Called to Remember

Children’s message:

Children’s message:

Invite kids forward, parents can follow along in verse 16

Who here knows what a memorial is?

That’s right, it helps you remember something!

What are some things you do to remember something?

You could write it down, what else? Yes, sticky notes and phone reminders are all ways to remember something. Sometimes your mom’s and dad’s might pick up a rock or count beads to remember how far they’ve walked.

How many of you have heard of tying a string around your finger?

A string tied in a bow around your finger is symbolic of a reminder, when you notice it, and its pretty hard not to notice it, it reminds you of something you are supposed to remember; the reason you tied it there in the first place.

Today, we’re going to read about something God did that he told his people to remember. They were obedient and built a memorial, and wrote about it so we could remember it too!

Before Joshua could lead the Israelites into the Holy land, he had a big problem. Looking at the map of the land that they were told to enter, what do you think Joshua’s problem was?

Right; how would he ever get all the people of Israel across the River? It must have looked impossible as they stood and watched the wide river rushing by. Have any of you seen a river stop and form a wall? Neither had any of them, and there were no boats or bridges, what would happen now?

You know, I bet Joshua was reminded of something. Can you think of another time when a huge crowd had crossed a wide body of water? Yes, when their parents crossed the Red Sea. Remembering that, would help Joshua and his friends know that the Lord would be faithful to them too.

God told Joshua to “command the priests carrying the ark of the covenant to come up out of the Jordan.” And they did, verse 18, “the priests came up out of the river carrying the ark of the covenant of the Lord. No sooner had they set their feet on the dry ground than the waters of the Jordan returned to their place and ran at flood stage as before.”

A man from each tribe carried a stone from the river to Gilgal where they would camp that night. When Joshua had led all the people to the other side, he directed them to pile them up and build a memorial, saying in verse 21, “In the future when your descendants ask their parents, ‘What do these stones mean?’ (22) tell them, ‘Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground.’ (23) For the Lord your God dried up the Jordan before you until you had crossed over. The Lord your God did to the Jordan what he had done to the Red Sea drying it up before [them] until [they] had crossed over. (24) He did this so that all the peoples of the earth might know that the hand of the Lord is powerful and so that you might always fear the Lord your God.”

Thank you kids for listening so patiently, as you head back to your parents, I want you to take a string to remind yourself of this story.

Sermon:

There are times in our lives when we tend to remember exactly where we were. Minute details down to what we were wearing, what we were doing.

A day much like any other, but one that profoundly redefined our world. The day JFK was assassinated, the day MLK was assassinated, perhaps 9/11. I grew up in Alaska, a place where air travel was a necessity. At a young age I experienced airports, both traveling from place to place, and welcoming visiting relatives. Who else remembers greeting a loved one as they departed the Jet-way that led directly to the airplane?

There are other times that become mere footnotes. Everything changes, but perhaps we remember the wrong thing. I wonder if you remember the day you became a Christian? There are all sorts of inventions, accomplishments and advancements that have changed life as we know it, but maybe we have taken them for granted. Do you remember anything about the day you bought your first cell phone? What a radically different world we lived in before the dawn of cellphones, or at least before they were commonplace.

Remembering is how we preserve, not just our story, but the story of how God was faithful to us. “We will never forget,” is a phrase that has come to represent various tragedies throughout history. For many here today it has only one meaning. Though the phrase has been used since, those occasions, though life-changing for many, have not gripped us in the same way. These are times that altered life as we knew and experienced it before.

That’s the kind of day this was for Israel. It was not important that they remembered what they were wearing, though they had not needed to make new clothes because their garments did not wear out; they didn’t need to cultivate the land or provide their own food, because God gave them Manna, God even provided them water in the desert.

But for 40 years the Israelites were wanderers, having no place to call their own, they had no national identity. Having been enslaved in Egypt for over 400 years, their customs were not their own. Everything that would identify them as Hebrew, from their clothes to their sayings, were essentially borrowed. They had no traditions as a nation.

God realizes that Israel has often forgotten what he has done for them, and we are no different. In Deuteronomy 6:12 Moses issued a final warning to Israel just before they entered the promise land, to remember; Moses declares, “be careful that you do not forget the LORD who brought you out of the land of Egypt…” This is very different from setting a cell phone reminder or tying a string around your finger. It’s about them as a people, to remember him corporately. You see, Judaism was never more than one generation away from extinction. It’s not surprising that the meaning of the Hebrew word for memorial means “to remember.”

For that reason, often those memorials were alters made of stones. A declaration to the world that something had happened here, that this was hallowed ground. Several times alters were set up, either out of tribute or by instruction to testify to specific times of favor or delivery; but this one is markedly different. Until this point the sojourning nation would not have a place to return, a place to tie to a memory or story to. This day would change all of that. God instructs them not only to remember, but gives them the means to do just that.

That’s why it’s important to remember the basics as we mature in our faith.

Now it’s possible, even likely that Gilgal is not a town at all. One way we know this is that almost everywhere “Gilgal” appears in the original Hebrew, it is preceded by “the.” It should really be read as “the gilgal.” This suggests that “Gilgal” is not the name of the town, rather it is a type of place.

I’ll give you an example, people often refer to the nearest town as simply that, “I’m going into town,” rather than saying its name. People often go to “the store” to do their shopping. People who live near a large body of water refer to it as “the river, the lake, the beach…” Of course, there are many different towns, stores, and beaches, and each has a specific name. In the Bible, the same is probably true of Gilgal. “The gilgal,” as it is written in Hebrew. So “a Gilgal” is probably a type of place. And there might very well be several different Gilgals, as many Bible scholars have suggested. So, what is it?

In Hebrew it means “to roll.” The symbolism being recorded in Joshua 5:9, God says to Joshua, “Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.” The significance here is hard to understate. These people have known nothing else; they were raised up by a generation cursed to die in the wilderness, never to see the land promised to them because of disobedience. This changes everything. This place called Gilgal is where they rededicated themselves.

Recall the Ark carried by the priests which was literally the presence of God, pillar of cloud by day, fire by night, later put in the Holy of Holies after the Temple is built. It’s important to note that the Ark is called by a new name for the only time in The Book of Joshua (v. 16). In the original Hebrew it is here called “Ark of the testimony” rather than the “Ark of the covenant.” Not only are the males circumcised at Gilgal –symbolic of a renewal of the covenant made at Sinai, but this is a reenactment of Israel cutting the covenant with God. Israel is the recipient here, and witness to God’s fulfilling of his part; which is delivery into the Promised Land, but now, as Israel passes before the Ark in the midst of the river, God’s presence displayed in full power, commanding the waters in a way Jesus will repeat in a display of his authority; God here witnesses Israel’s acceptance, rededicating themselves as his people. At Gilgal God called his people to remember their commitment.

Have you ever seen a handprint in a concrete slab? Maybe you’ve laid your hands in some freshly poured concrete at some point. The point is the concrete wasn’t always hard, the hand prints testify to the point that these things really happened. In the same way, there’s a story that goes with this pile of rocks and each tribe got to contribute.

So, what does God want from us? How do forgetful people hold on to the fundamentals while growing?

Perhaps you don’t recall the specific day you became a believer, but you should remember the reason. 1 Peter 3:15 says, “in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have...” Those of us who remember the reasons we began something in the first place will have a compelling motive to strive when they feel like quitting.

Another clue that this Gilgal was a place of significance to the Israelites throughout the Old Testament is use of the phrase “until this day.” It is observable here more than any other book. This calls attention to the fact that they are going to pass on a tradition. God provides instructions for our faith. Verse 21, “In the future when your descendants ask their parents, ‘What do these stones mean?’ (22) tell them, ‘Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground.’

This is reminiscent of Exodus 13:14, “In the future, when your son asks you, ‘What does this mean?’ you are to tell him, ‘With a mighty hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. (15) And when Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the LORD killed every firstborn in the land of Egypt, both of man and beast.

Here at Gilgal Israel observes Passover for the first time. A uniquely Jewish tradition, to engender the identity of the Israelites as God’s people. A Holy day still observed today.

We’ve followed that example, for the very purpose that we never forget, we have days on which we are called to remember God’s faithfulness to us. Days that are holy. Jesus called us to observe specific traditions as well, one which connects us to our Jewish ancestors, baptism; and one unique to us Christians, communion.

We’ve also remembered God’s faithfulness as a nation. You can’t look at a wall in this chapel without seeing preserved by those who came before us, the history of God’s favor for us. He’s blessed us in the past, and if we remain faithful, he’ll do it again.

There seems to be something significant of these tangible reminders. You can’t deny something moving about a visit to Arlington. Do you have a reminder of your Gilgal? Something that reminds you that God rolled away your reproach: a cross you wear, a passage of scripture over your mantle or door, perhaps a tattoo?

Something written in stone has the connotation of being lasting, they are often thought of as representing bedrock truths on which we can safely rest our beliefs and way of life.

In the Old Testament, one of the most vivid examples of this correspond to the Ten Commandments which were written by the finger of God on two stone tablets. The Ten Commandments are the most central and sacred laws given in the Old Testament.

In the New Testament, Matthew 16, when the apostle Peter said of Jesus, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God,” Jesus said, “on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.”

We tend to get it wrong though when we make it about something other than God. The Ten Commandments are a testament to that, the 3rd commandment being about graven images; located between the 2nd commandment against having other Gods, and the 4th commandment about use of the Lord’s name; together these instructions reflect a history of getting it wrong. No single biblical passage contains a complete definition of idolatry, but from numerous passages, and numerous times throughout the history of the church we’ve come to see the tendency we have: making it about us.

So, God’s instructions also enable us to remain faithful

When we forget the basics, we walk away from Jesus.

God knew the Israelites would forget; he knew we’d forget. That’s why he gave us memorials. We all need to revisit our Gilgal, sometimes I need to remember the specific ways God has blessed me, I need to rededicate myself to God's service, maybe you need re-direction in your life in a certain area. Jesus established a way to commemorate our removal of reproach that we will observe next Sunday, the table in which he said “eat and drink in remembrance of me.”

If its significance is lost on you, maybe you should revisit 1 Corinthians 11:29 between now and then, “For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves.”

This happened in Israel too, and eventually Gilgal was forgotten because it stopped being about God. It became another Tower of Babel, a place of corrupt idol worship and Hosea and Amos prophesied against it.

So too have our memorials, from time to time become idols when we remember them as our accomplishments rather than God’s accomplishments.

We tend to go from one extreme to another: Icons are used still in Catholic and Orthodox traditions, at times they have become idols, even leading to several divisions and disputes amongst the church. To guard themselves from idolatry, iconoclasts, a name given to those who sought to destroy images or monuments travelled far and wide to “cleanse” the church of what they would amount to idols. Some went as far as to label music as heresy, removing their pipe organs from their places of worship.

Could you imagine worship without Holly and the Praise Team? –But we are told several times throughout Scripture to sing, in fact, the psalms are meant to be sung! It appears in our Scripture as if memorializing is God ordained. The caveat being that it remains about Him. The danger of the prosperity Gospel is that it becomes a matter of perspective.

One of my favorite things about Horatio Spafford’s hymn “It is well with my Soul” is that it acknowledges that life isn’t always fun. The story is heart-wrenching, and I don’t have the time to do it justice, what’s important is that he accepts that it doesn’t mean God isn’t with us.

Because it’s easy to call yourself blessed “when peace like a river attendeth my way,” but what about “when troubles like sea billows roll?”

“Whatever my lot thow has taught me to say, it is well, it is well with my soul.”

The hymnist learned we don’t worship because our life is good; we worship because our God is good. And when we remember that, when we seek God wherever God is, because he is certainly at work in whatever situation we find ourselves in, then we are right to remember it, to memorialize it, to tell the world about it, and to teach our children to do the same.

Take another look around, its not just the triumph of the mighty 82nd represented on these walls. There are memorials depicted in our memorials. As if the generations of faith who came before were telling us there would be dark days.

In the same way, what is the single most important need of a Christian? It’s not a trick question, to spend time with God. You can do that through daily prayer and Bible reading, fasting and giving; all of these help us to remember God’s faithfulness.

Before I close, I’d like to share a story that was shared with me by Chaplain Mark Miller, about a trip he took down State Highway 246 between Vandervoort and Athens, Arkansas. There he happened across a graveyard in a once inhabited place which is now in the middle of nowhere. He said no one would probably go there unless they had intended to. I suppose curiosity got the better of him, but something he found there stood out to him. Amongst the headstones was one that summed up pretty well what it is to follow Christ. “Remember friends as you pass by, as you are now so once was I. As I am now one day you’ll be. Prepare for death and follow me.”

That’s what Jesus referred to when he said, “pick up your cross.” The cross represents death. “As I am now one day you’ll be.” It’s not us that get to have the final word, but God. On your headstone you don’t get OER bullets. You can say you want this or that, but ultimately its someone else who has to carry the plan out. How you’re remembered is God’s declaration about you. “Friend, Father, Husband.” “Rest in Peace.” So, what’s important? What was so profound that led Chaplain Miller to remember that headstone? Memorials are about legacy. As with other memorials in the Old Testament, the intention of the Gilgal memorial was to provoke questions especially from future generations and serve as a signpost to a lost world. Remember what God has done for you. Keep physical reminders of these bedrock truths; thank God for his faithfulness, tell your children about his faithfulness, let them watch you and even join you in worship, teach them to pray. Christianity, too, is never more than one generation away from extinction.

So, if you were asked, why does the journey start from Gilgal? What would you say? Undoubtedly, nobody will ask you why it started at Gilgal, but you will be asked in one form or another to give reason for the hope that you have. That’s why it’s important to remember the basics as we mature in our faith, this is your Gilgal, on these stones you’ve built your faith.

A reminder of the favor you’ve had in the eyes of God. Not the favor you deserved for keeping the law, not even the favor you may have thought you’ve earned. It’s not a trophy; not your accomplishment. Many of us think this way –we run a marathon and people clap, we get a t-shirt, the winners get medals. But favor isn’t about us. That was the problem the first time Israel tried to enter the Holy land. Gilgal is about what God did –and not because anyone earned his approval.

Verse 24, “he did this so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the LORD is mighty, and so that you may always fear the LORD your God.”

God chose the Israelites to be his people, to glorify him, and this was a means to demonstrate his power, but he didn’t build himself an altar. He stopped the river and said “Now don’t you forget it. You build the altar. Pick up some heavy stones from the middle, each one of you.”

This Memorial Day God is calling you to remember what He has done for you. Remember that He has rolled away your sin at Calvary. Remember He is the giver of eternal life, and gives abundant life every day. When you remember Him and what He has done for you, then you will remain faithful, you’ll walk with him and be a witness to the Fort Bragg community.

Please pray with me:

Almighty God, we thank you for doing the heavy lifting of our faith. For stopping proverbial rivers and more importantly, holding our hands through times when it feels as if our heads were under it. We praise you for your faithfulness and ask that you would help us to remain as such. It is through your mercy we ask and in your name which is above all names we pray, Amen.