Offering and Obedience

Posted on March 24, 2022 by Pete

Hovering over a couple of verses in the last part of Romans 15 this morning. Coming to terms with some terms of salvation.

But on some points I have written to you very boldly by way of reminder, because of the grace given me by God to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God, so that the offering of the Gentiles may be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. In Christ Jesus, then, I have reason to be proud of my work for God. For I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me to bring the Gentiles to obedience —  by word and deed . . .

(Romans 15:15-18 ESV)

Offering and obedience. Hmmm . . . those aren’t terms we often lead with when we share the good news. Believe the gospel and be an offering to God. Receive Jesus and be obedient in word and deed. Doesn’t have the same ring to it as God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.

I’m not saying God doesn’t love the sinner and that He doesn’t have a plan which is wonderful, for all that God does is full of wonder. I’m just noodling on the fact that I think we’ve tended to shy away from language related to sacrifice and submission over the past generation and thus perhaps have weakened the gospel by trying to remove some of the offense of the gospel. Naturally speaking, I’m more likely to sign up for a wonderful life than for being an offering to God and obedient to God.

And I wonder if we haven’t sought to be “seeker sensitive” and “seeker friendly” — and downplay taking up a cross, dying to self, and becoming a bond servant for Christ — because, before that, we may have hammered too often on sacrifice and submission as the responsibility of believing rather than the natural, supernatural response of believing. That somehow, we communicated that now that you’re saved you gotta buckle down and be sanctified.

But the reading of today’s text indicates that being set apart as an offering, that being sanctified, happens by the Holy Spirit. That to be brought to obedience is something that Christ has accomplished. That far from being the burden to bear when we come to faith in Christ, it is the fruit that is born because of faith in Christ. Sacrifice and submission being less something we need to make happen and more something we are to let happen as the Son of God lives through us by the Spirit of God in us.

Let happen, but not as in do nothing and passively wait for holiness to take hold. Instead to see myself as an offering to God, recognizing up front that I have been purchased with a price and I’m no longer my own. And to know that, having already obeyed the gospel by receiving and believing the good news by the grace of God, I’ve been saved to continue to obey by the grace of God. By faith, wanting to do in the Spirit what I could never do when controlled by the flesh. Pursuing the knowledge of Christ, abiding in the love of Christ, and living for the glory of Christ, because it’s how I’ll flourish in Christ. Offering and obedience viewed as part of the benefit of believing and less as a burden of believing.

Terms of salvation are important. Offering and obedience, by the Holy Spirit and through the Risen Son, are to be embraced. They are the fruit of salvation, the logical outcome of new creations being conformed to the likeness of Christ. Not something we must do to stay saved, but something we want to do because we have been saved.

Only by His grace. Only for His glory.

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An Obligation

Posted on March 23, 2022 by Pete

For the past few months I have been listening to a podcast that’s walking through the book of Romans. And what I have appreciated as much as anything over these months is the manner in which the “why” of Romans continually is re-emphasized as we walk through the “whats” of Romans. I so often think of this letter as only a theological treatise, a master defense of the gospel and it’s implications in the lives of believers. True enough. It is. But Paul wrote to the Roman church because it was a divided church.

After the gospel had come to Rome, a church of Jew and Gentile believers had been established. But then, all Jews (Christ-followers or not) were expelled from Rome by the emperor. When they were allowed to return some five years later, the Jewish believers came back to a pretty Gentile feeling church. And it created some tension. Tension along ethnic lines, Jew and Gentile. Tension along religious lines, adherence to the “old ways” vs. freedom to walk in some new ways. Tension in terms of understanding what God was doing now vs. what He had promised to do in the past. And so, Paul writes a pretty comprehensive and theological letter, not only to educate but to reconciliate. Not only to provide a gospel catechesis, but more importantly to spell out how to live as a gospel community.

Can’t help but think that Romans is a timely book to be reading given the tension in the North American church today as a result of the many polarizing and dividing issues of the last couple of years. A reminder that the gospel is not for individuals only, but that its power is also manifest where those individuals come together to form a community which, apart from the gospel, would have no natural inclination to be a community.

That’s the filter that seasons what I’m chewing on in Romans 15 this morning.

We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. . . . May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.

(Romans 15:1-2, 5-7 ESV)

An obligation. That’s we have when it comes to arguing about “opinions” (Rom. 14:1) or “disputable matters” (NIV). An obligation of the strong to bear with the weak. And let’s be honest, in any disputable matter each side thinks they are “the strong” and the other is “the weak”. So, each side shares in the obligation to bear with others (who we think are wrong) and not please ourselves (by proving we’re right).

Beyond the debate there is a decision, is pleasing my neighbor and building them up a greater prize than being right? Is harmony within my church community priority over conformity as to our church conduct? Does my voice have to be the right voice over others, or am I more concerned that with one voice we together glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ?

This obligation is my obligation. For I’m the only one who knows my heart towards my brothers and sisters. I’m the only one who can check my rhetoric in my brain before it proceeds out of my mouth. Only I know whether I want to be right above all or righteous for the sake of all.

And the power to fulfill my obligation? The source of my righteousness? It’s the gospel, the grand subject of Romans. The power of God for all who believe, Jew and Gentile — revealed from faith and for faith (Rom. 1:16-17).

An obligation, only by God’s grace. An obligation, ultimately for God’s glory.

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The Abundance of All Things

Posted on March 22, 2022 by Pete

Deuteronomy 28 can be kind of a chilling chapter. Twelve verses of blessings followed by forty-six verses of curses. Faithful obedience resulting in reward. Persistent, rebellious disobedience bringing utter destruction.

And, as I’m hovering over it this morning, I spy what I think to be a bridge spanning the blessings and the curses. A connection between the receiving of what is good and the performing of what is not so good. And that link is the abundance of all things.

“All these curses shall come upon you and pursue you and overtake you till you are destroyed, because you did not obey the voice of the LORD your God, to keep His commandments and His statutes that He commanded you. They shall be a sign and a wonder against you and your offspring forever. Because you did not serve the LORD your God with joyfulness and gladness of heart, because of the abundance of all things . . .”

(Deuteronomy 28:45-47 ESV)

Looking at different translations, you can read the indictment two ways. The ESV seems to read: one of the causes of you not serving the LORD your God was the abundance of all things. Your material wealth choked out your spiritual duty. Your temporal possessions took you away from your eternal pursuit. The other way it can be understood is clear from the CSB’s translation: “you didn’t serve the LORD your God with joy and a cheerful heart, even though you had an abundance of everything.” Regardless of how you read it, the sin of disobedience is either sparked by, or magnified by, the abundance of all things. And therein lies the bridge between blessings and curses.

Read the first part of chapter 28 and the reward for faithfully following the LORD in the land is “increase.” The fruit of their womb, the fruit of their fields, the fruit of their herds, increasing in abundance as God responds with favor to their faithfulness (28:3-5). Their baskets full, their kneading bowls overflowing (v.5). The LORD opening to them “His good treasury, the heavens,” to give rain in its season in order to bless the work of their hands (v.12). In short, the blessing of obedience would be manifested through the abundance of all things.

But that which would be the blessing of God could also be the catalyst for their abandonment of God. Barns filled by God’s goodness creating a sense of no longer needing God’s favor. God’s prosperity misunderstood as the fruit of their own efforts. The blessed life becoming a self-focused life. Instead of responding to the blessing of increase with joyfulness and gladness and thankfulness and increased allegiance, they stopped serving the God from whom all blessings flow. Focused on their abundance they lost focus on their calling “as a holy people to Himself” (v.9).

Hmm. Seems Dickens was right. The best of times can also be the worst of times. The blessing of the abundance of all things can become a curse.

Oh to be aware. To be mindful of my possessions not possessing me. To see all that I have and enjoy are but gifts “from above, coming down from the Father of lights” (James 1:17). To never cease to give Him thanks for the abundance of all things. And, by His enabling, to ever desire to serve Him with the abundance of all things.

All things seen as the abundance of His great grace. All things received, enjoyed, and used for His everlasting glory.

Amen?

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Individually Members of One Another

Posted on March 18, 2022 by Pete

Ours is an individualistic culture. That’s not some new observation. Nor would it surprise anyone if we said the culture at large tends to shape the church in particular. But this morning I’m struck afresh by how compromising individualism can be to the church being the church and thus, how compromising it can be to the mission of the church. This morning I’m chewing on what it means to be individually members one of another.

For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.

(Romans 12:4-5 ESV)

Dependency isn’t a cultural value espoused at large today. To be dependent implies being deficient. Too often thought of as a sign of weakness. Counter-cultural to the value of being able to “stand on my own two feet.” But with the body metaphor in mind, only the feet can stand on their own two feet. Unless the shin is attached to the feet, it has nothing to stand on. Does that make sense?

Given our cultural individualistic conditioning, for many it’s a stretch to concede to being part of a body. Of “losing” my identity within a more collective identity. But to think of myself as individually members of others? Of actually being attached and reliant on other individuals? Talk about cultural dissonance.

As a believer I’m not just to be part of a body in some abstract sense, I am to be literally connected to other members in a physical expression of the body, a local church. To be who I am called to be in Christ, to serve as I am called to serve for the kingdom, I am dependent not only on Christ, I am reliant not only on the Spirit, but I can’t do what I was redeemed to do apart from other members in the body. The picture of the body says that my hand does me no good if it isn’t actually attached to my arm, and my arm to my shoulder, and my shoulder to my head. I am an individual, but I am to be individually members of one another. That’s how God designed this living thing called the church to work.

Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into Him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

(Ephesians 4:15-16 ESV)

It makes sense that we are “born again” in Christ so that we would “grow up” in Christ. But we are to grow up as we.

We grow up as a unit, as the whole body. Far from an individual sport, sanctification is designed to happen in the context of every part of the body being joined and held together so that as each part does its part it makes the body (and thus the individual parts of the body) grow up, building itself up in love. We flourish as we count ourselves and connect ourselves individually as members one of another.

Counter cultural? Absolutely. Counter experience? Unfortunately, for too many too often — that’s the price of being a work in progress dependent on other works in progress. But essential? I’m thinking. Beneficial? Yeah, that too!

Noodling this morning on the implications of being a body. Meditating on the metaphor of the body and how it challenges the primacy and priority our culture (both at large and in the church) puts on being me, myself, and I. Thinking about my congregation. Imagining them more as other parts of the body on which I’m dependent, and they (unfortunately perhaps, but God’s grace is sufficient) on me. Believing this is how God, in His wisdom, is going to conform us to the image of His Son even as He sends us to be ambassadors of His kingdom.

Individually members of one another.

Only by His grace. Believing He has designed it for His glory.

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The Blessing of Being Brought Near

Posted on March 17, 2022 by Pete

Hovering over a verse in Psalm 65 this morning. Not so much noodling on it as responding to it. Less asking, “What does this mean?”, more in awe of “How can this be?” Chewing on the blessing of being brought near.

Blessed is the one You choose and bring near, to dwell in Your courts! We shall be satisfied with the goodness of Your house, the holiness of Your temple!

(Psalm 65:4 ESV)

Blessed and satisfied. That’s the state, sings the songwriter, which marks those God has chosen to bring near. Happy and fulfilled. The inner actuality, despite the outer reality, of those who have been set apart by the living God to enter into the presence of the living God.

There’s just something about stepping again onto holy ground that puts everything else into context. Something about drawing near to God that dims, even if for just a moment, whatever dread we might have for the day which lies before us.

But more than just a moment of respite, to dwell in His courts brings also a certain rejuvenation. Dwelling in His courts, even for just a few minutes, is to be reminded afresh of His goodness. His goodness a reminder of His holiness. His holiness a reminder of His greatness.

The songwriter considers again that He is the One who has established the mountains and stills the roaring seas (65:6-7). The One who commands the dawn to break and the sun to set (65:8b). The One who visits the earth to water it, the One who tends the earth so that all might reap of it (65:9-13). So that by His awesome deeds — those daily realities which we too often take for granted — we can know afresh that He alone is the God of our salvation, the hope of the ends of the earth (65:5). And it is this One, God over all, who has chosen a people to bring near. Who has called a people to dwell in His courts. Who has redeemed a people to know the goodness of His presence.

Hmm. Despite whatever else is going down today, that’s the blessing of being brought near. Knowing afresh the goodness of being in His presence.

Thus, O child of God, respond. Take time to reflect. With the eye of faith, pause and see yourself standing in the place where the glory dwells. Let your soul be fed with the goodness of His house. Bow in awe in the presence of His holiness. And then, respond.

Praise is due to You, O God, in Zion, and to You shall vows be performed.

(Psalm 65:1 ESV)

Satisfied. Knowing afresh it is well with my soul.

Isn’t that the blessing of being brought near? I’m thinkin’ . . .

By His grace. For His glory.

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Readied for the Next Season

Posted on March 16, 2022 by Pete

Wherever we are, we’re not there yet. How ever far we’ve come, we’ve still got some road to travel. Coming out of the wilderness, there’s still a promised land to prepare for. That’s some of what I’m picking from what Moses is laying down in Deuteronomy 8 this morning.

Operation “Take the Land” will soon commence. What they have waited for during 40 years of wilderness wandering is about to become a reality. And, while it won’t possess the same challenges the desert did, it will still present some pretty big challenges.

Challenges like being drawn into the culture of the land rather than being determined to redeem the land. Challenges like enjoying the goodness of the land to such an extent that they forget it’s because of the goodness of their God. Little Jack Horner types of challenges — of possessing and profiting from lands, cities, and houses they did not build yet “putting in their thumb, pulling out a plumb, and saying, ‘What a good boy am I'”. Of whispering under their breath to themselves, “My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth” (Deut. 8:17). Of forgetting that it was their God who gifted them the provision and power to profit (8:18).

So, to prepare for their “land of milk and honey” season, Moses exhorts them to learn from their wilderness season.

“And you shall remember the whole way that the LORD your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that He might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not.

(Deuteronomy 8:2 ESV)

It hasn’t been 40 years, but it’s been 2+. May not have been a wilderness in the most extreme sense for all, but I can’t imagine it was a walk in the park for any. As we emerge from pandemic life, and all the other life that has happened under its oppressive umbrella, I can’t help but think that every weary wanderer shouldn’t have something to show for it.

Humbled by what the crucible has surfaced. Whether in our culture at large or within our churches at home. Perhaps within those we thought we knew well. More importantly, perhaps within our own hearts that we thought we knew better.

For whatever lies ahead, we should remember “the whole way” that the LORD our God has led over these past couple of years. Believing that, regardless of whatever other purposes our Sovereign God may have had in allowing COVID to be COVID, He sought to humble us, to test us, to know what was in our heart. Allowing us to encounter the flames in order to know if we’d be faithful. And that for the purpose of preparing us for the next season, whatever it might be.

And He humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.”

(Deuteronomy 8:3 ESV)

Though the specific lessons learned by each of us over the past couple of years might be different, what a reflective and revived people of God should come away knowing from any wilderness walk is that God is faithful and worthy to be followed. That His ways are always the right ways. And that through His word, and by the power of His Spirit, we can not only survive the wilderness, but we can thrive in the wilderness. Perhaps emerging somewhat weary, yet more prepared and with greater resolve to continue to walk in His ways.

Readied for the next season.

Only by His grace. Always for His grace.

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We Rest to Remember

Posted on March 15, 2022 by Pete

It’s coming up on a year since I was last challenged afresh about my attitude towards the Sabbath. (I’m not talking so much about any specific day, but about the principle of one day out of every seven days which is intentionally set aside for rest.) And for the past year, for the most part, I have tried to consciously observe a “Sabbath rest” on a weekly basis. For me, given that my responsibilities on Sunday make for a pretty busy and full Sunday, my Sabbath starts at sunset on Sunday and goes to sunset on Monday. Yesterday was my Sabbath.

And this morning, as I’m reading Moses tell again the Ten Commandments to a people about to enter the promised land, I’m reminded that the Sabbath day is not just about rest, it is more importantly about remembrance.

“Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the LORD your God commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. . . . You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the LORD your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.

(Deuteronomy 5:12-15 ESV)

As we’re wont to do, we naturally make things about us. And to be sure, a day of rest can be so good for the rester. But there is an ends to a Sabbath means. A reason for resting. As Moses reminds God’s people, we are to cease work and to set apart a day to the LORD our God. It impacts us, but it’s really about Him. And how does our rest thing become a God thing? We rest to remember.

We pause to ponder. We take a breather to renew what we believe. We plan a lull in our active lives in order to put a limelight on the Giver of Life.

That’s why Sundays are such a good Sabbath day. That’s when we can gather with others who also want to be still and know that He is God. That’s when a place and a program have been planned that allows the people of God to gather to the praise of God. But as I was reminded a year ago, “doing church” isn’t the be all of a Sabbath rest nor is it the end all. Because it isn’t all — it’s just a few hours in what should be a 24 hour period of remembering. What we do with the rest of the day, or some other day, is just as important.

As I was reminded last year, it’s important to be intentional with what is done on the Sabbath. I was challenged to plan to do stuff, or not do stuff, on my day of rest that would cause me to think of the One who gave me rest. Activities, or “inactivities” as the case may be, that triggered my mind to give thanks to my God. To plan to do stuff that brought joy to my soul as a way of sparking a delight in my Savior. For example, yesterday I purposely chose to do a Costco run followed by Chick-fil-A run with my grandson. For me, that was a Sabbath delight. All glory be to God who delivered me from the slavery of sin and death with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm so that I might enjoy good gifts in life — gifts like a sandwich for me, some nuggets for him, and some precious time together. Just me and a two-year-old. A Sabbath delight.

Didn’t read my bible all day yesterday. Didn’t fast and pray for hours and hours. But what I did, I did outside of my normal routine, and I did with the purpose of delighting in my salvation.

A day given by God, and received by me, so that I could rest and remember and rejoice.

Remembering His grace by His grace. Rejoicing in His glory for His glory.

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No Comparison

Posted on March 11, 2022 by Pete

Talking with a sister yesterday who’s a little older than me. While I’m still a few years away from my “threescore years and ten” (Ps. 90:10 KJV), she’s on the other side of it and feeling a bit more each day the effects of having to leverage her “extended warranty” more frequently. Diagnose, repair, and/or replace needing to be leveraged more these days than it was a few years ago. I’m praying for her next doctor’s appointment.

In the course of our conversation she said something like, “I can’t wait to go home.” Home as in heaven. Home as in with Jesus. Home as in face-to-face and then face to ground in a body that won’t have any problems with such feats of flexibility. She’s not suicidal, she’s hopeful. Not done with living, just can’t wait to be living at the next level. Weary? Yes. But in wonder? Yes even more. The wonder of what it will be like to be “absent from the body yet present with the Lord” (2Cor. 5:8).

Yesterday’s conversation came to mind as I read this morning in Romans.

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

(Romans 8:18 ESV)

Whatever the sufferings are . . . regardless of how severe they are . . . doesn’t matter how they compare with what others might endure . . . whether internal, external, or a combination of both . . . when Paul does the math, when he takes a moment to compute, calculate, and consider the relative weight, he concludes,

. . . the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

No comparison! Yes and Amen!

Amen?

We don’t all endure the same hard stuff, but we all endure hard stuff. Physical, emotional, relational, spiritual . . . there’s enough sufferings to go around for everyone and, according to Paul, for everything. For Paul also writes, “that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now” (Rom. 8:22). And so, creation groans. And we groan too.

. . . we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons [and daughters], the redemption of our bodies.

(Romans 8:23 ESV)

That’s what the sister I talked with yesterday couldn’t wait for, the redemption of her body. While it is well with her soul, it is still wearying in her body. And so, while living life here as fully as she can in a body that is showing signs of years of wear and tear, she also eagerly awaits the final phase of her adoption. Knowing that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing to the glory that is to be revealed to us.

Not worth comparing. Beyond comprehending. We can only imagine what it will be like (thanx MercyMe). However that day when we’re with Jesus presents to us, the weight of its glory will, by comparison, render the weight while waiting insignificant.

So keep on keepin’ on, weary saint. It’s gonna be worth it all. No comparison.

By His grace. For His glory.

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Christ Is In You

Posted on March 10, 2022 by Pete

Four words. That’s what I’m chewing on this morning. Yet four words within one grand context — Romans 8.

There’s no way you can read Romans 8 and not be stirred within your soul.

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

(Roman 8:1 ESV)

No condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. Fact. End of discussion.

Bask in the grace. Give glory to God.

But wait . . . there’s more. Far from just a transaction whereby the debt for my sin was paid for by Christ on the cross, more even than Christ’s righteousness being credited to my account, beyond the transaction there is a new orientation.

For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

(Romans 8:3-4 ESV)

Saved from sin, saved for righteousness. Saved from bondage, saved for freedom. Saved from death, saved for life. And so, we walk according to the Spirit. That’s our new orientation. Setting our minds on the things of the Spirit (8:5b), putting to death the deeds of the flesh by the Spirit (8:13), being led by the Spirit (8:14). All possible because the Spirit of God dwells in us (8:9, 11)!

Stop right now. Go stand in front of a mirror. Peer deeply at the face before you. There! Right there! You’re looking at where the Spirit of God resides right now. Really!

Come on! That’s gotta make your jaw drop at least a bit . . . maybe even put a bit of a smile on your face.

But here’s the kicker, the reminder that the Spirit in you means also Christ in you.

You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness.

(Romans 8:9-10 ESV)

There they are. The four words the Spirit has set the table with for me this morning. Christ is in you.

It’s hard to fully appreciate what the Spirit in us means when we know so little about the Spirit. But that He is the Spirit of Christ, and thus Christ is in us? Well, we know a lot about Jesus. And whatever we know about Him, it should inform our understanding of our supernatural union with Him.

You are in Christ and, as mind boggling as it is, Christ is in you. The meek and lowly Jesus living in us and through us. The King of kings and Lord of lords reigning within us. His presence. His power. The mind of Christ. The heart of Christ. All of it in us and with us . . . every moment, every hour, every day, every week.

Christ is in you. Just four simple words. But one jaw-dropping truth. Meditate on them, chew on them slowly and deliberately, and know afresh who you are, child of God (which by the way, the Spirit also reminds us of (8:16)).

Christ is in you. Something easier felt than tell’t. Because trying to get our arms around union with Christ is like trying to put an ocean in a cup. So, I’m not stressing about trying to contain it or explain it. Instead, this morning I’m enjoying drinking deeply from it.

Only by His grace. Only for His glory.

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A Shepherd for the Sheep

Posted on March 9, 2022 by Pete

You’ve got to admire Moses. He has come a long way from “send someone else” (Exodus 4:13). What’s ironic though, is that it’s evident by the fact that, at the end of his life, he’s still praying, “send someone else.”

The freshly re-numbered people of Israel (Numbers 26) are about to embark on their “Enter the Promised Land” tour. Among them, not one who had been listed when they left Egypt (26:64). Except, that is, Moses, Joshua, and Caleb. But not even Moses will cross the finish line of the Jordan because he “rebelled against My word in the wilderness of Zin when the congregation quarreled, failing to uphold Me as holy at the waters before their eyes” (Num. 27:14). But even as Moses prepares to receive the consequences of his transgression, he continues to intercede for those he had led out of bondage. And his prayer, essentially? Send someone else.

Moses spoke to the LORD, saying, “Let the LORD, the God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the congregation who shall go out before them and come in before them, who shall lead them out and bring them in, that the congregation of the LORD may not be as sheep that have no shepherd.”

(Numbers 27:15-17 ESV)

Sheep without a shepherd. That was Moses’ great concern as he prepared to exit early. Though he would not walk into the promised land himself, he continued to intercede for those who would. The congregation of the LORD. Sheep. And being like sheep, there should be with them a shepherd.

Not that they deserved a shepherd, or merited a shepherd, but that they needed a shepherd. Ain’t easy being a sheep. As I read in the latter part of Romans 7 this morning, what little brain you have is often inclined to follow fleshly instinct more than godly instruction. And though the spirit might be willing to walk in the way it should walk, the sheep nature tends to be weak and wander off in the way it wants to wander. And so, sheep are gonna need a shepherd. Moses knew that. Jesus knew it too.

When He went ashore He saw a great crowd, and He had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And He began to teach them many things.

(Mark 6:34 ESV)

Praise God that today the congregation of the LORD is not without a shepherd. That we are not left to our own wisdom, our own sense of direction, our own self-discipline, nor our own power to enter into what God has promised for those He has delivered from bondage and has called to walk in freedom.

Jesus is the Good Shepherd (Jn. 10:11, 14). He is the Great Shepherd (Heb. 13:20). The Shepherd of our souls (1Pet. 2:25). The Chief Shepherd over every under-shepherd He has called to tend local representations of the flock (1Pet. 5:4). The Eternal Shepherd who Himself will guide His own to springs of living water (Rev. 7:17).

There is a Shepherd for the sheep.

The LORD is my shepherd . . . (Psalm 23:1a ESV)

Hallelujah! What a Savior.

Such amazing grace. To Him be all the glory.

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