Untitled Sermon (26)

Were things better back then? Was life objectively better? Things are worse right now…right? Would you say that?

I’m not talking about your own present life circumstances…like I wish I could still be playing shortstop or run like a cheetah. I mean…objectively…the world…are they better or worse?

We have the sickening invasion of Ukraine still taking place. We have the complicated and yet horrendous conflict between Israel and Palestine. Political unrest in our own country. Price of gas. Cost of living through the roof. People seem miserable. Depression statistics are on the rise. Life is objectively worse…right.

I think I’m starting to get old enough now that nostalgia can set in. One of the favorite times in my life is still etched in my mind—i bet you have some of these…we were in Jasper, Indiana.

My kids were like 4 and 2. It was Christmas time. We had an old vinyl record player in the living room, and a really big widened window looking onto our front yard. We were listening to Christmas music, just sitting on the couch with my arm around my wife. It started to snow…those big beautiful snowflakes. It was just this little moment of pure beauty....contentment…this is a little slice of heaven.

Take me back there. But you know what would happen if you did? I’d probably foolish say that I wanted to go back to the 80’s chilling in my Ghostbusters tent, Superman PJs, eating some Smurf Berry Crunch cereal, waiting for Alf to come on. Those were the good ol’ days.

And you’ve got your own don’t you. Those little moments in time where you say, “man, things were so much better back then.” That’s certainly innocent enough—but what tends to happen is we move from “life was good back then...” to saying “life is awful right now!”

That’s the way nostalgia works. We’re always able to kind of gloss over things in the past and making them much better times than what they were. We don’t feel the weight of the problems we felt back then. It’s kind of like Andy Bernard (from the Office) said at the end of the show.... “I wish there was a way to know you’re in the good old days before you’ve actually left them.”

We feel our problems in the present and then gloss over them when they move into our past.

Let’s keep this in our mind as I ask you a question…place yourself during the time of Moses. You’ve been wandering in the wilderness for 40 years, you’ve seen so much—manna, water from a rock, a sea part, redemption from slavery, shoes that don’t seem to wear out, just so much of God’s provision—but also plenty of moments of brokenness and difficulty as well.

But here you are on the precipice of the Promised Land. Hope. Beauty. Rest. That thing you’ve been waiting for a longing for. And God says, “i’m giving that to you...”

It’s like going into your favorite store without any money and just window shopping and someone says, would you like that…I’ll buy it for you. It’s like that times a million.

But then he says…you should check it out, count the cost, see if you really like it…see if it’s all of your hearts desire. Look at the price. Just really weigh this thing.

And so they do…they send spies into the Promised Land. It’s everything they dreamed of…they try some grapes…and who doesn’t want a delicious grape? It’s a land flowing with milk and honey just like God said. Everything they dreamed of…only problem though…they have a bit of sticker shock.

The people are huge. We look like grasshopper compared to them. We don’t have the money to buy something like this. This is way out of our price range. It’s great…but it’s unattainable for us...

Now as we read our text this morning you are going to hear two reports. Which one would you be most inclined to believe?

Numbers 13:25–33 ESV

At the end of forty days they returned from spying out the land. 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. 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. 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. 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.” 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.” 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.” 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 all the people that we saw in it are of great height. 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.”

Which report would you believe? Do you hope? Do you listen to Caleb and Joshua, the lone voices of dissent? Or do you listen to all the others and their warning.

Listen now to how the people respond?

Numbers 14:1–4 ESV

Then all the congregation raised a loud cry, and the people wept that night. And all the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, “Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness! Why is the Lord bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become a prey. Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?” And they said to one another, “Let us choose a leader and go back to Egypt.”

Sermon Introduction:

Why did they decide as they did? Why did they choose the route of cynicism?

My guess…the same reason we do.

I will grant that it’s truly difficult to measure whether things are “worse” or “better” now than before. That’s subjective. And it’s complicated. Better in what way? And for who?

But just a few things to consider:

Global life expectancy has more than doubled in the past century, rising to an all-time high of 72.

More wealth has been created in the last four decades than in all of human history before then.

Two centuries ago, 8 in 10 people still lived in extreme poverty, today it’s fewer than 1 in 10.

War, disease and natural disasters now claim fewer lives than at any point in our history.

In 1800, nearly half of all children died before the age of five, but today that figure has fallen to less than 4%.

Two centuries ago, 88% of the world’s population was illiterate; now only 10%.

Or as one person asked us to imagine:

Just picture an average European’s diet during the Middle Ages – grains, porridge, carrots and onions all year round, few spices and definitely no fresh fruit – the next time you’re wandering the aisles of a modern supermarket. Imagine life in the 18th century without television, film, or recorded music the next time you casually switch on Netflix, Fox Sports or Spotify. Consider that little over a century ago, most people’s homes weren’t even hooked up to a sewerage system and you’ll never look at an ordinary toilet the same way again.

And yet:

Consider a 2016 survey by the global public opinion company YouGov that asked folks in 17 countries, “All things considered, do you think the world is getting better or worse, or neither getting better nor worse?” Fifty‐​eight percent of respondents thought that the world is getting worse, and 30% said that it is doing neither. Only 11% thought that things are getting better.

In the United States, 65% percent thought that the world is getting worse, and 23 % said neither. Only 6% of Americans responded that the world is getting better. (2)

How often do we hear these stories? Positive slants don’t really sell news is what we are told. We know that we can more easily get attention if we talk about what is wrong than what is right.

I get it. Cynicism is easy. And it feels protective. We know that the world actually is a difficult place. We are broken people living in a broken world. This is reality. You can get hurt. Things can go wrong. Cynicism attempts to protect us from potential negatives.

As this generation stood before the Promised Land…there were big ol’ people in the land…so there was the potential that things could go very wrong. It’s easy to trust God’s good promises when staring at a beautiful sunset. It’s more difficult when the clouds are dark and you’re not sure what tomorrow brings. Hope is hard when you’re staring down giants.

And the wonderful thing about cynicism is that you don’t have to take any actual position—you just have to poke a hole in hope. As one author said,

“Cynicism enables you to do nothing but feel morally superior to those who are doing something good but imperfect in an imperfect world” (Keyes, 83)

We’re negative because, frankly it’s easier. It’s the path of least resistance. Let’s look at the path of cynicism here in this story.

First, notice what I’d call the tale of the tape. These spies look at the giants in the land—we don’t know if they are actually as big as they are saying or if they are exaggerating. There are some pointers here that perhaps it is—I doubt the Nephilim—the giants in the early pages of the Bible—are actually present here.

You know what this looks like don’t you. When you’re really trying to sell something as negative—when fear starts to set in. I can be so bad about this. Let me tell you all the reasons why this isn’t going to work.

You minimize your resources—we’re grasshoppers. And you maximize the threat…they are giants. It would be foolish for us to do this. There is absolutely no way that we can take this land. Heavy on truth…low on beauty and goodness.

It can only see what is right in front of your face. It’s logical. It makes perfect sense. It sounds compelling and wise. But it’s missing something.

…the land that God promised to give us. It’s conveniently leaving that part out. The reality—the real reality—is that God is bigger than the giants. God can make grasshoppers defeat giants. That’s what hope says. Hope tells us that a crucified man can redeem all of humanity.

Cynicism majors in the tale of the tape—but it measures with a faulty instrument. It also distorts history.

We don’t know really the history of the sons of Anak. We don’t know much about this dude. He has a big neck…somehow we know that…but not much else. But there is history there. These are big people who have defeated them before.

And that’s also what cynicism does. You’ve heard the old saying that the definition of insanity is to keep doing the same thing over and over again and expect the same results. There is some truth to this. An optimist will tell you—nah, if you just keep on doing it—eventually we’ll have a breakthrough.

A cynic will say. Don’t even try doing that thing. It’s never going to work. You can’t defeat these men. They beat us before. They’ll beat us again. This land isn’t ours for the taking. But you know what hope says. Just because it’s not working right now, and not working this way, it doesn’t mean that there isn’t another factor that could change everything.

Now notice in 14:1 what happens. The people are in deep grief. They believe the report. Cynicism spreads. Negativity can spread so quickly. It spreads faster than good news. We’re more inclined to believe something negative than something positive.

Cynicism, negativity can also build a community. Many communities are built on outrage. They don’t last but they happen all the time. When you gather with a group of friends you like to sit around and talk about all the blessings you have, all the things going right in your life, how everyone around you is positively awesome…right?

Do you feel closer to someone if you celebrate together or if you complain together? Studies have shown that self-righteous indignation gives us a high just like a drug. It feels good to think you are better than someone. And it feels even better if you can do this as a tribe…your tribe is better than the other tribe.

And so negativity spreads. That’s what is happening here…and it snowballs so quickly. Before you know it they are engaging in cynical planning…everyone starts to agree—this must be the right path…it feels good…it feels safe…it isn’t risky…it sound so wise. And we all agree.

Yeah, let’s go back to Egypt....Egypt wasn’t so bad. That’s what cynicism does. In the name of truth it distorts truth because it hides the beauty. It ignores hope. It ignores the bigger story.

I wonder how might this impact your life? Where might you be cynical? What would this look like in your life? What might this look like not only as an individual but in a church setting?

What does it look like to be in a culture of complaint?

I think I’ve told you this story before, but it was such a sad story. We were in Southern Indiana helping out planting a church. There was a church having to close its doors…the church plant was seeing about using the building.

Our team had a conversation with one of the older members there. What happened, why’d the church have to close the doors? Well…I don’t know…I know that we back in 1976 (I don’t actually remember the year anymore) we put all of our eggs into this big outreach in the community. Only 2 people showed up. And we just got discouraged…and I guess never really tried anything like that again.

That’s what cynicism and negativity does. It doesn’t start new ministries. You want to know if a church has caved to a culture of complaint—want to know if it’s infiltrated your own home---what happens to new ideas? What happens to fresh blood? What happens when there are sparks of excitement? Are they stamped out or fanned into flame. Are they critiqued or helped? Are they encouraged and having people come alongside them…or are there people on the sidelines just watching and waiting for something to fail so you can say, “I told you so…new it wasn’t a good idea…they’ll fizzle out just like me…just give them time.” What do you do with passion?

How we answer that question determines whether or not we’ve given into a culture of complaint. Because friends, there was another voice on that day. Joshua and Caleb.

God is bigger than those in the land. God promised to give this. They had the voice of hope. A voice which merged truth and beauty. Yes, the people are big. TRUTH. But God is bigger. BEAUTIFUL TRUTH. God said we could take this…and so the people are like bread for us.

But notice what happens to this voice. They pick up stones. Stones. They try to kill these men because they dared to hope. You stone people for blasphemy. Not for hope. Not for believing in the promises of God…but that’s where they were.

I think I know why, though. Numbers 14:3

Numbers 14:3 ESV

Why is the Lord bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become a prey. Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?”

You can get by with quite a lot if you can convince people that you’re protecting the kids. Protecting the generations. Protecting your kingdom. Protecting your identity. That’s what is happening here....we have to shut Caleb and Joshua up—because hope is too dangerous. Hope will get us killed. Hope will kill our children.

But look at the consequence of this. Numbers 14:26-35

Numbers 14:26–35 ESV

And the Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, “How long shall this wicked congregation grumble against me? I have heard the grumblings of the people of Israel, which they grumble against me. Say to them, ‘As I live, declares the Lord, what you have said in my hearing I will do to you: your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness, and of all your number, listed in the census from twenty years old and upward, who have grumbled against me, not one shall come into the land where I swore that I would make you dwell, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun. But your little ones, who you said would become a prey, I will bring in, and they shall know the land that you have rejected. But as for you, your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness. And your children shall be shepherds in the wilderness forty years and shall suffer for your faithlessness, until the last of your dead bodies lies in the wilderness. According to the number of the days in which you spied out the land, forty days, a year for each day, you shall bear your iniquity forty years, and you shall know my displeasure.’ I, the Lord, have spoken. Surely this will I do to all this wicked congregation who are gathered together against me: in this wilderness they shall come to a full end, and there they shall die.”

They miss out on the promised land. They can’t find rest. They die outside the Promised Land. And the kids they were protecting—they will suffer for the unfaithfulness. The next generation suffers because the previous generation failed to hope. They failed to trust the promises of God…In order to protect their life…they lost it. And it had consequences for the kids.

We will not find rest in cynicism. Ever. You will not grab hold of the promises of God with a cynical hand. Ever. It’s not the way of the cross. It might say true things—but it doesn’t say good and beautiful things.

The people respond to this word in Numbers 14…but not the way they ought to. They didn’t believe his promise…and here they don’t believe his judgment. So what do they do?

Well, they do what we so often do…the emptiness of cynicism was exposed, they bore the consequence of their cynical view of life…and so they decided to try out a little optimism.

But it’s a false choice. Optimism isn’t hope. Optimism is beauty but divorced from truth. It’s a false hope. You see this starting in verse 39 of Numbers 14. The people are like…we are so sorry…let’s take a mulligan here…we can take this place. I changed my mind....

They fought the battle they should have fought with the presence of the Lord WITHOUT the presence of the Lord. Grasshoppers don’t defeat giants without the IT factor…optimism doesn’t do it…because it’s divorced from reality. It doesn’t have the presence of God in it.

What is the answer to all of this? Hope. Real, grounded in truth hope. Hebrews 3 picks up this story from Numbers. And there the author gives a warning…today if you hear his voice…don’t harden your heart.

Christ will give you rest. That’s the story there. Christ is how we enter into the Promised Land. Cynicism will tell you that it’s too good to be true. Optimism will tell you something like, “of course, I’ll enter rest—I’m awesome, this is awesome, everything is awesome” but ignore the bloody cross.

Hope grabs a hold of the promise of Christ and rests in the finished work of Jesus. Hope believes this story…and that this is the better story that is better than all the others. Hope believes that this is the truest of truths:

This list was compiled by David Murray:

We love and are loved by the one true and living God

God is our perfect Father

We know Jesus as our Lord and Savior

The Holy Spirit is sanctifying and empowering us

Our sins are forgiven

We are justified and adopted into God’s worldwide and heaven-wide family

We have all the promises of God

Everything is working together for our good

God is our guard and guide

God lives in our hearts

Jesus has prepared a place for us in heaven and will welcome us there.

Which story are you going to believe today? What culture do you want to see in your life, your home, your local church? What do you want to be the disposition of your heart?

God help us. Give us hearts of Joshua and Caleb. Help us to hope in a culture of outrage. To believe the gospel above all. If the gospel is true, then all the greatest problems in the universe have already been solved. If the gospel is true, things are getting better—not worse. Because Jesus is building and restoring and redeeming and someday going to fully established His kingdom.

In Philippians 2 Paul talks about the humility of Christ…who being in the form of God did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped but took on the nature of a servant…even to the point of death…a bloody death on the Christ…and from this God has highly exalted Him...

Now listen to this:

Philippians 2:10–11 ESV

so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Now wait for it…look at verse 12. Scratch out that little paragraph break…Therefore…and then we have a list of imperatives…first, work out your own salvation…we trip up there…what does that mean…spend all our time there…but the second imperative verse 14 flows out of that therefore.

Philippians 2:14–15 ESV

Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world,

Same words used of the wilderness generation. What does this tell us…if it is true that Christ is the name above every name…and every knee will bow and every tongue confess…if this is true…then “do all things without grumbling or disputing...”

Jesus is the answer to cynicism. You can’t believe the gospel and be a cynic at the same time. I’m going to place my lot with Christ.

(1)https://thecorrespondent.com/104/the-great-paradox-of-our-time-everything-is-both-better-and-worse-than-ever-before

(2) https://www.cato.org/commentary/things-are-getting-better-really-they-are