Taking the First step

Our Theme for 2024 is Possessing the Land

Today we are reading through chapters three and four of Joshua.

I call this lesson “Taking the first step”

This is the actual crossing of the Jordan, but in reality it is just the first step.

The battles begin when you reach the other side.

This is just the first of many obstacles.

But how you take this first step is very important.

If you remember what you learned while taking your first steps, it will help you in taking every other step that comes after.

Speaking of stories, Karie and I took a trip to Jordan in September of last year and we haven’t shared many things from that trip.

As you know, I am working on my Doctoral dissertation and the subject is baptism; so I thought it would be good to be baptized in the Jordan river at the same place where Jesus was baptized.

We met up with a friend on the West side of Amman.

Then we began making our descent into the Jordan Valley.

Amman is 2500 ft above sea level and the Jordan valley is 1300 ft below sea level.

Then it took us a good half hour to drive across the wide, flat plain to the Jordan river.

This would be the same valley where Israel was camped before crossing the Jordan.

The Jordan River has changed course over 2000 years.

On the Jordan side, several hundred yards east of the current river is a site with the foundations of church dating back to to the fourth century.

This is the location where Jesus was baptized by John in the Jordan.

The early church built a church on the site to commemorate Jesus’ baptism and to conduct Christian baptisms.

There is a path leading down from the chapel to what was the river at the time and a cross-shaped baptistry.

The water that is there now is simply ground water; but the river used to flow right through this channel.

I was baptized at another location nearby where the river winds around through the reeds.

If you have been to the Israel side, they have a nice baptistry built alongside the river with concrete steps and a nice solid landing.

This baptismal site was pretty rustic - a pavilion with a grass roof and a few wooden steps down into the water.

I sank into the mud half-way up to my knees.

Yes, the Jordan is muddy and it is not very impressive these days as most of the water is taken upstream and used for sustaining towns and agriculture.

In Joshua’s time it would have been deeper and wider and, according to the Bible, it was at flood stage when they crossed.

Why am I telling you about being baptized in the Jordan? We are talking about Joshua.

When John baptized people in the Jordan, the location was not a coincidence.

John was going right back to the place where they had crossed over into the Promised Land.

The act of baptism was a statement that they needed an experience like that of their ancestors.

John told them to “repent”, not just “turn around” but turn back to become again what you used to be.

You need a “crossing over” experience like they had.

Jesus came to be baptized by John, not because he had any sin that needed cleansing, but to join the movement that John was starting.

John was preaching revival and Jesus was going to pick up, not only on that message, but He was going to provide a way for people to be literally transformed; to cross-over from death to life.

John 5:24 ESV

24 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.

That is what baptism means - and it all started with Joshua taking the people of God across this river.

So lets go back to Joshua and the Israelites camped out at Shittim, that wide valley just above the Dead Sea and at the base of the mountains.

Lets see how they cross the Jordan: how they prepare, how they execute and how they are sure to remember the event.

And perhaps we can draw some parallels to our own “crossing over” event.

The Preparation

Put yourself in the right position.

Joshua 3:1–4 ESV

1 Then Joshua rose early in the morning and they set out from Shittim. And they came to the Jordan, he and all the people of Israel, and lodged there before they passed over. 2 At the end of three days the officers went through the camp 3 and commanded the people, “As soon as you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God being carried by the Levitical priests, then you shall set out from your place and follow it. 4 Yet there shall be a distance between you and it, about 2,000 cubits in length. Do not come near it, in order that you may know the way you shall go, for you have not passed this way before.”

“You have not passed this way before” _ it seems that would be stating the obvious.

Consider that they have been going in circles for the last forty years - I guess the route was becoming “routine.”

I suppose the first thing anyone who wants to follow God needs to do it admit that you don’t know where you are going.

You are not in control here.

You need to stand back and watch, listen and learn - see what God is doing before you presume to know which way He is leading you.

We like to talk about God doing a “new thing” but how will you know when God does it?

When we pray for revival - don’t we really mean “send revival like I once knew it to be?!”

I have seen a couple ‘revivals’ in my lifetime - some things were the same, but some things were completely different.

I have been in services where everyone was weeping; I have also been in places where people seemed drunk with laughter.

I have been in times of revival where the presence of God was so thick nobody would move; I have also been in places where we danced until we were dripping with sweat.

People get thrown off by the differences - the manifestation are usually different - but the character and the quality of the transformation should be the same.

Here is what I have learned - there is no formula to make revival happen - you can only position yourself and let God do the rest.

You can’t make the fire of God fall; but if you want the fire, you need to first build an altar.

You can’t make God do miracles; but you can start by praying - no prayer, no miracles.

On a more personal level - you may have discovered that there are things about yourself that you can’t change; but you can say “God, I’m willing to let you change me.”

God responds to faith.

When God sees people who are willing to take a step in obedience to Him;

He is right there to help them do that part that they cannot do without Him.

Faith means putting yourself in position; doing what you can do.

Set yourself apart.

Joshua 3:5–8 ESV

5 Then Joshua said to the people, “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.” 6 And Joshua said to the priests, “Take up the ark of the covenant and pass on before the people.” So they took up the ark of the covenant and went before the people. 7 The Lord said to Joshua, “Today I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that, as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. 8 And as for you, command the priests who bear the ark of the covenant, ‘When you come to the brink of the waters of the Jordan, you shall stand still in the Jordan.’ ”

Consecrate yourself.

What does that even mean?

Literally - set yourself apart.

They just moved from a protected spot up against the mountains to the middle of the desert plain.

Like “sitting ducks” they are literally set apart.

“Set apart” is a figure of speech - it means to devote yourself to a sacred purpose.

Forget about being “normal” - you are not normal!

Consecrated is the opposite of normal.

If you are looking for “normal” you are in the wrong place.

We are not “normal people.”

This is not a “normal church.”

Nothing about following God and being His people is ever “normal!”

We are a people who are intentionally different because we serve a different purpose - His purpose!

So if you are one of those people who just want to be like everyone else - I’m sorry to disappoint you - not really!

Prepare yourselves to get over being “normal.”

Hear the Word of the Lord.

Joshua 3:9–13 ESV

9 And Joshua said to the people of Israel, “Come here and listen to the words of the Lord your God.” 10 And Joshua said, “Here is how you shall know that the living God is among you and that he will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Hivites, the Perizzites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, and the Jebusites. 11 Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth is passing over before you into the Jordan. 12 Now therefore take twelve men from the tribes of Israel, from each tribe a man. 13 And when the soles of the feet of the priests bearing the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off from flowing, and the waters coming down from above shall stand in one heap.”

Wen you live you life for God, everything hangs on God’s Word.

We are privileged to have God’s written Word - The Bible in our own language and almost all of us know how to read.

If you are not reading your Bible, you are missing one of the primary ways that God speaks to us.

I recommend reading it every day.

But even in your prayer time, as you are asking God to lead you, expect God to speak to you.

Keep in mind that God will never tell you do do something that is not in line with the Word that He has already revealed.

But when you have a Word from God, you don’t need to follow the crowd - you have your orders.

And what is great is that God gives each of us a Word which is not necessarily the same, but blends with what He is telling the rest of us.

Like me getting a sermon from God and Pat getting a song the goes with it.

He is the head of the body, and we, like parts, all get our messages from the head.

1 Corinthians 12:12 ESV

12 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.

Just as the ark of the covenant goes first, God moves first and we move with Him.

We are not just looking to each other for direction.

“You, go first; no YOU go first!”

We each have our eyes on God by the Spirit, and when he moves, we each move as He directs.

My job as a Pastor is not to tell you what to do, but to help you hear God and blend with each other in a way that we are all following Him together.

So far, this is all just preparation and instruction - Joshua contains some repetition - the literary form it to help people remember when telling the story - more on that later.

The Execution

The way to make things happen is to do it first.

Joshua 3:14–17 ESV

14 So when the people set out from their tents to pass over the Jordan with the priests bearing the ark of the covenant before the people, 15 and as soon as those bearing the ark had come as far as the Jordan, and the feet of the priests bearing the ark were dipped in the brink of the water (now the Jordan overflows all its banks throughout the time of harvest), 16 the waters coming down from above stood and rose up in a heap very far away, at Adam, the city that is beside Zarethan, and those flowing down toward the Sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, were completely cut off. And the people passed over opposite Jericho. 17 Now the priests bearing the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firmly on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan, and all Israel was passing over on dry ground until all the nation finished passing over the Jordan.

Imagine watching this from one of the mountains in the distance - or from the watchtowers of Jericho.

The people start marching toward the water.

Several hundred yards ahead of them are the priests in their gold robes carrying the ark of the covenant.

Most nations would send their army first - you know, the biggest, baddest and toughest men - the Marines of the desert.

With Israel, it’s the representation of the presence of God going first.

God had promised Moses to go before His people.

Deuteronomy 1:30 ESV

30 The Lord your God who goes before you will himself fight for you, just as he did for you in Egypt before your eyes,

We see this not just in Joshua, but in Jesus as well.

Jesus leads by example.

Hebrews 4:15 ESV

15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.

Not only does Jesus lead by example, but the Apostle Paul picks up on it as well.

1 Corinthians 11:1 CEV

1 You must follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.

So imagine you are watching as this group approaches the river at flood stage, and the few priests with the ark get to the edge of the water and when they do, the water stops flowing.

There is some word play in the Hebrew that is harder to recognize in English.

When the Priests stood in the water; the water stood back.

The priests take an action and the water responds with a corresponding action.

God moves and nature responds.

That would tell the story right there.

These people are following the presence of their God.

They are not propping God up and making Him do what they want Him to do.

God is initiating and people and nature are responding.

That is the way things are in the Kingdom of God.

That is why Jesus taught us to pray:

Matthew 6:10 ESV

10 Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

If God is so powerful, why even use people at all?

That’s one of the amazing things about God; he doesn’t need our participation, but He wants our participation.

The best way to do things is to do it together.

Joshua 4:10–14 ESV

10 For the priests bearing the ark stood in the midst of the Jordan until everything was finished that the Lord commanded Joshua to tell the people, according to all that Moses had commanded Joshua. The people passed over in haste. 11 And when all the people had finished passing over, the ark of the Lord and the priests passed over before the people. 12 The sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh passed over armed before the people of Israel, as Moses had told them. 13 About 40,000 ready for war passed over before the Lord for battle, to the plains of Jericho. 14 On that day the Lord exalted Joshua in the sight of all Israel, and they stood in awe of him just as they had stood in awe of Moses, all the days of his life.

So from you vantage point high in the hills, you see the water stop flowing and then the priests with the ark stop in the middle of what was the river.

The water begins piling up and backing up through the valley to the north.

The Bible says it backed up twenty miles to a town called “Adam” - think about that for a while.

Its like there is an invisible wall surrounding the priests and the ark.

They stand between the water and the people.

It’s like the crossing of the Red Sea except its a one-way water wall.

This was not single-file; this was millions of people moving their families and everything that they owned across a “now dry” river bed in a matter of less than a day.

Where is the presence of God when this is happening?

Right in the middle of it!

That is exactly where God is when we are going through whatever we go through - He is right there with us.

We have a tendency to think that it either has to be all God or all us.

God likes to describe Himself “in the midst of His people.”

Zephaniah 3:17 NLT

17 For the Lord your God is living among you. He is a mighty savior. He will take delight in you with gladness. With his love, he will calm all your fears. He will rejoice over you with joyful songs.”

You could argue that it’s “all God” even when we play a part, but that’s not my point.

The point is that there is God’s part and there is our part.

When God does His part; we need to respond by doing our part.

The truth is, that even the strength to do our part comes from God, but we still have to do our part.

See it through to the end.

Joshua 4:15–18 ESV

15 And the Lord said to Joshua, 16 “Command the priests bearing the ark of the testimony to come up out of the Jordan.” 17 So Joshua commanded the priests, “Come up out of the Jordan.” 18 And when the priests bearing the ark of the covenant of the Lord came up from the midst of the Jordan, and the soles of the priests’ feet were lifted up on dry ground, the waters of the Jordan returned to their place and overflowed all its banks, as before.

So all the people get across and the priests just need to step out of the way so the water can flow again.

I wonder what it would have been like to be a priest standing there with a pole on your shoulder and a huge wall of water on your right side.

You are not just entrusted with carrying the presence of God.

You are responsible for holding back the flood that would otherwise wipe people out.

I just want to pause and say, “thank God for the intercessors!”

I know that you fight battles that most of us will never know, understand, or appreciate.

You have the privilege of carrying the presence of God, but that means you often stand between people and the things that are trying to harm them.

God bless you for what you do and I pray that you will have the grace to stand to the end of whatever you are standing for.

I just want to say.” I hope that you also appreciate what this moment means and that you remember what God is doing and has done, so that you know how to tell the story.

The Remembering

Pick up what you can while you are in the moment.

Joshua 4:1–5 ESV

1 When all the nation had finished passing over the Jordan, the Lord said to Joshua, 2 “Take twelve men from the people, from each tribe a man, 3 and command them, saying, ‘Take twelve stones from here out of the midst of the Jordan, from the very place where the priests’ feet stood firmly, and bring them over with you and lay them down in the place where you lodge tonight.’ ” 4 Then Joshua called the twelve men from the people of Israel, whom he had appointed, a man from each tribe. 5 And Joshua said to them, “Pass on before the ark of the Lord your God into the midst of the Jordan, and take up each of you a stone upon his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the people of Israel,

Joshua tells the leaders of the tribes to be sure to get a souvenir while they are passing through the Jordan.

You know, just a rock as big as you can carry, from the middle of the stream bed.

You need to take something with you to remember the experience.

Be sure that you remember this moment!

When I am travelling, I sometimes find it helpful to keep a journal because once you get back home, you quickly forget what it was like to be where you were.

That’s why we want to take the time to be in the moment while we are in it.

Take note of what is going on.

What are you sensing and experiencing?

How do you feel about what you are sensing and experiencing?

Taking time to reflect while you are in the moment will help you know how to tell the story when the moment is passed.

It’s like picking up a rock from the middle of the stream bed.

Practice telling the story.

Joshua 4:6–9 ESV

6 that this may be a sign among you. When your children ask in time to come, ‘What do those stones mean to you?’ 7 then you shall tell them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it passed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. So these stones shall be to the people of Israel a memorial forever.” 8 And the people of Israel did just as Joshua commanded and took up twelve stones out of the midst of the Jordan, according to the number of the tribes of the people of Israel, just as the Lord told Joshua. And they carried them over with them to the place where they lodged and laid them down there. 9 And Joshua set up twelve stones in the midst of the Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests bearing the ark of the covenant had stood; and they are there to this day.

A few years ago, I led a youth team to Haiti - I had every one practice telling the stories that they were going to tell when they go home, while they were still there.

Each day we would circle up to recount the highlights of the day.

And there was just one rule, everyone had to talk.

Each one had to talk, because if you don’t practice telling the story, you are not going to be able to describe it when you are removed from the situation.

Storytelling is important, both for the ones who tell the story and for those who will eventually listen.

This is a historical moment.

Future generations will need to connect with the reality of what God did for His people when they think about what it means to be the People of God.

Let me take you back to John the Baptist calling Israel to repentance.

Luke 3:8 ESV

8 Bear fruits in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham.

Do you know which stones he was talking about?

The people were proud of their religious identity, but they had become disconnected from the truth of their story.

John had to take them back to where it all happened.

And there, somewhere near the Jordan river which had changed course over time, was a pile of rocks which told the story.

God does His part, but are you doing your part?

God gave you an example, but when did you stop being an example to others?

Did you think that because you came from people who followed and obey God, that it is enough?

How have YOU followed and obeyed God?

The rocks tell the story, if you listen to the story and learn the lessons they tell, you can do what they did.

Let the story serve as a reminder.

Joshua 4:19–24 ESV

19 The people came up out of the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and they encamped at Gilgal on the east border of Jericho. 20 And those twelve stones, which they took out of the Jordan, Joshua set up at Gilgal. 21 And he said to the people of Israel, “When your children ask their fathers in times to come, ‘What do these stones mean?’ 22 then you shall let your children know, ‘Israel passed over this Jordan on dry ground.’ 23 For the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan for you until you passed over, as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea, which he dried up for us until we passed over, 24 so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty, that you may fear the Lord your God forever.”

If you are a follower of Jesus, you have also made a “crossing over”.

It is good to remember who you are and where you came from.

But even more, it is important to remember who your God is and what He has done for you.

If God has done His part, then are you also doing your part?

God is greater than the obstacle in front of you.

Perhaps He is waiting for you to take the first step?

Questions for Reflection:

Have you had a “crossing over” experience? If the Jordan represents the line between life and death, God’s Kingdom and the kingdoms of this world, between serving the Lord and serving yourself; which side are you on? Or are you trying to be somewhere in the middle, you know - ‘normal’?

Do you know that God is with you? He is “in your midst” ready to save! He is doing His part. Are you doing your part? Are you willing to stand like the priests who make intercession? Are you willing to be an example to others?

If you had a pile of rocks; each rock represents an experience you have been through. What would that memorial look like? How would you describe each stone? What stories would you tell to your children, grandchildren or those whom your life may influence?