BBC Sermon Cast

We can often secure the various delights of the world but it will cost us a lot more than we ever thought. This is a major lesson in the text before us. The people made, literally, a grave mistake when they chose meat over manna. In doing so, they chose their bellies over their God. Their grave mistake in fact was a grave sin. The chapter ends with a banquet—in the grave.

Spiritual disciplines are spiritual practices by which we experience God and grow in grace and holiness. First Timothy 4:6–7 instructs us to be trained in doctrine and godliness. Spiritual disciplines are the means by which we train in this way.

With the opening words of chapter 11, the book of Numbers takes a dramatic turn for the worse: from celebration to complaint, from glory to grumbling, from marvel to murmuring. The story moves from divine pleasure to divine displeasure—all within a few days. Next to the fall in Eden, this may be the next most tragic account in the old covenant era. This contrast, however, was not one that existed only in the life of the old covenant church; sadly, it has too often been the case also in the new covenant church.

Life can be disconcerting, disorienting, discouraging, and even dangerous. For many, life is aimless, empty, futile. Amid the conflicting voices telling us what’s what and how we should be living, frustration sets in as our attempts to make life work seem completely futile. We desperately want someone to tell us the conclusion of the matter.

In Scripture, love is more than a feeling. Biblical love moves us to action. In these verses, John makes a declaration of divine love (vv. 7–8), highlights the ultimate manifestation of divine love (vv. 9–11), and the offers a twofold indication divine of love in the lives of God’s people (vv. 12–21). Throughout, he reminds us that, as God’s love for us produced loving action toward us, so our love for him will produce loving action toward those who are his.

Someone has said that Ecclesiastes is a book that encourages us to do our bucket list. We all have our regular to do lists, which is necessary. But the Christian is to not only persevere in doing that list to the glory of God; he or she is also to persevere in doing his or her bucket list to the glory of God. Since we are going to die, we should make the most of life with the time we have. Since most of us will grow old, don’t wait until then before enjoying God’s gifts which await you.

Previously, we considered, from Numbers 10, how Israel was called to order by the means of the trumpets that God provided. Theirs was to be a structured march (vv. 1–28). The remainder of the chapter highlights that theirs was also to be a shared march (vv. 29–32) and a secured march (vv. 33–36). So it must be with us. Having heard the gospel trumpet and begun our march following the Lord, we must still track according to the trumpet of God’s word in the same two ways.

As the local church congregation walks together in the wilderness of this world, we must be biblically and thus well-ordered. Under the sovereign leadership of our Lord gather to be governed and guarded and glad in accordance with God’s directives. One day we will enter glory with the sound of a trumpet. Until then, there are other trumpet sounds we need to pay attention to. Numbers 10 draws our attention to this reality.

As our study in Ecclesiastes draws near to a close, we are reminded by the preacher of our responsibility to be generous in light of God’s sovereignty. This helps us to live meaningfully in the midst of a world of vanity.

Like Israel, the new covenant church has experienced God’s grace and, with it, many victories. But, also like Israel, we could fall. What will aid us as a community of faith to advance in hallowing God’s name, extending of his kingdom, and the doing his will on earth as it is in heaven? Numbers 9:1–23 point us to three truths that, if embraced and exercised, will empower us for gospel conquest. We must be a freed community, a focused community, and a faithful community.