A Study of the Life of Moses

Sermon # 16

 “Passing On the Mantle of Leadership”

From Moses to Joshua

              Tonight we come to the close of our study of the life of Moses as we see him “Passing on the Mantle of Leadership to Joshua.  I believe that there are several principles that can be drawn from this closing chapter of the life of Moses.

 1. Your Never too Old to Make a Terrible Mistake

            It seems that anger was something that Moses always struggled with in his life.  This could be encouraging to us today for two reasons.  First it gives us some hope that if a man like Moses struggled with anger, we need not feel so bad that we struggle with it too.  But it also shock to realize the ramifications of uncontrolled anger.

            Remember from Exodus 2 (10—12) that is Moses unrestrained anger that resulted in the death of an Egyptian and his own 20 years on the backside of the desert.  At about the age of 40 Moses saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew and in a rage he killed the Egyptian taskmaster.  This was not a mistake of youth he was a grown man nor it because he was ignorant and uneducated for the Book of Acts (7:22) says that he “was educated with all the learning of the Egyptians.”  Because of his anger he spent 40 years learning patience shepherding sheep in the desert.

            Sadly this was not the last time we see his anger displayed.  When Moses came down from Mt. Sinai with the Ten Commandments he found that the people had became restless and made an idol to worship.  When Moses saw the people dancing before the idol, his anger flared according to Exodus 32:19, “So it was, as soon as he came near the camp, that he saw the calf and the dancing. So Moses’ anger became hot, and he cast the tablets out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain.”

Was his anger justified? Of course it was.  The problem is in how he expressed that anger.  Moses took these precious tablet written by the very hand of God and in a moment of white hot fury he, “he cast the tablets out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain.”

            According to Numbers chapter 14, when the Israelites arrived at the border of the Promised Land they sent in spies to check out the land.  When the spies returned they all agreed that it was a land of plenty but ten of them said “But forget about conquering this land. There are giants in there. As a result the people refused to go in because of unbelief.  God was so displeased with this disobedience that he said, “None of this generation will go into the land of promise except Caleb and Joshua.”

            Now fast forward many years. The children of Israel have been wandering in the desert for some 39 years.  In Number 20 in verses one and two, we find Moses seething with rage again. “Then the children of Israel, the whole congregation, came into the Wilderness of Zin in the first month, and the people stayed in Kadesh; and Miriam died there and was buried there. (2) Now there was no water for the congregation; so they gathered together against Moses and Aaron.”

            It is that same old problem the Israelites are unhappy and murmuring again.   It is the same old problem in verse three “And the people contended with Moses and spoke, saying: “If only we had died when our brethren died before the LORD!  (4) Why have you brought up the assembly of the LORD into this wilderness, that we and our animals should die here?  (5) And why have you made us come up out of Egypt, to bring us to this evil place? It is not a place of grain or figs or vines or pomegranates; nor is there any water to drink.”

            Moses then takes their complaints to the Lord and in verse six to eight, the LORD gave him very clear instructions, “Take your rod, go out to the rock, speak to the rock and get out of the way.”  But instead we are told in verse ten, that Moses took his rod and gathered the people and said, “Hear now, you rebels! Must we bring water for you out of this rock?” (11) Then Moses lifted his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod; and water came out abundantly, and the congregation and their animals drank.”  Is that what God told him to do? NO! and therein lies the problem.  God did not overlook or excuse Moses temper tantrum. Verse 12 reveals the consequences, “Then the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not believe Me, to hallow Me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.”  God told Moses because of your sin you will not be allowed to personally guide the children of Israel into the promised land.

 2. If the Work is the Lord’s the work will go on

            In Numbers chapter 27:12 the children of Israel arrive at the border of Canaan.  Moses is now told that although he will be allowed to enter the Promised Land he will be allowed to go up on the mountain to see it.  “Now the LORD said to Moses: “Go up into this Mount Abarim, and see the land which I have given to the children of Israel. (13) And when you have seen it, you also shall be gathered to your people, as Aaron your brother was gathered.”

            God told his servant, “When you have seen the land, you will die.”  We are tempted to think that this sounds cruel.  But God is not teasing Moses he is blessing him.  He was showing Moses that he keeps His word.

            But in his last recorded acts we see the heart of Moses. In verse 16 Moses speaking to the LORD says, “Let the LORD, the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over the congregation,  (17) who may go out before them and go in before them, who may lead them out and bring them in, that the congregation of the LORD may not be like sheep which have no shepherd.”

            Did you notice the two things that Moses’ request for the man who will replace him?  He wants him to be chosen by God and He wants him to have a shepherd’s heart.

            God already had just the right man for the job for He says in verse 18, “Take Joshua the son of Nun with you, a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay your hand on him;”  God already has a man in place to carry on the work.  There is much that can be learned about making a successful transition in leadership left by the model of Moses and Joshua. 

            First, we need to acknowledge that if the work we have been involved in ceases if we are removed then we have not done a very good job as a leader.   Way back in the shadows of our mind, our ego, would like to think that this organization could not continue without me!  But if that is true it is tragic.  If the work is of God, it will continue, even without us.

Secondly, we need to recognize that if we follow human desires we seek to replace longstanding leaders with someone very much like the person they are replacing.  The truth is that individuals that God selects to replace those who may have been leadership for a long time, are often quite different from their predecessors.  Frequently God choosing someone who will change the course of that group or organization.

Third, some very costly mistakes could have been avoided in the replacement of spiritual leadership if God had been allowed to do the choosing.  Strong leaders often wrestle with the desire to appoint their own successors.  I have seen it done many time in the pastorate and usually with disastrous results.  Moses was wise enough to see the danger and say, “Lord, let him be your appointment.”  Moses was a big enough man that he could get out of the way.  When God removes he replaces. 

            Finally, we see that Moses supported God’s choice both publicly and privately. In Deut. 31:7-8 we are told how Moses privately strengthened his successor for the job ahead.  “Then Moses called Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, “Be strong and of good courage, for you must go with this people to the land which the LORD has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you shall cause them to inherit it. (8) And the LORD, He is the One who goes before you. He will be with you, He will not leave you nor forsake you; do not fear nor be dismayed.”

As soon as Moses received his orders, he obeyed them. Moses followed God plan without argument for the text, as we have already examined in Number 27 reveals in verse 22, “So Moses did as the LORD commanded him. He took Joshua and set him before Eleazar the priest and before all the congregation.  (23) And he laid his hands on him and inaugurated him, just as the LORD commanded by the hand of Moses.”  There was no room in anyone’s mind but that Moses supported Joshua as the man appointed by God to lead the children of Israel into the land of promise.

 3. There will Come a Time when It is Time to Go

When we get to Deuteronomy 34, God gives us the details of the death of Moses. Verse one says, ^“Then Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah,”

            Mt Pisgah reaches a height of 4,500 feet.  From that height he was able to seen into the Promised Land. Then in verse four God said to him, “… This is the land of which I swore to give Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ I have caused you to see it with your eyes, but you shall not cross over there.”

            Verse five says, “So Moses died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord.”  Moses died “according to the word of the Lord.” Everything ended for this old man of faith exactly as God had arranged it.   When I acknowledge that God is control of my death I do not have to fear.  The great Apostle Paul thought this way, (Phil 1:21-22),   “For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.   (22) But if I live on in the flesh, this will mean fruit from my labor; yet what I shall choose I cannot tell.”

In verse seven we are told his age: “Although Moses was a hundred and twenty years old.”   But the verse goes on to say, “ his eye was not dim, nor his vigor abated.” You know our problem, we get old before we are old, and we quit before we are through.

But this was not true of Moses, either physically nor spiritually.  “Since then no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face.”   v. 10

After death comes a burial, verse 6 says “And He [that is God] buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, opposite Beth Peor; but no one knows his grave to this day.”  Did you know that Moses is the only person in the Bible that God personally buried?  Why did he do that?   Because had the Israelites known where Moses was buried it would have become a shrine.  They would have been beating a path up the mountain to worship, and God ensured that did not happen.  This was so crucial that it even sparked an angelic confrontation. Jude 9 contains on of the stranger accounts in the Bible, “Yet Michael the archangel, in contending with the devil, when he disputed about the body of Moses, dared not bring against him a reviling accusation, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!”   Apparently the Devil had his own plans for the body of Moses.  But God said no deal. 

            The proper closure is given in verse 10, “But since then there has not arisen in Israel a prophet like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face,”

            Death comes to us all.  We have no control over where or when.  And unless the Lord comes back for his own first, the day of our departure will come …. Maybe sooner maybe later.  We have no control over that but we do have control over how we live, right up until the moment that we leave this world.

 Conclusion

            Your Never too Old to Make a Terrible Mistake!

            If the Work is the Lord’s, It will go on!