Episode Transcript
[00:00:18] Speaker A: So after all those messages about, you know, hard work and discipleship, I finally decided to give you one summarizing it called your eternal reward, about saying a prayer. That way, when you die, you'll go to heaven forever.
Just kidding. That's not what I'm going to talk about.
Moses heard the people weeping, every clan apart, at the entrance of each tent. Hashem was very angry, and Moses was distressed. And Moses said to Hashem, why have you dealt ill with your servant, and why have I not enjoyed your favor that you have laid the burden of all these people on me? Did I produce all these people? Did I engender them that you should say to me, carry them in your bosom as a caregiver carries an infant to the land that you have promised an oath to their fathers? Where am I to get meat to give to all this people when they whine before me and say, give us meat to eat.
If you would deal thus with me, kill me, rather, I beg you and let me see no more of my wretchedness.
There are some classic texts in ministry that we sometimes use to our advantage and get a laugh about. Even the Torah is particularly good at this. Moses is exceptionally good at providing examples for community leaders to draw on the building of the tabernacle he talks and the people's contribution and how he inspires that, giving so much that Moses had to tell them to stop. That's every favorite ministry leader's tithe message. It's a great one, right? Coming soon, we'll come into the strike the rock twice story. The oh, yeah, I'll show you message that's coming in numbers from that. The frustration inherent in that that comes with any kind of leadership. There are many, many other examples.
And then there's this week, the text I open with is numbers eleven. This is from the Parsha Bamidbar. I mean, Becha Lotha. Fun to say. As Darren said in the 09:00 yes. I myself have made jokes about Moses saying, if these are the people you want me to lead, just kill me.
Not actually.
Well, they're usually whining messages like, I can really relate.
Leadership is so hard.
I've felt like this before, you know, just kill me.
But, you know, thank God, not in this community for a long, long time. I love you. Your spiritual and emotional maturity is to be commended. I'm thankful, very, very thankful for you. But you know something?
If you really think about it, there's nothing that funny about what Moses just said.
There's really nothing funny about that. And the truth is, I don't know any leader that could actually relate to what he's going through. The level of responsibility, conversations with God, telling you what to do, and all of the frustration, the level of responsibility.
And yet this is really a low, low point in Moses life.
But there is beauty, and I want to point it out to you today, to apply it to our lives, because Moshe, in some powerful ways, is incredible light to our own existence here. And Moses. I did a teaching series. I don't remember if it was last year or the year before, that was called Moses trouble and Moses trouble, sort of. It seems like it starts right here, but Moses is dealing with the thing that we all hate more than almost anything in the world.
And I'll take some responses from the gallery.
Moses is dealing with an emotion, a challenge that we, as human beings, living in a society, hate more than almost anything else. Any suggestions?
Laundry.
Who said that?
What was it?
Change. I heard liars. I heard complaining.
Anger, sadness, frustration. They're all accurate. They're all accurate. But I'm going to point out the biggie here, okay? Remember that question? What is Moses dealing with that we all hate more than almost anything else? Maybe anything. And we shouldn't. Actually, we shouldn't. That's another message. But I've taught you before about technical and adaptive changes in leadership. It's actually something that rabbi sacks borrowed from Ronald Heifetz, who is a Harvard business school professor. He has some excellent, excellent things on leadership, but technical and adaptive challenges in leadership. Now, again, I've taught you this before, so I'm certain that you remember every single word I said. But because some people may not have been here, I'll reiterate it for you. A technical challenge is this. It's one where you have a challenge and someone can fix it for you. In other words, you are sick. You go to the doctor.
He diagnoses and prescribes a pill shot surgery that fixes you. That is a technical challenge.
An adaptive challenge requires something else. This is a problem, and we are a part of it. Okay? To use the doctor's example, you go. The doctor defines your problem, diagnoses it, gives you a medication, and says, you know what? I can give you 50 medications, but you're incredibly overweight. You smoke, you drink, and you have no exercise. The drugs won't help.
You have to be involved in the solution. An adaptive challenge requires change.
A technical challenge. Somebody gives you a solution, you are part of the solution. In an adaptive challenge, the technical challenge of the exodus. Okay? It's actually, yes. Israel had to agree to get out. But, you know, given the options, after the ten plagues and the children and all the death of the firstborn, Moses showed up with a solution. All they had to do was walk.
It was a technical. It was a technical challenge. Moses was the doctor in this case, God was the doctor, but Moses was the painting now, or a nurse practitioner, because we have a lot of those, too.
But now. And that was successful. That was a successful thing. But now we have something else, and there are some realizations going on. For Moses, part of my task, he realizes, was to create an adaptive solution. There is an adaptive challenge that needs to take place here. These people need to change from what they were to what they're going to be. That's part of the mission. They needed to elevate from Egypt to Sinai, and then from Sinai to the promised land. And as they stand before Moses here, and more importantly, before God, the riffraff in their midst felt a gluttonous craving. And then the Israelites wept and said, if only we had meat to eat. Remember the fish we used to eat free in Egypt? The cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions and the garlic. That's what they said after all of this. And this is not a new thing. They've already complained about food, right? And God had been faithful previously in that and so many more things for the people of Israel. But at that tragic moment, something seems to become clear to Moses, and it is verbalized when he says, kill me.
And the feeling and what we're so afraid of and what we never want to encounter is failure.
Failure.
To fail before people, before anyone. Your loved ones, your coworkers, your children, whatever. No one wants to fail. Fail.
And Moses, looking at this and being in a part of this experience now, says, I have failed.
I have absolutely failed. Two kinds. Personal and missional failure. These people, they have not changed at all. They are a missional failure. I have not accomplished the purpose, the personal. Moses himself. It's my fault.
I have not been able to do this.
I have not been able to do my job and become who God has called me to be for them. And that's a personal failure. Missional, personal failure. Is it Moses fault?
Of course it's not.
Of course it's not. But a leader owns it. A leader owns the failure. Like we should all own our own mistakes.
I cannot carry all this people by myself, for it's too much for me. If you would deal thus with me, kill me, rather, I beg you and let me see no more of my wretchedness, my failure before you, me and all these people just kill me. Now, that's not the Moses we know, is it?
We think he's complaining about his people. Is that Moses? Well, it actually turns out he's not.
He's complaining about them and him. He's being the very Moses that we know he is. He's acknowledging that he's let God down. And sadly, he's had having to stand there and say, I am not up to this task. I am not your man.
He could have said, I told you, and God should just remove me. So, jokes aside, it is no joke what's going on, but good news. God has a solution.
Not so fast, Moses.
Then Hashem said to Moses, gather for me 70 of Israel's old elders of whom you've experienced, who have experienced as elders and officers of the people. Bring them to the tent of meeting. Let them take their place with you. I will come down and speak with you there, and I will draw upon the spirit that is on you and put it on them that they shall share the burden of the people with you and you shall not bear it alone. Right. God's got a solution. And here we can say from my favorite son, Princess waiter. Wow.
Wow. He's going to take the spirit off of Moses. The Holy Spirit is taking it off.
I've spoken about that many times. Moses, with all his connections with God, would have been flowing with the Holy Spirit. And I think that's true in many ways.
Even later, just a few verses later, Moses says, I wish he'd take his spirit and put it on everyone. His spirit. Right.
But let's ask a couple of questions.
How was that going to help?
How is this going to help? It doesn't really seem to be a solution to the immediate problem of 600,000 whining, complaining foot soldiers and their families about chicken wings.
Meat. Meat, right. We don't have that. And furthermore, didn't Moses already establish this system?
It was in Exodus 18. His father in law came and said, you can't do that, buddy. What? He just said, I can't do this alone.
He already had a system of hundreds, fifties, tens. Right? Thousands, hundreds, fifties, tens. That was Jethro's solution to him, his delegation. There was already a system of people to help. And furthermore, in this case, what did they actually do?
Does anyone know what they actually did? It just says one word. They did. What did they do? When the spirit came on them and they stood there and they took the spirit off? What happened?
They prophesied so what?
What does that do?
How is that solving the problem?
And furthermore, the prophecy didn't even continue.
It says they prophesied once but did not do it again. I'll come back to your buddies, Eldad and me dad, who are somewhere else.
That's what I say to my son, me dad.
How did this help? How did this help? Temporarily prophesying, taking from the spirit that was on Moses. We still had a multitude of complaining, meatless people who had not changed much since the beginning. That's the situation. Is that a solution? Well, let me focus for you on the language, the spirit that is on you. Okay? Particularly the on you part.
In Judaism, the phrase the spirit that is on you is referring to the spirit on Moses. It is a divinely inspired spirit of prophecy and leadership. Okay?
Now, this spirit enables Moses to guide people, to lead them effectively. And the concept of the Holy Spirit, when we're talking about Judaism in terms of divine inspiration or prophetic spirit, that's not analogous to the person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit that Christian thought thinks about, it's not the same thing.
When God says he will take some of the spirit that is on you and put it on them. It's understood that the elders are being anointed with a spirit that was on Moses in particular. Okay, what I mean is, this was given of God, but it was unique to Moses.
It was the Holy Spirit, but it was unique to Moses. His on him. It's the manifestation of God's spirit through Moses, through his actions, through his leadership, through his wisdom, all derived from God's leading spirit. But these were. He implemented things, he accomplished things through Moses obedience, his love for God, for the mission, for the people. So while we could say that the spirit of God on him is, wow, the Holy Spirit, cool, it's actually much more than that.
It's not as easily, it's not directly equivalent to that concept in Judaism. Ruach Hakodesh is more about God's presence and influence than inspiring individuals to achieve a particular purpose. So the point to note is he could have said, God could have said, I've got a solution for you, Moses.
I'm going to take my spirit and put it on them.
Okay? You got to listen carefully. He could have just said, I'm going to take my spirit and put it on them. And then what do we have? The spirit of God, the Holy Spirit flowing all. That's not what he said.
I'm going to take the spirit that is on you.
Do you see a difference in that sentence, do you understand the difference between what I'm pointing out here?
There's a reason for that.
This is incredible, because Moses then realizes something. Something happens.
God is saying, I'm going to take some of what's on you, specifically Moses, because I want to show you something. I want to show you the influence that you have had.
I want to show you what is going to be accomplished through the work you've done. I want to encourage you, Moses, to see beyond the circumstance, beyond the sense of failure and frustration. So they prophesied it, says they received for a moment the spirit that was on Moses, one of prophetic gifting and leadership.
And what did they do with it? They had a moment, a transformative moment for them and for Moses. And God has a moment with them all. Okay, maybe, just maybe, let me be creative, because I'm a creative kind of guy.
Maybe, just maybe, the prophecy, the things that they said that they didn't say again told Moses something he needed to hear, that they understood the mission, that they spoke of the future they saw for the nation of Israel, that they confirmed all that Moses knew was possible, but seemed impossible at this moment, so much so that he wanted to give it up. And that in whatever part they could, they acknowledged that they would be part of that solution. They had a moment together, all of them, starting with God taking the spirit that was on Moses, putting it on them. They spoke, and something happened.
What happened?
Well, in God's moment, he spoke to Moses through these 70 saying, you are not a failure.
These 70 people around you standing, prophesying, they're a part of it. They're with you. You've affected them. Moses. They get it.
Through this experience, God let Moses see the influence he had on them. Small as it might be, 70 out of millions, as small as the impact might be, Moses got a glimpse, and it shines light on the other thing. He says when Joshua comes back and says, boss, Eldad and Midad are in the camp, they're prophesying.
You got to stop them. And what does he say?
Oh, that all the people. Oh, that every one of them, all of you would get the gift. All of you would see it. All of you would change.
But I'm not going to stop them.
This is a beautiful thing.
Oh, if only everyone were like these 70. But taking the spirit that was on Moses and putting it on the 70, Moses knew that his work, his life, it was not in vain. He had disciples.
The Mishnah, actually, in Sanhedrin, calls this the great Sanhedrin. Okay, 70 you know, the governing body later in second temple times, the Sanhedrin. This was sort of the beginning of it, but the Sanhedrin wasn't a group of judges that sat around primarily interested in law. These guys were actually for the encouragement of Moses. The Sanhedrin served a similar purpose. It was about leadership. It was about guidance for people. And I would say his 70 people were about inspiration, that God spoke through them to him. Keep going, buddy. You're doing just fine. It's not in vain. You're not a failure. Let's go now. Those people died in the wilderness, just like Moses.
But they had a moment. From that moment on, what influence might they have had from that experience? What influence might they have had on the generations that were to go into the land? These 70 were changed. They were inspired, and they're changing. Moses was changed. Now, Moses troubles weren't over. He was far from perfect from here, and he didn't even enter the land.
But he was not a failure.
The particularly unique spirit that was on Moses was put on them.
And even when a small, singular success occurs in his life, in our lives, they're worth something. And there's the lesson for all of us.
I'm going to give you bad news.
All of this stuff about entering through the narrow gate, walking the hard road, all those things.
You may never see the fruit of your labor on this planet.
You may never see the lives that you affect and impact.
You just may not.
Did Moses succeed?
Did Moses succeed in his mission? He didn't go in. His generation didn't go in either. Did Moses succeed in his mission?
It's a mixed answer, but someone went in. A lot of them went in a new generation with a new leader that he trained and raised up. 3500 years later, here we sit on a Saturday in Macon, Jordan, talking about Moses and reading and the Torah is a foundational text. The five books of who? Moses. They're a foundation.
Did he succeed? Of course he did. What if he had ended it right there? Would we be talking about Moses? No. God wasn't going to let that happen. You're not a failure. Listen, he didn't know any of those things.
He was just committed to the task. And it was hard, and it is hard, but he left a legacy, and that's the lesson we take from here. Leave a legacy.
Regardless.
Regardless. You may only have glimpses in this life moments where God takes some of the spirit that he's placed on you and. And Sandy and Linda and Richard, Tisha, Kristen, Jarrett.
A unique spirit that he has. Placed on you, which is informed and empowered by his holy spirit. But it's you and those few glimpses where he takes some of that that's on you and gives it to someone else.
It would be wonderful if every time you knew that and every time you got to see the fruit of your labor, but you don't. A lot. I just. I had a very difficult conversation with someone this week. I had absolutely no answers for any of the dreadful problems that this individual and his family are experiencing in life right now. Man of God served decades in ministry.
I had nothing to say.
I couldn't give him cliche Bible verses or just say, come on now, keep the faith.
All I could do was hope that God would take some of the spirit that was on me and over Zoom, pass it to this individual and I don't know. I may never know.
But those opportunities are the moments that we must leave a legacy and cherish those moments.
Never stop looking to find them, but never be consumed with the need for them.
You don't need to be justified to be the disciple that you need to be. You just need to do the work.
Yeshua, listen to me.
Twelve guys.
Twelve guys.
The messiah.
Twelve guys. I know he had others. There were 70. Note that Moses connection. Remember when he sends out the 70?
Interesting how the Bible pieces all connect together. Moses first redeemer. Yeshua second redeemer. 70. 70. Anyway, twelve guys that really got on board with him.
Of anyone who could say, man, wow, I thought I could do better.
Twelve guys. But what does he say to them? Remain in Jerusalem.
Remember it. Remain in Jerusalem until the Holy spirit comes upon you. Where is it coming from? God is taking it from Yeshua and putting it on his guise.
And then what are they going to do? They're going to do greater things than these.
You seen that connection before between Moses and the 70 and Yeshua and the twelve. And look at this world because of it. You know what?
Yeshua himself could have seen his mission as a failure.
Don't get weird on me. You know what I'm talking about. He totally could have. Twelve guys. That's the real legacy I'm leaving behind here.
He never saw in the natural sense of seeing. He never saw at all as a.
After all that he had done.
Not saying he's not seeing it, I'm saying he didn't see it. But like this 70 for Moses, the twelve were a picture. For Yeshua, a glimpse, a promise of what was to come. But the point is clear, I hope Moses and his legacy, Yeshua and a world changing story. You have won, too, and it may not be on that level, and it doesn't have to be. You may not lead three and a half million people out of an oppressed land, out of slavery.
You're definitely not going to do what Yeshua did in that sense, but we're definitely going to do what they did in this sense.
It's no fun when we can't see the reward. It's no fun. I know.
It's much better when we get to feel the success and make a difference and change lives and never feeling like we're not using our gifts, but it's just the way it is. Moses had a tough time to the point of wanting to throw in the towel. Kill me. This is a waste. I'm not doing it anymore. Kill me, Yeshua. In some sense, I mean, that garden scene was pretty intense, right?
You know what that is?
Take the cup from me.
If you can't, I understand. I'll take it back. And he did, and he got killed.
But such a powerful moment. And those, they persisted. And I got news for you. If you serve others, you'll have your moments when you'll get to see some of the fruit. But as I said, maybe not many in this life. Moses had that moment in life. But there's so much more that we can see here. Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal, but store up for yourself what treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys, where thieves do not break in or steal, where your treasure is, there your heart will be also, I think, the most valuable treasures in heaven, you know what they are?
The people you impact.
What else? What else? What else has lasting legacy that could affect generations of people?
Other than the impact and the legacy you leave with the people you interact with, who may never say thank you, it may be 20 years before they even know what they got from you, the spirit that was on you.
But they might.
They will. And that's part of your eternal reward.
You see? Your eternal reward. Most people do. They really think of dying and going to heaven and sitting there and listening to the angelic choir all day and great guitar player and walking on the gold streets.
Listen, I think of heaven a little differently. I call it the kingdom. I call it the world to come. There will be rest, there will be peace. Wonderful, easy stuff. There's these cool trees on the side of the river. There's this big, huge square city, and there's probably gold in it. And who knows what? I have no idea what's going to go on, but it's going to be cool. And that's uneternal reward.
That's an eternal reward, basking in the glory of God. But, my friends, I say this so often, and you know what? I'm never going to stop saying it. Your eternal reward there is influenced by what you do here.
It absolutely is who you impact in this world.
But when did we do this for you? When you did it to the least of these, you did it to me.
In this world, where the harvest is rich and the workers are few, and I want to tell you, the workers are probably few because it's hard work and the rewards are not that obvious in this life. You get that? Have I driven that point home?
Okay. Success. Moses was there. Moses was there. Why would I do this? Why would I keep banging my head against the wall with these people? Just kill me. I'm not your man.
But God did have a solution to let him see a little bit of his legacy.
And I hope that we all get to see ours. And he kept going. He kept going. Just not even right after this, his brother and sister get off in the back room and start. Can you believe he married that chicken?
And what does he do? Curse them? Cast them down? No, he prays for them. He intercedes because he was empowered by seeing a bit of his legacy and the prophetic words of the 70. So, same for us. Listen, you got Moses, you got Yeshua. Can we do that? Can we do that like them?
Maybe not like Moses? Certainly not as Yeshua.
Yes, we can.
Yes, we can do certain things like them. Maybe. Maybe we're not. Maybe we're called to do it. Even when we don't see stadiums of people or whatever kind of measurable impact you think, you need to know that you've left a legacy. When we don't see that or hear a word about it, I want to remind you, God has placed his spirit in you and a spirit on you.
That spirit is given for the purpose of serving the world. That means you must share it. It will not diminish from you, just like it didn't diminish from Moses. It's like a candle. A candle's flame is not diminished when you light another candle with it. This is us.
Okay, easy. We can, we do, we must have an impact. And my prayer is that you will see your own 70, even if it's just in one person.
Your 70 may be one, but no matter.
You keep being obedient, serving others, asking God to take from the spirit that's on you to give to others. And my friends, I promise you, you will reap an eternal reward.
You keep making these deposits in the treasury of heaven. For there, where your treasure is, there your heart is also.
Where do you want your heart?
I thought so.
[00:35:38] Speaker B: Shabbat Shalom please visit our website, shalommaken.org, to learn more about us. Join our live services, access other teachings, sign up for our newsletter, join our private network that will connect you with our greater community from around the world, or contribute to the work of Shalom. Macon, thank you for watching, and we look forward to connecting with.
