Identity is the major theme of every story we tell in our society. In Disney’s The Little Mermaid, Ariel longs to throw off the shackles of her fins and be “a part of that world.” In Star Wars, Luke Skywalker wrestles with the mystery of his father, only to learn the gut-wrenching truth that his father is the evil Darth Vader. In The Barbie Movie, Ken and Barbie both struggle with what it means to be a real man and woman. These stories reflect what we, as Americans, hold to be the most important pursuit of life – finding one’s true identity, or being true to oneself. There was a time when identity was found in one’s place in the world – in the family, church, and nation. Now, your identity is custom made based on your felt needs and experiences. In times past, young men joined the military to be made into soldiers, enlisted in a rigorous course of physical and mental training designed to grind every self-centered impulse out of the recruit. But now, recruitment videos emphasize the individual soldier and his or her identity. In times past, churches held to ancient creeds and confessions developed from Scripture that were the basis for faith and practice. Every member, when joined to a church, identified with that church’s faith and practice, submitted to its leadership, and committed to its growth. But now, churches rush to meet the felt-needs of each prospective member, hoping to offer the right mix of entertainment and services so that each individual can feel “at home”, while members pick and choose what they like and don’t like, what they believe and don’t believe from the buffet of American Christianity. In times past, every individual had the greater goal of commitment to family in the pursuit of education, a good job, and marriage. Certainly, love played an important part in relationships, but so too did virtues like commitment and fidelity. And, relationships had a purpose beyond individual desires – the purpose of family. But now, love is defined only by desire, and its only purpose is self-gratification. You can love whomever you want, however you want. As long as you are pleased with your own identity, love is love.
But, in this pursuit of the total freedom of self-identity, we’ve run into some problems. This freedom has not made us more fulfilled. It has only left us depressed, disordered, and dissatisfied. This is because we weren’t made for total freedom. We weren’t made to be the masters of fate, the authors of our own story. Rather, we were made to serve and worship our creator, and in so doing, to find our story within the grand story that he is writing. And, if we deny that creator, if we break out on our own to live in our own way, we don’t become free – we just become enslaved to someone else. As Jesus says in John 8:34, “Everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.” In our study of the Hall of Faith, we’ve come to the life of Moses. Last week, we considered the faithfulness of his parents, who feared God more than they feared man. Today, we begin to look at the faith of Moses, and we find, first, that Moses faithfully identified with God. To see that, let’s read Heb. 11:23-26 and Exodus 2:10-12. From this passage I want you to see two points: faith chooses covenant over pleasure and calling over treasure.
First, see that faith chooses covenant over pleasure. In verses 24 and 25, the writer of Hebrews says that Moses forsook his position as an adopted son of Pharoah to identify with the people of God. Notice, in the Biblical story of Moses (unlike the popular retellings of the story), he doesn’t grow up assuming his Egyptian heritage and struggle with who he is. The picture we have, both from Exodus 2 and Hebrews 11 is that he always knew who he was, and when he became an adult, he willfully chose to reject his rights as an adopted Egyptian so that he might identify with his people. In seeking out the Hebrews and defending them against their brutal enslavement, he was giving up so much. He was raised in the lap of luxury. The Egyptians were brilliant. They developed one of the first forms of writing. They discovered electricity. They understood weather and climate, even using the largest river in the world to their agricultural advantage. They had a keen grasp of medicine, architecture, and astronomy. Beyond that, Moses could enjoy every pleasure this world could offer. Egyptians enslaved whole nations without a thought, and once enslaved, those people were available for use in anyway a master saw fit. The waterways of the Nile served to bring in foods and spices from all over the world. Yet, Moses rejected all of that so that he might join a people forced to hard labor, without the proper tools, and given no rest. Why?
The writer gives us the answer with a name. Notice, in verse 25, he says that Moses chose “the people of God” over the pleasures of sin. It’s telling that he doesn’t say that he chose his people. He doesn’t say he chose the Hebrews or the Israelites. Rather, he says that he chose “the people of God.” Moses identified with his people, not out of a common racial identity or heritage, but because his people were the people of God. All of the pleasures of Egypt were not worth the covenant that God had made with his people. Egypt had agricultural knowledge, but Israel had the God who made heaven and earth. Egypt was a great military power, but Israel had God almighty. Egypt enslaved the world to build its pyramids, but Israel had the God who breaks chains.
Second, see that faith chooses the call over treasures. In verse 26, the writer states this motivation of Moses in a different way. He says that Moses considered the reproach of Christ greater than the treasures of Egypt. Not only did Moses reject the fleeting pleasures that Egypt could offer, but he also rejected the passing treasures. Again, he was adopted into the royal family. He had no worry for money, no concern for status or power or influence. Those treasures would follow him his entire life. But, they weren’t enough for Moses. He wanted something greater out of life. He sought a reward that no man could offer, not even the Pharoah of Egypt. He sought a heavenly reward. So, he was willing to forsake the treasures of Egypt for the sake of his calling. The writer terms this calling “the reproach [or suffering] of Christ.” This statement raises some interesting theological questions. For one, does this mean that Moses knew that Jesus would come? In short, I think the answer is yes. We tend to view the OT as “progressive revelation” – as a slow realization of who God is and what he would do through Jesus. But, Jesus says in John 8:56, “Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.” The patriarchs and prophets of the OT saw the day of Jesus. They may not have understood the whole of it or how it all fit together, but they knew that there would be a Messiah and that he would redeem the world. So, yes, Moses knew of Christ and he willingly identified with him in his suffering.
The witness of Moses is that of a man who found his identity, not in his sinful desires, his personal fulfillment, or his greatest pleasures, but in the covenant and call of God. Paul says, in Phil. 3:8-9, “I could everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ.”
This morning, I ask you, where do you find your identity? Is it in the pleasures of sin, the selfish desires of your heart, the worldly treasures you might store up for a time? Or, is your identity, your joy, your treasure found in Christ? Those sinful pleasures will never be enough. Those worldly treasures will decay and rust. Only eternal life in Christ, the treasure of heaven, can satisfy your soul. Rest in him. Find your identity in him and the covenant that he has made with you through faith.
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