Here Comes the Future: Moses & Joshua. Numbers 27: June 3, 2018 Laurel Neal 1

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1 Here Comes the Future: Moses & Joshua Numbers 27:12-23 June 3, 2018 Laurel Neal 1

2 Numbers 27:12-23 (NIV) Joshua to Succeed Moses Then the LORD said to Moses, Go up this mountain in the Abarim Range and see the land I have given the Israelites. After you have seen it, you too will be gathered to your people, as your brother Aaron was, for when the community rebelled at the waters in the Desert of Zin, both of you disobeyed my command to honor me as holy before their eyes. (These were the waters of Meribah Kadesh, in the Desert of Zin.) Moses said to the LORD, May the LORD, the God who gives breath to all living things, appoint someone over this community to go out and come in before them, one who will lead them out and bring them in, so the LORD s people will not be like sheep without a shepherd. So the LORD said to Moses, Take Joshua son of Nun, a man in whom is the spirit of leadership, and lay your hand on him. Have him stand before Eleazar the priest and the entire assembly and commission him in their presence. Give him some of your authority so the whole Israelite community will obey him. He is to stand before Eleazar the priest, who will obtain decisions for him by inquiring of the Urim before the LORD. At his command he and the entire community of the Israelites will go out, and at his command they will come in. Moses did as the LORD commanded him. He took Joshua and had him stand before Eleazar the priest and the whole assembly. Then he laid his hands on him and commissioned him, as the LORD instructed through Moses. 2

3 Here Comes the Future: Moses & Joshua Numbers 27:12-23 Laurel Neal I You may have noticed that we re going to have a pastoral transition here at MPC. I came here on July 1, 2016 and will be finishing up on July 22, Almost exactly two years. And Danny Peters will be starting up on August 13 hopefully to offer pastoral leadership here at MPC for many more years than that. All of this is very exciting. It s exciting for me personally, and it s probably even more exciting for you. After all, when the Peters were here four weeks ago, you got a sense about why the PNC was so strongly drawn to Danny during the search process. And why they settled on him unanimously and enthusiastically as the person of God s choosing to be MPC s next pastor. Some of you thought Danny looked really young as, say, compared to me or to a number of you. But looks can be deceiving. In fact, as many of you have already discerned, Danny possesses a lot of personal, spiritual, and professional maturity. He has a demonstrated track record of pastoral faithfulness and wisdom of serving God, and his congregation in New York, with energy, intelligence, imagination, and love. He s deeply interested in you and this church, and he asks a lot of questions. Get ready for that. I ve been impressed by Danny every time I ve talked with him or been around him and I think God is blessing you in an extraordinary way by calling him here. You I have no doubt will bless him in return. So, all of this is exciting. It s also thoroughly biblical. The people of God have often experienced transitions in pastoral leadership in fact, leadership transitions are part-and-parcel of what it means to be the people of God. So, for these last eight Sundays I have with you, we ll be focusing on the pastoral transition that s underway here. I couldn t think of any 3

4 better biblical transition to work from than the one we find in the Old Testament between Moses and Joshua. So that will be our guide as we travel these next few weeks together beginning with today s passage from Numbers 27. II Let s begin with some historical background years ago the Hebrew people were slaves in Egypt. It was an awful life. A life of nonstop manual labor and oppression. Eventually the Hebrews, in desperation, cried out to God for help. God heard them and decided to rescue them. First, God raised up a leader named Moses. Now, Moses wasn t a very impressive leader at first, but he grew into the job over time. God used him to free the Hebrew people from Pharaoh s clutches delivering them out of Egypt in an amazing and miraculous event called the Exodus: the key event in all of Jewish history. But the Hebrews turned out to be a whiny group of refugees and travelers. The kind of travelers who grumble over changes in the schedule or the weather. The kind who complain about differences in food and grouse about minor inconveniences. Not quiet grumbling and complaining, mind you, but the loud, obnoxious, never-ending kind. The first weeks of their trip were rough. They were on their way to a wonderful place called The Promised Land, but they seemed to hate every minute of it. There was simply no pleasing them. So what should have been a pretty short trip turned into a journey that took 40 years. Basically, they wandered around in the desert until all the whiners, and complainers, and naysayers died off until all the negative, harping pessimists were dead and buried...and God had what he needed: a more willing, positive, faithful group of people to work with. 4

5 This journey recorded for us in the Old Testament books for Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers stands forever as a tutor and guide. Stands as a warning to local congregations about what it means to live and travel together as the people of God. We need this Old Testament travelogue, because frankly we re a lot like those Hebrew refugees. It s easy for us to forget who s trip we re on together it s God s trip, by the way. And sometimes we succumb to pessimism and grumpiness. God had to work hard for 40 years to root out the Israelites pessimism and grumpiness and the truth is he had to do most of it by simply waiting them out. Here at the end of the book of Numbers, Moses is the only one left from that original generation of refugees. Along with God himself, Moses has borne the brunt of their whining, and complaining, and fractiousness; their negative and fearful thinking about the future; their incessant longing for the life they used to have in Egypt. But here in Numbers 27, God leads Moses up into the Abarim mountains east of the Dead Sea. He wants Moses to see the future laid out before him. So Moses climbs to the top of Mt. Nebo which is 2,700 feet above sea level and about 4,000 feet above the Dead Sea itself. Today Mt. Nebo is located in the country of Jordan, and I stood on top of it just eight weeks ago. It was a bit hazy that day, but I can attest that Moses could see everything from there: the entire Jordan River valley laid out below him; III snow on Mt. Hermon far to the north 9,000 feet in elevation; and, to the west, the hills that lie above the Mediterranean Sea. 5

He can see, in short, The Promised Land: a good land with brooks and rivers, springs and lakes, streams running out of the hills and through the valleys.

6 He can see, in short, The Promised Land: a good land with brooks and rivers, springs and lakes, streams running out of the hills and through the valleys. A land of wheat and barley, of vines and figs and pomegranates, of olives, oil and honey. 1 These seven agricultural products hold special status even today in the area of the Transjordan: wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives (for olive oil), and dates (for honey). They re known as the Seven Species of the Land of Israel, and to this very day they continue to flourish in the Transjordan; and to hold a special, sacred status within Judaism and Jewish life. At any rate, for anyone stuck in the desert for 40 years, it must have been a beautiful sight. Views like we enjoy living here in Portland. Just imagine going 40 years without even a glimpse of the Columbia River alive with sunlight and Mt. Hood towering above it, draped in snow. The view takes Moses breath away especially since he can only look at it and never actually go there. He s known for a while about this constraint on his leadership that he won t get to lead these people into the Promised Land himself so what God says here is no surprise to him. The constraint, in his case, is the consequence of a leadership mistake he made back in Numbers 20. There, once again, the people had rebelled against Moses and complained about his leadership. The journey was taking too long. The food was tiresome. Water was scarce. The people were sick of the whole thing ready to give up on God and definitely ready to give up on Moses. In fact, they just wanted to die and be done with it. Exasperated and under assault, Moses turned to God for help. God told him to assemble the people around a large rock and command the rock to yield its water. Just to speak to it not to do anything else. But Moses was pretty fed up at this point. So instead of doing what God told 1 Deuteronomy

7 him to do, he took matters into his own hands. First he hauled off and yelled at the people. Then he struck the rock with his staff instead of just speaking to it. Struck it twice in fact. Well, water came gushing out of that rock alright enough to quench the thirst of every person and every animal. God proved himself generous, and holy, and powerful that day but not like he wanted to. The Lord wanted Moses to model trust to the people, but Moses blew it. He d become so personally offended that he became just like one of them: an out-of-control whiner and complainer who refused refused! to be guided by God. That s when God told him, Moses, I m sorry, but you aren t gonna be the one to lead these people into the land I m giving them. It was a very sober moment, and Moses probably regretted what he did that day for the rest of his life. But, you know, the Bible isn t a fairy tale. It s about real people and real life, and in this case it s about the real constraints and limitations that sometimes accompany leadership. When it comes to pastoral leadership: Sometimes pastors make mistakes that limit their ability to lead. Sometimes congregations limit their pastors leadership by exasperating them. Sometimes pastors aren t gifted for the next phase of ministry that a church needs. Sometimes God calls pastors elsewhere. Sometimes the pastors are intentional interims, who do a special kind of work that prepares the way for someone else. In other words, constraints and limitations are a normal component of pastoral leadership. We see it with Moses, and we see it here at MPC: where occasionally one form of leadership comes to an end so another form of leadership can begin. This is what God covers with Moses in verses

8 IV But, of course, there must be pastoral leadership. Moses knows this, and God knows it too so this becomes the topic of verses Moses cares deeply about these people. They care deeply for him, too in spite of all the earlier whining and rebellion. So Moses entreats the Lord to provide for them. He asks God to give them a new pastor. A good one. Someone, he says, to lead them, to show the way ahead and bring them back home so that, as Moses puts it, they won t be like sheep without a shepherd. We ve talked about sheep before. They were the most important animal in the ancient Middle East and also the most hapless. They were economically valuable. They were essential for food and worship. But they were also utterly defenseless lost in every respect without a shepherd. Vulnerable to theft, injury, and getting lost. Moses knows his people well. They re dear to him and have also driven him crazy with worry. They need a new shepherd and he asks God to appoint one. Not surprisingly, we find in verses that God s already got things covered. The Lord has already selected Joshua as Moses successor and now Moses is to commission Joshua in public. Why Joshua? Well, we have to go all the way back to Exodus 17 to locate him for the first time. There Moses appoints Joshua to lead an important battle, which Joshua does successfully. Next he appears in Exodus 33, serving as Moses assistant in the Tent of Meeting. Then, in Numbers 11, Joshua serves as one of 12 spies who are dispatched on a reconnaissance mission to The Promised Land. Ten of the spies come back shaking in their boots: the land is too big, the people are too big, the challenges are too big even the grapes that grow there are too big for the Israelites to handle. These ten spies recommend abandoning all plans to enter the land. Only Joshua and Caleb recommend confidence in God. Only they believe in God s gift of that land. Only they can see a future there. 8

9 All in all, then, Joshua s the right person for the job ahead. He has the right experience, the right disposition and vision, the right leadership convictions and style, the right kind of relationship with God to shepherd these people into the future. To lead them where God wants them to go. So Moses is to lay his hands on Joshua in public and commission him as his replacement and successor. He s to turn over his authority to Joshua letting Joshua lead, guide, and pastor the people in his place. Now, in a similar way, you re dear to me. You haven t driven me crazy with worry, but I do know about some of the challenges you ve faced as a church and in your own lives. I know some of your griefs, and I know about some of your anxieties, hopes, and dreams for the future. I also know something about your vitality, your love for God and the gospel, and your missional potential. I want you to have a shepherd, and I want it to be a wise and faithful one. I honestly can t think of a better person than Danny to shepherd you in the years ahead. Just as Moses couldn t think of anyone better than Joshua, and heartily approved of him. V Our passage ends by saying, simply, that Moses did as the Lord commanded him. He took Joshua and stood him before Eleazar the priest in front of the entire community. He laid his hands on him and commissioned him, following the procedure God had outlined. In other words, Moses brought Joshua forward and made his leadership visible in the sight of all. Something like that began to happen here on May 6. The whole process will eventually culminate sometime after Danny s arrival when you and the Presbytery hold a special service of worship, here in this sanctuary, and formally install Danny as your pastor. But as we can see in Numbers 27, transitions in pastoral leadership begin in the heart and plans of God. In your case, God went on to plant those plans in the hearts of the PNC: in Karen s heart and Theresa s, in Barb s 9

10 and Spencer s; in Amy s heart, and Betty s, and Dan s. But God also planted those plans in Danny s and Kaitlin s hearts. And now, at last, those plans of God are well underway in your hearts and mine. Here comes the future and it is good. 10

Joshua is Chosen as Leader

Joshua is Chosen as Leader Numbers 27 12 Then the LORD said to Moses, Go up this mountain in the Abarim range and see the land I have given the Israelites. 13 After you have seen it, you too will be gathered to your people, as your