Common Tools, Uncommon Tasks
Exodus 4:1-17
Common Tools, and Uncommon Tasks
Moses answered, “What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, ‘The LORD did not appear to you’?”
Then the LORD said to him, “What is that in your hand?”
“A staff,” he replied.
The LORD said, “Throw it on the ground.”
Moses threw it on the ground and it became a snake, and he ran from it. Then the LORD said to him, “Reach out your hand and take it by the tail.” So Moses reached out and took hold of the snake and it turned back into a staff in his hand. “This,” said the LORD, “is so that they may believe that the LORD, the God of their fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has appeared to you.”
Then the LORD said, “Put your hand inside your cloak.” So Moses put his hand into his cloak, and when he took it out, it was leprous, like snow.
“Now put it back into your cloak,” he said. So Moses put his hand back into his cloak, and when he took it out, it was restored, like the rest of his flesh.
Then the LORD said, “If they do not believe you or pay attention to the first miraculous sign, they may believe the second. But if they do not believe these two signs or listen to you, take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground. The water you take from the river will become blood on the ground.”
Moses said to the LORD, “O Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.”
The LORD said to him, “Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the LORD? Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.”
But Moses said, “O Lord, please send someone else to do it.”
Then the LORD’s anger burned against Moses and he said, “What about your brother, Aaron the Levite? I know he can speak well. He is already on his way to meet you, and his heart will be glad when he sees you. You shall speak to him and put words in his mouth; I will help both of you speak and will teach you what to do. He will speak to the people for you, and it will be as if he were your mouth and as if you were God to him. But take this staff in your hand so you can perform miraculous signs with it.”
One of the great tasks facing the preacher is discovering what God would have him say week-by-week. A young minister struggled in his first pastorate to prepare sermons. One week a tornado struck the town in which the young pastor served. Many people were injured and terrible destruction resulted in the town site.
On Sunday the young preacher chose as the text for his sermon Job 38:1. That text states: The LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind. The message was so greatly used of God to comfort the grieving that the young minister was encouraged to preach a similar message on the week following. However, his second attempt fell flat and the people were clearly disappointed in his effort to minister to the congregation. Wondering what went wrong, the young parson consulted an elderly pastor in the town.
“Son,” the older pastor cautioned, “if you expect to use that text each week, you must pray for a tornado to strike each week.”
During the week past we have witnessed great events which have shaken us as a nation and as individuals. I confess that I have been tempted to address these great events. I shall not do so, however.
First, I confess that I need to gain control of my own emotions. As an expatriate of the United States, I am deeply touched by the pain of my nation. I am angry and I must guard my tongue so as not to dishonour God through my words. What the people of this congregation require are sound words which will build and not angry words which can destroy.
Again, I have taught you during the past year (and I shall continue to teach) that God is sovereign. He is still enthroned in Heaven. He was on His throne on Tuesday, September 11, 2001; and He is still on His throne. Some have wondered aloud where God was when evil men perpetuated their horrible deeds. I say God in the same place He was when evil men crucified His Son. God was not caught by surprise by the wickedness of evil men, but He has made provision for the salvation of all who will be saved. At last, in His time, He shall call all mankind to account, and that includes good people who have never murdered as did the assassins who turned commercial airliners into great bombs.
Finally, there is a more mundane reason why I am loath to alter my planned message. I prayerfully planned the schedule of preaching months ago. I considered what God would have me do and invested time in prayer as I planned for the messages I would deliver. God knew what the future would bring when He directed me in considering the texts I would address. He was not caught by surprise, but instead directed His servant to those texts which are most needful for the moment. I am most reluctant to second-guess God because I don’t see the future as clearly as He does.
Therefore, the text which I first considered months ago is the text which I shall treat today. I am driven to weigh the words of the Bible to discover the message which God would have each of us hear. I am responsible before God and before this congregation to discover the mind of God and then preach that message so that all may profit from the Word which God has given.
God can hit some mighty straight licks with some mighty crooked sticks. This truth was drilled into my mind through the writings of Dr. J. B. Gambrell, a prominent Baptist divine who pastored in Texas during the formative years of Baptist work in that state. Perhaps no more crooked stick has ever entered the ranks of God’s great leaders than a man named Moses.
A slave by birth, the future leader grew to manhood in the halls of national power and in unprecedented luxury. Attempting to accomplish the work of God in his own strength, he was reduced to the role of a shepherd herding sheep for an insignificant livestock owner living in an insignificant land. When half his life had been invested in abject humility, God called him to divine service.
From plenty to penury… From power to powerlessness… From haughtiness to humility… From authority to abnegation… From glory to meekness… This is the story of Moses. When he was at last reduced to the level of a nobody, God used him in a mighty way to accomplish great things for the cause of the Lord God. The response of Moses to God’s call is instructive to us as we seek to discover how to do God’s work in this place and in this time.
Perhaps you recall the manner in which God called Moses to divine service. As Moses tended his father-in-law’s flock, he witnessed a strange sight on the side of Horeb, the mountain of God. He saw a bush which burned without being consumed. He did not know that this was the angel of the Lord—the preincarnate Christ. When at last Moses was addressed, he hid his face in terror, because he was afraid to look at God.
I must pause to show you something which is easy to overlook. In Exodus 3:2 we see that it is the Angel of the Lord who appears to Moses in flames of fire from within the bush. Yet, it is hw:hyÒ—the Lord—who speaks to him from the bush [Exodus 3:4]. This Angel of the Lord who is identified as the Lord, is God [Exodus 3:5]. Throughout the pages of the Old Testament is this shadowy figure identified as the Angel of the Lord. Whenever this One appears, those to whom He appears react as though in the presence of God. He is identified repeatedly as the Lord [see Genesis 16:7-14; 32:29, 30]. I suggest to you that this One, called the Angel of the Lord and yet treated as though He were God Himself, is none other than the Son of God walking through the pages of the Old Testament.
Though Moses knew he was in the presence of the Living God, nevertheless when God called Moses to divine service, Moses met the call of God with repeated objections. I am not suited for the task, was the first objection [Exodus 3:11]. Note the emphasis in his objection. Who am I, that I should go.
Perhaps you have felt this same way concerning the work to which God calls you. Nevertheless, I insist that the greatest qualification to do the work of God is a call from God to that work. God never chooses those who cannot do the work, though some may perhaps choose themselves for a particular work and thus fail. Whether He calls you to serve on a worship team or whether He assigns you a task to teach or whether He calls you to provide leadership through the diaconate, God will provide all you need.
God’s answer to Moses’ objection was two-fold. First, God says I will be with you. Then God promises Moses you will worship God on this mountain. In other words, God pledges His own divine protection and gives the reluctant leader a divine hope. If God calls you to service (and if you are a Christian He has so called you), He will be with you. Not only does He promise to go with you, but He has given you great hope. Listen again to one of the great statements of hope which is too easily forgotten.
We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified [Romans 8:28-30].
Moses then demurs by saying that he has no message. Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, “The God of your fathers has sent me to you,” and they ask me, “What is His Name?” Then what shall I tell them [Exodus 3:13]? Many of you here are convinced that you are so insignificant that you have no message. Who would listen to you, you wonder? You hear a stirring testimony and you think you have nothing to compete with that dramatic conversion, your own faith is so quiet and pedestrian.
God responds to Moses’ objection by revealing His personal Name. When God says, hy<h]a, rv,a} hy<h]a,, it is easy to overlook the significance of His statement. This was in effect a statement that God was, is and ever shall be as He reveals Himself. He is the God who both calls His people and delivers His people. As God was with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, so God shall be with Moses.
Then Moses objects to the call of God by saying that he has no authority. When the old man says, What if they do not believe me or listen to me, he is in effect pointing to the fact that he has been gone for forty years. He had fled under questionable circumstances, he had disappeared and now he was truly insignificant. Imagine if you, after forty years as a fugitive and now over eighty years of age, suddenly appeared to lead the church. Do you actually think anybody would take you seriously?
In answer to Moses’ objection, God gave the old man three signs. When he threw his staff on the ground, it became a cobra [Exodus 4:2-5]. Frankly, I consider the fact that he picked up the cobra so that it became a staff again a greater miracle than the staff changing into a serpent! Moses would also change his hand into the hand of a leper and then change it again into a healthy hand [Exodus 4:6, 7]. Then, God instructs him that he will be able to pour water from the Nile onto dry ground and that water will turn to blood [Exodus 4:8, 9].
God’s answer to Moses was to reveal His power. Each of us fears failure and rejection. God’s answer to Moses was that He would give him power sufficient for the task assigned. The signs were evidence of God’s authority. Has God given you the task of instructing our children in righteousness? He is well able to provide the power to accomplish the task. Has God called you to a ministry of prayer? He will supply the power for the task. Did He call you to be a witness? He is responsible to accomplish what He wills, and He shall do so if you will permit Him to work.
Moses, like many of us, does not surrender easily. Neither does he quickly exhaust his supply of excuses. His fourth objection is that he is not eloquent. O Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue [Exodus 4:10]. Some people have speculated that Moses perhaps stuttered, or at the least he was “tongue-tied.” He complains that he has a “heavy” mouth and a “heavy” tongue.
God seems almost impatient as He responds to this object by reminding Moses that He—God the Creator—made the mouth. God is responsible for what is said, not the spokesman [Exodus 4:11, 12]. Eloquence can too easily obscure the majesty of God.
At last, Moses is out of objections and simply exposes the reason for his reluctance. Please send someone else to do it [Exodus 4:13]. In effect, Moses is saying that he has no desire to serve God. Freely translated, Moses is saying, Send somebody… anybody… but please don’t send me!
Why do we not serve God? Why do we seek an “easy” way to do the work God commands? When pressed until there is no further possible excuse, is it not because we don’t want to do what God commands? When God commands us to spread the message of life, He commands in these words. All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” [Matthew 28:18-20].
The work of evangelism is the work of each individual Christian. Evangelism begins as we tell others the Good News about Jesus. Evangelism continues as we bring those trusting the Saviour into the fellowship of the church, baptising them into the open confession of faith. Evangelism is not complete until we have taught disciples in the great truths of the Faith. This is the great, ongoing work of the church, and it weighs upon each individual soul.
Who is a Christian today because of your witness? If there are no converts to the Faith through your witness, what excuse do you have? Whom did you welcome into the Faith in this week past? To whom can you point as evidence of your encouragement within the fellowship of believers? Who shares this service today because of your invitation? What have you taught during this week past? Whom have you discipled? What excuse can you offer? If we are not evangelistic, we are not evangelical.
I wonder whether we resist the call of God because we do not really know God. Can it be that we do not know the power of God and thus we seek an easier way to do what God commands. We think that God delights to work in the exciting way which demands little of us. Consequently, we are willing to form a life-chain instead of sympathising with a young woman struggling with an unwanted pregnancy. We are willing to encourage our neighbours to vote instead of telling them of the need for a new heart. We can donate some money instead of investing our life in a child. We unite in a hymn sing instead of inviting a lost friend to hear the Gospel.
How Does God Work? It is God, and not the tools at His disposal, which receives glory and attracts our attention when God works. It is God’s work which prevails, and this because of the power behind the work and not because of the workmen employed. Contemporary Christians have become so acculturated that they are almost indistinguishable from the dying inhabitants of this fallen world. We are so enamoured of the miraculous and the dynamic that we no longer believe that God works in the little details of life or that He can use the small or insignificant, the mundane or pedestrian.
Throughout the great conflict between hw:hyÒ—the Lord—and the gods of Egypt, the Lord employed that which the Egyptians would have thought insignificant. Was there some miraculous power in the staff which Moses carried? Was there some mystical power in the words which he spoke? Did that old man, his skin darkened by the desert sun and his face lined by the incessant desert winds, perhaps possess secret power?
Perhaps you have heard the story of the little lad who came home from Sunday School one Sunday afternoon. To the inevitable question, “What did you learn, today?” the little lad astonished his father.
“We learned about Moses and the people of Israel when they left Egypt,” the child stated.
“Tell me about that,” his father invited.
“Moses told the king to let his people go to a new land. When the king didn’t let them go, Moses sent CF 18s to bomb a hole in the prison. The people ran away into the desert and the king chased them with his army. Right up to the sea, the army chased Moses and the people with him.
When he saw that the army was close behind him, Moses called up the tanks to block the king. While they fought off the Egyptians, the engineers built a bridge across the sea and the people hurried across. After everybody got across, the tanks laid down a smoke screen and raced across the bridge. Then the air force used smart bombs to blow up the bridge so the Egyptians couldn’t chase them any further.”
The father was clearly astonished. “That’s not the story I learned,” he mused. “Are you certain that is the way the teacher told the story?”
“Nah,” said the little fellow, “but if I told it like her you wouldn’t believe it either.”
We want to write the story of God in history through great and marvellous accounts of conquest and victory. However, that is not the way in which God works. God works in the pain of daily life. God works in quietness. God works in the mundane. I recall a phrase which was repeated often among the black saints of a particular church in the Oak Cliff section of Dallas. “My God works in slow motion!” It was a poetic way of saying the same thing I heard as a child from my father who often stated that the mill of God’s justice ground exceedingly fine.
What Sort of Tools Does God Use? A child’s voice can be an instrument of power. When my eldest daughter was but four years old, we lived in a new neighbourhood of a growing Texas town. One day, as roofers worked on the house next door, my little girl wondered out to watch the men working. “Are you a Christian?” she asked the man as he carried materials up the ladder.
“Well, no,” he replied, “I guess I’m not.”
Without hesitation she responded, “Then, you’ll die and go to hell.”
Without comment the man laid down his tools and climbed down the ladder and ran to his car. He drove away, visibly shaken. Can the voice of a child have an impact for the glory of God? My God can hit some might straight licks with some mighty small sticks. The man was shaken by the voice of a child and sought God.
A Gideon Bible cost only a dime in 1968, but that dime was used by God for His glory. I saw the Bible which had been purchased with a dime and given to a young soldier upon graduation from AIT (advanced infantry training). That young man had read the Bible and written a note in the front of the little testament. He wrote that he had placed his faith in Christ the Lord and become a Christian.
When I saw the Bible it was blood-soaked with that young soldier’s blood. He had been killed only shortly after he had written the words in the front of that Gideon testament, and his blood had soaked through the cover and stained almost all the pages. Don’t you wish it had been your dime that purchased a Bible such as that Bible?
In our text, Moses posses only a shepherd’s staff, but that staff shall shortly humble the greatest military power in the world as it points the way to liberty for the people whom God has chosen. That staff will perform miraculous signs [Exodus 4:17]. The staff, offered to God, will astonish Pharaoh and his magicians [Exodus 7:8-12]. That staff will transform the Nile into blood [Exodus 7:14-21]. That staff will call up frogs into all the land so that the Egyptians would have no peace [Exodus 8:5-14].
That staff will at last defeat the efforts of the magicians of Egypt as it produces gnats from dust [Exodus 8:16-19]. That staff will be used to control the heavens and call for thunder and hail and lightning flashing down to destroy all the crops and kill both man and animals [Exodus 9:13-26]. Later, that staff will call locusts into the land to destroy what the storm left [Exodus 10:13-15]. Throughout the confrontation between the Lord God and the gods of Egypt, God used a simple shepherd’s staff to demonstrate His power and to glorify His Name.
That staff would point the way to safety for the people of Israel [Exodus 14:15-18]. That staff would be used of God to provide refreshment for His people [Exodus 17:5, 6]. That staff would be an instrument to discomfit the enemies of God [Exodus 17:8, 9]. There was no special power in that piece of wood, but God chose to use this most humble of all instruments in order to assure that His Name was glorified.
On another occasion, God used a shepherd boy with a sling and five rocks to give His people deliverance [see 1 Samuel 17:1-50]. An oxgoad [Judges 3:31]… a hammer and tent peg [Judges 4:21]… the jawbone of a donkey [Judges 15:13-17]… God delights to use that which man despises. If you think the instruments of God unusual, consider some of the people.
Moses was a murderer who was forced to flee for his life. When at last he was an old man with no future, God used him. A timid man who feared the reaction of people if he should openly stand for God [Gideon–Judges 6:11-40], unknown men without prestige [Tola and Jair–Judges 10:1-3], the outcast son of a prostitute [Jephthah–Judges 11:1-11]… God seemingly delights in calling the most outrageous individuals to bring glory to His Name. Paul reflected on this fact in 1 Corinthians 1:26-31.
Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: “Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.”
Why Does God Work in This Manner? Were I writing the Bible, I would try to capture attention by ensuring that great men and women were used to relate the story of God. Powerful demonstrations would capture attention and astonishing events would ensure that people were prepared to hear what I had to say. I would think that a church service should be flashy and entertaining to capture attention from the world. I should think that a preacher should say what people wish to hear. I would think that his words should be smooth and he should be nice and inoffensive always. Isn’t that the way you would think? Isn’t that the way you would write the Bible? God chose to do things differently.
As an aside, I might note that seeking the miraculous is not necessarily Christian. When Satan’s masterpiece, the antichrist, is at last revealed, it will be with signs and wonders. The secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendour of his coming. The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness [2 Thessalonians 2:7-12].
The False Prophet which shall delude the whole earth will be a powerful individual. John saw that coming miracle worker in all his power and deceit. I saw another beast, coming out of the earth. He had two horns like a lamb, but he spoke like a dragon. He exercised all the authority of the first beast on his behalf, and made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose fatal wound had been healed. And he performed great and miraculous signs, even causing fire to come down from heaven to earth in full view of men. Because of the signs he was given power to do on behalf of the first beast, he deceived the inhabitants of the earth [Revelation 13:11-14a].
God, on the other hand, works in the mundane and employs those individuals we would say are of no great account. Be cautious of seeking after the powerful and the ostentatious associated with this world, for it shall soon pass away, just as we are warned. Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever [1 John 2:15-17].
God works in the pedestrian, in the mundane, in the commonplace so that He is honoured. Listen to God as He speaks through His servant Isaiah.
I am the LORD; that is my name!
I will not give my glory to another
or my praise to idols.
From now on I will tell you of new things,
of hidden things unknown to you.
They are created now, and not long ago;
you have not heard of them before today.
So you cannot say,
“Yes, I knew of them.”
You have neither heard nor understood;
from of old your ear has not been open.
Well do I know how treacherous you are;
you were called a rebel from birth.
For my own name’s sake I delay my wrath;
for the sake of my praise I hold it back from you,
so as not to cut you off.
See, I have refined you, though not as silver;
I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.
For my own sake, for my own sake, I do this.
How can I let myself be defamed?
I will not yield my glory to another.
As a mother comforts her child,
so will I comfort you;
and you will be comforted over Jerusalem.
When you see this, your heart will rejoice
and you will flourish like grass;
the hand of the LORD will be made known to his servants,
but his fury will be shown to his foes.
See, the LORD is coming with fire,
and his chariots are like a whirlwind;
he will bring down his anger with fury,
and his rebuke with flames of fire.
For with fire and with his sword
the LORD will execute judgement upon all men,
and many will be those slain by the LORD.
[Isaiah 42:8; 48:6b-11; 66:13-16]
Five slick river rocks and a little boy’s sling… A shepherd’s staff… Two pieces of rough-hewn wood and some nails… History is written because of God’s use of such mundane items. Those rocks and a boy’s sling become an instrument of deliverance for the people of God. That shepherd’s staff humbles the greatest military power in the world and compels the unwilling to set the people of God at liberty. Those pieces of wood and nails become an instrument of God’s glory to provide for eternal liberty for all who are willing to be free.
This is a message worth hearing. This is a message worth heeding. At just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us [Romans 5:6-8].
If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. As the Scripture says, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame.” For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” [Romans 10:9-13].
I will gladly continue as a nobody, if you can be exalted with Christ. I will gladly be considered as of no great worth in the world, if you can be honoured together with Christ. I am living, not for the moment, but in light of eternity. All who will honour Christ will take a similar view of things.
I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God [Romans 8:18-21].
This is our invitation to each of you. To place your faith in Christ, who transcends time and all the sorrow of this fallen world… To seek to walk with Him in glorious unity… To openly embrace Him as Master of life and King of glory… Come, be saved and walk with Him. Amen.