Numbers 21:4-8, John 14-15

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Hi there, my name is Tony Pittenger. I’m a pastor at Bethany Lutheran Church, School, Early Learning Center, way out in Port Orchard, Washington. Out on the West coast, Puget Sound, we’ve got a lot of beaches, and out on the beach you find pieces of driftwood. And I picked this one up. I’ve got a few others like it because it reminded me of a snake.

So I’ve been whittling at it. I’ve been sanding it a little bit, but I want it to keep looking like a snake. It’s even got a little knot there for the eye, which I thought was cool, but I like, I like my snake driftwood, for two reasons. One is back in the Old Testament, when the children of Israel were wandering through the wilderness. There came a point in time where venomous snakes were biting them and the venom was so poisonous, people were dying. And they came to Moses and asked Moses for help. Moses goes to God and asks for help. God told Moses to make a snake not out of wood, but out of bronze or brass, and put it up on a pole where everybody could see it. And if people would just look at it, they would be cured. (Numbers 21:4-8)

Well, if they looked at it and believed that this was how God would cure them. Now there’s no medicinal, there’s no antivenom properties to a wooden snake or a metal snake. But the people that believed that was God’s way of dealing with that venom, they were healed. They were cured.

Well, I said that there are two places, in the Bible, that, reason that I like my snake, my driftwood snake. The second is in John chapter three. Jesus is talking to a man named Nicodemus, and they’re talking about heaven, how to get there, and so on. And Jesus refers back to the Old Testament, and he says, just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so also the Son of Man must be lifted up, that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

And so my driftwood snake reminds me of Jesus as the cure, not the cure for snake venom or some other disease like that, but the cure for sin that God sent his Son Jesus, who would be lifted up on the cross. That whoever looked to him in faith, they’d look to him as this is God’s way of dealing with our sin, with our mortality, with our impending death, and in what should be a condemnation, eternal condemnation. That our Savior Jesus lifted up on the cross is how God will deal with that. So listen again to John chapter three. This is verse verses 14 and 15.

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. John 14-15

Well, my friends, believing in him, believing in Jesus as your Savior, you have eternal life as well. God bless and keep you. Amen.

Numbers 6:24-26

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Is there such a thing as good luck? We wish it to our friends as they run on to the sports field. We might say it when someone is going in for a test. Good luck! Of course, if you’re in the performance arts, you never say, good luck. It’s always “break a leg.” Is there such a thing as good luck?

Well, when we use that term, we’re trying to wish the people well. That they would succeed in whatever they’re about to do. But is it up to luck? What should we say if we truly want to see someone succeed? Maybe Moses and Aaron, give us some insight into that. Moses was instructed by God to tell Aaron to bless the people this way. In Numbers chapter six, we read.

The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you. The Lord look on you with favor and give you peace. (Numbers 6:24-26)

The Lord bless you. That’s wishing someone well. That’s wishing someone success. That they would have a good life. The Lord, bless you and keep you. The Lord, make his face shine upon you. Luck is this idea of chance that everything’s up to the roll of the dice. That’s actually not how our life works. Everything has been planned out. Everything is under the control of the one who created all things: the Lord.

So the Lord, bless you, the Lord, make his face shine upon you, that’s seeking the Lord’s blessings upon all of your efforts. That he would look on you with favor. And give you peace. To look on you with favor is to act graciously towards you. When we look at our lives and how we’ve performed by our own efforts, there’s certainly no reason why God would want to be kind to us, would want to shower his favor upon us. We’ve failed miserably. We’ve failed to be who God wants us to be. And instead of his favor. We deserve his wrath.

We deserve that he would punish us for the ways that we have sinned against him, the ways that we have failed him. But God looks on us with favor. Because he wants to bless us and his favor is most evident in the work that he has done through Jesus the Christ. He sent Jesus to take away all of our failings. So that we could be forgiven. And he sent Jesus to perform the way that God expected us to. Jesus came and he lived a perfect life. He satisfied every one of God’s commandments. His performance was perfect. Because he was perfect. God now smiles on you.

So if you want the Lord’s blessing, Jesus is where you find it. There you find the forgiveness of all your sins. There you find the righteousness that God demands. There you find the door to heaven. ‘Good luck,’ doesn’t even come close. The Lord bless you. That’s what you need. And may he give you his peace, amen.

Numbers 21:5-8, John 3:14-15

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Look up and live. That was a safety initiative when I was in high school in Australia. It was to raise awareness of overhead power lines. Look up and live. Especially for construction workers to be aware with heavy equipment of what’s above them. Those lines can kill you, so look up and live.

There’s a story in the Old Testament from when the people were traveling from Egypt to the promised land of Canaan. They grumbled against God. And so God sent venomous snakes into their camp. Many were bitten and died. The people then went to Moses and said we’ve sinned against God, can you pray to him to take the snakes away? God didn’t take the snakes away, but instead he instructed Moses to make a snake and put it up on a pole. And when anyone is bitten by the snakes, if they look to that bronze snake, they would live. Look up and live.

Jesus, when he was speaking to Nicodemus said this:

“Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:14-15

Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert Jesus had to be lifted up as well. He was lifted up on the cross bearing the sins of the whole world. So if you’ve been bitten by the snake, if you have sinned, and death is your destiny, God says to you “look up and live.” Look up at the one he lifted up on the cross to pay for your sins believe in him and you will be saved. You will live.

So throughout your earthly life sins going to bite you time and time again. You know the solution now. You can look up and live and know that God forgives you. And one day you will live with him forever in heaven. May each day of your life be filled with peace as you look up to Jesus and live. Amen.

What’s in a name? What’s in a name? That’s a famous question that’s asked in one of Shakespeare’s most famous plays Romeo and Juliet. The two young people in love are asking “what’s in a name” because their names, Montague and Capulet, are keeping them from being able to be married. Their families have been at war for generations and so in that name is hostility and division.

The Christian family of God can ask the same thing, what’s in a name? But when we’re talking about the Lord’s name the answer is far more gracious, far more gifting and good. When the Lord spoke to Moses he told Moses exactly what was in his name he said

Put my name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them. (Numbers 6:27)

When a family of God gathers together they call upon the name of the Lord because in that name the only name that saves us from sin and death is blessing and life. And so as the family of God, having gathered in the name of the Lord, having received his blessings, as they go their way again, we go away in that name.

So the servant of the Lord speaks on the people and he speaks the name for in that name is blessing the forgiveness of sins. And in it is the peace that neither our own name nor anything in the world could give to us peace and life everlasting.

Go your way in peace in the name of the Lord, amen.

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Numbers 19:23, Hebrews 13:8

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There are many products in our world today that change all the time. Cellphones for instance take your favorite model it seems like there’s a new one coming out every year. There are other products though that never change.

Think of a product like Coca-Cola. They haven’t changed their formula in 100 years. You might ask yourself: didn’t they ever try? They tried it, back in the eighties, and it was an utter failure as their customers were angry that they change the flavor of that most precious soft drink.

God’s word in some ways since like Coca-Cola. You can’t mess with perfection. God’s word is perfect in every way because it’s given to us by the perfect and holy God. And yet there’s many times where we would like to change God’s word. Have it say something different. Say God’s word is just too old fashioned to apply to the 21st century. Maybe change what God says about marriage or sexuality. To change what God says about creation or even murder. But if we change God’s word, it no longer is God’s word.

In Numbers chapter 23 verse 19. God says this:

God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind.

God does not change his mind. Nor does he change his word or his law. That should terrify us. That what God said 3000 years ago concerning his moral law still applies to us even today. But there is also comfort in the fact that God’s word doesn’t change.

In Hebrews chapter 13 verse 8 it says this:

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

Yes God’s law doesn’t change, but neither does his gospel. That Jesus Christ still forgive sins. That he forgives all who come to him, repenting, turning to him in faith he offers full and free forgiveness. Now and always. What a blessing it is to know that God’s word does not change. What a comfort for us, amen.