Responding to Setbacks

Sermon from CCM Ladybarn
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LISTEN

This sermon was preached by Andy Brownlee at the Ladybarn site of Christ Church Manchester on Sunday 2nd June 2019.

SERIES

This message was part of the ‘SERIES NAME’ series, preached at Christ Church Manchester’s church in Withington in EARLY/MID/LATE YEAR. The full series included the following sermons:

BIBLE VERSES

This sermon was based on Exodus 5:22 – 7:7.

Making Bricks Without Straw

22Then Moses turned to the Lord and said, “O Lord, why have you done evil to this people? Why did you ever send me? 23For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has done evil to this people, and you have not delivered your people at all.”

God Promises Deliverance

1But the Lord said to Moses, “Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh; for with a strong hand he will send them out, and with a strong hand he will drive them out of his land.”
2God spoke to Moses and said to him, “I am the Lord. 3I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by my name the Lord I did not make myself known to them. 4I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they lived as sojourners. 5Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the people of Israel whom the Egyptians hold as slaves, and I have remembered my covenant. 6Say therefore to the people of Israel, ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment. 7I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. 8I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. I will give it to you for a possession. I am the Lord.'” 9Moses spoke thus to the people of Israel, but they did not listen to Moses, because of their broken spirit and harsh slavery.
10So the Lord said to Moses, 11“Go in, tell Pharaoh king of Egypt to let the people of Israel go out of his land.” 12But Moses said to the Lord, “Behold, the people of Israel have not listened to me. How then shall Pharaoh listen to me, for I am of uncircumcised lips?” 13But the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron and gave them a charge about the people of Israel and about Pharaoh king of Egypt: to bring the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt.

The Genealogy of Moses and Aaron

14These are the heads of their fathers’ houses: the sons of Reuben, the firstborn of Israel: Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi; these are the clans of Reuben. 15The sons of Simeon: Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Shaul, the son of a Canaanite woman; these are the clans of Simeon. 16These are the names of the sons of Levi according to their generations: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari, the years of the life of Levi being 137 years. 17The sons of Gershon: Libni and Shimei, by their clans. 18The sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel, the years of the life of Kohath being 133 years. 19The sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi. These are the clans of the Levites according to their generations. 20Amram took as his wife Jochebed his father’s sister, and she bore him Aaron and Moses, the years of the life of Amram being 137 years. 21The sons of Izhar: Korah, Nepheg, and Zichri. 22The sons of Uzziel: Mishael, Elzaphan, and Sithri. 23Aaron took as his wife Elisheba, the daughter of Amminadab and the sister of Nahshon, and she bore him Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. 24The sons of Korah: Assir, Elkanah, and Abiasaph; these are the clans of the Korahites. 25Eleazar, Aaron’s son, took as his wife one of the daughters of Putiel, and she bore him Phinehas. These are the heads of the fathers’ houses of the Levites by their clans.
26These are the Aaron and Moses to whom the Lord said: “Bring out the people of Israel from the land of Egypt by their hosts.” 27It was they who spoke to Pharaoh king of Egypt about bringing out the people of Israel from Egypt, this Moses and this Aaron.
28On the day when the Lord spoke to Moses in the land of Egypt, 29the Lord said to Moses, “I am the Lord; tell Pharaoh king of Egypt all that I say to you.” 30But Moses said to the Lord, “Behold, I am of uncircumcised lips. How will Pharaoh listen to me?”

Moses and Aaron Before Pharaoh

1And the Lord said to Moses, “See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron shall be your prophet. 2You shall speak all that I command you, and your brother Aaron shall tell Pharaoh to let the people of Israel go out of his land. 3But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, 4Pharaoh will not listen to you. Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and bring my hosts, my people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great acts of judgment. 5The Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring out the people of Israel from among them.” 6Moses and Aaron did so; they did just as the Lord commanded them. 7Now Moses was eighty years old, and Aaron eighty-three years old, when they spoke to Pharaoh.

KEY POINTS

Come to God

  • The first thing Moses does when he faces this setback is: he comes to God. Verse 22 says: he returned to the Lord. This hadn’t always been his response when setbacks happened. When he killed the Egyptian in Chapter 1 he didn’t come to God No, he did the opposite and ran away. This time though he comes to God.

  • When he comes to God he shares everything he’s feeling, he lays it all out. We see that in verse 22: he says: Why, Lord, why have you brought trouble on this people? Is this why you sent me? 23 Ever since I went to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has brought trouble on this people, and you have not rescued your people at all. He’s pretty straight with God, it’s not a very British prayer, it’s not very polite but it is honest. You know God’s not afraid of our honesty. In fact he wants it. He’s much more interested in us sharing what’s going on in our hearts than us being polite.

  • Often when setbacks happen it’s so easy to just sulk and mope and feel sorry for ourselves Or to devise a strategy of how to fix things. But you know God loves it when we just come to him with our setbacks. When we bring it to him before anyone else. When setbacks happen and they will, before you go anywhere else Come to God. You might be surprised at what he does.

Believe the Truth

  • God’s response to Moses coming to him is to remind him of the Truth about who he is and what he will do. Verses 6-8 begins and ends with God saying: ‘I am the Lord’ and in between he says ‘I will’ 7 times. These 7 promises of God. 7 things he says I will do it;

    I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. 

    I will free you from being slaves to them, and

    I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. 

    I will take you as my own people, and

    I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. And

    I will bring you to the land I swore with uplifted hand to give to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. 

    I will give it to you as a possession.

  • It’s really important for us to believe the truth not just about who God is but who we are. It’s so important for us as Christians to believe both of these two truths, we are sinners yet we are Loved by God, so much so that he sent Jesus to die for us. When we lose sight of the fact we are sinners we get proud, arrogant, when we lose sight of the fact that we are loved by God we fall into despair.

  • It has been said that the Biggest distance in the world is from the head to heart. Often we believe the truth in our heads but not our hearts. How do we drive the truth deep into our hearts? I find it helpful to read verses from the Bible that remind me of who I am in Christ over and over again. I’ll memorise them and say them myself when I’m out. sometimes I sing songs to remind myself of who I am.

Get Back in The Game

  • It’s so easy when setbacks come to get knocked out of the game, to give up. That’s not what Moses and Aaron did. After being hit with this setback they came to God, believed the truth and got back in the game. Then God tells them to go back to Pharoah and have another go and verse 6 says this: Moses and Aaron did just as the Lord commanded them.

  • It’s so important after we have hit a setback to get back in the game. Sometimes we need a bit of stubbornness for the Lord in this, I’m going to keep reading my bible, keep praying, keep sharing my faith, Keep serving, I’m going to keep plodding.

  • We’ve been talking today about responding to setbacks, when things go wrong. The reality is the biggest setback ever to beset this world was sin, Jesus came to break the curse of sin and death so that if we come to God and say sorry for our sins and believe that he can save us – he saves us and calls us to get in the game, living for him, obeying him going and making disciples of all nations, feeding the poor, being generous, acting justly and one day he says I will come again and take you to be with me to the place that I have prepared for you .

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