Look to Christ and Live
Evangelist Robert L. Sumner told the story of a man from Kansas City who was severely injured in an explosion on the job. It injured him so much that his face was badly burned and he lost both of his hands and his eyesight. It was a tragic event. Of all of his loss during this experience, the tragedy he was saddened the most by was his inability to read the scriptures.
This was back in the day when the only real option for those afflicted with blindness was the use of braille. You could read as long as you could touch the pages. Unfortunately for him, he had no hands. But he heard of this woman in London who actually learned how to read braille with her lips.
He got excited and thought he might be able to do the same. He went and got a braille Bible, which I am not sure you’ve ever seen but it is in many volumes because the pages are so thick. So he got that, but in sadness he realized that when he put his lips on the pages he couldn’t feel anything because he lost full sensitivity on his lips from the burn.
As he was trying to do that, he tried something else. The tip of his tongue worked, he could feel the braille and read the pages. Robert Sumner goes on to tell that this man taught himself braille and then would use his tongue to go on and read the Bible several times all the way through.
I know for some of you reading through the word of God has been challenging, and this is the time of year most people give up on it and walk away. Can I encourage you to not take for granted the tremendous gift that we have to read the word of God, so much easier than this man ever could. It is a gift not to be overlooked and forgotten about.
Numbers 21:4-9
The title of my message today is “Look to Christ and Live”. This passage teaches us that there is real power in where we choose to put our eyes and our focus. The main idea is this: obedience to Christ is the key to life. Where are you looking for healing and for purpose?
It is illogical to think that looking to a serpent would save them. Would God create an idol for the Israelites? Of course not, so what is he doing here? God is declaring that if you would only listen, no matter how different or odd it may sound, obedience is the key to life in Christ and fulfillment. Listen to him and him alone!
In 2 Kings 18:4, during the reign of King Hezekiah the king actually had to destroy the snake because the Israelites began worshipping it. Sometimes we even worship and give focus and praise to the methods through which God saves us. Sometimes God uses money to help us but then we turn God into a means to get money instead of giving our money as a means to honor God.
Today, I want to encourage us to look to Christ and nothing else and find true life. Anything or anyone outside of him has sharp consequences that will quench our spiritual life and lead us into a life of bondage and death.
The cost of complaining
Complaining has a cost. It kept the Israelites from reaching the promised land, it kept the people from fulfillment, it even ended up taking people’s lives. What areas of your life has complaining cost you? A way complaining can often cost you is that it can cause you to be blind to God’s faithfulness. The Bible is clear about gratitude:
Colossians 3:15, Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.
Philippians 4:6, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”
When we focus on what is wrong, we miss on what is going right. God is always working, even when we don’t see it or are unaware of it. Complaining can prevent you from action. When your time is spent on complaining, you lack time to do what God has called you to do. It will also afflict your attitude and keep you from seeing things the way God sees.
Complaining keeps us from our purpose, to worship and honor God. Complaining keeps our eyes off of our savior and onto our problem. You miss out on being the person and experiencing the blessings of God. The Israelites experienced firsthand, in profound and painful ways the consequences of complaining. Let’s learn from them instead of following them with the same mistake.
In our failures, God is still faithful
1 John 1:9, If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. We must simply repent to God. The people repented of their sin, and did you notice, despite it not being the first time, and not being the last in the Israelites story, God was faithful to them and he healed them.
Do you feel that your continual need for repentance has robbed you of true salvation? “Oh God, please forgive me again… I promise I will do better.” Continual repentance isn’t a sign that God is sick of you and his patience is running thin. Instead, it is an indication that you are thinking more and more on the things of God and starting to see the patterns of brokenness. It shows that you are in process… Thank God for that!
We don’t serve a God who is short fused and angry, we serve a patient and gracious God. Psalm 103:8, “The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.” God isn’t in heaven waiting to beat you over the head with a hammer because you didn’t get it right, he is looking for the progression of your heart towards him.
We believe in progressive sanctification. It means that the goal is to be closer to God today than yesterday, to grow slowly more and more towards him. We don’t believe that when you accept Jesus into your heart that you will never sin again. We believe that you slowly crawl towards him as the Spirit enables you and you become more and more like his Son Jesus every single day. There is no perfection this side of eternity.
Look to Christ and Live
Is the point that we should also make a bronze serpent and look to it for healing? Of course not. This passage is teaching that we should look to Christ and live.
In John 3, Jesus is sharing the gospel to Nicodemus. In a powerful display of how the gospel works and how he will save the world he makes a connection to our passage today in John 3:14-15, “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life.”
Don’t you see what the Holy Spirit is speaking to us through this passage? It is pointing to Christ, the author of life and the path to salvation. Sin has bitten you, just as the snake has bitten the Israelites and every man since, all the way back to Adam and Eve!
Fiery and so painful is this sin! In fact, the ramifications for this sin is death just as some of these folks experienced. But Christ takes the sting of death. He takes the poison for you and dies in your place. There is a remedy, but we must look to him. God has commanded us to look to his son, he is the way the truth and the life, there is no other way to the Father but through him. Will you listen to this command?
Conclusion
Saint Lawrence was one of seven deacons in charge of giving help to the poor and needy under Pope Sixtus II who were martyred during the persecution of Emperor Valerian in 258.
When a persecution broke out, Sixtus was condemned to death. As he was led to execution, Lawrence followed him weeping, “Father, where are you going without your deacon?” he said.
“I am not leaving you, my son,” answered the Pope. “In three days you will follow me.” Full of joy, Lawrence gave to the poor the rest of the money he had on hand and even sold expensive vessels to have more to give away.
The Prefect of Rome, a greedy man, thought the Church had a great fortune hidden away. So he ordered Lawrence to bring the Church’s treasure to him. The Saint said he would, in three days. Then he went through the city and gathered together all the poor and sick people supported by the Church. When he showed them to the Prefect, he said, “This is the Church’s treasure!”
In great anger, the Prefect condemned Lawrence to a slow, cruel death. The Saint was tied on top of an iron grill over a slow fire that roasted his flesh little by little. But Lawrence was burning with so much love of God that he almost did not feel the flames.
In fact, God gave him so much strength and joy that he even joked. “Turn me over,” he said to the judge. “I’m done on this side!”
Just before he died, Lawrence said, “It’s cooked enough now.” Then he prayed that the city of Rome might be converted to Jesus and that the Faith might spread all over the world. After that, he went to receive the martyr’s reward.
An amazing story. In fact that prayer was answered just 70 years later when the emperor Constantine was converted to Christianity and most of Rome with him. What led St. Lawrence through this great trial? It was his focus upon Christ. He wasn’t concerned with anything else. He didn’t let the bite of the world take hold of him or even allow complaints in a moment where many would have understood! Instead, he had the joy of the Lord and a firm focus on Christ.
It truly brings to life Hebrews 12:2, “fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Because of his eyes on Jesus, he experienced joy.