Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz20090927.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
Exodus: God's Forming The Nation Israel For His Abrahamic Covenant
Part II: God's Training Israel To Heed Him, Exodus 15:22-40:38
C. God's Training On Effective Leadership Under Duress
(Exodus 17:1-16)
    Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

    Leaders and followers face crises in their roles at many levels: (1) Lee Iacocca, former Chrysler CEO last year published the book titled, Where Have All The Leaders Gone? in which he lamented the vacuum of good leadership in our nation.

    (2) Harvard professor, Bill George agrees with Iacocca, saying: "All of the failures can be traced to poor leadership" (Del Jones, "Nation's problems can be traced to leadership vacuum," 11/6/2008, www.USATODAY.com), and this crisis affects many levels, too:

    (a) On September 12th, citizens from all over America attended a vast "Tea Party" in Washington, D. C. to vent their deep opposition at the direction their government leaders were taking them.

    (b) At the state level, news that Pratt and Whitney will shut down 1,000 jobs over the next several years caused many callers on a Connecticut radio talk show last week to call, complaining a lack of leadership is letting government spending spiral way out of control.

    (c) Christian groups are not immune to leader and subordinate issues, either. Last Sunday, I heard of a Church split in our area with many of the Church's members looking to attend elsewhere. (d) At the family level, leaders and subordinates all over our nation have faced crises for decades: over 500,000 children are born each year to unwed mothers, and more than 1 in every 2 weddings this year will end in divorce. (Del Fehsenfeld's statement cited in The Rebirth Of America, The Arthur S. DeMoss Foundation, 1986, p. 92)

    (4) With such crises comes an increased reaction to bad leadership that makes the rise of good leaders that much more difficult: (a) Edward Lawler of the Univ. of California's Center for Effective Organizations says "expectations of leaders have risen so unrealistically that it's nearly impossible to succeed," Ibid., Jones.

    (b) Bruce Avolio of the Foster Center of Leadership at the University of Washington at Seattle claims that "the public is losing tolerance for anything that goes wrong and has higher expectations for what goes right" in leadership, Ibid.

    (c) What occurs in the secular realm often spills over to churches, too: new church groups constantly start up and unhappy believers keep "church hopping" from place to place.

    Need: "With the crises we see today at so many levels in the roles of leaders and subordinates, how are we ALL to FUNCTION WELL?!"

  1. When Israel arrived at Rephidim, its absence of water led her to threaten the life of their human leader, Moses, Exodus 17:1-3, 4b.
  2. Moses called for God's aid, and His response offers a TIMELESS SOLUTION for leaders and subordinates in DURESS, Ex. 17:4-16:
    1. God gave a timeless solution for leaders in duress, Exodus 17:4-7:
      1. God gave Moses guidance when he asked Him for help, Ex. 17:4a.
      2. In guiding him, God had Moses stick to past precedents, Ex. 17:5:
        1. Moses was to go in front of the people and take with him some elders, to keep on performing his leadership role, Ex. 17:5a,b.
        2. Then, he was to take the rod he had before used to strike the Nile to produce the first Egyptian plague, using the gifting God had equipped him to have to lead the way he had already led effectively for God, Exodus 17:5c with Ex. 7:20 and Ex. 4:1-5.
      3. Third, God led Moses to heed His Word, Ex. 17:6a, b: God told Moses to strike the rock upon which God stood, and that HE would cause water to come out of the rock, Exodus 17:6a, b.
      4. Moses heeded God, and He supplied the water to end the crisis, Ex. 17:6c. Moses named the place "Massah" since Israel had argued with him, and "Meribah" as doing so had tested if God was with Israel, Ex. 17:7; Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, 1978, ftn. to Ex. 17:2.
    2. God gave a timeless solution for leaders and subordinates in duress:
      1. Though God had settled Moses' initial crisis, Israel's low value of him as a leader needed to be corrected for God to keep using him to lead her, so He let another crisis rise to correct Israel, 17:8-16:
        1. Though God had once guarded Israel from attack by moving His cloud behind her to protect her from Pharaoh's pursuing chariots (Ex. 14:19-20), when Amalek attacked Israel in Exodus 17:8, the Lord had not moved His cloud back to protect her stragglers, (Deut. 25:17-18), leading to a second, more dire crisis for Israel!
        2. Thus, God gave Israel a taste of her own medicine, showing that her past intent of killing the innocent, vulnerable Moses was as vile as the similar evil of the Amalekite attack on her stragglers! This trial was aimed at rectifying Israel's attitude toward Moses!
        3. Moses reacted to the crisis by sending Joshua to lead Israel to battle Amalek while he stood atop a hill with his rod in hand, trusting God would give Israel victory if he held up his rod like God had slain the Egyptians at the Red Sea, Ex. 17:9; 14:26.
        4. As Moses' hands held up his rod, Israel prevailed, but when his hands wearied and dropped, Amalek prevailed, Exodus 17:11.
        5. Thus, instead of threatening Moses as in the past crisis (Ex. 17:4b), the people LEARNED in this SECOND crisis that she had to support Moses in order to save herself, Ex. 17:12-13.
      2. This second crisis thus TAUGHT Israel HER need to VALUE MOSES in his ROLE as GOD'S HUMAN LEADER for HER!
    3. Thus, Moses stated a principle about God's help whenever Israel's leadership OR subordinate roles might be in duress , Ex. 17:14-16:
      1. God told Moses to write in a in book of memorial for Joshua and Israel's posterity that He would fight and obliterate the Amalekites for attacking Israel's stragglers, Exodus 17:14; D eut. 25:17-18.
      2. Moses obeyed, and built an altar to God, calling it "the Lord is my Banner," for "[Moses'] hands were lifted up to the throne of the Lord," Exodus 17:15-16 NIV. It taught that God would always equip Israel to defeat the Amalekites: as the Lord had helped Israel gain the victory by (a) first internally guarding the relationship between her leader, Moses, and Israel's people, (b) and externally in their joint efforts against Amalek, God would give them victory!
Application: If facing duress in leadership or subordinate roles, (1) may we trust in Christ for salvation from sin to become part of God's family, John 1:11-12. (2) Thus indwelt by the Holy Spirit (Rom. 8:9) may we rely on God for the power to heed His Word, Gal. 5:16-23. (3) Then, may we as LEADERS (a) ask God for help, (b) stick with His precedents for us, (c) use the gifting He gave to function and (d) obey His Word. (3) As SUBORDINATES, (a) may we see the leaders we have as part of God's plan, and (b) Biblically support them! (4) If the OTHER party in the leader-subordinate group FAILS to perform HIS role effectively, may we cleave to God OUR "banner" in trust that HE will help US succeed in OUR role, even if it takes His letting repeat trials rise to make it even possible!

Lesson: Duress for leaders OR subordinates is eased IF EITHER view their RESPECTIVE ROLE as GOD'S CALLING, and so HEED Him, for God ALWAYS SUPPLIES for His LEADERS AND SUBORDINATES to function as HE WILLS so they might SUCCEED in SUCH ROLES, even if HE must let SEVERAL CRISES arise to that end!

Thus, we ask, "In view of the duress we see in leadership and subordinate roles at all levels, how are we to function well?!" Conclusion:

 This past week, the Lord wonderfully illustrated this message to reveal how He can and will bless when both leaders and subordinates heed Him, and I share it with you for your edification:

One of our regular attenders had made an appointment with me for Wednesday evening after the Prayer Meeting service. He had a theological question to ask that he needed answered.

I knew the issue was important to him, but I did not know it was so important that it would affect his business!

He was at the service that night in preparation for our meeting.

Well, I "just happened" to be teaching out of Luke 12:13-21 where Christ condemned the sin of covetousness, using the parable of the rich man who planned to replace his current barns with larger ones in order to store all of his produce so he could retire to a life of ease.

Jesus told how the man would die that evening before he could implement his plans, leaving him destitute of his material goods in the process and spiritually impoverished before God!

So, before the meeting I was to have with the attender, he was already "primed" of the Lord to put His Word above his business, ready to obey God no matter its effect on his income!

When he later asked me his question, and I directed him to the appropriate Scriptures, he was relieved to find that God was not going to cut back on his business! Scripture provided a grace-oriented solution to his problem, one that overcame false legalistic teaching!

Even more interesting, he reported that the timing of this insight was priceless to him -- it came between two very key, related events in his life, and smoothed out concerns relative to both of them!

He summarized: "I'm really 'wired' now to obey the Lord, and in doing so, I'm finding God at work to address concerns in my life in timing with His Scripture teaching just as you have often testified in your life as Pastor!"



May thus we look to the God of Scripture for salvation and insight so greatly needed to function well today in BOTH subordinate AND leadership roles of any kind. May we also heed His guide to handle leadership and subordinate crises that may arise as supplied for us in Exodus 17:1-16!