Passing
the Baton
Deut.
31: 1-8
Moses was a
great leader.
A man of
remarkable courage and perseverance. Went before the Pharoah and demanded that
his people be let go from their slavery – but Pharoah had a hard heart and
it took a series of 10 calamaties including the final one where the first born
sons died before he relented.
Took about 2
million people on a 40 year cross country tour of the desert – long,
contentious and dangerous trip. He was the original recipient of the 10
commandments. He was the
unquestioned leader of his people. He is the major character in the book of
Deuteronomy.
Visited often
with the Lord seeking direction for his people and then leading them through
some difficult odds to finally reach the Promised land.
For forty
years now, Israel had been following the only leader that they had ever known.
But they are getting ready to go somewhere that he could not go.
After hearing
the word of the Lord, he stood before his people and said these words:
Deut. 31: 1-8
Deuteronomy 31
1 Then Moses went
out and spoke these words to all Israel: 2
“I am now a hundred and twenty years old and I am no longer able to lead
you. The LORD has said to me, ‘You shall not cross the Jordan.’ 3
The LORD your God himself will cross over ahead of you. He will destroy these
nations before you, and you will take possession of their land. Joshua also
will cross over ahead of you, as the LORD said. 4
And the LORD will do to them what he did to Sihon and Og, the kings of the
Amorites, whom he destroyed along with their land. 5
The LORD will deliver them to you, and you must do to them all that I have
commanded you. 6 Be strong and
courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your
God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.” 7
Then Moses summoned Joshua and said to him in the presence of all Israel,
“Be strong and courageous, for you must go with this people into the land
that the LORD swore to their ancestors to give them, and you must divide it
among them as their inheritance. 8
The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you
nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”
With the
promised land in sight, the land they were to inherit before them, Moses was
not permitted by God to go with them. I wonder how he felt.
Must have
been a bitter disappointment – you can envision him standing on Mt. Nebo –
looking across at the land of milk and honey – remembering the babies that
had been born over the past 40 years, the ones he had married and buried, the
times of crisis they had come through – now it was over. The Lord says: you
don’t get to cross over Moses.
There are
some lessons here for us:
It
tells us something about Moses
Moses
wasn’t perfect:
32: 51 God told Moses: I can’t let you go in to the promised land
because you broke faith with me; didn’t uphold my holiness – in other
words you tried to take the glory due me and attribute it to yourself – when
I told you speak to the rock; you struck it so it would appear that it was you
who had the power and not God.
Moses
didn’t feel sorry for himself
It is easy
for us when we don’t get our way to try to find people who will be on our
side and feel sorry for us – he didn’t gather people around him who said
o poor moses – I feel sorry for you.
It might have
been tempting for Moses to blame other people – to cry out to God – this
isn’t fair. To plead with God
to change his mind but he didn’t. Do
you know what he did?
Moses blesses God and others
32:3 blessed the Lord
read 3-4 and he chastised those who were disobedient and warned them to
follow God.
Chapter 33 he goes before God and brings down blessings not on himself
but on his people.
It
tells something about God vs. 3
The
Lord himself will cross over ahead of you.
Isn’t it
comforting to know that no matter what challenges we face, God
goes before us.
Viet Nam patrols that went out to seek the viet cong
try to discover their positions the
leader of that group was called the point man – it was the most dangerous
position in the army – first one the enemy would see – step on a mine –
run into an ambush
This verse
tells us: God is our point man – goes before us clearing the way –
identifying the position of the enemy – making it safe for us to follow.
Vs. 3
God gives us victories it
says he will destroy those nations already in Israel and you will get the
spoils of the victory. God does
the work – we get the benefits. Where else can you find that?
In the Nt we
see the same concept applied to Jesus – he does the work – goes to the
cross – pays the penalty for our sins and when we believe in him we get the
benefits.
Vs. 6 tells
us God will never leave you nor forsake
you
No matter
what you go through in life – some things will be very hard – God will be
with you. He reaffirms that in
Hebrews lest we forget it.
It
tells us something about ourselves. Vs.
5-6
We tend to fear
You can
imagine that this was a fearful thing for the people of Israel – the 12
spies had returned to tell them : these
are frightening people – huge people – well armed – we don’t stand a
chance. Now they are being
told to advance and conquer them.
So what is
our part in this process: vs. 5:
Do what I ask you to do. It is a
persistent theme of scripture. Follow
me Jesus says: walk in my ways be obedient
Usually we
fear the things we don’t see more than the things we see. In childhood, we fear the dark – unseen ghosts and boogie
men out there somewhere.
As adults we
sometimes fear the loss of our job; uncertain health, financial disaster.
Fear can make
us do crazy things; Fear paralyzes us – we can’t think straight – nerves
get all jangled up – make poor decisions
our fear becomes a self fulfilling prophecy.
It takes
courage to step out in faith – to face the enemy – to walk into the future
Life is very
uncertain – God says: if you want to navigate safely through life, you
can’t do without me. Not only
do we tend to fear:
We tend to forget
early in this
trip – when Moses left for a few days to talk with god – they thought he
wasn’t going to come back – began to worship the wrongs gods – took gold
fashioned new gods to replace Jehovah.
Earlier in
this service: we took communion
It
says something about Joshua vs. 7-8
Moses passes
the baton of leadership to Joshua. He
repeats what he has just told the people because Joshua is probably feeling
pretty inadequate at this time.
Just a few
chapters later as we begin the book of Joshua – God speaks to him with the
same message he receives from Moses: be
strong courageous
I’m not going to leave you nor forsake you.
Joshua
recognized he needed God’s help
When the
leader has the blessing and word of God he can speak with conviction and
boldness knowing it is not his words but God’s words that he is passing on
to his people.
God
reaffirmed his goals with Joshua (vs. 7), our
goals are the same as we had in the desert. We’re going to take the land God provides for us – occupy
it – worship God – raise our children in the faith – going to be a
mighty nation. And through us all
of the world will be blessed – that fulfillment came later as Jesus was born
to the tribe of Judah.
It
says something about leadership
One
minute film clip about team leadership.
In
a team, group or organization, Leadership is always temporary
For any
organization to be successful, you have to keep passing the baton of
leadership on to the next generation.
True in the
business world: Bill Gates
doesn’t run Microsoft anymore – Jack Welch doesn’t run GE
True in the
sports world: Brett Favre had to
pass the baton to Aaron Rodgers to lead the Packers.
True in
politics: had some great
Presidents – only for a while – then they had to pass on the mantle of
leadership
True in the
religious world: Paul – Peter
– the apostles had to pass the baton to the next generation – kept getting
passed down until we received it.
Having said
that: no one is irreplaceable
Moses had
been leading for 40 years, he was now 120 years old – time to pass the
baton.
Sometimes we
think we are – this company couldn’t exist without me. This organization will fall apart if I leave
not so. Only God is irreplaceable.
One of my
favorite verses is Phil. 4:19 “My
God shall supply all your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ
Jesus.”
But
lets remember the story of Moses and Joshua.
God is in control – he goes before us preparing the way and He will
lead us to victory through Jesus Christ our Lord.