Numbers 13.1-2, 26-33; 14.1-10


It was my plan to preach on something from the next plague in Exodus. The
Spirit, however, had other plans. And so, I will be preaching on a different
topic but one that is related to some things I mentioned last week. In a
way, today’s sermon is a follow up to my warnings about worshiping the false
gods of our culture. This week we are going to talk about risk, exposing
some thing or someone to the possibility of damage or loss. Our text is
about risk, and it has some important things to teach us.

Let’s start by recounting the events of our text. God has brought Israel out
of Egypt and to the very border of Canaan. He is ready to lead His people
into the land that He has promised them. Twelve spies are sent to scout out
the land. They come back and report to the people. On the one hand they say
that the land is everything that God has told them. It is a land flowing, as
it were, with milk and honey. It is like nothing that they have ever seen.
But… The people of the land, the people that Yahweh told them they would
conquer, these people are like giants. ‘We were like tiny grasshoppers for
them to step on. There’s no way that we could ever conquer them. We can’t
enter the land.’ Two of the spies, Caleb and Joshua, present their minority
report – and that with feeling. ‘Yahweh is with us. We can conquer!’ The
people are not persuaded by these two. And so, they devise a plan. First,
they’ll kill these two and probably Moses also, then they’ll choose a
leader, a leader who will take them back to Egypt. And so, what do we have
here. We have a group of people that refuses to obey their God. And why? The
risk is too great. They would be exposing themselves and their wives and
children to the possibility of damage or loss. No, instead they decide to
return to where it will be so much safer; not the Promised Land, not the
wilderness. It’s back to Egypt.

We live among a people who idolize the god of security. They worship this
god in different ways, one of which is their attitude to any sort of risk.
Risk is to be managed, minimized, carefully planned out of existence. And
the sad fact is that this attitude affects us all. And that’s a problem.
Now, back in my days of youth I might have concluded that what we need to do
in response is to find something crazy to do and do it regardless of the
risk. But that would just be foolish. You need to see that what is at issue
for us is not the degree of risk. It is not a matter of the greater the risk
the greater the holiness. The issue for us – and for those Israelites long
ago – is obedience. And so, let me say now – and I will repeat myself – the
sermon isn’t really about risk. The sermon is about obedience and bringing
up this topic of risk is simply a means to the end of enabling you to obey
better in the face of risk. Yahweh told Israel to conquer the land. It was
clear and unmistakable. Israel refused. They thought that the risk was too
great. To use the language of Joshua, they rebelled. The real issue was
obedience. The obstacle to obedience was misunderstanding risk.

So, consider this. The options for Israel were not risk on the one hand,
entering the land, and no risk on the other, returning to Egypt. They once
went to Egypt as a place of safety and you remember what ultimately
happened. Slavery. Their real options were risk and only the appearance of
no risk. In either case, they had to take a risk. So, first lesson: if you
are looking for a place where there is no risk, or even where risk is small,
you won’t find it. Not here. Ever. The existence of such a place is a myth,
a lie from the evil one. And so, if you would be wise you will see that the
goal is not to try to find such a place of safety. Rather, the goal is to
faithfully obey in a world that is filled with risk. The real options for
Israel were the risks associated with obedience and the risks associated
with disobedience. The real question for Israel at that point was, ‘Can we
trust God now?’

The second lesson here is that the risks tied to conquering the Promised
Land were real. There actually was a possibility of damage or loss.
Remember, some died when they fought to conquer forty years later. The risk
was, and is, real. Faithful Christian living is not painless. There will be
loss. And so, the point for a Christian is not that he trust God in the face
of risk with the expectation that therefore nothing bad will happen to him.
The point is to trust your God and obey Him in the face of risk even though
bad things will happen. This may sound strange but there are reasons for
such an attitude. First of all, by your painful obedience the Gospel of
Jesus advances. Obedience in the face of risk is an expression of love. You
obey Jesus and accept the risks involved because you are convinced that He
is worth it. Also, in the midst of all of this, you are assured that Jesus
knows what He is doing with your life. His plan is good and wise and loving,
even when it is painful. And so, along with all the rest, you take the risk
to enter a land of giants in the expectation that, ultimately, it will be
more glorious for you than you can imagine. It will be a Promised Land for
you.

Now, why is it that we shy away from risk? One simple answer is that we were
taught to avoid it when we were growing up. We are all conservative people.
Being conservative and taking risks don’t mix. And, on top of that, we shy
away from risk because in our youth we weren’t taught that the advance of
the Gospel is worth any cost. There is another reason why risk gives us a
hard time. The problem with Israel at the borders of the Promised Land was
not that God had lied about the land. Everything that He had said about its
glories was true. The problem was that Israel was afraid. Fear is a powerful
response of the soul. You will always serve what you fear most. Thus, ‘the
fear of Yahweh is the beginning of wisdom.’

So, a question. What are you afraid of? When you hear the call of Christ to
some course of action and that little voice in your head mentions the risks,
and you hesitate, what do you fear? Some people are afraid of making the
wrong decision. ‘If we choose to obey and enter Canaan, it may not work out
well. We might get beat really bad. Then what?!?’ Here are some things for
you to ponder. First, you are going to make bad decisions. You already have.
You know that. God knows that. Will your wrong decisions ruin God’s plans
for your life? Have they? Is God’s power limited by your ability to make
good decisions? Is a bright future all up to you making the right decisions
every time? If it is true that God works all things for good – even bad
decisions – then what is there to be afraid of? Second, how do you make your
decisions? Do you work through the process with the mentality of an orphan
or of a child of God? The orphan mentality is ‘It’s all up to me. I must get
it right. It’s unthinkable if I get it wrong. I’m all alone. What will I do
if I get it wrong?’ But what is the mentality of a child? A little child has
just finished a drawing. He goes to his father. ‘Daddy, look what I did. It’
s a picture of you.’ The father looks at it. All he sees is crayon scrawl in
reds and blues. What does he say? ‘Oh, it is beautiful. Thank you so much. I
’m going to put it on the refrigerator so everyone can see your picture.’
Does the father analyze the aesthetic quality of the drawing? Doesn’t he
rather consider the intention of the child? The drawing was an expression of
the child’s love and the father accepts it as such. And so, to adapt Jesus’
words, ‘If you being evil know how to love your unskilled children how much
more will your heavenly Father love you even when you make a terrible
decision?’ Do not be afraid of failure. Make decisions as a child of God. As
you decide simply pray, ‘Father, I really think that this is the best
choice. I really think this is what You want me to do. And I offer it up to
You.’ What do you think your Father will say then?

There’s another kind of fear involved here, the fear of looking
irresponsible. ‘If I goof up here, what will people think?’ But what is this
but pride, the need to look good. The Apostle Paul said that he was content
to look like a fool for Jesus.

And then there is this kind of fear. ‘I just don’t what to hurt, to suffer.
Taking a risk means that I will be exposed to these things and I just don’t
want to.’ What this person is actually saying is, ‘I don’t want to be a
faithful disciple of Jesus.’

Let me remind you again that the real issue is obedience, not trying to find
the biggest risk and bragging, ‘I’m not afraid of risks.’ In our text
obedience to the will of God meant that Israel was to enter the land to
conquer it. It looked crazy. The ten spies apparently had some very good
reasons why they should not enter, why it really seemed a crazy thing to do.
But the will of God was clear. The issue wasn’t how much risk. The issue was
obedience to God’s will, even though there was risk, real risk, large risk.
The only way to the Promised Land, the only way to heaven, is by taking the
risks associated with obedience. We do not close our eyes to what might
happen. We understand what the risks might be, but we focus on obedience.
Then we tell ourselves, ‘Our God is with us. We have nothing to fear. And
so, we will follow Jesus, through the risks and into the Promised Land.’