Gracepointe Church (Dover, OH)
Gracepointe Church (Dover, OH)
God's Purpose for Missions and the People He Uses | Henry Blank
Moses's calling illustrates God's ability to transform weakness into strength for fulfilling His purposes. The central themes drawn from Exodus highlight God's mission, the significance of worship, and the call to make ourselves available for His work, regardless of our perceived inadequacies.
• Discussion on God's heart for missions through Moses's story
• Challenges of daunting tasks in reaching billions of unreached people
• Reflection on personal inadequacies and the assurance of God's presence
• The emphasis on worship as the ultimate goal of missions
• Encouragement to embrace our roles in God's grand narrative
Thank you, brother. I'd like to share a missions message with you this morning God's purpose for missions and the people he uses. And the passage is Exodus 3, 1 through 14, and 4, 10 through 13. So we'll turn there and read, and I think that the story of the Exodus is about missions, it's about God's heart for all peoples, and so I think you'll see that as we go along here in the message. So let's turn to Exodus, chapter 3, start at verse 1, and read this verses. I have up there All right.
Speaker 1:Exodus 3, verse 1. In the midst of a bush. So he looked and behold, the bush was burning with fire. But the bush was not consumed. Then Moses said I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush does not burn. So when the Lord saw that he had turned aside to look, god called to him from the midst of the bush and said Moses, moses. And he said here I am. Then he said Do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet. The place where you stand is holy ground. Moreover, he said I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God. And the Lord said I have surely seen the oppression of my people who are in Egypt, and I have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. So I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up from that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the land of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites. Now, therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt. But Moses said to God who am I? That I should go to Pharaoh and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt. So he said I will certainly be with you and this shall be a sign to you that I have sent you. When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain. Then Moses said to God Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them the God of your fathers has sent me to you. And they say to me Alright. And then we'll go over to chapter 4 and read verses 10 through 15. Verse 10.
Speaker 1:Then Moses said to the Lord O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before nor since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue. So the Lord said to him who has made man's mouth, or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing or the blind? Have not I, the Lord. Now, therefore, go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say. But he said O my Lord, please send by the hand of whomever else you may send. So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses and he said Is not Aaron the Levite your brother? I know that he can speak well and look, he is also coming out to meet you. When he sees you, he will be glad in his heart. Now, therefore, you shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth, and I will be with your mouth and with his mouth and I will teach you what you shall do.
Speaker 1:All right, so in this story I see five things. I see an impossible task. I see a weak man, a big God, a wonderful promise and a glorious purpose. So, first of all, an impossible task. God said to Moses come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt. Can you imagine standing in front of the most powerful king in all the earth with a shepherd's staff in your hand and saying I have a message for you from God. All those Israelites that you have working to build your cities, god says let them go. And then what? Just walk out of Egypt with a million slaves. That's crazy. And Moses did think it was kind of crazy and he told God so An impossible task.
Speaker 1:And as we consider this morning the task of missions to the unreached, we're immediately confronted with the seeming impossibility of the task. Go and make disciples of all the nations. It's estimated there are 7,000 unreached people groups and among them 3 billion unreached people. 3 billion, that's a lot of people. I don't know if you've ever stopped to consider how large a number a billion is, but just to give you an idea, if you wanted to count to a billion and you counted one number, a second, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. You know how long it would take you. It would take you 35 years to count to one billion. So three billion people.
Speaker 1:We say, lord, this is an impossible task that you've called us to. Not just the sheer numbers, but these people speak difficult languages and they're living hard to access places and many of them are hostile to the gospel. Is this task of making disciples of all the nations actually possible? And so, as we stop and consider christ's last command, we feel a lot like moses. Right, I think maybe you have the wrong guy. We say, we feel the weight of the task and we feel our complete inadequacy for it.
Speaker 1:So, first, god called Moses, as he calls us, to an impossible task. Second, a weak man. Moses said to God who am I that I should go to Pharaoh? Oh Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before nor since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue. Who am I that I should go and talk to Pharaoh? I think you have the wrong man. I'm pretty sure you have the wrong guy Because I can't even speak right. I mean, that's literally what he's saying when I stand up in front of people, my tongue gets all tied up and I mean, that's literally what he's saying. When I stand up in front of people, my tongue gets all tied up and you want me to go talk to Pharaoh. It's funny to me.
Speaker 1:I find it interesting how God seems to go out of his way to find weak people and then ask them to do impossible things. By the way, it happens all the way through Scripture. God seems to like to do that, and one of my favorite quotes this is from the book Perspectives on the World Christian Movement by Greg Livingston. He says why did God tell the great missionary Paul of Tarsus my grace is sufficient for you, my power is perfected in weak people? Well, because the Lord has always used weak people who aspire to be used by an all-sufficient God. The history of missions is all about weak, barely competent people who believe the one who sent them could accomplish his purposes even through the likes of them. There are only two kinds of people in the world the weak ones who make themselves available to God and the weak ones who don't. So it's a given we're all weak. We are all weak people, and it seems that God enjoys using weak people to accomplish his purposes.
Speaker 1:And so God called a weak man, moses. And you know, when Moses told God, I think you have the wrong guy because I can't speak I find it interesting that God didn't give Moses any of this nonsense about the power of positive thinking and just believing in yourself, god's answer is like yeah, I know, I know I made you, I know your trouble with speaking, I know all your weaknesses. But really, god said there are only two things you need to know I am who I am and I will be with you. Now go. So Moses. God chose Moses, a weak man, but third, a big God. I am who I am and I will be with you. Well, when Moses asked God, who shall I tell the people sent me? God's answer was tell them I am who I am, I am has sent you.
Speaker 1:So that phrase I am who I am is essentially an equivalent to the name Yahweh in Scripture, and that's God's personal name. You know what a personal name is. So it's like me I'm a father, I'm a husband, I'm the president of D&I, but those aren't my names. My name is Henry. So God has a lot of titles and names in Scripture that describe some of his character, but his personal name is Yahweh, that's his personal covenant name and so anytime you see in the scripture, in the Bible, when you're reading, if you see the word Lord, all in capitals capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D that's the name Yahweh.
Speaker 1:And so God said I am who I am. I am Yahweh, and that name means self-existent one, the God who holds the power of life and being and reality within himself. He doesn't depend on anyone else or anything else for his existence. Rather, he is the source of all that exists. He's the source of life. He's the source of every breath that we breathe. He is the source, he's the standard of all that is real and all that is true and all that is beautiful and all that is good come from him. He is the source and he depends on no one for his existence. He is Yahweh.
Speaker 1:Daniel says in Daniel, chapter 4, he said that God does according to his will among the hosts of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay his hand or say to him what have you done? God doesn't have to ask permission from anyone for anything that he does, because he's God, he's the self-existent one, doesn't depend on anyone for anything that he does, doesn't have to ask permission for anything that he does, and what he does is always good and always beautiful and it's always right. This is Yahweh, the God who says I am who I am and I will be with you. Yahweh, our great and awesome God, and he is so big. He is so awesome that Isaiah 66 says of Yahweh that heaven is his throne and the earth is his footstool. And in 1 Kings 8, solomon, in his prayer, said that even the heaven of heavens cannot contain God. That's how big he is. And Isaiah 40 says that God is so big that he measures heaven with a span. Think about that. He measures the heavens with the span of his hand.
Speaker 1:So I like science. I used to be a teacher. Science was always my favorite, so let's do a little science lesson. So the universe is enormous. Distances in outer space are so vast you can't measure them in feet or inches or miles, but we use a light year, right, that's the measurement for space. So a light year is the distance that light can travel in one year. And light travels at 186,000 miles a second. That's seven times around the Earth in a second, all right.
Speaker 1:So imagine that we could build a rocket that could travel at the speed of light. Of course we wouldn't be able to survive the G-forces, but let's imagine that we could. And we start heading out into outer space and just thinking about how big the universe is. And so if we head out into outer space in our supersonic rocket, the first thing we get to is the moon is the closest body out there, about 211,000 miles away. By the way, just for comparison, if you were in a 747 traveling about 600 miles an hour, it would take you 14 days to get to the moon, but in our supersonic rocket, one and a half seconds. We can be there, all right. So let's keep going. Then there's Mars. That's a little further out, 34 million miles away, and if you were in a 747, it would take you six and a half years to get there, but in our rocket we could get there in four and a half minutes, all right.
Speaker 1:Next out is Jupiter. That's a little further out, 367 million miles, and that would take you 70 years if you were in a 747. But our rocket is really fast. We get there in 35 minutes. Then Saturn Wait, sorry, I'm one behind. Oh, that was Jupiter. Okay now Saturn is a little further out and that's 928 million miles In a 747, that would take you 228 years, but only an hour at the speed of light in our rocket. Now Neptune is the furthest out there. Okay, and that is 570 years in a 747. If you're traveling at 600 miles an hour, taking 500 years to get there, that gives you the sense of the scale of things. Right, in a 747, traveling at 600 miles an hour, have to go for 500 years just to get to Neptune. But of course, in our speed of light rocket it's an easy trip of four hours.
Speaker 1:Now think about this. It's like that's really big. You know that's really a long distance from Earth to Neptune. But these planets are just a tiny little part of a big galaxy called the Milky Way galaxy where we live. There's another side angle view. So if you were traveling in our supersonic rocket at this speed of light 186,000 miles a second how long would it take you to get from one side of our galaxy to visit our neighbors on the other side, if there are any?
Speaker 1:And you say, wow, well, if it takes four hours to get to Neptune, probably a couple days at least. Well, you'd be wrong. It would take you 100,000 years at the speed of light to get from one side of our galaxy to the other. That's how big it is. It's amazing. And our solar system that we talked about is so tiny compared to that galaxy that you can't even put a dot on there that you could see visibly. If you put it to scale, you couldn't even see it. But according to what they say, we are somewhere about there in the galaxy. Wow, and if that doesn't blow your mind, the scientists, astronomers, tell us well that there are a whole bunch of other galaxies out there, and a lot of them way bigger than our galaxy. They used to say there were about 100 to 200 billion other galaxies, and then they built a bigger telescope and they say well, now there's probably, like you know, maybe 2 or 3 trillion other galaxies in the observable universe, which just means the next time they build a bigger telescope they'll say oh, wow, it's actually bigger than we thought.
Speaker 1:And God holds out his hand and says well, it's about that big. That's Yahweh. This is the God who says I am who I am and I'm going to be with you. The God who is so big that even the heaven of heavens cannot contain him. I am who I am. And the wonderful well, I mean okay, reviewing an impossible task, a weak man but a big God.
Speaker 1:And then a wonderful promise. This God says I will be with you, he said to Moses. When Moses said I think he got the wrong guy, god just basically said I am who I am and I'm going to be with you. I will be with your mouth I know you can't speak very well, I know you have trouble getting the words am and I'm going to be with you. I will be with your mouth. I know you can't speak very well, I know you have trouble getting the words out, but I'm going to be with your mouth and I'm going to teach you what you shall say. So go, and this God who made this promise to Moses is the same God who says to us Fear not. Moses is the same God who says to us fear not, for I am with you, be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. That hand that measures the universe with a span is the same hand that's holding you and me. And this is the God. This is the God who says all authority has in heaven and earth has been given to me. Go and make disciples of all the nations. And we say I think you have the wrong guy. And God says you don't need to worry about that, I am who I am, you don't need to worry about that. I am who I am and I'm going to be with you. An amazing promise and whatever it is, that task that God is calling you to in the scheme of his purposes on earth. The message is the same I am who I am and I will be with you. And then, finally, a glorious purpose.
Speaker 1:I would like to suggest to you that the Exodus was not ultimately about the Jewish people, but about God's name being worshiped. If you notice, in verse 12 there, chapter 1, God said and this shall be a sign that I have sent you when you bring the people out of Egypt, you shall serve or worship God on this mountain Worship. And then, when Moses went to Pharaoh, in verse 18, his first request was God said ask Pharaoh for some time to go a three-day journey into the wilderness so that you may sacrifice and worship. The Exodus, I believe, was about God's name and about his reputation, about the honor and the worship of God. Have you ever wondered why God did the Exodus the way that he did, why he drug it out like he did? I mean the frogs and the gnats and the flies and all the plagues, and finally it was the Red Sea thing, and God could have taken them out in one day like that.
Speaker 1:Why did he drag it out like that? Well, actually, exodus 14 gives us the answer. And God said I indeed will harden the hearts of the Egyptians and they shall follow them. I will gain honor over Pharaoh and over all his army, his chariots and his horsemen. Then the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord when I have gained honor for myself over Pharaoh, his chariots and his horsemen.
Speaker 1:So why did God drag out the Exodus the way that he did? Short answer he wanted to show off his power. He wanted the Israelites and the Egyptians and all the nations around to be telling the stories for years to come of this great and awesome God of Israel. And you know that's exactly what happened. Because when you get to the book of Joshua, chapter two, the spy is going to Canaan and they meet up with Rahab. And do you remember what Rahab said to them? She said we heard how God dried up the water of the Red Sea, and the terror of you has fallen on us. So how many years later was that? At least 40, right, because they wandered for 40. 40 years later, the people were still telling the story of this God who delivered his people out of Egypt. And so God's purpose in the exodus from Egypt was that his name might be magnified among the Egyptians, among the Jewish people and all the nations around them. This was God's purpose in the Exodus to magnify his name. This is God's purpose in missions. This is God's purpose in all that he does.
Speaker 1:You see, the gospel is not about us. The gospel is not primarily about our blessing or our happiness. It's about God. It's about him receiving the glory and the honor and the worship that he deserves. And you know, the wonderful thing is, as it turns out, knowing God and worshiping him is the one thing that will ultimately make us happy. But that's not what it's about. It's about him.
Speaker 1:And so this theme of the primacy of the glory of God is all throughout Scripture, from beginning to end. You see it over and over again, and if you actually do a study on this, you get to the revelation, and over and over. It's not about you, it's about God, it's about his glory. And you get to the end and you say you know what? Maybe I'm not that important in the scheme of things, it's really about God. And yet he has set his love upon us, which is so amazing. But one wonderful example of just this thing, of the primacy of the glory of God, a wonderful example is Psalm 67.
Speaker 1:So I just want to just go through the Psalm just briefly. Example is Psalm 67. So I just want to just go through the Psalm just briefly, and I'll read it first. God, be merciful to us and bless us and cause his face to shine upon us, selah, that your way may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations. Let the peoples praise you, o God. Let all the peoples praise you, o. Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you shall judge the people righteously and govern the nations on earth. Selah, let the peoples praise you, o God. Let all the peoples praise you. Then the earth shall yield her increase. God, our own God, shall bless us. God shall bless us, and all the ends of the earth shall fear him.
Speaker 1:So first of all, I want you to notice that this is a psalm about missions, so I don't think you can miss it. Of course, that's my thing, so I'm going to see it, but it's there right. So your salvation among all the nations, the peoples, the ends of the earth. This is a psalm about God's name being worshipped and honored among all nations, all peoples, and it's also a prayer for God's blessing. God, be merciful to us and bless us, cause his face to shine upon us. And then, there in verse 6 and 7, god, our own God, shall bless us. God shall bless us. Verse 6 and 7, god, our own God, shall bless us. God shall bless us.
Speaker 1:Now, a lot of people think that God's blessing is the primary message of missions. God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. That's what the gospel, that's what missions is about. But I just want you to notice what this psalm says, that what God's ultimate purpose is in his blessing us. Why does God bless us? God be merciful to bless us and bless us, that your way may be known on earth, that all the peoples would praise you, o God, let all the peoples praise you, let the nations be glad and sing for joy, and all the ends of the earth shall fear him. God's ultimate purpose in blessing us is so that his name might be known, might be praised, might be enjoyed, might be feared among all the peoples of the earth. This is God's purpose in blessing us. God delivered his people out of slavery in Egypt and he brought them into the promised land, the land flowing with milk and honey. And he blessed them abundantly for a purpose so that they might be a light to the Gentiles, so that, through the Jewish people, all the nations of the earth would be blessed, so that God's name might be made great among all the nations. That was God's purpose in the Exodus, that was his purpose in bringing them into the promised land, that through the nation of Israel, his blessing would go out to all peoples. But sadly, instead of being channels of God's grace, they closed themselves off from the nations around. They hoarded God's blessings for themselves and they began to worship the gift instead of the giver, until, finally, god had to take it away.
Speaker 1:Well, you and I have also been incredibly blessed. We sang that song. Thank you, franklin. We sang wait, what Abundantly, there we go. Abundantly, we have received. You sang that this morning. Did you know that? Abundantly, there we go. Abundantly, we have received. You sang that this morning. Did you know that? Abundantly, and some of you shared. We shared some of the ways that we've been blessed.
Speaker 1:So I guess the question for us is what are we doing with those blessings? And I just want to encourage us not to make the same mistake of thinking that the blessing is the end in itself, because it's not. We have been blessed for a purpose to be channels of God's blessing to the nations, just like the call to the Jewish people, just like God's heart for the Jewish nation, that we might be channels of God's blessings to the nations, that through us, through the church, all the nations of the earth would be blessed, that he, yahweh, might receive the glory and the honor that he deserves. And so the brother here mentioned the prosperity gospel. The brother here mentioned the prosperity gospel. And God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life is true, but it misses the mark Because it makes the blessings the ultimate thing. It makes the blessing the end in itself and it makes God just simply a means of getting those blessings. And so I like this different take on that familiar maxim God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. How about? God loves his son and has a wonderful plan for him to bring all the nations to his feet as Lord of all, and he loves you and me enough to give us a place in it. Now that hits the mark. That's what missions is about. That's what our existence is about. That's why we're here. God loves, and I think that's amazing. God loves his son, has a wonderful plan for him bring all the nations to his feet as Lord of all, and he loves you and me enough to give us a place in it. Now that kind of leaves us with a question, though.
Speaker 1:We've been talking about how God likes to use people, and weak people to accomplish his purposes. Why does God use people, anyhow? Because using people seems so incredibly inefficient. God could certainly think of more efficient ways to get the job done, like sending out angels, for example, would be way more efficient than sending out missionaries. But God decided that the best way to get his message to human beings in a way that they could understand was to send a human messenger, and so he sent his son, jesus the God-man. But you know what Jesus had one major limitation being in a human body meant that he could only be in one place at one time. And so Jesus said it's actually better for me, for you, that I go away, and then for me to send my Holy Spirit to dwell you and to empower you, to be my hands and to be my feet and to be my vocal cords and to go where he could not go in his lifetime. And so God decided that the best way to get his message of salvation to all the peoples was to do it through people. And you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem, judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth, and you will be my witnesses when you receive that power from the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 1:But I still ask the question why did God use weak people? Why does he go out of his way to use weak people? If God's going to use people, you would say, well wouldn't he choose the best and the brightest to do his work? That would make more sense to me. But in 1 Corinthians 1, paul said not many wise, not many mighty, not many noble are chosen, are called, but God has chosen the weak things and the foolish things to confound the wise. So why does he do that?
Speaker 1:Well, I think Paul in 2 Corinthians 4 gives us the answer. He says that even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the God of this age has blinded, who do not believe lest the light of the gospel, of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them. So the enemy, the God of this world, is blinding the minds of people so that they cannot see the glory and the beauty of the gospel. He's closing their minds and their eyes. They can't see the light, they can't see the beauty. And then he says for it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels. He puts his treasure in clay pots. Why does he do that? There you have the answer.
Speaker 1:So that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. When God does something great through a weak person, everybody knows it couldn't have been them right, it had to be God, obviously. And so God gets the glory and we get the incredible privilege of joining with him in accomplishing his wonderful purpose for his son. So he gets the glory and we get the privilege of being a part of what he is doing, and so god uses weak people to accomplish his wonderful plan for his son. And then I want to close with a picture that I think helps to illustrate god's wonderful plan for his son the multitude gathered around the throne worshiping. And that multitude is made up of people from every nation, tribe and people and tongue. This is God's plan. This is what God is about, what he's doing in our world today gathering the bride of Christ out of every nation, tribe and people in tongue. And, by the way, just in case you didn't know, that that's what heaven is going to look like. Right, because heaven is not going to be a bunch of millers and burkholders and yoders and their aunts and uncles and cousins. We'll be there, but there's going to be a lot of other people there too. Isn't that amazing? Sometimes We'll be there, but there's going to be a lot of other people there too. Isn't that amazing? Sometimes we don't get that, but this is God's plan, what he is working out, and he invites us to be a part of that, and I just think that is amazing.
Speaker 1:This is God's purpose and mission the worship of Christ by his redeemed people, from every nation, tribe, people and tongue. So we looked at an impossible task go and make disciples of all the nations. A weak man, a big God who measures the heavens with the span of his hand. A wonderful promise I am who I am and I will be with you. And a glorious purpose that all tribes, peoples and nations may know. Him and the people that he uses to accomplish his purposes are weak, ordinary people like you and me, because, remember, there are only two kinds of people in the world the weak ones who make themselves available to God and the weak ones who don't.
Speaker 1:So the question is which one will you be? Will you make yourself available to God? Will you say here, am I send me, whether it's to Asia or the Middle East, or if that just means staying right here in Holmes County, right where God has placed me, and being a witness for Christ and sharing the love of Christ, the hope of the gospel, with the people around me? Whatever the task, god calls you to and he has a part for you to play in this wonderful plan that he is accomplishing and whatever part that is, no matter how inadequate you feel his promise is. I am who I am and I will be with you. Let's pray, thank you, god, for the story of Moses, because we can identify with Moses. Moses, because we can identify with Moses.
Speaker 1:We so often feel completely inadequate to the tasks that you call us to, because we're weak and we're barely competent.
Speaker 1:But thank you, god, for the wonderful promise that you are God, that you are Yahweh. You are the one who holds all things together, you are the one who is present, who fills the universe, so that even the heaven of heavens cannot contain you. And you are the God who says I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you by my righteous right hand. And so I just pray for each person here this morning, whatever it is that each one is facing, whatever task, whatever is before us today that may seem impossible, and we feel inadequate and fearful and fearful. I pray, god, that you would just fill us with this overwhelming sense of joy and your presence and confidence in knowing that we have nothing to fear because you're God and you will be with us. Lord, we want to be faithful, we want to be used by you. Thank you for inviting us to be a part of what you're accomplishing in our world today. It's a wonderful privilege. Thank you, god, in Jesus' name amen.