April 27, 2025 Called to Leadership | Exodus 3

Today we will reflect on Exodus 3, Called to Leadership. God calls to Moses to lead his people out of slavery in Egypt into freedom and the Promised Land. Moses is afraid and believes he doesn’t have the skills or gifts needed to lead. Moses comes up with many excuses for not responding, but God counters his excuses by promising Moses “I will be with you.” The church still needs leaders today to lead the people into freedom from their sin, and into a deeper relationship of trust and faith in God. God promises to guide those he calls through his presence through the Holy Spirit.

Transcript

Called to Leadership

Exodus 3

The Bible is filled with calling stories, times when God hears and sees what’s happening in the world and to his people, or God decides it’s time to move his plan of redemption forward, and so he calls people to step up and lead through the challenge. In many, or most of these encounters, the people God calls find excuses and reasons why they aren’t the right people, or they aren’t worthy or ready to step up. Moses is no exception.

God hears his people’s cries to be rescued, he sees the cruelty of the Egyptians, and he responds by calling Moses. Moses seems to be the perfect choice at this time to lead the people of Israel. He was raised in the household of Pharoah by Pharaoh’s daughter, given a good education and would have received leadership training, and he knows Pharoah and his family and the Egyptian culture. This gives him the ability to understand Pharoah and his court and the challenges facing Israel as they seek their freedom. Moses also understands that in his own strength there is no way that he will ever be able to do anything so huge.

But Moses sees things very differently. Even though God appears before him in a burning bush and calls out to Moses, Moses isn’t easily convinced to leave his father-in-law’s sheep and goats, or his quiet life as a shepherd behind. He also remembers that his last time in Egypt, he killed an Egyptian soldier who was abusing a Jewish slave, but then the next day Moses sees two Hebrews fighting and one of them challenges Moses, “Who made you ruler and judge over us? are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?” The Jews didn’t accept Moses, likely because he had been raised as an Egyptian. Leadership, especially among God’s people is not something Moses feels called to. Leadership is not something everyone feels called to, many people even resist becoming leaders because there is always a cost to leadership, it’s seldom easy, and Moses was 80 years old when God approached him in the wilderness in a burning bush. 

The reality is that we can always find ways to not accept God’s call to be a leader. When God tells Moses, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.” 

Moses comes up with at least 5 arguments: First Moses says to God: Look, I’m a nobody; Pharaoh will never listen to me. God says: No, I will be with you so don’t worry about that. Second Moses says “Israel won’t believe me, who do I say sent me,” and so God gives him his name “I Am Who I Am.” Third Moses says that the people won’t believe me, so God gives him a few signs to show the people to convince them. Fourth Moses says that he can’t speak very well, so God tells him that he will Aaron to go with him to do the talking, and finally Moses finally gets to the heart of the matter and says that he simply doesn’t want to go, and God just tells him, you’re going to go and do, end of the story.

A lot of times in the Bible the people God calls don’t feel qualified, but God doesn’t call the qualified because then they’ll simply try to do everything in their own strength, instead God makes the unqualified, qualified, giving them, shaping them to be who they need to be for the time and situations. It simply takes humility and obedience on our part. Satan even tried in the wilderness at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry to get Jesus to think that he might not be the Son of God or qualified to do the work of the Father. Jesus chose to listen to his Father’s voice instead of Satan’s quiet whisper, or later on to his own brothers who had doubts about who Jesus was saying he is. Listen to the Holy Spirit, not the voices of doubt. The Holy Spirit has placed wise people in our lives who can offer us good advice into what, who, or where God might be leading you. 

Good leaders know that the willingness to sacrifice their wants for the best of the larger organization, combined with humility, produces strong organizations and churches. God calls us into all kinds of different places and situations and roles. Some are long term; others are short term. When we recognize that all of life is God’s and he uses all parts and areas of our lives for his plan, we can recognize how a job working at McDonalds, in a long-term care home, being a mother or father at home, a mechanic, builder, office worker, truck driver, volunteering, or whatever work or job you are doing, is all a calling from God. The question is how are we going to answer him and use what he’s given us for talents, inclinations, or passions, and the needs of the circumstances when he calls us to a place of leadership and the additional responsibility that comes with becoming a leader? 

Paul talks about how we’re all one body in Romans 12, but that we’re not all the same, bringing so many different things to the table to make us complete as the body of Jesus, as the church. Romans 12:3–8, “For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.”

We are all different from each other, that’s what makes life and community together so wonderful and fascinating, and sometimes frustrating. But what I love seeing is how our different gifts help build beautiful churches as the body of Jesus. Think about cheerfulness as a spiritual gift: your cheerfulness can make the difference for someone struggling and needing encouragement or a word of hope. Think of patience or kindness, someone has just lost it and your response is to take time to listen to what set the person off and then helping them to regain themselves so they can carry on well with their day. We’re all part of the body of Jesus and he is our head. He guides us and gives us what we need when he calls us to lead, our call is to trust in him and work with the rest of the body as we move forward in becoming who Jesus is calling us to be. Remember that our very first call is to follow Jesus, to seek to imitate him is all parts of our lives, and to share the gospel news that Jesus came and took our sin to the cross and was resurrected so that we might have new life.

Are there times to say “no”? I will say yes, there are times to say no, but it’s about using wisdom. If you believe you have been called to work or volunteer in a certain role for a certain time and you know you are doing God’s will and work there, it may be wise to say “no” so that one part of the body doesn’t suffer for another part of the body. Perhaps you are in a time of life that is extra busy or stressful or your spouse or family are going through a difficult time, it might be wise to say “no.” 

Most of us as we answer God’s call, whether in leadership such as council, or in other ways, it’s just going to be the ordinary things you do every day, when you’re a school teacher, you are going to teach math to some bored 9th graders; you are going to stay cheerful while you ring up somebody’s groceries in the grocery store. Whatever it is we’re called to do or be, when we’re faithful, when we believe God’s call, God will use us; great things will happen. As Paul wrote to the Thessalonians, the one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it! God provided for Moses, not just when Moses went up against Pharaoh, but also for the 40 years Moses led Israel through the wilderness. Jesus provides for us through the Holy Spirit, through Scripture, and through fellow leaders and members who will support you, encourage you, and pray for you. Take the time to prayerfully listen to God’s leading in this time as Bethel seeks out leaders for this time and this place.