Ruth 1:18 NIV
When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined
to go with her, she stopped urging her.
Do You Have A Plan For Making Lives Better?
When I first became pastor of our church, a group of
us went down to Southern California to attend a conference led by Rick
Warren. He was a popular speaker whose
book, The Purpose Driven Church was widely acclaimed and becoming a
framework for how thousands of congregations were being developed. I knew that not everyone among us would agree
with what Warren was advocating but I hoped that we all would get something of
value out of the seminars. It was a good
time of bonding for us as we each processed what was shared and how we might
put into practice what we learned. We
came back and had every intention of trying to have a “purpose driven church”
like what Warren described but it did not go quite like we hoped and although we
did reshape the direction of our church, it never approached anything we saw at
Saddleback. One thing I noticed though
was that in trying so hard to make a difference with our church, I in some
aspects lost my way. I put much more
thought and effort into the mechanics of the church rather than into my place
within the church. I forgot a
foundational premise of the life of a congregation.
Because you are busy, perhaps really busy, the last
thing you need is one more assignment, one additional duty. It is ironic that the more devices we gain
that make our lives easier and more manageable, the less time we seem to have
to be human. The cell phone has as we
all know become a substitute for real life and real people. If you are like most, you spend more time
fussing about the lives of those you never will meet than caring about the ones
you actually have with you. Social media
is frequently not much more social than two robots passing data between each
other. In it all, we have too often lost
the desire or maybe more likely, the skill set needed to have closeness with
those actually in our physical space. It
is of course much easier to converse with friends who cannot see your warts and
deficiencies but only have an icon representing you in front of them. Yet are we losing our humanness by not
talking with actual people that we can physically touch? If we don’t give someone time to grow with us
and develop real closeness, are we missing something critical to being
Christian?
Moses has for years intrigued me. Perhaps he might interest you also. He is full of contradictions and complicated
personality traits. Perhaps what makes
him so fascinating is that we know so much about him and yet there is a
tremendous amount of mystery to him.
What effect did it have on Moses surviving the Egyptian massacre of
fellow Hebrew infants? How did he
reconcile his own life of luxury and privilege with the poverty his parents and
siblings suffered? What led him to
believe that he was meant to lead the Israelites out of slavery and then why
did he give up on the idea until he was eighty?
What sort of psychological damage did he suffer when his fellow
Israelites rejected him after he stood up to the Egyptian who was beating the
Israelite slave? Did Moses’ disjointed
upbringing damage his ability to be a husband and father? How did Moses’ early life experiences impact
his leadership style? What sort of
person was Moses really? The Bible tells
us that he was the humblest man on earth but how did that look?
For all the trouble Moses seemed to have with
people, whether it was his brother and sister, the leaders of the Israelites or
the contentious and bitter relationship he had with Pharaoh, Moses maintained
for forty years a close friendship with his successor who took over leadership
of the Israelites once Moses died. Before
Moses began mentoring Joshua, we know absolutely nothing about him. He was forty years younger than Moses and
from the tribe of Ephraim but for some reason at a young age he became Moses’
assistant. Joshua son of Nun, who had
been Moses' aide since youth… (Numbers 11:28 NIV) It is kind of humorous to hear the Scripture
tell us that Joshua had served along with Moses since youth as he probably did
not meet Moses until he was nearly forty.
Of course we are talking about two men who lived to be one hundred and
ten and one hundred and twenty respectively so perhaps when you live that long,
at forty you are still a kid.
He was constantly at Moses’ side. He went up onto Mount Sinai both times with
him and was there when the Lord gave Moses the Ten Commandments and the
Law. Then Moses set out with Joshua
his aide, and Moses went up on the mountain of God. (Exodus 24:13 NIV)
Joshua camped in the Tabernacle with Moses and served as its guardian while
Moses went out among the people passing along the instructions that had come
from the Lord. The Lord would speak
to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend. Then Moses would return
to the camp, but his young aide Joshua son of Nun did not leave the tent. (Exodus
33:11 NIV) Joshua was hand-picked by
Moses to lead the Israelites into their first battle. The Amalekites came
and attacked the Israelites at Rephidim.
Moses said to Joshua, "Choose some of our men and go out to fight
the Amalekites. Tomorrow I will stand on top of the hill with the staff of God
in my hands." (Exodus 17:8-9 NIV)
It was in fact Moses who changed this young assistant’s name from Hoshea
to Joshua much like Jesus did with Peter.
Joshua means, “the Lord saves” and it is the Hebrew form of the Greek
name “Jesus”. Joshua was with Moses
during his magnificent triumphs and his heart-wrenching trials. When it was time to pass along the mantle of leadership
it was, as the Lord put it, his “assistant” who the Lord chose to guide Israel
into its conquest of the Promised Land. But
your assistant, Joshua son of Nun, will enter it. Encourage him, because he will
lead Israel to inherit it. (Deuteronomy 1:38 NIV)
When it was time for Moses to hand over the reins of
leadership, there was a supernatural component to it. Moses not only established a lasting
friendship with Joshua and gave him the opportunity to be there with him during
the most important times of his later life, he also gave Joshua the important
aspect of what made him such a great man.
The Scripture tells us that when Joshua took over as leader of Israel,
he was ready for the job. Now Joshua
son of Nun was filled with the spirit of wisdom because Moses had laid his
hands on him. So the Israelites listened to him and did what the Lord had
commanded Moses. (Deuteronomy 34:9 NIV)
Why was that? It is because Moses
“laid his hands on him.” He passed along
to him the Spirit of God. This is not
some training strategy or discipleship technique. It is a supernatural work of God accomplished
through the physicality of being human.
God ordered Moses to make Joshua the inheritor of the life he had with
God so that he could accomplish his mission in life. But commission Joshua, and encourage and
strengthen him, for he will lead this people across and will cause them to
inherit the land that you will see." (Deuteronomy 3:28 NIV)
We see these same kinds of relationships throughout
the Bible, perhaps not with the detail as the teaming of Moses and Joshua described
in Exodus to Joshua but they all have the same components. God’s people are seen in Scripture building
relationships with others so that they might pass along to them the life they
have in God: Naomi with Ruth, Elijah with Elisha, Samuel with David, Paul with
Timothy. Why not add your name to the
list. You have been given a mandate by
God to pass along to others what you have in Christ. It is not an optional plan; it is the command
of God. Therefore go and make
disciples of all nations… (Matthew 28:19 NIV) This is not some high level spiritual
directive given to super Christians. It
is your call from Christ to build up someone else and help that person reach
his or her potential as a child of God.
One person in this world needs you to be a mentor, a conduit through whom
the Lord pours His spirit. You too must touch
someone like Samuel did and Moses did and Naomi did. No more of this long distance Facebook
spirituality only. It is time you let
God use you to be His body so that someone else can be touched by Him. Who is that person? God already has someone in mind. Keep your eyes open and watch for who He
points out to you!
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