Our
scripture reading this morning is from
Deuteronomy chapter 1
and uh the title of these remarks is uh
wholly following the Lord
which words also appear in our text
in Deuteronomy Beginning in verse 19,
of course, Moses is speaking and
reflecting on the 40 years past,
what Israel did and didn't do. Then we
set out from Horeb and went through all
that great and terrifying wilderness
that you saw on the way to the hill
country of the Amorites,
as the Lord your God commanded us. And
we came to Kadesh Barnea. And I said to
you, you've come to the hill country of
the Amorites, which the Lord our God is
giving us. See, the Lord your God has
set the land before you. Go up, take
possession, as the Lord, the God of your
fathers has told you. Do not fear or be
dismayed.
Then all of you came near me and said,
"Let us send men before us that they may
explore the land for us, and bring us
word again of the way by which we must
go up and the cities into which we shall
come."
The things seemed good to me. And I took
12 men from you, one man from each
tribe. And they turned and went up into
the hill country and came to the valley
of Escal and spit it out. And they took
in their hands some of the fruit of the
land and brought it down to us and
brought us word again and said, "It is a
good land that the Lord our God is
giving us.
Yet you would not go up, but rebelled
against the command of the Lord your
God." sort of like that voice of protest
in the back there. And you murmured in
your tents and said, "Because the Lord
hated us, he has brought us out of the
land of Egypt to give us into the hand
of the Amorites to destroy us. Where are
we going up? Our brothers have made our
hearts melt, saying, "The people are
greater and taller than we. The cities
are great and fortified up to heaven.
And besides, we have seen the sons of
the Anakim there." Then I said to
them,"Do not be in dread or afraid of
them. The Lord your God who goes before
you will himself fight for you, just as
he did for you in Egypt before your eyes
and in the wilderness where you have
seen how the Lord your God carried you
as a man carries his son. All the way
that you went until you came to this
place. Yet in spite of this word, you
did not believe the Lord your God, who
went before you in the way to seek you
out a place to pitch your tents, in fire
by night, and in the cloud by day, to
show you by what way you should go.
And the Lord heard your words and was
angered. And he swore, not one of the
these men of this evil generation shall
see the good land that I swore to give
to your fathers, except Caleb, the son
of Jeffuna. He shall see it. And to him,
and to his children I will give the land
on which he has trodden, because he has
wholly followed the Lord.
As we reflect this semester on equipping
for ministry
from Penetuk,
we won't be great at taking others where
we've never been ourselves.
Paul asked the Corinthians, "What do you
have that you did not receive?" The
right answer was not a thing.
We equip others for God only to the
extent that we have been equipped by
God.
I want us to reflect on what Christ
offers us and on what we may receive
from the Lord that will equip us to be
the equippers that we hope to become.
Our reading refers to people God wanted
to equip.
Their collective name was Israel.
He had a mission for them,
but they refused. Our reading also
refers to someone who decided not to
refuse but to be equipped.
That was Caleb. He wholly followed the
Lord.
God said
this morning we consider two things.
Number one, breakdown that can happen in
the people of God that prevent their
equipping
and our equipping. And number two,
faithful following of the Lord through
equipping by the Lord. Let us pray.
Thank you Lord for holy scripture. Thank
you that it is a lamp unto our feet, a
light into our path. Help us to hide its
words in our heart that we might not sin
against you and that we might live to
your glory. We pray in Jesus name. Amen.
Well, after God brought Israel out of
Egypt, he commanded them through Moses
to enter into the land that had been
promised to Abraham.
But after spying out the land and
careful consideration on a 10-2 vote,
they rebelled. Only Joshua and Caleb
voted for God's revealed will. The
majority opted to impugn Moses and
thereby reject God's leadership.
The bulk of the Israelite men, it seems,
who should have led the way into God's
conquest of the Amorites,
were ready to turn back and and run to
Egypt. By refusing to enter the land,
they might as well have done that. But
of course, the Red Sea was now behind
them. They couldn't, and I'm sure God
planned that.
So, here are some aspects of Israel's
breakdown in loyalty to their God. And
I've got five that I'll mention. Number
one, overthinking
God's clear command. He said, "See the
land. Go take possession." They said,
"Let's form a committee to see if this
is a good idea." Now, it's good to plan,
but it's bad to stall so you can boycott
God.
That's what they did with their factf
finding tour.
Number two, rebelling against God's
command.
This reminds me of a protest chant from
the Vietnam War era. It was typically
led by young men who were subject to the
draft and didn't want to be sent to war.
And they chanted, "Blank, no, we won't
go."
The morality of the Vietnam War remains
a debate among historians, but there's
no debate that rebelling against God at
Kadesh Barnea was disastrous.
Disobeying God always is. Three,
murmuring in their tents,
they bore false witness against God,
saying he brought them out of Egypt to
destroy them.
They used panic logic to conclude that
the size of the Amorite people somehow
loomed larger than God and his promise
through Moses' command.
A fourth aspect of Israel's breakdown in
loyalty to their God, fearing and
forgetting. They feared the Amorite
people and they forgot what the Lord
their God did for them in Egypt before
their eyes and in the wilderness where
they had seen how the Lord their God
carried them as a man carries his son
all the way that they went until they
came to that place. And number five,
disbelieving God's clear word. to quote
Moses, "Yet in spite of this word, you
did not believe
the Lord your God, who went before you
in the way to seek you out of place to
pitch your tents in fire by night and in
the cloud by day to show you the way by
which you should go."
God sought to equip Israel
to move forward in his redemptive work
in the world. But key leaders of that
generation dug in their heels. They
refused the equipping he offered.
They had no appetite for God's mission
for which he had saved them out of
Egypt.
What does this type of breakdown between
God and God's people look like today?
A book by Dean and Sarah appeared in
2019. It was called the unsaved
Christian.
Should be an oxymoron.
Reaching cultural Christianity with the
gospel and the picture he paints bears
comparison with the ills of ancient
Israel.
In Sarah identifies eight patterns of
nominal belief. Ostensible faith in
Christ but actually
pursuit of human welfare
more than pursuit of Christ and his
kingdom and his claim on their lives.
Here are in Sarah's eight types of
Christians in a way that each misconrs
or rejects God's guidance much like
Israel did. And maybe we'll see some of
ourselves in some of these. I do. Number
one, the country club Christian. I mean,
that's me all the way.
That description almost says it all.
This is church as social connection.
But Jesus called for repentance and
disciplehip, not a pleasant association
of nice people, using the church as a
place to be seen and to smoo with other
beautiful people like you.
Number two, the Christmas and Easter
Christian. Now, we all welcome their
seasonal appearance,
but fellowship with Christ and the
communion of saints calls for more than
symbolic devotion on two holy days
annually. Number three, the God and
country Christian.
Being American and voting American
values is the priority here. But Jesus
distinguished between rendering to
Caesar and rendering to God. He called
his followers to seek first God's
kingdom and not the welfare or the
political vision that you think is best
for your country.
Number four, the liberal social justice
Christian.
If the God and country Christian is
prone to envision the messianic kingdom
in right-wing terms, the liberal social
justice Christian is pushing a
progressive agenda in Jesus' name. But
the saving knowledge of God through
personal faith in Christ is not first of
all a social crusade, though such faith
may well require social action.
Number five, the moralistic therapeutic
deist
calls this the good guy next door.
That guy believes being nice to others
and caring is the point of religion. All
religions, including Christianity, which
is no different. Human empathy and love
are the major redemptive force in the
world. Plus, they make you feel good
about yourself when you exercise them.
But Jesus called for being born again.
He rejected the notion that human
dogooding was sufficient to put us right
with God.
Number six, the generational Catholic.
Now I would add here generational
anything because we run across people in
many denominations and non-denominations
wearing the badge of their families past
religious activity as assurance of their
sanctity.
Granted since Catholics are the biggest
Christian group worldwide this syndrome
in their ranks is highly noticeable. But
Jesus taught salvation through personal
trust in him. Not through even his own
Abrahamic heritage alone. And certainly
not through claims like granddad was a
Baptist pastor, your aunt was a
Pentecostal preacher, or you grew up in
an Irish Catholic family, you went to
Catholic school, and you still attend
mass sometimes.
Number seven, the mainline Protestant.
This is like the liberal social justice
Christian without social activism.
The mainline belief system echoes
Christian themes but boils down to H.
Richard Neber's famous definition. A God
without wrath brought men without sin
into a kingdom without judgment through
the ministrations of Christ without a
cross.
This formulation cannot be squared with
Jesus' teaching or mission as the
gospels present them.
And number eight, the Bible belt
Christian. You might call this the
country club Christian of the lower
class. This is typically the person in a
part of the US where many still go to
church. This person does too, has been
baptized and may even attend services
regularly,
but their life is not Christc centered.
They are not concerned about holiness.
They do not pray and study God's word.
They do not share their faith with
others. And they are not growing in the
grace and knowledge of our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ. Because like the
folks in the other seven categories,
their tie with Jesus is formal and
external.
In the church, as in ancient Israel,
there can be a breakdown in loyalty
to the true and living God.
Yet, in our Deuteronomy reading, not
everyone dug in their heels.
Sometimes when most people turn and run,
maybe with good reason,
someone rises to meet the challenge.
This happened just last Thursday while
we were buried beneath classes and maybe
a glance at the Olympic medal count now
and then.
Dine, Providence, Rhode Island, February
19th. Associated Press.
Sitting in the stands at a hockey game,
Michael Black heard what he thought was
popping balloons before quickly
realizing it was gunfire.
As dozens of people rushed out of the
Rhode Island arena, Black told his wife,
"Run, run."
And then he lunged toward the shooter's
handgun because the shooter was standing
right there. And in fact, one of the
cartridges from his pistol hit him in
the mouth as he was telling his wife to
run.
Black managed to get his left hand
caught in the chamber of Robert Doran's
gun, jamming it, and then briefly
attempted to hold Doran down. But Doran
was a former bodybuilder,
and he hoisted Black into the air on his
back before at least two other
bystanders rushed over to help subdue
the shooter.
Doran fell to the ground with the
58-year-old black on top of him.
The shooter died from a self-inflicted
gunshot after pulling out a second gun
as the two locked eyes.
And why he shot himself rather than
Black can only be accounted as
an act of God.
Black never heard Dorgan say a word.
Afterward, Black said, "The first
thought was the safety of my wife, and
the second thought was because the
bullets were coming out and as I say, a
cartridge hit him in the face. My second
thought was to focus in on the gun, get
the gun, and then subdue the shooter."
Black, who ran a printing company until
he retired in 2021, has had no special
emergency response training.
Well, Michael Black stepped up. It cost
him nine stitches in his hand where the
slide action of the pistol sliced into
him. It also cost him a scolding from
his wife for putting his life in danger.
Sometimes it's true that no good deed
goes unpunished,
but lives were saved. And the next day,
the police conveyed thanks from the
woman who was next in line to be shot.
And she knew when that guy jumped on
Michael or Doran that, you know, she had
a chance and and she did live.
So here's the point. There are
crossroads in life.
A hockey ranked crowd
came to one and someone rose to the
challenge.
In our reading, a heritage was
preserved.
God's direction for his people was
maintained by the brave response of
Caleb and others like Joshua.
So, let's look at Caleb's faithful
following of the Lord through equipping
by the Lord.
What do we see? And I'll point out three
things. Number one, the Lord enabled
Caleb
to give God more credence.
than the faithless men around him.
As in Acts 5:29,
Peter and the apostles answered, "We
must obey God rather than men." Caleb
argued for that.
Number two, the Lord enabled Caleb to
believe in God's mission more than the
challenges posed by the imposing
Amorites.
Moses said that God would fight for
them.
Caleb trusted God's word.
We find that word in our Bibles.
And number three, the Lord gave Caleb
patience
to wait out 40 years of God's corporate
punishment
until his rebel peers had died off.
Caleb bit the bullet and did not fall
away in those years of wilderness
wanderings. He kept faith with God.
He hoped in God.
He let God's promise bring out a love
for God shown in care for his family.
Our reading mentions Caleb and his
children, his household. That would
include, of course, his wife.
Why is this included?
I can't prove this, but my guess is that
Caleb upheld the Abrahamic covenant.
Most of the men of what verse 34 calls
this evil generation did not. When they
died and their descendants born during
the 40 years crossed the Jordan, the men
had to undergo circumcision.
Their fathers had broken faith with the
God of Abraham by not circumcising their
own male children. They forsook the
covenant.
Not Caleb.
He remembered God's promise.
He believed it.
Through that faith,
like Abraham's, God equipped Caleb to
hear what God promised and to persevere
in what God called for.
Hence, God's verdict on Caleb.
He has wholly followed
the Lord.
What an aspiration for us.
Caleb was consecrated. That means having
been made or declared sacred.
That's what God promised did for and to
Caleb as he walked in trust. God set him
apart. God upheld him. God affirmed him.
consecrated, declared holy by God,
justified through faith. We would say,
Caleb wholly followed.
I close with this. The Olympics are
over.
There were many great achievements,
but in my book, the greatest February
athletic feat on earth took place
earlier in the month, not in Italy, but
in Australia.
A mother, two sons aged 13 and 12, and a
daughter age eight rented kayaks and
paddle boards and went to the beach.
But in the ocean,
aside from the danger of sharks,
and even if I do go to Australia, you're
not going to get me in the ocean there.
They did not reckon with sudden, strong
offshore winds and tall waves. Soon they
were blown out to sea.
Mom made what she now says is the
hardest decision of her life. She told
13-year-old Austin, it's a great name,
Austin Applebee. Sounds like a hero,
doesn't he?
She told 13-year-old Austin,
"Swim for help."
Austin took off for land. It would be a
4-hour
2.5 mile ordeal.
He was not a Navy Seal.
Shortly after he said yes to the mission
that his mother sent him on, he made an
even harder decision.
His life jacket was restricting his
movement.
He ditched the life jacket.
Now it really was all or nothing.
Miraculously, he made it. As he
collapsed on the beach, he found his
mother's cell phone and he called for
help. His mom and siblings were rescued
right at dark, nearly 10 miles offshore.
They had been at sea for 10 hours.
Austin went allin on his mission. It was
his only hope.
What sustained him? News report reports
are sketchy, but a BBC writeup said that
playing in his mind
were Christian songs.
I can only conclude that the Lord was
with him. That mattered more
than the life jacket.
Those around Caleb clung to the life
jacket of memories of Egypt, complaints
about God, fear of the Amorites.
Caleb let his walk with the Lord. He let
the promise of God fulfilled in Jesus
Christ be his security.
God equipped him
through Caleb's witness. God is still
equipping his people today.
I'm sure it's incidental, but Caleb was
from the tribe of Judah,
the same tribe as Jesus Christ. Let us
pray.
Father, we live in a world of little
regard for your mission and much
resistance to it. We meet that
resistance sometimes in the church. We
meet it in our own struggle to find what
it means to follow you at all, let alone
follow you wholly.
But you are faithful.
You uphold us in the marathon swim of
life in its high waves.
Consecrate us as you did Caleb. Help us
shed life jackets that cannot save us,
fear and unbelief and murmuring and
skepticism.
remind us that greater is he who is in
us than all that obscures and opposes
Christ in this world. We pray in his
name. Amen.