Rerouted

Arrival  •  Sermon  •  Submitted   •  Presented   •  30:55
0 ratings
· 141 views

No one likes to have their life rerouted in directions that appear to be wasted; Jesus shows us that God uses these waiting times for his purposes.

Files
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Handout
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
View more →
Many people have had the experience of flying in airplanes before. I am not sure many of us have had the experience of being on a flight that is rerouted. It happened to one of my kids before when bad weather closed the airport in Chicago for a while, and the plane landed instead in DesMoines Iowa, where they just had to wait it out until the weather cleared enough in Chicago to take off again. Every so often we hear about flights that are rerouted because of a medical emergency which occurs while the plane is in flight, or a mechanical issue with the plane that comes up mid-flight and prompts a more immediate landing. It does not happen very often, but rerouted flights do occur.
Life works that way too sometimes. Every now-and-then circumstances come along which force a change in direction. Sometimes life gets rerouted. I suppose at this point of being in a global pandemic for close to two years, I do not have to convince anybody of this reality. Sometimes life changes directions from the way we thought things were going. And I suppose the pandemic has also showed us that many people do not like a forced change in direction and will often resist it if they can.
None of this is new. Once again we will see an example of this same thing happening in Old Testament Israel (just as we did last week). They had a rerouting life experience which they were none-too-happy about. And just like last week, we will see the way Jesus comes into a world in which he enters into those exact same experiences. This time, it all has to do with a life that is rerouted in a different direction. For Old Testament Israel, it happened in the Sinai desert wilderness between Egypt and the promised land of Canaan.
Numbers 14:29–34 NIV
29 In this wilderness your bodies will fall—every one of you twenty years old or more who was counted in the census and who has grumbled against me. 30 Not one of you will enter the land I swore with uplifted hand to make your home, except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun. 31 As for your children that you said would be taken as plunder, I will bring them in to enjoy the land you have rejected. 32 But as for you, your bodies will fall in this wilderness. 33 Your children will be shepherds here for forty years, suffering for your unfaithfulness, until the last of your bodies lies in the wilderness. 34 For forty years—one year for each of the forty days you explored the land—you will suffer for your sins and know what it is like to have me against you.’
Numbers 32:8–13 NIV
8 This is what your fathers did when I sent them from Kadesh Barnea to look over the land. 9 After they went up to the Valley of Eshkol and viewed the land, they discouraged the Israelites from entering the land the Lord had given them. 10 The Lord’s anger was aroused that day and he swore this oath: 11 ‘Because they have not followed me wholeheartedly, not one of those who were twenty years old or more when they came up out of Egypt will see the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob—12 not one except Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite and Joshua son of Nun, for they followed the Lord wholeheartedly.’ 13 The Lord’s anger burned against Israel and he made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until the whole generation of those who had done evil in his sight was gone.
Matthew 4:1–11 NIV
1 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” 4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” 5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. 6 “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written: “ ‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’” 7 Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” 8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. 9 “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.” 10 Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’” 11 Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.
This story in Matthew 4 all by itself doesn’t make much sense unless you line it up against the experience of Old Testament Israel we see in the book of Numbers. Why else would Jesus go do this? This event occurs right as Jesus is about to launch his earthly ministry. It happens immediately following the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist in the Jordan River. Jesus has not appointed any disciples yet, he has not performed any miracles yet, he has not told any parables yet. In fact, all of those things happen beginning in verse 12—right where we left off—and continuing to the end of chapter 4.
Jesus takes a rerouted direction away from the people, away from teaching, away from healing
But first, we see this strange episode with the devil in the wilderness. Jesus is baptized; the Father’s voice has spoken from heaven; the Spirit has descended as a dove. It seems as though Jesus is all set to launch into everything for which he became incarnate on earth. But instead, Jesus takes a rerouted direction away from the people, away from teaching, away from healing. What is Jesus doing here? What is this all about?
no coincidence that Jesus is in the wilderness forty days — it aligns with the forty years that Israel spent in the wilderness
number 40 in the Bible — a length of time in which God accomplishes his purpose
It is certainly no coincidence that Jesus is in the wilderness forty days. It aligns with the forty years that Israel spent in the wilderness, pointing us back to that event in the Old Testament. The number forty also carries symbolic meaning in the Bible. The number forty almost always points to a length of time in which God accomplishes his purpose. When Noah went into the ark with all the animals, it rained forty days. In other words, it rained long enough to accomplish the purpose God had for the rain. Moses was born in Egypt and lived there as part of Pharaoh’s household for forty years. In other words, Moses lived in Egypt long enough to accomplish the purpose God had for Moses to be born and raised in Egypt. At that point Moses is forced to flee Egypt for his life and ends up tending the flocks of sheep for his father-in-law Jethro in the Sinai wilderness for forty years until God shows up at the burning bush. In other words, Moses tends a flock in the wilderness long enough for God to accomplish his purpose for Moses to be there. It is almost as though God tells Moses, “you’ve cared for a flock of sheep in this wilderness, now you are ready to care for the flock of God’s people in this wilderness.”
God keeps Israel in the wilderness long enough to accomplish the purpose he has for his people to be there
And that is what comes next. God sends the plagues upon Egypt and the nation of Israel crosses through the Red Sea and goes to Mount Sinai, where they receive the commandments of God. From Mount Sinai, the Israelites travel immediately across the desert to the borders of Canaan. This is the point where the people become frightened and lose trust in God to go before them and provide for them. And this is where the words of God we read in Numbers 14 come from. God tells the nation of Israel, “you are going to stay in this wilderness.” And God keeps them in the wilderness long enough to accomplish the purpose he has for his people to be there—symbolized by forty years.
purpose God decreed for their time in the wilderness was to raise up a new generation in their place
The wilderness is a place of testing. There are no cell towers or wifi in the wilderness. There is no grocery store or takeout in the wilderness. There are no gas stations or exits or rest areas in the wilderness. It’s pretty much like Iowa. Israel still needed to learn that their provision comes from God. The story moves forward and forty years goes by between Numbers 14 and Numbers 32. The entire generation of Israel who went into the wilderness never made it out (except for two people). They did not learn the lesson of the wilderness. They did not pass the test of the wilderness. The purpose God decreed for their time in the wilderness was to raise up a new generation in their place. And that is what God did. The entire nation was rerouted in a different direction in order for a new generation to rise up.
failure of that first generation in the wilderness remained as a part of Israel’s story
The failure of that first generation in the wilderness remained as a part of Israel’s story. It is an experience that followed Israel through the time of the judges, through generations of both good and evil kings, through Assyrian and Babylonian exile. That first generation was not the only one to find their direction being rerouted. Bring that story forward to a time when a foreign power—the Roman Empire—tells all the people of Israel to reroute their lives back to their hometowns so that everyone can counted for taxes. And so, Mary and Joseph—whose lives were already rerouted by an unexpected pregnancy—now must go in a different direction to Bethlehem.
all the people of Israel knew something about rerouting in a different direction — sets the landscape for us to see what Jesus is up to by wandering out in the wilderness
All the people of Israel knew something about rerouting in a different direction. This sets the landscape for us to see what Jesus is up to in Matthew 4 by wandering out into the wilderness all by himself for forty days. Once again, we see that Jesus makes the experience of God’s people part of his own experience. Jesus comes to earth to be among the people he loves in every way he can, by being born as one of them and living as one of them. As it turns out, this includes sharing their wilderness experiences. And Jesus stays in the wilderness long enough to accomplish God’s purpose for being there.
wilderness is a place to learn reliance upon the heavenly Father — Israel gets it wrong (we get it wrong), Jesus makes it right
But here is what is different. Where the nation of Israel and all of God’s people faced the test of the wilderness and failed, Jesus is victorious. Where all God’s people in the past have gone and made it wrong, Jesus goes to those same places and makes it right. This wilderness is a place to learn reliance upon the provision of the heavenly Father. When Jesus is confronted with a temptation to use his own miraculous ingenuity to make bread, he resists and continues to rely upon the provision of his heavenly Father. When Jesus is confronted to with the temptation to make a public display of his divine power for all to see by summoning the angels, he resists and continues to rely upon the power of his heavenly Father in place of his own power. When Jesus is confronted with the temptation to take the easy and painless way out by relinquishing his authority to the devil, Jesus resists and keeps hold of his perfect righteousness. Jesus accomplishes the purpose of the wilderness where all others have failed.
I have read that—for some people—the holidays can be the hardest and most depressing time of the year to endure. For some, they look around at Christmas and it appears to them that everyone else around is happy and joyful and overflowing with celebration. That should not be surprising. It seems to me that every single Christmas movie or TV special carries that exact same theme. In It’s A Wonderful Life, George Bailey thinks everyone else in the town of Bedford Falls has found everything they ever wanted except for him. In Home Alone, young Kevin McAlester thinks his life is the worst because he is the youngest in the family. In Rudolph, the tiny reindeer with a glowing red nose runs away with a misfit elf dentist and Yukon Cornelius, a prospector who can never find gold or silver, because they think everyone else perfectly belongs together in happy community except for them. And don’t forget Charlie Brown, who picks out the worst Christmas tree ever and thinks he has ruined everyone’s Christmas because he cannot measure up to their expectations.
every Christmas movie centers on the same theme—that Christmas will pass by because life is going the wrong way, stuck wandering in some wilderness experience
Why is it that every single Christmas movie and TV special features a story about someone who thinks their life is headed in the wrong direction? Every single one of these stories centers on the same theme—that Christmas will pass them by because their life is going the wrong way, stuck wandering in some wilderness experience. Could it just possibly be that every Christmas movie tells that story because something about that story resonates within each one of us? Could it just possibly be that the struggling wilderness wanderings of God’s people all throughout the Bible are the same struggling wilderness wanderings we all still face today?
Christmas is not about you finding your way out of a life that feels stuck in a wilderness — it is about Jesus coming into your wilderness and immersing himself into your world in a way which assures you that Jesus is right there with you
Everyone has moments when we come face-to-face with the awareness that life gets rerouted in the wrong direction and it feels like there is nothing we can do to stop it or change it. Here is where all the Christmas movies get it wrong. All those movies end with people somehow making their way out of their wayward wilderness experience to find their way back to Christmas. But the story we see from the Bible today in Matthew 4 tells us something different. Christmas is not about you finding your way out of a life that feels stuck in a wilderness. Christmas is about Jesus coming into your wilderness and immersing himself into your world in a way which assures you that Jesus is right there with you. No matter what direction you feel like your life is headed, Christmas is the reminder that Jesus says, “we’re in this together; I am here with you; I’ve got you; and I am never letting you go.”
Related Media
See more
Related Sermons
See more