Our Old Testament reading and passage for this morning is going to be Numbers 11, verses 10 through 15. But I also want to begin reading in verse 1 to set the context for what we will be focusing on this morning. So I'll actually begin reading in Numbers 11, verse 1. I invite you to turn there in God's holy word. Numbers 11, beginning in verse 1, this is the word of the Lord. And the people complained in the hearing of the Lord about their misfortunes. And when the Lord heard it, His anger was kindled. And the fire of the Lord burned among them and consumed some outlying parts of the camp. Then the people cried out to Moses. And Moses prayed to the Lord, and the fire died down. So the name of that place was called Tibera, because the fire of the Lord burned among them. Now the rabble that was among them had a strong craving, and the people of Israel also wept again and said, Oh, that we had meat to eat. We remember the fish we ate in Egypt that cost nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. But now our strength has dried up, and there's nothing at all but this manna to look at. Now the manna was like coriander seed in its appearance like that of bdellium. The people went about and gathered it and ground it in hand mills or beat it in mortars and boiled it in pots and made cakes of it. And the taste of it was like the taste of cakes baked with oil. When the dew fell upon the camp in the night, the manna fell with it. Moses heard the people weeping throughout their clans, everyone at the door of his tent. And the anger of the Lord blazed hotly and Moses was displeased. Moses said to the Lord, why have you dealt ill with your servant? And why have I not found favor in your sight that you lay the burden of all this people on me? Did I conceive all this people? Did I give them birth that you should say to me, carry them in your bosom as a nurse carries a nursing child to the land that you swore to give their fathers? Where am I to get meat to give to all this people? For they weep before me and say, give us meat that we may eat. I am not able to carry all this people alone. The burden is too heavy for me. If you will treat me like this, kill me at once. If I find favor in your sight, that I may not see my wretchedness. Thus ends the reading of God's holy word. Let us pray. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we ask that you would help us to be like little children this morning, to receive your word in all humility, recognizing that it is a word from you that carries your authority, that carries your majesty, your glory, your holiness, and your beauty. Lord, help us to receive it, that we may apply it to our hearts, that we may walk in wisdom before you, looking to Lord and Jesus, our Savior, Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who became wisdom for us from heaven. And so, Lord, we ask that you would lead us in paths of righteousness and lead us to green pastures this morning. In Christ's name we pray, amen. When Pastor Eugene asked me to preach for him this morning, I assumed he was simply going on vacation. He conveniently left out the fact that there would be a congregational meeting. I may have said no if he had included that piece of information. But it is an honor to be able to preach for you. I'm honored that Eugene asked me to preach and to bring God's Word to you this morning. I'm honored to be able to bring you God's Word on a day where, Lord willing, in a few moments, maybe more than a few moments, you'll be voting to turn the page and start a new chapter in the life of Grace Harrisburg. A time of excitement, a time of new beginnings. And as you prepare for this next chapter, Lord willing, I want to examine this passage from Numbers to see the dynamic that goes on between a shepherd and the sheep, between a leader of God's people and the people of God. There's an interplay, there's a dynamic at work there. And this dynamic can have good results, it can have good effects, but it can also have disastrous results and effects as well. And so as you begin this new chapter, I want to informally give a charge to Pastor Eugene, to the elders, and to you, the people of Grace Harrisburg, to have a good foundation and a good trajectory as you start this next chapter in the life of this church. Now in the context of Numbers chapter 11, the children of Israel have just left Mount Sinai. They're being led through the wilderness by the glory cloud and the pillar of fire, the leadership of Moses. Yet they have barely left the driveway, so to speak, and they are already complaining. Are we there yet? And they add to that complaint. Can I have a different snack? I don't like this one. You know what I'm talking about. I can tell by the laughter. Many of you have heard that from your own children or perhaps said it when you were young yourself. They've barely left the driveway. The anger of the Lord has already burned against some of them in the camp. We saw in verses 1 and 2. They complained. There's a general murmuring. I don't know what they were expecting. Maybe they thought that, you know, as soon as we leave Egypt, boom, we're going to turn the corner and be in the promised land and be eating honey and milk and living a life of luxury. I don't know what they were expecting, but they're grumbling and complaining. Their expectations have not been met, whatever they were. And to add to that, they're grumbling and complaining about the food. Now, if you think about it, this was the food that the Lord God had provided to sustain them in the wilderness. This was God's good and gracious provision to feed his people in their wilderness journey towards the promised land. And we're told that it tasted like cakes baked with oil. This was the first angel food cake. And they're treating it like devil food cake. They despise even having to look at God's gracious provision to feed them. They've grown bored with God's blessings. Oh, how our complaints cause us to forget what God has rescued us from. They want to go back to Egypt. We ate fish in Egypt that cost us nothing. Really? It didn't cost you back-breaking work? And did the Egyptians really give you fish? Did they give you the best food to eat? I don't think so. They are romanticizing their time spent in slavery and longing to go back to being slaves. It's a rejection of what God has done for them up to this point, a rejection of Moses as their leader. And this sets the stage for verses 10 through 15, where we see Moses adds to the burden of leadership some unnecessary burdens, some burdens that God has not placed upon him. And these are the same types of burdens that pastors and elders can lay upon themselves as well. The grumbling and complaining has so gotten to Moses, verse 10, that he becomes displeased. The Lord is displeased with the grumbling of the people, and now Moses is displeased. When we compare verses 1 and 2 with now verse 10, the people cried out to Moses, and Moses interceded to the Lord. But that's not what's happening here in verse 10. Moses, instead of going to the Lord, is now displeased himself. in Exodus 33 when God threatens to Moses that his presence will not go with them because of the golden calf incident. He says, you lead them up. My angel will go with you, but I will not go with you. And Moses says, I can't do that. If you will not go with us, then you may as well kill us now. We need your presence to go with us. Your presence marks us off from the rest of the nations. Think about your reputation, Moses says, oh Lord God. If you do not fulfill your promise to bring us to a land flowing with milk and honey. You see, Moses interceded on behalf of the people. And when he would intercede on behalf of the people, the Lord would relent. What it says in verse 2, Moses prayed to the Lord and the fire died down. The Lord relented of his anger, of his judgment upon the people's grumbling and complaining. However, this time Moses fails to intercede for the people. He begins to complain about the leadership over such people. Look at verses 11 and 12. Moses said to the Lord, why have you dealt ill with your servants? And why have I not found favor in your sight that you lay the burden of all this people on me? He literally asked God, why have you done this evil to me? God, why are you doing evil to me? You've given me a stiff neck to grumbling and complaining people. Think about that question for a moment that is on the lips of the leader of God's people. Why have you, God, done this evil to me? Does God ever do anything wrong or evil or unjust or sinful? No. It's the same complaint as the people. Why is God doing this evil to us to bring us into the wilderness to die? Why is God feeding us with this worthless manna? Moses' complaint to the Lord in essence is that these people are a burden and an evil to him. Ian Duguid comments on this section. He says in these five verses, verses 10 through 15, Moses refers to himself no fewer than 20 times. Me, me, me, me, me. Moses' eyes have turned away from the Lord, just like the people's eyes have turned away from the Lord. He's turned his eyes upon himself. He's forgotten that part of his role as prophetic leader is to intercede on behalf of God's people. And in turning his eyes away from the Lord to himself, Moses sees his task and his calling as an overloaded burden, something that is wearisome. So worrisome, in fact, that he says, if you're going to continue to treat me like this, God, kill me now. He wants to die. You elders who are here today, Pastor Eugene, if you ever listen to this, we too fall into the same trap. How many times do you immediately jump into a church situation without going to the Lord in prayer, without interceding for the people first? Several years ago when I was pastoring a church, I went to a member's house whose niece had recently been converted and wanted to understand about infant baptism and why we don't re-baptize and things of that nature. And we just jumped into the conversation. And I was struck as I was driving home how I had failed to pray before entering into that situation, before entering into that conversation. The Lord convicted me. I tried to explain things, I tried to have a theological conversation in my own strength and power without going to the Lord first, without praying that he would impart wisdom and understanding both to me as well as to the hearers with whom I was having that conversation. I didn't ask that his spirit would guide us. that he would enable me to speak winsomely and clearly. I went wanting to win a theological argument instead of interceding for God's people and praying that he would work in their hearts to help them understand his word. In other words, I was depending upon myself. This is the first unnecessary burden that pastors and elders can lay upon themselves. We place an unnecessary burden upon our backs when we feel we have to address the needs of the sheep in our own strength rather than interceding on their behalf before the Lord. We place an unnecessary burden upon our backs when we feel we have to address the needs of the sheep in our own strength rather than interceding on their behalf before the Lord. We can do this in little matters as well as big matters. We receive a text that somebody needs to speak with us and we immediately think of how tired we are, how we have so much to do on our plates. We turn our eyes inwardly to ourselves rather than turning to the Lord. We immediately jump into an emergency situation, a crisis situation, a situation that requires counseling. We jump into a sudden situation of illness or death without first praying to the Lord for those involved and asking Him to supply us that we may pour out to others what he has poured into us without asking him for the wisdom that we need from his word to appropriately address the situation at hand. You see, pastors and elders, you're not meant to carry everybody's burden. The Word of God does not say, cast your burdens upon the shepherd, the under shepherd, cast your burdens upon the elders, cast your burdens upon the pastor. No. What does it say? Jesus invites you, cast your burdens upon me, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, for my yoke is light and easy. But the pastor takes on the burdens, the elders take on the burdens of the people when they have their eyes focused on themselves, when they try to minister out of their own strength and power rather than out of dependence upon the Lord and the power and the wisdom that he gives through his Holy Spirit. So we place an unnecessary burden upon our backs when we feel we have to address the needs of the sheep in our own strength. But another unnecessary burden that pastors and elders place upon themselves is when we feel that we have to start doing what the Lord has reserved for Himself to do. We place an unnecessary burden upon our backs when we feel we have to start doing what the Lord has reserved for himself to do. Moses begins to think that the people are his rather than the Lord's. Look at verse 12. Did I conceive all these people? Did I give birth to the nation of people that are following me? That you should say to me, carry them in your bosom as a nurse carries a nursing child to the land that you swore to give their fathers? See, Moses is thinking that, okay, these are my people and I have to lead them to the promised land, where the entire time it's God saying, no, I'm going to lead you to the promised land. He feels that the job of feeding them is his rather than the Lord's. Where am I going to find meat? Verse 13, where am I to get meat to give to all this people? Lord, what the people are asking for me to do is impossible. Where can this food possibly come from? We're in the wilderness. There's not a 7-Eleven just around the corner that I can go pop by and get a bunch of meats. There's not a Walmart or a Piggly Wiggly. Moses believes that it all falls upon him. He forgets that really it's all the Lord's doing. He is merely a servant and a steward. And ironically enough, the apostles do something very similar in the New Testament in the situation where it's time to feed 5,000 people. I don't know if you've ever noticed this. In Mark 6, the disciples go to Jesus. The people are hungry. If we don't send them on their way, they're famished. They're going to faint on their way back home. And Jesus says, you give them something to eat. What? Shall we go and buy 200 denarii worth of bread and give it to them to eat? We don't have enough money to buy enough food for all of these people. You see, what they should have realized is that the one who had calmed the storm, the one who had healed the sick and the lame, the one who had raised the dead and proclaimed that the kingdom of God was upon them, they forgot all about that, just like Moses forgot about the Lord. Instead of saying, Lord, it is impossible for us to feed them, but with you all things are possible. They took this burden upon themselves. Moses forgets that he's not the one that has been feeding the people of Israel in the wilderness. Who is the one who has been providing the manna? God has been providing the manna for his people, not Moses. Who has been showing them where to set up camp and when to take down camp and depart? It's not been Moses. It's been God. Moses has forgotten about the plagues that the Lord displayed upon Egypt to show His power and His might. He's forgotten about the Red Sea. Perhaps he's thinking that He was the one who caused the people to cross over the dry land in the Red Sea event. You see, we, you, elders, pastor, Eugene, other pastors, we're acting like Moses when we feel that it is our responsibility to do those things that God has reserved for himself. Perhaps we begin thinking that it's our responsibility to grow the church. It depends upon me. And if the church isn't growing, then I'm not doing something right. Or I need to be everywhere all at the same time. I gotta be at this volleyball game and this soccer game, and I gotta be at this event and this event and this event. I have to have an answer for everything. Somebody comes to me with a question about economics, I need to have an answer for that. It's up to me to sustain the church and to carry the church upon my back. All of these things, all these thoughts, we're taking upon ourselves what Christ has reserved for himself to do. Christ tells us that he will build his church, not us. Christ tells us that He sustains the church, not us. It's easy to fall prey when we're evangelizing. And you know this, if you've ever talked with somebody and shared the gospel with somebody, it's easy to fall prey and to begin thinking that if I don't say just the right words with the right amount of passion, they're not gonna get saved. Do you see what's wrong with that thinking? That it's up to you to save the person with the right combination of words and with the right amount of zeal and unction and passion. Folks, it is not us who opens up the heart to believe. It is Christ who opens up the heart to believe. He will have mercy upon whom he will have mercy and he will show compassion to whom he will show compassion. People's hearts are not opened by the right combination of words, the right levels of pleading or passion. Yes, we are to present the gospel to them. The gospel is what God has said has the power unto salvation, but God adds His power to it through the gospel and through His Spirit. We simply proclaim the good news and we leave the results up to God. but it's very easy for us to fall prey to thinking that it's up to me to save this person. I've got to change their heart. I've got to change their mind. The church is not built with human hands, but by the nail pierced hands of our risen savior, who is the bridegroom of the church and the head of the body. He uses us, yes, but it is his work through us. not our work in our own strength and power. So two unnecessary burdens. We begin to look at ourselves and depend upon ourselves and our own strength and power, elders. Eugene, we begin to attempt to do things that the Lord has reserved for himself. In other words, a charge that he has not given you. in your capacity as elder, in your capacity as minister. And at the root of both of these unnecessary burdens is the common thought that so often and can sneakily creep into our minds, that we're the savior of the church. I have to be Superman. It is all up to me. The church hangs or falls upon me. That's a very real temptation for you elders, for Pastor Eugene. It's a very real temptation. We see Moses, the prophet of the Old Testament, give in to that temptation. We are not immune to it either. But I'm here to remind you the reality that there is only one savior of the church. There is only one head of the church, and that is Jesus Christ. He is the one who loved the church to the point of death so that she could be cleansed and presented as his beautiful bride. He is the one who faithfully and continually intercedes for us, his people. Moses fell into grumbling and complaining. Christ never did. And friends, Christ will never grumble or complain about having to intercede for you. It was for the joy that was set before him that he went to the cross. The joy of having a people made his own, the joy of his bride becoming white, though her sins were like scarlet. Even When we show ourselves and prove ourselves to be stiff-necked people, when we fall into grumbling and complaining, Christ continues to intercede for you and for me. When we fall into sin, when we give in to temptation in our thoughts, in our actions, in our speech, Christ does not grow weary when we have to come back to Him like little children asking for forgiveness one more time. You know, we as parents can grow weary, can we not? How many times do I have to tell you? We can grow weary in our parenting, but Christ, our Heavenly Father, never grows weary in parenting us as His children. It is Christ who continually feeds us with Himself in His Word and in the sacraments. He is the true bread of life from heaven. He is the one that this manna was pointing toward, prefiguring. What Christ calls you to do, elders, Pastor Eugene, He calls you to be faithful in the task that He has given to you. And that is to lead His sheep in faithfulness. To faithfully carry out the task that He has given to you. To faithfully carry out the task that He has equipped you for by giving you His Spirit. He has given you some tasks, but He has not given you every task. Some tasks Christ reserves for himself, and it's not yours to cross over those boundaries. It's not yours to add what is already a very burdensome, weighty challenge, the challenge of ministry, the challenge of being an elder in the church, Christ's church. Don't add to it burdens that Christ has not laid upon you. Ministry is a challenge. We have to watch over our souls. We have to watch over the souls of our family. We have to watch over the household of God, Acts 20, verse 28. Ministers and elders are called to feed the sheep, to feed the congregation, those who have been entrusted to your care, John 21, 17, and Titus 1, 9. We're called to guard the apostolic deposit, that is scripture. that has been entrusted to us. The pastor and elders are called to guard you, to watch over you, to protect you from wolves in sheep's clothing, to protect you from heresies and false teachings that are out there, to protect you from error. They're called to watch over your soul because they will have to give an account before God for how they watched over your soul. Do you think that that is a weighty challenge? That's why James says in James 3, verse 1, It's hard enough to contemplate being judged with a greater strictness by God Himself, but to add to that unnecessary burdens? Who can endure that? Moses certainly couldn't endure that. He wants to die. Because he had added to himself these unnecessary burdens. I am not able to carry all these people alone, verse 14. The burden is too heavy for me. If you will treat me like this, kill me at once. Is it any wonder that ministers leave the ministry? average within five years. That's the average. We can only think and act like Superman for so long because we're finite creatures. We are men with feet of clay. We're going to burn ourselves out in pasturing and in eldering the sheep of God if we continue to practice these unnecessary burdens, if we continue to give in to those temptations and those thoughts. or if we try to meet the unrealistic expectations of the people. And this is where I begin to address you more directly, people of God. Given the weightiness that is pastoral ministry, that is being an elder in Christ's church, the last thing you should be doing to your elders, Pastor Eugene is adding unnecessary expectations, unnecessary burdens to an already challenging task. And the reality is that if you think about it long enough, unmet expectations and grumbling and complaining go hand in hand, do they not? Unmet expectations and grumbling and complaining go hand in hand. And if your expectations are unrealistic, by definition they never can be met, then you 100% of the time are going to end up grumbling and complaining, are you not? What was it that led Moses to grumble and complain? It was the grumbling and complaining of the people. They're not satisfied with their circumstances, verse 1. They're discontented with the manna and they crave meat, verses 4 and 5. And so the grumbling and complaining of the sheep lead Moses to grumble and complain, to turn his eyes inwardly upon himself, to take them off of the Lord. I know of a pastor several years ago, had a good number of people constantly criticizing every decision he in the session made, constantly complaining, even openly boycotting some of the decisions. And these were not foundational issues of the faith. These were things like, is an elder going to teach Sunday school or is it going to be a video based curriculum? Are we going to have one Sunday school class or two Sunday school classes? Why is the pastor doing this? Why is the session doing that? Why are they making this decision? Why are they doing that? Constant criticism. The grumbling and complaining never ended. And guess what? The grumbling and complaining never solved any of the problems. Grumbling and complaining never solves disagreements. It never solves differences of opinion. It only leads really to further issues. It makes it much more difficult for the shepherds. It makes it more difficult for the elders and the pastor. In fact, what we see here in this section is that the sins of the sheep, the grumbling and complaining, and it's sinful because we see God judging it. The sins of the sheep opened the shepherd to particular temptations from the evil one." The sins of the sheep opened the shepherd to particular temptations from the evil one. Now, we tend to think of grumbling and complaining as a respectable sin, as Jerry Bridges puts it. Listen to how Ian Duguid describes it. Quote, nobody ever goes to see a counselor and says, help me, I'm addicted to grumbling. There are no meetings of Grumblers Anonymous or 12-step programs designed to cure the condition. Perhaps we assume that since we all do it so often, grumbling can't really be so bad." End quote. The heart of grumbling is a lack of contentment and unbelief that the Lord is able to keep his word. Grumbling and complaining are opposed to faith. Faith believes the promises of God that he will keep his word and that he will do it in his good timing. Grumbling and complaining do not. We also see that grumbling and complaining is contagious. It spreads through the congregation like a wildfire. Even the officers of the church are not immune to its contagion. And Paul even alludes to this particular episode from Numbers in 1 Corinthians 10. And listen to what Paul says to the New Testament church based upon this episode in the wilderness. He says this, quote, we must not grumble as some of them did and were destroyed by the destroyer. Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction. Our instruction. Did you catch that? Grumbling and complaining draws down God's holy judgment. The fire of the Lord breaks out against the grumblers and complainers and kills some of them. And Paul says that this was an example to the Israelites. Don't be like these that were just judged by God who were burned up in the fire. He made an example of some of them. But then he turns to the church and he says, this was written down for your instruction and my instruction. Don't be like these grumblers and complainers. God takes grumbling and complaining seriously, even though we may not. And so Paul's instruction to the church is don't grumble and complain. By implication, don't have unrealistic expectations. These two go hand in hand. Maybe you've never stopped to think about, have I ever had unrealistic expectations of my elders, of my pastor? What could some of these unrealistic expectations possibly be? I'll give you just some of the common ones, some of the most frequent ones. It's not meant to be exhaustive, but an unrealistic expectation is that the pastor's to have the perfect family. There to be Ward and June Cleaver or the Brady Bunch. Another unrealistic expectation of your pastor and elders that they're to meet all of your felt needs. They're never to take a day off. They're not to have any friends in the church. Those are just some. Perhaps upon further reflection, soul searching, you can think of some that you've perhaps added, maybe in times past, maybe currently, I don't know. And perhaps that's led you to grumble and complain against the church, against the leadership, against the pastor. I don't like what they're doing, I don't like this, I don't like that, I don't like, I don't like, I don't like. Does that accomplish anything? Friends, grumbling and complaining does further damage to the church. I know it may seem hard to do in today's environment and culture, but believe it or not, it is possible to have a civil conversation where there's differences of opinion and disagreements. I know social media doesn't make for that type of environment. That's why I would never encourage anybody to take to social media about their pastors and elders or their church. But it is possible to have mature Christian dialogue and discourse, or even just explanation. You know, I don't understand why you're doing this. Can you help me understand why the session made this decision? This should be especially true in the church of God, who's loved us with an everlasting love. He's poured out His grace and mercy and favor upon us, and He calls us to be gracious and merciful to others, especially the household of God. So, Pastor Eugene and the elders of grace. It's not your ministry to grow and to maintain, and I hope that you, if you've fallen into that trap, I hope that you feel, even at this moment, a weight lifting off of your shoulders. It's not your ministry to grow and maintain, it's the ministry of Christ through you. So be faithful and diligent in interceding for Christ's sheep. Be faithful in drawing upon His supply to help you in the ministry to the sheep. Be faithful and diligent to always keep your eyes upon Him rather than upon yourself. Be faithful and diligent to feed them with the food that the Lord has provided. It's the Lord who has prepared the meal. You simply dish it out on plates to the people. He has given His Scriptures, that's the food. You serve it in His name and on His behalf. His message, without adding to it and without taking away from it. Do what the Lord has tasked you to do diligently and faithfully and let the Lord carry out His work when and where He will. That's my charge to you. And saints at grace, beloved of the Lord, my charge to you is do not place unrealistic expectations upon your leaders. Don't expect the pastor and elders to grow the church. It's not in their job description according to God's word. open them to temptation by grumbling and complaining about how they're trying to lead you in paths of righteousness, and lead you to green pastures and still waters in the name of Christ, who are trying to equip you so that you grow in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ unto full maturity, so upon that day when you enter into eternity you are prepared to stand before the Lord God Almighty. That's what they're called to do, is to feed you. By the power of the Holy Spirit working in you, He will grow you, He will mature you, and make you ready to stand upon that day by faith in Jesus Christ. Remember people, you are to be led in the fear of the Lord just as much as the elders and the pastor are to lead you in the fear of the Lord, walking in all holiness and knowledge and wisdom. And until they prove otherwise, you should always assume that the pastor and the elders have your best spiritual interest at heart, that they have Christian love at heart of every decision that they make, that they have the glory of God in their hearts with the decisions that they make. So as you prepare for this new chapter, let us all by faith together keep our eyes upon the Lord and cling to his promises, knowing that by faith, he will take care of this church. He will minister to this church through the pastor and the elders, but He is the one who is doing it. He is the one who has said He will do it, and He is the one who is able to do it. Amen and amen. Let us pray. acknowledge and confess to you that we are so quick to grumble and complain against your sovereign providence, quick to grumble and complain against the servants that you have called to lead in your name and as your representatives on earth. Oh, Lord, would you forgive us even as we confessed our sins earlier this morning? Oh, Lord, turn to us. Cause your face once more to shine upon us. As we cling to the promises that as we come to Christ by faith, that we do find forgiveness of sins. No, Lord, I ask that you would pour out your spirit and abundant measure upon the elders of grace and pour out your spirit and abundant measure upon Pastor Eugene, assuming that the vote goes as. We expect it to. Not for their glory. but for your glory. Equip them to do the work that you have called them to do. And would you do the work that you have promised to do in your word? We ask this in Christ's name, amen.