Numbers 11:4-6, 10-16, 24-29; Psalm 19:7-14; James 5:13-20; Mark 9:38-50
This is the third of 8 sermons on a series Entitled “God Solves our Problems”.
We’ve heard how the promise of eternal life changes our perspective on problems, allowing us to see problems with an eternal, godly perspective instead of an urgent, human perspective. And we saw how, with our permission, God puts us into a training program to help us learn to live godly, holy lives. And last week, we saw how God’s model of the servant leader drives us to help other people rather than look upon others as our servants.
This week, today’s readings are so rich, concern arrogance and humbleness, and involve two separate episodes between the Old Testament and the Gospel.
The first episode in Numbers 11 involves Moses and the people in the desert. The Israelites had fled Egypt and crossed the sea to the desert. And now, two years late, the Israelites are moving back and forth between the Sinai Peninsula and the desert in western Arabia. During all this time, for the last two years, God has provided everyone with enough manna to eat, miraculous bread that appeared every morning on the ground. The people have had enough, though.
4 The rabble with them began to crave other food, and again the Israelites started wailing and said, “If only we had meat to eat! 5 We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost—also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic. 6 But now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna!”
The people were tired of C-rations. They were tired of Power Bars. They were tired of Granola every day. They wanted hamburgers. And they whined and complained about the way God had kept them alive.
Don’t we still do that? Don't we still complain about the manner in which God has kept us alive. We have a comfortable home, but don’t have a Jacuzzi, so we complain. We have a car, but it isn’t a Lexus, so we complain. We have a 32 inch television, but it isn’t a 54 inch, so we complain. We have a freezer full of venison, but there’s no shrimp so we complain. We have a social security check that comes every month so we don’t have to work in our old age, but we complain because there was no cost-of-living increase and we can’t eat at the steak house this week. We are alive and able to make it to church, but we complain because we have trouble hearing the speakers from the back row of the sanctuary.
It is in the nature of people to complain, but some people take it to excess. When I was in Atlanta, we attended a church which had some rather wealthy people in it, and by our standards, several of them spoiled their children. The issue wasn’t whether or not the 16 year old got the oldest family car to drive, but whether the new car they would receive was a Mercedes convertible or a BMW convertible.
One night I listened as several members of the youth group were bragging. “I just got my 100th CD”, one said. Another quickly explained that he had 200 and a third said he had 400 music CD’s. And for the next half-hour, these wealthy kids, who had the ability to drive all over Atlanta, had pocket money that allowed them to eat out at a different restaurant every night – and Atlanta has so many restaurants that you truly can eat at a different restaurant every night – these spoiled, arrogant children, who lived in a city with major league baseball, major league football, major league basketball, theatres, concerts, and multiple major amusement parks – these arrogant teens complained for a half-hour about how there was nothing to do in Atlanta.
The Israelites and the Atlanta youth group both were arrogant. Arrogance is best described as the opposite of humble. Arrogance is assuming that things are owed to you because of who you are. In particular, arrogance toward God is an attitude that demands certain things from God and assumes that you are equal enough with God to negotiate.
Now I do not know about you, but I do not negotiate with fleas when our dog Brownie brings one home. And in the scheme of things, God is far, far, farther above us than we are above fleas. There is no equality here, we have no rights in front of God, the Lego-man has no rights in front of the boy who built him, the Barbie doll has no rights in front of the girl who owns her, and we have no basis to demand anything of the God who created the Universe. Job once demanded that God show Job what Job had done wrong, and God said, in the 38th chapter:
“Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand. “
And all around us we have people questioning God’s motives. “Why did God let the earthquake happen? Why does God let ISIS do evil things? Why does God allow disease and death to happen?” Perhaps we should be asking a more fundamental, a more basic question: "Why does God bother to allow ME to exist?"
We have the wrong image of God and ourselves. We think that God sees us as a little fly hiding in the corner of the Universe, so small that God rarely even knows we exist. We assume that God would have track us down, to look intently for us, to swat us to wipe us out, that it would take energy for God to find us and destroy us. But we misunderstand. A better, more accurate image is that of the juggler who has 52 fine crystal wineglasses in the air at once. All he needs to do if one of the wineglasses offends him is to stop worrying about that particular glass and it will quickly shatter because the juggler isn’t constantly saving it from destruction. We are the wineglasses and God is the Juggler. The only reason we exist is because God chooses to keep us going every second – if God merely forgets about us, we are lost forever. But God loves us and pays attention to us so that we continue to live.
Arrogant people can wear you out. And the arrogance of the Israelites was wearing out Moses. So he went to God and asked God why God had stuck him with the burden of dealing with all the Israelites. In fact, Moses was so upset he asked God to grant him a favor and strike him dead so he didn’t have to deal with the arrogance of the people any longer.
And so God had Moses pull together 70 leaders, and God took some of the Holy Spirit that was on Moses and put that Spirit on the 70 leaders, and they began to prophesy. They began to speak on behalf of God. They began to lead Israel in a godly fashion and handle the burdens of leadership, pointing people to the good things God had done for Israel, forming Israel into a God-fearing group instead of a Moses-hating rabble. And each of those leading people grew closer to God, and the army of Israel began to form into something more than a random mob of people.
But there was a problem. It seems like two men were not invited to the leadership meeting and they began speaking with the power of the Holy Spirit. Eldad and Medad had not gone to the classes, they had not received the certificate, they didn’t have the diploma – but God spoke through them.
Naturally, a couple of busybodies decided that this wasn’t right – a leader has to be properly checked out, properly approved, properly anointed and consecrated by the important powers. Eldad and Medad must be stopped!
29 But Moses replied, “Are you jealous for my sake? I wish that all the Lord’s people were prophets and that the Lord would put his Spirit on them!”
Moses understood this principle: If you have enough people who listen to the Holy Spirit and speak what the Holy Spirit says – the world would be a much better place.
In our worldly experience, leadership is a rare and protected jewel. After all, we can only have one principal, one President, one CEO. There can only be one teacher in a class, one supervisor in a team, one general in a brigade. You can only have one person conducting, one person playing first chair violin, one lead surgeon. And so in the world, we try our best to stop people from becoming leaders, for fear that there will be too many leaders and not enough followers. It is how we decide who is better than the next person, and how we justify our arrogance, because we were selected and (ha, ha!) you weren’t.
And so we require degrees and certificates and coursework and senority and such. We put barriers in front of people who want to be leaders. But Moses simply wanted everyone to have the Holy Spirit, to listen to that Spirit, and to tell others about God.
And Jesus also had this different idea for the church. Mark tells us that one day some of the disciples came back and said,
38 “Teacher,” said John, “we saw someone driving out demons in your name and we told him to stop, because he was not one of us.”
39 “Do not stop him,” Jesus said. “For no one who does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me, 40 for whoever is not against us is for us. 41 Truly I tell you, anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name because you belong to the Messiah will certainly not lose their reward.
Jesus understood that people who follow Jesus are following Jesus, whether or not they went through the approved channels. Jesus didn’t care if you were part of the official Three-Year Disciples Course – he just wanted people to speak to other people about His message of love and forgiveness.
And so, there is no course that certifies you to speak to your friends, neighbors, and family about Jesus. There is no official requirement you must pass to allow you to set up a Bible study in your home. You already have permission and encouragement from Jesus Himself.
Now something happened though, over the centuries. As the original Twelve disciples died and new leaders came to teach in the church, over the centuries some people who were good teachers – but not necessarily good students – began to teach odd ideas about Jesus. And the bulk of the teachers and leaders had to decide how to make sure that Christianity remained focused upon the original teachings of Jesus.
And so the idea of ordination came about, where a leader of a congregation must not only receive the backing of the congregation, but also be approved by several leaders from nearby congregations. It was a form of quality control. And in various forms, this continues today, as a form of quality control, a way to ensure that arrogant, yet charismatic teachers do not teach false ideas to people who do not know any better.
And so today, in the United Methodist Church, we have several levels of certification which ensure that those who teach are at least teaching Methodist ideas when they teach in a Methodist church, for although 90% of what we teach agrees with the Baptists and the Catholics and the Presbyterians and the Church of Christ, there are some ideas which make us a Methodist Church, just as all cheeseburgers have hamburger and cheese and buns, but a Big Mac isn’t a Big Mac without that special sauce.
To spread the Word of God, to start a home Bible study, to lead people in prayer, to bring your friends and neighbors and family to know Jesus better – you only have to learn to read and interpret the Word of God, and to listen to the Holy Spirit, while trying your best to live a holy life yourself. As a baptized Christian, you are encouraged to do this as soon as possible.
However, to deliver a sermon in your own church, you must have passed the Basic Lay Servant course at the District Lay Speaker Academy, and this course is also recommended for everyone who leads a significant class inside the church. You also have to have the recommendation of your Staff Parish Relations Committee and your Charge Conference and the pastor. And we’ll be looking for evidence of the Holy Spirit moving in your life and your understanding of God. You see, you are now teaching within our walls and we want to be sure you meet certain basic standards.
To be a substitute speaker at other churches, you must have taken advanced courses from the Lay Speaker Academy, as well as the previous requirements.
To go on to be a part-time pastor, you must pass a Licensing Course and undergo background checks a psychological exam, and some other requirements. You must have various recommendations and spend several weekends with a group preparing for the job. Now that you have become an employee of the church, there are certain standards to be met to ensure you meet certain legal requirements and we meet legal responsibilities.
To be a full time pastor, you must pass most of a set of 20 courses or have a seminary master’s degree, and serve a while as a part-time pastor.
To be a Bishop or District Superintendent, you must have a master’s degree in Divinity from a Methodist-associated seminary, be ordained as an Elder, and have served as a full-time pastor.
Notice – as the responsibility grows, hopefully the quality control grows more and more stringent. And while this system has its flaws, it mostly works to put godly, wise people in positions of leadership and responsibility.
It is good and humble to learn from others. It is good and useful and helps us spread the Word when we sit weekly in a Bible study group with other Christians, for they will open up our ears and hearts to new ideas and tell us when our own ideas are out-of-line with historic Christian ideas, when we have brought an idea from the world into the world of the Spirit which is not good, not good at all. And in the same way, some of those ideas that we find or are given by the Spirit will be helpful to others. And we should listen, for we do not want to make others – particularly young people – stumble because we are teaching ideas that sound good at first but which have not stood the test of being discussed by holy, godly people who listen to the Holy Spirit.
And there is more. We have to maintain a true balance in our lives. On the one hand, we have to guard against becoming arrogant, thinking that we have learned all there is to learn about God and Christ and the Holy Spirit, and that we don’t need to really learn any more, because we will be going to Heaven and seeing Jesus soon enough.
Yet on the other hand, we should recognize that what we have already learned, whether it be from years of intense study or from a few weeks or months of sermons – is valuable and should be passed onto those who know less than we do. Properly speaking, every Christian believer should be both master and disciple, both student and teacher, devoting time every week both to learning new things about Christ – and teaching others about Christ.
Recently, I asked you to make a list of twelve people you would have as your small group, a group of people mostly outside the church that you would pray for and lead to Christ, and all the way until they asked to be baptized and even beyond, helping them to understand what you’ve learned about Jesus, God, and the Holy Spirit and what it means to be a follower of Christ.
And if you teach to the twelve people on your list – they will learn the love of Christ, they will come closer to God, and one day, you’ll be delighted and blessed to join them as a sponsor for their baptism, having helped them open God’s gift of forgiveness and grace which allows them to spend eternity with you.
Arrogance is in this world. And arrogant people are those who either think they know everything – or who think that they are too good, too high and mighty – too busy to help others. Which is your sin?
Do you know enough about God? Are you sure?
Are you too busy and important to spend time helping other people come to God?
And then there is the issue of prayer. James said:
3 Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. 14 Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven.16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.
Notice that prayer is not just limited to the leaders of the church, All are to pray “so that you may be healed”. Prayer is effective because it shows God that we are humble. As a person said, “Why should we pray? God knows what is happening.”
And the answer – I believe attributed to C.S.Lewis – was simply. “Sometimes, God simply likes to asked.” For it is only the supremely arrogant who never ask for help in this life. If you do not pray, is it because you don’t think you need help? And if you don’t need help, is it because you think you can handle everything – or is it because you aren’t growing in your walk with Christ, and aren't being stretched enough because you think that you've learned everything there is to learn about God?
Sometimes, I hear that one of you has been to the hospital ER and back home and I did not find out about it until days later. I suspect that for many of you, asking for prayer is the same as admitting that you are in deep trouble, and if you don’t ask for prayer, the trouble can’t be very bad. It is a form of denial, a form of self-delusion.
We had a sign in the teacher’s restroom at Parkersburg Catholic High School. It said, “If it is important enough to worry over, it is important enough to pray over.”
Ask for help from God and each other, early and often. It is another way to combat arrogance – our own arrogance, for the humble ask for help, while the arrogant do not ask.
Finally, when you have a deep, deep problem that you are ashamed of, the natural, worldly tendency is to say, “I will try harder to handle the problem”. Once again, we become arrogant. And what happens? The smoker keeps smoking, the drinker continues to drink, the porn watcher keeps watching, the gossip keeps on gossiping.
To stop any deep problem, we must resort to prayer – we must tell God that we cannot handle the problem, that we believe that God CAN handle the problem, and we humbly ask God to handle the problem. Just as Moses decided that he could no longer lead Israel by himself, we must turn over our deep, deep problems to God and ask for help.
And it is then that God acts. For God never acts against your deepest will. If you want to try to solve your problem yourself, God will let you try. But when you truly are frightened or disgusted with your problem, and honestly tell God this, God will step in. But you have to give God permission first.
As you work with your twelve names, the twelve people that you have decided are your small group you will lead to Christ, keep this principle in mind – the greatest barrier to coming to Christ is our own arrogance that tells us we don’t need help.
And that arrogance, that self-sufficiency, that pride is responsible for more evil in the world than anything else we do, for being arrogant is an attitude that makes us believe we know better than everyone else, than even God. Arrogance is actually a claim to being a little god, standing alone in the Universe, being the only person who is right.
And that leads to all sorts of trouble. Trouble that coming to God in humbleness, bowing the neck and bending the knee will begin to cure. What is more important in the world – your agenda or God’s agenda? When we bow to God and follow God’s agenda, our humbleness allows God to better work in and through us, and our life improves, and God’s power then can improve the world around us.
So sometimes, when I speak to someone who is arrogant and considering Christ, I tell them:
“I have seen with many people that the biggest barrier for them to come to God is this feeling that if I bow to God, I will lose my independence. I’ve seen people who know this, deep down, who know that God exists, but who subconsciously know that if they admit God exists it will mean that they must admit that there is a Person who is greater than they are, who might call them into account one day, and who has the power to do so. And so that becomes a barrier for them following Christ and God. ”
For those of you who weren’t here last week, following in the pattern of the early church, each of you should have a small group of a dozen people in the world that you are leading and influencing. You may not have recognized it before, but they are there. They may never, ever set foot in a church, but your task is to be their small group leader, teaching them about God, praying for them, checking up on them every week or two. The names on the list are twelve people you know – family, friends, neighbors, co-workers, waitresses, check-out operators, and other people you see and talk to regularly. Take seriously your role as salt of the earth, that rare person that gives life a good flavor – work to lead these twelve people to Christ this year by praising God to them, listening to their problems, telling them what you have seen God do, and generally acting like the older woman in the movie “War Room” – which you should see if at all possible. We can and will change the world – if God wants us to.
Take this time to pray for your twelve people. Take this time to pray for them to come to know Christ and His love for us. Take this time to pray for God to save their souls.
No comments:
Post a Comment