The Story Chapter 6: Wandering
Bulletin title: “Choosing your lenses”
SIAS: How do you choose to view the world?
Scripture Numbers 14:1-11
Introduction
Welcome to chapter 6 to those of you who are just joining us. We are exploring God’s amazing story through the bible. As we go through chapter by chapter we continually see God’s sovereignty and his desire to have a relationship with us. We see in chapter six God doing such amazing miracles and God wanting to bless his people by giving them the Promised Land. Before we get into the text I want to do an exercise that will demonstrate my message.
I want us to do a little activity. I want everyone to stand up and to move to the opposite side of the church and sit down. I will give you a couple of minutes to do this. How does that feel? Some of you are a little bit uncomfortable? That’s because we are used to sitting in the same spot week after week. Some of you are thinking it’s not that bad here! Others are thinking, “I can’t wait until next week so I can get back into my own seat. The point is I’m asking you to do something you really didn’t want. In this sermon, I want to look at how we respond when God gives us something we really don’t want.
When I was in Mexico this last summer I learned that we cannot grow in our faith if we are unwilling to move or change. I got back to the church and as I was sitting in my office, I was reflecting on this. I was thinking, “You know I am pretty comfortable in children’s ministry, dressing up like a clown, hanging with your seven year old children.” Then Bob comes into my office asking me to preach. Well now I am not so comfortable anymore. But I have to make a choice about how I will respond to this challenge. I have decided to cooperate and ask God to guide me so that He can use this message to strengthen people’s faith.
So here we are walking together through God’s amazing story. Our scripture passage is found in Numbers 14:1-10 but before we study the scriptures together, we need to look at the accounts beforehand.
God is calling his people to do something they don’t want to do and to trust in him.
We see God’s faithfulness through the story of the Israelites. Pharaoh finally lets God’s people go - freedom at last! No more back breaking labour. All the plagues were just too much for pharaoh. Moses has such a huge task ahead of him to lead hundreds of thousands of people to the Promised Land. God has big plans for his people; all he asks is for them to be faithful. As they work their way through the hot dessert there came a huge obstacle: the red sea. I can’t imagine standing there looking over the water knowing the Egyptians are right behind. Why all these obstacles to get to a land that God has promised? Then it happened: the sea parted, the Israelites were able to walk through on dry land. As they crossed over God closed the sea up. Clear sailing from here, right? All they had to do was follow a pillar of cloud during the day and a pillar of fire at night. It was God’s GPS for his people.
After walking what seems like forever, the Promised Land is right before them. Moses sends 12 spies in to check the land out before the rest go in.
The spies come back with different reports. Isn’t it funny how they saw the same land, but had such different reports? They were looking through different lenses.
Narrative Monologue
(Put on sign: “10 spies”; Put on large glasses)
The people that live there are HUGE we are like grass hoppers to them. We can never defeat them. The cities, oh my, the cities are full protected! There is no way we can conquer this land. We are doomed!
(Take off large glasses, switch sign to “Joshua and Caleb”; switch to second pair of glasses)
Whoa! This land is amazing! Flowing with milk and honey; the best olives I have ever seen; sweet, juicy grapes, just look at the size of them! The giants, huh, they don’t stand a chance! The cities—no sweat—our God’s bigger than any city or giant. Let’s go for it guys!
(Take off “Joshua and Caleb” sign and glasses; put my glasses back on)
How do we view the world? What lenses do we use? Are we ready to take on the obstacles that God has before us to get to the Promised Land?
Prayer
Our heavenly father, we recognize that we cannot do anything without you. We ask that you would give us faith and courage to tackle the difficult things in life. We invite your Holy Spirit here to teach us through the scriptures. We love you, in Jesus name, amen.
Bible Reading
Open your Bibles to Numbers 14 1-11. The passage should be on the power point.
1 That night all the members of the community raised their voices and wept aloud. 2 All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and the whole assembly said to them, “If only we had died in Egypt! Or in this wilderness! 3 Why is the Lord bringing us to this land only to let us fall by the sword? Our wives and children will be taken as plunder. Wouldn’t it be better for us to go back to Egypt?” 4 And they said to each other, “We should choose a leader and go back to Egypt.”
5 Then Moses and Aaron fell face down in front of the whole Israelite assembly gathered there. 6 Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had explored the land, tore their clothes 7 and said to the entire Israelite assembly, “The land we passed through and explored is exceedingly good. 8 If the Lord is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and will give it to us. 9 Only do not rebel against the Lord. And do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will devour them. Their protection is gone, but the Lord is with us. Do
not be afraid of them.”
10 But the whole assembly talked about stoning them. Then the glory of the Lord appeared at the tent of meeting to all the Israelites. The Lord said to Moses, How long will these people treat me with contempt? How long will they refuse to believe in me, in spite of all the miraculous sings I have performed among them?
Illustration
As I studied the text I tried to put myself in their position, asking God to reveal to me a difficult time I had and a difficult decision.
In 1997, I decided to go on a one year mission trip. I was involved with a fine arts team. We did drama and music and traveled all over North America and took our ministry to West Africa. Before we did our ministry we were in intense training camp for two months. One day the staff drove all of us to the Rocky Mountains and divided us up into two groups: guys and girls. The girls hiked up one mountain and the guys hiked up another. The guys were thinking, man we got to beat the girls. We could see the girls off on their hike in a distance carefully crafting there hike and looking for the trail. As I followed the other guys looking for the trail we had a difficult time finding it. One guy suggested, “Forget the trail, let’s go straight up.” Are you kidding me? Straight up? I looked at the thick bushes and tried to talk them out of it but did not want to be left at the base by myself so straight up it was. The terrain was very tough: thick bush, losing your footing, steep cliffs. I got half way up and I was ready to go with the Lord. I was truly done. I passed the tree line and that was good for me. My buddies talked me into going on. I tried to talk them into leaving me and they basically dragged me up the rest of the way. We came down exhausted, scratched up and hoping to beat the girls. We got down and the girls looked great sipping their bottles of water and waiting for us guys. Now I know why God created Man and Woman to be together. Little did we know the mountain was a test and the staff was seeing how we responded in difficult situations and as you can guess I didn’t get picked to be team leader. I wonder why? I clearly did not react well in a difficult situation. Let’s look at how the people of Israel responded.
(3 points)
Point 1 People’s response v 1-4
We need to overcome obstacles that God has put before us, knowing there is something better on the other side. Imagine the frustration that God must have felt after the spies came back and the people met in verse one. “That night ALL of the members of the community raised their voices and wept out loud all of the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron and the whole assembly, “If only we had died in Egypt! Or in this wilderness! Why is the Lord bringing us to this land only to let us fall by the sword? Our wives and children will be taken us plunder. Wouldn’t it be better for us to go back to Egypt?” And they said to each other, “We should choose a leader and go back to Egypt”
I read these verses over and over and I can’t believe it. Are you kidding me? You guys made it this far and you want to go back? God promised you this land 400 years prior and you want to go back?
There seems to be a lack of faith with the Israelites. They did not trust God for what was ahead. They caved into peer pressure like so many of us do. They would rather go back to what they were used to. Even though it was horrible, it was better than the scary changes God proposed.
I think of Proverbs 26:11 “As a dog returns to its vomit so a fool reaps his folly.” People seem to go back to their old ways and habits over and over again. They will often repeat the same mistakes, over and over again, and the same sins, over and over again. This seems to be human nature. God has a better plan for us. He wants to free us from this bondage and sin but we have to do our part. We need to shift our thinking and be aware of our old habits. We need to be willing to move and change, and I am talking about more than just switching pews on Sunday morning.
Point 2
Joshua and Caleb’s response
Let’s look at Joshua’s response to the people wanting to go back to Egypt.
Numbers 14:5-9
“Then Moses and Aaron fell face down in front of the whole Israelite Assembly gathered there. Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who had explored the land and tore their clothes and said to the entire Israelite assembly, the land we passed through and explored is exceedingly good. If the Lord is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and will give it to us. Only do not rebel against the Lord. And do not be afraid of the people of the land because we will devour them. There protection is gone. But the Lord is with us. Do not be afraid of them.”
We have 12 spies all seeing the same thing. 2 interpret it differently. Joshua and Caleb want the land God has promised. The other 10 are scared and want to go back to a life of slavery in Egypt.
What kind of person are you? Are you a Joshua or Caleb or are you one of the 10? In order for Joshua and Caleb to get the land they had overcome obstacles.
The Promised Land is right there in front of you. What obstacles do you have to overcome to get to it? Yes, you will probably have to change your lenses and move. If you don’t we will be like those dogs that returning to their vomit. So many Christians have a faith like the 10 spies: when life gets tough they check out. Their faith is conditional depending on circumstances. We need to be like Joshua and Caleb. We need to continue to trust God and believe His Word, following Him no matter what happens. Instead of grumbling like the Israelites, we should be giving God praise and glory despite the circumstances we are in. I can’t think of anyone in the bible who had an easy life. Even Jesus himself had adversities in life. We are the same. The question is, which set of lenses are we going to use when facing these adversities? I want to show you a video of a man who did not have an easy life, but the lenses he chose determined his success.
Show video of Nick Vujicic 5 min
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYuVx2LU5QM
Nick had a choice. He could have looked at his life, rolled over, and said, “Life is not worth living…woe is me…I have no arms, no legs, everyone feel sorry for me.” He did the exact opposite. Do you think God would have used him in the same way if he had arms and legs?
No, Nick’s message is powerful because he overcame barriers. He knew that God had a plan for his life. He trusted God. He viewed his life through these lenses, instead of focusing on what he didn’t have.
Point 3
God’s response
v-10-11
“But the whole assembly talked about stoning them. Then the glory of the Lord appeared at the tent of meeting to all the Israelites. The Lord said to Moses, “How long will those people treat me with contempt? How long will they refuse to believe in me?”
God punished them. The Israelites missed their opportunity. They were disciplined in the desert for 40 years, until all of the disobedient people died. They never saw the Promised Land.
What would have happened if they took the plunge into the land? They would have been spared 40 years of wandering. If we trust God and recognize his blessings we can be spared from wandering in our own desert. What is it going to take for us to come out of the desert? His goodness and signs are all over.
It’s healthy to wrestle with God or have struggles; the problem is when we question God’s character or blatantly disobey Him.
God is always with his people. Through good and tough times in life God is always with us. You know you might be sitting here feeling really empty inside. You might be thinking, “You don’t understand, my marriage is on the rocks, my grandson is into drugs, I can’t find a job, life is too difficult.” Jesus says I will never leave or forsake you. He will always be there for us. ALWAYS. He is there to pick us up during hard times. But we have to believe Him and we have to follow Him.
Conclusion
What lenses are you using to view your obstacles in life?
(Take off glasses)
How do you view world? Are you viewing it through the lenses of Joshua and Caleb or are you viewing it through the lenses of the other spies?
Many of you are going through a difficult time and your heart and eyes are always focused on Jesus and I really appreciate that.
Some of us need a reminder that God is carrying us through our obstacles in life.
If Jesus is the author and perfecter of our faith we shouldn’t let obstacles stand in the way of what God has in store for us. We should have a desire to see things through the eyes of Joshua and Caleb and have a desire to go with God to reach the blessings despite the obstacles.
As we come to the communion table today, I encourage you to seriously consider what lenses you are using because this can make the difference between opposing God and cooperating with His plan, between wandering in the desert and entering the Promised Land His way.