In The Wilderness

JJ and I got married in June of 2018. For our honeymoon, we went to the upper

peninsula of Michigan. We stayed in a very nice cabin right on Lake Superior and it

was such a marvelous experience. One day we decided to go on a hike. Now, JJ

and I were no strangers to hiking. We lived in Tennessee during our college years,

and hiking was a regular occurrence. However, this particular hike during our

honeymoon was the first hike that we felt completely lost. You start to get worried

when the trails start not looking like trails anymore and the signposts become

further and further apart until you simply stop coming across them. Then the

worry sets in. (I realize I just preached a sermon about not worrying).

Will we ever get back on the trail? When will we see another signpost to at least

get a bearing of where we are? Did I take enough mental notes during my earlier

viewings of Man vs. Wild featuring Bear Grylls on the Discovery channel? In these

particularly stressful moments, you begin to grasp for anything that gives you a

sense of control and security and safety. If you’ve ever been to the UP, you’ll know

that cell service is sparse. Pair that with a couple of lost newlyweds in their early

twenties and you have a great idea for a reality show called “Millenials without a

Map”.

This might be a spoiler for you, just a warning. We eventually found our way back

to a trail and made our way back to the trailhead. What was initially intended to

be a one to two hour hike, turned into about a five hour hike.

Last week, we were in Genesis and learned about the creation of the world and

the role that the Trinity had in it. We learned that sin entered into the world when

Adam and Eve disobeyed God and that created a separation between them. But

here’s the thing. God had a plan to reconcile humanity back into right relationship

with Him. Let’s move forward in history a bit and look at the covenant God made

with Abraham.Genesis 12:1-3

Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your

father's house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great

nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a

blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will

curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

God’s taking His people, Abraham and his descendants on a journey. Now,

Abraham had a son named Isaac. And God gave Isaac an identical promise to the

one we saw given to his Father Abraham.

Genesis 26:3-4

3 Sojourn in this land, and I will be with you and will bless you, for to you and to

your offspring I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath that I swore to

Abraham your father. 4 I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and will

give to your offspring all these lands. And in your offspring all the nations of the

earth shall be blessed,

Now Isaac had a son named Jacob. Let’s see what God says to Jacob in Genesis

35:10-12.

10 And God said to him, “Your name is Jacob; no longer shall your name be called

Jacob, but Israel shall be your name.” So he called his name Israel. 11 And God

said to him, “I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company

of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come from your own body. 12 The

land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you, and I will give the land to

your offspring after you.”

So, we have the Jewish nation, the nation through whom Jesus would be born.

Things are going pretty smoothly for God’s people right? That’s not actually the

case.

Jacob had a son named Joseph (the guy with the coat of many colors). He gained

favor in the sight of Pharoah and became 2nd in command of Egypt. And for a

time, God’s people thrived in the land of Egypt. But Joseph eventually died andthere came a new Pharoah who did not know Joseph and began to fear the

Israelites, and so placed them in bitter slavery. Through the prophet Moses, the

Israelites were delivered by the powerful hand of God. And you would think that

after witnessing how faithful and how mighty and how good God was to them,

that the Israelites would not stray. But they did. You would think that after

witnessing the ten plagues and the parting of the Red Sea that they would obey

every single word God said without question. But they didn’t.

Upon leaving Egypt, the Israelites began to complain. Although Egypt was a place

of great oppression, it was their home. They were there for 430 years. That’s a

long time. How old is the United States? How long have we been a country? We’re

going on about 250 years. And, like I mention quite often in my sermons, people

don’t change all that much over history. They began to desire familiarity over an

uncertain future.

Numbers 11:4-5

4 Now the rabble that was among them had a strong craving. And the people of

Israel also wept again and said, “Oh that we had meat to eat! 5 We remember the

fish we ate in Egypt that cost nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the

onions, and the garlic.

How quickly people forget about God’s faithfulness and how quick we are to

grumble and complain.

In chapter 13 of Numbers, 12 spies were sent out to spy out the land that God had

promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. But ten of the spies came back and

discouraged the Israelites from entering the promised land. And this was the

people’s response.

Numbers 14:1-4

Then all the congregation raised a loud cry, and the people wept that night. 2 And

all the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The whole

congregation said to them, “Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or

would that we had died in this wilderness! 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. Wouldit not be better for us to go back to Egypt?” 4 And they said to one another, “Let

us choose a leader and go back to Egypt.”

And it is at this point where God had had enough of the Israelites’ complaining.

Numbers 14:22-23

22 none of the men who have seen my glory and my signs that I did in Egypt and

in the wilderness, and yet have put me to the test these ten times and have not

obeyed my voice, 23 shall see the land that I swore to give to their fathers. And

none of those who despised me shall see it.

Numbers 14:28-33

28 Say to them, ‘As I live, declares the Lord, what you have said in my hearing I will

do to you: 29 your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness, and of all your number,

listed in the census from twenty years old and upward, who have grumbled

against me, 30 not one shall come into the land where I swore that I would make

you dwell, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun. 31 But

your little ones, who you said would become a prey, I will bring in, and they shall

know the land that you have rejected. 32 But as for you, your dead bodies shall

fall in this wilderness. 33 And your children shall be shepherds in the wilderness

forty years and shall suffer for your faithlessness, until the last of your dead bodies

lies in the wilderness.

So, the Israelites did not find themselves in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan

trekking through the woods in the 21st century. They did, however, find

themselves lost in the wilderness. And they wandered, not for a mere five hours,

but 40 years. Can you imagine that? 40 years of traveling around in the wilderness

knowing that you would not reach your destination until the 40 years was up.

What made this punishment even more severe, was the fact that they could have

been there already, if they had not been disobedient. This would in fact be

tantalizing. This word we get from the Greek cautionary tale of Tantalus who

found himself surrounded by water but could not drink and surrounded by fruit

that he could not eat as punishment for his deeds. Now the tale of Tantalus is just

that. A fictional story. The Israelites’ circumstance was very much real. Those 40

years felt through the grains of sand between their toes as they walked fromlocation to location. Those 40 years felt through the everyday reminders of their

rebellion against God and its result. Those 40 years of apprehension about the

future and what it would hold. Yes, this was a people that was lost. But it was only

for a time. God would eventually lead them to the promised land, that which was

promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The land was not the only thing promised

to the patriarchs. But they were also promised that through their offspring would

come a blessing to the whole world. And that is yet to come.

As with many, if not all the narratives in the Old Testament, they all point to Jesus.

If you continue reading through the scriptures we read today, Exodus, then

Leviticus and Numbers and Deuteronomy, you will begin to see that the Law

necessitated the need for atonement for sins. The Israelite people not only

needed to find a place to inhabit, one that God had promised to them for many

years, but they also needed a permanent solution to the issue of sin. Remember

from last week when I mentioned that the angel Gabriel appeared to Joseph in

Matthew 1 and told him that Mary would name their son Jesus, because he will

save his people from their sins. And what we begin to see as an overarching

theme through the Old and New Testaments is that God is all about the work of

redemption and reconciliation.

Many of us have gone through periods in our lives where we were in the

wilderness, many times (not all but many times), because of poor choices that

we’ve made. Perhaps some of you are there now. And if you’re there now, I just

want to say I’m so glad you’re here today. From its inception, the Church was

meant to be a place of redemption, second chances, a new lease on life. A chance

to forsake the old path you were traveling on and choosing to follow the one you

always knew was right but just needed that little nudge to bring you back to a

right relationship with God. Some of us in here, have been brought out of the

wilderness, but once we were back, we forgot about God and headed right back

out into the wild. But you’re back here today. And I thank God every day that his

forgiveness and grace is so deep that we cannot even begin to comprehend its

depths. This fact is not a license to remain in sin. Rather it is all the more reason

we give him praise and worship out of a deep gratitude for who He is and what

He’s done for us.

When I observe the world around me, especially the world of music, I see God’s

hand in it. Whenever two or more notes clash with each other, they produce aharsh sound. These are the notes used in horror movies to create suspense or a

sense of instability and uncertainty. This would be the wilderness of music. You

feel this sense of dread and you either consciously or unconsciously feel this deep

desire to return home. Music is a way of communication. And, when composed

masterfully, you will see many arrangements consist of the use of dissonance in

order to bring the listener a deeper satisfaction when the notes return home after

a long journey away.

Jesus gave a parable about a young man who ventured out into the wilderness so

to speak. This is how it goes.

Luke 15:11-24

11 And he said, “There was a man who had two sons. 12 And the younger of them

said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.’ And

he divided his property between them. 13 Not many days later, the younger son

gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he

squandered his property in reckless living. 14 And when he had spent everything,

a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went

and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his

fields to feed pigs. 16 And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs

ate, and no one gave him anything.

17 “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father's hired

servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! 18 I will

arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against

heaven and before you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me

as one of your hired servants.”’ 20 And he arose and came to his father. But while

he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and

embraced him and kissed him. 21 And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned

against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 22

But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him,

and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. 23 And bring the fattened calf

and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. 24 For this my son was dead, and is alive

again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate.You see, Jesus knew what he was doing by telling this story. In the great symphony

of life, this song and dance is played out over and over and over again…just with

different characters. The father in this parable, of course, being a representation

of our heavenly father, is asked by the younger son for his inheritance. By asking

for his inheritance early, the son is essentially saying, you’re dead to me. I want

nothing to do with you. I’m going to take full control of my life. You no longer have

any say in what I can or cannot do! Then Jesus goes on to say that this younger

son, the prodigal son, went off on a journey to a distant country. He thought he

had everything under control. He was indeed, now free from his father’s

influence, the master of his fate and the captain of his soul. And what a liberating

feeling it must have been for him. Yes, he had his freedom. But he didn’t account

for what he had lost, His father’s protection. But he didn’t need that anyway. He

was self-sufficient after all and the loss probably wasn’t even felt. Until one day, an

unexpected famine struck and he lost everything. He was brought low and found

himself being a hired hand feeding pigs. And he was so hungry that the slop he

was giving them seemed appetizing.

Now, he felt the pain of what he had lost. And he came back to his senses and

decided to return to his home, to his father with a repentant heart not expecting

anything but simply that his father would take him in. The prodigal son didn’t even

feel worthy to be called his son anymore, because of his egregious errors. And so,

tired, dirty, hungry, he begins to head home.

And there the father waited for him day after day after day. Then one day, the

silhouette of his son appeared in the distance. And Jesus said, even while he was

still far off, and friends, let me tell you today, that if you find yourself wandering in

the wilderness, wandering far from God and you are at a place where you feel the

need to return from whence you came, we have a heavenly Father that waits for

your return. And not just waiting passively until you inch closer and closer, but a

father just as in the parable saw his son while still a far way off, was moved by

compassion and ran to his son! He embraced him and kissed him and there was a

great celebration for his son was once lost but now is found.

Piano to play here.

The Israelites through their rebellion against God, found themselves wandering in

the wilderness by their own choice and were met with its consequence. But Goddid not abandon Israel as a nation. Yes, he brought them to the promised land, but

even after that, he was not done with them. Through them, Jesus, the king of

kings and Lord of lords was born. No matter how far you run from God, God will

never stop loving you. He’s waiting for you to come back to Him. He’s waiting for

you to come back home. His love for you could not be more evident than the

picture of Jesus hanging there on the cross. What a sacrifice.

How Deep The Father’s Love For Us

How deep the Father's love for us,

How vast beyond all measure!

That He should give His only Son,

To make a wretch His treasure.

How great the pain of searing loss!

The Father turns His face away;

As wounds which marred the Chosen One

Bring many sons to glory.

And now, I hope you are beginning to see more clearly the significance of Jesus’

birth. For before the cross, came the manger. This ends this sermon, “In the

Wilderness.” Next week, the sermon is entitled “In the Waiting.” And what a time

of waiting it was for the world to receive its Messiah, its Savior. And so continues

our series, “Journey to the Manger.”