Do you want to be a zealot? (Numbers 25)

How you would like to be remembered?

Maybe they would say, ‘she had faith, like Abraham’, ‘he was kind, like Boaz’, ‘she was loyal, like Ruth,’ ‘he held on to God, like Job’, ‘he was passionate, like Peter’, or ‘he was a great encourager, like Barnabas’.  But what about Phineas?  Would you like to be seen as a zealot?

Zeal gets mixed press these days.  We talk about people with misguided zeal.  We might think of a terrorist as being zealot.  Indeed, on a surface reading it looks like Phineas is a terrorist.  Zeal looks unbalanced and dangerous.

I hope to show you that Phinehas’s zeal is worth imitating.

We should want to honour God with our eyes and our bodies (1-4)

What an irony that straight after God causes Balaam to bless the people they run headlong into scandalous evil.  They were a people not counting themselves among the nations (23:9), yet now they are behaving as the worst of the nations.  God had described their tents as lovely (24:5), and now they engage in filth.  Balaam could not bring a curse upon them, but they stir God’s anger up themselves.

We are told later that the plan to seduce the Israelite men was Balaam’s (31:16).  Presumably he was still seeking money from, Balak, the king of Moab.  Perhaps he said to Balak, ‘their God won’t let me curse them, but what about getting your women to seduce them?’  The worship of Baal of Peor involved sexual rituals.  The men were happy to indulge in sex and sacrifices.  Balaam would later pay for his wicked scheming with his life (31:8).

The Lord’s anger was kindled against Israel.  The Lord told Moses to take the chiefs of the people and hang them in the sun before the Lord, that the fierce anger of the Lord may turn away from Israel.  The leaders had failed to correct the people’s idolatry and endangered the whole community.  Leadership comes with increased responsibility.  James writes, ‘not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly’ (James 3:1).

A woman asked John Piper if God could ever feel such anger against people who are in Christ.  He explained that there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.  Jesus is our chief whose death has turned away God’s judicial anger from us.  One thing that He never feels towards us is contempt.  Yet we can grieve the Holy Spirit.  While those who do not have a relationship with Jesus cannot please Him, we can.  If we are capable of pleasing Him then sadly we are capable of disappointing Him.  This story shows us how seriously God takes sexual sin.  We should want to honour God with our eyes and bodies.       

We should pray, ‘Lord, break my heart for what breaks yours’ (5-9)

The Bible commentator, Iain Duguid, points out that Moses doesn’t seem to want to obey God’s command to execute the tribal chiefs.  Instead, he says to the judges of Israel, ‘each of you kill those of his men who have yoked themselves to Baal of Peor’ (5).  It seems that Moses doesn’t even carry out this more limited punishment.

The people weep at the entrance of the tabernacle.  Maybe they are devastated at the sin that has infected their camp.  We sometimes sing, ‘break my heart for what breaks yours.’  May we see the awfulness of sexual sin and idolatry for what it is!  Meanwhile a plague of God’s judgement is sweeping over God’s people.

Then something shocking happens.  ‘And behold, one of the people of Israel came and brought a Midianite woman to his family, in the sight of Moses and in the sight of the whole congregation of the people of Israel, while they were weeping at the entrance of the tent of meeting.  When Phineas the son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose and left the congregation and took a spear in his hand and went after the young man of Israel into the chamber and pierced both of them, the man of Israel and the woman through her belly.  Thus the plague of the people of Israel was stopped.  Nevertheless, those who died by the plague were twenty-four thousand’ (6-9).

It is important to realise that Phineas was not a vigilante.  He was not simply talking the law into his own hands.  This is not like someone bombing an abortion clinic or murdering a vocal enemy of God’s people.  Phineas, the grandson of the High Priest, was a part of the Levites who were reasonable for guarding the sanctuary against defilement.  We are not told exactly where the chamber was where the man from the tribe of Simeon and the Midianite woman were having sex but it seems to be in or near the tabernacle compound.

Are we zealous?  When we see evil vividly portrayed before us on the news are we moved to weep and pray?  Are we a people zealous for good works (Titus 2:14)?  Are we moved to action when we see the homeless on our city streets?  Do we advocate for the unborn, and tell those living in the shadow of abortion of the God who loves to forgive?  Do we speak up for the migrant and those discriminated against?  Do we seek opportunities to tell a wicked world about the one who gave His life for our sin?  

Let our godly zeal be a legacy to those who follow us (10-18)

The final verses of this passage tell us who the main players in the story were and how their actions affected those who came after them.  We live in an individualistic society where we think that what we do is no one’s business but ours.  That is not how the Bible sees things.  We are interrelated.  We are parts of families.  We should be connected to a church.  What we do affects others.  We can see that lived out all around us.  The sins of the fathers and mothers have consequences for the sons and daughters.  The godly zeal of the mothers and fathers can bring blessing.  Indeed, we are inheritors of the blessing of our older brother, Jesus.

Because Phineas cared about the honour of God and was willing to act, God gave to him a covenant of peace, and his descendants a perpetual priesthood.  The name of the man who was killed was Zimri, from the tribe of Simeon.  When it comes to the census later in the book of Numbers we will see that their number has dramatically fallen.  Perhaps they suffered most in the plague.  The woman, Cozbi, was the daughter of a tribal chief of Midian.  Moses is told to strike down the Midianites.

What we do affects those connected with us.  What you look at on a screen might not just pollute your mind, it may affect the whole spiritual climate of our church.  Bitterness and unforgiveness are never simply private sins.  Likewise, we can bless generations to come by laying a foundation of love and good deeds.  You might remember me mentioning a woman called ‘auntie Emma’ who was a matriarch in the last church I served.  When I met her in a nursing home and saw that her dementia-filled mind was bursting with love for Jesus, I believe I saw one of the reasons why the church had a legacy of kindness and grace.  There is a lovely old proverb that says, ‘a healthy society is one where old men plant trees that they will never see ripen.’  Let our godly zeal be a legacy to those who follow us!

Conclusion

‘God made him who had no sin to be sin for us so that in him we might become the righteousness of God’ (2 Corinthians 5:21).

How do we grow in zeal?  We grow in zeal as we mediate upon the cross.

Jesus bore our sins in his body on the tree.  He was pierced for our transgressions.  He became sin and took the punishment we deserve.  He took upon himself our sexual filth and idolatry.  How awful for the one pure soul who ever lived to bear the weight of our shame.  As the death of Zimri and Cozbi brought an end to God’s judgement, the death of Jesus has turned God’s anger from us.  Therefore, there in now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.  In him we inherit every spiritual blessing.

Let zeal begin with an inward look.  We are not our own, we have been purchased at a great price.  What we do with our bodies matter to the one who loves us more than any other.  Let us ask him to help us flee from sexual sin.  May we not seek to content ourselves with the idols of comfort, control and indulgence.  Let us ask him to content ourselves in his goodness and love.

Let zeal cause us to speak to our brothers and sisters in Christ.  It may be that we need to speak to others on God’s behalf.  Before helping them deal with the speck in their eye make sure that we are dealing with the logs in our own.  If someone has the courage to challenge us about our behaviour let us not react angrily of defensively (even if we think they may have misread the situation).  Make sure that we are not legalistically robbing others of their Christian freedom.  Let us speak to them in such a way that gives them no reason to doubt our love.

Let zeal change the way we look at the world.  May we not be unmoved when we see evil all around us.  May it cause us to cry out to God in prayer: ‘Father, you will be done on earth as it is in heaven.’  Let us be salt and light when we are surrounded with decay and darkness.  Let us speak of the one who made us in such a way that our hearts will never be satisfied until they are satisfied in him.  

May it be said of us, ‘they had godly zeal, just like Phineas.’

God desires to bless you (Numbers 22-24)

A friend of mine mentioned the danger of reading too much into our circumstances.  Life has not turned out for her as she had hoped.  A significant relationship had broken down.  Certain dreams have not come to be.  In the pain of this she had begun to think that God was angry with her.  But thankfully she regained her belief that God is good towards her.

In the unusual story of Balaam and his donkey we see God’s desire to bless a complaining and unfaithful people.  But what does His blessing look like?

I think we can learn a lot about the blessed life by pondering the blessing of Aaron at the beginning of the book of Numbers (6:24-26).  To be blessed is to have Yahweh’s face turned towards you, so that he can be gracious to you and give you peace.  The blessed life is experienced in the realisation that God no longer treats us as our sins deserve, but according to His loving-kindness, and the fact that He is with us even when life is difficult.

1.      God has the power over every blessing and curse (1-6)

The people of Moab were the descendants of Lot, who was Abraham’s nephew.  Lot who had received extraordinary kindness from God.  Yet the Moabites had quickly abandoned God.  Now they worshipped their own god, Chemosh.  Despite their hatred of Him, God was still kind to them.  He had told the Israelites not to harass them or contend with them in battle, ‘because I have given Ar to the people of Lot for a possession’ (Deut. 2:9).

However, their king, Balak heard that the Israelites had just defeated the Amorites.  He also knew that God had delivered these people from slavery in Egypt.  The Moabites dreaded the Israelites, ‘because they are many’ (3) and ‘they cover the face of the earth’ (5).  God had promised Abraham that his people would be as numerous as the stars in the sky and the sand of the seashore.  God has been working to fulfil His promises.

God had also promised Abraham that He would bless those who blessed him and curse those who cursed him, and that through Abraham all the nations of the world would be blessed (Gen. 12:3).  So, what should Balak and the Moabites have done?  They should have turned to the God of Israel and blessed God’s people.  Then God would have blessed him and shown them mercy.  Instead, Balak seeks to curse the people of God.

He sends messengers to Balaam, asking Balaam to curse the people of Israel.  Notice, that he credits Balaam with the ultimate ability to bring blessing and curse.  ‘I know that he whom you bless is blessed, and he whom you curse is cursed’ (6).  The people of the Ancient Near East believed that there were many gods, and that those gods could be manipulated through the practice of divination.  The truth is that there is only one true God, and He has the ultimate power over every blessing and curse.

Some of you come from cultures where there is much more awareness of the dangers of witchcraft.  Even in this country things like wicca are growing in popularity.  What about things like voodoo?  The Christian knows to stay away from such things.  We are also comforted by the fact that our God has the power over every blessing and curse (23:23).

2.      God blesses undeserving people (7-21)

Balak, the king of Moab, sent the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian to Balaam ‘with fees for divination in their hands’ (7).  That is significant.  In the New Testament, the apostle Peter tells us that was motivated by ‘the love of gain for wrongdoing’ (2 Peter 2:15).  Don’t be taken in when you hear Balaam talk of ‘the LORD my God’ (18).  Balaam is not a genuine follower of God.  People in the culture would have no problem claiming multiple gods as their own.  Balaam would happily curse Gods people, if God had allowed him.

Look at God’s words to Balaam: ‘you shall not curse the people because they are blessed’ (12).  This story of Balaam was one of the key reasons I wanted to preach on the book of Numbers.  Here is our God continually seeking the good of His unfaithful and complaining people.  He is the God who does not treat us according to what our sins deserve, but according to His loving-kindness.

Balaam initially refuses to go to Balak.  But Balak, king of Moab, sends more princes and elders, and presumably the offer of more money.  Again, Balaam refuses to go with them.  Yet, rather than sending them straight home Balaam invites them to stay the night ‘so that I may know what more the LORD will say to me’ (19).  He was hoping that God might change His mind, or that he might yet find some other way to get his hands on Balak’s gold (Duguid).  That night God said, ‘go with them; but only do what I tell you’ (20).  ‘So, Balaam rose in the morning and saddled his donkey and went with the princes with of Moab’ (21).

3.      No power can stop God from blessing His people (22-41)

As Balaam sets out God’s anger is kindled against him.  But why would God be angry when He told Balaam to go with the Moabites?  He is angry because He is the God who sees the heart, and He knows that Balaam is simply motivated by the thought of Balak’s gold.  Balaam is quite happy to curse the people God loves for profit.  But God will not let him!

Balaam’s donkey sees the angel of the Lord standing in the road, with a drawn sword in his hand.  Those of us who are animal lovers don’t like what happens next: Balaam strikes his poor loyal donkey.  Indeed, the angel of the Lord will rebuke Balaam for this.  ‘Whoever is righteous has regard for the life of his beast, but the mercy of the wicked is cruel’ (Proverbs 12:10). 

Eventually the Lord opened the mouth of the donkey, but even more significantly the Lord opens the eyes of Balaam to see the angel of the Lord standing in his way with his sword drawn.  There is a spiritual reality that we do not see.  Think of Elisha who had his eyes opened to see a mountain full of chariots of fire (2 Kings 6:17).  The writer to the Hebrews tells us that angels are ministering spirits sent to serve those who inherit salvation (Heb. 1:14).

The angel of the Lord tells Balaam that the donkey had actually saved his life.  Balak responds with a shallow repentance.  I say ‘shallow repentance’ because later in the book of Numbers Balaam is still acting against God’s people.  Again, God tells Balaam to go with the men of Moab, but to ‘only speak the word that I tell you’ (35).

The chapter finishes with Balak taking Balaam to a high place, where Baal was worshipped, and from where they can see a fraction of God’s people.  Yet while Balak wants Balaam to curse these people, God will only allow Balaam bless them.  I find it quite moving to picture Balak and Balaam looking down on these people, who are unaware of the wicked schemes against them, and God is working for their good.

Conclusion

I began this talk by telling you of a friend of mine who looked at her circumstances and began to wonder if God was good to her.  Be careful of making conclusions from you circumstances.  God’s word tells us that God is good even when our circumstances are hard.  The truth is that if we have allowed ourselves to be swallowed up in the love of Jesus then we can be sure that God is always seeking our ultimate good.  It is who God is, as we have seen in this strong story. 

‘If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs of God’s promises’ (Gal. 3:29).  Paul calls Jew and Gentile who follow Jesus ‘the Israel of God’ (Gal. 6:16).  God’s people are not a nation any more.  God’s people are all who are living in Jesus.

Balaam saw that it pleased the LORD to bless Israel (24:1).  That means that it pleases God to bless you if you love Jesus and are trusting what He has done for us on the cross.  That blessing does not mean that life will be easy.  It won’t be easy.  But God shines His face in loving light upon you, He does not treat you as your sin deserves but treats us with grace, and He wants to with an awareness of His shalom (peace and wholeness).

‘God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind.  Has he said, and he will not do it?  Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfil it’ (23:19).  If you belong to Him then He HAs chosen you, and He cannot un-chose you.    

As we see Balaam’s inability to curse God’s people we remember ‘no weapon formed against us will stand’ (Is. 54:17).  ‘For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, neither height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord’ (Rom. 8:38-39).  For God speaks His words of blessing over us! 

We need to move from presumption to praise (Numbers 17)

 

Walking the dog around the neighbourhood it struck me that most of our neighbours seem to think that God is somewhat irrelevant.  But our God claims incredible things for Himself.  Our God claims the right to give life and take it.  Our God commands all people everywhere to worship Him.  Our God says that He is the one and only God.  Our God will judge all people at the end of time, and people will be assigned to heaven or hell on the basis of their relationship with Him.  Our God is anything but irrelevant.

Since chapter 11, the people of Israel have been grumbling against Moses and Aaron.  Behind their grumbling lies the fact that the despise God (16:30).  God is about to put an end to their grumbling.

1.      Our God is inapproachable

As we saw last week, Korah lead a rebellion in which he claimed all people had the right to approach God without a priest.  He was saying that we do not need a priest to stand between ourselves and God.  He saw God as approachable.  But when Korah and his followers approached God to offer incense—a task reserved for the priests—they were burned with holy fire and swallowed up by the ground. 

Eleazar the priest then took the bronze censors which had held their incense offerings and hammered in into the alter that was in the courtyard of the temple to remind people that only the priests could approach God in this way.  We must not be presumptuous before God!

The last church I worked in was a Methodist church in Richhill, County Armagh.  It was a lovely church with great people who loved the Lord.  At one stage I asked each of the small groups to feed back on what attributes came to their mind when they thought of God.  Rightly each small group included the fact that God is love.  But there was one glaring omission.  No one mentioned that God is holy.  We live in a time and culture that can have a very casual attitude towards God.  We know God as friend, but sometimes forget that He is also King.  It is in the New Testament that we read God dwells in unapproachable light and that He is a consuming fire.

If you have been swallowed up in the love of Christ and are seeking with His strength to live for His glory then you are invited to approach the throne to find grace and mercy in your time of need.  But the only reason you can approach this throne is because you have a priest, our High Priest Jesus, who has prepared the way for us to come before God.

2.      Our God is dangerous

You would have thought that the people would have learned to take God seriously after watching the ground swallow up Korah and his followers.  But no, the next day they continued their grumbling.  They say to Moses and Aaron, ‘you have killed the people of the Lord’ (16:42).  It wasn’t Moses and Aaron who had sent the holy fire and opened up the ground.  Their complaint was against God!

The Lord then appeared to Moses and Aaron saying that He was going to consume all the people.  But Moses and Aaron fell on their faces and pleaded for them.  Moses told Aaron to stand between the people and the Lord.  A plague from God had already started to consume the people.  But as Aaron stood between the dead and the loving the plague stopped.  Can you see the picture of Jesus here?  Jesus stands between ourselves and the judgement we deserve.  Jesus has satisfied the demands of justice.  Without Him we have no hope in the face of the judgement of God!

These verses portray a different understanding of God than many in our society believe.  Our God is more dangerous than they imagine.  In ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’, Susan is about the meet Aslan when she is told that Aslan is a lion.  ‘I’d thought he was a man.  Is he quite safe?  I feel rather nervous about meeting a lion.’  ‘Safe?’, asked Mr. Beaver, ‘who said anything about safe?  Course he isn’t safe.  But he’s good.  He’s the king, I tell you.’  Our God is dangerous, but he is good!

One of the things that struck me about these verses is how gracious God is to Aaron.  Aaron has the privilege of being the High Priest.  Yet, unlike our High Priest, Jesus, Aaron knew what it was to sin.  After all it was Aaron who had supervised the construction of the golden calf when Moses was up on Mount Sinai receiving the Ten Commandments.  Our holy God loves to forgive, He loves to restore, He loves to take guilty people like you and me, wash us and make us clean and use us in His service.

3.      God wants to bless you

I was thinking about these two chapters and I wondered, ‘what does God think about these people?’  Think about it.  At one stage He says that He is going to consume them in His anger.  They are a wicked people.  Yet, in chapter seventeen, we see His greatest desire is actually to bless them.

In our reading we see that God moves to put an end to their grumbling.  Twelve leaders, one from each of the twelve tribes but a staff before the ark.  A staff for the tribe of Levi, with Aaron’s name inscribed on it, is also placed there.  The staffs are left overnight, and in the morning Aaron’s staff has produced buds, blossoms and ripe almonds.  We are probably to see that some parts were in bud, other parts in blossom and still others had produced fruit (Wenham).  This is full of symbolism.

It demonstrates that God brings life to the dead.  Aaron’s staff has been resurrected.  The Christian message is one of resurrection.  We were dead in our transgressions and sin, we have been made alive in Christ.  He is the one who can make our lives fruitful.

Almond blossoms came early in spring, and tell us that fruit is coming.  A harvest is to follow.  God blesses, and His blessings increase.  He rescues us, forgives us and embraces in His love.  But it gets better.  As we lean on Him He makes us more like Jesus.  Then will come a harvest day when those in Christ will receive resurrection bodies like Jesus and an end to death, loneliness, pain and sin.  The almond blossom tells us we have a lot to look forward to.

But, maybe most of all, the almonds would have reminded the people of the lampstands in the tabernacle.  The lampstands in the tabernacle contained almond shaped cups.  Remember that the lampstands shone its light onto the twelve loaves on the table.  This pictured God’s desire to turn His face towards His people, be gracious towards them and give them peace. 

Our God is holy and unapproachable.  Our God is dangerous.  It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.  But our God wants to be gracious towards you and give you peace.  He tells us that He takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked but would rather that we repent and live.  Who are these people that God wants to bless?  They are the very people who had despised Him and grumbled against the leadership that He appointed.  There is more mercy in Him than there is sin in us.

It has been pointed out that while sin provokes God to righteous anger, God is love.  His anger is in settled and holy response to evil.  His love is the core of His very being.  He wants to show love to those who are by nature the subject of His wrath.

Now look at how the people respond.  They are not grumbling.  They are terrified.  Korah had thought that anyone could approach God, without the ministry of a priest, and his and his followers were swallowed up by the ground.  He was presumptuous.  Now the people move to the opposite extreme.  They are simply terrified.  ‘behold we perish, we are undone.  Everyone who comes near to the tabernacle of the Lord, shall die.  Are we to perish?’  (12-13).  They have failed to see that the unapproachable God wants to bless them and bringing them close to Him.  That is why He had given them a High Priest.  Our High Priest, Jesus, gave Himself for our sin, a sacrifice of infinite value.  Therefore, we can be sure that there is more forgiveness poured out from Christ than their sin in us, even though our sin is far more vile than we realise.

Conclusion

A friend of ours is into ‘spiritual’ things.  But recently she told Caroline that she has given up on God.  When Caroline told me, I couldn’t help think that that is a bit presumptuous.  In our society we think that we can stand over God and judge Him.  We seem to think that we are doing Him the greatest of all favours to believe in Him.  But God does not need us, and one day it is Him who will stand in judgement over us.  Give up on God?  I am just glad that God has not given up on me, and He will never give up on you if you belong to Jesus.  If you truly allow yourself to be swallowed up in the love of Jesus and lean on the Holy Spirit to enable you to follow Him, your High Priest will never give up on you.  

The writer to the Hebrews explains that Jesus, 'is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lived to make intersession for them' (Hebrews 7:25).  Like Aaron, Jesus prays for His people.  When we sin, the accuser will point an evil finger in our direction, but Jesus points to His wounds and says, 'I died for that one!'  

When our lives are in Christ the unapproachable and dangerous God becomes our loving Father.  Because Jesus is our High Priest we are told to approach the throne of grace with confidence.  There we will find mercy, which is what we need when we have sinned.  Don't let your sense of shame and guilt stop you from going to Him.  There we find grace for our time of need.  When temptations seem too great, when life seems to hard, when obedience seems beyond you where are you going to turn?  We should approach that throne of grace with confidence.  Afterall, we have a High Priest who gave His life that we can enjoy this privilege.

Is it too small a thing? (Numbers 16)

Is it too small a thing? (Numbers 16)

Are you content?  Do you ever feel jealous of other people?  Are you striving to prove yourself?

Maybe you have a brother of sister who is considered more successful than you are.  Maybe you have been passed over for promotion.  Maybe you wish you were born in a different family.

I would like to be taller.  I would like to be good at sports.  I am not very academic.

When I was in my early twenties my pastor gave me a verse he felt I needed to take to heart.  ‘Godliness with contentment is great gain’ (1 Timothy 6:6).  I was talking to a friend about contentment and he said that he likes the verse in the book of Ecclesiastes that goes, ‘what is lacking cannot be counted’ (1:15).  Once you start to think about all those things you lack you will never reach an end point.   

In this passage we see a group of people who feel disappointed with God.

1.      People with too high a view of themselves

Two groups of people rise up against the leadership of Moses and Aaron.  They were Korah, who was a Levite, but not a priest, and Dathan, Abiram and On who were from the tribe of Reuben.  Along with them come two hundred and fifty community leaders.  They complain against Moses and Aaron, ‘You have gone too far!  For all in this congregation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is among them.  Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the LORD?’  When Moses heard it he fell on his face (3-4).

Their complaint says more about themselves that about Moses.  We have already been told that Moses was the humblest man on the face of the earth (12:3).  I think they are projecting on Moses what is true about themselves.  They are the ones seeking to be exalted!

A look at the location of the people around the tabernacle helps us understand more about these two groups.  Korah is a Kohathite, who ministered as Levites on the southside of the tabernacle.  The tribe of Reuben was situated near them, also on the southside.  The east was considered the most important place.  After that prominence went clockwise.  Both these groups are given prominent positions just below the top tier of their society.  But that is not enough for them.  They are jealous of anyone above them.

We follow a very different sort of man then these.  Jesus did not push for prominence.   Jesus was pleased to wash His disciples’ feet.  We are called to follow His example, and gladly consider others more significant than ourselves.  Rather than pushing for places of greater prominence we are to be looking out for those that no one seems to notice and be willing to associate with those the world looks down on.

Moses looks at that privileged south-sider, Korah, and asks, ‘is it too small a thing for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the congregation of Israel, to bring you near to himself, to do service in the tabernacle of the Lord and to minster to them, and that he has brought you near him … and you would seek the priesthood also?’ (9-10).  Korah mightn’t have been among the priests, but he had been given the wonderful privilege of ministering in the tabernacle and to God’s people.

Paul Tripp asks why envy is so strongly condemned in the Bible, and then answers: 'When your heart is ruled by envy, the attitude of "I am blessed" gets replaced with the attitude of "I deserve."  Envy is selfish at its core.  Envy always puts you at the centre of the world.  It makes everything about you.  It causes you to examine life from the perspective of your wants, needs, and feelings..  Sadly, envy causes you to question the goodness, faithfulness, and wisdom of God ... When you are convinced that a blessing that another person has ought to belong to you, you don't just have a problem with that person, you have a problem with God.  When you begin to question God's goodness, you quit going to him for help.  Why?  Becuase you don't seek the help of someone you've come to doubt' New Morning Mercies, November 27).

I took these verses and wrote something like this in the front of my Bible: ‘is it too small a thing that God has made husband to Caroline, father to Anya, Ronan and Sian, that you are called to pastor of Limerick Baptist Church, and yet you would seek to be made more of?’

You might not be content with the way that God has made you and the roles He has given you.  You might want to be in an easier family.  You might want the brains, looks or talents of someone else.  But maybe God wants to ask, ‘is it too small a thing that I have embraced you in My love, forgiven your guilt and removed your shame, that I call you “beloved”, that I promise never to leave you or forsake you, that I hold you in the palm of my hand, that I have commissioned you as an ambassador of Christ?  Do you demand that people make more of you when I have made so much of you?’

2.      People with too low a view of God 

What is envies twin sin?  I wonder if the twin of envy is resentment.  I think that Dathan, Abiram and On may be motivated by resentment.  You see they were from the tribe of Rueben.  Reuben had been the first born of Jacob's sons.  Yet Reuben lost the right of firstborn when he slept with his father's concubine.  He descendants had to live with the consequences.  They lost privilege.

The Bible teaches that our sins have consequences.  Those consequences are often felt by those we love.  The alcoholic doesn't just ruin their own lives they ruin the lives around them.  How sad it is to watch people say words that can not be unsaid, and even beyond apologies and forgiveness the hurt lingers.  How hard it is to live in the light of the sins of another, as did Datham, Abiram and On.  And yet, how great it is that our God can retore the years that the locusts ate, and can even use the hurts that others have brought on us to our benefit, as he works all things for the good of forming Christ's character in us/       

Moses suggests that they all approach the tabernacle and offer incense—a task that was reserved for the priests.  They have too small a view of God.  They do not realise that He dwells in unapproachable light and is a consuming fire.  They do not realise that they need the priests to stand between themselves and God!  As Christians we know that we that we can approach the throne of grace with confidence because we have a great High Priest, Jesus Christ!

Dathan and Abiram echo Moses words.  ‘Is it a small thing that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey flowing with milk and honey, to kill us in the wilderness, that you must make yourself a prince over us?  Moreover, you have not brought us into the land flowing with milk and honey, nor given us an inheritance of fields and vineyards.  Will you put out the eyes of these men?  We will not come up’ (12-14).   ‘Will you put out the eyes of these men?’ seems to be an idiom saying something like, ‘you are pulling the wool over their eyes.’

But it wasn’t Moses who brought them out of Egypt, it was God.  Egypt was not a land flowing with milk and honey, it was slavery.  They hadn’t inherited vineyards and fields because they had refused to trust God and enter the Canaan.  They claim Moses was harsh and took advantage of them, which was simply not true.  The truth is that when we get bitter it is not long before we lose our sense of perspective.  As we ruminate we start to attribute false motives to people.  Ultimately, their view of reality is shaped by the fact that they despise God (30).

Those who approached God without the ministry of the priests paid a high price for their low view of Him.  They failed to recognise that He is holy and we are sinful.  They were burned with a holy fire and the ground opened up and swallowed two hundred and fifty of those associated with them. 

A friend told Caroline that she had given up on God.  She has been interested in spiritual things, but feels let down by Him.  Isn’t it presumptuous that we judge God and decide whether He is worthy of our allegiance?  They real wonder for the Christian is that God has not given up on us!      

Conclusion

While the line of Dathan, Abiram and On came to an end, when we look at the census later in the book of Numbers we see that some of the descendants were spared (26:11).  How could that be?  It must be that some of Korah’s family repented and distanced themselves from his rebellion (Duguid).  They changed sides and sided with Moses and Aaron.  You may come from a family that has shown no real interest in Christianity for generations, but you can change sides.  In fact, it gets better.  Turn to the title of Psalm 42 and you will see that the descendants of Korah become musicians and worship leaders who wrote at least eleven of the Psalms.  

God still had great plans for the descendants of that wicked man Korah!  He has plans for all those who love Him!  Let us be content with how He has made and what He has called us to do!  After all, 'is it too small a thing that He has saved us from the hell we deserve, embraced in His love, and given us a purpose.'

Caleb and the crowd (Numbers 13)

‘What comes into our mind when we think about God is the most important thing about us’ (Tozer).

In this morning’s reading we see Caleb and the crowd.  Caleb and the crowd have experienced the power of the same God and are presented with the same blessings and challenges.  Yet they choose to act in very different ways.  Caleb says, ‘we can take the land.’  The crowd say, ‘no we can’t.’  I think that the differences in their two responses is shaped by what comes into their mind when they think about God.

1.       Caleb and the crowd see the same God in action

At this stage in the Bible’s story God’s people are the wilderness and they are being invited to enter the Promised Land.  These people have witnesses God rescue them from slavery in Egypt through the Passover and the Red Sea.  They have been led by the cloud and the fire going before them.  They have been fed manna and quail.  They have the tabernacle in the centre of their camp reminding them of God’s presence.

They can have no doubt about the reality of God, His desire to rescue them, His presence with them and His ability to save them.  Now God calls them to send twelve spies into the Promised Land.  Why does He do that?  Why doesn’t He just lead them straight in?  I think He wants to show them the blessings and challenges and let them see if they are willing to follow Him.

One commentator points out that while the spies went through the whole land, they focused especially on the area around Hebron.  Why is that important?  Hebron was where Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were buried.  They are being reminded that God had promised this land to their forefathers hundreds of years earlier.  Surely, they can trust God to be faithful to His promises?

It is the same for us.  As the risen Jesus commissioned the disciples to go into all the nations He accompanied His commission with a promise: ‘and I will be with you to the very end of the age’ (Matthew 28:20).

Sophie was finding it hard as a young Christian.  Her father was not impressed with her new faith.  He was suggesting that he was losing her and that she was involved in a cult.  She needed to be remined that God was faithful and that He is with her.  She faced into a hard week, after having a hard week, encouraged that Jesus goes with her.

2.      Caleb and the crowd see the same blessings and challenges

What did the spies find in the Promised Land?

They came back with a cluster of grapes that so bountiful that it took two men with a pole to carry it.  They saw that they land was flowing with milk and honey.  But they also saw that the cities were fortified, the people were strong and they claimed that the land devours its inhabitants.  They seem to be exaggerating the dangers—claiming that they were like grasshoppers before the descendants of Anak and the land devouring people!  Fear exaggerates.  It is called catastrophic thinking.

Just like us they are being presented with blessings and challenges.  The Christian life is so blessed, but it is not always easy!  How wonderful to live with the promise that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.  How wonderful to experience eternal life—which Jesus defines as knowing God, and Jesus Christ who He sent.  How special to know that the God of the universe hears are prayers and is with us.  Yet Jesus promises rejection and trials.  Follow Jesus and you will be the special focus of the tempter’s attacks (but God promised that you will not be tempted beyond what you can bear and that He will always provide a way out of the temptation).  Follow Jesus and even those who love you may take offense.  Do you think it is worth trusting Him?

3.      Caleb and the crowd have a very different view of God

Given that they have seen the same signs of God, and that they are presented with the same blessings and challenges, why do Caleb and the crowd make such different choices about how to act?  Why does Caleb (and Joshua) say ‘let’s take the land’ and the crowd say, ‘no way’?  The answer seems to be to do with their different perceptions of the character of God.  The crowd say, ‘Why is the LORD bringing us into the land, to fall by the sword?’ (14:3).  Despite all that God has done for them, they simply do not trust Him!  Look at how God sees it, the Lord said to Moses, ‘how long will this people despise me?’ (14:11).  On the other hand, Caleb (and Joshua), ‘the land, which we passed through to spy it out, is an exceedingly good land.  If the Lord delights in us, he will bring us into the land and give it to us, a land that flows with milk and hungry’ (14:7-8).  ‘And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever draws near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him’ (Hebrews 11:6).

Conclusion

This week, as we seek to follow Jesus, we will be faced with both blessings and challenges.  The question is will we respond in obedience.  The response to that question is largely depended on our view of God.  A Lebanese pastor was talking about the food ministry that he was running during the Israel war on his country.  This is what he said, ‘we see that God will never abandon us.’  That is the vision of God that prompts people to act.

So, hold the crucified and risen Jesus before your eyes.  See that love upon His face as He takes your sin upon His shoulders.  Hear His promise to be with you to the end of the age.  He reveals the heart of our God who is slow to anger and abounding in love, forgiving in iniquity and transgression, yet he will judge those who refuse to turn to him and be delighted in his love.     

‘The presence’ (Numbers 7-10)

 

There is a hymn that is called Saint Patrick’s breastplate.  It was not actually written by Patrick.  It was written in the eighth century.  It calls for God’s presence.  It contains these words:

‘Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ above me, Christ at my right, Christ at my left ... Salvation is of the Lord, Salvation is of Christ.  May Thy salvation, O Lord, be ever with us.’

I think the unifying theme in the chapters that we are looking at this morning is the presence of God made known through the tabernacle.   Now that presence is seen in Jesus who the apostle John says, ‘tabernacled’ amongst us’ (John 1:14).

Obedience is a response to blessing (7)

Last week we saw the wonderful blessing of the High Priest Aaron: ‘The LORD bless you and keep you.  The LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you.  The LORD turn his face to you and give you peace’ (6:24-26).  Then God says, ‘I will bless them’ (6:27).  Now, in chapter seven, we have eighty-eight verses of each tribe bringing gifts to the tabernacle.

The gifts come after the blessing.  They are not an attempt to earn God's favour.  This is a grateful response to God's kindness.  We came to Jesus empty handed.  Yet, in Him, we have received every spiritual blessing.  We are forgiven, loved and have the sure hope of heaven.  The only appropriate response is loving obedience.  Remember what Jesus has done for you and be moved into action by His goodness.  

This giving starts with oxen and carts to transport the tabernacle.  The interesting thing about this is that they don't seem to have been commanded to give these gifts of carts and oxen.  The people had realised that these oxen and carts would be a blessing to those who were responsible to transport the tabernacle. They saw the ministry need and sought to help.  It is not just our regular giving that matters, we also want to be people who see needs and seek to meet them (adapted from Duguid).

Then there is the giving that is in response command.  It is noticeable that each tribe gives the exact same gifts.  Their identical giving shows their unity.  No one is exempt.  The small tribes don't simply look to the large tribes to provide what is needed.  All of us are involved in the same mission as a church.  Don't sit on the edges of church life.  Be all in!  While God has given each of us unique personalities He also calls us to display the same fruit as we become more like Jesus.  We all have the same message to speak.  Ask God for opportunities to speak life to a dying world.

We ate not the only tribe of believers in this city.  We share the same mission as every other Bible-teaching church in this area.  We should be praying for them and wanting to partner with them.

The chapter ends with Moses in the Holy Place hearing from God who is speaking from behind a curtain from above the ark in the Holy of holies.      

Blessing involves God turning his face towards us (8:1-4)

‘The LORD bless you and keep you.  The LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you.’  As we move into chapter eight we see the LORD shining His face upon His people.  Moses is to instruct Aaron with regards to the setting up a lampstand in the Holy place.  The lampstand is arranged in such a way that it shines on twelve flat loaves of showbread (or bread of presence).  The beard of presence symbolizes the twelve tribes that were God’s people.  The light symbolizes God presence and favor.  Our offerings and obedience are acceptable because of His grace.  Now we know that Jesus is the light of the world and he says that, ‘the one who follows me will never walk in darkness but have the light of life’ (John 8:12).  Jesus leads us out of the way of ignorance and evil and shows us how to live as we are meant to be.

One morning I woke up feeling a little blue.  I thought of a situation the day before where I did not handle myself well.  I felt a little down on myself.  So I thought of this picture.  The Lord shining on His light on His people.  Treating them with grace.  Glad in them.  Taking pleasure in them.  I tried to use that to change my outlook! 

God’s presence is terrifying without a priest (8:5-26)

The rest of chapter eight has to do with the preparation of the tribe of Levi as a priesthood.  In truth without the priesthood God’s presence in the camp would be a danger rather than a blessing.

Part of the job of the Levitical priests was to stop the people coming too close.  The people were allowed come to the outer court.  The priests were allowed into the holy place.  On one day a year—the Day of Atonement—the High priest was allowed enter the Holy of holies.  But come too close at the wrong time and you could be struck dead.

Please don’t think that God is any less holy now than He was then.  When I was a child mum read us ‘The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe.’  At the end she explained that Aslan was a picture of Jesus.  In that book Susan asks Mr. Beaver, ‘Is he quite safe?  I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion.’  ‘Safe?’, said Mr. Beaver, ‘who said anything about safe?  Course he isn’t safe.  But he’s good.  He’s the King, I tell you.’

We now can approach the throne of grace with confidence not because God is less holy but because we have a perfect High Priest—Jesus—who has given Himself as a sacrifice of infinite value for our evil.  Never lose the wonder that we can come into the presence of God and know Him as Abba, Father.  We come not because He is less holy than revealed on the pages of the Old Testament, but because Jesus has removed our guilt and given us His righteousness so that we can be safe before His throne.

God presence goes before us (9-10)

The people had been camping at Mount Sinai for about a year.  Then the Passover was celebrated—remembering how God had delivered them from slavery in Egypt.  Now the cloud lifts from above the tabernacle and the people follow the cloud into the wilderness of Panan.  The ark of the covenant goes before them.  Look at the closing verses of these chapters.  When the ark set out, Moses said,  ‘“arise, O LORD, and let your enemies be scattered and those who hate you flee before you.”  And when it rested, he said, “Return, O LORD, to the ten thousand thousands of Israel”’ (10:35-36).  The word translated ‘Arise’ has military connotations.  ‘Come and deal with my enemies of Lord.’

So maybe we should wake in the morning and begin our day, ‘Rise up, O Lord!  Go before me today.  Guide me into the good works you have prepared me to do.  Fight with me as I wrestle against temptation.  The battle is yours.  Give me courage when I feel afraid to stand for you.  May I wield the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, as I speak of your victory.  In all the battle let me draw strength from you as I pray’ (adapted from Duguid).     

Conclusion

How does the presence of God affect you?

His presence is a challenging presence.  We have been bought at a price.  We have been bought in love.  We are not our own.  We are a temple of the Holy Spirit.  Therefore, be careful what you look at.  Guard your tongue.  Flee sexual immorality.       

His presence is a comforting presence.  We pray that the Holy Spirit would enable us to cry out Abba, Father and that we would see His loving gaze shining on us.

His presence is an empowering presence.  You cannot really change.  But He can do more in your heart that you can ask or imagine.  He can break long held habits.  He can bring His beautiful fruit in you.  He can make you like Jesus. 

‘Christ protect me today.  Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ above me, Christ at my right, Christ at my left, Christ in the fort, Christ in the chariot-seat, Christ in the mighty stern.  Salvation is of the Lord, Salvation is of Christ.  May Thy salvation, O Lord, be ever with us.’