BETWEEN THE NUMBERS
Numbers 27:12-23
Pass it on!
INTRODUCTION
-I read something interesting this week about the GB Packers.
-I’m not a packers fan but I love those Green and Yellow uniforms
-The town of Green Bay, Wisconsin is only about 105,000 the seating at Lambeau field is 80,735.
-With so few people in town and that many seats in the stadium you might be tempted to think that there are plenty of seats available…but if you thought that you’d be wrong.
-The waiting list for Green Bay Packers season tickets has more than 110,000 names on it.
-If you called and put your name on that list today you would have to wait an estimated 955 years for season tickets.
-It’s common for residents of Green Bay to put a baby’s name on the list as soon as they are born!
-The one exception to the waiting list is the transfer of tickets from an owner to a relative upon their death.
-For Green Bay fans that may be the greatest inheritance of all!
-Today we’re closing down on our series in the book of Numbers with a different type of transfer.
-In our passage today Moses, the faithful leader of Israel, will transfer the burden of leadership to his faithful apprentice Joshua.
-Turn in your Bibles to Numbers 27 and while you are let me set the scene for you.
-Moses was raised in the luxury of Pharaoh’s palace.
-In a moment of righteous indignation he killed an Egyptian man and then fled for his life to the land of Midian.
-From the lap of luxury in Egypt Moses took on a job as a Shepherd for his father-in-law Jethro.
-And he worked out there tending sheep for 40 years until God called him to lead the people of Israel out of slavery and into the Promised Land.
-Moses lived a long life, a rather productive life, but our chapter begins with Moses’ life coming to an end.
Num 27:12 One day the Lord said to Moses, “Climb one of the mountains east of the river, and look out over the land I have given the people of Israel.
-If you remember the story from chapter 13, there were 12 spies sent to look at the Promised Land for 40 days.
-10 of them came back and spread a bad report, the people panicked, and because of their rebellion God said you’re going to wander for 40 years.
-And so the wandered and whined and rebelled…and slowly but surely the whiners died off and a new generation came to power.
-Sadly for Moses, he wasn’t the chosen leader of this new Israel.
-He never got to settle down and grow old in the land of Promise.
-But God gave him the opportunity to see it for himself.
-“Climb one of the mountains Moses and take it all in…”
13 After you have seen it, you will die like your brother, Aaron, 14 for you both rebelled against my instructions in the wilderness of Zin. When the people of Israel rebelled, you failed to demonstrate my holiness to them at the waters.”
-Moses, the leader of the rebellious Israelites, had his own rebellion and God cancelled his ticket to cross the river.
-But please notice that God didn’t cut off Moses completely, nor did Moses harbor bitterness and resentment toward God.
-Moses sinned, God disciplined him…and they continued together in a relationship and covenant with each other.
-Moses had some moments he wasn’t too proud of, but thousands of years after his death we’re still talking about him as a faithful man of God.
MOSES LEFT BEHIND A LEGACY OF FAITH. WHAT WILL MY LEGACY BE?
-We don’t think a lot about that kind of stuff when we’re young.
-We may not think about it ever, but it’s important to consider.
-We’re busy, we’re always running, going 100 miles an hour.
-I’ve talked to many seniors over the years…they ponder this a lot. -They wonder if they were good husbands, good wives, good parents, and good Christians.
-I had a chance to speak at the junior high group a month ago.
-I asked them what they wanted on their tombstones?
-We did all the possible Pizza combinations first, to get that out of the way. Then we had little cardboard tombstones and they were to write down what they wanted their tombstone to say when they died. That’s some heavy mental lifting for 12-14 year olds.
-It was almost all boys that night, and they asked if they could also write the cause of death.
-My favorite was Hunter Nicolai whose tombstone said, “He died testing the theory that pigs could fly by jumping out of an airplane on the back of a pig. He landed on the titanic which is why it sank.” (He gets points for creativity)
-But after we got through the silly stuff those kids had written some amazing things. They wanted their tombstones to say, “Loving father” “Husband” “Loved Jesus” “
-I made the point to them, and I’ll make it to all of you today, you’re legacy is being written right now.
-How you’ll be remembered is being determined by how you live today, and tomorrow and the next day.
-What you cared about. Who you cared about.
-How you worshipped the Lord. How you served the Lord.
-How you loved your spouse and children and grandchildren.
-What you passed on to those around you.
-Moses was a man who had his share of critics and hecklers, but he was (and is still) deeply revered by people of faith.
-How we live our lives will determine how people remember you.
-But take that a step farther: How we live our lives will also affect how God remembers us.
1 Corinthians 3:13 But on the judgment day, fire will reveal what kind of work each builder has done. The fire will show if a person’s work has any value.
-I’m not mind-reader but I suspect that many of us here get a little panicky when we hear that.
-Fire will judge our work! Fire is judgment language!
-When we hear that we might think, “I’m doomed!”
-We may have a nagging suspicion that God won’t like our work!
-God may judge our work, but we are the ones deciding what kind of work we do!
-Moses made many mistakes. He wasn’t a perfect man.
-We have the record of some of his most painful and embarrassing failures.
-But the Bible tells us that God spoke with Moses like they were friends. (Exodus 33:11)
-What a legacy! Respected by generations of people and friends with God. Who wouldn’t want that kind of legacy?
-Maybe more importantly: What’s keeping anyone here from having such a legacy?
-And the answer of course is…nothing.
-Now I could stop here and we could all go out focused on being the best people we could be.
-We could all focus on ourselves and try to be the best possible versions of ourselves, without any regard for the people around us. But Moses didn’t do that.
-Notice that, at the end of his life, he has an important question to ask the Lord.
15 Then Moses said to the Lord, 16 “O Lord, you are the God who gives breath to all creatures. Please appoint a new man as leader for the community. 17 Give them someone who will guide them wherever they go and will lead them into battle, so the community of the Lord will not be like sheep without a shepherd.”
-This is so important…so listen closely:
MOSES’ MINISTRY EXTENDED BEYOND HIS LIFETIME. WILL OURS?
-Not many people have the luxury, or the curse, of knowing they’re about to die.
-This last year one of the elders of the Dayton Christian Church passed away.
-The doctors told him that he would not make it through the day.
-What would you do if you knew it was your last day on earth?
-Dave Sturm got on the phone and started calling people he knew. -When they answered he would say, “This is Dave, guess where I’m going today? I’m going to meet Jesus!”
-And he did. He died that same day.
-What a way to finish a life of faith in Christ!
-Moses did the ministry that God entrusted him with.
-And on the day that he found out he was dying guess what his primary concern was?
-At the end of his life, he wasn’t thinking petty and small.
-He wasn’t worried about his money or possessions!
-He wasn’t stressing about who’d take care of his pet goat.
-He doesn’t even seem that worried about dying!
-He wasn’t worried about passing on his Green Bay Packer tickets.
-He was worried about the people of God whom he served.
-Imagine being so devoted to serving, so devoted to God’s people, that the day you find out you’re dying…you’re only question is who will keep my ministry going?
-Who will carry on the work of the Lord?
-Who will follow in my footsteps and make sure that this continues when I’m gone.
-If we had any doubts about the character of Moses this should settle them.
-Not only, did he not waste his last breath pleading for himself, he didn’t even seem to care that he was dying.
-He just didn’t want the people of God to “be like sheep without a shepherd.”
-Now if this was the first time Moses had thought about this, he’d have been in trouble.
-This isn’t Moses waiting till his dying day and then thinking for the first time about a succession plan.
-He served God till his dying day…there is no retirement from God’s Kingdom work.
-I hate hearing people say “I served for years…my time is over.”
-Non-sense! If you’ve got a pulse your time is right now.
-Don’t ever believe that God doesn’t want you serving…right now.
-Moses was serving, literally till the day he died.
-But there were always a couple of people around Moses helping.
-And there were always a couple of younger men around that he was pouring his time, effort and wisdom into.
-Joshua, Caleb among others.
-Moses did what we talk about here at Adventure…he made disciples. And at the end of his life he wasn’t panicking and asking what are we going to do?
-He was asking God, “which of these men…that I’ve trained and discipled will be the next to step up?
2 Timothy 2:2 “You have heard me teach things that have been confirmed by many reliable witnesses. Now teach these truths to other trustworthy people who will be able to pass them on to others.”
-God has always intended that the faith be passed on from person to person. We call that discipleship.
-Eli trained Samuel. Elijah trained Elisha. David trained Solomon.
-Moses trained Joshua, and here in 2 Tim 2:2 Paul lays out a very simple plan for Timothy. Pass on what you know.
-Teach people what you’ve been taught.
-Show people how to do what you know how to do.
-Look to the people ahead of you for wisdom and advice, and teach the ones behind you. Pass it on, pass it on, pass it on!
-It’s no small thing to consider that our faith has been passed on from person to person for 2000 years.
-Who told you about Jesus? Who told them? And who told them?
-Think about it. If one generation in the church took a pass on discipleship…none of us would be here today.
-And if one generation of people at Adventure Christian Church opted out of discipleship there would not be a next generation.
-If we choose to disobey God’s instructions for discipleship how will our kids be saved? And our grandkids? And great-grandkids?
-If those of you who work with youth and children and life2life groups and music and women’s ministry…don’t invest in those behind you…it’s just a matter of time until we’re closed down.
-Moses didn’t let that happen in his day, and we mustn’t let it happen in our day.
18 The Lord replied, “Take Joshua son of Nun, who has the Spirit in him, and lay your hands on him. 19 Present him to Eleazar the priest before the whole community, and publicly commission him to lead the people. 20 Transfer some of your authority to him so the whole community of Israel will obey him. 21 When direction from the Lord is needed, Joshua will stand before Eleazar the priest, who will use the Urim—one of the sacred lots cast before the Lord—to determine his will. This is how Joshua and the rest of the community of Israel will determine everything they should do.” 22 So Moses did as the Lord commanded. He presented Joshua to Eleazar the priest and the whole community. 23 Moses laid his hands on him and commissioned him to lead the people, just as the Lord had commanded through Moses.
-What an amazing and simple demonstration of discipleship.
-By God’s command…Moses began the process of transferring his ministry over to Joshua. Discipleship.
-What’s interesting about this story of Moses is that he hadn’t always thought this way.
-Early on in his ministry Moses did everything. He didn’t delegate, he didn’t train, he didn’t recruit helpers. He just did it.
-His father-in-law Moses pulled him aside one day and said, “What are you doing?”
-You’re hurting the people and you’re hurting yourselves.
-You can’t do all this, you shouldn’t do all this.
-You need to get some other people involved.
-And Moses was a quick study. He immediately put a plan into action and got things moving in the right direction.
-He immediately recruited people and showed them how to do what he had been doing…and then turned them loose to serve.
-The thinking behind making disciples isn’t always obvious to us.
-Many of us have to have that borderline burnout like Moses did before we catch on.
-But what if we don’t catch on?
WHAT HAPPENS IF WE LEAVE NO LEGACY OF FAITH?
-If you work with children till the day you die, you’ll be remembered for your faithfulness…but if you don’t train others…who’ll carry on the work when you’re gone?
-If you work with the worship team till the day you die, you’ll be remembered for your faithfulness singing/playing…but if you don’t train someone else…who’ll carry on the work when you’re gone? Who’ll benefit from all that you knew?
-If I work at pastoring till the day I die, I’ll be remembered for my faithfulness and great hair…but if I don’t train others…who’ll carry on the work when I’m gone?
-You may be the spiritual leader, the patriarch or matriarch, of your family’s faith in Christ…but will happen if you don’t pass it on
-We have to think this way…we must ask these questions now, because if we wait until we’re on death’s door…we’ve waited too long. It’ll be too late to do anything about it.
-Christians talk a lot about the condition of our country and it’s moral decline.
-And they ask how did we lose our faith. There used to be a lot more Christians. But that’s easy to explain: We didn’t make disciples. So as people of faith die, and are replaced with people of no faith…our culture has slowly become less Christian.
-People talk about the state of the church. How come 4000 churches closed in America last year? Nearly 11 a day! A million reasons but they all boil down to this: Didn’t make disciples.
-They built buildings, had ice cream socials, played Bingo, sang the songs we liked…and assumed that it would always continue on. But it hasn’t. It won’t. Not without making disciples.
-It’s funny that Moses said, “I don’t want Israel to be like sheep without a shepherd.
-When Jesus looked at Jerusalem in Matthew 9 he saw that they were like sheep without a shepherd.
-And he had a suggestion about what to do.
Matthew 9:37-38 “37 He said to his disciples, “The harvest is great, but the workers are few. 38 So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields.”
-The solution is more workers. Disciples who will do the work of discipleship.
-If you disciples children…who are you recruiting
-If you disciple youth…who are you teaching
-If you work in a life2life group…
-If you serve behind the scenes…
-If you are a follower of Jesus…who are teaching to follow Jesus?
-From Moses, to Joshua, through generations of priests, all the way to Jesus, through countless pastors, and dads, and moms, and grandparents…generations upon generation passing on their faith.
-Following the legacy of faith from those ahead of us.
-Leaving a legacy of faith to those behind us.
-In this way our faith has survived 1000’s of years.
-But we’re only one generation away from our church closing down…from our family not being Christian…from our nation slipping completely into a godlessness and corruption.
-And so, we make disciples. And God willing…on the day we die…
