Sunday, July 18, 2010

Immaturity to maturity (Hebrews 5:11-6:3)

7/19/2010 CMC Sunday message

My youngest girl started to take the baby steps; I think in about a month, she will be walking; very soon, we will be chasing after her running away from us.  But, before she can confidently walk, there will be a lot of practice of walking while holding daddy’s and mommy’s hands as well as her older sister’s hands.  I also fully expect that she will fall down more than she has ever done now that she is learning to walk. The wobbly, unbalanced, overly dramatic movements of her body, her wide and awkward gait for better balance, they are all part her learning curve towards maturity in walking. When she gets into her groove, you see fire in her eyes. She won’t settle for crawling; she starts to squeal as though trying to communicate to us to come down to her level and to hold her hands so she can practice walking. It is really funny how she doesn’t get tired of keep trying the same thing over and over again. It really is beautiful thing to watch a child mature.

As Christians, growing, maturing process needs to be a natural part of what it means to be Christians. It ought to evoke a sense of beauty and awe as we watch each other take the steps and run towards growth.

But, unfortunately, for too long, our growth has been stunted. We had been on a spiritual autopilot mode, doing the same thing without much purpose, without getting our hearts, our passion involved, simply living off of yesterday’s spiritual growth, just getting by…

But, God has jolted us out of the autopilot mode for the last year. He has brought the perfect storm to our church and we had to disengage the autopilot mode.

clip_image002I would compare what we have gone through as a church for the last year as what happened in the movie, The Incredible. Do you remember how Elastigirl had to disengage the autopilot because her plane carrying her children Dash and Violet was about to be shot down by the missiles?  Do you remember the mayhem, the panic?

Not too long ago, the family’s objective was to blend into the rest of the world. They have gone underground. Elastigirl was just a mom trying desperately to hold her family together, Dash was a little boy who just wanted to run as fast he could, clip_image004Violet was a shy and insecure girl, and Mr. Incredible was miserable, bored out of his mind, constantly day dreaming of what he could be doing. But, their vanilla flavor life as usual came apart when Mr. Incredible answered the call to the life of adventure.

There are quite the similarities between us and the story line. They were jolted out of the comfortable, anonymous, risk free, bland vanilla flavor life into the life of adventure. They were without soul, without passion, but the crises awakened them to the life of mission, the life with purpose.

We no longer have the comfortable suburban church building to hold our services. Now, it takes much more sweat and time just to setup to meet together, but only to take down everything. We no longer can lean on our parents’ generation to take care of us. We cannot any longer hide behind the pretension that everything is okay; no, we have to deal with our fear and fog factors head on. We are out of our comfort zone; we are now in an uncharted and risky territory. But, what we have now that we didn’t have before is that we are on adventure together, we are on a mission together. We lost our passion and soul, but now we see something, perhaps dimly, but still we see our hearts, our souls engaging. God is awakening us to the life of adventure.

That’s what we see in Hebrews 5 and 6. The writer was trying to awaken the Christians out of the immaturity into the maturity, risk free life to the life of adventure to fulfill God’s mission.

Hebrews 5:11-14 explains their immaturity, their stunted growth. Verse 11 says they were slow to learn. It means they became dull and unresponsive to the word of God. It means they had neglected to hear from God’s word and they had stopped believing in his word. They stopped dreaming their lives in God’s promise, in what God can do through them.

And, because they stopped dreaming the life of adventure with God, they saw no leaders emerging out of them; no one was burdened with God’s mission; no one was burdened to teach others to commit to God’s mission; and, because their hearts were not into the mission of God, they were spiritually insensitive and dull; they were unable to choose truly good life instead, life was all about them. Because their souls were not awakened to the mission of God, they could only think of what’s in it for them.

Babies requiring milk requires high maintenance. They are helpless unless someone else feeds them, changes their dirty diapers, and helps them to even sleep. New Christians are like babies that take milk. But, it becomes a weird thing when the grownups still suck down a Sippy cup with milk in it and act like helpless babies needing constant help and attention; instead, maturity should drive them to rigorous training to become contributing members of their society.

Hebrews 6:1-3 continues the same theme, but now focuses on maturity. Maturity means leaving the elementary teachings about Christ and go onto maturity. What were the elementary teachings about Christ? It involved repentance, faith, baptism, laying on of the hands, resurrection, eternal judgment. I don’t think the writer is saying these are no longer important matters for Christians and they don’t need them any more in their lives.

A commentator explains it like this. As a child we learn alphabet and phonics. But, it is not enough for a child to know how to recite alphabets and know their sounds. The knowledge of alphabets and phonics become the building block to the next level of growth. It opens the door for a child to read simple children’s books, but soon a child will be able to read C. S. Lewis’s Narnia series, be able to read the Bible.[i]

The basic fundamental knowledge and beliefs of Christianity need to produce in us the life of righteousness, the life of vigorous training to discern good from evil, the life of diligence instead of laziness according to Hebrews 6:11-12.

Movement from immaturity to maturity is about moving away from seeking what’s in it for you to what’s in it for God and for others; it is about moving away from your own mission to God’s mission; it is about moving away from what you want to see in your life to what God wants to see in your life and through your life. Immaturity to maturity is about moving away from simply possessing Jesus Christ, claiming him for ourselves to sharing Jesus, proclaiming Jesus.

Have we become people who suck up the knowledge about Jesus Christ, clip_image006but never bother sharing Christ with anyone? William Fay has phrase for such phenomenon in his book Sharing Jesus without Fear. He calls it spiritual constipation.

  • The number one solution to immaturity is put sharing Jesus with non-believers as your top priority; as long as you put sharing Jesus as an option, you will remain a immature Christian who never take any kind of risk for Jesus, who cannot handle being rejection for him, who will continue to deny Jesus with your silence about him.
  • Embracing the call to maturity also means you and I share Jesus with each other. We need to live out his gospel, his good news with each other. Jesus said that the world will know that he has sent us by the way we love one another in his love. I got some soul searching to do and you have some soul searching to do in regard to the state of our relationships. We’ve got to step up our effort to love and care for each other.

Sharing Jesus with non-believers, sharing Jesus with each other is what maturity looks like. Is there such thing as a healthy Christian who doesn’t share Jesus Christ? Is there such thing as a successful Christian who doesn’t obey the mandate to share Jesus? Can you be a mature Christian if you read the Bible, if you pray, if you come to church, if you go to life groups/small groups, but you don’t share Jesus?  No, without actively sharing Jesus with others, it is only an illusion to think that we can become healthy, growing, maturing Christian. 

Here is a story about a group of tourists visiting a picturesque village. They walked by an old man sitting beside a fence. In a rather patronizing way, one tourist asked, "Were any great person born in this village?" The old man replied, "Nope, only babies."

We were all born as babies requiring milk, but we are not babies any more, are we? We had to learn alphabets, but we can read great books now, can’t we? For years, having spent a lot of time listening to sermons, reading the Bible, praying, and somehow, have we convinced ourselves we are spiritual healthy? But, are we really healthy? Or, have we simply reduced Jesus as our little savior who exits to make us happy, make us feel good about ourselves? Can we be healthy and mature Christians if we don’t share with others about Jesus our Savior, who went to the cross to be killed in order to give himself for us and for the world?

What practical steps can you take towards maturity?  How can you grow in sharing Jesus with others. 


[i] Adeyemo, T. (2006). Africa Bible commentary (1523). Nairobi, Kenya; Grand Rapids, MI.: WordAlive Publishers; Zondervan.

Sunday, July 11, 2010

The Fog Factor (Matthew 16:21-17:8)

7/11/2010 CMC Sunday message

image Florence May Chadwick was a U.S. long-distance, open-water swimmer. She was most famous for being the first woman to swim 23 miles across the English Channel between England and France in both directions.

On July 4, 1952, at the age of 34, she attempted to be the first woman to swim 21 miles across the Catalina Channel, from Catalina Island to Palos Verde on the California coast. The weather was unfavorable, the ocean was ice cold, the fog was so dense she could hardly see her support boats that followed her, and the sharks prowled around her. But, for 15 hours and 55 minutes she swam over twenty and half miles. She had only aimage half mile to go. But, she gave up.

Later Chadwick told a reporter, “Look, I’m not excusing myself, but if I could have seen land I know I could have made it.”[1]

Can you imagine giving up the race after swimming for almost 16 hours, perhaps only twenty or thirty minutes left to go? Twenty and half miles behind you, and only a half mile to go, but she lost her heart, she lost her courage, she gave up, she sunk deep into her own despair and couldn’t climb out of it to finish the race.

Guys, we’ve been through so much together for this past year. By December of last year, we were about to be blown apart into many fragments. The dense fog descended upon us and we weren’t able to see where we were going. We got discouraged and confused. But, as a ray of light breaks through a dark cloud, God broke through our confusion and discouragement with his vision. We began to dream together that we don’t have to repeat the passionless and joyless church life. Starting with me and to you, God began to show us that our lives are to be the display of his glory, the display of what he can do and how he can change us through his Son, Jesus Christ. And, God began to awaken us to the life of church that is neither about you nor about me, but church that is all about what God can do through broken and massed up people like you and me to transform the world. We’ve come a long way together to be here.

But, the danger of fog remains, the fog that can easily rob our vision and courage and derail our journey together. My goal this morning is to help you deal with the fog factor. First, we are going to see how Jesus understood his identity and his mission with clarity and without the fog of confusion. And, later, we are going to see the fog factor through Peter’s response to Jesus’ mission.

God’s revelation of Jesus’ identity

Let’s get right to it shall we? Peter made the most amazing discovery about the identity of Jesus Christ. Peter didn’t make the discovery because he was a really smart guy. No, Jesus made it clear in Matthew 16:17 that it was his Father in heaven who revealed to Peter about the identity of Jesus Christ his Son. It was the Father who revealed to Peter about his Son that Jesus is the Christ (the anointed), the Son of the living God. The way Jesus fed thousands of people out of few bread and fish, the way Jesus healed the blinds, the way Jesus casted out demons, the way Jesus forgave sins… Jesus was the Anointed Son of the living God.

Jesus’ declaration of his mission

Now that Jesus’ identity was revealed by the Father in heaven, it was the right time for Jesus to let his disciples in on his mission. It was the time for Jesus to help his disciples understand how his identity would determine what he was going to do with his life. It was the time for his disciples to see the complete agreement between his identity and his mission, what he must do with his life.

Jesus understood who he was and what he must do early on. When he was twelve years old, Mary and Joseph took Jesus to the annual pilgrimage to the temple in Jerusalem. After they made the visitation, they left go home. Least Mary and Joseph thought it so until they discovered that Jesus was missing for a whole day. The amber alert went off and they searched for him for the next two agonizing days, worrying to death. Finally, they found him in the temple courts, mingling with the teachers of the law; twelve years old boy was discoursing with the teachers about the grownup issues. It was like finding a sixth grader talking to the professors of theology in a divinity school. People were amazed by how smart he was; but Marry and Joseph, they weren’t impressed because they’ve been half out of their minds looking for him. They questioned Jesus in bewilderment, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you” (Luke 2:48).

And, Jesus equally bewildered by their worries asked them, “Why were you searching for me? Didn’t you know that I had to be in my Father’s house?” (Luke 2:49) Do you see it the language of must in Jesus’ words? “Don’t you know that I have to be in my Father’s house?” Whenever you hear someone talking with “I have to” attitude, you know that person means business. It wasn’t that Jesus stumbled into the temple courts accidentally after losing his way. No, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem purposely because he was compelled to be in the presence of his Father, compelled with the Father’s business. He knew who he was, he knew to whom he belonged, and he knew exactly what he wanted to do in life.

Now coming back to our passage, Jesus revealed clearly what he must do with his life as the Christ, the Son of the living God. Matthew 16:21, “From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.”[2]

Jesus’ language of “must” tells us that he meant business, he meant what he must do with his life, he meant his mission. And to Jesus the mission was not optional; it was not something he would do if he felt like doing it or something he could abandon in a heartbeat if things became too uncomfortable, uneasy, and unbearable. To be true to his identity meant to be true to his mission without deviation. That is why Jesus began his journey towards Jerusalem with the “must” attitude. It didn’t matter that false accusation, the illogical madness and rejection and ultimately the most horrifying form of execution waited him in Jerusalem. His journey towards Jerusalem that began with the “must” attitude ended in Jerusalem on the cross.

The crucifixion was the most feared forms of execution. Romans used it very effectively to deter any kind of rebellion or insurrection in their empire. The condemned was forced to carry a crossbeam to the scene of crucifixion. And, there at the execution site, the condemned was nailed to the crossbeam and also to the upright beam. Then the whole cross was lifted into place,[3] so that the condemned would die most painfully.

His last words having accomplished resolutely what he set out to do nailed on the cross with the “must” attitude, were, “It is finished” according to John 19:30. With these words, Jesus bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

Do you know what was beneath Jesus’ “I must go” attitude towards the cross? Romans 5:6-7 tells us what drove Jesus’ death wish. It says, “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrated his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Jesus’ mission was determined by who he was. And, Jesus was the Son of the living God who was deeply in love with you and me, with the people. He loved so much that he had to do something about the predicament of humanity facing hell in sins. Out of that love, out of that compassion, the mission of God was born, to die the horrible death of crucifixion in my place, in your place, in our neighbors’ place, in our colleagues’ place, in our families’ place to be condemned for our sins; he died the death of crucifixion to display the power of God to raise him from the power of death and thereby to raise you and me to life from the power of death and sin.

For Jesus, the mission was very clear; the land was in plain sight for Jesus because he was driven by love for you and me, for the people. His “must” attitude toward the cross was continually renewed and fueled by his love and his compassion for the hell bound world. He wasn’t asking, “What’s in for me?” Instead, he poured himself out, he emptied himself out and became obedient to death even death on a cross (Philippians 2:8).

Do you have the “must” attitude of Jesus? Do you have the death wish like that of Jesus? Is your life about pouring yourself out, emptying yourself out for God’s mission for the world because you love the Savior who did it for us and for the world? Or, are you asking, “What’s in for me?”

The fog factor

Jesus always knew who he was and what he must do, but there was a dense fog of confusion in Peter’s mind about Jesus’ identity and his mission.

When Jesus declared to the disciples that as the Son of the living God, his mission was to die the horrible death of crucifixion for the world and to be raised from the dead, Peter jumped and started rebuking Jesus.

Peter was so convinced that Jesus was out of his mind to talk about his death wish like this. Peter was convinced that he needed to shake Jesus out of this “must” attitude to suffer to and to die.

Peter thought he had to protect Jesus from the silly obsession with suffering and dying. Peter thought he was looking out for Jesus’ comfort and safety, but what he ended up becoming a stumbling block to Jesus who was determined to accomplish God’s mission.

A. B. Bruce wrote what is very perceptive about the situation here. He wrote, “Jesus recognizes here His old enemy in a new and even more dangerous form. For none are more formidable instruments of temptation than well-meaning friends, who care more for our comfort than for our character.”[4] So, here we see Peter, well-meaning friend, caring for Jesus’ comfort more than his character, caring for safety more that the mission of God. “Heaven forbid, Lord… This will never happen to you.” “Goodness sake, why are you talking about your death like this? Don’t you know that kind of negative thinking and negative talk about yourself will bring down the whole group? So, stop being so darn negative about it and think positively.”

This was Peter who just made the incredible confession about Jesus’ identity with God’s help. How do you understand this dichotomy? Jesus’ identity compelled him to take the most difficult path as the way to fulfill his mission while Peter’s understanding of Jesus’ identity compelled Peter to stop Jesus from going after his mission. Jesus answers it for us in Matthew 16:23. “You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.”

When you have in mind the things of men while ignoring the things of God, you begin to ask, “What’s in for me?” instead of asking “What’s in for God?” You ask, “What can I do?” and feel insecure or feel overconfident instead of asking, “What can God do through me?” with humility. Jesus’ heart was breaking for Peter, for the disciples and for the whole world and he was going to do something about it. But the fog factor clouded Peter from seeing Jesus’ “must” attitude through Jesus’ incredible depth of his compassion.

You see this, “What’s in for me?” attitude in chapter 17. Peter, James and John were given the incredible privilege to the prescreening show up on a high mountain. The prescreening was about Jesus in post-resurrection glory; transfigured with his face shining like the sun, his clothes beaming with white light, accompanied by Moses and Elijah, two great figures of the Old Testament.

And, what was Peter thinking? Matthew 17:4, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters- one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” Didn’t Jesus talk to Peter just a week ago about the fog factor of minding the things of men rather than minding the things of God?

But, here was Peter going after what was in for him. Why go back down to the miserable earthly existence, when I can stay here with Jesus and rest and be fed in his glory and hang out two of the most famous people in the Old Testament? Why go back to Jesus’ negative talk of suffering and dying when this glory can be the reality now?

A week ago, Peter heard mouthful from Jesus for being clouded with “What’s in for me?” question instead of “What’s in for Jesus?” question. Now Peter hears it from God the Father.

“Come on Peter, This is my Son, whom I love; with him and I am well pleased. So, stop questioning him, stop being a stumbling block to carrying out his mission. Instead, I want you to listen to him. I want you to participate in his mission.”

Matthew doesn’t tell us why the transfiguration took place. But, I cannot help but to think if Jesus allowed Peter, James and John, the leaders among the twelve, to the prescreening for his post-resurrection glory to comfort their hearts. They heard Jesus’ mission to suffer, to die and to be raised from the dead. And, he knew it was hard for them to get over his suffering and dying parts. So, here Jesus let them taste the victorious glory beyond his death in resurrection. But, even then, Peter couldn’t stop thinking what was in for him.

Rid of the fog

Guys, as long as you keep asking, “What’s in for me?” you are not going to see the finish line, you are not going to see the land that you’ve been swimming towards, you are not going to see clearly the vision God has for CMC. If you try to make the church exist for you, if you come with the attitude of demands, “What’s church going to do for me?” I guaranty you that you are going to crash and burn.

The way of the cross is pouring out, emptying ourselves for the cause of the Christ. The way of the cross is to stop asking “What’s in for me?” instead begin to ask “What does God want to do through me?” The way of the cross isn’t being afraid of holding back in fear that you are going to burn out. The way of the cross recognizes that being vitalized is to do the will of God as Jesus said, “My food is to do the will of God” John 4:34. The way of the cross means stop formulating your idea of Jesus as your genie and stop trying to fit Jesus into your life. No, the way of the cross demands that we fit our lives around Jesus’ life. We got to fit our lives into Jesus’ identity of love and compassion for the world, his mission to the world.


[1] http://www.answers.com/topic/florence-chadwick

[2] After Jesus had undergone and victoriously emerged out of the devil’s temptation against him, it says in Matthew 4:17, “From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.” This marked the beginning of Jesus’ ministry in the Galilean area. Matthew 16:21 marks the end of the Galilean ministry and the beginning of his mission to Jerusalem. It marks the final steps to accomplish what he came to do on the earth.

[3]Wilkins, M. J. (2004). The NIV Application Commentary: Matthew (571). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.

[4] A. B. Bruce, “The Gospel According to Matthew,” 226.

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Fear Factor (Exodus 3-4:17)

Cornerstone Mission Church, Sunday Sermon, July 4, 2010

During a violent thunderstorm a mother was tucking her small boy into bed. She was about to turn off the light when he asked with a tremor in his voice, “Mommy, will you sleep with me tonight?”

The mother gave him a smile and a reassuring hug. “I can’t, dear,” she said. “I have to sleep with your daddy.”

A long silence was broken at last by his shaky little voice: “The big sissy.”[1]

Hey, I don’t ever want my girls to think of me as a coward who crumble under pressure. Fortunately, there are plenty of opportunities in my house to be the super brave daddy to my girls. My girls, now that includes my wife, have terrible fear of spiders. You always know when the girls have discovered a spider. After their discovery are the usual shrills and commotion. “Daddy, Daddy, Come over here!” Judging from their panic, you would think they discovered a huge poisonous spider that can kill you! But, often I have to bend down to spot a tiny creature minding its own business inconspicuously on a wall. I almost feel bad to impose my super power to rid of the tiny creatures. But, I do it anyway. I do it with confident smirk on my face that says, “Hey, This is nothing. Let me take care of it.” Sometimes, I become too cocky and don’t move quickly enough to track down the offending target. But, the majority of times, I walk away with the prize wrapped up in toilet tissue with great cheers from my girls. Mission accomplished! My girls have their hero!

Just between you and me though, there are times that I get little scared when I come across unusually fatty and colorful spiders. Well, I arm myself with extra layers of toilet tissue and usually I am good to go.

Do you ever wish you could attack all things in life with such ease and confidence with very little fear in you? Is there an alternative world where we can insulate ourselves from fear factors? How about the world where we choose not to do anything that is unfamiliar or scary? What if we choose not to do anything that makes us insecure? What if we choose not to be vulnerable, but choose only to insulate ourselves from any kind of disappointment and hurt? How about the world that has no fear of failures because we choose not to do anything adventurous even worse risky? What if we choose not to be honest with our own past failures, but instead choose to blame others for our failures? I guess it would be possible to insulate ourselves from fear.

But, you and I both know such is life of a coward. Someone said this,

“There are at least two kinds of cowards. One kind always lives with himself, afraid to face the world. The other kind lives with the world, afraid to face himself.”

For some of us, it takes very little bravery to kill spiders with toilet tissue in our hands, but it takes guts to face the world that doesn’t see much in us, the world that forecasts our doom before we even venture out; and, it takes everything to face and own up to our failures with brutal honesty; it takes great courage not to allow our failures to crumble us, not to embitter us, not to take the wind out of our sales, not to give up.

The history has known such man who didn’t surrender to the past failures nor fear of failing in the future in facing the world and facing himself.  It is not an overstatement to say that the President Abraham Lincoln truly was the greatest president for our country. But, before the legacy of his impeccable presidency, he was a man of many failures, but he was never known as a quitter.

Starting 1831, he failed in business, was defeated for legislature, again failed in business, elected to legislature, sweetheart died, had a nervous breakdown, defeated for speaker, defeated for elector, defeated for Congress, elected for Congress, defeated for Congress, defeated for Senate, defeated for Vice-President, defeated for Senate, and finally close to 30 years later in 1860, elected President.

The turbulent time required a man who wouldn’t give up under the fear of failures, oppositions both from friends and foes, and fear of being disliked, even hated because he set his sight high on the freedom of men kind. The history required a man who became better in spite of his past failures. Abraham Lincoln was that person.

Moses was also a man who was familiar with the failures in life. When he saw an Egyptians beating a Hebrew slave, one of his own people, he took the matter into his own hand and murdered an Egyptian. Exodus 2:12 records, “Glancing this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and him in the sand.” What he did was quickly discovered. He was rejected by his own people and he became a fugitive. He settled down in a distant land beyond the reach of Pharaoh, beyond his own people. Once a proud royal prince of Egypt, he was a shepherd hiding in fear of past failure unable to see much for his future.

When the world saw a fugitive, paralyzed with the fear of failure, God saw something different. He saw Moses who will lead the Hebrews out of Egypt. What you see in Exodus 3 and 4 is God calling Moses out of his past failures, out of his fear of failing in order to accomplish his miracle through Moses.

God’s vision was very clear. In Exodus 3:7-8, you see God telling Moses he had seen and heard enough of the misery of his people in Egypt. It was the time for him to act and rescue them from Egypt and lead them to a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey. To accomplish this, God told Moses in Exodus 3:10, “I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.” The irony here is that God was calling Moses right back to Egypt where he tasted his miserable failure, where he ran away from, and where he stayed away from so long. Responding to God’s calling, God’s vision meant Moses facing his fear in Egypt. But, we see him faltering, second guessing himself.

“God, I don’t think you get it. I don’t think I am cut out for this. Really, who am I that I should go to Pharaoh to bring your people out of Egypt? (Exodus 3:11) What if they question who sent me to them because they don’t trust me? (Exodus 3:13) What if they don’t believe me or listen to me that God you are really leading them out of Egypt? (Exodus 4:1). Really, why should they believe anything that an ex-murder had to say to them? God, I don’t think I am cut out for this. I’ve never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to me. I am slow of speech and tongue. Really, I am terrible at public speaking (Exodus 4:10). God, please, I think someone else can do far better than job than I can. So, send someone else (Exodus 4:13).”

Here are the reasons why Moses had difficult time getting over himself and respond to God’s vision.

  • Moses feared that his failure and mistakes in life could not be redeemed.
  • Moses feared rejection and distrust from his own people after all he was known as the disgraced prince who ran away to save his life.
  • Moses feared that he just wasn’t good enough.

Moses kept looking at his own failures, his own inadequacies and kept on making excuses for why he couldn’t do what God envisioned for him. That’s what fear does to us. It inflates our problems so big that it blinds us to God who is far greater than any of our problem; it blinds us to see our God is God who can do all things through his people.

Enough about Moses, let’s see what God was doing with Moses. While Moses threw his objections and excuses one after another, God worked patiently with Moses; he didn’t dismiss Moses with his fear and objections.

“I will be with you. Moses, this is not about you, it is about me being with you and help you to lead my people out. Really, it is not a matter of if, but it is matter of when you bring my people out of Egypt. I am going to lead you step by step. So, get off your self-pity and you got to start trusting me. Don’t be fearful of being rejected by the Israelites; just tell their leaders I sent you to free them from slavery and to give them a good land. They are going to listen to you. You are going to go to Pharaoh with the leadership of elders and tell Pharaoh to let my people go. I know that Pharaoh will not listen to you. But, don’t worry. I got this in control. I am going to strike him with my wonders against his country. He is going to let you go. Not only that I am going to make sure that you don’t go out empty handed because Egyptians are going to give you whole bunch of stuff. What? You worry that the Israelites won’t believe that I appeared to you. How about showing them some miracles? What? You worry about your speech problem? Come on, I made your mouth. I will help you speak and even teach you what to say. What? Send someone else? No, I am not sending someone else. You are going to go with your brother. He is going to be your mouthpiece. I will help both of you speak and will teach you what to do.”

God was patient. God didn’t dismiss Moses’ fear instead God assured him, gave him tangible signs, provided a helper. More than that, God himself came to Moses as his Great Helper.

Moses had to cross the threshold into believing in this God. It really was not about what Moses could do; it was all about what God was going to do through Moses for God’s mission. In the same, guys,

this whole church thing, it is not really about you nor is it about me; it is neither about your fear nor my fear; it is not about what we think and should happen. But, it is all about God doing his things to make sure his vision come true through you and me. Church is really about God on Mission.

I am so glad that God is nothing like Chef Gordon and church is nothing like Hell’s Kitchen. I watched one of the episodes with my wife last week and I walked away feeling sick to my stomach. You would definitely not see Moses surviving in this show with all his insecurities. It really is a nightmare to compete in that kind of environment where your competitors brutally chew you out, Chef Gordon only affirms your top performance, but the moment you screw things up, you are going to be called, “donkey” and whole bunch of other stuff and be thrown out.

No, our God is different. He has his vision he wants to accomplish, the vision of transforming you and me to be missionaries to Buffalo Grove and wheeling areas, to be missionaries to our immediate neighbors, our co-workers, our colleagues. But, he is not going to accomplish it by beating us down. When people reject us, doubt us, when our past failures haunt us, when we are gripped with fear, he is not going to come with hammer and pound us down. No, he sent his Son Jesus to be our Great companion with the promise, “I will be with you always”; He comes as the Great helper, “I will help you.”

So, I refuse to surrender to both unfound fear and real fear. Instead, I am going to lean hard on Great companion and Great helper to accomplish his vision! And, so should you!

I know that some of your fear is found in me. Can Pastor Steve change, can he be consistent, or can he care for me? I regret that my past actions or inactions have given any kind of room for you to doubt me. But, I appeal to you that you extend the gospel that you receive from God to me. God raised a murderer, a fugitive who was rejected by his own people, an inadequate and reluctant man in order to accomplish his vision for freedom and blessing for his people. Surely, God can use me in spite of my inadequacies and my past failures. I need you to breathe in me the gospel and see me as God sees me.

And, I also I refuse to see any of you as unable to move pass beyond your fear, your doubts, whatever is holding you back. My goal is to prepare each of you to become missionaries who serve God of mission to the community where we do church, where you live and where you work. I am going to work patiently, persistently, fearlessly because I believe in God’s vision for us. So, should you!


[1] Larson, C. B., & Ten Elshof, P. (2008). 1001 illustrations that connect (465). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.