Sermon Title: Trusting God

Intro

I never thought I would enjoy so much being a dad. The Lord has blessed my wife Hannah and I with three beautiful kids. Sam, Stella, and Lucia. Sam is the most free spirited kid you will ever meet, Stella is a rule follower, and Lu, well… Lu is Lu, she is the baby and she knows it! As the rule follower, Stella has discovered that the most powerful words she can pronounce when she wants her brother and sister to do something they don’t want to do are, “Daddy said!” And she knows that these two words carry power and authority in our house because when daddy says, “kids we are gonna go eat tacos tonight,” that’s what we have for dinner. When daddy says, “we are going to go fishing today,” she knows that we are going fishing. When daddy says, it’s time to go to bed,” she knows is time to go to bed.

In her five years of life, she has gotten to know her daddy as a constant source of protection and provision, and when daddy says something, she knows that my words are followed by an action. So when she says, “daddy says,” she knows that the power and authority that these two words carry don’t necessarily rest in the words per se but in the source.

In today’s text we will read a story about a time when God spoke through Moses to his children, the nation of Israel. Moses went to the Israelites, and just like Stella goes to her brother and sister, he said to them, “Israel, Daddy says...” Unfortunately, as we will see, the Israelites failed to trust in God and his words. They had forgotten that this God who was giving the promise land into their hands, was the same God who had spoken the world into existence. The same God who had delivered them from the bondage of slavery in Egypt. The same God who carried them through the wilderness as a man carries his son all along the way.

As a result of their unbelief, they were not able to enter into the promise land, a land flowing with milk and honey. Neither hardship, poverty, suffering, nor tragedy were Israel’s ruined, unbelief was. In the words of my brother John Onwuchekwa, “Tragedy has never ruined a person or a community, hopelessness has.”

Today’s text comes from Numbers 13. If you are able please stand up with me for the reading of God’s Word. When I’m done reading, I will say, “This is the Word of the Lord,” and if you agree with everything that was said, please say, “Thanks be to God.”

Numbers 13:1–3 (CSB)

1 The Lord spoke to Moses: 2 “Send men to scout out the land of Canaan I am giving to the Israelites. Send one man who is a leader among them from each of their ancestral tribes.” 3 Moses sent them from the Wilderness of Paran at the Lord’s command. All the men were leaders in Israel.

These men were: Shammua, Shaphat, Caleb, Igal, Hoshea, Palti, Gaddiel, Gaddi, Ammiel, Sethur, Nahbi, and Geuel.

Numbers 13:17–20(CSB)

17 When Moses sent them to scout out the land of Canaan, he told them, “Go up this way to the Negev, then go up into the hill country. 18 See what the land is like, and whether the people who live there are strong or weak, few or many. 19 Is the land they live in good or bad? Are the cities they live in encampments or fortifications? 20 Is the land fertile or unproductive? Are there trees in it or not? Be courageous. Bring back some fruit from the land.”

Numbers 13:25 (CSB)

25 At the end of forty days they returned from scouting out the land.

“This is the Word of the Lord...”

Let’s pray…

Multiply, as you kick off with “Serve the City” week, remember that trust in God’s faithfulness and his promises, are not just necessary, but essential. As you engage in a full week serving your city, remember that before you pray for resources, strength, wisdom, protection, or a good strategy, you must pray for faith! The type of faith pushes you to trust in God’s faithfulness and his promises. Those who commit to a life of service to the Lord, know the importance of praying for faith as well as the devastating dangers of unbelief.

This said, today’s big idea is: “Good and faithful servants rest in God’s faithfulness and promises”

Sermon Outline:

Daddy said... (Numbers 13:1-3)

Believe, don’t be afraid or discouraged (Numbers 13:17-20)

Good and faithful servant (Numbers 13:25)

Daddy said...

About forty three years before the Israelites reached Canaan, the Promised Land, God had spoken to Moses while he was shepherding his father in law’s flock in mount Horeb, or also known as the mountain of God. That evening the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire within a bush. As Moses looked, he saw that the bush was on fire but was not consumed. Don’t even try to understand this, this is a divine thing, something that our human brains can’t and will never be able to comprehend. The burning bush speaks of the self-sufficiency of God, the fact that God is the supply of his own demand!

In Exodus 3:4 we read that:

Exodus 3:4–8 (CSB)

4 When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called out to him from the bush, “Moses, Moses!”

“Here I am,” he answered.

5 “Do not come closer,” he said. “Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” 6 Then he continued, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Moses hid his face because he was afraid to look at God.

7 Then the Lord said, “I have observed the misery of my people in Egypt, and have heard them crying out because of their oppressors. I know about their sufferings, 8 and I have come down to rescue them from the power of the Egyptians and to bring them from that land to a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey.

Between the time when the promise of this land where milk and honey were flowing was spoken by God for the first time, and Numbers 13, the actual time when the Israelites were standing at the gates of the Promised Land, 43 years had gone by. For those of us who are under the age of forty, this means that if were Israelites during the time of Numbers 13, we would’ve been some of those who were born after God had spoken this promise to our parents for the first time. Can you imagine living life, holding on to a promise that was first spoken to your parents 43 years ago? Misery, poverty, suffering, and oppression described the Israelite’s life under the power of the Egyptians. The promise land didn’t just mean land for the Israelites, it represented a place where they would be able to thrive, a place where they would be able to rest, a place where they would be able to exist with dignity, meaning, and purpose.

Brothers and sisters, what kind of tragedy has marked your life? abandonment, the loss of a loved one, addiction, financial hardship, feeling unaccomplished, lack of purpose or meaning in life, discrimination, poverty, rejection, an incurable medical condition? What kind of tragedy has marked your city? unemployment, gun violence, domestic violence, drugs, broken families, racism, poverty?

The only reason why the Israelites held on to this promise for so long was because “God had said.”

Thousands of years before God appeared to Moses through this burning bush, there was another burning bush. Another time when God spoke. Another time in which God was the supply of his own demand.

Genesis 1:1–3 (CSB)

1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness covered the surface of the watery depths, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters. 3 Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.

In the beginning there was nothing, it was all emptiness, everything was darkness. But just like with the burning bush in Exodus, God stood on nothing, He spoke to nothing, and nothing heard his voice. And when he said, “Let’s there be light,” there was light.

See, we can’t understand this because everything that we create, everything that we do, comes from things that already exist. The only one that can create something from nothing is God. He is the supply of his own demand. So when God speaks, things happen. This is why God’s words are trustworthy, they must be believed.

Unfortunately, right when the Israelites were about to enter and possess the promise land, they failed to trust God. This takes us to our second point.

2. Believe, don’t be afraid or discouraged

Hebrews 3:16–19 (CSB)

For who heard and rebelled? Wasn’t it all who came out of Egypt under Moses? With whom was God angry for forty years? Wasn’t it with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, if not to those who disobeyed? So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.

Unbelief is not passive, but intentional. An act of rebellion in which someone makes the personal decision to not trust in who God is and what he has said.

The only reason why, God commanded Moses to send men to scout out the land of Canaan (the Promised Land), was because of their unbelief.

Deuteronomy 1:21–26 (CSB)

21 See, the Lord your God has set the land before you. Go up and take possession of it as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, has told you. Do not be afraid or discouraged.

22 “Then all of you approached me and said, ‘Let’s send men ahead of us, so that they may explore the land for us and bring us back a report about the route we should go up and the cities we will come to.’ 23 The plan seemed good to me, so I selected twelve men from among you, one man for each tribe. 24 They left and went up into the hill country and came to Eshcol Valley, scouting the land. 25 They took some of the fruit from the land in their hands, carried it down to us, and brought us back a report: ‘The land the Lord our God is giving us is good.’

26 “But you were not willing to go up. You rebelled against the command of the Lord your God.

Unbelief damages the life of a Christian, like water damages a house. Silently and slowly. This is why the author of Hebrews warns believers against unbelief when she says:

Hebrews 3:12–14 (CSB)

12 Watch out, brothers and sisters, so that there won’t be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. 13 But encourage each other daily, while it is still called today, so that none of you is hardened by sin’s deception. 14 For we have become participants in Christ if we hold firmly until the end the reality that we had at the start.

Because of their unbelief, the Israelites approached Moses and asked, if they could send spies. They wanted to make sure that the land God was commanding them to posses was indeed a good land, that the people they would encounter, were a people that they could defeat in combat. The instructions given to the spies before they headed out are a clear proof of the Israelites’ unbelief:

Numbers 13:17–20 (CSB)

17 When Moses sent them to scout out the land of Canaan, he told them, “Go up this way to the Negev, then go up into the hill country. 18 See what the land is like, and whether the people who live there are strong or weak, few or many. 19 Is the land they live in good or bad? Are the cities they live in encampments or fortifications? 20 Is the land fertile or unproductive? Are there trees in it or not? Be courageous. Bring back some fruit from the land.”

They weren’t willing to take God’s Word for it, that the land he was giving them was good indeed, and that he would, without fail, put them in possession of it. They weren’t willing to trust the pillar of cloud and fire to show them the way of it, but believed that had a better plan than God’s wisdom. This was a costly mistake, in their absurdity, they sent out men to spy a land that God had already spied out for them. They were walking by sight and not by faith. They acted as if the witness of men was greater than the witness of God. And at the bottom of it, there was unbelief.

They had two concerns in mind. First, the state of the land. Second, the people. Aren’t these the two main concerns we have today as well, when we engage in serving our cities? Aren’t these the two main concerns today as we make plans to evangelize and plant churches? Follow me right here. This is the crust of the pie, if you are going to leave with anything today, let it be this.

As you serve this week, what are the places where God has placed you? What are the neighborhoods that God is calling you to go? Do you feel the temptation to try to make sense of these places before you listen to God’s voice to go and possess these places as you trust in his voice? Do you feel tempted to believe that the places God has called you to reach with the Gospel are beyond help, beyond reach, beyond hope. In my ministry, God has called me many times to go to places that I’m afraid of, from places that are being targeted by gang members to finding as a mediator between a gangs in our neighborhood. This week we lost a young man in our block. He was 16 years old. He was shot to death at a local park in our area. His funeral will be tomorrow morning and I’ll be there. But things won’t be over after this young man’s funeral. In the upcoming weeks, I’ll be finding myself in this place of tension where the Israelites found themselves at the gates of Canaan, that place where I will ask myself, do I believe more in the power of God or in my own strengths? As I will be mediating gang conflicts between top rank members in our city.

When it comes to the people you will be serving. This week we are celebrating because the daughter of one of our sisters from church has stayed clean from drugs for over a month. When I met this young lady she was involved in prostitution and crack. After walking with her for months for the Glory of God, she came to church a few weeks ago and has voluntarily gotten herself into a rehab program. I’m not gonna lie, sometimes I come across people that seem so beyond reach, so beyond help, and I find myself in that same spot where the Israelites where, trying to make sense of whether I can overcome these individuals situations in my own strength. In the same way they wanted to know if the people who lived there were weak or strong. I ask myself, is the situation this person is in is within reach or beyond reach?

But then I remember those powerful words that my daughter tells her sister and brother. Daddy says! Daddy says, Daddy says! The third point of today’s sermon is:

3. Good and faithful servant (Numbers 13:25)

Numbers 13:25 (CSB)

25 At the end of forty days they returned from scouting out the land.

When these twelve men were back. And they had a report to give. They said:

Numbers 13:27–28 (CSB)

27 They reported to Moses, “We went into the land where you sent us. Indeed it is flowing with milk and honey, and here is some of its fruit. 28 However, the people living in the land are strong, and the cities are large and fortified.

But then one of the named Caleb got up and calming the people of Israel said

Numbers 13:30 (CSB)

30 “Let’s go up now and take possession of the land because we can certainly conquer it!”

But the other spies responded:

Numbers 13:31–33 (CSB)

31 “We can’t attack the people because they are stronger than we are!” 32 So they gave a negative report to the Israelites about the land they had scouted: “The land we passed through to explore is one that devours its inhabitants, and all the people we saw in it are men of great size. To ourselves we seemed like grasshoppers, and we must have seemed the same to them.”

As a result for their unbelief, the Israelites were not able to enter into God’s rest, they were not able to enter into the Promised Land. They had forgotten what God had said. They failed to trust the Lord. The same God that had gone before them in the wilderness. The one that made himself known in the fire by night and in the cloud by day guiding them on the road.

Tragedy didn’t ruin them, hopelessness did. The Israelites forgot that this God that was given then the promise land, was the same God that had spoken the World into existence. When you are out in the wilderness, faith in God and in the power of his Word is not just necessary. It’s essential. Caleb and Joshua didn’t trust in their own strength, size or military skills. Their trust was in the fact that God had already spoken.

When you think about the place and people God is sending you to, you will also battle the temptation of unbelief. So, as you go out to the wilderness and engage in a full week serving your city, will you believe negative rumors spread by others, or in God’s faithful words?

When the people God has sent you to seem to be beyond God’s help… will you believe that he has the power to transform their lives, to redeem them, to make them holy, to save them?! Or will you feel like their problems are so big that make you feel like a grasshopper next to them?

Caleb and Joshua weren’t found as a strong, smart, skilled, successful or knowledgable servants, but as good and faithful servants. From the twelve that were sent, only these two lived because they believed.

Numbers 14:37–38 (CSB)

37 those men who spread the negative report about the land were struck down by the Lord. 38 Only Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh remained alive of those men who went to scout out the land.

Conclusion

As we get to our conclusion. Multiply, the day the Lord returns, he will also gather all of his people once again. Matthew 25 says that on that day, when Jesus comes in his glory along with all of his angels, all the nations will be gathered before him. That day, he will separate all who professed to be believers in two groups. He will put the sheep on his right, and the goat on his left. Then the King will say to those on his right, “Come you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Enter into my Father’s rest.”

And on what basis will they be judge? Based on the way their faith was fleshed out. See… Only faith saves, but faith that saves never comes alone. Jesus will tell us:

Matthew 25:35–40 (CSB)

35 “ ‘For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat; I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink; I was a stranger and you took me in; 36 I was naked and you clothed me; I was sick and you took care of me; I was in prison and you visited me.’

37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and take you in, or without clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick, or in prison, and visit you?’

40 “And the King will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

Multiply - As you go out to serve your city. Remember what Daddy has said, specially when you feel like loosing heart. Remember to believe, to not be afraid or discouraged because God is with you. And lastly, remember that “Good and faithful servants rest in God’s faithfulness and his promises.”

Peace be with you.

Let’s pray