Can You Take This Mountain?

Introduction

We are in a wonderful place in our church. We have seen the blessings of God, but now it’s time to continue.

We have a goal to build the youth space. We have a vision of this church filled up in two services. We have a desire to see God work in everything that we do. But that doesn’t come without challenges. That doesn’t come without climbing the mountains.

Though God has delivered it all into our hands, we still have a part to play.

The nation of Israel is dividing the Promised Land. The tribes of Joseph, Epharim and Manasseh are asking for more. But their issue is they haven’t even done what God has tasked them to do with the land they already posses.

Here, we see two examples of what not to be, and we see a call from Joshua for the sons of Joseph to be all that they can be before God gives them more.

Joshua 17:13–18 NKJV

And it happened, when the children of Israel grew strong, that they put the Canaanites to forced labor, but did not utterly drive them out. Then the children of Joseph spoke to Joshua, saying, “Why have you given us only one lot and one share to inherit, since we are a great people, inasmuch as the Lord has blessed us until now?” So Joshua answered them, “If you are a great people, then go up to the forest country and clear a place for yourself there in the land of the Perizzites and the giants, since the mountains of Ephraim are too confined for you.” But the children of Joseph said, “The mountain country is not enough for us; and all the Canaanites who dwell in the land of the valley have chariots of iron, both those who are of Beth Shean and its towns and those who are of the Valley of Jezreel.” And Joshua spoke to the house of Joseph—to Ephraim and Manasseh—saying, “You are a great people and have great power; you shall not have only one lot, but the mountain country shall be yours. Although it is wooded, you shall cut it down, and its farthest extent shall be yours; for you shall drive out the Canaanites, though they have iron chariots and are strong.”

I. Congregations that Want

It doesn’t matter the church, every church has its wants. Every person has their wants.

What is it that we want?

There is only one thing we should want, and that is God’s will. But churches who want are churches who aren’t taking advantage of what God has already given them.

The best churches don’t have the best of everything, but they make the best of everything they have.

When a church and when a person is faithful to use what God has already given them, they will find it easy to see what’s next. When a church gets to the place where they want, discontentment sets in, and we fail to see potential and God’s blessings for today.

Psalm 23:1–2 NKJV

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

That means that God has given us everything that we could ever need, but we have to recognize that and then remain in obedience to Him.

Joshua 17:13 NKJV

And it happened, when the children of Israel grew strong, that they put the Canaanites to forced labor, but did not utterly drive them out.

What do we find in a congregation that wants?

A. Current Blessings

“when the children on Israel grew strong”

When a church will set its mind to it, it will see growth and strength take place.

This natural increase tends to create in a congregation one of two things.

It will create a greater dependence on the Lord.

It will have a congregation turn to the flesh for strength.

When we are weak, we are ready to submit to the Lord. When we become strong, we act like a toddler and say, “It’s alright Lord, I’ve got it from here.” The things that brought a congregation/person to a place of strength is what that congregation/person thinks is the key to life. But the key to life is a steadfast reliance on God and being open to His direction regardless of the work involved.

This tribe of Ephraim and Manasseh had “grown strong” and we see that they started to rely on their own strength as the source of blessing and not on the strength of God as the source of their blessing.

B. Worldly Strength

“And it happened, that they put the Canaanites to forced labor”

God never said the people of Israel had need for the Canaanites, but there they are. The people of God have tried to employ the forces of the world to give them strength and victory.

What can so easily happen is we can get comfortable.

We stop looking for what God is calling us to do and we start looking at opportunities that look good to us based on what we’ve been able to accomplish so far.

Joshua 17:16 NKJV

But the children of Joseph said, “The mountain country is not enough for us;

They were a people who wanted more because they thought they had accomplished everything that there was to accomplish. They began to look around at their current blessings. They began to consider their own fleshly strength and their increase in numbers. Then they started making demands about how they needed more.

But this was not a need for this people because they already had more, it just wasn’t what they wanted. They were comfortable taking from God His current blessings. They thought that they were mighty and strong because they had already taken some of the Canaanites and put them to work…

C. Failure to Obey

“but did not utterly drive them out”

They wanted more than their current blessings. They wanted more of their worldly ambition and strength to play out. The only thing they didn’t want more of was surrender to God.

Isn’t that a shame?

The shame is that God had the blessings of a wonderful land for them, but they didn’t want what God wanted, they ignored what God gave them to go after what they wanted.

People who waste will always be a people who want

When we waste what God has already given us and then begin to ask for more, we fall into the trap of discontentment and spiritual laziness.

No longer can we see what can be, we can only see what isn’t.

When we see what isn’t, we trade in the work that God has assigned us for a spiritual get rich quick scheme.

Proverbs 28:22 NKJV

A man with an evil eye hastens after riches, And does not consider that poverty will come upon him.

They had a clear assignment from God. They had a way to have full spiritual victory, but they hastened to make that happen, first, by allowing the Canaanites to live there as slaves, but also by asking for more land when the land they were already given was unfinished.

If we do not want to be a church that wants, we have to make the most of everything that God has given us now, and then continue walking in the path that He has set us on.

When we get tired and begin to want, we come up with all kinds of quick fixes and it will lead us to poverty in our spiritual walk with the Lord.

II. Congregations That Boast

v. 14 - “the children of Joseph spoke to Joshua, ‘Why have you given us only one lot to inherit, since we are a great people, inasmuch as the Lord has blessed us until now?’”

A. Pride

“since we are a great people”

We can get to the place where we get comfortable and we think we’re great. This is a place of pride.

These are people who have so far failed to do what God has called them to do, and they consider themselves great.

They are living comfortable lives. They have stopped striving to please their Maker. They have, in their own minds, built themselves up as a great kingdom and a great people.

Romans 12:3 NKJV

For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.

God had given the tribes of Joseph a measure of land that they were to take by faith. They have thus far failed to take this land, and yet, they consider themselves to be great. They were not thinking of themselves with a sound mind. They were thinking and considering themselves through the lens of pride.

Let’s Wash Away the Pride

Pride is the filth of sin stuck on the body. The man who smells doesn’t consider himself as unclean. The person filled with pride doesn’t consider himself to be prideful. It is a condition that they live in. They have become nose blind to their own stench and they walk around in the finest places sitting at the best tables, while everyone else holds their nose.

They are a people that are undesirable to be around. The only solution for them is to have them properly washed and presentable.

Thus is the same with pride. We have to wash pride off of us because we have become nose blind. We have to verbally ask God to cleanse us and to show us our arrogance. We have to ask God to cleanse us from any notion of conceitedness.

Humility doesn’t mean thinking lowly of yourself, but it means confidently carrying out God’s will.

If these men would have had more humility, they would have recognized that they have not yet done what God asked them to do. And if they would have realized that they have not yet done what God asked them to do, then they wouldn’t have made a request for more!

B. Unthankfulness

“Why have you given us only one lot?”

What an insult! It’s an act of mercy and grace that they were given anything in the first place, and now they complain!

Oh how we treat God like this.

He gives us beautiful buildings; He gives us wonderful members; He gives us God-fearing ministries; He gives us His eternal word; and we become discontent with what God has given us by His grace alone and we say, “God, why have you only given us this church? Why not that church? Why can’t we have what they have or what they have? Why give us only this?”

It’s an insult to God. It’s an attitude of unthankfulness. This is what a people who boast and are filled with pride do. They cannot help but to be unthankful.

The Appeasement of Nazi Germany

In 1933, Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany.

Adolf Hitler claimed that Germany was treated unfairly in their allotment of land.

In 1936, Hitler marched into the region of the Rhineland which was prohibited by the Treaty of Versailles. The Allied powers did nothing. They appeased the demands of Hitler.

In 1938, Hitler entered Czechoslovakia. He assured the other leaders that if they gave him a portion of Czechoslovakia, he would stop there.

In 1939, Hitler conquered the rest of Czechoslovakia.

In September of 39, Hitler invaded Poland.

Finally, the allied powers stepped in.

The point is that we cannot appease sin and we cannot appease unthankfulness. When we try to appease those things in our lives, in our churches, and in our world, they take more than we are prepared for, and it’s all out war when we want it back!

C. False Success

“inasmuch as the Lord has blessed us until now?”

This is another example of their boasting, because the Lord had not blessed them beyond what He already said. He also didn’t bless them in a way that He did not bless the other tribes. Each tribe was to receive exactly what God allotted them. Yet, in their boasting, they thought they were much better than others.

This is called false success.

They believed themselves to be the example to the other tribes, when they were actually the hinderance. Half of Manasseh stayed on the East side of the Jordan and became a distraction to the rest of Israel. Ephraim had not driven the Canaanites out of the land. They had a false sense of success.

True Success

Isn’t it funny that in our minds we can consider ourselves to be successful?

Cartoonish Success

Our pride treats us like an episode of the Looney Tunes. Kinda reminds me of the Road Runner. That Coyote always thinks he has that road runner in his hands, and it backfires every time!

You’d think the Coyote would give up but he just keeps coming back for more. Bigger weapons, more elaborate plans, always with a positive mindset, always ends in failure.

True success isn’t found in the elaborate schemes. True success is found in daily walking with the Lord in the simple things of life.

Can we pray? Can we read His Word? Can we produce an honest days work? Can we care for our children? Can we win the lost?

All of these things seem so ordinary to the world, but when they’re done in the power of God they are extraordinary.

The blessings from God come from our obedience, not from our boasting.

2 Corinthians 5:7 NKJV

For we walk by faith, not by sight.

The sons of Joseph had their minds and their eyes set on something different. They were operating solely based on what they could see in their own minds and their own hearts while totally ignoring what God has asked them to do.

“For we walk by faith”

Faith means that we obediently take action when the Lord directs us to do something. Faith is not actionless. True faith and true success requires that we move for God based on His directives and not based on our bank accounts or our strength. But we walk in faith to do what God has asked us to do.

III. Congregations That Work

Joshua 17:15–18 NKJV

So Joshua answered them, “If you are a great people, then go up to the forest country and clear a place for yourself there in the land of the Perizzites and the giants, since the mountains of Ephraim are too confined for you.” But the children of Joseph said, “The mountain country is not enough for us; and all the Canaanites who dwell in the land of the valley have chariots of iron, both those who are of Beth Shean and its towns and those who are of the Valley of Jezreel.” And Joshua spoke to the house of Joseph—to Ephraim and Manasseh—saying, “You are a great people and have great power; you shall not have only one lot, but the mountain country shall be yours. Although it is wooded, you shall cut it down, and its farthest extent shall be yours; for you shall drive out the Canaanites, though they have iron chariots and are strong.”

A. The Challenge

They were boasting, and now they are challenged based on their boasting.

“If you are a great people”

God wants to know, if we are truly great…can we accomplish what He has tasked us with?

Will we be a people who walk in faith?

Will we be a people that are willing to put in the work to gain what God has already given us?

Or will we be in want, will we boast, will we be filled with pride, unthankfulness, and false success?

Who will you be?

When it comes to being all that we can be for the Lord, here’s what Paul says,

Philippians 3:12 NKJV

Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on.

We are not in a place to stop, whether personally or congregationally. We must press on towards the picture of Jesus Christ both as a church and as individual people.

B. The Process

What does it mean to press on?

v. 15 - “go up to the forest country and clear a place for yourself there in the land of the Perizzites and the giants, since the mountains of Ephraim are too confined for you.”

Being a congregation that works requires some things:

1. A Sharpened Axe

Sharpening Your Axe

A seminary professor was giving a lecture to a group of young pastors about attending seminary.

A young preacher stands up and says, “Sir, why would I spend my time going to seminary when I am making an impact right now?”

The professor stands and tells this story:

“A young man got a job with a logging crew. On his first day he cut down many trees and impressed the foreman. But everyday after that his numbers dropped. He was working harder than anyone else, but his numbers were still going down.

Finally, the foreman asked him, “When was the last time you sharpened your axe?”

The young man replied, “I haven’t had time, I’ve been too busy cutting down trees!”

The professor looked at the young man and said, “You may have an axe, but if you never sharpen it you’ll never get done for God what He wants you to get done.”

We can get like this in the church! We can get so busy working that we dull our axe. When it comes times to trim the forests, we don’t have an axe sharp enough to cut them down!

How do we sharpen our axes?

We sharpen our axes by taking the time to sharpen our axe.

a. Taking the time to pray

If we do not pray, it doesn’t matter how hard we work, it will be like cutting a forest with a dull axe.

b. Taking the time to learn.

Whatever we want to accomplish, we need to take the time to learn all about it. If we want to accomplish the will of God, we must learn it. If we want to build the best building we have to learn the best methods. If we want to administrate the word of God, we have to learn the word of God.

Having a sharp axe means taking the time to learn.

c. Taking the time to see.

We have to spend our time seeing what God is doing and not relying on the things in the past to get us to tomorrow.

Imagine if Joshua would have relied on the manna instead of taking the promised land? Imagine if the people of Israel would have said again, “We’re good where we are! We don’t want to go over to the West Side of the Jordan! We have all the Manna we need right here, we don’t need the Manna on the other side!”

There wasn’t manna on the other side, there was milk and honey and grapes the size of bowling balls. But they would have never seen it if first they wouldn’t have seen it. Get the picture?

We have to take the time to see the other side of the Jordan so we can know what we’re fighting for.

2. A Mind to Work

Thermostats vs Thermometers in the Church

There are people who are thermostats and there are people who are thermometers.

The thermometers can tell you if things are heating up or not.

The thermostats set the temperature.

I don’t want a church full of thermometers to tell me if things are going good or not! I want a church full of people who are saying, we’re ready to work and get it done even if its hard!

It’s not change that people don’t like, it’s challenge.

Why does change bother us? Because it’s too much work to learn what the changes bring. It’s not so much about change, but it’s about challenge.

But a people with a sharp axe and a mind to work won’t have any problems cutting down the forest!

3. All Hands to the Plow

I’m sure you’ve heard this one too.

“Many hands make light work.”

There’s a difference in cutting down a forest if you have 10 people versus having 50 people or 100 people.

There’s a difference in having 50 people with a dull axe vs 10 people with a sharp axe!

But what I desire is that we have all our people with a sharp axe and a mind to work!

Joshua tells them to go and cut down the forest because God has already given it to them.

C. The Hesitation

v. 16b - “and all the Canaanites who dwell in the land of the valley have chariots of iron, both those who are of Beth Shean and its town and those who are of the Valley of Jezreel.”

Just a minute ago they were a mighty people who conquered and controlled Canaanites! Then when Joshua reminds them of what God has told them to do, they start talking about all the challenges!

Once God sets a path, we can follow it.

Let’s say God calls our country church to raise 1 Million Dollars. We know God has said it, we know God has willed it, but we hesitate. Why?

I’ll tell you this, that God has $1million in His sock drawer. He could get us $1million before end of service tonight.

I’m not saying it’s that easy, but I am saying that God can do it and does do it through His people all the time.

Our primary concern ought not be “can we afford it // can we accomplish it.” Our primary concern ought to be, “Has God willed it?” Because if God has willed it, there’s no reason for hesitation.

D. The Verdict

v. 17 & 18

The verdict is this. “Hey, sons of Joseph, this is the pathway and what the Lord has for you. It’s yours, go and get it, or don’t, but that’s all you get.”

Conclusion

We don’t need to be a congregation in want. We don’t need to be a congregation in need. We must be a congregation that works and that works to seek the will of God.