Music, Testimony & Announcements (Fridays @ LOHOP, Feb 20th starting weekly study on "Resurrection Life"), Offering, Prayer, Shema
Memory verses:
2 Tim 3:16, Add Romans 8:28 from our Bible study on Wednesday.
Romans 8:28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
Today’s passage: Exodus 2:23-25 (we’ll pick up some other verses in the context of the story of Israel’s deliverance from Egypt, plus we’ll end up in the New Testament quite a bit.)
Exodus 2:23 Now it came about in the course of those many days that the king of Egypt died. And the sons of Israel sighed because of the bondage, and they cried out; and their cry for help because of their bondage rose up to God. 24 So God heard their groaning; and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 25 God saw the sons of Israel, and God took notice of them.
Questioning the Text (A little detour for Bible study training)
Sometime after I started walking with the Lord, and started attending this church, Pastor Manny sat down with me and the Bible and encouraged me to do a couple of things as I read. These things have been solid, trustworthy tools for me, and they have stayed with me to this day, even after I’ve forgotten some of the first-class tools I gained while in seminary! You want to know what these tools are?
First, he encouraged me to memorize Scripture, and because I’ve tasted the fruit of this time and again, I so appreciate Bible Quiz and I would encourage ANY believer to take up the discipline of Scripture memorization. It’s also why we’ve started memorizing verses together!
The second thing Manny encouraged me to do was to ask questions while I read. I love this, because with God while we’re consuming His Word, we can be like that annoying kid who’s always asking Why… why did this or that happen? What made that person ask that way? What does this or that mean? A lot of times you can get your answers for these kinds of questions from the context, or from other areas of Scripture, or from commentary or other Bible teachers. As you get into the habit of asking, and finding the answers, the questions start to get a little deeper or more complicated, like, Why was this or that detail included at this point in the story? Or, What does this mean for me today?
The whole counsel of Scripture is an important framework for answering these questions; but just as when the prophets of old received dreams and visions from God but didn’t understand them, sometimes special insight can be gained through prayer. The Lord can unlock something for you and give you a glimpse of His heart. Now, while what you hear may challenge you to reconsider what you thought you knew about God, what you learn ought never to outright contradict any portion of the Word. In fact, it will usually illuminate other passages for you, and pull things together that you hadn’t seen together before, and connect things in a way that truly helps you to live in the truth.
I’m telling you this to suggest ways for to approach the Word. You may recall that we just spent a year doing this, asking questions of what we read, and then putting some answers together as a church. Just so you know, this is how most of my messages come together, and today’s message is no exception.
Let’s read the passage again:
Exodus 2:23 Now it came about in the course of those many days that the king of Egypt died. And the sons of Israel sighed because of the bondage, and they cried out; and their cry for help because of their bondage rose up to God. 24 So God heard their groaning; and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 25 God saw the sons of Israel, and God took notice of them.
So what do you suppose is my question? Here it is: Why did God wait until the people cried out? Why did He wait until their suffering drove them to cry out for help, to GROAN? If you know the story leading up to this you might know why I would ask this. You see, back in Gen 15:13-16 we heard God say to Abraham that He had a plan to bring his descendants out of Egypt after 400 years of slavery, and bring them to the land He had promise them. Let’s read it:
Genesis 15:13 Then the LORD said to him, "Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years. 14 But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. 15 You, however, will go to your fathers in peace and be buried at a good old age. 16 In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure."
Ok, so I can see here that God wanted to wait for the sin of the Amorites to reach its full measure… that’s another intriguing subject we won’t get into today. But God said only 400 years… later, in Exodus 12:40-41, we learn that Israel was actually enslaved 430 years. Why would God leave them there in Egypt one minute longer than 400 years? Why would He wait until the peopled GROANED in the midst of their struggle?
As I prayed, and considered other Scripture passages, and pondered our own life experiences, I found it actually made a lot of sense, and, as so often happens in these little question-and-answer journeys, I came away with more peace about things than I had had before, and more love in my heart, toward God and toward others, and more joy about just about everything going on around me.
Spiritual Fruit
More peace. More love. More joy. Sounds like spiritual fruit, doesn’t it? Cool! One third of ECHO’s mission statement is to equip the saints to harvest spiritual fruit in their lives, and here’s evidence that our study of the Word can do exactly that! Here’s what’s even cooler… there’s other fruit the Lord wants to produce in us… Remember the fruits?
Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
Using KJV here because NIV is a little weak on this; what does yours say? Probably “Patience” which while we know it’s difficult, it doesn’t quite sound like “Longsuffering” does it? “Looooongsuffering…” now that doesn’t sound nice at all! But it gives us insight into how this spiritual fruit is developed. Think about it… how do you become longsuffering? By suffering long!
Struggle Triggers Growth
I want to give you an illustration here from biology, specifically from human physiology. The human body never ceases to amaze me, the brilliance with which God designed us… truly, we can say along with the Psalmist that we are “fearfully and wonderfully made!” When Jeanita and I were at the hospital last Sunday, Shayla’s eye doctor met with us; he let us know he is a born-again Christian and blessed our socks off with encouraging words and assurance that God is great! He also explained in detail the issue with Shayla’s eyes. She has what’s called “Retinopathy of Prematurity” which comes from the blood vessels in the eyes not developing completely. This is basically what you’ll read if you look up ROP on the internet or wherever. What isn’t usually included in the description is why these vessels stop developing in premature babies; this doctor explained why, and because I’m just that sort of person, I went out and studies some medical websites to confirm it and try to understand it a little better.
The reason the vessels stop developing has to do with why they develop in the first place. This is kinda neat… growth doesn’t just HAPPEN, it really doesn’t just follow some DNA plan that is set when we’re conceived. Something has to trigger it… There are a few things that trigger the body to grow new blood vessels, and the biggest and most common trigger is the lack of oxygen. A baby receives oxygen from her mother in the womb, but it’s not as much oxygen as when she’s out in our atmosphere. When there’s a low supply of oxygen, the body grows new blood vessels to take advantage of whatever oxygen is available. The vessels branch out across the eye while the baby is in the womb in search of oxygen, and when the baby is born, the growing stops because POOF! All KINDS of oxygen is now available.
Do you see where this is going?
There’s more to ROP than I can get into right now, including an understanding that we can’t be growing ALL the time… cancer cells are cells that don’t quite get that, and that’s a whole other issue. For today, I want to camp out on this knowledge of how growth is triggered.
As I studied this process (known by many as “angiogenesis” in case you care), I learned that growth is triggered by this lack of oxygen, but also by something called “blood flow shear stress.” I was like, you have GOT to be kidding. It’s so funny, because these medical writers are going on casually throwing these terms around, like lack and stress, and I’m sitting here going, “OH MY GOD! This is SO COOL!”
You mean stress causes growth? Huh!! Well, think about it… For most of us, in order for us to change something about ourselves, the pain of staying the same has to become greater than the pain of changing. We don’t change our behaviors, even some pretty unhealthy behaviors, because in some way, that behavior works for us, it gets us what we need (or what we think we need). It’s when our behavior STOPS working for us, or when it causes too much pain in some other way, that we can be motivated to change. Lack of something needed, or some form of stress, causes us to grow and to change.
This is not just true in medical science and in psychology, but wouldn’t you know it, it was a true principal in the Bible long before science or psychology figured it out! There are LOTS of places we find this principal of suffering producing fruit; I’m going to share a few:
Hebrews 12:11 No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.
Sure, some of our suffering is due to our own foolishness, but we see here that when we stray off the path, even the discipline we experience produces good stuff. How about our memory verse:
Romans 8:28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
And elsewhere in Romans:
Romans 5:3-4 …we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope.
Rejoice in sufferings? Yep. It’s possible to do that. It’s possible to find joy, right there in the midst of your suffering, and Paul says it’s because we know that suffering will ultimately produce hope! How is that? I have a few ideas, and I believe that the knowledge of God’s bigger picture can change our perspective on suffering. Here are some truths we can hold onto when we’re suffering:
1. the suffering is temporary (God has a plan, just as we saw in the Exodus story, He had a plan all along and He explained this plan to Moses);
2. the suffering doesn’t mean that you are alone (we saw this also in the Exodus story… we read:
So God heard their groaning; and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 25 God saw the sons of Israel, and God took notice of them.
Just as God heard the sons of Israel, He hears our cry, He sees, He knows, and in Ex 3:16 we see this precious statement:
Ex 3:16 “I am indeed concerned about you!”
Literal translation is “Visiting I have visited”…
Truly, even if you feel alone, the suffering does NOT mean that you are alone, He has not abandoned you.
So… the suffering is temporary, it doesn’t mean that you are alone, and finally,
3. as we see in our bodies, souls, and in the spiritual teaching in the New Testament, the suffering produces something, for your benefit and for the benefit of others.
Remember another little tidbit from Paul about the benefit your suffering brings to others:
2 Corinthians 1:6 If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer.
He equips you to harvest spiritual fruit, not only in your life, but in the lives of others. That’s ministry, folks!
Now, for some of you, godly fruitfulness isn’t enough to get excited about… if that’s you, I have one sidenote for you: there is a REWARD for suffering!
Hebrews 6:12 We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience (LONGSUFFERING) inherit what has been promised.
Just as the Lord promised an inheritance to the sons of Israel, He has made inheritance promises to us as well.
Now, I’ve just laid on you A LOT of information. If all of that was not enough for you to be able to agree that suffering, even YOUR suffering, can have a purpose, perhaps it will be enough for you to recall the suffering of the One who paid for your sin.
Hebrews 2:9 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.
When we’re suffering, when we’re being insulted, we can recall Jesus’ example and maybe find courage to follow it:
1 Peter 2:23 When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly.
Perhaps it will be enough for you to know that the apostle Paul, whom we know also suffered for the gospel, rejoiced in his sufferings, and saw in them something that drew him into a sweet fellowship with Christ:
Philippians 3:10 I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.
I could keep going. I really could. That’s the danger in following some of these questions, we find so many threads of truth in the Word that, woven together, provide for us a shelter, a covering to protect us and keep us warm as we walk in this cold world.
Final Caution: SHEMA!
Now. Some may still be sitting there thinking, “yeah, well, you don’t know what it’s like to deal with the suffering I’m going through; it’s easy for you to quote the Bible and say, Rejoice! Have hope!” Well, you may be right about that. There’s a lot I haven’t experienced, and it really is pretty easy for me to stand here and tell you all of this. But that doesn’t mean that what I’m saying isn’t true, and YOU KNOW IT. And this assurance we find in the Word is not false comfort, it’s TRUE comfort, and life and peace.
Take care that you don’t fall into the same trap the people in Israel did, when Moses shared with them words from God that were intended to encourage and to give hope, to turn their focus away from their struggle and toward the goodness of the living God. We’re going to finish with one more little section from Exodus: 6:1-9
Exodus 6:1 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh: Because of my mighty hand he will let them go; because of my mighty hand he will drive them out of his country." 2 God also said to Moses, "I am the LORD. 3 I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob as God Almighty, but by my name the LORD I did not make myself known to them. 4 I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, where they lived as aliens. 5 Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are enslaving, and I have remembered my covenant. 6 "Therefore, say to the Israelites: 'I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. 7 I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the LORD your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. 8 And I will bring you to the land I swore with uplifted hand to give to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. I will give it to you as a possession. I am the LORD.'" 9 Moses reported this to the Israelites, but they did not listen to him because of their discouragement and cruel bondage.
“They did not listen to him because of their discouragement and cruel bondage.”
Ugh. What good thing might God say to you today, if instead of focusing on the drama going on in your life, you decide to listen, to SHEMA, to pay attention in the midst of your suffering? Will you surrender to despair, or will you let hope rise up in you? Will you deny God’s goodness, or will you acknowledge His ever-present help in your time of trouble?
Here’s a statement I wrote in my journal this week: “Will you keep going from drama to drama, or will you go from glory to glory?”
Let us pray…
Closing Prayer, Benediction
No comments:
Post a Comment