Dec 16, 2015
A message by a friend in the
Muslim world
Text: Exodus 3:1-10
Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro
his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he
led the flock to the far side of the wilderness
and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.
2 There the angel of the Lord appeared to
him in flames of fire from within a bush.
Moses saw that though the bush was on fire
it did not burn up
Text: Exodus 3:1-10
3 So Moses thought, “I will go over and
see this strange sight—why the bush does
not burn up.”
4 When the Lord saw that he had gone
over to look, God called to him from within
the bush, “Moses! Moses!”
And Moses said, “Here I am.”
Text: Exodus 3:1-10
5 “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take
off your sandals, for the place where you are
standing is holy ground.” 6 Then he said, “I am
the God of your father, the God of Abraham,
the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this,
Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to
look at God.
Text: Exodus 3:1-10
7 The Lord said, “I have indeed seen
the misery of my people in Egypt. I
have heard them crying out because of
their slave drivers, and I am concerned
about their suffering.
Text: Exodus 3:1-10
8 So I have come down to rescue them
from the hand of the Egyptians and to
bring them up out of that land into a good
and spacious land, a land flowing with milk
and honey—the home of the Canaanites,
Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and
Jebusites
Text: Exodus 3:1-10
9 And now the cry of the Israelites has
reached me, and I have seen the way
the Egyptians are oppressing them.
10 So now, go. I am sending you to
Pharaoh to bring my people the
Israelites out of Egypt.”
Text: Exodus 4:24-26
24 At a lodging place on the way, the
Lord met Moses and was about to kill
him. 25 But Zipporah took a flint knife,
cut off her son’s foreskin and touched
Moses’ feet with it.
Text: Exodus 4:24-26
“Surely you are a bridegroom of blood
to me,” she said. 26 So the Lord let
him alone. (At that time she said
“bridegroom of blood,” referring to
circumcision.)
Lordship
• 3:6 “I am”
• 3:10 “So now, go.”
Lostness
• Vs. 7 “I have indeed seen the misery”
• Vs. 7 “I have heard them crying out”
• Vs.7 “I am concerned about their
suffering.”
• Vs. 8 “So I have come down to rescue
them”
What lies between Lordship and
Lostness? The “&” (ampersand)
Between Lordship & Lostness is:
• Vs. 8 ”So I have come down to
rescue them”
• Vs. 10 “So now, go. I am sending
you.”
But something happened
• Between the holy place where God called
Moses and the fulfillment of the mission
to rescue the lost something happened:
• 4:24 At a lodging place on the way, the
Lord met Moses and was about to kill
him.
What in the world happened?
• How could the Lord who just
commissioned Moses, now seek to
kill him?
• What has become of the Lord’s
concern for those in misery, crying
out, and suffering?
Possible explanations
1. Something to do with the need to
circumcise Moses’ son (Ex. 4:25 – 26)
2. There were signs of marital conflict
(Ex. 18:2)
3. Cultural accommodation may be a
major factor (Gen. 17:13 – 14)
Key Principles
• Issues that could bring a disconnect
between Lordship and Lostness
• In Moses’ life things surfaced that
threatened to compromise the
mission
Disconnect #1
• Wanting to proclaim the message
without fully living it
– God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in
everlasting covenant (circumcision)
–Moses disobeyed the covenant by not
circumcising his own son
God would rather we die and
replace us with someone else
than let us misrepresent Him
and His message to a lost world
It is imperative that we never
forget that we do not address
lostness with anything less than
Lordship in the sense that the
Church does not meet lostness
with just a spoken message, but a
live-out message.
Disconnect #2
• Accommodating culture to the
detriment of the message
–Moses accommodated culture to the
detriment of covenant
– Thus he was going to be the carrier of a
blurred message
I believe in contextualization
no matter what people group
we’re working with. But I
believe that it should be done
within biblical parameters.
God calls us to cultural
contextualization, not camouflage!
Disconnect #3
• Allowing a personal character issue
to derail the mandate that rescues
the lost
–Moses had a problem with anger.
– He left an Egyptian buried in the sand
Egyptian buried in the sand
• Because Moses didn’t deal with his
anger it continued to be a problem
– Ex. 11:8 Moses, hot with anger, left
Pharoah
– Num. 20:11 Moses struck the rock
instead of speaking to it
Whatever character issue keeps
recurring in our life and walk, we
better devote our fullest attention
and spiritual resources to have
the victory over it and keep it at
bay.
Egyptian buried in the sand
• Because Moses didn’t deal with his anger
he couldn’t enter the Promised Land
– Num. 20:12 “Because you did not trust in me
enough to honor me as holy in the sight of
the Israelites, you will not bring this
community into the land I give them.”
Disconnect #4
• Losing sight of the nature of lostness
in its fullest dimension
– Keep in focus that people are perishing
– The platform is only what we stand on
so we can present the good news to lost
people
So let the meeting of needs
and everything we do be about
lostness, about evangelism,
and not just about improving
the lot of those we serve.
Conclusion
• Reflect and refocus on our
responsibility
Reflect and Refocus #1
• We must unreservedly and
unconditionally live out the message,
and nothing but the message that
the Lord of the Harvest has entrusted
to us.
Reflect and Refocus #2
• No “Zipporah,” virtual or real,
denominational or cultural, should
ever have the last say in how the
message is lived and expressed. Only
the Lord of the Harvest should.
Reflect and Refocus #3
• Let us give ourselves no rest until
personal character issues are
brought under the control of the Holy
Spirit.
Reflect #4
• Let us not lose sight of the true
condition of lostness.
What is God revealing to you?