Moses

If you've ever wished that your arms were longer, I mean, it's a strange wish, it's called your ape index, the distance between your finger to finger compared to your height, your ape index, and it might be something that you've wished you had longer arms.

You may be suffering from something called presbyopia.

Who knows presbyopia?

You know, you wish your arms were longer.

Well, I'm being silly, it's actually a problem you have with your eyes after 40 years old, and you know, that's not in focus.

It's, if only it was that little bit longer, it's called presbyopia.

Eyes wear out, don't they?

Eyes wear out with age.

Interestingly, that scripture says in Deuteronomy 34, 7, Moses was 120 years old when he died, yet his eyes were not weak, nor his strength gone.

In contrast to the weak-charactered Eli, priest of Israel, judge of Israel, stepfather to Samuel, his eyes, we are told, were weak.

Now, it's not that the Bible has anything against people with some sort of challenge with their eyesight.

It's about a spiritual reality.

They're saying that Eli had weak eyes because he didn't walk with the Lord, and Moses, in contrast, had strong eyes because he did.

And as Paul prayed in Ephesians 1, I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance.

We have spiritual eyes, don't we?

Through which we discern and see the path of wisdom, the path of the grace of God, the path of the kingdom.

Moses died at 120 years of age, and he could still see the kingdom of God the way he should be seeing it.

Do you know anyone else who's turning 120 this year?

We are as a church, did you know that?

NorthernLife Baptist Church is just the last iteration of Hornsby Baptist Church, who turned 120 years old this year.

And our prayer, as you could imagine, is that we would continue with Strong Eyes.

Amen.

I mean, it's a privileged thing to know that we truly are building whatever work we do in the name of Jesus on many generations, many generations.

We stand on the shoulders of the giants, as they say, all by the grace of God.

Well, Lord willing, in January, we are going to study some Old Testament characters, some saints who lived with strong eyes.

And the first one is Moses.

How is your spiritual insight and eyesight at the moment?

How's the Polaroid of the season you're going through?

Have you found that it goes up and down a bit in life?

It does tend to.

So is the word of God for you at the beginning of 2023, is it sweet?

Or is it a bit bland?

In fact, sand is not sweet, is it?

Sometimes the word of God is dry, feels like sand, feels like dry wheat beaks.

How is it for you?

How is walking with the Lord in the spirit for you at the moment?

We don't have to stay in a place that we don't want to be.

God invites us to draw near to him by his spirit and by his grace.

So our prayer is that that's what would happen for us this year.

Amen.

C23 is our theme for the year, and we're trying to see with eyes of faith, the eyes of our heart, that we might see the way things truly are in the kingdom.

If you're trying to do a survey of the life of Moses, firstly, that's a challenge, but you would go to, as I have, to Exodus and Numbers, and we find that there are maybe a couple of million descendants of Jacob, now called Israel, Israelites, because his name was changed, and they have ended up in Egypt.

We read at the very beginning of the Book of Exodus that the Pharaoh did not, the new Pharaoh did not know Joseph, didn't know the important role he played in saving the Egyptians, and he noticed that the Israelites were growing too many, and so put them into slavery, and so they have been in slavery now, it seems, for some 400 years.

So if we do a survey of the life of Moses, I would suggest we start with Moses the murderer.

Strong eyes see the danger of the flesh.

Now let me read from Exodus chapter.

Verse 1, I'm going to read pretty fast because we've got to cover a bit of text.

Now a man of the tribe of Levi married a Levite woman and he became pregnant, she became pregnant, and gave birth to a son.

When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him for three months, but when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with tar and pitch.

Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile.

His sister stood at a distance to see what would happen to him.

Then Pharaoh's daughter went down to the Nile to bathe, and her attendants were walking along the river bank.

She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her female slaves to get it.

She opened it and saw the baby.

He was crying and she felt sorry for him.

This is one of the Hebrew babies, she said.

Then his sister asked Pharaoh's daughter, Shall I go and get one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?

Yes, go, she answered.

So the girl went and got the baby's mother.

Pharaoh's daughter said to her, Take this baby and nurse him for me and I will pay you.

So the woman took the baby and nursed him.

When the child grew older, she took him to Pharaoh's daughter and he became her son.

She named him Moses, saying, I drew him out of the water.

So Moses went from an orphan in the Nile to a grandson of Pharaoh, growing up basically as royalty.

We're then told in chapter 2 that the grown up Moses comes across an Egyptian mistreating one of his fellow Israelites.

And seeing that no one was looking, he murders the Egyptian and buries him in the sand.

And so Moses is 40 years old and he's now a murderer.

If you haven't noticed it, growing strong eyes normally takes time.

Have you found that?

And what else would you add to that?

I would add mistakes.

Growing strong eyes in the Lord involves making mistakes.

Moses is an Israelite.

He has a sense of the injustice that's going on.

He has learned about his background in the patriarchs, the fathers of the faith, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

And he has this raw passion that resides inside him to do something about it.

And some of us are like Moses, yes?

We see injustice and we want to do something about it.

We powerfully feel the need to correct others, to defend those we love.

And this justice in our minds or justifies in our minds the way in which we react.

We need to remember Zechariah 4, verse 6, not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord Almighty.

Strong eyes see the danger of the flesh.

Getting angry is okay, but in our anger don't sin, is what scripture teaches.

We don't solve issues in our own strength, through our own power, but by the grace of God.

So what area, as we begin a new year, what area of your life that you feel primed to solve in your own strength, do you need to lay at the master's feet?

Moses trying to fix the problem of Israel's slavery resulted in him murdering a man and then running away.

He was a criminal on the run for another 40 years.

These Strong Eyes being developed take time.

Acts chapter 7 summarizes what happens next.

Moses fled to Midian where he settled as a foreigner and had two sons.

After 40 years had passed, an angel appeared to Moses in the flames of a burning bush in the desert near Mount Sinai.

Next, we find Moses the mumbler.

Strong Eyes see strength found in weakness.

It's in chapter 3 and 4, this incredible event where Moses is in Midian as a shepherd, and he finds a bush that's burning but not burning up, and from the bush comes the voice of God.

Moses, it says, so now Exodus 3 verse 10, So now go, I'm sending you to Pharaoh after this interaction he has, and to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.

But Moses says to God, Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?

In his heart, he's a murderer.

Have you read that passage recently at all, anybody?

I've read it just in the preparation for this.

It's just a classic portion of scripture.

He's met God, he finds out his name Yahweh.

But he doesn't, he's just a scaredy cat.

He's like, don't pick me.

I stutter, I'm a mumbler.

Don't pick me.

Of course, deep in his heart, he's like, I'm a murderer.

You maybe don't know that.

But I'm not the one for you.

But God is about to teach him that he chooses the weak things of the world to shame the wise.

Amen.

1 Corinthians 1, 26, Paul writes, Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called.

Not many of you were wise by human standards.

Not many were influential.

Not many were of noble birth.

But God chose the foolish things of the world.

Why?

The foolish things of the world to shame the wise.

God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.

Do you see the way it works?

The kingdom principle.

When we are weak, we are strong.

When we are forced to rely on God, we are strong, not weak.

How does that truth relate to your life in 2023?

I find it's a scary thought to really embrace it.

Lord, how weak do you want to get me?

Lord, how weak do I have to be?

I'd rather not be weak, and so would you.

I imagine that strong eyes see strength is found in weakness.

God doesn't mind it when we're weak because we can't please him without faith.

And weakness drives us to faith, doesn't it?

Next, Exodus 5, 6 and 7.

We're moving through it.

It's difficult to cover so much ground, but you see what we're doing.

We're surveying the character as a study.

Moses becomes God's messenger, and he conveys the message to Pharaoh.

Let my people go.

Verse 1 of chapter 5.

Afterward, Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said, This is what the Lord, the God of Israel says.

Let my people go, so that they may hold a festival to me in the wilderness.

And Pharaoh's response is classic.

Who is the Lord that I should obey him and let Israel go?

I don't know the Lord, and I will not let Israel go.

No, Moses is the messenger.

Strong Eyes C, opportunity for witness.

When Moses finally stepped out in faith and went back to Egypt to declare God's truth, he began to see with eyes of faith that God was up to something.

Moses had a job to do to be the witness of the living God.

His job was just to watch what God was doing.

Are you aware at the beginning of 2023 that God is profoundly interested in your life?

In all the mundane, I'm thinking, is that mundanity?

Is that a word?

I don't think so.

He's just interested in our life, and we need to remember that.

No matter what you're doing at the moment in this season.

And for many of us, it's tough, others, it's a little bit boring, others, it's exciting.

But can we be encouraged this morning that God's grace is there with us, amen?

His presence is there in all of what we are experiencing.

He has given us a sphere of influence that we need eyes to see the opportunities to witness in.

I find it fascinating when you talk to people, Christians about their story of faith.

Have you not found it, and maybe this is your story, that there are interesting cameo roles in every story of faith?

There are these little cameo roles of witness.

People get saved, not just because angels turn up in burning bushes.

They get saved by consistent testimony and witness by people who know Jesus, amen?

Can we be encouraged that Strong Eyes see the opportunities for witness, CXXIII?

What has God planned for you to step into to be a witness to the gospel?

When Jesus left the earth and prepped his disciples, that's what he said they would do.

You will be my witnesses.

Moses the miracle worker is next.

Strong Eyes see the power of God at hand.

The story of Moses takes us back to Egypt, as I said, and goes through the plagues in Egypt and ultimately the death of the firstborn.

A great tragedy really, but it was to demonstrate the blood of the sacrificial lamb which points us magnificently to Jesus ultimately.

And then Moses leads the people out of Egypt and down to the Red Sea, the shore of the Red Sea.

And we don't know exactly where that is, but it's probably around the Sinai Peninsula and then down to somewhere there at the Red Sea.

And it's a dead end.

They come to the end of their journey, and we pick up the story in Exodus 14.

As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians marching after them.

They were terrified and cried out to the Lord.

They said to Moses, filled with faith, not, was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die?

I always just find it funny, the way that the words chosen by God to be put into the mouths of the Israelites.

What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt?

Didn't we say to you in Egypt, leave us alone, let us serve the Egyptians?

It would be better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert.

Moses answered the people, don't be afraid this great line.

Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today.

The Egyptians you see today, you will never see again.

The Lord will fight for you.

You need only to be still.

Strong eyes see the power of God at hand.

Strong eyes say things like, wow, okay, we've got no way to go and no way through.

Let's see what God does.

Who has said those words in their life?

I love having those people around me.

Don't you?

People of faith who say, okay, things look bad.

Let's just see what God wants to do to bring glory to himself because after all, he is the God of the 11th hour, not the 8th or the 1st.

He's hardly ever the God of the 1st hour.

Strong Eyes believe that God does not abandon his people.

And of course, he did come through.

He came through.

Moses puts a staff in the water and it opens up and they walk through, maybe a couple of million of them, walk through on dry ground.

Pharaoh comes down and he's swallowed up with his soldiers by the water.

At one of our last Life Hub gatherings last year, one of our people, and Life Hub is our small group name, one of our people said, I've got a really bad knee.

And one of the people in our group who has strong eyes for the power of God said, we should pray.

And it was quite late in the night, and I know people often say we need to get home, we need to get home.

So I probably was like, you know, we could probably say that we're going to pray and then go.

I wasn't quite saying, I'm sure you've got homes to go to, that line that small group leaders sometimes say.

But this person who has strong eyes for the power of God laid hands on her knee.

And it was just funny.

She ended up on the stairwell somehow, and we're hearing this giggling and laughing and shouting, and she's running up and down going, my knee's fixed, my knee's fixed, my knee's healed.

It happens.

But isn't it a mystery how some odd knee injuries like that can get healed like that?

And other things that we just so desperately want God to heal like that, He doesn't.

But we are challenged as we begin the New Year.

Are we people who see the power of God at hand and are willing to ask?

He opens up Red Seas.

He really does.

Next we find Moses the Mediator.

Strong Eyes see the gap.

Strong Eyes see the gap.

Chapters 15 and 16 of Exodus.

The people are faithless.

They continue to move towards this grumbling sort of posture that they have.

They grumble about everything.

And this is even before they get to the wilderness.

They don't see the grace of God.

They don't see how bad it was in Egypt.

And with weak eyes, they complain.

And Moses sees the gap, the gap between them and them knowing God.

Do you know that gap?

He sees the gap between the people and maturity.

He sees the gap between the now and the not yet.

He sees the gap between God's plan for the people and what they are living.

And he steps into the gap.

It's so often the calling of those with strong eyes, isn't it?

It's a pastoral calling.

It's a prophetic calling.

It's often a prayerful calling to step into the gap.

And of course, we're about to celebrate and remember communion.

It's Jesus who steps into the gap of redemption.

He dies on the cross to reach out to the Father and reach out to us.

And by faith, through him, through his blood, his perfect life given as a sacrifice for us, for our sin on the cross, he fills in the gap to be reconciled with the Father by faith.

But as the church, as the body of Christ, there is this calling we have.

We're called to step into the gap.

And I think Strong Eyes see the gap.

Strong Eyes see the people that God is laying on our heart to pray strongly and consistently and fervently for, amen?

Are there people that you're burdened to come to know Christ?

Are there people in your life that you have a burden that they find freedom from what they're going through?

Christians with strong eyes, they stand in the gap.

They jump in.

Where are the gaps?

Between the grace and power of God and the people who God has placed on your heart to help in 2023.

Two to go in our wonder.

Moses the minister.

Strong eyes see the path of God's calling.

Exodus 19, Moses goes up Mount Sinai, fasts for 40 days and 40 nights, and he comes down with the law, and he delivers the law.

Basically saying, this is how God wants you to live as his people.

And he does so many great things with his life.

I mean, you could do such a teaching on him as a leader.

But I think his great calling is that he was a teacher.

More than a leader, more than a miracle worker.

And I think that because if you skip over to Matthew 17, Mount Transfiguration, and Peter, James and John are up on the mount with Jesus, and Jesus is transfigured into this heavenly, glorious appearance.

And who are the two people that come down and arrive out of heaven with him?

Moses and Elijah.

And they represent the law and the prophets.

And God the Father says, this is my son, listen to him.

And basically, he's saying, he fulfills and supersedes the law, Moses, and all the prophets said and did, Elijah.

Moses was the great teacher of the law.

And of course, there was Deuteronomy as well, where he gave the great three sermons.

Strong Eyes see the path of God's calling.

Strong Eyes look at your own life, and they look at the spiritual gifting and the personality type and the abilities God has given you and the heart that you just have for parts of the world, parts of God's kingdom, and the experiences and education.

And you listen to God and you find your calling.

I think it's a bit of a tragedy if you can go through all your life and someone said, how did God gift you?

What was your role in the kingdom?

And you went, I don't know.

Maybe you were a jack of all trades.

Maybe that's who you were, but a lot of us just aren't grabbing it.

The way we've been shaped by God to step out and do his will.

A month ago, Leanne and I celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary, not to go into what we did on the nice night, because it's things you do in private.

But we went on a bit of a memory lane tour around the lead-up to our wedding, which was so nice to do.

I don't know if you've ever done that, but so good to go back to where it all happened.

And we ended up at French's Forest Baptist Church, where I grew up and where we were married and where we started our ministry together, learning about ministry.

And it was closed, and we were out at the window looking in, and there were, I think it's fair to say it's been declined slowly for about 28 years, probably.

But there are less chairs in there.

But I was quite moved by thinking of this five year period between about 89, 88 and 93, where so many, so many people went, were raised up and sent out into missionary work or full time ministry.

People finding their call on their lives, and I know some of them are friends in ministry or they're around the world.

They've got this call with both hands, and I don't at all mean to suggest that that's only Christian full time ministry people that can do that, not at all.

But it reminds me, I want to be part of a church where people are finding their calling, finding how God has wired them.

This is what Moses did with his life.

Strong Eyes, he died with strong eyes.

He died just after finishing his last three big sermons.

That's a pretty good rap, isn't it?

Mount Nebo, he was teaching till the end.

How has God wired you?

What has God called you to do with your life in the short term, 2023, but in the long term?

What are you meant to do?

Strong Eyes find God's calling.

And finally, Moses, the disciple maker, the Strong Eyes see the orchard.

Inside every apple, there's an orchard.

There's potential.

He finishes his life at Mount Nebo.

Excuse me.

Finishes his life at Mount Nebo, on the eastern side of the Jordan, preaches the three big messages in Deuteronomy.

But before he dies, he's able to hand over, hand over the leadership of the people to Joshua.

How is he able to do that?

Because he had Strong Eyes and the Strong Eyes see the orchard in the apple.

The Strong Eyes see the potential of people coming through.

Strong Eyes are good disciples.

Moses said in Deuteronomy 34, Then Moses went out and spoke these words to all of Israel.

I'm now 120 years old and I'm no longer able to lead you.

Then Moses summoned Joshua and said to him in the presence of all Israel, Be strong and courageous.

For you must go with this people into the land that the Lord swore to their ancestors to give them.

And you must divide it among them as their inheritance.

The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you.

He will never leave you nor forsake you.

Do not be afraid.

Do not be discouraged.

What a great example Moses is, hey?

As a discipler, strong eyes to the very end.

And I've got to say, one of the greatest highlights of my life, I don't know about you, I'm sure many of you would agree.

One of the greatest highlights is actually seeing young people raised up by God and having a small role in tapping them on the shoulder.

Some role in helping people, like I think back to this church and another church that we were at for a long time, seeing people show a glimpse of calling and skill and giftedness and potential, and then just being part of a church that wants to encourage those people to find their calling and to step out and become disciples who make disciples.

And to watch those people grow up and now lead churches and run companies that are really godly, that do great stuff with the money that they create.

Many have raised godly families.

Some lead schools or work in schools, all over the place with eyes that see the harvest.

Good works prepared in advance for us to do.

Does anyone agree that one of the great highlights in life is discipleship?

Surely, surely, that's actually what it's about.

Go out and make disciples, Jesus said.

If you don't care less about discipling anyone, I would put it to you, your eyes are weaker than you think.

So how can you get amongst it?

Make disciples.

Share your life.

Share your struggles.

Discipleship's all about people being vulnerable and open and building communication lines between people through relationship.

Often it's intergenerational, but not always.

Just people walking with someone else in the Lord.

There is so much for us to do.

For me, I haven't lost a belief that there's nothing like the local church, a faithful and fruitful local church, to impact the world.

I want to challenge you.

Do you believe that?

Do you believe that?

If you have been part of a sickly church, you maybe don't believe that.

But if you can just get a hint, a smidge of the Spirit of God alive in a diverse group of people that are empowered by the Word of God and the Gospel, and see those people have a selfless, servant-hearted attitude, and a generous, it's fun.

It's a good thing to be part of.

I want to be part of that.

There is so much good for us to do NorthernLife by the grace of Jesus in 2023.

Will that come with its challenges?

Of course, of course.

That's a given.

But in the midst of the challenges and even suffering, may we have Strong Eyes that see the dangers of the flesh, thinking you can do it in your own strength.

Strong Eyes see in 2023 that strength is found in weakness, that there are always opportunities for gospel witness, that the power of God is at hand, so ask him to exercise it, that there's a gap to stand in this year.

Strong Eyes see that there's a calling to obey and follow and maybe first find.

Strong Eyes believe there's an orchard in every apple, there's such a potential of the kingdom in every disciple.

When Michelle and Flora, some of you know Flora is an african girl that a friend of ours, Michelle, adopted from Rwanda.

And we did a dedication service here a few months ago.

It was such a fantastic thing.

I got to be part of that previously, and often, and now it's wonderful life.

Seven-year-old Flora, the Rwandan little girl.

When we were preaching, I was preaching that day, there were a bunch of people there from our old church that we knew.

And one of the funny things was, one of the people came up to me and said, You're doing well preaching without spectacles, without glasses.

I never thought of it.

My eyes aren't that good.

But I'm glad I can preach without glasses for a while.

But I just thought of that when I was finishing up writing this sermon.

I thought, you know what?

I do hope and pray that I can have spiritual eyes that are like that.

That as I get older, someone might say, he has strong eyes.

And that's my prayer for you and us as a church, that we'd have strong eyes.

We're 120 years old, church.

Lord God, we thank you for the life of Moses.

We pray we could learn from a character study like we've done.

Most of all, we see your gracious hand on his life, your power, your mercy.

You are a God who rescues.

And you hear the cry of the oppressed.

And you have good plans for your people.

Lord, as we now come to communion, Lord, I pray you would give us a fresh insight into this invitation in the name of Jesus.

Amen.

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