The End of A Journey and The Beginning of an Adventure

Opening

It is my humbled joy to be able to share God’s word with you again today. As we begin please join me in prayer.

Before we get into our message today would you all join me in doing something? I would like us all to take a moment and just breathe deeply. Come on, ready, in through your nose, out through your mouth. Again in deep, fill your lungs all the way, let it out slowly, one last time. Good, how is everyone feeling now?

As I get older I find that taking time to intentionally breath deep allows me to focus and prepare for whatever may lay ahead. Especially during transitional seasons in my life, it allows me to slow down, reflect on what I just came through and to begin to assess how to move forward. As you know my time at Faith Bible Seminary has ended. I submitted my last assignment a week ago this past Friday. As I hit that submit button for that final assignment, there was an anxiety that rose up inside of me. The root of that anxiety was “what am I going to do now?” For those who don’t know I have spent most of the last 8 years in full time study of God and his word and his ways between Liberty University and Faith Bible Seminary. I have grown past getting used to doing intense reading and research to throughly enjoying it. So as I submitted that last assignment the question rose up inside of me, “what am I going to do now?”

One of the things that I plan to do is spend more focused time on my family, to think that when I started school Josh was Haley’s age. One thing that we enjoy doing as a family is watching movie series. Each year we try to get through Star Wars, Chronicles of Narnia, and The Hobbit/Lord of the Rings. Of these my favorite is probably The Hobbit/ lord of the Rings movies.

In the first movie in the series The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Bilbo Baggins reflects on his journeys with Gandalf the Great. Bilbo recalls his initial encounter with the wizard in which a rather awkward Good Morning took place leading Bilbo to ask Gandalf if he could help him. It lead to an exchange on the topic of adventure.

Gandalf responded “I am looking for someone to share in an adventure that I am arranging, and it’s very difficult to find anyone.”

To which Bilbo responded, “I should think so — in these parts! We are plain quiet folk and have no use for adventures. Nasty disturbing uncomfortable things! Make you late for dinner!”

And if you have read the books or seen the movies you know how the story unfolds.

Life is a never ending adventure. As one journey ends another adventure begins and if we do not stop and take the time to focus in between, it can feel as if we are simply trying not to drown in the chaos of life.

Regarding this, in The Fellowship of the Ring, Frodo recalls Bilbo telling him, “It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to.”

As Christians our footing is given to us by the Word of God. So as we come to the end of a journey and the beginning of an adventure let us turn to God’s word for guidance. Please turn with me to Deuteronomy 34.

Deuteronomy 34:1–12 ESV

Then Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, which is opposite Jericho. And the Lord showed him all the land, Gilead as far as Dan, all Naphtali, the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the western sea, the Negeb, and the Plain, that is, the Valley of Jericho the city of palm trees, as far as Zoar. And the Lord said to him, “This is the land of which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, ‘I will give it to your offspring.’ I have let you see it with your eyes, but you shall not go over there.” So Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord, and he buried him in the valley in the land of Moab opposite Beth-peor; but no one knows the place of his burial to this day. Moses was 120 years old when he died. His eye was undimmed, and his vigor unabated. And the people of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days. Then the days of weeping and mourning for Moses were ended. And Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands on him. So the people of Israel obeyed him and did as the Lord had commanded Moses. And there has not arisen a prophet since in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, none like him for all the signs and the wonders that the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land, and for all the mighty power and all the great deeds of terror that Moses did in the sight of all Israel.

This chapter closes out the book of Moses. That being the first five books of our Bible, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Outside of Genesis, these book detail the life of Moses. From his rescue from a childhood death to being the servant of the Lord whom God knew face to face. Moses was a man that knew how adventurous life could be. For forty years he lived as a prince in one of the greatest empires this world has ever known. For another forty years he lived a life as a shepherd spending much time in solitude. For the final forty years of his life he became the leader of a nation who roughly 3,000 years later is still known around the world.

Yet, this beloved leader was a man just as you and me, and at times along the road of life Moses lost his footing. Yet in the final chapter of Moses’ earthly life there is much that we can learn as we traverse our own lives. Looking at our passage today, there are three biblical principles that I want to share with you as we as a church family transition from one adventure to the next.

God Will Fulfill His Word

When we begin to talk about God fulfilling his word we tend to run to verses like Isa 55:11

Isaiah 55:11 ESV

so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

Or we look to 2 Tim 3:16-17

2 Timothy 3:16–17 ESV

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

Or Heb 4:12

Hebrews 4:12 ESV

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

We have these verses that we run to, to remind us that God’s word is faithful and true and that we are supposed to believe it and trust it, but how often do we reflect on the passages that show this taking place? Within this passage we see three human characters named, Moses, Israel, and Joshua. The thing that connects all of them together is God and his word. Through the account of the end of Moses’ life God is showing us that he fulfills his word.

As this chapter begins we see Moses ascending to the top of Pisgah where the Lord shows him all of the land that the Israelites are to inhabit. For the better part of a millenium the Israelites had been waiting on this land, this promised land. And here it was at their finger tips, yet not quite able to reach it. There was still one more thing that needed to happen, Moses had to die. Why you might ask, or even how? Our passage indicates that Moses was not physically near death. His eyes and mind were still sharp, his body was still strong, yet his time on this earth was done. See there were two events that took place that lead to the culmination of the Israelites waiting 40 years to enter this land and Moses not being able to go with them.

Numbers 14:28–35 (ESV)

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.”

God left them wandering in the wilderness because of their lack of faith. Moses’ denial of entry into the promised land was ground in a similar premise. During their time wandering in the desert, the Israelites ran out of water. The people became angry with Moses and thought it was cruel that he led them into the desert to die and wished to go back to Egypt. Moses and his brother Aaron sought the Lord on this and were instructed to

Numbers 20:8 ESV

“Take the staff, and assemble the congregation, you and Aaron your brother, and tell the rock before their eyes to yield its water. So you shall bring water out of the rock for them and give drink to the congregation and their cattle.”

Yet this is not what Moses did.

Numbers 20:10–12 ESV

Then Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock, and he said to them, “Hear now, you rebels: shall we bring water for you out of this rock?” And Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock with his staff twice, and water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their livestock. And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not believe in me, to uphold me as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them.”

And even in pleading with God, Moses was still not able to enter the promised land.

Deuteronomy 3:23–29 ESV

“And I pleaded with the Lord at that time, saying, ‘O Lord God, you have only begun to show your servant your greatness and your mighty hand. For what god is there in heaven or on earth who can do such works and mighty acts as yours? Please let me go over and see the good land beyond the Jordan, that good hill country and Lebanon.’ But the Lord was angry with me because of you and would not listen to me. And the Lord said to me, ‘Enough from you; do not speak to me of this matter again. Go up to the top of Pisgah and lift up your eyes westward and northward and southward and eastward, and look at it with your eyes, for you shall not go over this Jordan. But charge Joshua, and encourage and strengthen him, for he shall go over at the head of this people, and he shall put them in possession of the land that you shall see.’ So we remained in the valley opposite Beth-peor.

God’s word stands. The forty years had past and it was time to enter the land, yet for Moses his time on this earth had come to an end.

So what does this mean for us today? It means that we take God at his word and the promises that he has given us. What are these promises? Is that we will grow and be successful in every ministry endeavor we take on? No. Is that we will all always get along and church will be free on pain and strife? No. Is that as long as we do good we will prosper? Again, No. When looking to promises that are given to the church of today there can be many different opinions to wade through. Instead we will look at a guiding principle which can be discerned from the opening chapters of Revelation.

What we read in the first few chapters of Revelation is that Jesus holds the angels of each church in his hand and he stands at the center of all churches. What we can understand from the 7 letters to the 7 churches is that Jesus cares deeply for his Church in all the locations it cover. Jesus desires for his church to be faithful to him, and to those that are there are blessings that are coming. For the ones who are not faithful Jesus will be correction even unto removing their lampstand.

This principle applies to us here at Burr Oak, Jesus is in our midst. He is yearning for us to follow in his ways, to look to him, and regard him as our first love. And when we regard him as our first love, it governs how we think and act towards each other.

Remember Past Leaders For Their Blessings

As we get into the last few verses of this chapter we see Moses being remembered.

Deuteronomy 34:10–12 ESV

And there has not arisen a prophet since in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, none like him for all the signs and the wonders that the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land, and for all the mighty power and all the great deeds of terror that Moses did in the sight of all Israel.

I want us to understand the significance of this. Moses was a man with faults. There was times when he was weak and not courageous. There were times when he was angry and short tempered. There were times when he made mistakes. As we covered above, Moses made a mistake that cost him entrance into the promise land. Yet, with all those faults, he was remembered as the one that God knew face to face that many signs and wonders had been accomplished through. And as the Israelites were to embark on their next adventure it was not Moses’ faults that were to be remembered but the blessings that they had experienced through him. The people who had been characterized as grumblers and complainers to this point, were to remember their blessings and the one that those blessing had come through.

As we here at Burr Oak embark on our own next adventure, it would do us good to focus on this principle. The majority of you here have sat under two pastors in your time here. Pastor Mark Woods showed that Burr Oak was capable of having a pastor of a long tenure. His pastorate broke what seemed like a curse of pastors who did not stay very long. He was faithful to teaching the word of God and helped us to have it planted deep within our hearts. Pastor Mark Yeager though here only a short time, taught us how to take God’s word and apply it to loving our community. He helped us to discover ministries within our area that we have been able to partner with. Yes they were men with their own short comings and faults, yet God’s blessings were still able to be experienced through them and for that we praise God for. And as we transition to a new lead pastor we are brought to our final principle from our passage today.

Lamenting to Move Forward

Grief is a funny thing. Grief comes in all shapes and sizes, custom made to order, with no two people grieving in the same manner. It’s viscous and ugly. It is something that no person wants to go through but inevitably we all experience. There are some experiences that as we grow we expect to grieve and then their are others that catch us by surprise and leave us trying to pick up the pieces and try to figure out how to move forward. Unfortunately the option to not move forward does not exist. Looking again to the Lord of the Rings Gildor the elf explains it to Frodo this way,

“The Wide World Is All About You: You Can Fence Yourselves In, But You Cannot For Ever Fence It Out”

Since life continues to move on and we cannot keep from at some point being swept away in its flow, what are we to do? In verse 8 we are given a principle that far too often we tend to overlook.

Deuteronomy 34:8 ESV

And the people of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days. Then the days of weeping and mourning for Moses were ended.

After 40 years of wandering, after an entire generation had to pass away, after a transition in leadership, the Israelites were told to mourn. Yet this was not the type of mourning where you sit in despair. No this was an active process in which a person acknowledges what they have been through and learn to trust God more. This active process also was not open ended. The Israelites were not free to forever sit in their grief. They were to be intentional with it for a set duration of time and then be ready to move on to what was next. And what was next? The promised land. The realization of a dream and a promise of almost a 1,000 years old. But before it could be realized they were to pause and lament.

And this is what we will do. We will pause…we will breath in deep and slow…and we will lament. But this is only for a duration. Over the next 5 weeks we will begin to take a deeper look at the lamenting process. I will encourage you to look at areas of your individual life and of our corporate church life in which we need to lament. We will breath in deep and slow and allow God to work on us as we prepare for what God brings. As I look out at our church family I am excited for the future of Burr Oak. As I think of all that God has done to bring my family and I to this point and all that he has done to bring our church to this point in time I cannot help but be excited. I want that excitement to spread. But before we move forward into what God has in store for us we will pause…breath in deep and slow…and lament.

Today we are taking part in the communion meal. As Steve comes forward for a time of worship and pastor Dick comes forward to oversee the blessing and serving of the elements allow the lamenting process to start now. You are coming to share in the meal of remembrance of the one who collects your tears in a bottle and has your troubles written in his book. Begin to give them to him allow your trouble to fall on him and praise him for all that he has done for you.