MINISTRY MINDED LESSON 8 JOSHUA WAS A GOOD ASSISTANT2015 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

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Year: 2015

Title: Ministry Minded Lesson 8 Joshua Was A Good Assistant

Teacher: Jerry B Simmons

Series: 2015 Ministry Minded Series

Teaching Transcript: Ministry Minded Lesson 8 Joshua Was A Good Assistant

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2015.

Well, this evening as we look at Ministry Minded, we're in Lesson 8 and we're talking about Joshua and looking at Joshua as a good assistant. Now, of course, we know that Joshua was one who led the children of Israel into the Promised Land and he was used by God mightily in that way. But before Joshua led Israel, he was the assistant to Moses. And

And so we're going to be walking through the different passages where Joshua is mentioned before he's the leader, while he's the assistant, and learning some valuable principles from him about assisting those who are called to lead. Before we get started looking at Joshua, though, would you open up your Bibles to Philippians chapter 2? And Philippians chapter 2, we'll take a quick look at verses 19 through 24, and then jump back to the Old Testament to see the example of Joshua.

But I want to take you here to Philippians for a few moments because I think many times there's some confusion in our minds about what it means to assist and to be helpful to those who are leading.

Sometimes we approach assisting in that I have this idea, and so I'm going to help you by coming alongside of you and making my idea happen, making my idea work. And kind of it's approaching it, you know, although we wouldn't necessarily say it this way, but the reality is, is

I'm going to assist you. That means you help me fulfill my vision. And many times, that's how it happens, and that's how it plays out, where we come to the work where

with our own ideas, our own thoughts, kind of with the idea that, well, you know, you really need the talents that I have or the expertise that I have. And so, you know, congratulations, you've got me on your side, and I'm going to help you because I'm awesome. And now, you know, you can really enjoy the benefits of my ministry.

But a lot of times what happens when we have that approach, when we have that mindset, is we end up trying to assist someone without ever learning what the actual needs are. So we already have our ideas of what we want or what we think is needed or what we think is important, and we haven't taken time to really hear what

from the one that God has called to lead, what the needs really are. And so we might be, you know, fully convinced that we're helping and that we're assisting, but maybe not actually fulfilling the needs that are really there and coming alongside in a way that is meaningful and helpful to the person that God has called to lead. Think about it in this way. Now,

You maybe have seen that video. I think we showed it a while back in preparation for a marriage event where there's the woman with the nail sticking out of her forehead, and she's having the discussion with her husband about how she has this pain in her head, and all her sweaters are snagged, and she can't figure out why. And the husband's trying to say, well, because there's a nail in your head. Let me take the nail out of your head. And so they're going back and forth, and

And the whole point of the video is you're missing the point. I'm not trying for you to solve the issue. I want you to hear me first, and then we can talk about making that point. And I think that husband and wife dynamic often takes place also in ministry.

So that there are those who come alongside to assist and they're like, hey, I have the solution. Let me just handle it. And the leader is saying, well, wait a minute, wait a minute. You know, there's more going on than what you see. There's more that's happening than you understand. And you haven't taken time to really hear what the problem is, hear what, you know, needs to be done. And so, you know, you're approaching it from the wrong angle. Being an assistant, assisting somebody is going to require death to self.

Now, I think this is important. This is not just, you know, for assistant pastors. This is a message. These concepts are for all of us because we all assist. Every one of us, we assist. And so if you do want to look at, you know, your marriage relationship,

an assistant to your spouse, right? And so there's that angle to it. But, you know, we participate in events where somebody else is leading. And so when somebody else is leading the event, we're the assistants. And so, you know, for Light the Night, I'm not leading it this year. Usually I lead it. This year, I'm an assistant. I

And so that changes everything for me in the way that now I approach how to serve and how to participate in the event. And the same should be for all of us. So whether it's, you know, a ministry that you're involved in or an event that you're participating in or helping to facilitate, we are all assistants. And so these are important principles for us to learn. Well, here in Philippians chapter 2,

Paul is writing to the Philippians, and he is wanting to send Timothy to them. In Philippians 2, verse 19, it says this, "'But I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you shortly, that I also may be encouraged when I know your state. For I have no one like-minded who will sincerely care for your state. For all seek their own, not the things which are of Christ Jesus, but you know his proven character.'"

that as a son with his father, he served with me in the gospel. Therefore, I hope to send him at once, as soon as I see how it goes with me, but I trust in the Lord that I myself shall also come shortly. And so you can hear Paul's heart here as he's writing to the Philippians. He wants to go. He's concerned about them. And so in his absence, because he can't go, he is planning to send Timothy.

Now, as he talks about sending Timothy, you can really hear his heart for Timothy. There in verse 20, he says, I wish I could be there, but I can't be there. So the second best thing, in absence of me being there, is for me to send Timothy.

And I can send Timothy to you because he is like-minded. And I know that as I sent him to you, he will sincerely care for your condition. I don't have anyone else like him, Paul says. There's no one else that is like-minded in the way that Timothy is like-minded. And then he explains that a little bit more in verse 21. He says, for all seek their own. You see, here's the issue with all the others around Paul, all the others that Paul could send.

He says, they're not quite like-minded like Timothy because they seek their own. They have their own agendas. They have their own perspectives. They haven't embraced my philosophy of ministry, Paul is saying. They haven't embraced the way that I approach things. And they're looking out for their own interests. Paul says, I have guys around me, but very few of them

Can I trust to send to you who will truly care for you? Because if I send this person, I'm not sure how that's going to go because, well, they're going to be looking out for their own interests. They're going to be seeking to implement their own agendas, and they're not fully focused on the things of Jesus Christ. Now, he wasn't saying that they weren't saved. He wasn't saying that they were unbelievers or even that they were rebellious, but just that they were not yet fully submitted, that they were not yet like-minded, right?

And so he needed to send someone who he could trust wholeheartedly. Send someone that he knew, Timothy knows my heart. And if there's a problem, he's going to address it the way that I would address it. If there's some teaching that needs to be brought, he's going to teach what I would teach. If there's a situation that needs to be resolved, he's going to approach it in the way that I would.

And Paul says, it's rare to have this. I don't have many of these guys, but I have Timothy. And so I want to send him to you because I can't come. The next best thing for me coming is sending Timothy because he's like-minded. He's not out for his own interests, but he's going to really care for you. He's really seeking to honor and to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ. In verse 22, he says, but you know his proven character that as a son with his father, he served with me in the gospel.

So how did Paul and Timothy develop this like-mindedness? Well, it was through a time of proving. His proven character and Timothy has been faithful to serve with Paul in the gospel. And so he's been alongside. Paul can trust in him. Paul knows that he can accurately represent Paul to the Philippians and handle situations as they need to be handled. And so Paul says, this is rare though. Timothy has proven character.

And there's not many like that. There's not many good assistants is what Paul is saying. But Timothy is a good assistant. And so I'm going to send him to you. And so that's where we're coming from as we now look at Joshua. Joshua, like Timothy, was a good assistant. And we learned some valuable lessons from him about like-mindedness, about how to approach ministry and serving alongside someone else who is called to lead.

And so these are important lessons for us. So there's seven points that we'll look at. We're going to begin in Exodus chapter 17, if you want to make your way there. And we're going to work our way from there to walk through the different passages where Joshua is mentioned before he is leading the nation of Israel. So the first point found in Exodus chapter 17 is that good assistance may not be introduced. It's possible. It's likely. It's possible.

as a good assistant, that you will not be introduced or announced. Check out Exodus chapter 17, verse 9. It says, This is our first introduction to Joshua.

And I think it's interesting. The first introduction, the first mention of Joshua is Moses saying, hey, choose some men and go fight. We don't know anything about Joshua at this point. Now, for us who have, you know, read through the scriptures repeatedly, we have a lot of background about Joshua. We know all about Joshua, but

remember like what it was like the first time or picture, you know, going through this the first time. So you're working your way through Exodus and now all of a sudden Joshua is introduced. There's no introduction. We have no idea who this guy is. Does he have qualifications to fight? Does he have the capability of leading an army? And why did Moses choose Joshua? We have no idea. There's no real introduction. He's just suddenly on the scene and in action. He's just, bam, he's going to battle.

And in fact, in the very next verse, he's following Moses' instruction, and he's in the thrust of the battle. Now, contrast that to Moses. Moses, you go back to Exodus chapter 2, and then Exodus chapter 3, you have a couple chapters devoted to developing the backstory of Moses before he shows up in Egypt to say, let my people go.

We know about Moses' parents. We know about how he was born. We know about, you know, how he was hidden and how he was recovered and how he was raised and educated and then his time in the wilderness and how God spoke to him. I mean, we know a ton about Moses. All kinds of introduction preparing us to understand the rest of the account. But with Joshua, we don't know anything about him. He's just on the scene and in the action. A good assistant may not be introduced.

They might not get a backstory. They might not get an announcement and recognition and everybody knows about them. A good assistant very well could be just on the scene doing the work without any explanation. David Guzik puts it this way. The first mention of the man Joshua, we find him doing what he does all the time until Moses passes from the scene. Joshua served the Lord and Moses faithfully.

This is what we see him doing. As an assistant, he's just there, faithfully serving without fanfare, without introduction, without any trumpets or anything like that. He's just involved in the work and doing what is instructed of him. And that brings me to point number two. We're going to stay here in Exodus chapter 17, still verse 9, looking at verse 10. Good assistants obey their leader.

This is an essential quality for good assistance. Obedience, submission, following instruction of the one that is called to lead. Here in Exodus chapter 17, in verse 9, again, Moses says to Joshua, choose us some men and go out and fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on top of the hill with the rod of God in my hand. I think it's interesting to consider this.

the different roles that Joshua and Moses had. Now, if you were on the scene, which role would you want? To be on the mountain or to be in the battle? I think I would pick the mountain for sure, right? And so Joshua could be going like, hey, wait a second. So I'm going to go fight and have weapons thrust at me, and you're going to be safe away up on top of a hill,

You know, can we negotiate this? Is there some room for discussion here? Why do we get these roles? What's happening here? There, of course, could have been lots of discussion that maybe could have been had, but we don't see anything about that here in Exodus chapter 17. Instead, in chapter 17, verse 10, it says, Here's what you need to know about good assistants.

They obey their leader. They obey the one that God has called to lead. They are submitted to the authority and leadership that God has placed there. And even if that means that you have radically different roles and that your role is more dangerous than their role, your role is more stressful than their role, your role is, you know, different than theirs, and maybe your role is not the one that you would prefer, but you

a good assistant is faithful to be obedient, to follow the instruction and to fulfill the need that is presented by the leader. And so it says Joshua did as Moses commanded. He did what Moses said. And this is really important. We need to be submitted to those that we are assisting.

Again, many times we approach the idea of assisting as we come alongside and, you know, they should be grateful to have us because we have all these awesome ideas and talents and expertise and all of those things. And so, you know, they should be welcoming and just let me run with everything because I know what I need to do and I know what needs to be done. But

Many times, that is not what is needed as an assistant. What is needed is for you to follow instruction, for me to follow instruction. Now again, every one of us are assistants in different forms. I am not always the leader of everything. I'm not always in charge. I prefer not being in charge. I do. And so, when I'm assisting, when I'm coming alongside, my job is to be obedient.

To follow the instruction of the one who God has given the vision and direction and the authority to lead whatever event or activity or thing that may be going on. That's my job as an assistant, to be obedient. And we all need to learn to be submitted. Now, it's tough because it requires death to self.

Because sometimes, like Joshua, we're going to be called to, you know, hey, go to battle. And I don't want to go to battle. I don't like going to battle. That's not my favorite thing to do. I'd rather be up on the mountain. I can hold up your arms, send her down, you know, to fight the battle. And I'll go up and hold up your arm, Moses. And yet that's not what the instruction was. Good assistants obey their leader. Sometimes the idea of an assistant has been referred to or compared to second chair.

So in an orchestra, you know, you have the different instruments, but you have multiple. You don't just have, you know, one type of instrument. You have multiple instruments, and they play together. And so second chair is a distinct position from first chair. And so I looked up some information about that. And so here's a flutist. Now, some people would say flautist, and I looked it up, and actually both are grammatically correct. So don't yell at me afterwards, okay? But so here's what this lady says about the second flutist.

She says, the second flutist must follow the lead, imitate the style, tone, or tone color, phrasing, and rhythmic sense of the first. The attitude is one of pride in ensemble and pride of the ability of matching another person's way. Now, it's not pride in negative sense, like we kind of typically would think, but being able to, yes, I will do my best to match your style.

And so there is a following that is necessary. And this is what is happening here. Joshua is following Moses. He is in line with, you know, the music. He is, you know, matching himself with the phrasing and the rhythm and matching those things and doing the best that he can to fulfill what Moses has called him to fulfill.

She goes on to say, sometimes the situation calls for sacrificing, our favorite word in the world, right? Sacrificing one's preference of tone, colors, phrasing, and often beliefs about where to place the pitch.

Now, this is talking about making music, and I'm not a musician, and I don't play the flute, but I think it kind of accurately paints the picture for us about what it means to be second chair in ministry, good assistants. It means that we are submitted to first chair. We are submitted to the one that God has placed as the lead in that event, in that activity, in that ministry, in the church, or whatever the case may be.

But what that means then is sacrifice. That means I have to give up my preference. Well, you know, I would prefer to do things this way. I would prefer if we did things that way. I would prefer if we approached this thing or did something else entirely. Did this type of activity or did this type of event or did this type of Bible study or whatever the case may be. In order to be a good assistant, many times that's going to require a sacrifice of preference. Now,

Let me just take a quick side note here and make sure I make clear what I'm saying that you understand. I'm not saying that there's no room for discussion, that the leader is the leader, no questions, don't ever question the leader, don't ever have other ideas, nothing like that at all. But,

that we handle those things in a way that is respectful. And that so your ideas, your considerations, you know, your techniques or whatever are presented to the leader, but that ultimately, if it's not done the way that you prefer, well, that's your sacrifice. You're assisting the one who is called to lead. And this can be really tough for us.

And sometimes we're not good assistants because we're not willing to die to ourselves and to sacrifice our preferences. And we want our way and we want what we want and we want what we think is best. And we have, you know, our own vision and what, you know, what about what God tells me? And so I need to do what God tells me regardless of what the leader, you know, wants or says. But that's not the way that God has called us to work together.

Again, Paul said, I have no one like-minded. Yeah, I've got a lot of people who will seek their own and want to fulfill their own vision and do their own things, but I don't have many who are like-minded, who will sacrifice their preferences for the things of the Lord and the things that I've taught them.

And so we need to learn to be submitted, to be obedient, to follow instruction. Yes, we can have discussion. Yes, we can present alternate ideas and activities and such to the ones that God has called to lead. But our responsibility at the end is to then be obedient to the instruction that we are given. Well, for point number three, let's jump over to Exodus chapter 24. And here we see that good assistants are with their leader.

There's a need for you to be present with the one that God has called you alongside to assist. And it kind of seems basic, and yet it's something that I think is important for us to consider. That

In order for you to be helpful, you have to be there. You have to be around. You have to be available. And sometimes that means that you're just waiting around, that not much is going on. And you might be easily thinking, well, I could be doing so much other things, so many other things, so many, I could be much more efficient at this. But you know, sometimes God wants you to

Set aside all your great efficiency and just wait so that you can be available for the leader. Check out Exodus chapter 24, and let's read verses 12 through 16. It says, Then the Lord said to Moses, Come up to me on the mountain and be there, and I will give you tablets of stone and the law and commandments which I have written, that you may teach them. So Moses arose with his assistant Joshua, and Moses went up to the mountain of God.

And he said to the elders, wait here for us until we come back to you. Indeed, Aaron and Hur are with you. If any man has a difficulty, let him go to them. Verse 15. Then Moses went up into the mountain and a cloud covered the mountain. Now the glory of the Lord rested on Mount Sinai and the cloud covered it six days. And on the seventh day, he called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud. So here we have Moses heading up to Mount Sinai.

He is going to be experiencing a radical time with God, receiving the Ten Commandments, all the instruction for the tabernacle, all kinds of detail, all kinds of things. And as he heads up there, the Lord calls him to go up to Sinai. In verse 13, it tells us he arose with his assistant Joshua. And so Joshua is alongside of him and Joshua heads up. Now he tells the elders, hey guys, wait here for us. So he's taking Joshua up with him.

to the mountain. As he takes Joshua up, he leaves behind the elders. He leaves behind Aaron. He leaves behind her. And he says, if there's any trouble, you guys can talk to them. Of course, we know from the account, they make trouble by, you know, building the golden calf. But Joshua is with Moses. And he's with Moses, not for the whole time where God is revealing the Ten Commandments and things, but it

It seems that it's kind of similar to how Jesus dealt with the disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane, right? He brought his disciples out. He said, hey guys, you stay here. He brought Peter, James, and John closer. You guys pray, watch and pray with me here. And then Jesus goes a little bit farther. It's kind of like that. He brought the elders out. He takes Joshua a little bit further. And then he goes alone to the top of the mountain to spend this time with God. But the interesting thing that I think is here is that he's there for six days until the Lord calls him

from the midst of the cloud. And so Moses and Joshua are just there together on the mountain of God waiting. They're just sitting there. Not very efficient, not very, you know, a lot of things getting done. You know, things aren't just flying off the to-do list, but they're just waiting. They're just there. And Joshua is there with Moses.

The commentary by Jameson, Fawcett, and Brown says, Joshua's job at that time was just to be there with him, to wait with him, to be present. And they remarked that it would have been a great comfort. You know, sometimes people,

Leaders just need someone who will be there. Now, a lot of times for those who want to be helpful, you know, people will ask for tasks. People will ask for, give me, you know, something to do. Okay, well, if there's nothing for me to do, you don't have a specific task for me, then I won't be around. But if you have a specific task, just let me know and I'll be there. And that's good. It's good to be making yourselves available for, you know, those tasks. But, you know, sometimes you just need to be there.

Sometimes it's just your presence that you are with the leader that God has called you to assist, that you're just available for whatever the need may be, for just waiting six days and just sitting there and waiting for God to call and to give more direction. Now, this isn't the end of this account because it goes on for many chapters after this. In fact, we're going to jump now to Exodus chapter 32.

And verse 15 of Exodus chapter 32, it says,

But he said, it is not the noise of the shout of victory, nor the noise of the cry of defeat, but the sound of singing I hear. So here's the picture. Moses takes Joshua up to the mountain. He leaves Joshua on the mountain. So Joshua is there by himself while Moses goes up the rest of the way and spends the next 40 days in the presence of God. And then God says, okay, Moses, your people are

They're messing up. They're worshiping this golden calf, and you got to go down and deal with this. And so Moses comes down, and now he meets up with Joshua again as he's on his way down the mountain. And now Moses and Joshua are going to finish the journey together back to the camp. And when Moses meets up with Joshua, Joshua says, hey, Moses, come on.

I've been noticing something I need to let you know about. There's some kind of loud noise. I've been hearing it. I don't know exactly what it is. Maybe it's a battle that's going on. And Moses says, no, no, no, that's singing. They're not at war. They're worshiping. And of course, they were worshiping the golden calf. But here's the point. Joshua was there on the mountain with Moses. He wasn't hearing the Ten Commandments and all the tabernacle stuff. He was a distance off.

And so what was Joshua doing for those 40 days? He was waiting. He was just there waiting for Moses to come back. Now, I know this is offensive to our hearts. I know this is offensive to our pride. What am I doing waiting here? Why do I gotta wait here? It's not real appealing to us. But that's why assisting requires death to self, sacrifice. Because sometimes the leader just needs you to wait and it's gonna be a while.

And he just needs you to wait. Sometimes it's hard to get people to wait just for service to wrap up on a Sunday morning so that things could be locked up so then we could go have a discussion. Sometimes it's hard because, yeah, we're all busy. We got things to do. But you know what? Sometimes in order to assist, to be a good assistant, you just have to be willing to lay aside your schedule, your thoughts, your plans, and

And to wait. Now, again, please understand, I'm not advocating a dictatorship where everybody is just at the, you know, the beck and call of, you know, some ruler, some tyrant, you know. And so, well, you just wait. Who cares what's on your schedule? Don't go to work tomorrow. Just wait, you know. That's, of course, not at all what I'm saying. But from the other side, that you would respond as God speaking to your heart, that you would be willing to say, you know,

God's called me alongside of this leader and I want to assist them. God's called me to assist them. And that means it's gonna require a sacrifice of my time. And sometimes that means that I'm gonna have to lay aside my schedule and I'm gonna have to lay aside what I think is important and set aside my to-do list and set aside those things so that I can be available for the person that God has called to lead because that's what God's called me to do, to come alongside of them.

There is times that God calls people to assist by, okay, you go handle all that stuff so I don't have to think about it, and I'll handle these things, and now, you know, thank you for being a good assistant. But there's also those occasions. There's also those ways that God works where he wants you to just make yourself available at a great cost to you, at a sacrifice to you, that you would simply wait.

The treasury of scripture knowledge has this comment about it. Joshua had waited patiently during all the 40 days in the place where Moses had left him, below the summit of the mount, at a distance from the people, and out of the way of temptation. So he wasn't involved in the whole thing with the golden calf. He was there and he just waited patiently. He just made himself available for Moses. Whatever Moses needed. I'm the assistant.

And so I'll wait with you six days until God speaks to you. And then you move on and I'll wait here another 40 days until you come back. Sure, no problem. It requires sacrifice to be a good assistant. Well, next we're going to jump to Exodus chapter 33, verse 11. And here we see that good assistants have their own relationship with God.

In Exodus chapter 33 verse 11, it says, Here we see an interesting situation where Moses has pitched the tent outside of the camp as a result of the people's sin with the golden calf.

And so he would go out to the tent and spend time with God. But it wasn't the case where God was right in their midst anymore for that season because of their sinfulness. And so he's outside of the camp. And so he would go out, he would meet with God, and then he would go back to minister to the people. But what's interesting here in verse 11 is that Joshua would just stick around.

Now, there's some discussion that could be had about why exactly Joshua stuck around that, you know, maybe he just stuck around as the guard. You know, he was the one who had to make sure nobody goes into the tent, nobody comes out of the tent. But I look at this, and I like to think of it from this perspective, that Joshua did not depart from the tabernacle because he was developing his own relationship with God, that he had his own connection to God, that

He didn't have the same experience where, you know, it says here that God spoke to Moses face to face. He spoke to him very clearly. They had a real intimate relationship. It was different than how God worked with Joshua, even as you see in the book of Joshua later on. God had a different relationship with Joshua than he did with Moses. But here Joshua is sticking around at the tabernacle, sticking around in the presence of God. And, you know, in order to be a good assistant, you need to have your own relationship with God.

There is a lot of areas where you're just called to be submitted and you don't have to worry about a lot of details and you just do what you're instructed to do. But that doesn't then mean that, well, you just rely on the leader's relationship with God and they're hearing from the Lord to tell you what to do. You need to have your own relationship with God so that you also can be instructed by the Lord to

first of all, for your own integrity and character and all of that, but then also in how to assist and how to benefit the work that is going on. And so you need to have a strong connection to God and have your own relationship with God in order to be a good assistant.

John Corson says, I always love that idea, that concept. We are as close to God as we want to be. There's no limitation there.

You can be as close to God as the leader is close to God. You can be as close to God as Moses was close to God. You can be as close to God as you want. It's all up to you and how you decide to invest your time, your energy, your strength, your attention, whether or not you will spend the appropriate amount of time with God in walking with God in the way that he's called us to. You need to have your own relationship with God.

And if you're lacking that relationship with God, well, you need to develop that. You're not going to be able to be a good assistant without your own relationship. There is, you know, as we talked about, the need to be obedient to the leader. That covers some ground. That will cover you to a point. But you can never assist somebody

fully, to the greatest extent of how God would want you to assist without your own relationship with God, without you hearing from God how to assist and what to do and how to come alongside and to meet needs that maybe the leader doesn't even know are there or doesn't know how to express. And so you need to have that connection with God to be able to hear from God and walk with God in order to minister in the way that God has called you to.

And so good leaders have their own relationship with God. Well, now let's jump over to the book of Numbers, chapter 11. Here we have point number five. Good assistants are sometimes overzealous. And I like this one a lot. I appreciate when someone is overzealous. Of course, overzealous is not necessarily exactly a good thing. But overzealous, I would prefer overzealous.

Who cares? You know, I much prefer that attitude of great zeal and passion that needs to be restrained rather than, you know, someone that needs to be like, okay, you know, let's get you riled up, get you riled up, get you worked up so that then finally you'll start to do something. But that zeal, that passion that has to be restrained is much more helpful for an assistant. Now, again, this is a little bit

hard on our pride many times because, well, none of us like to be restrained. None of us like to be corrected. And so, you know, it's a little bit easier for us to not be passionate, to hold back, to not engage, to not, you know, step out and kind of like, well, you know, maybe I'm overstepping my authority here. Maybe I'm overstepping what I'm supposed to be doing. But

But I think this needs to be done, and so I'm going to go. And then, oh, no, never mind. I'm being corrected now. Okay, okay, I guess I'm not supposed to do that. We don't like that feeling, right? But it's kind of necessary, actually, for assistants to be overzealous sometimes, for you to be so excited, so passionate, that you kind of got to be roped in a little bit and say, hey, I appreciate the zeal, the loyalty, the passion, you know,

But there also needs to be some restraint. And so we see that here in Numbers chapter 11. Let's look at verses 27 through 30. It says, Now, what's happening here is God has appointed these elders who are going to help Moses lead the people and judge issues and resolve disputes and all of that. And so God says, I'm going to put the spirit I have on you on them.

And so the elders are gathered together. The Holy Spirit is poured out upon them. But Eldad and Medad didn't come to the gathering. Although they were called by God to be part of this group, they were out in the camp. They weren't with that group. And so the word comes back now that they're prophesying. The Holy Spirit's been poured out upon them.

And so it's kind of like an alarm that's happening. Like, hey, this isn't good. Like, hey, this is dangerous. You know, what's going on? There's some commotion in the camp. These guys are prophesying in verse 28. So Joshua, the son of Nun, Moses' assistant, one of his choice men, answered and said, Moses, my Lord, forbid them. Then Moses said to him, are you zealous for my sake?

Oh, that all the Lord's people were prophets and that the Lord would put his spirit upon them. And Moses returned to the camp, he and the elders of Israel. So Moses hears about this report. He hears about these guys prophesying in the camp. And so he says, oh no, this won't do. Moses, you have to deal with this. You need to handle this situation. And Moses says, are you zealous for my sake?

You see, Joshua was concerned for Moses. His zeal wasn't for himself. His zeal wasn't for, you know, some unrighteous thing. He was seeking to protect Moses. And so in his zeal to protect Moses, he says, you need to forbid them.

You need to make sure that they don't continue this. It's kind of like when the disciples of John the Baptist approached him and said, hey, you know that guy you baptized a couple weeks ago? He's over there baptizing now, and more people are going there to him than are coming here to you. And, you know, what are you going to do about this? And John the Baptist said, well, that's appropriate. He must increase, and I must decrease. But his disciples, you know, were zealous for him. Like, hey, there's a problem here. You know, he's taken away your flock. He's

They didn't understand that that was appropriate. And so Joshua also, he has a little bit of overzealousness here. He's passionate about protecting Moses. He wants to protect his authority, protect his ministry, wants to make sure there's not rebellion going on. And so he says, hey, Moses, you better forbid them. You better put a stop to this. And Moses says, no, no, no, that's not necessary. I wish that the whole camp was prophesying. That would be wonderful.

They need to be filled with the Holy Spirit. That would be a good thing. David Guzik puts it this way. He says, He's like, no way. I'm going to protect Moses.

It was a case that happened to be where Moses didn't need protecting. And so Moses restrains him, holds him back. No, no, no. It's okay. It's okay. Calm down. Calm down, Joshua.

I love Pastor Sisko, and you guys know that. And one of the things I love about Pastor Sisko is him and I have this kind of conversation fairly regularly. He gets worked up about something, you know, something that, you know, is happening. Someone said something, you know, and he's like, we got to bring it, you know, to attention. We got to handle this situation. And, you know, I'm like, okay, I appreciate that. I love the protection. Thank you, Pastor Sisko. But, you know,

you know, it's not actually an issue. It's okay. And so we have that discussion. And I love that about him. It's, of course, you know, comforting to me. And I appreciate that I can, you know, know that he's got my back, you know, and that he'll be with me no matter what happens. And that's something that's important. And so sometimes we're going to be overzealous and we got to be willing to kind of, you know, go too far and be willing to be brought back in order to be good assistants.

The other side of this is if we're just sitting there because we don't want to be corrected, we don't want to be restrained. So then, well, then we only do what we're asked to do. That's not actually very helpful. That's helpful to a limited extent. But again, going back to you need to have your own relationship with God and

And you need to be, you know, stepping out in those things. And sometimes you're not going to have full understanding. And so where you're going, you think, you know, is the best thing and you're zealous and you're passionate. And it's for all good reasons, all the best motivations, but it's just not exactly what the Lord wants for that time. And so you have to be willing to be corrected and say, oh, okay, okay. I will, you know, reframe my understanding of the situation and allow you to speak into my life. But to just sit there and,

Well, I'm only going to do something if you tell me to do something. I mean, if you want me to do something, tell me to do something, I'll do it. It's actually not that helpful. It's much better for you to catch the vision of what needs to be done and what the Lord wants to do and what the leader is desiring and the work that needs to take place and see the needs that are there and

and then seek to meet those needs. And maybe it is like this, where you, you know, you speak to Moses and you say, hey, you know, look at this situation. I think I can address this situation. And you allow Moses to say, that's a situation you don't need to address. Or yeah, you're right. Good. Yeah, go for it. I think a contrast to this also is Joab. And I'm thinking about maybe looking at Joab next week to finish up the Ministry Minded series.

But Joab, he had a loyalty to David and he wanted to protect David, but he took it way too far. He was overzealous, but he didn't submit to David. So when David said, hey, make sure you don't kill Absalom, Joab was like, throw that out the window. No, we need to take him out because he's a danger. We can't allow him to live. I mean, he's a threat. And so he disregards what David asks and just does what he wants. So you see his overzealousness, which we could appreciate.

He wanted to protect David, but it needs to be submitted to the leader that God has placed in your life. All right, moving on to number six, we're going to jump over to Numbers chapter 14. And here we see that good assistants resist a rebellion. Good assistants resist a rebellion. Let's pick it up in verse six and read through verse 10. It says, but Joshua, the son of Nun and Caleb, the son of Jephunneh,

Verse 1.

Verse 10, and all the congregation said to stone them with stones. Now the glory of the Lord appeared in the tabernacle of meeting before all the children of Israel. Here in Numbers chapter 14, the 12 spies have gone through the promised land. They've come back. 10 of them have given a bad report. Joshua and Caleb have given a good report. Both were accurate in that they said, you know, there's giants, there's going to be battles, there's going to be, you know, these challenges. And they're going to be

But the 10 spies who gave the bad report persuaded the people and freaked the people out. And so they decided, you know what? We can't do this. And they said, you know what we need to do is we need to pick a new leader. In verse 4 it says, so they said to one another, let's select a leader and return to Egypt.

So this is a refusal to enter into the promised land that God had given to them. It's an attack on Moses. We don't want this guy leading us no more. Let's pick a new leader. We don't like your ideas, Moses. We don't like your methods. We're choosing a new leader. And now we're going to go do what we want to do, what we think is best.

And Joshua and Caleb run into the crowd. They resist the rebellion and they say, no, this isn't good. This isn't right. Don't rebel against the Lord. They resist the rebellion. Now, this is really important for assistance. You need to be able to resist a rebellion because there will be times where the people, speaking just generally collectively, will

The people will disagree with the leader's instruction, the leader's vision, what the leader says God wants to do. There will be people who disagree. There will always be people who disagree. And sometimes there will be a lot of people and sometimes there'll be a little people. But for a good assistant, there needs to be the ability to resist the rebellion against what God has called. Now, this can be very challenging because of our own flesh. It can be so tempting sometimes

to be the spokesperson of those who disagree. It's a grab for power that happens regularly in ministry, regularly in business, regularly in all of life. I mean, it's a grab for power where, all right, I'm going to represent these people, or these people come and they persuade me

You're right. Yeah, he does do a really bad job. Yeah, why does he do it that way? Why does he, you know, handle that situation? Why did he say that? I don't think that's right, and maybe we should go this direction. And so then now you're persuaded by the people, and they've turned you against the leader that God's called you to assist. Sometimes it can be things that are really big and serious, and sometimes it can be in minor areas, but we need to be able to resist a rebellion.

Now, in order to be able to resist a rebellion, remember, this was an attack on Moses. Hey, let's pick a new leader. So in order to be able to resist a rebellion, you've got to be firmly convinced that God has called the person you're assisting to lead. And whatever ministry we're talking about. So again, this works in all types of levels and in all types of environments.

So in order for you to resist a rebellion in living water, you need to be firmly convinced that God's called me to pastor the church. And if you're not firmly convinced that God's called me to pastor the church, then that's something that you need to work out aside, and you're never going to be a good assistant until you have that firm conviction that you know this is what God has called me to do, and so that God has called you to come alongside me in this way. But that also means for you

The men's ministry. If you're going to be a good assistant to Harvey, you need to be absolutely convinced. Harvey's called to lead the men's ministry. And you will never be a good assistant if you're always thinking, well, maybe there's someone better. Maybe Josh should lead the men's ministry. You know, he'd probably do a much better job. And, you know, he's a little bit better looking. And, you know, just kidding.

If there's that kind of thing going on in you, you're not going to be a good assistant. And I would encourage you, get out. Step out of the way because you're only going to add to the confusion and add to the difficulty when your heart's tugged and pulled in different ways because you're not fully convinced this is where God has this person and this is where God has you alongside to assist. There has to be a firm conviction. Joshua and Caleb are convicted. They know for sure that

God has called Moses to lead us and he's brought us to the promised land and we can go in. God is with us. This is what God wants. But if you're not convinced this is what God wants, then you're going to be not part of the solution, but part of the problem. And then it's going to be very tempting for you to be the spokesman. Well, you know, Moses, people are saying that we took a vote. 95% of us agree. We're going to go back to Egypt. This isn't good. This isn't right, Moses. We've got a better way.

It's similar to the tactic that Absalom used. He swayed the heart of the people. Sometimes the people sway the assistant and sometimes the assistant sways the people. But either way, it's an attack on the one that God has called to lead. And you've got to be able to resist a rebellion. You've got to be able to resist that. And although...

In this kind of environment, as we're, you know, maybe having this discussion, you might think, well, yeah, that's pretty easy. But in real life, you'll actually find that it's really challenging many times. Your loyalties are going to be tested, and you're going to be pulled in different directions. In a couple chapters, in Numbers chapter 16, we see a rebellion led by a man named Korah. And Korah, along with a couple other guys, they raise up and they speak against Moses.

In verse 2 of Numbers 16, it says, So Korah is rebelling against Moses, and he persuades 250 assistants, 250 leaders, 250 leaders,

join with him. They're caught up in the rebellion. They're caught up in the attack against Moses. They couldn't resist the rebellion. They weren't firmly convinced. Moses was called to lead because in verse three, it says, they gathered together against Moses and Aaron said to them, you take too much upon yourselves for all the congregation is holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among you. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the Lord?

You guys gave yourselves this position. You gave yourselves too much authority. It's not right what you've done. Hey, we're all holy. We can all lead. And so why have you appointed yourselves this position of authority over the whole congregation is their challenge to Moses and Aaron. And the leaders were caught up in that. Yeah, why are they caught up? Or why are they giving themselves so much authority? Why have they placed themselves in this position? Why have they done that? They were caught up in the rebellion instead of resisting it.

Instead of saying, no, no, I know God has called Moses. And so you see, we need that firm conviction. And if you don't have that firm conviction, stay out of the way. Don't get involved because, well, you'll get sucked up into the rebellion that inevitably will take place. There will be dissent. And don't be involved in that dissent. Don't persuade the people. And don't let the people persuade you to rebel against those that God has called to lead. David Guzik says, the chorus of the ministry says,

are difficult enough to deal with. We'll always have those that are difficult. But the people who follow them, the 250 leaders, representatives, men of renown, who lack the discernment to oppose the Korahs can be even more painful. I expect rebellion. I expect uprising from time to time. It's going to happen, for sure. But even though I expect that, as David Guzik points out here,

many times the harder part is not that one individual, that Korah who rises up, but those leaders who get sucked in and begin to join in the attack. And there's the, you know, hey, at one time we were linked together, we locked arms and we were working together, but now there's this, you've been deceived, you've been led astray and

Why didn't you have the discernment to see that this is not of the Lord? This is not God's tactics. It's not God's techniques. It's not the way that God works. But you've allowed yourself to get sucked up into this. It's painful. And it happens in all kinds of ways, in all types of variety of ministries, in all types of varieties of events. There's a lot of different ideas. And that's great. No problem with that. But the way that those ideas are handled and expressed and dealt with

are very important. So last week we talked about watch your tongue, right? That's crucial. The way that we handle those things is crucial. It's okay to have different ideas, but we need to have those different ideas expressed, especially when it's...

you know, really contrary to what the leader is saying. We need to have those conversations privately, not with everybody else who we think might agree with us about, you know, what a terrible job that person is doing or how we think the event should go or how we think, you know, the study should happen or whatever the case may be. We need to handle these things maturely and not get caught up in the rebellion. Resist the rebellion.

And if you're not convinced that God's called that person that he's called you to assist to lead, then don't be their assistant because you will be caught up in the rebellion. You'll be tempted either to grab, you know, like Absalom, you know, try to get the authority, try to take over, try to accomplish your own thing, or you'll be persuaded by the people. And so when God's called you alongside to assist, make sure that you can be 100% confident that

God's called this person to lead. It doesn't mean that they're going to be perfect and they're going to make mistakes. And my job is to help them through those mistakes. My job is to help them. Yeah, they're going to have wrong perspectives. Yeah, they're going to do dumb things. Yeah, they're going to, you know, they're going to sin. They're going to make mistakes. But that's why God's called me alongside to assist, to help them, not to attack them. And so make sure you learn how to resist a rebellion. Well, finally, number seven, we're going to jump to Numbers chapter 27.

And here we see that good assistance will lead when God calls. Good assistance will lead when God calls. In Numbers chapter 27, verse 15, it says, Then Moses spoke to the Lord, saying, Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over the congregation, who may go out before them and go in before them, who may lead them out and bring them in, that the congregation of the Lord may not be like sheep which have no shepherd."

And the Lord said to Moses, take Joshua the son of man with you, a man in whom is the spirit, and lay your hand on him. And set him before Eliezer the priest and before all the congregation and inaugurate him in their sight. And you shall give some of your authority to him that all the congregation of the children of Israel may be obedient. And it goes on to describe a little bit more of that ceremony that takes place and the authority being handed over to Joshua.

But the point of this here in Numbers 27 is that it's not that a good assistant is incapable of leading. It's not that a good assistant doesn't have leadership qualities. That, you know, well, you're not really good at leading, so why don't you just be an assistant? It's not that at all. But it's that those who are called to be good assistants often will have leadership qualities and need leadership qualities, but you're not going to take the reins on your own. You will lead when God calls you to lead.

And so Moses wasn't attempting, or sorry, Joshua wasn't attempting to try to, you know, take over the congregation. He wasn't, you know, seeking after that. But when God called him to do it, he also didn't run from it. He accepted the responsibility that God gave him. And so when God called him to lead, he was fearful and he had to be reminded, hey, be strong and courageous, right? Over and over, be strong and courageous, be strong and courageous, be strong and courageous.

He was awed by the immense responsibility that this calling had, but he was willing to be obedient as God called him. There's sometimes a problem when we are so eager to lead that we're not willing to be a good assistant first. And we need to learn to be a good assistant, to come alongside, to be faithful in serving those that God has called to lead first.

And then be ready to lead when God calls us to lead. Insist on God's timing. Insist on God's clarity.

You may have different ideas about men's ministry or the women's ministry or the youth ministry or living water as a whole. And you may think, man, like we talked about Jeroboam this morning, like, oh, if only I had the authority, if only I had the power, you know, I could make things so much better. And, you know, more people would come and the events would be awesome. And we'd have all these awesome, wonderful things happen and praise reports and people would get saved. You know, if only I was in charge. And, you know, God could put you in charge if he wants you in charge.

We talked about that a few weeks back. Authority is God's business. And he sets and establishes authority within the body of Christ. And if he wanted you to have the authority, he could have given you the authority. But if he hasn't given you the authority right now, then don't try to take it. And don't try to make it happen in some other way. But you just come alongside with those that God has given authority to. And be a good assistant. And perhaps God will give you an opportunity to lead.

Like he said to Jeroboam, hey, you've had this desire in your heart. I'm going to give it to you. But wait for God's timing. Much like David did with Saul. He had opportunity. He could have taken Saul out and said, all right, I'm king, guys. I got rid of Saul. That's not how you want to get authority in the work of God. That's not how you want to become a leader. It's not a good way to do it. The good way to do it is like David. Wait, yeah, I could. I could. I could.

I see Harvey's vulnerable. Yeah, there's a lot of people attacking him right now. There's a lot of things being said, and I could add to that, and I could take him out, and I could take that role. But I refuse to do it. I'm not going to do it until God's called me to lead. I'm not going to take matters in my own hands. I'm going to let God lead in my life. Good assistance will lead when God calls. Finishing up with Philippians chapter 2.

Paul said, And I would ask all of you to be like Timothy. Learn to be like-minded and sincerely care for people.

to lay aside your own, that is your own agenda, your own thoughts, your own plans, your own preferences, lay aside your own and be a good assistant. Come alongside those that God has called to lead. Again, we're all assistants in various forms and ways. And so we need to make sure that as we do that, as we assist, we're good assistants.

That we're like-minded, that we catch the vision, that we work hard to listen to the leader, the one that God has called to lead, to understand what the vision is, what the needs are, what needs to be done, and that we don't try to promote our own thing, but that we accept the agenda that God has given to the heart of the leader, and that we submit to that, and we follow that, and we don't seek our own, but that we seek the things of the Lord, being like-minded with those that God has placed in authority over us.

Be a good assistant. It's desperately needed. Let's pray. Lord, I pray for all of us. Lord, there is so much potential within the church, within the body of Christ for division, for disputes, Lord, for

all kinds of battles and struggles. And Lord, we've seen it throughout church history. Lord, we've seen it in current history, Lord, and things that continue to go on. And Lord, I pray that you would protect us from those types of things by helping us, Lord, to check our own hearts. Lord, to

Present ourselves to you and to be submitted to you in a way that we can become good assistants to those that you've called to be leaders in our lives. Lord, that we would come alongside surrendering, Lord, our plans, our preferences, our vision, our desires, our will. And Lord, that we'd be fully submitted to the things that you've ordained and orchestrated in those that you've placed in authority. And so, Lord, I pray that you would do that, that you would help us, Lord. Help us to come alongside and support those that you've called to lead, Lord, in whatever capacity.

Lord, that they might know, Lord, like I sense, Lord, in the Apostle Paul, there's just that refreshing statement, Lord, that Timothy is like-minded and he can trust in him and it's such a refreshing thing. I pray, Lord, that you would allow us to be that type of refreshing people, refreshing assistants to those that you've called to lead in our lives, Lord, that we would come alongside in a way that is a blessing and a great benefit. In Jesus' name I pray.

Amen.