Commit Before You Climb
Here is a sermon I preached based on this text. The sermon starts at an hour and 30 seconds.
Read Time: 11 mins, 7 seconds
Now on the way, at a place where they stopped for the night, the Lord met Moses and sought to kill him. But Zipporah took a flint knife, cut off the foreskin of her son and touched it to Moses’ feet, and said, “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me.” So the Lord let him alone. (At that time she said, “A bridegroom of blood,” referring to the circumcision.)
Exodus 4:24-26 NET
Tucked away in Exodus 4, we get one of the most bizarre and interesting stories that we often skip. You may know the story leading up to this point that sets the context. Moses, after being on the run for murder, works for 40 years as a fugitive shepherd. I can imagine he would tell you that he was more than happy laying low in a distant land, but that is when God shows up in a flaming bush to turn his world upside down. God tells Moses that He has heard the cries of His people in Egypt and has decided to go down and save them by sending Moses as a liberator. Moses tries to find a way to get out of this role, but God is more than persistent. Moses tries to argue that he isn’t good enough, but God argues that His strength can make up for Moses’ weaknesses. The Bible actually says that God begins to get angry because of how little Moses believes God can do with Him. Moses is literally believing in his weakness more than He believes in God's strength, but while God gets angry, He doesn’t give up on Moses. He still has patience and grace for the person He wants to use. God wants to save His people and wants to use Moses to do it. It’s more than Moses asked for or wanted, but God continues to show grace as He doesn’t give up in His effort to convince Moses to follow the yes that would change the lives of millions. God even sends Moses’ brother, Aaron, to assist and equips Moses with signs to prove that he has been called by God. How many times has God called you to life-changing shifts that would position you to impact the world around you, and you, like Moses, tried to get out of it? How many times have you, like Moses, spent two chapters of your story arguing that God can’t use you to minister to the people you care about? It's funny because Moses murder was because he wanted to help his people, now God is trying to use him to do just that in a more impactful and important way, and Moses is apprehensive. Can the same be said for us?
Has God tried to position us to utilize our gifts, skills, passions, and abilities in a way that brings more fulfillment than anything we could do on our own, but we, like Moses, try to deny the opportunities God throws our way because of fear? How many times have you sought to settle for being an intercessor, someone who simply prays that a problem will be solved, when God wants to empower you to be an answer, someone who God uses to provide a solution? Moses hates to see his loved ones in slavery, and God is saying that He will empower Moses to do the liberating, but Moses keeps trying to decline. God is saying I will platform you to find purpose and prosper in one of your passions and Moses is trying to pass. Isn't that insane? But that is what fear will make you do. Imagine God saying that He will use you to stop slavery, and you instead opt to just stay mad about it on the sidelines? This is what we look like when we say no to God.
It’s funny because Moses never truly verbalizes his agreement for this mission in the text, and begins the journey to Egypt almost reluctantly as his excuses fail him. Isn’t it good news that God still works with us while we’re apprehensive to work with Him? Isn’t it good news that God still has grace when we decline to help the people He has called us to help? God is more than patient and graceful in this discourse with Moses, and it's more than good news for us because we can be just as stubborn, slow, and hard-headed when God tells us to follow Him into greener pastures that will change our lives and the lives of others more than we can imagine.
So this is where we find ourselves in the text. Moses, after arguing with a more than patient God, begins his journey and starts moving towards what God wants to do to help Moses become one of the most important figures in not just the Old Testament but in all of Christianity. As he and his family are taking a road trip to Egypt, they stop to spend the night, and the Bible says that God shows up and wants to kill Moses. Woah. What happened to all the patience? If God still worked with Moses through His excuses, reluctance, apathy, and apprehension, what could Moses have done that led God to think it was better to give up on Moses and find someone else for the job? God has grace for Moses, trying to pass up freeing slaves, but God is ready to throw in the towel for something else. What could it be?
The answer is that Moses had not circumcised one of his sons. That’s it? That sounds like nothing. Was circumcision or the lackthereof enough for God to say He’d rather use someone else? It looks like it, and I believe it’s important for us to recognize what commitments and lack thereof may be holding us back from stepping into the roles God has called us to.
So what was circumcision, and what does it mean for us today? It is the rather crude act of removing the foreskin, a fold of skin covering the tip of the phallus. A very random and kinda bizarre symbol God would call His people to pursue, right? But God often uses what seems crazy to point to His covenant.
Cuts for Christ
Circumcision was first given to Abraham in Genesis 17 as a sign that would represent his participation in God's promise of land, descendants, and blessings. Abraham, someone called to be the father of many nations, had to perform a sign that symbolized the fact that he was laying down his ability to accomplish the goal on his own and literally surrendering his will, know-how, and ability to God. I can’t think of many better ways to commit to surrendering to God and believing that by faith He would accomplish what’s best for you in His ability and not your own than by literally allowing Him to have control over the tool you’d use to accomplish it on your own. It was like trusting God with a tithe as a way of saying you trust Him to provide.
This was important because circumcision recognized a commitment to the covenant. It recognized a commitment to righteousness by faith and not your own works. It represented a belief and reliance on the gospel and the truth of God's word. This covenant is what David alluded to when fighting Goliath. He basically taunted Goliath by saying I am covered and called because I’ve committed to letting God fight for me, and you haven’t, therefore, I will win any battle we fight. And the fact that Moses hadn’t followed this symbol pointed to the fact that he may not have been fully trusting of the covenant.
While circumcision isn’t a requirement in a literal sense, it is expected in a spiritual sense. God, in places like Deuteronomy 10:16 and 39:6, Jeremiah 4:4 and 9:25-26, and Paul’s letters to the Romans, Colossians, and Philippians, calls us to allow our hearts to be circumcised by the Spirit. We’re called to be committed to this call by allowing the Spirit to cleanse and cut away what isn’t like Christ. And while God could deal with some doubt, apprehension, and past sins, He didn’t want to platform a leader who didn’t prioritize righteousness by faith and a commitment to continued sanctification in his own house. He couldn’t have a leader lead His people to the place of the convent without believing in it enough to live it out in his private life.
Commit Before You Climb
While God might not be asking you to be circumcised in a literal sense, this begs the question: What is God asking you to allow Him to control in this season? What areas of trust and dedication is God calling you to before He can trust you with the next level? What covenant do you need to carry into your next season? What level of commitment is necessary? What is God trying to cut away before carrying you into the next season?
God was willing to work with a doubtful and insecure murderer with anger issues, but couldn’t work with someone who wasn’t committed, and I think many of us forget this. Your inner commitment doesn’t just impact you; it births how you will lead and impact others. This commitment didn’t just show up in Moses's individual life; it showed up in his family. The tension we see in the text isn't just that he wasn’t committed, but the fact that he didn’t prioritize passing this principle on to his son. Are you committed to the point that the people closest to you want to be too?
Now, I’m not telling you to force or push your beliefs on anyone. This isn’t about forcing kids to go to church; this is about looking like Jesus at home. The way you act on a weekday will do far more to preach the gospel than what any preacher can say on a weekend. What I am saying is that a true commitment results in a reprioritization and humility that leads to fruit. The Bible says that the person who wants to be a church leader desires a good thing, but if their family and community don’t respect them, they need to be reconsidered for the role. Why? Because the real proof of your commitment is how it impacts those closest to you. The proof of commitment shows up in your private life. I’m not saying you don’t love God or haven't made any positive deposits. I’m not saying you are a terrible person. But if you are the type of person whose honesty and integrity in personal matters make the people closest to you struggle to believe you when you speak about spiritual matters, there is an issue. And God may be holding you back from the new levels you’ve prayed for because you can't be trusted with the influence you already have.
It doesn’t matter how many sermons your children hear you speak if they don’t see you act it out at home. If you cannot be trusted to repent and offer a genuine, humble, and accountability-accepting apology when you make mistakes, the people closest to you will have a hard time believing you when you talk about a God we can be honest with. If they don't see real integrity and fruit that is attractive, they'll never accept the message you wish they’d follow. They need to see it more than they hear it.
This is more important than many of us recognize because we are saying we love God, but people whom we are called to impact are seeing the holes in our argument through our lack of commitment. Jesus says it is better to have a millstone tied around your neck and be thrown into the sea than to lead a child astray, but we’re trying to build careers and platforms while protecting our ego and image at the expense of our families. You aren’t as important as Moses, and if God would rather find a replacement for him when he didn’t prioritize his children committing to God, what do you think that means for you? God would rather you be a Noah who, through his family, saved the world than an Eli who, by not raising his sons in the fear of the Lord, led to his death, their deaths, and the disillusionment, distraction, and destruction that led to the spiritual and physical deaths of many.
Do Something
So what’s next? What we see in the text is someone acknowledging and taking action to rectify the wrongs. Now, Moses was a Hebrew male. He was the head of the home and, as a Hebrew, would have been taught about the importance of this covenant. You’d think the responsibility should fall on him. But Zipoorah, an Ethiopian woman, steps in as an intercessor, takes responsibility for something that should be someone else's problem, and takes action to save someone else and the rest of her line. The penalty should fall on Moses' head. It shouldn't be Zipporah's problem. But she stepped in and saved. Doesn’t that sound like Jesus?
What I want you to recognize is that Zipporah didn’t wait for the person who should’ve acted to act before she did. She didn't wait for an admittance of guilt before going. She didn't wait for an apology before advancing. She didn’t just complain and talk about Moses's lack of commitment. She handled what she could on her end.
I don’t want us to just unveil family trauma and drama and how people set us up for the worse. No. I want us to take action, regardless of whether it's your mistake or not. Your dad likely won’t apologize or go to therapy. But you can. Your mom likely won’t take responsibility for her drama and emotional abuse. But you can take responsibility for how you react. You can be the adult before those who should’ve protected and provided for you act like adults themselves. The Bible says that the sins of the fathers often follow the children unto the third and fourth generations, but you can stop the cycle, and that radical commitment will result in fruit thousands of generations down the line. People may not have healed from their pain enough to pour into you, but you can stop the cycle by prioritizing healing and pouring into others. Be Zipporah.
God knew that Moses couldn’t call a nation to commitment if he wasn’t committed. He couldn’t ask them to be all in if he hadn’t surrendered. The same is true for us. Your families, communities, and churches can’t follow you if you aren’t living what you teach.
Maybe you have been praying for healing in your family like Moses was for his, and now God wants to use you as a catalyst to bring it. But it is going to take a radical new level of commitment. Will you put the spiritual integrity of you and your family above every other pursuit? Will you stop complaining about what isn't working and start doing what you can with the time you have been given? You’ll have to trust God more than you ever have because it’ll likely get worse before it gets better. If you read the story of Moses, it’s full of constant faithfulness despite failure. People misunderstand, reject, and abandon him consistently, but he holds on to what God said and keeps moving forward. You’ll need to commit to the same thing if you are going to be a liberator for your community. You’ll have to commit to deep self-reflection and honesty. You’ll have to commit to hard conversations and harder sacrifices. You’ll have to put aside your desires and ego for the mission the Messiah has placed on your heart. It’ll be hard, but I promise it's worth it. Are you committed?
Questions to consider:
What commitment may be holding you back from going to the next level? What is God asking you to prioritize or allow Him to cut away?
In what area of your life may you not be as consistent as you could be? Where can you show more integrity?
What cards have you been dealt that you will take the responsibility of playing to the best of your ability? What will you take the initiative in?
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