September 2015 – Tawa Baptist

September 27, 2015September 27, 2015 Tawa Baptist

Moses Delegates

Scripture: Exodus 18:13-27

Title: Moses Delegates

Structure:

Introduction
Moses’ blind spot
Jethro’s vision
Conclusion

Introduction:

There are many things you can do with your time – most of which can be done by someone else

So you have ask yourself, ‘What are the things only I can do?’
They are probably the things you need to give priority to

There were many things Michelangelo could have done with his time

He could have been a blacksmith or a monk;
He could have studied the law or milked cows – but he didn’t
Instead he gave himself to what only he could do
Four years it took him to paint the ceiling of the Sistine chapel
Three years to sculpt the statue of David

Please turn with me to Exodus chapter 18 – page 79 in your pew Bibles

Today we continue our series on Moses through Exodus
In chapter 18 Moses’ father-in-law, Jethro, comes to visit and finds that his son-in-law is doing many things – most of which could be done by someone else
From Exodus 18, verse 13 we read…

[Read Exodus 18:13-27]

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate this reading for us

In this Scripture we get a rare glimpse of Moses’ blind spot and Jethro’s vision

Moses’ blind spot:

On the wall here is a diagram showing the blind spots for a driver on the road

The red area, either side of the vehicle, reveals those zones the driver can’t see in his rear vision mirror
So to be able to change lanes safely the driver needs to look over their shoulder and check their blind spot

Blind spots aren’t just something drivers have on the road – we all have them

A blind spot is essentially something about ourselves we are not aware of
Some personality trait we don’t realise we possess
Or some behaviour we do unconsciously
Other people can see it clearly enough, but we can’t

It’s interesting isn’t it – that (without a mirror) we can’t see our own faces

Have you ever been in a conversation with someone and they’ve got something stuck in their teeth and you’re not sure whether to say anything
Or maybe they start wiping their nose and that makes you think, ‘Are they trying to subtly tell me I’ve got a bogey hanging out?’
So you wipe your nose too, which makes them wipe their nose again and so on, until it gets really awkward
Has that ever happened to you? (No – it’s just me then)

Blind spots – things other people can see but you can’t

True story – many years ago when our children were young and I wasn’t getting much sleep, Robyn and I went for a walk on the beach (we were on holiday)

I remember pushing the pram along the firm sand for probably the better part of an hour when Robyn pointed out to me that I had some toilet paper hanging out the back of pants (like a tail)
I had no idea – I couldn’t see because it was in my blind spot
Robyn had no sympathy – she cracked up laughing (if you’ll excuse the pun) and couldn’t look at me without giggling for the rest of the day

When we are young we tend to have a lot of blind spots – we don’t know ourselves all that well

But hopefully as we get older and more experienced we learn to look into our blind spots and become more self-aware

Carl Jung describes psychological blind spots as our shadow side – He writes…

“Wholeness for humans depends on the ability to own their own shadow”

In other words, unless we are prepared to face and accept those parts of ourselves which we are not aware of, and which we perhaps don’t like all that much, we’ll never be whole

Moses was a remarkable leader – a man of incredible character – but even he had his blind spots, his shadow

Fortunately he had the humility not to deny his shadow side but to face it

What Moses wasn’t aware of, but what Jethro (and everyone else) could plainly see, was that Moses was doing too much himself

Because of his relationship with Yahweh Moses had become the ‘go to’ guy for settling disputes
If you want peace you must have justice
But in order to have justice you must have wisdom
Where does wisdom come from? – It comes from God
Moses hears from God better than anyone else – so we’ll go to him

Consequently, what we have in Exodus 18 is a bottleneck

Thousands of cases (many trivial, some serious) coming to one person for a resolution
It was a recipe for burnout & frustration
Burn out for Moses and frustration for the people, who had to stand in the hot sun all day waiting for a hearing with Moses
Justice delayed is not justice

Jethro could see the problem and the solution – but Moses couldn’t

This is kind of ironic when you think about it

Here we have Moses making enquiries of God to help other people fix their problems, all the time quite blind to his own problem
We can understand this though…
You can see a car in your rear vision mirror in the distance
But when it’s up close beside you, then you can’t see it
Moses couldn’t see because he was too close – too involved

The other contributor to Moses’ blind spot was that he was doing good things

And when we do good things we are less inclined to question our method
Doing the right thing doesn’t guarantee we are doing it in the right way
Moses was doing the right thing – in the wrong way
He couldn’t see the toll his work was taking on him
Sometimes our focus on the task at hand conceals from us the expenditure on our reserves and it’s not until we stop and have a day off that we realise just how exhausted we are

Quite apart from the drain on Moses’ personal resources, being sucked into the details and doing things other people could do, prevented Moses from seeing the bigger picture

There are times when leaders need to take a step back and look at the situation from the balcony, rather than the floor

Of course, we don’t know what we don’t know
If we don’t know we have a problem then we don’t know to stand back and get some perspective – nor do we know to ask for help
This is where God’s grace comes in

In his letter to the Romans the apostle Paul writes…

…the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And He who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will. [1]

There have been times in my life when all I had was an ache in my heart, which I couldn’t put into words, but which the Holy Spirit felt and understood

Then, when I wasn’t expecting it, God did something which answered the ache in my heart and it was better than anything I might have asked for, had I been able to find the language
There’s no way I can explain the mystery of this
Either you understand it from your own experience or you don’t

Moses didn’t know what to pray for – but God, who searches the human heart, knew the strain Moses was under

God also felt the frustration of the people as they waited for justice
And so the Lord, in His wonderful grace, sent Jethro to give Moses the perspective he needed

Once Jethro had pointed out the issue, in Moses’ blind spot, Moses was able to see clearly what he needed to do

Seeing into his blind spot and accepting the truth it contained actually set Moses free from a whole lot of work he didn’t need to do
It also set the people free from waiting around all day

We, in the west, tend to think of freedom as licence to do what whatever we want

But this is not freedom as the Bible understands it
Biblical freedom comes with spiritual sight – or with knowing the truth
As Jesus said, ‘…it is the truth that sets you free’ [2]

It is looking in your blind spot to assess the reality of the situation, before changing lanes, that sets you free from a crash on the motorway

It is checking yourself in the mirror before going out in public that sets you free from the embarrassment of stray bogeys and toilet paper tails
It is the humility of listening to the truthful observations of wise Jethro’s which sets us free from self-destructive patterns of behaviour

Face your shadow side – look for the truth it contains – there is freedom in it

One of the things that is interesting in this little story from Exodus 18 is that the truth which sets Moses free doesn’t come from within the Israelite community

The truth comes from the outside – from Jethro, a Midianite

In contrast to Moses’ blind spot we have Jethro’s vision

Jethro’s vision:

There are two aspects to Jethro’s vision in Exodus 18

Jethro has the insight to see the root of the problem
And he has the foresight to imagine a different future

Moses is carrying the weight of the world (or at least the weight of Israel) on his shoulders and so Jethro asks the question…

“Why are you doing this all alone?” (verse 14)

Why indeed?

This question is insightful – it cuts to the core of the issue, which is Moses’ isolation – his sense of alienation from his own people
Moses is alone in the crowd and it is the pattern of his life

He grew up in a palace while his fellow Israelites lived in a slum

When he tried to reconnect with his people and help them he was rejected and ended up spending 40 years in exile
Then, as if he doesn’t feel different enough, God calls him to a special task – something no one else has ever done before
Moses reluctantly obeys and for all his pains and troubles the people complain against him and accuse him of meaning them harm, even though he has only ever done them good
It is little wonder that Moses doesn’t think to ask for help

Leadership is a paradox

On the one hand, a leader needs to learn the strength to stand alone
And unfortunately you can’t learn that without the experience of being alone & misunderstood
At the same time though, a leader also needs to learn to trust other people
It seems to me Moses knew how to stand alone – he had that in spades – but he was still learning to trust

Of course, it’s one thing to point out the problem, but unless you can offer a better alternative then it’s usually best to keep your opinions to yourself

Not only did Jethro uncover the core of the problem – Moses’ loneliness

He also gave Moses the vision to imagine a better future
He gave Moses a plan and a strategy that was sustainable
In a word, that strategy was, delegation. Jethro says…

Choose some capable men and appoint them as leaders of the people: leaders of thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. They must be God fearing men who can be trusted and who cannot be bribed. Let them serve as judges for the people on a permanent basis. They can bring all their difficult cases to you, but they themselves can decide all the smaller disputes. That will make it easier for you as they share your burden.

The first thing we observe about Jethro’s vision here is that delegation is not abdication

Moses isn’t to appoint just any body
The men he appoints must be capable, God fearing and trustworthy

To be God fearing means to be more concerned with what God thinks than with what other people think

A God fearing person is not a ‘yes’ person
A God fearing person is able to say ‘no’ when it matters
They are guided by their conscience more than the praise or blame of others

To be trustworthy in this context means having integrity – not open to bribery

The judge must love truth & justice more than money or comfort
Being ‘trustworthy’ implies it is a relationship of trust
Trust is a sacred thing and should not be abused or misplaced

The point is, Moses shouldn’t just throw his authority away – he should carefully place it in men who have the competence & character to handle it

We also note that Moses is not to delegate all his authority

Delegation doesn’t really work when the leader in charge expects everyone else to get stuck in without doing anything themselves
The delegates need to know the buck stops with Moses and that Moses will be there to take care of the really difficult cases
If Moses abdicated all responsibility and sat back saying – ‘It’s all on you boys’ – then he would lose the respect of his men pretty quickly

Jethro’s plan – his vision of delegation – comes with a number of advantages

The first and most obvious advantage is that many hands make light work

At the end of verse 22 Jethro comments to Moses that his plan…

…will make it easier for you as they share your burden.

The burden is shared in that Moses has less disputes to sort out
And it’s also shared in the sense that Moses is less alone
Sharing responsibility actually engenders more understanding for the leader

You often find those who are most critical of leaders have never actually been in leadership themselves

They are arm chair critics who have never really felt the burden or the isolation of leadership and so they have no empathy
But when you have had to carry some responsibility and felt the loneliness of a difficult decision then you have a bit more understanding for your boss

By delegating, Moses was drawing the best out of others

Jesus said, “You are the salt of the earth”
One of the things salt does is bring the best out of food
Trusting others to do something meaningful (as Moses did) generally brings the best out of them

Conclusion:

There are many things you can do with your time – most of which can be done by someone else

So you have ask yourself, ‘What are the things only I can do?’
They are probably the things you need to give priority to

No one could have helped Moses to see his blind spot quite like Jethro did

The same good advice from one of Moses’ juniors would have been a lot more difficult for Moses to accept
But Jethro was a leader in his own right (a priest of Midian) and so he understood Moses’ position
He had done his time and earned the right to speak into Moses’ life
Fortunately for Moses (and for Israel) Jethro used his vision to help Moses find a sustainable way forward
Imagine if Jethro had held his tongue
Moses and Israel would have suffered for it

No one could hear from God quite like Moses could – he seemed to have a direct line of communication with the Lord

Fortunately for Israel (and for us) Moses gave himself to listening to God’s word and communicating this to the people
But that didn’t mean he had to settle every dispute
There were others capable of handling the smaller more routine matters
Imagine if Moses hadn’t taken Jethro’s advice
What a waste that would have been

No one could save the world like Jesus did

Fortunately for us Jesus gave Himself on the cross for our salvation
Imagine if he had remained in Nazareth working as a carpenter his whole life
There would be some nice houses there I guess, but we would be without hope

Now at this point you might be thinking that’s all well & good but what can I do that no one else can?

I’m not Michelangelo, I’m not Moses, I’m not Jethro and I’m certainly not Jesus
Well, each of us is unique and none of us are fully aware of how God will use us
Quite often our potential is hidden in our blind spot
God sees though and He will use us for His good purpose – even if we aren’t aware

[1] Romans 8:26-27

[2] John 8:32

September 20, 2015September 20, 2015 Tawa Baptist

Resilient Faith

Scripture: Exodus 16:1-21

Title: Resilient Faith

Structure:

Introduction
What is resilience?
Developing resilience
- Presence (not absence)
- Nourishment (not neglect)
- Discipline (not excess)
Conclusion

Introduction:

Resilience is the capacity to withstand stress & catastrophe [1]

This Volts Wagon is certainly showing some resilience

Please turn with me to Exodus chapter 16 – page 76 in your pew Bibles

Today we continue our series in Exodus
The people have been camped at Elim – an oasis in the wilderness
Now they set out toward Sinai and on the way their resilience is tested and found wanting. From Exodus 16, verse 1, we read…

Read Exodus 16:1-21

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate this reading for us

What is resilience?

A diamond is just a piece of charcoal that handled stress exceptionally well

Diamonds are of course one of the most resilient objects known to man
They are formed when carbon is put under extreme heat and pressure

Resilience is not something you’re born with

Resilience develops as we grow up – although it doesn’t develop automatically

Some factors that contribute to resilience are:

A good support network – including family & friends
A positive (and accurate) view of yourself

Good problem-solving and communication skills
The ability to ask for help and resources
Healthy coping strategies – including the ability to celebrate & enjoy life
An outward focus – by which I mean a mind-set which considers the needs and well-being of others
And most importantly, in my view, faith in a loving God

All these things give us the basic materials for resilience – but we don’t really know how resilient we are until we face some kind of crisis

Pressure and stress reveal the diamond in our charcoal

People who are resilient have the ability to pick themselves up and carry on

They don’t see themselves as victims – they see themselves as survivors
Those with resilience are able to find positive meaning in the difficult circumstances of their lives
And they have the strength to manage strong feelings and impulses

Moses provides a good example of someone with resilience

The people of Israel? – Not so much

In Exodus 16 the people have left the oasis at Elim and followed Moses into the desert of Sin

It has been somewhere between 4 and 6 weeks since the Israelites left Egypt (depending on how you interpret verse 1)
For not the first time the people complain to Moses & Aaron, saying…
“We wish the Lord had killed us in Egypt. There we could at least sit down and eat meat and as much other food as we wanted. But you have brought us out into this desert to starve us all to death”

Wow – that’s messed up

The people who said that didn’t have their heads screwed on right
It hasn’t been two months yet and already they seem to have forgotten what God has done for them

The good old days are never as good as people remember them

In actual fact the Israelites were slaves in Egypt – they were badly mistreated – they didn’t always have meat or enough to eat
Pharaoh was trying to kill them
But God delivered them from their suffering in a miraculous way

The people weren’t starving yet – they were just worried that they might run out of food – what happens then?

They were getting ahead of themselves and thinking the worst

One of the things you notice when you watch interviews with the All Blacks for this world cup is that they are very careful not to get ahead of themselves

The tournament is just getting underway
They’re not thinking about the final
They’re thinking about what’s happening now
They’re thinking about the practice that morning
Or the pool game that afternoon
One day at a time sweet Jesus, one day at a time

Not getting ahead of yourself – not thinking the worst – takes mental discipline

Sadly it was a discipline the Israelites hadn’t learned at that point
They accuse Moses of wanting to starve them which just shows how fearful they were – and how little control they had over their thoughts
They weren’t calm on the inside – their minds were racing
The food crisis has led to a faith crisis [2]

Moses shows resilience in the face of this accusation

Like the Volts Wagon under the elephant he doesn’t crumple
He isn’t defeated by the weight of the people’s criticism
Nor does he spit the dummy and walk off
Moses waits for God

So where does Moses’ resilience come from?

Well, I think there are a number of pillars to his resilience

If we look at Moses’ upbringing we note that he had a loving and supportive family network

His sister Miriam watched over him as a baby when he was put in a basket and floated down the Nile
His biological mother spent lots of face to face time with him as an infant, so he learned basic trust from that consistent attachment
His adopted mother was a princess in Egypt and so Moses never wanted for anything growing up
His basic assumption as a child was one of abundance not scarcity

But Moses didn’t live his whole life in an ivory tower

After 40 years living in the wilderness as a shepherd he was well acquainted with the realities of survival
His adult life experience had taught him resilience in harsh environments

Aaron was another string to Moses’ bow of resilience – although it was only a matter of time before Aaron became a thorn in Moses’ side

The main stay of Moses’ resilience is his relationship with Yahweh

Moses is not acting or speaking on his own
He is following God’s instructions and so he is able to say…
‘When you complain against us you are really complaining against the Lord’, verse 8
When we know we are in God’s will for us, when we know we are doing what God wants us to do, nothing can shake us
“If God is for us, who can be against us?” [3]
The Lord is Moses’ support network, his resilience, his strength

To be fair the people of Israel did not enjoy the same advantages that Moses did

They didn’t have the raw materials needed for resilience
They didn’t have a princess looking after them
They had the sting of the slave driver’s whip instead
They didn’t know abundance – they only knew hard work & poverty
Years of brutal oppression & slavery had all but wiped out their resilience

Suffering and stress may reveal resilience – like sandpaper reveals the wood grain under paint

But when suffering and stress is all you’ve known then pain and fear is all you’ve got
If you keep sanding the wood too long it will wear thin and break
Suffering by itself doesn’t make you stronger – it makes you less resilient
Faith – learning to trust – that is what makes a person stronger

Developing resilience:

It seems to me that God wanted to develop a resilient faith among His people

The sort of faith that wouldn’t fall to pieces every time they found themselves in a stressful situation

And to develop this resilience the Lord gave the people three things…

His presence, nourishment and discipline
These three things are (coincidentally) what a parent needs to give their child for resilience

Presence – not absence

C.S. Lewis once wrote…

“We may ignore, but we can nowhere evade the presence of God. The world is crowded with Him. He walks everywhere incognito. And the incognito is not always easy to penetrate. The real labour is to remember to attend. In fact to come awake. Still more to remain awake.”

This has been my experience

God is not absent or aloof – He is everywhere, but He’s in disguise

Personally I see God most clearly in my circumstances

I tend to be more aware of Him out there (in the world) than I am of Him in here (in church)
I love it when God puts me in just the right place, at just the right time, with just the right resources to help just the right person
That’s when I’m most aware of God’s presence

I remember on our honeymoon, Robyn and I were near Russell, in the Bay of Islands

We were driving along in our burnt orange Mark 2 Ford Escort, coming over the hill from Tapeka Point, and this lady waved us down
So I pulled over to the side of the road and she quickly opened the door and jumped in the back
She was scared out of her wits because a dog had been chasing her
We gave her a lift down the hill into Russell township – she got out and we never saw her again

It was a small thing for us to do – no inconvenience really – but I saw God in that situation

He put us in the right place, at the right time, with the right resources to help a stranger in need
If we had come over the hill one minute earlier we would probably have missed her
And if we had come one minute later, who knows – maybe she would have been bitten or worse
It was a God moment

In Exodus 16, verse 10, we read how God makes is presence visible to the people of Israel in the form of a dazzling light inside a cloud

The people were scared and insecure – they needed to see God’s presence in a tangible way
Nothing is more convincing than presence

If you want to develop or maintain a resilient faith, then stay alert to the signs of God’s presence, whatever form He may meet you in, whether that’s through:

Reading the Bible
Or singing worship songs
Or helping people
Or experiencing dreams and visions
Or whatever – just look for His presence

Nourishment – not neglect

The second thing God does in Exodus 16, to help the people develop resilient faith, is He feeds them

God provides nourishment (He does not neglect His people)

The nourishment comes in the form of meat and bread – protein and carbs

God sends quail in the evening and manna in the morning

Quail are known to migrate across the Sinai Peninsula at certain times of the year

They stop to rest on the ground in the evening and would be easy for the people to catch
Although quail are naturally occurring, their provision in this situation, is extraordinary – God must be behind it
Because the quail arrive every night for 40 years and they never run out
In the ordinary course of events you wouldn’t expect that sort of frequency or quantity

The manna which appeared in the morning could also be a naturally occurring food source

There is an insect in that part of the world which feeds off the tamarisk tree and it secretes a white yellowy substance which is sweet to eat
It is rich in carbohydrates & sugar and it’s still gathered by people living in that area today
At night, when it’s cold, the substance congeals, but then, when the sun comes out, it melts in the heat of the day
It is a food which normally decays quickly and it attracts ants

Whatever you want to call this stuff it fits the description of manna in Exodus

The provision of manna, in this situation, is extraordinary – God must be behind it

Because the manna is there every morning for 40 years, enough to feed well over 1 million people each day
And on Friday’s it lasts for two days without going bad
In the normal course of events you wouldn’t expect that kind of frequency or quantity – nor would you expect that kind of shelf life

The way God consistently provides quail & manna shows the people He can be relied on – they can trust Him

Even when the people complain or disobey, God still keeps feeding them

Feeding children is one of the core responsibilities of parents

That routine of providing regular meals is actually one of the things that contributes to a child’s resilience
It helps them to feel safe and secure so they learn to trust and not worry about where their next meal is coming from

God provides the ingredients for a resilient faith by the gift of His presence and by feeding His people regularly

He also develops resilience through discipline

Discipline – not excess

Discipline is a misunderstood word these days

We often associate discipline with punishment – six of the best or time out or being grounded or some other negative consequence

But discipline isn’t really about punishment – discipline is about learning

To discipline someone is to teach them

So for example, teaching your child how to use a knife and fork so they can eat their dinner independently – that is discipline

Or teaching them how to bake a cake or sew on a button – these are also examples of disciplining your children

God’s gift of manna & quail comes with certain instructions

These instructions are designed to help the people get the most out of God’s gifts and to teach the people faith or trust in God

So when God says, ‘only gather as much as you need and don’t try and hoard it’, this is teaching the people both to practice self-restraint and to trust the Lord to provide some more tomorrow

Give us this day our daily bread

And when the Lord says, ‘gather a double portion on Friday and don’t gather any on Saturday’, this is teaching the people to rest

It is showing them their life does not depend on work and endless activity – it depends on God
Learning to rest, to celebrate, to enjoy life, to find a healthy distraction from work, this is a significant contributor to resilience also

Another thing you notice if you watch interviews with the All Blacks, leading up to this world cup, is the way they are keeping the conversation light

They’re not intensely focused on rugby all the time and I think this helps to preserve their resilience
I saw an interview in which Luke Romano was talking about how he and Sam Whitelock had been feeding the hotel nuts to a squirrel
It’s a healthy distraction – something else to think about – it helps them stay relaxed so they are better able to handle the pressure when it comes

God loves the people of Israel enough to discipline them

He doesn’t spoil the Israelites with excess
He teaches them resilience by giving them boundaries

We human beings need certain boundaries (especially when we are young)

The discipline or the teaching of what is good for us, and what is harmful, actually gives us a sense of security and strength in adulthood

Discipline (teaching right from wrong) is like setting up the boxing when you are pouring concrete

If you want the concrete to hold its shape you need to make sure the boxing is in place beforehand
Without the boxing the wet concrete runs everywhere
But with the firm boundary provided by the boxing the concrete stays in place and then once it is set you can take the boxing away
Once the child has learned you don’t have to stay on their back all the time

Or to use another metaphor, teaching resilient faith is like teaching someone to ride a bike

When we start out in the faith God may give us training wheels
By training wheels I mean special supports like miracles perhaps, or a warm glow, or enthusiasm for reading the Bible or something else that makes believing in Him a bit easier
These training wheels give us the feel of faith and help us to build up some confidence

But ultimately God wants to teach us to ride without the training wheels

Because the picture of an adult riding with kiddy wheels is disturbing

And so, as we progress in the Christian faith, God may take away the supports

We might not experience miracles anymore or we may go through a real dry time in our devotional life or we may struggle with doubt
When God removes the training wheels it might feel like He has abandoned us – but actually He hasn’t – He’s still right there beside us
It’s just that we are having to learn to ride a two wheeler now
It feels a bit wobbly to begin with and we may fall over & skin our knees
But if we pick ourselves up again and carry on we eventually get the hang of it – we learn resilient faith

Conclusion:

I’m conscious that we are not all the same when it comes to resilience

Some people have been given all they need for resilience
They have grown up in a functional family and are surrounded by people who love and support them
They are able to take time off to enjoy life and have really good communication skills and so on

Then there are others who have suffered loss repeatedly and actually feel quite fragile most of the time

Or those who didn’t have a happy childhood
Those whose experience was one of neglect or excess or even abuse
And others who are having to work three jobs just to make ends meet, so they don’t have time to rest and enjoy life
Resilience in these cases seems like an unattainable goal
Let me say to you, Jesus understands – He is all compassion
“A bruised reed he will not break and a smouldering wick he will not snuff out.”

Whatever your situation – Jesus is our security

His resurrection from the dead is our hope of eternal resilience.
Whether we feel bullet proof or paper thin – strong or weak…
We need to keep looking to Christ for His presence, His nourishment and His discipline
And we shouldn’t be afraid or surprised when the training wheels come off – it’s really a compliment when God does that – a sign of His love and trust in us

[1] http://www.pbs.org/thisemotionallife/topic/resilience/what-resilience

[2] Terence Fretheim, Exodus, page 181.

[3] Romans 8:31

September 13, 2015September 13, 2015 Tawa Baptist

Sharing Christ

Scripture: John 7:37-39

Title: Sharing Christ

Structure:

Introduction
Open wells
We are the cup
Grace & truth
Conclusion

Introduction:

Today, because we have welcomed people into church membership, we take a break from our series on Moses to focus on one of our members’ pledges:

To share with other people the gospel of Jesus Christ our Lord.

To some people sharing their faith comes naturally, but not to all of us

For many of us sharing the gospel of Christ feels anything but natural
It feels awkward or difficult or scary
And while there is risk involved in sharing our faith we need not be afraid

Looking more closely at that statement on the wall, the word ‘gospel’ simply means good news

We Christians are not being asked to share bad news
We have something positive to share, something life-giving

And the good news we have to share is about a person, ‘Jesus Christ’

Sharing the gospel isn’t primarily about passing on ideas or rules or doctrines (although it does include those things)
Sharing the gospel is first & foremost about sharing a relationship – introducing others to Jesus, our friend

Open wells:

One of the best illustrations of what it means to share Christ with others is found in John chapter 7 – page 128 toward the back of your pew Bibles

To put you in the picture, Jesus is in Jerusalem for the festival of shelters

This is an 8 day festival held at the end of autumn
Autumn, in the Middle East, is usually a dry time of year and the people are looking to God to provide rain
On each of the first seven days of the festival the priest draws water from the pool of Siloam, then leads a procession to the Temple, where he pours the water onto the altar
The people are reminded of God’s provision for Israel in the wilderness after leaving Egypt – particularly the way God made water pour out of a rock in the desert
Words from Isaiah may be read as part of the water pouring ceremony
“With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation” [1]
Or, “You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.” [2]

It is against this background that Jesus makes His statement

From John 7, verse 37, we read…

[Read John 7:37-39]

May the Spirit of Jesus refresh us today

On the wall here is a picture of the fresh water springs at Petone

Most of you would have been to this spring I’m sure
Water bubbles up through the ground naturally – and as it passes through the sand and gravel the water is purified
Even though people could easily get water by turning a tap on at home they still come to the spring to fill up bottles to drink

In John 7, Jesus uses the water symbolism of the feast of shelters to talk about the living water He will bestow

The land is dry and the people are thinking of rain and of their own physical thirst [3]
Jesus turns their attention to the deep need of the soul and to the way he would meet that need – with the gift of Himself, the gift of His Spirit
Jesus is like a fresh water spring (or a well) – and the water He offers is God’s Holy Spirit

With this in mind, sharing the gospel of Christ is best understood as introducing others to Jesus – the one person who can satisfy the thirst of the soul

In sharing the gospel, therefore, we are showing thirsty people where they can get a drink
More than this though we actually become the means through which Jesus delivers His water

Jesus says…

“Whoever believes in me, streams of life-giving water will pour from his [or her] heart”

In other words, those who believe in Jesus (those who trust Him and are committed to Him) will become a vessel for God’s Holy Spirit

Wow – that’s pretty incredible

A fresh water spring or a well works by being accessible and open

People are drawn to a well and they draw from a well

One of the keys to sharing our faith is simply being open & honest with people

Listening carefully to what people are saying & letting them enquire of us
We don’t need to try and make something happen
God will create the opportunities naturally – we don’t need to force anything – but we do need to be open and available

If you look at our organ pipes here you will see they have holes in them

Holes in either end and a hole in the front
The pipes make a sound precisely because they are open
If we were to block up the holes so the air couldn’t pass through then there would be no music
Each of us is like one of those organ pipes – we must stay open to strike the right note
But as organ pipes we don’t provide the air
God is the organist and the wind of His Spirit passes through us

Christian believers are like organ pipes and water wells – we work best when we are open – open to God and open to others

Openness to God and to others could mean accepting an invitation to dinner

Or, if someone asks you what you did on the weekend you include the fact that you went to church
Being open might mean being interruptible enough to listen to someone or help them with something
Those who volunteer to help support a refugee family to relocate in our area (if that is needed) are showing an openness to God & to others

Other times openness means allowing people to draw the water of grace & truth out of us by answering the questions they ask, openly and honestly

Not that we must always wait to be asked what we believe – sometimes it is appropriate for us to take the initiative

If you can see someone is thirsty, then why not put a cup of water directly into their hands

We are the cup:

Okay, time for a practical demonstration

I need a volunteer to come up the front on the stage with me
This would especially suit someone who doesn’t like me that much
[Wait for volunteer]

On the table over here we have a bowl of water and a cup

I want you [the volunteer] to fill the cup with water from the bowl and stand ten steps away from me
Now I’m going to open my mouth and I want you to try and throw as much water as you can from the cup into my mouth, without moving from the spot

[Volunteer throws water, I get wet and dry myself]

[To the congregation] what would be a better way to get the water into me? [Wait for people to respond]

That’s right, pass the cup to me and let me drink from it myself
[Get the volunteer to do that – then ask them to sit down]

For the purposes of this illustration I want you to imagine…

The bowl is Christ
The water is the gospel – the good news of salvation
And you are the cup

As the cup you have no ability to manufacture the water by yourself

The most you can do is be filled with the good news about Jesus so that others can drink from you

Sharing Christ, sharing the gospel, doesn’t really work from a distance

It doesn’t work to throw the gospel at someone
You have to get close to people to share your faith
Introducing others to Jesus is an intimate thing
It will inevitably require us to make ourselves vulnerable

Making yourself vulnerable means demonstrating trust in others

In Luke 10, when Jesus sent out 72 of his followers to share the gospel, He said to them, “Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. Do not take a purse or bag or sandals… When you enter a house… stay in that house eating and drinking whatever they give you…”
In other words, don’t go in strength, go in weakness
In that situation, Jesus wanted his disciples to trust themselves to the mercy and hospitality of strangers
Talk about making yourself vulnerable

If you go up to someone cold, on the street, and say to them…

‘You’re going to hell unless you repent and accept Jesus’
Then that’s not making yourself vulnerable
That’s like throwing water in their face
I guess God could use that as a wake-up call for some people
But I expect most people would be turned away from Jesus by that sort of approach – it would just make them feel angry and like you’re trying to manipulate them

We need to be careful with the way we represent Christ and His gospel

Yes, there is a judgment which we must all face one day
And yes, there is a hell which we want to avoid
And yes again, Jesus is our hope of salvation
But trust needs to come first – faith is the foundation
And it’s a far stronger foundation than fear and guilt

We are the cup, we are the container – we don’t manufacture the water, we simply hold it for others to drink

But people quite often need to trust the cup before they will drink its contents
If the cup is dirty then people will be less inclined to drink from it
We need to keep the cup of our soul clean

So what does it mean then to keep the cup clean?

Well, in a word, integrity

What we do needs to match what we say

It’s no good speaking about faith in Jesus and then ignoring those in need
As James says, ‘What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.’ [4]

We need to share Christ with our words and our deeds

Integrity (or keeping the cup clean) also means keeping our motives pure

Our motivation for sharing Christ with others needs to be love
Love for God and love for our neighbour
If your motivation is fear or guilt or self-interest then people are less likely to trust you
They won’t want to drink from your cup
Even if you what you have to say happens to be true

Grace & truth:

There’s a wonderful movie which came out a few years ago called ‘The Bucket List’, starring Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson

Carter, the character played by Freeman, is a believer
But Edward Cole, played by Nicholson, is not
Carter is always trying to put the cup in Edward’s hand, but Edward is reluctant to drink

You can put the cup of water into someone’s hand but you can’t make them drink – people need to be thirsty before they will drink

One of the things I like about Freeman’s character in this movie is that he is honest – there is truth in his conversation with Edward – truth with grace

Freeman’s character (Carter) does not deny his faith in any way – he accepts Edward without bending to accommodate him too much
Carter is honest about who he is and what he believes – and through that honesty trust grows between the two men
Then, as the trust grows, Carter begins to challenge Edward
Because Edward is actually very thirsty – he just doesn’t know how to satisfy that thirst

Although Nicholson’s character (Edward) is closed to God at first, Carter helps Edward to find the joy in his life

In the end Edward’s heart is opened – opened by truth and grace

As we have already noted, the living water Jesus talked about in John 7 is the Holy Spirit of God

The key characteristics of the Spirit are truth & grace
When the Spirit of Jesus is in us, our words and actions will communicate grace and truth

In John chapter 4 Jesus encounters a Samaritan woman at a well

He does the culturally inappropriate thing of asking the woman for a drink of water
The woman answers, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan – so how can you ask me for a drink?” (Jews won’t use the same cups as Samaritans)
The woman is taken aback by the grace Jesus shows here – the grace of acceptance

And Jesus replies with truth, “If only you knew what God gives and who it is that is asking you for a drink, you would ask him and he would give you life-giving water… ”

As the conversation progresses Jesus asks the woman to go and get her husband

But she says, “I haven’t got a husband”
And Jesus agrees, “You are right when you say you haven’t got a husband. [The truth is] you have been married to five men and the man you live with now is not really your husband.”

By saying this Jesus reveals that He is a prophet

And as a prophet Jesus has put His finger on an inconvenient truth – the woman has a chequered past and is currently living in sin
But the woman stays in the conversation with Jesus, even if she does change the subject to talk about where God should be worshipped
In the end though Jesus reveals that He is more than just a prophet – He is the Messiah
The woman believes in Jesus and tells those in her town about him – many of whom believe also, because of her testimony
She has become the first missionary to the Samaritans

Conclusion:

To share with other people the gospel of Jesus Christ our Lord.

This is one of the most important reasons for us being here

The good news is about a person, ‘Jesus Christ’

Sharing the gospel is first & foremost about sharing a relationship – introducing others to Jesus, our friend

In sharing Christ we are not selling anything – we are giving something away, by keeping ourselves open and accessible to God and the world

We are not trying to prove something
We are putting the cup of the gospel (a cup of grace & truth) into people’s hands and letting them decide for themselves

Let’s pray…

[1] Isaiah 12:3

[2] Isaiah 58:11

[3] Leon Morris, NICNT ‘John’, page 373.

[4] James 2:14-17

September 6, 2015September 6, 2015 Tawa Baptist

God Heals

Scripture: Exodus 15:19-27

Title: God Heals

Structure:

Introduction
God heals the waters, naturally
God heals the people, conditionally
Conclusion

Introduction:

Please turn with me to Exodus chapter 15, page 75, near the beginning of your pew Bibles

This morning we continue our series on Moses
Last week we heard how God & Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt and through the Red Sea
This was a journey from triumphalism, through terror, to trust
Today Moses & God lead the people from victory, through bitter disappointment to healing & refreshment

From Exodus 15, verse 19, we read…

[Read Exodus 15:19-27]

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate this reading for us

In this Scripture God heals through Moses

God heals the bitter waters, naturally
And God heals the people, conditionally

God heals the waters, naturally:

If we were to make a movie of the Exodus (and people have of course) then the end of chapter 14 would be the perfect place to finish

The Israelites (who are the underdogs) have just passed through the Red Sea to safety
God (the hero) has won the day and the bad guy (Pharaoh) has been defeated
Now the Israelites can ride off into the sunset and live happily ever after
The audience can leave the theatre with Miriam’s song of victory ringing in their ears and reality can be avoided for another day

But what if the movie kept going?

What if we went past the climax of the story and into ordinary life beyond the happy ending?

This is what happens in Exodus 15

After the victory over the Egyptians at the Red Sea, Moses leads the people off into the desert
And after three days of walking into the sunset the people are thirsty

You can imagine their disappointment when they do eventually find some water, only to discover it was too bitter to drink

This is life after the end credits

Terence Fretheim observes…

“It is not enough for the people of God to sing, they must also listen to their God and follow the divine leading” [1]

The people were understandably happy to be delivered from the Egyptians and it was right that they responded to God with songs of praise

But the best way to give thanks to God is by listening to what he says and following His lead

Jesus told a parable (in Matthew 21) of a man who had two sons

He went to the elder one and said…
‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today’
And the elder son replied…
‘Na. Don’t want to’, but later he changed his mind and went
Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing
The younger son said, ‘Yea sure Dad, be happy to’, but he did not go

The first son says the wrong thing but then he does the right thing

The other son says the right thing but he does the wrong thing

It is not enough for the people of God to sing the right words, they must also listen to God and follow His leading

I said last week that passing through the Red Sea was a kind of baptism for Israel

Baptism is a new beginning
It is not the end of all your problems – it is the end of an old way of life and the start of a new way of life

Shortly after Jesus was baptised the Spirit of God led Him into the wilderness to be tested by Satan

It was similar for Israel
After their baptism in the Red Sea, God led the people into the wilderness to test them
The people needed to learn not just to say the right thing but also to do the right thing
Because it is in listening to God and obeying Him that we are healed (spiritually)

Verse 24 of Exodus 15 tells us the people said the wrong thing – they complained to Moses, asking, ‘what are we going to drink?’

Moses models the example of the right thing to do in a situation like this

Moses prays earnestly
This means both calling on God and listening for His response
As Moses listened the Lord showed him a piece of wood (a tree) which Moses threw into the water – to make it drinkable

This is interesting

The fact there is a tree here which can be used to heal the bitter waters shows us that God had prepared a solution a long time in advance
God is not taken by surprise, even if we are
God goes ahead of His people not to remove all obstacles but rather to provide the remedy for the problem

God could have arranged for the tree to fall into the water before the people came to Marah – that way the water would be ok to drink when they arrived

But God didn’t do it like that
He waited to be asked before helping
It’s not that God can’t do anything unless we pray
It’s more that we need to be reminded not to take God for granted
If things always go our way, or come too easily for us, we will begin to think we did it ourselves and we won’t learn to rely on God

It’s also interesting that God resolved the difficulty with something in nature

God doesn’t wave a magic wand or snap His fingers to fix the problem
He doesn’t do anything miraculous here
God simply uses what’s at hand naturally, in creation, to help His people
The point seems to be, if you have a problem, don’t just look up, look around – the solution might be right in front of you

God’s healing of the bitter waters at Marah is perhaps an acted out parable of the healing God intended for Israel

Years of oppression and brutality at the hands of the Egyptians was bound to leave its mark
God wanted to remove the bitterness caused by this hurt

Okay then, God heals the bitter waters, naturally

And, God heals the people, conditionally

God heals the people, conditionally:

The last part of verse 25 tells us that, there (at Marah) the Lord gave them laws to live by

We tend to have this idea that God only gave the Law in one place – at Sinai – but God gives the law in a variety of places
Which means, “Israel will need to be attentive to the will of God in every life situation, knowing that the body of law given at Sinai may not speak directly to the issue at hand.” [2]

Jesus seemed to understand this

He realised that you can’t legislate for every possibility in life
You can’t anticipate rules to cover every situation that might arise
But you can be attentive to the will of God
Because Jesus was listening to God all the time, He was able to see behind the letter of the law to find its spirit – that is, to understand what God’s will was in that particular circumstance
The Pharisees, on the other hand, were not listening to God (they were listening to themselves) and so they often missed the point

Now it’s all very well for me to say, ‘we need to listen to God’, but hearing Him clearly is often difficult in practice

How do we know if we’ve heard God accurately?
Well, one clue is that God reveals His will (or gives His law) to heal people

Yes, healing can come in miraculous ways – like when Jesus restored sight to the blind or when He enabled the lame to walk

And healing can come in natural ways too – like when God directed Moses to throw a certain tree into the bitter waters at Marah
But God’s healing is also something we participate in through our obedience to the Lord – by the changes we make to our lifestyle
The people had to learn God’s laws – His way of living – a new lifestyle, in order to be healed of bad habits – in order for their soul to be restored

When I was younger – a teenager – I injured my back

It wasn’t so bad that I couldn’t walk, but it was pretty painful all the same
We were new to the Christian faith at that stage
My mum asked one of her friends to pray for me and when she did I fell into a deep sleep
When I woke up the woman who had prayed for me was gone and my back was healed
I had no more pain and I had freedom of movement – it was wonderful
A small miracle – But miracles are for beginners

Years later, when I became a pastor, I did a sermon series on Job and during that time, while I was sitting down to plan the series, the pain in my lower back returned – the timing was interesting

On this occasion God did not heal me miraculously like He did when I was young
This time God showed me through physiotherapists how to change my posture and do exercises to heal & strengthen my back
It was like God was teaching me to take better care of myself
Now, if I revert to those old habits of not holding myself in the right position, the pain returns
But as long as I keep good posture and avoid using my back like a crane it’s fine

In verse 26 God says to Israel…

“If you will obey me completely by doing what I consider right and by keeping my commands, I will not punish you with any of the diseases that I brought on the Egyptians. I am the Lord, the one who heals you.”

God gives His law (He reveals is will) to heal us

What we notice here, in verse 26, is that this is a conditional statement by God

‘If you obey me I won’t punish you’
This does not mean that all sickness is a punishment from God
In the context of Exodus 15, God is talking about Himself as a healer,
And so we should take this statement positively, as a promise of good things

But even if we take it positively, the promise is still conditional

God is not saying, ‘You will enjoy good health no matter what’
God is saying, ‘You will enjoy good health if you obey me’
It’s like with the physiotherapist, ‘your back will get better if you do the exercises’

Now some of us might struggle with the idea that God’s promise of good health & healing (in this context) is conditional on Israel’s obedience

It seems to contradict a belief held by many people today that God’s love is unconditional

To say that “God’s love is unconditional.” (full stop), is misleading

It gives some people the impression that they have licence to do whatever they want and get away with it
Some use it to claim diplomatic immunity from God’s judgement – like a get out of jail free card

Well, that kind of thinking presumes too much

The Bible does talk about God’s steadfast love & faithfulness

It talks about Him being slow to anger and rich in love

The Lord is gracious and gives freely to all
He causes His rain to fall on the just and the unjust alike [3]

God’s virtue is not interested in reward

God loves us because of who He is – not because of what we do
God doesn’t stop loving us when we sin – His love for us remains steadfast and true
He doesn’t switch His love off and on, like a light
His love stays on permanently

But that doesn’t mean we have a licence to do whatever we want

The Bible also talks about God punishing those who do wrong
Over the last few weeks we’ve heard how God has punished the Egyptians for oppressing the Israelites

You see, love is not licence

Love seeks the well-being of the other person
And it’s not always in the other person’s interests to give them everything they want
Sometimes the most loving thing to do is to impose certain restrictions and certain conditions

A recovering alcoholic needs very firm restrictions & conditions

You can’t say to an alcoholic, ‘You’re allowed a drink on special occasions’
You have to say, ‘You can never have a drink of alcohol again. And if you blow your wages on booze, I’m not going to come to your rescue
I’m not going to buy you groceries because that would just be enabling you to destroy yourself’

Other times imposing conditions is not appropriate and grace is what is needed

So for example, babies need a lot of grace – they don’t need a lot of conditions

Babies are completely dependent on their parents to take care of them
It’s no good saying to a new born baby…
‘Look you’re going to have to start pulling your weight around here. If you don’t take your turn with the household chores there’s no breast milk for you.’

The goal with babies is to teach them basic trust and we do that by providing a consistent person in their lives – someone who loves them and takes care of them without thought of reward or reimbursement

Of course, as the child develops, they reach a point where they need some conditions placed on them – otherwise they won’t grow up psychologically

And so it’s appropriate to say to your 12 year old…
‘If you want pocket money this week then you need to help with the vacuuming or putting the dishes away or mowing the lawns’

Sometimes we experience God’s love unconditionally, as pure grace, no strings attached – but not always

There are other times when we experience God’s love with conditions

God’s healing of my back when I was young – that was unconditional, no strings attached, pure grace

But God’s healing of my back in mid-life is conditional on the choices I make about how I use my back
I don’t think God has stopped loving me because my healing is conditional
He’s just loving me in a different way now – by teaching me to take better care of myself

God’s promise to Abraham, to make him the father of a great nation was unconditional

Israel did nothing to earn God’s favour
Their selection as God’s special people was pure grace
As was their deliverance from slavery in Egypt

But God’s healing of their soul, by giving the law, was conditional on the choices they made – whether to listen to God and obey Him, or not

God’s grace – His giving things to us unconditionally, for free – makes it possible for us to live by faith – to trust Him

It should also make us think twice about imposing unreasonable conditions on other people

But as well as grace, we also need God’s restrictions & conditions

His conditions help us to grow up – they teach us responsibility
And His restrictions show us our limits – they give us firm and healthy boundaries, which make it possible for others to trust us
If God didn’t impose certain restrictions & conditions on us we would become spoiled and develop an ugly attitude of entitlement
Which would make living with other people pretty difficult

Whether we experience God’s unconditional grace or His restrictions & conditions, it is still love – He always has our well-being at heart

Conclusion:

Verse 27 tells us how the people next came to Elim, where there were twelve springs and seventy palm trees; there they camped by the water.

Twelve and seventy – these are numbers representing perfection, completeness

God and Moses led the people to a place of rest
God does not test us beyond what we can endure
Yes there are challenges along the way but there are oasis’ too
God wants us to enjoy these pleasant places and be refreshed by them for the journey ahead

God heals the bitter waters, naturally (with what is at hand in creation)

God heals the people, conditionally (with His law)
And God heals through rest

Let us pray…

Our Father in heaven

You are our home,

We belong to You

Hallowed be Your name

Your integrity is perfect,

Your reputation is sacred

Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven

You alone have the wisdom to heal our world

We want You in charge

Give us this day our daily bread

Nourish and strengthen us for what each day holds

You know our needs

Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us

Release us from bitterness, resentment and hate

Set us free to love our neighbour

Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil

Help us God not just to say the right thing
But also to do the right thing. Amen.

[1] Terence Fretheim, Exodus, page 176

[2] Terence Fretheim, Exodus, page 179

[3] Matthew 5:45