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: “Look and Live” by Matt Papa
• Article: “The Son of Man Lifted Up” by Ligonier
• Sermon: “Look and Live” by Corey Abney
• Conference: “Serpent on the Pole: Salvation Is Gracious” by Jen Wilkin

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 3, Healing of the Impatient, with the key concept of: Confession and repentance will lead to healing, and the key passage of Numbers 21:1-9.

Hey, so a couple of you have written in and said I talk too fast. I agree. I do talk a little fast. I’m so sorry. I start going and I can’t seem to slow myself down. I’m like that crazy professor you had in Econ 101. Well, I will try to slow down, but also, I’m adding transcripts on the Leader Training post for Adults on the website, gospelproject.com. That way, you can copy and paste info where you need it and you can read along or just read it if needed. Some of you prefer to just read it for prep and then relisten to it Sunday morning for review. However you want to do it, that’s an extra resource for you. I know there’s also a transcription available depending on where you are listening to this, but some have mentioned that on the phone, the words are tiny. So yes, I will try to slow it down, but when I do still talk fast, thanks for the grace. I will still try to keep it under 15 minutes for all you busy leaders out there. I am thankful for all your graceful comments and question. Keep sending those in.

Now back to today’s session and a little context.

Last week, we saw God’s mercy and justice in play when the Israelites complained and God was about to destroy them, but Moes pleaded for them and God pardoned them, but they still had the consequence of their generation not being able to go into the promised land in Numbers 14. In Numbers 20, as the timeline on page 141 shows. Moses and Aaron also were punished for not completely obeying God in making water run from a rock for the people. Instead of just speaking to the rock for water to run as God commanded, Moses struck the rock two times instead. The consequences were dire. Aaron and Moses weren’t allowed to enter the promised land either as seen in Numbers 20:12.

And so we reach Numbers 21, which starts with a victory over the Canaanite king of Arad. Faced with a battle, God’s people asked the Lord to hand over these people and they promised to completely destroy the city, literally in Hebrew, “put the city to a ban.” This means that they would completely destroy the city and not take any of the spoils for themselves, knowing that it all belonged to the Lord who gave them victory, and that is exactly what happened. They honored God and God gave them victory, and they destroyed the city.

But as they continued wandering, but going out of their way to avoid the Edomites, they got “impatient because of the journey.” Impatience reveals a lack of faith because we want things to work in our timeline, in our expectations, and when it doesn’t, we want someone to blame other than us. And when God is to blame, that’s saying, He doesn’t know what He’s doing, I can do a better job than Him, I know better, which is far from the truth. And for the Israelites, their impatience led them to more complaints about the food and water and ultimately complain about God. Even after knowing He helped them have victory in their previous battle.

But God was quick to respond. No more conversations. Seems like in the past, God would talk it out with Moses but not here. The reoccurring theme of grumbling from the Israelites no longer needed any more words. The Lord simply “sent poisonous snakes among the people, and they bit them so that many Israelites died.” Sin has direct and immediate consequences.

But that act led to immediate confession. When parents punish their kids, confession and repentance is what we want. And God wants the same. Verse 7, “The people then came to Moses and said, ‘We have sinned by speaking against the Lord and against you. Intercede with the Lord so that he will take the snakes away from us.” Those words of confession, “We have sinned,” we have not seen from the Israelites before. They’re starting to get it. They’re realizing their sin and in a sense are asking for forgiveness. True repentance involves acknowledging that you’ve sinned, taking responsibility for it and choosing to turn the other way, walking a new path, as opposed to just merely regretting the consequences of your sin.

Thus, Moses interceded for the people and the Lord told him to make a snake image and mount it on a pole and whoever looks at it will be cured. When they were bitten then, they had to choose to look at the bronze snake as an act of faith in God, trusting He would heal. It might be interesting to note that the word “to look” in verse 8 in the command and “to look” in verse 9 in the execution are too different Hebrew words. The first means “to see” but the second means “to gaze upon, to behold or pay attention to.” In one sense, the Israelites had to take a good look at the consequence of their sin, the snake, injury and death, and thus a good look at their sin, acknowledging that only God could forgive and heal them.

This then makes what Jesus said in John 3:14-15 remarkable: “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.” Looking at Jesus lifted up on the cross, we are reminded of our sin and how we deserve death. But He took that on for us. This symbol of a snake reminds us also of the serpent in the garden of Eden, the symbol of sin itself. Yet that’s what Jesus did on the cross. As Paul stated in 2 Corinthians 5:21, God made Him “who did not know sin to be sin.” We often picture Jesus as gathering little children with a genteel face but we sometimes fail to see the sacrifice He made in taking on our sin on the cross—the brutality, the injustice of it all. He took on our sin when He didn’t deserve to. That is the picture we get when we remember the snake on the pole. And how fitting that Jesus’s words that relate him to that snake on the pole is followed by the famous John 3:16: “For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” The snake on the pole brought physical healing and natural life, but Jesus on the cross brought spiritual healing and eternal life, because of God’s love.

Sometimes when we sin, it’s easy to try to hide or run away, yet Jesus’s love and sacrifice should teach us that we can come to him in repentance. He knows we will mess up and wants us to come to him. To gaze on His beauty, to behold His grace and goodness.

So coming to the group experience, take time to make those cards on p.146 of your Leader Guide to add to your discussion on what makes you impatient. It’s a good wakeup call to remind us all that we all get impatient. We’re not that different from the Israelites.

Continue through the Context and Recap, taking time to have your group draw a diagram of the Israelites cycle of faithfulness. It might be interesting to also add a second piece of paper and have individuals draw out their own faithfulness timeline and compare it to what they drew for the Israelites.

As you Recap what you’ve studied this past week, point to Pack Item 11: The Bronze Snake as a creative reminder of the connection between the snake on the pole and Christ on the cross. Also pass out Pack Item 12: The Bronze Snake v. the Cross and highlight some of the comparisons between the two: the problem, the punishment, the solution, and the result, as given on the handout.

Onto the Group Activity, recreate the table on a board. For the battle narrative seen in Numbers 21:1-6, we see the Israelites Humility in turning to God for victory and not doing it in their own strength. We also see them wanting to honor the Lord in promising to destroy the city for the Lord’s glory and honor. We see their Obedience in doing exactly what they said they would. There have been times in other battles where the people saved the spoils for themselves, but not here. And we see the Blessing in their victory and how the Lord handed the Canaanites over to them.

In the second column, from verses 7-9, we see the people’s Humility in acknowledging and confessing their sin, and in coming to Moses to ask him to intercede for them. We then see their Obedience in Moses making the bronze snake on the pole and those who were bitten, gazing on the snake through faith. And the Blessing came through healing and recovery.

As a debrief question, ask: Have you ever walked through a time of victory in your faith, only to fall flat on your face soon after? Your group will have varying answers. What is the link between humility/repentance and blessing? Clearly from this passage and from life, healing is the blessing that comes from humility and repentance. Sometimes it’s spiritual healing, sometimes mental and emotional, and sometimes physical healing. A certain sense of peace comes when we humble ourselves and run to God in repentance and confession.

The other debrief question on p. 148 in the Leader Guide is also on p. 118 in the Personal Study Guide for your group to reflect on. What cycle are you in with the Lord right now and what’s keeping you there? Feel free to either let your group reflect on that quietly or if anyone wants to share, allow space for that.

Summarize and go into the Head, Heart, Hands section, focusing on the Head if time is limited. What is one practical way you can increase your level of patience this week? Answers may include, praying more, counting quietly for some, pausing before speaking in moments of impatience, reflecting on God’s faithfulness and wise timing. Your group may have other answers.

Go into the Next Steps section as additional action points to move forward with. I like the first bullet point in reminding us to confess and repent more in our worship times. Sometimes, that seems to be what’s neglected the most when we come to worship but it’s a vital part of our prayer and worship life.

Continue through prayer requests and praises and if you have time, look at Psalm 103. Such a great and pertinent Psalm to reflect on and pray through. If these verses inspire you, add them to your ending prayer time with your group. Psalm 103:6-14

6 The Lord executes acts of righteousness

and justice for all the oppressed.

7 He revealed his ways to Moses,

his deeds to the people of Israel.

8 The Lord is compassionate and gracious,

slow to anger and abounding in faithful love.

9 He will not always accuse us

or be angry forever.

10 He has not dealt with us as our sins deserve

or repaid us according to our iniquities.

11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth,

so great is his faithful love

toward those who fear him.

12 As far as the east is from the west,

so far has he removed

our transgressions from us.

13 As a father has compassion on his children,

so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him.

14 For he knows what we are made of,

remembering that we are dust. — Psalms 103:6-14 (CSB)

Thanks for joining me on another Leader Training podcast. Send comments or questions to [email protected] and have a great group time!