Rally Around Life – 03.22.09
Introduction – You’ve heard the expression “Rally Around the Flag.” It is where our national anthem, “The Star Spangled Banner” comes from. Francis Scott Key, as a prisoner aboard a British ship, saw the American flag still flying over Fort McHenry in the early morning hours of September 14, 1814. Today we still use the “Rally Around” phraseology. Listen to these recent headlines:
Supporters Rally Around Property Tax Resolution
Tulsa World, March 19th
Fans Continue to Rally Around Morningside Champs
KCAU-TV, Sioux City, IA - March 18th
Neighbors Rally Around Mother After Home Invasion
NewsChannel 5, Nashville TN - March 16th
Scholars Rally Around Embattled Professor
The Jewish Daily Forward, March 11th
It seems there is always a cause or a person to rally around. And it seems like we need something special to get us to rally. My question for you this morning is this: What do you rally around when
it comes to your Christian faith? Do you rally around anything? Does it even matter? It seems as if Jesus thought so!
And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. John 3:14,15
These two verses come immediately before the most famous verse in all the Bible: God so loved the world... But most of us don’t have any idea what Jesus means when he talks about Moses lifting up the serpent. Let’s see if we can figure out what Jesus was talking about.
STORY OF MOSES AND THE SERPENT:
Read Numbers 21:4-9
After the 40 years of wandering, right before entering Promised Land
Couldn’t take direct route - had to go around
Wilderness - only food manna.
Hard way to go - impatient; spoke against God and Moses
God sent poisonous snakes, bit people, many died
People admit their sin, Moses intercedes
God: “Make Snake on a Pole.”
When people looked at it, they lived.
When we think of this story, we ask wrong question: “How is Jesus like the snake on the pole?”
Bronze snake looked like a snake, but wasn’t. No poison - Jesus looked like a sinful man, but was without sin.
Snake lifted onto a pole, Jesus lifted onto a Cross
Bronze snake provided salvation - Jesus provides salvation
The RIGHT QUESTION we should be asking is this: “How are we like the people in the wilderness?” 7 Ways We Are Like Israelites:
#1. We suffer from ___DISCOURAGEMENT____
“...They set out ... to go around the land of Edom.” Numbers 21:4a
Life often doesn’t go our way. We come up against opposition. don’t see things our way. We are delayed.
#2. We suffer from __IMPATIENCE______________________
“And the people became impatient on the way.” Numbers 21:4b
When we become discouraged, we also get impatient. We don’t want to wait. We want it now.
#3. We suffer from ____A COMPLAINING ATTITUDE____
“And the people spoke against God and against Moses.” Numbers 21:5a
We easily groan and complain. We do it consciously to our leaders (Moses), but we are doing it subconsciously (usually) to God. “Why have let this happen?” It doesn’t even have to be logical - “I’d have been better off...”
#4. We suffer from ____A WRONG PERSPECTIVE______
“For there is no food and no water and we loathe this worthless food.” Numbers 21:5b
What I used to think was pretty great, I now take for granted.
“Now the house of Israel called its name manna. It was like coriander seed, white, and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey.” Exodus 16:31
Think graham crackers. Even graham crackers get old after 40 years! Nevertheless, it was a miracle. And it kept them alive!
HERE’S THE POINT: WITHOUT THE RIGHT THING TO RALLY AROUND, IT’S EASY TO GET DISCOURAGED, IMPATIENT, TO HAVE A COMPLAINING ATTITUDE AND A WRONG PERSPECTIVE!
#5. We face ______GOD’S JUDGMENT_____________
“Then the LORD sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died.” Numbers 21:6
It would be a horrific mistake on our part to believe that God is only a God of mercy, grace and not to equally consider that for those who do not seek his forgiveness and lead a life submitted to Him that there will not be consequences. We cannot read our Bibles without knowing the fearsome side of God:
“Do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? 5 But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.” Romans 2:3-5
Don’t we “presume on the riches of [God’s] kindness and forbearance and patience?” We become accustomed to our lives AND the mistakes and sins of our lives and PRESUME that God will simply look the other way. But God’s judgment is still very much present. As Paul writes, we are only “storing up wrath” for ourselves.
#6. Our only option is to ____ADMIT OUR SIN______
“We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD and against you.”
Numbers 21:7
Whatever it is that has separated us from God, either not doing what He has asked of us, OR doing what He has forbidden... Is SIN. There’s just no getting around it. And there’s nothing we can do about it ourselves. Like the people of Israel, the result of sin is death, something we can’t avoid. But God is gracious. He does offer us an alternative.
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9
#7. We desperately need someone to ___INTERCEDE FOR US____
“And the people came to Moses and said... ‘Pray to the LORD...’ So Moses prayed for the people.” Numbers 21:7
When the people of Israel realized their situation, and they knew they were dying, they knew they needed Moses to go before the LORD for them. They had seen what God had done. They were rightly fearful themselves of going before God. Moses had done it before - they thought he could do it again. We’re in the same boat. We need an intercessor for us - a go-between - twixt us and God. Jesus is that intercessor.
“Christ Jesus is the one who died - more than that, who was raised - who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.” Romans 8:34
THE BIG IDEA TODAY:
We get down to the end of the story and we hear God’s solution - fashion a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. Whoever looks at the snake lives.
“Idolatry?”
It doesn’t make sense. We want it to make sense. We want to understand the solution. Isn’t there an antidote? Isn’t there a way to kill off the snakes? Couldn’t God just solve the problem?
He did. Here’s the solution. “Look at the bronze snake!” Anyone who looked on the bronze serpent lived. It was just that simple. But not the solution we would have chosen. Such simplicity DEMANDS FAITH!
Jesus tells us (as he told Nicodemus) that just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. (John 3:14,15)
The Son of God crucified on a cross... that’s our solution? There must be another way. Another solution. Some antidote to our sin nature. Something we can do to heal ourselves. But not God’s solution.
The BIG IDEA: RALLYING AROUND GOD’S SOLUTION CHANGES EVERYTHING!
There are 3 things every human inherently knows inside himself:
There’s more to life than this 70 years - immortality.
There’s something greater than himself in the world
There’s a purpose to life, if only we could find it. I need something to RALLY AROUND!
If I really BELIEVE John 3:15 about ETERNAL LIFE... Think about it... If I RALLY AROUND THIS IDEA OF LIFE:
I’m not limited to 70 years. This changes everything about my life between now and death.
I’m not limited to what I can achieve, but rather what God can achieve.
My purpose extends beyond the boundaries of the here and now. Even my reason for living has eternity written all over it.
CONSEQUENTLY... (If I RALLY AROUND ETERNAL LIFE)
I don’t live a life to maximize the experience as if “you only live once,” or “you only go around once.”
NOR do I live my life only to appease the judgmental God who would condemn me.
CHANGES EVERYTHING:
I live a life of confident purpose knowing I’m living for eternity (more than 70 years) Go over first 4 ways we’re like Israelites, but now it’s different.
Live a connected life with my Creator, availing myself of His power, submitting myself to His will Go over next 3 ways we’re like Israelites, but now it’s different.
Life is no longer meaningless, but filled with GREAT PURPOSE.
ASK: “Is this how you are living your life?
Do you RALLY AROUND God’s solution?
Or are you still trying to provide your own?
Are you fearful of death, viewing it as the final end?
Or do you see death merely as the transition to eternal life?
Does God’s solution CHANGE EVERYTHING for you?
It can. Ask for His help.
PRAY.
