The Promised Land
October 30, 2016
Deuteronomy 1:19-40
I was working on a sermon for today, was about 3/4 done, and then I was prompted to throw it away. I really don’t like it when God does that to me. It usually happens a few times a year. I thought I had a really good start to an election oriented message. God said NO! I don’t always like to listen!
As I thought about how to proceed, I could think of no better opening than to look at the Chicago Cubs. Yes, I’m a Chicago fan! Raised on the north side, went to countless games as a kid, and I even had a neighbor who was a Cubs player and took me to games.
As I write this, the series is tied 1-1. As of now, the series is __________ . Win or lose, the Cubs have made a huge impact on Major League Baseball. They’ve been loveable losers for so many years, that it kind of became cute to become a Cubs fan, it was fun to attend games to see the park, but not the game. That’s not the case any longer. Now, if you want to attend tonights game, the cheapest ticket, for standing room only is $ 2,170.
The best value tickets are selling for an average of $ 7,500.
And if you just want to spend money, you can spend up to $ 75,000 for one ticket.
So, how did all of this happen? NOW, work with me. We’re using the Cubs as a metaphor for the church.
They took some risks. They wanted to get to the Promised Land, but after so many years of futility the ownership said enough is enough. We’re going to get creative, we’re going to shoot for the moon and if it does not happen, nobody will be able to fault us for trying and doing some things that shocked people.
Now, I think the church, as a whole is stuck in futility. The world looks at us as pretty weak, ineffective, and wonders what good is the church. That’s how I looked at the Cubs for years!
They stole away Theo Epstein, this young upstart of a General Manager from the Boston Red Sox. He was 28! The youngest in history, by far. The Red Sox were like the Cubs, mired in futility. The red Sox, the Cubs and the White Sox had the longest drought of wining the World Series. But he made bold, daring, risky moves, and he helped lead the Red Sox to 3 World Series Championships.
Epstein came to Chicago and began to make bold, daring and risky moves. And the Cubs steadily improved. They made some risky moves this post season. They have a young kid, Kyle Schwarber, who played 2 games in April, make the World Series roster and has become a sensation. How do you know to play a kid who had major knee surgery in April, who is not even medically cleared to play the field, but you have him bat and run the bases?
It’s an easy answer, you take some risks. OK, you’re tired of hearing about the Cubs, what does this have to do with church? Glad you asked! I want to read a long section of scripture. It’s from the Old Testament. It’s a combination of a story from Deuteronomy 1 and Numbers 13.
You see, after the Israelites left Egypt, they wandered in the desert and eventually came to the Promised Land, Israel. Here’s the story . . .
19 “Then we set out from Horeb and went through all that great and terrifying wilderness, on the way to the hill country of the Amorites, as the Lord our God commanded us. And we came to Kadesh-barnea.
20 And I said to you, ‘You have come to the hill country of the Amorites, which the Lord our God is giving us.
21 See, the Lord your God has set the land before you. Go up, take possession, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has told you. Do not fear or be dismayed.’
22 Then all of you came near me and said, ‘Let us send men before us, that they may explore the land and bring us word again of the way by which we must go up and the cities into which we shall come.’
23 The thing seemed good to me, and I took twelve men from you, one man from each tribe.
24 And they turned and went up into the hill country, and came to the Valley of Eshcol and spied it out.
25 After 40 days they returned with some of the fruit of the land and brought it down to us, and brought us word again and said, ‘It is a good land that the Lord our God is giving us.’
26 “Yet you would not go up, but rebelled against the command of the Lord your God.
27 And you murmured in your tents and said, ‘Because the Lord hated us He has brought us out of the land of Egypt, to give us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us.
28 Where are we going up? Our brothers have made our hearts melt, saying, “The people are greater and taller than we. The cities are great and fortified up to heaven. And we have seen the sons of the Anakim there.”’
30 And Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, “Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it.” – Numbers 13
31 Then the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are.” – Numbers 13
32 So they brought to the people of Israel a bad report of the land, saying, “The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people are giants. – Numbers 13
33 And we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak) and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.” – Numbers 13
29 Then Moses said, ‘Do not be in dread or afraid of them.
30 The Lord your God who goes before you will Himself fight for you, just as He did for you in Egypt before your eyes,
31 and in the wilderness, where you have seen how the Lord your God carried you, as a man carries his son, all the way that you went until you came to this place.’
32 Moses said, Yet you did not believe the Lord your God,
33 who went before you in the way to seek you out a place to pitch your tents, in fire by night and in the cloud by day, to show you by what way you should go.
34 “And the Lord heard your words and was angered, and He swore,
35 ‘Not one of these men of this evil generation shall see the good land that I swore to give to your fathers,
36 except Caleb. He shall see it, and to him and to his children I will give the land on which he has trodden, because he has wholly followed the Lord!’
37 Even with me the Lord was angry on your account and said, ‘You also shall not go in there.
38 Joshua, who stands before you, he shall enter. Encourage him, for he shall cause Israel to inherit it.
39 And as for your little ones, who you said would become a prey, and your children, who today have no knowledge of good or evil, they shall go in there. And to them I will give it, and they shall possess it.
40 But as for you, turn, and journey into the wilderness in the direction of the Red Sea.’
Imagine you’re on the doorstep of the Promised Land. But you take a look and say, nope, God is out to get me. It’s like a vicious trick. God wants to make a fool of me for thinking, for believing something good can happen.
The first part of the report sounded great!! They were all excited and the vote was unanimous. The land was flowing with milk and honey, they brought back grapes, pomegranates and figs as evidence of this great land.
But from that point on, their report was no longer unanimous. The committee was divided 10 to 2, and the majority begins the rest of its report with the word, "But".
Have you ever noticed how often the word, "but," is heard in meetings when you are discussing plans for the future? No matter what is suggested, there are almost always "Doubting Thomases" who believe something cannot be done, therefore, you shouldn’t even try.
So, the majority end up with this recommendation ~ disobey God and do not enter the Promised Land as God commanded. Why? "Because, the people who live there are big and powerful, and their cities are fortified and very large."
But Caleb and Joshua, even though they are in the minority, urge the people to do what God wants them to do. They argue, if God is leading the way, then why should they be afraid?
You would think that would settle the matter, wouldn’t you? After all, look at the miraculous things God had been doing on their behalf.
God had sent the plagues on Egypt and forced Pharaoh to let them go. God divided the waters of the Red Sea for them, and then closed those waters on the Egyptians. God gave them water in the desert, bread when they were hungry, and quail when they wanted meat.
God was with them throughout their journey. He led them by a cloud by day, and a pillar of fire by night. They even heard His voice in the thunder and lightning on Mt. Sinai as Moses received the 10 Commandments.
But it is almost the old story of, "What have you done for me lately?" isn’t it? Ten of the spies are so fearful of what they have seen that they forget all about doing God’s will.
Vs. 31 tells us these fearful spies spread out among the people and began telling them, "We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are." And each time they told it, the story got worse & worse.
God is sending us into a land of giants. We don’t have a chance. Wherever we go, there’s giants and what are we? They said they seemed like grasshoppers in their own eyes. Talk about an inferiority complex!
They saw themselves as grasshoppers. They saw the enemy as giants. And they didn’t see God at all.
Now let’s apply this story to our lives today. To the children of Israel, the Promised Land represented their future. And God gave them the opportunity to go in and make it their own. But the majority basically said, “it’s too risky, we don’t trust God, we’d rather have control of our destiny, even if that means we don’t get what we’d really like and we’re perpetually unhappy and dissatisfied!”
Now, they didn’t that was the case. They believed they were doing what was right. But it was right in their eyes and not right in God’s eyes.
With that in mind, as we look ahead . . . What do you see? And where are you going?
As you look into your future, what do you see? Do you see giants, or do you see the promises of God, that requires work, risk and sacrifice? But ultimately, it will lead you to the Promised Land!!
That’s not always an easy decision. Sometimes it takes a great deal of discernment, prayer and conversation with others. It takes risk on your part. It took a lot of risk for the Cubs to hire Theo Epstein, to make the trades they did, to put Kyle Schwarber in the World Series. But they believed the risk outweighed negative consequences.
When adversity comes, when the giants come into your life . . . what is your reaction? Do you cower in a corner and just give up. Do you say, OK, giant, you win. Just spare my life, I’ll take a less than existence, but at least I’m alive, and I’ll have a few good moments here and there.
I may sound overly dramatic, but I really believe that’s what we often settle for. We don’t live the life God offers us, we don’t live it up. We accept the status quo, which allows us to think we have control over life.
On the other hand, we can take risks. We can believe as Joshua and Caleb did. Understand they never disagreed with the assessment that there were giants in the land. They just had a different belief than the other spies. And understand this too . . . All 12 spies who Moses sent - - - were good people. Moses would not have sent out people he didn’t think could handle the assignment.
We can look at life and say, ‘yup, I do see the giants. But in the midst of the giants I do see God. I see the hope He offers me. But, I’ve got to give up my control, I’ve got to give up my desire to manipulate all things so they turn out my way.’ That’s not easy to do. It takes a great deal of courage to make that happen. Trust and giving up control is never easy!!
We see the giants in our communities, we see them in this election. We see them in the schools, at work, they’re all over. Sometimes we become so overwhelmed by the giants that we are like these 10 men, and we think that there is no way we can take the land.
Folks, if there has ever been a time when our world needs Christians who care about hurting people, Christians who will reach out to a lost and confused world, Christians who will preach the simple Bible message without compromise, today is that day. The world needs to see people who place others before themselves. We must not retreat. We must not be intimidated. Our God specializes in slaying giants. David slew Goliath. And Gideon, with 300 men defeated over 120,000 of the armies of the Midianites.
And Jesus carried a cross up a hill and was nailed to the cross so you and I could find redemption and a relationship with God, through Jesus. And in what seemed like defeat, He won the victory over all the forces of evil and hell.
So what do you see when you look into the future? Do you see giants, or do you see God?
Finally, as you move into that future, where are you going? Are you headed toward the Promised Land, or are you headed back into the wilderness?
Isn’t it amazing how short the memories of the children of Israel were? You know, they had just been complaining about being slaves in Egypt for 400 years. They were complaining about making bricks without straw.
But now they find themselves in the wilderness, and they’re afraid to go on. So they say, "Maybe it would be better if we went back to Egypt. At least there we had 3 square meals every day, and a roof over our heads." They were ready to give up freedom and become slaves again, just for a some security. They also didn’t trust God would really protect them and give them the Promised Land. They would be victorious, but they had to trust God’s plan over their plan. That’s the only way they could arrive at their final destination.
In our eyes, security often costs too much. It just has too high of a price tag on it.
Yet, Jesus said ~ 36 For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? – Mark 8:36
Yet, don’t we fight and scratch and claw as much as we can to gain security today. We want to take control of it all. While we need to take care of ourselves and our families to pay the bills, for college, for retirement, and all that, we need to take a look at how are we getting there.
We offer you the invitation of Jesus. If you’re here, & your life is in the wilderness, if you feel a lack of security, if there is something that needs to be met in your life, then I assure you that Jesus Christ is the one to meet every need. He has already gone before you. And He offers you His peace - the peace that passes all understanding.
Often times we say, “we can’t - - - - what we’re really saying is I will not. Why not make the decision today and say - - - “I can and I will.”
That means we have to start involving God in our plans, asking for God’s guidance and wisdom! And then we must follow Him. When we stop making excuses and follow God, as difficult as it may be, we will find ourselves in the Promise Land.
