Exodus - God is not dead, nor doth he sleep...

Welcome to the City Covenant Podcast.

We are a warm, welcoming church located in downtown Spokane, dedicated to practicing the way of Jesus in the heart of the city.

Please join us as we dive into the Word of God together.

I've met a lot of you, not all of you.

If you're new here, we're pumped that you're here.

Some of you guys, your first week maybe was last week at Easter.

We're pumped that you came back.

From the time that we're picking up right after Joseph and his family, they went from being like Hollywood megastars or in Egypt, you know, they like saved the whole country.

300 years go by, all of a sudden nobody likes them, and there's a new Pharaoh, and he's trying to destroy their lives.

So anyway, we're looking at the that story.

Um in the book of Exodus, it's page 48.

Um in your Pew Bibles.

If you didn't bring a Bible with you, there's a Pew Bible Bible in front of you.

Um, we're talking about a people that were foreigners, sojourners.

These are people that um they're it from they live in this country, but they're not really from there in a way.

Um years ago, I'll tell you this.

Years ago, I briefly lived in Vancouver, BC.

I tried to go to seminary there, didn't work out after I got hit by a car.

I had to come home.

But before that, I went to my first day of orientation.

I only made it to one day of orientation at Regent College before I got into the got hit by a car.

And during orientation, I went to uh a talk, and it was taught it was by an American guy who lives in Canada, and he says, now listen, there's some things we have this special session for you guys that are Americans living here in Canada.

We have to have this special session for you because it feels like America, but it's not America.

It's different.

And so there's some rules you need to know as Americans who live in Canada, right?

Why?

Because you're in the words of um Canada, you're like resident aliens, or you're there's even a nicer word that they use than that.

But you you live here, but you're not ultimately from here, right?

This week we're in this in this short series, we're looking at a group of people who live somewhere, but ultimately that's not their ultimate home.

In the words of Jesus, they're in that world, but they're not of it, right?

So what we're gonna do is we're gonna find um find out what it's like for their lives to have gone from being riding high to it just feels like they moved to desolation, um, and then how God builds that back.

Um, in the midst of that, they had this dire experience.

And maybe that's where some of you guys are even this morning, of realizing, boy, I was up here and now I'm here.

Everything seemed like it was working out, now nothing's working out.

And we ask these questions, maybe like the ancient Israelites did, of where is God in the midst of that?

Right?

And it feels at times when the bottom has fallen out, we ask, is God still with me?

Right?

And that that's what we're looking at in this story of Exodus.

And so if you'll turn your Bibles to page 48 in the Pew Bibles, um, or Bible that you brought from home in Exodus 1, we can read together.

Um it's Exodus 1, 6 through 22.

I'm gonna read out of the NIV, and then we'll pray, and then we'll look at this together.

Now Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation before them died.

But the Israelites were exceedingly fruitful.

They multiplied greatly, they increased in numbers, and they became so numerous that the land was filled with them.

Then a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt.

Look, he said to his people, the Israelites have become far too numerous for us.

Come, we must deal shrewdly with them, or they will become even more numerous, and if war breaks out, they'll join our enemies, fight against us, and leave the country.

So they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor, and they built Pitham and Ramses as store cities for Pharaoh.

But the more that they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread.

So the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites, and they worked them ruthlessly.

They made their lives bitter with harsh labor in brick and mortar, and with all kinds of work in the fields.

In all their harsh labor, the Egyptians worked them ruthlessly.

The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, whose names were Shifra and Pua, When you were helping the Hebrew women during childbirth on the delivery stool, if you see that the baby is a boy, kill him.

But if it is a girl, let her live.

The midwives, however, feared God and they did not do what the king of Egypt had told them to do.

They let the boys live.

Then the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and asked them, Why have you done this?

Why have you let the boys live?

The midwives answered Pharaoh, Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women.

They are vigorous, they give birth before the midwives arrive.

So God was kind to the midwives, and the people increased and became even more numerous.

And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families of their own.

Then Pharaoh gave this order to all his people.

Every Hebrew boy that is born, you must throw into the Nile.

But let every girl live.

Friends, this is the word of the Lord.

God, you move into situations of immense suffering.

You move in with us because you do not want us to be alone.

You move into the darkness, into the wilderness.

You are on the cross.

You are with us in our darkest moments, even when it feels like you're absent.

Lord, in this story and the stories to follow in Exodus, Lord, would you be with us so that we might know your presence in every place in our lives?

Lord, and and and and help us then to be your agents of reconciliation and kindness and warmth in the world.

Because you're with us, help us to be with others and stand with them, God.

We love you.

In Christ's name we pray, amen.

Okay, so this new Pharaoh, this guy is an absolute social wreck, right?

You see Pharaoh's life, and what he's doing, right, is at first he forgets them.

We're gonna look at this.

First, he forgets Israel, right?

He forgets all of the good work that they did for the country, right?

He moves from forgetting them, then he fears them.

Then he um, as he, out of his fear, he forces them to become slaves, and then ultimately moves toward murder.

So we're gonna see this movement this morning in Exodus 1 of forgetting, fear, slavery, murder.

Yet there is ultimately one that will deliver Israel.

Right?

As you can remember from Joseph's life, if you if you remember back, if you've ever read Genesis, I'd say if you haven't read it, go back and read it.

But Genesis, what you see is this guy whose whose life fell apart.

And God had this irredeemable reconciliation in his life, or excuse me, that not irredeemable, it was something that seemed irredeemable, excuse me.

And it was so exceptional that as he redeems Joseph's life, he brings him from being, you know, cast away in a pit to making him the prime minister of Egypt.

And now he's not only in the book of Genesis, he was not only being a blessing to um his small little group of people, he turns Egypt into a place that is producing more than they need, and so that they're actually blessing the rest of the world around them in a time of immense need.

Um, Joseph is such a superstar in Egypt.

The rest of his family is welcome down there.

They're like these national heroes, and then time out, right?

There's all of a sudden it's like the close of that movie scene.

We fast forward a couple hundred years, maybe 300 years even, and and everything's changed.

There used to be when when Joe Genesis ended, there were 70 Israelites.

Now there are at least tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, or like in the low millions of Israelites, right?

And there's just absolutely tons and tons and tons of these Jewish folks that now live in in Egypt.

But this new Pharaoh, after 300 years, I mean, guys, we're talking, it's been so long.

This is like um, you know, back, um, this is the way before the Declaration of Independence in America, right?

We're talking 75 years back.

It's that long, right?

If you think about from today back, right?

You go back another 50 years, and that's how long ago it was that Joseph existed, and now here we are, and we find ourselves in Exodus 1.

And they don't remember any of the good stuff that the Jews did for them back then, right?

Nobody remembers Joseph.

Nobody remembers what what a national hero he was, right?

These are now these are these are cast-off people.

These folks are like, hey, thanks for all the touchdowns you scored for us, but you messed up your knee, and so now we're gonna release you, right?

And and now, maybe like some of us would feel, they feel not only forgotten by Pharaoh, they feel forgotten by God.

Right?

And you and they ask the question, and we ask the question, where is God in these times of suffering?

Right?

When it feels like God is absent, right?

Because I don't know if you notice this.

In Exodus 1, God doesn't speak.

Right?

You notice you you read and read and read, and all these things are happening, and the narrator is intentionally not talking about how God is active here, even though he's hidden, he's not absent, he's simply hidden in Exodus 1.

Sometimes we expect God to be more clearly visible and more clearly active.

And sometimes we don't have the right way to interpret the world.

So when I was a little kid, I would sometimes I would fly down to California to see my dad.

And on one of these flights, I think it was probably one of these like little horizon air shuttles.

And as I'm on this horizon air little plane, I remember being in this plane, it was a big rainstorm, and I remember, you know, no, the only adult is like this nice flight attendant, right, who would check on me every once in a while.

But everyone is in their seats because there's a big storm, and the you know, the plane is going like this, and every once in a while, at least to a little kid, it felt like the plane would drop about a thousand feet, right?

You might have been on this, and I know we have pilots in the room.

You guys could explain why um it seemed like that was happening.

And here's the thing: all I see is I'm looking toward the front of the plane.

I don't see any pilot.

Why, right?

You feel like if you're just sitting there in your little section of the plane, you might look and say, I'm all alone.

Well, no, listen, the pilots up there doing their job.

They're looking and saying, I've got this whole thing in control.

I know what I'm doing.

You can trust me, right?

But as a little kid, I have no idea what the pilot is doing in this hidden compartment.

Right?

Here Israel is, and it seems like God is absent, but actually he's hidden.

He is actively working behind the scenes in his sovereignty, right?

But Israel has been forgotten.

And what happens is the Pharaoh moves from simply forgetting all the goodness that God has done to them through Israel to now moving to fearing the Israelites.

Right?

It says that as the Israelites, they grew, they were fruitful, they swarmed, they increased, they got more powerful, and the land was filled with them.

I don't know if you caught what um the Bible said here.

It said, we must make a plan to keep them from growing even more if we don't.

And if war breaks out, listen to what he says.

They'll join our enemies, right?

They're not loyal to us, they'll fight against us, and then they'll leave.

Right?

So they're not loyal, they might fight against us, and then we won't be able to economically benefit from them anymore.

Then they'll just leave altogether, right?

So there are these immigrants that at one point we wanted here, but now we don't want them anywhere more.

Here's the thing with Pharaoh is this mess of a person.

On one hand, he is this controlling person, he's domineering, it's his way of keeping security, but he's actually full of fear.

He's fearful of losing all of his power.

Why?

Friends, because Pharaoh has turned, as we frequently see, Pharaoh turned a good thing, security, national stability, into an ultimate thing.

He turned something that was good into an idol.

He put it in an inappropriate place.

It became too much, right?

Power became an idol in this guy's life.

And as any idol does, it escapes the human heart.

Right?

The sin of one person never stays with one person.

And so now the sin of Pharaoh starts oozing out and impacting all of those around him, right?

And it hurts them, right?

Sin never just impacts one person.

And so what happens here?

Who gets hurt the most when this person in power has such deeply ingrained sin?

Is who gets hurt the most?

It's these vulnerable Israelites.

Right?

They start becoming exiles as they're in their this place that has actually become their homeland, this place that welcomed immigrants at first, right?

Providing a blessing to Egypt.

But but along the way, the two groups become split, and the Hebrews end up becoming distrusted and then dehumanized.

Spoken of not now as people, but as just a separate nation, not as individuals, but as a group, a type of scourge on the land.

Guys, this is human history.

This is what people do again and again and again.

Right?

This is something that the people of God we we know about.

We're familiar with it, not just from the Bible, but from history.

Years ago, we took this trip.

Some of you guys, there's a couple people in this room, I think, I went on this trip with.

We went to Germany, we went, it was a really cool trip.

We worked with these church planters.

We just wanted to see what they were doing with church planting in Western Europe.

And so we went, we were in Münster, Germany.

We were in um stopped in Frankfurt, we went over to the Netherlands, we were in The Hague in Amsterdam, we went down to Paris, and we saw these incredible church planters that were doing amazing work in Western Europe, bringing the gospel to people who had never heard it.

And one of the things that was wild of what we learned about from this missionary family that was in Münster was about the history of Germany post-World War II.

You know what happened in Münster and in this whole region of Western Germany after World War II was that World War II was so decimated, you know, because of their own sin in World War II that it took so much work for them to build back up, they couldn't do it on their own.

So, you know what they did is they welcomed in Turkish immigrants to say, we we need the help.

So much so that at some point it became just as easy to find like a donor kebab on the streets of Munster and Frankfurt as it is to get Schnitzel, right?

Well, guess what?

Germans responded over time.

They said, Oh, time out.

You know, these Turks, we really liked them at first.

But now the time has come.

I know you built homes here, but now it's time for you to go home.

I know you're citizens, but we need you to leave.

Why?

Because this isn't really your country, it's our country.

Does this refrain sound like Exodus?

It's ours now.

We wanted you here for a while, but now you're welcome to leave, right?

This is Americans and Mexicans, right, white Americans and Mexicans, right?

At one point in America we said we need Mexicans here for agricultural help.

And then, oop, new political leadership comes in, and what is it?

Just like the book of Exodus, what do we do?

We say, oh, not anymore.

You'd be welcome to leave.

Thanks for all what you did for us for a while, right?

This is on the island of Hispaniola.

I went to a mission trip in the Dominican Republic.

And you know what we found out?

There was at one time Haiti was actually more influential on the island of Hispaniola than the Dominican Republic.

Somewhere along the lines, though, Dominicans got power over Haitians, and now Haiti became one of the poorest countries in the whole world.

Now Dominicans actually look down on Haitians.

You know why?

Because at one point Haitians looked down on Dominicans.

Why?

Because they were brought over from one side of the island to another to do some work.

So we're working in this mission trip area where all these really poor Haitians have been brought in to work in sugarcane fields.

And now you know what Dominicans are saying is thanks for the help.

Now you can go back, even though you built lives here.

Guys, this is what people do all the time.

It shouldn't surprise you, and you shouldn't be okay with it either, though.

Right?

This is just standard things that we see in the ways that we tend to dehumanize people that we no longer see giving us a lot of value.

Right?

What the Pharaoh is doing here is intended to frighten in the way he's speaking, rather than presenting facts.

Right?

He's playing on these universal xenophobic tendencies of people to fear, right?

Saying, if you if you let these Israelites stay, they're gonna take our jobs, our wealth, they're gonna take the land, they're gonna they're gonna give this political control over to foreigners in our midst.

Right?

Refugees, illegal immigrants.

This story causes us to look on the plight of the unwelcome sojourner, and we can't ignore it.

Why?

Because in this story, all of a sudden the powerful are fearing the weaker.

Just you know, if you follow Jesus, you have to know something about the history of those who follow Jesus.

Do you know in the early Christian church in the Roman Empire, Christians were feared?

Christians were dehumanized.

Why?

Because Romans looked at us and said, you know, they're not really like us.

You know that, right?

They're just different enough.

And now Christians they're growing, and we can't control them anymore.

And their allegiance isn't ultimately towards Caesar.

In fact, they don't say Caesar is Lord, instead, they say Jesus is Lord.

And so you know what happened?

It moved from it at one point forgetting what benefit Christians brought to the empire, and then it moved to fear, and then it moved toward persecution.

That's what happened here in Egypt.

And so what happened when when forgetting moved to fear, then it took another step.

And they said, Okay, just using political language isn't working enough, we're gonna need political action.

We're gonna have to make them slaves.

Right?

In verse 11, it says they appointed brutal slave drivers over them, hoping to wear them down with crushing labor.

This is what's wild to hear this, guys.

This is amazing.

But the more the Egyptians oppressed them, the more the Israelites multiplied and spread.

But the more alarmed the Egyptians became.

Pharaoh was convinced he was more powerful than Yahweh.

He thought his measures would work.

But God himself is more powerful than any human leader.

Pharaoh overestimated himself, and we're gonna keep seeing that through all of the beginning of Exodus.

This is what humans always do.

They put themselves in opposition to God.

And when people put themselves in opposition to God, I'm just gonna, you know, kind of give you a little spoiler alert right now.

When people put themselves in opposition to God, God always ends up winning.

It might take a while, it might be hidden, it might surprise you in the story, but it always happens eventually.

Right?

In the words of Wednesday from the Adams family, just wait.

It'll happen eventually.

Right?

And so they become slaves.

You know, the story of Exodus isn't getting Israel out of a situation where they have to serve somebody.

Right?

In the words of Bob Dylan, if you're going to serve somebody, you might as well serve the Lord.

Israel was going to serve somebody.

It just wasn't going to be Pharaoh.

They were going to serve the Lord.

Right?

You have to realize in some ways, you are going to serve something.

You're going to serve somebody.

You have to ask the question is it strong enough to actually support you?

Right?

You can you can be a Slave like Israel.

Or you can be a slave that serves your master while you're doing it.

Right?

You can be a slave and serve God while doing it, and that changes your approach.

Right?

The story of Exodus is the story of Israel being freed to serve the one that they were created to serve.

Right?

You have to, as you read this story, guys, if you go home, reread Exodus 1 through 12 this week, okay?

Here's what you're gonna notice as you think about Jesus.

You're gonna start remembering Jesus as you read through the story of captive slavery in Egypt.

And you're gonna remember these little moments throughout the scripture when you realize there were these different types of slavery in the Bible.

Do you know in the book of Leviticus, they could only, someone could only be a slave for seven years.

And then you had to release them.

Except someone could choose to stay.

And if so, they would mark them in their ear and say, okay, this person stays with this person.

What you have to understand is Jesus became a bond servant.

Jesus is the one who said, I'm going to stay.

I'm going to choose to do this.

I'm going to, rather than trying to be served, I am here to serve.

Can you imagine what it's like for the nation of Israel in this moment?

They've lost their freedom.

Right?

What started as a group of only 70 people at the end of Genesis is in a few hundred years, has now become tens of thousands of people, and then all of a sudden they've gone from being welcome to not just being second-class citizens, right?

That's segregation.

But instead of moving from being second-class citizens to slaves, right?

We're not talking about, you know, if you think about racial history, we're not talking about America from the 1950s, we're talking about America from the 1850s, right?

Where all of a sudden the bottom has fallen out for Israel.

Right?

This would be like this happening to European settlers that started coming to North America in the year 1626, that long ago.

And they can't even remember what life was like that long ago.

And because they're saying you have to become slaves, why?

Because you're not really one of us.

This isn't your country.

And so they're forced into slavery, they're oppressed, but this is where it's amazing.

The more they're oppressed, the more they thrive.

The more they thrive.

You know, when you are in a split we're in a place where it feels like the bottom's fallen out, we can move toward despondence.

When it feels like you're asking, where is God?

We move into a place of despondence.

We just we don't know how to move forward.

Right?

But don't become despondent.

You know why?

Because the more they were oppressed, the more they grew and the more fruit they bore.

It turned out this wasn't the end of their story.

See, Pharaoh tries by killing all these baby boys, he tries to destroy Israel's future savior.

Pharaoh is trying to destroy the future savior of Israel.

Come forward thousands of years, and Herod tries destroying Jesus.

It didn't work.

It doesn't work ultimately.

Right?

God appears silent, but he's actually putting together behind the scenes this plan of salvation that humanity will be on, that ultimately is fulfilled at the cross.

Again, where God seems absent for a second, even as Jesus says, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

Right?

God seems absent.

Yet God is actually accomplishing his greatest deliverance.

Jesus is proof that God's silence is never his absence.

None of this works for Pharaoh.

So he says, I must kill the baby boys.

This is the end.

This is where all the dehumanization was always leading to, right?

Their fear led to action, to slavery, to oppression.

So what do you do when nothing else is working for you if you're Pharaoh?

You have the ultimate power, you play the card that's left in your hand, and you move to where it was ultimately going, which is killing them.

Why?

Because he feared Israel.

You know what's wild?

It's for Pharaoh, fear leads to control.

For Pharaoh, he uses power to destroy life.

And then you have these amazing women, these two gals.

You guys hear the names.

They're named these two midwives.

And these two gals say we actually don't fear Pharaoh as much as we fear God.

Right?

This is like this Acts 5 moment where they're like, hey, listen, we think we're supposed to obey God over everything else, and so we're gonna do it, regardless of what happens.

And so they do.

Their fear, instead of how it for Pharaoh it leads to control, their fear leads them to courage.

They have true fear, right?

They have fear where they have this awe of God, of where they know who's ultimately, um, who they can ultimately trust, who they can ultimately have allegiance to.

They know it's not Pharaoh.

And so what do they do?

They have this like Joshua moment, and they're like, as for me and my house, we're gonna serve the Lord.

And they step in and they risk everything.

And they risk their lives to preserve lives for these little miracle babies to be born.

See, the thing is, guys, there's a true slave in this story.

It's not Israel, it's not the midwives, it's Pharaoh.

You know why?

Because whatever you fear the most controls you the most.

And now Pharaoh is completely a slave to his own fear.

He's now become a slave to Israel.

Israel is now in charge of all of Pharaoh's emotions.

They're getting free rent in his head all day long.

But the midwives are free because God is the ultimate to them.

Right?

What we see with these gals is these gals who have this dual response, right?

In the large story, what we're seeing is that there's this hope in a deliverer.

They know what God's gonna ultimately do, that one's gonna come and help, but in the meantime, what do they do?

In the meantime, what do you see happening?

It's faith and action together.

They know God's gonna provide, but they also still do something about it.

It's both.

Right?

They do what God's leading them to do, and what's weird is God leads them to do something that's morally gray.

They lie, they disobey the state, right?

But this is what they know they have to do to save these babies' lives.

What's Dietrich Bonhoeffer do in World War II?

Morally gray.

German pastor, brilliant person, loves the Lord.

Right?

He was devoted toward Christ, he loved his country, he believed in God, and he has faith that God was going to save.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was studying for a while in New York City.

So, what does he do as the war gets worse and worse?

Do you know what Dietrich Bonhoeffer does?

He says, I have to go back to Germany right now.

I have to go back to Germany to be with my countrymen to help them now.

Right?

Because this is their hour of need.

So he goes back to Germany knowing that he has to enter into the darkness with his friends and family and work together to fight Adolf Hitler.

And his belief led to his action.

It was funny, as you guys might know this.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was actually a pacifist.

He believed it was a sin to kill somebody.

But he believed he must attempt to take Adolf Hitler's life, even though he's a pacifist.

That's just what he does.

Morally complex, ambiguous, gray area for him.

But his faith leads him to disobey the state because he believed at that moment he had to.

This is wild stuff, right?

This is where Christian theology is complex.

Don't let anyone try to trick you into saying that if you follow Jesus, you're gonna be some type of intellectual simpleton.

Are you kidding me?

Right?

These folks are having to rigorously listen to the voice of the spirit saying, now, God, now what must I do?

Right?

That's what they're doing here.

It's hard.

Right?

So we look and say, who are the heroes of a story like this, right?

Who are the power brokers?

Who's really driving this?

Right?

It's not Pharaoh.

It's not the Egyptian elites.

Instead, who are the heroes in this little moment in Exodus 1?

You know who they are?

It's these two obscure women, members of this enslaved minority.

Guys, this is the upside-down kingdom of God.

God is always using people we wouldn't expect.

You think he's gonna use the rich, the powerful, the upwardly mobile.

Yeah, God uses these two women.

These two midwives just doing their job.

They're committed to doing what they knew they were supposed to do, which was to save lives, because that's what midwives do.

And as a result, God's kingdom was quietly advancing before it was visible.

You know, I put down this grass seed in our yard a few weeks ago.

I expected grass to grow.

It hasn't yet.

But it's doing its job.

I can't see it anymore, but it's there.

And it's just little by little by little it's growing.

It's not absent.

So you guys, at times, in the midst of stories like this, as we enter into them, we realize it can feel like where is God?

Is he absent?

No, no, no.

He's in there.

He might seem hidden.

Some of you guys are there right now.

Some of you guys are in a place in your life where you're looking and saying, I haven't seen Jesus or felt Jesus for a long time, and it feels like he left me.

Friends, I want you to know that God is not absent in your life.

He may be hidden and he is still doing incredible work.

And just like we see in Exodus 1, God is orchestrating this incredible plan in your life.

And this plan is so large, you can't mess it up.

Because God is sovereign.

And God is the author and creator of all things.

And he is weaving this story together, just like he did in Exodus 1.

And he's doing it for you.

Right?

That moment that we saw on the cross, it looked and said, All is lost.

There is no hope.

God is gone.

Jesus is dead.

And then what happens three days later is woo, all of a sudden we see glory.

We see the resurrection.

Friends, when it feels like all is lost, we are the most prepared to see God's glory in the resurrection.

Let's pray.

Father in heaven, you are a good, good Father.

You love us, you care for us.

God, would you please help every one of us in this room today?

Know that you have not forgotten any person here.

You know the number of hairs on their head.

You are intricately involved.

And even though at times it seems like you're hidden, we know you are still here.

In Christ's name we pray.

Amen.

Thank you for listening.

Please join us in person for community worship, the breaking of bread, and prayer.

We are located at 512 South Bernard Street, Spokane, Washington, 99204.