Introduction:
A. The story is told of an elderly lady who came to church one Sunday.
1. An usher said to her “Where would you like to sit?”
2. She said “I would like to sit in the very front row.”
3. He said, “No, ma’am. You don’t want to do that. Our preacher is very boring. He’ll put you to sleep. Let me seat you somewhere else.”
4. The elderly lady was appalled. She said “Sir, do you know who I am?” He said “No.”
5. She said “I am the preacher’s mother.”
6. He quickly asked, “Ma’am, do you know who I am?” She said “No.”
7. He said “Thank God!”
B. Oh, how easy it is to be a critic and to criticize.
1. And those who get criticized the most are those who are taking a role of leadership and those who are trying to do something good for the Lord.
2. Aristotle wrote: “It’s easy to avoid criticism: all you have to do is say nothing, do nothing, be nothing.”
3. Jake Lougee has a quote at the bottom of his emails. It is a portion of one of Theodore Roosevelt’s famous speeches and it goes like this: “It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.”
a. How true that is, it is not the critic who counts, but the one who is in the area who is actually attempting to do something good.
C. Last week we talked about drawing near to God with reverence and awe and I challenged us to make a renewed effort to walk more closely and intimately with God.
1. But do you know that if we determine to invest our lives in God and cultivate an intimacy with the Almighty, that we are asking for it?
2. When we step out in faith, we make ourselves a target of criticism and of Satan himself.
3. Anyone who determines to walk with God becomes a target of the enemy.
4. That’s what the two Scripture Readings I chose for today have to say.
a. 2 Timothy 3:12 says: In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted…”
b. The Amplified Bible puts it like this: “All who are determined to live a devoted, godly life will meet persecution (that is), will be made to suffer because of their stand.”
5. This is what Peter also warned us about in his first letter: Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 9 Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings. (1 Peter 5:8-9)
D. If we don’t draw close to God and if we don’t attempt to accomplish things for the Lord, then there is no need for Satan to make us a target.
1. If we compromise our walk, and aren’t really very committed, then why would Satan waste his time on us, we are not a threat, and are already halfway in his camp.
2. But on the other hand, if we determine to stand alone and against the tide, if we attempt to live according to biblical standards, then we can be sure that the enemy will seek to devour us.
3. We can expect flaming arrows from the evil one.
E. That’s one of the interesting things about the spiritual war.
1. The second we become a Christian or take a stronger stand for the Lord, that’s when, as the saying goes, “all hell breaks loose.”
2. A person might say, “I really thought that my decision to walk with God would cause things to get better, but in fact, it was after that point that they got worse.”
3. The reason for that is because that’s when Satan puts on a stronger attack.
4. But, please, know that all is not lost – our great hope and assurance is that the One who is in us is greater than the one who is in the world. (1 John 4:4)
F. Moses was a man who chose to walk with God and lead for God, and who, therefore, became a target of the enemy.
1. How did this godly man face these numerous and inevitable perils?
2. Let’s spend a few minutes looking at some of the times that Moses was under attack and let’s see what he did to stand up under it.
I. The Story
A. Attack #1 – Miriam and Aaron
1. Let’s begin our story in Numbers 12:1, where the Bibles says: 1 Miriam and Aaron began to talk against Moses because of his Cushite wife, for he had married a Cushite. 2 “Has the LORD spoken only through Moses?” they asked. “Hasn’t he also spoken through us?” And the LORD heard this. (Num. 12:1-2)
2. Can you believe this? Moses’ own siblings are the ones who start the whispering campaign against their younger brother. (You might be saying, “Yah, I’ve got family like that!”)
3. Why did they criticize him? Because of his Cushite wife.
a. This is a bit confusing, because the only wife we know Moses had was Zipporah, the Midianite woman he married while a fugitive in the desert.
b. Midianite and Cushite are related terms, and so this may have just been a derogatory word for Zipporah.
4. The text does not explain why Miriam and Aaron objected to his wife, but in reality, their objections to her were only a smokescreen for their challenge to Moses’ spiritual authority.
a. You can just hear Miriam and Aaron saying, “What’s so special about Moses? Has the Lord only spoken through Moses? Hasn’t the Lord also spoken through us?”
5. You can almost hear everything go silent as the text declares, “And the Lord heard it.” Uh-oh!
6. In contrast to this pride and self-centeredness of Aaron and Miriam, we see God’s commentary on Moses.
a. Verse 3 says: Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth. (Num. 12:3)
7. The Bible continues: 4 At once the LORD said to Moses, Aaron and Miriam, “Come out to the Tent of Meeting, all three of you.” (Num. 12:4)
a. Do you remember ever getting called to the principal’s office? That was scary, wasn’t it?
b. God basically said, “I want the three of you to come to my office, right now!”
8. What did God have to say to them? The Bible says: So the three of them came out. 5 Then the LORD came down in a pillar of cloud; he stood at the entrance to the Tent and summoned Aaron and Miriam. When both of them stepped forward, 6 he said, “Listen to my words: “When a prophet of the LORD is among you, I reveal myself to him in visions, I speak to him in dreams. 7 But this is not true of my servant Moses; he is faithful in all my house. 8 With him I speak face to face, clearly and not in riddles; he sees the form of the LORD. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?” 9 The anger of the LORD burned against them, and he left them. (Num. 12:5-9)
a. So God set the record straight – God had a unique relationship with Moses, so they were to leave him alone and should think twice before criticizing him.
9. And just to be sure that no one misunderstood God’s message, he left a little calling card behind: The Bible says: 10 When the cloud lifted from above the Tent, there stood Miriam—leprous, like snow. Aaron turned toward her and saw that she had leprosy; 11 and he said to Moses, “Please, my lord, do not hold against us the sin we have so foolishly committed. 12 Do not let her be like a stillborn infant coming from its mother’s womb with its flesh half eaten away.” (Num. 12:10-12)
a. One wonders why Miriam took the brunt of the punishment.
b. One possibility is that she was the principle offender and therefore received the stiffer punishment.
c. One commentator suggested that Aaron’s role as high priest was vital to God’s plan so he had to remain “clean.”
d. We don’t want to speculate, but what we know is that God was not happy about what they had done, and told them so.
10. However, I think the most important lesson for us to learn comes from Moses’ response as a leader under fire and God’s protection of this godly man.
a. Moses didn’t take any of this personally.
b. He was quick to come to their aid by crying out for God’s healing for Miriam.
11. We need to be more like Moses and allow the Lord to fight out battles for us.
a. We can let God be our defense.
b. Because God certainly knows how to reward the faithful and punish the guilty.
B. Attack #2 – The Whole Israelite Community
1. As the story continues in Numbers 13 and 14, Moses and the people of Israel have reached the border of the Promised Land.
a. Moses has sent the spies to look over the land and they have returned with their report.
b. They reported that the land was valuable and fruitful, but the cities were fortified and the people who live there were big and powerful.
c. Two of the spies, Joshua and Caleb, tried to counter the report by saying, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.”
d. The other spies argued that those people are giants, we seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes and in theirs.
2. The Bible says: 1 That night all the people 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 desert! 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.” (Num. 14:1-4)
3. So what did Moses do? Moses and Aaron then fell face down in front of the whole Israelite assembly – what humility!
4. Joshua and Caleb tried to restore the people’s faith in the Lord by saying: “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 swallow them up. Their protection is gone, but the LORD is with us. Do not be afraid of them.” (Num. 14:7-9)
5. The Bible continues: 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. 11 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 signs I have performed among them? 12 I will strike them down with a plague and destroy them, but I will make you into a nation greater and stronger than they.” (Num. 14:10-12)
6. How would you have reacted if you were Moses?
a. Would you have said, “Yah, Lord, I’m tired of these folks and their ungrateful attacks. Go ahead and wipem’ out. Let’s start over, just me and you!”
b. That just wasn’t Moses. He immediately pled for the salvation of the Israelites and for the glory of God.
c. Moses was such a humble and selfless man!
7. God decided not to immediately destroy the Israelites, but decided to make them wander in the desert for 40 years – one year for each day the spies explored the land.
a. During those 40 years everyone over the age of 20 would die, and a new, more faithful generation would grow up and would be allowed to take the Promised Land.
C. Attack #3 – Korah, Dathan and Abiram
1. Our final story for today comes two chapters later in Numbers 16.
2. The Bible says: 1 Korah son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and certain Reubenites—Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth—became insolent[a] 2 and rose up against Moses. With them were 250 Israelite men, well-known community leaders who had been appointed members of the council. 3 They came as a group to oppose Moses and Aaron and said to them, “You have gone too far! The whole community is holy, every one of them, and the LORD is with them. Why then do you set yourselves above the LORD’s assembly?” (Num. 16:1-3)
3. So how did Moses respond? The Bible tells us that he fell face down and basically said let’s take this matter to the Lord for Him to decide.
a. Korah was from the tribe of Levi, and Moses confronted him with not being satisfied with the very special role that God had given them as priests. They wanted more power.
4. Moses then tried to meet with Dathan and Abiram, but they refused to meet with Moses.
5. The next day when everyone gathered before the Lord for the Lord to decide on this matter, the Bible says: 18 So each man took his censer, put fire and incense in it, and stood with Moses and Aaron at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. 19 When Korah had gathered all his followers in opposition to them at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, the glory of the LORD appeared to the entire assembly. 20 The LORD said to Moses and Aaron, 21 “Separate yourselves from this assembly so I can put an end to them at once.” (Num. 16:18-20)
6. How do you think Moses responded to this turn of events?
a. Do you think he cried out, “Yes! Makem’ pay, Lord! Zap’em, Lord!?”
b. No, the Bible says: 22 But Moses and Aaron fell facedown and cried out, “O God, God of the spirits of all mankind, will you be angry with the entire assembly when only one man sins?”
“ 23 Then the LORD said to Moses, 24 “Say to the assembly, ‘Move away from the tents of Korah, Dathan and Abiram.’” (Num. 16:22-23)
7. 28 Then Moses said, “This is how you will know that the LORD has sent me to do all these things and that it was not my idea: 29 If these men die a natural death and experience only what usually happens to men, then the LORD has not sent me. 30 But if the LORD brings about something totally new, and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them, with everything that belongs to them, and they go down alive into the grave, then you will know that these men have treated the LORD with contempt.” (Num. 16:28-30)
a. What was Moses trying to say? Basically, “None of this is my idea. I didn’t make myself the leader, God did. I’m just trying to do what God tells me to do.”
8. So what happened next? The Bible says: 31 As soon as he finished saying all this, the ground under them split apart 32 and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them, with their households and all Korah’s men and all their possessions. 33 They went down alive into the grave, with everything they owned; the earth closed over them, and they perished and were gone from the community. 34 At their cries, all the Israelites around them fled, shouting, “The earth is going to swallow us too!” 35 And fire came out from the LORD and consumed the 250 men who were offering the incense. (Num. 16:31-35)
9. Surprisingly, the Israelites didn’t get it. Their response was to turn on Moses.
10. The Bible says: 41 The next day the whole Israelite community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. “You have killed the LORD’s people,” they said.
42 But when the assembly gathered in opposition to Moses and Aaron and turned toward the Tent of Meeting, suddenly the cloud covered it and the glory of the LORD appeared. 43 Then Moses and Aaron went to the front of the Tent of Meeting, 44 and the LORD said to Moses, 45 “Get away from this assembly so I can put an end to them at once.” And they fell facedown. (Num. 16:41-45)
11. Can you guess how Moses responded to yet another attack?
12. He commanded Aaron to offer a sacrifice for the people and because of Moses’ swift and graceful actions, the plague came to an end, but it left 14, 700 people dead in its’ wake.
II. The Application
A. So what lessons can we learn from today’s stories?
1. Certainly, we learn that God is God and He is not to be toyed with! Amen!
2. But that’s not been the focus of our study today.
3. What can we learn about how to handle attacks from the evil one?
4. Here are 2 statements that should help us when we find ourselves in the crosshairs.
B. First, we must remember that the godly life is never easy.
1. Rewarding? Yes. Fulfilling? Yes. Worthwhile? A thousand times, yes, but never easy.
2. We should think twice before becoming a disciple of Jesus.
3. We should think twice before stepping out in ministry and leadership.
4. Why think twice? Because we should count the cost and be ready to pay it.
5. If any of us is looking for a safe, no-hassles sort of existence, then the narrow road winding into the steep hills of godliness should not be our path of choice.
6. Jesus said, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it.” (Luke 9:23-24)
C. Second, we must remember that the godly life is always eventful.
1. Truth is, if any of us really want to break out of a boring life, then all we need to do is commit ourselves to Jesus and throw ourselves into His service, and life will get exciting in a hurry.
2. You will never find people asleep on the front lines of the battle field. They are in the fray and the war is exploding around them. That’s how the dedicated Christian life is.
3. Here’s a great promise from Psalm 34:19: “The righteous person faces many troubles, but the Lord comes to the rescue each time.”
4. I can promise you this: If we get more involved in serving the Lord, then we place ourselves in the crosshairs and then all hell will break loose, but at the same time, all heaven will come to our rescue.
5. The godly life is never easy, and is always eventful, but is worth the effort and the trouble!
Resources:
Moses: A Man of Selfless Dedication, by Charles Swindoll, Word Publishing, 1999
