Readers of the 5MC, meet Moses. Moses meet the readers of the 5MC. Moses is the central character of Exodus and is who we associate with leading the bitterly oppressed Israelites out of slavery in Egypt. His life is broken into three distinct 40 year periods; 40 years growing up in Egypt, 40 years in the desert being trained by God and 40 years leading the Israelites. A great man of God, a great man of faith, a great deliverer of his people. But his life probably doesn’t start out the way you think a great man of God would. It starts out with being abandoned and escalates to murder.
We saw in Exodus 1 that the new Pharaoh saw the Israelites as a threat. They were, as God promised, becoming a great nation and multiplying. For most insecure leaders any great population can be seen as a threat. In fact, when I was in China this summer, I had a chance to speak with someone that secretly ran a home church in mainland China. When I asked about the difficulties of this, I was told simply, just keep it below 15 people. If you organize a group that is more than 15 people, it will be shut down quickly. Why? The communist government in China fears large groups of people. There is power in numbers and if you can keep the numbers low, the threat is low. That was Pharaoh’s logic as well over 3300 years ago. He enslaved the Israelites before they could get out of control. And to take it a step farther, he controlled the growth of the Israelites by instituting a law to murder every newborn male.
Moses was born under this law and to save her son, Moses’ mom builds a little boat and sets him to sail in the Nile river. But what Pharaoh meant for evil, God meant for good and in God’s perfect timing we see Pharaoh’s own daughter find Moses and adopt him. The irony of God, a boy Pharaoh meant to murder will grow up as his own son in his own palace. And in and even more ironic turn of events guess who Pharaoh’s daughter hires as a nursemaid to care for the newly found tiny sailor? Yep, his own mom! God definitely has a great sense of humor.
Moses is reared in the finest Egyptian palaces, eating the finest foods and enjoys the finest education. But it all comes to screeching halt in one single moment. Have you noticed how life can do that? One moment of anger, one moment of passion, one moment of hatred can turn the direction of a life. Moses is now about 40 and he feels a burden for his people. I’m sure as he grew up, he saw some horrible atrocities done to his people. We’re told in Exodus chapter 1 that the Egyptians treated them “shrewdly, afflicted them with heavy burdens, oppressed them, were ruthless, were bitter towards them and put them into hard service as slaves.” This was not just raking leaves in the front yard. The Egyptians hated the Israelites and treated them with intense evil and anger. All of this reached critical mass for Moses one day, in one moment, and his life changed forever.
He sees an Egyptian beating an Israelite and his switch flips. You’ve been there before, when you experience “white rage” and anger consumes you almost instantly. Murder had probably crossed his mind many times but today would be different. The thought of taking a life today would move from his mind all the way to his hands. But we’re told something very unusual in God’s Word before Moses kills the man. “Moses looks this way and that and seeing no one, he strikes down the Egyptian and hides him in the sand.” (Ex 2:12) And here is our study for today.
It makes me think of the great old philosophical question about the tree in the woods. If it falls when no one is around does it make a sound? And so, the question can be applied to the sin in our lives. If no one sees the sin, is it still sin? Or is the penalty of that sin lessened if only we are aware of it? Well, someone does see Moses’ sin and he is soon on the run for his life. He runs 285 miles to Midian and it’s there God will work on him for the next 40 years before He will go back to lead the Israelites out of Egypt.
So, I have a question for you. Who is watching you today? I think the answer will surprise you. It will surprise you because the answer is everybody. Everyone that you physically see today, will see you as well, and they are all watching you closely. If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, there is no greater truth today than the fact that the life you live is the greatest testimony you have in this world. I heard it said the other day that “the world is not reading the Bible, but they are reading the people that read the Bible.” How true.
When people watch you today what are they seeing? What do people see as you drive your car in traffic? Are you swerving in and out of lanes like Jeff Gordon at Daytona? People are watching. You might say, Dan, but they don’t know who I am, I can drive however. I have a funny story for you on that. While on Maui I was working at Tommy Bahama as a night manager and it was about 4 miles from home. I would get off at 10:45 every night, usually very tired. One night I was driving home and a little white Honda was in front of me doing about half the speed limit. (probably on their phone) Now this is Maui, an island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, and it's late at night. It’s not exactly Central Expressway on a Friday afternoon, in fact, we were the only 2 cars on the road. In my momentary frustration, I sped around them and proceeded to make my way home, only seeing nachos in my future. As I drove, I noticed that every turn I made the little white Honda’s headlights followed. All the way home, all the way to my apartments, until it parked right next to me! No this wasn’t some angry stalker, it was my neighbor! I felt ashamed at my actions. You see here I was on the island to work at Lahaina Baptist Church and how was my testimony just scarred by my actions? How would they see me now as I invited them to church? You are always being watched and what people see of you speaks volumes for Christ.
What about work? How do you compose yourself all the time at work? Have you ever mentioned to a coworker that you teach a Sunday School class or attend church regularly? Then you are being watched very closely. All of the sudden that gossip you spread is doing more damage than you know. What about at the grocery store? Do you let someone cut in front of you or do you make a scene and give them a piece of your mind? People all around you are watching. What about at home? Do you know how closely your children and your spouse are watching you? Yep, you’ve got to be a Christ follower at home too.
You see there’s an old saying that a life can and should be lived by. “Do you practice what you preach?” Moses took a good look around before he murdered and took a life. But he was being watched, even though he didn’t know it. We are all being watched, even when we don’t know it. If you proclaim Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior, His laws and His commands are now yours. They’re yours to keep all of your days, 24-7. People will be watching you closely today to see how you deal with the ways of Jesus. The way that you live your life will be one the biggest testimonies that you’ll ever have. The way that you live, love and treat others, especially in those weak moments of anger, rage and frustration, will speak volumes. Most people will never preach a sermon in front of thousands of people, but I’m here to tell you…the single biggest sermon that will ever be preached, is how you live your life in this world for Jesus Christ.
“In all that you do preach the gospel, and if necessary, use words.”
Live your life for Jesus today, and watch those around you be greatly influenced by your actions.
Blessings.
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