Moses reveals God as a deliverer and redeemer

[Babu Thomas]

Among the many Biblical leaders, Moses is one of my favorite leaders though every one calls him an angry man. First of all, Moses was willing to suffer for the sake of Christ. “By Faith Moses, when he had grownup, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time. 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.”(Heb. 11:24-26). Moses could have lived in luxury but he decided (his choice) to deny the worldly sinful pleasures and focused the greater reward. In this post modern technologically innovated world, how many people will be ready to suffer for the sake of Christ? Many people think that Christianity is a luxury and licentiousness life style.

Secondly, Moses was confident in his call. He never compromised anything; he never traded the glory of God for fan and fame. In these days we can see compromise everywhere. The word “SIN” is being replaced by the word “weakness”. Some ministers don’t even address sinful issues anymore. They are willing to accept doctrinal compromises for their own benefits. Moses never fluctuated from the covenantal relationship from God and he was not willing to accommodate any ideas that didn’t please God. For some leaders everything is all right, as Laniak mentioned, “In real life the primary purpose in raising flocks is to gain income” (p.34). We can see from Jesus’ teaching, the two major concerns equally important to all were sin and guilt. The Bible warns against worldliness and the devastating consequences of following the world rather than Christ” (James 4). From the Old Testament we see that the children of Israel got into big trouble when they imitated their pagan neighbors and brought their altars and images into the temple. Yet Christians are somehow to be in the world, but not of the world (John 17:14-18). Christians have been removed from the world’s power at conversion (Gal. 6:14), and because the cross established a judicial separation between believers and the world, Christians are citizens of a new kingdom (Phil. 3:20).

Thirdly, Moses was a courageous leader. Though the majority of the people stood against him and the will of God, Moses never changed his position or inclined his heart to them. Even in a time nobody could stand before Pharaoh, Moses was courageous to addresses Yahweh’s commands many times. Moses never paid any attention to the King’s compromising ideas Pharaoh brought forth regarding worship. ”Moses became an extension of the “hand Of God” leading his people (Ps.77:20; Ex. 9:3; 13:14). To equip this undershephered for his mission, God endows the staff in his hands with supernatural power” (pp. 87-88).Spiritual leaders should lead from courage. As in Moses, apostolic leaders should take seriously and personally the great commission as the marching orders for the church and for the ministries. God is calling out a new breed of Christian shephered leader at this hinge point in history.