Word of Salvation – September 2013

 

Numbers 20 – FALLIBLE LEADERSHIP

By Rev. John Westendorp

(Sermon 20 in a series on Numbers)

Scripture reading: Numbers 20.

Singing: Book of Worship 115 / 358 / 426 / 96

 

Introd: History is full of leaders who were worshipped by their followers.

The extremes of this kind of hero worship has led to some of history’s great disasters.
Adolph Hitler had a following where thousands of people were prepared to die for him.
Osama bin Laden still has followers who are prepared to be suicide bombers for his cause.

The Christian Church has not escape the hero worship of its leaders either.
And then I’m not thinking only of cult leaders like David Koresh in Waco, Texas.
It seems to me that this happens whenever I watch public appearances of the Pope.

It’s certainly true that Christians are called to have great respect for their leaders.
But many a Christian pastor has overstepped the boundaries.
Many have knowingly or unknowingly cultivated a personal following.

It’s a temptation for all of us: respect can so easily slide over into hero worship.
That came home to me very vividly in my early twenties.
During my teenage years I had developed a great appreciation for a pastor and youth leader.
I regularly went to his meetings and when he spoke I hung on his every word.
He was my role-model and I quoted him often.

But then one day I learned that he had treated a relative of mine very poorly.
I was even convinced that his actions were quite unbiblical.
It was a very sobering experience to learn that my hero and role-model had feet of clay.

Numbers 20 will help us immensely if we’re at all tempted to hero-worship our leaders.

It’s a picture of how fragile leadership is. Leaders are fallible. Only God is infallible.

A] THE BOOKENDS OF THE CHAPTER – DEATH.

1. To begin with this chapter shows us that leaders are mortal. They all die.

No leader is going to be with us forever… except Jesus. He is alive.

But every other leader in all of history has died or will die.

This chapter of Numbers mentions a couple of important events.
But those events have, as it were, been placed in between two bookends.
The chapter begins with a death… and it ends with a death.
And in between it mentions two events that show us that leaders don’t always get it right.

Two events – and they are put between those bookends that show the mortality of our leaders.
At the opening of the chapter Miriam dies. At the end of the chapter Aaron dies.
Your pastor(s) will one day die and so will your elders and deacons.

That is a sobering thought… and even more so as we think of who these leaders are.
This was arguably the greatest leadership team Israel ever had.
Moses, in effect, their judge and ruler… Aaron their High priest… Miriam a prophetess.
Three leaders from the same family… a sister and two brothers.

But that great leadership team is now being broken up. And for two reasons.
Partly because of old age… these leaders are now all over a hundred.
But in part their deaths are also a punishment for their failure… their sin.
It’s a very impressive leadership team but by chapter’s end they are dead, dead and dying.
‘Pity anyone who had been hero-worshipping Miriam, Aaron or Moses.

2. First then there is the death of Miriam… the prophetess and the older sister of Moses.

It is a very brief… a very concise report – just six words in English… even less in Hebrew.

How come only six words are devoted to the passing of Miriam… but a whole eight verses to Aaron?

Some people have even argued that when Miriam died the nation didn’t mourn for her.
We’re told Israel mourned 30 days when Aaron died. But the nothing like that is said of Miriam.
Okay… that’s an argument from silence. It’s possible but we don’t know for sure.

We do know that Miriam was certainly not an insignificant person.

Imagine you are asked to do the eulogy at Miriam’s funeral. What would you say?
You could tell of her role when Moses was put in the Nile river in a basket.
She ran to get a nursemaid from the Hebrew people for Pharaoh’s daughter.
She played an important role at the celebration of God’s victory over the Egyptians.
By the Red Sea she led the women in song and dance to praise God for His goodness.

Okay… honesty might also compel you to say some other things about Miriam at her funeral.
How on one occasion she led in some criticism of Moses’ leadership.
And how God struck her temporarily with leprosy as a punishment.
But that hardly explains why Miriam has less than half a verse while Aaron has eight.

I believe there is a good reason. The difference lies especially in their respective callings.
Aaron’s role was that of High Priest… and that role was to be passed on from father to son.
And at the end of the chapter we’re told specifically how that happened.
Miriam’s leadership was not like that so we don’t need a lengthy description.

In any case a more important matter is that Numbers 20 is showing us how things are changing.
Israel has now been wandering in the wilderness for almost forty years.
And Miriam’s death marks the beginning of a big change… a generational transition.
This is a new generation of people… and so there will also be a new generation of leaders.

3. At the end of the chapter the death of Aaron, the High Priest, is described in more detail.

It happens in a sober and awesome way as Moses and Eleazar accompany him to the top of Mt Hor.
There Aaron’s priestly robes are removed and put on Eleazar his son.
When that process is finished Aaron will die. Can you imagine what that must have been like?
You know that when the last of the ceremonial robes have been put on your son you will die.

I can imagine Moses and Eleazar doing this with a certain reluctance… slowly.
They do this in obedience to the Lord… but that doesn’t make it any easier.
But the point is that all mankind dies… every leader dies… even High Priests die.

The way that Aaron dies is also a reminder that we take nothing with us when we die.
In Egypt Moses and Aaron had seen the pyramids… magnificent tombs for the Pharaohs.
And they filled them with all kinds of riches for the dead to use on their journey.

That’s absurd. But there are still people who think they can take their treasures with them.
I read of a man in the US who had himself buried in his Cadillac convertible.
Or the four businessmen who agreed that if one died the others would give him $1000 each.
When the first man died his three pals turned up at the viewing with wads of notes.
The first put $1000 in the coffin, and so did the second man.
The third wrote a cheque for $3000, put it in the coffin and took the $2000 as change.
He understood that we take nothing with us when we die.
Aaron cannot even take with him the priestly robes of his office.

Another lesson here is the provision of God’s grace. Aaron dies but the priesthood continues.

Pastors and elders die… but God raises up other leaders to continue the work.

B] THE HEART OF THE ISSUE – GOD’S GLORY.

1. So we have here these two bookends of the chapter: The death of Miriam and the death of Aaron.

Leaders are mortal… no matter how good the leadership they give.

But between those two bookends are two other events both of which show us that leaders often fail.

The first story is of their arrival at Meribah.
But there is no water for the people or for their animals to drink.
So we are treated to yet one more episode of grumbling.
And the bitterness of the grumbling has been cranked up a notch.

The grumblers are now identifying themselves with Dathan and Abiram in their rebellion.
They say: If only we had died when our brothers fell dead before the Lord.
And they again question why Moses and Aaron have brought them up out of Egypt.

Now I need to point out that this is the second instance in which there is no water.
And it’s the second instance in which God produces water out of a rock.
You can read about the first incident at Rephidim in Exodus 17.

That raises some questions: Hadn’t these people learnt anything in those forty years?
Had they already forgotten the amazing miracle God did the first time?
Had they forgotten the many instances where God had done amazing things to show His love?
And yet… even as I ask the question we already know the answer.
We human beings so often make exactly the same mistakes over and over.
Someone said: The only thing we learn from history is that we don’t learn from history.

Yet despite that God again graciously provides. Detailed instructions are given by the Lord to Moses.

God will yet again show His loving care for His people by giving them water.

2. But that’s where we are shown that leaders are fallible… they make mistakes… they sin.

Moses makes two huge mistakes.

First God had told Moses to take his staff and go with Aaron and speak to the rock.
And that rock would then produce water for the community to drink.
So what does Moses do?
Moses marches out to that rock, he reads the people the riot act then strikes the rock.
He strikes it with his staff… not just once but twice.

The mistake Moses makes is to treat this as just a repeat episode from Meribah.
He’ll just go and do what he did last time. And he is careless about God’s instructions.
He’s done this before and he’ll do it again… so he lets fly with his staff.
And he carelessly forgets that God told him to speak to the rock… not this time to strike it.

But his leadership failure is even worse.
He talks as if he is the lord and judge of the nation. He labels them as rebels.
He totally forgets that leaders are not called to judge but simply to serve.
And then he tells them that they… he, Moses and Aaron, will give the people water.
He talks and acts as if he and Aaron are like pagan magicians doing magic tricks for the people.

It’s tempting for leaders to talk and act as if they are the saviours of the church.
Throughout history there have been too many church leaders with a Messiah complex.
They act as if the future of the church all depended on them.
And you don’t need to be Pastor of a mega-church for that to happen.
You can do that in the way you lead GEMS or get involved in Craft mornings.
Like Moses we talk and act as if we are the saviours who will make it all happen.
Leadership is fallible. Moses got it terribly wrong.

3. It is painfully obvious from our text that God is displeased with Moses.

And it’s telling how God rebukes Moses. He does that in two ways.

First He says to Moses: You didn’t trust me enough to do as I told you.
It’s as if God says to Moses:
“Simply speaking to that rock didn’t seem adequate enough to you to produce water, did it?
You felt you had to strike the rock… and even to do that twice.”
That was a lack of faith on your part.”

But secondly and more importantly God says: You didn’t honour me as holy in the sight of Israel.
Moses actions brought all the attention and all the honour down on himself.
And he forgot that the glory of God is what it is all about.

God requires of us careful obedience… and God will not be robbed of His glory and honour.
In fact, that is one of the central themes of the Bible.
God’s glory is the highest goal… it’s life’s most important objective.
And we find that over and over in Scripture.
We sang of it this morning in our opening Psalm:
Not us be glory given but to Him who reigns above.
Glory to the God of heaven for His faithfulness and love.

Leaders need to remember that… and not rob God of His glory and honour.

And all of us need to remember that when we are tempted to hero-worship our leaders.

The great goal of life in everything we do is to bring Glory to our wonderful God.

Here the penalty is that Moses will not be leading the community into the Promised Land.
So this chapter that begins with a death and that ends with a death also predicts another death.
Moses will die before the people reach Canaan.
But that’s also were we again see the grace of God too: God will leave that for Joshua to do.
Joshua will lead the people across the Jordan and into the Promised Land.
And that’s very telling for Joshua is simply the Hebrew form of the Greek name Jesus.
Leaders fail… but that does not stop God from fulfilling His purposes.

C] POOR LEADERSHIP TOO RE: EDOM – PROVIDENCE.

1. The second story between those two bookends concerns the final stages of their travels.

Moses sends a message to the king of Edom asking for permission to pass through their land.
Please keep in mind that Edom is Israel’s brother nation.
Edom is the nation that came from Esau, the twin brother of Jacob.

The message Moses sends is a lovely message that has been thoughtfully put together.
He promises that they will respect the property rights of the Edomites.
They won’t touch the fields and vineyards of the Edomites. They won’t even touch their water.

It’s not as if they want to benefit from handouts from Edom.
There is no sense of welfare mentality about the Israelites.
All they want to do is take a shortcut to Canaan via the highway that runs through Edom.

It’s also a lovely request in that they put their request in a gospel context.
The OT gospel was that God had saved His people by rescuing them from Pharaoh.
And Moses testifies to God’s goodness in bringing them out of the slavery of Egypt.

They want the Edomites to know that their request has a context.
They are simply fulfilling God’s purposes for the nation of Israel.
To take up their inheritance in Canaan, the land flowing with milk and honey.

2. Interestingly Edom refuse to allow Israel to pass through their territory.

We’re not told why they refused this request but they do.
Perhaps it was simply a continuation of the ancient animosity between Esau and Jacob.
But they declined. Even after Moses responded with a second request.
Moses offers to pay for any water from a well. They just want to pass through on foot.
But the king of Edom is unmoveable. The answer is still, ‘No!’

There’s two things that stand out here for me.
First there is now no mention of grumbling by the people of Israel.
They respect the refusal of this brother nation to grant them safe passage.
Perhaps Israel was beginning to learn something after all.
Because instead of a short march through Edom it now meant a long detour around Edom.

But this chapter is about Israel’s leadership… and it shows not only that leaders are mortal and die.
It also shows that leaders are fallible… they make mistakes and sin against God.
And that leads me to ask some questions about this story.

Why is there no mention of Moses seeking guidance from God?
Even after the first decline there is no mention of Moses approaching God for advice.
Leaders always have limited knowledge and they often struggle with what is best.
But the text is silent about any prayer asking God for wisdom as to which way to go.

Leaders make mistakes.
And one of the mistakes they make is that they are not always as prayerful as they should be.
And sometimes the result is disappointment for those who are following that leader.

3. When we put this little episode with Edom in context of the following chapters we learn another lesson.

We learn that God is sovereign in human affairs.
God is totally in control of all the things that will happen in your life and in mine this week.
He overrules in the events that happen in your office and out on the building site.
We call this matter of God guiding our lives: Providence.
Providence is the way God directs and overrules in all the little things that happen.
And the way He ultimately makes it all work out for out eternal good.

Well, Numbers 20 and what follows is a lovely example of His providence.
Sometimes God closes a door only to open a window somewhere else.
He may cause someone who is unemployed to wait months and even years.
But He does that in order to put that person in the very spot that He designed for him.
And when we see that happen then we give God the praise and glory.
And that makes us realise that once again the issue here is the honour of God.

This detour around Edom serves God’s purposes.
Because it means extra territory that Israel gained for itself as it fought several Canaanite kings.
And so Israel end up with all the territory of Sihon and Og. What a surprise development.
And even more surprising is that in all this God was already preparing for the coming of Jesus.

Paul reminds us in 1Corinthians 10 that this Jesus was already with Israel in the wilderness.
In fact Paul says that the rock from which they received water was Christ.
And the greatest way in which we can bring honour and glory to God is by looking to Jesus.
To keep our eyes on this leader, this greater Joshua, who leads us to the Promised Land.

Numbers 20 tells us loudly and clearly: leaders are mortal and fallible.
It will lead to disaster to hero-worship them. Human leaders all die and they all make mistakes.
But in Numbers 20 God is already preparing for the coming of the perfect leader: Christ.
Let’s hero-worship Him and in that way bring all the glory to our wonderful God.

Amen.

Written by Rev. John Westendorp