Looking Ahead to the Reward
Notes
Transcript
By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw that the child was beautiful, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict. By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward. By faith he left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible. By faith he kept the Passover and sprinkled the blood, so that the Destroyer of the firstborn might not touch them.
Scripture: Hebrews 11:23-28
Sermon Title: Looking Ahead to the Reward
As we consider our text this morning, I want us to have the author of Hebrews’ intent in mind. We are looking through the lens of Moses’ story of faith but we cannot get to where we are going unless we know the foundation. I invite you to look with me at the first couple of verses here in Hebrews 11. “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for, and certain of what we do not see” or as it is translated in the ESV, “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” As Pastor Kyle taught us a few weeks ago when he preached on this passage, faith, a fundamental piece of our identity as believers is not something done blindly, but rather faith is in Christ with the working and the continued support of the Holy Spirit, and it gives us the ability to see both what has been done as well as what has not yet come into full existence. To use Pastor Kyle’s words, faith can be described as “living in the reality of God’s grace.”
If I can take a moment and build on that, faith includes both our thoughts and actions in the present, but it is also always forward-looking to what is ahead in the covenant promises of our God. So if you look to verse two, the other context piece this author uses to set the stage for those who he writes about in the verses that follow, “This is what the ancients were commended for.” The role that faith played in the lives of these believers was largely about things which were not going to come in their lifetimes, about events which they could not and would not in any way see or experience during their life expectancy. This shows the magnitude of God’s faithfulness experienced by each person and also how much faith required them to be continually trusting and leaning on God. The certainty and the surety of the individuals who are included in this chapter is commended, it is recognized by the One who gives faith, sustains faith, and what we will focus in on today, rewards faith.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, when we think about our day to day lives it is interesting how often our motivations might tend to be driven by the question, “What will I get out of this?” Boys and girls, when your mom or dad asks you to clean up your room or your toys, and as you get older, to do your chores, isn’t it much easier to do them when you get something out of it? Aren’t you more willing to do what they ask if you get candy in return or if it means you get to go play with a friend or watch something on TV? As we grow up into adulthood and begin to have more freedom to choose, we face different situations but the same decision. Will we help someone who we see is in need or pass by? Will we go to a family party or hang out with friends? When a neighbor or family member asks us to do something while they are away, if someone asks to cover their shift at work, what do we weigh in making those decisions? Whether we are young or old, I think most of us can admit there are times when we start looking for incentives, rewards, or kick-backs. Decisions to help others are much easier when we know we are going to get something back in return, even when the costs of inconvenience and sacrifice are so minor.
Another type of reward that exists in our culture is the reward program that many stores offer. If we looked in the card slots in our wallets or attached to our key chains, many of us would probably find rewards cards for restaurants, clothing shops, sporting goods stores, and other places. If we go to these businesses instead of their competitors, show them our loyalty by having their card, then we get rewarded with discounts and even free items. In a consumerist culture, where so much of our lives are based on buying and selling, getting out what you put in, it is not so surprising how often we might be looking for a reward.
I am not going to tell you whether this is a beneficial or even the right attitude for believers, but these influences contribute to why it so easy for us to have incentives on our minds in how we live, relate, and consider serving others. Do take note that it is cause for concern, however, when we can take it a step closer to home, and come expecting perks and benefits when we become members of a congregation or small group. The consumer and reward mindset is not only at play out there, but it also enters into the church and fellowship of its members.
Our text speaks about a reward with Moses’ story, the reward of his faith. As we read these verses, our attention is drawn back to one of the icons of the Judeo-Christian faith primarily set in the book of Exodus. His story began before he made any decisions; it began with his parents defied a king, which their faith was commended for. While he was yet a small infant, Moses’ parents hid him because “they saw he was no ordinary boy;” Exodus tells us that “he was a fine child.” We do not read that angels came to his parents to instruct them about this strategy of keeping him hidden from the king’s order; there was just something about him. This is noteworthy, because what they were defying was the order calling for the Hebrews to kill all newborn sons.
After a few months, however, the gig was up; these parents could not hide a baby in their house or in their lives. So they put Moses in a basket and set him among the reeds in the river; whether it is an intentional setup or it just happens this way, the one who finds the basket is Pharaoh’s daughter. She desires to raise him and gives him the name Moses. Moses’ sister had been watching and since he still needed to be nursed, she offers to take him to one of the Hebrew women, and so now with permission, the birth family will be able to raise their son for a time. After he grew a bit, he spent much of his youthful life in close proximity to the royals, entitled to noble possessions and meals, engaging with the company, entertainment, and everything else that this life offered. However, he knew this life was not his; he was not a true Egyptian. By faith, he chose to be with his own people, the mistreated Hebrews, the ones who were doing forced labor in dreaded conditions, rather than to enjoy all that came along with living with the royal family with their customs and their gods. Moses gave up all the treasures, put himself into the position of a slave, took the shame and disgrace of the family and officials that had raised him for most of his life. We are told he does this because he was looking ahead to his reward.
When he went to join his people, he saw their affliction and their afflicters, and he murdered and buried an Egyptian. All he was trying to do was help one of his own people who was being beaten, yet this did not earn any appreciation or favor among them. These people knew who he was, they knew of his plush upbringing, he had not had it tough like all of them; who was he to all of a sudden come and act like he could save the day. Our passage tells us that he left by faith, he left knowing God had a plan of some sort. Like his parents, he was not afraid of what the king could do or that he was enraged, but Moses saw the invisible, that is God. Moses’ faith was sustained meeting him in the burning bush, on the road back to Egypt, and in the desert with his brother, Aaron. As timid as Moses was, as much as the people he was to lead had wanted nothing to do with him, God was calling him to lead them to the Promised Land.
The fourth faith commendation for Moses is that he carried out the Passover. Having been given the ability by God to perform signs, having seen nine plagues affect everything from nature to person, causing nuisance as well as significant impacts to the livelihood of citizens, Moses is now called by God to lead the people in a new ritual of slaughtering a lamb so that they can have blood to sprinkle on the doorframes of their homes. This sign of obedience was how the Destroyer would know to pass over the homes of God’s people, sparing their firstborn sons, but would take the sons of Egypt who did not have this sign. This was also a sacrifice to the Lord for what he was doing in leading them out of slavery in Egypt, and a ceremony that was to be observed as they would enter into the land promised many generations before to Abraham
Brothers and sisters in Christ, these are the ancient accounts that have been passed down, not just for the purpose of the Israelites knowing where they came from before they lived in Canaan, but for the whole church. In verses 39 and 40 we find these words, “These [men and women] were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. God has planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.” When we consider the faith of all who are in this chapter, especially Moses, we cannot mistake the nature of their reward, and in fact our reward, is a future reward.
When we think about rewards today as we did a few minutes ago, so often they tend to be immediate or coming soon. But about 1500 years had passed since Moses’ lifetime when the author of the book of Hebrews recorded these memorializing words; add to that where we are today, and “looking ahead to the reward” entails that Moses’ waiting period is about 3500 years and counting. Moses was willing to go all-in with his faith that one day God is going to do something. He was willing to suffer in this life, not for his own sake, but for Christ’s—for the God who was not just going to save the people he called his own from this place and people that were enslaving them, but who would one day free them from sin and pain—and he was willing to do so knowing that any blessing and reward that he might receive was going to be far off.
The reward that the author of Hebrews is speaking of is that which is wrapped up in the author and perfecter of our faith, Jesus, the anointed one, God with us, the Savior. He came and took on our sin and death that we might have life; he has been exalted, and promises to bring us the reward that is re-communion with him in his glorious kingdom. Moses experienced some of God’s promises coming to fruition in his lifetime: God broke the will of Pharaoh, God led his people out of Egypt, through the Rea Sea, through the wilderness for a 40-year extended trip, and God led Moses to the doorstep of the land promised generations before to Abraham. But all the while, the reward that Moses was looking to was not something of worldly wealth or treasure, it wasn’t something that could happen in the normal progression of things; the reward he had in his sight was the salvation and perfecting of true belief for all who are in God through that God coming in human form and being crucified in his innocence.
Today we look at Moses as an exemplary person of faith because he shows us what it means to believe in Christ while being insulted and persecuted, having to submit to pain and ridicule. Keeping the faith will yield a reward; it assures us that we will receive the promise that was communicated for Moses and is communicated to all who live by faith. This reward continues to be much greater than anything that may be experienced in this world. If we follow the accounts of the heroes of faith into Hebrews 12 we find this instruction, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses,” since we, 1st Church, are surrounded by people like Moses who professed and confessed what God was doing and planned to do, “let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”
What a beautiful thing it is that we have these promises, and I think we have a clearer sight of what is to come because Jesus has already come once. Our eyes of faith do not have the clearest picture of what is coming while we live in this in-between time before Christ’s second coming, but I believe our faith is able to develop with more clarity than these heroes of the faith. While we wait for the reward, we must make sure that our living for the reward does not primarily become about us. The gifts of our salvation and eternal life are great rewards for being Christian; they are great incentives and benefits for believing in God, part of which, is giving testimony by living as much as possible as he has called us to live. But these rewards are only possible because of God’s grace, because of what Christ has done.
Living in such a manner requires us to be humble. We do not use the gift that our faith is to put others down because they do not have it; rather, we take the time to admit our shortcomings before God and to one another. In humility, living for and looking to the reward means that we take time in all areas of our lives to listen for God’s direction and give glory to him for the ways his promises are fulfilled even now.
Living in such a manner also requires us to be on guard against seeking pleasure and to be willing to be ridiculed. This does not mean that we cannot experience joy and happiness, but comforts and luxuries should not be the only things we seek out in this world. Like Moses, we need to guard ourselves that we do not get sidetracked by the rewards that come for free or low cost because of circumstances. We also recognize there are costs involved in the life of faith: we invest ourselves in the well-being and steadfastness of fellow followers of God who are tortured for their faith, we grow in being willing to be mocked by others for ideas that get descried as old, degrading, foolish, and bigoted.
We live in a particular way because God has created us with intent, and having recognized the entrance and existence of sin, God has called his people to live by certain guidelines. While we are not able to abide in these ways on our own, there is great benefit to obedience and adherence to what God calls his people to. Faith, again, is about thought and action, thus living by faith means living with the trust that God has had a plan, he is leading to the greatest possible end which includes him getting all glory and being reunited, re-communed with his people.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we seek to live “looking to the reward” keep God and the promises he offers at the center of your lives. Take heart that Christ stands as a substitute for us; the reward cards of our lives do not show loyalty and so he offers his in our place. Every joy that we experience now and the full joy that we will celebrate in the new heaven and new earth are all a grace. Praise be to God for what is ahead when Christ comes again. Come quickly Lord Jesus, Amen!