Hear and Obey

Numbers 20:2-12 NKJV

2 Now there was no water for the congregation; so they gathered together against Moses and Aaron. 3 And the people contended with Moses and spoke, saying: “If only we had died when our brethren died before the Lord! 4 Why have you brought up the assembly of the Lord into this wilderness, that we and our animals should die here? 5 And why have you made us come up out of Egypt, to bring us to this evil place? It is not a place of grain or figs or vines or pomegranates; nor is there any water to drink.” 6 So Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the door of the tabernacle of meeting, and they fell on their faces. And the glory of the Lord appeared to them.
7 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 8 “Take the rod; you and your brother Aaron gather the congregation together. Speak to the rock before their eyes, and it will yield its water; thus you shall bring water for them out of the rock, and give drink to the congregation and their animals.” 9 So Moses took the rod from before the Lord as He commanded him.
10 And Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock; and he said to them, “Hear now, you rebels! Must we bring water for you out of this rock?” 11 Then Moses lifted his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod; and water came out abundantly, and the congregation and their animals drank.
12 Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not believe Me, to hallow Me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.”

Triune God,

Thank you for showing up in my life. Thank you for speaking to me. I am conscious of Father's love and design not only for the universe, but also for my life. I feel the shed blood of the Son of God cleansing and making me whole. I know the reality of your redeeming grace. I sense the nudges and hear the whispers of Holy Spirit, guiding and leading me. Thank you.

But I am very conscious of my ability to turn a deaf ear to you. I don't want to. I resist the temptation to do so, but I am ever aware. I know that in a moment of fervor, passion, or anger I can act with excess. I can do too much. I overact. I over-react. I impose my will on a situation that can only be addressed by your will. Discipline my Spirit-filled heart and life so that I resist the temptation to act in the flesh.

Moses over-reacted. He over-reached. He struck the rock when you instructed him simply to speak to it. His anger against the people nudged him past the realm of living in the Spirit, and he ventured into a fleshly response. It is a fine, but nevertheless definite line that he crossed. It is a line that is crossed by resisting the gentle nudges, checks, and demands of Holy Spirit. Moses deafened his ears and deadened his heart to You in that moment. He regretted his lapse into fleshly indulgence for the remainder of his lie.

You viewed Moses excess in striking the rock, rather than speaking to it, as an act of angry disobedience. Moses had to acknowledge that you judged him aright. His disobedience and anger in that moment barred Moses from entering the promised land of Canaan. He did not cross the Jordan. He did not witness Jericho fall. He did not witness the occupation of the land. Sad.

Lord God, help me to hear and obey. I want to live with a sense of your approval. I want to live away from the boundaries of my life where the checks of the Holy Spirit blink warning on the dashboard of my soul. I want your checks to be fewer and fewer as I learn to discern your will and follow you. But when you need to nudge, check, or demand of me, grant me the tenderness of heart to stop and listen. Restrain me from the rapid pace of action that would plunge me into a life of regret because I struck the rock rather than speaking to it. Gentle my soul so that I can speak more, and strike less.

I love you. I trust you. I want to hear and obey.

In the Name of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
Amen.

There is no Messiah but Jesus

We live in a superhero culture of mythological fascination. Stories of good triumphing over evil have been supplanted with narratives of conflicted sorcerers using raw power to accomplish some end that they have justified as good. No meta-narrative of right and wrong, cosmic good over cosmic evil, or redemption is advanced. Rather, the end justifies any means necessary. Brute power, moral compromise, calculated deception and graveyards filled with the victims signpost the path to power and dominance.

Throughout the centuries, humans have sought for Messiah. Whenever a powerful deliverer stepped on the scene of pain, suffering, and impoverishment, hope stirred.

“Could this be the one?”

Will this person deliver us from the oppression of our conquerors, the domination of unjust rulers, and the crippling taxation of government? Will this person be our Messiah, our deliverer, our salvation?

The fantasy persists, embellished by actors, movies, and special effects. These messiahs promise salvation through force, hope through conquest, and justice through injustice. These entertainment forms and figures stir hope within us that good ends can be accomplished by bad people doing bad things.

Real life mirrors our entertainment script. We elect evil leaders and expect them to care for the populace. We install the powerful, the wealthy, the strong, and make them more so.  We tolerate their bad acts, foolishly fantasizing that evil deeds can produce good results. Rape, murder, deceit, malice, and slander are celebrated as long as they get the job done. My side wins. My definition of virtue triumphs.

How different with Jesus!

“But Jesus called them to Himself and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave—just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:25-28 NKJV).

The sinless Christ went to the cross and died for the sins of the whole world. In death, He appeared defeated. The reality of His resurrection three days later changed the world. And He changes us today!

The resurrected Christ, the Messiah of the world, then calls us to lives of service and sacrifice.

“Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.

“Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:1-11 NKJV).

National elections come and go. Strongmen rise and fall. Despots conquer and rule. Another rises to take their place. Each is esteemed by someone as their messiah. But there is no Messiah apart from Jesus Christ. He has come. He is our hope.

So, we pray for our leaders. We ask God to purify the hearts and minds of our leaders that they might serve Him in holiness and righteousness.  

In the face of political and economic turmoil, look to Messiah, not the most recent superhero on the world stage of current events. There is no lasting salvation apart from Jesus Christ.

OH DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR STING?

So there we were, Sophomore seatmates in chapel at Mount Carmel Christian High School.  As we sang congregational hymns and gospel songs, Dave asked, “How do you do that?”

“Do what?” I asked.

“Sing bass.” He responded.

“Here.”  I pointed to the bass line on the music staff in the hymnal.  

“Teach me to do that.”

“Follow these notes up and down with me.”  Dave had a good ear, and soon he was singing the bass line with his eyes on the music, and his ear listening to me.  

In our Junior year at Mount Carmel High School, 4 sixteen year-old music lovers banded together to form a gospel quartet.  Lonnie was tenor, I was lead, Todd sang baritone, and David anchored the bass.  For the next two years we practiced with Daniel playing piano.  We fell in love with gospel music.  Keep on the Firing Line , Just a Little Talk with Jesus , Standing on the Solid Rock,  and, oh yes, Tumbling Tumbleweeds .  We became fast, inseparable friends.

In the Summer of 1979 after graduation from Mount Carmel High School, Dave invited me to Owensboro for a visit. I stayed in his home. I walked to the field with him in the morning when he milked the cow. I ate at the family table. I participated in family prayers. I was impressed with David’s family. Every activity of their life was ordered around God and Owensboro Southside Wesleyan Church.  

Dave secured tickets for a Southern Gospel concert. It was an evening with the Kingsmen Quartet and Wendy Bagwell and the Sunlighters. Little Jan made eyes at two 18 year old  boys on the front row all night long. We loved it. Wendy told his rattlesnake story. The big Cherokee Indian Kingsmen sang, It Made News in Heaven When I Got Saved! I bought a four eight track tape set of the Kingsmen!  

After high school, Dave and I, Renee and Beth, enrolled in Bible college. David and Renee fell in love.  Beth and I fell in love. Our lives were becoming intertwined.

Dr. Dale Yocum preached one of our Bible College revivals. He preached on Jesus’ Seven Final Sayings on the Cross. He walked us through “Father, forgive them” to the moment when Jesus succumbed to death. He then called us to holiness through full surrender unto sanctification through the fulness of the Holy Spirit. Dave went forward. He was gloriously sanctified wholly as he prayed the final words of the crucified Jesus. He rose to testify victoriously of a clean sanctified heart, that became the engine that drove his 30 years of effective pastoral ministry.   

1500 people mourned David’s passing. The funeral service lasted 3 hours. It was the longest funeral I have ever attended.

You see, we expressed our anger and disbelief at our common enemy–death. God is not our enemy. Death is. We celebrated love. We celebrated the hope of heaven! We laughed. We grieved. We wept. We showed compassion and empathy. And when I left, I knew it was time for me to act. Dave’s death was a clarifying moment for my life! Now, I have to fight my enemy, and God’s–death, sin, and their author–Satan. 

How am I supposed to respond to tragedy? How am I supposed to respond to disaster?  How am I supposed to respond to death?  How am I to respond when “bad things happen to good people”?

I hear a lot of different responses.  

The fatalist says, “What will be, will be!”  The fatalist says, “Everything happens for a reason!”  The Christian fatalist says, “What will be, will be.  God causes all things to happen.”

I cannot believe that. I am not a fatalist!  I am not a secular fatalist.  I am not a Christian fatalist.  I am a believer in Jesus!  I follow of Jesus!  I recognize that SIN IS.  Sin is NOT God’s idea.  Sin is rebellion against God.  Sin curses our world.  Sin causes death.  Sin is irrational.  Sin is chaos.  God is rational.  God is order.  God is love.  

So how must I respond to the sting of death, our mutual and final enemy? I must look to Jesus’ example.  Jesus responded to death with anger, love, grief, empathy, and action.

Jesus responded to death with anger. “Therefore, when Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her weeping, He groaned in the spirit and was troubled” (John 11:33). Jesus was angry against sin and death and their destructive effect on our lives. The word for “groaned” connotes Jesus’ anger. He was violently agitated, indignant with grief and struggled to control His emotions.

Jesus was angry against death, a consequence of the curse of the Fall. Jesus was angry against pain and suffering that impacted His friends–Lazarus, Mary, and Martha. Jesus was angry against Satan.  He saw the panoply of human experience from Creation to the Fall, to the Law, and to the Incarnation, and He was angered by the far reaching effects of the sin.

Jesus responded to death with grief. “Jesus wept” (John 11:35).

Very God and very man, Jesus felt grief as you and I do.  But His memory spanned the spectrum of time to the very beginning of humanity and the problem of sin.  Out of His anger, He grieved.  He grieved the curse of sin.  He grieved the consequences of the Fall.  He grieved Lucifer’s rebellion against the Holy Trinity. He grieved Lazarus’ death.  He grieved for and alongside His grieving friends.

Jesus embraces us in our grief, and grieves with us.

Jesus responded to death with love. He loved Lazarus. He loved Martha. He loved Mary (John 11:5). “Then the Jews said, ‘See how He loved him!’ And some of them said, ‘Could not this Man, who opened the eyes of the blind, also have kept this man from dying?’ Then Jesus, again groaning in Himself, came to the tomb...” (John 11:36-38).

When we face the sting of death, we, too, can experience His embrace of love.

Jesus responded to death with empathy. “Therefore, when Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her weeping, He groaned in the spirit and was troubled. And He said, ‘Where have you laid him?’ They said to Him, ‘Lord, come and see.’ Jesus wept.” (John 11:33-35).

Jesus is no stranger to our anger, love, and grief.  He empathizes with all who grieve.  He reminds us, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted” (Matthew 5:4).

Jesus responded to death with action. Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead.

“Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?’” (John 11: 25-26)

“Jesus said, ‘Take away the stone.’ Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to Him, ‘Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?’ Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, ‘Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me.’ Now when He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come forth!’ And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with grave clothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, ‘Loose him, and let him go.’” (John 11:39-44)

How must we respond to death?

·      

      We sorrow with hope of resurrection.

o   “But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.” (I Thessalonians 4:13).

·      We do not believe that everything that happens in this world is caused by God.

o   “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive” (I Corinthians 15:22).

o   “For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead” (I Corinthians 15:21).

·      We must quit spouting well-intended, yet foolish and unscriptural, platitudes.

o   “He’s in better place.”  Heaven is not “a better place.”  Heaven is ultimate reality.  Heaven is the best of the best!  Heaven is to be with Jesus!  And that is supreme!  

o   “It was his time” denotes that God kills His saints!  Preposterous.  Not the God of the Bible!  Not the God I know!  In our grief, people often defer to a distorted view of the Sovereignty of God which says that everything that happens, good and bad, is caused by God and we must trust Him even if we don’t understand Him.  This view makes God the Author of sin in the Garden of Eden!

o   “Everything happens for a reason.”  What this crowd really means is that God causes everything, good and bad.  He is Sovereign, so we can never understand how He can create evil.  Really?  The shooting of 20 children in Newtown CT in 2012?  Happens for a reason?  No way!  Ridiculous!  There is no reason in it!  Not the God I know.

o   “God needed another angel.” The Biblical doctrine of angels has been distorted by the secular world until it is unrecognizable.  People don’t become angels when they die!  When believers die and go to heaven, they maintain personality in some altered form called a glorified body.  Babies and children are innocent if they have not yet reached the knowledge of the difference between right and wrong.  When that child dies, that child is safe with Jesus in heaven in a glorified body.

·      We must respond to death with the attitude of Jesus Christ.

o   II Timothy 1:10b Paul describes Jesus, “Who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.”

o   Romans 8:28 “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”

o   When 18 innocent people died in the fall of the tower of Siloam, Jesus responded by calling people to repentance.  “Repent, lest ye likewise perish.”  Grief must drive us to repentance with a consciousness of the brevity of life and the need to prepare for eternity.

o   We have the hope of heaven and resurrection from the dead. “Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed—in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: ‘Death is swallowed up in victory. O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?’ The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (I Corinthians 15:51-57).

“The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death” (I Corinthians 15:26).  Death is our enemy.  But waiting on the other side, there is Jesus!  Death is not time to blame God. It’s time to blame sin and Satan. But most of all, it is time to act!