Message #4 Leadership Transition Series January 31, 2010
Well finally, after Moses has given God his list of what kind of man he would like to see replace him—God in Numbers 27:18 names the man and believe me—he was no surprise to Moses.
In fact, it would have surprised Moses had God not selected Joshua because not only was Joshua qualified—he was already doing the job of helping Moses lead God's people.
In other words, Joshua, who is probably best known for his declaration which many of you have hanging up on a wall somewhere in your house--”But as for me and my house we will serve the LORD!”--had not only distinguished himself as a leader at home--he was also distinguishing himself on the job as Moses' assistant –as an able and capable leader of God's people.
Now again, Joshua was not a stranger to Moses, the people, or leadership.
You see, Moses had been grooming Joshua for this position for years with some apparent insight that if he was to be replaced—Joshua would be the man to replace him and would therefore need to be prepared for this task.
Now turn with me to Numbers 11:28.
Joshua had served with Moses as his assistant from his youth. This means that even as a young person—there was something that stood out about Joshua to Moses that caused him to choose Joshua as his assistant and the Hebrew word really has the idea of “chief assistant”.
As Moses' assistant, Joshua would be counted upon to keep confidences, protect Moses' time, deal with people and problems that could quickly consume Moses' time and energy.
He would have to be a young man Moses trusted and was able to count on thus Joshua must have been a reliable and trustworthy young man.
But not only this, Joshua had proven himself as a reliable, trustworthy, and loyal assistant to Moses for somewhere in the vicinity of 70 years.
Most Old Testament scholars believe the Conquest of Canaan took between 20 and 25 years. Since Joshua died at the end of the conquest of Canaan at the age of 110 according to Joshua 24:29—he was between 85 and 90 years old when he assumed leadership over the Nation of Israel.
So, since Joshua started serving Moses as a youth—it is very likely that Joshua had served as Moses' assistant for well over 70 years before he ever became the leader.
In other words, Moses had plenty of time to get to know this man and build into his life.
And given the fact that Joshua is still serving as Moses' assistant at least 70 years after he started—there must have been something about him that kept him on Moses' payroll.
Obviously, he was a man of character who had no trouble playing “second fiddle” most of his life.
He was obviously a man who did not need to be in the lime light.
Nor was he a man who was driven by personal ambition. Interestingly enough, there is not recorded anywhere in Scripture that Joshua in all of his years of working under Moses—desired or attempted to undercut, usurp, draw attention away from, or otherwise manipulate Moses' leadership in any way, shape, or form.
Scripture indicates that Joshua was a loyal assistant who, had Moses lived to lead the conquest himself, would have been just as content to play second-fiddle for another 20 to 25 years.
In fact, in Numbers 11:28-29, we see some of Joshua's loyalty to Moses.
Earlier, Moses had complained to God that the work load of leading God's people was too much for him (Numbers 11:14).
So, God told him to pick 70 men to help him in leading the people. God also promised to grant them His Spirit so that they too would be equipped to help in this leadership role (Numbers 11:16-17).
Then once Moses had picked his 70 and stationed them around the Tent of Meeting, the Lord filled these men with His Spirit and this was authenticated by the fact that they prophesied one time right there. (Numbers 11:24-25)
Now apparently, two of the seventy failed to show up at the Tent of Meeting or at least were late and when the other 68 were prophesying at the Tent of Meeting—these two began prophesying in the camp (Numbers 11:26-27).
And this greatly upset Joshua and caused him to become jealous for Moses' sake according to Numbers 11:28-29.
You see, this act of other men besides Moses prophesying meant that Moses was not really the “kingpin” that everyone thought he was.
Yes, he was the only man to whom God spoke face-to-face, but he was no longer the only man to whom and through whom God spoke and this in Joshua's mind—threatened Moses' leadership and position before the people.
And he was right—it did threaten his position as is seen in the next chapter—Numbers 12:1-2—when Aaron and Miriam use the fact that God had spoken through them as a means of undercutting Moses' leadership.
But even though he was right in knowing that this would potentially threaten Moses' leadership—he was wrong because his concern was motivated more by loyalty to Moses than loyalty to the Lord or the people.
So, in a sense Joshua had a commendable loyalty yet in another way—he had a blind loyalty that needed to be and was corrected by Moses himself.
This also helps us to see that Joshua was a man who could take correction and not have it so upset him that he quit or put Moses in the position of having to replace him.
And in my mind, it is huge that Moses was able to speak so frankly and really almost sarcastically to Joshua and not be afraid that Joshua would “pick up his ball and go home”.
We see here that Moses did not sense a need to handle Joshua with kid gloves.
He was able to “tell him—like it is” and was not concerned that Joshua would get mad, run away, or now try to undercut his leadership himself.
But not only was Joshua a man of character who demonstrated great humility, loyalty, and selfless service to Moses for around 70 years—he was a man whom God selected for leadership because God had prepared him for leadership and had done so in four major ways—example, experience, enlightenment, and empowerment.
God prepared Joshua for leadership by giving him an example to follow.
God prepared Joshua for leadership by giving him life experience.
God prepared Joshua for leadership by giving him divine enlightenment.
God prepared Joshua for leadership by giving him divine empowerment.
And I will contend that this is exactly how God prepares his leaders today as well.
The man God chooses to lead His people will have had a good example to follow, life-experience to learn from, scriptural enlightenment to guide him, and divine-empowerment to use him.
1.God prepared Joshua for leadership by giving him an example to follow.
Obviously, Joshua could not have had a better human example than Moses to follow and learn from.
He had every opportunity to observe Moses—in private and in public.
He was able to see how this great man of God handled adversity, tribulation, fear, frustration, anger, and victory.
He heard Moses pray, cry, and plead for these people. He also heard Moses beg God not to destroy them from the face of the earth.
And as he watched and learned he began to understand the real enemy of God's people was themselves and their own sin and complacency in dealing with their sin.
He was there when they made the golden calf and saw Moses' broken heart at his people's idolatry. And then he saw that broken heart turn into fierce righteous indignation as Moses saw the people worshiping that golden calf.
He was there when Moses and the people disagreed over which was the best way—God's or their's—and he saw Moses standing alone many times because he would not budge from God's way.
And he was there when his hero failed and disobeyed God by striking the rock rather than speaking to it.
And he learned that day—that God has no favorites and that disobedience comes with a cost.
Yes, Joshua saw both the good and the bad in Moses as well as the great and knew exactly what leading God's people would entail and would cost him.
2.God prepared Joshua for leadership by giving him life experience.
Next, God prepared Joshua for leadership by granting him life experience
that developed him as a leader.
As the saying goes: Experience is a good teacher but needs a willing pupil.
Joshua was indeed a willing pupil.
Joshua was Moses' choice to lead Israel in battle in their very first military engagement after leaving Egypt. The account is found in Exodus 17:8-14.
Now, the Scriptures do not indicate what training and experience Joshua had for leading a military campaign—but--there's always a first-time for everything.
Joshua does not appear to flinch, complain, make excuses, or even try and pawn the job off on Caleb—he simply does what he is told and gains some great experience that he doesn't even know he is going to need for another 50 or so years.
Joshua was the man Moses chose to go up Mt. Sinai with him when he first received the Law of God in Exodus 24:12-18.
So, he had experience in seeing how a man is to relate to a holy God and that would prove invaluable to him later on down the road.
3.God prepared Joshua for leadership by giving him divine enlightenment.
It goes without saying that the leadership of God's people is dependent upon God providing divine leadership through His Word.
The man who would lead God's people must be in touch with God to know what God wants him to do as well as what God wants him to lead His people to do.
And to be in touch with God—he must be in God's Word.
And according to 2 Timothy 3:16-17, one of the really big reasons why God has given us His inspired Word is so that “the man of God” might be adequate and thoroughly equipped to lead God's people.
And God did not leave Joshua out of the loop on this. Look at Joshua 1:5- 8. God gave Joshua His Word through Moses and expected him to know it,
meditate upon it, and obey it.
This was God granting him His divine enlightenment so as to succeed in leading God's people.
Now, of course a man must receive God's Word if he is to be a good leader of God's people.
He must have a huge respect for God's Word. He must hunger for it himself or he will not be of much good to those he is leading.
Now this does not mean that he will not have those dry desert experiences in which, even he comes to the Word more out of duty than delight.
And there will be times in his life when the Bible does not seem to speak to him—like it used to.
And there will be times when the distractions of life win so that instead of keeping his appointed times to enjoy God's Word—even he wastes his time on frivolous and insignificant activities.
But in spite of these times and in spite of his frail weaknesses the overall tenor of the spiritual leader of God's people is that he is a man who has an extraordinary desire for the Word of God and who sees being in it and being engaged by it not as an option but as a necessity of life.
In Exodus 33:11 which, is the chapter in which Moses asks to see God's glory—there is an interesting detail included that has to do with Joshua when he was just a young man.
Before Moses asks to see God's glory—the Bible tells us here in verse 11 that God used to speak to Moses face-to-face, just as a friend speaks to his friend.
Now this communication between God and Moses took place in a tent on the outskirts of the Camp—which Moses simply called “The Tent of Meeting”.
Now, when it says that God spoke to Moses face-to-face—it does not mean that God appeared to Moses. It simply means that God spoke plainly and forthrightly with Moses—just as “a friend would speak to a friend”.
And when Moses went to the Tent of Meeting to speak with God—he took with him Joshua who stood outside the Tent.
But note that when Moses left after talking with God that Joshua of his own accord “would not leave the Tent”.
There must be a special reason why God's Holy Spirit wanted us to know this.
And I think the reason why God wanted us to know this about Joshua is because it reveals that Moses was not the only one who had a desire to hear and perhaps even see God's glory.
You see, I think that the reason why Joshua chose to stay at the Tent after Moses left is because he didn't want to miss any opportunity to be at the Tent of Meeting when God came down to speak.
You see, even though outside the Tent—it is quite possible that Joshua heard what was being said inside the Tent and this captivated him so much that he was not going to take the chance of missing out on hearing God speak—so he remained at the place where God came down to speak—and he would not leave.
Now, this is the mark of one who has the potential of being a great spiritual leader.
He is hungry and thirsty to hear God speak—he is hungry and thirsty for the Word of God.
You know, I really don't have any hobbies. Other than my wife and kids, I have very few interests in this world.
Oh, I enjoy life immensely and I enjoy the things of life but I have really only one passion and interest that consumes me and it is studying, knowing, and teaching the Word of God.
And I think that the man who is to lead God's people as their primary spiritual leader in the church must be a man of whom it can be said—his passion and what consumes him is the Word of God.
And he should be a man like Joshua who wouldn't leave the Tent of Meeting because he didn't want to miss an opportunity to hear God speak.
The man who leads God's people must be a “man of the Book”.
Now, there is one other piece of information the Holy Spirit wanted us to have about Joshua here in this verse—and it was that simply that Joshua did this as a “young man”.
And that is significant because you often don't see young men so passionate and consumed with wanting to hear from God.
Most young men would be waiting outside their girlfriend's tent or the TV tent or the Video Game Tent or the Computer Tent or their friend's tent or the used chariot tent but not Joshua—he was outside the Tent where God spoke.
And when you see a young man like that—you may want to keep an eye on him because God is going to do great things in him.
4.God prepared Joshua for leadership by giving him divine empowerment.
If you'll go back to Numbers 27:18 you will see how God described Joshua.
He described him as “a man in whom is the Spirit”. And by this, God meant, of course, “The Holy Spirit”.
God could have described Joshua in many ways but didn't.
That which seemed to be most important to God was not that Joshua was a multi-talented, naturally-gifted, skilled, and experienced leader.
Rather, what mattered to God was that Joshua was a man in whom His own divine Spirit indwelled so as to empower Joshua to do a spiritual task that demanded more than he could ever muster on his own.
Oh, as we have already seen—Joshua had leadership ability, experience, enlightenment, and the invaluable opportunity of having Moses as his mentor yet all of this was not enough.
He still needed one more thing to be a leader of God's people and what he needed—only God Himself could provide—His own Spirit.
He needed, in the vernacular of years long past--”the anointing power of the indwelling Holy Spirit of God to fill him with divine enablement and spiritual power from on high.”
And let me say—that this is still what God insists upon in those men who would lead His people.
They must be men who having been saved are not only indwelt by the Spirit of God but are continually being filled with the Spirit of God so as to fulfill in ways that can only be attributed to the power and work of God the impossible demands that the task of spiritual leadership requires.
I think one of the greatest biblical examples of this occurring in the life of a Christian was when Peter got up to preach on the Day of Pentecost.
Peter was a natural born leader. He was an experienced leader. He was also an enlightened leader having spent three glorious years with Jesus learning from His example but until Peter was “filled” by the Holy Spirit of God on the Day of Pentecost he was a spiritually anemic and powerless man who would rather run and hide than go “toe-to-toe” in a spiritual free- for-all with the host of hell.
But once he was filled with the Holy Spirit of God—there was no stopping him.
And this is the kind of men the church needs in leadership today—men who are so filled with the Spirit of God that they are willing to go “toe-to-toe” against the spiritual forces of darkness who would dare to threaten and if they could harm Christ's church.
CONCLUSION
Well, as we have seen when God prepares a man for the spiritual leadership of His people, He gives him an example to follow, life-experience to draw upon, His own divine Word to guide him, and His Spirit to empower him.
In other words, God fully equips the man He calls to lead His people.
Now one last thing I want to leave you with—Moses had to be told that Joshua was a man in whom the Spirit of God dwelled.
In other words, whereas God knew this to be true—Moses did not.
And it was not because Joshua was not a spirit-filled man—rather it was because up until now—Joshua had not faced a task big enough to demonstrate the Spirit's unique power in his life and on his behalf.
Oh, he had been involved in some pretty big scrapes and had stood up against the ten spies who didn't want to go into Canaan but nothing that he had ever done or been involved with came close to this task that God was calling him to.
And so, again whereas he was a godly man who had demonstrated godly character and leadership in the past—nothing he had done up to this point had required God's divine power to be manifested and displayed in an extraordinary way in His life through the indwelling Person of the Spirit of God.
And thus, Moses needed to be told that Joshua was a man in whom the Spirit of God lived.
In other words, greater spiritual challenges require greater demonstrations and manifestations of divine power and God will never leave the person He has called to accomplish a great task for Him without the power to accomplish the task.
And if God has called you to spiritual leadership He will grant you, through His Spirit, the spiritual power to accomplish the task He has called you to.
Of course, this kind of talk may cause some of you to become a little uncomfortable because other than your salvation you really haven't experienced much of the Holy Spirit's power in your lives.
And it could be that for some of you who wonder why it seems as though you haven't experienced the power of the Holy Spirit of God at work in your life in big or small ways is that perhaps you aren't pursuing the kinds of challenges that require that kind of power.
It is spiritually invigorating and very much worthwhile to go out out on a limb for the Lord from time-to-time. And we'll see how Joshua did that next week.
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