Exceptional Following - An Early Resolve

Sermon Series: Great Leader, Exceptional Follower

Have you ever tried to change a habit or a way of life later in life than you wanted to?  I’m still trying to do that with one of my bad habits.  I have a bad habit of picking at my nails.  Something will happen that will cause me to become a little stressed and I’ll start to pick at all my finger nails.  By the time I’m done they all look worn and uneven and I get incredibly self-conscious.  Embarrassed by the appearance of my nails I then promise myself that I will not pick at my nails any more.  I’ll do good for about two or three days, but just about the time they start looking presentable again something else will happen and I’ll pick at all of them once again.  Because I developed that bad habit early on in life and because I never committed to change that habit when I was younger, I have to work even harder today to try to stop picking at my nails.

It would be much better for us if we all developed healthy habits at a young age.  If we could resolve in our hearts and minds to establish healthy habits and patterns in our lives while we were young we would be in a much better position to continue carrying out those habits and patterns into our later years of life.  That’s true in regards to things like hygiene but it’s also true in matters relating to our relationship with God.  When we trust in Jesus as our Lord and Savior we are making a decision to surrender control of our lives to Him and to be committed to Him.  But I wonder how many, if any of us, really resolve at that moment to be exceptional in the way we follow Him.  Probably not very many of us.  But that needs to be something we resolve to do at that moment.  We need to be followers of Jesus who early on in our life with Christ determine that we are going to follow Him, no matter what the circumstance.  If we resolve to live as an exceptional follower of God early on, then we will be more likely to continue to follow through with that commitment throughout the rest of our lives. 

Some of you may be thinking, “All this ‘exceptional’ language is a little much isn’t it?  God knows I’m going to mess up in life.  Isn’t it okay if we simply resolve to be good followers?”  That’s a great question.  But I’m going to argue this week and throughout the course of this series that God is most glorified when we are exceptional followers and therefore exceptional following is what we ought to be striving for.  We will begin our series then in Numbers 13 and 14 and we will see two ways the supreme glory of God shapes the resolve of a young Israelite leader.

Numbers 13 begins with a command of God to Moses.  In verses 1 and 2 God told Moses to send men to spy out the land “which [He was] giving to the people of Israel.”  As part of God’s command He instructed Moses to send one leader from each of the tribes of Israel and in verses 3 through 16 it specifies exactly who Moses selected.  For our purposes this week we are interested in two of these men in particular.  Verse 6 says, “from the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh.”  And in verse 8 it says, “from the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea the son of Nun.”  These are the two men who are going to stand out among the spies and among the people of Israel as those who had been shaped by the glory of God and who were resolved to following Him exceptionally.  Hoshea may not sound familiar to many of you, but you’ll notice in verse 16 that “Moses called Hoshea the son of Nun, Joshua.”

After Moses had chosen the twelve spies he then provides them with their job description.  Their job was in general to spy out the land of Canaan.  But Moses also gave the twelve spies a couple of specific things that they were to consider, bring back, and report back on.  The spies were to report back on whether the people in the land were strong or weak.  They were to report back on whether the land was good or bad.  They were to report back on whether the people lived in open camps or strong, fortified cities.  They were to report back on whether the land was rich or poor in resources.  And they were to report back on the kind and quality of the trees in the land.  In addition to these observations that they were to make Moses also instructed them to bring back some of the fruit from the land.  So this is what the twelve spies did.  The men crossed over into the land that God had promised to the Israelites and spied out all the land that Moses had instructed them to.  Then before returning verse 23 says “they came to the Valley of Eshcol and cut down from there a branch with a single cluster of grapes, and they carried it on a pole between two of them; they also brought some pomegranates and figs.”

For the first 24 verses of Numbers 13 the narrative is pretty anti-climatic.  God re-iterates His promise to provide the Israelites with a new land (which is certainly good) and commands Moses to gather up twelve spies.  As modern-day readers our anticipation begins to grow as we begin to expect a cool, Hollywood-style spy story.  But the verses following God’s command don’t quite live up to our expectations.  Moses picks out twelve men, gives them their assignment, and the men go in, check things out, and come back with a cluster of grapes, some pomegranates, and some figs.  Not exactly an edge-of-your-seat thriller.  But we are going to see that the narrative of Numbers 13 and 14 isn’t so much an action-thriller, but more of an intense drama.

In verse 25 the spies return from their 40 day venture into the promise land and bring their report to Moses and Aaron and the entire congregation of the Israelites.  They start with the good news (verses 25-27) saying that the land was flowing with milk and honey and that the fruit was good.  But that’s all the good news that 10 of these spies had to offer.  From that point  forward their message is this – the people are big and strong and the land is bad, devouring it’s inhabitants.  At this point in the narrative it’s only Caleb who speaks out (though he is certainly speaking on both his and Joshua’s behalf).  Verse 30 says, “But Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, ‘Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it.’”  In the midst of the other 10 spies’ report about a strong and mighty people and a land that devours its inhabitants we see the resolve of two of these young leaders.  They knew that God was fully aware of the size and strength of the people in the land.  They knew that God was fully aware of the strong and fortified cities in which the people lived.  And they also knew that God had promised the land to the Israelites.  So in the midst of a discouraging report we see two individuals who are resolved to find their identity as exceptional followers of God. 

Let me show you one cool way that this is demonstrated in the text and in the life of Joshua.  Go back to verse 8 and verse 16.  What was Joshua’s name originally?  Hoshea.  Hoshea means ‘salvation’ or ‘deliverance.’  So Joshua’s original name would suggest that salvation or deliverance could be found in him and that he was ultimately the one worthy of honor and praise.  But in verse 16 Hoshea has his name changed to Joshua.  Joshua means ‘Yahweh saves’ or ‘Yahweh delivers.’  This is an incredibly significant change in Joshua’s life.  Now Joshua’s name proclaims that it is God, not himself, who brings salvation and deliverance.   It is therefore God alone who is worthy of honor and praise.  So the name of Israel’s future leader, the one who would ultimately lead the Israelites into the promise land, served as a reminder for the Israelites that it was ultimately God that was saving them and delivering them.  It reminded them that God’s hand in their salvation and deliverance was a testimony of His supreme glory and grace.  And it should serve as a reminder for both Joshua and the Israelites that they ought to be following Him.  That’s pretty incredible.  Joshua’s name made clear the saving work of God in the lives of His people and His supreme glory, and was a constant reminder that he ought to be an exceptional follower of the God who would do such a thing in his life and the lives of others.  So note in Numbers 13 that the supreme glory of God led Joshua to resolve to find his identity as an exceptional follower of God.

Here’s one thing that I would suggest this week.  If God really is supremely glorious – which I would argue His saving work in our lives bears witness to – then we ought to resolve early on to see our identity as an exceptional follower of God.  If God has delivered and saved you and you have experienced His supreme glory in your life, our hearts should long to be more than an occasional follower.  Our hearts should long to be more than fair weather followers.  Our hearts should long to be more than convenient followers.  At the end of our lives who really wants that on our tombstones?  Our hearts should long to be exceptional followers of God, so that at the end of our lives if there were just four words on our tombstones to remember us by and to speak to who we were, they would read “Exceptional Follower of God.”

Numbers 14 begins with the response of the Israelites to the report of the spies.  Verse 1 says that they all “raised a loud cry” and that they all wept.  The following verses then give us insight into why they responded this way.  Listen to what the people say in verses 2 and 3.  “Would that we had died in the land of Egypt!  Or would that we had died in this wilderness!  Why is the Lord bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword?  Our wives and our little ones will become a prey.  Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?”  Upon hearing the report of the spies the people of Israel began to fear.  The news of the size and strength of the people alarmed them.  In that moment they took their eyes off of the strength and might of their God and chose instead to focus on the size and strength of the inhabitants of the land.  They imagined that they would die in battle and that their wives and children would be taken by the inhabitants of the land.  And in that moment they forgot the promise of God.  Listen again to what the people say in 14:3, “Why is the Lord bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword?  Our wives and our little ones will become a prey.  Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?”  But compare this to what God actually said in 13:1, “Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the people of Israel.”  God had promised the land to the people and He was going to help them overcome its inhabitants.  But they had forgotten the promise and were longing not to follow God’s plan, but to return to Egypt.  So pay attention to what takes place in verse 4.  “And they said to one another, ‘Let us choose a leader and go back to Egypt.’”  The Israelites wanted to raise up another leader.  They wanted to find another strong and capable leader who would lead them back to Egypt.  In desiring this the Israelites prove to be exceptional followers of their own desires – not exceptional followers of God and His plan.  And while they could have done this, this leader and this type of leadership would not have been God-honoring.  This wasn’t God’s plan.  Which is why one of the things we will see in Joshua throughout this series is that being an exceptional follower of God is always better than being a great leader.  Listen, God can be glorified in our leadership, but God is always glorified in our faithful obedience (exceptional following).

In verses 5 through 9 of chapter 14 we see the response of Moses, Aaron, Joshua, and Caleb to the outcry of the people and their desire to return to Egypt.  This is a pretty amazing response (especially from Joshua and Caleb) because Joshua and Caleb had seen the size and might of the people in the promise land, they had heard the negative report of the 10 other spies, and they had witnessed the fear of the people.  At this point it should seem that these four guys would be ready to throw in the towel.  We would imagine that with the backing of an entire nation there might be some hope that God would grant them victory.  But with the Israelite nation so frightened and ready to return to Egypt, what chance did four guys have of crossing the Jordan and taking possession of the land?  The amount of disappointment and the amount of peer pressure at this moment should have been overwhelming.  So the actions of these men in verses 5 and 6 and the words they speak in verses 7 through 9 speak volumes about their exceptional following.  Joshua and Caleb speak to the nation of Israel and say, “The land, which we passed through to spy it out, is an exceedingly good land.  If the Lord delights in us, He will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land that flows with milk and honey.  Only do not rebel against the Lord.  And do not fear the people of the land, for they are bread for us.  Their protection is removed from them, and the Lord is with us; do not fear them.”  Joshua and Caleb refute the report of the 10 spies.  While the other spies said that the land was a bad land that devours its inhabitants, Joshua and Caleb report that the land is an ‘exceedingly good’ one.  They also remind the people of God’s promise in 13:1, that God isn’t bringing them into the land to destroy them but that He is bringing them into the land to give the land to them as an inheritance.  Finally they plead with the people not to rebel against God’s plan, but to follow God’s plan, and not to fear those God has given them victory over.  Unfortunately the Israelites seemed much more concerned about their own safety than they were with God’s glory, and the text says in verse 10 that they were ready to stone Joshua and Caleb for the speech they directed towards them – but then God showed up!

The Israelites unwillingness to follow God’s plan for His glory and their desire to follow their own leader and own plan for their own good greatly angered God.  So God speaks to Moses saying, “How long will this people despise me?  And how long will they not believe in me, in spite of all the signs that I have done among them?  I will strike them with the pestilence and disinherit them, and I will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they.”  God’s anger burned against the nation of Israel.  He was angered by the fact that they continuously chose not to believe Him, even after the extraordinary miracles He had already performed in their presence while they were in Egypt and while they were leaving Egypt.  God wasn’t impressed by the Israelites initiative to raise up a new leader – new leadership wasn’t God’s desire.  God wanted their faithful obedience.  God wanted them to follow Him.  But they were unwilling, so God understood their disbelief to be the same as despising Him, and He was ready to destroy them as a result.

Having heard God’s great anger towards the Israelites, Moses makes a plea for God not to do anything that might cause the surrounding nations to misunderstand who God is and might cause them to doubt His glory.  Moses knew that the Egyptians had begun to fear God because they had witnessed His great power among them on behalf of the Israelites.  In fact it appears that the people in the promise land and the surrounding countries had heard of God’s great power as it was put on display in Egypt.  Moses fears that if God were to kill the Israelite nation the surrounding nations would see that as God’s inability to finish what He started.  They would see God as too weak to bring the Israelites all the way into the promise land.  So Moses pleads in verse 17, “And now, please let the power of the Lord be great as you have promised.”  Moses knew that if God continued to put His power and might and display by leading the Israelites into the promise land that the surrounding nations would have to recognize His great glory.

God responds to Moses’ plea in verses 20 through 35.  In those verses God promises to uphold His glory, but He also promises to withhold His blessing from that generation of unbelieving Israelites.  God says that His glory throughout the world will be a certainty.  But He also promises to do what the people grumbled against God about.  He said that the faithless and unbelieving Israelites would remain in the wilderness until everyone who was twenty years and older had died.  He explains that they will have to remain in the wilderness forty years, one year for every day that the spies were in the land spying it out.  And He says that the children of this unbelieving generation will have to suffer for their parents’ unfaithfulness by remaining those forty years in the wilderness.  But while their children will suffer by having to remain in the wilderness, they would not suffer the fate that the unbelieving Israelites had declared.  Their children would not fall prey to the inhabitants of the land, but rather, after all their parents had passed away, they would inherit the land which God had promised.  The only exceptions that God made in these promises were for both Joshua and Caleb.  Their faith in God and their resolve to follow His plan caused God to look upon them with favor and God promised that these two men would both see and inherit the land which God had promised them.

This chapter makes some very interesting points.  But I think the verses that really stand out in this chapter are verses 4 and 7 through 9 and the truth that they reveal to us about Joshua and Caleb.  Verse 4 shows us an Israelite nation that has put their own personal comfort and safety before the glory of God.  God had promised the nation of Israel the promise land and had reminded them that He was giving it to them.  But in verse 4 the people wanted to raise up a new leader who would lead them back to Egypt.  Fulfilling God’s plan and establishing His glory wasn’t as important to them as remaining safe and being assured the necessities of life.  Joshua and Caleb on the other hand plead with the Israelites not to rebel against God.  In rebelling against God the nation fails to fulfill God’s plan and make His name great.  Joshua and Caleb recognized the supremacy of God and His glory and the supreme glory of God led Joshua to resolve to value God’s glory more than his own desires.

Here’s a second thing that I would suggest this week.  If God really is supremely glorious then we ought to resolve early on to value God’s glory more than our own desires.  That’s not an easy thing to do.  When our heart desires something we tend to go after it.  One of the most popular phrases in our culture today is, “just follow your heart.”  But we can’t live that way.  Listen to Jeremiah 17:9, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it.”  Our hearts long to make much of us and to live for our own glory.  And it’s so incredibly tempting to do that.  But following after our own hearts rarely leads to making much of God and making His glory known.  So our challenge is to make a commitment to God which says I am going to value your glory more than my own desires.  And when situations arise when I want to go in one direction but You would be made much of by going in another, then I’m going to go the way that will make Your name glorious.  When I see my co-worker hurting and would rather stay out of it, I’m going to find out how I can show the love of Christ to him or her.  When someone wrongs me and I would rather go to my friends and talk bad about them, I’m going to go home and pray for them instead.  When I notice a new couple at church and would rather spend the morning sitting with my friends and catching up on what they did during the week, I’m going to sit with the new couple and find out how we can minister to them.  When I would rather stay home and veg-out by watching American Idol on Wednesday nights, I’m going to go to small group and spend some time in prayer with my brothers and sisters in Christ asking God to use us to make His name great in our community.  If we don’t make that a priority in our lives now, we are going to look back on this time years from now and see nothing but missed opportunities to show of the glory of our God.  If day after day and week after week we spend our time chasing our own desires we are never going to bring great glory to God.  So my challenges to you this week: Number one – resolve, like Joshua, to find your identity as an exceptional God follower.  Number two – resolve, like Joshua, to value the glory of God more than your own desires.

Small Group Questions for Discussion

1. In Numbers 13:30-14:4 we read that Caleb had an entirely different attitude than ten of the other spies who had gone with him to spy out the land.  What would explain this difference, considering they both saw the same land and circumstances?

2. In Numbers 14:5-14:10 we read that Moses and Aaron fall on their faces before the assembly, and Joshua and Caleb tear their clothes and continue to rebuke the congregation to the point where their lives were threatened by stoning.  In Acts 6 and 7 we find the narrative about Stephen who also had a faith that resulted in him being stoned.  Stephen's name means 'crown' (referring to the crown of laurel leaves placed on the head of a runner who finished and won a race).  How can we apply these examples of faith to our exceptional following of Christ today?

3. In Numbers 14:29-35 we find that Caleb and Joshua will be rewarded for their exceptional following.  What promises do we have today for our exceptional following?

4. Today we have both the Old and the New Testaments, so we can see how God's plan ultimately brings Him glory if we will just follow Him.  How do we keep our desires from hindering the opportunity we have as followers of Christ?

5. What do you consider to be your primary identity?  How would striving to make your primary identity an exceptional follower of Christ change the way you think and live on a daily basis?

6. What are some of the things we tend to value on a daily basis more than the glory of God?  How can we make better efforts at valuing the glory of God over all other things?

7. What step of faith does this passage of Scripture require us to take as individuals and as a small group?  How do we work this out on mission?