Word of Salvation – January 2010

 

Numbers 1 – NOT JUST A LIST OF NUMBERS

Sermon by Rev. John Westendorp

(Sermon 1 in a series from Numbers)

The author acknowledges his debt to Iain M. Duguid.
By means of his devotional commentary “Numbers: God’s Presence in the Wilderness”
I discovered that it was possible to preach my way through the book of Numbers.
I heartily recommend this book to any who have appreciated this on-line sermon series.

Scripture Reading: Numbers 1:1-21 & 42-54.

Singing: Book of Worship: 104a / 441 / 34

Introduction: Can you imagine that after reading Numbers 1 this morning someone asks for it to be read again?

“This is wonderful stuff. We need to hear this more often… please just read it once more.”

Let me picture some other scenarios that you are never likely to see happen.
It’s family devotion time and you allow one of your children to pick a Bible story to read.
Your child is jumping up and down with excitement at being able to pick a story to read.
He says: “Dad, please can we read about Israel being counted in Numbers 1?”

Your Bible Study group is looking for new material.
And several people in the group simultaneously come with this request.
“Can we please study those Bible passages where they take a census of the people.”

 

Numbers 1 is a chapter in the Bible that doesn’t exactly excite and enthuse on a first reading.
Well… unless maybe if you’re a number-cruncher… an accountant or statistician?
You might then get some joy out of reviewing and studying this list… but the rest of us? No!

 

Of course Numbers 1 does present some special challenges for Biblical scholars.
Notice, for example, that the numbers for all tribes (except Gad) end neatly in the hundreds.
Was there really no tribe that happened to have an extra 22 in their total?
Has some sort of rounding off taken place?

 

And what about the huge figures? That has really engaged the Bible scholars.
The fighting men alone number more than half a million. How many Israelites would that make?
Add the adult women and you could at least double the number.
Add those under 20 and you could easily add as many again.

More than 2 million Israelites in the wilderness. That presents some major issues.
How did they all manage to cross the Red Sea in one night?
How did they manage to camp around one little oasis in the wilderness?
And what about God’s instruction in Leviticus about sanitation?
God instructed that Israelites should carry a little spade with them (like hikers).
And to go outside the camp to do their business and then cover it up.
A camp of 2 million would mean a very long walk to the toilet at night.

Scholars generally question what we translate from Hebrew as ‘one thousand’.
But we’re not sure anymore just what value to give it so we have to run with it as is.

 

This morning I want to go beyond that to see that Numbers 1 is more than just a list.

 

A] NOT JUST A LIST OF NUMBERS.

 

1. Behind this list are many, many individual people… real flesh and blood people.

And when you read this chapter carefully you realise that for the Lord God it’s not just a list either.
As we read we become aware that every individual person matters to God.
This massive crowd of people was not just a nameless mass.
When the statistics for Reuben are given we’re told that they were listed by name .
More than that… they were listed one by one according to their clans and families.
And that exact wording is repeated for the next tribe Simeon.

 

This is not just a list of numbers.
God could have given us this information in two columns of 12 lines and a total.
Just a stark list… just the bare facts: Tribe name and a number… end of story.

 

But God doesn’t give it to us that way.
Over and over there is that refrain: listed by name… listed by name… listed by name.

 

This is not just a list of numbers… this is about individuals who matter to God.
Of course it’s only a summary that we have… a report of the census.
I can’t even begin to imagine what Numbers 1 would look like if all the names were included.
And can you imagine trying to pronounce all those difficult Hebrew names.
No! It’s a summary… a report of what happened.
But as the census was done the names were given. It isn’t just a list of numbers.
In a sense it showed personally – name by name – who was in and who was out.

 

In this church we put out a Church Directory every year… you could say it’s just a list.
But it isn’t. It shows name by name, who is in and who is out. It tells who belongs.
Because individuals matter to the Lord. Jesus said that He calls His own by name .

 

2. But there is another way in which this is not just a list of Numbers.

This is also a snapshot of God’s faith community. Or if you like: God’s church of the O.T.

 

So it’s not only the individual names that are important it is also the community as whole that matters.
And – by the way – that community does not only consist of true-blue Israelites.
It already included all kinds of people.
We know that there were Egyptians who ended up leaving Egypt with Israel.
And from time to time we meet others not biologically descended from Abraham.

So God in His grace included among all those names also foreign names.
And together they formed the faith community of God… God’s O.T. church.
This is not just a list of numbers… it’s snapshot of the church.

 

That communal nature is very evident in this chapter.
That reminds us that religion is not just a private matter of God and me.
Sometimes we take that view of things: Christianity is about me and my personal Saviour.

That even comes out sometimes in the hymnody of the church.
I think of that song: I come to the garden alone… while the dew is still on the roses.
And he walks with me and he talks with me…
And the joy we share as we tarry there, none other has ever known.
That’s an emotive lot of claptrap. As if I had a monopoly on Jesus.

 

As individuals we matter… we are mentioned by name in our Church Directory.
More importantly… as believers we are mentioned by name in the Lamb’s Book of Life.
But… we belong to a network… a community… a church… the family of God.

 

3. There is a third way in which this is not just a list of numbers.

This is a little snapshot of history. It highlights the reality of Israel in the wilderness.

 

Today we especially need to be reminded of that.
We live in a culture that wants to dismiss Scripture as myth… as just a legend.
All that stuff you read about in the Bible didn’t really happen.
It’s just a story made up to validate Israel’s existence as a nation.
They wanted to describe who they were as a people.
So they made up these fanciful tales that we read about in the Bible.

 

No! The statistics and the names show the authenticity of the Biblical record.
These seemingly boring parts of the Bible prove its historical reality.
And they remind us that this is not just some mythological tale.

 

I’ve sometimes told the story of the translation of the NT into a tribal language in Irian Jaya.
The translators began with the gospel of Matthew… but they decided to skip the genealogy.
They figured that these primitive tribal people would be bored with the family tree of Jesus.
So they began… and as they translated a chapter they would get the people together.
And they would read the gospel stories to them.
People would politely listen and then the translators would go and do the next part.

When they finished Matthew’s gospel they decided that they really should do the genealogy.
So once more they gathered people and began to read the list of names in Matthew 1.
But as they began reading the Chief stopped them.
He sent messengers to gather the entire village to listen to this reading.
And they came and listened spellbound to that list of names from Matthew 1.

For these people that genealogy of Jesus authenticated the gospel stories they had heard.
What they previously thought was just a white-man’s legend they now saw as history.
For these tribal people that list of ancestors was vitally important.
And so the family tree of Jesus became a turning point in the tribe’s conversion.

 

Numbers 1 gives us a listing of tribal leaders involved in the census.

It records the actual count of the people… and tells us that people were listed name by name.

But it’s not just a list of numbers… it is God’s historical record of His dealing with His people.

 

B] RESPONSIBILITY AND BLESSING.

 

1. I want to bring out some other lessons that God teaches us here in Numbers 1.

Ian Duguid has written a very helpful book on Numbers and he makes an interesting point.

He points out that s ociologists distinguish between two kinds of groupings in society.
There are “centre-bound” groups and there are “edge-bound” groups.

What sociologists call “centre-bound” groups, are groups that have a common interest.
But with centre-bound groups the edges are hazy and we’re not always sure who belongs.
Let me use an example of a group that some of you will relate to: Wallaby fans.
Your love for rugby and your support of the Wallabies binds you together.
But you’re not always clear who belongs to the group and who doesn’t.
You’re not sure who is in and who is out… who belongs and who doesn’t.

What sociologists call “edge-bound” groups, are those groups that are clearly defined.
They may not always have any common interest to share but they know they belong.
Let me use an example you can relate to: the family.
Imagine that the (Smith) family was to have a family reunion next month.
It’s not hard to decide who is in and who is out. You’re in of you are a (Smith) relative.
You may have nothing in common with others at the reunion but you are definitely in.

 

Numbers shows us that the church is both an edge-bound group and a centre-bound group.
Numbers 1 defines Israel as an ‘edge-bound’ group – it clearly defines who is in and who is out.
Numbers 2 shows us the same community as a ‘centre-bound’ community.
It shows that this community has a common interest in God… and in worship of Him.
Here Israel is seen as an edge-bound community. The basic issue is whether you are in or out.
Do you want to belong or not? Are you part of the church or are you not part of the church.

 

One of the great tragedies of the church today is that we have become so casual about membership.
And this census in Numbers 1 confronts us with this issue: Do we belong or not?
Do we want to take membership of the community seriously or not?
When this census in Israel took place people had to make a decision.
Am I going to take my place in this community seriously… or am I out of here?
And today many Christians really need to deal with that issue.

 

2. So what’s the purpose of being counted in? Why make sure that the edges of the community are firm?

For two reasons. First the idea of belonging brings responsibility with it.
I guess that’s why some people today don’t want to commit to church membership.
They might actually ask me to do something. They might actually want me to make sacrifices.
That’s why it’s so easy in today’s mega-churches to slip thru the cracks.
You just don’t sign up… you just hide behind others.
No commitment means no responsibility.

 

That didn’t happen here in Numbers 1 and it couldn’t happen.
One of the key reasons for the census is clearly given… in fact it’s given thirteen times .
There was no escaping the implications of belonging to this “edge-bound” group.
The census was of those who were able to bear arms. Those eligible for the army.
That is stated at the beginning of the chapter and once as every tribe is listed.

 

That’s another reason why the Lord didn’t give the list in two columns with twelve lines.
Just the Tribe name and the number of adult men.
No! Over and over it is repeated: Those able to serve in the army were counted.
God was highlighting their responsibility for service.
Those able to serve in the army were counted.

 

In a sense God was making preparation for warfare… to conquer the Promised Land.
And in the battle that looms everyone counts. Everyone pulls their weight.

 

I have so often seen again what happens when people take responsibility in the community.
A member is in hospital for major surgery.
But she is overwhelmed by the support of her church family.
A family is in crisis and doing it tough.
But the believing community steps in and cares and helps.
In this “edge-bound” community we take responsibility for one another.
Belonging brings with it certain responsibilities that we may not shrug off.

 

3. But belonging also brings blessing with it. And here we need to remember the goal of this nation.

This nation is not just parked permanently in the wilderness – later it may have seemed that way.

No these people are travelling through… they are on the way.
Their destiny is Canaan, the Promised Land flowing with milk and honey.
So these who are counted not only have responsibility… they also stand to gain blessings.

 

Those who are counted would also stand to inherit a share of the Promised Land.
In a sense they were counted for the very purpose of being blessed.
Ahead of them lay their inheritance… but only if they were counted as ‘in’ at this census.

 

Of course we know that things went horribly wrong because of Israel’s disobedience.
So they wandered around in the wilderness for forty years.
And at the end of that forty years another census needed to be taken.
But it was so that those counted would be guaranteed to share in the blessings.

 

C] IT’S REALY ALL ABOUT GOD.

 

1. I want to conclude by reminding you that the Hero of every Bible story is God.

That’s true of this story too. It is not first of all about Israel… it’s about God.

That’s obvious in three different ways.

 

It is evident especially at the end of the chapter where we read that the Levites were not counted.
God had said long ago that Levi’s descendants would be dispersed in Israel.
But they were dispersed to minister in a special way in the service of God.

 

In the next chapter we’re going to see clearly that God is living in the midst of His people.
And the focal point of God’s presence among them is the Tabernacle.
Well, the Levites ministered in and around the Tabernacle.
They took it down when they moved… they carried it… they put it up when they camped.

 

In a real sense they were called to guard the sacred things of God.

But they were also to guard people from a holy and righteous God.
So at heart and centre of this community is the Lord, God… the Maker of the universe.
And every Levite who was not included in the census was a reminder of God in their midst.

 

We are members of the edge-bound community that is the Christian church.

But the church is not about us. Jesus is at the centre.

 

2. Another way in which we see that Numbers 1 is about God is that it shows clearly His faithfulness.

Here is a nation that is a mighty nation.
And regardless of any problems we may have with the actual numbers there is no doubt.
God has mightily increased this nation.
Israel had gone down to Egypt as group that was just 70 in number.
Now they were a nation that was counted in the thousands.

 

More than that. God’s faithfulness is seen in that His promise to Abraham has now been fulfilled.
God told Abraham that he would become a great nation.
And here in Numbers 1 Abraham’s offspring is now that great nation.

 

Furthermore God’s faithfulness is also seen in that He has delivered that nation from slavery.
The Exodus has taken place.
God told Abraham that for several generations his offspring would be enslaved in Egypt.
But God would lead them out to bring them back to Canaan. Here He is doing that.

 

This is more than a list of numbers. This is proof of the faithfulness of God.
In fact a far greater fulfilment is still to happen… a fulfilment you and I share in.
God also promised that this people would be too numerous to count – as many as the stars.
As numerous as grains of sand on the beach.
And then I think of another census in the book of Revelation.
And we’re told of a great multitude that no one could count.
And that’s the crowd that includes all of those who trust in Jesus as Saviour and Lord.

 

3. The third way in which we see that this is all about God is that this shows God achieving His purposes.

God has brought His people out of Egypt… but God now leads them onto Jordan and Canaan.

 

In preparation for that God counts all those who are able to serve in the army.
A war of conquest is looming.
The outcome of that war is already established… the victory will be given by God.
Israel will inherit the Promised Land… but Israel still needs to plan responsibly.
And this census is part of that planning.
That planning for a sure future will not be hindered – not even by 40-year sidetrack.

 

In a sense that is a lovely picture of the Christian life.
God will achieve His purposes… in fact Jesus has already won the victory.
But God achieves His purposes in this life through our involvement.

 

This is not just a list of numbers… this is part of the story of God’s faithfulness.
Here God counts His people so that in His victory He may count on their armed involvement.
God’s faithfulness and God’s victory is only rarely apart from our effort.
And that leaves me with just this question:
If you are counted as in… can God also count on your contribution?

 

Amen