Today we are posting the second part of a message given by Jim Overholt, President of Strongtower Financial* to a staff chapel service at the California Southern Baptist Convention offices in Fresno, CA. Speaking from Exodus 8-10 he challenges us to not only celebrate being saved from the consequences of sin as depicted in the Passover but to also take steps to leave it behind so that we can effectively serve Him.
The Israelites were wanting to leave Egypt but they first had to answer a number of objections from Pharoah.
The First Objection
Pharaoh’s first objection was in chapter 8 verse 25, when he says “Go and sacrifice to your God, but in the land.” In effect, “believe what you want to about your God, but stay immersed in our culture.”
We could camp on this point for quite a while, but for today let’s just say this was a question of obedience versus expedience. It would be tempting for the people to say: look, we’ve already got all the benefits. We’ve been saved from certain death and now we’re free from bondage. God wants the best for us, so let’s just rest in His finished work and make ourselves comfortable here.
Not all bondage seems oppressive
But God knows what’s really good for us, and He has a very different view of Egypt than we do. He wants us free not only from its brick kilns and taskmasters—the oppressive part—but also from its beautiful temples and alters, its gardens and palaces, its principles and customs, its religion and politics, and so on and so forth. He knows the even greater danger of these things—all the things of the world, the things that deceived Eve in the garden, the same things that Jesus was tempted with in the desert—but we so often miss it.
Expedience versus faithfulness
And it’s easy to rationalize expedience, isn’t it? Go with what works. Listen to what’s easiest to hear, preach whatever draws the largest crowd, etc. etc. Moses, happily, had already learned this lesson. How easy would it have been for him to say: you know what, I’m a prince of Egypt and heir to the throne. Think of what I could do for God’s people from that position! I could make them prosperous, even wealthy. I could command the worship of our God by all of the Egyptians. We would be in their midst as a witness for the glory of our God, and have credibility because we would be seen to be like them in their society. They didn’t stop to think that their worship—to the extent that it was faithful—would be offensive to the Egyptians (verse 8:26) and they might be tempted to tone it down so as not to be offensive to the culture. Sound familiar?
But the point is, God had spoken. And He had said in connection with His judgments earlier in the chapter that He wanted to “make a difference between” His people and the Egyptians, and that to properly serve Him, they needed to put a distance between themselves and the culture. There needed to be a distinctive change to be an effective witness, and it’s the same today. Especially in our post-modern culture, people are tired of hearing from us about a life-changing God when they don’t see our lives changed. God’s word says that just a little leaven leavens the whole lump, and that we should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees—which is hypocrisy. I fear that in far too many ways we have become the Pharisees of the 21st Century.
Mr. Overholt joined Strongtower Financial in 2006, bringing with him more than 25 years of experience in the financial services industry. During his career, he has served as the chief executive for some of the largest and most successful companies in the financial industry. In addition to his extensive investment, insurance and capital management experience, he has always been active in ministry including most recently serving as the Executive Director of Mission America Coalition.
*Disclosure : Strongtower Financial is the fund manger for our primary sponsor.
with Charlton Heston and Yule Brinner in what has become an epic film that is still broadcast every Easter. It’s a story that every Sunday school teaches at a very early age, but generally speaking, what people learned as a child about that wonderful story is too often all they ever learn about it, and that’s a shame, because the fact is, that story is a beautiful allegory of the gospel message… and not just the salvation part depicted in the Passover, but the second half of the message—the part we too often neglect these days—the deliverance of God’s people from the bondage of sin so that we can worship and serve Him. That’s the part depicted by the passage through the Red Sea and eventually, the journey of not just one day, not just two days, but “three days” into the wilderness.