A rabbi was at odds with his congregation. The president of the synagogue said, ”Rabbi, we must have a conference to settle this dispute once and for all.” So the rabbi, the president an the ten elders met together to discuss the issue – but the rabbi soon discovered that he was the sole dissenting opinion. After some discussion, the president of the synagogue announced, “Let us now vote and let the majority rule.” When the votes were collected, the president said, “Rabbi, you are outvoted eleven to one, we have the majority.”
The rabbi rose to his feet, “So you think you are right and I am wrong because of a vote. Well, think again, for I will call on the Holy One of Israel to give us a sign that I am right and you are wrong.” Immediately, a deafening clap of thunder sounded, accompanied by a brilliant flash. The mahogany table they were gathered around was cracked in two. The room was filled with smoke and the president and the elders were thrown to the floor, but the rabbi remained standing – untouched and triumphant.
The president synagogue slowly rose from underneath the table. His hair was singed, his glasses where hanging from one ear and his clothes were in great disarray. Finally, after some time, he responded saying, “Alright, alright, so it is eleven to two. But we still have the majority!”
In our Scripture this morning the majority report is: we cannot go into the promise land it is too difficult a task; The minority report is just the opposite, we can go into the promise land, and we will prevail. It is easy for us to walk away from this Scripture with the idea that if we have a positive perspective we can seize the opportunity to overcome, whereas if we have a negative perspective we will fear our opportunity to overcome – but it isn’t that simple. For if that is what we walk away from after reading this Scripture, a positive perspective will allow us to succeed – why would you or I need God? If having a positive perspective allows me to overcome, I don’t need God, I can get the rundown on positive perspectives from the bookstore or any number of success seminars that come through town.
I received one of these “invitations” the other day in the mail. It was very formal in packaging, it was written in a personal but businesslike manner. It was as if I was plucked out of all the names in my neighborhood to attend. It was a very special invitation. It promised that if I go to this three day seminar, for what the invitation claimed as a very moderate cost, then I would learn to quickly make money hand over fist.
I’m sure they will spend a good amount of time in the three day seminar talking about a positive outlook on life.
All that may be well and good, but, understand that having a good perspective is NOT the same thing as faith. Faith and a positive perspective are not equivalent. Having a positive perspective does not mean you have faith - - it might mean you are a very positive person, or it just could mean that you are out of touch with reality.
Faith is not simply hoping that things will work out someday.
Faith is not simply being positive that things will work out someday.
Here’s hoping….
So, where does a positive perspective end, and faith begin? How do the people in our Scripture demonstrate faith, or a lack of faith, rather than demonstrate the power of positive thinking?
Let’s look at our Scripture and see if we can get a handle on this.
Here in Numbers 13 we have the People of Israel standing of the brink of going into the Promise land. The problem was twofold: First the land they were promised was already occupied; Second, they had no idea what the land looked like, so they send in 12 spies.
Each man chosen is a representative of one of the 12 tribes of Israel. They all are leaders, but not necessarily the head of their tribe. One thing to note here is that the only two names mentioned again from this list are Caleb and Joshua. Joshua’s name was changed from Hoshea which means (he saves) to Joshua which means (Yahweh saves) – Jesus, is a form of the name Joshua.
So they gather the 12 men and send them into the land with the instructions Num. 13:18 See what the land is like and whether the people who live there are strong or weak, few or many. 19 What kind of land do they live in? Is it good or bad? What kind of towns do they live in? Are they unwalled or fortified? 20 How is the soil? Is it fertile or poor? Are there trees on it or not? Do your best to bring back some of the fruit of the land.”
Now don’t assume that all these men are young men, Caleb is about 85 years old here.
They are given 40 days to complete their task. The description of the regions they visited from verses 22- 26, in effect shows that they scouted the entire region of the promise land, from top to bottom.
When they arrive back at camp, they give their report in a very public manner. All two million people are there to hear the report.
Their report starts off very positive: “27 “… We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit.” – the term, ‘flowing with milk and honey’, is a way of saying the land is very lush.
So we see the promise of God is real – it is the promise land, it is a good place to be.
BUT.
Here comes reality. Verse 28, But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of Anak there. (Anak means tall people.) They apparently were a nation of NBA size people.
Then they list the problems, and the problems are the people of the land.
The Amalekites,
The Hittites,
The Jebusites,
The Amorites,
The Canaanites,
The Sittites,
The Animalrites,
The Electrolites
Ok, I made up those last three.
Who were the Hebrews up against?
The Amalekites. They live in the Negev – these are the descendents of Esau. The Israelite have run into them before, they are a very fierce fighting, nomadic people, experts in camel warfare.
The Hittites. Not much is known about these people, they were a great power based in Asia minor.
Jebusites. These are the people who live in and around the city Jebus, that would later become the city of Jerusalem.
The Amorites are related to the Canaanite and live in the hill country.
The Canaanites live near the sea and along the Jordan.
Together these people make up a series of nations that would be very, very difficult to overcome. Remember, the Egyptians had been trying for years to take over this area with very limited success. If the Egyptians, with one of the greatest armies of the day have a difficult time, how could a group of untrained former slaves hope to defeat these same people?
Now we need to stop here and give the 10 spies credit. They are telling the truth. The land is wonderful, but the people are fierce, they are lager than life. The name Nephilim means, giants of the sky, as they were so tall. The fortified cities were impressive. Many had withstood invasion for generations. Note that Caleb does not discount what the other ten say. They do not say that what the other ten say is not true – because the facts are the facts. Caleb just sees things differently, he see things from a different perspective.
Is that all it is? A different perspective?
In 1858 a scientific expedition passed through a vast area in the Southwestern United States. A young lieutenant by the name of Ives made this entry in his report: The region we explored is completely without value. It can be approached only from the south and after entering it, there is nothing to do but leave. Ours have been the first and doubtless the last to visit this profitless locality. It seems intended that the Colorado River will be forever unvisited and undisturbed.
So went an early visit to the Grand Canyon.
Perspective – Is this just psychological?
Earlier, I said that this is not about perspective, but about faith. Remember, if perspective is all it is, who needs God? If you look at the next chapter, you will see that two are found faithful, and ten are found faithless and in fact, are stuck down dead.
We could say that the majority of the spies were only looking at circumstances. We could say that they saw the dangers, made some calculations, did some analysis and figured that things didn’t add up. So they balked at moving forward. We could say all that, and all that is true, but those details, though they make sense are not the core of the issue here.
Caleb in the Hebrew here says, we will swallow these people. He says they are like bread. Caleb sees them as weak, and soft. Why does he see them this way? Because these people are spiritually bankrupt. They may have everything that the Hebrews do not, except for one thing, and that one thing, is a very big thing.
I had a man in my last congregation who was in the snack business. He was part of a small company which supplied chips and pretzels and the like to mini markets and various retail outlets. One afternoon I asked Albert how business was, good or bad, up or down.
He looked at me and laughed. “Peter, business is always good and business will never, ever be bad.” He went on to tell me this story: “Years ago my company was contacted by a small retail outlet who was in desperate financial woes. They asked my company to extend them some credit for the next few months, which we gladly did. My company was one of the very few who extended this retail outlet credit.
When the retail store became solvent again, they thanked my company for its help. To thank my company, they promised us that they would always use us as a snack supplier – and they have kept their word, and have used us ever since. Peter, that company was none other than Wal-Mart.”
Albert’s company may have only one account that is different than any other snack company’s account, but that one account, was a very big account. The Hebrews may have many things against them, but they have one thing for them, and it is a very big thing – it is God Himself.
Why is this not just perspective? It is not perspective because faith is not about perspective. Faith is about relationship.
How do we describe a good marriage? We describe it as faithful. A man and a woman are faithful to one another in terms of relationship. Without the relationship, there is not faithfulness. Good faith, is based upon relationship.
So the Hebrews sort out the facts. The minority report is based upon, not the facts, the facts are the same; the minority report is based upon the facts in conjunction with their relationship with God. By contrast, the majority report is based on the facts, absent the relationship.
He facts may never change, but the relationship, changes the facts.
He facts may never change, but the relationship, changes the facts.
The New Jersey Devils have a team full of very good player. The New York Rangers have a team of very good player also – those are the facts. Then, a young man from Alaska leaves the New Jersey Devils and moves across the Hudson to the New York Rangers, and the East Coast goes nuts. The people of New Jersey are in great despair, how can this be?
New Jersey still has many great hockey players, and that’s a fact, but the relationship of the fans to the team without our local man, Scotty Gomez in New Jersey, without that relationship with Scotty, the faith of the hockey faithful in New Jersey has been shaken.
Caleb has faith, not because of perspective, but because of relationship. Caleb knows that what lies before them is impossible, but looking back, they also know what lay between the Hebrews and Egypt was also, once impossible. Now the reason that Caleb is not out of touch with reality is because of this relationship. Relationships have history. The history if his relationship with God says, the impossible is not impossible.
Now look, they are not conquering the whole place yet, they are just going to cross the border. They don’t need to know all the details about what will happen, they just need to cross the border. God has taken care of them every little step of the way in the past, and so He will in the future.
The ten other spies show their lack of faith not by a poor perspective, but by the fact that they will not depend upon their relationship with the Lord God. What they see, and what they only trust, is their relationship with each other, and nothing more. We see this clearly when they say in verse 33, they “We seemed like grasshoppers”, which also can be translated “gnats”. The ten see themselves, in terms of faith, not perspective, they only see what they themselves are up against - Caleb sees past himself, and in terms of faith, that is, relationship, he sees God on their side, and imaginary gods on the other side.
Your faith. Don’t buy the positive perspective lie. You know, the lie that says, if you have a positive attitude, everything will somehow work out. The positive perspective lie, in the long run, leads down the road to emptiness – why? Because if we only depend upon ourselves, we end up….alone. If we depend upon ourselves, if we depend upon a positive perspective, which is really a poor substitute for faith, then one day we will come upon the Nephilim, the giant people of the sky, and we will be like grasshoppers, and no amount of positive perspective will allow us to overcome the giants.
But, if we understand that faith is based upon relationship. Then when the Nephilim come, we will be able to turn, not to ourselves, no, we will be able to turn to the one we have a relationship with, the one we have faith in – and in that day, we will not be alone, for God will go before us.
In the end a positive perspective, though it may be a good thing, a positive perspective is not faith. Faith is not found in perspective, faith is found in relationship. Improve your faith not with a more positive perspective, improve you faith by improving your relationship with Jesus Chirst.
