Tragic Trends

June 1, 2014
Joshua:  Turning Obedience Into Blessing
Joshua 16-17                                                 NOT EDITED

SIS – In order to reverse the tragic trends toward rebellion and the despair that follows we must return to a bold, passionate faith founded upon the promises of God.

As the days grow longer, the sun shines brighter, and school comes to a close it brings back vivid memories of my childhood.  These signs meant for me:  baseball, bike riding, and blackberries.  Yes, nothing like wild blackberries right of the bush.  A blackberry bush is a lot like life:  a tangled mess of branches and thorns hiding and an oh-so- delicious reward!  I’ve never picked cotton, but I can imagine it is a lot like picking blackberries. To acquire the prize, you have to pay the price.  Reading the Book of Joshua is a lot like picking cotton or picking blackberries, minus perhaps the “thorns.”  To acquire the prized fruit of God’s teaching requires you navigate through the tangled branches of lists full of the hard-to-pronounce names of people and places.  But, the prize is there if you make the effort.  This is what I hope to do with chapters 16 and 17.  There really is much fruit in these branches, but you can’t get to it without a little effort. 

We are exploring the theme of Joshua which I’ve identified as, “Turning Obedience Into Blessing.”  Obedience, like picking blackberries, is hard work.  Life gets tangled and thorny and we have to examine God’s Word to find the pathway of obedience.

In broad terms, Joshua chronicles the overthrow and possession of the Promised Land.  The conquest, however, was not complete.  Israel deviated from God’s plan by failing to utterly vanquish the former inhabitants of the land—either out of fear or carelessness, or perhaps both.  As a result, Israel still does not live in peace unto this day.  Two passages, one in chapter 16 and one in chapter 17, highlight the “tragic trend” of sin that always inevitably leads to problems.  Let’s read these two texts together before we explore the broader text of chapters 16 and 17.  I’ll add another text from chapter 15 that demonstrates this “tragic trend” of deviating from God’s plan:

READ Joshua 15:63; 16:10 and 17:12-13.

I've been working on Joshua 16-17 in regard to "Tragic Trends" all week--in fact, for a couple of weeks. As I thought more about these two chapters God showed me something this passage has in common with "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens. We are heading into summer here in So. California as temperatures climb into the 80’s and above, so Christmas wasn't exactly on the "tip of my tongue" so to speak. Yet, in “A Christmas Carol” three mysterious beings visit Scrooge in the course of a night: Christmas Past, Christmas Present, and Christmas Future. The Ghost of Christmas Future fits well with our text in Joshua. Scrooge had to face what the future would be if he did not change, and the prospects were frightening—and life changing. Joshua 16-17 show the fearful future of any person, or people, who deviate from Gods plan. The current trends show us that our nation, like so often was the case with Israel, faces some very "frightening" prospects if we do not reverse the current “tragic trends.”

John Bisagno is one of the great leaders in Southern Baptist life, and the evangelical world in general.  Bisagno, now 80 years old, is the retired pastor of the 22,000 member First Baptist Church of Houston, Texas.  John continues to offer his experience and wisdom to mentor young pastors.  His mind is sharp and his insight is keen in regard to the current state of affairs in our nation, particularly in regard to church.  Recently, Dr. Bisagno wrote this in a Baptist paper:

Missiologists [those who study the impact of the church on society] say the church may become unable to fulfill the Great Commission within 12 years.  Hundreds of unfunded missionaries wait for money to become available to send them to the mission field.  Pastors are quitting.  Churches are closing. Islam is the fastest growing religion in America.  Baptisms have spiraled downward for 14 years in a row.  Our children are shot down in grade-school.  Gangs are the new family.  Homosexuality is celebrated.  Politicians are mired in scandal.  Most marriages end in divorce while more young adults choose to cohabitate without marriage.  Terrorism threatens.

Bisagno highlights the “tragic trends” of our nation:  apathy in the church, violence on the streets, and a complete breakdown in the home.  Many look to the government for answers.  The government to a large extent is the problem.  The answer is simple and straightforward:  Gospel Preaching.  Dr. Bisagno points out what the current state of affairs bears out:  “Nothing changes anything except the transformation of the heart by the unchanging power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Sadly, America is virtually devoid of gospel preaching.”

America, like Israel in Joshua’s day, exhibits the “tragic trends” of a nation on the wrong path.  But, all is not yet lost.  Like Scrooge, we can change the outcome of our future by changing our performance in the present.  We can get back on the track of obedience and God will once again bring blessing—He always works that way!

To better understand how to reverse the “tragic trends” in our lives, our families, our churches, and even our nation we must view our situation from three angles if we want to see God’s blessings poured out on our lives:  what CAN be; what WILL be, and what MUST be.

1.  What CAN Be

Many years ago a great philosopher said, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” (Santayana).  That quote has taken many other forms over the years.  Another philosopher stated something very similar, “One thing we learn from history is that we learn nothing from history” (Hegel).  History, or our past experiences, can be of great help in fulfilling our highest potential as human beings.  Though the idea can be greatly overdone, and lead to a false sense of utopia, we can glean much wisdom from “the good ‘ole days.”  The O.T. is full of promises that God made to Israel that Israel, for one or more reasons, failed to fully appropriate

In order to establish the truth of this premise, let me jump ahead in our text to take a look into what “could have been but wasn’t for Israel.”  Joshua 17:7-13 outlines the borders of the inheritance of Mannasseh (one of Joseph’s sons).  Remember that Joseph’s tribe was divided into Mannaseh and Ephraim because the tribe of Levi received no inheritance of land.  After marking out the territory of Mannasseh, we read in verse 12-13:

¹² The descendants of Manasseh could not possess these cities, because the Canaanites were determined to stay in this land. ¹³ However, when the Israelites grew stronger, they imposed forced labor on the Canaanites but did not drive them out completely.

For whatever reason, and we are not told explicitly, Manasseh settled for less than the best that God had to offer.  Manasseh settled for “free labor” from the Canaanites, instead of complete expulsion.  Manasseh took the “easy road.”  The easy road is seldom the best road—and when the easy road detours from God’s plan, it becomes a dangerous dead end.  In short, Manasseh preferred convenience over commitment.  Manasseh choose compromise over complete obedience.  As a result, Manasseh never realized what “Could Have Been.”  It was not just Manasseh that “settled for less.”  As we read earlier, Judah and Ephraim made the same kind of compromise resulting in the same predicament.  Compromise always begins a “tragic trend” toward disaster.  Compromise always leads to “getting less than the best” God has to offer, and often getting a life full of misery instead.

Sin is like gangrene.  It requires nothing less than radical surgery or the result will be a torturous death.  There is no room for accommodation and laxity when it comes to holy living.  There is no “little sins.”  The Canaanites (and other inhabitants of the Promised Land) were as wicked as wicked gets.  There societies were far past redemption.  The godless, reckless, sexually deviant worship of Baal had permeated these pagan societies, like the Canaanites.  Therefore, God said (Exodus 23:23-24):

²³ For My angel will go before you and bring you to the land of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites, and Jebusites, and I will wipe them out.  ²⁴ You must not bow down to their gods or worship them. Do not imitate their practices. Instead, demolish them and smash their sacred pillars to pieces.

Take note of the language Yahweh used:  “wipe them out; demolish them; smash their sacred pillars to pieces!”  Demolish and smash reflect a high degree of intensity due to the Hebrew form of the words.  They are in the “piel” stem (one of seven) that adds a high degree of intensity to the verbal expression.

Modern sensibilities that have been neutered of any sense of commitment by the ever-encroaching idea of political correctness recoils at such strong language in the Bible.  This “tragic trend” of political correctness is precisely what set Israel upon a path of destruction.  Who is man to analyze God’s language!  Should our energies be better spent simply obeying what God said? 

Compromise and accommodation of sin is precisely why “what CAN be” does not become what IS.  Compromise is a slippery slope greased by man’s propensity for self-delusion.  Compromise will always keep us from experiencing “What CAN be” with God.

John Calvin, the 16^th century Christian scholar strikes hard upon the anvil of truth in regard to the compromise of Israel:   Another crime still less pardonable was committed [by Israel] when, having it in their power to easily destroy all, they not only were slothful in executing the command of God, but, induced by filthy lucre, [personal gain] they preserved alive whom God had doomed to destruction.

When through compromise we miss what “Could Have Been,” we must surely come face to face with:

2.  What WILL Be

From compromise to catastrophe is where the “tragic trend of deviating from God’s plan always leads.”  Now, Joshua 16-17 do not record anything of the specific consequences of Israel’s compromise.  That’s the nature of trends.  They contain and element of subtlety and graduation.  Sin is not always like the bite of a venomous snake in that the consequences come quickly.  Sin can work more  subtly.  In fact, being subtle is a characteristic of Satan.  Way back in the Garden of Eden we meet the Devil when he takes the form of a snake.  The Word says (Gen. 3:1),

Now the serpent was the most cunning of all the wild animals.

Satan is not in a hurry.  He has a game plan and he sticks to it.  Whereas so often God’s people squander eternal blessings on temporal ease immediate gratification, the Devil’s wicked plan is, for all it’s evil and wickedness, durable.  The consequences of our compromise may not be immediate, but they WILL be sure. 

The consequences for Israel’s compromise in Joshua shows up in the Book of Judges.  Judges, chapter one, opens with the Israelites still battling the Canaanites and other pagan groups they failed to eradicate when they had the chance.  Judges chapter 2 records God’s displeasure with Israel’s disobedience:

2 The Angel of the Lord  went up from Gilgal to Bochim  and said, “I brought you out of Egypt and led you into the land  I had promised to your fathers.  I also said: I will never break My covenant with you. ² You are not to make a covenant  with the people who are living in this land, and you are to tear down their altars.  ^p But you have not obeyed Me. What is this you have done? ³ Therefore, I now say: I will not drive out these people before you.  They will be thorns  ^s in your sides,  and their gods will be a trap for you.”  ⁴ When the Angel of the Lord had spoken these words to all the Israelites, the people wept loudly. ⁵ So they named that place Bochim  and offered sacrifices there to the Lord.

Judges, chapter 2, continues with a discussion of the death of Joshua and the entire generation of Joshua:

⁸ Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of 110. ⁹ They buried him in the territory of his inheritance, in Timnath-heres, in the hill country of Ephraim,  north of Mount Gaash. ¹⁰ That whole generation was also gathered to their ancestors. After them another generation rose up who did not know the Lord  or the works He had done for Israel. ¹¹ The Israelites did what was evil in the Lord’s sight.  They worshiped the Baals  ¹² and abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of Egypt. They went after other gods from the surrounding peoples  and bowed down to them. They infuriated the Lord,  ¹³ for they abandoned Him and worshiped Baal and the Ashtoreths.

Israel compromised by making a deal with the wicked tribes instead of making an end of them.  It is a truth verified by thousands of years of history that compromising with evil results in greater evil.  You cannot make a pet out of a rattlesnake without eventually getting bit.  That is what happened.  A little compromise in just a few years became a full embrace of the worship of Baal—the god of the Canaanites and other “Ites” of the Promised Land.  Let us continue on in Judges, chapter 2, and we can all see, “What WILL Be,” when a person, or nation, deviates from God’s plan:

¹⁴ The Lord’s anger burned against Israel, and He handed them over to marauders who raided them. He sold  them to  the enemies around them, and they could no longer resist their enemies. ¹⁵ Whenever the Israelites went out, the Lord  was against them  and brought disaster on them, just as He had promised and sworn to them.  So they suffered greatly.

Disobedience always leads to despair and destruction—ALWAYS!  God’s wrath and judgment is every bit as much of His nature as His love and mercy.  It is a great error in our day that so many people want to talk about the “love” of God to the complete exclusion of the “wrath” of God.  This leads to a defective gospel that makes people think they are saved and going to heaven when in fact they are lost and going to hell.  For those that compromise the truth and abandon God’s clear path to righteousness there WILL be judgment.

Let me summarize the matter.  When we look back into the history of God’s people we see “What CAN be” in the life of God’s people.  We CAN experience complete and absolute victory over the evil in our world if we do not deviate from God’s plan as outlined in His Word.  We CAN become, “more than conquerors through Christ” (Rom. 8:37).  But—and this is extremely important to learn—if we do not reach out and seize what CAN be through obedience, what WILL be is sure and certain judgment as God’s “anger burns against us.”

So, how do we navigate between what CAN be through obedience and what WILL be as a sure and certain result of disobedience.  In other words, how can we reverse the downward trend of disobedience in our own personal lives, as well as in our families and nation?  Well, Joshua 17 gives us the answer:

3.  What MUST be!

What MUST take place if we are going to experience blessing instead of judgment?  What MUST take place if we as individuals, families, churches, and as a nation are going to experience the fire of revival falling upon us and consuming all the despair and destruction in our world?  Again, God’s answer is simple:  “we MUST plead the Word of God.”  By that I mean we must seek out God’s plan and purpose in His Word and cling to it with all our might.  Look in chapter 17:3-6:

³ Now Zelophehad son of Hepher, son of Gilead, son of Machir, son of Manasseh, had no sons, only daughters. These are the names of his daughters: Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah.  ⁴ They came before Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the leaders, saying, “The Lord commanded Moses to give us an inheritance among our male relatives.”  So they gave them an inheritance among their father’s brothers, in keeping with the Lord’s instruction.  ⁵ As a result, 10 tracts fell to Manasseh, besides the land of Gilead and Bashan, which are beyond the Jordan,  ⁶ because Manasseh’s daughters received an inheritance among his sons. The land of Gilead belonged to the rest of Manasseh’s sons.

These daughters of Zelophedad had great faith.  They knew what God had said and they took God’s promise to be as certain as a possession.  This promise came about while the Children of Israel were still in the Wilderness, years before (Numbers 27:1-11; 36:1-12).  Normally, when an Israelite male died leaving no sons, as Zelophedad did, the inheritance would pass to the nearest male relative.  However, the daughters of Zelophedad took their case to Moses.  Moses inquired of the Lord and the Lord decided on behalf of the daughters.  God promised they would receive their father’s inheritance of land.  Over 20 years later, the daughters took their promise of God in hand and demanded they receive their inheritance.

Now, the “Name-It-Claim-It-Prosperity-Preachers” would jump all over this verse.  They would tell people to “demand” their inheritance.  They would have a point and at the same time “miss the point.”  The point is not that “faith always leads to greater possessions,” but that “faith IS our greatest possession!”  I think that warrants repeating:  “The point is not that ‘faith always leads to greater possessions,’ but that “faith IS our greatest possession!”  God does not give us faith to get what WE want, but God gives us faith so we can get what HE wants!  Faith is not predominantly for the purpose of filling our stomachs but fulfilling God’s mission.  Do not miss this crucial distinction in this story of the great faith of Zelophedad’s daughters.  A wise scholar helps us understand this better,  “It is here that Mahlah and her sisters may be our school mistresses [teachers] to bring us to Christ.  Numerous Christians lack the boldness, assurance, and confidence to lay hold of God’s provisions.  We are like folk who enter a shop or store, gather what we need, and find no one minding the cash register.  However, there is a bell with a sign that says, ‘Ring Bell for Service.’ Frequently we are hesitant to ring the bell for all sorts of foolish reasons. . . Somehow we find it hard to imagine that the shopkeeper provided the bell because He actually wants his customers to use it!”

If we are going to reverse the “tragic trends” of spiritual compromise in our lives and the life of our nation we MUST exercise a bold, believing, confident, and courageous faith that pursues obedience founded upon the promises of God’s blessing and provision.  We MUST get back to a faith and practice that does not compromise God’s truth or settle for less than God’s very best.  We need a bold, courageous faith fueled by burning passion to know and apply God’s Word.

What CAN be?  We can have it all—everything God promised for this life and for eternity.  What WILL be if we deviate from God’s plan—despair, death, and destruction—just like we read about nearly every day in the paper or see each night on T.V.  What MUST be in order to reverse the “tragic trends of disobedience?”  We MUST exercise a knowledgeable, confident, effective faith that transforms every area of our lives.

Let me close by reminding us that Scrooge did reverse the “tragic trends” of his life.  The sad, sorry saga that was his life did not continue down the road of despair and lonely death.  Scrooge reversed the trend of his life and became a blessing to others. We can reverse the “tragic trends” of our lives in the same way.

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