Whose Side Are You On?

Prayer

The Walls Came Crumbling Down

I came across this story from a book on Crucial Conversations - all about being able to talk things through when the stakes are high. And apparently, in this situation, the stakes were very high - an urgent need to go to the bathroom.

Two young sisters were making their way into their hotel room with their Dad after a long, hot day at DisneyWorld, where they had consumed copious amounts of soda. So they were both dying to go to the bathroom. The one bathroom. And immediately they started arguing about who should get to go first. I got here first. I have to go worse than you! How can you know that?! You’e so selfish!

So Dad tells them they can stay in the bathroom until they work it out - as long as they don’t start hitting each other. They end up in the bathroom for twenty-five minutes before the toilet finally flushes and one emerges and then a few moments later, the second one does. Dad points out they could have both used the toilet many times in the time it took them to work it out. That had not occured to them. Dad probed - why did it take them so long to work it out?! But that just started a whole new round of accusations.

The authors of the book point out that the primary problem in this situations isn’t that our behavior degenerates - though that’s not a good thing. It has to do with our motives. What’s driving us here? Our need to win? To be seen as the good guy (so it must be the other person’s fault?) Avoiding hard truths about ourselves. Whatever the case, the sides are drawn and the battle commences. No one really wins. In a strange way, this really does have a connection with the battle story we’re going to look at today - we’ll come back to that later.

Today, as we make our way through the story of the Old Testament, through the book of Joshua, we’re going to dive into one of the stories that I think is one of the classic stories of the Old Testament, the conquest of the city of Jericho, and especially the Israelite army marching around the city until the walls come crumbling down.

Just to set the context a little - the Israelites have just made their way into the land of the Canaanites through the miraculous crossing of the Jordan River. This is the land God had long promised to give them - it’s finally happened, they have arrived. But now the battle begins, they are going to have to conquer the land. But the military strategy God gives them is a bit unorthodox, to say the least.

(Image of Jericho) But before we read the text, I want to share with you an illustration of city of Jericho, based on the archeological excavations, to give you an idea of what cities in the ancient Near East looked like - and what the Israelites were up against as their conquest begins (see size and scope, the retaining wall, both the outer and inner city wall - it’s well fortified).

Joshua 6:1-5 - Now the gates of Jericho were securely barred because of the Israelites. No one went out and no one came in. 2 Then the Lord said to Joshua, “See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men. 3 March around the city once with all the armed men. Do this for six days. 4 Have seven priests carry trumpets of rams’ horns in front of the ark. On the seventh day, march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets. 5 When you hear them sound a long blast on the trumpets, have the whole army give a loud shout; then the wall of the city will collapse and the army will go up, everyone straight in.”

So, that’s the battle plan. City, as we just went through, was heavily fortified. They know the Israelites are coming and the city is locked up tight, no coming or going.

Joshua is to take the army and march around it one time - later in the the chapter we learn that there would be a guard at the front, then the priests with trumpets, along with priests carrying the ark of the covenant, followed by a rear guard. They are to do this for six days, one time each around the city. But on the seventh day, they are to march around the city seven times, the priests are to sound out a long blast on the trumpets, and the army give a loud shout. God tells them that at that point, the city walls will collapse and they will be free to enter in and attach the city.

The Israelites do exactly as God commands, every morning, first thing, the army lines up and they march around the city - based on the size of the city, it would have taken them half an hour. So, an early morning march, and then back to camp. Six days, that’s what they do.

Now, I read one commentary that suggested that this must have required great faith, because of the vulnerable position it would have put the Israelite army - the army of Jericho could have started reigning down arrows on them, or other projectiles. That they would have been afraid, but did it anyway. But it seems to me that the opposite was true - everything we’ve seen so far says that it was the people in Jericho whose hearts had melted in fear. My sense is that watching the army march around every day, almost toying with them, would have made them more afraid. The waiting, when will they attack? What are they doing?

Of course all that changes on the seventh day, and I want to pick up the story there, Joshua 6:15-21, On the seventh day, they got up at daybreak and marched around the city seven times in the same manner, except that on that day they circled the city seven times. 16 The seventh time around, when the priests sounded the trumpet blast, Joshua commanded the army, “Shout! For the Lord has given you the city! 17 The city and all that is in it are to be devoted to the Lord. Only Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house shall be spared, because she hid the spies we sent. 18 But keep away from the devoted things, so that you will not bring about your own destruction by taking any of them. Otherwise you will make the camp of Israel liable to destruction and bring trouble on it. 19 All the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron are sacred to the Lord and must go into his treasury.” 20 When the trumpets sounded, the army shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet, when the men gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed; so everyone charged straight in, and they took the city. 21 They devoted the city to the Lord and destroyed with the sword every living thing in it—men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep and donkeys.

On the seventh day, they march around seven times and the seven priests carrying the trumpets sound the long blast (notice the pattern - number seven designates completeness, totality), Joshua gives the command and the army gives the shout - and the walls come crumbling down. Army charges in and up the ramp of broken wall and takes the city.

But they don’t just take the city, they destroy it. The city had been declared cherem, devoted to the Lord. Like a burnt offering, all of it is to be given over to the Lord, fully offered - because it is his battle (that’s an important point, as we’ll see). So, other than Rahab and her family with her, every other living person and animal is put to death in the city - which is exactly what we see happen. All the valuables are God’s as well, they must go into his treasury. Everything else (as we mentioned before) is burned. The victory is complete.

Whose Side Are You On?

So, this is a fun story, this amazing victory that God gives the Israelites - they just march around the city seven times, trumpets blare, they shout and walls, all the fortifications, just come crumbling down. The quick and easy conclusion in reading this story is to see this as an example as God on the side of the Israelites, helping them to win the battle.

But that’s actually the wrong perspective, and can be a dangerous one. Let me explain what I mean by this.

When we’re looking at it from this perspective, that the Israelites are fighting against the city of Jericho, and God is on their side, and that’s why they win the battle - what it reveals is the way that we normally view conflict, or at least how we normally engage in conflict - which is usually me versus the other person, whoever that may be. Or us versus them, our side versus the other side (the bad guys). Pick a side.

And this pits us against each other. In this situation I’m going to make sure I win. Whatever it takes for our side to come out on top. I’ve got to arm myself with all the ammunition I can. That often includes things such as - how that other person wronged me (I store up all the examples, I keep a record of all the wrongs). I’m thinking about all the reasons I’m right, how I’m justified in what I think or what I did - that’s the ammunition we store up, where our focus lies.

Battle plays out - and when it plays out and I’m have that view of conflict, me versus you, us versus them, the focus is on all the reasons you’re wrong, why you’re at fault and why I’m in the right. Doesn’t get very far. Just ask the two young sisters battling for who gets to use the bathroom first.

But if we just go back a bit in the book of Joshua, immediately before the battle to take Jericho, we discover there is something very different going on - and it gives us an entirely different way to see this battle. We see this strange little interaction that Joshua has - which reveals the bigger picture of what’s happening here.

Joshua 5:13-15...Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, “Are you for us or for our enemies?” 14 “Neither,” he replied, “but as commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.” Then Joshua fell facedown to the ground in reverence, and asked him, “What message does my Lord have for his servant?” 15 The commander of the Lord’s army replied, “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.

The Israelites are near Jericho, and their leader, Joshua, looks up and sees a man standing right there in front of him - and he’s a got a sword. Unsheathed. In his hand. It’s a little threatening - all of a sudden a guy is there with a sword. The Israelites are about to engage in battles, they are going to fight to take this land - the Israelites know it, the seven nations currently occupying the land know it. Joshua asks the obvious question - hey, buddy, whose side are you on - are you with us (a friend, an ally), or are you on the other side, are you an enemy?

The answer man gives is remarkable: Neither. I’m not on your side. I’m not on the side of your enemies. I come as a commander of the army of the Lord. I come as someone who fights for the Lord. I’m on the Lord’s side.

See, this is the problem with the way we normally view conflicts - my side versus side of my enemy. Us versus them. Two sides, and you have to be on one of the other.

But God sends his angel, the commander of the army of the Lord as a reminder to Joshua that there is a third side - the Lord’s. And that’s the side we want to be on. The side all of us are meant to be on (and if we all were, we wouldn’t be having all this conflict. If the city of Jericho had been with the Lord, he would not be taking their land and destroying them). Here’s the point - It’s not God on our side (back me up on this, Lord), it’s our willingness to take God’s side, no matter what that might mean for me (and whether I’m right or wrong, or been wronged).

Joshua has exactly the right response to the angel’s declaration - he falls facedown to the ground in reverence. He prostrates himself - it is an act of submission. I’m for you, Lord. I’m on your side. I’m here to serve you. “What message does my Lord have for his servant?”

And the message is this: You are on holy ground. You are on ground that has been set aside for the Lord, and his purposes. Take off your sandals. We see this in one other place in the Bible - exactly what Moses was commanded to do when he encountered God in the burning bush when God called him to free his people from slavery in Egypt. In other words, God is sending the Israelites to do his work, this battle is the Lord’s. They are on his side, not the vice versa. And this flip, this change in perspective, makes all the difference.

This is the perspective we want to take. And it’s so easy to slip into the other - where we’re doing what we want, and we want God to take our side on it. We’re on the side of right! We want him to bless us in whatever we decide to do. We want him to justify us over and against our opponent - whoever that might be in the moment. When we do this, we’re maneuvering to have God serve us, serve our agenda, rather than the reverse. Instead, we should see ourselves as servants of the Lord, we bow down before him - what message do you have for your servant?

I want us to consider for a few moments how radically this changes in the way we engage in conflicts - and we will have conflicts, that’s just part of every day interactions, we’re not going to agree with everyone on everything.

But if I’m having an argument with someone and we’re going back and forth - if my perspective is me versus them, then it’s all about me winning. It’s your fault, you’re in the wrong. I’m right. I’m justified. But if I reframe the way I think - and my goal is to take the Lord’s side, then I’m freed to pull back and take seriously where I’ve been wrong. Then I’m more interested in what’s true rather than making sure I’m right. I can take the other person’s perspective into account. I can hear them. And I can confess my sin - where I acted out of anger or malice or stubbornness or misperception or whatever. I can own my part in it, where I was in the wrong.

Lord, what’s your message to me? What do I need to confess? How can I be for the person I’m in conflict with? This is what it means to take the Lord’s side. What do you want to see happen in this conflict - what’s your side, Lord? And this is exactly what Paul teaches us in the book of Ephesians when he describes the responsibility of people in various relationships - really our primary relationships, as well as the places where we most have conflicts: husband and wife, parent and child, slave and master (or, in our context, boss & subordinate).

Paul begins framing the way we should engage in all these relationships with this biblical principle (and note that it uses the same language that described Joshua, an attitude of reverence). Ephesians 5:21 - Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. Paul goes on how to describe how husbands should submit to their wives (love them, sacrificially, as Jesus loved the church), and how wives should submit to their husbands, by obeying and honoring them. And so on with parents and children, bosses and subordinates. But always under the foundational principle: mutual submission because I revere Christ.

In other words, because I revere Jesus, because I am willingly on his side, I’m going to enter into my relationships with others with a willingness to submit to them. I don’t have to win (have them submit to my will), but I will forsake my will for theirs. It works if both sides willingly submit out of reverence for Christ. When we both seek to take the Lord’s side, then reconciliation is wonderfully possible, then that area becomes holy ground, God’s purposes at work.

But even if the other party doesn’t, it doesn’t change my obligation. I’m going to be on the Lord’s side. Because my motive is to revere and love and honor Jesus, I’m going to approach relationships with a willingness to submit. To not have to win. To be wronged, if need be. To offer grace to the other. To listen well to them - to really hear what they are saying, to be open to change my view, my attitude, my behavior. To be for the other as much - if not more - than for myself. Just think how much quicker both those young girls could have used the bathroom if they’d been willing to submit.

Spiritual Disciplines - Some final thoughts about how to put this into practice. This principle, submit to one another out of reverence for Christ, should be a foundational one for us, for every relationship.

Begins with an attitude of reverence for Christ, a willingness to honor him. We submit to others because we have first submitted to Jesus. Make that a daily prayer, a daily offering of yourself to Jesus. Revere him. Give yourself in obedience to Jesus.

Other Spiritual Discipline that essential here is Confession - start with your own heart. Regular willingness to look at the sinful inclinations of your own heart. Particularly helpful after you get into an argument or conflict (or avoided having a difficult conversation) What are your motives here? What’s driving you?

The Israelites won the battle of Jericho because they were on the Lord’s side. Next week they’re going to have some difficulty with that. But that’s where we want to be In all things in life, on the Lord’s side, with him. We want to be what he would have us to be about.