a message by a friend in the muslim world text: exodus 3:1-10 now moses was tending the flock of...

A message by a friend in the

Muslim world

Text: Exodus 3:1-10

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.

2 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

Text: Exodus 3:1-10

3 So Moses thought, “I will go over and

see this strange sight—why the bush does

not burn up.”

4 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.”

Text: Exodus 3:1-10

5 “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take

off your sandals, for the place where you are

standing is holy ground.” 6 Then he said, “I am

the God of your father, the God of Abraham,

the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this,

Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to

look at God.

Text: Exodus 3:1-10

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.

Text: Exodus 3:1-10

8 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—the home of the Canaanites,

Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and

Jebusites

Text: Exodus 3:1-10

9 And now the cry of the Israelites has

reached me, and I have seen the way

the Egyptians are oppressing them.

10 So now, go. I am sending you to

Pharaoh to bring my people the

Israelites out of Egypt.”

Text: Exodus 4:24-26

24 At a lodging place on the way, the

Lord met Moses and was about to kill

him. 25 But Zipporah took a flint knife,

cut off her son’s foreskin and touched

Moses’ feet with it.

Text: Exodus 4:24-26

“Surely you are a bridegroom of blood

to me,” she said. 26 So the Lord let

him alone. (At that time she said

“bridegroom of blood,” referring to

circumcision.)

Lordship

• 3:6 “I am”

• 3:10 “So now, go.”

Lostness

• Vs. 7 “I have indeed seen the misery”

• Vs. 7 “I have heard them crying out”

• Vs.7 “I am concerned about their

suffering.”

• Vs. 8 “So I have come down to rescue

them”

What lies between Lordship and

Lostness? The “&” (ampersand)

Between Lordship & Lostness is:

• Vs. 8 ”So I have come down to

rescue them”

• Vs. 10 “So now, go. I am sending

you.”

But something happened

• Between the holy place where God called

Moses and the fulfillment of the mission

to rescue the lost something happened:

• 4:24 At a lodging place on the way, the

Lord met Moses and was about to kill

him.

What in the world happened?

• How could the Lord who just

commissioned Moses, now seek to

kill him?

• What has become of the Lord’s

concern for those in misery, crying

out, and suffering?

Possible explanations

1. Something to do with the need to

circumcise Moses’ son (Ex. 4:25 – 26)

2. There were signs of marital conflict

(Ex. 18:2)

3. Cultural accommodation may be a

major factor (Gen. 17:13 – 14)

Key Principles

• Issues that could bring a disconnect

between Lordship and Lostness

• In Moses’ life things surfaced that

threatened to compromise the

mission

Disconnect #1

• Wanting to proclaim the message

without fully living it

– God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in

everlasting covenant (circumcision)

–Moses disobeyed the covenant by not

circumcising his own son

God would rather we die and

replace us with someone else

than let us misrepresent Him

and His message to a lost world

It is imperative that we never

forget that we do not address

lostness with anything less than

Lordship in the sense that the

Church does not meet lostness

with just a spoken message, but a

live-out message.

Disconnect #2

• Accommodating culture to the

detriment of the message

–Moses accommodated culture to the

detriment of covenant

– Thus he was going to be the carrier of a

blurred message

I believe in contextualization

no matter what people group

we’re working with. But I

believe that it should be done

within biblical parameters.

God calls us to cultural

contextualization, not camouflage!

Disconnect #3

• Allowing a personal character issue

to derail the mandate that rescues

the lost

–Moses had a problem with anger.

– He left an Egyptian buried in the sand

Egyptian buried in the sand

• Because Moses didn’t deal with his

anger it continued to be a problem

– Ex. 11:8 Moses, hot with anger, left

Pharoah

– Num. 20:11 Moses struck the rock

instead of speaking to it

Whatever character issue keeps

recurring in our life and walk, we

better devote our fullest attention

and spiritual resources to have

the victory over it and keep it at

bay.

Egyptian buried in the sand

• Because Moses didn’t deal with his anger

he couldn’t enter the Promised Land

– Num. 20:12 “Because you did not trust in me

enough to honor me as holy in the sight of

the Israelites, you will not bring this

community into the land I give them.”

Disconnect #4

• Losing sight of the nature of lostness

in its fullest dimension

– Keep in focus that people are perishing

– The platform is only what we stand on

so we can present the good news to lost

people

So let the meeting of needs

and everything we do be about

lostness, about evangelism,

and not just about improving

the lot of those we serve.

Conclusion

• Reflect and refocus on our

responsibility

Reflect and Refocus #1

• We must unreservedly and

unconditionally live out the message,

and nothing but the message that

the Lord of the Harvest has entrusted

to us.

Reflect and Refocus #2

• No “Zipporah,” virtual or real,

denominational or cultural, should

ever have the last say in how the

message is lived and expressed. Only

the Lord of the Harvest should.

Reflect and Refocus #3

• Let us give ourselves no rest until

personal character issues are

brought under the control of the Holy

Spirit.

Reflect #4

• Let us not lose sight of the true

condition of lostness.

What is God revealing to you?