Big Boy Pants

February 13, 2013
Joshua:  Turning Obedience Into Blessing
Joshua 5:1-15, “Put On Your Big Boy Pants”               NOT EDITED

SIS – God will bless us when we become responsible citizens of the Kingdom of God—and not until!

If you have followed politics, even accidentally, for the last almost six years you will have heard these words in one form or another many times in speeches by the current president:  “It’s Bush’s fault.”  Now, all in-coming presidents do this in the beginning of a new presidency, if there is a change in party at the White House. 

But, we still see this phrase, “It’s Bush’s fault,” peppering blogs and online discussions, as well as media debates.  We are now almost halfway through the president’s second term.  When does anything become “his” fault?  The fact is this “Blame Game” misses the point entirely.  I think it is OK, even necessary perhaps, to point out the miscues of a former president, but this solves nothing.  Fixing the blame and fixing the problem are two different matters entirely.  A true leader seizes the reins of responsibility and attacks the problems lying in the path ahead.  A true leader must not stop at fixing blame.  A true leader must fix the problem.

Responsibility is perhaps the greatest virtue of them all.  Love arises out of our responsibility to follow God.  Generosity rises up out of a heart bent on accepting responsibility for our neighbor.  All virtue arises out of obedience to the Great Commandment:  “Love God and Love Your Neighbor.”  When we accept this responsibility, things change and they change radically.

Responsibility is an important part of “growing up,” or becoming mature.  In a sense, they are synonyms.  We have an expression in English that describes growing up or becoming responsible.  We say, “It is time to put your big boy pants on.”  In America we begin life in diapers, graduate to pull-ups and then move on to our “Big boy (or girl) pants.”  It is a sign we are becoming responsible adults.

There are several areas in which we must become “responsible.”  We have personal responsibility for our individual actions and attitudes.  We have family responsibilities.  We have civic responsibilities that include a broad range from local to global considerations.  Most of all, we have spiritual responsibilities.  Every person is responsible to know God and to respond to Him with complete obedience.  This last area of responsibility will lead to being responsible in all the other areas of life.

Our text in Joshua discusses becoming a mature, responsible citizen in the Kingdom of God.  We all need to hear this message.

READING:  JOSHUA 5:10-15

Having read that entire passage, verse ** gives us the theme of responsibility:

¹² And the day after they ate from the produce of the land,

the manna ceased.

As the Israelites entered the Promised Land, they had to “put their big boy pants on.”  Manna represents a time of spiritual immaturity in the life of Israel.  Manna represents the consequences of rebellion that resulted in 40 years of wilderness wandering and 40 years of “manna eating.”  Eating the “produce of the land” indicates a growing maturity as the Israelites began to take more responsibility for their lives. 

Manna fell from heaven and all the Israelites had to do was pick it up.  The produce, though growing naturally, had to be harvested and in the future planted and cultivated also.  While God’s grace and providence provided both manna and the produce, the eating off the land required much more of the Israelites.

Unless we take more responsibility for our lives, we cannot enter into the Promised Land, which represents victorious Christian living.  God, our Father, will continue to bless us, but only with “baby blessings,” represented by manna, and not “big boy” blessings, represented by the produce of the land.

Before I look at three important considerations in regard to “Putting On Our Big Boy Pants,” let me give you an example of how the devastation irresponsibility can bring.

Irresponsibility does not have to be obviously “religious” to violate man’s responsibility to God.  Ultimately, even the irresponsibility we see in government can be directly related to man’s rebellion against God and His commands.  The national debt crisis is one such example of gross irresponsibility that will potentially impact millions of people.  The national debt has passed 17 trillion and climbs by the second.  As of this moment, every man woman and child in America owes $53,000.  That means for a family of four your government has assigned you over $200,000 of debt.  And, as I said, it grows monstrously every second.  This is “real” debt.  It must be paid in cash or some other commodity.  Do you know very many families that can pay this off?  Do you think that a nation like China that holds much of this debt is simply going to say, “Oh, that’s OK, you can forget about paying us back?”  Our nation is going bankrupt and the people in Washington just recently raised the debt ceiling. . . again! 

Irresponsibility has “real” consequences.  Irresponsibility devastates individuals, destroys famililes, decimates churches, and demolishes nations.  Responsibility simply means “response to God’s ability.”  If we respond to God in obedience, He responds to us in blessing according to His great ability.

As we seek to become more responsible citizens of the Kingdom of God, and more responsible in life in general, consider that:

1.  We are prone to neglect our spiritual responsibilities (10)

While the Israelites camped at Gilgal on the plains of Jericho, they kept the Passover on the evening of the fourteenth day of the month.

God ordained three perpetual feasts for the Israelites to observe as they came out of Egypt’s bondage—now forty years before.  The Feasts of Passover, Tabernacles, and Pentecost were to be perpetual reminders of Israel’s dependence upon the gracious providence of God, and as a reminder of Israel’s covenant responsibilities as God’s favored nation.

Of the three feasts, Passover far surpasses the other two in significance.  Passover is a yearly reminder of how God delivered Israel from almost five centuries of bondage in Egypt through ten miraculous plagues.  The tenth plague resulted in the death of the first born child in every household that did not sacrifice a lamb and place the lamb’s blood on the door posts of the home.  Passover in the O.T. was a picture of the “once for all” saving sacrifice of Jesus Christ in the N.T.  The sacrifice of Christ is the “substance” and the Passover in the O.T. was His “shadow” (Heb. 10:1).  Each year when the Jews celebrated Passover it would be a “reminder” of God’s deliverance in the past, and a prophetic finger pointing to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.  For the most part, Passover for most Jewish families is more about formality and family than about God and His plan of redemption. 

Verse 10 gives us what seems to be a matter of fact statement about this important annual event in the life of Israel.  However, there’s more in this verse than what lies near the surface.  One of the requirements for participating in the Passover was “circumcision” (Ex. 12:48). As we learned last week in the first part of chapter five, the Israelites had neglected circumcision.  Notice that the term, “Gilgal,” in verse 9 is repeated in Verse 10.  This is a literary device that connects the event of circumcision with the act of observing the Passover.  The fact that they had not been observing the spiritual requirement of circumcision means they had neglected other important matters of faith as well such as Passover.  Sin always results in the neglect of our responsibilities to God.  Someone observed:  “Sin will keep a person from God’s Book, and God’s Book will keep a person from sin.”  Neglect of the commandments in God’s Book is a sure sign of irresponsibility.

This pattern of behavior in regard to neglecting the most important matters of faith represents a common defect in humanity.  We are prone to neglect our spiritual responsibilities.  We tend to “pick and choose” what, when, or how we will relate to God’s commands in His Word.  In other words, we often practice “selective responsibility,” if we practice and responsibility at all.  Jesus pointed out this tendency in the life of the “highly religious” sect of the Pharisees. 

^{Mat. 23     23} “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You pay a tenth of  mint, dill, and cumin,  yet you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice,  mercy, and faith.

“Selective Responsibility” is not responsibility at all.  One cannot pick and choose which commands of God one will obey.  Obedience to God is all inclusive and absolute.  The Bible says,

^{James 2:10} For whoever keeps the entire law, yet fails in one point,

is guilty of breaking it all.

Nobody keeps all the Law—nobody can.  The real tragedy is this, some, in fact most people, don’t even attempt to keep the Law at all.  They act in a totally irresponsible way, at best picking and choosing what they would like to obey.  Neglect always leaves death in its wake.

I remember an experience I had growing up about every seven years or so.  When I was growing up in West Virginea cicada (pronounced si-ka'-da) a form of locusts would cover the trees.  It was like a modern day plague.  The were every where.   During the heat of the summer they would make this loud—and I mean loud—buzzing sound as they were seeking mates.  It seemed like some invasion from outer space.  After a week or two, on the tree trunks we would find the empty shell of the cicadas – dead, dried out, fragile exoskeletons. The shells looked exactly like the cicadas, but life was gone. The locust itself was no longer in the exoskeleton. But their lifeless claws held tight to the trunk of the tree. As kids we would pull the empty shell off the tree, drop it to the ground and listen to it pop as we crushed it with our feet.

As we think about becoming responsible Christian citizens, we must consider that we are prone to neglect our spiritual responsibilities.  The result will always be the same:  dry, lifeless lives.  We may look like we are alive, but we “are dead in our trespasses and sins”(Eph. 2:5). 

In regard to responsibility we must also consider:

2.  Our failures need not be final (14-15).

God allows us to repair the breaches in our obedience.  God not only allows for us to repair those breaches in our obedience, He summons us to do so—He welcomes us to reenter into an intimate, passionate, all-consuming relationship with Him.  Look at verse

⁴ “Neither,” He replied. “I have now come as commander of the Lord’s army.” Then Joshua bowed with his face to the ground in worship  and asked Him, “What does my Lord want to say to His servant?” ¹⁵ The commander of the Lord’s army said to Joshua, “Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.”  And Joshua did so.

Who is this mysterious person?  Well, Joshua’s actions declare the identity of this Person.  Verse 14 says, “Joshua fell face down and worshipped.”  This tells us both Who this person is, and what we must do to enter into, or reestablish a relationship with Him.

Joshua was a pious, God-fearing Jew.  He knew the Ten Commandments.  The very first commandment says,

Ex. 20:1  Then God spoke all these words:² I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the place of slavery.³  Do not have other gods besides Me.

The Lord Jesus reminds us of our responsibility to worship God exclusively:

^{Lk 4   8} And Jesus answered him,  “It is written:  Worship the Lord your God, and serve  Him only.”

Here in this passage Jesus Christ, God the Son, shows up in a pre-incarnation appearance.  The technical name for this is a “theophany—the appearance or manifestation of God.  Other instances of theophany are:  when the Angel of the Lord (a common term used for God in a theophany) spoke with Hagar (Gen. 16);met with Lot before the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen. 18); or or when Jacob saw the Angel of the Lord in dream as he was building the flocks of his uncle Laban (Gen. 31).  Two key issues in these types of manifestations is the Angel of the Lord speaks for God in the first person, and the person worshipped the Angel of the Lord as God.

Scholars debate whether or not this is a “theophany” because the word Joshua uses to describe this man has a slightly different spelling than that usually referring to God.  Joshua called this person, adoni (ah don nee) which is a more generic term that can simply mean “my lord” as a sign of oriental respect.  Usually, if this was a reference to the Lord God, the spelling would be adonay (ah don nigh).  Too much can be made of this slight difference if the spelling is isolated from the context. 

Also, the word for “bowed and worshipped” has been debated.  Some scholars point out that the term “and worshipped” sometimes only referred to the polite bowing before a person of distinction or a superior.  While that is true, the words proceeding the word translated “worship” themselves say, “fell on his face to the earth.”  If the second word meant simply to “fall on one’s face before a dignitary” as the word’s range of meaning would allow, then the word would be redundant.  You would have, “he fell on his face to the earth and bowed his head to the ground,” clearly redundant.

Also, verse 15 gives us a clue as to this mysterious warrior’s identity.  It says,

¹⁵ The commander of the Lord’s army said to Joshua, “Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.

One other place records these words to a leader of God’s people.  This same command was given to Moses over forty years before.  When God was commissioning Moses as the one who would deliver God’s people from Egypt’s harsh bondage, God commanded Moses to “take off your shoes for the place where you are standing is holy ground”  (Ex. 3:5).  Clearly, this passage intends to connect Joshua with Moses, and the middle term that connects the two (as we would say in Logic) is the “holy ground.” 

When we fail to meet our responsibilities, God shows up as the Lord of the Lord’s Army.  God could, with full justification, annihilate us completely.  Instead, God pulls us back to Himself and gives us an opportunity to begin again.  He says, “Consecrate yourself,” (take off the shoes of worldliness), “and approach Me.”  When we deserve God’s wrath for our irresponsibility, He offers us mercy. 

Here we have yet the fourth reference to holiness up to this point.  Chapter 1 calls upon us to “consecrate ourselves.”   Chapter 3 commanded the Israelites to stay “1000” feet behind the Ark, in part reminding them of the holiness of God.  The first part of chapter 5 tells the story of the circumcision of the men, yet another reminder that Israel was a “set aside, holy, or sanctified” nation.  Holiness is NOT optional.  God absolutely demands we pursue holiness.  Irresponsibility in regard to God’s commands will NOT be tolerated, however harsh we may think the consequences of irresponsibility may be.  To be irresponsible with the holy things of God will bring disaster—sometimes delayed, but often immediate.  Do you recall Uzzah and the time the Israelites were transporting the holy Ark of the Covenant (2Sam. 6)?  God clearly commanded that no one was ever to touch the Ark with one’s hands.  It could only be carried with poles that passed through the rings on each corner.  The penalty for transgressing this command was death.  During the transport of the Ark, the Oxen stumbled, and the Ark on the cart began to fall.  Uzzah reached out to steady it, and was struck dead.  The Ark was holy and the commands were clear.  Uzzah paid for his irresponsibility with his life.

The pursuit of holiness is absolutely critical if you want God’s blessing on your life.  The lesson of holy living or sanctification weaves back and forth in the fabric of these introductory chapters of Joshua—and throughout the Bible’s message.  Our responsibility is to pursue holiness with every fiber of our being.  Most of us fail miserably and we deserve to be struck dead just like Uzzah.   Instead, we God offers us mercy instead of justice.  God gives us a chance to repair the damage of our irresponsibility.  This brings to mind what John said,

1Jn. 1:9  If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive  us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness

As we have seen, we have a tendency—a strong tendency—to neglect our spiritual responsibilities; but God is faithful and just to provide the means for us to reestablish our relationship with Him and continue our pursuit of holiness.

There is yet another important consideration in regard to “putting on our big boy pants” of responsibility.

3.  We must be Obedient (v 15b)

Knowing we have a tendency to neglect our responsibilities to God, and knowing that God will at any point welcome us back into full fellowship with Him if we pursue a holy life will do nothing to meet our responsibility.  Knowing the truth is never a substitute for doing what’s right.  Knowledge is never a substitute for obedience.

Many, many people confuse the ideas of knowing ABOUT God with KNOWING God.  These two ideas are separated by the distance of infinity.  One can know everything there is to know ABOUT God and “split hell wide open” as my friend, Charles Massegee often says.  Knowledge is never enough.  Salvation requires that we “put our big boy pants on” and do those things God tells us to do in His Word.

We must “put feet to our prayers and wings to our faith.”  Notice how verse 5 ends:

And Joshua did so.

Highlight that; underline it; put it down in your notes.  That’s responsibility:  knowing what to do and DOING IT!  Your faith in God will not amount to a hill of beans in this life if you confuse “Standing On the Promises” with “Sitting On the Premises!”  Burt Bacharach wrote a beautiful song:

What the world needs now is love, sweet love
It’s the only thing that there’s just too little of.

Well, I think there is a real problem with Burt’s song.  I don’t think he meant it this way, but people treat love like a beautiful idea—not a bold action.  The world doesn’t need a beautiful idea, the world need bold action.  What the world needs now is not, “love,” but “lovers.”  Love is just a beautiful idea until one person shares it with another person in some tangible way.

My Mom years ago sent me a little knic-knac that hangs on my wall. It says:

Love wasn’t put in your heart to stay;

Love isn’t love until it’s given away.

So many people fail to live responsible Christian lives because they “do nothing.”  To do nothing in the face of the clear instructions of God to “love justice, do kindness, and walk humbly with the Lord” (Mic. 6:8) is disobedience, pure and simple. 

The Commander of the Lord’s Army, God in Christ, gave Joshua a clear instruction, and without any “if, ands, or buts,” the Bible says,
“Joshua DID so.” 

Responsibility requires obedience.  You can’t have one without the other.  Simply understanding the idea of faith is an eternity away from living by faith.  One is an idea.  The other is an action.

Why is there so much divorce in the U.S. these days—and for quite some time actually?  Irresponsibility.  A man or a woman or both simply do not “obey their vows.”  Oh, they say them with such passion and expectation on their wedding day, but when the crises of life come, or just the doldrums of time, their love isn’t enough to keep the marriage together.  Why?

Because, many people that get married are in love with the idea of marriage, not the one they are marrying as a life partner, “in sickness and in health, for richer or poorer.”  An idea is not enough to sustain a relationship.  Responsibility demands obedience and obedience demands action.  An idea of righteousness, like the idea of love, will melt like a snowflake in a furnace without a strong sense of responsibility.

When God commanded Joshua to “take off his shoes,” Joshua did not reply:  “That’s a good idea.”  The Word of God says,  “Joshua did so.”

Our world is in great chaos simply because men and women are acting irresponsibly.  People are not being responsible spouses.  People are not being responsible citizens.  People are not being responsible followers of Christ.  Irresponsibility rules our day and evil is her legacy.

It’s time we all “Put our big boy or big girl pants on” and take responsibility for life.

<<end>>