With respect to their personal characteristics, the only one of Jesus’ original 12 disciples we think of is Peter, right? Impetuous, a “ready-fire-aim” sort of guy, yes? How do we think about John? Do we tend to remember John the way we wrote about himself in his Gospel and in 1, 2, and 3 John? The disciple of love?

The elder to the elect lady and her children, whom I love in truth, and not only I, but also all who know the truth… (2 John 1.1, ESV)

The elder to the beloved Gaius, whom I love in truth. Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul. For I rejoiced greatly when the brothers came and testified to your truth, as indeed you are walking in the truth. I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth. (3 John 1.1 – 4, ESV)

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. (1 John 4.7, 8, ESV)

One of his disciples, whom Jesus loved, was reclining at table at Jesus’ side… (John 13.23, ESV)

Why don’t we remember this John?

• One of the “Sons of Thunder”

James, son of Zebedee, John, brother of James (Jesus nicknamed the Zebedee brothers Boanerges, meaning “Sons of Thunder”) (Mark 3.17, MSG)

• Vitriolic, violent John

When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. And he sent messengers ahead of him, who went and entered a village of the Samaritans, to make preparations for him. But the people did not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem. And when his disciples James and John saw it, they said, “Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” (Luke 9.51 – 54, ESV)

• Ambitious, prideful John

And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came up to him and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” And he said to them, “What do you want me to do for you?” And they said to him, “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.” …And when the ten heard it, they began to be indignant at James and John. (Mark 10.35 – 37, 41, ESV)

We have here an example of growth and transformation. Jesus loves and accepts us the way we are, but he doesn’t want to leave us that way. John’s life in his later years seemed to show the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, self-control – none of which was evident when he was a “Son of Thunder” ready to call down fire on Jesus’ enemies or wanting to be the future #1 guy.

That should give us all hope.

…to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness…Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. (Ephesians 4.22 – 24, 31 – 32, ESV)

Jesus was a maverick according to Seth Godin’s definition from his blog of August 26, 2003. It’s short and worth the read in its entirety. Here are some highlights:

The maverick isn’t the selfish gunslinger of myth. In fact, she’s focused on resilient, useful interactions that change what we expect, pushing back against the inertia of gobbledygook and bureaucracy. [Was there any more “gobbledygook and bureaucracy” anywhere than in the religious systems Jesus was up against in his day?]

Some principles to keep in mind:

• Hustle is rarely the most useful action. Systems are built to resist short-term hurried effort. But patient, persistent and focused effort can pay off.
• Solo quests make good Westerns or legends, but almost all systems change is the result of teams of people, organized and connected in service of the longer goal.
• Change begins with the smallest viable audience, not the largest possible one.

Sounds like Jesus to me! “…patient, persistent and focused effort,” “teams of people,” and my favorite: “Change begins with the smallest viable audience, not the largest possible one.” I just wrote that we would be better served by “smaller and slower” rather than “bigger and faster.”

Some went so far as wanting to arrest him, but no one laid a hand on him. That’s when the Temple police reported back to the high priests and Pharisees, who demanded, “Why didn’t you bring him with you?” The police answered, “Have you heard the way he talks? We’ve never heard anyone speak like this man.” The Pharisees said, “Are you carried away like the rest of the rabble? You don’t see any of the leaders believing in him, do you? Or any from the Pharisees? It’s only this crowd, ignorant of God’s Law, that is taken in by him—and damned.” (John 7.44 – 49, MSG)

And when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city authorities, shouting, “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also…” (Acts 17.6, ESV)

This falls under the heading of, “I think we’ve discovered something and want to share it with you.” See what you think…

June is a list-maker and lives by a schedule that she keeps on paper. For years (decades), she has used the 2-page per day DayTimer in the 3.5″ x 6.5″ size. At the beginning of each month, there is a 2-page display where she can write in all her scheduled appointments for the month.

Lately, June has been looking at all those appointments for the month and feeling over-scheduled. But she solved it! How, you ask? We went to the office supply store and bought an 8.5 x 11 calendar. She doesn’t carry the mini-calendar around anymore, and she realized that she could just as easily use a larger one. The new calendar has two pages per week and, as above, a two-page spread for the month. But instead of a 6.5″ long x 7″ wide display, she now has a display that’s 11″ long and 17″ wide! (Mathematically, over 4 times larger!)

I can’t believe how much freer I feel! – June, with a new calendar

And the new calendar has the same appointments in it, copied from the old calendar. Truly, the medium is the message.

Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time… (Ephesians 5.15, 16, ESV)

We come to another sad chapter: Numbers 20. We already know that only 2 of the 600,000+ men who left in the Exodus will go into the Promised Land (Numbers 13 and 14). Now Moses himself is tripped up in the second “water from the rock” incident. The first is back in Exodus 17:

• Exodus 14: Red Sea Crossing
• Exodus 15: Celebrating with singing
• Exodus 16: Manna
• Exodus 17: Water from the rock: strike the rock

Now in Numbers 20, the instruction changes: “Speak to the rock.”

Then Moses and Aaron came in from the presence of the assembly to the doorway of the tent of meeting and fell on their faces. Then the glory of Yahweh appeared to them; and Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, “Take the rod; and you and your brother Aaron assemble the congregation and speak to the rock before their eyes, that it may yield its water. You shall thus bring forth water for them out of the rock and let the congregation and their beasts drink.” So Moses took the rod from before Yahweh, just as He had commanded him; and Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly before the rock. And he said to them, “Listen now, you rebels; shall we bring forth water for you out of this rock?” Then Moses raised high his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod; and water came forth abundantly, and the congregation and their beasts drank. (Numbers 20.6 – 11, LSB, emphasis mine)

There are a few obvious lessons:

• Don’t operate out of anger
• Don’t assume that the rules don’t change
• Don’t forget where the power is: “Shall WE bring forth water…”

The New Testament emphasizes that we are to learn from these experiences recorded in the Pentateuch:

For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea; and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea; and all ate the same spiritual food; and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them, and the rock was Christ. (1 Corinthians 10.1 – 4, LSB)

That’s the way it was supposed to work.

However,

Nevertheless, with most of them God was not well-pleased. For THEY WERE STRUCK DOWN IN THE WILDERNESS. Now these things happened as examples for us, so that…

• we would not crave evil things as they also craved.
• Do not be idolaters, as some of them were. As it is written, “THE PEOPLE SAT DOWN TO EAT AND DRINK, AND STOOD UP TO PLAY.”
• Nor let us act in sexual immorality, as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in one day.
• Nor let us put Christ to the test, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the serpents.
• Nor grumble, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer. (1 Corinthians 10.5 – 10, LSB, bulleted for clarity)

Some of this stuff in the Pentateuch is as relevant as it gets!

Miriam dies at the beginning of Numbers 20; Aaron, at the end. And Moses finds out that he will die before going into the Promised Land:

And the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not believe in me, to uphold me as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them.” (Numbers 20.12, ESV)

As my friend Fisher DeBerry, former head football coach of the Air Force Academy, used to say:

You’re only as good as your last play.

Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3.12 – 14, ESV)

I keep trying to explain the difference between relational disciple-making and the way church is usually done. Maybe it’s this:

Churches usually want to do it bigger and faster instead of smaller and slower.

You can’t mass-produce disciples any more than you can make pianists by taking people to concerts.

And he went up on the mountain and called to him those whom he desired, and they came to him. And he appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles) so that they might be with him and he might send them out to preach and have authority to cast out demons. He appointed the twelve… (Mark 3.13 – 16, ESV)

After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. (John 6.66, ESV)

I was going to skip over Numbers 15 – 19 except for the tassels, but chapter 16 brought me up short.

Now Korah the son of Izhar, son of Kohath, son of Levi, and Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, and On the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took men. And they rose up before Moses, with a number of the people of Israel, 250 chiefs of the congregation, chosen from the assembly, well-known men. They assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron and said to them, “You have gone too far! For all in the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the LORD?” (Numbers 16.1 – 13, ESV)

It sounds so holy, so pious: “All in the congregation are holy…and the LORD is among them.”

The problem is that in a church or even in an organization like The Navigators some of us might be tempted to challenge the leadership: “After all, we are all holy, and the LORD is among us all!” However,

Just because the LORD is among us doesn’t mean we’re in charge.

The pastor and elder team are in charge. In The Navigators, our president and his leadership team are in charge.

God takes a dim view of rebellion. Korah and his co-conspirators didn’t live to see the end of the chapter.

I was just talking with an associate pastor who told me their church leadership had to discipline one of their popular lay Bible teachers. For what? Undermining church leadership. I’m sure his language modeled Korah’s. “The Lord speaks to me as much as he speaks to you!” Except…you’re not in charge.

Be responsive to your pastoral leaders. Listen to their counsel. They are alert to the condition of your lives and work under the strict supervision of God. Contribute to the joy of their leadership, not its drudgery. Why would you want to make things harder for them? (Hebrews 13.17, MSG)

Every week I receive an article about current culture from Collin Garbarino of World Magazine. We exchange emails from time to time. Recently, he closed an article with this sentence:

It’s not just missionaries who have to learn the culture and language of the people they want to reach. – Collin Garbarino, World Magazine

It’s a good sentence, encouraging us to stay up on what’s going on around us so that we can relate to all kinds of people. I commended him for the sentence but suggested:

I think that sentence would be improved if we inserted the word “professional” before missionaries. We’re all missionaries.

He agreed and so stated in his next weekly article. Then he told me in an email:

You might be interested to know that one of my readers wrote to complain about your idea that we’re all missionaries. She’s a professional missionary in the Middle East, and she only wants the word to apply to people living overseas.

To which I fired off this mild tirade:

Re the lady overseas, it’s precisely that attitude that limits the number of people on mission, regardless of what you call them. As long as people think there’s a hierarchy:

• Foreign missionaries
• Domestic missionaries / Pastors
• Everyone else

The “everyone else” are content to let the paid professionals do the work. I don’t know your writer, of course, but I’d bet real money that her ministry does NOT involve investing in people so that they can do what she does. I tried to motivate some missionaries once to not only do their job but also invest in individual people in the city they were serving. Most of them didn’t get it.

Once in Haiti, there were a group of Canadians who were there for a month on a short-term work-project mission. They were very sad to leave and go back home and didn’t understand that it’s wonderful to go to Haiti and do a work project for 4 weeks, but what about the other 48 weeks?

This is a non-trivial subject that you can tell I’m very exercised about.

Collin shared with me how he responded to the missionary lady (much kinder than my tirade but right on point):

I wrote to her saying that I believed that if more Christians considered themselves missionaries at home, then there would be more zeal for the gospel. And more zeal for the gospel would lead to more Christians going overseas to become missionaries abroad.

Well said. I wrote about this recently in the story of the great “missionary” hymn “So Send I You,” written by…wait for it…a schoolteacher who learned that her mission field was where she was.

Paul said it:

And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others. (2 Timothy 2.2, NIV)

I like to add: 2 Timothy 2.2…

• It’s so easy, anyone can do it…even lay people.
• It’s so important, everyone must do it…even Christian professionals.

The Hand Illustration? Bob, didn’t we just have that before Labor Day? Two of them, in fact? Yes and no. Those were “Prayer” hands. THE Navigator Hand Illustration is about the Word:

Let me walk you through it. There are five ways to intake God’s Word, and we should use all five. Note that the picture shows a hand holding the Bible. If we want a firm grip on the literal book, we would do well to use all five fingers, especially the thumb which provides the grip. The thumb represents meditate (Psalm 1.2, 3), which should be used in conjunction with all the other methods.:

• Hear, represented by the little finger. (Romans 10.17) It’s the smallest and weakest method. We just don’t remember much of what we hear. But, as I told the folks Sunday, if you’re going to be at church anyway, you might as well pay attention to the sermon! That’s why I take notes, not necessarily because I’ll look at them again, but taking notes helps me pay attention.
• Read, represented by the fourth finger. (Revelation 1.3) Reading is the discipline we’re pushing when we’re talking about Daily Time with God or the 5x5x5 New Testament Reading Plan. It’s been said that if we remember 5% of what we hear, we remember 15% of what we read. Again, we want to meditate on we read and hear!
• Study, represented by the middle, strongest finger. (Acts 17.11) Bible study is spending more time on a shorter portion, say a chapter or part of a chapter. Some estimate that we might remember 35% of what we study. But don’t forget to meditate for application!

But if you just use my words in Bible studies and don’t work them into your life, you are like a stupid carpenter who built his house on the sandy beach. When a storm rolled in and the waves came up, it collapsed like a house of cards. (Matthew 7.26, 27, MSG)

• Memorize, represented by “tip of the tongue” first finger. (Psalm 119.9 – 11) It goes without saying (but I’ll say it anyway), we remember 100% of what we memorize! And the purpose of scripture memory is have it in our minds so we can meditate “day and night.” I wrote about scripture memory back in 2019 capturing Max Barnett’s methods and this motivation:

Whenever I’m around the old Navigators, like Max, they all say the same thing when asked something like, “Why are you still following Jesus and making disciples in your old age?” They always say, “Quiet time and scripture memory.” In my book Live the Adventure, I tell about Navigators Skip and Buzzie Gray, now in their late 80s, and Jerry White, now in his late 70s saying that very thing. Well-known author Dallas Willard wrote that if he were limited to one discipline, it would be scripture memory. [Skip Gray and Dallas Willard are now with the Lord.]

There it is, The Hand Illustration. It takes just a few minutes to learn and teach, and it’s worth putting into practice.

Your words were found, and I ate them, And Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart; For I am called by Your name, O LORD God of hosts. (Jeremiah 15.16, NKJV)

But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’ ” (Matthew 4.4, NKJV)

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that after the Israelites’ failure to enter the Promised Land in Numbers 13 and 14, Numbers chapters 15 through 19 are largely filled with more legal details along with rebellion. One of the more interesting rules is the tassels:

The LORD said to Moses, “Speak to the people of Israel, and tell them to make tassels on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and to put a cord of blue on the tassel of each corner. And it shall be a tassel for you to look at and remember all the commandments of the LORD, to do them, not to follow after your own heart and your own eyes, which you are inclined to whore after. So you shall remember and do all my commandments, and be holy to your God. I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God: I am the LORD your God.” (Numbers 15.37 – 41, ESV)

It’s not a bad practice: something to remind you of the commandments and “not to follow after your own heart and your own eyes…” Which is exactly what they did in Numbers 13 and 14. Scripture memory could be a modern application. I can memorize verses to help me remember God’s Word and keep my focus on him.

That said, I think it’s interesting that the only mention of tassels after this is when Jesus was criticizing the Pharisees:

They do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make…their fringes long,… (Matthew 23.5, ESV)

I’m pretty sure no one was concerned about tassels when they were fighting their way into the Promised Land in Joshua’s day.

The point is, when we lose our mission, we often default to in-fighting about leadership (see Numbers 16) or arguments about the color of the church carpet or choir robes.

Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel. (Philippians 1.27, ESV)

We move to one of the saddest stories in the Bible: the failure of the Israelites to go into the Promised Land. It starts innocently enough: Moses sends 12 guys in to “spy out the land.”

The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the people of Israel. From each tribe of their fathers you shall send a man, every one a chief among them.” So Moses sent them from the wilderness of Paran, according to the command of the LORD, all of them men who were heads of the people of Israel. And these were their names: …from the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh; …from the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea the son of Nun; … (Numbers 13.1 – 15, ESV)

There were 12 men listed: Caleb was #3 on the list, and Hoshea (called Joshua) was #5. There is nothing to indicate that they would be the minority.

The men checked out the land and brought back a “however” report. You know, one of those reports where you can ignore everything that is said before the “but” or “however.”

And they told him, “We came to the land to which you sent us. It flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. However, the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large. And besides, we saw the descendants of Anak there. (Numbers 13.27, 28, ESV)

“It’s a great land, but we can’t take it.” To which Caleb (in chapter 13) and Joshua (in chapter 14) offered a faith-filled minority report:

But Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, “Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it.”… And Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, …said to all the congregation of the people of Israel, “The land, which we passed through to spy it out, is an exceedingly good land. If the LORD delights in us, he will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land that flows with milk and honey. Only do not rebel against the LORD. And do not fear the people of the land, for they are bread for us. Their protection is removed from them, and the LORD is with us; do not fear them.” (Numbers 13.30, 14.6 – 9, ESV)

I say, “minority report” since the final vote was 10 – 2, and the people followed the recommendation of the majority (proving, once again, that democracy is not always what it’s cracked up to be). The Lord was not pleased:

And the LORD said to Moses, “How long will this people despise me? And how long will they not believe in me, in spite of all the signs that I have done among them? (Numbers 14.11, ESV)

The people had experienced some of the greatest visual events in history:

• The 10 Plagues, including Passover
• The Red Sea crossing
• Mt Sinai

Plus, the daily manna, and the miracle of the quail (Numbers 11.31, 32). These people did “not believe…in spite of all the signs…” Bummer. It cost the unbelievers their lives and the nation 40 years.

As I live, declares the LORD, what you have said in my hearing I will do to you: your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness, and of all your number, listed in the census from twenty years old and upward, who have grumbled against me, not one shall come into the land where I swore that I would make you dwell, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun. But your little ones, who you said would become a prey, I will bring in, and they shall know the land that you have rejected. But as for you, your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness. And your children shall be shepherds in the wilderness forty years and shall suffer for your faithlessness, until the last of your dead bodies lies in the wilderness. (Numbers 14.28 – 33, ESV)

It’s easy (in this country) to go to church and sing the songs. It’s hard to actually step out in faith.

Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do because I go to the Father. Whatever you ask in My name, this will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it. (John 14.12 – 14, LSB)