Exodus 2 - The Making of a Godly Leader

Hey, I'm going to invite you to Exodus. Chapter two is where we're going to be together today. We are going to journey through Exodus two in a bit of a mess, because what we're looking at in Exodus two is really the formation of the life of Moses. This is his spiritual formation in the Lord. And we're seeing how God really uses this to develop him into a leader.

Now we've titled it along that line, The Making of a Godly Leader with this idea for each of us, like some of us may look at the thought of leadership and say, well, that's not me. I know that I'm not ever called to be a leader, but I would just say, not so fast. And the reason I would say that is because God desires to not only do a beautiful work in you, but he also desires to do a work through you. And doing that work through you, God wants to use your life to be an influence in this world. And anytime you're being an influence, you're leading something, right? You're leading what you honor with your life. Now, hopefully that is the Lord. But your life is given over to something. And being given over to something, you're influencing people that way. Like for example, my children will be disowned if they're not Utah Jazz fans. That's just how that's going to work. And so I will influence them in that way. God forbid they ever become a Laker or a Raiders fan. We know God can redeem anybody but those groups of people. I'm just kidding. I'm kidding. I shouldn't say it. I'm not kidding. I am not kidding. If you're a Lakers fan in Utah Jazz country, there is something wrong with you. I'll let it go.

But you're influencing. You're influencing in a direction. And that influencing is being shaped by what is influencing you. And more than anything, our hope is that that is the Lord, right? There are certain things in life that you might love, but the most important thing is the Lord himself. And as he's shaping you, that influence he's bringing into your heart and life should also be influential in the way that you're leading other people. Now, in using the idea of leadership in that way, because we all have relationships in this world, we recognize that we're influencing those relationships in some way.

Now, in order for Moses to get to that place of being a spiritual leader, it really starts in the understanding of spiritual formation. How does God transform my life biblically? We use that terminology to describe spiritual formation as sanctification. Meaning when you come to know the Lord, you're automatically set apart in him. You've been sanctified. Passages like Hebrews 10:10 talks about that you have been sanctified in Christ, which means in Jesus, if you belong to Christ, you belong to him forever. You've been adopted, you're in his family, you're a royal priesthood, your destiny has been secured. You've been sanctified, you've been set apart. Congratulations. You're in the family of God, right?

And then there's another way in which sanctification is used in the Bible in reference to progressive sanctification. That'd be a passage like Second Corinthians 3:18 or maybe Philippians chapter one, verse six. Second Corinthians 3:18 says, as we look upon the face of God, we're transformed into his image moment by moment. Or Philippians 1:6, he who has begun that good work in me will bring it to completion. So there's this idea of positional sanctification. I've been set apart for God, I belong, I'm there forever. But then there's also this idea of understanding, but I need to know what that means to live that out. It's great to have these titles or these positions, this recognition — adopted, belonging, child of God — wonderful. But then it's another thing to learn what it means to live that out in light of who God is. And what does that look like for me?

And sometimes when we walk down that road with the Lord, sometimes we walk in a bit of mystery and understanding, okay, God, I don't completely understand what you're doing. I know what your word says, but I can't understand why you would pick me and how you could use my circumstance for your glory. And there was a 17th century minister from Britain named John Flavel that said it like this. He said, the providence of God can be understood a lot like Hebrew. You have to read it backwards. And if you know anything about Hebrew, Hebrew is not read left to right like you're accustomed to. It's right to left. You've got to read it backwards to understand it. And it's the same with the providence of God, that we can't always understand what God is doing, but he simply asks us to trust him. And along that journey, when we begin to look back, we realize God had orchestrated a far grander plan than we realized. And God was doing a beautiful work not only in us, but shaping us for more.

And when you read the Bible, that's really the picture you get. God gives a declaration of his identity, but as people trust in his identity, they're seeing how God orchestrates his providential plan in this world. Like God would share a message with the prophets of looking for redemption and hope and all that Jesus would fulfill. But it wasn't until later they begin to see how God became flesh and gave his life for us. And we see that the grander, providential story of God unfolding. And that can happen in an overarching story like we're seeing in the Bible. And it can happen even in a personal way, in your own life. Maybe you've even walked with Jesus long enough where you realize a lot of what you experienced in this world, God has shaped it and redeemed it for his glory.

And so for the life of Moses, this is what we're discovering together. How the Lord used him in sanctification — how God brought about his spiritual formation — in his life becomes an example to think about our own. What does it look like for us to live in light of who God is? As we look at Moses's story and then we apply it to our own, what does it mean for me to become the kind of leader that God has called me to be?

And you start to see the foreshadowing of that when you begin in the very beginning of Exodus chapter two, right? The first couple of verses starts to pepper this idea where it says, now a man from the house of Levi went and took his wife, a Levite woman, which we don't discover the names of these two people till Exodus chapter six, verse 20. This is Moses's parents, but it's giving us a foreshadowing of where Moses comes from, which is from the tribe of Levi. And you start to discover, as you move forward in the Old Testament, that the tribe of Levi becomes the priestly line. Now, they're not to that place yet in the historical timeline of Scripture, but it's a foreshadowing that the Levites will be the representative of God on earth. And so it's recognizing that Moses comes from that position.

And then it goes on and says in verse two, the woman conceived and bore a son. And when she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him for three months. Now, if you remember in this particular context, the Hebrew people have grown so large that the Egyptians, the superpower of the day, have felt threatened by their presence in the land of Egypt. So much so that Pharaoh has given a law that says, if a Hebrew child is born and it's a girl, let her live. But if it's a boy, make sure he dies. Throw him into the Nile. And so the Hebrew life is being threatened, and especially the young boys.

Moses's mother does something here that's critical. I think it's also important to see just the nature of women and the developing story of the book of Exodus. In Exodus chapter one, you remember these midwives are given a certain law — Shiphrah and Puah — especially are given the law to kill the baby boys that are born, and they refuse. And then here comes Moses's mother, who has a baby boy, and she refuses. And then you're going to see the role of Miriam, Moses's sister, who helps in the preservation of Moses's life, along with a Gentile — Pharaoh's daughter. And here it comes within the context of the story that when there's evil working in the world, it really just takes the bravery of a few to start to stand up for the glory of God.

Now, I'm not telling you, when you don't like what your government does, that you need to fight them at every turn. That's not what I'm saying. That's not what God calls us to do. God calls us to respect authority, to pray for our leaders, to honor those in positions of authority over us. However, the Bible also recognizes that when earthly authorities try to rank above our godly authority and call us to do something disobedient to the Lord, that rather than follow earthly authorities, we surrender to God and the consequences — let them be what they may. But our lives are primarily about honoring the Lord. And this is exactly what Moses's mother does. She honors the idea of life and the sanctity of life, because every life is made in the image of the Lord, and she refuses to kill her child, even though the Egyptian authorities have ordered her to do so.

Now, in recognizing something unique about this child, I want you to know there is a way that we probably read verse two that is different than the way that verse two is understood when it was written. The way we might read verse two is to say, oh, the kid was pretty. So because the kid was pretty, she let him live. And I want you to know, if that's the way you're reading verse two, that is not accurate. Like you don't say, oh, Moses was so fine, he can live because he's fine. We say that word a little different today than what they were saying in Exodus chapter two.

In fact, if you were to go all the way back to the book of Genesis, you'll find that the beginning of Exodus is very much reflective of the book of Genesis. And in Genesis chapter one, the same word that is translated as fine here is translated as the word tov, or the word good. In Genesis chapter one, when God creates in the beginning, it tells us at the end of every day, God said it was good. At the end of the second day, God said it was good. Into the third day, God said it was good. And then at the end of the sixth day, God creates the crown of his creation, which is humanity. And at the end of the sixth day, God said it was very good, or very fine. And then he rested on the seventh day. And what God was doing was making humanity the crown of his creation. And the calling of humanity was to reflect the goodness of who God was in the way we cared for this world. And what he's saying is that everything that God created in this world was good, intended to reflect his glory.

But the goodness of what God has made is only known so much as we surrender to him, because we can take all the good things that God has created, and rather than use it to bless people and glorify God, we can use it to serve ourselves to the detriment of others. And so by acknowledging that Moses is good, she's acknowledging not just something for Moses himself, but rather the sacredness of human life. That really, if God has given you children, if you're a parent or a grandparent, or however maybe children intersect in your life, is just to recognize that all that God has created is good. Humanity is the crown of his creation, and God has me in a place to influence his creatures, made in his image, for his glory. And the mother is recognizing this, that rather than give this child over to the destruction of Pharaoh, what God has gifted me with is something good. And I want to see the goodness of God made known in his life. But that goodness is only realized so much as Moses surrenders his life to the calling of the Lord over him.

And so how does Moses walk in that sanctification? How does Moses experience that spiritual formation? How does he develop as that leader? We're going to talk about four points together as we explore this. But let me give you point number one. And can I just tell you, point number one is the most critical out of all of them? Because if you don't get this, the rest of it doesn't matter. Point number one is this: redemption. It's got to start with God's path of redemption for my own life. God rescues before he uses. That next blank under point number one is rescues. God rescues before he uses. So if we want to be used as leaders, if we want to live in that progressive sanctification, that position he's given me, we've got to understand what it means to be redeemed in the Lord. Being used for his purposes, having belonged to him, having been rescued — and now part of what he calls me to. And this is how Exodus starts.

Exodus chapter two, verse three, it says, when she could hide him no longer, she took for him a basket made of bulrushes and daubed it with bitumen and pitch. And she put the child in it and placed it among the reeds by the river bank. And his sister stood at a distance to know what would be done to him. Now the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river while her young women walked beside the river. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her servant woman, and she took it.

You know, it's interesting. Here's Miriam, his older sister, watching over Moses. And you get these two pictures of Miriam in these grander redemption stories, right? The book of Exodus really has a big redemption story, if you think about what is Exodus about? The primary picture of Exodus is one grand redemption story. It's how God takes the children of Israel from this place of slavery to this place of freedom. The primary point of this book is not so much that they've been set free and now they go wandering through a wilderness. The primary point of this book is that they've been found in the Lord and have a relationship with him. That's why the majority of this book is not dedicated to the ten plagues and the rescuing of the children of Israel across the Red Sea. That's less than half of the book. By far the majority of this book is how God leads them in the wilderness and gives them the Ten Commandments and teaches them how to build the tabernacle where God's presence is made known. And that's where the book ends. God's presence is with his people.

And so this is the grander story of the book of Exodus — this broad redemption story. However, before that greater redemption story is told — and you'll see Miriam, when the Red Sea is parted, watching over the children of Israel as they sing the song of redemption in Exodus chapter 15 when they come out of the Red Sea — but before that, Miriam is also watching over a mini redemption story. And that mini redemption story is the redemption story of Moses.

And this is what becomes important about the life of Moses, and seeing how this picture unfolds. Here's Miriam watching over this basket. She sees Pharaoh's daughter watching over it. Let me go ahead and read the rest of this. Verse six says, when she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the baby was crying. She took pity on him and said, this is one of the Hebrew children. Then his sister said to Pharaoh's daughter, shall I go and call you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you? And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, go. So the girl went and called the child's mother. And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, take this child away, and nurse him for me, and I'll give you wages. So the woman took the child and nursed him.

So you have the grander redemption story we talked about, this rescue story of Exodus, but here you have this mini redemption story with the life of Moses. And this becomes critical for us to understand the significance of this moment and the way this plays out. I mean, think about how amazing this is. Moses's mother held on to Moses as long as she could, to where she knew eventually it was going to come to a place where potentially a soldier would come to her house and just take her child's life right there. And so, out of desperation, she puts her kid in the Nile like Pharaoh commands. But she does it in such a way to prolong his life and in desperation, just hoping there would be a rescue, a deliverance. And this is what happens with Moses's life. He's spared physically, and in such an incredible way that Pharaoh's daughter ends up coming back to Moses's own mother and says, hey, I got a Hebrew kid. Will you watch him for a little bit? And actually, I'm even going to pay you to do it. And so Moses's mother not only has her child returned to her, but she also gets to live on the wages she receives from raising her own son through his own people.

So it's thought that Moses was actually raised among the Hebrew people into his early grade school years. Some speculate he would be as young as five, maybe up to eight years old, before he was returned to Pharaoh's household. That's the general idea — that he was somewhere in early elementary age before he was returned to Pharaoh's household. But in so doing, he's raised with his own identity among his own people.

And so here you see Moses's life being helpless. He was just a child, couldn't spare himself. But God saves him physically. But not just physically. God does this a couple of times in his life. He steps in and intervenes in such a way that Moses's life is spared physically. But as you look over these next few chapters, you're also going to find a redemption story that happens for Moses spiritually. Honestly, it's not until Exodus chapter three when he encounters the living God, and into Exodus chapter four — at the end of Exodus four, this is where I really think Moses becomes a true believer. But Moses's life goes through this redemption story, and this becomes critical for him in what God's called him to, and really becomes critical for all of us to understand.

Because when Moses, after he goes through these moments — we'll find in a moment that he's got to run for his life — he ends up running for his life into the Midian desert. Midian desert is where he finds the burning bush and encounters the Lord. And I think it's in that time period that he becomes a true believer. But it takes this kind of a story for Moses to go all the way to the wilderness. And when he's in the wilderness, we discover in Acts chapter seven that the place he encounters in the burning bush is actually where Mount Sinai is located, which is ultimately where he's going to lead the children of Israel. And so what we're discovering is, as Moses goes through this redemption story, it's because he's walked the path before the children of Israel that God then is able to use him to lead those children of Israel through it.

It's the same for your life. How can you expect to lead anyone, anywhere, if you haven't first been led by the Lord? But it's in your own redemption story in Christ that God then develops you in such a way that you're able to lead others also.

And so for Moses, this is the shaping of the rescue. And the idea of water becomes very symbolic for the children of Israel. The water has always been this place of chaos and death. From the beginning of creation, God created the earth, and it tells us that water covered the earth. And out of the chaos God brought order. He brought land, he brought life. And then for the life of Noah, his life was spared through the chaos — God spared his family through the water. And then for Moses being thrown into the Nile, and then for the children of Israel being taken to the Red Sea, God parts the sea and they walk across on dry land. It's been this picture of ultimately not just what God desires to do for us physically, but redeeming our souls spiritually in him.

Redemption becomes critical for us to become the kind of people God desires for us to be. Because sometimes in life we can walk such a broken path that we might ask the question, God, how can you use me? You think for Moses — he was raised a Hebrew, and then he was taken into the Egyptian schools till he was 40, and thought he was prepared for what God had for him. But then he was humbled and had to run into the desert for 40 years. And he looks at 80 years old, looks over the totality of his life, and he even asks the question in Exodus three, God, are you sure you want to use me? But God has such a way of taking the brokenness of our lives and giving us strength in him, even leading us back through those paths where we've once been and pointing to the glory of who he is, that others may discover that rescue as well.

And the only way it comes is, one, through redemption. And then number two in your notes is this: identity. Identity. When you're redeemed in the Lord, that's a wonderful thing. I've been rescued. But you've got to take the position of that rescued and then own it. Do something with it. God, you rescued me for a purpose. But I can still choose to live a path of selfishness. Or God, I can ask you the question, Lord, how would you like me to use my life for your glory? Knowing you've given yourself for me, God, how can I give my life for you? And so it's learning then to live in light of the identity that I have as I'm being shaped in Christ.

And for Moses, to be honest, this was a struggle for him for nearly his entire life. When you read about Moses, he starts to see it shaped in verse ten, where it says, when the child grew older, she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses because she said, I drew him out of the water.

You know, here's something interesting about the life of Moses. The word Moses was not uncommon to use in a name. However, what was uncommon was just to end it with the word Moses. Because in Egyptian times, common names would attach the idea of the word Moses to the name of a god. And I think for the life of Moses, his name is actually drawn from a kind of double entendre. In Hebrew, they had the word Masha, which means to draw out of. And Moses was taken out of water. But the word Moses is actually Egyptian. And it was common during Moses's day for the Egyptians to attach the name of their children to a god. And so they would say things like this — in order to honor the god Ra, they would name a child Ramose, which means taken from Ra, the sun god. Or another god would be Thutmose. And so they would honor the god Thoth and they would say, this child is in dedication or taken from the god Thoth. But what's unique about Moses's name is it wasn't attached to anything. It just said he was taken from something, but it never tells you where. It's like, here was a kid that just kind of came about, and that's it.

And so when you look at the life of Moses, you can see, born from one place, taken to another place, he really has ownership in neither of those places. He's just defined as someone who's existing, someone who was taken from something, but it doesn't really attach him to any sort of identity.

And then it goes on. It says in verse 11, one day when Moses had grown up, he went out to his people and he looked on their burdens and saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his people. He looked this way and that, and seeing no one, he struck down the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. And when he went out the next day, behold, two Hebrews were struggling together. And he said to the man in the wrong, why do you strike your companion? And he answered, who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian? Then Moses was afraid and thought, surely the thing is known. When Pharaoh heard it, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from Pharaoh and stayed in the land of Midian, and sat down by a well.

Now here's what's interesting with this passage. Moses was in a position of a dignitary, right? He was raised under Pharaoh's household. And it wasn't uncommon for a leader to abuse the slaves and sometimes get so angry as to kill them. In fact, life was cheap during this time period, even up into the first century. During Jesus's time, you can read a letter from an Egyptian man who journeys to Jerusalem and writes a letter back to his wife, knowing she's about to have a child. And in the letter he records all the things he's doing with his business, and then for a moment he stops and says, oh, and by the way, when the baby is born — he's expecting the baby to be born while he's gone — he says, oh, when the baby is born, if it's a girl, throw her away. And if it's a boy, let him live. I mean, it just indicates how cheap life was and the way people could just toss it aside.

And for Moses, being in the position he was, coming and killing a Hebrew slave because he's angry — well, to a degree, that's somewhat expected. And all Moses would have expected, for the most part, would have been simply a slap on the wrist, saying, oh, Moses, you can't treat the slaves that way. Don't be so harsh on them. Just don't do it again. But in this particular moment, it's letting you know he was attempting to identify so much with the Hebrew people that Pharaoh sees it as an affront against him. And he challenges Moses to the point that Moses's life is at risk. So Moses has to flee.

And here's the unfortunate part for Moses. He was raised among the Hebrews to an early age, then taken into Pharaoh's household. When he gets to the age of 40, he decides to identify with his Hebrew people. And Moses is thinking to himself, of course they're going to receive me. Look, I'm in a position of power. I can do things for these people. They're going to love me because of it. And when Moses steps out, what he finds is his own people reject him. And so now the Egyptians, among whom he's been raised for the majority of his life, and now the Hebrew people — both are rejecting him. And so Moses has to run to the land of Midian, where he's going to spend the next 40 years of his life.

It says in verse 16, now the priest of Midian had seven daughters. And they came and drew water and filled the troughs to water their father's flock. And the shepherds came and drove them away. But Moses stood up and saved them and watered their flock. And when they came home to their father, he said, how is it that you have come home so soon today? And they said, an Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds and even drew water for us and watered the flock. And he said to his daughters, then where is he? Why have you left the man? Call him, that we may eat bread. And Moses was content to dwell with the man, and he gave Moses his daughter Zipporah.

It got really weird fast, isn't it? I'll give you water, you give me a daughter. That is not how we operate today. But I will tell you, if you read the book of Genesis and Exodus, anytime you read about a patriarch heading to a well, you know a relationship is about to be born. I don't know why it works like that, but it's like anytime you read a story and a patriarch went to a well, you know in about three seconds it's going to say, and they got married and made a baby. That is how that works. Like, maybe if you're single today and you're thinking, I need somebody — start with a well. I don't know what to tell you. But that's what happens here. Moses goes to a well, and just like all the other patriarchs, that's where he finds his wife.

But one thing is unique about this. One thing that really speaks to just how awkward and uncomfortable Moses is in his own skin. Because when the patriarchs would go to the well and find their future wife there, they would introduce themselves. Moses never does that. In fact, when the young ladies go back to their father and their father says, how did you get back so quick? They don't even tell their father the name of the gentleman that helped them, because they have no idea. The only way they know to identify him is, he must have been an Egyptian. He looked like an Egyptian. So that's how they introduced Moses — this Egyptian guy saved us. And Moses never introduces himself.

Having just seen a few verses ago the way Moses had previously identified himself as a Hebrew, now, all of a sudden, when someone else introduces Moses, the way they're identifying him is as an Egyptian. And it's again showing, from the name of Moses to the way Moses tried to stand up to his people, even the moment at the well — Moses is struggling in his identity.

Even unto this last verse on the screen here, verse 22, look what Moses does. His wife gave birth to a son, and he called his name Gershom, for he said, I have been a sojourner in a foreign land. Moses, even vicariously living through his own child, saying, I don't feel like I've ever belonged anywhere. And it's not until, rather than look to other people to shape his identity, it's not until Moses looks to God that he finds security in who he really is. He finds that identity.

And I would say it's the same for all of us and what God desires to do in our lives. Like for the children of Israel or for Moses in either one of these redemption stories that are in Exodus, God could have looked at the children of Israel and said, oh no, they're slaves, they're in a bad place, and they should be in a better place. Let me just pick you up and transpose you and drop you off. And even for Moses, Moses, this is not where you should be. Your wife's in Midian, let me just put you there. But God doesn't do that. And I think the reason God doesn't do that is because the primary goal of Exodus isn't about where God is taking people. The primary goal of Exodus is the work that God is doing within their own hearts. It's wonderful they get to go from one place to another. But the greater work is the redemption story God is doing within them, because they're learning through their own personal journey the faithfulness of who God is and who they're called to be in light of him.

It's really in the obstacles and the challenges that they're experiencing — as the ten plagues are made known against the Egyptian gods, Israel starts to learn about the one true God and the love that God has for them and his faithfulness to them in the midst of the journey that they're going through, and that God is going to supply what they need in the circumstances they face. It's a step of faith. And as God is taking them somewhere, God is doing his greatest work in their hearts.

And so for Moses, this is what these 40 years become. If you just look over the peppering of what happened in the life of Moses in these 40 years, here's a man who struggles in his identity. But God is doing this beautiful work in his life that Moses doesn't completely understand. And it might be the same for you. Maybe we're looking at the things we've gone through in life and we're wondering how — why would you pick me? God, how could you possibly use me? And God is teaching us to take those inner voices that condemn us, to proclaim over them the greatness of who our God is, and because of who he is, the identity that we have in him.

Second Corinthians chapter ten, verse five tells you that Satan wants to establish strongholds in your life, but God wants you to take every thought captive and make it obedient to him. Rather than listen to what the enemy says about you, listen to what God has called you to in him, and the identity he has given you through him. Or in Philippians chapter four, verse eight — the Philippians four passage is talking about the anxiety that we can feel as people. But then God says to us in chapter four, verse eight, whatever is true, whatever is lovely, whatever is peaceable, think on those things that you have in Christ Jesus. Let the goodness of God shape you in him.

You need a redemption story. You need an identity in who Christ is as you live the life that God has called you to, and God uses that for his influential purposes, for his glory to be made known in this world.

Not only do we need those two things, but how about number three? We need humility. God breaks self-reliance. We need humility. And for Moses, this was critical. You think about the idea of breaking a horse. When you have a wild horse versus a bridled horse, when you break a horse, it's not about trying to eliminate its strength, but rather redirect its strength for a greater purpose. A wild horse will buck you and destroy you. But a trained horse can be used for great things. And it's the same in your life — apart from the Lord, that's what we become. Destructive. We'll use life for our glory and it'll be to the detriment of other people. We'll use people as tools. We'll have relationships in this world, but those relationships will only be as good as someone is able to serve me for my pleasure. But it's when we find our true identity in the Lord that we recognize that it's not about using things and people in life to make me feel important. My identity is secure in Christ, and therefore I can walk humbly in this world. Not because I've been stripped of my strength, but I've found my strength in Christ, and therefore I can use my strength for his glory.

And for Moses, this is what it was about. In Acts chapter seven, when he was 40 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 an Egyptian. He supposed that his brothers would understand that God had given them salvation by his hand. Moses is saying, of course they're going to be impressed with me. I'm going to be the deliverer and they're going to think I'm great. But unfortunately, it says, but they did not understand.

In verse 30, it goes on, now when 40 years had passed, when he's in the desert of Midian, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai in a flame of fire in a bush. Moses saw it. He was amazed at the sight, and he drew near to look. It's in this wilderness that God shapes his heart, that he finds strength not in his own power, in the position that he had in Egypt, but rather in God's power in the position he received in the Lord.

And what's incredible about Moses — even though he struggled for 40 years with all that he went through in this identity — here he is at 80 years old, and God's using him. And maybe we could say the same thing for us. Like maybe we've fumbled so many times in life and we just feel like a giant mistake and a giant mess. And we might ask the question, God, how can you use me? But then you look at the life of Moses and you realize it doesn't matter the age. And if a life surrendered to God is given over to the Lord, the Lord can use that life for his glory — rescues us, gives us identity, and in that position of humility to who he is, rather than puffing ourselves in who we are, God uses that to honor him in the way that we serve in this world.

You know, even when it comes to Alpine Bible Church, every once in a while we have opportunity — let me say it like this — we have opportunity for you to sign up to serve here at the church. And that's wonderful. When you sign up to serve at the church, we like it when people serve at the church. But can I tell you there's a way people can step into serving that is unhealthy, and then there's a way people step into serving that is healthy. Unhealthy tends to be like this. And don't worry, this has never been anyone here — I'm thinking of no one specific. But sometimes we might sign up to serve and be like, I'm really good at this, and you just wait till you see me. Everyone stand back in my amazingness. You just sit down and be blessed by how great I am, right? There is that serving of arrogance where we feel like this is my position for you to be impressed with how great I am. And that's what I would say Moses at 40 years old was about.

But then there's another way of serving, of saying, you know what? This is the body of Christ. This is literally Jesus's bride, and it is a gift for me to even have the opportunity to show my honor to the Lord, my glory to the Lord, in the way that I bless his people. So I don't care what it is, but wherever I can find a spot to do something to help God's people move forward, I just want to be a part of what God has called us to as a community. And even more than that, as this community goes out these doors and we think about living incarnationally for Christ in this world, to just recognize, my identity in Christ because of what Jesus has done is so important. Not because I'm impressive, but because he is. And so as I interact with people in this world, God, that grace that you've touched me with in my life and the forgiveness you've given — may I just be a reflection of that in the way that I care for people as I interact with them in this world, because it is a gift to honor you.

And this is what's happening in Moses's life in his time in the Midian desert and the way that he serves the Lord, so that he could get to this place.

And number four is this: purpose. Purpose. God never forgets his plan. Can I tell you that's what God desires to do in all your lives — work his purpose out not only in you, but through you. And some of us may be here this morning and thinking, well, I haven't really found that purpose God has called me to. I'm still looking for that thing. Can I just tell you that for us as God's people, it's not a mystery. God's purpose for all of us is to know him, and in knowing him in a relationship, honor him in the way that we bless those around us. Which means you don't have to have this specific purpose right here in this moment.

Moses finds a specific purpose, right? He's called to go back to Egypt, and looking back at his life, he sees how God orchestrated all of that — how he was raised a Hebrew, so he understands the Hebrews. But then as he got to those grade school years, he goes to Egypt and he learns under the greatest schools, under the leadership of the Egyptians, which gives him the authority to go back and to meet with Pharaoh. God took all those pieces of his life, even the humility in the Midian desert, to orchestrate this grand story of what he was going to do. And God can do the same thing in your life. Take even the broken pieces of your life, and as he shapes you in him, use it to serve him for his glory.

So it could be directed to a specific people group. But more than anything, God's called you to be a blessing to people in this world as you glorify him with your life. God's desire is for you to reach those around you and honor him in the way that you serve those around you because of the glory of God and your security and your identity in him. That becomes the purpose for all of us.

Even in planting Alpine Bible Church — can I just be honest and tell you, when we came to Utah, our number one goal was not primarily let's plant a church. Our number one goal was to say, look, there are a lot of people in Utah that don't know the biblical Jesus. We want people to know the biblical Jesus, to have that relationship, to walk with him. What's the best way we can do that? I know God's primary method for reaching people, which is the church. And so we sought to plant a church because the purpose ultimately was God pursuing the hearts of people.

And for Moses here, you see it divinely coming together. At the end of this chapter, it says, during those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God, and God heard their groaning. And God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. And God saw the people of Israel, and God knew.

Just highlight those four words at the end of this verse, because I want you to know it's the same God that works today. He hears where you're at. He remembers his faithfulness. He sees what you're going through. And this word know is not just saying he intellectually understands. He experientially relates to it. That's what it's saying. He's not indifferent to where you're at. But God wants to work in the middle of that mess for his glory, to your benefit.

And maybe we come to places in life where we just throw up our arms and we ask the question, God, what are we doing? God, what are you doing? And we can't see how the story will completely unfold. But what he calls you to in him is just to be faithful, to trust him. Every heart of the individuals we read within Scripture — that's what the story has been about. We can see the faithful hand of God. But then we've also got to walk through that journey. And we experientially learn the truth of who God is as we walk with him.

Which leads me to this, to close. In the 1800s, there was a missionary by the name of Adoniram Judson, and he went to the country of Burma, which is now known as Myanmar. And in the country of Myanmar, he had tremendous struggle. In fact, later in years, he reflected on how difficult it was and how often he just wanted to quit and leave. And for the first six years, he labored there and saw no results, no fruit, only adversity, struggle and pain. He lost his kids. He lost his wife. He was thrown in jail. He was beaten over and over again. He faced tremendous adversity. And oftentimes he thought about quitting.

And I can imagine he's got people that supported him to go out as a missionary, and he would write letters back — pray for me, and here's what's happening. And then he would report, at the end of year one, no one has come to Christ. And then he would go through that torture again. He would be thrown in jail, he'd be beaten, his family would suffer with sickness, and some of them die. And then at the end of year two, he would write back, and oh, by the way, no one has come to know Christ. You'd think by the time he wrote his letter after the fifth year, he might be thinking, I should probably just go back home. And people are probably writing to him — have you considered quitting yet? Maybe you should just give up. But he didn't. And in year six, he saw his first convert — the first individual to give their life to Jesus. And by the end of his life, he saw thousands trust Christ as their Savior.

Because we don't know how God's going to use our life, and maybe thousands come to know him. Maybe not. But can I just tell you that your job is not to produce the fruit? That's God's job. Your job is to be faithful and to abide. And as you abide in him, God does this beautiful work of shaping you into the person he's called you to be. That spiritual formation, that redemption in the Lord, that identity in him, that humility that is really strength under control, so that we could live for his purpose.