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!

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