"What Do You See"
10/26/97 Numbers 3:17-30 Hebrews 11:29-40 Text Numbers 13:26-29
It is amazing how we look at things and never see what it was we were looking at. Have you ever been walking and then have someone say something like, I was walking right behind you and saw the money just lying there on the ground. You walked right over it. You sort of get upset with yourself because you had the opportunity to get it first, but you didn’t.
I remember a few years ago, several of the kids walked out into the front yard and went to the van. I was the last one coming out, but I went over to pick up this silver beer can someone had thrown into our yard, only to discover it was a hand held TV in perfect working order that someone had thrown away. All of a sudden all the kids wanted, my newly discovered TV. Even though they had seen it first, they had not really seen it.
Do the names Shammua, Shaphat, Igal, Palti ,Gaddiel, Gaddi, Ammiel, Sethur, Nahbi, and Geuel ring a bell with you. You know about these men because they were leaders among the people in the Bible. You don’t remember their names, because they looked at something and saw all the wrong things. Helen Keller who was blind was once asked, is there anything worse than not having your sight. She said yes there is, "It’s having sight but having no vision." These men’s names are not well known today because each of them had great sight, but none of them had vision.
God’s people had been slaves in the land of Egypt. They had been beaten, abused and cruelly oppressed for 430 years. God determined to deliver them out of their misery and suffering, by breaking the power of the Egyptians over them, and bringing them into a new land known as Canaan. God chose Moses to be the leader of His people and to lead them out of the land. The people are at the front door of the land God wants to give them. In order to encourage the people of the goodness of what God wanted to give them, God told Moses, choose 12 men, leaders from each of the 12 tribes and have them go out and explore the land.
These 10 men whose names we have forgotten, along with Joshua and Caleb were sent to check out the land. They were to report on the number of people, the fertility of the soil, the types of fortifications in the cities, and the number of trees. They were to bring back some of the fruit of the land. When they left, I can imagine the excitement in the air. It was about time for them to stop wandering in the desert. They would give up their lives of living in tents moving from place to place. Finally they would build nice homes, and permanent businesses They could grow crops and have a much larger variety of food. All of what they needed and wanted was right over there in the land of Canaan. They couldn’t wait for God to make good on His promises.
God has a land of Canaan out there for us. A land that will give us some of the things in life that we truly desire. He tells us at times, go out and explore the land and see what it is I want you to have. You may be hurting in a relationship right now. As a matter fact just last night you suffered another blow. You may be about to fail a class in school. Your job might be coming to an end. You might be upset and angry with God, because you don’t feel like you’ve been treated fairly. But God’s word is before you decide to stay where you are or do something foolish, go outside of yourself and explore the land, I want to give to you..
For my word says, Jeremiah 29:11-12 " For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you." This isn’t something the psychics are saying, or the astrologers are predicting, this is God Himself saying you may be down and out, but I’ve got a plan if you’re willing to stop seeing and begin to gather a vision for what I can do in your life.
Years ago on a dusty street outside Jerusalem, people looked at Bartimaues and all they saw was just a blind beggar sitting on the road side. But the truth is, Bartimaues had a vision. He saw himself as a man who would get his sight if he just got a chance to run into Jesus. The people saw the woman at the well as just a half step below a prostitute and a woman any man could have just for the asking. But the truth is, when she met Jesus, she gained a vision that despite what she had been, she could go and preach to others about the forgiving power and acceptance of God. Don’t let what somebody else sees, when they look at you, determine who and what you are, and what your potential can be.
It may take you a while to explore the land God has ahead of you. Forty days those men were walking in the realm God had for them. Everybody was gathered together when they got back. Somebody said, "Here they come, I can see them." These men walked back into the camp as legends. They were the first to have seen what God had promised. They went directly to Moses to give the report.
Brother Moses, let me tell you. The land does indeed flow with milk and honey. Somebody said, OH yeah, oh yeah. Look at the size of the fruit. The grapes, the pomegranates and the figs, don’t get any better than this. I can imagine people starting to taste to food even though they couldn’t reach it. Then came the but. But has done more to discourage people and to keep them from going forward than anything else in life. How many of you have missed out on things you could have had, but you listened to somebody tell you, "but you probably won’t be able to do it."
The other night on TV they were doing an interview on a quarterback of one of the area college teams. He was black and was throwing one touchdown after another and darting in out scrambling in the back field. The reason he was on the news was that some 20 years ago, his mother wouldn’t accept somebody else’s but. When he was born, his feet were turned the wrong way. The doctors told her, he’ll live but, he’ll never be able to walk. The mother didn’t listen to the but. She massaged and prayed for his feet everyday as he was growing up. One day as a boy he took of his brace and ran across the room. The doctors called it a miracle. It was a miracle which proved that God is bigger than any but which somebody might throw in your life.
But they said, The people who live there are powerful, the cities are large and nearly impossible to overthrow, and we saw some of the sons of Anak the giant living there. The strong Amelekites, Hittites, Jebusites, Amorites and Canaanites all are living in the land. That’s already five nations against one. Man the people started to get scared, and ohhhh what’s going to happen now. Caleb told the people to calm down, he had gone with the other 12 and he said, "we should go up immediately and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.
How did these men see something entirely different? Why did one group say it was impossible and two others think the time was ripe to move ahead. Why did the ten men only have sight, whereas Joshua and Caleb had vision. Why did one group see obstacles and the other saw opportunity.
As African Americans we are faced with the growing reality that affirmative action is dying if not dead. Some are saying its hopeless, we can’t get into some of the law schools and medical schools in Texas and California that we use to. Are we supposed to think, there will be on more great black doctors and black lawyers. We’ve had black colleges and universities turning out great black doctors, lawyers, teachers and everything else. I have found, we honestly believe we are not as smart as whites, and the media has us all believing that Asians are smarter than us all. We see ourselves not with vision, but as others see us.
It is foolish to think, the discrimination we face in the 90’s is anywhere near what we see prior to the 70’s. To my dismay, after all we went through to get Black teachers in the public school system, our children aren’t going to school with a vision to excel in life. They see their teachers as a bunch of people out to get them and make their lives miserable by actually expecting them to work. I’m so sick of hearing about teachers who give out F’s just because they don’t like you. If you have vision, and get all A’s and B’s, do your assignments and homework, and behave yourself in class you’d be mighty hard press to find a teacher who is going to put an F on your report card. You need to make up your mind in junior high that you will be able to go to whatever school you want to go to. Once you hit ninth grade, you’re determining a whole lot with your grades. Sight says, let me just get a C or pass. Vision says, what is the best that I can do for myself and my God.
When you go to work, do you have sight or vision. Is your job a place where they are out to get you and you and sick and tired of it, or is it a place God has called you to make a difference in the lives of people because you love Jesus Christ. Those of you who are in your seventies and eighties and don’t believe you’re going to be around to reach a hundred.
Do you have sight or vision for your life. Sight says, well I’m getting older now and there’s not much I can do. I’m just going to take it easy from here on out. Vision says, I’ve got more time to give to the Lord and to the study of His Word than I ever have before. I don’t have a whole lot of time left to show my appreciation to God for what He has given to me, so I’m going to give it my best.
When you look at our church, do you have sight or vision. Sight says, we seem to do be doing all right as we are. Why change this or change that. Please don’t ask me for any further commitment. If people want to come to our church fine, but if not that’s on them. Vision says, there is a place we can be in God that we have not reached. There are people all around us that God expects us to reach with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. There are people in our midst who are hurting, and we need to be able to be there for them in there time of need be it a spiritual one, emotional one, or financial one. It is up to us to constantly seek God for ways to reach others, especially the undesirables.
When you look at our church building, do you have sight or vision. Sight says, ah the building is better than most. So what if the pews are falling apart. So what if it needs painting. So what if the carpet is looking a mess. Hey God’s not looking at the building, He’s looking at the heart. But if you go to their houses you see, their homes look as though God is looking at the home and not the heart. My friend if your heart is what it would be, you will always want the best for anything associated with the name of your God.
People with vision look and see offering the best we can for our God. We don’t mind spending a little on ourselves and a lot on our God. We may not have agreed on the details for fixing up this place, but we ought to agree on fixing it up.
Don’t think it’s easy to walk around life with vision. If it were, we’d have more visionaries. The moment you share your vision for your life, somebody is ready to shoot it and you down. You can’t do it. Don’t you know how hard that will be? Don’t you know so and so tried that and failed? You should go after something a little easier to accomplish. It would be a whole lot easier if you did this. My friend don’t ever think Jesus comes into our lives just to make it easier. There’s not verse anywhere where Jesus said, you come to me and you will get friends and life will be so much easier.
Jesus said to his serious followers, in Luke 21:16 You will be betrayed even by parents, brothers, relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death. All people men will hate you because of me." He’s letting us know, everybody is not going to feel great about the things God wants to do in and through our lives.
Caleb took a stand and stated his vision and it was immediately shot down. Those ten men, basically said, you are a liar. There is no way we can attack the people because they are stronger than us, the land at times devours the people living in it, and the people there were of great size with the descendants of Anak the giant living there. As a matter of fact, we looked like grasshoppers in our own eyes and we looked like grasshoppers to them.
People who attempt to cause us to lose our vision, and only see things their way, will exaggerate and make claims they cannot prove. First, they have no way of knowing how strong the people living in the land are. You couldn’t do that in forty days, and none of them were chosen because of their skill in military tactics. Second they already said previously how good the land was flowing with milk and honey, but now they claim the land is so barren it’s killing the people. Third they overemphasized the size of the problem.. They did see some descendants of Anak the giant there, but they could have handled the problem. There was only 3 of them. As a matter of fact, 40 years later the sons of Anak were still there, and in Joshua 15:4, Caleb by himself drove out the three sons of Anak the giant.
The real view the people of Canaan had of God’s people were not that of grasshoppers, but is found in Joshua 2 in which one of the people said, "we know God has given you our land and we are terrified of the Lord your God in heaven. Our hearts have melted and everyone’s courage is failing because of you." Caleb’s voice was in the minority, but he was telling the truth when he said, "we should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it."
God has plans and purposes for our lives, but we can nullify the plans of God by listening to the voices of discouragement. The most effective weapon Satan has against a committed child of God is discouragement. Discouragement will keep us from seeing what we could have, and start becoming content with where we are. We will settle for far less than we deserve. We will lose respect for ourselves. Once we lose respect for ourselves, the more we will let others begin to use and abuse us.
The people became so discouraged they spent the night crying and started to grumble against Moses and Aaron. They said, "if only we had died in the desert. Oh God has brought us out here to kill us and our children. It would be better for us to go back to Egypt. As a matter fact, lets choose new leaders who can take us back to Egypt and we can become slaves once again. They lost self respect because of discouragement, and they were willing to allow others to abuse them all over again. They had sight, but no vision.
They forgot God had sent 10 great plagues on Egypt, and didn’t allow a single one to touch his people. They forgot the Egyptian army was going to slaughter them, but God opened the Red Sea so they could cross it and God drowned the Egyptian army by closing the Sea. They forgot God gave them bread from heaven each morning to eat. They forgot God gave them meat to eat in the desert. They forgot God had said, I will send an angel to drive out the Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites and all the rest to bring you into a land flowing with milk and honey. Instead they chose to believe the words of 10 men who had sight, but lacked vision. Who are you really believeing today.
Caleb and Joshua tried one more time to share their vision with the people. They said, "Look the land we passed through is the best you’ve ever seen. If the Lord is pleased with us, He will give it to us. Don’t rebel and don’t give up on God. Don’t be afraid of the people. Their protection is gone, but the Lord is with us. We don’t have to be afraid. God hasn’t brought us this far to leave us. They did their best to share the vision, but the people would not see any thing but the report of the 10.
When we see the wrong thing, we are not the only ones who suffer for it. 10 men changed the destiny of 2 or 3 million people. When Joshua and Caleb finished their speech, the people were ready to stone them as well as Moses stone Moses and Aaron. God intervened and threatened to wipe out the whole assembly. But Moses prayed for them and God forgave them. But not before God said, "because you rebelled against me, everyone of you who is over the age of 20 will never enter the promised land except Joshua and Caleb and the rest of you will wander for 40 years in the desert. When we reject God’s vision for ourselves and choose to look at things with our own eyes, others are forced to pay the price.
What was the final fate of those ten spies? Why don’t you recall the names of Shammua, Shaphat,Igal, Palti,Gaddiel, Gaddi, Ammiel,Sethur, Nahbi, and Geuel ? It’s very simple before the night was over all 10 were struck down and died of a plague before the Lord, because they were responsible for spreading a bad report.
Don’t sow seeds of discouragement among your brothers and sisters. Don’t speak of God as though He’s some weakling unable to keep His promises. What about the other two spies who had vision. Well Joshua became the leader of the people and led them into the promised land. Joshua received his allotment in the promised land. Caleb was just as strong at age 80 as he was the day he came back with the report at age 40. He went into battle and conquered all the land that he personally had spied out, wiping out the three sons of the giant in the process.
Joshua and Caleb’s visions was delayed because of the disobedience of others, but God saw to it that they received what He had promised to them. Are you a person with simple sight this morning, or are you brave enough to become person of vision. Where others see obstacles, you see opportunities. Where others see giants, you see the chance to make a stand for a big God. Where others see a hopeless situation, you see a chance for God to make good on His word.
Any vision for any life needs to be rooted in a relationship to God. The only way to get to know God is to get to know His Son Jesus Christ. Jesus says, he stands at the door knocking, if we open it he will come in. He wants to enter everybody’s life, but he’s not coming in as just a little buddy or a good friend. He’s coming in to take over. If you do not realize, Jesus needs to take over the decisions you make concerning your life, then you’re not ready for Jesus. What do you see when you look at Jesus. If you do not see the one with the authority to save your life or to destroy it by giving your eternal life or casting your into hell, you don’t have vision, you’ve only got sight. Jesus said I am the Way, The Truth, And The Life. No one comes to the Father but through me.
