Selfishness and God's Kingdom

I was reading Exodus 4 this morning in my devotional time. Exodus 4, you will recall, is part of the account that details Moses' call to confront Pharaoh and lead Israel. The chapter begins with God giving Moses signs that were designed to give Moses confidence in his calling, and yet Moses doubts.

I was struck by verse 13 this morning: But he said, "Please, Lord, now send the message by whomever You will" (NASB). The reason it struck me is because I am used to reading this out of the NLT which says, "send anyone else."

Moses is asking God to send whoever God wills to send, when he IS the one God desires to send. Moses was not interested in God's will be done, he was hoping to get out if a difficult task.

I can see this same problem in my life. "God, may You will be done on earth, as long as you find someone else to do it." My faith will only take me so far.

This desire to avoid the difficult raises two questions in my mind. The first is, "What have I missed out on because of my unwillingness to do the hard thing?" If Moses continued to refuse to go he would gave missed out on the whole experience of leading Israel and witnessing the plagues God brought on Eygpt.

I probably won't know for certain until the end of time, but I think it is a safe assumption to say that my lack of courage and faith has caused me to miss out on experiencing God's power at work in the world around me.

The second question it raises is, "Why do I avoid things that are difficult?" I am sure that there are many ways that this could be answered, depending the task that is at hand, but I am fairly confident that it all comes done to our desire for life is greater that our desire to see God's Kingdom come into the earth.

In other words we are selfish, well at least I am selfish. I don't want to risk my reputation, my money, my life, or anything else if I am not guaranteed to be generously compensated (at least in a way that I think is generous).

At the end of the day what we discover is that our selfishness keeps us from experiencing God at work in our lives and in the world around us. This means that we have to make a decision. What is more important to us: our lives or being part of God's kingdom? The way we consistently choose to live will reveal the answer.

Trusting God with the Future

Henry Blackaby in Experiencing God wrote; “We join Him so He can do His work through us. We don’t have to be able to accomplish the task within our limited ability or resources.”

Have you ever been given an assignment and then wondered how you would do it? That is how I feel right now. I haven’t talked much about the church I pastor, because that isn’t the focus of this blog, but things aren’t going well. When I accepted the position 2 and half years ago the church family had been in decline for a decade. Ten years ago the church was averaging 130 on Sunday morning, last year we averaged 33. How do you stop a pattern of decline once it has started? This is my heart’s cry to God: “What am I supposed to do?” I feel so incapable of making a difference in a church family and in a community that desperately needs help.

That is why things like this quote from Blackaby are so valuable to me right now, for they remind me that it isn’t just about my effort (I also realize that it doesn’t mean that I just sit back and wait for God to do all the work). An aspect of faith is being able to trust God when things are outside of your control.

I also have to remember that I am not the only person in this position. All of us, when we are given a job, want to be given instructions on how that job is to be accomplished. That is not how God works! Many times God will give us assignments that we cannot accomplish on our own, and He doesn’t reveal to us His entire plan at once. Instead His plan is revealed with each step of faith that we take. The Bible is full of examples of this truth. Noah, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, Gideon, Samson, and Ruth all did things only God could do, and none of them and the entire picture ahead of time. Yet, God used them to accomplish His purposes.

Take for example what God told Moses; “I will be with you. And this will serve as proof that I have sent you: When you have brought the Israelites out of Egypt, you will return here to worship God at this very mountain” (Exodus 3:12; NLT).

I think that it is interesting that the proof God gave Moses was what would happen after Moses trusted God. God didn’t tell Moses about Pharaoh’s hard heart or the ten plagues. Moses has no idea how Israel was going to be freed from Egypt, but he trusted God and went. As Moses walked in faith, God revealed a little more of His plan to Moses. This means what is needed is not knowledge but faith. We cannot talk ourselves out of trusting God just because we don’t have all the answers. It is our faith that makes the difference.

God knows that we will have our doubts about the task He has set before us. He knows we will question our ability to complete the job, the way the people will respond to our efforts, and even if it is really God calling us to go. What God is interested in is not so much in our talents or knowledge, but our faithful character. The number one thing we need to carry out God’s calling on our lives is the resolve to trust God no matter what.

Confession time. That is where I miss the boat. I only want to go, to “risk” if I know how things are going to turn out in the end. I want God to give me a plan and assurance that He will use all my hard work. I want to take a step of faith where everything has been worked out in advance.

While I am uncertain about the next step that I am to take, I am absolutely certain that I am in the right place. God has placed me here for the purpose of enhancing my faith, and now I have to ask myself the question all of us have to ask, “Will I trust God with the future?” The choices we make will reveal our answer.

Pharaoh's Hard Heart

At his teaching site Chuck McCoy, one of my Bible Doctrine professor at Nebraska Christian College, has an article about God's involvement in the hardening of Pharaoh's heart. Was God responsible or did Pharaoh have a say in the matter? McCoy writes:

The hardening of Pharaoh's heart (Exodus 7:3 - 14:17) has been a topic of discussion for some time. Those who hold a “deterministic” (God controls/manipulates everything) view, argue that God saves who He chooses (totally on His own whim/authority) and hardens and condemns whoever He chooses, regardless of their inclinations, choices or responses.

Take some time and read what else my old Bible College professor has to say about the Hardening of Pharaoh's Heart.

After the Fact

God doesn’t operate the way we would like Him to. We would like Him to provide us with a step by step guide for living and irrefutable proof of His existence. What He does is provide us with ancient revelation and ask us to live by faith. For us who have committed our lives to Jesus Christ we know there are evidences that make our faith reasonable, but doesn’t stop the doubts and uncertainty from coming. Wouldn’t it be easier, we think, if God just revealed Himself once and for all? While we want to live in certainty God wants us to live by faith. Let me give you a couple of examples.

One day Moses was watching his father-in-law's sheep when something caught his eye. It was a bush that was burning, but it was not being consumed. Moses decided to investigate this strange sight. When He approached the bush spoke, or rather a voice called from the bush. It is at this moment God called Moses to deliver Israel from Egypt.

11 Moses said to God, "Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, or that I should bring the Israelites out of Egypt?" 12 He replied, "Surely I will be with you, and this will be the sign to you that I have sent you: When you bring the people out of Egypt, you and they will serve God on this mountain." (Exodus 3:11, 12; NET).

I find it odd that the proof God offers to Moses is after the fact. It is after the Israelites are free from the Egyptians that Moses will know it is God who sent him. Moses will know for certain that God had sent him only after he had accomplished the task God has called him to do.

Now did Moses lack evidence that his calling was from God? No, Moses had plenty of evidence that God was calling him to go to Pharaoh and secure the release of Israel. There was the burning bush, the voice of God, and God gave Moses two signs: the staff into a snake and the leprosy of his hand. And during the mission Moses saw the ten plagues, the Red Sea divide, the pillar of cloud/fire which led Israel, plus other miracles. All through Moses' experience God showed him that He was with Moses.

Why was worshipping at Mt. Sinai the proof that God sent Moses? While all the miracles pointed to God and showed Moses and the people God was with them, it wouldn’t have met anything if God did not make a covenant with the people. It was at Mt. Sinai when God established a covenant with Israel, which set them apart as God’s people and prepared the way for Jesus to come. If God delivered Israel from Egypt and then never established a covenant with them, Israel might as well have been back in slavery. It was the covenant, the promise of God at Sinai which made all the difference.

Flash forward a few hundred years. Jesus has turned water into wine, He has cleared the Temple, He has forgiven people of their sins, and He is teaching with authority. This is sets up Jesus with a confrontation with the religious leaders:

18 So then the Jewish leaders responded, "What sign can you show us, since you are doing these things?" 19 Jesus replied, "Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up again." 20 Then the Jewish leaders said to him, "This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and are you going to raise it up in three days?" 21 But Jesus was speaking about the temple of his body. 22 So after he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the scripture and the saying that Jesus had spoken. (John 1:18-22, NET)

These religious leaders demanded a sign that Jesus was from God, and the sign He offers them is His death and resurrection. Just like Moses had evidence that God had sent him on a mission these religious leaders had evidence that Jesus was from God and the Messiah. There were the healings, the teachings, and the miracles over nature. The evidence was there, but the proof would only come afterwards. The question they were faced with is whether or not they would respond in faith and act upon the evidence they had been given.

The reason the resurrection is the final proof Jesus offered to His enemies about His identity is because all of who He is hinges on this one point. All the healings Jesus did, all the teachings He taught, everything about Jesus, even His death, means nothing without the resurrection. If Jesus didn’t rise from the dead we are still in our sins, and we are wasting our time.

Here we are 2,000 years later and people are still clamoring for proof that God exists. Christian apologists have continually offered evidence to people, but often that evidence is ignored. They claim to want a big sign that once and for all settles the question so they can be certain.

Here is the thing there is only one more proof that God is going to offer for His existence and then it will be too late for us to do anything about it.

9 As a result God exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow - in heaven and on earth and under the earth - 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:9-11, NET)

History is fast approaching that time when everyone will bow down to Jesus and proclaim that He is God. What matters then will not be what we believe or hold as true, but our response to the evidence that God has already provided.

This is what I have come to believe: a committed life lived in the uncertainty of life prepares us to live in harmony with God for eternity. Satan and his angels lived in the presence of God, you cannot have more proof than that, and they still rebelled. Living proof was not enough to prevent them from hating God and doing evil. You see God could provide irresistible proof of His existence, but that wouldn’t change the hearts of people. To believe in God is not that same as to love God, and God wants people who will love Him.

When we respond to the evidence that we have and commit ourselves to a life of faith in God now we allow ourselves to be molded into people who genuinely love God. The life of faith is the process through which God creates us to be people fit for heaven. That is why the final proof is held in reserve until after the fact.

• Point to Ponder: A committed life lived in the uncertainty of life prepares us to live in harmony with God for eternity.
• A Passage to Remember: Philippians 2:9-11
• A Question to Consider: Is a lack of evidence your excuse for not living a life of faith?

After the Fact

One day Moses was watching his father-in-law's sheep when something caught his eye. It was a bush that was burning, but it was not being consumed. Moses decided to investigate this strange sight. When He approached the bush spoke, or rather a voice called from the bush. It is at this moment God called Moses to deliver Israel from Egypt.

Moses asked, "But who am I to appear before Pharaoh? How can you expect me to lead the Israelites out of Egypt?"

God answered, "I will be with you. And this will serve as proof that I have sent you: When you have brought the Israelites out of Egypt, you will return here to worship God at this very mountain." (Exodus 3:11, 12; NLT).

I find it odd that the evidence God offers to Moses is after the fact. It is after the Israelites are free from the Egyptians that Moses will know it is God who sent him.

Now did Moses lack proof that his calling was from God? No, God provided proof. There was the burning bush, the voice of God, and God gave Moses two signs: the staff into a snake and the leprosy of his hand. Moses saw the ten plagues, the Red Sea divide, the pillar of cloud/fire which led Israel, plus other miracles. All through Moses' experience God showed him that He was with Moses.

Why was worshiping at Mt. Sinai the proof that God sent Moses? While all the miracles pointed to God and showed Moses and the people God was with them, it wouldn't have met anything if God did not make a covenant with the people. It was at Mt. Sinai when God established a covenant with Israel, which set them apart as God's people and prepared the way for Jesus to come. If God delivered Israel from Egypt and then never established a covenant with them, Israel might as well have been back in slavery. It was the covenant, the promise of God at Sinai which made all the difference.

Flash forward a few hundred years. Jesus has turned water into wine. He has cleared the Temple and has begun to teach with authority. The religious leaders demand,

"What right do you have to do these things? If you have this authority from God, show us a miraculous sign to prove it." Jesus replied, "All right. Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." (John 2:18, 19; NLT)

We know Jesus was talking about his death and resurrection. Jesus continued to teach, heal people, feed thousands, walk on water, and calm storms. Jesus gave signs and evidence that He is the Messiah, the Son of God. But the sign which He pointed to, the final proof into who He is, is the resurrection. All the miracles Jesus performed, all the teachings He taught, everything about Jesus, even His death, means nothing without the resurrection. If Jesus didn't rise from the dead we are still in our sins, and we are wasting our time.

That is not just me speaking but that is what the apostle Paul says as well in 1 Corinthians. 15:12-19...

{12} But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?
{13} If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.
{14} And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.
{15} More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised.
{16} For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either.
{17} And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.
{18} Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost.
{19} If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.(NIV)

Here is the point. The central truth of Christianity is not the cross, but the resurrection. Just as the covenant established at Sinai gave meaning and significance to everything which happened before it, the resurrection gives meaning to everything Jesus did before His death. All the teachings and miracles find there meaning after Jesus' death. The Resurrection of Jesus is what gives meaning and hope to Christianity.

What does that mean for us? It means that while we need to remember the death of Jesus, because it was His sinless life that made Him the only sacrifice for our sins, our real focus must be on the Resurrection. It is the Resurrection which sets Christianity apart from other religions and philosophies of the world. The Resurrection is the final evidence that Jesus is our Lord and Savior.