Is this amazing or what? The brazen serpent from back in Numbers 21 shows up in 2 Kings 18. Slow down and take that in. If you put the numbers to this, from the time this brass serpent was made by Moses unto the time Hezekiah put the hammer to it, Charles Ryrie says 700 years has passed. Did you hear me? This brass serpent was 700 years old. Now, that is an antique! If you visit our house you will know that my wife and I loves antiques. And now that I am 80, she's really crazy about me, too! I am her own personal antique!

Study this out with me. The brazen serpent survived 700 years! Let's put the pencil to it.

• " 2 years of wilderness wandering.
• " 30 years of the conquest of Canaan (the book of Joshua). It survived the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, the Jebusites, the Hivites, and the termites!
• " 350 years of the judges when God's people were time and again under the disciple of God. The brazen serpent survived even when "every man was doing that which was right in their own sight." It survived Ehud, Shamgar, Deborah, Barak, Abimelich, Jephthah, Gideon, Samson, and Samuel.
• " 112 years of Israel's three great kings: 32 years with Saul, 40 years each with David and Solomon.
• " 138 years after the kingdom was divided. 13 kings from Rehoboam to Hezekiah.

Would you consider that during those 700 years, say with 25-year assignments, there could have been 28 different people or families who had the daily responsibility of keeping, protecting, polishing, and eventually revering this "brass snake."

"What's you claim to fame?"

"Me and my family have been the keepers of the brass snake. You know, the one Moses made. Bring you family and come by and see it sometime. Make an appointment. And bring some incense as an offering."

Looking back over Israel's past you will discover that…..

• " Israel's didn't always keep the Passover. The national celebration which marked their leaving Egypt under the blood was not kept from the days of the judges to the time of the kings, 2 Kings 23:22. But they kept the brazen serpent.
• " Israel did not always keep the Ark of the Covenant. They very symbol of God's presence, the most significant piece of furnishing in the tabernacle, on at least one occasion, was lost to the Philistines, 2 Samuel 6:1-11. Yet, they never lost the brazen serpent.

What 700 years before had been a means of help and healing had become an evil idol before which some of God's people worshipped. What before had been for them salvation was now a scandal. What before had been for them deliverance was now a distraction. This brazen serpent had become a god. Scripture says the "children of Israel did burn incense to it." Folks, that's worship...false worship...wicked worship...misdirected worship!

Incense was a method of worship in the Old Testament. According to Revelation 8:4 the smoke of incense is seen as the prayers of the saints as they ascend up before God. When the children of Israel burned incense before the brazen serpent they were praying before it, maybe even unto it, as though it had some magical power. "Oh, brazen serpent...help me today…. Heal my sick child...bless my work today."

God has before issued every element of worship in the Tabernacle and the Temple, but He did not establish the brazen serpent as an altar before which incense was to be burned. In the Ark of the Covenant there was to be kept the (1) tables of stone, (2) Aaron's rod that budded, and (3) a pot of manna, but there was no divine requirement to keep and to honor the brazen serpent.

Hezekiah dared to call the brazen serpent "Nehushtan," a mere piece of brass. Hezekiah uncovered, unmasked what this relic really was-a mere piece of bronze.

Hezekiah "break in pieces" this ancient relic, suggesting it would not be reassembled by someone later!

Imagine the breath-taking nature of this radical action for a revered antique! That by which God had previous delivered His people was now denounced and destroyed!

If you are informed about the Catholic religion, you know that they worship certain locations and relics. " The Shroud of Turin is presented as the burial cloth of Jesus. " Waterpots in Cana of Galilee. A Franciscan church was built in 1879 after finding what they believed to be one of the original waterpots. The church of the Pot. I have always believed that every church should have at least one pot. Amen? " Pieces of the cross of Christ. There are so many splinters today that they would build a good size house.

"Do Baptist have their own sacred relics?" Are we no different than the Israelites who for 700 years kept and worshipped a "relic"? Don't get me wrong. Everything that's old isn't a relic or needs to be replaced.

• " We have an old Bible, the King James Version, but it is far from a relic. It is alive "and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword," Hebrews 4:12. It is no less the Word of God than the originals. We have a preserved copy of the inspired originals.
• " Salvation by grace alone through faith alone in the finished work of Christ alone has been around since Adam, and there is no replacement for it. There is still power in the blood. God's mercies are new every morning. There's always been only one way to be saved in every age and for every person-Jesus Christ is that way. As I have stated again and again, Jesus isn't a good way to be saved, or the best way to be saved. He is the only way to be saved!
• " Old-line of Churches, churches which had their beginning with Jesus Christ, church that follow the New Testament pattern don't need to be replaced, many simply need to be reattended, refocused, redirected, recharged, revived and renewed. Our Baptist name and Baptist baptism are as necessary as ever. God promised divine perpetuity to His churches. Even the gates of hell are no match for Christ's churches as we move forward.

God is "the Ancient of days," but He is also the Great "I AM." He is not only the God of the past generation; He is the God of the present generation. He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living. He is the God of the Apostles of the past, but He is also the God of Albert and Alice of the present.

"How does a church detect or discover if it has some holy relics?" How about these ways.

• " Try to alter the prominence of one of these relics.
• " Or, try to remove it all together.

You will need the courage and conviction of Hezekiah if you do.

Bucking outside influences that seek to compromise our message is valid, for which we need to be vigilant. But in the process, we often reject ideas that could make us more effective in communicating the unchanging message. "Holding the line often means missing the boat." We forget today's traditional methods often were yesterday's controversial innovations.

Church buildings. Churches had no buildings before 200 A.D. A worship center is fine, classrooms are okay, maybe offices-but a kitchen, a gym, a coffee bar…slow down.

Worship styles. Some preachers try to say there is only one way. Do you know what that way is? It's their way! The brazen serpent in some circles is worship that only allows a piano, an organ, if you must, but nothing more.

• " No guitars, no horns, no drums.
• " And you must hold a hymn book in your hand. No printed song sheets, no video projection of the words on a screen.
• " Is kneeling allowed? By whom and when?
• " What about raising your hands?
• " Must women cover their heads like in New Testament days?

When I was a kid preacher 50 years ago a church could not have a robed choir. Why? Robes were connected to formalism, formalism was a move toward modernism and liberalism. Why must a church field a choir of 12 people that sound like a dozen hoot owls with post-nasal drip? The Bible does command us to "worship in spirit and in truth." God is "not the author of confusion," but neither is He the God of the dead church-service. Three flags were proudly display in the church, an American flag, a Christian flag, and a flag honoring those who died in service. The little boy wanted to know, "Which service-the morning or the evening service?"

Singing of Hymns was not allowed in Baptist churches in England until Benjamin Ketch (1640-1704) broken with tradition and printed the first Baptist hymnal (1691)-words only. Before that they only sang Psalms.

One of my more conservative friend proudly said he used only the All-American Hymnal-you know, the one with the red cover. He couldn't believe it when I told him to read the title page - "An inspiring Book of Hymns and contemporary songs, practical and resourceful for use in all phases of religious services for churches, tabernacles, Sunday School and homes." All music was contemporary at one time. >Church furniture. Should the pulpit be large or small? Must it be of wood or can it be of Plexiglas? Are pew it? Are chair permissible? In the early history of America men sat on one side of the church building and the women on the other. I wonder who broke that tradition? It probably got written up in some church paper as a major move in the wrong direction. I'm sure he was a heretic, whoever he was.

What about Sunday School? Why is it before the morning service? Why not in the afternoon? Why not at night? What about a Monday school or a Thursday school? What about not at all? Now that is radical. Churches did not have Sunday School before the 1700's, but you would be a heretic if you didn't have at least a bad Sunday School. Could we dare serve some coffee or soft drinks before or after Sunday School? Is it okay to have a fellowship break between Sunday School and church? Must teachers only lecture, or can we have inner-active style learning? Could we show a good video series occcasionally? Only if the "brethren" don't find out.

Parsonages for the Pastor. They may not be the best idea for our day. A pastor can get quickly on the field, but in the long term he ends up maintaining church property and never has personal roots in the community.

Deacon-dominated churches. There are two sides to this. Side one, there are some sorry pastors who never stay long enough to really lead a congregation, so some men (and women) have taken the leadership of the church by default. Side two, there are some churches so dominated by certain people in the church that a pastor has no opportunity for leadership and sees no reason to have an extended ministry in such a church. We should have Christ-dominated churches that have servant-leaders. We are all to be servants of the Lord.

Monthly Business Meetings. Some might ask, "How would we operate the church without a monthly business meeting?" The answer: pretty well, actually! Here's a suggestion. Don't have another business meeting until you have had a serious prayer meeting. Spending time with God is more important than spending the church's money. And don't allow anyone to participate in the business meeting who is not at the prayer meeting! Ouch!

Enough. If I have made a sufficient amount of you aggravated, I have accomplished my goal. I am an "equal opportunity offender." Remember, a preacher's job is not only to "comfort the afflicted," but on some occasions to "afflict the comfortable."

Brazen serpents are substitutes which are often perpetuated by sincere people who have a great memory for "the good old days." For 700 years people had real, deep feelings about their brass snake. Stories had been passed down from generation to generation. Caretakers, curators, were assigned and people were genuinely honored to be allowed to give their lives to care for this precious relic.

To be stuck in days past is an admission on our part that God is not doing anything in us and with us and through us today! As Baptists we have a proud history. We claim, and rightly so, to be the offspring of the original Christians. We were never Catholics. We were never Protestants. Our roots go back to the Ananbaptists (Medieval), to the Waldensians (12-13th centuries), to the Albigenses (12th century), the Paulicans (Dark ages), Donatists (4-5th centuries), the Novatians (3rd century, and the Montanists (2nd century).

Sadly, while being thankful for our bloody history we have failed to remember that we too are making Baptist history today.

While worshipping the past we have failed to impact the present. While maintaining our brass serpents, we have failed to maintain our daily walk with God.

Commenting on this Nehushtan passage, the old commentator Matthew Henry said, "Good things, when idolized, are better parted with than kept."

FINAL WORD: When there is a slight disagreement about how we do ministry let remember first, "We be brethren." Someone who departs from your way probably has not departed from the faith! Isn't it amazing, we call ourselves "independent Baptist," yet when a pastor or a church demonstrates its "independence" and "autonomy" they is criticized and marginalized. Self-appointed "bishops" will be the first to point out to other pastors how you are "departing from the faith" as a matter of prayer [not gossip]. Have you noticed pastor, there are churches where you would not be welcome to preach because of ???? , yet they are happy to have their missionaries come for support. Go figure. Don't get aggravated at the Hezekiahs of our day who see no value in your Nehushtan. They are this generation's best friends.

FINAL WARNING: I point out to you that the person who called the Brazen Serpent Nehushtan and had it destroyed was KING Hezekiah. Did you hear me-KING Hezekiah. Don't go back to your church Sunday and tear down the river scene over your baptistery or ….. ????? (fill in the blank).

An old farmer went to the city one weekend and attended the big city church. He came home
and his wife asked him how it was. "Well," said the farmer, "it was good. They did
something different, though. They sang praise choruses instead of hymns."
"Praise choruses?" asked the wife. "What are those?"
"Oh, they're okay . . . they're sort of like hymns, only different,"
the farmer said. "Well, what's the difference?" asked his wife.
The farmer explained, "Well, it's like this. If I were to say to you, 'Martha, the cows are in the
corn,' that would be a hymn.
If, on the other hand, if I were to say to you, "Martha, Martha, Martha, Oh Martha, Martha,
Martha, the cows, the big cows, the brown cows, the black cows , the white cows, the
COWS, the COWS, COWS, COWS, are the corn, corn, corn, they're in the
coooooorrrrrnnnn." Then, I repeated it three times, that would be a praise chorus.
Wouldn't you know it, that farmer's little church had a visitor from the big city church that
same Sunday. He went home to his wife and she asked him how it went.
He said, "Oh, it was okay, except they don't sing choruses-they sing hymns."
She asked, "What's a hymn?"
He said, "Well, it's like a chorus, only different?"
She said, "What do you mean?"
He explained, "Well, if I said to you, Martha, the cows are in the corn-but say it like this:
Oh Martha, dear, Martha, hear the words of my mouth, Turn thou thy whole wondrous ear to
this glorious truth; For the way of the animals who can explain; there in their heads is no shadow of sense,
Hearkenest they in God's sun or his rain, Unless from the mild corn they are fenced;
Yea those cows in glad, rebellious delight, Have loosed their shackles, their warm pens
eschew, Yea goaded by minions of darkness and night, They all my sweet corn are now
destined to chew.
Martha, look to that bright day when earth is reborn, And I shall not see those cows in my
corn.
That would be a hymn!