CROSSING OVER
Historian Daniel Boorstin tells us about an interesting shift that occurred in the 19th century: we stopped calling people who went on trips travelers and started calling them tourists.
A “traveler” literally means “one who travails.” He labors, suffers and endures. A traveler is someone who went through great difficulties to get somewhere important. He would immerse himself in the new culture, learn the language of the place he was in, and eat what’s set before him. He may never go back to where he came from.
A “tourist,” on the other hand, is “one who goes in circles.” He is taking an exotic detour on the way home. He is only passing through so he samples food but does not adopt it. He may pick up a few phrases of the language but doesn’t need to immerse himself in it. He is, after all, only visiting.
Mark Buchanan says we have made a similar shift in the church. At some point we stopped calling Christians disciples and started calling them believers. A disciple is one who follows and imitates Jesus. She loses her life in order to find it. She learns the language and culture of Christ until she resembles her Lord and is shaped by his values. She is not the same person she was before and her friends barely recognize her.
A believer is not so radical. She holds certain beliefs, but how deep these go depends on her mood. She wonders if her faith has made any difference in her life. She feels alone and disappointed at times, maybe a little afraid. Friends would say she has not changed much.
If you are a disciple you are a believer, but you can be a believer without being a disciple. You can hold membership in a church, say the right things, do the right things, and still not follow Jesus.
Buchanan says that the kingdom of God is made up of travailers but the church is largely populated with tourists. The kingdom is full of disciples, but the church with believers. No wonder we feel like we are going in circles.[i]
The children of Israel were acting like tourists in the narrative of Exodus 14. When you grow tired or anxious about the journey a tourist can always go back. They definitely wanted to go back home, even to Egypt. But the Lord had called them to be travelers, to leave behind one life and receive another.
As in all journeys there were obstacles. The greatest obstacle to reaching the new destination was themselves.
**Note: this sermon is not the usual exegetical style but rather takes a theme that was prominent in my heart as I read the text.
1. Leaving the Land of Hard Hearts
Part of going on a journey of this magnitude is sacrifice. You have to leave the past behind, leave the “old man” at home and journey forward.
For Israel, leaving Egypt and the life of slavery was more than walking out the door free and clear. They also had to leave behind the attitude of slavery. Physically they were free; mentally they were still in chains to old thinking.
They lived in a land of hard hearts. The Egyptians did not believe in Yahweh, and when you live in a culture that is resistant to God, that attitude of unbelief wears on you. It is extremely difficult to fight that influence. When you are outnumbered by unbelievers we tend to keep quiet about faith.
In our text we read that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart and that Pharaoh hardened his own heart. What does it mean to have a hard heart? And does God do the hardening or do we?
a) The process of hardening the heart – If we study the concordance we will see that the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart occurs 14 times in Exodus. Six times it says that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart; three times he hardened his own heart; and five times it is indefinite. One thing is clear: the hardening of one’s heart is a process. Pharaoh’s heart was not hardened once but repeatedly.
b) The origin of the hard heart – A hard heart is a heart that has become calloused and unreceptive to the presence and command of God. We say that God hardens the heart, and he does, but when God hardens a person’s heart he does not cause the person to think and do other than what that person is inclined to do. God doesn’t make us sin. Pharaoh never wanted to let the Israelites go, and God hardened his heart so that he would pursue the Israelites after he released them. Pharaoh was already predisposed to do that; God just gave him a nudge.
We see this in verses 4-5: the Lord said, “And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will pursue them…” and then when the king of Egypt discovered they had left “Pharaoh and his officials changed their minds.” So people harden their hearts which results in sin, but they also sin which results in a hardened heart.
c) Hard hearts are blind hearts – A hard heart actually dulls the senses and clouds judgment. One of the peculiar scenes of our text is that the Egyptian army went headlong after the Israelites into the divided sea. The only explanation that is given for this foolhardy charge is the Lord saying he will harden their hearts so that they will go in after them (14:17). When you see the God of your enemy doing a marvelous thing like holding back millions of liters of water so that they can go through a sea on dry ground you probably would think twice about chasing them. But the minds of the Egyptians were blinded by hard-heartedness so that reason took a holiday.
This is how people become trapped in their sins. A hard heart will not see the danger of repeated visits to a forbidden website. Uncontrolled rage can blind us to its consequences. Hearts harden; sin blinds.
d) Hard-heartedness can be contagious – It doesn’t say this anywhere in the narrative. To have a hard heart towards God is human nature. I believe that it is also contagious in the sense that when a group of people resist the Lord repeatedly and agree together on a godless course of action that many others will be affected. I think that the Israelites learned to be a little Egyptian in their hearts having lived with them for 400 years. And it would take time for them to shake that attitude and be transformed in their minds to be a people of God.
We see the evidence of Israel’s hard hearts later in Exodus. Psalm 95 warned God’s people not to harden their hearts as they did at Meribah, a reference to an incident when the people rebelled against God. Why did they rebel? Because of unbelief and lack of trust in the God who delivered them. The poison of hard-heartedness spread to everyone, and everyone rebelled against God.
e) God can use hard hearts – Even when a person hardens their heart God finds a way to use that heart. The Lord said, “And I will gain glory through Pharaoh and all his army, through his chariots and his horsemen” (14:17b). God had three purposes in hardening the hearts of Pharaoh and his men. One was the release of Israel from Egypt; Two, that God would be glorified through these events; and Three, that Egypt and the world would know that God is LORD.[ii]
While I was researching for this sermon I ran across an amateur archaeologist who claimed to have found the actual crossing site at the Red Sea. There were photos of chariot wheels covered in coral and scientific data to show why this was the exact site. I was pumped to show this stuff to you. Then I ran across websites that called all of this a hoax.
I guess I wanted to bring the Red Sea Crossing to life for you and prove that it was real. That’s why I got excited initially about this material. Then I thought, why do I have to prove this story was fact? Did I not believe it myself? I realized that my heart was hard to the truth of this crossing and that God would actually part a vast body of water for his people.
The biblical record is right here. I don’t have to prove that it was real. It was an historical event that took place. What is required of us is to believe, to have soft hearts that receive what God can do.
Hard-heartedness has trouble accepting this truth. It is also unwilling to apologize or confess sin; it is unwilling to see another’s point of view; it is unwilling to forgive; and it is unwilling to obey God’s clear commands.
2. Standing Clueless before God
I suppose we should not be too hard on ourselves. After all, the Israelites had a lot to learn about having believing hearts too.
When Pharaoh decided to give chase and round up two million straying people with only 600 chariots, he caught them between a rock and a hard place. To the east was the sea, to the south and west were the mountains, and the north was blocked by Pharaoh’s army.
Israel’s reaction to seeing battle chariots drawing down on them was to be expected. “They were terrified and cried out to the LORD” (10b). Then they turned on Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt?” (14:11).
There’s the tourist. When Israel left Egypt they were ecstatic to leave slavery and become a nation. They were loaded with booty from Egyptians just wanting to get rid of them. They were “on top of the world” giddy. God is good. Then they find themselves trapped in an insurmountable situation and anything they believed or learned about God disappeared in a cloud of fear.
Moses, to his credit, offers good counsel. “Do not be afraid. 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” (13-14).
Wow what inspiring words. Don’t be afraid. Stand still. Look for God’s deliverance. Moses is looking out at the army of Pharaoh and thinking God is going to rain fire on them or something. Either way, God will fight for you. So just wait, he says.
Moses is still learning. Israel is still learning. Hey, we are still learning too.
God says, “MOVE!” The LORD says to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on. Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground” (14:15-16).
Let’s take a moment to review this. Moses knew that God had led them to a place where they were boxed in and trapped as it were. The pillar of fire and the cloud of God’s glory had led the way. God told Moses he was going to glorify himself with Pharaoh’s army and lead them to Canaan. Moses also knew that God had given him power in his staff. Therefore, Moses should have known that the only way out was through the sea – the direction of Canaan.
God loves when we use our heads and reason things out. Moses should have done that – reasoned out the situation – and figured out what God wanted him to do without asking for guidance. But isn’t that what we do often? We ask God for guidance when it is plainly obvious what we should be doing.
This is the reaction of a tough heart – not hard necessarily – and a dull mind. We pray when we should move. We ask God to speak into our friend’s heart when he wants us to speak into our friend’s heart about him. Move! As you move God softens your heart to the things of God. But you got to move.
3. Following the Lord where he leads
We love to be in control. If any of us had a choice of being a passenger in the car or a driver, most of us would choose to be a driver. This is especially true if you know where you are going and the driver does not.
Look at the “driving” of God. In 13:17-22, God does not take the short route, he does not want them to face war with the Philistines, but leads them through the desert. Then after going south, God leads them back up north and pins them against the sea (14:2). Clearly God does not have a map.
We question the Driver don’t we? What are you doing God? Where are you leading me?
But look, God’s direction and plan may not make sense to us in the present moment but it will. The LORD told Moses, “Pharaoh will think, ‘The Israelites are wandering around the land in confusion, hemmed in by the desert” (14:3). Pharaoh then sets out to trap Israel and falls into God’s trap instead.
One thing I have learned from our study of Exodus this summer is that the LORD is very involved in this narrative. The LORD is not absent, or sitting on his throne way up in heaven. The LORD is not deaf or dull to the plight of his people. The LORD is not impotent or unwilling or unable to fight for his people. On the contrary, the LORD has his hands all over this journey.
Moses is told to stretch his hand over the sea and the LORD sends an east wind to open up the water and turn it into dry land (21). The LORD throws the Egyptians into confusion; he makes the wheels come off the chariots; he creates terror in their hearts so that they know it is the LORD fighting against them (24-25). Then the LORD sweeps the Egyptians away into the sea and drowns them, none surviving (26-28).
Egyptians lay dead all over the shore, no longer able to terrify the Israelites, no longer able to bring them back into slavery, and no longer a threat to their hopes and dreams. They are dead. “And when the Israelites saw the great power the LORD displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the LORD and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant” (4:31). The great thaw has begun; the hardened heart is softening.
God may lead us in strange paths, uncomfortable ways, even into painful experiences, but he is still leading us. He knows the way through the wilderness, all we have to do is follow. “The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing…” (Psalm 23).
Conclusion
This summer we have rehearsed the story of Moses and the Exodus. Three events stand out for me this morning: Passover – the sacrifice of the lamb with the blood smeared over the door to protect the firstborn from the angel of death; the Red Sea Crossing – passing through the water which meant both life and death depending on whose side you were on; and the Journey to the Promised Land – we haven’t studied this yet (maybe next summer) but freedom comes with a cost as we will see.
Can you see the metaphor?
First we have the lamb that was slain, and the Lamb that was slain for us in the person of Jesus Christ. This is our salvation, our deliverance from the slavery to our sins and hard heartedness.
Then we have the Red Sea which symbolizes our baptism into the death and life of Christ. We have passed through leaving the old life behind where we resisted God and have come through as new people, a people of God who follow after Jesus.
Finally, we have the journey ahead of us and we press on through the wilderness of life to lay hold of God’s promises.
People, because you are sitting here today I am assuming you are “saved.” You have crossed over. The question I pose to you as you go away from this sanctuary this morning is this: Are you a traveler or a tourist? Are you immersing yourself in the language of Christ, the character and customs of our Lord, and the transforming power of his presence? Are you taste testing or are you gorging on the bread of life and digesting him into your life? Are you a believer in Jesus or are you a disciple of Christ?
If you have crossed over, been baptized in the water and the blood, then you will be different. If you are not different then may I suggest that your heart is hard and resistant to what the Holy Spirit wants to do in you and where God wants to lead you.
But you don’t have to remain hard hearted. The first step is admitting your resistance to Jesus; the second is to truly cross over, to leave the old life behind and welcome the new life in Christ. “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Cor 5:17).
To the hard hearted God has said, “I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh” (Ezek 11:19).
Leave your heart with God today and walk out of here with the joy of the Lord.
AMEN
No comments:
Post a Comment