Monday, October 21, 2013

THE STORY- deliverance by Rev. Robyn Plocher

The Story Sermon - Week #4 : Deliverance by Rev. Robyn Plocher 

Theme from UnderDog cartoon: 
when criminals in this world appear 
and break the laws that they should fear 
and frighten all who see or hear 
the cry goes up both far and near 
for Underdog! Underdog! Underdog! Underdog! 
speed of lightning, roar of thunder 
fighting all who rob or plunder 
Underdog. Underdog! 
when in this world the headlines read 
of those whose hearts are filled with greed 
who rob and steal from those who need 
to right this wrong with blinding speed 
goes Underdog! Underdog! Underdog! Underdog! 
speed of lightning, roar of thunder 
fighting all who rob or plunder 
Underdog. Underdog! 
There's no need to fear! Underdog is here! 

If ever there was a real-life Underdog- Moses was that man. In fact, we will see that God consistently chooses the unlikeliest people to play leading roles in his story, just as we saw in the story of Joseph. But Moses, Moses was an unlikely a leader as one ever did see. 

After Joseph died things gradually got worse and worse for his descendants, the Israelites, the people God was using to build his nation. Under Joseph’s leadership the settled back in Egypt and began to grow in numbers. But after Joseph died a new Pharaoh came to power. With no one to mediate between the Israelites and the Egyptians the new Pharaoh began to fear their large numbers. He feared they might take over the land. To protect his own power and that of his people, Pharaoh enslaved the Hebrews, putting cruel slave masters over them who forced them to work from sunup til sundown, building massive structures like the now famous pyramids. 

What in the world had happened to God’s great upper story plan for a new nation? From a lower story perspective it seems that Pharaoh controlled the world of the Israelites. Rest assured, God was not taken by surprise by this development. In fact, God told Abraham 500 years earlier that this would happen: “Know for certain that for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there.” (Genesis 15:13) 

Let’s be clear that just because God knew his people would be mistreated and enslaved doesn’t me that God caused their slavery. The bondage of the Israelites resulted from the fear and the sin of the Egyptian Pharaoh and the Egyptian people. Things got so bad for them that Pharaoh ordered the execution of all the first – born sons of the Israelites. And this is where Moses’ story begins. 

You know about his birth, how his mother hid him in a basket on the Nile river. He was adopted by Pharaoh’s daughter and raised in Pharoah’s palace as a royal prince. But when Moses reached adulthood his privileged treatment ends. One day he saw an Egyptian soldier abusing a Hebrew slave. Fueled by outrage, Moses kills the Egyptian, then flees to the countryside for his life. He knows if he steps foot back in the royal city he will likely be arrested and killed. 

…and this is just about the time where the Upper Story and the Lower Story collide. 400 long years Israel has been enslaved. Yet to our infinite, timeless Creator perhaps it has been mere moments. It is time again for God to reveal his name, his power and his plan. Time for God to deliver Isreal and restore his people to the path that leads to the fulfillment of God’s promise. He just needs the right point man. 

And there’s Moses out there , living in Midian, married to the daughter of a Midian pagan priest, watching over his father-in-laws flocks of sheep, minding his own business- living a good lower story life. And God comes to Moses in the form of a bush that is burning but not consumed by the fire. God wants Moses to return to the city, stand in front of mighty Pharoah and give a speech demanding that Pharaoh let the Hebrew people go. 

Moses, the underdog, feels overwhelmed and under-qualified by what the Lord is asking. He musters up the courage to respectfully decline: “Pardon your servant, Lord, but I have never been an eloquent speaker. Pardon your servant Lord, but you really need to send someone else.” 
Lest we be too hard on Moses, lets consider a few things.

First, people fear public speaking more than death. Most people are terrified by the idea of standing up in front of a group of people to speak, let alone to address the Pharaoh of Egypt, who thinks he is a god and doesn’t particularly like you. 

Second, As far as I know, Toastmasters doesn’t have a chapter in the middle of the Median desert. Sheep are not the most responsive audience for someone trying to hone their verbal skills. 

Third, Moses had some Hebrew skeletons in his Egyptian closet that he knew would not help his cause with Pharaoh. He had definitely burned some bridges behind him. In Moses’ eyes he clearly was not the best candidate to deliver this hard message to Pharaoh. Randy Frazee says that God asking Moses to do this is like the President of the U.S. choosing a migrant worker who picks berries in California for a living to lead a special delegation charged with securing a peaceful release for millions of Americans held hostage by a foreign dictator. Not. Very. likely. 

From the lower story perspective Moses is the least likely candidate for the job. More than an underdog. 

But we learn from the upper story that God loves using the underdog to accomplish his plans. God sees Moses’ weakness as providing the best possible conduit for God’s strength. There is no way for Moses to take any of the credit or for those around him to think his dynamic personality and speaking skills could get the job done. The only possible way is through God’s divine power and miraculous provision. 

The last time you applied for a job you were probably assessed on the bases of your work experience, your education, your communication skills and your demeanor in the interview process. The only qualification God looks for in order to accomplish great things through his people is a willing and obedient heart. Despite his attempt to respectfully decline, Moses had such a heart. So he “took his wife and sons, put them on donkey and started back to Egypt.” Back to the land where there was a bounty on his head. Back to the land where his people toiled as slaves for Pharaoh. Not on a chariot accompanied by an army, but on a donkey accompanied by his wife and children. Not as a skilled orator or successful general in battle or experienced teacher, but as a humble husband and father and lowly shepherd. 

Back in Egypt it takes some more time for God’s plan to unfold. God himself hardens Pharaoh’s heart against Moses, because God wants to display his power in overwhelming and undeniable ways. There are no atheists in ancient Egypt. But there are many so called gods, all their followers vying for bragging rights that their god is the most powerful. God wants to leave no doubts as to the fact that Yahweh is the one true God and mighty in power. To this end, he will choose even a man like Pharaoh who does not follow him, harden his heart, send plague after plague to accomplish his Upper Story plan. Ironically, the edict that Pharaoh unleashed on the Hebrew first-born sons at the beginning of the story is reversed and unleashed on the Egyptians at the end of the story. The 10th plague is both devastating and revealing. God tells Moses that at midnight his angel will sweep through the entire land of Egypt and take the life of every firstborn male. But, the Hebrews will be protected from this angel of death, the angel will Passover their homes, if they will sacrifice an unblemished lamb and brush the blood of the lamb around the door frame of their homes. 

This is the Passover that Jews today still celebrate. In this upper story plan of God’s we are also given a foreshadowing of God’s ultimate plan to restore what sin has destroyed, to restore the fellowship God seeks to know with his children. Much later God will fulfill the need for a perfect, unblemished lamb in order to provide the blood of salvation over the doorposts of our souls….but we’re getting ahead of ourselves. 

At this, Pharaoh could take no more and said, “Go! Get out!” God allowed his heart to soften just long enough for the Isrealites to begin their journey toward the Red Sea. It is estimated that 1-3 million Hebrew people marched victoriously out of Egypt that day! What a sight that would have been! Can we even imagine their joy at being free? Their gratitude to God? 

There may be a Pharaoh in your life right now. It may be a person, a circumstance or a situation you are dealing with. It may feel like you are being completely controlled by this pharaoh- like this situation has enslaved you. Like everything you do is a reaction to this person or this circumstance. 

The message of today’s story is don’t lose heart. Don’t be discouraged. Don’t give up, no matter how the odds seem to be stacked against you. No matter how much you feel like an underdog in the face of overwhelming circumstances. You don’t feel like a Superhero. You may feel unequipped, unprepared, unqualified to deal with this situation in your life. You may be able to see only the lower story of your existence right now – remember the Hebrews were enslaved for 400 years - But God knew what would happen to them 500 years earlier! Whatever you are going through today, it is not a surprise to God. God is revealing and enacting his upper story in your life. If you love God and align your life to his upper story plan, God promises everything will work out for the good. One way or the other, you will be delivered. You will leave your Pharaoh and your Egypt behind. You will pass through your Red Seas unharmed and more confident of God’s power and compassion. God always provides a way through the obstacles that seem insurmountable to us. 

On June 4, 2000 gospel singers Phil and Pam Morgan were on their way to perform in concert when their van crashed. Pam was thrown from the vehicle and nearly killed. She suffered disfiguring and pain injuries and a broken neck that left her paralyzed from the chest down. A mother of 2, ages five years and 20 months, she herself could do less than an infant. She could not roll over or sit up by herself. Pam had a “complete” spinal cord injury – a dx that leaves no hope for recovery. Paralysis was her Pharaoh. Complete dependency was her Pharoah. Disfigurement that required many painful surgeries was her Pharaoh. But 15 months later Pam 
Pam walked on stage and sang this song of deliverance:

I know what it’s like to cry out in fear
“O Lord, why this, why me?”
I know what it’s like when all I can hear 
Is the silence of my misery. 
And I know what it’s like when that whisper breaks through
And he says, “Child, I’ve been there all along.”
I know now you’re weak, but come, lean on me, 
With my strength I’ll make you strong.

I stand by the strength of Jesus
I walk just holding His Hand,
With Him by my side every need is supplied
By the power of God I stand.

Slide “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” John 1:29

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