Numbers 27:1-11; 36 | Bold Expectation | Alex Culpepper

Church, you can open up your Bibles to numbers, chapter 27. Numbers 27 is where we're going to be spending our time this morning. And if you're new or visiting with us, one of my, our pattern on a Sunday morning is we work through a chunk of scripture together. And so if you don't have a Bible with you, we printed the passage that we're working out today. We printed it out in the handout that you received on your way in.

And so you can follow along with us. If you don't have your Bible, we want you to be able to follow along with us so that you can hold on to that scripture passage, take it home with you. And this is God's word for us. Right. We believe that God's word is useful and helpful.

And so today we're going to consider one of the most overlooked stories in all of scripture. So have you ever been surprised perhaps by the faith filled boldness of a person that you overlooked? Right. I want you to think back on, maybe there's some person in your life, some person in your history, and you would have tended to overlook them. But then something about their faith kind of caught you off guard.

It surprised you as you think about that. I just want to draw this to our attention this morning.

If indeed. There we go. There. The boldest faith. There we go.

The boldest faith is often displayed in those you least expect. Now, if you haven't seen what I'm talking about, I just want to let you know you can take the opportunity to go serve in children's ministry. Right. Talk to me or talk to Lisa d'. Amelio.

After our service today, we would love to sign you up to help in children's ministry because all the time I find that kids are grasping things in ways, ideas about who God is and faith in ways actually much better than most adults. It's interesting. I was at Horizon this week for A Crossroads and one of the teachers came up and started a conversation with me and he was just like he was struck at. So kids, kids really engage with these ideas of faith. And I didn't say this at the time, but I was kind of thinking, actually, yeah, they get it better than most adults do.

Like you would be surprised. And so I've been in rooms like before with kids and adults together and we're talking about God and faith. And there are times when, you know, I'm going to be honest, I have heard kids say some pretty off the wall things. So that's there. But I also have heard kids express some of the most bold, faith filled ideas that I have come across.

I've heard kids articulate the simplicity of the gospel in ways that many adults struggle to grasp. So ideas like I'm in a room with a bunch of kids and adults and we're talking about Jesus. What does it mean to follow Jesus? And a kid pipes up and says, you know, well, I follow Jesus because he loved me perfectly and he died for me. Oh, well, that's super simple, right?

Like that, you know, or like, well, Jesus gave everything for me. How could I not give everything back to him, right? Like, and it's just that it occurs like that. I've actually, I've watched kids have clarity of discernment in a way that most adults don't have. Right.

I've heard kids unprompted by adults, kind of listen to people talk about their spirituality and discern that, that those people were not talking about the God of the Bible. Right? Like, I've seen kids who have encountered the idea of like praying to the universe and immediately those kids are able to determine that, oh, that's not the same thing as praying to God. So it's striking. The reason I talk about overlooked faith or people who we are prone to overlook having profound faith is that we are starting a new series today called Pursuing God's Call.

So as we look at the story of the Israelites, we've been talking about how God is bringing them into a land. We did this whole warning series, warnings in the wilderness and all of this stuff. And in the midst of that, in the midst of their wanderings, we saw God call out significant sin and that their sin actually got them in quite a bit of trouble when they were in the wilderness, the people of Israel, and they are heading towards the promised land. And the nature of the stories in the Book of Numbers and then into Deuteronomy, the nature of the stories shift here from. From warnings about particular sins to more of a preparation for God's people to take hold of what he's promised them, right?

That he's now shaping, informing them. We've gone through the ages of people disobeying the Lord and obviously there's still gonna be a lot of disobedience to the Lord. Right? We're gonna be frank about that. But right now in this season, the people are actually like on the precipice of going into the land.

And there's a bunch of stories that key us into how God is preparing and, and some ideas that God has about what it means to Pursue him into what he's promised. And that's why I put this verse up here. Ephesians 4. 1. This is the Apostle Paul telling us, I, therefore a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called.

So the Apostle Paul is a guy who planted a bunch of churches throughout the Roman Empire, right? He started churches, he proclaimed the gospel. He got groups of Christians together, they started spending doing life together, right? And there he raised up leaders among those people. And he writes this letter to a church that he planted in the city of Ephesus, and he issues this call to people who are believing and following Jesus.

I just want to be clear. Sometimes people get confusing or confused about this verse or this passage. When you read that word calling to which you have been called, we can misconstrue that as like, oh, that there are like a special group of people who God has given like, a very like, call to, like the specific call, right? Like a call to ministry or something like that. And actually, this is not about people generally.

This is. Or, sorry, this is not about specific callings, but this is about God's people, all of God's people and the calling that we've received in Jesus, right? This is a calling that belongs to every Jesus follower. That calling is that, hey, we have believed on the name of the Lord Jesus, the name that is above every name, that we are to receive a prayer, promised inheritance because of what Jesus has done for us, that we have been saved by grace through faith, that we've been set free from the wickedness of the world and transferred into God's kingdom, that we've been created anew as new beings in Christ for good works that he's prepared for us beforehand. And so the idea that Paul has built up to chapter four is that Jesus is expanding the influences of his kingdom through, through his body, the church, as we walk in step with Him.

So this is a calling that doesn't belong to people who are just called to ministry. This is a calling that belongs to everybody. And so when Paul says, I urge you to walk in a manner worthy, he's not saying, well, you have to earn this calling. That's not the idea. He's actually saying, you need to walk in a way that suits what Christ has done for you.

You need to walk in a way suitable to the things that Christ has done. If you really believe that Christ is king, if you really believe in the new life that he's giving you, if you really believe that he's inviting others to believe in him and follow Him. You should live in a way that suits those beliefs. That's what he's saying. Walk in a manner worthy.

Walk as if you say what you say you believe is actually true. And so here's the thing. In Christ, God has called us to Himself, to know him, to love him, draw near to him, and find that he is the place where our hearts rest. And out of that place of nearness that God calls us to, he then plans on overflowing through that and through us into the lives of others. This is what it is to just live the Christian life.

We draw near to God and He reveals his love to us. We set and rest in that place of nearness, and he overflows through us into the lives of others. Now, why do I point all of that out? Because the thing that Israel is pursuing is different than the thing that we're pursuing. They're pursuing a specific land and a specific promise that God has given them.

God has given us a specific promise to. He's given us a specific calling. And so in these remaining details, before Israel enters into the promised land, there are principles that God is using to prepare his people. And these principles and the stories that we encounter, they reveal how he wants his people to pursue Him. Right?

Those principles understand significant aspects and wisdom for how God would desire us to pursue the kingdom calling that we've been given. And so this series is an opportunity for us to dig out what are some core principles of how God desires His people to pursue Him. And so, real quick, before I do anything else, I just want to draw to your attention one thing. We have a little counter out there with a bunch of pictures above it. It's on one of the walls out in the hallway just outside of the sanctuary.

There are a bunch of books that are on that little counter. And this is AW Tozer, the Pursuit of God. This is a classic in Christian literature. And if you've never had the chance to read this, we're giving these away free out there in the hallway. Please take one.

Please read it if you haven't read it, or if you already. Sorry. If you have read it, I just encourage you to read it again. I might read it two or three times over the course of this series because the details here are really helpful companion to what we're doing as we examine how God would desire us to pursue Him. And so we're in the book of numbers, Numbers 27, Verse 1, then drew near the daughters of Zelophehad, right So they're coming near to Moses, the daughters of Zelophehad, the son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, from the clans of Manasseh, the son of Joseph.

The names of his daughters were. So the names of the daughters of Zelophehad were Mala, Noah, Hogla, Milka, and Tirzah. So lots of names here, right? Lots of generations. But let me kind of set the stage and unpack what is why this information is being made available to us right now.

So, so there are 12 tribes of Israel because Jacob, whose name was changed to Israel, right? So Jacob had 12 sons. And one of Jacob's 12 sons, Joseph, had a very colorful coat, right? And also his brothers did not like him very much. And so his 11 brothers, they sold him into slavery.

They betrayed him. And so Joseph then years later, works his way from being a slave up in the land of Egypt to being the second in command in the land of Egypt, right? That's what happens to Joseph. And so his brothers and his dad are back in their land. His dad thinks that Joseph is dead.

His 11 brothers betrayed him. They've completely forgotten about him. And then in their land, well over the whole area of the Middle east or the ancient near east, there comes a famine. And nobody, Everybody's worried, like, how are we going to get the food that we need? And so Jacob and his sons, they're like, well, maybe we should talk to the people in Egypt.

And so they go to Egypt and they don't know that they're getting ready to talk to their brother. These 11 brothers are getting ready to talk to their brother, but they have to go and they have to ask their brother for food, and they don't know that it's him. And then there's this whole story where he tricks them, and then they figure out that it's him, and. And all of that comes around. But essentially what happens is that Joseph, one of Jacob's 12 sons, ends up blessing the rest of his family by providing for them in the midst of famine.

And because of this blessing that he extended, Joseph received from his father a double portion of his father's blessing, which means that there were 11 tribes or 11 sons of Jacob. Each of those 11 sons was going to be promised a portion of land in the land of Israel. The land was going to be equally divided between the 12 sons, right? But what Jacob's blessing for Joseph does is that Joseph gets a double portion. So Joseph has two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh and those two sons are going to each get their own portion of land in the land of Israel or the descendants of those sons.

So Zelophehad, right? This is all context for why we're talking about this guy Zelophehad. Zelophehad is a 400 year descendant from Manasseh, who is the son of Joseph. And Zelophehad would be entitled to a piece of land that is a part of the tribe of Manasseh. And now, as I'm talking about some of these details, I started this sermon by telling you this is one of the most overlooked stories in all of Scripture.

And you're going, yeah, I understand why it's one of the most overlooked stories in all of scripture. Right? Because there are all of these details. And I just want to tell you, don't fall asleep yet, because it gets much more interesting from here. So Zelophehad has five daughters, and they're now approaching Moses.

They've been named in Scripture, right? So if we know somebody's name in Scripture, that's really significant, right? Their names have been recorded so that we who are here 3500 years later can know their names and their story. So verse two says this. They stood before Moses and before Eleazar the priest, and before the chiefs and all the congregation at the entrance of the tent of meeting saying, so these five women are approaching what is functionally in the land of Israel, the Supreme Court.

Right? They're going to stand before the Supreme Court. Right. This is a high pressure situation, right? And so whatever else happens after this, you have got to know that these women have guts, Right?

They are. There's like just a lot of intestinal fortitude here. Right? Okay, so verse three, our father died in the wilderness. Okay, well, big deal.

Remember, lots of people's parents were supposed to die in the wilderness, right? A whole generation had to die in the wilderness before the people of Israel could go into the land that they were promised. So our father died in the wilderness. He was not among the company of those who gathered themselves together against the Lord in the company of Korah. Remember the guy Korah, he set up a rebellion.

He was rebelling against Moses. Moses reminds him, well, actually, Korah, it's not just me you're rebelling against. You're rebelling against the Lord as well. So he was not. Our father was not a member of that company, but he died for his own sin.

So what they essentially say here is that, hey, dad, our dad, he didn't die as an outright rebel against all that we're doing here. But I want you to notice how astute these women are, because they know that even though Korah gathered against Moses, they remember that they didn't just gather against Moses, they gathered against the Lord. And in fact, that's what they say. They issue their agreement with the truth that the Lord had already said, that Moses had already said they rebelled against the Lord. Right?

That's what happened to Korah. Okay, so they're aware of that. But then the second thing they realize is that they see that even though their dad wasn't a rebel, that he did waste away in the wilderness like all of the other parents because of their sin of unbelief. Right? And so these daughters are being very honest and very clear about the sin of their father.

They don't shy away from the reality of the sin of their father. And so we're going to be talking this morning about bold faith. But I want you to see kind of the first principle or idea of bold faith here this morning. And it is this bold faith is unafraid of the clear truth. If you are going to be faith filled, if you are going to walk with God, you cannot afford to hide from the truth.

God is like just all about getting us to agree with him, right? When we're told to confess things in scripture, the whole idea of confession is simply that we would agree with God. We would say what God already is saying. And so if there are things about our lives or if there is sin, or if there are circumstances that we are afraid to admit or realize, the thing is that the fear of the truth is going to seriously impede our faith and it will limit what God can do in and through us. Right?

So bold faith is unafraid of the clear truth. And the beautiful thing about what these women are saying is that it all agrees with things that God has already said, right? Every other person, when we look at the Book of Numbers and it says X, Y or Z person approached Moses. How does that normally go? Like, what kinds of things are they normally saying?

Well, you see duplicitous motives in the people who approach Moses. You see people who just aren't really seeing the situation, right? They don't have God's perspective. You see people who are avoiding responsibility. But.

But these women come to Moses and they are here to speak honestly and frankly, right? They agree with God. They don't hide the truth about their dad. They honor the things that God has made abundantly clear in the past. So what Else.

So he died a sinner with the rest of the parents in the wilderness, right? And he had no sons. So every dad who died in the wilderness had kids. Right. Because they're a dad.

Right. That makes sense. When Israel takes the land, what will happen is that the tribes will divvy up the land, right? So Manasseh, right? The Manasseh is a lot a chunk of the land of Israel or the Promised Land that they're going to take.

That land that they're allotted is going to be divvied up among all the heads of households in the tribe of Manasseh, right? So they'll split it up. And so if the dads had sons, there would be nothing to worry about because when they get in the land, those sons will be considered when the land gets divvied up. But in this particular society, women are not allotted land. Now, you may say, well, that's, you know, that's patriarchal, and.

Well, it is patriarchal. That's true. But we cannot import our kind of modern understanding of the way things should be back onto Scripture, right? So we just need to be very careful of that. So women, they're not allotted land because women are to be either number one cared for by their fathers, or number two will be married to a husband who has land, right.

And wealth. And that's kind of how the framework works in this society. And so this is a problem. He doesn't have a son. And verse four says, why should the name of our father be taken away from his clan?

Because he had no son give to us a possession among our fathers, brothers. So what appears to be happening on the surface, the primary issue here seems to be the honoring of their dad, right? And that is definitely key, right? They do want to honor the name of their father when they get into the land. If land laws stay as they are right now, when they arrive, they as daughters would not be allotted any land, and their father's name would essentially be erased from history.

Right. It wouldn't exist. Their father's name would not stand in history anymore because he did not have sons. But I want you to know that even though on the surface that's what appears to be the primary issue, the primary issue is actually something more significant. Even more significant here is that these five daughters are honoring the Lord's word.

They are honoring God. What they are saying is that Yahweh made a promise to our dad of an allotment of land that would belong to him and his descendants. And because he is a son of Manasseh, right? So Yahweh made a promise, through Joseph's or through Jacob's blessing over Joseph, that Manasseh would have a whole portion of land. And because Yahweh made that promise to Manasseh, and because Yahweh, every promise that Yahweh makes is true and reliable.

All of that is true, right? But when we get there, if we don't get our father's land, then Yahweh will be shown to be a liar. If Yahweh's land does not come to us, then he will be shown to be a liar. But since we know that Yahweh is always true to his promise and he made a promise to our Father and that land should come to us, right? If Yahweh is true, then the land should come to us.

And so the next thing that I want us to see about bold faith is that bold faith holds God to his word by acting on his word. That's what these women display. They come to Moses and they say, hey, this should be. This should belong to us. Because Yahweh, he keeps every promise that he makes.

And so why haven't we seen. Why haven't we seen this kind of situation yet in Israel, right? And what I mean is, why haven't we seen people come to Moses with this kind of faith, right? Nobody is ever coming to Moses and say, listen, Yahweh said, Moses is always having to remind the people what Yahweh said, but rarely are people ever reminding him of what Yahweh said. Every time people are approaching Moses, it's in opposition to God's word.

But these women, they so believe God's word that they're willing to stand before the Tent of Meeting, right before God and before the Supreme Court to argue their case. They know God's Word and they know it so well that they fully expect God will come through on his word, right? Remember this whole thing about, well, there's giants in the land and maybe we won't make it, and, you know, it's going to be very difficult and there are big fortresses in there of stuff to worry about. And these women are like, no, we're getting the land. There's no question in their mind that they're getting the land.

And so they are here. And they know in their heart of hearts that God's promises are true and reliable. And that's what they come to make their request for. God made a promise to our dad, and we want you, Moses, to ensure that that promise stays true. And so Moses goes, oh, good point.

Let me go talk to the Lord about this. Moses brought their case before the Lord.

And the Lord said to Moses, the daughters of Zelophehad are right. Like, what an affirmation, What a gift. Like, God sees their faith and he sees His Word, and he connects all of these pieces. And so he says, you shall give them possession of an inheritance among their father's brothers and transfer the inheritance of their father to them. So how many of you know when you hold God to His Word?

We, with an undivided heart, God comes through, right? God says, you're right because of their faith, what happens? And we're not going to go through all the details of this, but what happens is that written into the law of Moses are two addendums to inheritance law, right? Two additional categories to think through when you're thinking through inheritance stuff. And so the first one is in verses 8 to 11, and it answers this question, well, what if an Israelite man has no son?

Right? We're not going to go through that and explain it because it doesn't really serve our purposes here. But the second addendum. So this is in chapter 27, the second addendum. There's a bunch of texts in between here and the end of the Book of Numbers.

And the second addendum comes in numbers 36. And so if you would turn with me there to numbers 36, that would be really helpful. Numbers 36 is the last chapter in the Book of Numbers. And so this is the last thing if Numbers has to say anything to the people of Israel. Like, this is the very last thing that the Book of Numbers has to say.

It's the conclusion of their wilderness story, right? Deuteronomy comes after this. Moses re articulates the law to them, right? But that's like law code, right? Deuteronomy is mostly centered around what is the law.

But Numbers is ending this kind of narrative portion of their journey, and they're standing on the precipice of the land. And who makes an appearance in kind of this moment before they step in. But the daughters of Zelophehad, right? They're back. We're hearing about their story again.

What happens is that there's an additional addendum written down to ensure that the land stays within the tribe of Manasseh. Again, we're not going to go through all the details, but the law is that essentially what they figure out is that the daughters of Zelophehad need to Marry someone from within the tribe of Manasseh, Right? Because if God's promise to Manasseh is going to stay true, and they were to marry, say, somebody from the tribe of Judah, right? If they marry somebody from the tribe of Judah, then what would happen is that their land, which is supposed to belong to Manasseh, would transfer to Judah. It would complicate all of the inheritance law.

It would complicate, you know, who has what portion of land where. And so they make an additional law to say the daughters of Zelophehad need to marry within their tribe. They need to marry within the tribe of Manasseh. And so God made a promise, right? And again, his people are just sticking to this promise that God made to Manasseh.

These are. And then it says this in verses 10 through 12, these are essentially the last words of the Book of Numbers, which is like, just think like, if you have like the last thing to say, you want your last words to be profound, right? Why end with this weird story about like addendums to the law? But this is what it says in verse 10. The daughters of Zelophehad did as the Lord commanded.

Moses. How often do you read those words in the Book of Numbers that anybody did as the Lord commanded? Moses. But the daughters of Zelophehad did as the Lord commanded. Moses.

Why in the world are these women the last people besides Moses? Right. Moses name comes in at the end here, right? But these are the last people that we hear about in the Book of Numbers. What has the story of numbers been?

People who didn't believe the Lord, people who didn't do what the Lord said, people who rebelled against the Lord, people who don't take the Lord at His word. And even Moses and Aaron, they failed to honor the Lord as holy. But these women show quite a different story. And I think what God is doing by putting this at the end of the Book of Numbers as he's saying, look at the example that these women are setting. Look at the faith that they're displaying.

And so our main point this morning is this. God honors those who live in expectation. His promises. These five women, what they do is they just like they believe God and they do what he says, right? They take God at His word and they obey his commands, right?

And they fully like when they step, they fully expect that God is going to come through on his promises. And so they waste no time in being quick to obedience. And so, so what?

Pursuing God's call means seeking the kingdom. So remember what I said we have a different focus than the people of Israel had, right? God is not giving us a land, right? God is not giving us, like, prosperity and wholeness, right? Like that's our focus is different.

Matthew 6:33. Nathan, read it for us at the opening of the service this morning. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. We're going to explore exactly what this means and what this looks like more deeply over the next five weeks. But all of the promises and the inheritances that God is now extending it all for us has to do with our King Jesus, right?

And our King Jesus has a kingdom. He's sitting on his throne. He is the name above every name. He's interceding to the Father for us by his blood that we could be reconciled to the Father and that His Spirit could live into us and that we could draw near to our Creator and know him intimately. And from that place we can participate.

And then extending his rule and reign into every nook and cranny of our lives, and then into our households and into our relationships and into our neighborhoods and our workplaces, and then to the ends of the earth. This is the idea of what it looks like to seek first the kingdom, that all of God's influence would come about. And so Jesus promise is that if we set ourselves to, like, faithfulness to the task of seeking the kingdom, then we won't have anything to worry about in terms of food or clothing or security, because he's going to make sure that we have exactly what we need to keep doing the thing that we do as we seek the kingdom. And so God wants us to get after what he wants, and he provides for us in the process. So as we talk about pursuing God, this is what we're talking about as New Testament Christians.

Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. And these things will be added to you. But then from this story, the final so what I want us to get is that people look at the outside. God looks at the heart, right? These five women, these daughters are essentially orphaned, right?

They don't have their dad. And there are 600,000 people in Israel. Why do we know their names? Because man looks at the outside, but God looks at the heart.

I try and I would desire for us as a people to just try living in a place of expecting that God always has more that he wants to do, right? Like, until Jesus arrives, we have never arrived at the kingdom. And if we have not arrived at the kingdom, there is yet more that Jesus wants to do in our lives or through our lives. So Jesus is already on the throne right in heaven. But there are always some not yet realities here on earth, which means that we will always, until Jesus returns, have something else to get after when we pursue the Lord.

So would you live in the place of believing, of having the faith, the expectation that wherever you are at today, God has something newer and something deeper that he wants to do right? That he has some aspect of your heart that he hasn't gotten a hold of yet, that he wants to get ahold of, that he has some gift that he desires to impart to you, or some risk that he wants you to take, or some area of your life that doesn't come quite yet belong that he wants to take hold of, or some barrier in your soul that he wants to break down, or some people that he wants to impact through you? Would you have the bold expectation to ask God what would happen if you got your way in my life? Would you just have the faith to ask him the question and then take the next step and see how God responds through the process?