It's Your Move

October 30, 2011 20th of Kingdomtide

How Great Thou Art: Wilderness Lessons

Fall Sermon Series in Numbers

John 16: 4-15, Numbers 9: 15-23

"It’s Your Move"

Today we move to our last sermon in our series How Great Thou Art: Wilderness Lesson. Today our sermon is entitled, “It's Your Move.” The focus of the sermon today is on the presence of God, and God's leadership in our lives.

For most of the month of October we have been looking at the Old Testament book of Numbers, the fourth book of the Jewish Torah. Numbers chronicles the wanderings of the ancient Hebrew people after God had rescued them from slavery in Egypt. We have learned many things about these Hebrews:

· Descendants from Abraham, his son Isaac and his son Jacob

· They were delivered from slavery because of God's promises to Abraham

· When they were freed from captivity they had just a loosely-affiliated tribal relationship

(were not a people, nor a nation)

· They knew very little about God, Yahweh

· God had made covenant with them, and they with God

· During their time in the wilderness, God was conditioning them to lives of holiness

· During their time in the wilderness, they often rebelled against God and their leader Moses

· and even when they were unaware of God's activities, God was working behind the scenes

So, let's see what wilderness lesson is in store for us today.

Read Scripture. Numbers 9:15-23

Last Sunday the youth were gathered for their meeting, and Robert was leading them in a discussion about the Prodigal son. Part of the discussion was about what it feels like to be lost, that is when you have suddenly found yourself in a place where you don't know the surroundings, the people, the landmarks or the way home.

The kids were sharing about different times they had found themselves lost from their parents, and about the sense of panic they felt in those situations. Though I didn't tell my story then, I have one. It happened to me when I was about 13 years old. My family had gone to the beach for vacation, and it was one of those weeks where the beach looked like a veritable sea of people, a mishmash of umbrellas, coolers, blankets, beach chairs, towels and blaring radios.

The first day my parents and some friends of ours laid down our blanket in amongst everyone else’s. I immediately headed to the water, vaguely hearing my mother's words as I hurried away. “Be careful honey, watch where you are and don't get lost.”

It was a hot day, and the water looks so inviting, so I waded in with not a care in the world. Well, as you know, the biggest most fun waves often have strong undertows. This particular day the waves were big, and unknown to me the undertow began to move me farther and farther down the beach. After about 30 min. of frolicking and playing, I decided to return to the blanket to rest. But when I emerged from the water, nothing looked familiar.

I began walking up and down the beach looking for my mother, our friends, and our blanket, anything that would signify where I was. Unfortunately, I had become totally disoriented with my location on the beach. There were so many people that I became confused and very scared. Eventually, my mother who was also frantically searching for me, called out the lifeguards, and I was found.

The piece of Scripture we read today is a glimpse into how God was conditioning the Hebrew people to follow God's every movement, and every plan God had for them. Did you notice like I did how repetitive the instructions were? Over and over again in the Scripture it is declared that when the presence of God, represented by the pillar of fire (by night) and the pillar of cloud (by day); when God moved the people moved, and when God stopped, the people stopped. Like a refrain of an ancient hymn.

Here in chapter 9 of Numbers is a pivotal point for the Hebrew people. It is the beginning of their journey to Canaan. It is from this point but they began their march from Sinai to the land of milk and honey, the Promised Land that God had given to them. Clearly from this Scripture we can see that God is continuing to condition the people to lives of holiness. God is teaching them two things.

First, God has given them a tangible representation of God's presence. Prior to the contruction of the tabernacle, God's presence moved ahead of the people. But now the two pillars are closely associated with the Hebrew’s Tent of Meeting, the place of sacrifice and worship. As long as the people remain near to the tabernacle, they are near to God.

Secondly, God has commanded them to follow in complete obedience. When the presence of God moves, the people were to break camp and set out following God. Likewise, when the pillar of fire or cloud stopped moving, the people were to stop and camp. Whether God traveled for days at a time or was still for days at a time, the people followed God's leading.

Certainly the people were reassured by God's constant presence and guidance. Remember, these people were a ragtag bunch of just freed slaves. They were following someone, Moses, whom they knew little about. They had left the safety and security, the comfort zones of Egypt. They were like me, a teenager who had come out of the water totally disoriented, not knowing where her people were or which way to go.

For the Hebrews, to be able to look up from any place in the camp and see that pillar of cloud or fire hovering over the Tabernacle of God helped them to avoid panic and fear. Seeing those representations of God in their midst gave them the assurance that they were neither lost nor alone.

I wonder. What representations of God's presence remains in our midst? What does God use today to assure us that we too are neither lost nor alone?

We can relate very easily to the people of God. We are like them in that we too have been rescued, set free from our own bondage. We have been set free from the bondage of sin and death. And, we like the Hebrews have not reached our own Promised Land, which is for us, being in the complete perfect presence of God in heaven.

We too are wandering. We too are being conditioned by God's presence and power. See? It's like this. You and I have placed our faith in Jesus Christ. It is through him that we have been saved. We, like the Hebrew people have been set in a position of holiness by God. We are God’s people. And we too are not alone. We have within us the presence of God in the Holy Spirit.

When the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost, is it any surprise that the visible representation of God's presence was blazing tongues of fire which rested over each disciple who was filled with the Holy Spirit? To read about the coming of the Holy Spirit in the book of Acts, and to understand how God represented God's self to the ancient Hebrew people, pulls the entire Bible into sync. I think that is so cool.

Folks, with God's Holy Spirit within us, we have the same guidance system that the ancient Hebrews had in their own midst. Do you remember what Paul said about our bodies? Paul said in 2nd Corinthians 2:16, that we are the temple of God. You and I house God. I wonder how often the gravity of that reality dawns upon us.

Where ever we are and whatever we are doing, God is present with us. It is so important for us to understand and acknowledge that fact. Every believing Christian person is the representation of God in the Earth.

That fact impacts everything we do. It impacts our home life, our work, our time together in worship, our missions and ministries… Everything. That fact increases the importance of our work together for the salvation of the world. It is important that we are unified in our purposes, in our plans, in our desire and willingness to keep charge, to follow God as God is leading. God wants us to live and work together to help people.

Jesus, in his high priestly prayer found in John chapter 17, prayed for the people of God to be one together and one with God:

“All mine are your, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world…Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one” (John 17: 10-11).

How do we do that? How will to we maintain our oneness, on unity of plan and purpose? It is a very good question, one in which I’m going to leave with you today to ponder.

God in our midst is the Holy Spirit within us, so when the Spirit says move, are we going to move? And when the spirit says stop, are we going to stop?

The most important wilderness lesson for us today is this: God is our leader, and we follow. God does not follow us.

Amen.