Prophet for Sale or Rent

Ever see Space Jam? If you haven’t, I can’t say I recommend it, but I’ll tell you what happens. The characters of cartoon land (Porky Pig, Daffy Duck, etc.) get challenged to a game of basketball by very powerful aliens invading earth. The stakes are high, and it looks like they’ll lose, so the toons hire the ONLY guy on earth who could stand against such odds. They get Michael Jordan!

In Numbers 22 we meet Balak, a king with a similar problem. He looks out and sees the Israelites camped on his border and is scared out of his wits. He knows the Israelites are beating up on his neighbors… in fact, “beating up” is too nice a term. A more accurate term might be “annihilating” his neighbors. Balak sees he’s in big trouble, so he does what any smart king would do if his back were against the wall. He scours the globe and finds the most powerful guy he can and offers him whatever it takes to get his help. He sends some of his assistants more than 350 miles down to Mesopotamia, to a town on the Euphrates River, to hire a famous guy named Balaam.

When they get there, Balaam, who is not a prophet of God, consults God who tells him not to go with them. Balaam eventually decides to go anyway, apparently because the money is too good to turn down. We know the rest of the story: the donkey he is riding turns out to be smarter than his master and ends up speaking to Balaam.

Paul says in Romans 8, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” In Numbers chapters 22-25 we find that the converse is also true. “If God is against us…who can be for us?” King Balak hires Balaam to be “for him” and is incredulous when Balaam not only fails to curse his enemies but instead ends up blessing them! At one point Balak says, “I brought you here to curse my enemies and you keep blessing them!” Balaam has a great quote in the midst of all this. He says, “even if Balak gave me his palace filled with gold and silver, I could not do anything of my own accord, good or bad, to go beyond the command of the Lord—and I must say only what the Lord says.”

Balaam goes as a mercenary prophet for hire and ends up leaving with nothing. Balak the King realizes that even if he gave all he had, he could not stop God and his people. Will anything stop us now? Can we be like Balaam and say, “I must say only what the Lord says?” This week we look at an old story that we too often dismiss as a story for kids, missing the powerful, simple message that is very much meant for us adults.

Mark

Good Snakes and Bad Snakes

My friend Dr. Mike Plummer is a herpetologist at Harding University…that’s academic language for “snake handler.” Dr. Plummer is probably the most widely respected and well-published member of the Harding faculty and is a regional, if not national expert in his field of reptiles. He often amazes students with his love of all things creepy crawly, and I remember him saying years ago that there are good snakes and bad snakes. According to Dr. Plummer, the vast majority of snakes are good. Good snakes that eat mosquitoes or poisonous frogs or other undesirables are often unfairly tried, convicted and murdered by humans who never pause a second to consider giving them a fair shake. The good Dr. Plummer still has a fair bit of PR to do on behalf of the snakes of the world to redeem their not-so-good reputation with the human race. The fact is most people still agree that the only good snake … is a dead snake.

We should not be surprised to hear that there are good snakes; we have direct Biblical evidence to support that notion. In Numbers chapter 21 the bad snakes are biting the Israelites, and God sends a good snake to save them. Moses fashions a snake on a pole and all who look to it after it is “raised up” are saved. We have seen some pretty strange things in Numbers, but this one might just take the cake. Why would God use this snake on a pole to save the people?

We are all familiar with John 3:16, but not as many of us are familiar with the verses before it. Jesus said, "Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life" (John 3:14, 15). Evidently this story, handed down through the ages was one familiar to all. Jesus reminds the people that they are snake bit, doomed to die without an antidote, and God provides the one and only antidote in the form of his Son.

This week we will talk about good snakes and bad snakes and the fairly obvious fact that this wonderful old story points us to Jesus. However, we will also talk about how God uses unexpected things for his glory, and how the things that were once “good snakes” might just turn on us over the years and become “bad snakes” if we are not careful.

Mark

Between the Living and the Dead

Numbers Chapter 16 is a very weird chapter of the Bible. There is a rebellion in this chapter, and the earth literally opens up and swallows a bunch of people. After that, a plague hits the people, and 14,700 people die. More people would have died if Aaron had not stood in between the living and the dead. Imagine that scene...the High Priest steps in and literally stands between the living and the dead. We don't have to look too hard as Christians to see a sermon there!

In the beginning of the chapter there is an interesting part where the people tell Moses, "You've gone too far!" They stand up to their God-given leader and tell him, "We've had enough, and we are taking charge!" Moses says, "No, you have gone too far!" I love the language there. It sounds like a modern-day English argument might sound, not an ancient Hebrew revolt. The language seems very flippant and informal.

In this chapter we learn some things about "standing in the Gap." In many ways, thanks to Jesus coming and standing in the gap for us (that huge gap between the living and the dead), we are now granted the privilege that the rebellious people wanted. We are all priests. Peter tells us as much in the New Testament when he speaks about the priesthood of all believers.

What does that mean? Are we plagued (to borrow a term from Numbers 16) with a tendency to "Go too far" or are we plagued with the opposite problem of not going far enough? It’s hard to know, but we can learn a lot about ourselves and about human nature by reading Numbers chapter 16.

Mark

Just the Hem of a Garment

The closing verses of Numbers chapter 15 can easily slip by unnoticed. They are about God telling the Israelites to tie tassels on the ends of their garments. He tells them to tie seven strands of white and then one strand of blue. It is really a fairly meaningless group of verses to Christians.

Yet the people of Israel throughout the centuries have seen great importance in these few verses. The tassels, known as tzitziot (fringes) became, through traditions of various rabbis, very detailed in the way in which the tassels were tied and how they were to be worn. The pattern and its numbers seem like something straight out of the TV show “Lost.” 7, 8, 11, 13…those are the numbers that are required. The Tzitziot were to be tied to a garment which is known as the tallit, which must have four corners and is to be “big enough to cover the infant who is old enough to walk.”

The important thing here is the tassels, not the garment that holds them; yet, the tallit became a huge part of the faithful Jew’s life and remains so to this day. The tallit, which can be any color but is traditionally blue and white, is the inspiration for the modern-day Israeli flag. It is said that two Zionists laid down their tallits and made a flag.

When Jesus gives instructions on prayer he says, “Go to your closet and pray…” This word that is translated as “closet” is the same word that is used to refer to the process of kneeling and pulling the tallit over one’s body to create a personal “tent”. We see this all the time on the news and in the media when we see Muslims and orthodox Jews at their times of prayer. The same process in scripture is referred to as being “under the wings of the Lord.”

This week we will look at this tradition briefly and talk about the significance we see in scripture of the “hems of garments.”

Mark

Passed Down, Handing Over, Reach Up

“I will not be bitter towards God for decisions my parents made that I have to live with.”

As I think about that statement from last week, I wonder how many ways it applies to our lives and our faith. It may be literally true for some of us; we may, like the Israelites in Numbers, be struggling with God because of the decisions our parents made about the nature of God. It may be that the “parents” referred to here are not your actual parents. Perhaps it is just those who came before us: our spiritual parents in the faith, those who, like biological parents, have played a role in how we look, how we act, how we think, how we handle stress or anger or disagreement. The same things that are true of our biological parents because of their nature (DNA) and their nurture are also true of our spiritual parents and forefathers.

Remember when God said to the Israelites, “An entire generation will need to die here in the desert before you can see the promised land.” When I talk to this generation and see how excited they are about faith and stepping out on faith for God, sometimes I wonder if it is my generation that will have to die off before the next great thing happens in the church. Not to be negative…or too pessimistic, but perhaps if we considered that possibility we would be more open to what God is leading us to do on his behalf.

Whatever the case, Numbers chapters 15 and 16 are encouraging chapters because they show us how to serve God after we have let him down. Certainly we can all relate to that, and this week we get a chance to see how God deals with them.

Mark

Minority Report

A few years ago there was a Stephen Spielberg film where Tom Cruise was part of a crime fighting team that had the ability to see into the future and see who would become a murderer. He and others would then take action to prevent murders before they ever happened. I won’t tell you what happens from there in case you have not seen it, but let’s just say that Tom Cruise learns that just because something is predicted by the majority does not mean it will come true.

In many ways that’s what we have going on in Numbers chapter 13. We have the majority report: the spies that come back and say that there is no way the Israelites can take the giants who inhabit the land. Then there is the minority report…the two who say it can be done with God’s power. The end of the story shows us that the majority report was wrong, and it cost the Israelites dearly to depend on their report.

There is a new movie just out called Facing the Giants (www.facingthegiants.com). I have not seen it yet, but I know it is very much the opposite of a Spielberg film in its budget. Facing the Giants was made by a church in Georgia on a shoestring budget, yet it has been picked up by a major studio and placed on screens all over America. It’s about a high school football team that “faces up to their fears”…I’m just guessing that the other team is called “The Giants.”

While I am not sure about the film, they certainly have a great message for human beings because we have a many-century track record of being afraid to face giants. We look at our lives and see the giants that face us… giants like alcohol, pornography, bitterness, anger…we look at those giants and we say, “There is no way they can be defeated.” And when we look at our world, the majority report tells us that we are correct…these and other giants seem to destroy and threaten and dominate all too often.

Yet the minority report tells us what is true about the future. God can easily take on the giants. That’s what numbers chapters 13 and 14 tell us, and this week we have a chance to be reminded again of how true it is.

Mark

Rabble

I mentioned a few weeks ago in my introduction to the book of Numbers a section in chapter 11 where Moses deals with the "rabble". Most versions translate this word as "the mixed multitude" and Exodus chapter 12:38 tells us that this "mixed multitude" was not Israelites but others (even Egyptians) who had blood on their doorposts and left slavery with the Israelites. We can't say ALL of these "rabblers" were non-Israelites because we see in chapter 12 that Miriam, Moses’ sister, is one of the leaders of a dissenting group.

Whatever the case, there are complainers in their midst. The Israelites are experiencing a time of uncertainty and insecurity. They are in between, in transition, and there is ambiguity between where they ARE and where God has them GOING. It is interesting to note we have not changed much through the years. Anytime we are in transition, there will always be the tendency to romanticize the past and demonize the future. In this case the rabblers say, "Remember the good old days in Egypt when we ate good food at no cost?" We laugh at this, realizing that the "cost" they paid for a life of slavery in Egypt was the lives of their children! The food in Egypt was ultra-expensive...yet the rabblers manage to convince themselves that somehow the past represents the good old days.

I am quick to blame them, but then I realize that too often I begin to act that way. I romanticize the past sometimes because I am afraid of the ambiguity of where I am going. We all are capable of whipping up a frenzy or worry and dread for the future, and a common cure for that is to imagine that the past was a whole lot better than it actually was. That's why serving a God who points us forward on a journey to a promised land that he has prepared is an exciting adventure.

Certainly we all see a little of ourselves in the rabble. I rabble sometimes in my marriage, in my job, in my family and in my church. It’s encouraging to see a story where God's faithfulness and goodness leads, and how Moses, the great leader that he is, deals with the rabble.

Mark

Nazirite Vow

None of us like to be different or stand out. Well, at least in most cases we don’t. The average person does all he or she can to blend in. We dress the same and watch for “trends” so we match others. We conform to norms in hairstyles or clothes or cars or whatever. It’s one of the great criticisms that outsiders make of our culture…there is pressure to all look the same. If you don’t believe it, talk to someone from the goth community (ask Steven Stratton what that is), and they will tell you what happens when you don’t “conform” to what society expects.

Numbers chapter six talks about the Nazirite vow. The word Nazar in Ancient Hebrew meant “separate” or “set apart”. The goal of the vow was to look different and act different as a way of showing that the person who took the vow belonged to God. Those taking the vow would not cut their hair for a specified period of time (often years), not drink any wine (the common drink of all households and any meal), and never touch any dead thing. You can imagine how hard that might be if your mother or father or child died and you could not even come near the body. It was a serious commitment. Two of the prerequisites were about staying away from death and one was about life and growth.

There are some famous Biblical characters who took these vows. Samson is the most famous, though it must have been a modified version with all the Phillistines he killed! Samuel also took the vow; in fact, his mother took it for him. Many scholars believe that John the Baptist took some version of a Nazirite vow.

I wonder what it would look like today in our culture. (Since I have already mentioned one Stratton, I won’t suggest that Phil has taken one with his newest hairstyle;-) What would it take for us to stand out? The vows were only taken for a time, a period that had a beginning and end. It was sort of like a sprint for a runner…the vows were so strenuous that they were not meant to be kept up for long periods.

Today we will talk about being set apart, and how we can perhaps take similar vows to give glory to God.

Mark

Following By Numbers

Remember those paint by numbers things we all did as kids? You follow the numbers and paint in that small area whatever color is requested. At first it looks crazy...then it all starts to make sense and turn into an impressive picture. Well, the book of Numbers is sort of like that. It contains some boring, historical facts, but when you get farther along and then back off and look at the whole picture, it’s pretty amazing to see the picture take shape.

Over the course of the fall and into December, we will be talking about following God. Our text will be the Exodus narrative and the stories that are found there. We won't stop reading in Exodus, but we'll use it as a way to look at the book of Numbers as God counts those who are found to be his people. Sound boring? Well, I have to admit, the book of Numbers does not usually come to my mind when I think about exciting reading. If so, just wait till we get a few of the numbers painted in and it won’t be.

As Christ-followers, our interest is in following God. We want to be His people, to go where He would have us go, to serve where He would want us to serve. One way to learn about that process is to look at those who have gone before us. If we look at their failures and successes, we can begin to construct a reference database for the future. We can form a lessons learned course for ourselves, a study in best practices. I'm using all this corporate language knowing that most of you sit in jobs all week where such language is the norm. The military in particular loves to construct lessons learned manuals so they can guide future teams who encounter problems and hopefully help them avoid mistakes of the past.

In many ways that’s what we have in Exodus and Numbers: an amazingly detailed history of God's people and their attempts to follow him. It shows the failures and successes of their leaders. It shows the failures and successes of everyday people. It shows those who were counted among the faithful at the end of a very long and trying ordeal.

More than anything, though, it shows the faithfulness of God. And since we have the amazing benefit of being able to read all of it with Christ-colored glasses, we can see God's amazing hand in these stories in a way that the people of Israel could not.

Mark