Introduction
A couple weeks ago Todd began a new
series that he and I will be preaching through during the summer months
entitled “Astonishing Old Testament Heroes”.
These messages have been and will continue to look at the significant
lives of eleven men and one woman found in the Old Testament. Our purpose in doing this series is to look
at the lives of these Biblical characters, the major roles they have played
throughout history (in some cases the role they played in setting the stage for
the Messiah) and the life lessons we can learn from them.
Unfortunately since time is limited
and some of the characters we will look at have so much written about them that
we cannot touch on every aspect of their lives.
However I intend to focus on at least one characteristic about each one. I have and will continue to provide a sheet
of paper on the back table with a coloring page for the kids, some more
information regarding the individual I will be talking about and a place for
notes. Today’s O.T. Hero… Moses has much written about him, in fact four
out of the five books of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Bible) are
devoted to him and it would be impossible for me to touch on every detail of
his life in the set time I have allotted for this sermon; since this is the
case I have chosen to focus on Moses’ characteristics of being a leader of
God. In the next few moments we have
together we will look at Moses’ life as a leader of a nation of people during
one of the most significant times in history.
Background
Before
we begin I think it would be good to give a little background and cultural
information to help us better understand Moses:
The Called Leader. Moses is a key
individual in the history of the nation of Israel and it is through Him God
establishes the Laws of the Nation, performs miracles, a structure for worship
and deliver’s his people from slavery.
1)
The Hebrews
lived in Egypt (background read Genesis 46 – 50). For nearly three centuries after the death of
Joseph the Hebrews and Egyptians co-existed peacefully in Egypt. As time passed from the Pharaoh of who knew
Joseph to the new rulers who would come and go and eventually a Pharaoh came
into power who felt threatened by the Hebrews.
This Pharaoh began to worry that the Hebrew’s were becoming too numerous
and if some sort of population control wasn’t instituted then Egypt could
potentially be overtaken by the Hebrews.
2)
The Pharaoh
ordered all male Hebrew babies murdered and then enslaves the Hebrew nation to
hard labor. Moses’ mother has to the
foresight to know her son was special before God and places her infant child in
a basket so the Pharaoh’s daughter would find the baby in the river. When Pharaoh’s daughter does she takes the
baby as her own and names him Moses (which means “drawn out”) since she drew
him out of the water.
3)
Moses is
brought up as the son of the daughter of the Pharaoh and lives a life of a
prince for a good portion of his younger years.
One day he sees an Egyptian beating a Hebrew and Moses murders the
Egyptian. From that day forward Moses
flees to Midian; gets married, lives a shepherd’s life and has an unlikely
encounter with God which forever changes his world.
4)
Moses’ life
could be broken down into three 40 year clusters.
a)
His first forty
years could be considered his prince years.
He lived in the house of Pharaoh and certainly enjoyed the privileges of
the household.
b)
His middle
forty years were spent as a humble shepherd.
It was most likely during this time Moses was being trained as a leader
for the nation of Israel.
c)
His last forty
years were spent as a called agent of God.
It was during this time that Moses led the nation of Israel out of
captivity and into the desert.
Unfortunately Moses never makes it to the Promised Land but he certainly
used this time to disciple a young Joshua to lead the nation into this land in
due time.
d)
For a more in
depth look at Moses’ life you should read the Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and
Deuteronomy or at least look at the breakdown of his life on the back of the
insert I have on the back table.
Moses:
The Leader
As I was praying about what God would
have me speak concerning Moses almost immediately my attention was brought to Moses’
leadership. This may have been in part
because I am in a leadership position myself and I certainly could learn and benefit
from this angle. It was also impressed
upon me that in looking at the leadership qualities of Moses not only could I
benefit but we as a church can better understand the role called leaders play
in the body of Christ and the necessary tools they need in order to be
successful from a spiritual and practical perspective. What I love most about the leadership
examples of Moses is that he was not necessarily the best leader in history,
nor was he probably the most qualified.
He was, however certainly an influential man whom God called and used in
a great way to establish his chosen people.
As I spent the past few weeks reading
about Moses in both the Bible and extra-biblical sources I notices five
specific qualities about Moses’ leadership that I believe can benefit us all
today in the Body of Christ. Not only
are these qualities of Moses but certainly should be qualities of any leader in
the body of Christ or in any leadership role for that matter.
Moses was
called by God.
This
is probably one of the most important qualities of any spiritual leader
PERIOD. Read Exodus 3:4, 10. As
Moses was in the desert serving his father-in-law he came upon a burning bush
and heard the voice of God calling him.
The voice of God called him by name and gave him specific details as to
what He had in store for Moses. God
tells Moses He is going to use him to deliver the Israelites out the hands of
the Egyptians. Calling is essential to the work of God.
I run
into people constantly who have no concept of calling and leadership. Believe it or not leadership (especially in
the body of Christ) is a calling and is not necessarily something that is
learned. Certainly people can go to
school, college, seminaries etc. and learn how to be a leader of the church but
if God has not called this individual to this role they will never be effective
for the Kingdom of God. There are people
who are able to attract a lot of people, build large church buildings, and
convince people to support them in various ways but God will not put his hand
of blessing (spiritually speaking) upon an individual who is not called. As humans we have the tendency to associate
success with human accomplishments, charisma as a leader and the likeability
(or attractiveness) of an individual.
When we read this passage no where does God refer to Moses’ human
qualities, confidence or character as a way to accomplish his will. As God speaks to Moses you can see God uses
the word “I” a lot. God is the one who
accomplishes success and as leaders we would do well to understand and believe
this.
People
have asked me, “How do you know that you are called to the ministry?” It is a question I cannot honestly answer
other than saying, “I just know I am.” I
certainly did not have a physical burning bush experience in my life but I do
know that God has been with me every step of the way. This leads me to the second quality.
Moses was
dependant on God.
When
you are called by God you also acknowledge that you cannot lead on your
own. In fact when you are called you
respond much like Moses does in Exodus 4:10 – 12 (Read). When I received my calling my initial
response was, “Um, God… Are you sure you have the right man here? I mean look at me, I am overweight, I am not
a dynamic speaker, I don’t fit any mold for a Pastor and besides I was never a
leader, I was always a follower in my younger days. Maybe you were talking to someone next to me
and I overheard the conversation.” It
took time for me to come to the understanding that God wasn’t calling me
because of the things I thought I needed to be, He was calling me in spite of
me. A called leader knows that success
comes when we are completely dependent on God.
Ultimately I have no control over the success of my ministry. My job is to be available when God calls and
completely dependant on him when he does.
Read Exodus 33:12 -16. Moses basically says, “I will go wherever you
call me to go, however I will not go unless you go before me.” A true leader knows he cannot accomplish
anything for God unless God goes before him.
I am
coming up on five years of ministry here at SVCC and I prayed this prayer to
God when I was considering coming out here.
There is only one reason why I am here today and have continued to stay
here, it’s because I prayed, “God I will go as long as you go before me. No matter what awaits me in Wisconsin I will
only go if you go first and I will stay for as long as you tell me to stay. I am completely dependant on you to
accomplish anything.”
Moses
prayed for his people.
A
leader must always pray for his flock.
There were times when Moses was praying that God would shut the
complainers mouths and I am sure there were times when he prayed God would get
a little tough with them, but I also know he interceded for his people as
well. Read Exodus 32:11 -14 and Deut. 9:25 – 29. Little did the people of Israel know that
Moses was interceding for them. There
are a number of times where God says to Moses, “I’ve had it with this
rebellious nation! I’m going to kill
them all and start all over.” Yet Moses as
the leader intercedes for them and because of this the Bible tells us that God
relented.
I
want to assure you as a congregation you are prayed for. I know there are some who complain, belly
ache, and criticize and I pray for them as well. I know as a pastor prayer matters and I have
committed to praying for this congregation.
Moses was
in continual fellowship with God.
Since
Moses was a man of prayer we also know he spent time with God. He was on a mountain with him and was shown
the tail end of God’s glory (the most any man or woman in the Bible ever saw of
God). The end result was Moses’ face
shined the Shekinah glory for days after being in the presence of God. Exodus 33:7 – 11 tells us Moses would leave
the camp of Israel and make a tent and fellowship with God. They respected this and they knew the
presence of God was with him. I love
that verse 11 says, “The Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man
speaks to a friend.”
Time
with God is a very important time of a leader’s position. This is why it is important for leaders to
take time away and just be with God. We
sometimes need to leave the camp (or our offices) and go spend time with the
Lord. I love to do this and I plan to do
it more in the months to come. It is
during this time with God that He speaks to us as a man speaks to a friend.
Moses was
not perfect.
Moses
was a flawed individual. He was not perfect,
he misrepresented God at times, made bad decisions, and generally ticked off
the masses but this did not disqualify him as a leader. In fact this made him a better leader to the
people because in his flaws and quirks the people could see that it wasn’t
Moses who was to be glorified, it was God who needs to be glorified. Read
Numbers 20:10 – 13. This is a sad
day in the life of Moses. He
misrepresented God to the people. It was
a mistake that Moses would live to regret.
However God continued to use Moses even after this fatal flaw.
As a
leader I am aware that I am far from perfect.
I know my limitations and I know there are times I have missed out on a
blessing because of my stubbornness or my stupidity. I do know that God has not abandoned me in my
sin. I know God still chooses to work
through me (even when I can’t understand why).
God displays his mercy to us so that we may display mercy to others. I for one am glad that God uses imperfect
people to accomplish his perfect plan.
Conclusion
The story of Moses’ life is one of the
most fascinating stories in the Bible.
It gives me encouragement to know that God is not out actively seeking
for men and women who “have it together” to accomplish his will. I look at the successes and failures of Moses
during his lifespan and I see the hand of God in all aspects of this mans
life. As individuals and as a
congregation we can also be encouraged that God’s hand is upon us to accomplish
his will here is Spring Valley. God has
done some amazing things in the history of the nation of Israel (I would
encourage you to read through these stories in the outline) and I believe He
can and does still have amazing things in store for his Church as well; what
they may be, I don’t know, we can only pray, wait and see.
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