When God Leads His Church
Exodus 11-15
- One of the joys of when I was preaching on a weekly basis was that I always knew I was going to move on to the next passage of the book
- Therefore, the challenge when I preach intermittently is where in all these wonderful 66 books am I to go
- Yet as I pondered this, I realized that as I am a part of the DGroup world, I’m sort of doing that same thing — taking the next passage of Scripture we are doing in our reading; right now, in Exodus
- So, I looked at our group’s readings, and they are coming from chs. 11-15, and they are just so rich; but how to approach them —
- I could come from a leadership standpoint in showing how Moses grew in faith and humble confidence in the Lord to lead the people
- I could come from the sovereignty of God standpoint and highlight how Yahweh pinpointed every god that Egypt worshipped and powerfully demonstrated His complete authority over each one
- And certainly, I could focus on the incredible picture of our Lord’s sacrificial death as the lamb of God that was fore-pictured through the Passover
- But I began to look at the children of Israel as a whole and noted their progress from generational slavery to freedom, and I began to ponder the correlation of what happens when a local church — a gathered people of God’s elect — comes together and is truly led by God
- You see, there are many churches that gather for lots of reasons:
- To simply perform various rituals that give some comfort due to the fact that it’s always been done like that… and go home
- To meet with family and friends and sing and enjoy an encouraging word from the preacher… and then go home
- Some meet to be entertained by the music and then a gifted speaker… and then go home
- But what happens when a group of people truly cry out for God to deliver them from their bondage, to give them victory over the enemy and lead them to the promised land? What might that journey look like?
Reading through that lens led me to observe some steps by Israel that we may very well see in our church when we decide to get serious about letting go of our agendas, and letting God lead us in His; and where that begins is in the leadership…
- God raises up strong leadership, 11:3
- If you’ve been reading through the 1st ten chapters, you have had a front row seat to the transformation of Moses from a hotheaded young man who murdered someone to satisfy his sense of justice, to a broken, self-doubting old shepherd in the backside of nowhere, to where he is in ch. 11 — a strong and confident prophet of God who is willing to confront the Pharaoh of all Egypt — read v. 3God heard Israel cry out in bondage, and He formed a man to perform His act of deliverance
- To be clear, Moses was not a perfect man; we can point to many faults; but He was God’s man at that time and for that purpose
Throughout history, one observes that when a need in God’s people arises, God raises up a human instrument to perform His will. When honest biographies are written, it’s clear that all of these men and women had faults, some embarrassingly so! But especially in His churches, God raises up men who will shepherd His church on His behalf, and that’s what makes ordination into the pastorate so incredibly intimidating for the sincere candidate. A pastor realizes that he is being called to oversee the flock of God, and that he will give an account to God Himself for doing so. This is why we held an ordination council yesterday for Harrison, and will ask you, the church, to join in recommending him for service. It’s a big deal.
But let me real clear — it’s not THE deal, for the church that is led by God is in fact led by God, not a man. It’s not a man’s personality or organizational skills that brings lasting unity and true freedom; instead, it’s God Himself, and that begins when…
- God will give unity through His blood, 11:1-13:16 (11:1, 4-7)
- The final plague
- God’s final judgment falls on Egypt and Pharaoh himself; His angel of death will pass through the land and kill all the first borns, and God makes it clear that it is because Egypt has been killing God’s firstborn — IsraelIn this 10th and final plague, God is showing His complete dominance over everything that Egypt reveres
- From this, an annual ritual is established as Israel remembers that it is this great act of sacrificial blood that binds them together as a nation — 13:3, 14
- The final plague
Last week, in my DGroup, we were talking about the way in which God kept confronting Pharaoh in his sin, but Pharaoh hardened his heart. That prompted me to ask Anthony how many times someone had spoken to him about Jesus and his need of a Savior. He looked me and said, “Now we’re talking real numbers!” He then paused and began to weepbefore saying, “And I’m nothing, and got nothing to give back to Him. I’m just so grateful.” Well, that started Scott Yatesto crying about how God had pursued him for decades; then we’re all crying and carrying on like a bunch of yahoosbecause we all know we’re the same — a bunch of no-good sinners who needed the blood of Jesus to make us clean. And because He did, we are now brothers! We’re one in a true sense of unity that simply doesn’t come any other way.
A church that God leads is one that has a deep, deep sense that it is not about us, our preferences and wills that hold us together. It’s not some great personality and skill of a leader. It’s about God, for He alone saves, and He alone deserves all the glory.
And that’s important not only for the foundation of unity, but also when God leads the church on mission with Him, for…
- God will rarely lead a church in a straight line, 13:17-22
- If you look at a map, you’ll see that the straightest way to Canaan goes through some incredibly hostile territoryOne would think that if God could do all he did to the Egyptians to route them in utter defeat, why wouldn’t He just knock the Philistines out of the way? Let’s go, God! Let’s go straight on from victory unto victory! But He doesn’t; instead, He takes them south a ways and then onto a little jut of a peninsula out into the Red SeaTo any Israelite that is following Moses and the pillar of fire, they have to be saying something like, “Ummm, I think we missed the exit. Shouldn’t we have made a left back there?”But following God is just not as simple as a straight line with what we think would be “the right way to go;” as ones who know the rest of story, we know why God led them this round-about way, but at the time, the people did not know it; they were called to follow; period
- And the bottom line is that God does this now (and will do so again and again) for a basic reason…
- God often places them in positions that call for faith, 14:1-20
- Vv. 1-4 — God confides in Moses what He’s doing and why; and that’s great… but he doesn’t tell all the folks; so…Vv. 10-12 — the general population is young to this whole following God thing and completely fail the test!
- But Moses steps forward and announces — vv. 13-14
This is a major step of faith for all concerned:
- For the leaders — because they know they are mere humans and struggle with their inner fears and failures; it’s very difficult to be questioned when you often question even yourself! But like Moses, the godly leader has to learn to trust God and lead others to do likewise — stand by and see the salvation of the Lord! And that’s admittedly hard…
- For the people — because while they trust God, they have very human leaders, and so mistrust and fears naturally arise when they are faced with troubling circumstances (“Why have you dealt with us in this way???”)
But, the reason God places both the leaders in these seemingly impossible positions is because…
- God gives victories that glorify Himself, 14:21-31
- As you remember, Moses stretches his hands out towards the sea and God parts the waters so that the peoplecan walk across on dry landThen, as Pharaoh’s army attempts to cross after them, God brings the sea crashing down upon them, killing the very army in which Pharaoh had put his trust
- Moses summarizes this event in vv. 30-31
Follow me here: often, we think that if a leader is truly following God, that all will be made smooth and straight. But what is evident throughout Scripture is that this is rarely the case. God will not share His glory, and so He leads His people in such a way to ensure that He gets the glory for the victory that comes. This was true for Israel, and it is true for His church today. And it will be true for us! When your leadership unveiled the whole NEXT initiative, we were incredibly aware that ONLY God can make this happen.
- Only God can make a way for us to be fruitful in ministry to the community, for only God can change lives
- Only God can bring change to families in this culture that tears at the very fabric of our lives; no program or pastor can do that
- Only God can provide the means for building additional space in this economic climate
- Only God can open the hearts of the people who own properties around us so that we can expand our footprint
So let me be abundantly clear — if we are able to accomplish what has been laid out for the next 15 years of ministry, it will NOT be because of any great human engineering and manufacturing of events. It will only be because God has graciously led us and brought us the victories!
That’s why, when the day comes, your leadership will be the first to lead…
- God’s people grow in learning to praise their victorious God, 15:1-21 (read 1-3, 17-18)
- It was God who raised up a man of incredible weaknesses and formed his character, and strengthened him to lead His peopleIt was God who spared their lives and unified their nation by substituting the lamb’s blood for their lives It was God who led them out of Egypt, but then led them to a crisis of faith through a wandering route only to be stuck on a peninsula and in great dangerIt was God who then parted the sea and made a way for their safe escape
- And it was God who received ALL the praise for the victory that only He could give
This is the people whom God led back then, and this is the way He deals with His church today. And if First Baptist is truly going to accomplish great things by following this same God, we need to hang on! For it will not be simple and straight; we will be placed in incredible positions where we will shake our heads and say, “Only God…”.
But wouldn’t you rather have it that way than just “doing church” and going home unchanged?
Don’t you long to be on mission with God to save His world rather than on mission for entertainment and comfort?
Don’t you long to be a people who know what it’s like to “stand and see the salvation of the Lord”?
I think you do.