Closed Door Policy

Joshua 6:1–2 NIV

Now the gates of Jericho were securely barred because of the Israelites. No one went out and no one came in. Then the Lord said to Joshua, “See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men.

Introduction

Growing up in church I heard a lot, and I saw a lot.

You need to understand that your Pastors work very hard to create a church that you can feel good inviting your friends to.

That wasn’t the case in the church that I grew up in.

As a matter of fact, I don’t think we really wanted other people to come to our church!

Why do I say that?

We would have people sing, who could not sing.

They would get up in front of the church and sound like a frog. I mean, they would sound like a frog that is being strangled, and they called it singing.

These same people, right before they would sing would say something like, “Brothers… pray for me because I didn’t have any time to practice.”

Well buddy… if you didn’t have time to practice, perhaps you need to take a seat. You shouldn’t be singing if you didn’t have time to practice.

Then, they would say, “But this is for the honor and glory of God…”

What!?!?!

Is that supposed to be a pass that you are about to be terrible? Because it’s for God? If anything, because it is for God, this should slap! This should be incredible. You are singing to the creator of the universe, and instead of being well rehearsed, you are here making excuses for sounding like a frog.

Transition

Why do I say all of that?

Because clearly I need healing…

But also because growing up in church I learned somethings that I had to unlearn as an adult.

And tonight, with the time that you will give me, I want to teach you something about closed gates, and closed doors.

Because of Israel

I want you to observe the text. I want you to read the Bible the way I teach our college students to read the Bible.

“Now the gates of Jericho were securely barred because of Israel.”

We need to unpack two things here. The first one is the gates. Can you say gates?

I want to use the word “door” as well as a synonym for gates, because a gate is essentially a large door. It serves the same purpose. To let people in, and to let people out.

Israel had just walked into the Promised Land, and they are about to start conquering the land, and the first thing we see is a gate. We see a door.

The thing that was standing between their season of wandering and their season of dwelling was a gate; a door.

And I want to quickly make the application that in the same way that Israel encountered a gate in order to move into their next season, you are going to encounter doors as you enter into your nest season.

There’s a reason for this - Doors are not just for entry, but also for exiting.

As we walk through the door of entry, we are also walking through the door of exit.

We exited the court yard and we entered into the gate when we walked through this curtain.

In life, when we walk through doors we walk out of the old life, the old way of doing things, and we enter into new life, and a new way of doing things.

When we walk out of the old and walk into the new, it is important that we understand that not everything that worked in the old is going to work in the new.

Let me try to explain it this way - I remember seeing signs at restaurants that would say, “No shirts, no shoes, no service.”

Outside of this door, you can look like a typical San Diegan in the summer, but if you want to walk through this door, then that will no longer work here.

If you want to walk into this door, you need to understand what this door requires of you. You need to understand what it takes to inhabit what’s on the other side of this door. You can’’t come through this door any old way, but you have to come through this door the way the owner intended for you to walk through this door.

As a matter of fact, before Joshua 6, there is an encounter between Joshua and the Angel of the Lord. The Angel of the Lord said to Joshua, take off your shoes because you are standing on Holy Ground.

What the angel was saying to him was your shoes were the shoes of a wanderer. But now, God is going to transform you from a wanderer to a conqueror, and you can’t be walking in the shoes of a conqueror as long as you want to wear the shoes of a wanderer.

Do you understand what I’m saying, students?

The things that you want on the other side of this door cannot be attained with the methods of what’s on the older side.

So let me ask you students… What door are you wanting to walk thru that is going to require you too leave some things behind?

I am so moved by the students who surrendered their life to Jesus and make a public confession of their faith through baptism. But let me ask you, now that you have walked through the door of salvation, what are you leaving behind?

Let’s start with the easy stuff… what music doesn’t come with you through the door? What shows did you previously enjoy that need to stay on the other side of he door?

Let me dig deeper… what doubt do you need to leave behind? What insecurity do you need to leave behind? What destructive behavior and destructive habits needs to be left on the other side of the door?

The Wrong Side of Grace

Now let’s lean into what it says next… it says that the gates were closed becuase of Israel.

Let me say it this way… God’s promise to them was on the other side of a closed door.

Gen Z… let me teach you something. If you get nothing else tonight, listen closely to what I am about to tell you.

Just because the gate was closed, it does not mean that it was not God’s will.

My generation is jacked up right now because they believed the lie that if it’s God’s will, then it will be easy.

WHAT?!?!

What devil convinced a child of God that if it’s God’s will it will be easy.

The gates were closed becuase of Israel… Meaning, had it been the Philistines, or the Amalekites, or the Hitites, or any other kind of Hites, those doors would have been opened. But becuase it was God’s children, the doors were closed.

Let me make a big statement here…

God is more concerned about your development, than he is concerned with giving you what you want.

Who you are becoming is more important than where you are going.

God needed these doors closed because he needed to a work in here, before he did a work over there.

As a matter of fact, that is God’s Closed Door Policy. If it’s FOR YOU, and the door is closed, then the policy is that God is up to something.

And I wonder how many young people left the church because the doors were closed.

I wonder how many people left the faith because they believed that it should be easy.

I wonder how many people got ‘church hurt’ over a door that was closed for their development.

Listen to me Lighthouse Students…

Not On Our Watch.

Not On Our Watch.

We love you too much to let you quit when you see a closed door. We love you too much to let you pack up and leave just because it wasn’t easy. We love you too much to let you have a weak faith.

We are going to look you in the eye and tell you that need to grow up! This closed door isn’t to keep you out, but it is to build you up.

This closed door isn’t because God doesn’t care. This door is closed for your sake.

For your growth.

For your development.

For your benefit.

That’s why it is closed.

Can You See What He Sees?

Now let me get to the end of what the Lord says to Joshua…

He stays to him, “See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands…”

Hold up… don’t read through that…

God says to him, “See!”

If I’m Joshua… and I am… but I’m not Joshua Joshua…

I want to say to the Lord, “No! No, I don’t see! I see walls and a closed gate…”

But what God was saying to Joshua was to not see with his natural eyes, but to see with spiritual eyes. Stop looking at the closed doors, and the big walls, but to begin looking at his future. Start looking at the land that God had given him. Start looking at the fields that they were going to plant. Start thinking about the plants they were going to harvest. Start thinking about the food they were going to make. Start thinking about how they finally were going to have a home of their own.

400 years of slavery

40 years of wandering

But now… now it was time to start seeing what they were about to become.

You need to learn something students.

You need to see it, before you see it.

You need to see it in the spiritual before you see it in the natural.

Conclusion - When I Can’t See

As I close, some of you may be ready to go.

You are ready to charge hell with a super soaker and a couple of water balloons. And I’m here for it. Let’s go.

But let me help those of you who are hearing me and thinking, “I don’t know how to see what you are seeing…”

Let me tell you what God told Moses when Moses told God I want to see you - I want to see your glory.

Get alone - You need to stop scrolling, and start making alone time with God.

Get elevated - Moses had to climb up a mountain. You don’t need to climb a mountain literally, but you do need to start climbing a mountain spiritually speaking. Start developing life-giving, spirit filled habits that are going to elevate your life. You need to elevate your spiritual life.

Hide yourself - Moses didn’t just get alone and he didn’t just elevate himself, but then he hid himself. He went into a cave alongside the mountain so that God could pass through, and there Moses would see God. Hiding yourself in God means that you get comfortable being alone with him, you elevate your spiritual life and then you cling to God.

God is not your Sunday service.

God is not your Youth Group.

God is not the worship songs you listen to.

God has revealed himself to you through his son Jesus. You need to pursue a relationship with Jesus every day that you life. You meet him daily in prayer and reading so that you can commune with Jesus. Eventually you won’t find yourself meeting with Jesus, but you’ll find yourself in Jesus.

In him?

Yes, In Him.

Paul said, “It is in Him that we live, that we move, and that we have our being.”

We hide ourself in him, so that we begin to see like him.