YOU CAN'T PULL YOURSELF UP BY YOUR OWN BOOTSTRAPS IF YOU'RE BAREFOOT

(This was my first sermon upon coming to River City Church)

Our God is amazing and all creation stands as proof of that! His might and strength is beyond description, beyond our understanding. But what does it look like when God shows off a little bit? What does it look like when God flexes?

 

Then the LORD said to Moses, "Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh: Because of my mighty hand he will let them go; because of my mighty hand he will drive them out of his country." (Exo.6:1)

So I will stretch out my hand and strike the Egyptians with all the wonders that I will perform among them. After that, he will let you go. (Exo. 3:20)

"Therefore, say to the Israelites: 'I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. (Exo. 6:6).

If I may be so bold, it sounds like God is flexing. And when God flexes, the world trembles. When God's people cry out, God delivers. God showed His might by what He did in the nation of Egypt, but He also displayed His might in the life of one man. Just as God didn't allow Pharaoh to release His people until He was done showing His power (flexing, if you will), He did not stop until He showed Moses just how powerful He is. 

In a time of great trouble, God brought His people to the most fertile area of all Egypt. By God's grace, the Israelites were given the delta area of the Nile, called Goshen. But as the years passed, everything changed. God's people became man's slaves. The land of blessing became the poor shambles of an oppressed people. The king commanded mass racial genocide to ensure his grip on his kingdom of disposable people. Does any of this sound like our nation's history?

 

Anyway, out of this conflict a child was born. By God's wisdom and power this slave child became the beloved child of the king's daughter. It was in this way that Moses was making his way from wicker basket to marble throne. There was just one problem. Moses knew his heritage. What kind of man could sit back and do nothing, seeing what Moses saw.

In the desert heat, as the sand blew by, a people who once belonged to the almighty sweated and bled to make another man's dream of wealth and might a reality. Here were a people beaten down so far that they lost all hope and were losing all sight of their God. They toiled in the mud and lay the bricks that built up their oppressors. Amidst it all, some held enough faith the cry out to God for deliverance. not knowing that these prayers were being heard by his God, Moses took it upon himself to answer the cries of his people.

 

So the "prince of Egypt" raised his hand against the man (the Egyptians in this case) and tried, by his own power, to deliver his people. But instead of a liberator, he became a murderer, and the very people he tried to save rejected him. Moses was now a wanted man. Pharaoh put the word out for him to be killed and soon his face was chiseled onto the walls of every Egyptian post office.

 

Now a fugitive, Moses left everything and ran. He didn't run to his mother (either of them for that matter) or just down the road, no, He just kept on running. He ran right across the border and kept running 'til he saw desert women being oppressed. Once again he saw the opportunity to play the liberator. Welcomed in by the desert folk, Moses found what seemed like the perfect hiding place and alibi. After all, who would suspect a sheepherder? For 40 years Moses hid from his people, his God, and his problems. But God wasn't done with him!

 

This 80 year old fugitive, while tending his father-in-laws sheep (not everyone will hire an illegal alien and fugitive, after all), saw a sight like nothing ever seen before. I have to go check this out, he said, and off he went. Little did Moses know, that he was about to face someone He had been running from.

 

God called Moses out by name, from the fire, and said; "Do not come any closer...Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground." Then he said, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob." (Exo. 3:5-6).

So what do you do when confronted by God?!

Let me tell you about a man I know whose story starts out a lot like Moses'. This guy was raised knowing about God and His people, like Moses. He saw things going on around him that he believed were wrong and tried, by his own power to do something about it. He tried to follow Christ by his own power, and held himself to an impossible standard. He became frustrated because he saw that he was unable to become who God wanted him to be. He held others to the same impossible standard, and became angry when they couldn't live up to it either. He misused God's Word, and though he never took anyone's life physically, he may have brought spiritual death by turning people form God by the way he misrepresented Him.

But when he saw his brothers and sisters being mistreated by others because they couldn't live up to the impossible expectations of others, he became so confused, guilty, and depressed, that he began to run from God. Thanks be to God that my Lord did not allow him to run for long. He nearly lost his faith, but instead decided to pick up his Bible. He read 1st, 2nd, and 3rd John and came face to face with a God he had never seen before. Instead of a God who held men to impossible standards and waited for him to fail, he found a God who was loving, patient and kind. This man found himself confronted with God. This man was me. I knew I had to change, I knew I needed God to change me, I knew my own power was not enough.

 

Depending on human power is where Moses and I failed. But self-reliance is a huge part of our culture. We say thing like: pull yourself up by your own bootstraps, if you want something done right do it yourself, he built himself up from nothing, he's a self-made man, he took his future in his own hands, he scraped out a living from the dirt, he climbed his way to the top, he made a name for himself, etc. We are a people who believe in doing things by their own power.
 

This is where Moses and I messed up; this is where both of us failed. So, I ask you again. What do you do when confronted by God?

First you listen! Look at what the Lord told Moses:

1. He told him to take off his sandals. Moses was in the desert country of Midian, without his sandals, Moses was completely vulnerable. You can't pull yourself up by your own bootstraps if you're barefoot! God wanted to begin by showing Moses that he was helpless.
 

2. He told him to take them off because he was on holy Ground. Not only did God want Moses to see his own helplessness, he wanted Moses to acknowledge that he was in the presence of the Almighty, the one who can do all things. God said, Moses you are on my turf, so show some respect and take your shoes off.
 

3. God says I am the God of your ancestors. This should bring to Moses' mind all the mighty things God did for his family. This also calls Moses' mind back to the people and the God he ran away from. It also showed that the God of his ancestors was not just in the presence of His people; God was even here in the desert. Moses could run from the God's of Egypt and they were powerless to follow him, but not the God of Israel.
 

4. God assures him that He has not forgotten His people, but He too has heard their cries and will answer them in His might. Now God says that He will be the one to deliver the people. Moses was unable to do this, but God is able.

 

Now, look how Moses reacts. He falls on his face before the Lord and hides in fear. This is good!

 

In our American culture, we don't usually see anyone fall on their face unless they have a gun to their head. The stance of falling on your face is one of complete surrender, showing you are no threat whatsoever. Moses completely submits because he recognizes that he is in the presence of one who is infinitely greater than he is.

 

The only way Moses could ever move forward was to accept his need for God and surrender to Him.

 

It was not until hardships in the faith came my way that I realized my great need for God. I realized I couldn't take one step without Him. This realization began to change everything, but even when I turned around and really started to see my God for who He is, I acted based on what I thought was right and invited God to join me. God was not done teaching me to depend on Him.

 

God was not done with Moses either. You see, God brought Moses to his knees so that he could make some hard realizations. God gave Moses the challenge that would make clear to him just how much he needed his God.

 

Then the LORD said, "I have seen how cruelly my people are being treated in Egypt; I have heard them cry out to be rescued from their slave drivers. I know all about their sufferings, and so I have come down to rescue them from the Egyptians and to bring them out of Egypt to a spacious land, one which is rich and fertile... I have indeed heard the cry of my people, and I see how the Egyptians are oppressing them. Now I am sending you to the king of Egypt so that you can lead my people out of his country." (Exo. 3:7-10)

 

Poor Moses, he runs from his past and God brings it all back to him. Fear overwhelms Moses.

But Moses said to God, "I am nobody. How can I go to the king and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?" (Exo. 3:11).

God answered, "I will be with you..." (Exo. 3:12).

We know how this story goes. Moses has reason after reason why he cannot do what God asks of him. What if they ask me who you are? What if they don't believe me? I'm not a good speaker. Over and over God reassures Moses that He, the Lord, will be the one to make it all happen.

 

But the Lord's patience only goes so far. Send someone else Moses said, even after God showed him that he would equip him with all he needed. God's anger burned hot against Moses. The time for Moses to realize his own weakness had passed. It was time to put his faith in his God.

 

How often are we just like Moses? I can't speak to people. I can't love those people. I can't quit drinking. I can't walk away from him/her. I can't stop using. I can't help who I am. I can't pay my rent. I don't have the money. I don't have the time. I've done too much. I've gone too far. I've hurt too many people.

 

Why can't we see it? Why couldn't Moses see it? It's not who I am, it's not who I'm not, It's not what I have or what I don't have. It's about who God is and what he has the power to work in me.

 

All Moses had in his hands was a stick, but with God, it was a serpent, a sign to all of God's power. His other hand was empty, but with God it was a sign of God's power to destroy or heal.

God gave me the challenge I needed to really learn what it means to depend on Him too. River City Ministry was my challenge. I preached about how we needed to be busy doing the very things done here, and coming here was part of what inspired the sermons. Our visits here were a part of God working on me. The director talked to me about this kind of work and I said my heart was with my youth group and I wanted to see them through high school. But then, the next year, my best friend and I had so many things point us towards urban ministry that we told the director and evangelist that this was what we wanted to do when we were older and more educated and we asked him how to get started. Kimberly and I talked about it and began to make all kinds of reasons as to why we needed to wait. Then one day, we realized we had no reasons, only excuses. We prayed and prayed about it and I told the church what I was thinking about, I talked to the evangelist and he told me they would take me as an apprentice. That scared me and we prayed harder.

One day the decision weighed on my mind to heavily and I said, "Lord I don't know what to do. I wish you would just show me, but I can't think about it any more." I decided to get my mind off of it and focus on our teen devotional. It was the beginning of a new quarter so I was trying to decide where to start. I made four suggestions for what we could study and had the youth vote, via text. All but one said they wanted to use the video series of The Forgotten God by Francis Chan. I had not watched them yet, though I had read and loved the book. I turned it on and Francis talked about how he struggled to see what God wanted for him. He said, "Then it hit me, what if God's will is right in front of me. What if God wants me to go serve the poor. What if the answer is that simple." I turned it off and said, "Okay Lord, I hear you. I remembered His patience only goes so far, and I decided to listen before His anger burned hot against me!
 

We came out here and every day God challenges me and causes me to rely on Him more. It is a beautiful and terrifying thing to grow in Him this way. But each day God shows me a little more of His glory, and helps me let go a little more. It's not about who I am. It's about who He is and what He can do with me.
 

Now here's the question. Will you submit to your God and rely on His power? Will you forfeit your will and your puny power? Will you hand your life over to him? Or will you let God's anger burn against you? It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a living God.

 

So, stop running and start following. Stop cutting your own path and allow God to direct your steps. Stop sinning and start living for Him. Stop living by your own power and start relying on your God. Stop seeing your limitations and start seeing God's limitless power. Stop inviting God to join you on your journey and let God take the lead. Take off your sandals; you're on God's turf. Get on your knees before Him and accept what you can't do and see what God can do. Then step out in faith and see what God will work in you. It was not until God's people cried out that He showed up to save them. But when they turned to Him for the answer, God went to flexing, and showed them just how much He is willing to do through and for His people.