THE JESUS WAY 8
transformed lives
one of the greatest ballerina’s of all time after one of her performances
was asked, what the dance meant, she said …..
If I could have said
it, I wouldn’t have
needed to dance it
Exodus 17
Israelites on their way to the new life, through a desert
They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. 2
So they quarrelled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.” Moses
replied, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you put the LORD to the
test?”
Testing God They had seen the parting of the red sea, the sweetening of the
poisoned waters at Marah. They have another water problem and their life
with God was based on spectacular signs.
Goading God 3 But the people were thirsty for water there, and they
grumbled against Moses. They said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt
to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?”
Now they are goading God through Moses by saying
were better off without God in Egypt, in their old life.
When Jesus was in the desert the devil tempted him to jump off the
highest temple point to prove God would catch him
through a spectacular sign
My response was, don’t try this at home.
Jesus’ response was ‘do not put the Lord your God to the test’
Faced with a mission to reveal God to the world
this would seem a really good promotional crowd winning exercise
Although earlier God had said to Jesus ‘you are my son who I love’ ….
The problem is did anyone else hear it… because that’s important isn’t it!
The temptation to press God for a spectacular sign works in two ways
1. to prove to ourself that God is real
2. to prove to those around us that God is real.
Jesus resisted the temptation to press God for a sign
by following a way already set out for him in the old testament
when the phrase ‘do not tempt the Lord your God, was used.
they
The old life Their whole life experience in Egypt represents the old life.
In this type of life they were subject to what was being done to them.
What ever the world threw at them they were subject to it.
They had no other perspective than to fight, cope or suffer.
The only hope they had was in what they could do for themselves.
So the issues of their lives tyrannised them and crushed them.
They felt as though they were completely without hope.
Interestingly their old life in Egypt was a self inflicted exile,
they went there of there own accord.
This old kind of life is called Slavery ….. and now they were goading God
through Moses by saying they were better off back in it in Egypt.
The new life They were supposed to be on their way to a new kind of life,
not based on what was being done to them but on what was being done for
them by God. A life filled with hope for the future.
But like us, under pressure we can’t immediately see what God is doing for
us in our circumstances. If we like them, fail to look to God to see what God
is doing for us then we will fall subject to our circumstances and we are
left to fight through on our own, cope or suffer.
The calling is to trust God to make good of all things that come to us
and we must fix our attentions on Him in order to see what he is doing
so we can play our part in the fulfilment of our lives
New hope
This is our foundation for new hope
even though the circumstances are still the same.
I have found in such difficult circumstances
that other Christians have enabled me to trust God
and set my attention on him when I’ve been too troubled to cope.
To be honest this rule applies whether life is going well or badly
our calling is to trust God by fixing our attention on him in order to see
what God is doing and play our part and receive new hope.
4
This is exactly what Moses does
Then Moses cried out to the LORD,
“What am I to do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me.”
5
The LORD answered Moses, “Go out in front of the people. Take with
you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand the staff with which
you struck the Nile, and go. 6 I will stand there before you by the rock at
Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to
drink.” So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7 And he
called the place Massah[a] and Meribah[b] because the Israelites
quarrelled and because they tested the LORD saying, “Is the LORD
among us or not?”
Moses’ trust and attention is on what God will do for him.
He discerns what God says and is obedient to it
like a sail is obedient to the wind.
He has a real hope for the future
Moses isn’t subject to what he can cobble together, fight for or cope with
And he doesn’t run away from the issue, he looks for God in it.
The people are not prepared to trust God
Their life with God is based on the spectacular on demand
They have not set their attentions on God,
so they can’t see him or his way through life for them
so they have no hope for the future
their lives are not being transformed
their telling words indicate their perspective
they tested the Lord saying, “is the Lord among us or not”
when our eyes are fixed on the outcomes we desperately need
there is no trusting relationship and we are blind to what God is doing.
And when God gives a way through, we are looking the other way
how do we trust God for our lives and fix our attentions on him
so we can play our part in the fulfilment of our lives
Jesus tells us later in Matthew’s account 11:28
Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced
rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep
company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly."
We keep company with Jesus and he pours into us a life
that empowers us to live freely and lightly in all circumstances
where we are not subject to what the world throws at us or tempts us with
how do you walk with him?
how do you talk with him?
how do you watch how he does life?
how do you learn the unforced rhythms of grace?
how do you keep company with him?
and
what does it look like and feel like in your life to
live freely and lightly in all circumstances?
God has chosen not spectacular signs but transformed lives
to reveal himself to us and to the world around us
our lives are like a song or a dance that reveals God’s power
to transform our life experience and the lives of those around us.
one of the greatest ballerina’s of all time
after one of her performances was asked
what the dance meant, she said …..
if I could have said it I wouldn’t have needed to dance it