Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz20110828.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
Numbers: Lessons From Spiritual Casualties And Conquerors
Part XII: The Silver Trumpets: Effective Biblical Undershepherding
(Numbers 10:1-10)
  1. The content and context of Numbers 10:1-10 offers God's summary directive on the effective human UNDERSHEPHERDING of Israel:
      2. Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

      Human insecurity due to ineffective human leadership is a huge problem in today's world, a fact we can readily document (as follows):

      (1) Francesco Guerrera's article, "Why This Crisis Differs From the 2008 Version" in The Wall Street Journal, August 9, 2011, p. C1, reported that the recent stock market turmoil and Standard & Poor's downgrade of America's credit rating "is a top-down affair. Governments around the world, unable to stimulate their economies and get their houses in order, have gradually lost the trust of the business and financial communities."

      (2) Not only governmental leaders, but people at the grass roots level reel from a lack of effective human leaders. Peggy Noonan, a past speech writer for the late President Ronald Reagan, wrote in the article, "After the London Riots" in the August 13-14, 2011 issue of The Wall Street Journal, p. A13 that "(t)he riots in Britain left some Americans shaken . . . We saw something over there that in smaller ways we're starting to see over here . . . Philadelphia right now is under curfew because of flash mobs'" where "(y)oung people send out the word on social media, and suddenly dozens . . . of them hit a . . . store."

      The cause? Noonan explained: "In 2009, the last year for which census data are available, there were 74 million children under 18. Of that number, 20 million live in single-parent families, often with only an overwhelmed mother or a beleaguered grandmother. Over 700,000 children under 18 have been the subject of reports of abuse. More than a quarter million are foster children . . . But little children without love and guidance are afraid . . . they have nothing solid in the world . . . As they grow, their fear becomes rage. Further on, the rage can be expressed in violence."

      (3) This leadership vacuum now affects many religious circles. Anna Williams' article, "For these Catholic millennials, faith trumps relativism," in the August 15, 2011, USA TODAY, p. 9A told how Catholic, Protestant, Jewish and Muslim youth her age are seeking "traditional religious practice" as they feel the "1960s-style liberation -- from moral codes, family obligations, religious commitments -- has betrayed us . . . [leaving] only the hangover: heartbreak, addiction, broken homes, plus rising rates of teenage depression and suicide."

      Thus, we ask, "Does God have a comprehensive directive for human undershepherds of His to give his people SECURITY?"

      Need: "With today's great need for leaders to give people security, what does GOD want HUMAN leaders to DO to address this need?!"

    1. Numbers 10:1-10 directs Israel on the creation and use of two silver trumpets for the priests to use in leading Israel, esp. Numbers 10:1-7.
    2. It follows Numbers 9:15-23 where God led Israel by the cloud, so Numbers 10:1-10 is God's directive on human UNDERshepherding while God was acting as Israel's CHIEF Shepherd, cf. 1 Peter 5:1-4.
  2. This ministry was to give God's people PRACTICAL SECURITY:
    1. The Numbers 10:1-10 trumpets were very similar to the trumpets used by Egyptian Pharaohs of the era to provide them military security:
      1. Pharaoh Tutankhamun's tomb dated 90 years after Israel left Egypt contained both a silver and a bronze trumpet located "close to the mummy of the boy king." (bbc.co.uk, Christine Finn, "Recreating the sound of Tutankhamun's trumpets"; Bible Know. Com., O. T., p. 105; Merrill F. Unger, Archaeology and the O. T., 1973, p. 183)
      2. They were used to direct soldiers, being "decorated with depictions of Egyptian gods identified with military campaigns," Ibid., Finn.
      3. As two trumpets were similarly used to signal and appeal to God in Numbers 10:1-10, God called for Egyptian styled trumpets, so each was about a 22 inch-long tube flared to form a bell at the end, Ibid.
      4. The focus in Pharaoh's use of these trumpets was that of security in battle: the inscription on one trumpet extols "Ptah . . . Creator of all . . . who rests his other hand on the king's shoulders . . ." (Ibid.)
    2. Thus, as Numbers 10:1-10 borrowed key elements of the Egyptian military trumpets, God applied the Egyptian trumpet's use to Israel for her leaders to provide security for Israel's people under Him.
  3. We view the WAYS Israel's undershepherds were to achieve this security, drawing application to Biblical undershepherding today:
    1. Leaders must give the truth clearly for the people's security:
      1. The silver trumpets were formed by hammered work to give a brilliant sound easily detected by all the people, Numbers 10:2a.
      2. Undershepherds today must make God's truth clear so all of His people can understand it for their good, 1 Corinthians 14:8-9, 19.
    2. Leaders must convey the truth to subordinates for their security:
      1. Numbers 10:3 reveals the sounding of both trumpets signaled the whole assembly was to gather at the door of the tabernacle.
      2. Leaders must convey the truth to God's whole flock. (Acts 6:1-7)
    3. Leaders must convey the truth to other leaders for security purposes:
      1. If one trumpet sounded, only the leaders met, Numbers 10:4.
      2. Thus, there was to be communication among all the leaders in Israel so the people could be edified under them, Acts 15:1-29.
    4. Leaders must organize the efforts of the people for their security:
      1. Though God's cloud signaled the nation was to move (Numbers 9:15-17), the sounding of the trumpets told all Israel who was to move and when so the people could function in an orderly way (Numbers 10:5-6), something essential for individual welfare especially in group functions. (1 Corinthians 14:26, 27-32, 40)
      2. God thus wants leaders today to lead in an orderly manner.
    5. Leaders must faithfully hold office for the security of the people:
      1. Only the descendants of Aaron, the priests, were to signal Israel with these trumpets (Numbers 10:8a).
      2. Similarly, God's undershepherds today are constantly to hold their offices as undershepherds to provide stability in oversight authority for God's people, 1 Timothy 1:3-4; 4:16.
    6. Leaders must faithfully lead for the security of the people:
      1. The ministry of the priestly trumpet blowers was to be perpetually performed throughout Israel's history, Numbers 10:8b.
      2. Thus, God's undershepherds today must faithfully discharge their duties for the security of God's people, 2 Timothy 4:1-2, 3-5, 6-7.
    7. Leaders must publicly affirm God's leading for their security:
      1. Where the Pharaohs acknowledged their need for help from their false gods in blowing their trumpets, the true God directed Israel's priests to blow the trumpets for the true God's aid, Num. 10:7, 9.
      2. Once God blessed Israel, these trumpets were to be often blown in worship and thanksgiving to God (Num. 10:10), giving constant affirmation of God's oversight to provide security for the people.
Application: May we (1) trust in Christ to become a child of God, John 1:11-12. (2) If called of God to be an undershepherd, may we apply Numbers 10:1-10 to be effective undershepherds for the Lord in marriage, family, business, government and Church life.

Conclusion: (To illustrate the message . . . )

 The great importance of applying the truths of Numbers 10:1-10 for the security of God's people was dramatically illustrated by way of the article, "No One Reads the Bible Literally," by John Wilson, the editor of Books and Culture that appeared in The Wall Street Journal, p. A11 on August 19, 2011.

Mr. Wilson reported how Professor John Schneider was removed from his teaching post at Calvin College, an evangelical school, when, by NOT INTERPRETING Genesis 1-2 LITERALLY, he came to believe that God's use of evolution to create man meant "human ancestry can't be traced to a single couple, the Adam and Eve of the Genesis account" so "that the very notion of a fall from a primal state of beatitude must be false." (Ibid.)

However, if as the Professor believes Adam did NOT fall into sin, taking the whole human race with him, then Christ as the second Adam who saves man from sin as presented in 1 Corinthians 15:22 is a false idea, and Christianity is false! Calvin College's administrators did not want go there, so it ended Professor Schneider's employment!

However, the author of The Wall Street Journal article reporting this event still warned against reading Genesis 1-2 literally!

Nevertheless, what had cornered the administration of Calvin College into having to face this crisis was its FAILURE to CLARIFY that Genesis 1-2 be INTERPRETED LITERALLY! That failure left room for Professor Schneider to hold to "theistic evolution," the idea that God USED evolutionary processes to create man! Thus, when the Professor followed theistic evolution to its logical conclusion, he denied that Adam and Eve fell into sin as Genesis 3 claims, and that opened the door to deny the whole Christian faith!

Thus, if the administration at Calvin College had initially held to the CLEAR, LITERAL interpretation of Genesis 1-2, -- God's CLEAR truth, the first principle of undershepherding we noted in Numbers 10, they would have STOOD AGAINST theistic evolution and AVOIDED this whole CRISIS!

So, for YOUR SECURITY, we LEADERS at Nepaug Church AFFIRM the LITERAL INTERPRETATION of Genesis!

May we who lead people in any way heed the Numbers 10:1-10 principles on undershepherding for their security!