Numbers 13 August 14, 2011

Last week, we talked about the struggles we have with stress and the various stressful events in our lives…from marriage to divorce…from birth to death…from good to poor economics, and so on.

We looked at Christ’s words from Matthew’s Gospel that tell us to not worry. BOY is that hard!!! Yet, God is very clear that He will take care of us and He is indeed trustworthy!

Today, we are going to look at a couple of those things that can cause us to really struggle with not worrying and not fretting. That is the combined issue of changes and trusting the Lord in the midst of those changes.

What are some of the major changes you’ve had to make in your lives?

Moving to a new house? Moving into a pick up camper? Getting married? Changing jobs within your company? Changing jobs AND companies? Having kids move a long distance away? Having kids move back home? Having you parents get divorced? Going through a divorce yourself?

We all have changes in our lives. Some of those changes seem to be easier to navigate for us and some seem to challenge us at our very core! Some of us can easily succeed on the same situation that someone else could really flounder in, and then in a different setting, the success and struggle ratio could be exactly opposite.

For instance, if something were to happen and the camp speaker fell through for a junior high retreat next weekend, and I were to be called, I’d have NO problem doing that! However, my guess is that many of you would turn them down. On the other hand, if I lost my job at The Baby Fold, and someone offered me the chance to be a crossing guard at a school or a position in a cubical at State Farm, I don’t know what I’d say. I wouldn’t do so well with that kind of change.

How many of you have ever asked the Lord to make something very clear to you as you were in the process of making a change in your world? How many of you have ever had second guesses about asking the Lord to make something clear to you after things happened…you know, it’s kind of like asking Him for patience!

This week and next, we’re going to look at another somewhat familiar passage from God’s Word. This section of Scripture is back in the Old Testament…back to the days of Moses and the people of Israel. It’s a good reminder of a people who knew that change was going to come and that their lives would be different. Please open your Bibles to Numbers 13.

If you remember your Biblical history, Joseph was hated by his brothers. He was sold into slavery to the Egyptians. Joseph eventually became a very powerful man in Egypt…actually the second in command! Somehow, things got bad for the Israelites and the whole people group ended up as slaves building the pyramids.

They served as slaves for many years and then Moses was appointed by God to help lead the people out of Egypt and take them to the Promised Land. You’re familiar with the ten plagues on Egypt, the miraculous crossing of the Red Sea, and the giving of the Ten Commandments.

However, it seems like at every step, somebody is challenging Moses’ authority and by extension, God Almighty’s as well! In fact, in Numbers 12, Moses’ brother and sister, Aaron and Miriam were in full-scale rebellion over his leadership. In chapter 11, people are complaining about the manna that God had provided, and they were complaining about needing meat and expressing their desire to return as slaves to Egypt.

WHAT!?!?!

You’ve been slaves! The foreign country was afraid of you and started aborting all of your babies! God has demonstrated His incredible power and care over you through the whole Exodus! Yet, you want to go back to Egypt?

After God deals with several of these different kinds of issues all revolving around rebellion, the nation arrives at the edge of the Promised Land. So, maybe it would be like them all camping out just east of Danville on I74 waiting to come into the Promised Land of Illinois (before all of the financial problems that we had). This is where we pick the story up.

As I mentioned earlier, each of us has gone through changes in our life that cause us to reevaluate things. Most of us do research on these changes when it’s possible.

For instance, when Karen’s dad was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer last fall, the whole family quickly started doing research on what this cancer was like. Did the doctor know what he was talking about? Did we need to get a second opinion, and so on. If you’re looking for a new job, you do research to see if you can do the job, how much it should pay, will the hours work, will you have to move, etc…. If you’re going to take college classes, you check out the various options. Which school offers the degree I want? Can I get a job in the field I want after I graduate? How much does it cost? HOW MUCH DOES IT COST??? Can I do the work? Do I really want to put the time in for what I’m going to get back from it?

Just like us asking questions before starting something new, God told Moses that He needed to do some studying of the Promised Land prior to going in. Since they didn’t have Google Maps or even the internet they had to go in on foot to check things out. This is where we pick the story up:

Numbers 13:1   The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,  2 “Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the people of Israel. From each tribe of their fathers you shall send a man, every one a chief among them.”  3 So Moses sent them from the wilderness of Paran, according to the command of the LORD, all of them men who were heads of the people of Israel.  4 And these were their names: From the tribe of Reuben, Shammua the son of Zaccur;  5 from the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat the son of Hori;  6 from the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh;  7 from the tribe of Issachar, Igal the son of Joseph;  8 from the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea the son of Nun;  9 from the tribe of Benjamin, Palti the son of Raphu;  10 from the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel the son of Sodi;  11 from the tribe of Joseph (that is, from the tribe of Manasseh), Gaddi the son of Susi;  12 from the tribe of Dan, Ammiel the son of Gemalli;  13 from the tribe of Asher, Sethur the son of Michael;  14 from the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi the son of Vophsi;  15 from the tribe of Gad, Geuel the son of Machi.  16 These were the names of the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land. And Moses called Hoshea the son of Nun Joshua.

Now, this might not happen at your house, but on a rare occasion, Karen might not see something just like I do. She might have a different opinion about a change that is coming up in our lives. As wrong as she may be, she is still welcome to her opinion (JUST KIDDING). So, as we come into major decision making situations, we sit down and talk about the situation and the decision(s) that need to be made. We each get to express our thoughts as we weigh out the decision that needs to be made.

Each of the twelve tribes identified one of their key leaders to go out and represent their interests in the new land. Earlier in Numbers, we’re given the census numbers of the men who were twenty or older.  The tribes ranged in size from around 30,000 men to about 75,000 men. Therefore, it must have been quite an honor to be counted as such a leader to go and represent 100,000 or 250,000 men, women, and children! There was a lot at stake for them as a tribe, and the people respected these guys to go as their representative to make sure they got the right answers to the questions they had.

So, God sent out these twelve leaders that each tribe had chosen to go and check out the land. With a dozen of them going, they would be able to get a really good understanding about the land they were going into. They would see different things as they traveled and would be able to talk about the things as they traveled through this new country and evaluated how they could finally get to their new inheritance.

In fact, Moses gives them clear directions about what they are to observe and talk about:

Numbers 13:17   Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan and said to them, “Go up into the Negeb and go up into the hill country,  18 and see what the land is, and whether the people who dwell in it are strong or weak, whether they are few or many,  19 and whether the land that they dwell in is good or bad, and whether the cities that they dwell in are camps or strongholds,  20 and whether the land is rich or poor, and whether there are trees in it or not. Be of good courage and bring some of the fruit of the land.” Now the time was the season of the first ripe grapes.

These sound like pretty straightforward questions…are they:

Strong or Weak

Few or Many

Good or Bad land

Easy or Hard to defeat city defenses

Are there any good fruit trees so we can open the original Busy Corner Pie Station

I think that if I were going in to take over a country, that these would be legitimate questions to ask…don’t you? We’re told in the next verses that they actually obey the Lord and go out to check things out.

Num. 13:21   So they went up and spied out the land from the wilderness of Zin to Rehob, near Lebo-hamath.  22 They went up into the Negeb and came to Hebron. Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the descendants of Anak, were there. (Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.)  23 And they came to the Valley of Eshcol and cut down from there a branch with a single cluster of grapes, and they carried it on a pole between two of them; they also brought some pomegranates and figs.  24 That place was called the Valley of Eshcol,* because of the cluster that the people of Israel cut down from there.

So, they set off to investigate the new land of Canaan. The wilderness of Zin and the Negeb are both pretty sparsely populated areas, but they did check out the towns in the area. Going back to Danville, it would be like these twelve spies crossing the Indiana/Illinois line and checking out Danville, Champaign, Bloomington-Normal, Peoria, Galesburg, Moline, and the smaller towns like Goodfield, Carlock, LeRoy, and Mahomet along the way. So, as they’re going along, they’re probably putting the information into their iPads so they can give a good report once they make their way back from Moline.

As you can imagine, it would take some time to walk from Danville to Moline and back. So, it makes sense that they took about six weeks for this investigative trip. We aren’t told much about the details of the trip, but Moses tells us about their return in this way:

Numbers 13:25   At the end of forty days they returned from spying out the land.  26 And they came to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation of the people of Israel in the wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh. They brought back word to them and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land.  27 And they told him, “We came to the land to which you sent us. It flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. 

The good news is that indeed, it’s a great land and there is plenty of food for them. They will be able to survive and eat well.

BUT…they then followed it up with this part of the report:

28 However, the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large. And besides, we saw the descendants of Anak there.  29 The Amalekites dwell in the land of the Negeb. The Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the hill country. And the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and along the Jordan.”

Do you know any people like that? There is something very positive about a situation, but they become totally focused on the negative? One of my Grandma Beaty’s “quirks” was that when she was worried about something, she projected that fear and worry towards others. For instance, if you had a cold, she could warn you that she once new someone who had a similar cough and they ended up in the hospital with pneumonia. Or she heard about someone who had broken their arm like you did, but it wasn’t set right and the doctors had to re-break the arm and then ended up amputating the arm and a leg too.

It was a kind of pessimistic way to live life! It sounds like these ten spies had been reading from the same playbook. I hear this from students (and my own kids). Yea, but…. Yea mom, I’ll load the dishwasher, but I need to finish my game on the X-Box. Yea, I know my homework was due yesterday, but I had to go to the mall instead. Yea, it’s a nice land, but…there are giants living in big cities with big walls! Those “yea, buts” will really get you if you don’t control them. That’s exactly what Caleb attempts to do.

Caleb shows real Godly leadership and steps up to say in faith what God’s will was. Remember, they have left slavery in Egypt in a dramatic fashion, and God showed Himself incredibly faithful throughout that time! God told them that they were going to the Promised Land…the land that God had promised to their ancestors. In Caleb’s dissenting mind, it’s kind of a “no-brainer”…God said it, that settles it for me!

Num. 13:30   But 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.” 

However, the “yea, but” crowd comes back even stronger with all of the reasons why it can’t work. “Listen fellow Israelites, the people there are SOOO BIG, that we look like grasshoppers compared to the giants:

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.”  32 So they brought to the people of Israel a bad report of the land that they had spied out, saying, “The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants, and fall the people that we saw in it are of great height.  33 And there we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak, who come from the Nephilim), and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.”

OK…that grasshopper line is a large exaggeration, but it shows the extent that people will go to in order to avoid obeying the Lord and to avoid stepping out in faith. Next week, we’ll look at the response of the people AND the response of God to their lack of faith.

So, what can we learn from this passage? Why did I choose to preach on it?

From the positive side of the passage, I think that we need to follow the Lord’s and Moses’ example of checking things out before we move ahead.

Last week, we had Pastor Stephen Barr and others from Faith Baptist Temple in Eureka join us, and next Sunday, we’ll have Pastors Ritch & Art, and maybe Pastor Daniel from the Bethany Baptist Churches join us to do a similar thing.

As your pastor, I appreciated your grace and you genuineness of asking Pastor Barr questions. I think we need to ask those kinds of questions so we know what the options are. In the same way, I believe we need to ask those who come from Bethany and East White Oak similar questions:

Is the church going to keep reaching Goodfield?

Will we be able to be part of the future?

What do you think the future looks like?

How have you done something like this before?

Can we come over and see a church service?

And so on….

From the negative side, we need to make sure that we evaluate things from God’s perspective and not our own. Since God told the Israelites that they were to go into the new land, it really didn’t matter if the sons of Anak were shorter, the same height or three times taller than the spies…they needed to follow Caleb’s exhortations and go into the land.

Now, believe me, I probably have the longest lists of pros and cons for the various options that we’re looking at. I’m looking at things from many different angles and I have lots of thoughts about what looks good…like a monster cluster of grapes that has to be carried by a couple guys. I also have thoughts about what makes me feel like a grasshopper.

However, we need to make sure throughout all of this that we’re following the Lord and that we don’t get hung up on the “glass is mostly empty” viewpoint that ten of the spies returned with.

We must back up and ask the Lord who is the most passionate about our church and our community to do what needs to happen in order for His name to be lifted high and for it to be proclaimed around our communities and even the world based on what happens here in the coming months.

Our closing song today is a fun one based on the issues around this passage. It was written by the late Keith Green over thirty years ago, and the irony and sarcasm are just as pointed today as they were thirty years ago.

Matthew 6: 19-34 August 7, 2011

How do you measure stress in your life?

If you were giving different life events a stress rating, what would you consider to be some of the most stressful things that could happen to you?

Well, the good news is that researchers have come up with a scale that gives different point values to different things that come into our lives and then assigns a value to each of these things. Yes, it’s generalized, but it does give us a glimpse into what may go on in our bodies as various stressful things come along. Of course, when these events pile on top of each other, it can and often does cause other problems in our lives.

I thought about copying these tests for you so you could go along with me, but I was afraid that you’d just read them during the rest of the sermon. So, I did make copies for you, but I’ll hand them out after the service J.

Read through parts of the stress test.

Karen and I joke that we are trying to keep our stress level in the “stroke level” range for as long as possible. But it’s true isn’t it that things that happen in life do cause us struggles!

Today, I want us to look at another familiar passage from Matthew’s Gospel. Many people call this section of Scripture Christ’s Sermon on the Mount. It covers many different things, but the section of it that we’re going to look at today specifically covers the areas of stress about both today and the future.

Jesus says:

Matt. 6:19   “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

I don’t know if you have investments or a retirement account. But if you do, this past week has not been a very good one for keeping your treasures! With the stock market falling like crazy (about 700 points!), it becomes easy to start worrying about the future! For those of you who are retired, the questions come up about whether you’ll be able to survive with reduced income now. Those of you my age wonder if there will be any chance for us to retire if we can’t keep money in our retirement accounts.

So, maybe it wasn’t a thief with a mask and a gun who stole your retirement money this week, but, it still disappeared! That is exactly Christ’s point here…your money isn’t secure. It can come and go and you don’t have much say in what happens to it.

Likewise, our stuff can rust and get messed up by a variety of things. Think about that car, van or truck that you’re driving. What goes wrong? Somebody runs a stop sign and hits you. Somebody opens their car door at the IGA and dents the side of your car. After awhile, some rust does appear. Power options like windows, doors, and cruise control stop working. And this list could go on and on about bad things that happen to our vehicles.

Jesus is telling us to stop focusing on our cash and the other things in life that don’t stay perfect. Rather, we need to focus on things that are of eternal worth. We need to be building up our “retirement account” in heaven instead of in the Goodfield State Bank.

So, what kinds of things count as treasures in heaven?

Did you hear about the rich man who was near death. He was very grieved because he had worked so hard for his money and wanted to be able to take it with him to heaven. So he began to pray that he might be able to take some of his wealth with him.

An angel heard his plea and appeared to him. "Sorry, but you can't take your wealth with you."

The man begged the angel to speak to God to see if He might bend the rules. The man continued to pray that his wealth could follow him.

The angel reappeared and informed the man that God had decided to allow him to take one suitcase with him. Overjoyed, the man gathered his largest suitcase and filled it with pure gold bars and placed it beside his bed.

Soon afterward, he died and showed up at the gates of heaven to greet St. Peter.

St. Peter, seeing the suitcase, said, "Hold on, you can't bring that in here!"

The man explained to St. Peter that he had permission and asked him to verify his story with the Lord.

Sure enough, St. Peter checked it out, came back and said, "You're right. You are allowed one carry-on bag, but I'm supposed to check its contents before letting it through."

St. Peter opened the suitcase to inspect the worldly items that the man found too precious to leave behind and exclaimed, "You brought pavement?"

OK…so taking gold asphalt to heaven wouldn’t count. What things do count as treasures in heaven? Obeying God, telling others about Jesus, helping people come to faith in Jesus, serving the Lord, and so on. It’s basically things from the Great Commandment and the Great Commission…love God, love your neighbors, and make disciples. Those are the things that rust can’t destroy and thieves can’t steal. That is so incredibly important in God’s economy.

One of the things that I’m excited about is that as we move forward with determining the next step for our congregation, we can easily follow these instructions from our Lord! We can keep our minds focused on eternal things…even if the earthly things don’t end up the way we want them to or the way we had hoped they would go.

For instance, can you keep on telling people about Jesus…even if our church closes? YES! Can you keep showing love to others if our church closes? YES! Can you still give money to missions and go on mission trips and worship with other believers if our church is closed? YES!

Let’s drop down a couple of verses to verse 24.

Matt. 6:24   “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.

Boy, these are tough verses. They are very true, but I know many people who want to tell us that they’re following God, but they’re going to try to earn lots of money so they can give it to the Lord’s work, but they keep storing it up for themselves instead of giving it back to the Lord. Do you know people who are slaves to the “almighty dollar”? Do you know people who would rather work some overtime on Sundays than to come to church? There are many people like that, aren’t there?

Matt. 6:25   “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.

What things cause you to get anxious? For my youngest four kids, it’s simple things like seeing a spider or worrying that another kid is going to take their favorite toy. It’s also bigger things…Benjamin and Aaron’s parents often left them alone when they were just four and two. As a result, they get very anxious when we go somewhere new that we might leave them there or when we’re getting ready to go somewhere that we’ll take everybody but them. My grandmother’s house burned down when she was around junior high aged. As a result, she never allowed candles or a gas stove in her house.

What about you? Is it being concerned about your new classes at junior high, high school, or even college? Is it a problem at work that is raising your blood pressure? Is it your own health or the health of a friend or relative? Do the financial struggles of yourself or others cause you anxiety? Do you worry whether you’ll have enough food to eat or whether you’re able to afford the finest clothes? Are you worrying right now about what questions to ask Pastor Barr in an hour or so? Are you anxious about what will happen to our church? We all have things that make us fight anxiousness don’t we?

Jesus clearly commands us to NOT BE ANXIOUS! We need to exercise more faith and trust that our heavenly Father, the Good Shepherd that we looked at last week, cares enough about us to take care of us!

Jesus gives us a few clear examples: Birds work hard to find food, but ultimately, it’s the Lord who provides for them and allows them to survive without storing up grain for the future. God also clearly takes care of the flowers…even if they are very temporary. Therefore, we can and must trust the Lord to take care of us in every fine detail of our lives…even when we don’t see it or feel like He’s there with us.

Jesus reiterates the importance of not worrying about tomorrow in the final verse in this section:

Matt. 6:34   “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

There’s no need to be anxious or to worry about the stuff that’s going to happen tomorrow or next week or even next year…every day has plenty things to wrestle with. Or as one of my grandmothers used to say, “There’s no need to go around borrowing trouble!”

An old chorus from the 40’s went:

Why worry when you can pray

Trust Jesus, He’ll be your stay

Don’t be a doubting Thomas

Trust fully on His promise

Why worry, worry, worry, worry

When you can pray?

It’s a great truth isn’t it? However, I’m afraid that many of us slip into the rut of saying, “Why pray when you can worry?”

This is one of those commands that I think we as Christians sweep to the side as not being a really big deal or one that we argue with the Lord about. “Lord that wasn’t worry, it was genuine concern!” or “Lord You just don’t understand…that was a really big thing, and it’s OK for me to be anxious about that!”

Again, as He stated earlier in the passage, the command is very clear

In case we’ve missed His point up until now, Jesus lays it out very clearly for us again:

33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

As I’ve been praying about what to preach on in these coming weeks, the Lord has continued to bring these truths to my mind. We need to seek God’s righteousness and His kingdom first in our lives…then, everything will be taken care of.

As we have a meeting in a little bit, we have choices to make. Will we worry about the future or trust the Lord to take care of us? Will we seek first the advancement of God’s kingdom, or our own?

How do we tell if we’re working on our agenda or the Kingdom of our Lord’s agenda? Here are some questions I thought about?

Why was this church originally started? (for the sake of children) How are we doing at reaching the children of Goodfield? How are we doing at reaching people in Goodfield period?

What “kind of church” are we? (Baptist) How many baptisms are we doing annually or even in this decade?

How are we as a church doing at making disciples in Goodfield, Illinois, the United States, and the uttermost ends of the earth?

I did NOT write these questions to make us feel bad or to upset people before lunch! I am though quite serious that if we are to be fulfilling our purpose of reaching children and families in Goodfield; if we are to be fulfilling our purpose of seeing new converts come to Christ and then getting baptized; and if we are to be making disciples both locally and globally we might need to determine how to build up God’s Kingdom in a different way than what we’re currently doing.

I know that can mean the death of our vision…even as we’ve talked about that the last three weeks or so. But, for the sake of God’s Kingdom…and NOT our own kingdom, how can we best move ahead to fulfill those purposes that have been part of our core values for over one hundred years?

As we meet with representatives from these three churches in the coming weeks, we need to answer these questions: Which church will help us best build up God’s Kingdom for the future? Despite the potential struggles or the pieces that we’re uncomfortable with, or the frustration that I feel, which church has the best potential for being a success in making disciples and making eternal investments in heaven where moth and rust won’t destroy and where thieves won’t steal?

Today’s closing song is by Ethel Waters. I think most of you should be familiar with it. It’s a great reminder that just like God carefully watches sparrows, He is watching us so we don’t need to be anxious or worry!

Psalm 23 July 31, 2011

My father grew up on a farm over near Bushnell. As was typical  in the 40’s and 50’s, they raised not only corn and beans, but they also had cows and pigs. My dad was very successful showing livestock in 4-H and FFA. Of course, he learned parts of that from his grandfather who was a perennial grand champion winner with his Poland China Hogs. My mother grew up on a farm where her father managed one of the largest Holstein Cattle herds in the state. My Karen grew up on a farm that had a mixture of crops and beef…until her youngest brother went off to college, and then her dad decided that he couldn’t do it on his own with an eight-year-old daughter.

So, I have a history of farming all around me…but I grew up in town. I did raise some chickens, pheasants, and quail for 4-H. But, that’s a long jump to raising big Black Angus Cattle!

You’ll notice that while our families have been involved in raising various kinds of livestock over the last few generations, I didn’t mention that any of them raised sheep. However, I did have good friends who raised sheep growing up…and their dad continues to raise them. In fact, you can see the Caughey’s sheep along I55 between Chenoa and Pontiac. My daughter Hannah also has a friend from Carlock who will be showing her sheep at the McLean County Fair this week…so you can go and see some sheep up close if you want to!

The Caughey’s have verified for me over the years that as is the stereotypical case with sheep, they aren’t the brightest animals on the farm. They don’t try to get out of bad weather, they need the llama to protect them, they need more help than other animals in giving birth, and on and on the list goes. Here’s a video clip…let me know if you think other animals would have done this differently.

It is a little frustrating in the Scriptures to see that God often refers to us as sheep. My pride likes to think I’m more majestic…like a lion or bald eagle or at least an outstanding looking bull!

But for some reason, when in comparison to God Himself, we must need some extra help navigating life. There must be a reason that throughout the Word, we’re called sheep and the Lord…and spiritual leaders in the church are called shepherds.

As we look towards options in the future for our congregation, I thought it would be good for us to review some familiar passages as well as look at some passages that bring us encouragement in the middle of our concern, “upsetness”, anger, distress, relief, or whatever else we are feeling during this time.

This morning, we are going to look at Psalm 23. If I were to guess, most of us have memorized John 3:16, Romans 3:23; Genesis 1:1; and many of you have memorized way more passages than that. However, if we’re looking at chapters that have been memorized, my guess is that the 23^rd Psalm is the most memorized (or at least in the top 3) whole chapter. Of course, it helps that it is pretty short!

We haven’t done this for a long time, but since this passage is short and since it is probably very familiar to each of us, I’d like for us to recite it together from the King James Version since that’s probably the version most known:

Psa. 23:0 A Psalm of David.  1 The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.  2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.  3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.  4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.  5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.  6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

Now, even reading this out loud brings comfort doesn’t it? This is a Psalm that is often read during trying times. 

·      Times when we don’t know what the future holds.

·      Times when we are frightened.

·      Times when we are sad.

·      Times of sickness and death.

Let’s break it down and look at it in smaller pieces:

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. 

This chapter starts out with the focus on The One Who is in control…it is clearly the Lord who we must rely on…not ourselves! When you think about a shepherd…whether in ancient Biblical times, in the Middle East today, or on a farm in Carlock or Chenoa, what do you think of?

What kinds of things do shepherds provide for the sheep? Food, water, shelter, immunizations, safety, etc…

Each of those is part of this statement that King David makes…we don’t need to worry, because the Lord, our shepherd is taking care of us. Does that mean that we always have everything we wish we could have? No. Does that mean that Christians will always be the richest people around? No.

What is our heart attitude…thankfulness or entitlement

2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. 

I love the symbolism in this verse as we’re reminded how well the Great Shepherd takes care of us. He takes us, his sheep, to places where our daily needs are met…for sheep, that’s the lush green meadows of great grass and the pure cool water from the mountain streams and ponds.

I was looking at the grass in my yard this week…how do you think it looks? Dry like everybody else’s yard does! Even the weeds look stressed by the heat! Would it be a good place for Bob Caughey to bring his sheep? NO WAY! We are working on putting egress windows into our new house. The fill around our house is all clay. As you can imagine, as we have been cutting the holes into the wall and as we’ve had some rain and water from the concrete saws the water has pooled in the bottom of the holes. As we pumped the mix of clay and water out of the holes, do you think that Bob Caughey would bring his sheep to come and drink from the end of that pump hose? NO WAY!

The Lord is very different in that he does provide the proper necessities for our life.

3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. 

I don’t know what you’ve encountered throughout your life. What trials have you encountered? Have you had disappointments? Have you had things in life go different than you planned? Have you been saddened about the future of the church? Of course, each of us have had those struggles? Even as I started listing these issues, many of you have left the sanctuary and are rehearsing those down times.

Come back!

Our Great Shepherd wants to restore our souls in the midst and after those trials. As you’re wrestling with the future of Goodfield Baptist Church, are you willing to let the Shepherd restore your soul, or are you going to go your own way and choose to not let Jesus comfort and restore you? It’s a choice…which option are you going to choose?

The second part of this verse talks about how the Lord leads us in righteousness. Again…this is a choice for us…will we follow along in God’s righteousness or will we go our own way? I think that it’s easy for us when things get tough to come to a crisis moment and then decide to not follow the Lord any longer. How many people do you know over the years who have had some kind of problem with the church or with another believer and then they just stop going to church. Some of them still say they are following Jesus, but they’re struggling with following His righteousness.

4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me

This verse is often used in funerals as it obviously talks about death. I think that it’s also a good verse for when people are going through struggles in life. There have been times in my life when I thought I was going to die. It could have been due to a physical problem, a problem in a church, a misunderstanding of someone else judging me, financial issues, job pressures, job losses, and so on. Have any of you had any of those issues, or am I the only one?

How does that work for us as we walk through this valley where we stare the death of our church in the eyes? Will we fear the future? Will we look at the death of the church as an evil event? Will we view those who have left the church as evil? Will we mourn appropriately or will we mourn as if the Great Shepherd is walking through this valley with us?

Most of us have experienced the death of a loved one. However, we haven’t been able to go with them all the way have we? Even with the long journey Karen’s dad had from health to death and even though we were there throughout the process, we didn’t cross the threshold of death with him. We got up to the edge of death, but couldn’t go all the way through that valley to the other side.

In contrast, the Great Shepherd is able to walk us all the way through death and bring us safely to the other side! I find that we can trust the Lord incredibly as we go through this time together. As I’ve thought more and more about this throughout this week, I was very encouraged.

How long have your families been part of Goodfield Baptist Church? How long has Jesus been part of Goodfield Baptist Church? How much has your family invested in this church? How much has Jesus invested in this church? How many members of your family are still here? How much Jesus is still here? Even if we all leave this building and never return, and another church takes it over, how much Jesus will be here?

See, as the author of Hebrews tells us…we need to fix our eyes on Jesus…the author and finisher of our faith. He’s also the beginner and finisher of Goodfield Baptist Church. He has been here before the original church was started over in Deer Creek and before any of our ancestors started here. Likewise, He will be here long after we have all died and after all of our descendants have stopped attending this church or whatever follows us in this location.

So, as we move through the coming months, we need to draw our comfort and our strength from the fact that Jesus, our Great Shepherd is walking right alongside of us. He is close enough to touch us with His rod and staff. He isn’t standing a long way off waiting for us to really mess things up or to fall into death’s valley without him being there with us!

In fact, verse 5 brings us back to the fact that we can even celebrate in the middle of these trying times.

5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. 

There are a couple of different interpretations here…one is that God is able to bring even enemies together so that they can participate together at a meal. The other one is that perhaps even when you think that things are terribly bad, you may win the battle and be able to parade your captives around in your celebration banquet after winning the war.

In either view, I think we have the opportunity in coming days to work on celebrating with those that some may consider our enemies. Two weeks ago, as I asked questions about our thoughts about the successes of other groups

I was doing some more research this week about two of the churches we’ve been talking with. East White Oak over in Carlock was started in 1892…just a year after we were officially started.

I found it more interesting to discover that Bethany Baptist Church in Peoria was originally started as a Sunday School outreach of First Baptist of Peoria (an ABC Church). From 1877 as just one Sunday School class to 1880 when First Baptist adopted it to 1891 when it organized as an official congregation, its history closely parallels our own.

As I discovered this information about these two congregations, it caused me to really wrestle with some things. I am 100% in support of the staff and ministries at these two churches. The staff are AMAZING men of God! However, I found welling up within me jealousy, discontentment, frustration, and anger about their current situations. How is it that these two churches who are almost identical to us regarding the starting timelines are so much healthier than we are? How can Bethany send three hundred people to Washington to start a church and regain those people in less than 18 months and still run around a thousand people on Sundays? OK…you’re right…they’re in Peoria, and we’re just in lowly Goodfield, there’s no chance for us to have that many people. Well…how do you explain East White Oak? They’re in the middle of nowhere, and yet, people drive from Congerville, Goodfield, Eureka, Downs, and LeRoy to attend there? I’m not sure what their attendance is now, but it was running somewhere around a thousand people.

WAIT! Aren’t these churches our enemies? Many people from Goodfield are attending Bethany’s church in Washington, several people from Goodfield are going to East White Oak and Faith Baptist Temple up in Eureka. They are stealing fish from our private fishing pond!

Oh, but in the coming six weeks or so, we’re inviting them to come and join us. We’re going to ask them about how they can help the Gospel message continue on from this location for future generations! In the presence of our “enemies”, we are going to prepare a lunch table as we eat together. We are going to welcome them in not as people who are poaching from our land, but as friends who are partners in the ministry of the Gospel of Jesus Christ! AND, we can CHOOSE to rejoice and let our cups of joy overflow in the process!

This chapter, this song, this word from King David, ends with the benediction:

6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

What a reassuring text! No matter where we go. No matter what the future holds. No matter what we struggle with. No matter the crisis that we’re encountering. No matter what we discover in the valley of the shadow of death. The Good Shepherd is with us! The Good Shepherd is showering us with His goodness and mercy!

His invitation is for us to live with Him forever…whether that means the current physical state of us spending much of our time in this building, the current spiritual state of us living our lives in God’s presence, and of course, the ultimate reality of us living in God’s house in heaven.

As I’ve mentioned several times, I’m a type A kind of person who wants to always win and always bring people along with me as we charge the next hill. I know for each of you, the past two years have been especially tough here at church. One of the top songs playing now on Christian radio is “Blessings” by Laura Story. I think that it embodies our thoughts and feelings as we evaluate how God is working in our lives and our church at this point.

Let’s listen to it as we conclude today’s service.

Jonah 4 July 17, 2011

We’ve made it! We started looking at the book of Jonah six weeks ago, and today we conclude this series.

As we’ve dived into the text in some detail, several key themes have repeatedly jumped out:

·      God is in control: of the storm, of the fish, of the hearts of people, and we’ll see His control again today

·      God is concerned about everyone: the sailors, the people of Nineveh, our enemies, and even Jonah, and again, we’ll see that compassion today

·      God desires obedience: Get up, Go to Nineveh, Preach…means just that, and it’s better to obey the first time. Today, we’ll see Jonah continuing to wrestle with a disobedient heart

·      God gives second (and third) chances: Jonah was able to get back on track to finish the original assignment God had given him

Last week, we looked at how after being given the command to Get up, Go to Nineveh, and Preach, that Jonah did just that. He went to Nineveh, went through the community, preached, and the people repented from their sins and chose to follow the Lord.

The third chapter closes like this:

Jonah 3:10   When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.

OK…quick quiz question: If a prophet of the Lord was told to go and preach the good news to a group of people and everyone from the King down repents and accepts the Lord, what SHOULD the prophet do? If Billy Graham or Luis Palau did a huge crusade at Soldier Field or Busch Stadium and tens of thousands of people trusted in Christ as their Savior, what do you think they would do?

RIGHT…REJOICE, CELEBRATE, GIVE GLORY to GOD!!!

But, as most of you are familiar with this story, our dear friend Jonah had a slightly (alright…VERY) different response to the change in the Ninevites’ lives and God’s subsequent forgiveness of them.

Jonah 4:1   But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry.  2 And he prayed to the LORD and said, “O LORD, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster.

I love the way the Message Version puts these verses:

Jonah 4:1   Jonah was furious. He lost his temper.  2 He yelled at GOD, “GOD! I knew it—when I was back home, I knew this was going to happen! That’s why I ran off to Tarshish! I knew you were sheer grace and mercy, not easily angered, rich in love, and ready at the drop of a hat to turn your plans of punishment into a program of forgiveness!

How do you like that? A genuine man of God, a prophet, gets ANGRY at God?!?! The Hebrew word translated angry means “hot”. He was HOT! Burning angry! Not miffed, or frustrated, or irritated, FULL BLOWN ANGRY!!

Remember, why was he angry? He was so mad because God is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and merciful, full of steadfast love. Now, I know that sounds silly, but that’s how Jonah responded!

This is an amazing passage. Jonah, like so many other Israelites, really wanted God just for themselves. God shouldn’t be allowed to be kind to other countries. God should reserve His love and kindness for ME not THEM!

I think we as Americans can fall into that same pattern ourselves. We proudly proclaim God Bless America, but do we ever pray for God to bless Iraq or China, or even Canada? Do we think of ourselves as Americans first and Christians second, or do we look at ourselves as citizens of Heaven first and Americans second? A large part of Jonah’s problem was that he flat out didn’t want God to show grace and mercy to his enemies.

As a heart check, how would you feel if this afternoon’s news reported that Billy Graham was doing a crusade in Kabul…the capital of The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, and at last night’s crusade, everyone in the country trusted Jesus and the whole country renounced Islam, laid down their weapons, turned over the members of the various extreme terrorist groups and begged for Christians to send professors and pastors to come and teach them about following Christ?

Would we rejoice, or would we question if it could happen? Would we call people to celebrate, or would we call to complain that God couldn’t change their hearts?

That’s one level of how we respond to God extending grace to others. Let’s look at it from a much more practical and personal perspective. How do you feel if I mention that Faith Baptist Temple in Eureka has grown from nothing five months ago to averaging around 70 each week; or Crosspoint Community Church had nobody ten years ago, and runs around 300 today; or Rock Creek Bible Church in Congerville (Congerville Mennonite) has grown like crazy in the past five years and they’re parking cars all over their parking lot and across Rte 150 at the school. Here we are, we were running about a hundred or slightly more about ten years ago, and now we’re running 15-20.

Oooh…does that hit a little closer to home? It does for me! I have to admit, I ask those questions…what am I doing wrong that our church isn’t growing? Is it safe to have a business meeting? At the last one, emotions, actions and attitudes got out of hand and nearly a dozen adults and children walked out the door and have not returned…and have made it clear that they won’t. Why are people so interested in attending churches that have great children’s ministry, great bands for worship, intimate small groups, creative outreach ministries, people “my age”, etc…? Is it that I’m a really bad preacher and I’m scaring people off?

You see, it’s VERY easy to get self-righteous in our condemnation of Jonah for his lack of celebration at what God was doing “somewhere else”. However, if we’re honest, there may be a part of ME that resents if someone has a successful ministry…whether in Afghanistan…or in Eureka.

Coming back to the text, I hope that none of us have gotten to this point, but Jonah was so intensely hot and angry that he asks the Lord to kill him.

3 Therefore now, O LORD, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.”  4 And the LORD said, “Do you do well to be angry?”

Think about the irony of all of this, God gives Jonah a very important assignment…Get up, Go to Nineveh, Preach. On the second attempt, Jonah actually makes it there and preaches and is HIGHLY successful. In fact, this could be one of those times when someone should nominate him for Prophet of the Month for how many Ninevites he got to repent.

Then, instead of celebrating, he wants to die. REALLY?? Jonah is so mad that God didn’t kill off the Ninevites, that he wants God to kill him instead. The idea here is that since you didn’t kill them, the world isn’t big enough for both of us…either You kill them or You kill me.

It seems a little extreme, but that is indeed how angry Jonah is at this point. I love God’s response, “Hey, what are you so mad about?”

Sometimes, I think Jonah is a little slow. In the group of kids I work with, we’d call this a processing delay. He thought he could run and hide from God. He thought he could get all “nicey nice” with God when he was in the fish so he’d get out. He thought if he went to Nineveh with a terrible attitude the people wouldn’t repent. Now, he thinks God will flip flop on not destroying these terrible enemies, so he goes up on a hill somewhere to wait for the Lord to use “shock and awe” to firebomb all of Nineveh like He did to Sodom and Gomorrah.

In my mind I think of that high bridge on the east side of the river in East Peoria. Jonah climbs up there where he has a great view of the whole city to see God wipe Peoria off the map!

Jonah 4:5   Jonah went out of the city and sat to the east of the city and made a booth for himself there. He sat under it in the shade, till he should see what would become of the city.

I love it…what in the world was he thinking to put up one of those picnic tent things to wait for the coming judgment?

Now, maybe, living in that part of the world was hot like it is here today (think of it…a city in Iraq…anybody know someone who has served over there…what’s the weather like?)

6 Now the LORD God appointed a plant and made it come up over Jonah, that it might be a shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort. So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the plant.  7 But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant, so that it withered.

At any rate, the God that Jonah is so angry about shows his loving kindness and grace to Jonah by causing some kind of plant to grow up and give him some extra shade from the heat. The Hebrew here is a funny play on words that can mean both “shade him from his discomfort” and “save him from his wickedness”. God continues to demonstrate that He is in control of everything. He causes this plant to grow supernaturally fast over night to give Jonah another clear opportunity to dialogue with the Lord who cares for him just like He does the people of Nineveh.

I thought about bringing a weed in today for show and tell. Yesterday, we were working in the yard. Johnmark cut some weeds down in the dog pen area. I noticed a couple hours later that they were REALLY withered! They would NOT have provided shade for anything!

So, our friend Jonah put up his little shelter thing that wasn’t doing a very good job of shading him. God made a shady plant grow to help him out. God then caused a worm to eat the stem of the plant, and it withered and no longer sheltered the prophet! To make matters worse, God then turned up the temperature in the oven of attitude refinement.

8 When the sun rose, God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint.  

Have any of you ever been out in the heat long enough that you felt faint from it being so warm…that’s where Jonah is.

Now, most of us would figure out how to get up and get into some better shade or a cooler place. But, Jonah was so stubborn that he held his ground up on that hill so he could see God wipe Nineveh out. Instead of giving in, he once again asks the Lord to kill him. Can you imagine the intensity of his anger at God that he continues to basically shake his fist at the Lord?

And he asked that he might die and said, “It is better for me to die than to live.”  9 But God said to Jonah, “Do you do well to be angry for the plant?” And he said, “Yes, I do well to be angry, angry enough to die.”

At this point, God “calls him out” and confronts him about the absurdity of Jonah getting upset about a plant that he didn’t plant or fertilize or help to grow, and it only was there for a day.

10 And the LORD said, “You pity the plant, for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night.

The Lord goes on to push the issue further by comparing the utter worthlessness of the plant in comparison with the eternal souls of all the people in Nineveh.

11 And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?”

Now, the commentators differ on how to interpret this last verse. Were there 120,000 young children who didn’t know the difference between their right and left hands…making the population of Nineveh in the hundreds of thousands since not every family would have a preschooler. Some say it’s more likely that it was 120,000 people who didn’t have a moral compass to tell the difference between right and wrong. Obviously, some people in the country would.

So, whether you put the size of Nineveh as a metro Bloomington-Normal number or a metro Peoria area, or bigger, the point here is that God has every right to be concerned about and to show mercy to the eternal souls of people there. This is in a strong contrast to Jonah’s goofy concern about a shady plant.

The moral difference is so huge!

That ends this brief book. Most commentators believe that whether it’s after this particular discussion with God or maybe even sometime later that Jonah again repented and then wrote this autobiographical story of his own life so that others can learn from all of his huge mistakes.

What are some of those mistakes that we can look at today?

1.    We need to celebrate God’s mercy and loving-kindness!

a.    Look around you…where do you see the Lord dishing out grace?

b.    Stop and give thanks when you see it!

2.    We need to celebrate God’s work with other Christians!

a.    As you see Vermeer of Central Illinois building it’s new complex on the other side of the road, do you stop and pray that it will go fast so Crosspoint Community Church can get  into their building soon?

b.    As you drive by the strip mall on the south end of Eureka, do you pray that God will cause the Baptist Temple to grow fast and reach many people that we aren’t?

c.     When you see one of the former members of our church around town, do you ask with expectancy how they’re doing spiritually…and really hope they’re doing well?

3.    We need to celebrate God’s work in our national enemies’ lives

a.    I subscribe to several email updates that give me information on what God is doing around the world so I can pray well

b.    We need to pray that God will send missionaries to various parts of the world to bring the Gospel to them.

c.     We need to rejoice if God sends our community a missionary from somewhere else…who could reach the Indian tech support guys at State Farm better…one of us, or a missionary from India?

4.    We need to celebrate God’s successes…even if they aren’t what we expected

a.    Have you seen God do something or lead you somewhere you weren’t planning on going?

b.    Getting so mad at God for working out His plan that you’re ready to commit suicide isn’t a good idea.

c.     We need to work to make sure our heart is beating in sync with Gods. Henry Blackaby had it right, “Find where God is working, and join Him”. Think how much better chapter 4 would have been if Jonah had been working with instead of against God.