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Exodus
2:23-3:15 The call of Moses
1 Corinthians 13:1-13 The way of love
Mark 9:14-29 Epileptic child healed
The king of Egypt
died, and a new Pharaoh reigned, but conditions did not improve for the
Hebrew people. They cried out to God under their oppression, and God
heard their cry. God knew their burdens and their sufferings, and he
remembered his covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Moses was
tending the flock of his father-in-law Jethro
in Midian and came to Mount Horeb (Sinai) the mountain of God. Moses saw a bush burning
with fire, yet without being consumed by the fire.
Moses went to see it
more closely, and God spoke to him out of the burning bush. God told
him to take off his shoes, for the ground on which he stood was holy.
God identified himself to Moses as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God. God told
Moses that he had seen the plight of his people at the hands of the
Egyptians, and had come to deliver them and to bring them out of Egypt
to their own land, which “flowed with milk and honey.”
God told
Moses that Moses was to go to Pharaoh and bring the Hebrew people out
of Egypt.
Moses asked “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the sons of
Israel out of Egypt?”
(Exodus 3:11). But God promised to be with Moses, and told him that
when Moses had led the people out, they would worship God on this
mountain. Moses asked God for his name, so that he could tell the
people who had sent him. God said “I am who I am” and told Moses to say
“I am has sent me…’ (Exodus 3:14). God also told Moses that he was to
be remembered as the Lord (YHWH; “Yahweh;” “He causes to be”), “the God
of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of
Jacob” (Exodus 3:15).
If one speaks in the tongues of men and angels (the spiritual gift of
tongues) but have not love, the result is irritating noise, rather than
being spiritually uplifting and enlightening. The greatest prophetic
powers, spiritual enlightenment, and faith (more spiritual gifts
mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12) are all ineffective without love. The
greatest sacrifice and martyrdom count for nothing if done for
self-aggrandizement, for example, instead of love. Love is patient,
kind; not jealous, boastful, arrogant or rude; not selfish, irritable
or resentful. Love does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in what is
right. Love bears, believes, hopes and endures all things.
Love is
eternal. Tongues, knowledge, prophesy (the spiritual gifts) will all
pass away, because we are not yet perfected. Spiritually we are like
children; our spiritual ways are not fully mature. We won’t be fully
mature until we enter Heaven. Now we have only partial understanding;
now we see only a dim reflection. In Heaven we will attain the
perfection of understanding, and we can take comfort in knowing that
God has that kind of perfect understanding of us now. Faith, hope and
love are eternal, but the greatest eternal value of all is love.
When Jesus, Peter, James and John returned from the mountain of
transfiguration, they found the rest of the disciples involved in an
argument over an unsuccessful attempt to heal an epileptic boy. Jesus
had them bring the boy to him, and the boy fell down and began
convulsing. Jesus asked, and the boy’s father told him the boy had had
the condition from childhood. The boy’s father asked Jesus to help him
“if” Jesus could. Jesus replied that Jesus’ help depended on the man’s
faith. Nothing is impossible to him who believes in Jesus. Immediately
the father said, “I believe; help my unbelief!” Seeing the crowd, Jesus
commanded the unclean spirit to leave the boy. The boy convulsed and
became so still that the crowd thought he had died, but Jesus took him
by the hand and lifted him and the boy stood up. When the disciples
were alone with Jesus they asked why they hadn’t been able to heal the
boy, and Jesus told them that this kind of sickness can be healed only
by prayer.
Moses was living the life of a simple shepherd in the wilderness, when
God called him to speak God’s word to Pharaoh and lead God’s people out
of bondage and oppression in Egypt into the Promised
Land. Moses didn’t think he was qualified, but God promised to be with
him. All that Moses needed to do was to trust and obey the Lord; the
Lord would do the rest. The Lord is the God who is; eternally existent;
the God who causes all things to be. Moses is an illustration of the
Christ; the shepherd who comes to lead his people out of bondage to sin
in the Egypt of this present world order to the eternal Promised Land
of the kingdom of God in Heaven.
Paul was correcting the Corinthian church. The members were making
social divisions among the membership in part on the basis of spiritual
gifts. Since all the spiritual gifts are given and empowered by the
Holy Spirit to build up the body of Christ which is the Church, how can
believers take credit for the ability and make divisions within the
church based on them. Their behavior indicated their lack of spiritual
maturity and Christian love. The greatest spiritual gift and the
greatest eternal value is Christian love. It is not the ordinary human
love, but a love which is only possible through the transforming power
of the indwelling Spirit of Jesus. Sadly, there are still divisions
within the body of Christ based on distinctions about spiritual gifts.
Nothing is impossible for Jesus! The issue is whether we trust and obey
Jesus. If we believe in him and allow him to lead and direct us, he
will enable us to do what he asks. While some of the disciples had been
off on the mountaintop having a spiritual experience with Jesus, the
others were arguing over doctrine and trying to meet spiritual needs in
their own human abilities, instead of instead of bringing the problem
to Jesus in prayer and faith.
The issue isn’t how much faith one has.
When the father asked Jesus to heal the son “if he could” the man was
trying to “wait and see;” he was looking for proof in order to commit
to faith in Jesus. Jesus was telling him that he had it backwards; if
he wanted to see, he had to trust in Jesus first. Just being willing to
trust Jesus, a simple ‘yes,’ is sufficient. The father made the
commitment to trust in Jesus and asked Jesus to increase and solidify
his faith, which Jesus is abundantly willing and able to do. The boy’s
condition was believed to be caused by an unclean spirit which caused
him to do things which were self-destructive (Mark 9:22a). Do you have
an unclean spirit which causes you to do things that will destroy you?
The call of God to Moses is also God’s call to us. Have you said ‘yes”
to Jesus? Are you heading for the Promised Land, or are you enslaved in
Egypt?
Are you trusting and obeying Jesus, or are you trying to get along in
your own strength? Do you prefer to spend you time in mountaintop
spiritual retreats away from everyday life; or perhaps you get involved
in arguing religion; or do you bring people to Jesus in faith?
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