking along the river bank.
She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her slave girl to get it.
6 She opened it and saw the baby.
He was crying, and she felt sorry for him.
“This is one of the Hebrew babies,” she said. 7
Then his sister asked Pharaoh’s
daughter, “Shall I go and get one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for
you?” 8
“Yes, go,” she answered.
And the girl went and got the baby’s mother.
9 Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this baby and
nurse him for me, and I will pay you.” So the woman took the baby and nursed
him. 10 When the child
grew older, she took him to Pharaoh’s daughter and he became her son.
She named him Moses, saying, “I drew him out of the water.” I
imagine that life as a Hebrew slave was not very pleasant.
From sunup to sundown, they were constantly reminded of their status as
strangers and aliens. They were
treated ruthlessly, beaten and overworked, as they were forced to give their
lives in hard labor to the Egyptians, working in the fields and working with
brick and mortar. However, Jacob’s
descendents rose to the challenge, not being defeated by the hard labor, but
allowing it to make them stronger, terrifying Pharaoh and his people all the
more. And so, in an effort to
control the future of the Israelites, Pharaoh begins issuing orders to have all
of the male babies killed. First,
he commands the Hebrew midwives to have all of the male babies killed in
delivery. The midwives, however, are
aware of a deeper Reality than Pharaoh’s kingdom and reign--they feared God,
and wouldn’t kill the babies, telling Pharaoh that because of the strength of
the Hebrew women, they were unable to arrive in time to destroy the male babies.
God blesses the midwives because they are more interested in pleasing Him
then in pleasing Pharaoh. Pharaoh
isn’t deterred by this setback, and gives orders to all of his people to drown
every Hebrew male child by throwing them into the Nile River.
And yet, as we read the story, we become aware of a deeper Reality at
work than Pharaoh and his kingdom. All
of a sudden, our attention is shifted to a nameless couple who comes on stage
and gives birth to a male child. Unwilling
to see him destroyed in the Nile river, they first construct a little boat to
keep him afloat. In some strange
twist of irony, Moses is not destroyed by the Nile River as Pharaoh had
intended, but his very life is preserved through the Nile River and the bathing
daughter of Pharaoh. Throughout
the Exodus narrative, we become aware of the deeper Reality of God working
behind the scenes to bring about deliverance for His people.
For the most part, the characters themselves seem unaware of the work of
God as He writes the story, orchestrating their very salvation.
They are simply aware of the hard labor, slavery, and continued
oppression of Pharaoh and his people. And
yet, they don’t belong to Pharaoh--they’re not really his subjects.
They are aliens in Egypt, citizens of another country.
The Israelites belong to God...they are His people, and He will not
forget them. The
great irony is that God chose the very darkest hour, at the height of
Pharaoh’s cruelty to the Israelites, to have a deliverer be born.
A male deliverer, born as a baby, who should have been drowned in the
river, yet was drawn out of the river by the daughter of the very man who sought
to have him destroyed. Pharaoh was
not aware of the deeper Realities at work around him.
He was not aware that he was dealing with the very chosen people of God.
He was only aware of the realities of the earthly kingdom around him.
Pharaoh just didn’t get it. I’m
not sure that the disciples of Jesus ever really got it either.
Sure, they knew they were following a great man, a great leader, who
appeared to have been chosen by God. Throughout
the Gospels, we see them bumbling around, attempting to understand Jesus’
actions and teachings. Up until the
end of His life, many of them expected him to overthrow the Roman government in
a revolt and uprising. Even on the
night of his death, Peter denied that he ever knew Jesus, out of fear for his
own life. We see the disciples
arguing about who will sit closest to Jesus, and which one of them will be the
greatest. They worried about storms,
money, and food. And
yet, for one brief narrative in Matthew 16, one of the disciples finally gets
it. Jesus takes his disciples to one
of the most pagan areas in the region, Caesarea Philippi, where he asks His
disciples who people say that He is. They
tell Jesus what they have heard others say about Him, specifically that there
are those who thought Him to be John the Baptist resurrected, Elijah, or
Jeremiah. These are all individuals
who were expected to accompany the Messiah, but they were not the “Promised
One” themselves. And so, those
around the disciples believed that the Kingdom of God was coming, but not that
it had arrived. They had relegated
Jesus to a position of prophet, a mere human with the ability to speak for God. But,
for once, Peter gets it. For one
brief portion of the narrative, the light turns on, and he is aware of a much
deeper reality. For once, his focus
is not on the hated Roman occupation of Jerusalem, or on money, food, or
clothing. Despite the pagan rituals
and blatant sin happening all around him, Peter
is able to recognize the deeper reality at work.
The Messiah, the promised one, the deliverer, is in their very midst.
With confidence and certainty, Peter states this deeper reality, “You
are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” (Matthew 16:16).
Recognizing that there was a deeper reality to Jesus’ very existence
than simply flesh and bones, Peter affirms what Christians have believed for
centuries, that Jesus was God enfleshed with humanity. And
so, we recognize that there is a reality which runs deeper than the perceptions
we have of this world. Beyond the
flesh and bones, beyond the buildings, cars, and gravestones, there is a deeper
reality at work. Sometimes we are
aware of God working in our lives, sometimes we aren’t.
But, our awareness or lack of awareness, doesn’t change the deeper
reality-the Kingdom reality-that God is present and active in our lives. Paul
recognizes the two kingdoms in our Romans lesson this morning.
In Romans 12:1-2, Paul writes, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in
view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and
pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship.
Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be
transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then
you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is--His good, pleasing
and perfect will.” Paul exhorts us
to allow God to transform us-to metamorphosize us-into His image. We are not to
be conformed by the world around us, but transformed by God.
Our mind, heart, and will should not be shaped by the realities of the
world around us, but by the deeper Kingdom Realities at work in our lives.
In short, our very lives should be shaped by the Gospel of Jesus Christ,
molded into His image, as citizens of His Kingdom. You
and I would do well to remember that we are citizens of Heaven (Philippians
3:20), and are but aliens and strangers in this
world (I Peter 2:11).
We are not citizens of this world, but are merely passing through,
tenants on the land which belongs to God (Leviticus 25:23).
As such, we must be careful where our focus is.
Should we allow our senses to determine our perception of reality, we are
no better off than Pharaoh or those who believed Jesus simply to be a prophet.
If we allow this world to shift our focus off from the Kingdom realities
of the Gospel, we lose sight of our Creator and Redeemer. Strangers
and aliens--that’s what the Israelite people were in Egypt.
Oh, they had acquired wealth and made names for themselves, but they
didn’t belong in Egypt. They
belonged in the Promised Land of Canaan. The
question for the Israelites was, “which reality was going to shape their
lives, the Kingdom Realities of God at work, or the reality of their bondage to
Pharaoh?” Both were
realities in their lives, but it came down to a question of perception.
They were unable to perceive God working behind the scenes to bring about
deliverance, but that didn’t change the fact that He was working in history to
bring about their salvation. Did
they focus on the earthly realities around them, to or did they allow their
attitudes and actions to be shaped by faith in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob? Strangers
and aliens--that’s what we are here on earth.
Oh, we have acquired wealth and made names for ourselves, but we don’t
belong here on earth. We belonged to
the Promised Land of Heaven. The
question for the Israelites was, “which reality was going to shape their
lives, the Kingdom Realities of God at work, or the reality of their bondage to
Pharaoh?” You and I must ask
the same question, for we too are strangers and aliens in the land around us.
Are we focused on the earthly realities around us to the exclusion of the
Kingdom Realities at work in our midst? The
realities of life don’t cease to be real, any more than the realities of
slavery ceased to be real for the Israelites.
And yet, there is always a deeper Reality at work.
Just as God was working behind the scenes to bring about a deliverer in
the form of Baby Moses, He works behind the scenes in our lives as well.
We may not always be acutely aware of His hand at work, but that
doesn’t mean He’s not working. It
simply means that our eyes may not be open to the Kingdom Realities around us. You
and I are strangers and aliens, citizens of Heaven.
And yet, we so easily forget that, shifting our focus to the material
world around us. We strive for more
possessions, greater wealth, more popularity or fame.
We hope to make a difference in our world, but get discouraged at the
horrible, tragic things we see each day. And
yet, there are Kingdom Realities at work. God
is working in the lives of His children. Though
it may appear dark and stormy, God is moving to bring about the redemption of
His people. That
doesn’t mean that we are to ignore the tragedies around us, pretending that
they don’t exist. Instead, we are
to display God’s handiwork in our own lives to a watching world.
We are to be “transformed by the renewing of [our] mind[s].” The
watching world should see something different about us, because we shouldn’t
be conformed to the pattern of this world. By
living our lives shaped and molded by the Gospel of Jesus Christ, others should
see that our focus is not on the realities of this world, but on Kingdom
Realities. It is precisely our focus
on the Kingdom Realities that enables us to be effective in ministering to the
earthly realities we must face every day. “What
we do erupts out of who we are. Our
attitudes, actions, behaviors, and choices will betray the nature of our
hearts.” Sound familiar?
Many of us heard that phrase repeatedly during our study on the Sermon on
the Mount last year. It’s very
true here as well. If we have been
transformed by the Gospel of Jesus Christ, our actions, attitudes, behaviors,
and choices will display that transformation.
If, on the other hand, we have yet to be transformed into His image, our
actions, attitudes, behaviors, and choices will display a lack of
transformation. If we have been
transformed so that we focus on Kingdom Realities, others will know.
They will see that we are citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven, strangers
and aliens on this world. Moses
was a stranger too. He was a Hebrew
child, living in Pharaoh’s palace. He
didn’t belong there. And yet, God
placed him there in order that he might play a major role in the deliverance of
the Israelite children. Likewise,
God has placed a call upon His church to play a role in the deliverance of those
around us from the chains of sin and suffering.
Like Moses, we must answer the call, focusing on the Kingdom Realities,
in order that we might be effective in ministering to the earthly realities we
face every day. We
may not always be aware of God’s Divine and Invisible attributes, but that
doesn’t change the fact that He is there.
Our awareness, or lack of awareness, does not change the Deeper Reality
that God is at work in our midst, seeking to bring about the redemption of all
peoples. But, as we shift our focus
to those Deeper Realities, we become more able to minister to those around us,
resting confidently in the Reality that God cares for each one of us.
Benediction: The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace. |
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