THE RIGHT THING (EXODUS 2:11-22)
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DOING THE RIGHT THING IN THE WRONG WAY AT THE WRONG TIME FOR THE WRONG REASONS MAKES IT THE WRONG THING.
DOING THE RIGHT THING IN THE WRONG WAY AT THE WRONG TIME FOR THE WRONG REASONS MAKES IT THE WRONG THING.
11 One day, when Moses had grown up, he went out to his people and looked on their burdens, and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his people. 12 He looked this way and that, and seeing no one, he struck down the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. 13 When he went out the next day, behold, two Hebrews were struggling together. And he said to the man in the wrong, “Why do you strike your companion?” 14 He answered, “Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid, and thought, “Surely the thing is known.”
YOU DON'T LOOK THIS WAY AND THAT WHEN YOUR DOING THE RIGHT THING AT THE RIGHT TIME IN THE RIGHT WAY FOR THE RIGHT REASONS.
MOSES WAS RAISED FOR 40 IN PHAROAHS HOUSE. TAUGHT IN EGYPTION THEOLOGY AND PHILOSOPHY.
HE WOULD HAVE BEEN INTELLIGENT AND ARTICULATE.
HE WOULD HAVE BEEN STRONG AND CAPABLE OF VIOLENCE.
AND HE WAS TRAINED TO BE A RASCIST.
THOSE NOT OF NOBLE OR PURE EGYPTIAN BIRTH WERE CONSIDERED TO BE SUBHUMAN - COMPARABLE TO DONKEYS OR LIVESTOCK. THIS IS HOW MOSES WOULD HAVE TAUGHT ALL HIS LIFE - WITH THE EXCEPTION OF THE 3-4 YEARS HE WAS NURSED BY HIS BIRTH MOTHER.
IN ACTS 7 AS STEPHEN THE FIRST MARTYR OF THE CHURCH RECOUNTS THE HISTORY OF THE NATION HE SAYS THIS OF MOSES:
22 And Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was mighty in his words and deeds. 23 “When he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the children of Israel. 24 And seeing one of them being wronged, he defended the oppressed man and avenged him by striking down the Egyptian. 25 He supposed that his brothers would understand that God was giving them salvation by his hand, but they did not understand.
HE SUPPOSED...THAT WAS THE PROBLEM.
HOW EASY IT IS TO THINK THAT OUR ACTION IS GOD'S ACTION AND THEREFORE JUSTIFIED.
THIS WAS MOSES' ATTEMPT TO DELIVER GOD'S PEOPLE - HE ACTED ALONE AND IN SECRET - HE RELIED ON HIS OWN STRENGTH AND POWER AND HE FAILED MISERABLY.
WE'VE SEEN POWER USED IN FEAR AND IT'S DISASTROUS CONSEQUENCES. NOW WE SEE POWER USED IN ANGER. THERE IS A LOT TO BE ANGRY ABOUT. “IF YOU'RE NOT OUTRAGED YOUR NOT PAYING ATTENTION.”
ANGER LIKE FEAR IS A TERRIBLE MOTIVATOR AND A MERCILESS TASKMASTER.
WE'D LOVE TO BELIEVE THAT WE'RE IN CONTROL OF OUR ANGER BUT USUALLY THE OPPOSITE IS TRUE - ANGER CONTROLS US.
19 Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; 20 for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.
LAW OF UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES
EVEN IF WE GET IT "RIGHT" WE ARE VICTIMS OF OUR LIMITED KNOWLEDGE AND PERSPECTIVE.
INSTEAD OF BEING RECEIVED WITH GRATITUDE HE IS LOOKED AT WITH SUSPICION AND DOUBT.
15 When Pharaoh heard of it, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from Pharaoh and stayed in the land of Midian. And he sat down by a well.
THE MIDIANITES WERE DESCENDANTS OF ABRAHAM THROUGH HIS WIFE KETURAH AS SEEN IN GENESIS 25.
THE MIDIANITE TRADERS BROUGHT JOSEPH INTO EXILE IN EGYPT (GEN. 37) AND NOW MOSES WINDS UP WITH THE MIDIANITES AFTER HIS EXILE FROM EGYPT.
WELL: IN A BARREN LAND WELLS WERE LIFE. PICK UP SPOT! GO TO A WELL GET A WIFE!!!
ALSO SIMILARITIES WITH JACOB/ISRAEL: BOTH FLEE FROM THE THREAT OF PHYSICAL HARM TO A FOREIGN COUNTRY, BOTH MEET THEIR WIVES BY A WELL.
16 Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came and drew water and filled the troughs to water their father’s flock. 17 The shepherds came and drove them away, but Moses stood up and saved them, and watered their flock. 18 When they came home to their father Reuel, he said, “How is it that you have come home so soon today?” 19 They said, “An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds and even drew water for us and watered the flock.” 20 He said to his daughters, “Then where is he? Why have you left the man? Call him, that he may eat bread.” 21 And Moses was content to dwell with the man, and he gave Moses his daughter Zipporah. 22 She gave birth to a son, and he called his name Gershom, for he said, “I have been a sojourner in a foreign land.”
SO WHAT DO WE DO WITH THIS STORY? WHAT SHOULD THIS STORY DO TO US?
AS ALWAYS IT SHOULD POINT US TO CHRIST! THE POINT OF EXODUS IS NOT BE LIKE MOSES - IT IS LOOK AT HOW MOSES POINTS TO SOMETING GREATER THAT WE KNOW TO BE JESUS.
LIKE MOSES, JESUS WAS REJECTED BY HIS OWN
LIKE MOSES, JESUS WAS REJECTED BY HIS OWN
JESUS KNEW THE STING OF REJECTION BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY, HE CHOSE IT OUR OF OBEDIENCE.
31 And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again.
MAKES ME THINK OF ISAIAH 53:
He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
JESUS WAS STRAIGHTFORWARD THAT WE SHOULD EXPECT THE SAME.
18 “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. 20 Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.
LIKE MOSES, JESUS CHOSE SUFFERING OVER POWER
MOSES COULD HAVE JUST STAYED IN THE PALACE AND “HELPED FROM THE INSIDE”
24 By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, 25 choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. 26 He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward.
JESUS COULD HAVE CALLED 10,000 ANGELS.
5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.