Moses...Champion through self-sufficiency
The two most important ingredients
Acts 7:22-25 And Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was mighty in his words and deeds. When he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the children of Israel. And seeing one of them being wronged, he defended the oppressed man and avenged him by striking down the Egyptian. He supposed that his brothers would understand that God was giving them salvation by his hand, but they did not understand.
In Acts 7 Stephen is courageously preaching to the religious leaders in his day. He is revealing the purposes of God from the call of Abraham to the time of Christ. In his sermon he talks about Moses and his part in God's plan to one day bring the Messiah to Israel.
In Stephen's discourse we find three powerful things regarding Moses calling to deliver his people. Keep in mind, Stephen is talking about Moses before he fled into the Midian desert.
One: Acts 7:22 says Moses was mighty in words and deeds.
In other words, God had deposited some gifts into this man's life. He was fluent in
languages, and a gifted communicator. God had also given him great abilities which
he used to achieve great deeds.
As God's people, it is important to have the gifts and abilities needed to fulfill our calling.
Two: Acts 7:23 says Moses defended the oppressed and avenged him.
So, we see Moses is beginning to share God's heart for the oppressed.
This is one of the places where true ministry begins, sharing God's heart for the
afflicted.
Three: Acts 7:25 says Moses supposed that his brothers would understand that God was
giving them salvation by his hand...In this we see that Moses recognized that he was
called by God to deliver his people. He understood the call of God upon his life to
rescue his people from their bondage.
When God places a calling upon our lives, it is important to recognize what He is
calling us too. It is important to have clear vision of how He is choosing to use our
life in His Kingdom.
Yet, here is what we need to understand: as vital as these three things are, Moses was missing the two most important ingredients in the call of God, intimacy and character.
He did not have a true intimate walk with God and he did not possess the character of God.
As the people of God we can have gifts and abilities. We can have a vision of how God intends to use our life. We can even begin to share God's heart for the oppressed and the afflicted. However, if we do not have a genuine intimate relationship with God, and do not possess a measure of His character, we are missing the two most important ingredients in the call of God.
So, what was God's remedy for Moses. Forty years in the wilderness.
Let's look at this
1 It was in the wilderness God cultivated intimacy with Moses.
Exodus 2:18-21 When they came home to their father Ruel, he said, 'How is it that you
have come home so soon today?' They said, 'An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of
the shepherds and even drew water for us, and watered the flock.' He said to his
daughters, 'Then were is he? Why have you left the man? Call him, that he may eat bread.'
And Moses was content to dwell with this man.
The bible tells us that by divine providence Moses began to reside with a man named Ruel.
Ruel's name means Friend of God. This is prophetic; forty years later, on his way back to Egypt, God would refer to Moses as my friend.
When God calls you my friend, you can bank on it, you are His friend. When God Himself comes to your heart and says, You stuck with me through both the good and the bad. In the hard and difficult times you stayed close to my heart, remaining faithful and devoted. You are my friend. When God speaks these words, you can believe it. You are a friend of God.
In that Midian desert God walked with Moses for forty years. In the solitude and austerity of desert life, God stood alongside Moses for four decades. We are not sure what transpired in that time. We are not sure exactly how God revealed Himself to Moses. Yet, we do know that forty years later, when Moses walked out of Midian to return to Egypt, God called him friend. More than anything else this is what God was after, a deep, binding friendship with Moses.
So, ultimately what was Moses ministry? To walk as a friend of God.
Out of this friendship his ministry was to teach the people what it meant to be a friend of God. His life was to exemplify how to become a friend of God and how to abide in that place where God calls you friend.
Whatever our ministry and calling is, ultimately our ministry is to simply exemplify what it means to be God's friend. Ultimately our calling is to exemplify how to abide in that place where God calls you my friend.
THE TRAGEDY OF MINISTRY TODAY
Before Moses fulfilled his calling in delivering the Israelites out of Egyptian bondage and bringing them into the land of their inheritance, God brought Moses into the wilderness. In the wilderness, for forty years God carefully shaped Moses into a friend of God. Yet, here is the question: going back to Exodus 2, if God had allowed Moses to succeed in delivering His people, what would the tragedy have been?
In Exodus 2 Moses did not know God. He wasn't intimately familiar with God's ways. So ultimately the Israelites would have left Egypt and entered the promise-land, only to turn the promise-land into a land of idolatry. And it would have happened all under Moses ministry! Under Moses leadership the people would have shaped God according to the thoughts and intents of their own hearts, thus filling the land of their inheritance with idols.
This is the tragedy of ministry today. When you are a minister who does not walk in genuine intimacy with God, then you preach a lot of sermons on God's provision and promises, and very few anointed messages on God's heart.
Is it possible to turn the promises of God into idols? Is it possible to produce a people who chase after His benefits more than they pursue God? It is when those promises do not lead us back to the heart of God. It is important to minister God's promises, but even more so, it is important that people see His heart in His promises. Only a person who walks in genuine intimacy with the Lord can minister His promises in such a way they gloriously magnify the heart of God.
2 It was in the wilderness God fashioned His character into Moses life.
Exodus 2:21 And Moses was content to dwell with the man
The bible says Moses was content to dwell with this man named Ruel.
I used to think the word content used in verse 21 meant satisfied. Webster's dictionary defines contentment as satisfaction. However, the actual Hebrew word means to yield. In other words, God finally brought Moses to the place where he simply yielded to the work God wanted to perform in his life. Ruel's dwelling is the place Moses finally planted himself and simply yielded to God's fashioning hand.
There are many people who have yet to fully yield to God's fashioning hand. When times get very hard they run, looking for something easier. However, if God is going to truly work in our life, He has to bring us to a place where we can't run anymore. We have no choice but to stay planted and let God work.
For nearly thirty years I was fulltime staff and faculty at Summit International School of Ministry. I can honestly say it was not always easy. I walked with God through many fears and personal struggles. Yet, if I learned one thing, it is this: if God is going to truly work in our lives, we have to stay put! If God is going to transform us, we have to stay planted! God works deepest in those places where we stay embedded, submitted, and allow Him to work.
Brothers and sisters, don't move until God moves you! Whatever trials, fears and personal struggles you are facing, do not run. Cleave to God's grace and stay planted. When we do this, we see His tremendous faithfulness in our lives to gloriously conform us into His image.
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