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Text: Ex 3:1-22
Theme: God uses all servants, even reluctant ones.
Doctrine: Providence of God
Image: servant dragging his feet
Need: encouragement in service
Message: lift up your head, your reward is near.
*Reluctant Servants*
Exodus 3:1-22
*Intro: *
As the sun was sinking behind the western horizon, the Israelites were returning from their work on one of the many work projects the Egyptians were forcing them to build.
Crawling into their various tents many of the people were asleep before their heads hit their pillows.
For some reason, Seth was having difficulty sleeping this night.
Wrapping his cloak closer around him he tried to fight off the chill which was beginning to sink into his bones.
He gave up trying to sleep and sat up in his cot.
It was miserable working out on the desert.
He looked around the tent and spotted Caleb.
He sauntered over to him.
Caleb was an old man now, and Seth loved to here the old stories Caleb's father used to tell him.
Seth asks Caleb, “Will you tell me another story?”
“Sure”, replies Caleb.
“About 80 years ago Pharaoh had all the baby boys thrown into the Nile.
Well, all the boys died those years, except one.
He was placed in a basket on the water where Pharaoh's daughter found him and named him Moses.
She raised him in Pharaoh's own household.
Imagine that,” chuckled Caleb.
“One of the children Pharaoh is trying to kill is playing with his grand-kids.
Well, when Moses was older he saw a guard mistreating one of the slaves and he was extremely upset.
You know what he did?
He killed that guard.
That story spread like wildfire through the camps.
Moses was forced to flee for his life.
Where he is now, no one knows.
Everybody hoped that he would come back and release us from Pharaoh, but its been forty years since he fled.”
“Do you think there is still hope?”
asked Seth.
“Anything is possible with God,” replied Caleb.
*Page 1: Moses is reluctant to do God's work.*
After Moses fled, he joined the family of Jethro.
While tending the flocks one day, Moses decided to head out to the backside of the desert.
It took him almost three days to cross the desert to the mountains with his herd, and he was very happy when he got to some grazing land.
As the sun began to sink behind the mountains it turned the land a deep shade of purple.
Moses went out to check on the flock before turning in the for night.
He set out from the foot of the cliff where he had made his camp.
As he was walking along he noticed a bush that appeared to be burning in the distance, but it was not burning up.
“I gotta see this,” says Moses. “Why doesn't the bush burn?”
He turned aside from his flock and as he began to approach the bush, a voice says, “Moses, Moses.”
“Here I am.”,
Moses answers.
“Take off you sandals,” said the voice from the bush.
“For you are on holy ground.
I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.”
Quickly, Moses ripped off his sandals, threw them on the ground, and covered his face because he was afraid to look at God. God said to him, “I have seen the affliction of my people.
I have heard their cries, and I know their suffering.
So, I have come down to rescue them, to release them from their slavery, and to bring them out of the land of Egypt to another land, a land good for livestock and crops.
I am sending you back and to draw them out for me.”
Moses did not think this was a good idea.
He barely got out of there the first time, why should he go back?
He was enjoying his freedom.
He had to think fast to come up with an excuse.
“Who am I, that I should go?” argued Moses.
“Don't worry, I will be with you,” replied God.
“OK, but in case the Israelites should ask.
Just who are you, exactly?” counters Moses.
“I AM who I AM.
Tell them, 'I AM has sent me to you.' Tell them that Yahweh, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob has sent me to you.
The elders will listen to you, and you will go to Pharaoh.
“But what if the elders do not believe me?” questions Moses.
He tests God's word.
God had just said they would believe him, but Moses wants some kind of a sign.
God gives him three signs which provide enough proof so Moses moves on to another objection.
“But I am not eloquent, I don't speak well in front of crowds.”
“Who do you think made you mouth?” God replies.
“I will be with you and teach you what to say.”
Now, Moses is out of objections.
He simply says, “O Lord, please send someone else to do it.”
He simply does not want to go, and makes that abundantly clear.
This made God angry.
“Fine,” said God. “I will send your brother Aaron along with you.
I will help both of you speak, and I will teach you what to do.
Take this staff, with which you will do the signs.”
Moses was not willing to do what God had called him to do.
He continually refused God's call, and that made God very angry.
God was angry with Moses for being reluctant to do his work.
*Page 2: We are reluctant to do God's work.*
God is angry with all his people who are reluctant to do his work.
We have been given the most blessed gift in the world, and we tend to keep it to ourselves.
We love the grace that has been extended to us, but we are often content to enjoy our freedom while ignoring the call to help others still trapped in slavery to sin.
God calls us to serve one another; to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters.
Yet we would rather join the local soft ball team than serve as a deacon We would rather spend a bit more time at work than serve as an elder.
There is nothing wrong with serving God in the world, but his church should be looked after first.
God cares for the lost and hurting, the lonely and the sad, and he often does this through the church community, through the servants that his body has chosen as its leaders.
Jesus told us to go and make disciples of all nations, yet many of us rest on our laurels and let others do it.
We would rather give a bit more money in the offering plate for World Missions than witness to our neighbours, whom we have known all our lives.
There are people who are trapped in a life that has no meaning, no depth, no truth.
Sara, a young woman from Iran is a perfect example of this.
She grew up in a Muslim home and one day she asked her mother if she could learn the Muslim prayers.
She was searching for answers to her need for God, and thought that she could find it in Allah.
She explains her situation in /The Voice of the Martyrs/.
“I would lay out my white prayer cloth on the floor then place another cloth on top, then lay a handkerchief with a stone, a tablet of compressed dirt from Mecca.
We have to put our nose on the stone.
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