When I was a boy, my dream was to be a marine biologist. I wanted to explore the oceans, and the weird creatures living there. I have since found that it is not an uncommon dream. A lot of children have it. There is something about the hidden world of the sea that fascinates us. The thought of us, being land animals, being able to go to the very bottom of the ocean in our submarines and diving suits is exciting. In that world, the strange creatures we see are the native, and we are the aliens.
Christians are aliens in this world, too. Our real native land is fare above, in heaven with God.
Imagine you are a deep sea diver. You spend hours each day exploring the ocean. You interact with the creatures of the sea. Then one day, you become so comfortable with the sharks and the octopi that you forget you don’t belong there. You take off your mask, and you immediately find yourself in trouble. As much as you think of yourself as belonging in the ocean, you don’t. You cannot breathe what they breathe. You were born to the land.
Being aliens, we must stay disentangled with this world. We must keep our focus and remember that at the end of the day we are going to our true home, and our true world.
It requires faith to remember who we are as we stare out into this alien landscape. It is easy to think that this world is our world. By faith we keep our vision and our sanity.
In Hebrews 11:24-29, we read about Moses, who kept his vision and his faith, in spite of some great temptations to the contrary.
By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh's daughter. He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time. He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of pt, because he was looking ahead to his reward.
By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king's anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible.
By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel.
By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land; but when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned.
In the Hall of Fame of faith, there’s wing devoted to Moses. Last week’s story about Moses’ parents was just the beginning of the tour. There’s a lot more to see. This week, we are going to see three separate acts of faith performed by Moses in his early life, and a surprise act of faith, performed by someone else.
These four separate acts are marked off with the simple words “by faith.”
First, Moses chose humility over status.
By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh's daughter. He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time. He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward.
We do not know how much Moses knew of his inheritance as a Hebrew. Moses did not have a Hebrew name, but an Egyptian one. The greatest Pharaohs had similar sounding names --Ramses, Thutmose. The first parts of these names refer to the God they worshipped. Take away that name, and you get Moses, This gave us an idea that Moses must have been raised thoroughly Egyptian and in the royal family.
We do don’t know how much he knew about his Hebrew heritage. He had some inkling, to be sure. He may have been instructed by his mother/nursemaid, but we do not know when or how he knew he was not Egyptian.
But we know he knew the Egyptian court. It was a great place for a boy to enjoy. There were pleasures and delicacies in abundance. If you were going to live in the ancient world, it is better to be in the court of a king than anywhere else.
As a boy, Moses must have enjoyed it. But as he grew into manhood, he would discover that it was not a good place to be. Take the example of the most famous pharaoh--King Tut. Forensic examination of King Tut's mummy revealed that he was only nineteen when he died, and that he was probably murdered. It may be good to be the king, but it is also dangerous. You can enjoy the privileges of being a kingdom if you didn’t mind murdering people, and possibly getting murdered yourself. The court was a beautiful place, but a cruel place as well.
Moses saw the best Egypt had to offer, and rejected it. He realized that it was lie. People were not happy. All the pleasures of the court were nothing compared to the wickedness of people in it.
Moses had a choice. Did he stay with adopted family and become a ruler, or did he choose his God-fearing relatives and become a slave? Moses chose God over power. He chose to be a humble servant, rather than being a cruel master.
What would you choose, if you had the chance—wealth and power, or truth and Godliness? In the end, Moses clearly made the right decision. .
Second, he chose loneliness over the wrong company
By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king's anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible.
Moses angered the Pharaoh. He could have worked his way in Pharaoh’s graces, but he chose not to. Instead, he left all his relatives, friends, and servants, and went alone into the Sinai desert.
The desert must be a profoundly lonely place for a man traveling alone without even his wife and children. But Moses endured and was rewarded.
The term they use in the Bible is persevered. We can live alone, but we cannot survive as Christians if we choose those who will undermine our faith. The greatest fear Moses had was not the snakes and scorpions of the desert, but the corrupting influence of a world which did not know God. Moses believed in the invisible God, who judges all men, and to whom he must answer in the end.
Third he chose to fear God more than worldly power.
By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel.
The writer of Hebrews recalls an event which happened at the end of Moses’ confrontation with Pharaoh. God brought plague after plague upon Egypt until Pharaoh agreed to let them go. The last plague was the word of all—the plague of the firstborn sons. God was going to send an angel to kill the firstborn of every household. God told Moses to mark the doorpost of his house, and all the other Hebrew houses with the blood of a lamb, to assure the angel of their faithfulness, as well as a means of atonement for their own sins. Moses did exactly as he was told.
Picture the contrast in what Moses is doing. Moses has appeared ten times before the mightiest ruler on earth. Ten times, he has shown himself to have no fear of him. He did not obey his commands. He did not respect his position. But God tells him to mark the door with blood, and he does it without hesitation.
He knew that Pharaoh was utterly ruthless. He could kill his entire family on a whim. Yet Moses is unconcerned. He does not even take unusual precautions against assassination. He stays in the open. But when the first-born faced the angel of death, Moses offered an atonement to God. He knew that people could not hurt him. But he also knew that God could. By faith he feared a sovereign he could not see more than one he did not.
Which do we fear more, Man or God? Most people fear people more than they fear God. But Moses had the faith to believe in the invisible God, which he had not seen, except as a voice form a burning bush. He did not doubt that God was going to do what He said he will so, so he protected himself and his family from the wrath of God.
Then the writer of Hebrews tells us of a fourth great act of faith from a surprising source.
By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land; but when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned.
Notice those words—by faith, the people. This is the last exhibit in the Moses wing, and the greatest. It was not only Moses who had faith. All the people who followed him had to have faith as well. A million and a half people at least went down into the Red Sea, walking between two walls of waters, and started for the Promised Land.
Moses was a mighty man of God, but he was just one man. If Moses had all the faith in the world, and no one shared it, it would be useless. If God gave us a Moses today, to lead our nation out of spiritual bondage to the light, it would do us no good, unless someone followed him.
God has given us great leaders—people like Luther, Calvin, Knox, Wesley, Asbury, Moody, and Billy Graham. These were men of God who followed humbly the directions of God. But you would have heard of none of these if it were not for the millions of people who were called to faith by them and responded.
A pastor cannot have faith for the church. The church must have faith for itself. A pastor cannot evangelize a community. The church must evangelize the community. If the people of God do not have the faith, courage, and desire to leave the comfortable ways of the past and to set out on a new adventure from God, then no leader, however effective will do them any good.
But what if we do follow? Then there will not be one Moses, but a thousand Moseses, a million, a hundred million. Whenever people choose to leave their pleasurable lives full of comfort and ease, and follow a risky course, then they follow the steps of Moses.
More than that, they follow the steps of Christ.
Christians are aliens in this world, too. Our real native land is fare above, in heaven with God.
Imagine you are a deep sea diver. You spend hours each day exploring the ocean. You interact with the creatures of the sea. Then one day, you become so comfortable with the sharks and the octopi that you forget you don’t belong there. You take off your mask, and you immediately find yourself in trouble. As much as you think of yourself as belonging in the ocean, you don’t. You cannot breathe what they breathe. You were born to the land.
Being aliens, we must stay disentangled with this world. We must keep our focus and remember that at the end of the day we are going to our true home, and our true world.
It requires faith to remember who we are as we stare out into this alien landscape. It is easy to think that this world is our world. By faith we keep our vision and our sanity.
In Hebrews 11:24-29, we read about Moses, who kept his vision and his faith, in spite of some great temptations to the contrary.
By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh's daughter. He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time. He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of pt, because he was looking ahead to his reward.
By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king's anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible.
By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel.
By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land; but when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned.
In the Hall of Fame of faith, there’s wing devoted to Moses. Last week’s story about Moses’ parents was just the beginning of the tour. There’s a lot more to see. This week, we are going to see three separate acts of faith performed by Moses in his early life, and a surprise act of faith, performed by someone else.
These four separate acts are marked off with the simple words “by faith.”
First, Moses chose humility over status.
By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh's daughter. He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time. He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward.
We do not know how much Moses knew of his inheritance as a Hebrew. Moses did not have a Hebrew name, but an Egyptian one. The greatest Pharaohs had similar sounding names --Ramses, Thutmose. The first parts of these names refer to the God they worshipped. Take away that name, and you get Moses, This gave us an idea that Moses must have been raised thoroughly Egyptian and in the royal family.
We do don’t know how much he knew about his Hebrew heritage. He had some inkling, to be sure. He may have been instructed by his mother/nursemaid, but we do not know when or how he knew he was not Egyptian.
But we know he knew the Egyptian court. It was a great place for a boy to enjoy. There were pleasures and delicacies in abundance. If you were going to live in the ancient world, it is better to be in the court of a king than anywhere else.
As a boy, Moses must have enjoyed it. But as he grew into manhood, he would discover that it was not a good place to be. Take the example of the most famous pharaoh--King Tut. Forensic examination of King Tut's mummy revealed that he was only nineteen when he died, and that he was probably murdered. It may be good to be the king, but it is also dangerous. You can enjoy the privileges of being a kingdom if you didn’t mind murdering people, and possibly getting murdered yourself. The court was a beautiful place, but a cruel place as well.
Moses saw the best Egypt had to offer, and rejected it. He realized that it was lie. People were not happy. All the pleasures of the court were nothing compared to the wickedness of people in it.
Moses had a choice. Did he stay with adopted family and become a ruler, or did he choose his God-fearing relatives and become a slave? Moses chose God over power. He chose to be a humble servant, rather than being a cruel master.
What would you choose, if you had the chance—wealth and power, or truth and Godliness? In the end, Moses clearly made the right decision. .
Second, he chose loneliness over the wrong company
By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king's anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible.
Moses angered the Pharaoh. He could have worked his way in Pharaoh’s graces, but he chose not to. Instead, he left all his relatives, friends, and servants, and went alone into the Sinai desert.
The desert must be a profoundly lonely place for a man traveling alone without even his wife and children. But Moses endured and was rewarded.
The term they use in the Bible is persevered. We can live alone, but we cannot survive as Christians if we choose those who will undermine our faith. The greatest fear Moses had was not the snakes and scorpions of the desert, but the corrupting influence of a world which did not know God. Moses believed in the invisible God, who judges all men, and to whom he must answer in the end.
Third he chose to fear God more than worldly power.
By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel.
The writer of Hebrews recalls an event which happened at the end of Moses’ confrontation with Pharaoh. God brought plague after plague upon Egypt until Pharaoh agreed to let them go. The last plague was the word of all—the plague of the firstborn sons. God was going to send an angel to kill the firstborn of every household. God told Moses to mark the doorpost of his house, and all the other Hebrew houses with the blood of a lamb, to assure the angel of their faithfulness, as well as a means of atonement for their own sins. Moses did exactly as he was told.
Picture the contrast in what Moses is doing. Moses has appeared ten times before the mightiest ruler on earth. Ten times, he has shown himself to have no fear of him. He did not obey his commands. He did not respect his position. But God tells him to mark the door with blood, and he does it without hesitation.
He knew that Pharaoh was utterly ruthless. He could kill his entire family on a whim. Yet Moses is unconcerned. He does not even take unusual precautions against assassination. He stays in the open. But when the first-born faced the angel of death, Moses offered an atonement to God. He knew that people could not hurt him. But he also knew that God could. By faith he feared a sovereign he could not see more than one he did not.
Which do we fear more, Man or God? Most people fear people more than they fear God. But Moses had the faith to believe in the invisible God, which he had not seen, except as a voice form a burning bush. He did not doubt that God was going to do what He said he will so, so he protected himself and his family from the wrath of God.
Then the writer of Hebrews tells us of a fourth great act of faith from a surprising source.
By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land; but when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned.
Notice those words—by faith, the people. This is the last exhibit in the Moses wing, and the greatest. It was not only Moses who had faith. All the people who followed him had to have faith as well. A million and a half people at least went down into the Red Sea, walking between two walls of waters, and started for the Promised Land.
Moses was a mighty man of God, but he was just one man. If Moses had all the faith in the world, and no one shared it, it would be useless. If God gave us a Moses today, to lead our nation out of spiritual bondage to the light, it would do us no good, unless someone followed him.
God has given us great leaders—people like Luther, Calvin, Knox, Wesley, Asbury, Moody, and Billy Graham. These were men of God who followed humbly the directions of God. But you would have heard of none of these if it were not for the millions of people who were called to faith by them and responded.
A pastor cannot have faith for the church. The church must have faith for itself. A pastor cannot evangelize a community. The church must evangelize the community. If the people of God do not have the faith, courage, and desire to leave the comfortable ways of the past and to set out on a new adventure from God, then no leader, however effective will do them any good.
But what if we do follow? Then there will not be one Moses, but a thousand Moseses, a million, a hundred million. Whenever people choose to leave their pleasurable lives full of comfort and ease, and follow a risky course, then they follow the steps of Moses.
More than that, they follow the steps of Christ.
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