Content to Serve
How many of you remember Ernie von Schledorn and his famous tagline, “Who do you know wants to buy a car?” What is the purpose of every car commercial on television? They want to convince you that you should not be satisfied with the car you have. Our society is consumed with a compulsive need to never be satisfied. We are bombarded with ads telling us to always look for the next best thing. And it is not necessarily wrong to want good things. Maybe you do need that new car, but there is a danger that we may be lured into the trap of never being satisfied with what God has given us. In our scripture lesson, we heard how Miriam and Aaron were not content with the blessings God had given them. Their story serves as a warning for us on how seriously God views not being content with the blessings he has given us. God has blessed all of us in numerous ways and desires that we be content to serve him and others with the gifts he has given to us.
Our scripture lesson takes place shortly after Israel had left Mt. Sinai and was traveling in the wilderness on their way to the Promised Land. The children of Israel had grumbled against God several times during this journey and Moses had shown his servant’s heart by interceding for them. God spoke with Moses face to face and allowed him to see the form of the Lord. Miriam and Aaron envied the unique relationship Moses had with God, and they began to grumble against Moses. Miriam and Aaron were not satisfied with the blessings that God had given them. Miriam was a prophetess among the women of Israel and Aaron had been appointed as the high priest who made intercession for the people before God. But this was not enough for them. They were consumed with envy and selfishly wanted the gifts and abilities that God had given to Moses.
Miriam and Aaron failed to see that what they considered a greater gift was a burden that Moses had to bear. Ironically, Moses would have gladly shared his gift with Miriam and Aaron if they had asked. In the previous chapter of Numbers, Moses had asked for help in leading the nation of Israel. God had answered his request by selecting 70 elders to help with administration. In that same account, one of Moses’s aides wanted to safeguard his position of authority, but Moses wished that others could share in his special relationship with the Lord. But Moses replied, “Are you jealous for my sake? I wish that all the LORD’s people were prophets and that the LORD would put his Spirit on them!” Moses could have jealously guarded his position, but instead, he served his people with humility as their servant. Miriam and Aaron were filled only with thoughts for themselves and were following their own selfish ambition. God’s anger was swift and severe at Miriam and Aaron for their lack of contentment. He treated this as a serious offense against him and struck Miriam with leprosy. God dealt with Miriam more harshly than Aaron because she was the one who began the attack against Moses. God also views our lack of contentment as a sin.
How often do we disregard and forget the numerous blessings that God has given us because we see that our neighbor has a different blessing from God? This sin is so common in our society that we even have clichés to describe it, “The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence” and “keeping up with the Jones.” We can be so quick to look at our neighbor’s life and think that what they have is better than what we have. We can be envious of their material blessings, but often we can also find ourselves envying the talents and abilities that God has given them. This discontentment with our gifts can quickly lead us to other sins like coveting and envy. Like Miriam and Aaron, we forget the unique and bountiful blessings that God has given us. God has blessed us all with amazing and unique gifts. But in our sinful way of thinking it may seem like God has blessed others with “better” gifts either physically, materially, or spiritually. But the truth is our good and gracious God in his wisdom has blessed us with the gifts that he knows are best for us.
The Apostle Paul deals with this same issue in his first letter to the Corinthians. Some in that congregation felt that since they had not received the same gifts as others, they were not as worthy or blessed by God. Paul reminds them and us that God has richly blessed every one of us with the gifts he feels are best suited for us. God has chosen for us the gifts that he feels we can best use to build up the body of Christ. We can be content with these gifts knowing that God has richly blessed each of us in a way that can best serve him. The different gifts that God has given us do not make us better or worse, or more or less blessed than our neighbors. God has given to us each exactly what gifts we need to serve him best. Paul writes, “Now the body is not made
up of one part but of many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact, God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body.”
Moses gives us an example of how we can be content to serve with the gifts we have been given. Moses was able to have a heart of selfless love because he knew and believed the promises of God. He had his faith and hope in the promised Messiah. He knew God’s gracious love because he had seen it in his own life. We have plenty of examples where Moses sinned and was forgiven by God, and he mirrored God’s love as he dealt with his brother and sister.
As this section of scripture reminds us Moses was a humble man. He did not seek to be a prophet of the Lord but was called by God to that position. He did not boast of his unique calling but instead served his people in love. Moses repeatedly demonstrated his heart of love by interceding for the children of Israel when they sinned. He shows that love by immediately interceding for his siblings who were facing the wrath of God. When Aaron asks for forgiveness, Moses would have been justified in telling Aaron no. Aaron and Miriam had challenged him as God’s representative. This is what the wisdom of the world would have told him to do. Instead, he immediately forgives his brother and sister and asks God to cure Miriam of her leprosy.
Moses shows us by his actions how we are to forgive those who have sinned against us. We will be wronged by others in this life. Like Moses, the world would tell us that we are in no obligation to forgive those people. But as Christians, we know how often we have sinned against God. God does not hold any of those sins against us. All our sins, including our sins of discontentment, have been forgiven through the death of Jesus on the cross. That amazing love and grace is what motivates us to forgive others.
We have experienced God’s love and grace in our lives so we can have true contentment. God has already blessed all of us with the greatest gift ever. He sent his one and only Son to be the perfect atoning sacrifice for our sins. Christ lived as a perfect servant. He is the king of the universe and yet he lowered himself to live and suffer as one of us. He took all our sins upon himself and suffered and died for us. He did this because he loved us and wanted us to have eternal life with him in heaven. God has shown such love and grace to us that we cannot help but reflect that love in our lives. We serve God in contentment not because we must, but because we love him and want to show our thankfulness to him. This is what Christians do, we do what pleases God and use our talents and abilities to his glory.
The world constantly screams at us to never be content. We are told that coveting and envy are virtues to drive us to succeed. But God gives us a very different command. As redeemed children of God, we are no longer to conform to the pattern of the world. He wants us to be satisfied with the gifts he has given us. This doesn’t mean that we can’t ask God to bless us, but we should avoid the temptation to be consumed with a need to desire gifts and abilities that we don’t have. We can be content to live peaceful and quiet lives because we have already been given the greatest treasure of all, redemption, and eternal life through the blood of Jesus Christ. We can joyfully and faithfully serve our God and be content with the gifts he has given us. Amen.