The 17^th Sunday After Trinity

SERMON

Text: Numbers 27:12-23

Now the Lord said to Moses: "Go up into this Mount Abarim, and see the land which I have given to the children of Israel. "And when you have seen it, you also shall be gathered to your people, as Aaron your brother was gathered. For in the Wilderness of Zin, during the strife of the congregation, you rebelled against My command to hallow Me at the waters before their eyes." (These are the waters of Meribah, at Kadesh in the Wilderness of Zin.) Then Moses spoke to the Lord, saying: "Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over the congregation, who may go out before them and go in before them, who may lead them out and bring them in, that the congregation of the Lord may not be like sheep which have no shepherd." And the Lord said to Moses: "Take Joshua the son of Nun with you, a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay your hand on him; set him before Eleazar the priest and before all the congregation, and inaugurate him in their sight. And you shall give of your authority to him, that all the congregation of the children of Israel may be obedient. He shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who shall inquire before the Lord for him by the judgment of the Urim. At his word they shall go out, and at his word they shall come in, he and all the children of Israel with him—all the congregation." So Moses did as the Lord commanded him. He took Joshua and set him before Eleazar the priest and before all the congregation. And he laid his hands on him and inaugurated him, just as the Lord commanded by the hand of Moses.

In the name of Jesus our Shepherd and our Leader, dear fellow-redeemed:

Are you a leader or a follower? Most certainly each of you have been both at one time or another. There are pitfalls and dangers to both:

Following can be just that—following just because you want to follow, not knowing why, not really reasoning why you are following or what the potential for danger or success might be; imitating a leader like a parrot imitates what it hears. In this kind of following the followers who follow the leader can be led to great destruction—the blind leading the blind.

Leading can be equally dangerous if the leader doesn’t know where he is leading; or knows but isn’t being careful and cautious; or is intentionally leading his followers astray; or becomes so consumed with being leader that his pride clouds his judgment.

Human beings have a built in desire for leadership and when it is not there, there is a cry goes out for leadership or better leadership. The cries for worthy heroes and for decent role-models in our present society are really cries for leadership, because what are heroes and role-models if not leaders?

Corporations fire executives for lack of leadership. Sports teams may have the talent to "win it all" but without the proper leadership in the clubhouse and locker room, they won’t. In families, older siblings lead the younger ones and so it goes…

We like leadership for direction and stability and a feeling of comfort. When we have no leadership a sense of insecurity and discomfort arises.

We have Christ as our ultimate leader and He leads us through His Word. Still, He leads us through His Word by using earthly leaders just as He led the Children of Israel through Moses and then Joshua. Whether we are leading or following at a particular time; whether serving in an official leadership position or not; the leadership is important. We lead or we follow. So we consider this morning the text that describes the transition from Moses’ leadership to Joshua’s and we FOLLOW THE LEADER. As we do this we will find that I. A leader is lost through sin II. A leader is found by God III. A leader is made in submission.

I.

If we wish to explore "leadership" and what makes a good leader, Moses and his dealings with the people of Israel provide a fine:

A leader doesn’t do everything himself. Moses didn’t do everything himself. A leader takes the first step forward, points the way. God gave Aaron to Moses as an assistant and throughout all the years of Moses’ leadership Aaron and others assisted Moses in doing the work of leading the people by speaking to them, judging between disputes, and in other ways. Moses wasn’t a leader who did everything. Moses was a leader who provided direction for the rest of the people.

A leader receives advice from others. He isn’t a know-it-all who won’t receive advice from anyone. Moses received advice from his father-in-law, Jethro. Jethro suggested that Moses appoint 70 elders to help him in his work. Moses followed that advice.

A leader is not always right. Early on, in Egypt, Moses took things into his own hands and killed an Egyptian. Moses was taking a leadership role but it was not the proper one.

A leader DOES give security and direction. Before the Israelites left Egypt, they were crying out in their misery, in their slavery, and their bondage, "Help us!" They were praying to the LORD daily. They were a people confused, a people under oppression. They needed a leader. They needed direction. They needed someone to convey to them the direction that God would give.

A leader makes order out of disorder. After Joseph had told Pharaoh that there would be seven plentiful years followed by seven years of famine, “Pharaoh said to his servants, can we find such a one as this, a man in whom is the Spirit of God…you shall be over my house…see I have set you over all the land of Egypt…” (Genesis 41:38). What a confused mess it would have been if the people knowing that there were going to be seven years of plenty and then seven years of famine, all did their own thing—no direction, no organization whatsoever, the nation would never have survived the seven years of famine; not to mention it would have been unable to provide food for people in the neighboring countries as it did. Under the leadership of Joseph, things were organized—set into a direction guided by God and made successful by Him.

Without the order of a leader’s direction there is chaos. Moses saw the need for a leader of the people so he says in our text, “Let the LORD, the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over the congregation, who may go out before them and go in before them, who may lead them out and bring them in, that the congregation of the LORD may not be like sheep which have no shepherd.” [v.16-17]

Moses knew the people very well. He had been through many ups and downs with them. He knew their weaknesses. He knew what would happen if there was not a leader there to direct them and keep them on the path of God’s truth. So, Moses’ primary prayer before he died was "Lord provide a leader for Your people.

The people too knew their need for a leader. There had been times in their history when they became upset with Moses and Aaron and rebelled and wanted new leaders never did they want to go without a leader.

Later history would also show, during the time of the Judges and Kings, that when Israel had a strong God-fearing leader, the people followed God’s Word. However, when the leader was wicked—or when there was no leader at all—the nation fell into temptation and wickedness as well.

In Zechariah, the prophet describes the idols and idolatrous worship being spread far and wide and people following those things because they didn’t have a leader to direct them the right way. “For the idols speak delusion; the diviners envision lies, and tell false dreams; they comfort in vain. Therefore the people wend their way like sheep, they are in trouble because there is no shepherd” (Zechariah 10:2). The shepherd-less people were easily carried away by all the temptations put in their path.

In His ministry, Jesus was once planning to retreat from the people for a while to rest, but when He saw the crowds gathering around Him with their sick and helpless looking for comfort, looking for aid; Jesus had compassion on them because He saw that they were sheep without a shepherd. So He stayed with them and healed their sick and proclaimed the Gospel to them (Matthew 9:35ff).

Moses had been a leader to fill the need direction, guidance, security, comfort for the people of Israel. He was the only leader Israel had ever known from the time they left Egypt, but those days of leadership were at an end. Moses wouldn’t be the leader to take them into the Promised Land.

Sin makes leadership more necessary and more difficult because there are all the temptations conflicting with good leadership—pulling away from the path that leads to Christ. Sin also puts an end to every leader’s leading…because sin brings with it DEATH. The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23) so every leader in this life will die and that leadership will come to an end. Eventually, Moses would have died and his leadership would have come to an end, but there was a specific sin in Moses’ past which meant that God would bring chastisement upon him and not allow him to see the Promised Land.

Earlier, during Israel’s wanderings in the wilderness, Moses and Aaron had not glorified God by calling water out of a rock (cf: Exodus 17:2ff). Therefore, Moses and Aaron would not enter the Promised Land. God reminded Moses, “For in the Wilderness of Zin, during the strife of the congregation, you rebelled against My command to hallow Me at the waters before their eyes." (These are the waters of Meribah, at Kadesh in the Wilderness of Zin.) [v.14]

Moses and Aaron both died before entering the Promised Land as a result of the sin at Meribah. Human reason cries out: "Not fair! Not fair at all! Moses and Aaron had profitably led Israel faithfully through the many years of wandering and now they are not even going to be able to enter Canaan?!" We don’t think it seems fair, but remember sin. Sin makes us guilty. Sin brings with it death. Justice could have meant that none of the Children of Israel ever live to see the Promised Land because of their sin. So we cannot cry "unfair." We rather see God’s mercy in having spared the people from death despite their rebellion, and in Moses’ case granting him the ability to see the land of Canaan even though he wouldn’t enter it.

Leaders are lost through sin. Followers need to take care toward leaders lest they cause leaders to sin. In Psalm 106 we hear about the same incident at Meribah when the people rose up against Moses. The psalmist describes it as actually setting a snare for Moses’ faith: “[The people] angered Him also at the waters of strife so that it went ill with Moses on account of them; because they rebelled against His spirit so that Moses spoke rashly with his lips” (Psalm 106:32-33). Moses was himself responsible for his sin which led to the end of his leadership, but the followers had laid the trap by rebelling against him and complaining against his leadership.

Careful followers also stand guard so that when a leader sins they don’t follow. Leadership stops whenever the leader would lead into sin. As followers, DON’T EVER FOLLOW a leader JUST BECAUSE he or she is the LEADER. “Test the spirits," God says, to see “whether they are of God for many false prophets have gone out into the world” (1 John 4:1).

PEER PRESSURE fits into this situation exactly. Peer pressure forgets that sin ends leadership. No matter how popular someone is, no matter how hard it is going to be for you not to follow them…if they are leading you into sin, DON’T FOLLOW.

No matter how much wealth is there if you follow, no matter how much success is there, no matter how much power they have to stomp all over you if you do not follow them…DO NOT FOLLOW if they lead into sin. SIN ENDS LEADERSHIP!

This doesn’t mean that once a leader sins that it ends the leadership altogether (Moses continued leading Israel many years after his sin at Meribah) but DON’T FOLLOW INTO THAT SIN.

Each of us has peers and peer pressure. We often think of adolescents when we talk about peer pressure and we see that kind of pressure in our world, but every one of us has peer pressure. We all have people who may at one time or another provide poor leadership by suggesting sin or tempting us into sin. We pray in the Lord’s Prayer, "Lead us not into temptation," part of that prayer is to realize that leadership ends with sin.

II.

In the second part of our text, we see that God finds the leader.

When Moses prayed to God, he prayed that God would find a leader for His people and the Lord delivered. “Take Joshua the son of Nun with you, a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay your hand on him; set him before Eleazar the priest and before all the congregation, and inaugurate him in their sight. And you shall give some of your authority to him, that all the congregation of the children of Israel may be obedient. He shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who shall inquire before the Lord for him by the judgment of the Urim. At his word they shall go out, and at his word they shall come in, he and all the children of Israel with him—all the congregation.” [vv.18ff]

It had been God who first called Moses into the leadership role and it was God who called Joshua. Joshua didn’t need to be presented before the people in order for him to be the leader. God had clearly called him to be that leader and God would tell Joshua, “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:9).

The appointment by God made Joshua the leader, but then God also told Moses to present him before the people so that they would visibly see that He was passing the authority from Moses to Joshua. God commanded the priests to also be present at the ceremony so that the people would see that this was of God—He was the one who was establishing Joshua as the new leader. So in this way, Joshua became the leader of Israel.

We find God providing the leaders for His people throughout all of history. He had chosen Moses…He chose David, both of whom were quite unlikely candidates for leadership. Moses didn’t want to be the leader and complained about his inability to speak. David was the youngest of the sons of Jesse. However, as Moses pointed out, the LORD knows the spirits of all (v. 16), and He chooses the leaders whom HE wants in a position. They are appointed by God.

This too is very important for our lives in this earth. Whatever leaders we have in a position of authority, they are leaders found, established, and set there by God.

PARENTS are leaders of children found by God, chosen by God, equipped by God to be followed by children. LEADERS IN OUR COUNTRY and all the leadership roles that are in place are established by God.

The ultimate leader whom God found, established and gave to us is Jesus our Savior. God chose His Son to come and to live for us and to die for our sins on the cross. He was the only one who could lead into battle and win against sin and death. He was the only One who could conquer what we have deserved—the death which sin brings. God found Him, chose Him, called Him, and sent Him to be our Savior. Jesus was chosen by God to the Leader into death and then resurrection; to be the firstfruits (1 Corinthians 15:20,23) in the resurrection so that we through faith in Him can also look forward to life. We follow Him…He is first…He is the Leader, but we will follow Him into eternal life. Jesus, our Savior, is the One chosen and appointed by God to be the One to lead us faithfully with His Word, guarding us from temptation and preserving us through this life all the way to our heavenly home.

As we keep Jesus, our Leader found by God, in the forefront of our lives He will guide us in choosing leaders for the leadership roles of this life.

We as a church body have at this time a situation not totally unlike the circumstance when Moses’ leadership came to an end. If you have been following the CLC News in our bulletin and elsewhere, you know that one of the professors at our College and Seminary is retiring at the end of this school year—Professor Kuehne, a son of this congregation. One of his main responsibilities has been to train future pastors in the Greek and Hebrew languages. This is training pastors need to fully study the Scriptures. This professorship is a very important office, a very important leadership role.

With Professor Kuehne’s retirement there comes an empty space just as with Moses’ end of leadership. How do we approach this? What do we do? We like Moses want a leader who will lead us and future ministers of the Word to the truth of Scripture—who will faithfully lead the sheep of God so that they don’t become sheep scattered by wolves, but are sheep following a faithful shepherd. So, like Moses, we pray that the Lord provide as servant to fill the need…AND HE WILL!!

Just as sure as God provided Joshua who was not like Moses in many ways—different men, different capabilities, but nonetheless a very capable leader to lead because he was a leader found by God. So too, as the Lord provides us leaders and shepherds in our flocks, HE provides them as HE finds them according to their individual gifts and the congregation’s (or in this case, church body’s) needs.

The LORD FINDS the LEADERS whom we follow.

III.

Finally, a leader is made in submission.

Hollywood likes to portray Moses as being a fiery man, which at times he was—smashing the stone tablets as he came down from Mt. Sinai is an example. But the Scriptures describe Moses as being meek. At the parting of the Red Sea, Hollywood likes to present things as if Moses was the power behind the miracle, he was NOT. What made Moses into a leader was not his fire and excitement. What Moses into a leader was not his courageous bravery that would take him into anything, because he was often times afraid. There is one small phrase in our text that shows what made Moses a leader: “So Moses did as the Lord commanded him.”[v.22]

Following the Word of God, submitting to that truth, doing what the Lord instructs is what makes a leader, a leader. Following God’s Word is what established Moses as the leader of Israel from Egypt to the Promised Land. Following God’s Word is what established Joshua as the leader of Israel in the Conquest of Canaan. Moses had not submitted when he sinned at Meribah. He and Aaron took upon themselves authority and glory that were only to be God’s. Moses had not submitted and therefore, that was not leadership; but in all the things that Moses faithfully followed God, he was a leader beyond other leaders.

Every one of you is a leader—from the youngest to the oldest. Every time you say to someone, "Hey you wanna go…somewhere…?" – you’re leading; OR "Let’s do this…"— you’re leading; OR "Don’t tell…"—You’re leading. Every time we say something like that or suggest to someone what we should do we need to stop and ask, "Am I leading or am I misguiding? Am I by doing this submitting to the Word and will of God?"

I can only hope that even the youngest of children understand how they lead by example. Let’s consider a 5^th grader – not real old, probably not a lot of responsibilities in this life, but every 5^th grader who is listening this morning I hope you realize just how much the 3-year olds look up to you. The same is true for any age. If you are older than someone else they look up to you and are watching your example and are impressed by it. If you could only see the awe in a child’s eyes when he or she sees a high school student. If you could only hear the dreams of the young children when they say, "I want to be like THEM." Then you will realize the kind of leadership that you have opportunity to provide.

We all can…and should…lead by example. We have our Leader Christ Who has given us the Gospel. We lead in everything we do when we submit willingly, humbly to the Word and Will of God.

Because we have differing personalities we all have differing leadership styles. There are some whom we might call "born leaders" who go forward into anything boldly and confidently, but they have to be careful that they don’t go charging into something forgetting to submit to the Lord’s will, and in enthusiasm for leadership end up misleading. There are those who are able to lead in a quiet and peaceful way—almost subtly by their example, that too is still leadership.

When we lead by submitting ourselves and our lives to God’s Word, we will lead to Christ. For when the Gospel is what guides us, when we lead and think of what we are doing out of love for Christ and for our fellowmen they will see that leadership. That leadership in word and in deed will lead to our Savior.

Follow the Leader. You may be the leader, you may be the follower, but know this: Leadership stops when there is sin involved. Know this: The leaders you have are found and put into position by God and equipped by God…

…And as you lead, follow your ultimate leader: YOUR SAVIOR.

—Pastor Wayne C. Eichstadt