Northside Church - Sydney
Wallflowers// Living Life from the Sidelines? Week 2: Moses
I've been on my own colour run today, hopefully you can see from the sunburn, but we're down at retreat. We had a great time with all the crew there and it's great to see so many of all the gang that were down there at Stammel tops with us here tonight and guys, I really appreciate you, coming back to church and celebrating and bragging basically to everyone else who didn't turn up and have a great time, which is really cool. So we've got bragging rights for a couple of minutes before we started. We've got a microphone around somewhere, Mike, because I thought it would be a good chance to hear from someone how the retreat went. Big Rob, come on, come on, mate. Mate, you were down there at first Northside retreat. What was the highlight for you? I thought about it. I couldn't think of a specific time. I just thought the whole weekend was just an amazing weekend. Fantastic. You had a chance to meet a few new people? Yeah, yeah. Got to talk to a few people that I'd only really seen and said hi to a church, but not nothing more than that sort of thing. And look, I've always said that retreat one weekend there is better than 52 weeks here in 10 minute conversations. We had a great time of sharing together. Has that come true for you in that sense? Yeah, I think it has. Yeah. Oh, that tastes good. You've answered well, and remind me to slip you that check after the service. That's really cool. Mate, it was so good to hang out with you down there, and you're always the life of the party as you are in our services here. Rob's just one of a few that we got to know a bit better, and you're a real blessing to our community. So thanks for answering so well tonight, mate, and everyone is signing up already on that basis. Oh, not a set up, not a set up. Oh, wow. Hey, I'm wondering what's your best ever excuse to get out of something, particularly school or has anyone had a good excuse that's really worked I want to share? Oh, you know, stuff like I couldn't do my homework because the dog ate it or, you know, we had experienced some form of natural disaster or I was going through the top 100 excuses from various people on forums. This is the most original that I've found, and I liked it. They said this is in order to get out of school. Theoretically, theoretically, the class met at the appointed time, however, I adhere to the philosophy of postmodernism. And therefore, since according to my truth, I was not in class, the class had no subjective reality to it. And so since the whole thing wasn't real, can you honestly be so bold, sir, as to say that I should have attended it? Don't you think that's a little high in my view? You can use that if you want. But look, isn't it interesting that the degree to which we determine our own sense of reality is the degree to which we can justify our own excuse, you know, it wasn't real. And so therefore, who's going to argue with that particular excuse? It's only when you come up against an object truth, a reality, a sense of reality that your excuses now really get measured up in terms of their effectiveness. And we've been learning over the past week as we began this series. What happens to people when they move into an objective reality of God? You see, I think a lot of people can make all sorts of different excuses about God. I'm sure you've got friends that make all sorts of different excuses about God. How can I believe in a God that I can't see? How can I believe in a God that I can't touch? How can I believe a God that I don't real? I believe in postmodernism. And theoretically, since God doesn't exist, then how could he be so high and mighty, right? So as we have been progressing right through this series, through the Bible, we are going chronologically. You can see I'm really up at the thin end of the beginning of the Bible here tonight. We have been, if we've gone back in time, back to the future style, we started with Abraham last week and this week we look at the person of Moses and what happens when he encountered the reality of God. The reality of God, when really what we've been saying that as you encounter that reality, God is a spiritual tornado in that sense. He only brings you in in order to fling you back out, that when you have a real encounter with God, he sends you on a big mission. And I ask the question that as wallflowers, as people here, if you knew that the greatest dance in the universe was taking place and the person at the center of that dance had come across the universal dance floor, holds out his hand and asks you to join in, would you? Would you get off the wall? And the degree to which we get off the wall, as we're going to see tonight, is the degree to which we understand the reality of God. And so we are going to look at Exodus chapter three and the story of Moses and the burning bush, verses one through two, 14. Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the desert and came to Horeb, the mountain of God, Sinai's another name for Horeb. There, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire, it did not burn up. So Moses thought, I'll go over and see this strange sight why the bush does not burn up. And when the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, Moses, Moses, and Moses said, here I am. Do not come any closer, God said, take off your sandals for the place where you are standing is holy ground. Then he said, I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. This Moses hid his face because he was afraid to look at God. The Lord said, I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I've heard them crying out because they're slave drivers and I'm concerned about their suffering. And so I've come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey, the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perazites, Hivites, and Jebusites. That's a lot ofites. And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. So now go. I'm sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt. And Moses said to God, who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt? And God said, I will be with you and this will be the sign that it is I who have sent you. When you have bought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain. Moses said to God, suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, the God of your fathers has sent me to you and they asked me, what is his name? Well then what shall I tell them? And God said to Moses, I am who I am. This is what you to say to Israelites. I am has sent me to you. Who is this Moses guy? How verse 1, verse 1 of chapter 3 says he was tending the flock of Jethro, his father in law, the priest of Binion, we sort of think is he a shepherd sort of guy, but literally what it's saying there, he was watching the sheep of Jethro. It's a verb used to mean he was continuing to watch it, would be better translated as Moses, Moses was watching and watching and watching and watching. His life was at a dead end. His life had gone nowhere. This guy was adopted by Pharaoh's daughter. He was a Hebrew boy, a little baby, putting the reeds, if we've seen any of the movies. He was raised in a royal house, he had a top flight education, he had all the royalty around him. He was part of the royal house, he had friends in higher places and then he discovers that his people, the Israelites, are being oppressed by the Egyptians. You read that all through Exodus chapter 1 and 2, he discovers that they're being oppressed and so now he wants to sort of arc up and be a bit of an activist in that sense. He gets really angry about it, he sees an Egyptian beating up on an Israelite and he goes in and he murders the Egyptian, goes and tells off some other Israelites as he's going along the road and they've heard what he was done and so suddenly he realizes that people have discovered the terrible thing that he's done and so now he finds himself a fugitive, he's on the run and he flees out of Egypt to this place in the desert and as a result he's fled for his life and this whole incident was 54 years before what we're reading about now, he's been sitting around in the desert, tending sheep 54 years in his lives at a dead end. At this point everything about him is gone, his social capital is gone, his financial capital is gone, anything that he felt that he would have had, anything that we would have felt that we needed in order to be used by God has been stripped from him, he's gone, he's a frail forgotten old man seeking out a forgotten living in a forgotten part of the world and here he is, he's an 80 year old, he doesn't know anyone, no one cares about him and it's at that point that this God that we talk about here says, now I need you. He says, and Moses is saying, are you crazy Lord? What are some of the principles that we can learn from his life out in the middle of nowhere tonight? Look here's the first one that I was thinking, God often meets you in the detours, God often meets you in the detours of life, people are always asking the question, look how does one have an encounter with God, how do I find God, where is God, where do I go to go and seek God, do I go and do church, but it can often be a little bit easier than that versus two and three talks about the way that an angel of the Lord appeared in flames from fire within a bush and so he sees the bush he goes over, he thinks verse three, I'll go over and see this strange sight and why the bush doesn't burn up, so it must have been happening for a while, so this sense that he was looking over this ravine that this bush that's not burning up and when it's his that he went over, gone over, it literally means that he turned aside, he detoured from what he was doing and so here's the funny thing that the only reason that Moses meets God ironically is because his whole life is on a detour, he thought he was going to be the hot shot, he was a young kid, he was in the palace, he was raised by Pharaoh's daughter, he had it all and now he's an 80 year old with nothing left and ironically that's where he begins to meet God, I don't know about you guys but don't know, most people encounter God when their life is on a massive detour like Moses, you know people are saying that they think I'm on a detour, I'm in the wrong career, I'm in the wrong relationship, I'm in the wrong country, I've got to get out, I've got to do something different with my life and here's the irony, it's not funny that one of the most critical, critical meeting points in all of history happens out in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of a detour, funny how so often God meets us in the detours of life, that was the case for me, we've been sharing stories all weekend on Saturday at the Young at Ulster treatment, it's been great to hear everyone's story about the ways that they've encountered God and the ways that God has brought people into this church and we've said it's strictly confidential so I won't tell anyone else's story but in that way you know I shared with the guys who were in my group about the way that I was washing up a carp in a sink of a funny old flat in Canada with about two weeks left before I was about to head back home and twisting it there, I cracked the glass and cut my hand open almost down to the tendon and so this terrible inconvenience is I've got to go and get up to the doctor's surgery and it's 4 o'clock in the afternoon, I wanted to go out with the rest of the boys, I only had a couple of weeks left and sit at this surgery in the afternoon for anywhere from three to four hours and I sarcastically said to the doctor when he finally came in I said oh how's your day been, he said how do you think my day's been, I've just been with a little nine year old girl and I asked her what's up sweetie and she said to me oh I feel really sick in the tummy, he said well what can I do for your sweetheart and she said I want 350 milligrams of Finergan and he's thinking that's a really strange thing for a little girl to know specifically what she wants, how come sweetie, my tummy is really bad and he looks at me and he says it was at that point that I realised that that little girl was dying of chronic stomach cancer and here's him reveling in his sarcasm and it's totally hit by the fact that that little girl's obviously no longer with it so it was six years ago and my life totally got thrown upside down and instead of heading back and going to be with the boys I went outside the minus 15 degree temperature and I waited at a bus stop and I went to a church up in Center Street in Calgary and I heard a message from a preacher that just seemed to rock me and for the one of the few if not the only times in my life I felt that I heard the audible voice of God when I asked him Lord what what is going to happen with the church who's going to look after the church and I heard well who else is going to do it and even turned to the bike next to me and I said did you say something, I didn't say nothing man and my life was irrevocably changed from that point onwards, God often meets you in the detours of failed careers of failed relationships of poor health I was lucky enough that there was just a sore hand and not a sore stomach on that afternoon and so why don't I encourage you tonight if you feel like your life is on a detour tonight if you're maybe even wondering how did I even end up in this place tonight maybe it's because the God of the detours is seeking you, God often meets you in the detours but here's the other thing God doesn't call the qualified but he does qualify the called, it's one of the great principles of the gospel that you are never going to be any use to God until you feel useless yourself, you're never going to be any use to God until you feel useless yourself you know look at Moses's excuses here you know we'll have a look at them in a sec you see here's the thing until you come to an end of yourself until you realize that you feel useless in that sense all throughout the scriptures you can't even be a Christian Matthew 5 says blessed are the poor in spirit for they shall inherit the kingdom of God for the kingdom of heaven is theirs and Matthew 23 is you know those that humble themselves will be exalted you've got to come to an end to yourself you can't step into the plans of God until you feel useless and until that point where you feel you don't have the skills or you don't have the capacity or you just don't have the power to do what God is calling you to do until you also come to that point where you realizing that you actually don't have the humility you don't have the dependence on God you don't even have the knowledge of his power to carry out the plans that he wants for you you know you think that you're better than the instructor in that sense you know that's what that's how I failed my peace test I was doing my peace test in dad's V8 dragon wagon as we called it and and I was going real well I was going through the roundabout so I was I was I was inside the lines I was stopping well I done my three point turn that started just near perfection I've done everything right we're almost there and and I was at the last of the lights before we crossed across the traffic lights at at Forest Way there and and and as we're heading up to the intersection in the dragon wagon there the the green light goes amber and what the most 17 year old boys do when the light goes amber I just put my hand across the instructor's chest I said hold on going through needless to say I failed the test I failed and I had to go back and again and look here's the thing I at the at the point I thought I knew more than the instructor I I I'm the one in the driver set in the control look this hope principle I'm not trying to be offensive when you're talking about being useless but what I'm getting at is it's it's it's that point in which you feel that you know more than the driver the great driving instructor of the universe when through your own agenda in life you're saying hold on Lord going through we're going through the intersection now look again I said look that's a principle you never be any used to God until you feel useless now some of you might be saying well that feels depressing here's the thing uselessness doesn't mean worthlessness I mean what if I took a $5,000 targe who are watch I took it down to circular key and I used it as a barrier to stop the Sydney ferry is it worthless no it's $5,000 worth of a watch as it sits there right as the ferry is coming in is it useless yes yes it's totally useless in order to stop a 30 50 ton ferry from crashing through into the buildings that are down there at circular key you see uselessness is not worthlessness you see useless uselessness is when something is not fulfilling or expected to achieve its intended or desired purpose and see when you feel useless in that sense it's because you are now getting a sense that your real purpose both your value and your real purpose is is inextricably bound in the things of God and not the things of the world and see what was happening with Moses he looked at his excuses oh you know Exodus 4 I'm not important enough I don't I don't have enough authority I don't have any authority I'm I'm not persuasive enough I have inadequate skills I stutter lord you know seriously I stutter he says you know here's the thing Moses does what I think a lot of us do in this place we take the things of the world and we take these things of ourselves and and we think that those things are our intended purpose Moses is trying to take his framework and his view of what he thinks God's intended purposes are for his life and says I don't match up and God says I've got something totally different friends look let's not make the mistake of taking things like our physical beauty or our skills or our success in life as the basis for our sense of worth to do that friend you just you've just been a task your watch down at circular key you get what I'm saying to feel useless in that kingdom sense is to is to know your worth is a beautiful precious watch but to know that if you were going to measure yourself on how important you feel the power that you have or the authority that you have in worldly terms then you're totally out of place do you need to apply that to nine do you need to bed that in tonight that God doesn't call the qualified but he does qualify the cold here's the last point God is the divine delegator this is awesome I love God's heart you know if you ever wondered you know what's what's the deal with suffering in the world what does God say about suffering in the world or you can podcast one of my previous messages but we also get a hint here in what God's saying look at this verse seven I've indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt and so I've come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians great little insight as a side note here we worship a God that cares that cares about the suffering in the world but he's the divine delegator this is what I love I've seen this I'm coming down I've seen the misery I'm empathizing I'm going to send them out into a land of flying with milk and honey and so now Moses I'm sending you that that's that's what we call the divine hospital pass and Moses is just this is cop the whole lot verse that I'm I'm sending you to go and do it for me Moses God's the divine delegator in his here's the great exciting thing for us it means that you have a responsibility to carry out the work of God in your world I mean I said last week if you want to be something bigger and great if you want to get off the wall and stop being a wallflower you've got to have a big mission but how could it be that that we have a big mission and actually never get our hands dirty and get involved when you come up against this reality you see that God takes this this whole missional thing from theoretical to practical what I love is he's he's not a god of false empowerment if God's not here to amuse us he's not here to make us feel special all right the great mystery of the mission of God the missio day that we've been talking about is that we in fact are the means by which he's going to achieve it what a great sign of power and and and might in what you or what he does now look here's what where's the tension here with Moses what's Moses attention here's here's what I think it could be for him and maybe I'm just projecting under Moses tonight but maybe this is the tension for us he starts coming up with all sorts of excuses he says but who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt who am I to do who he says who should I tell them that sent me what should I say look and he goes on for any chapter for all the excuses who am I here's the tension is it that Moses thinks task is too big or the task is too inconvenient do we think that God's task when he calls us is too big or is it actually because it's too big see what's really going on here is it really self-esteem issues for him or is these newfound missions inconvenient I see when Moses is saying well who am I what is what is what's he doing he's he's skirting around the bush he's beating around the bush the burning bush so to speak right and and that should be the clue to us it's a burning bush he's speaking to a bush a burning bush god couldn't be any more real in this sense in his life and and and Moses is he is going look are you sure about the you don't want to send someone else you know I know Aaron speaks really well my brother you could get him to do it he initially can't send someone else are you sure you want me to do you see all the excuses coming out you know and you know what he's saying here he's saying maybe this is what we say god this is this whole delegation thing this whole sending to ascending me thing this is not really working for me I mean I like the burning bush bit and this is this is pretty dazzling and it's great to get a sense that you're real in my life and and and and wow I feel fantastic but but but to go and to stand in front of Pharaoh in that sense yeah I didn't expect you to send me anywhere you know and I love God's response verse 14 God says to Moses he says who should I say sent me and he says tell them I am who I am that's what you're going to say to him I am has sent me to you you know go you know what God's saying God's saying I am not the God that you want for your life I am the God that is the I am we could get all sorts sort of philosophical here and big and deep you know get into a theological nosebleed about what is happening but you know it's it's not a meaning issue here look here's what the Hebrew verb that I am what it's really saying it's really saying it's the verb that means to be to exist what he what he's saying is in other way another way of saying it is I am that I am in the simplest terms he's saying tell them that I exist send you tell them that the being exist the the being sent you God is saying I have no beginning or end I always am you know never never will there be a day when when people said that I was he's saying never was there a time where people will say I will be he's saying I've always been I always am I've had no beginning or end absolutely no power or being has caused me and because I am the source of all being and all power now think about this for a second if God's if God is the cause of everything this bush that doesn't burn up this self-initiating self-directing power the only thing that has life in and of himself then there can't be any legitimate excuse against that which he decrees for us to the against that which he calls us to he he created you he knows every hair on your head he knows every thought he knows every worry he knows every anxiety he knows every flaw he knows every blemish he knows everything that you've done wrong he knows everything that you've done right he knows everything you will do wrong he knows everything you will do right he's the god who knows absolutely everything about you and here's the funny thing do you think that the whole knowing god who has the solar system wrapped around his pinky is surprised by your perceived inadequacies I mean when Moses said I stutter do you think God said oh shucks I had no idea I've just called you to go to Pharaoh and you can't even speak oh see if God if God was a CEO you see it's CEOs you know they hire HR managers and why do CEOs hire HR managers it's because they or their company lack a particular skill or asset that's why we go to job interviews we want to want to go in audition with our skill and asset that will fill the gap in that company and the company of God um God's everything from the financial controller to the mailman to the HR manager to the marketing manager in other words you know organization that is the kingdom of God and his reign and all that he does in this earth he could do every single role himself and say therefore he's not calling Moses in because he needs him he's not surprised by Moses's lack of ability he already knew that and he said that's what I want to work through and that's why you know Paul says 2 Corinthians 4 but we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all surpassing power is from God and not from us you know there's no better way for God to get the glory for you to do things that are so small and insignificant at the time that lead to such immense and miraculous glory in the world that you don't even have to worry about getting in the way because people look at how incredible it was and they say that had to be God so all I'm saying to you tonight friend if if you think that it's a perceived lack of ability that is stopping you from getting involved in that big mission from God it doesn't surprise him if God qualifies those that he calls then you need not get it all together before participating in his big mission therefore what you have in your hand right now tonight on the 10th of February is exactly what he needs from you to do his work this week he's the divine delegator so are you making excuses are you making excuses look if he could lead Israel out of years of military oppression through slavery through through a stuttering 80-year-old fugitive at the end of his life what could he do with you this week let's pray [BLANK_AUDIO]