Christianity is “not very good for your self-realization. We’re good for your salvation, which is not the same thing.” (Stanley Hauerwas)
Numbers 14:20-35
February 14, 2010
The risks of speaking out
Most of you know by now that recently I stepped publicly into one of today’s most volatile issues: homosexuality. I am well aware that it’s risky to go there, for a lot of reasons.
There’s the risk of time. None of us feels like we have that much to spare, but once you start down that path it’s hard to pull your head back in the shell and say, “I don’t have any more time to deal with this.”
There’s the risk of being wrong. I believe that my perspective has a firm foundation in the truth of God’s Word, but I also know there have been many people through the Christian centuries who took positions they thought were consistent with the Bible that look foolish in retrospect.
There’s the risk of false expectations – your own or those of others. If you start to believe, or others start to believe, you can fix a complex problem in a short amount of time, you’re just setting yourself up for failure.
There’s the risk of scrutiny. Once you touch an area like this in a public forum, it’s hard to say anything about any subject without it being examined word for word by people across the spectrum of opinion.
Then there’s the risk of being misunderstood. People immediately make assumptions about what you believe or do, and they certainly make assumptions about your motives.
I am quite sure when I address this issue, as with any other, I will do so imperfectly. But I can tell you that my goal is to be like Caleb – to follow the Lord wholeheartedly, and to have a different spirit.
What was different
Today’s sermon is not about homosexuality. Or at least it’s not about homosexuality any more or less than it’s about a thousand other subjects where Christians should have a “different spirit.” One of the criticisms of the way the church has handled this subject that I find very valid is that we have treated it differently than we have treated almost every other topic.
I want to have a different spirit. I want to treat every area of my life as subject to the scrutiny of the Holy Spirit under the authority of God’s Word. I do not want to focus on the specks in the eyes of others while I ignore the beams in my own. Having a different spirit means that I open my heart and life to the Lord.
In Numbers 14 we read about Caleb, of whom the Lord said, “My servant Caleb has a different spirit and follows me wholeheartedly.” That’s what I want my life to look like. The story in Numbers 13 and 14 puts flesh and bones on “a different spirit.” I will mention a number of different observations from this story. You may jot them down if you choose, but don’t try to remember all of them. Maybe one or two will stick out as areas in which the Holy Spirit is speaking to you about having a different spirit.
First, Caleb had a different spirit because he was humble. I may be reading something into the text here, but what I read between the lines is certainly implied by the rest of the story. The name Caleb means “dog.” In ancient cultures, that may be pejorative, but also may imply loyalty and faithfulness. In any case, it implies a lesser standing. It’s kind of like going through your life with a name like “servant” or “lesser” or “humble.” Even his name indicated a different spirit.
Second, Caleb had a different spirit because he was courageous. Caleb was one of twelve men (one representing each tribe) chosen by Moses to explore the land of Canaan (13:6). The Israelites were camped on the edge of it, having left Egypt a few weeks earlier. Caleb was not only a leader among his tribe of Judah, he was willing to undertake this espionage without knowing exactly what lay on the other side of the Jordan, what they might encounter, or whether they would return alive.
Third, Caleb had a different spirit because he deferred to others. He didn’t have to have the first word. Notice that when the twelve explorers came back from the land, Caleb respectfully allowed others to give their report first (13:26-29). Some of the leaders I respect most will (unlike me) listen at great length and with significant patience to others before they speak up.
Fourth, Caleb had a different spirit because he defended his leader. After the ten made their report, Caleb “silenced the people before Moses” (13:30). The scene was apparently a public one as the other explorers terrified the people with their reports of giants in the land and fortified cities. Caleb let them talk first, but he could sense the agitation and restlessness in the crowd. The murmuring started immediately.
Caleb could have left Moses very vulnerable at that point, but he stepped between the fearful explorers, the restless mob, and Moses. He “silenced the people before Moses.”
Fifth, Caleb had a different spirit because he believed God. Here is what he said to the people: “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it” (13:30). He had seen the obstacles as well as the other explorers. He knew the risks to life and family and destiny. But he refused to be limited by obstacles or risks when God had clearly demonstrated he was in this venture.
Sixth, Caleb had a different spirit because he bucked the majority. I don’t know how many times we have to learn that the majority is not always right. Normally we use public opinion polls or seek majority votes when we think we have the crowd on our side. But just because everyone else thinks something is true or right doesn’t make it so. My plumb line is not my culture, it is not my friends, it is not my church. It is what God has said.
Seventh, Caleb had a different spirit because he conquered his fear. Fear is never satisfied with God’s provision in the past. These Israelites had seen plagues visited on the Egyptians while God’s people had been spared. They had witnessed the parting of the Sea. They had eaten manna and quail and had drunk water provided miraculously at the moment of need. But their question to God was, “What have you done for me lately?” They feared for their lives; they feared for their wives. They feared for their children; they feared for their future.
The New Interpreter’s Bible (II: 130) says, “Fear changes the good gift of the land into a place of death. Fear transforms other humans into monsters (Anakim) and freaks of nature (Nephilim). And an immature response to fear leads to a suicidal war. Fear in each case is a form of death.”
Caleb saw with his eyes what every other explorer saw. He knew what it was like to be an underdog. But he dealt with his fear and conquered it with faith. He would not live his life unwilling to take risks because of all the bad things that could happen. He joined Joshua in saying to the people, “If the LORD is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and money, and will give it to us. Only do not rebel against the LORD. And do not be afraid of the people of the land, for we will swallow them up. Their protection is gone, but the LORD is with us. Do not be afraid of them.”
Eighth, Caleb had a different spirit because he let God be God. We come now to the paragraph where God says of Caleb that he “has a different spirit and follows me wholeheartedly.”
This is the heart of today’s Scripture reading. It is God’s response to Moses’ prayer of intercession. Last week we saw where God had said to Moses that he would destroy the Israelites, all of them, because of their rebellion. He would begin again with Moses (14:11-12). Moses interceded for the people and asked God to spare them.
Yahweh begins his response in verse 20, “I have forgiven them, as you asked.” Then he goes on to say that no one over the age of 20 is going to be allowed in the Promised Land because of their unbelief. The older generations will die in the desert and only their children will see the Promised Land.
Does that sound like forgiveness to you? It is forgiveness (because the original intent was to destroy them all immediately), but forgiveness does not mean lack of consequences. These consequences are severe, to be sure. But the loving heart of God is also just. And that’s not just an Old Testament principle. God is a God of wrath, and he does punish sin. We are all accountable for our wrongs, and we bear the consequences of them, even though God forgives and loves.
We don’t have to understand, defend, or explain God. Let me suggest that Caleb had his struggles about God just like everyone else. Maybe he thought God was too punitive at first, like Moses did. Maybe he thought God was too easy when he said, “I will forgive them.” Maybe he thought God was too harsh again with the 40-year delay. Remember that Caleb himself would share in that delay.
But all we read of Caleb is that he followed the Lord wholeheartedly. If he had his complaints about God, he kept them private or took them directly to God. He didn’t disparage or second guess God in front of the people. He let God be God.
Ninth, Caleb had a different spirit because he refused to grumble. I see this simply in the contrast of Caleb with the description of the people as God continues to speak to Moses and Aaron: “How long will this wicked community grumble against me? (14:27).
Betty McGee, our Parish Nurse, offers some food for thought in strategic places in our restrooms, as most of you have seen. Recently there was a sheet on the health effects of prayer. I wasn’t sure I wanted prayer to be reduced to health effects, but the points were nevertheless worthy of thought. One of them was that prayer replaces griping; you can’t do both.
Well, I guess you can, but the point is well made. These people were grumblers. You know the kind. They never find anything positive to say about the food, the weather, their family, their job, and especially God. Caleb had a different spirit. He wasn’t a complainer.
Tenth, Caleb had a different spirit because his life wasn’t about self-fulfillment. I read a great quote in Christian Century magazine recently that I posted on my Facebook page:
thing. (Stanley Hauerwas, Christian Century, 12/15/09)thing.” (Stanley Hauerwas, quoted in Christian Century, 12/15/09)thing.” (Stanley Hauerwas, quoted in Christian Century, 12/15/09)
When we live for the next pleasure, the next partner, the next toy, we never find the happiness we think we are looking for. True contentment is found in having a different spirit.
A different finish
I would like to close this sermon in a different way than I have ever finished a sermon in my quarter-century of preaching. I would like to ask my wife, Linda, to share some thoughts on this passage.
Our daughter asked us if I was doing this because it’s Valentine’s Day. No, that’s not the reason. I’m doing it because more than thirty years ago, the first message I ever remember hearing on this story was shared by Linda.
More importantly, Linda set a goal to live her life with “a different spirit” like that of Caleb. I can tell you that I have seen exactly that in her. One of the things I most admire and love about her is her desire to give herself completely to Christ.
Linda:
As a senior in college, this passage captured my attention. Each student had to give a senior chapel message at Columbia as part of our training for ministry. I chose this passage because I was gripped by Caleb and Joshua’s story. I longed to have a different spirit and to follow God wholeheartedly as they did.
All the spies or leaders of the tribes saw the same glory, the same miraculous signs that God had shown them in Egypt and in the desert. They all knew that God wanted to give them the Promised Land.
Bob shared ways that Caleb demonstrated a different spirit, but HOW did Caleb get that different spirit? I believe the answer to that question is tied up in the phrase God used repeatedly to describe Caleb and Joshua. These men “followed God wholeheartedly,” or as I first read of it in the New American Standard Bible, “they followed Him fully.”
As I studied to understand what this meant, I saw that Caleb and Joshua opened their hearts to God and embraced Him completely as their God. They submitted to His leadership and placed their trust in Him, no matter what the obstacles were. They knew God was with them, so they focused on Him , not the obstacles.
The other 10 leaders seemed to dabble in following God, half-hearted, not completely embracing Him…skeptical, almost with a “wait and see” kind of attitude. Following God was fine if He gave them what they wanted, if He blessed them. But, they were ready to run the other way if things got tough. The 10 leaders were almost belligerent, to the point that God asked in verse 11, how long would they treat Him with contempt. After all God had shown them, after all He had done for them, their response was like a slap in His face.
I did not want to treat God like that. I did not want to be half-hearted in my relationship with Him—only loving and following Him when things went my way. I wanted (and still do) to follow Him fully—all the way, even when the obstacles were overwhelming or scary.
Over the years, God has reminded me of this passage many times. As with all of us, I have faced twists and turns, ups and downs, obstacles that at times seemed to be too much for me. I wanted to run in the other direction.
Coming to Corinth was one example. Some people didn’t want us to come—obstacle. We were happy at our church in Thomasville and God was blessing our ministry—obstacle. Our children loved their school situations and friends there—obstacle. But, God clearly led us here and we needed to follow.
Recently, as I read the editorial section of the paper, I wanted to run in the other direction. It’s not fun or easy to read public criticism of my husband. But, God seems to keep placing these issues in our laps to deal with as best we can, to speak the truth as we understand it, in love. Along with my husband, I am committed to trust God, His leadership and His presence with us. By God’s grace, I am determined to follow God wholeheartedly, to follow Him fully.