SERMON: AFTER THE STORM

17 May 2015

I.  Introduction

            -- turn in Bibles to Exodus 14:21-31

Exodus 14:21-31 (NIV)

21 Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the LORD drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were divided,

22 and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left.

23 The Egyptians pursued them, and all Pharaoh's horses and chariots and horsemen followed them into the sea.

24 During the last watch of the night the LORD looked down from the pillar of fire and cloud at the Egyptian army and threw it into confusion.

25 He made the wheels of their chariots come off so that they had difficulty driving. And the Egyptians said, "Let's get away from the Israelites! The LORD is fighting for them against Egypt."

26 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Stretch out your hand over the sea so that the waters may flow back over the Egyptians and their chariots and horsemen."

27 Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at daybreak the sea went back to its place. The Egyptians were fleeing toward it, and the LORD swept them into the sea.

28 The water flowed back and covered the chariots and horsemen--the entire army of Pharaoh that had followed the Israelites into the sea. Not one of them survived.

29 But the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left.

30 That day the LORD saved Israel from the hands of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the shore.

31 And when the Israelites saw the great power the LORD displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the LORD and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant.

            -- last week we had a hurricane exercise at Moody AFB -- every year, just prior to the start of hurricane season, we have a practice exercise to make sure everyone knows what to do when a hurricane is approaching

            -- we go through various scenarios and have to simulate evacuating the planes from the base because of the high winds -- we confirm that all our people are present and accounted for -- we have to make sure the vehicles are all fully fueled and that emergency equipment is ready for the storm -- chainsaws and chains and come-a-longs -- we double-check our emergency supplies

            -- and then we play the "what if" game, where we envision a major catastrophe during the storm and what we would do if it happened -- for instance, this exercise involved a fuel truck getting turned over and damaged from the storm and leaking fuel into a stormwater outfall, so my guys had to go out and show the inspection team they knew what to do to contain the spill and clean up the soil and the water

            -- we do this every year, because we know the storms are going to come -- and we want to be ready and prepared for them when they hit

            -- as we were going through this exercise, it occurred to me that we do this in the church, too -- thinking back over some of my messages over the past several years, I realized that we've talked a lot about going through storms in our lives -- about facing dangers and obstacles and trials and tribulations

            -- we've talked about facing these storms and how we get through them by leaning on God's strength and relying on our faith in Him in these troubled times -- and I know this wasn't just a practice in semantics for us -- because all of us in here have been through the storms -- we've experienced them in our lives -- heartache and brokenness -- sickness and death -- financial and marital problems -- just many, many storms that have threatened us all over the past several years

            -- but in our focus on getting through the storms, I think we may have forgotten to consider what comes next -- we've done a good job at  preparing ourselves mentally and physically and spiritually for the storms -- but what do we do after the storm has passed? -- what do we do when we're standing in the aftermath of a disaster and a new day is dawning and the sun is shining and the birds are singing and we realize, "We made it" -- what then?

            -- this morning, I wanted us to think for a moment about what God has done in our lives and about where He wants to lead us -- what should we do when we get out of a storm? -- where should we go? -- who should we become?

            -- we find the answer in the next chapter over -- Exodus 15 -- as we read of the response of the Israelites to God's dramatic rescue from the Egyptian army at the shores of the Red Sea

            -- just to remind you of what God had done for the Israelites up to this point -- the Israelites had gone into Egypt during a severe famine in the land of Canaan -- they prospered there and multiplied in number, and this worried the Egyptian leaders -- they feared the Israelites were becoming too powerful -- so they placed them in bondage and made them their slaves

            -- for 400 years the Israelites lived as the slaves of the Egyptians -- serving them and building their temples -- but God heard their cries and sent Moses to lead the people out of Egypt

            -- God sent plagues against the people of Egypt -- you remember the stories -- the waters turned to blood -- there was infestations with flies and frogs -- hail that rained from the sky, killing the animals in the field -- there was darkness -- there was disease -- there was pestilence -- finally, God struck down the first-born of all the people and animals of Egypt -- and then Pharaoh relented and told the Israelites to leave

            -- but after they left, he changed his mind and chased after them with his army, pinning them against the Red Sea with no way out -- it was going to be a slaughter -- but, as we just read in Exodus 14, God parted the waters of the Red Sea -- He made a way where no way existed before -- and He led the Israelites out of Egypt and destroyed the army of the Egyptians at the same time

            -- the nation of Israel had faced a storm of biblical proportions and emerged on the other side of the Red Sea victorious -- so what do they do when they made it through the storm?

            -- look with me now at Exodus 15, starting in verse 1

            -- verse 1-12

Exodus 15:1-12 (NIV)

1 Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the LORD: "I will sing to the LORD, for he is highly exalted. The horse and its rider he has hurled into the sea.

2 The LORD is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise him, my father's God, and I will exalt him.

3 The LORD is a warrior; the LORD is his name.

4 Pharaoh's chariots and his army he has hurled into the sea. The best of Pharaoh's officers are drowned in the Red Sea.

5 The deep waters have covered them; they sank to the depths like a stone.

6 "Your right hand, O LORD, was majestic in power. Your right hand, O LORD, shattered the enemy.

7 In the greatness of your majesty you threw down those who opposed you. You unleashed your burning anger; it consumed them like stubble.

8 By the blast of your nostrils the waters piled up. The surging waters stood firm like a wall; the deep waters congealed in the heart of the sea.

9 "The enemy boasted, 'I will pursue, I will overtake them. I will divide the spoils; I will gorge myself on them. I will draw my sword and my hand will destroy them.'

10 But you blew with your breath, and the sea covered them. They sank like lead in the mighty waters.

11 "Who among the gods is like you, O LORD? Who is like you-- majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders?

12 You stretched out your right hand and the earth swallowed them.

            -- this passage reminds me of the commercials after the Superbowl -- when they ask the players for the winning team, "You just won the Superbowl -- What are you going to do now?" and they say, "We're going to Disney World!"

            -- Moses and the nation of Israel, God just led you through the Red Sea and defeated your enemies -- what are going to do now? -- and Moses and the nation replied, "We're going to sing!"

            -- and that's what they did -- they sang -- they danced -- they praised the Lord

            -- it's like the lyrics to that old song, "I sing because I'm happy -- I sing because I'm free -- His eye is on the sparrow -- and I know He watches me"

            -- the Israelites sing because they are happy -- they knew God in the past, but only in an impersonal way -- they knew Him as "God up there somewhere" -- but now they know Him as their God and their Savior -- and so they sing because they know they are free -- they have seen God do a mighty work beyond -- they had faced the impossible and seen God make it possible -- they had faced death itself and been given life -- they had been redeemed because of Him -- and so they sang

            -- redemption moves us to sing -- their worship was the result of redemption -- they looked back at their deliverance and they recognized it came from God and God alone -- and they praised Him with all their heart

            -- when we make it through the storm, the first thing we should do is praise God -- for we didn't make it in our own strength -- we didn't make it based on our own good works -- we made it because God chose to do a mighty work in our lives

            -- as Judson Cornwall wrote, "Worship helps us find who we are and why God has placed us here on the earth -- When we bow in God's presence with worship, only then are we made complete"¹ -- we will have only made it out of the storm when we pause to praise and worship God

            -- verse 13-18

Exodus 15:13-18 (NIV)

13 "In your unfailing love you will lead the people you have redeemed. In your strength you will guide them to your holy dwelling.

14 The nations will hear and tremble; anguish will grip the people of Philistia.

15 The chiefs of Edom will be terrified, the leaders of Moab will be seized with trembling, the people of Canaan will melt away;

16 terror and dread will fall upon them. By the power of your arm they will be as still as a stone-- until your people pass by, O LORD, until the people you bought pass by.

17 You will bring them in and plant them on the mountain of your inheritance-- the place, O LORD, you made for your dwelling, the sanctuary, O Lord, your hands established.

18 The LORD will reign for ever and ever."

            -- I just shared with you that we went through a major hurricane exercise at Moody -- but, you know what? -- tomorrow, when I get back to work at Moody, everything will be back to normal -- just like we never experienced the storm in the first place -- just like it never happened

            -- there is a principle called homeostasis -- it means people like things to stay the same -- their goal is to always keep the same-old, the same-old -- they want things to be normal

            -- just like in a TV show -- on almost every TV show you watch, the characters live in the same-old, same-old -- the status quo -- no matter what storms or trials the characters may face in this week's episode, by the time the credits roll at the end of the show, everything is back to the way it was in the beginning -- and by next week's episode, it's like no one even remembers what happened

            -- that's what we've learned to expect out of life -- when we go through a storm, the best we hope for is a return to normality -- to the same-old, same-old -- we are longing for the status quo to be restored -- how many times have you said to yourself, "Now that I'm through this, things can get back to normal" -- but is that the right answer?

           

            -- I saw a motivational poster at work the other day -- it said, "Do ordinary things better than anyone else" -- and when I read it, I thought to myself, "that is the stupidest advice I have ever heard" -- be ordinary -- strive for mediocrity -- don't push yourself beyond your limits -- don't try to do something bigger than yourself -- don't try to do more -- no, just be ordinary -- just be normal

            -- but, folks, as Christians, we are not supposed to be normal -- Peter wrote that we are peculiar people -- we are aliens and strangers in this land -- and that means that we are not supposed to be normal or ordinary or any of that -- our goal is not to be like the rest of this world -- our goal is to be like Christ and to live in the Kingdom of God

            -- that means we live beyond normal -- we live beyond the natural to the supernatural -- we live beyond the ordinary to the extraordinary -- and that means that when we pass through the storm, we don't go back to the way our lives were before -- no, we grow and go with Christ to new horizons and promised lands

            -- look what's happened in these verses -- the Israelites have gone from praising God for what He has done and have started praising Him for what He is going to do -- they're not looking at getting back to the same-old, same-old -- they're not wanting to get back to their former normal way of life -- no, they're looking ahead

            -- it's not about just getting through the storm -- it's about moving on with God to the promised land -- God's purpose in His mighty acts through Moses was not intended to just free the Israelites from Egypt's grasp -- no, His mighty acts were to free them for the future

            -- too often in the church we focus on salvation as the means to the end -- in other words, once you are baptized and join the church of Christ, you are done -- your ticket is punched -- heaven awaits

            -- but Jesus did not just die on the cross and rise from the dead on the third day to just free you from your sins -- no, He did all of this to free us for the future -- to lead us into abundant life with Him -- to be more and to do more than we were capable of before

            -- it's the same with any storm that God brings us through -- God wants us to do more than just weather the storm -- He wants us to do more than just go back to the same-old, same-old when He's done a mighty work in our lives

            -- He wants us to go through the storm and gain experience and faith and then to move forward in that faith into new experiences with Him -- the focus isn't on just getting through the sea and out of Egypt -- God didn't expect the Israelites to just set up camp and live on the shores of the Red Sea for the rest of their lives -- no, He had bigger plans for them -- the promised land awaited

            -- thus, our focus after the storm should be on trusting in God's mighty power because of the miracle He has just done and focusing on what He is going to do in us and through us in the future

            -- Bob Deffinbaugh wrote, "Israel came to know God in a greater way as a result of the trials and testings that they experienced in Egypt and in the wilderness -- We, too, come to know God more intimately and more fully in the midst of the trials which He leads us through -- And when we “pass through” these trials, we look to the future fulfillment of God’s promises as even more certain, having experienced His faithfulness in the tough times of our lives."²

            -- in other words, going through the storms make us aware that nothing can hold us back when we go with God -- our desire should not be for the same-old, same-old, but for the Promised Land that lies ahead

            -- the one thing we can see clearly in these verses is that the Israelites didn't just emerge from the sea free from Egyptian bondage -- they emerged without fear

            -- the Bible tells us that perfect love casts out fear -- and when you have walked with God through a frightening storm and emerged on the other side, from that point on fear has lost its power

            -- no matter what the Israelites faced from this moment on -- whether that was the chiefs of Edom or the leaders of Moab or the people of Canaan -- whether this was trials in the wilderness or persecution at the hands of their enemies -- they would be able to face those storms without fear because they now trusted in a God who could save

            -- from this moment on, the Israelites were going to be say in the face of the storms of life, "God parted the Red Sea -- this little storm is nothing for Him" -- we need to get to that place in our lives, too -- where we trust in God for our future and that our future is greater than we could ever imagine

            -- when Jesus and His disciples were being buffeted by a great storm on the sea that threatened to capsize their little boat, we read that Jesus stood and rebuked the storm -- we need to do the same

            -- we need to call to mind the victories that God has given us and rebuke the next storm in His power -- "Storm, go away -- look what God just brought me through -- you are nothing, compared to that and nothing compared to Him"

            -- looking around this room, just think for a moment what God has brought you through and speak to your fears:

            -- "God healed my hepatitis-C -- this little thing is nothing compared to that"

            -- "God led me through brain surgery -- what is this little bump in the road compared to a God who can do that?"

            -- no matter what your future holds, you can face it without fear because you stand on what God has done in the past and you have faith that He is going to bring you through this trial too

            -- I want to leave you with this quote from Sir Ernest Shackleton, who led an expedition to Antartica in the early 1900's -- after going through the trials and almost losing all his men, he said, "After today, nothing will be hard, ever again."

            -- that quote sums up this entire passage -- as the Israelites stood on the shores of the Red Sea and rejoiced and praised God for the victory that was and the victory that was to come, their hearts cried out, "After today, nothing will be hard, ever again"

            -- let that be your heart-cry as well

            -- let us pray

1 Judson Cornwall. Leadership, Vol. 16, no. 2.

2 Bob Deffinbaugh, https://bible.org/seriespage/8-song-sea-exodus-15