Exodus 17:8 - 18:12

Thank you, Melissa.

That was it's not easy.

It's it's very difficult.

I mean, even I, a lot of times uh confession, blueletterbible.org, there's this little feature, has a little microphone, and you click it and it tells you how to say certain words.

And I use it all the time because I read these words, I have no idea how to say them.

All right, so uh we're in Exodus, still in Exodus, about halfway through, and so we are uh learning this story.

We're going through the story about how God has rescued his people.

These people, the Hebrews, they were in slavery in Egypt.

You remember this?

They were making bricks, they were suffering, they were there for about 400 years.

They were miserable, they were crying out, and uh finally God sends this very unlikely guy, Moses, to go and help lead them out of slavery.

And so we get this story about them trekking across the wilderness, the desert, and they're headed toward what is called the promised land, which is uh modern-day Israel, which is known as Canaan, also in the Bible.

And so they're headed there, and that's where they're gonna uh build their cities and their nation, and that's where they're gonna live and have their lives.

But it doesn't take a few weeks like it should.

It takes them a very long time.

It takes them about 40 years because they just keep settling down along the way.

And this is where we get all these really interesting stories along the way.

Now, maybe you're here, and we we look at this story today, this Exodus 17 that Melissa read.

We get this story, and we get a story about a battle.

It's like these Old Testament guys, and it's a battle.

And then and maybe you could even, if you're not familiar with the Bible, not familiar with church, you could even think, what could this ever have to do with my life?

Like, what could this story in the Old Testament, some battle, and there's a guy on a mountain and his arms are up and everything's great, and his arms are down and everything's horrible.

Like, what could this ever have to do with my life?

And so uh perhaps you'll hang with me as I tell the story, um, and I think it will come together for you by the end if you're willing to hang with me.

Um, and I think you'll be blown away by the story and what the story means.

Um for me, it all kind of came together on Wednesday, and ever since I've been kind of blown away by this story.

So I'm gonna reread parts of it that helps me, helps us as we travel through the text.

Um, so I'll reread parts of it as we go.

So, Exodus 17, verses 8 through 11.

Exodus 17:8–11

Then Amalek came and fought with Israel at Rephadim.

So Moses said to Joshua, Choose for us men and go out and fight with Amalek.

Tomorrow I will stand on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand, so this great symbol of authority and power.

So Joshua did as Moses told him and fought with Amalek while Moses, Aaron, and her went up to the top of the hill.

Whenever Moses held up his hand, so this symbol, this position of surrender to God and need of God, and God's authority and his ability, uh, whenever Moses stood like that and fought with Amalek, while Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed.

And whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek, um Amalek prevailed.

So hands up, Israel's prevailing, hands down, Amalek's prevailing.

And so the battle's down in the valley, they're up on the mountain.

And so what we see here is we see that our most productive position is surrender.

Our most productive position is dependence on God.

And what we also see here, which is really interesting, is that Moses can't even maintain his ability to reveal his need.

Isn't that interesting?

Like, so his position of need is the thing that's helping, and yet he can't even maintain the position of need.

Like, this is how dire our condition is, is that like we can't even maintain the position of showing that we are in need of help.

And so he actually needs help to maintain the position of communicating that he needs help.

There's like layers and layers of needing help, basically.

So, verse 12.

But Moses' hands grew weary.

So they took a stone and they put it under him, and he sat on it while Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side and the other on the other side.

So his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.

And Joshua overwhelmed Amalek and his people with the sword.

So God was teaching these people something.

That's what we keep seeing in these stories.

Yes, they're stories, they're history, but God is teaching them something.

He's taking them somewhere.

Because at the end of this story, um God tells Moses, write this down.

You need to write this down in a book, and you need to recite it in the ear of Joshua.

These people need to remember this.

These people need to remember how victory comes.

These people need to remember this.

And then Moses goes and he builds an altar, another sign of just surrender and worship.

And he calls the altar the Lord is my banner.

Right?

Because I mean that's really what's going on here.

Is Moses is confessing that the Lord is my banner.

It's not him, it's not Joshua, it's it's not like uh my greatness is the banner here or my my goodness.

I mean, it's it's that the Lord is my banner.

So about 10 years ago, uh Christy and I were newly married.

I began to uh interview at Church of the Apostles in Atlanta for a pastoral position, and so I uh in my first interview, um, I show up at this big, prestigious, beautiful, wonderful church, and I have on literally my only pair of khakis and the only button-up shirt I own.

And they were these super baggy khakis, and they're cargo pants.

They weren't even like real khakis, they were cargo pants.

Um, and so this is all I own.

The only pair of khakis I own, the only button-up shirt I owned.

That's what I wore to the interview.

I'm so intimidated walking in there because there was like all like a lot of slate going on, a lot of oak trim and stained glass, and it was all very overwhelming from where I had come from.

And start with interviews, like one interview, and then another interview, and another interview.

I mean, multiple interviews that day, and then more interviews later.

It was like getting into the CIA.

Literally, it felt like getting in the CIA, like this must be what it's like.

And so the the last step was an interview with a psychologist.

And so uh the psychologist he had sent some tests to me before, and so I'd do all these tests, like personality tests and profiles and all this kind of stuff.

And then we get on the phone, because I think the guy's in Dallas or something.

So we get on the phone and he says, we're gonna talk for about an hour and a half.

Um, the first hour and 15 minutes, um, I'm just gonna ask you questions.

Okay, and that's great.

And then he said, last 15 minutes, we'll do something a little bit different.

So we go through the hour and 15 minutes, and he's just asking me question after question.

I'm answering, we're just working our way through all these different questions.

And then we end the hour 15 minutes, and he says, Okay, um, here's what we're gonna do, last 15 minutes.

I'm gonna give you scenarios, um, detailed scenarios, and then I'm gonna tell you what you would do in that scenario, and you tell me if I'm correct.

And so he get he just lays out these scenarios, like really detailed scenarios, where it is so clear in my mind what I would do.

And over and over and over again, he nailed me.

I mean, it was un I mean, for 15 minutes it's just like you know, scenario, scenario, nailed me every time.

I mean, we get to the end of those 15 minutes of those scenarios, and I just was like, what was that?

Like, what that was amazing.

I mean, how could you have known to the to that depth exactly what I would do?

And he just said, Um, well, most of humanity, most of us, uh, we behave in patterns.

And if you know the pattern, you can predict pretty much with 95% accuracy exactly how somebody will behave.

Well, I've been thinking about this.

Um, mainly because reading through Exodus, it just is like it's a pattern.

Like you just keep seeing the same thing over and over and over again.

I mean, we keep, it's like I keep preaching the same sermon with a different story, right?

I mean, it's the same thing on repeat, it's the same story in a different scene.

It's just it, right, is delivered from Pharaoh out of slavery, delivered from Pharaoh's army at the Red Sea, delivered from hunger in the desert, delivered from thirst in the desert, and then today delivered from an enemy in battle.

It's the same scene over and over and over again.

Now listen what happens in this story because uh Moses' father-in-law shows up.

Jethro, good name.

Beverly Hillbillies, right?

You remember?

Anybody?

Okay, thanks.

Anyways.

All right, so Moses' father-in-law shows up.

Moses tells him of this pattern, right?

He says, We were delivered here, we were delivered here, we were delivered here, we were delivered here.

And here's what happens in chapter 18, verse 11 and 12.

And this is this is Jethro's response.

Now I know that the Lord is greater than all gods.

So what's clear is what's clear is that our lives have effect on people.

We sort of don't want it to be that way.

We sort of want us just to be independent and like we don't have to worry about that.

But it we do.

Our lives have effect on people.

They see something.

But the question is, is what do they see?

And the question, furthermore, is what is the story that actually resonates?

What is the story that actually resonates?

See, the the this has everything to do with a big church word if you're around church.

This has everything to do with evangelism.

I mean, that that's the word.

And no, I know maybe perhaps it comes with baggage from you if you come from maybe a legalistic background, or maybe it comes with baggage because maybe you've seen that word so like intertwined within the political world.

And so maybe it comes with some baggage and some misunderstanding, it's very possible.

But the word basically means this God making himself known in this world through us.

That's that's what it means.

So I've told of this great experience of mine, this great evangelism experience of mine before, but it's just so good I can't ever pass up a chance to share it.

So I was in an evangelism class as a high school student, and we we would all gather together at the church and we'd split up into teams of like three or four, and we would show up at people's houses on Tuesday evening.

Anybody do this?

Some of you, okay, and some of you had good experience with it, some have bad experience with it.

And so I had some good experience, some bad experience, probably more bad than good.

And here's what we would do: um, we would show up at people's homes, and I don't they weren't expecting us, mind you, but we showed up, and I'm pretty sure they didn't want us to come in, but we just sort of like worked our way in.

We were like pretty good at that.

And we would get in, and we then some good would come of it because we would share the gospel.

We would share how these people could be made right with God, how they could be forgiven, what Jesus did for them, right?

Like we would lay that out.

And then it got bad because we wouldn't leave.

Like we just wouldn't leave until they prayed the prayer at the end of the deal.

And I could close, I was a closer, like, I mean, I could get the job done.

I was just really good at it.

And part of it was just sort of like the pressure, like you have four people in your living room, and there's just like you know, you're just like this little like 15-year-old girl, and then there's like all these like teenage seniors, and you know, and you're all in there and you're not leaving, and it's like we're not leaving, and you like it's like three cents prayer, we can get this done, and then we can leave.

And we would all go back to to the church, and we had a board at the front of the classroom, and we had our names, and then um we would mark, like literally mark like Russ, how many do you have today?

Oh, you had three this evening, you know.

Great, good job for you.

And like, and it was like it was the score was kept, okay?

So uh I have some baggage, right?

That's my evangelism bitterness.

Y'all feel it.

Some of you was you were listening to me and you were sort of like not along, like I remember that, or like you had an experience with that, or maybe you're you're hearing that, and you're like, that guy's a little warped on this issue, all right?

But that's my um my bitterness and my baggage with evangelism.

But here's here's what I've learned.

I I don't really have baggage with evangelism.

I have baggage with something else.

I have baggage with a with a form of evangelism that I didn't like.

Right?

So many of us, this is kind of a side note.

I mean, many of us have baggage with church or faith or something within Christian faith.

And I I'm wondering if you really have baggage with that, or if you have baggage with a form of it that you experienced that wasn't healthy.

Because evangelism itself, right?

I mean, evangelism itself is just God making himself known in the world through you.

So a few points give this kind of structure for us, talking about evangelism and what this could mean.

And what we see with Moses and Jethro as Moses tells Jethro the story.

Uh the first point is this evangelism is about something outside of you, given to you, right?

So often the first thing we make it is about like what's happened to you.

Just tell what's happened to you, and nobody can argue with that.

Well, that's not necessarily true because a lot of people have faith stories that have an effect on their lives.

But primarily, evangelism is about something done outside of you, primarily the cross, and then it's given to you, his righteousness is given to you.

And so that's the word evangelism has the same Greek root word as the word gospel.

That is good news, not good advice, not like the great transformation my life has had.

The core of evangelism is the news, the news of what was done outside of you and given to you, right?

And this is what Moses is doing.

He's telling this story, and the story he tells is not how great we are and how we have our act together, and look how we worked our way out of this tough situation and this situation.

The story he's telling is like we were at our end.

Like we were really in trouble.

Like at the Red Sea, when we were hungry, when we were thirsty in this battle, like we were at our end, and then God delivered us.

We were exhausted, and God gave us rest.

We were filled with shame and and and God gave me peace.

This is what Moses is doing.

He's laying out a story of what God has done.

And Jethro's, he's not seeing that these people are put together and wonderful, and he's seeing that these people are fragile and they're sinful, but God's really pursued them and loved them and delivered them and done something for them.

So evangelism is primarily about something done outside of you and given to you.

And then number two is the story is always of our need and his sufficiency.

This is what brings him glory.

This is also what brings transformation within us.

But the story's always, this is the core of the stories, our need and his sufficiency.

Because Moses' story today, this text, chapter 17, Moses' story is about being broken in the battle, not macho on the mountain.

Like how I did that alliteration, worked on that all week, took me all week.

The story is about him being broken in the battle, his need, not being macho on the mountain, and everything he could do to make this happen.

Right?

Broken for our sin and our greed and our lust and our anxiety and our fear and exhaustion, and just realizing that like we have when we come before God, we have nothing, and we need him to come toward us.

And in the Exodus, we see this over and over and over again as he pursues these people and he's sufficient for these people and he rescues these people.

And we need it.

We need the delivery, we need our delivering from our inability to create our own righteousness and value and justification and all the ways when we feel a little fragile and uncertain, the things we run to.

I mean, we need delivering from this.

And God solved this problem.

We see in Exodus how he's solving this problem, and it's carrying us to the cross, it's carrying us to the person of Jesus, right?

He took our sin upon himself and he gave us his righteousness.

So we are forever his beloved because of his work for us.

So the story is always of our need and his sufficiency.

And the third thing is the story is sometimes a larger pattern at work.

The story is sometimes a larger pattern at work.

So I geeked out this week on patterns.

I started to think up think about patterns, and so I was just started geeking out on math patterns.

Um just thinking patterns and started to think about patterns and started, all right.

So let's we're gonna participate together here.

Let's just I know some of you are really geeking out and you're moving on to this one, but let's just start with this one together.

Two, four, six, eight.

Oh, that's didn't think of that pattern.

Very good.

Okay, but we'll go with ten.

Okay, thank you, Keith.

Lively answer.

I'll be interested to see how you rhyme this one.

All right, so is anybody geeking out on this right here?

10, 7, 49, 46, 322.

319.

Sorry, just like the heat or air.

Alright, I couldn't even remember the next couple, so I wrote it down.

Cheat sheet, anybody?

What?

I mean you've Oh you got a calculator, that's not fair.

Okay.

Cycly handwriting.

957.

We know the next one.

Anybody wanna know the next one?

What is it?

Anyway.

Alright, so what so what's the what's the pattern in the first situation?

Right?

It's just evens every two going up, two, four, six, eight.

What's the pattern in the second one?

Minus three multiply by seven, minus three multiply by seven.

Like alternating.

Okay, so some of y'all love that, you're geeking out, you loved it, you couldn't figure it out, you're a little depressed about yourself.

Alright, here's the point.

The point is this um we all got this, right?

Like we're see we see, we're seeing, we saw this pattern immediately.

Now, this one, maybe a couple of us picked up on the pattern, but most of us did not pick up on the pattern here.

Um here's the point.

Sometimes there's a larger pattern at work in Exodus for these people in our lives.

And it just because you don't see it doesn't mean there's not a pattern at work.

It just means you don't see it.

And maybe one day you will see it.

And there's days when the pattern's as easy to see as this, and we love those days, right?

Like those are the good days when we can see the pattern, the hand of God in our lives, the anticipatory providence of God in our lives, and we love that.

That is so good.

But then there's days where the pattern's just we just don't quite see it.

But it doesn't mean the pattern's not there.

Right?

And this is what we see in the book of Exodus.

Delivered out of their slavery, delivered from the Red Sea, delivered from hunger, delivered from thirst, delivered from amalek, over and over and over again.

And these people did not always see it.

They didn't always see it like this.

A lot of times it was 10, 7, 49, 46, 322, 319, 957, 954, 6678.

They the pattern, you don't always see the pattern, but it doesn't mean it's not there.

And it is a pattern of loyal love.

So there's this Hebrew word, Hasid.

Has a little growl to it.

And it's a central theme in the Old Testament.

It's the key, it's a key to understanding God.

And Hasid is a love that's so enduring that it persists beyond sin and betrayal, and it can mend brokenness, and it can heal.

It's perfectly loyal love that says, I'm for you.

I'm always for you.

John Oswalt's a theologian, seminary professor, and he says this Hasid speaks of a completely undeserved kindness and generosity done by a person who is in a position of power.

This was the Israelites' experience of God.

He revealed himself to them when they were not looking for him.

And he kept his covenant with them long after their persistent breaking of it had destroyed any reason for his continued keeping of it.

Unlike humans, this deity was not fickle, undependable, self-serving and grasping.

Instead, he was faithful, true, upright, and generous.

Always.

Now, a little Bible study, Psalm 136.

We see this word over and over and over again.

His Hasid endures forever, his love endures forever, his Hasid endures forever, right?

He delivered them out of slavery, he delivered them the Red Sea, He delivered them from hunger, he delivered them from thirst, he delivered them from Amalek, his Hasid endures forever.

Listen to this, Isaiah 54, 10.

Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing Hasid for you will not be shaken.

Lamentations 3 31 through 32.

I know your morning devotion was, I'm sure you were in Lamentations this morning.

No one is cast off by the Lord forever, though he brings grief, he will show compassion.

So great is his unfailing Hasid.

I acknowledge my sin to you, I did not cover.

My iniquity?

Isn't that great that we don't have to cover our own iniquity?

I said, I will confess my transgressions to the Lord, and you forgave the iniquity of my sin.

You are a hiding place for me.

You preserve me from trouble.

You surround me with shouts of deliverance.

Many are the sorrows of the wicked, but steadfast Hasid surrounds the one who trusts in the Lord.

So these are patterns of Hasid.

This pattern doesn't end at this battle.

See, because the pattern is going somewhere.

The pattern is going to someone.

Hebrews 1 1 through 1 through 3.

Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.

He, Christ, is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.

After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high.

So I woke up Thursday morning thinking about all the things I've failed at.

I don't know why.

I don't I don't know if you wake, sometimes you just wake up and you wake up and you're like your brain is just processing stuff and you're like just need to get out of it, you're trying to get out of it, but you don't quite I don't know why I woke up that way.

I just woke up that way.

I woke up thinking about all the things I've failed at.

And I sort of moved on from that to all the things I'm anxious about, really great, you know, uh process for the morning.

And um so I decided to just go for a walk, and so I just I went for a walk and just praying through the concerns in my life, all these uncertainties that make me drive me crazy or make me stressed, and and somewhere along the walk, thinking about the pattern in Exodus and the pattern of deliverance and the pattern of Hasid, um it was like the thing that I received, and I'm not like a you know, I didn't hear some voice or something strange happen to me on Cherokee uh Street there, Marietta, but it was like I heard um within my spirit, Russ, the pattern hasn't stopped.

Like the the pattern has not stopped.

The pattern of Hasid was fulfilled in Jesus.

For you to know it in fulfillment and to be at rest, that you don't you don't ever have to question it, but the pattern has not stopped for you.

Meaning that there's still anticipatory providence and care and love for you today and tomorrow.

And in that anxiety and in that fear and in that shame, there's still love and care for you in that difficulty and in that victory.

Right?

I mean, that's Psalm 32, 10.

That his Hasid surrounds us.

This pattern, it surrounds us.

We live in it.

So, my brothers and sisters, this is the story.

This is your story.

This is the story of the pattern of Hasid that we see in Exodus, and we can see it in our lives.

And so may we rest and speak of this story.

May you walk in the pattern of Hasid, in the love of Jesus.

May you find deliverance in the person and the work of Jesus for you.

Let's pray together.

God, we come before you, and there are many days when we feel like Moses on the mountain, and we can't hold our hands up another moment.

There are many times we feel like we're in the valley and we are being beaten by our failures or our shame or our fear.

Our questions and our doubt.

God, thank you that your Hasid toward us is not dependent on how perfect we are.

But it is upon our confession of our need.

And so we come before you and we raise our hands.

A position of surrender to say we do not have our acts together.

We go our own way, we forget you, we like to fight battles on our own.

We love to worry, we love to feel ashamed, and forgive us for our pity and for our pride, and we need your help.

We need your spirit in us to heal wounds, to help us trust greater and the work you did for us, that you are sufficient and you are capable and you are enough.

Would you help us in our moments of running away from you?

Would you call us back?

Would you pull us back?

Would you help us to see in greater ways these patterns of providence that you have in our lives?

And in the moments we don't see them, would you give us the faith and trust?

And that you are still with us and you are near and you are for us.

We thank you for the work of Jesus.

That we never have to worry whether we are loved or not.

And if we have faith in you, we never have to worry whether we are accepted by you or not.

Help us to live in greater places of freedom, that our lives would honor you.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.