Learning to Follow Part 4

When you think about this weekend, I often think about love. People have a misunderstanding of what love really is. It's not as much about how much we feel as it is about how much we're willing to give respect to someone. I think that word respect goes hand-in-hand with love. And love is a choice. People who choose to love someone are choosing to respect them, as opposed to trying to take advantage of them or hurt them or violate them in some physical, emotional, or financial way. Jesus said that believers will be known by our love. So we ought to have love one toward another — a respect for one another.The Bible talks about how in Proverbs, love covereth all sins. Love gives a little mercy, gives a little grace. Nobody here is perfect. With your spouse, with your friends, with your parents — whoever it may be — the Bible says in Proverbs 17 that he that covereth transgression seeketh love. When you're willing to say, "I will overlook that because I respect you, I love you" — that's giving a little grace. God does that with us, and we certainly ought to give it to each other as well. Love worketh no ill to his neighbor. The Bible says it's the fulfilling of the law. There's no fear in love. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. That's what Jesus said, and he actually proved it. He gave himself for us, and we can give ourselves for others. That's what love really looks like.Love is not the feeling. It's not the fancy flowers and the chocolates. It is truly what you give — your sacrificial caring for one another. What hurts love? I've had couples come to my office over the years and say, "We don't love each other anymore." Well, something happened. Something changed their direction. Love is a choice, so you can love somebody even when they don't love you back. But the Bible says in Matthew 24:12, "Because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold." What is iniquity? There are two words that are similar but different — iniquity and sin. Sin is doing wrong, but iniquity carries with it a little more selfishness, more of our own will. Because iniquity — I would call it simply selfishness — abounds, the love of many shall wax cold. If you're having a problem with love, maybe look at yourself and ask, how selfish am I? Maybe we ought to be a little more selfless.So that's my brief thought on love for February 15th. That was not the message — just something on my heart. Exodus chapter 17 is where we're going.But first, a little overview of what we've been talking about. We show our love for the Lord by following him, and he shows his love for us by saving us and leading us. Our theme this year is "follow." We want to give attention to our leaders — whether it's God or whoever God has placed in our life to follow. We ought to have an acceptance, a yielded spirit, and be ready for whatever action God has for us.The children of Israel cried out to God. They were in Egypt, in a terrible situation. God sent a deliverer named Moses. We're thankful that God helps us out of situations. But let me remind you of a few things we've been talking about over the last several weeks.We ought to desire his leading in every situation — not just in bad predicaments, but on a good morning when the sun is shining, saying, "God, I need you to lead me. Guide me today in what you want me to do." Also, don't be surprised if God leads us into predicaments we didn't sign up for. They left Egypt and ended up stopped at the Red Sea — mountains on one side, the Egyptian army coming after them. And God's route is seldom the shortest route. They could have gone straight to Canaan — about 225 miles. Instead, they ended up on a journey of over 2,000 miles. It's not always the shortest route, not always the quickest. But the journey is where we learn. The journey is where we grow in maturity, in faith, in grit. We're often programmed to take the easy path — for ourselves and for our children. We want to be careful not to always go the comfortable route. Sometimes the tough path and the tough lessons are what help us become what God wants us to be.Remember: when it comes to following God, we are not the one leading. When God says go, we go. When God says stay, we stay. They had the pillar of cloud by day — imagine three million Jews following this pillar through the wilderness. When the cloud moved, they moved. And then the pillar of fire at night, because sometimes they had to move at night. Night is part of the journey. You will have seasons of night. Stay close to the leading of God even in the nighttimes.Just because people are busy doesn't mean they're in God's will. If I'm busy for God, I must be in his will — that's not always the case. Sometimes it's just, "Stand still." And when you're standing still, you might feel like you're not going anywhere, nothing's happening. Maybe you're in a rut. That's okay. God can still lead. He did say, "Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord." Just because we're not making progress doesn't mean we're not following God.They crossed over on dry land. The Egyptian army pursued and drowned in the Red Sea. They watched this miracle happen — and what did Moses do? He said, "We've got to pause. We've got to break out in song." It was something about the horse and rider thrown into the sea and how God had blessed them. It's always good after victories to go back and thank God for them. Constantly return to God saying, "Thank you. Thank you. Thank you." That is the will of God.Then in chapter 15, they sang the song, and the wilderness journey continued. Three days out — no water. They found water but it was bitter. They started to complain again. You know, when you decide to follow God, don't be surprised if the car breaks down right after you start tithing, or the kids get sick on the weekend right after you commit to being faithful to church. Stick with it. Keep your heart right. Keep in pursuit. The people murmured about the bitter water. What did God tell Moses to do? Take a tree. Put it in the bitter waters — and the water became sweet. The tree could portray the cross. If you involve the cross — forgiveness, sacrifice — in your relationships and in your life, God can take things that are bitter and make something sweet out of them.Then they traveled to a place with 70 palm trees, 12 wells of water — an oasis in the wilderness. God can supply oases along the way. You and I ought to have some oases — some places you can go, some people in your life who are oasis-type people. Balance is a healthy thing for a Christian. Balance work and play, balance pressure and relaxation. Nobody can sustain pressure all the time.In chapter 16, six weeks in, the food from Egypt was all gone. Running out of food in the wilderness, tired and hungry — they start complaining again to Moses. And it's interesting: God can still be gracious to murmurers. If God can be patient and gracious to murmurers, maybe we should be a little patient with people too. He had big plans for them. He's still being very gracious. God decided to provide their needs in a wonderful way — food from heaven. They looked at it and said, "Manna." What does that mean? "What is it?" That's literally what it means. It was white, kind of sweet, kind of like bread with honey. We have cracked the code — it had to be Krispy Kreme donuts. No question.They were given simple instructions: go out every day, take just enough for that day. Don't take more or it'll breed worms. On Friday, collect twice as much so you have enough for the Sabbath. Some people didn't obey, and sure enough — worms. It's interesting how God reveals our obedience, or lack of it, through his simple instructions. How well do we do with his simple commands? Salvation is pretty clear: "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. If you've not been saved yet, make sure you've accepted Christ as your Savior. That's the most important command God has given. And then: husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church. Children, obey your parents in all things. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven us. The Great Commission: go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. The Bible has a lot of commands that Christians often ignore. Let's look at them.Chapter 17 — New material:"And all the congregation of the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of Sin after their journeys, according to the commandment of the LORD, and pitched in Rephidim: and there was no water for the people to drink. Wherefore the people did chide with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said unto them, Why chide ye with me? Wherefore do ye tempt the LORD?"It's a reminder again — who really brought these people out of Egypt? Was it Moses or was it God? It was God. Now they're going to blame God too in just a moment, but right now they're blaming Moses. They had selective memory at this point. We all do that — we edit out the bad parts. But now they're thirsty.Verse 3: "And the people thirsted there for water; and the people murmured against Moses, and said, Wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?" What did Moses do? He went to God. That's where he went. That's what you and I have to do. Moses cried unto the Lord, saying, "What shall I do unto this people? They be almost ready to stone me." It's almost like David at Ziklag — they wanted to stone him. Easy, slow down a little bit.Verse 5: "And the LORD said unto Moses, Go on before the people, and take with thee of the elders of Israel; and thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the river, take in thine hand, and go. Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink." And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. And he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah because of the chiding of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the Lord, saying, "Is the LORD among us, or not?" That's an interesting question. Is the Lord among us or not?He took the rod. He smote the rock. Think about all the water that would be needed for three million Jews — their livestock and everything. It was probably quite the stream that came out of that rock.We have more insight into who the rock is, because it's a who, not just a what. 1 Corinthians 10:4 says it pretty clearly: "They did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ." It's hard to fully comprehend. But they asked, "Is the Lord with us?" Jesus was there with them. He was the rock.Point One: Jesus Christ is the Rock.He's the one who truly can provide living water. Jesus had to be smitten on the cross — just as Moses took his rod and smote the rock and water came out, it's a picture of the crucifixion. Christ was smitten on the cross of Calvary to provide eternal life for us.Jesus told the woman at the well he was the only source of living water. John 4:10 — "Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water." He was trying to help her comprehend: I will give you something more than just this cup of water. I will give you eternal life. I will give you an abundant life if you want it. Verse 14: "But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life."Throughout the Bible, Jesus is called the rock. Deuteronomy 32:4 — "He is the rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he." 2 Samuel 22:2 — David said, "The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer." Chapter 23, verse 3: "The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spake to me." Jesus is described as the Rock of Israel throughout the Bible.In the New Testament, Matthew 16:18 — Jesus is talking to Peter. He says, "Thou art Peter" — that Greek word is petros, meaning little rocks, little pebbles. You are pebbles, Peter. But then he goes on: "Upon this rock" — the word there is petra, like a cornerstone, a foundation stone, a solid rock — "I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." Jesus describing himself as the rock, compared to Peter: you're little rocks, fine, you're pebbles, but I am the Rock.Not everybody appreciates the rock. Romans 9:33 — "Behold, I lay in Sion a stumblingstone and rock of offence: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed." You've got two sides: those who believe on him and are not ashamed, and those who have a problem with Jesus. It's amazing how much some people have a problem with Jesus.But I have a question: who or what is your rock?When I was in public high school back in Minnesota, I took a speech class. I was a believer at the time. I remember what one classmate named Caleb did. He had this dark gray piece of heavy paper, and he had things on top of it. He said, "This paper represents Jesus Christ. He is my foundation of everything I do, everything I believe, everything I am. Christ is my foundation." I was maybe a year or two older than him, and I'm sitting there thinking, why didn't I say something like that? This guy was standing up for the Lord in a public school, not embarrassed at all. I was so impressed with that young man. Young people, wherever you are, try to stand for the Lord.Who is your rock? Family is great — I appreciate family so much. But you need the rock. Friends are great. But who is your rock? It's got to be Christ. The church is wonderful. Government wants to be our rock — I think some in government say, "Let us take care of your life, we'll be your rock." No. Jesus said, "That's my place." We need the true rock.Where do you go for help? The songwriter put it well: "I go to the rock of my salvation. I go to the stone that the builders rejected. I run to the mountain and the mountain stands by me. When all the earth around me is sinking sand, on Christ the solid rock I stand. When I need a shelter, when I need a friend, I go to the rock." On Christ the solid rock I stand — all other ground is sinking sand. Rock of Ages, cleft for me. The wise man built his house upon the rock. You don't want to build on sand. If our foundation is Christ, if our faith is built on him, we have a solid rock to stand on.People are going through slipping sand. They're struggling in life. They don't have any foundation to stand on. You have a secure, solid foundation. You have God. You have the Word of God. Is it obvious to other people that you have a rock? As we learn to follow the Lord, we must realize that he is our foundation, he's the source, he's our rock. The one we trust, the one we rely upon, the one we call upon when we need him. Jesus was with them in that Old Testament story — they asked, "Is the Lord with us or not?" He was right there with them. The rock actually followed them. As we learn to follow the Lord, he is right here with us. We just need to acknowledge him. Just like the Holy Spirit we have inside us today — he's with you every day.Point Two: Good People Prop Up the Arms of Their Leaders.They got water from the rock. Everybody filled up, everything's wonderful. Jesus provided. Does that mean everything's perfect from here on out? No. Just because Christ is with you and has provided doesn't mean every challenge disappears. Verse 8:"Then came Amalek, and fought with Israel in Rephidim. And Moses said unto Joshua, Choose us out men, and go out, fight with Amalek: to morrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in mine hand. So Joshua did as Moses had said to him, and fought with Amalek: and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed: and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. But Moses' hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. And Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword. And the LORD said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua: for I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. And Moses built an altar, and called the name of it Jehovahnissi" — which means the Lord is our banner — "For he said, Because the LORD hath sworn that the LORD will have war with Amalek from generation to generation."This was a surprise attack. Who are the Amalekites? They are descendants of Esau — specifically from his line. They didn't have to become enemies, but they chose to. And from that day forward, this brought divine rage from God against the Amalekites — it's throughout the whole Bible, throughout history. In the story of Esther, Haman is the last Amalekite mentioned in the Bible. We had evangelist Jimmy D. Young here years ago — he's now passed on, died of COVID in 2020. He was an authority on Jewish history and prophecy, and when he spoke in our church, he said he had traced it — Yasser Arafat was a descendant of Amalek.Today, the word Amalek is used symbolically to represent any evil against the Jewish people. Think about it that way. The Nazis — they didn't need to go and oppress and attack Israel, but they did. Palestinian leadership through the last several centuries has gone along with that spirit, especially recently.And by the way, it is not good in God's eyes. It is not good. These people are not going to be getting any favors from God. It is sad to me and I don't quite understand how anti-Semitic we have become in America. It is really baffling, especially in the last five to ten years — on college campuses, even in America. When you get certain influences of liberal theology and ideology, I suppose this kind of thing can permeate. But the Jews are not perfect, we know that. We may not agree with Benjamin Netanyahu or every decision they make. But keep in mind — they are often literally fighting for their own existence.And Genesis 12:3 is still in the Bible. The first time God gave the promise to Abraham: "I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed." That was through Jesus, who came through the line of Abraham and David and is now our Messiah. I believe it's true today as well. God has a plan for the people called the Jews. Much of the world doesn't seem to understand it, but if you know the Bible, you realize it. Daniel chapter 9 talks about the 70 weeks — 69 of those have been fulfilled. Those are seven-year periods of time. There's one seven-year period left for God to specifically work in the hearts of the Jewish people. This time frame will be fulfilled in the tribulation, right after the rapture. God will bring an openness to the hearts of the Jewish people and they will become believers in the end. Romans 11:26 — "And so all Israel shall be saved." Not now, but they will be at that time. Verse 27 — "This is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins." Verse 28 — "As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers' sakes." God the Father still says, "I've got a plan for the Jews." Let's be careful whose side we're on. The Jews do not have a lot of friends in the world. America has been a friend. We as Christians have been friends of the Jewish people. I think we ought to be, because God can bless those that bless them and curse those that curse them.God at various times gave instructions for the Amalekites to be destroyed. He told Joshua to go in and destroy all the Amalekites. He told Saul to go in and destroy them all — and what did Saul do? He saved the king, and others were spared as well. It wasn't fully accomplished, which is why the problem persisted over the years.But I want to get to the main principle I see in this story. When they were fighting, Moses put his hands up — and as long as his hands were up, the Israelites won. When his hands got weary, the Amalekites started to win. So Aaron and Hur came along, set him on a stone, and lifted up his hands so they could prevail. As long as his hands were raised — perhaps in prayer to God — the battle was going the right direction. But when he got weary, the enemy started to prevail.As we learn to follow Jesus, we understand that God gives us human leaders. He gives us presidents, governors, mayors, civil authorities, spiritual leaders, pastors, teachers, Sunday school teachers, school teachers, bosses, parents — all kinds of leaders that God puts in our lives.I have a question, and I think the answer is pretty obvious. Is it popular today to lift up the hands of our leaders or to pull them down? What's the popular route in America? Let's lift up our leaders — or is it more like the spirit that started in the 60s, where the popular thing is to tear down leadership? There are always ebbs and flows to everything.I think about something from back in Minnesota. In the mid-80s up in Austin, there was a conflict between Hormel and the union. The union decided to strike because they wanted higher wages. And I'll be honest — I lived in that area, sold cars for a couple of years while I was getting out of farming. I noticed those people were doing pretty well. Nice houses, cars, boats. When the profit sharing came out in the spring, it was always a good week at the car dealerships. But they wanted more, and maybe got a little greedy — I don't know the whole story. The company said, "We can't sustain our profitability at these wages, and there are other people willing to work for far less." It became one of the first major company-versus-union conflicts of the 80s and caused a lot of division in the city. It was a terrible time. I wish there could have been an arrangement where the union people said, "We need the company to be healthy. We can't bankrupt the company. They're treating us pretty well." Instead, in the end, all those people lost their jobs and went to work places that paid far less than Hormel had. I just think about you in your personal life with the leaders you have.We've all had presidents we agreed with and disagreed with. We ought to pray for them more than we criticize them. Start there. Pray for them more than you criticize them. Be careful about criticism. It's not popular to lift up the hands of leaders. But I believe we ought to. Good people, godly people assist their leaders to be strong. If Moses had not kept his hands up, they might have lost to the Amalekites and we might not even know about the Jewish people today. I had a message years ago titled simply, "Thank God for Guys Like Hur." There was Joshua and those in the immediate fight, but Aaron and Hur came alongside and lifted up the hands.Are we learning to follow the Lord? If we are, part of that goes along with lifting up the hands of our leaders. Help them. They may not be saved. They may not be godly. I understand that. But how can you help them to be a success? How can you be an asset to them rather than a liability? How can you be a blessing rather than a trial?1 Corinthians 11:1 — Paul said, "Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ." Follow me, church. The Bible tells you to follow whose faith you follow. I'm supposed to be followed. But if I stop following Christ, stop following me. I've said it for years. If I stop following Christ, stop following me. But if I'm following Christ, let's get on board as a church and do something for the cause of Christ.We're going to be talking in the month of March about ministry involvement. A lot of people need to get involved in ministry. It might be a good time to leave the church because we're going to put some pressure on you: get involved, do something. Don't just sit in a church service. Get involved somewhere for the cause of Christ, whatever that looks like, whatever your gifts can be used for.It's important that we have a spirit of willingness to assist our leaders — whether it's in the workplace, whether it's as children with your parents. Don't pull your parents down and get them so frustrated. Don't discourage your encourager. Your parents are trying to be a help to you, and you're discouraging them. That's not healthy for anybody.Whatever leaders you have in your personal lives, think about how you can help them. It could be prayer — everybody needs prayer. Sometimes notes or emails of encouragement are wonderful. Practically look for ways to support them. No leader should demand, "Why aren't you lifting up my arms?" We don't demand that. But I know as a leader, it's nice when people do follow through and try to support and encourage leadership. Why would anybody want to be a leader today? It's one of the worst times in society to be a leader. You get fact-checked, questioned, second-guessed. You've got to have thick skin. But encouragement from your people makes a real difference.So look at the leaders in your life and ask, how can I lift up their hands? How can I be a blessing?The two principles today are simply these: Christ is our rock — he's our foundation. And good people prop up the arms of their leaders — they help and encourage those God has placed over them.Closing Prayer:Father, thank you for this story. We're following it to learn how to follow you, and we see the principles throughout. It's a great story. Help us to learn the good principles out of it. The reminder that you are with us — you are our rock, our foundation. The reminder that leaders need encouragement, that they need their arms lifted up. May we be like an Aaron and a Hur to those around us who are our leaders. Father, the world has so much poisonous, destructive tearing down of leaders. And you say that many of these leaders are put there by you. You put the parents in our lives. You put the presidents in our lives. Help us to have a spirit like Aaron and Hur — to lift up the arms of Moses. Father, if there is anyone hearing my voice who does not know Christ as their Savior, who has never personally called upon Jesus — I pray you convict them of their need of salvation. Help them to get it settled even today. Work in hearts now. And Father, help us all to learn, help us to grow. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.