So I’m slowly making my way through Hebrews and come to a complete halt at 11:24-26. A familiar passage to us:
“ By faith, when he grew up, Moses refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to be ill-treated with the people of God than to enjoy sin’s fleeting pleasure. He regarded abuse suffered for Christ to be greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for his eyes were fixed on the reward. ”
(Hebrews 11:24–26, NET)
Moses makes a costly demonstration of his God-imparted faith by throwing his lot in with despised and enslaved Hebrew people. Why would he prefer the poor treatment of a slave over the regal lifestyle of royalty? The answer is stunning! Moses considered the abuse he suffered, at the hands of the Egyptians, as having done so for Christ. And what more, he considered this abuse as wealth! Abuse as wealth? Yep. Why did he view abuse as greater than the gold of Egypt? Moses was a Christian Hedonist. Sorry, I slipped into Piper-land for a moment. But in all seriousness, Moses has his eyes set on something that supernaturally alters that which is Ugly–>Beautiful and Beautiful–>Ugly.
I’m looking for my readers (all 3 of yal) to chime in with some thoughts. It’s not a matter of whether the passage is intellectually understandable. Sure I get it, in my head. But have I experienced it. Or a bigger and tougher question. Would I gladly welcome this kind of affliction if it were the only way for me to treasure Christ properly?
What Say You?
#1 by justin harris on April 7th, 2010
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As a true believer, I believe you would treasure this affliction if it was the only way for you to treasure Christ properly. All genuine believers will endure in persecution and affliction (Mt. 24:13; Mrk. 13:13). While I think it is wise to examine ourselves, I think it is too burdening to read passages like this as prescriptive as opposed to descriptive. God ordained that Moses path contain such weighty consequences and obvious contrasts in choosing between wealth and obedience. My path, for one, hasn’t been loaded with such dramatic consequences as of yet. Furthermore, recall Hebrews 2:18 and 4:16. Christ helps when tempted to choose the world over Himself. Although I wouldn’t build a theology around this one phrase, I do think it is significant that Hebrews 4:16 says that we will “find grace to help *in time of need*. (ESV)” The Stauffer’s even testified that the grace needed to joyfully endure the worst of circumstances–the murder of their daughter–came when they needed it. I cannot say in human pride that I will choose affliction over Christ. I’m not that good or noble. However, I fully believe my High Priest will enable me to suffer when the time comes.
One of my new favorite hymns, “Jesus I My Cross Have Taken” beautifully expresses the truth of the verses you referenced above. I was just singing it this morning. Here are a few verses worthy of meditation:
“Jesus, I my cross have taken,
All to leave and follow Thee;
Destitute, despised, forsaken,
Thou from hence my All shalt be.
Perish every fond ambition,
All I’ve sought or hoped or known;
Yet how rich is my condition!
God and heaven are still my own.”
“Let the world despise and leave me,
They have left my Savior, too.
Human hearts and looks deceive me;
Thou art not, like them, untrue.
And while Thou shalt smile upon me,
God of wisdom, love, and might,
Foes may hate and friends may shun me;
Show Thy face, and all is bright.”
“Go, then, earthly fame and treasure!
Come, disaster, scorn, and pain!
In Thy service, pain is pleasure;
With Thy favor, loss is gain.
I have called Thee Abba, Father!
I have stayed my heart on Thee.
Storms may howl, and clouds may gather,
All must work for good to me.”
“Man may trouble and distress me,
‘Twill but drive me to Thy breast;
Life with trials hard may press me,
Heaven will bring me sweeter rest.
Oh, ’tis not in grief to harm me
While Thy love is left to me;
Oh, ’twere not in joy to charm me
Were that joy unmixed with Thee.”
#2 by Ashley Pritchard on April 8th, 2010
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These are great thoughts. I think all of us as believers ask ourselves would we still love Him if everything was taken from us? It can be a daunting and often scary question…..not because we are afraid of our Heavenly Father, but we are afraid of ourselves. The only things I can go to are what God has sovereignly placed in my life in the past. When I lost my hearing, I was so frightened, but God replaced that with unbelievable joy and faith that I had never seen! What grace and beauty! It was not me, it was Him. If anything, it has assured me of his sanctifying work in my life and I praise Him for it.
#3 by Jon Wisely on April 8th, 2010
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This is a tough one. I’ve been chewing on it. I’ve had tough times in my life where I’ve seen the Lord work great things, but those tough times were never of my choosing. I know God gives grace and strength when needed so that He can be glorified. But I’ve been asking myself whether or not I would willingly choose those times of suffering in order to in turn glorify God. We do so much in life to avoid trouble. Undoubtedly trouble and suffering will find each one of us, that’s “life”. But would I do what Moses did? Would I do what the Moravian missionaries did by selling themselves into slavery in order to reach the West Indian slaves?
I of myself would never choose this, because there is no good thing in me. Only God could create this attitude or choice in me. In fact, a “willing” choice of suffering would have to be supernatural in order to completely give Him the glory. Wouldn’t it?
#4 by anonymous on April 9th, 2010
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At what point did Moses “grow up” and choose to refuse Egyptian identity (v. 24) and forsake Egypt? (v. 27) Was it when he killed the Egyptian and fled (Ex. 2:11) or when he came back to Egypt to confront Pharoah? (Ex. 5:1) He left Egypt because he was running for his life, not because he was identifying with Israel and choosing to suffer affliction. Furthermore, he married outside the nation of Israel and was content to dwell in Midian and serve his father-in-law. (Ex 2:21, 3:1) At this point, it seems Moses had no intention of returning to Egypt to identify and suffer with the children of Israel. Then God miraculously called him and sent him. Even then, Moses was reluctant to the point that God’s anger was kindled against him! (Ex 4:14) God even was merciful enough to inform Moses that the men that wanted to kill him were dead. (Ex 4:19) I think this background is important because it shows us that Moses is not the “hero” of Hebrews 11:24-27, God is. Moses was fearful, unbelieving, and unwilling. Moses could have returned to Egypt, made amends, and inherited Egypt. But why didn’t he? It is because God chose to use Moses despite his many flaws and enabled him to refuse the identity, pleasures, and riches of Egypt. God removed all the excuses, provided all the means, and demonstrated all the power necessary to do what needed to be done. This is grace.
We can all identify with Moses – fearful, unbelieving, and unwilling. By nature, we live for the temporal, not the eternal. Whenever we do anything of eternal value is is because God has enabled us and radically altered our perspective of life and values.
Because of faith, Moses saw the bigger picture. Because of faith, he understood that the kingdom of Egypt was nothing in comparison to the Kingdom of God. Because of faith, he accepted that suffering with Christ was reasonable and logical.
May God grant us that same faith to love Him and live for Him, not this world.
#5 by Robbie on April 10th, 2010
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We have each already been tested on this a thousand times. We are asked to forsake the world when we wake. We are asked to daily take up a cross and go die. “By faith” is the what-it-looks-like chapter, born out of the end of chapter 10. If you are as caught off guard as I am about the reality that of the thousand, we were likely unawares through most – our Savoring Christ drips all the more. In the fact that the writer mentions “Moses . . . for Christ”, we see that it is God’s sovereign hand at all times. What did Moses know of Christ in Egypt? Christ knew of Him and was working grace in him from before there ever was an Egypt.
We know. We confess. We depend. We cling. May God take everything from us, that we might finally have Him and Him alone – and may I still believe that tomorrow, when I wake.
#6 by justin harris on April 11th, 2010
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Bo,
Piper provides a great foil for my comments earlier:
It is not wrong to pray for healing, to take medicine, to put locks on your doors, to flee unruly mobs. The Bible does not call for suicide. It is presumption to jump off the temple while quoting Scripture promises that God will catch you. God finally decides whether and when the path of obedience will lead to suffering. Satan has his place. He loves to make us miserable and tries to destroy our faith. But God is sovereign over Satan, and all of Satan’s aims to destroy the saints are designed by God for the good of his people and the glory of his name.
So it is right to flee, and it is right to stay. One may escape, and one may endure hardship. When to flee and when to stay is an agonizing question for many missionaries and urban workers and Christians in secular workplaces with great opportunity and great conflict. One person who thought more about it than most of us was John Bunyan, the pastor who spent twelve years in prison and wrote Pilgrim’s Progress. He could have been released from prison if he had agreed not to preach. His wife and children needed him. One of his daughters was blind. It was an agonizing decision. “The parting with my wife and poor children hath often been to me in this place as the pulling of the Flesh from my bones.”
Here is what he wrote about the Christian’s freedom to stay or flee from danger.
“May we try to escape? Thou mayest do in this as it is in thy heart. If it is in thy heart to fly, fly: if it be in thy heart to stand, stand. Any thing but a denial of the truth. He that flies, has warrant to do so; he that stands, has warrant to do so. Yea, the same man may both fly and stand, as the call and working of God with his heart may be. Moses fled, Exodus 2:15; Moses stood, Hebrews 11:27. David fled, 1 Samuel 19:12; David stood, 1 Samuel 24:8. Jeremiah fled, Jeremiah 37:11–12; Jeremiah stood, Jeremiah 38:17. Christ withdrew himself, Luke 9:10; Christ stood, John 18:1–8. Paul fled, 2 Corinthians 11:33; Paul stood, Act 20:22–23.…There are few rules in this case. The man himself is best able to judge concerning his present strength, and what weight this or that argument has upon his heart to stand or fly.… Do not fly out of a slavish fear, but rather because flying is an ordinance of God, opening a door for the escape of some, which door is opened by God’s providence, and the escape countenanced by God’s Word. Matthew 10:23.… If, therefore, when thou hast fled, thou art taken, be not offended at God or man: not at God, for thou art his servant, thy life and thy all are his; not at man, for he is but God’s rod, and is ordained, in this, to do thee good. Hast thou escaped? Laugh. Art thou taken? Laugh. I mean, be pleased which way soever things shall go, for that the scales are still in God’s hand.”
~ excerpted from Don’t Waste Your Life, pp. 74-75