Jesus, Authority and Power 2…

Morning!

Raises his cup of coffee

Leadership requires authority.

Authority requires power.

Power requires Jesus.

Therefore….

Leadership requires Jesus.

Have we considered Moses?

The beginning of Moses’ story is one that has always interested me.  During the days of Moses, which were after the days of Joseph in Egypt, the leaders of Egypt devised a persecution of the Jewish people.  The text tells us that the Egyptians became fearful of the Jews as they were more in number than the Egyptians and there was worry that they would join with enemies of Egypt if they attacked.  First the Egyptians gave them hard work.  Slave work.  Then they made the work harder.  After the work became harder, the Jews continued to prosper so the Egyptians devised a plan where the Jews were to kill all the sons that were born.  Moses’ mother did not want to kill Moses and so set him afloat on the river where he was discovered by Pharoh’s daughter.

Proverbs 11: 5

“The righteousness of the perfect shall direct his way: but the wicked shall fall by his own wickedness.”

The wicked plan put into place by Pharaoh brought Moses into his house to be raised as an Egyptian.  The instrument that was to free the captive Jews was raised by the Egyptians themselves.  In the royal palace nonetheless.  Let’s not forget the righteousness of Moses’ mother who did not wish her child, a gift from God, to die.  She took that child, defied the wicked laws of Egypt and let her son live.  God honored that choice.

He honored that choice with what seems to me an impossible miracle of Moses’ mother being the nurse who was chosen to raise him in the palace.  Not much is said about the ordeal, but it stands out to me at least.

We are given a little bit on the early life of Moses as well.

Exodus 2: 11-15

“Now it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out to his brethren and looked at their burdens.  And he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his brethren.  So he looked this way and that way, and when he saw no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.  And when he went out the second day, behold, two Hebrew men were fighting, and he said to the one who did the wrong, ‘Why are you striking your companion?’  Then he said, ‘Who made you a prince and a judge over us?  Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?’  So Moses feared and said, ‘Surely this things is known!’  When Pharaoh heard of this matter, he sought to kill Moses.  But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh and dwelt in the land of Midian; and he sat down by a well.”

Circumstances combined with personal choices are how God lead Moses before Moses spoke with God.  There seems to be a certain amount of conscience involved as well.  Moses was born into the circumstances that he was.  These circumstances molded his story, but it was his personal decisions, his judgment that God used to move him where he was to be.  And it all seemed to start with Moses conscience telling him to get involved in a violent situation.  One might think Moses had a sense of Justice as the first situation he became involved in was involving violence as well as the second.

What a time this must have been for Moses.

He was alone.

He was wanted for murder.

Those he thought would be his comrades turned out to not be as friendly as he’d hoped.

He must have been hiding, sweating, constantly on the lookout because Pharaoh was looking to kill him.

And without God.

Or was he?

Proverbs 18: 22

“Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and obtaineth favor of the LORD.”

Moses was driven by circumstances and his personal choices from Egypt to Midian where he then met his first wife, Zipporah.

Exodus 2: 16-22

“Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters.  And they came and drew water, and they filled the troughs to water their father’s flock.  Then the shepherds came and drove them away; but Moses stood up and helped them, and watered their flock.  When they came to Reuel their father, he said, ‘How is it that you have come so soon today?’  And they said, ‘An Egyptian delivered us from the hand of the shepherds, and he also drew enough water for us and watered the flock.’  So he said to his daughters, ‘And where is he?  Why is it that you have left the man?  Call him, that he may eat bread.’  Then Moses was content to live with the man, and he gave Zipporah his daughter to Moses.  And she bore him a son.  He called his name Gresham, for he said, ‘I have been a stranger in a foreign land.”

Leadership requires authority.

Authority requires power.

Power requires Jesus.

God has appointed for each of us a race to run.  We are all brothers and sisters in the circumstances of our times while at the same time we are responsible for those circumstances ourselves.  God lets the rain fall upon the wicked and righteous alike and let’s the sun shine on them both.  There is common Grace that is given to all humankind.  But for each of us there is a moment where God has decided it will be the moment that everything changes.

Exodus 2: 23-25

“Now it happened in the process of time that the king of Egypt died.  Then the children of Israel groaned because of the bondage, and they cried out; and their cry came up to God because of the bondage.  So God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and with Jacob.  And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God acknowledged them.”

This week we’re going to be going through Exodus some and looking at Moses, God, their relationship and everyone’s relationship together.

For what is leadership without relationship?

I think that’s a good place to start today.

Happy waiting!

:)