Rev. David Holwick Y Make It Count, #6
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
August 7, 2011
Numbers 9:1-14
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I. How accommodating are you?
A. When you google "accommodate" you get a page full of hotel ads.
1) This makes sense - its definition is "to provide with
something desired, needed, or suited (as a helpful
service, a loan, or lodgings)."
2) This is also close to the definition of a parent.
a) Huffington Post reports that 13.5% of young adults
(aged 25-34) have moved back in with their folks. [1]
b) This is a big jump from six years ago.
1> They bounce it, bounce out, bounce back.
2> Maybe you start charging them rent.
A> Maybe you turn off their water and electricity.
B. We have an accommodating God.
1) He desires to help and serve us, even when we act like
overgrown kids.
2) But like any parent, he does have his limits.
3) Today's passage points to God's graciousness in the
setting of a celebration of his power to save.
II. A night to remember.
A. Marking the passage of a year, they are told to have a Passover.
1) Being in the desert, they didn't even have doors to mark
with blood, but they observed the holiday as ordered.
2) We should keep in mind that for the vast majority of the
Jews here, this would be their last Passover.
a) It would not be celebrated again until they entered
the Promised Land. Josh 5:10
b) But most of them would die in the desert.
B. Passover celebrated an historical act of deliverance.
1) It began with Pharaoh's defiance and ended with the Jews
walking through the Red Sea.
2) At the climax, the Jews were protected in their homes by
the blood of lambs which marked their doors.
a) Exodus 12:13 says, "When I see the blood, I will pass
over you."
b) It was a divine substitution that rescued them from
death.
C. The New Testament parallels it closely.
1) Paul says when Jesus died on the cross, he became our
Passover lamb. 1 Cor 5:7
2) This wasn't just a nice metaphor - Jesus himself said
his death would be a sacrifice for our sins.
3) God sees his blood, and rescues us from sin and death.
D. Strict guidelines had to be followed for Passover. Exodus 12
1) It must be celebrated at a specific time and day. Exod 12:6
2) The home had to be cleansed of all yeast. Exod 12:15
3) The lamb had to be roasted and served with unleavened
bread and bitter herbs. Exod 12:8
4) Children had to be instructed on what it all meant. Ex 12:26
5) Foreigners could not participate. Exod 12:43
a) Exception: those who are circumcised and living
as Jews. Exod 12:48
6) Penalty for cutting corners - they are cut off. Exod 12:19
a) There is some debate over whether they were executed
or just expelled.
b) But in the desert, there really wasn't much difference.
E. For once, they followed God's instructions exactly. Num 9:5
1) This would be rare later on.
III. Unanticipated problems.
A. Law codes cannot cover every contingency.
1) Human life is far too complicated.
2) Despite the vast size of our law books, someone always
comes up with a new angle.
3) In the case of the Passover, there were people who fell
through the cracks.
a) They wanted to celebrate with everyone else, but were
not allowed to because of uncleanness.
1> As I have said before, uncleanness happened to
everyone at some point back then.
2> Like death and taxes, you could not avoid it.
b) These people were unclean due to a dead body but they
didn't want to miss out on God's blessing.
1> The law of Moses did not speak to this specific
issue.
2> So Moses went before God and asked. Num 9:8
B. God grants some accommodation.
1) Those who miss Passover can wait a month, then observe it.
a) It is also applied to those who are on a journey.
b) Farther down in the chapter (9:14), aliens are allowed
to participate in the Passover.
1> Presumably these are foreigners who are circumcised
and believe in the God of Israel.
2> It shows how God did not limit his grace to one
race, but extended it to anyone of faith.
A> He is an inclusive God.
2) Accommodation is found throughout the Bible.
a) Jesus is a star example.
1> When Jews prohibited all work on the Sabbath,
Jesus healed people anyway.
2> Making people whole was a higher priority for him.
b) Paul applied accommodation to his evangelism tactics.
1> He stripped off many of his Jewish habits and
followed Gentile patterns. 1 Cor 9:22
2> His principle was that he would be "all things to
all people" so he could save some of them.
IV. Accommodation is not limitless.
A. Humans like the idea of being accommodated.
1) We want other people - and God - to cut us some slack.
2) We want the second chance, the special treatment, the
benefit of the doubt.
3) Some have warped Christianity into a religion that is
nothing but accommodation.
a) God gives out forgiveness and grace and expects nothing
in return.
b) Albert Mohler, who is a leading Southern Baptist, says:
"Liberal Protestant churches have so abandoned the
gospel that it would be a 'miracle' for anyone to
hear the authentic gospel in those places.
But sadly, this theological compromise is even
influencing evangelicals.
"We have so many feel-good churches [and] empty sermons.
Most evangelicals these days know better than to offend
by heresy.
And so they solve the problem by speaking no theology
at all."
#5261
4) A. W. Tozer (1897-1963) made much the same point:
"Religion today is not transforming people;
rather it is being transformed by the people.
It is not raising the moral level of society;
it is descending to society's own level.
[Religion is] congratulating itself that it has scored
a victory because society is smilingly accepting
its surrender.
#4219
B. In Numbers 9, those without a valid excuse will be condemned.
1) God will accommodate those who want to, but can't.
2) He has no patience with those who can, but won't. 9:13
3) God's grace can be a stern grace.
a) God's accommodation expresses his kindness and openness.
b) His limits on accommodation show his severity.
c) You should not presume upon his grace.
1> God will accommodate us when we are affected by
circumstances beyond our control.
2> He holds us accountable for things where we do have
control.
C. Communion has similarities to Passover.
1) Of course, both focus on how God delivers his people by
means of blood.
2) But there is another similarity - both have warnings.
a) In 1 Cor. 11:29-30, Paul says those who take communion
in an unworthy manner are liable to be judged.
b) This judgment is not just a guilty feeling.
1> It can involve physical sickness.
2> It can even involve death.
V. God is not an enabler.
A. He wants our wholehearted devotion.
Leon Hebrink was raised in a Pentecostal Church.
He was baptized at age 15 and spent the next three years
traveling as a youth evangelist and "Athlete with a witness."
To complete his spiritual education he decided to go to a
Christian college.
What happened at this Christian college?
He lived in the "Football Dorm" and was introduced to drugs
and alcohol.
And he loved it.
For a while he tried to keep one foot in both worlds.
Church on Sunday, Bible Study on Wednesday and party, party,
party the rest of the week.
He graduated and got married.
His marriage soon fell apart.
A better job opportunity came up - managing a sports bar.
Leon spent about five years riding the wave of wealth, drugs,
and women.
All the while he was witnessing to people about the reality of
Christ, the Bible, and salvation.
He still rejected the church or any Christian institution but
told many people about Jesus over a glass of scotch and a
line of coke.
His life was becoming a huge mess.
About 5:00 a.m. one morning Leon looked in the mirror while
trying to scratch one more spoon full of coke out of his vial.
This was after a 3 day "bender."
What he saw looking back at him was a dead man.
He knew he was dead spiritually and he sensed he would soon be
dead physically, either from drugs or guns.
On another morning the the Lord spoke to him as clear as could
be.
"Leon, where have you been? What about the call you answered
when you were 14?
Will you still serve me?"
Leon thought, no way, God could never use me now.
But the sweet spirit of the Lord convinced him that God can and
would forgive him as well as use him to work in His Kingdom.
He decided to go to seminary and become a pastor.
It all just about blew up in his face when Leon faced the
scrutiny of the seminary admissions board.
Some of them had seen him on TV ads for his bars just a couple
years earlier.
In most seminaries, students have to find a local pastor to be
their mentor.
Leon found that most of the churches in the area were just as
leery of him as the seminary admissions board had been.
Then came the pastor of a Baptist church.
His message was loud and clear:
"We love you, God loves you, repent and come back home."
Now 25 years later Leon is the Senior Pastor of a Baptist church
in Westport, New York.
Leon is grateful that God worked a miracle in his life.
He is also grateful a church finally refused to soft-sell him
on the truth or accommodate his sin.
It called him to repent, to become one consistent person.
#4789
B. I give you that same challenge today...
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SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
[1] “Number Of Adult Americans Living With Their Parents Has Exploded,” by
Ryan McCarthy, December 10, 2010 (updated May 25, 2011),
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/10/number-of-adult-americans
-living-with-their-parents_n_795185.html>
#4219 “Religion Is Not Transforming, It's Being Transformed,” Robert
McAnally Adams, Curator; Christian Quotation of the Day,
<http://www.cqod.com>
#4789 “Drugs and Jesus,” by Rev. Leon Hebrink, April 3, 1994.
#5261 “Baptists Must Echo Peter's Response To Christ's Question,” by Tim
Ellsworth, Baptist Press (with Crosswalk.com),
<http://www.baptistpress.org/>, February 3, 2000.
These and 35,000 others are part of the Kerux database that can be
downloaded, absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html
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