The responsibility question is this: What will I do with my life? You have to stop making excuses, you have to stop blaming other people and take the initiative if you're going to be a leader and decide what does God want me to do with my life and then get on with it.
Hebrews 11:25 "He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time." It says, "he chose". Circle that word. I think that, next to salvation, the greatest gift that God has given you is the ability to choose. He's given you the freedom to choose. That's why we're different than animals. God made us in His image and we have the freedom to choose. As a leader, your leadership will be based on the type of choices you make. That is the responsibility question. What will I do with my life? What will I do with my ministry? Your future is determined by your choices.
Notice three things in Moses' life that are issues that each leader must eventually deal with. God's will explodes in your life when you make the right choices and say "Based on what You made me to be, then I'm going to accept responsibility for that and I'm going to make the right choices."
Notice three things:
v. 24 we have Moses refusing. In v. 25 we have Moses choosing. See the difference? First there's the negative, then there's a positive. God always backs up a negative with a positive. The Christian life is not just a matter of don'ts. It's not a matter of "I'm not going to do this... this ... this...” It’s a matter of "I am choosing to do this." He's refusing and then he's choosing.
v. 23, as a child, God chose Moses. But in v. 25, Moses had to choose God. Big difference. God chose Moses even before he was born to be the liberator, the savior, the deliverer of the nation of Israel. He chose him even before he was born. But Moses could have short-circuited that plan by not choosing God.
So God has chosen you for ministry. John 15, Jesus says, "You have not chosen Me. I have chosen you that you should go forth and bear fruit and that your fruit should remain." God chose you from the foundation of the world. He chose you to be saved and when He chose you to be saved, He chose you to be a minister. But you must make the choice yourself to choose God's will for your life.
Notice in v. 24 it says "When he had grown up." You might underline this. "When he had grown up, he chose." One of the marks of maturity is when you begin to accept responsibility for your spiritual life. As a baby, it was ok for Moses to live off his parents' faith. But someday he had to make the decision on his own of who was going to be his God and what were going to be his values and what was his identity. Leaders recognize three very important truths and they're all illustrated here in the life of Moses.
1. The first truth that every leader must recognize is I can't live off someone else's spiritual commitment. That's a difference between a leader and just an average person. You need a personal relationship to Christ and you need a personal ministry. You don't get into heaven on somebody else's spiritual apron strings and you don't serve in ministry on someone else's spiritual commitment. It's time to grow up and make that choice. I can't live off other's spiritual commitment.
2. I can't blame others for the direction of my life. We are in a society that wants to blame everybody else for everything. There are things that you cannot control and there are things that we've all been victims of, some of you in serious, major issues. And while you cannot control all the things that happen to you, you can control your response. And that's your choice. That is your choice because God's given you that freedom of choice. So don't blame the environment for your future. You are as spiritual as you want to be. When you cut through it all, you're as close to God as you want to be. If you say, "I'm not very close to God. Why?" It's because you don't want to be closer. You're as close to God as you want to be. It's your choice. God has no favorites in His family. He does have intimates – those who know Him well. Who are those? Those who chose to make the effort to know Him well – when you choose to make the effort through Bible reading, through quiet time, through prayer. You get to know somebody well when you spend a lot of time with them. The more time you spend with God the more you become an intimate of God. The Bible says in Psalms that the people of Israel knew the acts of God but Moses knew the ways of God. The people saw the acts of God. They saw the fire, the pillar, the water, the spreading of the Red Sea. They saw all the acts of God. But Moses knew the ways of God because he was God's friend. Did God love Moses more? No. Moses made choices that others were not willing to make. You are as close to God as you want to be.
3. I'm free to choose my response to life. Nobody can ruin my life except me. God won't ruin it. The devil can't, if you're a child of God unless you make choices. So it's your choice. Even what other people do to you. Nobody can ruin your life except you if you've given it to God.
So the responsibility issue is, What am I going to do with my life? Joshua 20:4 “You may choose for yourself today whom you will serve, but as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord." He's saying, I'm facing the same issue that Moses made. Joshua was his successor. Joshua watched Moses be a man of choice, be a man of character, a man of integrity. He saw it work and years later he's making the same decisions. He's saying, As for me and my house – I don't care what you guys think, we're going to serve the Lord.
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