Even Our Faith: Part 10—Moses
July 23, 2023
During this series “EVEN OUR FAITH”, we’ve been focused on this phrase from 1 John 5:4 This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. … and looking at different aspects of faith from many different angles.
We’ve looked at…
What it means to live in a dualistic world (“mundo dualista”) with overcoming faith.
What it means to live in the difference between faith & belief
What it means to live a life that does NOT “shrink back”
And then the last several weeks we’ve studied the Hall of Faith to learn what it means to live “by faith”...by studying the lives of many of the patriarchs.
We studied whether it’s possible to live “By faith” and still have doubt
And last week we got deeply into the idea of what it means to live with the ‘death of a dream’.
Little did we know, when we were studying the death of a dream last week that many of you would be faced immediately with life situations that would literally put your faith on the line & require that you trust God despite what you can see with your human eyes : for your home or stability, for your jobs, businesses, & families.
I want to quickly remind you of some of the things we talked about last week with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob & Joseph…
The promises of God can be trusted… whether they come to pass in your LIFETIME or your LEGACY… God keeps his promises.
Not even DEATH can frustrate the plans of God!
If you have a calling from the Lord to be here, to see something specific or even just an idea of “I thought God was saying this but my circumstances are saying that.” … please remember that one of the main lessons of these patriarchs is that they TRUSTED God’s promise more than they trusted their circumstances.
That’s what this overcoming faith from 1 John is really all about.
So let’s jump into Hebrews 11 again & see what else we can learn how to live “By Faith”.
Hebrews 11:23-29 :: 23 By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw he was a beautiful child; and they were not afraid of the king’s edict.
Ok… this is a really interesting start to this passage because it SAYS “By faith Moses…” as if it’s going to follow the narrative of the other verses above it—being ABOUT Moses—but then it says, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, begging the question,
Is this passage about MOSES’ faith? No… it’s about his PARENTS’ faith. His PARENTS had faith…and were not afraid of the king’s edict. … But what about him being a “beautiful child”?
Exodus 2:1-2 :: Now a man from the house of Levi went and married a daughter of Levi. 2 The woman conceived and bore a son; and when she saw that he was beautiful, she hid him for three months.
Just so we’re all on the same page… the REASON she hid him is because one chapter earlier, Pharaoh or the King of Egypt issues a decree that all of the male baby boys should be killed. In FACT… this relates to our discussion about Joseph last week because
Exodus 1:8 :: 8 Now a new king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. 9 He said to his people, “Behold, the people of the sons of Israel are more and mightier than we. 10 Come, let us deal wisely with them, or else they will multiply and in the event of war, they will also join themselves to those who hate us, and fight against us and depart from the land.
So part of this “dealing shrewdly” with the Children of Israel was to command all the Israelite midwives that when they’re helping deliver the Israelite babies, the girls can live but the boys should die. These midwives didn’t do that and when the verse from chapter 2 comes along, Moses’ mom has a baby boy and instead of allowing him to be killed, she hides him.
Now, if you don’t know the story of Moses, the short version is that his mom hides him in a basket in the river but the Pharaoh’s daughter finds him and takes him home to raise him as her own son he eventually BECOMES the leader that leads the people of Israel out of Egypt, but these passages that we’re reading about his birth & his parents hiding him don’t say ANYTHING about the fact that they had a prophecy about him being the one to lead God’s people to freedom… they didn’t have a ‘word from the Lord’ about his future… they didn’t have a ‘feeling’ about his future calling: Exodus 2:2 says, “the woman…bore a son &... she saw he was beautiful…so she hid him.” which is exactly what Hebrews says… “he was beautiful, so she hid him…” and in Hebrews somehow this was considered a “by faith” example for us.
It’s interesting to me that the “by faith” example that Moses’ parents set for us is in some ways what our idea of Baby Dedication is all about it’s a profession of faith BY THE PARENTS that declares that we believe this child has a future role in the Kingdom of God and that we will raise them according to God’s Word. It’s not MOSES’ faith yet it’s literally his parents’ faith that is mentioned first
So to me, the first message here in Hebrews 11:23 is a message to PARENTS.
FAITH OVERCOMES FEAR
By faith Moses was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw he was a beautiful child; and they were not afraid of the king’s edict.
1 John declares that our faith overcomes the world—this little story about Moses’ parents tells us exactly what that faith overcomes: fear. They were not afraid of the king’s edict. PARENTS: we don’t have to FEAR the corruption of the world in our kids from outside influences. This doesn’t mean we don’t DO anything about it but we don’t FEAR it.
Let’s look again at Hebrews 11 & continue Moses’ story…
24 By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, 25 choosing rather to endure ill-treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, 26 considering the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he was looking to the reward. ::
So finally in vs 24 we have MOSES’ faith. Verse 23 was about his PARENTS’ faith, this is Moses’ personal faith. The story of Moses continues from when he was picked up by the Pharaoh’s daughter.
Look at Exodus 2 again… 7 Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and call a nurse for you from the Hebrew women that she may nurse the child for you?” 8 Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Go ahead.” So the girl went and called the child’s mother. 9 Then Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child away and nurse him for me and I will give you your wages.” So the woman took the child and nursed him. ::
So not only did Moses’ mother get to nurse him & train him as an Israelite, Pharaoh’s daughter PAID her to do it! He may have GROWN UP as a prince in the palace but as a baby, he is TAUGHT and TRAINED as an Israelite by his mother!
So once Moses is grown, he CHOOSES to set aside his status in the palace as a prince and instead, chooses to be known as an Israelite with his people… the second half of Exodus 2 and the next few chapters outline Moses’ life AWAY from the palace and then how God calls him BACK to Egypt to lead the people out of slavery into freedom.
This passage in Hebrews tells that not only does Faith Overcome Fear, but also…
FAITH OVERCOMES CULTURE COMFORT
Moses had the opportunity to stay comfortable in the palace. He got his ‘Christian school’ training from his mom and so it COULD have been said that now he could just coast through life because he could have the best of both worlds: he had the truth of his Israelite heritage and then the comfort of the palace as “son” of Pharaoh’s daughter. But he didn’t see things that way.
He refused to benefit from his ‘privileged upbringing’ because, Hebrews says, considering the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he was looking to the reward.
He showed what one of my commentaries said was “an ultimate faith perspective that put ultimate reality before present advantage”!
There’s a “culture comfort” that says we need to be the prince or princess of our little kingdom here & now… make the most, have the most Instagram followers, that we MUST go into debt beyond our means so our kids can have the mountain vacation home or be known by who we are friends with…
There’s a culture comfort when it comes to STATUS: like who you know & how political you can be… Hebrews says that BY FAITH Moses refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter,
There’s a culture comfort when it comes to TEMPORARY ENJOYMENT : the passing pleasures of sin
And a culture comfort for MATERIAL AFFLUENCE : the treasures of Egypt;
But faith overcomes the culture comfort idea because the ULTIMATE reality for Moses AND FOR US is the cause of Christ! FAITH allows us to see past culture comfort (Hebrews says Moses “was looking to the reward“ …that this ultimate reality is far greater than a temporary viral YouTube video or the any number of ‘followers’ for creating the latest TicToc challenge… it’s greater than the financial security, political gain or any other ‘cultural comfort’.
So up to this point in the story of Moses, we’ve dealt with the fact that Faith overcomes FEAR and faith overcomes CULTURE COMFORT… but lets’ look at Hebrews 11:27-29 for the last part…
Hebrews 11:27-29 :: 27 By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured, as seeing Him who is unseen. 28 By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of the blood, so that he who destroyed the firstborn would not touch them. 29 By faith they passed through the Red Sea as though they were passing through dry land; and the Egyptians, when they attempted it, were drowned. ::
This last part is where we’re going to spend some time tonight praying… because this part is dealing with the fact that for Moses, and for us FAITH LEADS TO FREEDOM
This part about Moses leaving Egypt is not about the fact that he left & went to Midian..but that he took all of Israel and left Egypt after the plagues & the Passover—NOT fearing the king—because he saw the FREEDOM that God had promised. When he ran away after killing the Egyptian he WAS afraid of the king…but now, his fear of the king has been replaced with a FREEDOM that he can see for the Israelites but he hasn’t experienced yet…and God allows him to lead the people to freedom out of Egypt.
I ALMOST called this last point “Faith overcomes bondage” so it would match the rest of the points but I don’t think it’s easy for us in America to see bondage the way Israel saw bondage in Egypt. They were utterly & truly enslaved and I don’t think we feel that here. BUT I think we DO have a sense that we still need freedom: freedom from the bondage of work-aholism, freedom from bondage to addictions (social, substance, emotional, relational… ANYthing that keeps us from experiencing the fullness of the “promised land” in our lives is bondage & I believe that God would have us SEE OUR FREEDOM through faith—like Moses is described as ‘seeing Him who is unseen’
The Israelites had a hard time seeing their freedom. If you read through Exodus, they actually had a hard time believing but Moses saw their freedom before they did and had FAITH that God was leading them to it.
The example that Moses’ life sets for us truly teaches that faith ‘overcomes the world’ by giving FREEDOM to those who have it and apparently, according to the last part, NOT having faith is a DANGER to those who do NOT!
