Clergy/Leaders’ Mail-list No. 3-044 (Expository Sermon)

[This is CLM-0-232 (29 Nov 2000) repeated, to maintain the sequence of this series of sermons on the book of Numbers]

PARTY IN THE DESERT Numbers 9:1-14

by Rod Benson

The book of Numbers tells the ancient story of Israel’s journey from Mt Sinai to the plains of Moab on the eastern border of Canaan, the Promised Land.

The journey by way of the Gulf of Aqaba would normally have taken eleven days (Deuteronomy 1:2), even less if you took a more direct route. But Israel spent 38 years and nine months to get from Sinai to Kadesh Barnea on the plains of Moab, by the Jordan River, just across from Jericho.

How could an eleven-day trip take over 38 years? The answer lies in Numbers, where we discover a long pattern of unfaithfulness, rebellion, apostasy and frustration on the part of the people of Israel, set against the background of God’s faithfulness, presence, provision and forbearance.

Their basic problem, from which others unravelled, was lack of faith in God. William Dumbrell visualises Israel at this point in its history as a massive army moving irresolutely from place to place, organised for battle, meeting no enemy except the righteous God . . . The message of the book very clearly is that if Israel wishes to enjoy the blessings of the Land of Promise, they must follow God’s unfailing guidance and keep themselves unspotted from the world.

Numbers 9 narrates the celebration of the second Passover (Numbers is not written as a chronological narrative, so the Passover of chapter nine occurs before the census of chapter one). It’s a year since God intervened in history and miraculously rescued his people from Egyptian slavery, leading them across the desert towards their destiny in the Promised Land.

The nation is still camped at the foot of Mt Sinai, where God recently gave the Law to Moses, and where the people demonstrated the superficial nature of their allegiance to God by worshipping a golden calf.

The Passover, combined with the Feast of Unleavened Bread that immediately followed it, became the great annual festival celebrating Israel’s exodus from Egypt, commencing on the 14th day of the first month (equivalent to April in the Julian and Gregorian calendars), and lasting eight days (Leviticus 23:5-6).

PAUSE TO REFRESH

The people are getting ready to resume their history-making journey, but before they set out they need to pause to refocus their spiritual lives, and refresh their hearts, and reinvigorate their relationship with God. Each of us is on a journey with choices and trials ahead, and it’s vitally important that we too pause at key moments for rest, refocussing, for refreshment and reinvigoration of our spirits.

I remember two long journeys I made: one from Wollongong to Lae, Papua New Guinea, when I was nine years old; and one from Ipswich to Blakehurst in 1998. On both journeys I was moving into unknown territory, unfamiliar with the new culture and customs, and unaware of the impact the changes would make in my life. In 1998, when I climbed into my car and drove away from our home to begin the long solitary drive to Sydney (my family travelled by air), there were tears and pain, and thoughts of expectation, anticipation and hope. “What does the future hold?” I asked. Perhaps you have had a similar experience.

What was it like for the Israelites who left so much behind in Egypt, and who had already encountered some difficult experiences in the desert en route to Sinai? Most likely the Israelites entertained mixed feelings about what had happened, and about what lay ahead. But before they set out, the Lord himself draws them back to their common foundation and strength and hope: their divine redemption on that first unforgettable Passover night twelve months before.

It was their worship, and their appreciation for what God had done for them, that would motivate and empower Israel to march from Sinai to Kadesh Barnea. But it’s easy to fall out of the habit of regular worship! I want to suggest four principles that will help you worship God – principles that encouraged Israel to engage in meaningful, inspiring worship long ago.

FOUR PRINCIPLES FOR WORSHIP

First, a strange place is no barrier to worship (verses 1-5). Later in their national history, in Babylonian captivity, Israel’s captors said, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!” And the reply was, “How can we sing the songs of the Lord in a strange land?” (Psalm 137:3-4).

But geography and culture, and even one’s degree of freedom, are no barrier to true worship, because worship emanates from a heart focussed on God and his acts of grace and mercy. That’s why Paul and Silas sang hymns in the dungeon at Philippi (Acts 16:25). And that’s why it was possible for Israel to sit down family by family in their tents, in the shadow of Mt Sinai, and celebrate the Passover.

These verses set the scene for the main narrative that follows in verses 6-14. Notice that it was the Lord’s initiative, and that the people followed his command to the letter. Exact obedience is required of God’s people. This is where Israel slipped up again and again, and we too must be careful to hear and understand the word of God, and vigilantly carry out what he asks us to do.

Second, unavoidable distractions are no barrier to worship (verses 6-12). Some men who would otherwise have been willing worshippers came to Moses and Aaron and said, “We have become unclean because of a dead body, but why should we be kept from presenting the Lord’s offering with the other Israelites at the appointed time?” (verse 7). According to the Law, sacrifices could only be offered and eaten by those who were free from the pollution caused by bodily discharges, skin diseases and dead bodies.

Moses wisely replied, “Wait until I find out what the Lord commands concerning you” (verse 8). This was an issue not covered by the original Passover legislation, but the Lord spoke to Moses, setting forth a general principle covering all similar situations, and also addressing an unrelated question: the case of a person away on a distant journey (verses 9-12).

Why does God address this second issue? Possibly because, just as an unclean person had to be separated from the community, a person away on a distant journey is also in the realm of the unclean, separated from the community. Both situations deal with temporary and unavoidable separation from the covenant community, and by God’s grace people in both situations are eligible to observe the Passover one month late.

Unavoidable distractions – and there are many of these today – are no barrier to worship. God’s primary concern is with the motive and substance of your worship, rather than its form.

Third, an unconventional past is no barrier to worship (verse 14). The “alien” or “stranger” is one who is ethnically non-Israelite but who has been welcomed into the covenant community by circumcision and who has devoted himself to serving Israel’s God (cf Exodus 12:48-49).

This additional ruling looks forward to life in Canaan. Israelites themselves had to remember that they too were once “aliens” in a foreign land and culture, and now, as missionaries to the nations, it was vital that they share God’s compassion and grace for others who were different but who shared the same spiritual commitments.

Do you sometimes feel like a “stranger” or an “outsider” when it comes to corporate worship of God? Do you have an unconventional background, or a different perspective on the way worship is conducted? If you do, you have nothing to fear. God’s family is broad enough to encompass all kinds of people, and the only external factor preventing you from engaging in meaningful and inspiring worship is the prejudice of other members of God’s family. Each of us needs to guard against prejudice.

Fourth, an unhealthy attitude is an insurmountable barrier to worship (verse 13). God conveys grace to the willing but unclean worshipper, but judgement to those who are clean but unwilling to worship.

Failure to observe the first Passover was met with death at the hands of the Destroyer (Exodus 12:23). Although the circumstances have changed, the penalty for non-observance is restated. To be “cut off” from the covenant community was the reward for a variety of religious and sexual sins. It could either mean excommunication or physical death, but the New Testament interpretation of excommunication suggests that the distinction between excommunication and death may be an arbitrary one (see 1 Corinthians 5:5; 11:30; 1 Timothy 1:20).

MAKING IT PERSONAL

What is your attitude as you worship God today? Is it one of joyful thanksgiving, or humble penitence, or awe at his majesty and grace? Do you come with hands outstreched, offering sacrifices of praise to God, or do you come with hands clasped into fists, with nothing to offer God? What barriers prevent you from engaging in meaningful and inspiring worship today? The place where you are, the distractions you can’t avoid, and the person God made you to be are not real barriers to worship. What about your attitude?

Ask for help, and God will answer you. If you’re drowsy, let God refresh you. If you’re detached, let him instil fresh vigour and discipline in your life. If you’re depressed, let him comfort and heal you. If you’re discouraged, let him encourage you and fill you with joy. If you’re disillusioned, ask him to cast you a new vision. If you feel disoriented, ask him to guide you.

Ask God to help you and he will. He loves you.

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E116 Copyright (c) 2003 Rod Benson. Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible: New International Version (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1980).

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