Heroes of the Faith

A Chat with Earlier Dusty

If you could have a five-minute conversation with you from five years ago… what would you say?

(Avoid I-25 on April 24th, 2018)

What if I wanted to get rich? I could tell myself winning lottery numbers. Or better yet. I would tell myself to buy BitCoin.

Story of buying BitCoin… which paid for Vin.

Story of buying BitCoin… which paid for Vin.

I have friends (and by friends, I mean Internet acquaintances) who had hundreds of BitCoin from back in the day when they each were a couple dollars. They are literally millionaires now, and cashed half of it out at its high in December.

Go back in time, tell myself to invest in BitCoin. Buy it all. Today I would be a multi-millionaire.

If you knew a moral, ethical way to easy riches, wouldn’t you take it?

Summary of Joshua and Caleb’s claim to fame

Numbers 13:30–31 ESV

But Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, “Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it.” Then the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are.”

Numbers 14:5–8 ESV

Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the people of Israel. And Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes and said to all the congregation of the people of Israel, “The land, which we passed through to spy it out, is an exceedingly good land. If the Lord delights in us, he will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land that flows with milk and honey.

Everyone is getting their amazing inheritance in the Kingdom of Israel. Tribe by tribe, family by family.

Treasures in the Kingdom of Israel

Caleb’s inheritance

Joshua 14:6–7 ESV

Then the people of Judah came to Joshua at Gilgal. And Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him, “You know what the Lord said to Moses the man of God in Kadesh-barnea concerning you and me. I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the Lord sent me from Kadesh-barnea to spy out the land, and I brought him word again as it was in my heart.

Joshua 14:6

12 men went to spy on Canaan, 10 were bad and two were good! Remember, the two good ones were Joshua and this guy, Caleb. And, fun little detail, he was forty years old at the time, which shifts the mental picture I had in my head of the spies.

12 men went to spy on Canaan… and they were all middle-aged.

Joshua 14:8 ESV

But my brothers who went up with me made the heart of the people melt; yet I wholly followed the Lord my God.

joshua 14:

It is Caleb who speaks out directly for going into the Land. Joshua joins his bandwagon.

Joshua 14:9 ESV

And Moses swore on that day, saying, ‘Surely the land on which your foot has trodden shall be an inheritance for you and your children forever, because you have wholly followed the Lord my God.’

Joshua 14:

Joshua 14:10–12 ESV

And now, behold, the Lord has kept me alive, just as he said, these forty-five years since the time that the Lord spoke this word to Moses, while Israel walked in the wilderness. And now, behold, I am this day eighty-five years old. I am still as strong today as I was in the day that Moses sent me; my strength now is as my strength was then, for war and for going and coming. So now give me this hill country of which the Lord spoke on that day, for you heard on that day how the Anakim were there, with great fortified cities. It may be that the Lord will be with me, and I shall drive them out just as the Lord said.”

Joshua 14:10

For forty-five years since that day, he has been longing for the land, longing for the reward.

Joshua 14:13–15 ESV

Then Joshua blessed him, and he gave Hebron to Caleb the son of Jephunneh for an inheritance. Therefore Hebron became the inheritance of Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite to this day, because he wholly followed the Lord, the God of Israel. Now the name of Hebron formerly was Kiriath-arba. (Arba was the greatest man among the Anakim.) And the land had rest from war.

Joshua 14:

Joshua’s Reward

Joshua 14:6–15 ESV

Then the people of Judah came to Joshua at Gilgal. And Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him, “You know what the Lord said to Moses the man of God in Kadesh-barnea concerning you and me. I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the Lord sent me from Kadesh-barnea to spy out the land, and I brought him word again as it was in my heart. But my brothers who went up with me made the heart of the people melt; yet I wholly followed the Lord my God. And Moses swore on that day, saying, ‘Surely the land on which your foot has trodden shall be an inheritance for you and your children forever, because you have wholly followed the Lord my God.’ And now, behold, the Lord has kept me alive, just as he said, these forty-five years since the time that the Lord spoke this word to Moses, while Israel walked in the wilderness. And now, behold, I am this day eighty-five years old. I am still as strong today as I was in the day that Moses sent me; my strength now is as my strength was then, for war and for going and coming. So now give me this hill country of which the Lord spoke on that day, for you heard on that day how the Anakim were there, with great fortified cities. It may be that the Lord will be with me, and I shall drive them out just as the Lord said.” Then Joshua blessed him, and he gave Hebron to Caleb the son of Jephunneh for an inheritance. Therefore Hebron became the inheritance of Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite to this day, because he wholly followed the Lord, the God of Israel. Now the name of Hebron formerly was Kiriath-arba. (Arba was the greatest man among the Anakim.) And the land had rest from war.

Joshua’s Inheritance

Joshua 19:49–50 ESV

When they had finished distributing the several territories of the land as inheritances, the people of Israel gave an inheritance among them to Joshua the son of Nun. By command of the Lord they gave him the city that he asked, Timnath-serah in the hill country of Ephraim. And he rebuilt the city and settled in it.

Joshua 19:49–51 ESV

When they had finished distributing the several territories of the land as inheritances, the people of Israel gave an inheritance among them to Joshua the son of Nun. By command of the Lord they gave him the city that he asked, Timnath-serah in the hill country of Ephraim. And he rebuilt the city and settled in it. These are the inheritances that Eleazar the priest and Joshua the son of Nun and the heads of the fathers’ houses of the tribes of the people of Israel distributed by lot at Shiloh before the Lord, at the entrance of the tent of meeting. So they finished dividing the land.

Joshua 19:49–50 ESV

When they had finished distributing the several territories of the land as inheritances, the people of Israel gave an inheritance among them to Joshua the son of Nun. By command of the Lord they gave him the city that he asked, Timnath-serah in the hill country of Ephraim. And he rebuilt the city and settled in it.

Joshua 20:49-50

Joshua 20

They get whole cities.

Hebron? Hebron is a central city that actually, for the first part of King David’s reign, becomes the capital of all Israel.

Joshua and Caleb alone are called out

Joshua and Caleb get richly rewarded in the Kingdom.

What’s so special about them?

Joshua 14:14 ESV

Therefore Hebron became the inheritance of Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite to this day, because he wholly followed the Lord, the God of Israel.

Joshua 14

Because he wholly followed Yahweh.

Wholly, absolutely, completely, to the full measure. This word is used of Caleb and Joshua back when they first had the courage to stand on the Promise of God to deliver the Promised Land despite how intimidating the Canaanites were. Everyone else was afraid, they were willing to risk everything for the Kingdom.

They wholly followed Yahweh.

We don’t get a lot of detail on the rest of Caleb’s life, but just what he describes here… Willing to face hardship. Willing to face giants. Willing to wait for 40 years than fight for five more against those giants. For the prize. For the Land. But above all, for God.

We have seen in detail how Joshua wholly follows God in faithfully leading the people of Israel in the footsteps of Moses. Again and again, through ridiculous battle plans and against massive opposition, he walks in God’s will, wholly following, and so walks into victory.

And now he and Caleb get a rich inheritance. What seems to be a richer inheritance than anyone else gets, at least in the sense that they are personally and specifically called out.

Joshua and Caleb get richly rewarded in the Kingdom because they wholly followed Yahweh

All the other spies died. Imagine if one of the other spies could see them on that day. A five minute conversation with their 45-year younger (and not dead) self. “Dude, if you want your own epic city, just do whatever Caleb and Joshua do. When they tear their clothes, tear your clothes. When they risk everything on a Promise of God… do it. The payoff is ridiculous!”

Treasures in the Kingdom of Heaven

How can we invest in the Promised Land? In the Kingdom of God?

There is this rather strange idea we get from this guy Jesus that, while the Kingdom of God is absolutely amazing, and none of us deserve to get in, he pays our ticket and there is eternal and abundant life in the presence of the Father. Everyone gets that who believes in His name...

But Jesus often paints a picture of rewards in heaven, treasures in heaven, with the apparent idea that you can invest now in what you can get then. There are really interesting theological conversations on how this might work… but the important thing is that it apparently really does work like this.

(my favorite guess about how it works: it is a matter of the heart. God’s love and blessing flows eternally, abundantly, infinitely from His Presence. You experience however much you can handle. In more and more, wholly following God, you expand the capacity of your heart to experience and channel His heart. It isn’t clogged and choked by the concerns of this world.

You can invest now in Heavenly BitCoin. You can sign up, like Joshua and Caleb, for a greater inheritance.

How do we get it? How can we game the system?

Ultimately, in the same way Joshua and Caleb did: by wholly following God.

It is a fight… but a very different kind of battle. It takes strength and courage of a different kind. But it is wholly following the LORD, trusting in His providence and in His reward.

Luke 12:32–34 ESV

“Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

How do you build treasure in heaven? Treasure in the Kingdom? How do you get a special inheritance?

Sell your possessions and give to the needy. Trade what you have now for what you will have then… and do so in a way that blesses others.

This topic is picked up again and again by Jesus.

The rich man told to sell all that he had.

Zachias gives back a quarter of what he owns.

This is why we have tithes and offerings as an integral part of our worship service. We can give that money in different ways, but it is an act of sacrificial worship.

Our deacons are on awesome example of this in action. Joyfully looking for opportunities to give to the needy.

Pastor Rod: hero of the faith.

Courageous generosity. Pouring out the best of what God has given you. Letting Him know that is is His.

How much? it’s about the heart. What frees your heart to fully follow God?

Tithe vs. sacrificial giving. Give until it hurts

Maybe it’s riches. Maybe it’s time. Maybe it’s talent. Probably it is all of those. Exchanging your time, talent and treasure for eternal riches… there is no better investment. Where no thief approaches and no moth destroys.