Learning to Follow God: Numbers Revisited
Learning to Follow God-Numbers • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 4 viewsWhen we place our trust in God, we begin a journey learning to follow Him.
Notes
Transcript
Welcome and Announcements:
If you are joining us for the first time today, we would like to thank you for joining us. We know you have options, and we are honored that you would choose to be with us today.
We open our Sundays with prayer time at 9 a.m. in the Bryant Center across the street. At 9:30 a.m. we have Sunday school classes, children included. We also typically have a prayer group that meets at 4 p.m. on Sunday afternoon to pray for the needs shared on Sunday mornings as well as other requests provided. If you have a special prayer need, I would like to encourage you to put a note in the offering plate and we will include it in our prayer time.
Today we will complete this sermon series from the book of Numbers with an overview of the book at large. Next week, we will move into Advent and I will be preaching from the book of Malachi. This is a short, 4 chapter book, so I would encourage you to read it through sometime this week.
If you enjoy listening to your phone, I highly recommend the phone ap, “Through the Word.” You can do a chapter a day Bible study in less than 20 minutes. It is a great way to be in your Bible each day, which helps us to understand how people came into existence and what our ultimate purpose is and our eventual destination. This short book would be a great way to try out this Bible ap.
Before we jump into today’s worship, allow me to share some quick announcements.
• Food Bank Representative requested
• Gideon Bible Gift Options
• Harvest Dinner Today!
• Hanging of the Greens next week
Sounds & Tastes of Christmas, 4 p.m. next week
Advent Devotionals, last chance to get one
In more liturgical denominations, this Sunday is known as “Christ the King” or “Reign of Christ” Sunday. I think we can appreciate that as we focus on giving “thanks” this morning.
Psalm 136
Psalm 136
I found the best Psalm to open our morning. It fits perfectly with our Thanksgiving theme as well as our final sermon from this series out of the book of Numbers. Please stand with me, and we will read responsively. Every time we see “His love endures forever,” I want us all to read that together. Try to keep in the rhythm and read together all as one at one speed, like you would if you were singing together.
1 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His love endures forever. 2 Give thanks to the God of gods. His love endures forever. 3 Give thanks to the Lord of lords: His love endures forever. 4 to him who alone does great wonders, His love endures forever. 5 who by his understanding made the heavens, His love endures forever. 6 who spread out the earth upon the waters, His love endures forever. 7 who made the great lights— His love endures forever. 8 the sun to govern the day, His love endures forever. 9 the moon and stars to govern the night; His love endures forever. 10 to him who struck down the firstborn of Egypt His love endures forever. 11 and brought Israel out from among them His love endures forever. 12 with a mighty hand and outstretched arm; His love endures forever. 13 to him who divided the Red Sea asunder His love endures forever. 14 and brought Israel through the midst of it, His love endures forever. 15 but swept Pharaoh and his army into the Red Sea; His love endures forever. 16 to him who led his people through the wilderness; His love endures forever. 17 to him who struck down great kings, His love endures forever. 18 and killed mighty kings— His love endures forever. 19 Sihon king of the Amorites His love endures forever. 20 and Og king of Bashan— His love endures forever. 21 and gave their land as an inheritance, His love endures forever. 22 an inheritance to his servant Israel. His love endures forever. 23 He remembered us in our low estate His love endures forever. 24 and freed us from our enemies. His love endures forever. 25 He gives food to every creature. His love endures forever. 26 Give thanks to the God of heaven. His love endures forever.
Prayer
Worship Set
Prayer
Worship Through the Word:
Numbers Revisited
Numbers Revisited
I am doing something different this morning. I am going to preach a sermon I preached on August 6. It was my introduction to this series from the book of Numbers. Our attendance was very low that day and our video failed. I have come to believe that God was providing me the chance to do this sermon again now. For those of you who heard this sermon before, other than the outline, the sermon will sound very different as I re-wrote it for the Women’s retreat I spoke at. I am retaining most of those changes for this delivery.
If you are not familiar with the events of the Old Testament, I hope you are at least familiar with the movie, The Ten Commandments. This sermon and the series that we have just completed are the events that happen after Moses has received the Ten Commandments as well as many other laws. The Children of Israel (who we know today as the Jews) then set out across the desert for the land that God had promised to give them. However, after a years journey, they doubt God’s ability to give them the land and they are turned around to continue in the desert wilderness for another 38 years before they are finally able to enter the land of Canaan. For this reason, I preface this time as “in the meantime.” It has many lessons for all of us as we all live most of our lives, “in the meantime.”
For my text, I am reading from 1 Corinthians 10:1-13. Please stand with me as I read.
1 For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. 2 They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. 3 They all ate the same spiritual food 4 and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ. 5 Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered in the wilderness. 6 Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did. 7 Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written: “The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.” 8 We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did—and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died. 9 We should not test Christ, as some of them did—and were killed by snakes. 10 And do not grumble, as some of them did—and were killed by the destroying angel. 11 These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the culmination of the ages has come. 12 So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! 13 No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.
I. “In the Meantime...”
I. “In the Meantime...”
How many of you enjoy some form of regular exercise? How many of you wish you could say you do, but don’t? How many of you just don’t period?! Looking at me, you can tell I am probably in one of the latter two categories. However, today I am going to talk to you about a type of exercise that we all can get, and we never need lift a dumbbell to get it. Are you in? If so, say “Amen!” 😊
I recently read a great book called, “A Woman Who Trusts God: Finding the Peace You Long For” by Debbie Alsdorf. The entire book is built around the phrase, “In the meantime.” As I read her book, I realized that most of our life is lived “in the meantime.” We often think of the “meantime” as wasted space however, I would contend that it is in the meantime that our faith is being developed for what comes after.
You see, faith is a muscle that needs to be built up and strengthened for the tasks we are called to do. The “meantime” is our HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) of faith so when we face that mountain we need moved, we are ready for the task.
Jesus said, all we need to move that mountain is faith the size of a mustard seed, but I am sure the seed he was talking about was plump and fresh, not shriveled and dead.
As with most athletes, we spend far more hours in the training and building up period then we do the event we are building up for. Athletes know and understand this. They are relaxed and faithful as they go daily to the gym to workout, knowing that it will all be worth it when they come to the event they are training for.
As Christians, we need to understand this as well. It makes our lives a lot simpler when we do. That is because our efforts are partnered with trust. We trust that God is at work in our lives. When we have this kind of trust in God, we are relaxed and better able to enjoy the “mean times.”
In Philippians 1:6 Paul tells us,
6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
Unfortunately, we are usually too focused on the event and impatient with the “meantime,” and we often jump ahead of God creating many consequences and a delay in reaching the goal that God is setting for us.
The story of the nation of Israel found in the book of Numbers is a great example of lives lived in the “meantime,” and without their understanding it, God was providing exercises to increase their faith muscle. However, instead of trusting God, they fought Him all the way.
Let’s look at their journey as it pertains to exercises in faith, and we find that their journey begins just like ours.
A. Salvation and baptism mark the beginning .
A. Salvation and baptism mark the beginning .
However, their salvation and baptism are a little different from ours. Our journey begins when we, as an individual, choose to believe in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, and we choose to put our faith in Him. This means choosing to follow Him and allow Him to lead us in our life choices. This is the moment when we realize we have a faith muscle. It has not been used much so it is weak, but it is enough for us to make the choice to believe in Jesus Christ.
For Israel, this choice was made as a nation. It was made through a set of circumstances that drove them to this point. Now, this is not so different from us as whether we compute it or not, typically, it is a set of circumstances that drive us to realize we need something more in our life. Sometimes those circumstances are every bit as drastic as Israel’s slavery, things like depression, addiction, death, and disease. However, for others, it can be smaller struggles as simple as loneliness, needing a job, or various unfulfilled desires. Either way, it is circumstances that help us see our need for God. We never come to understand it on our own. It is the Spirit of God working through those circumstances that help us to see that we need God’s help. That realization begins us on a journey of seeking God.
Our Savior is Christ, but for Israel, Moses was the archetype of Christ. They followed Moses much like we are called to follow Christ. This was all in preparation for the coming of Christ. Note Paul’s phrasing in 1 Corinthians 10:2.
2 They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.
Once Israel left Egypt and crossed through the Red Sea, their true journey was about to begin. It was going to be a longer and more arduous journey than they expected. Like us, they expected to go directly there. They never anticipated the time that would pass before they arrived. (Remember their enthusiasm at the base of Mount Sinai as they eagerly agreed to God’s covenant terms, and the subsequent complaining just after their first few days of travel. I like to equate it to a bride on her wedding night compared to a week later when she realizes her new husband doesn’t pick up after himself and makes it more difficult to keep house. Or that moment when we graduate, only to realize within the next few days that we need a job!) I think you get the picture.
It is the same for us. If we take the time to seek God’s will, when the time is right, He inspires us with a dream, an idea of what He is calling us to do. For me, it began as a child with a dream to be in full-time ministry. I expected to go directly to college for four years and end up in ministry. I never suspected that I would be near my 40’s before I began this life of ministry. I was 37 years old when I accepted my first full-time position as a Children’s Pastor. I wasn’t even ordained until I was 43 years old. (I always said I was on the Moses plan!)
The biggest mistake we make as Christians is jumping ahead of God when things do not happen fast enough for us. However, when we wait, we find the truth in the saying, “Good things come to those who wait!” But waiting makes use of our faith muscle. Waiting builds our faith muscle much like a dumbbell builds an arm muscle.
Once Israel was saved and baptized, they had many things to learn in their journey. The first of which was...
B. Israel was learning to trust God to provide them the necessities of life.
B. Israel was learning to trust God to provide them the necessities of life.
It did not take long for the stores of food and water they had brought along to be depleted. A desert does not come with convenient stores. There was no easy access to food and water. Here we find the impossible being made possible by the works of God who is literally the Creator of all things. God wanted them to learn that He could provide for all their needs.
This is a lesson we all need to learn, and I fear very few face the circumstances that teach it. This is not because God is not providing the opportunities, but it is because we often fail to follow God through the circumstances He is orchestrating.
For example, you may have a financial need. You pray for God’s help. However, if God does not provide the answer in the time frame you think you need it, you may bale on God and use a credit card. When we do so, we miss the opportunity to see God do a miracle in our life. The next time we do not trust God as we feel He did not answer us previously. The truth is, we never trusted Him enough to begin with, so we missed seeing what He could do. We baled, yet we blame God. However, when we hold firm to the very end, we see God do amazing things and our faith is increased. When the next time comes along, we find it easier to wait.
For me, this spiritual breakthrough came when I was 34 years old. The time had come when I was finally listening and following God. I say finally, as I had had an opportunity in my earlier years, but I had jumped ahead of God. This time I was determined not to make the same mistake. I was unwilling to do anything that God did not open the door to do. When the time came that I felt God calling me to go to the Nazarene Bible College, I called my pastor to request contact information for the college. I was swiftly told I did not need to do so. The pastor and others had already provided referrals for me to the college. I was also told that the college had recently mailed me an application packet that should be received any day. Wow! Talk about God providing. However, then came the BIG test. The college wanted me there within 30 days. That meant I had 30 days to quit my job, sell my home (a single wide mobile home), and travel with all my belongings to a town I had never visited and had no idea where I would live or how I would pay for it. To make matters more intense, you need to understand that I was a single mom with a 12-year-old son, one of the consequences of not following God’s direction in those earlier years. (Please know that my son is a blessing but raising him as a single mom was definitely a tough consequence of sin).
When we seek God’s will, we embark on an adventure and part of the journey is learning to depend on God for the necessities of life, just like Israel did. And often, like Israel, we are not responsible for ourselves alone, but for a family as well.
God daily provided for Israel’s needs and God provided for my son and I daily. Through many miracles, I ended up with a high paying job in Colorado Springs, which is notorious for minimum wage jobs, as well as owning our own apartment, all within 30 days.
But there was more Israel needed to learn.
C. In that hostile terrain, Israel was learning to trust God to deliver them from evil .
C. In that hostile terrain, Israel was learning to trust God to deliver them from evil .
You may wonder, what evil can be found in a desert. Well, here is the list.
• snakes & scorpions
• robbers & murderers
• enemy armies
• Satan, evil spirits, and demons
Is our journey any different? No matter where you live, there are some kind of critters that cause harm. I remember my mom waking in the night once when we lived on our farm. She went to the kitchen and stepped on a scorpion in the dark. Now, we had never seen nor were even aware that scorpions were found there. But on that night, she just happened to step on one. God protected her as it turned out it was relaxed and lying flat, so she didn’t get stung.
Robbers and murderers are still around today. They are part of this world. We can find ourselves unexpectedly facing one from time to time. We may not have enemy armies tracking us through town, however, sometimes there are co-workers who wish us ill and try to cause us harm on the job. Or perhaps it is a neighbor that for some reason chooses to be a thorn in your flesh.
I often feel I trust God, but it is others I do not trust. We can get where we are so focused on what others are doing that, we get our eyes off of God and on them. In Alsdorf’s book, she talks about this as well and she comes to this conclusion.
“If we are going to be women who trust God, we must believe that he is working in all things, despite the poor decisions or choices others make that affect us. It’s quite possible that God will use a poor choice on someone else’s part to redirect us into his fuller plan for our life" (62).
Jesus had His own desert experience where he faced these same obstacles. Jesus had to be able to overcome them to be our Savior. He trusted and relied on God despite a face-to-face confrontation with His greatest enemy, Satan.
However, there is another very important lesson that needs learned on the journey.
D. In the desert, the Israelites were learning to believe and obey every word that came from the mouth of God.
D. In the desert, the Israelites were learning to believe and obey every word that came from the mouth of God.
This is critical and the place where many fail. We tend to want to pick and choose what we obey or don’t obey. Either we trust God, or we do not. Our obedience or lack thereof, is where we learn to trust God. When we obey and see how perfectly things come together, we feel good, and our faith muscle is strengthened. When we are slow to obey, which is disobedience by the way, or we blatantly disobey, we feel the sting of consequences. Hopefully, we learn from these and correct our behavior. The more we obey God, the more we witness His perfect will and the blessings that come with it. We then grow in our desire to follow the path according to the road map He provides, as we are learning that God’s way is always something special.
I had expected to be in full-time ministry by the time I was 24 years old. I had friends with similar calls to ministry. Some of them were in ministry by that point I believe. However, I took the circuitous route as I needed to learn to do better at listening and obeying God. I had the faith, but I had not developed a good habit of Bible study and time listening to God’s directions. You see, faith must be partnered with listening and understanding God’s directions. I only listened part way and then I filled in the blanks where God was silent. What I didn’t understand at that time was that God was silent because it was not time to move yet. Following God is like an exercise in Simon Says. We hear what He instructs us to do, but we are not to move until God says, “God says.” I knew I was called to full-time ministry. I jumped and went to NNC. Later, I realized that I never asked God where and when He wanted me to go. I just assumed NNC was where because it was a Nazarene college near home where my family had attended, and some were even employed there. Never assume anything with God! Always wait until He says where and when. While you wait, I would encourage you to downsize and be prepared to quickly pack your bags, because when the time is right, things move fast as God has put all the pieces in place.
I have heard it said that in the military you rush to where you are going and then you wait and wait. With God it is the opposite. You wait and wait, and then you rush! 😊
Now, in the desert, God was teaching Israel, but He was also doing something else.
E. It was in the wilderness that God was establishing His covenant with the nation of Israel.
E. It was in the wilderness that God was establishing His covenant with the nation of Israel.
A covenant is an agreement of sorts. It usually is attached with responsibilities and promises from each party. God made Israel many promises. Some were unconditional; however, others were conditional upon their behavior. That being their ability to trust and obey God. The wilderness was their training center for this covenant.
Covenants can be personal, or not so personal. Have you ever received a notice in the mail of some class action suit you are part of, and you never even knew it? It will often state that if you purchased and paid for a product or service between such and such dates, you are named as a recipient of the outcome penalty imposed on the company that provided the service. They typically are being sued for not providing something they had promised to provide, or they had lied about the product or service in some way.
When I receive those, I usually toss them. I was obviously not aware of the breach, and I do not have time to answer all the questions they ask for me to receive my $2 rebate. (Actually, since I have never done one, I have no real idea how much I would get. I just heard others report that usually there are so many benefactors that the amount is pennies or a few dollars.).
However, the covenant we have with God is personal. We know the greater covenant promises and expectations if we study God’s Word. However, it is not a nation of Israel kind of covenant I desire with God. It is the Abraham kind of covenant. A very personal, one-on-one kind. This means seeking time alone with God and following Him so I can learn what His expectations are of me and my life. It includes His promises to me as an individual because God is a personal God. That means He gives personal promises. The journey I am on with God helps me to have a covenant relationship with God all my own. It is unique and special. It makes my journey different from your journey in some ways, yet in other ways they are alike. They include the same kinds of elements to help us each draw closer to the One who created us as an individual.
We also find that as individual and unique as it is, it includes others. Our church is our nation. We are to be in the family environment of God’s church. Our covenant includes both aspects, individual and communal. We need time to figure all that out and the journey leads us in a path of discovery for each of those.
But there was one other thing God was teaching them.
F. In the desert, the Israelites were learning to worship God.
F. In the desert, the Israelites were learning to worship God.
This began at the foot of Sinai, but it was a continuing process along the journey. It began with...
1. Passover : Celebrating the victories .
1. Passover : Celebrating the victories .
They needed to learn to celebrate and remember their victories and give credit where credit was due, that was with God.
2. The Tabernacle : Living in God’s presence at all times.
2. The Tabernacle : Living in God’s presence at all times.
They were learning what it meant to dwell with God. They were learning about God’s character and His desire for His people, the things that pleased God and the things that displeased God.
3. Repentance : Learning to accept God’s discipline .
3. Repentance : Learning to accept God’s discipline .
Obedience is worship. When we repent, we are taking responsibility for our wrong behavior and choosing to make things right with God. This is a form of worship as well. When we repent, we show respect for God’s discipline.
4. Dependence : Learning to trust God in the difficult times .
4. Dependence : Learning to trust God in the difficult times .
Anyone can worship in the victories, but Israel needed to learn to worship God in the difficult times as well. We also need to learn to worship God along the journey, in both the good times and the bad. When we trust God, even in the most difficult of circumstances, we are worshiping God. We look not at the circumstances around us, but instead, we look up and set our sights on God. We need to learn that He is the only one with the ultimate control in all our circumstances. Each of these aspects of worship also tones our faith muscle. They need to be included as part of our faith HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training).
Conclusion
At the foot of Sinai, the Israelites thought the hardest part of their journey was behind them, however, their journey was only just beginning. As we have seen these past few months, the journey was filled with victories, defeats, and difficult lessons. Some would overcome to enter the Promised Land. Unfortunately, many would die in the desert. They were unwilling to put their full trust in God. Instead of their faith being built up, it shriveled and died. They failed to understand the training they were undergoing.
When we do make the journey successfully, we discover that our journey is a wonderful adventure. Getting to know God and learning to trust Him will bring us to our Promised Land. May we be faithful to see it through.
Allow me to close with a couple illustrations from Alsdorf’s book.
The first illustration has to do with how we view our “meantimes.”
Debbie had spoken at a retreat, much like this one. A week or so later, a woman from the retreat brought her a gift. She opened the gift and found a picture the woman had taken of her and her son framed in three different frames. The woman explained that she had not been sure of Debbie’s décor, so she had provided options. Here is what Debbie has to say about that gift and what she discovered.
Later that day I took the pictures out of the gift bag and placed them on the counter in my kitchen. There was a pewter frame that said “Family” on it, a contemporary glass block frame, and a sparkly frame adorned with beautiful crystals in the same color as my house décor. Soon the phone rang, and I got busy and forgot all about those frames on the counter until my other son came over and asked why I had three pictures of me and Cameron on the counter. I explained it to him, and then we both took note of how the picture looked different based on which frame it was in. As I thought about this later, I realized the same thing happens with our circumstances. Could this explain why people handle difficult situations differently? We each take a problem or challenge and frame it based on what we believe. How we frame things can tell us a lot about ourselves and about our need to know more of Christ’s presence in the middle of each circumstance. (171)
What is the meantime you are living in? What has been your view of this time? Has this service changed your perspective (putting it in a different frame if you will)? I guarantee you that God is in the details if you will take time to stop, look, and listen to what He is saying. When you do, you will begin to exercise your faith muscle. And that brings me to the last illustration. It is a beautiful picture of what God is doing in your meantime when you participate with Him.
A mother took her little boy to a piano concert. Upon arrival she saw a friend and started visiting. The restless little boy wandered off, and soon the lights went out for the concert to begin. The mother, looking to find her son, glanced toward the stage and saw her little boy pecking out “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.” The young mom watched in shock as the master musician walked out on stage and whispered quietly to her son to keep playing. And the little boy did. As he continued, the pianist played with his left hand the bass and with his right hand a beautiful running obbligato. The audience was mesmerized by the beauty of the child’s efforts as they were embellished by the power and skill of the master musician. As we struggle to live, plucking out our notes to simple tunes, God our master says, “Don’t quit, keep playing, keep trying. Keep going and keep growing.” And out of our life come the beauty and strength of his power and work.
Our faith opens the door for God to work His obbligatos in our lives! Keep exercising those faith muscles. Never grow impatient, but in patience wait all the while knowing you are performing HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) on your faith muscle. You will find that you move from a stagnant life of struggle to an incredible adventure that far exceeds anything you could have ever imagined! Romans 8:28 says,
28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
That is my prayer for each of you!
Pray
Allow me to close by speaking the blessing of Numbers over you.
24 “ ‘ “The Lord bless you and keep you;
25 the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you;
26 the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.” ’
Worship Set
Benediction
2 Corinthians 9:15 (NIV)
15 Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!
Go in His presence and grace today!
