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Friday, 20 November 2009 18:06 |
By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh's daughter. He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time. He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward. By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king's anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible. Hebrews 11:24-28
Moses lost more than most of us ever had when he left Egypt. He was second in command of a nation. Most people have never been a national leader. The writer of Hebrews does not say that Moses achieved his notable status and access to wealth "by faith"; rather, "by faith" Moses did quite the opposite. Look at what Moses did with his faith. Look at the verbs in this passage. He refused political position. He chose mistreatment. He regarded "disgrace for the sake of Christ as having greater value than the treasures of Egypt." He looked forward to a reward that Egypt could not offer. Finally,"by faith", He left Egypt altogether.
This is not a common picture of a person walking by faith. Usually we think that faith is a means to acquire worldly position and material riches. Moses used faith to go in exactly the opposite direction.
Granted, as the story goes, his exit from Egypt was not graceful. He murdered an Egyptian and became a fugitive. He ran for his life. He ended up in a foreign country. He settled there, started a family and at some point realized he had been reduced to being "an alien in a foreign land." He had become an immigrant. This was a huge change from being an important public official leading a nation.
Moses the former prince became an immigrant doing farm work for his father-in-law in a desert that to this day no one can find. The man who once stood in the national lime light had become a nameless face in a crowd. The writer of Hebrews calls that movement away from worldly fame and riches faith towards total obscurity an act of faith.
By faith, Moses came to a place where he had to start over. Moses was no young man. He was in his 40's. His former career in politics was gone, he was an anonymous immigrant in a strange new place, raising children, tending sheep and, undoubtedly, wondering what went wrong. At a time when he should have been reaching the heights of his career a series of decisions had left him lower than he had ever been.
In Hebrews 11:13-16 the writer gives us more insight into this immigrant status for people who walk by faith. , "All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth." It is not all unusual for people of faith to regard themselves as "out of towners", as immigrants, as pilgrims. All who have lived by faith have found themselves in a nameless wasteland, longing for home. Walking by faith actually should lead us to a place where we say, as Moses said, "I have become an alien in a foreign land." Exodus 2:22
This living as an immigrant kind of faith is not just an Old Testament thing. In the New Testament, Peter writes his first epistle to "God's Elect strangers in the world". Paul wrote to the Christians in that proud Roman colony Philippi, "our citizenship is in heaven." Jesus defended His passivity to Pilate by saying "my kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world my servants would fight for me."
The idea that we are citizens of heaven should not be construed to mean we don't care about what is happening in this world. Rather our response to this truth should be as Peter wrote, "
Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every authority instituted among men: whether to the king, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right." 1 Peter 2:13-15.
This is boring, there is no call to arms here, no revolutionary fervor, no building an earthly empire. Just dull faith to live with less. Realizing our role in this world as "aliens and strangers" means we know where our true home is. With the economy turning upside down, there are many 40 something, people out there who find it is time to start over. Is such a thing a lack of faith? Or is it an act of faith? The scripture tells a much humbler story than the preachers on TV. |
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Last Updated on Thursday, 25 February 2010 02:52 |
