July 27, 2014
Joshua: Turning Obedience Into Blessing
Joshua 23:1: “Fueled By Faith” Notes Not Edited
Joshua: Turning Obedience Into Blessing
Joshua 23:1: “Fueled By Faith” Notes Not Edited
SIS – You must be faithful to please God and
continue to receive His blessings.
People put their
faith in many things. Even the Bible
says, “Some trust in chariots and some in
horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God” (Ps. 20:7). It is not a matter of whether you are going to
have “faith,” but Who is going to be the object of your faith.
Very few people I
know or have known lived “high power, high performance” lives in regard to
faith. Most people I know-myself
included—barely get by in an old jalopy of a life, rather than screaming down
the track in a top fuel dragster. I
believe that a life fueled by faith demonstrates an uncharacteristic (by the world’s
standards) sense of victory and satisfaction.
There is nothing wrong, in a
worldly sense, with a “Chevy kind of life” (insert favorite car manufacturer),
but most people long to take at least one trip down the track in a Ferrari or
Lamborghini. I believe God built us to
go faster, go further, and enjoy the ride much more than most of us are
experiencing. Too many of our lives are
“fueled by frustration” and leave us wanting something more. That “something more” is Jesus, and it is
faith that connects us to Him. Without faith
it is not just hard to please God, it is impossible (Hebrews 11:6). Without faith you will move through life
“fueled by frustration” instead of “fueled by faith.”
One of the most
powerful experiences a person can have on this earth is sitting behind the
wheel of a top fuel dragster. Top fuel
dragsters are all about power and performance--with just a touch of insanity.
Top fuel dragsters pack up to 10,000 horsepower (that's more horses than a
Texas ranch!). They reach speeds of over 300 miles per hour in about 4 seconds
(1000 and 1, well . . . you get the idea). These engines are fueled by nitromethane
(rocket fuel) and give the driver the ride of his (or her) life. A Top Fuel dragster leaves the starting line
with a force nearly five times that of gravity, the same force of the space
shuttle when it leaves the launching pad at Cape Canaveral? Move over into the spiritual realm. What kind
of power and performance are you getting out of your Christian life? Are you
having "the ride of your life." Christian living is "Fueled by
Faith." Our text gives us at least Four Aspects of a Faith-fueled Life. Let’s read our text together: JOSHUA
23:1-16.
1. CONFIDENCE
(1-3)
Years ago a
preacher penned a wonderful book on living a life of faith. Eugene Peterson’s book, written over 20 years
ago, now has over 200,000 copies in print!
He titled his book on faithful living, “A Long Obedience in the Same
Direction.” Peterson coopted this quote
from an unusual source, Friedrich Nietzsche, the eminent atheist. Of course, Nietzsche had not concern for
faith, but he did recognize the value of consistency in regard to one’s
values—or lack thereof in the case of Nietzsche.
True faith is
exhibited in a “Long Obedience in the Same Direction”-- a consistent, persistent practice of
holiness. Joshua exhibits this kind of
consistent, persistent practice of holiness as we see in verse 1:
1A long time after the Lord had
given Israel rest from all the enemies around them, Joshua was old, getting on
in years.
Joshua is now about
110 years old. He got his first taste of
the Promised Land as a spy back in Numbers 13.
Joshua was 40 years old at that time (Jos. 14:7). The conquest of the Promised Land had
consumed 70 years of his life. He never
wavered in his service to God. This is
not to suggest he was perfect and never failed because he was a human such as
we are, but Joshua practiced a “long
obedience in the same direction.” He
lived according to a consistent, persistent faith in God. Where does the confidence to stay at the task
for over 40 years come from? Remember,
early on at Ai (chapter 6) Joshua as the commander of Israel’s army suffered a
bitter defeat. But, Joshua did not give
up. Where does such a confidence come
from that even the worst defeat in life’s battle cannot undermine one’s faith
nor deter one’s obedience? Our text
gives us the source of Joshua’s consistency in his faith. Look at verses 2-3:
2 So Joshua summoned all Israel,
including its elders, leaders, judges, and officers, and said to them, “I am old, getting on in
years, 3 and you have seen for yourselves everything the Lord
your God did to all these nations on your account, because it was the Lord your
God who was fighting for you.
We have seen from
chapters 1 through 21 the promise of God unfolding one displaced pagan nation
at a time—time and time again. God’s
faithfulness to Israel was so exacting and His promises so powerful that one
Israelite was equal to 1000 enemies.
Verse 10:
10 One of you routed a thousand because the Lord your God
was fighting for you, as He promised.
was fighting for you, as He promised.
Confidence is a
powerful thing. It produces a
consistent, persistent faith that maintains its course in spite of trials and
difficulties along the way. A “faith
fueled life” does not meander through the present and future like a river
flowing down a mountainside. A faith
fueled life cuts through bedrock and makes its own course toward the end of
fulfilling God’s purpose in our life like a raging flood cutting a path
straight through to the sea.
A primary
ingredient to a “faith fueled” life is confidence in a Faithful, All-powerful
God.
2. COURAGE
(6)
6 “Be very strong and continue obeying all that is written in
the book of the law of Moses, so that you do not turn from it to the right or
left
The word translated
“be very strong” in this verse (חָזַק chazaq) has a wide and varied range of
meanings. It can mean everything from
physical strength to arrogance. One
component of this root word means “be courageous.” Of course, without strength, courage is not
much more than foolish and even false bravado.
Yet, Joshua reminds Israel what God had said to himself when the nation
began the campaign to conquer the Promised Land (Jos 1:6):
6 “Be strong and courageous.
In chapter 1 the
Word of God actually emphasizes the connection between strength and courage by
adding a synonym for the word, “courage.”
In chapter 23, verse 6,
the word uses a strengthened form to capture the idea of “conquering strength,”
or “courage.” Let me take a moment to
emphasize how important “courage” is (and increasingly will be) to living a
“faith fueled life.”
For the first time in over 1900 years,
there are virtually no Christians left in the city of Mosul, in N. Iraq. It is thought that the Christian community in
N. Iraq (Mosul) is one of the oldest in the world. The earliest dated church
building to have been found in the world so far is at Dura Europos in Syria on
the Euphrates close to today’s border with Iraq, dating about 232 A.D.
(Internet blog, Informed Content).
The community is
reported to have fled en masse after the so-called “Islamic State of Iraq and
Syria” (IS, ISIS) of radical fundamentalists warned them that they faced the
choice of converting to Islam, paying a poll tax, fleeing the city, or… the
sword. The incorrectly named “Islamic State,” which is a kind of criminal
cartel, said that if they chose to depart, the Christians of Mosul would only
be allowed to leave with the clothes on their backs, and their homes and
property would be confiscated by ISIS. There were an estimated 3,000 Christians
in Mosul, a city of about 2 million.
Here’s a recent
news story from the British newspaper, Monitor:
A
man has survived being crucified by Isis in Syria, after the jihadists
raided his village and nailed him to a cross for eight hours.
The
unnamed man from Al-Bab, near the border with Turkey, was crucified as a
punishment, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. He managed to survive the ordeal. But eight others who received the same punishment
did not survive. The men were subjected to the same treatment and crucified
"in the main square of the village, where their bodies will remain for
three days,” according to the British based, Monitor.
The slaughter of
Christians in the Middle East is barely even covered by the American
media. And it is not just the Middle
East. A recent Pew Research Study
found: that Christians are the most
persecuted religious group in the world and that their persecution
is occurring primarily throughout the Islamic world. In the category
on “Countries with Very High Government Restrictions on Religion,” Pew lists 24
countries—20 of which are Islamic and precisely where the overwhelming majority
of “the world’s” Christians are actually being persecuted (Internet).
I do not want to suggest that Christians in America are enduring persecution to any
degree like brothers and sisters in the Middle East. However, American culture has become
increasingly hostile toward Christianity.
A recent study issued by the Family Research Council and Liberty
Institute highlights,
A
new report issued by the Family Research Council and Liberty Institute
highlights a pattern of hostility toward Christianity in the United States. As
reported by The Christian Post, the report lists more than 600
incidents of hostile acts toward Christians over the past 10 years, including
those occurring in public schools, city forums, and federal government events.
Again, I do not
want to suggest that these American hostilities compare to any degree with the
suffering of brothers and sisters in the Persecuted Church around the
world. I do want to suggest that here in
America in the 21st Century it is going to take a much greater level
of courage to bring God’s gospel to bear upon our cities than at any time in
recent history, or even perhaps since the Revolution.
Joshua reminds us
that a “Faith Fueled Life” requires courage.
3.
CAREFULNESS (8, 11)
Verse
11 tells us: 11 So be very
diligent to love the Lord your God
for
your own well-being.
The KJV states it
thusly, 11Take good heed therefore unto yourselves, that ye love the Lord your God.
The NLT is more
succinct, 11 So be very careful to love the Lord your God.
There is absolutely
no place for sloppiness, carelessness, luke warmness, or half-heartedness when
it comes to faithful obedience to the Lord God!
Our obedience must be passionate and careful, exacting to the point that
is humanly possible. Why be so exacting
in our faithful obedience to God?
Certainly, we should do so out of an eternal gratitude that by His grace
we are saved and will not feel the eternal fires of hell. That should be all the motivation any of us
needs. But, if gratitude for our eternal
salvation were not enough, God instructs us to live lives “fueled by faith” for
our own good here and now!
The HCSB, the
version I use, picks up on a complex construction of the Hebrew at the
beginning of this text. There is an idea
of “guarding oneself, or taking heed for one’s own welfare” contained in the
opening words which the HCSB places at the end of the verse. A “faith fueled life” is a rewarding
life. Consistent, persistent faith
brings “fruitfulness” (Ex. 23:29-30). Just like a nitro fueled dragster operates at
peak performance and power, so a faith fueled life operates with peak
performance and power.
Over and over in
Joshua, especially the last three chapters, and throughout the whole Bible
actually, we are instructed to be “faithful.”
Verse 8 could not be
more clear:
Remain
faithful to the Lord your God, as you have done to this day.
What exactly is
“faithfulness?” The word used in verse 8
is an interesting and enlightening word in the original language. You don’t have to be a Hebrew scholar to see
the various colors in the word translated by the HCSB as faithful in verse
8. The
NLT tells gives us an expanded understanding: “Cling tightly to the Lord your God.
Or, take out the
trusty KJV which will tell
you, “Cleave unto the Lord your God.”
The word
translated, “be faithful” (v8, HCSB)
is dabaq (דָּבַק). It can also be
translated “cling, cleave, be loyal or
hold fast” as in other versions. It could also be translated, “hug,” as in the margin note of the NET Bible. Faith requires much
more than an intellectual acceptance of facts. Faith requires a continuing,
clinging, passionate relationship with God through Jesus Christ. The essence of saving faith lies not in
religious beliefs or practices but in a close relationship with God through
Christ.
Everybody has
“faith.” Everybody trusts someone or
something as an “Ultimate Reality,” even if that something is an atheist’s
faith in science. Everybody clings to
something. Look at verses 12-13:
12 For if you turn away and cling to
the rest of these nations remaining among you,
and if you intermarry or associate with them and they with you, 13 know
for certain that the Lord your God will not continue to drive these nations out
before you. They will become a snare and a trap for you, a scourge for your sides and thorns in your
eyes, until you disappear from this good land the Lord your God has given you.
A life “Fueled By
Faith” requires we be CAREFUL who or what we cling to in faith.
4. CERTAINTY
(14-16)
14 “I am now going the way of all
the earth, y and you know
with all your heart and all your soul that none of the good promises the Lord
your God made to you has failed. Everything was fulfilled for you; not one
promise has failed. 15 Since
every good thing the Lord your God promised you has come about, so He will
bring on you every bad thing until He has annihilated you from this good land
the Lord your God has given you. 16 If
you break the covenant of the Lord your God, which He commanded you, and go and
worship other gods, and bow down to them, the Lord’s anger will burn against
you, and you will quickly disappear from this good land He has given you.”
Notice again verse
15, 15
But just as every good promise of the Lord your God has come true, so the
Lord will bring on you all the evil he has threatened. One of the most significant laws in
the universe is the Law of Cause and Effect.
Every action brings a reaction.
The same is true in the spiritual realm:
faith brings blessing—disobedience brings cursing. One is as certain as the other. You chose.
Mark this down dear
friends, God’s faithfulness is a two-edged sword. Just as He is faithful in grace, He is
faithful in judgment. You cannot
separate God’s love from God’s wrath.
They are intricate parts of the same Person. God’s virtues are indivisible. Just as certain that it is God will fulfill
His promise of reward for obedience, He will certainly fulfill His judgment for
disobedience. If you err in regard to
God’s judgment, you err eternally!
This week in our
study of the Book of Revelation, Brother Charles Massegee described how putting
anything in the place of God through Jesus Christ is considered, adultery, or
even prostitution. The Book of
Revelation describes the false religion of the end times as a “whore riding on
a scarlet beast covered with blasphemous names and having seven heads and ten
horns” (Rev. 17:3). This “Whore called Babylon the Great”
represents any and all religions and governments that seek the attention of men
and women, outside of faith in the God of the Bible.
As we learned from
our study of the Book of Revelation, all false religions and the governments to
which they are attached will be utterly annihilated. The destruction of all false systems,
religious and civil, is never in question.
God’s judgment on evil is an absolute certainty, as much so as God’s
fulfillment of blessing to His own people.
It is not popular
in our culture of political correctness to speak of judgment on anything, and
certainly not the “doomsday judgment” the Bible speaks of so often. God’s wrath is as much a part of His Holy
character as His love. People want to
turn Yahweh into a jolly old man who dispenses gifts according to our
“list.” God is not a Cosmic Santa
Claus. God is holy and holiness is a
fearsome thing.
People put their
faith in many things. Even the Bible
says, “Some trust in chariots and some in
horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God” (Ps. 20:7). It is not a matter of whether you are going to
have “faith,” but Who is going to be the object of your faith.
An Arab was walking through the Sahara desert,
desperate for water, when he saw something, far off in the distance. Hoping to
find water, he walked towards the image, only to find a little old Jewish man
sitting at a card table with a bunch of neckties laid out on it. The Arab asked "Please, I'm dying of
thirst, can I have some water?" The man replied "I don't have any
water, but why don't you buy a tie? Here's one that goes nicely with your
robes." The Arab shouted, "I don't want a tie, you idiot, I need
water!" "OK, don't buy a tie. But to show you what a nice guy I am,
I'll tell you that over that hill there, about 4 miles, is a nice restaurant.
Walk that way, they'll give you all the water you want." The Arab thanked
him and walked away towards the hill and eventually disappeared. Three hours
later the Arab came crawling back to where the man was sitting behind his card
table. The man said "I told you, about 4 miles over that hill. Couldn't
you find it?" The Arab rasped "I found it all right. Your brother wouldn't
let me in without a tie!
Now, you may think
this is just a joke, but I think it gives us the foundation for living a “Faith
Fueled Life”—you have to trust the Jewish man!
Of course, that Jewish man would be Jesus.
<<end>>
