Tips for Teaching This Week’s Session of The Gospel Project for Adults

Listen to this week’s leader training podcast with Y Bonesteele, team leader for The Gospel Project for Adults, for a summary and guidance in leading your group.

This week’s additional resources for study and preparation:

• Article: “The High Cost of Leadership” by Andy Cook
• Sermon: “Hysteria in Excelsis” by Dale Ralph Davis
• Sermon: “Caleb: A Man of Distinction” by Alistair Begg

Transcript of Leader Training Podcast:

Hi! This is Y Bonesteele, team leader of The Gospel Project for Adults. Welcome to another leader training podcast. Today we are in Unit 6, Session 2, Consequences for the Faithless, with the key concept of God is faithful both to forgive and to punish faithlessness, as seen in Numbers 14:11-24.

For some needed context, as seen in the timeline on page 127 of the Leader Guide, in Numbers 13, Moses sent the twelve spies into the promised land and they return proclaiming the bounty of the land as God had promised but also their fear of the people because of their strength in Numbers 13:27. Caleb tried to sway the people to conquer the land in verse 30 but the other spies kept speaking up about the inhabitants strength and giant stature.

As we move into Numbers 14, then, we see the Israelites crying again, complaining, and wanting to go back to Egypt. Only Moses and Aaron, and Caleb and Joshua tried to encourage the people to remember that the Lord was with them and to not be afraid seen in verse 14:9.

The people then threatened to stone these leaders in verse 10 but God had had enough and appeared to them at the tent of meeting which leads us to our first passage, a conversation between God and Moses.

In verse 11-13, God pretty much tells Moses, these people are never going to trust me despite all the signs I perform. And in verse 12, He tells Moses, they need to be destroyed; I can make a greater nation out of you without these people.

Over and over again, we see the faithlessness of the Israelites. God said, “How long will these people despise me?” When you don’t want to be with the person who rescued you from slavery and decide you’d prefer slavery, that’s hatred right there. We ourselves can be a lot like the Israelites. When we doubt God’s plan for our lives, we can despise God when we forget His faithfulness in the past. When we long for things moreso than His presence, it can feel like we’re despising God. We have to be careful about how we view and value God’s presence in our lives. If we put it second, instead of first, it can seem as if we don’t love God at all.

The strength of Moses at this point gets me. What a change from last week’s session where he’s like, kill me already, these people are such a heavy burden. The chosen 70 with the Spirit to help alleviate Moses’ burden must have helped because he asked for God’s pardon here. His previous despair has now turned into a maturing wisdom—wisdom to want to honor God and His fame among the other nations, and wisdom to cherish the people and ask for forgiveness.

In Moses’s argument to God about why He should forgive, He based it on God’s reputation and fame to Egypt and the surrounding nations. Notice the emphasis on God’s presence that is subtle if we don’t take a closer look. Verse 14, “they have heard that you, Lord, are among these people,” this again that Yahweh God longs to dwell with His people, unlike the other false gods of the times. The Lord is “seen face to face,” He wants to be known by His people; He wants to reveal Himself to them in a close, personal way, face to face. His “cloud stand over them,” He is nearby and guides. He goes “before them… by day… and by night,” He is always present, leading, protecting, being their God. The uniqueness of God’s omnipresence and personal interactions with His people is what sets Him apart from any other god. He is father, friend, guide, and leader. And Moses reused God’s own words to describe Himself to plea for forgiveness for the people: verse 18, “The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in faithful love, forgiving iniquity and rebellion.” And Moses continues, “But he will not leave the guilty unpunished, bringing the consequences of the faithers’ iniquity on the children to the third and fourth generation. Moses gets it. He has a full balanced view of God’s character when He answers God. But He asks for forgiveness anyway, relying on God’s grace, mercy and love. “Please pardon” them, he says. And God, pleased with his response, agrees: “I have pardoned them as you requested.”

Moses doesn’t ask to do anything when he asked God for forgiveness, no extra sacrifices, no extra work. He merely bases his request on God’s character. We can ask God for forgiveness simply on that, especially because of Christ’s work on the cross. We don’t need to earn forgiveness. Christ paid it all. Sometimes we feel like we do need to earn it. It seems like something does need to be done. But when we have a contrite and humble heart and we accept Jesus’s sacrifice as due punishment for our sin, we can accept God’s grace and forgiveness.

In the next portion of Scripture, we are reminded that faithlessness can be forgiven and yet still have consequences. After God’s pardon, He continues with a “yet.” I have pardoned them, yet there are still consequences. I won’t destroy them now, but they’re not going to enter the promise land. In one sense, God gave them what they wanted. Their hearts never believed truly that God was going to give them the promised land. They wanted to go back to the drudgery of slavery. And so in the wilderness they would die. But God pardoned them from being destroyed right away. He let them live out their lives in the wilderness.

We know God forgives our sin because of Jesus’s work on the cross but we’ve all experienced the consequences of sin. Bad choices in money can lead to bankruptcy, crimes of any kind will lead to prison, selfishness and arrogance can lead to broken relationships. Though forgiveness is granted, sinful choices have negative consequences.

But like the commentary in the Leader Guide states, God could have made the consequences even greater, “bringing consequences to the third and fourth generation” like verse 18 says, but He didn’t. His grace was overflowing. And His grace is given beyond what we deserve.

We see this in the Bible every time, God could have destroyed humanity, but He doesn’t. Adam and Eve, Cain, humanity before the flood, the people at Babel, the Israelites and their complaining. Over and over, God’s grace is clearly seen. I know the Scripture selections may seem repetitive in thematic nature in humanity messing up, but that’s just it, that’s the gospel. Humanity is sinful. We deserve punishment. But God is gracious—so, so gracious. But sin deserves punishment, and some thing or someone has to atone for sin. This all points toward Jesus. This is why understanding the Old Testament is so important. It all points to our need for a savior, our need for Jesus, as we understand that God is faithful both to forgive and to punish faithlessness.

So moving on to the group experience, the icebreaker questions reminds us how we deal with children, with discipline and compassion, and how in our humanity, that’s sometimes a hard balancing act. God does this perfectly though. He knows exactly how to do both well. We see it throughout Scripture like the one we will study today. Use this as a bridge to go over the context of the passage.

Then in the Recap section, go through what your group studied this past week, discussing what stood out. Then discuss What was the initial consequence God had for the Israelites and what was the secondary one? First that God would strike them with a plague and destroy them and make a different, greater nation, as seen in verse 12. The second one was that the current generation of Israelites wouldn’t be able to see the promised land. The consequence was severe because it was a repetitive sin the Israelites were committing. They did not trust in God, His character, or His plan. They took for granted God’s very presence in their midst, never fully seeing or believing all that was possible for an almighty God. They chose to not remember His faithfulness and mighty deeds, His character of graciousness and love for them. They longed for Egypt, namely they longed to be back in slavery without the very presence of God. Because of that, the consequences were severe.

As you summarize the Scripture passage, pass out copies of Pack Item 10: Moses and Jesus. Moses intercedes for the people here and we are reminded that in a similar way, Jesus intercedes for us. Looking at the handout, we can see other ways Moses is a type of Jesus, someone who’s character points to Jesus as our ultimate need. Both were prophets and both were mediators. Go through the list of similarities there.

Then on to the group activity on page 136 in the Leader Guide, and page 110 in your group’s Personal Study Guide. Follow the instructions to Chart, Introduce, and Read Numbers 14. Engage the group in looking at verses 1-4 first, The People’s Sin, as part of the background context of the focal passage. Have the group or smaller groups summarize the verses into one sentence. It could look something like this: The Israelites complained about Moses and Aaron, wanting to appoint new leaders to go back to Egypt because of their fear of the giants in the new land. A summary of God’s Response from verses 11 and 12 could be: God had had enough of the Israelites complaining and rejection of him, threatening to bring a plague on the people and destroying them. A summary of Moses’s Plea from verses 13-19 could be: Moses pleaded for God to pardon the people based on God’s reputation and character of being present with His people and being a compassionate God. The last section on God’s Judgment could also be called God’s Judgment and Grace, seen in verses 20-24. This could be summarized with the idea that though God is gracious, His justice and holiness necessitates consequences for faithlessness.

Again, these are just examples of what your group may come up with in summarizing the Scripture passage for today.

To debrief then, ask, how has unbelief in your life led to lasting consequences? Maybe someone has a scar from a poor choice they made. Or maybe there’s a broken relationship that hasn’t mended yet. How have those consequences shaped your decision-making from that point forward? Maybe that led someone to run to Jesus. Maybe that led someone to be a wiser, more mature person. If there are not many answers, move on to the next question which is also in your group’s Personal Study Guide, on p. 110: Reflecting on God’s response to sin, how does that make you respond? Some answers may be that they want to turn to God more in confession. Maybe in praise and gratefulness for forgiveness. Knowing God is gracious but holy when responding to sin should help us refrain from sin as well. Then ask in spite of your sin, past and present, how is God still revealing His grace to you? These answers will be unique to your group.

Continue through the Summarize section and Head, Heart, Hands, section, selecting the Heart question if you have a limited time: How have you seen yourself grow in faith over the last year?, using the context given that faith grows with every little step of seeing God prove Himself faithful, but also us obeying and trusting God even through the trials of life. Different people in your group will have a different story and answer to this question.

Finally, end in the Next Steps, taking a look at the second bullet point, considering those under your authority, whether in your family or at work, church or community. How can you reflect God by showing discipline mixed with mercy? Answers may include setting good rules and boundaries, being clear but understanding in the midst of varying circumstances, but loving the people enough to want them to grow in maturity, eve through discipline or negative consequences.

If you have time, consider reading through and praying through Psalm 86:8-13, focusing on God’s character and thanking Him for who He is and all He has done.

Thanks again for joining me on another Leader Training podcast. Reach out at [email protected] with any questions or comments. Hope you have a great group time.