Five Bad Excuses - Life of Moses Part 15

You know one of my favorite recent movies is Sister Act and as you may know in the movie Whoopi Goldberg plays a nightclub singer who witnesses a murder and so until the trial the police hide her out in a convent masquerading as a nun. While she's there one of the other nuns of course not knowing her true identity asks her, she says so, she said where were you when you got the call and Whoopi says the call, oh she says the call, she says well I was in Reno, she said and you don't know how hard it is to get a call in Reno.

I thought it was funny anyway. Now the call that these nuns are talking about of course is the call of God on their life to serve him and that's what we're going to talk about today because we in our ongoing study of the life of Moses, we are in Exodus chapter 3 where at the burning bush God calls Moses to serve him with his life but as we're going to see Moses hesitated, Moses vacillated. As a matter of fact Moses gave God five excuses why he was the wrong man to do the job that God was calling him to do and the exciting news that you're going to see from this passage is that God had a solution to every one of Moses's excuses.

I want to show you what they are today and I want to tell you ahead of time what we're going to discover. We're going to discover that every excuse Moses had was a case of Moses having his eyes on himself and every solution that God offered him was a case of God trying to get Moses to turn his eyes off of himself and onto the power of God. So if you brought a Bible today I want you to open it to Exodus chapter 3 and if you didn't bring a Bible reach under the armrest next to you and turn to page 41. Page 41 in the copy of the Bible you'll find there Exodus chapter 3 in your copy and while you're turning let's remember where we are. Moses was driven out of Egypt at the age of 40 after trying to lead an exodus in his own strength and power.

He went and lived on the southern part of the Sinai Peninsula for the next 40 years and then one day at age 80 he was walking along tending the sheep of his father-in-law Jethro when all of a sudden he saw this bush that was on fire but not burning up he went over to check it out and God spoke to him from the bush verse 6 and God said to Moses I am the God of your fathers the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob verse 7 I have seen the misery of my people in Egypt and I have come down to bring them out of Egypt into a good and spacious land verse 10 so go Moses I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people Israel out of Egypt. Now here God offers Moses an enormous opportunity to serve God but as we said earlier Moses hesitates Moses vacillates and he gives God five excuses why God has chosen the wrong person. Let me show you what they are number one the first excuse is past failure verse 11 but Moses said to God God who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt.

Now at first glance this sounds like a tremendous statement of humility but it isn't its actually a statement of self doubt. Remember that Moses at once had already tried to lead in Exodus he had already tried to serve God and he had failed miserably and for the past 40 years in the desert this failure has haunted Moses. Moses was sure he was all washed up for God. Moses was sure he was disqualified forever in short Moses was a prisoner of his past failures. Now look at the solution God gives him verse 12 and God said Moses I will be with you. God's solution here is to try to get Moses eyes as we said off of himself and onto God. Off of his failure and onto God's forgiveness.

Off of his mistakes and onto God's power to override and overrule any mistake that you and I ever make in the service of God. You know the first time I ever tried to lead congregational singing was almost 30 years ago I was a seminary student I was doing my internship which we all had to do at a local church here in the area and so they put me up in front of the evening service to lead music. Now I know nothing about music and so I'd come in earlier to rehearse with the pianist so I could try to get this right and she said I'm gonna play a little introduction and then when I get to the downbeat you have your arm up when I get to the downbeat you throw your arm down and everybody will sing. I said okay and so we got there and I got the whole congregation standing up she plays the introduction and she got to the downbeat at least I thought she did and so I threw my arm down I said here we go and I shifted my way forward and I leaned over the pulpit the only problem was I was about 10 notes too soon and so here I am leaning over the pulpit like this with my arm down staring at the people just like I'm staring at you they're all standing staring back at me they have they're like what is going on the pianist is like oh my gosh playing quick to try to get to it you talk about being embarrassed oh my gosh I just wanted to drop through a hole in the stage you know those commercials that say need to get away well friend that was me at that moment in time but you know the pastor of that church did a very wise thing with me the very next week he had me right back up there on stage leading music again he put me right back on the horse and the reason is he wanted me to learn something very important about serving God he wanted me to learn that stumbling and falling in an attempt to serve God is not a tragedy the tragedy is when we stumble and fall and we wallow in self-pity and we refuse to get up and try again now friends unless I miss my guests there are many of us here today who know exactly how Moses felt at the burning bush we've tried to serve God we've stumbled we fell we made mistakes and we've just gotten used to the idea that we're disqualified from ever from serving God well just like Moses let me tell you what God wants for you God wants you to take your eyes off of your mistakes and he wants you to put your eyes on the power of God which is bigger than any mistake you and I have ever made in the past or any mistake we will ever make in the future God wants you back on the horse again friend using your life to count for eternity that excuse won't work well Moses had a second excuse he said a second excuse was he said well Lord I just don't know enough verse 13 Moses said to God suppose I go to the Israelites and I say to them the God of your fathers has sent me to you and they ask me well what's his name what am I gonna say Moses says Lord I don't know enough spiritually to pull this off why God I don't even know what your name is I mean before I do something like this I think I need to take Christianity 101 to 501 before I do this I think I need to take every precept class there is Lord I need to take every Beth Moore study there is Lord I need to listen every John MacArthur tape and CD there is Lord I need to go to Bible college I need to go to seminary and what was God's response he said verse 14 Moses I am who I am God said hey Moses I am the sovereign God of the universe do you understand that and Moses I am going to do to Pharaoh what I am going to do to Pharaoh and it has nothing to do with how much you know or how much you don't know son all you need to know is that I have called you to do something for me you just need to step out by faith obey my call and I'll tell you everything you need to know as we go along Moses you just need to do what I tell you now every time I think of this excuse I think of a fellow named Dwight L. Moody Dwight L. Moody only had a third grade education he could hardly read he could hardly write his diction was horrible his grammar was atrocious and he never had any formal Bible training of any kind in his life and yet when God called Moody to step out and become an evangelist Moody obeyed the call of God in spite of the fact that he didn't know a whole lot and God turned him into the greatest evangelist of the 19th century according to his biographer Moody led over 1 million people to Jesus Christ all by himself during his 50 year career as an evangelist and listen my friends you may be like Moody you may not know everything about everything that God's calling you to do but the important thing is that God is sovereign and that God is bigger than any lack of knowledge you and I may have if you know John 3 16 you know enough to share Jesus Christ with your friends and God will take it from there and make up whatever lack you have if you know that the law of the love of God for children you know enough to serve God in kids quest or an access ministry and God will take it from there and make up what you lack whatever God is calling you to do you just step out by faith and do it and the sovereign God of the universe will take over from there just like he did for Moody and just like he did for Moses well Moses had a third excuse his third excuse is well Lord what if people oppose me verse chapter 4 verse 1 Moses answered well if the Israelites do what if the Israelites do not believe me or if they won't listen to me and they say the Lord didn't appear to you now why is this a concern in Moses's mind well because friends that's exactly what the Israelites did to him the first time he tried to lead in Exodus remember Exodus 2 verse 14 they said to him who made you a ruler and a judge over us Moses who died and made you King huh and Moses has every reason to expect that that's exactly what they're going to say to him if he tries this again now let me summarize the part of chapter 4 in answer to this God gives Moses three miraculous signs to perform number one turning his shepherd's staff into a snake number two turning his hand leprous and then back normal again and number three turning the water of the Nile in the blood and the purpose of these three signs was to establish Moses's credibility in the eyes of the Israelites to certify God's call on his life God says to Moses look if they oppose you you just do what I ask you to do and I will personally back you up with whatever it takes to establish your credibility and confirm my call on your life you know in 1971 when I was a brand new follower of Jesus Christ from the very beginning I sensed the call of God on my life the call of God to stand up for him wherever I went the call of God to serve him in some capacity I didn't know what yet but you know I ran into unbelievable opposition man you know all my fraternity brothers oppose me my family oppose me all my relatives oppose me my friends on the street all my old drug buddy said what did you lost your mind now because I was raised in such an unhealthy way let me just tell you I was really paranoid in those days I was terrified of rejection I didn't do well with confrontation I didn't do well with opposition and this was a real barrier in my life to stepping out and serving God and maybe you're the same way maybe these kind of things opposition confrontation rejection hostility maybe these are tough things for you as well well folks you know Jesus told us this was going to be part of what it meant to serve God Jesus said John 15 18 if the world hates you keep in mind it hated me first no servant is greater than his master if they persecuted me they will persecute you but Jesus also promised us just like he promised Moses that he would defend us he would protect us and he would back us up as his servants with his power I'm reminded of the words of the Apostle Paul in second Timothy the Apostle Paul said second Timothy four at my first trial no one supported me watch but the Lord stood with me and delivered me out of the lion's mouth Paul goes on to say the Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom man have I seen these words come true over the 35 years that I've served Christ I've been opposed by relatives I've been opposed by friends I've been opposed by church people I've been opposed by non church people I've been opposed by neighbors you name it and you know what every time the Lord Jesus Christ has come along and provided every bit of credibility and backup I need 35 years later you know what I'm still standing friends and let me just tell you don't you ever be afraid to step out and serve God because of opposition God rides shotgun for his servants you understand what I'm saying to you God rides shotgun for his servants and whatever you and I need in any situation to back up that God has called us to do this God will see to it you get it well there's another excuse number four Moses said well Lord I just don't have the natural skills for the job chapter 4 verse 10 Moses said to the Lord Lord I have never been eloquent I am slow of speech and slow of tongue Moses says God you're sending me back to debate Pharaoh verbally but but Lord I'm not a great public speaker I mean I don't have the natural skills to do this job and God's solution once again was to say to Moses Moses it's not about you it's about me what's wrong with you he says verse 11 then the Lord said to Moses who made man's mouth is it not I the Lord now then go and I even I will be with your mouth and I will teach you what you are to say and God fulfilled this didn't he God Moses went back he matched Pharaoh word for word threat for threats boldness for boldness he backed Pharaoh down verbally and broke him God was with his mouth just like he promised you know when I was in seminary I had a professor who was also a pastor over here at Cherry Dale Baptist Church in those years his name was A.W. Jackson L.W. Jackson pastor Jackson was one of the sweetest dearest most godliest men that I've ever met in my life and he told us the seminary students the story of how God called him to the ministry he said that he was a young man who had a terrible stuttering problem he couldn't even get through a whole sentence without stuttering and one day while he was working on his parents farm as a young man in the barn God spoke to him as clearly as if he was standing there Al said and said Al I'm calling you to preach the gospel for me and he said I turned to the Lord and I said now Lord I can't do this you know me I stutter I can't even get through a whole sentence people laugh at me they make fun of me and God he said God said to me just as clear as could be he said Al if I can do it for Moses I can do it for you you know what Al Jackson went on to a preaching career of over 50 years and I heard Pastor Jackson preach hundreds of times and never once when he was preaching did I ever hear Al Jackson stutter friend when it comes to serving God listen God doesn't want you and me to feel that we've got all the natural skills for the job God the reason is that God doesn't want his work done by natural ability he doesn't want it done by human skill he wants it done by the power of the Holy Spirit as Zechariah says chapter 4 verse 6 not by might nor by power nor by human ability but by my spirit says the Lord and for this to happen we as God's servants have got to feel inadequate we as God's servants have got to be inadequate because that's the only way we will depend on the Holy Spirit for our power instead of ourselves so if you're a follower of Jesus here today and you feel inadequate for something that God has called you to do friends the reason you feel inadequate is probably because you are inadequate but that's okay that doesn't mean you can't get the job done listen to what Paul said 2 Corinthians 3 he says not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything is coming from ourselves but our adequacy is from God I don't care what human skills you lack if you trust God and you're following his call he'll make them up for you well now we're down to excuse number 5 and excuse number 5 is Lord I just really don't want to do it that's it verse 13 but Moses said oh Lord please send somebody else to do this Moses is out of excuses now he just doesn't want to go he says Lord you know I got a bunch of other things I really would rather do than go back there and face Pharaoh and if I go back there and face Pharaoh my golf game is going to suffer you know Lord I'm not going to have as much fun my career is going to suffer my social life is going to suffer I mean you could this is going to stress me out God to go back there I don't need any more stress in my life God and I don't think I really want to do this well what we're down to now folks is just pure rebellion what we're down to now is just pure disobedience on Moses' part and how did God respond to this verse 14 then the Lord's anger burned against Moses not good this is not good this is not where you want to get God to and you know God Moses might have been dumb but he wasn't stupid and he understood he had pushed God to the end of his patience and this was not a wise thing to do and so reservations and all misgivings and all anxiety and all you know what Moses did he quickly said okay forget that comment Lord I'm going I'm going I'm going and he went you know folks whenever God calls us to serve him sooner or later this is the point we get to sooner or later it boils down to are we going to step out are we going to obey God are we going to trust God are we going to answer his call and do what he tells us to or aren't we and as followers of Jesus Christ here today may I say to you that if you're resisting the call of God on your life to serve him then I would like to warn you that God loves to use positive motivation to get his children to serve him but if we force him to God will bring out the paddle if you don't believe him just ask Jonah remember Jonah God said go east Jonah went west you remember the story and you know what happened after that God brought out the paddle friends if that's you if God's asking you to go east and you're deciding to go west I've got a piece of advice for you my piece of advice is do a quick u-turn and say okay Jesus up goes the white flag I'm going to Nineveh that's what I'd suggest don't push God to where Moses pushed him that's not a smart thing to do now let me conclude by saying this God called Moses to serve him God called Joshua to serve him he called David to serve him he called Jonah to serve him he called the Apostle Paul to serve him he called Billy Graham he called Dwight L Moody he called Pastor Jackson he called me and friends I'm here to tell you that God is calling every single follower of Jesus Christ here today to serve him in some capacity serving God is a non-negotiable part of what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ this is why Paul said Romans 12 11 never be lacking in zeal but serve the Lord serve him with spiritual fervor or to put it another way whenever anyone asks you what are you doing to serve the Lord every follower of Jesus Christ I believe ought to have a definitive answer to that question they ought to be able to say I'm doing this now you say well Lon when you talk about serving God like that I mean I'm a little confused what exactly are you talking about this call of God to serve him well friends sometimes God calls people to serve him in a full-time vocational way he calls them to be a pastor or a missionary or to work on a church staff to work for a Christian camp to work for campus crusade for Christ full-time or some other parachurch organization most of the time God's call on our lives is for some kind of volunteer Christian service here at McLean Bible Church we've got hundreds of these kinds of opportunities things like teaching children Sunday school leading a Bible study leading a small group being a teenage youth coach going on a short-term missions trip playing in the orchestra being an usher working on the traffic team volunteering down in the inner city of Washington at the house or a daybreak working with children with disabilities and access ministry and on and on and on it goes and you know what I've discovered in 25 years of being a pastor I've discovered that the excuse is that Moses tried to give God for not serving him are the very same excuses that people use today and try to give God let me remind you what they are number one Lord I failed in the past number two I don't know enough Lord number three what if people oppose me Lord number four I don't have the natural skills for the job Lord and number five Lord I just really don't want to do this and would you please notice that here in Exodus three and four that God did not accept any of these excuses from Moses and folks God is not prepared to accept any of these excuses from you and me God wants us to serve him you say well now on what it but what if I'm not a hundred percent sure exactly where God's calling me I mean I I don't know exactly if this or exactly it's that what do I do well that's a good question you do what I did 35 years ago I didn't know exactly where God was calling me to serve him yet either so I just picked something that looked reasonable to me and started and I figured if I wasn't exactly where God wanted me to be he'd get me where I wanted to be remember what I love to say that God is easier for him to use a moving ship to steer a moving ship and so be a moving ship pick something out that you think interests you and sir start serving God and if it's not exactly the right place God will get you the right place I started by teaching two year old Sunday school and it didn't take long for me to figure out that was not exactly what God had called me to do but then I went to be in a volunteer jail chaplain and teaching Bible studies in jail and then I went to teaching a college and career Sunday school class and now you know on and on and on until finally the Lord put me right where he wanted me to be but I was a moving ship and that's what God wants you to be and friends if you're not doing anything to serve God now if you can't answer that question definitively what are you doing to serve God I want to invite you when we're done to go down to our connect room downstairs right by the coffee bar walk in learn about all the opportunities we've got here grab one of them and become a moving ship for God and he'll get you exactly where you need to be if you don't start exactly where that is let me conclude by saying that I think there's a great word of encouragement in this passage for us as followers of Christ let me tell you what it is the Bible tells us here that Moses began as a timid fearful fragile man and yet even though he stepped out hesitatingly God used him in an unprecedented way and the reason is that Moses was willing fears at all misgivings at all he was still willing to step out in faith and say yes to the call of God on his life folks the point is God loves to use imperfect people timid people fearful people fragile people like you and me and he loves to do great and mighty things through us that we know not Jeremiah 33 three as a one man said I don't even know who said it but I like what he said he said God can strike a straight blow with a crooked stick as long as the crooked stick is completely surrendered to him and that's my challenge to you we're all crooked sticks that's all right God can strike a straight blow with a crooked stick as long as a crooked stick is completely surrendered to God my challenge to you is be that kind of stick go down to that connect room right after we're done let's pray Heavenly Father thank you for the opportunity to study the word of God today and thank you for showing us the excuses that Moses used because they're the same ones we use and for reminding us that you are the sovereign God of the universe and that there is no excuse for us as your followers not to step out and serve you because there is no mistake we will ever make there is no human skill we ever lack Lord there is no opposition we will ever face that you are not capable of leading us through and triumph as the sovereign God of the universe so take our eyes off of ourselves Lord and put our eyes on you the living Christ and in that confidence may we stand up and say speak Lord as Samuel did your servant is listening Lord use our lives to bring honor to Jesus Christ and we ask these things in his name and God's people said.