04 Lent 4th Sunday in Lent
My friends, I greet you this evening in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Our lesson comes to us from the 24th chapter of Numbers beginning with the fourth verse.
Grumble, Grumble, Grumble. Can you hear it? The complaining. The moaning. Nothing is ever good enough. Grumble. Why did you have to bring us out here to die? Grumble. There is no food or water. Grumble. And we detest this miserable manna. The mood in the camp is not one of celebration, or thankfulness. It isn’t contentment. No, the mood is one of complaining and moaning. It is grumbling. Grumble. Grumble. Grumble.
But then again can you really blame the people? I mean they have been wandering in the desert for a very long time. And it is not because Moses wouldn’t stop and ask for directions. No it is because they didn’t trust God. You remember the story. The people leave Egypt. They cross through the sea on dry ground. They are led to Mt. Sinai and there God establishes his covenant with them. I will be your God and you will be my people. They get to the edge of the promise land. And a recon mission is set up. Spies are sent in. They come back with arms full of fruit and their report. “The people in this land are giants. We don’t stand a chance against them.” They refuse to follow God’s directions and so God doesn’t allow them to enter the promised land. The people must wander through the desert until that generation has died. That is why they are here.
It is not a fun situation. Can you imagine the sand? Living in a tent. There isn’t a whole lot of water around, I can’t imagine the smell would be too pleasant. They don’t know where they are going, all they know is that they have to wander until they die. It isn’t a good situation. It’s not surprising that they grumbled. Can you blame them? I sure can’t. Grumble. Grumble. Grumble.
So here we are in the 21st chapter of Numbers. And the grumbling of the people once again fills our ears. What is the result? Death. And it’s not like they were simply struck by lightening. That probably would not have been too bad. But there were snakes. Snakes. Why does it always have to be snakes? These fiery serpents would slither around the grumbling people and bite them. As a result many people died. After all, when you are in the desert, where do you go to get away from snakes?
This isn’t a happy story. This isn’t something that you read to children at bed time. But it is a valuable story. Because from it we learn two things. First, when God wants us to do something, he means it. Disobedience and distrust are serious problems. And the result is death. But the second thing is that God is gracious and merciful. Faith in him brings life, even in the midst of death. Even in the midst of grumbling.
You see it isn’t the grumbling in and of itself that was the problem. I mean sure it was annoying. But what else is there to do out in the desert. It’s not like they had laptops or I-pods or portable DVD players that allowed them to watch Star Wars. They were just out there, in the middle of nowhere. They were in a life long “time out” from the promised land. No, the grumbling itself wasn’t the problem. The reason why there’s a problem is because of the source of the grumbling. The people are grumbling because they don’t have faith in God.
Now, think about this for a moment and what it means. We are not talking about an uncertainty on the part of the people here. We are not talking about doubt the way that you and I normally think about doubt. We are talking about out and out unbelief. These people have witnessed first hand the power and presence of God. They saw the plagues that judged the gods of the Egyptians. They walked between the walls of water on dry ground as they crossed the sea. They found enough food to eat and water drink in the middle of the desert. They stood at the foot of the Mountain as it quaked in the presence of God. They followed the pillar of cloud during the day and a pillar of fire by night. They saw the glory of God descend to the tent of meeting, which was the tent in the middle of the camp, the tabernacle. And in the midst of all this. They were unbelieving. So it’s not like they were asked to believe in something that was unseen and unknown to them. And it’s not as if they had never heard about God. This isn’t unbelief that comes from a lack of knowledge.
No. They saw with their own eyes, they heard with their own ears, they smelled with they own noses. And still they will not believe. And we hear their unbelief in their grumbling. Grumble. Grumble. Grumble.
The result is death. That is, the result of the unbelief is death, both in a literal and figurative sense. Because of the unbelief there is death in relationship. Have you have tired to have a close relationship with someone you didn’t trust? Or could you imagine having a relationship with someone you can’t trust? Nothing kills a relationship faster than a lack of trust. But then there was also the literal death, the result of those snakes crawling around all over the place.
This is a troubling story. Many people lost their lives. It is hard to explain. It is hard to justify God’s actions here. But you know what? God doesn’t need to justify his actions to us. His ways are beyond us. Some things that he does just don’t make a whole lot of sense to us. It doesn’t make sense that an innocent man would suffer and die a horrible terrible death on behalf of a bunch of sinners who really do deserve to die. But he did. And he even did it willingly. Because of his great love for you, and for me.
We all have “snakes” in our lives. And I am not just talking about the bull snake that lives out there by the dumpster. There our things in our lives that make life miserable. There is suffering and pain, sickness and sadness. These things are the result of sin in our lives. We are sinful human beings. No better than the grumblers who were in the wilderness. We may confess with our mouths that we are Christians, but our actions can paint a very different picture. And just as the snakes in the wilderness brought about death, so sin brings about death too. After all the wages of sin is death.
God in his great mercy, was not satisfied to leave us to our own sinfulness. So he became a human being. He walked around with us, amongst the snakes. He lived the perfect life that is required by God. He fulfilled God’s law down to the last jot. Having met all the requirements he then took our sin upon himself and was nailed to a tree. Where he died. His blood paying the price of your sins and of mine. But he did not stay dead. Because three days later he rose from the grave. He came back to life. And in this death and resurrection he destroyed the power of sin, death and even the devil.
And so, the second thing we learn from this text is that God is gracious and merciful. He hears the prayers of his people. And forgives them when they seek his forgiveness. The people in our text go to Moses and ask him to pray. They have asked for forgiveness. They have repented. They changed the way they thought and acted, and were ready to move on. God forgave them, and had Moses make a bronze snake and place it up on a pole, so that those who were bitten by the snakes could look at this one on the pole and live.
It is not that the snake of bronze had any power in and of itself. It was just a hunk of metal. It was not magical or special. But because this snake had a word and promise from God attached to it, there was found in this snake, life for those who would look upon it and believe the words that God had spoken.
Unbelief brings death. Belief brings life. And so just as that metal serpent was lifted up there in the wilderness, Jesus was also lifted up on the cross. So that those who look to him in faith will find complete and total forgiveness for their sins. They will find life with God. And this life is an everlasting life. This isn’t something that these people do on their own. For we can’t even have faith without the help of the Holy Spirit. But we look to the cross. We remember the sacrifice that Jesus made. The price that he paid because he loves you and me so very very much. This we have as a gift. The Epistle lesson says for it is by grace that you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God – not the result of works, so that no one may boast. It is God’s gift. His gift to you. And to me. He gets all the credit and all the glory.
But it doesn’t stop there. Verse 10. For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life. I love this translation of this verse. Good works are to be our way of life. They are not our way of salvation. They are not our way of making God love us more. They are not our way of getting God to do the things that we want him to do. They are simply our way of life. And our good works bring him glory. Jesus said, “Let your light so shine before others that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.”
The people in the wilderness, plagued by fiery serpents, looked up to the pole that held a snake. And they lived. In spite of the grumble, grumble, grumble. God had mercy and showed his forgiveness in their lives. You and I, plagued by suffering and sin, look up to the cross that held the one true God. Because in him we have life. We have this gift in spite of our sin and our grumbling. And God shows his mercy and forgiveness in our lives. He does this for his glory, and so that we may do good works which he prepared to be our way of life. May God bless you and me in our walk with him, and in living out the way of life that he has prepared for us, even in the midst of grumble, grumble, grumble. Amen.