Building a Legacy of Faithful Obedience

Building a Legacy  •  Sermon  •  Submitted   •  Presented
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Key Text

Joshua 3:7–17 NIV
And the Lord said to Joshua, “Today I will begin to exalt you in the eyes of all Israel, so they may know that I am with you as I was with Moses. Tell the priests who carry the ark of the covenant: ‘When you reach the edge of the Jordan’s waters, go and stand in the river.’ ” Joshua said to the Israelites, “Come here and listen to the words of the Lord your God. This is how you will know that the living God is among you and that he will certainly drive out before you the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites and Jebusites. See, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth will go into the Jordan ahead of you. Now then, choose twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one from each tribe. And as soon as the priests who carry the ark of the Lord—the Lord of all the earth—set foot in the Jordan, its waters flowing downstream will be cut off and stand up in a heap.” So when the people broke camp to cross the Jordan, the priests carrying the ark of the covenant went ahead of them. Now the Jordan is at flood stage all during harvest. Yet as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water’s edge, the water from upstream stopped flowing. It piled up in a heap a great distance away, at a town called Adam in the vicinity of Zarethan, while the water flowing down to the Sea of the Arabah (that is, the Dead Sea) was completely cut off. So the people crossed over opposite Jericho. The priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord stopped in the middle of the Jordan and stood on dry ground, while all Israel passed by until the whole nation had completed the crossing on dry ground.

Series Introduction

Building campaign
Our we are in a building campaign
19 years and God has led us to this place
Commitment Sunday coming up November 10
Begin praying about what God may be laying on your heart to give.
We need designated giving for the project
We also need regular giving to maintain our ministry while we grow
It is exciting to move forward in obedience to God’s direction
You will be receiving a commitment card in the mail in the next couple of weeks. We will collect that commitment card from you on November 10.
WEBSITE AND TABLE FOR MORE INFORMATION
We want to move forward into an unknown future, completely dependent on God to guide and direct us.
We want to build a legacy. I want you to know that we are already a part of a legacy.
A legacy is not something that just begins today.
26 years ago, a church was planted in Post Falls with the goal of making disciples.
It was a bumpy road, but their vision was that disciples would be made in Newport as well.
That is how we began 19 years ago.
During our 19 years, God has shown Himself to be faithful. I feel like the Israelites who had to wander for a while to form themselves into a nation before they took the promised land.
The principle is that God will always prepare you for the future that He is going to move you to.
Our last 19 years have been hard. But God has been good.
He has grown us, changed us, refined us and now He is moving us.
Our legacy is Him.
Week 1- A legacy of faith
Week 2- A legacy of alignment
Alignment with God, Alignment in purpose, and Alignment with one another.
Today, we are going to tie those two concepts together as we read what happens to the Israelites in the story we are following.

Sermon Introduction

Today we are talking about building a legacy of faithful obedience.
As I said before, this is not a stand alone event. This is the logical conclusion of our last two topics.
Recap the journey to this point (briefly)
If you missed the context of why the Israelites are where they are, I encourage you to go to our website and catch the last two sermons.
Briefly, what we have seen is:
God called a man named Abraham to a life of faith. Because Abraham responded with faith, God made a promise to him.
This promise was that he would have numerous descendants and that the whole world would be blessed through his descendants.
He also promised Abraham a special piece of land called the Promised Land. God told him that his descendants would one day occupy that land.
However, they would also endure 400 years of slavery.
At that time, Abraham had no children and was 75 years old.
However, God miraculously gave him a son in his old age and built his descendants into a very large family.
Because of a famine, they ended up in Egypt where they were slaves for 400 years, as God had said.
They then left slavery through God’s leading of Moses.
As they were leaving Egypt, they were very happy and in celebration
Then they came to the Red Sea. The Red Sea looked impossible to cross
Pharoah had a change of heart and the people were caught between an encroaching Egyptian military and the Red Sea.
They cried out about how it would have been better to be slaves in Egypt than to die here.
But God miraculously saved them and opened the Red Sea for them to cross.
They nearly immediately went to the Promised land that God had given to Abraham generations before.
You can read about this in Number 13 & 14
They sent 12 spies in. All 12 said the land was amazing. But only two had the faith that God would give them the land
The other 10 were afraid because of the walls around the cities and the giants that lived there.
God sent them out into the wilderness for 40 years and formed them into a nation that was dependent on Him.
They came to the same place they were before and as they sat on their side of the Jordan River, we see the events of Joshua pick up
Moses died and Joshua was given leadership of Israel
God tells Joshua to be strong and courageous and to trust Him
Then, before asking the people to pick up swords, God tells the people to consecrate themselves.
This would be God’s battle, not theirs.
They had to be right with God, not right with their swords and spears.
Today, we observe some valuable lessons as they take steps of FAITHFUL OBEDIENCE and cross the Jordan River

Sermon

Joshua 3:7–8 NIV
And the Lord said to Joshua, “Today I will begin to exalt you in the eyes of all Israel, so they may know that I am with you as I was with Moses. Tell the priests who carry the ark of the covenant: ‘When you reach the edge of the Jordan’s waters, go and stand in the river.’ ”
Joshua spoke as someone with a confidence and authority as God guided.
He didn’t say, “I believe God might be encouraging us to...”
He said, “Go stand in the river”
We will see that the river is at flood stage.
The Jordan River at flood stage in this location was around 1/2 mile across.
This wasn’t something that they would just be able to walk across.
This was obedience to God, when it didn’t make any sense
Joshua 3:9–11 NIV
Joshua said to the Israelites, “Come here and listen to the words of the Lord your God. This is how you will know that the living God is among you and that he will certainly drive out before you the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites and Jebusites. See, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth will go into the Jordan ahead of you.
There are a few things that we need to clarify in this passage.
First of all, those people groups that Joshua mentions are the cities and nations that currently inhabited the geographical region God had given Israel.
It wasn’t just an empty tract of land. It had people living there.
They were not just little tribes in huts.
Some of these were legit powerhouse cities and people groups.
Again, remember that the nation of Israel was just a group of slaves that had wandered in the wilderness for 40 years.
They were no match for the opposition of these people.
It would have to be God or it wouldn’t happen.
God then says that they should see that the ark of the covenant of the Lord goes into the Jordan ahead of them.
As we mentioned last week, the Ark was a box. But this box was seen as the seat or throne of God.
This wasn’t just a symbolic act.
There was nothing special about the ark
What was special was the God of the ark. The God who manifested Himself on that place.
God was putting the ark before them so they would see and know that God was leading and they were following.
Who would get the credit and glory? God would. Because they led with a box, not a line of shields and swords.
Joshua 3:12–13 NIV
Now then, choose twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one from each tribe. And as soon as the priests who carry the ark of the Lord—the Lord of all the earth—set foot in the Jordan, its waters flowing downstream will be cut off and stand up in a heap.”
God says, “This is how you will know that I am with you.”
I will drive out all of these people from the land you are going to.
Also, when the priests step into the water, all of the water flowing in your direction will be piled up so you can cross over.
Do you think that would be pretty clear and evident? I think so.
Joshua 3:14–16 NIV
So when the people broke camp to cross the Jordan, the priests carrying the ark of the covenant went ahead of them. Now the Jordan is at flood stage all during harvest. Yet as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water’s edge, the water from upstream stopped flowing. It piled up in a heap a great distance away, at a town called Adam in the vicinity of Zarethan, while the water flowing down to the Sea of the Arabah (that is, the Dead Sea) was completely cut off. So the people crossed over opposite Jericho.
So they took the steps that God had put before them.
As I said before, at flood stage this river can be up to 1/2 mile across and flowing at 40 mph.
This is no small task!
It says that the water began to pile up in a town called Adam.
That is about 20 miles upstream.
Do you think they could see 20 miles upstream to know God was doing this?
Probably not!
Also, if the river is flowing at 40 miles/hour and the water is cut off 20 miles upstream, how long will it take before they see the effect on the water?
Probably 30 minutes (math people are having flashbacks of story problems)
They set foot in the Jordan River and it doesn’t do anything miraculous right away.
Can you imagine Joshua’s anxiety at this point?
Probably pretty significant!
But they had faith in God.
Also, can you imagine what kind of a “Pile” that would be?
Think of some of the biggest dams you have seen. This would make them pale in comparison!
This likely flooded a significant area 20 miles upstream.
For us to put it into context, imagine the Pend Oreille river piling up outside of Laclede.
How long would it take for the Pend Oreille river in Newport to become dry enough to walk across?
That is the snapshot of what happened here.
Joshua 3:17 NIV
The priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord stopped in the middle of the Jordan and stood on dry ground, while all Israel passed by until the whole nation had completed the crossing on dry ground.
There is no question that this is a significant miracle
The people crossed over on dry ground and they were now ready to follow God in acquiring the land God had promised to them.
What does this story have to do with leaving a legacy?
It has a ton to do with the legacy we want to leave as a church, and here is how.
I told you that we were going to tie this story to the previous two passages. I believe this story is a logical conclusion of what God was doing in the previous two passages.

Faith defined

Back in January, we began a series to start this year on the right foot, talking about how we are exiles in a pagan land.
Do you remember that? It was awesome and you should go watch that again.
In that series, we presented a definition of faith that is very practical.
We use words like: believe, trust, hope, blind, and other words to describe our faith.
But when life boils down to circumstances that are hard to understand and in our humanity, we fail to see where God is in our world, words like “hope, or trust” start to fall flat.
I want to approach faith from a completely different angle and fight to understand it in a way that gives us guidance in our troubles.
We created a very unique approach to understanding faith.
I think that all of the elements of faith that we used at the beginning of this year are seen in the passages that we just read. Also, they are very clearly seen in our very lives.
I want to build the framework for our definition of faith:
FAITH SLIDE
True faith is built by a relational knowledge of God.
We cannot have faith in something that we do no know. We only have faith in what we do know.
As we grow in knowing God, our faith is built.
In this way, God becomes the foundation of our faith.
If we want a Biblical foundation to this principle, we can look at the key verse, “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.”
True faith is nurtured by a surrender to the Sovereign God.
When we know God, we surrender our hearts, our wills, and our thoughts to Him.
We submit our entire lives, Heart, Mind and Soul, to the will of the God who has revealed Himself to us.
True faith results in faithful obedience to God.
If we know God, we surrender our lives to Him. If we are surrendered to Him, everything He demands, we obey.
You’ve heard James say, “Faith without works is dead”
If faith does not result in faithful obedience, then are you surrendered? Do you know Him?
These are natural conclusions of one another and all revolve around faith.
Work backwards
If you want a life of obedience, just trying to obey harder makes us legalistic about the rules.
Our obedience must come from a heart that is surrendered to God.
But we cannot surrender our heart to something we do not know.
We must seek to know God.

Parallel Journeys

Let’s navigate the journey of the Israelite people through the wilderness.
We have established a baseline of how we will define faith. Now let’s break down each point.
SLIDE: RELATIONAL KNOWLEDGE OF GOD
In Numbers 13 & 14, we see the Israelites come to this same Jordan River. Why did they turn away?
They knew about God.
God had been a part of their lineage, and heritage, but not known to them.
They knew about God but didn’t know God.
They had just seen God do 10 plagues and open the Red Sea. Those things were powerful, but impersonal.
They knew the power of God, but didn’t yet know God.
When they came to the Jordan River 40 years later, what had happened during that 40 years?
God had revealed Himself to them.
God had established a priesthood to approach God in holiness
God had established a sacrificial system for the purification of sin
God had established a tabernacle for God to be in their presence
God had given them food, water, and direction for 40 years.
God had given them His law, so they knew what holiness looked like.
When they came to the Jordan River the second time, can you see that they had a much different understanding of God than they did before?
They knew God differently.
Not perfectly, but greater than before.
This knowledge of God developed faith in God within the nation.
SLIDE: SURRENDER TO A SOVEREIGN GOD
As slaves, when they came to the promised land, they saw the opposition and they grumbled.
They could only see defeat in their circumstances.
They grumbled before God.
They complained about everything. They even complained about Moses and a couple of times wanted him replaced.
They were not guided by God. They were driven by fear.
As a nation, what changed?
Do you remember last week? They consecrated themselves
They completely set themselves apart for God’s glory and God’s use as they stepped into the promised land.
This is a statement of absolute surrender to God and His ways.
They did not grumble against Joshua. Instead, they listened to Him as God’s appointed messenger.
They were not driven by fear. Rather, they were confident in the God they had learned to trust and they surrendered their lives to Him.
SLIDE: FAITHFUL OBEDIENCE TO GOD
As slaves, they were frightened into inaction.
They could not be obedient to God because they did not know Him, nor did they surrender themselves to Him.
Because they had no faith, they had no obedience.
There will always be a direct correlation between our faith and our obedience.
They wanted the life they knew.
They repeatedly said that they wished they were back in Egypt. They desired the slavery of their past.
As a nation, they obeyed God at every step of this passage.
There was no discussion. They were surrendered to God and they were obedient.
Regardless of how much sense it made, they sent the priests to carry the ark of the covenant into the Jordan River at flood stage.
They were not fear driven, rather they embraced the promise of God.
In this passage, we can find a massive truth.
Without faith, the nation of Israel were slaves, even though they were no longer in Egypt.
With faith, the nation of Israel was free, even though they had not yet set foot in the promised land.

Drive the point home

What does this all mean for us?
We want to be a church that builds a legacy of faithful obedience.
We want to be people of faithful obedience.
In the OT God built a nation, the nation of Israel.
In the NT, God is building a Kingdom.
As we have journeyed through Joshua to this point, we have seen the necessary elements of faith, surrender and now faithfulness.
We as a church have a crossroads ahead of us.
Will we be slaves to fear or will we be the Kingdom of God?
We must remember what God has done for us in the past and not forget His faithfulness
We must strive for alignment in His body
We must strive for knowledge of God in our lives
We must listen for His voice, always.
As we look at our lives, I want to ask the question, do we approach these daily “Jordan moments” as slaves or as the Kingdom?
When the Bible says to pray for our enemies:
When the Bible says to turn the other cheek:
When the bible says to go the extra mile:
When the Bible says to forgive those who have wronged us:
When the Bible says that to gain true life, we must lose it:
When the Bible demands obedience in Baptism
When the Bible says you can’t serve both God and money
Slaves want to see in order to believe
Kingdom citizens believe God and know they will see His faithfulness.
Real Life in Action:
How am I growing in my knowledge of God?
Where is God asking for my surrender?
Am I withholding obedience? Why? Fear? Rebellion?
Pray to grow our faithfulness.
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