Disgrace for the Sake of Christ
Hebrews 11:23-28
23 By faith Moses’ parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict. 24 By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. 25 He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time. 26 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. 27 By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible. 28 By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel.
Some Christians participate in Halloween activities of some kind, but very few actually celebrate the holiday because it is a glorification of Satan. Especially at this time of the year the rest of the world has an increased fascination with ghosts and goblins. This picture is supposed to be one of the most famous pictures of a ghost. To me it looks more like Walmart messed up the photo processing!
As Christians we are in an unusual position when it comes to the world of the invisible. On one hand we reject the reality of ghosts as deceased people walking the earth. There is no such thing as ghosts—therefore there is no such a thing as a picture of a ghost. We must reject the belief in ghosts in the invisible realm but not reject the presence of other beings in the invisible realm. We DO believe in the existence of both angels and their evil counterparts, demons. Angels and demons move in and out of our homes, schools, workplaces and churches every single day. Though they are not visible to the human eye, they are no less real than you or I.
Not only is the invisible, heavenly realm real, but it is absolutely imperative that we see it. Verse 27 of our text says that Moses “persevered because he saw him who is invisible”. Isn’t that a great phrase?—he saw him who is invisible. Because Moses was able to see the unseeable, he was also able to do the undoable and give up the ungiveable. To Moses, the impossible became possible because he saw the unseeable—he saw him who was invisible. If we are going to be able to give up earthly treasures then we must be able to see the unseeable. If we will ever be able to consider disgrace for the sake of Christ as a greater treasure than gold then we must be able to see the unseeable.
The first thing we learn about Moses is that he had great parents. Look at v. 23 again, “By faith Moses’ parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict.” There was something special about the birth of Moses. The NIV says that he was “no ordinary child”. The King James translates the same description calling Moses a beautiful child. Was Moses a strikingly beautiful baby? Did Moses’ parents consider him special simply because he was an attractive child or did God reveal this to them somehow?
We will never know the full answer to these questions, but the point is that they defied the king’s edict which stated that all male newborns must be killed. They did not fear the king’s edict. But what gave them the courage to defy the most powerful ruler on the planet when they knew that disobedience would mean instant death? They did not fear the king of Egypt because they had a greater fear of the king of the universe. Their reverent fear for God cast out all fear of man—even the most powerful of all men. Wouldn’t you love to have parents like this?—parents who were never afraid to do the right thing—regardless of the personal cost to them. We can only imagine how Moses could have possibly learned of the faith of his parents. Obviously he knew he was had once been a Hebrew slave, but how did he find out? He knew who his brother and sister were, so he must have known his parents and been taught of their great act of faith. Imagine how that must have impressed him as a young man. Imagine how the faith of his parents would have helped to forge his character into tempered steel.
How many of you had parents like this? In a room this size I can guess that only two or three of you were blessed with such parents. Many of you had good parents, but they may not have been of the stature of Moses’ parents. Regardless of the faith of our parents, any of us can be this kind of parent to our children and grandchildren. Do you have a holy reverence for God that allows you to obey him regardless of the personal cost to you? It does no good to say. “Hey, it’s too late for me. My children are already grown.” No, it is never too late. Regardless of how old you are, if your parents are alive or were still alive and did something that took great faith on their part, would that not still impact you in a huge way? Of course it would. As parents, we can still impact our kids for Christ regardless of their age or ours.
Moses had great parents of faith, but that faith also transferred to him and the next four verses paint an amazing picture of this man. He gave up everything to follow the Lord. He could have had his share of the treasures of Egypt. He would have been wealthy beyond our wildest dreams. There is no material object that would have been denied to Moses. I can’t even imagine such a lifestyle. It’s like he would have had his own magic genie at his side granting his every wish. But he gave all of that up.
He could have been known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. He was an Israelite by birth, but was raised as an Egyptian. Some commentators even speculate that he could have sat on the throne of Egypt and have served as Pharaoh himself. If not Pharaoh, he was at the very least a prince in Egypt. Honor and power would have been heaped upon him. Have you ever heard of someone running for the presidency of the U.S. who actually needed the money? Neither Bush nor Kerry need the relatively modest income they would receive as president, but what they seek is power and influence. I am not saying that either candidate is a power-hungry, egomaniac, but power and influence are a major component of the drive to the presidency. As a prince of Egypt, Moses’ power, influence and honor would have greatly exceeded that of any president. Pharaoh was worshiped as a god and Egypt’s princes would have been nearly deified as well. Despite all of that power, he “refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. He gave it all up for his people and his God.
He also gave up the pleasures of sin. If you ever had any doubt that sin was pleasurable, here you have a Bible verse that is stating it plainly. Sin is pleasurable. Even as Christians there is no need to hide that fact. As a powerful Egyptian, Moses could have indulged himself in all manner of pleasures. The best food and wine were at his disposal. No woman would have refused his advances. But even the greatest pleasure is nothing more than a fleeting pleasure and Moses decided to run away from these pleasures rather than enjoy them for a short season.
There you have it. Moses gave up immense wealth, nearly perfect power and endless pleasure. But why would he do such a thing? To Pharaoh and the other Egyptians this decision would have been utter foolishness. To walk away from wealth, power and pleasure was a decision worse than death. But only Moses knew he was not giving up something, but rather exchanging it for something better. Remember the great exchange from Romans 1? The great exchange is when you give up the glory and grace of God for a piece of garbage. But Moses was doing the great exchange in reverse. He was giving up the equivalent of garbage in exchange for the glory and grace of God. What he was getting was infinitely better than what he was giving up. His life decisions appeared foolish to his Egyptian cohorts, but only because they could not see the futility of their own lives not the ultimate value of what Moses received.
But we could never be like Moses, right? Let me tell you a modern day story of a man much like Moses. We have good missionary friends in Amman, Jordan who have been sending us prayer requests in regard to this story. Samer lives in Jordan and, like most Jordanians, was raised as a strict Muslim, but ten years ago Samer became a Christian. If you or I were new converts to Christianity the government would just leave us alone, but this is not the case in Jordan. Over the past ten years Samer has been called in for questioning several times, but last month the Islamic clerics suddenly upped the ante. They held him in jail overnight and the next day he was interrogated in the Court of Islam. They brought in an Imam to try and reconvert him, and the Imam said it was useless, that Samer really does believe in Christ as a Saviour. He was told by the judge that he has committed a crime against God—forsaking the true religion. The judge said he deserved to die, and although he couldn’t order his death, that he was sure that there were many in the Kingdom who would be happy to see his blood shed. The judge also threatened to take their son away from them, stating that he was born to a Muslim father who is now apostate and cannot raise him properly as a Muslim now!
The judge gave Samer three weeks to renounce his Christian faith and he was ordered back to court a few weeks later. After another hour of interrogation they could see he was still not word down yet, so they postponed his sentencing again. On three more occasions Samer has appeared before the highest Islamic judge in Jordan. The Islamic court is trying to wear down Samer through all of these appearances in court. They have already declared him guilty; all that awaits him is the sentencing. Here are all of the things they could sentence him with. He could lose his right to parent, although his wife and toddler son are hidden away in another country); he could lose his right of inheritance; his right to leave the country; and as the judge said before, although it could not be officially ordered, he could lose his life. Since this is an Islamic court it is outside the jurisdiction of the Jordanian government, therefore not even the King of Jordan could pardon Samer!
When chose to identify himself with the God of the Hebrews—the one true God—he lost many things. He lost his inheritance of the treasures of Egypt. He lost his family, both his Egyptian family and his Hebrew family, and had he stayed, he may have lost his life. Like Moses, Samer may lose his inheritance, his family and possibly his own life. How can both of these men make such radical decisions to follow God when the consequences for doing so are so high? They both persevered because they saw him who is invisible. Moses and Samer are somehow able to look beyond the veil of the visible world and see the all-powerful, but invisible God who will either rescue them in this life or present them with the ultimate reward in the next life.
Listen to the summary passage in vv. 13-16. “13 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. 14 People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. 15 If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.” Moses lost his own country and Samer may lose his country, but they both know that a better country is prepared for them—a heavenly country. A heavenly country awaits them. A heavenly city is being prepared fro them. A heavenly reward will be lavished upon them. They can have confidence that these future, invisible things are true because they have seen him who is invisible.
Do you worry about money? Do you worry about your children? Do you worry about your job? Do you worry about your health? We all worry about these things because they are all part of this present country. The only way to free ourselves the slavery of worry about this present country is to have an increasing longing for a better country. How strong is your longing for that better country? Do you ever find yourself meditating on Heaven? Do you ever daydream about meeting Jesus and receiving a reward from the Master—to hear him say, “Well done, good and faithful servant”? The majority of us in this room probably do not spend much time meditating on Heaven, yet for Moses, this was the compelling vision of his life. Moses saw this better country. Moses was convinced that Egypt was not the best possible country. Picture Moses surrounded by great wealth, great power and great pleasures and he reflects on all of it he says to himself, “I can do better. I know there is a place far better than this country.”
Moses saw this invisible country and Samer seems to be able to see it, but how do you and I see the unseeable? We do it by looking examining the past evidence of God’s faithfulness. If God has fulfilled all of his promises in the past then we can have confidence that he will fulfill all promises in the future—invisible promises. This is faith, as v. 1 says—being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. We can’t see these future promises, but the Bible says we can still be certain of them.
Let
me illustrate this invisible but certain faith. In 1875 the first steel bridge
was constructed across the Mississippi River in St Louis designed by James Eads.
Some of you may have crossed over the Eads Bridge which stands to this day. This
was the longest bridge ever built and everyone wondered if it would be strong
enough to bear the weight of enormous locomotives. In those days it was not
uncommon for wooden bridges to collapse under the weight of a single train
engine. So in order to ease the minds of the people, James Eads had 14
locomotives pass back and forth over the bridge. When the people saw the
evidence of the bridge’s strength, they quickly developed a kind of faith in the
bridge. This is similar to our faith in Christ. When we look back at the
evidence of his past strength and faithfulness we have faith to see his future
faithfulness. In this way, the veil is pulled back on the invisible and we
actually get a glimpse of the invisible. We suddenly see the unseeable so that
we can give up the ungivable. When we see this far better country we can hold
less tightly to this country. When we can see the future inheritance that awaits
us we can not worry about our inheritance in this country.
A few weeks ago I was talking with a friend who returned from four years of missionary work in Poland. Since he has returned home he has not been able to locate the highest paying job or one with good benefits. As a result he doesn’t have any retirement savings. Then he made this amazing statement to me, he said, “Since I don’t have any retirement, I get the privilege of trusting God for my entire life.” This man could see the undoable which allowed him to give up the ungivable. Look down at your hands for a moment. Now answer this question: How tightly are you clinging to this present country? What is preventing you from seeing the unseeable?
Rich Maurer
October 31, 2004