Trusting the Father
Opening Song:
This I believe (chorus)
Call to worship:
Pastor Zachary McGuire
John 5.39-47
Historical Reading:
Pastor Michael Champoux
Heidelberg Catechism Qs 18-19
Song:
Come praise & glorify
Confession & Pardon:
Pastor Brett Eckel
Song:
Doxology
Song:
See the destined day arise
Sermon:
Dr. Alex Loginow
Trusting the Father
Exodus 5
Introduction
Cinematic history was forever altered in 1980 when Darth Vader said, “Luke, I am your father.” Sometimes I like to think that Pastor Kevin or Dave Warner did the same thing when their Lukes were born. Anyway, Star Wars has gone on to be a major franchise: movies, TV shows, video games, toys, and theme parks. People identify with Star Wars; the story connects with people. I think part of the reason why that’s true is that Star Wars is ultimately a story about family. It’s a story about fathers and their children.
Everyone can connect with that because everyone has a father. Some of you had or have good fathers; some didn’t. There are lifelong effects to the relationships we have with or fathers, good or bad. There’s a reason why many people are saddled with what is commonly called, “daddy issues.”
God reveals himself as Father to us in his holy word. So that means that good fathers are good in so far as they accurately mirror the way God loves and cares for his children. Bad fathers preach an anti-gospel with their lives. Abusive or absentee fathers are like a funhouse mirror to the character of God the Father – they distort.
Today is Father’s Day and in God’s providence he has us in Exodus 5. Exodus 5 can be preached in many different ways. This morning because of the providence of Father’s Day, we’re going to look at three ways in which this passage calls us to trust in our heavenly Father: (1) we must trust when our Father speaks; (2) we must trust in our Father through sin and suffering; and (3) we must trust in our Father’s Son.
Trusting When the Father Speaks
The first thing we notice is that we must trust when the Father speaks; we must trust the Word of God. That’s what Moses did. In Exodus 3-4 YHWH called Moses to go to Pharaoh and say, ‘Thus says the Lord, Israel is my firstborn son, and I say to you, let my son go that he may serve me” (Exod 4.22-23). How apropos on Father’s Day that YHWH calls Israel his son?
YHWH calling Israel his son is not unique in Scripture. In Luke’s genealogy he calls Adam the son of God. But Israel, like Adam, had a unique covenantal relationship with YHWH. YHWH made the covenant with Abraham out of which Israel was born. He will make a covenant with Israel at Mt. Sinai. YHWH’s fatherly relationship with them originates in his covenantal commitment to them.
So YHWH calls Moses to go tell Pharaoh to let his son go and in Exodus 5.1 Moses obeys. From the opening words of Scripture we see that God’s Word must be obeyed. In Genesis 1 God speaks and his Word is obeyed as creation generates ex nihilo. God says, “Let there be light,” and there was light. The light had no choice but to be because God commanded it to be.
The first time we see disobedience to God’s Word is when Adam sinned against God when he broke the command to abstain from eating of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Because Adam rebelled against God’s Word humanity fell into sin and death. God told Adam that if he sinned he would die. Now every human is born in sin. We are born spiritually dead (Eph 2.1) and we all die.
But God showed humanity grace by speaking again. God promised that a seed of the woman (meaning a human being) would reverse the curse of death and crush the head of the serpent (Gen 3.15). From there Scripture tells the story of two groups of people – those who trust God’s Word and those who don't. Able trusted God’s Word, Cain didn’t. Noah and his family trusted God’s Word, the rest of the world didn't. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob trusted God’s Word; Ishmael and Esau didn’t. Now we see that Moses trusts God’s Word and Pharaoh doesn’t.
As a church, as specific homes and families, as individuals, we want to be people who trust God’s Word. We want to be the people who build our lives on the gospel of Jesus. We want to be the people who love what God loves and hate what God hates and we only know these things through the Scripture. I saw a good quote from Matt Chandler on Facebook this week; he said, “If you’re not confident in the authority of the Scriptures you will be a slave to what sounds right.” We don’t want to be the people tossed to and fro by whatever our culture tells us is right and wrong. We want to be people who trust God’s Word. On this Father’s Day 2022 we must be the people who trust the Word of our heavenly Father.
Trusting the Father in Sin and Suffering
Second, we must trust our Father in sin and suffering. Pharaoh does not react positively to Moses’ message from YHWH. Pharaoh says, “Who is YHWH that I should obey him? I don’t know YHWH.” Pharaoh’s about to get to know YHWH real well but for now he’s being ruled by his pride, which is also apropos for this month, isn’t it?
This is our introduction to this Pharaoh. Remember this is a different Pharaoh than the one who ordered the systematic abortion of all of the Hebrew baby boys in Exodus 1-2. This Pharaoh would’ve known about that incident so if YHWH struck first through the salvation of Moses then this is most certainly when the empire strikes back. This Pharaoh is a Darth Vader level villain in redemptive history. Pharaoh falls in line with the seed of the serpent that can be traced throughout the Scriptural narrative. He embodies the unholy trinity of the world, the flesh, and the devil. He stands opposed to God. YHWH commands the slaves be freed to worship him and not only does Pharaoh rebel against the Word of God but he also increases the suffering of the Hebrews.
In his arrogance Pharaoh reasons, “If the Hebrew slaves have time to go worship YHWH they must not have enough work to do.” So Pharaoh ceases supplying straw for the slaves to make bricks and requires them to gather their own straw all while demanding the same output in brick production. We know where this story is going so we know that in his providence God allows this suffering for his people because it will lead to their freedom from slavery. But it’s not always easy to remember that in our suffering.
Redemptive events like the Exodus or the experiences of Job or Joseph in Genesis clearly teach that God works through the suffering of his people to bring about his glory and their good. In Romans 8 Paul wrote this beautiful passage:
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified (Rom 8.28-30).
God is working all things together for the good of those who love him. That doesn’t mean being a Christian guarantees health and wealth. It doesn’t mean that if you read your Bible and pray before work that you’re definitely going to get a good parking spot or a raise. It doesn’t mean that we will not experience suffering. But it does mean that we can know for sure that our suffering isn’t arbitrary. It’s all leading to glorification for those who believe.
Our heavenly Father is providentially governing whatever suffering you’re experiencing. Do you trust him? Are you suffering physically? Financially? Emotionally? Are you lonely? Is your marriage struggling? Are you burdened by family members who reject Christ?
This is not to minimize or trivialize suffering. Death is the enemy. Sickness and suffering are byproducts of the fall. We don’t want to be the tone deaf people looking at those who are suffering and with a smile glibly say, “God works all things together for good.” No. We must be people who weep with those who weep. We pray for and work toward the alleviation of suffering, especially those within the household of faith.
That being said we don’t mourn in our suffering as those without hope. We don’t want to be the silly people who have a trite inauthentic optimism, but we must be the people who have a sober resolve resting in the promises of God. God allows his people to experience suffering. We don’t always know why God allows us to experience suffering, in fact, we may never know why. But we do know that he is working all things – from the rotation of planets, to the decisions of global leaders like Pharaoh, from the movements of the smallest atom to the mundane moments of your life – God is working everything toward his glory and the good of his people.
But it is also that we don’t respond to our suffering with sin. That is how Moses and the Israelites respond in Exodus 5. In verse 21 the Hebrews complain to Moses saying, “The Lord look on you and judge, because you have made us stink in the sight of Pharaoh and his servants, and have put a sword in their hand to kill us.” Moses then says to YHWH, “O Lord, why have you done evil to this people? Why did you ever send me? For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has done evil to this people, and you have not delivered your people at all.”
The Bible certainly allows for us to ask God hard questions or to express frustration in prayer. The Psalms are filled with this kind of human vulnerability. But we must not remain in that place. A consistent disposition of questioning God or complaining against God is not healthy for the soul. And that is what we see Israel do over and over again. Their lack of trust and thankfulness begins here but it will continue throughout the Exodus story.
All sin has its root in not trusting what God has said. Adam didn’t trust God to be the discerner of the knowledge of good and evil. Cain didn’t trust that YHWH knew best in prescribing an animal sacrifice. Abraham didn’t trust YHWH when he jumped into bed with Hagar. Moses and Israel are not trusting God’s promises.
We do the same when we sin. When we lose control of our anger and take matters into our own hands we’re not trusting God to be the holy judge who will execute perfect justice. When we pursue lust through sex outside of the marriage of one man and one woman we’re not trusting that God knows what he’s doing when he restricted sex to covenant heterosexual monogamy. When we neglect the means of grace: coming to church, hearing the preaching of the Word, taking Eucharist, prayer, singing, etc. we’re not trusting that God knows how he is best to be worshipped and how we can best grow. When we don’t give of tithes and offerings we’re not trusting God to provide for us. All sin has its root in not trusting what God has said. On this Father’s Day 2022 we must be the people who trust our heavenly Father in the midst of sin and suffering.
Trusting the Father’s Son
But thanks be to God that a sinless man has stood in our place and we can look to him. We get a glimpse of this starting in verse 3 when Moses and Aaron said to Pharaoh, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us go a three days’ journey into the wilderness that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God, lest he fall upon us with pestilence or with the sword.” This isn’t the only time in Exodus 5 that this sacrifice to YHWH is mentioned. Three times in this pericope is it noted that Israel is to make a sacrifice to God (Exod 5.3, 8, and 17).
We know that it is no coincidence that YHWH wants Israel (who is called his son in Exodus 4) to go 3 days and make a sacrifice. Pastor Zack read from John 5 in our call to worship where Christ reveals to us that Moses and the prophets wrote of him. Moses is the author of Exodus and this 3-day sacrifice is telling us of Christ. It is a providential picture, a signpost, a shadow that is pointing us forward to Jesus Christ.
Just like Empire revealed that Luke Skywalker is the son of Darth Vader, the New Testament reveals to us that Jesus Christ is the true Son of God. He is the eternal second person of the Holy Trinity. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. He lived a truly human life yet without sin (Heb 4.15). And then Jesus made the true and final sacrifice to God. He offered up his sinless life and died as a sacrifice for his people. On the cross Jesus paid the debt that we owed for our sin, bearing God’s holy and eternal justice in our place. Jesus was buried and three days later he resurrected from the dead.
Moses tells Pharaoh that if they do not make the three-days journey to sacrifice to YHWH that YHWH will fall upon them with pestilence and sword – another way to say that is disease and death. God’s wrath against sin must be appeased through sacrifice. On the cross Jesus the Son of God satisfied God’s wrath through his sacrifice. Jesus took the 3-day journey through suffering, hell, death, burial, paradise, and resurrection for us and our salvation.
Now everyone who will repent of their sin and place their faith in Christ will be redeemed from their sin. Just like Israel will be redeemed from their slavery, those who look to Christ are redeemed from slavery to sin and death. To repent of your sin means to turn the other direction. It means to agree with God that he is holy and that you are a sinner.
Faith in Christ then consists of three components: knowledge, ascent, and trust. You must know who Jesus is and what Jesus did. Then you must ascent to the validity of these truth claims about Christ. But even that falls short of faith. The third element of saving faith is trust. You must trust in Jesus alone. You must place the full weight of your hope on Christ.
Are you trusting in the Son of the heavenly Father? Are you looking to his 3-day sacrifice to appease the sword of the LORD? Or are you like Pharaoh? Are you rejecting the 3-day sacrifice? Are you saying in your heart, “Who is the Lord? I do not know the Lord, and moreover, I will not trust in the sacrifice of his Son.” On this Father’s Day 2022 we must be the people who trust in the Son of our heavenly Father.
Conclusion
Darth Vader told Luke Skywalker, “I am your father.” I Christ God tells us, “I am your Father.” The New Testament reveals to us that God is the heavenly Father of all who trust in Christ alone. Ephesians 1.3-5 says:
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will.
God the Father has adopted us in Christ. By the power of the Holy Spirit we can now cry out, “abba Father” to God through his Son Jesus Christ. And now we’re invited to dine at our Father’s table. But a word of warning – Holy Communion is only for believers in Jesus Christ. If you are not a Christian then the Eucharist is not for you. You don’t need the bread and the wine; you need to take Christ by faith.
But for those who do believe the Lord’s Supper is our weekly family meal with our heavenly Father and our elder brother. For millennia as Christians have come to the Lord’s table they have prayed the Lord’s Prayer. Listen with fresh ear to these ancient words as we prepare for our Father’s Day meal with our heavenly Father and our elder brother.
“Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For Yours is the kingdom; and the power; and the glory
Forever and ever
Amen!