Sidney UMC - 15th Sunday after Pentecost - 09/13/20 - Sermon - “We Were Once Slaves in Egypt!” (“Exodus: The People of the Covenant” Series: Part 2 of 7)

Sunday 09/13/20 - Sidney UMC

 

Sermon Title:                “We Were Once Slaves in Egypt!”

                (“Exodus: The People of the Covenant” Series: Part 2 of 7)

Old Testament Scripture: Exodus 14:19-31                                       

New Testament Scripture: Romans 14:1-12

Gospel Lesson: Matthew 18:21-35

          Friends, brothers, and sisters in Christ, welcome once again on this the Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost.

          This morning, we are picking up with our seven-week sermon series from the Old Testament Book of Exodus called, “Exodus: The People of the Covenant”. Or to say another way, “Exodus: The people who made an agreement with God”.

          Two weeks ago, we talked about how God spoke to Moses through a burning bush. In doing this, God told Moses that he was going to use him to free the Israelite, or Jewish, or Covenant people, from slavery in Egypt. Moses would lead them through God’s power to the land of milk and honey, or the promised land. Even though this is what God revealed to Moses, the Egyptian leader, the Pharaoh was not willing to let God’s people go.

          As I mentioned last Sunday, multiples plagues then occurred in Egypt, which included the water turning to blood, people getting boils, locusts eating crops, and frogs. These ten plagues culminated with the first Passover. God told Moses and his brother Aaron to tell the Israelite or Jewish people, to all sacrifice a pure and spotless lamb on this the first Passover. They were to then take this lamb, and place some of the blood of the lamb on their doorposts and lintels of their homes. On that same night, death would come to the first born of all people and animals in Egypt. Yet, for those who had marked their doorposts and lintels with the blood of the lamb, the death of the first born would not happen. Instead, these people’s home would be passed over because of the shed blood of a pure and spotless lamb.  

          In the New Testament, Jesus is referred to many times as the Lamb of God, as the new Passover, and the one in whom his shed blood will save us all. When we repent of our sins and turn to Christ, his blood covers the doorways and lintels of our hearts and souls. While we will die an earthly death one day, we will be with Christ for eternity. Eternal death will then pass us over, through the blood of the Lamb, and the word of our testimony.

          This morning however, we have a well-known reading from the Book of Exodus. We have in part the parting of the Red Sea, as the Israelites or the Jews are now officially moving from slavery towards freedom. What does this Book of Exodus scripture reading say once again? Let us look at our reading from the Book of Exodus again, as it says:

“¹⁹ The angel of God who was going before the Israelite army moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud moved from in front of them and took its place behind them. ²⁰ It came between the army of Egypt and the army of Israel. And so the cloud was there with the darkness, and it lit up the night; one did not come near the other all night. ²¹ Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea. The Lord drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night, and turned the sea into dry land; and the waters were divided. ²² The Israelites went into the sea on dry ground, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left. ²³ The Egyptians pursued, and went into the sea after them, all of Pharaoh’s horses, chariots, and chariot drivers. ²⁴ At the morning watch the Lord in the pillar of fire and cloud looked down upon the Egyptian army, and threw the Egyptian army into panic. ²⁵ He clogged their chariot wheels so that they turned with difficulty. The Egyptians said, “Let us flee from the Israelites, for the Lord is fighting for them against Egypt.” ²⁶ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea, so that the water may come back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots and chariot drivers.” ²⁷ So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at dawn the sea returned to its normal depth. As the Egyptians fled before it, the Lord tossed the Egyptians into the sea. ²⁸ The waters returned and covered the chariots and the chariot drivers, the entire army of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea; not one of them remained. ²⁹ But the Israelites walked on dry ground through the sea, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left. ³⁰ Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. ³¹ Israel saw the great work that the Lord did against the Egyptians. So the people feared the Lord and believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses” (Ex. 14:19-31, NRSV).

          So, we have the timeless story of the parting of the Red Sea, and Moses leading the Covenant people towards freedom. In the process of this, the whole Egyptian army is destroyed. Some people have struggled with this. By this I mean, all the Egyptian soldiers died. Why would God allow such a thing? The best answer that I can offer is that God has standards and expectations of how we are to live and to treat each other. The Egyptian leader Pharaoh had enslaved the Israelite or Jewish people. Pharaoh had multiple opportunities to release his slaves to freedom. Yet, because of greed, arrogance, pride, and the desire for power, Pharaoh refused to let God’s people go. Sometimes when we defy God, and we do terrible things, the Bible tells us that God will enact Justice and hold us to account. We do not like this, but God is a God of fairness, love, justice, and mercy.

          With all of this said, on this Sunday that we tell the story of the parting of the Red Sea, and Moses leading the Israelites, the Covenant people, out of Egypt toward freedom, I thought that I would tell you a Moses joke. Not any ordinary Moses joke either, but a golfing Moses joke! Here is the joke:

“It was a beautiful, sunny Sunday afternoon while Moses, Jesus, and another guy were out playing golf. On the first tee-box, Moses pulls out his driver and blisters a shot up the right side of the fairway, rolling fast towards a water hazard. Moses quickly raised his club, parting the water while his ball rolls through to the other side safely”.

“Next up on the tee, Jesus hits a really long drive right towards the very same water hazard. His ball came to rest dead center of the pond, hovering just over the surface of the water. Jesus casually walks out onto the pond, and chips it up onto the green within a couple feet of the flagstick”.

“Not impressed, the third guy steps up to the tee without taking any time and just randomly whacks at the ball. Rightfully so, the ball is hit with a nasty hook that clears the left OB markers and goes over a fence into oncoming traffic. It bounces off a truck’s windshield hitting a nearby tree, bounces onto the roof of the greenkeeper’s shed, back out onto the fairway and towards the same pond that Moses and Jesus hit. Before it gets wet, the ball ricochets off a small rock and bounces onto a lily pad on over the water when a bullfrog jumped up and ate the ball. Right at that moment, a bald eagle swoops down and grabs the frog, flying away. As it flew over the green, the frog squeals with fright and drops the ball right next to the flagstick, taking one bounce and landing in the cup for an astounding hole in one”.

“In disgust, Moses then turns to Jesus and says, “I hate playing with your Dad” (https://www.funnyandjokes.com/moses-and-jesus-playing-golf.html).

          This morning, God parts the Red Sea through Moses, and the Israelite or Jewish people start their trek towards freedom. At different times in human history, people have falsely used the Bible to defend the institution of slavery. I think the story of the Israelite people moving towards freedom in the Book of Exodus shows us clearly what God thinks of slavery. Our country fought a Civil War from 1861-1865, that cost the lives of 600,000 soldiers, to remove the sin of slavery. It is terrible when such struggles result in deaths, as the Egyptian Army was destroyed this morning, but God clearly does not approve of slavery.

          Today is a day of victory for Moses and the Israelite or Jewish people. What they do not realize yet though, is that their path to the land of milk and honey, or the promised land, will be long and difficult. They will lose heart, they will turn away from God, and they will wander for 40-years in the wilderness. We will get into more of these realities in the coming weeks of this sermon series, however.

          As I was preparing for this sermon this morning, I thought about what it was like to be freed? What was it like the day that you left high school for good? For those who are retired, what was it like the day that you retired? What was it like when something just ended in your life, and you were thrilled about it? How did that feel? How excited where you to end that chapter of your life, and to be freed from that thing?

          God offers us spiritual freedom, and this morning provides physical and spiritual freedom to Moses and the Israelites. We are offered spiritual freedom in Jesus Christ. To be forgiven, made new, and to be made into a new creation. Much like the Israelites will struggle after going through the Red Sea, we will still struggle and sometimes endure great hardship. Is it because God does not love us? Of course not! It is largely because we live in a broken, fallen, and sinful world. Spiritual freedom in Christ is the best thing that we can ever have, but it does not mean that after we walk through the Red Seas of our lives towards freedom that everything will always be well. We will endure, we will at times suffer, but God is with us.

          I mentioned last Sunday that I was blessed to go with my seminary to Israel and Palestine in 2014. Of the many amazing things that I was blessed to see there, including where Jesus was born, died, and was resurrected, I also got to see the physical place where Israel declared its national independence as a country. This “Independence Hall” in Tel Aviv, Israel, is where Israel declared its independence on May 14, 1948 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independence_Hall_(Israel). In Independence Hall there are some scriptures on the walls from the Torah, or the first five books of the Old Testament. The one scripture that struck me, that I will never forget reading in Independence Hall, in Tel Aviv, Israel, was Deuteronomy 15:15. Well what exactly does Deuteronomy 15:15 say? This is what it says:

 

“¹⁵ Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you;” (Deut. 15:15, NRSV).

 

          The Book of Deuteronomy is three books of scripture after the Book of Exodus. In this scripture from Deuteronomy 15:15, the Israelite or Jewish people are being reminded of what God has done for them. What God has done for them, and at a great human cost. Pharaoh would not let them go, so God kept “upping the ante” with another plague, and another. Finally, Moses leads God’s people through the Red Sea towards freedom.

          May we also remember that we were once slaves to sin and death, but through our Passover Lamb Jesus Christ, and his shed blood, we are or can be set free. Or another way to say it, is from our “Great Thanksgiving” Communion liturgy in our United Methodist Hymnal. On page 13 it says:

“Holy are you, and blessed is your Son Jesus Christ. By the baptism of his suffering, death, and resurrection you gave birth to your church, delivered us from slavery to sin and death, And made with us a new covenant by water and the Spirit” (UMC Hymnal, pg. 13).

 

          So as our Holy Communion liturgy says, Jesus “delivered us from slavery to sin and death”. Even so, our journeys our not always perfect, and our days are sometimes fraught with great trials and struggles.

          The Apostle Paul also reminds us this morning about judging and despising one another. The Apostle Paul also talks about not judging each other, about how some will struggle, but that we should live for God (Rom. 14:1-12, NRSV). Whatever the day brings, good or bad, let us live for God. God is with us.

          In displaying the great love and forgiveness of God, Jesus talks about forgiveness once again, in our gospel of Matthew reading for this morning. Once again, our gospel of Matthew reading says:

²¹ Then Peter came and said to him, “Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?” ²² Jesus said to him, “Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times”                 (Mt. 18:21-22, NRSV).

 

          In some translations of the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus says to forgive not seventy time, but seven times seventy time. Trust God, love each other, forgive each other, and allow Jesus to lead you to spiritual freedom.

          This gospel reading once again ends with “The Parable of the Unforgiving Servant”. A servant is forgiven of his financial debt from his lord. This same servant then leaves freed from his financial debt, and then tries to collect on a debt owed to him. This same servant does not forgive the debt owed to him, but instead put his debtor in prison. The servant’s lord who forgave his debt heard of this and was angered at how his servant treated the man that owed his servant money. He then had the servant seized and the servant paid him through some less than orthodox methods (Mt. 18:23-35, NRSV).

          Life is not always perfect for us here on earth. Sometimes we suffer, sometimes we endure hardships, and sometimes God leads us through the Red Seas of our lives. God has been with us through the good times and the bad times, and no matter what today or tomorrow brings, let us remember the freedom and the hope that we have in Jesus Christ. For as it says once again in Deuteronomy 15:15:

“¹⁵ Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you;” (Deut. 15:15, NRSV). Amen.