REJECTING RELUCTANCE
Exodus 3:1-15; 4:10-17
Introduction
This is How We Overcome - stories from the Old Testament that demonstrate how people of faith overcame the barriers in their lives and gained victory through faith!
1 John 5:4 “...For everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.”
What a great truth that is, but it is countered with another truth: Many people are reluctant to give their life to Christ. Our text today tells us about the reluctance of Moses - a great leader who had to overcome some struggles to answer the call of God!
Exodus 3:1 "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 wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God."
What do you think of when you think about Moses? Growing up in Pharoah’s household? Parting the Red Sea? The Ten Commands? Not many of us think of him as the shepherd tending the flocks of the priest of Midian. Friend Lauretta Lundquist points out that Jethro is a Midianite. Midian was one of Abraham's sons by Katura. Moses found a home and refuge through a son of Abraham. Tending his flock he comes to Horeb, the mountain of God.
Exodus 3:2-4 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 will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.” 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.”
God tells Moses to take his shoes off because this was holy ground.
Exodus 3:7-14 7 The Lord said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey. So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”... But 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 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.” 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 ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?” God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’”
In this moment Moses is challenged to make a major change in his life … it will be uncomfortable, challenging, and even dangerous. But he is reluctant to do so. What is the pathway to overcoming these challenges for Moses? How can it enlighten us and help us to become overcomers?
1. Reluctant
Commentator J. A. Motyer pointed out that the conversation went like this:
-Who am I? (3:11)
-What shall I tell them (3:13)
-What if they do not believe me (4:1)
-I have never been eloquent (4:10)
-Please send someone else (4:13)
Motyer sees four areas of struggle for Moses in this moment: His sense of personal inadequacy (3:11); His desperate attempt to plead ignorance /incompetence ?(3:13); Lack of personal stature and authority that would command attention and commend the message (4:1) and of any natural abilities that would suit him to the task (4:10) . Finally, he came to that place where we too so often find ourselves and said, “Here am I, send someone else’ (4:13).
How many of us have found ourselves using these same kinds of arguments with God? I probably need to ask, who hasn’t! Reluctance to follow God brings about difficulties, struggle, and defeat. But that is not the end of Moses’ story and it doesn’t have to be the end of ours! God knows us better than we know ourselves. Moses wasn't making idle excuses, but what he believed about himself. How many of us would love to do great things for God but we are weighed down by two powerful words: “I Can’t” (shame, guilt, weakness, doubt, struggles, pain) Our past, the condition of this world, the work of the enemy … all of it beats us up and makes us think that God couldn’t use us to do anything vital or meaningful. Don’t forget the burning bush! To overcome we have to refocus on God’s presence and power!
2. Refocused
Moses has to move from reluctant to refocused. (14 God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’”) Refocused on God, not himself. Refocused on God, not the Israelites he left behind 40 yrs. Refocused on God, not Pharoah who would want to kill him. He had to focus on the power, strength, presence of God. Truth: Moses couldn’t do it, but God Can.
When God told Moses that his name was I AM, he was affirming his total control and power in the situation. The past - I AM has always been. The present - I AM is the here and now. The future - I AM is not going anywhere. I AM WHO I AM - The God ever-present, ever-active, interventionist for good. “I will be with you”. The Great I Am is still empowering the multitude of those who trust Him.
Motyer: I AM WHO I AM …It is an open-ended assertion of divine sufficiency: ‘Whatever circumstance may arise, I will be there and I will be sufficient.’
Moses was at first Reluctant, but was able to overcome that reluctance by refocusing on the power and presence of the GREAT I AM!
Conclusion
1 John 5:4 “...For everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.”
What a great truth that is, but it is countered with another truth: Many people are reluctant to give their life to Christ. The cost is too great - giving up friends, old lifestyles, habits. Life experiences moved them to believe that God is not real. Witnessed too many examples of Christians who weren’t living the Jesus Life.Jesus asks a lot of us and He knew that there would be many people who would reject Him for all kinds of reason (MT 7:13-14.)
Even many who even claim the name Christian are reluctant to fully follow Jesus Christ. Being a full follower of Christ rearranges our priorities, affects our families, the way we spend money, our morality, our ability to fit in with the world around us, and most of all takes the attention away from us and places it on Jesus! The only way to move from Reluctance is to Refocus on the Great I Am - God is present and empowering us all along the way. We
can’t, but He can!
Mountains, especially Sinai figure largely in the spiritual history of Moses. Sinai - mountain of conversion / new beginnings. In chapters 19-34 it is the mountain of revelation. Beyond Horeb lies Mount Pisgah, which could be called Moses’ mountain of disappointment as it was from there that he viewed the land he had been forbidden to enter (DT 34:1). In the distant future there is the mount of transfiguration -Moses’ mountain of homecoming (MT 17:1-3).
Which mountain are you facing today? New beginnings? Disappointment? Homecoming? Reach beyond reluctance and refocus on the Great I AM who will help you to be an overcomer today!
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Discussion Questions
1. God comes to Moses after 40 years of shepherding. Why did God use a lot of shepherds? What are the skills and virtues of a competent shepherd that are also valuable in a leader of persons?
2. The “fire” in the bush represented God’s holy presence. Later in Exodus God leads by a pillar of fire, there is fire at Mt. Sinai, in the tabernacle, and the Day of Pentecost. Moses said, “For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God” (Deut 4:24). (See Heb 12:29) What is it about fire that makes it a fitting image for God / God’s presence?
3. When God mentions that he is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that may have made Moses feel better about his own failures. What 'fail' stories can you recall about those patriarchs? Why didn't those cause them to be rejected by God?
4. Why do you think sometimes we allow our own spiritual failures of the past keep us from being active in following God in the present? If you have been able to overcome this, would you share with the group how that happened.
5. When Moses first encountered God it was because he saw the burning bush. What kinds of things do you see in your life, in our culture, in the marketplace, at your workplace ... that remind you that God is near and is at work?
6. The Hebrew people were enslaved for 400 years. In our text God notices and hears their cries. What does this say to you about suffering, God's intervention, and how God acts in today's world?
7. When the Hebrew writer reflects on the life of Moses in Hebrews 11:24-26, what qualities do you see in him that can be admired and used as an example in your life?
8. Was there anything else you wanted to talk about today?
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Resources
Merida, Tony. Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary: Exalting Jesus in Exodus. B&H Publishing, 2014.
Motyer, J. A. The Message of Exodus: The Days of Our Pilgrimage. InterVarsity Press, 2005.
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