Vineyard Church of Knox County
On Moses: God Uses the Nobodies
Sermon Audio from Sunday, July 24, 2005 — One of the keys to the Christian life, says Dallas Willard, is realizing the heroes of the faith we read about in the Bible were people just like you and me. This is why we are studying some of the characters of the Old Testament whom God used in powerful ways. We want to see that we, too, can walk with God in our daily lives and be used by Him to change our corners of the world. So, in a sense, we're toppling pedestals in this series, pedestals that we've erected on which the Abrahams and the Noahs and the Moses's have been placed. Knock over the pedestals and see that we can be like them. So let's knock over the pedestal under Moses.
Many of us know the story of Moses and the Exodus, a story that reveals the kind of person God called to lead His nation of people out from the oppressive rule of Pharaoh and through the wilderness for 40 years. If you were to choose such a person, what would be the, say, three main characteristics that you would look for? The first three that come to mind for me are: courageous, great communicator, experienced leader. But God's choice shows us that God used people who don't fit the stereotypical mold, people who seem to have some pretty significant shortcomings. Moses was such a person. Moses wasn't courageous; he wasn't well-spoken; he wasn't an experienced leader. Rather, he coward in fear; he probably stuttered; and he was a shepherd, not a political or military leader. He was a nobody. Ah, now we see whom God chooses to use: nobodies. So why does God choose this man to play the pivotal role in the salvation history of Israel? If he doesn't seem to be what we would call "leadership material," what did he have that God saw? The text doesn't tell us explicitly - Moses had this, Moses had that and that's why God chose him - but I believe the answer lies in Moses' answer to God's call through the burning bush.
