Are We There Yet?
Wanderings
The Story – Chapter Six
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rn6N1kuZ_o
Are we there yet?
QUESTION…
Anyone ever heard those words on a road trip?
Anyone ever said those words on a road trip?
I REMEMBER – taking road trips as a kid. And they were pretty rough. Our car had no a/c… and only an am radio. There was no such thing as DVD players… and I don’t think the 8 track player was invented yet.
SO HOW – did we entertain ourselves… counting certain type of cars, and by annoying our parents by saying things like…
• Mom he’s touching man
• He’s looking at me
• Mom tell him to stop passing gas
• I have to be… and the all time favorite
• Are we there yet? (I mean – think about it, how could they even get us to understand how much longer was left if they could say such things as… “we’ll be there in 17 Sponge Bob episodes.)
NOW – Occasionally my mom or dad (usually my mom) would reach into the back seat and smack us… And my dad would say things like… “don’t make me pull this car over” (he never did)… OR – the famous line that everyone knew he would never do… “If guys don’t stop your whining I am turning the car around and going back home…” (maybe if he had done that one time… it would have helped).
Road trips – gotta love them especially with kids in the back seat…
Maple Grove…
WELCOME to chapter 6 of The Story, ‘Wandering…’ A conversation I am calling ‘Are We There Yet?”
AND LIKE – I’ve been saying if you are new to MG or even if you have been here for decades you could not have picked a better time to be here… BECAUSE – we are spending the bulk of the year 2013 (from January – September) looking @ the greatest story of all time. God’s story, The Bible… from Genesis to Revelation. AND – we are using this book, ‘The Story’ as our guide… AND BASICALLY – The Story is a collection of biblical passages arranged in chronological order… designed to tell the overall story of the Bible.
NOW IN – Chapter Six of The Story we are going to be looking at one of the most famous road trips of all time… The Israelites journey from Egypt to the Promise Land… AND – to be honest… when you first look at it…it seems like it would be a pretty easy journey to make. Nothing too difficult. I MEAN - I pulled up a map and just kind of traced the path…the most obvious path…that you would have assumed they would’ve taken…
OKAY - they’re beginning in Egypt (in the Land of Goshen), and they would’ve taken a road that’s called “The Way of the Sea.” Isaiah 9:1 gives us the name of this road.
IT - was a popularly traveled road, and it was a pretty direct route towards the land of Canaan. You’re looking at a journey of about 170 miles… AND – to top it off it’s scenic route… Not too bad really.
AND SO - they leave Egypt thinking, “You know, this isn’t going to be so bad… A trip up the coast of the Mediterranean Sea (kind of like driving the PCH or the A1A) a journey of 170 miles.
NOW – let me try to put this distance in perspective….
IF WE - traveled from Charlottesville to Norfolk it’s about 170 miles.
I looked this up google maps, (170 miles… 2 ½ trip)
AND THEN - I clicked this little icon—the walking icon I never knew existed —
AND - that I could walk to Norfolk in 56 hours… or in two days and eight hours. NOW THAT - seems pretty aggressive. That’s if you don’t stop (to pee, sleep or eat)… BUT – if we got a little more realistic and decided to walk — twenty miles a day (allowing time to stop to pee, eat and sleep) — it would take about 8 ½ days…
For fun… I put in how long it would take to get from here to Seattle Washington… about 2,700 miles… walking 892 hours or about 37 days.
SO HERE WE ARE – in Chapter 6 of The Story… AND BEFORE - the Israelites, set out on their road trip they go to google maps for directions and see that the Promise Land is about 170 miles away… 56 hours if they walk non-stop.
BUT – there is no way they could do that and besides there are two to three million of them. AND - they’ve got a lot of stuff to bring with them… SO – they figure worst case scenario it will take them about a month to get to the promise land…
BUT – if you read chapter 6 of The Story (and who did their home work this week?)… YOU KNOW - that this is not how things played out for this road trip, was it?
INSTEAD - God took them on a much different route… ONE – that was anything… but a direct route…
NOW HERE’S - how I want us to define the direct route, if we can.
The direct route is…
• the shortest distance.
• the most scenic route and
• it’s the most popularly traveled.
AND IN CASE YOU - didn’t know this, God’s not a big fan of the direct route, right? LIKE - if you haven’t experienced that in your own life, let me just tip you off that God doesn’t necessarily choose the shortest distance, the most scenic route, and the most popularly traveled route.
AND LISTEN - that’s the case here. The Israelites don’t take the direct route; instead they take a much different path when they go from Egypt… to the Promise Land.
LET’S – look at the map again.
So they start in Egypt and they go to Mount Sinai. And there is Mount Sinai… This is where God gives them the Ten Commandments.
AND – it here as we saw last week… that GOD gave Moses the means for taking their relationship with God to the next level… where he would no longer take and interact with just a few people but with the entire nation…
The means for taking their relationship to the next level
• A standard for His People to follow
• A place for His Presence to dwell
• A means for a sinful people to approach a Holy God
They spend about a year camped right there. AND - much of the time spent building the tabernacle – where God’s presence would dwell…
AND – once the work was finished on the first day of the first month of the second year… (1 year to the very day they left Egypt) the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle… AND - Chapter 6 of The Story opens up this way…
On the twentieth day of the second month of the second year, the cloud lifted from above the tabernacle of the covenant law. Then the Israelites set out from the Desert of Sinai and traveled from place to place until the cloud came to rest in the Desert of Paran. They set out, this first time, at the LORD’s command through Moses. – Numbers 10:11-13 (page 71 of The Story)
SO - after a year in the area of Mount Sinai they’re ready for their long awaited road trip… THEY – pack their bags, throw the kids in the back seat, gather all of their road trip snacks, grab their GPS and type in ‘Promise Land’ – to here from present location (base of Mt Sinai)… AND
AND - it should take … according to Deuteronomy 1:2, “It takes eleven days to go from Horeb to Kadesh Barnea (which is the south side of the Promised Land) by the Mount Seir road.”
TURN RIGHT - on Mount Seir road, AND GO - straight for eleven days…
Eleven days! That’s how long it was supposed to take. It took…? Thirty-nine years.
HEY - are you like me when you travel? It’s a competition. You’re competing against the clock, right? And especially now with a GPS on my phone… it says “It should take you this long to go from Point A to Point B.” And as soon as I see that, I’m like, “Oooh! I can beat that.” And everything is about beating the time.
CAN YOU IMAGINE - how Moses must’ve felt? He grabs his phone, types in ‘the promise land’ “Okay, eleven days? We’ve got this. I bet we could even make in ten…”
Thirty-nine years later they finally make it to the Promised Land.
AND THIS PERIOD - in Israel’s history is known as “The Wandering.” GOD’S PEOPLE - spend thirty-nine years wandering in the wilderness.
I MEAN – can you even begin to imagine how many times, God’s people must have said or thought… ‘Are we there yet?’
THIS WEEK – as I studied and reflected on Chapter 6 of The Story…
I started to ask myself some questions… over and over again,
• Why weren’t they there yet?
• Why did it take so long?
• And exactly who was waiting on who… I MEAN - were the Israelites waiting on God… OR – was God waiting on them?
UNDERSTAND - the inescapable conclusion as you read through The Story is that God is not in a hurry, right? ESPECIALLY – if He knows that HE still needs to do some work in our lives…
SURE – God may tell His people of their ultimate destination…
BUT THAT – does not mean they are arrive there next week.
IN FACT – more often than not it takes a pretty good chunk of time to get there…
ABRAHAM - was told, “You’re going to be the father of a great nation,” and then decades later he finally has a son.
JOSEPH - as a teenager has a dream (from God) that one day his entire family would bow down to him… HOWEVER – that would not happen for another 13 years… (a 13 year road trip full many detours and obstacles).
BUT AGAIN – let me ask you (who was waiting on who)… I MEAN – was Joseph as a spoiled, self-centered 17 year … really ready to live in that land or fulfill God’s dream for his life? OR - to put it another way at age 17… Was Joseph, there yet?
MOSES – feels compelled to do something to free His people… but it does not work out so well and he spends 40 years in the wilderness…
David is anointed by Samuel to replace Saul as king, But he would not wear the crown for another twenty years later…
NO GOD - is not in a hurry. WHAT - should take eleven days ends up taking thirty-nine years.
AND HERE’S – some of the stuff that hit me this week as I was trying to put this conversation together this week…
Being God’s people was never about geography, instead it was always about becoming a people who would reveal, reflect and display God’s person, power and purposes throughout the world.
God’s has always been more concerned about who His people are becoming than where they are going.
The bottom line, is that God’s people were not there yet (in the Promise Land), because they were not there yet (they were not yet who they needed to become).
UNDERSTAND GOD’S – more concerned about who His People are becoming than where they are going. SO - He’s gonna be doing some work in them (in their hearts and lives) as they wander in the wilderness.
AND NO – it would not always going to be fun or easy. AND YES - there will be a lot of detours, twists, turns and obstacles on this 40 year road trip.
AND MANY TIMES – it would get pretty ugly (no it would get really ugly) because of some wrong turns they chose to make…
Are we there yet?
UNDERSTAND – there is ‘a place’ God wants to take us as a people.
A PLACE - HE wants us to be… Lives He wants us to live…
AND SOMETIMES – the reason we are not there yet, is simply because, we, are not, there yet?
Get it?
LOOK UP…
MAYBE TODAY (2/24/13) – you find yourself (like the Israelites in chapter 6 of The Story wandering in the wilderness) NOT WHERE or WHO you really what to be.
I MEAN – you know there is a place you want to be… YOU KNOW - that there is a person that God has called you to be… A LIFE - HE has created you to live… AND – you also know that you are not there yet…
AND LISTEN – here is what I want to do in our time remaining this morning… I want to talk about 6 Words that describe, what it looks to become a people, who, are there…
BUT BEFORE – we do that I want to read 2 Scriptures and then pray…
These things happened to them as examples for us. They were written down to warn us who live at the end of the age.
– 1 Cor 10:11
All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. 17 God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work. – 2 Timothy 3:16,17
Prayer…
Okay… 6 Words that describe, what it looks to become a people, who, are there…
Content (N.G.O.C.)
AND – let me tell you up front we will spend more time on this one than the other 5… because I don’t think we realize what a big deal it really is to God… OR – what a huge road block it can be in us becoming the people God wants us to be…
REMEMBER… GOD – was building a nation, one worthy of His presence…
A PEOPLE - that were to be different from any other.
PEOPLE - in other nations grumbled, complained and were never satisfied, no matter how good they had it… GOD’S PEOPLE - were to be content…
Do everything without grumbling or arguing. – Phil 2:14
NOW – if you read Chapter 6 of The Story… you no doubt saw that the primary theme of their wandering… is whining and complaining.
YEAH - again and again and again, they just whine and complain about everything.
BUT – this really shouldn’t surprise us… AFTER – check out what they were doing just one month after Egypt…
In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. 3 The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the LORD’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.”
– Exodus 16:2,3
Seriously…
AND THEN – right here in the opening pages of Chapter 6 (only 3 days into the road trip) we read…
Now the people complained about their hardships in the hearing of the LORD, and when he heard them his anger was aroused. Then fire from the LORD burned among them and consumed some of the outskirts of the camp. 2 When the people cried out to Moses, he prayed to the LORD and the fire died down..
The rabble with them began to crave other food, and again the Israelites started wailing and said, “If only we had meat to eat! 5 We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost—also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic. 6 But now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna!”… they keep wailing… “give us meat to it!” - Numbers 11:1-6,13
“Why can't we have meat?”
“We ate fish in Egypt and it was so awesome – t o say nothing of the cucumbers and melons, the leeks and onions and garlic. But nothing tastes good out here; all we get is manna, manna, manna.”
“Remember the lunches @ the hibachi grill in Egypt? That was soo nice. And everything was free – it had no cost. No, cost… you were slaves!
Okay was the sun starting to melt their brain out there in the wilderness… I mean, was being slaves in Egypt really such a good time?
BUT LISTEN – that is what people do who complain. They see every situation as better than the one they’re currently in. Whether that be something from the past or someone else’s situation, anything is better than what they’ve got.
SO THERE – God’s people are, whining and complaining about the food that God has miraculously provided for their journey. AND - we see this complaining attitude rise up in them again and again throughout Chapter 6 of The Story…
• Are we there yet?
• I’m hot
• It’s so sandy out here
• No, we are not stopping at Wendy’s again for lunch, I hate Wendy’s.
HEY DID YOU NOTICE – that this complaining is contagious. It starts with those on the outskirts but then soon everyone is complaining.
QUESTION…
Have you ever seen or experienced that?
I MEAN – all it takes is
• one person in a family.
• a few coworkers.
• a half a dozen people in a church,
AND PRETTY SOON - it starts to catch on. It spreads like an infection, and it becomes so toxic in the home, in the work environment, and in the church.
UNDERSTAND - people who constantly grumble and complain…they create this cloud that covers up the sun and keeps it from shining in.
They’re like giant sponges that rob the joy out of life that God wants us to have.
WELL EVENTUALLY – God has had His fill of their grumbling and complaining… and He says, “
Tell the people: ‘Consecrate yourselves in preparation for tomorrow and you will eat meat. The LORD heard you when you wailed, “If only we had meat to eat! We were better off in Egypt!” Now the LORD will give you meat, and you’re gonna eat it.’” And you will not eat it for just a day or two days or five or ten or twenty days, but for a whole month—until, in fact, it comes out of your nostrils and you loathe it – because you have rejected the LORD, who is among you, and have wailed before him, saying, “Why did we ever leave Egypt?”
- Numbers 11:18-20 (page 72,73 of The Story)
You want meat? You can have meat, right?
NOW - here is what God’s doing: He’s giving them some perspective. AND - oftentimes this is exactly what our complaining needs – a little perspective.
WHY… – because in our complaining we lose sight of how blessed we really are… WE - loose sight of all that God has provided for us.
I was reading this little testimony from a woman who went on a short-term missionary trip, and she worked among a leper colony there for about a month. And on the night before she left, she gathered up some of the lepers in the colony…a dozen or so…just for a time of worship. And she said, “Is there anyone who would like to sing a song? Is there anyone who has a request?
And this hand went up towards the back, and she looked and she saw this woman with this disfigured face. No nose, no ears, no lips. And her hand is raised and it is a fingerless hand. And she calls on the lady and says, “Is there a song you would wanna sing?” and the lady says, “Could we sing that hymn Count Your Blessings again?”
QUESTION – why is grumbling and complaining such a big deal to God? BECAUSE - whining is the opposite of worship.
Worship is giving God glory for who He is and what He has done. Whining is ignoring who God is and overlooking what He has done. It’s the opposite of worship.
AND MAPLE GROVE - our story is to be all about worship, all about giving glory to God.
Jesus walked this earth, and He showed us how to live and gave us hope, and He’s gone to prepare a place for us in heaven. “Yeah, but God, I’ve got these wrinkles around my eyes and my hairline is…”
And Jesus died on the cross and He took the punishment that we deserve upon Himself. “But, God, if I could just have a house like their house, if my house could be like theirs…” And we forget and we whine instead of worship.
It’s kind of like… God is holding up the walls to the Red Sea, and we don’t really notice it because we keep looking down and get annoyed that there’s mud in between our toes.
UNDERSTAND – one of the cures to grumbling is perspective…
Snoopy, one time, was sitting on top of his doghouse, and it's Thanksgiving. He's bitter in his spirit because Charlie Brown and the family are having this huge feast inside their house, but Snoopy is stuck on his doghouse with only dog food. And he's kind of grousing about that until this thought occurs to him, and he says to himself, "It could be worse. I could have been born a turkey."
Now, I want to ask you to remember that little phrase, It could be worse
It could be worse
Okay, when you leave this room, you're going to go out in the parking lot and get in whatever vehicle you drove here in. And you're going to be tempted to think, "If I just had another car, a nicer car, a new car, a bigger car, a more expensive car, I'd be content," because we get bombarded with that message all the time.
But today, you're not going to think that. Instead, today, you're going to open the door of your car, get inside, and say to yourself with great passion and conviction – stay with me, friends. "IT COULD BE WORSE," Because it could be. It is for a lot of people.
And when you drive that car to wherever you live–your apartment, your house, you're going to be tempted to think, when you walk inside the door, "I'd be content if I just had a newer house, nicer house, bigger house, better house," because we're bombarded with that message all the time, but not today. Today, when you come to the door, before you step across that threshold, you're going to stop and you're going to say to yourself with great passion, "IT COULD BE WORSE," Because it could be.
Next time you step out of the shower and…um, you make the mistake of looking at yourself in the mirror. And you might be tempted to think, “If I had, you know, her body or his metabolism,” but…but you’re not gonna do that. Instead you’re gonna look at yourself and you’re gonna smile, and you’re gonna say to yourself…? It could be worse.
AND SO - tomorrow morning, when you wake up and you roll over and you look at your spouse, you're going to say… Nah let’s not go there.
AGAIN - one of the cures to grumbling is perspective…
Are we… there yet?
If not maybe it’s because we are not content.
The next word that describes a people who are becoming is the word…
Trusting
AND – like I said earlier, these last 5 are going to come at you pretty quick… I don’t think anyone will be surprised by them… AND – everyone of them is found within chapter 6 of the story…
AGAIN – I don’t think that anyone in this room is surprised that trusting is one the qualities of becoming a people who are there?
TRUSTING IN – God.
TRUSTING IN…
• Who He is,
• What He’s done and
• What He has promised
I want to illustrate the need for this in order for us to be there with just 2 Scriptures from The Story chapter 6…
Is the Lord’s arm too short. – Nu 11:23 (page 73 ‘The Story)
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 signs I have performed among them?
– Numbers 14:11 (page 76 ‘The Story’)
Are we there yet?
If not maybe it’s because we are not really trusting… we still think the Lord’s arm is too short…
Dependent
Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years… He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years… When you eat and are satisfied praise the Lord your God for the good land He has given you. – Deuteronomy 8:2-4, 10
Give us this day our daily bread… - Matthew 6:11
Different
You will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.
– Exodus 19:6
I am the Lord, who brought you up out of Egypt to be your God; therefore be holy, because I am holy. – Leviticus 11:45
While Israel was staying in Shittim, the men began to indulge in sexual immorality with Moabite women, 2 who invited them to the sacrifices to their gods. The people ate the sacrificial meal and bowed down before these gods. 3 So Israel yoked themselves to the Baal of Peor. And the LORD’s anger burned against them. – Numbers 25:1-3 (page 82 of ‘The Story’)
For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession. – Dt 7:6
Obedient
See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. 16 For I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in obedience to him, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.
But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, 18 I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess. - Deuteronomy 30:15-18
When Moses finished reciting all these words to all Israel, 46 he said to them, “Take to heart all the words I have solemnly declared to you this day, so that you may command your children to obey carefully all the words of this law. 47 They are not just idle words for you—they are your life. By them you will live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess.”
- Deuteronomy 32:45-47
Devoted
Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. – Dt 6:4,5
6 Words that describe, what it looks to become a people, who, are there…
• Content
• Trusting
• Dependant
• Different
• Obedient
• Devoted
Are we… there, yet?
AND LISTEN – when we have these qualities… we will, be there…
BECAUSE… as we said earlier
Being God’s people was never about geography, instead it was always about becoming a people who would reveal, reflect and display God’s person, power and purposes throughout the world.
AND UNDERSTAND - God will use these qualities to shape us into a people that will point the people to Him…
Illustration of a coke bottle…
The bottle has a specific recognizable design…
Coke VIDEO http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7w0i5zfXmI
“What the world wants to see is the real thing”
God’s intent is to shape our lives in such a way that they point the people of this world to the incredible sweetness of being in a relationship with Him.
The Key to becoming people who ‘are there’ – look to Jesus!
