Prelude
Call to Worship Psalms 32:8
Hymn JBC # 320 Shine and Live
The Lord’s Prayer
Hymn JBC # 1467 Thou didst leave Thy throne
The Prayer Time
Offering
Scripture Acts 7:17~36
Prayer
Sermon “I will send you to Egypt”
Prayer
Hymn JBC # 544 Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!
Doxology JBC # 674
Benediction
Postlude
Welcome & Announcements
In today’s scripture passage, taken from Acts chapter 7 in the New Testament, we hear the words of the Christian evangelist Stephen as he preaches.
What Stephen is talking about here is the story of the figure (person) Moses, the story of Moses’ life.
Moses appears in the Old Testament book of Exodus, and is a very important figure in the story of the Israelites faith.
The Bible has two sections, the Old Testament and the New Testament, and together both the Old and New Testament form the Bible.
The Old Testament starts from Genesis, which tells the story of God’s creation of the universe. It goes on to share the history of God choosing the people of Israel and revealing Himself to them.
The Old Testament contains the words of many prophets, and through their words, we come to understand the kinds of words and commandments that God gave to the Israelites.
Jesus Christ does not appear directly in the Old Testament, since the time of the Old Testament was well before the time when Christ was born as a man.
Since Christianity believes in Jesus Christ as God, the focus of our faith is on reading the New Testament, where the writing centers on Christ’s life and words.
However, the Old Testament, which does not directly record about Christ, is also important to us as Christians as the word of God.
This is because the Old Testament, through the events of creation and choosing the people of Israel, tells of the plan for God sending the savior Christ into the world and His preparations towards that plan.
In Ephesians chapter 1 verse 4, it is written:
4 For he chose us in him (*Christ) before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.
From this verse, we understand that a common thread that runs through everything, even through the Old Testament, is God choosing us through Christ, loving us, and trying to make us holy in his sight.
Stephen was at the Sanhedrin being questioned, accused of “blaspheming against God”
For Stephen to be at that place and speaking of the Bible, sharing the plan of the true God and God’s truth with these people who were denouncing him, means he had a strong desire to do so.
This is because it is through the words of the Bible itself that God’s word is spoken with the greatest power and the greatest power to capture people’s hearts.
Amongst Stephen’s speech in today’s passage, the life of the figure of Moses and how God used him is condensed into a very short story.
Moses lived to 120 years old, and was the leader of the Israelites. That kind of life cannot be fully explained in such few words and detail.
However, even from such a shortened version, we learn how Moses was chosen by God and the kinds of works God had him carry out.
Rather than learning about Moses himself, instead we learn about the kinds of things God did through Moses
When Moses was born, the number of Israelites (they were also called the Hebrews) in Egypt was growing.
And the king of Egypt saw this as a threat.
In Exodus chapter 1 verses 8 to 10, it says:
8 Then a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt. 9 “Look,” he said to his people, “the Israelites have become far too numerous for us. 10 Come, we must deal shrewdly with them or they will become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country.”
Joseph was an Israelite who, with God’s support, did great works in Egypt, however the new king did not know of this, nor did he know the mighty works of the God that had been revealed through Jospeh.
For that king, the ever-increasing number of Israelites could only be seen as something to be feared.
This king who feared the growing numbers of the Israelites ordered midwives to kill any boys that were born to the Israelites.
Even in later times when Jesus was born, the New Testament records how when King Herod heard the news that the new King of the Jews had been born, he grew angry and ordered the deaths of all infant boys.
In this way the Bible (through the Old and New Testaments) show us just how cruel humans can be depending on the circumstances.
The Bible also shows us how the sinful nature of humanity has not changed at all over the ages.
As humans, we cannot overcome that sin or rid ourselves of sin by ourselves.
The only way we can be freed from sin is to be forgiven by the one who is above all others, that is our Lord and Creator God.
Jesus Christ came into this world as a man and died on the cross for us, so that we could be forgiven of the serious and deep-rooted sins we bear.
Because of this one fact, because Christ saved us from our sins through the cross, even amidst the harshness and sadness of reality and even with our sinful natures, we are able to live with hope.
No matter how times change and no matter how society changes, let us rejoice and give thanks for the unchanging love of God and his forgiveness of our sins, given to us through Christ.
In verse 22 of today’s passage, it says “Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action”.
But actually, when God called Moses to become the leader of the Israelites, he refused God’s call many times, saying “I am not a good speaker. No one will listen to me.”
“But from God’s perspective, through Moses’ education in Egypt, he had already been given all the gifts he needed to share the Word of God, gifts in speaking and to carry out wondrous deeds.
Through a twist of fate (God’s provision), Moses came to be raised in the household of the Egyptian royal family. There, he gained all the skills he would need to later become the great leader of the Israelites.
Like God provided Moses with all the education (through Egypt) that he would need to become a leader, even now God is also providing us in many different ways with good gifts, gifts that we may not even realize ourselves, and an abundance of talents.
Sometimes, these things are given to us through experiences that are unpleasant, difficult and painful for us.
And so, even in the midst of painful and challenging times, let us have faith and ask ourselves “What is God trying to teach me through this situation, what is God trying to give me?”
From verse 23 onwards, the passage talks about how Moses made up his mind to help his fellow Israelites.
Moses witnesses an Israelite being mistreated by an Egyptian. Moses then strikes down the Egyptian and kills him. In Chapter 2 of Exodus, it says:
25 Moses thought that his own people would realize that God was using him to rescue them, but they did not.
Moses thought that his brothers (his fellow Israelites) they would understand that God was trying to save them through him.
At that time Moses was still acting on his own sense of justice, still an immature person acting high-handedly and impulsively based on what he believed to be right.
He was not yet mature enough to be seen as a leader by those around him. After this, Moses fled to the land of Midian, where he spent the next 40 years.
It could be said that these 40 years in Midian was time spent preparing Moses for the role he would later fulfill as leader of the Israelites.
The gospels tell us that when Jesus had lived approximately 30 years as a man, he began his official ministry.
I think it is fair to say that even Jesus spent that time building up life and experience, preparing himself to begin his ministry work.
And when Jesus began his official ministry, at the beginning he spent 40 days in the desert being tempted. (Matthew 4, Luke 4)
It is not as though if we grow in our faith and prepare fully before we start then we will never have any troubles or suffering.
On the contrary, it could be said that the life of a believer is one of constant struggles.
However, suffering for the faith is a process where, through trials, we come to know our own weakness, recognize and face our sins, and to grow in faith knowing that God will be with us and we can find the strength in God to keep going.
So, if there is anyone here who is going through a trial at the moment, I sincerely hope that you will have faith that God’s provision and God’s presence will be with you, that you will trust and walk with Jesus, and that we would be able to support and pray for one another.
God called on Moses who had spent 40 years living in the land of Midian, sending him to Egypt.
Moses was called to use the path he had taken and everything he had experienced, and was sent by God to Egypt to save the Israelites from their slavery in Egypt.
Unlike once before when Moses self-righteously thought his fellow Israelites should understand that he was trying to save them, this time God clearly stated his calling to Moses.
We see this God’s words in verse 34 of today’s passage.
34 I have indeed seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I have heard their groaning and have come down to set them free. Now come, I will send you back to Egypt.’
In today’s passage, while Stephen was telling the story of Moses, I am sure he would have felt that the Lord God who was with Moses, who gave Moses his calling, was also with Stephen himself.
And Stephen must also have felt a strong desire to somehow convey to his fellow Jews about the God’s grace had been fully revealed through Jesus Christ.
Let us believe ever more deeply in the works and love of God as expressed through Stephen’s sermon (or message), be strengthened by God, and continue walking each day in faith.
Let the steps we take each day, the path we are meant to walk from here on, be guided by the words of the Bible and by the Holy Spirit.
And shall we not also walk in the direction where God says to us “I am sending you”?
