Renewal

Just this week I was excited and some of you know me and know how I love to go hunting and this was the week where I renewed my hunting licence. I am pretty excited about that. For those of you who are upset by that, don’t worry, I haven’t gotten anything yet so no worries there.

But the renewal process is fun. I like the fact that when I put in my name and number in I am already in the system and I pretty much just have to update the date. And it’s new, it’s fresh.

Renewing can be fun.

We renew stuff all of the time don’t we? Any Amazon prime members here this morning? Do you plan on renewing that membership? Lots of us do?

Renewal

We do this. We renews things. Some folks even Renew their wedding vows. (Tim and Debi).

We have some dear friends here this morning who did just that recently. Their 15th wedding anniversary was coming up and they wanted to celebrate that anniversary with a renewal of their wedding vows. They wanted to renew their vows in the Outer Banks. And they gave me the honor of officiating their vow renewal and our family got to enjoy a week away with some other friends who got to celebrate that renewal It was awesome.

We renew because we want to remember. There is something that is worth celebrating and we want to revisit it. Sometimes like the wedding vows we like to recreate those moments.

Remember and sometimes we Recreate. There are moments in our lives where we want to just grab on to it and remember it. This is where traditions come from.

My Grandmother loved eating crabs on her birthday. Loved it so much that it turned into a tradition. A successful birthday party eating crabs created a tradition that still exists today even after she has passed.

We love to celebrate those memories.

Of course some people want to take that recreating memories a bit too car. Have you ever seen people recreating old pictures? People want to recreate old pics of themselves where they position themselves in the same place, with the same people holding the same poses?

I have a couple of those pics this morning.

The bottom line is that we want to remember good things, good times and and renewal is part of that process.

The stories that we have been talking about in Joshua do just that. We are now in chapter 8 where we see a renewal of God’s promise and God’s instructions for Israel. But before that happens there is some unfinished business with this city of AI

We are on the heels of the defeat against an inferior army (all because of Achan’s sin) Remember that Achan took some of the things God told them not to and it actually caused the army of Israel to fail. All because of one guy’s sin.

Joshua Joshua 8

The story shows how success depends, not on superior numbers, but on obedience to Yahweh, and perhaps also on good leadership.

When that was taken care of they are told to go up against this city, again.

This might cause you to be a little gun shy. You failed the last time.

But Joshua went right to God. Immediately. That will tell us something...

Joshua 8:1–2 ESV

1 And the Lord said to Joshua, “Do not fear and do not be dismayed. Take all the fighting men with you, and arise, go up to Ai. See, I have given into your hand the king of Ai, and his people, his city, and his land. 2 And you shall do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king. Only its spoil and its livestock you shall take as plunder for yourselves. Lay an ambush against the city, behind it.”

Joshua

On the heels of the defeat against an inferior army (because of Achan’s sin)

This would cause you to be a little gun shy. You failed the last time.

But Joshua went right to God. Immediately. That will tell us something...

God is leading them, God is giving them instructions. Very detailed instructions. Hear this...

You will always be successful in God’s will when you are rightly related to God and follow what He says.

It might Not your version of success, but God’s plan for you.

This is what we see, when we are rightly related to God (meaning when we depend on, as are submissive to and faithful to God) when we are rightly related to God and acting on it we can be sure that we are in the center of God’s will.

So God tells Joshua how to defeat AI Pretty brilliant strategy. They follow to the letter.

God says, “Take all the fighting men!” This is exciting. God tells Joshua to give these instructions to his fighting men. He said, I want the large group of men to get behind the city tonight and hide. Tomorrow, Joshua is supposed to take 5ooo men and approach the city from the other side.

AIs army will come out and chase you like before, except this time, all the fighting men will come into the city from behind and burn the city down. At that time, you guys will turn around and they will be surrounded.

And that is exactly what happened.

This is a great victory. It is the victory they were supposed to have if only they had obeyed God in the first place.

If you have been with us then you have heard over and over again that our obedience to God is what gives the victory.

Here is one of those Bottom line statements: I am repeating the idea we talked about earlier because of how important this is.

Do what God tells you to do and you will always be in the center of God’s will.

That might be an exciting thing, it could be a comfortable rewarding thing, but being in the center of God’s will can also be a time of difficulty, a time of growth. Just remember that obedience to God’s will, will always, always have you exactly where God wants you at the time and you can trust him in that.

Now they have defeated Jericho, they have defeated AI and Bethel (cause it seems like they jumped into the fight as well) and they again, follow God’s commands.

God gives Joshua detailed instructions on how to defeat the country of AI. Remember we said that after Achan took the things that God forbid, that Israel could not fight this puny little city. Only 2 to 3 thousand had to go up.

They got to keep the livestock and plunder this time. Just cause God told them they could.

Then we come to this really interesting moment in the history of God’s people.

The renewal of the covenant.

Joshua 8:1–2 ESV

1 And the Lord said to Joshua, “Do not fear and do not be dismayed. Take all the fighting men with you, and arise, go up to Ai. See, I have given into your hand the king of Ai, and his people, his city, and his land. 2 And you shall do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king. Only its spoil and its livestock you shall take as plunder for yourselves. Lay an ambush against the city, behind it.”

Take all the fighting men! This is exciting. But God tells Joshua to give these instructions to his fighting men. He said, I want the large group of men to get behind the city tonight and hide. Tomorrow, Joshua is supposed to take 5ooo men and approach the city from the other side.

Their army will come out and chase you like before, except this time, all the fighting men will come into the city from behind and burn the city down.

Joshua 8:14–22 ESV

14 And as soon as the king of Ai saw this, he and all his people, the men of the city, hurried and went out early to the appointed place toward the Arabah to meet Israel in battle. But he did not know that there was an ambush against him behind the city. 15 And Joshua and all Israel pretended to be beaten before them and fled in the direction of the wilderness. 16 So all the people who were in the city were called together to pursue them, and as they pursued Joshua they were drawn away from the city. 17 Not a man was left in Ai or Bethel who did not go out after Israel. They left the city open and pursued Israel. 18 Then the Lord said to Joshua, “Stretch out the javelin that is in your hand toward Ai, for I will give it into your hand.” And Joshua stretched out the javelin that was in his hand toward the city. 19 And the men in the ambush rose quickly out of their place, and as soon as he had stretched out his hand, they ran and entered the city and captured it. And they hurried to set the city on fire. 20 So when the men of Ai looked back, behold, the smoke of the city went up to heaven, and they had no power to flee this way or that, for the people who fled to the wilderness turned back against the pursuers. 21 And when Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had captured the city, and that the smoke of the city went up, then they turned back and struck down the men of Ai. 22 And the others came out from the city against them, so they were in the midst of Israel, some on this side, and some on that side. And Israel struck them down, until there was left none that survived or escaped.

10

This is a great victory. It is the victory they were supposed to have if only they had obeyed God.

If you have been with us then you have heard over and over again that our obedience to God is what gives the victory.

Here is one of those Bottom line statements: Do what God tells you to do and you will always be in the center of God’s will. That might be an exciting thing, it could be a comfortable rewarding thing, but being in the center of God’s will can also be a time of difficulty, a time of growth. Just remember that obedience to God’s will will always, always have you exactly where God wants you at the time and you can trust him in that.

Bottom line: Do what God tells you and you will be in the center of God’s will. That might be a nice thing but being in the center of God’s will can be a time of difficulty, a time of growth.

Now that Joshua has defeated the enemy of AI he has some unfinished work to do. We read about it in verses 30 to 35

Joshua 8:30–35 ESV

30 At that time Joshua built an altar to the Lord, the God of Israel, on Mount Ebal, 31 just as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded the people of Israel, as it is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, “an altar of uncut stones, upon which no man has wielded an iron tool.” And they offered on it burnt offerings to the Lord and sacrificed peace offerings. 32 And there, in the presence of the people of Israel, he wrote on the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he had written. 33 And all Israel, sojourner as well as native born, with their elders and officers and their judges, stood on opposite sides of the ark before the Levitical priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, half of them in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, just as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded at the first, to bless the people of Israel. 34 And afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessing and the curse, according to all that is written in the Book of the Law. 35 There was not a word of all that Moses commanded that Joshua did not read before all the assembly of Israel, and the women, and the little ones, and the sojourners who lived among them.

-35

Bottom line: Do what God tells you and you will be in the center of God’s will. That might be a nice thing but being in the center of God’s will can be a time of difficulty, a time of growth.

This is kind of interesting. Once they got into the promised land, Joshua had something that he had to do. Something God had commanded Israel to do through Moses. Yeah, it wasn’t that long ago that Moses was still leading the people. Probably only a couple or 3 months or so.

35

God gave some instructions .. This is before they took the promised land

Unfinished Business.

Deuteronomy 27:2–4 ESV

2 And on the day you cross over the Jordan to the land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall set up large stones and plaster them with plaster. 3 And you shall write on them all the words of this law, when you cross over to enter the land that the Lord your God is giving you, a land flowing with milk and honey, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you. 4 And when you have crossed over the Jordan, you shall set up these stones, concerning which I command you today, on Mount Ebal, and you shall plaster them with plaster.

This is what Joshua is doing. He is following the command of God.

So what is going on here is a renewal of the covenant between God and His people. It’s a renewal. It is a reminder, it is a looking back upon.

God instructs to tell Joshua to build an altar, to make sacrifices and for Joshua to write down on the altar the words of the law of Moses. The law that God gave to Moses. God wants them to Remember, remember why you are here. Remember, remember how I brought you out of Egypt and remember what I brought you out for. To give you a freedom and to give you a land that I promised you long ago.

chap 9

Why do this? Why build this altar, why write the law on it?

Well.... God said so.

That is really all we need right? Because God said. There are many times I use the “because I said so” phrase because I am the authority.

When I say do this they do it, and if they say “why” there are plenty of times, not always, but plenty of times where I employ the “because I said so” phrase. God said so.

Another reason could be that this is a new/fresh beginning. (not that anything changed on God’s end, just a reminder to His children)

So When the people would walk by, they would see the words on those stones and they would read them. They would be reminded of what God did, the power that he exhibited across the land. I think God may also have done this to kind of celebrate.

This remembering, this renewal ties into a command not just fort the Israelites, but for us today. The subject of renewal is a normal aspect of the Christian life.

Remember and sometimes we Recreate. We have that renewal of vows, or more recently you see people recreating old memories. They will travel places where great things happened to remind them of that great time. Nowadays people want to recreate old pics of themselves.

But we remember, we renew. As followers of Jesus we do this constantly in our lives. We should, anyway.

​ ESV2

Romans 12:2 ESV

2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

That word renewal, it means like it sounds, to make new. To remake. Know this, it is us who needs to be renewed, not God.

God is the same yesterday today and forever. We are called to renew our minds and I think that this is what is happening here. This action, this renewal is a constant —should be a constant part of the Christians life. Constant renewal.

Recognizing what we need renewal from? What is holding you back from taking one more step closer God in your sanctification? Practicing. Remind yourself, remind yourself with Scripture to renew your mind.

So renewing our mind. what does that imply? It implies that our relationship with God is something that is living. It is available.

John 7:38 ESV

38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ ”

John 7 38

Flowing rivers of water. Flowing water is fresh, flowing water is pure. Moving water is fresh water.

Our relationship with God is fresh because of His constant renewing in us.

How do we get renewed? How do we do that? Very simple questions for the Christian.

We get renewed by spending time with God. When we say spending time with God what we mean is, yes, prayer. It means praying and not just praying for good things to happen to you and the ones you love.

Prayer is that sometimes. But we should be spending a lot more time giving glory to God. We should be spending a lot more time honoring God because He deserves to be honored.

Give you glory Lord because you are great. How many times do we say the same prayer over and over again when we don’t even think about what we are saying.

I dare you to talk to your spouse like you talk to God. I dare you to talk to your boss the way you talk to God. Many of us would never talk to a spouse or a boss like we talk to God.

God deserves our glory because God gave us life. He gave you want you have. He created the universe and died for you, was tortured for you just so you can have a relationship with God.

So we are renewed by prayer.

We are also renewed by reading Scripture. Really reading it. I am guilty too. I don’t always pay attentino when I read scripture the way I should but look. These are the actual words of God. If you want to hear God speak? Read this. He has.

Study it, think about it. Ask questions about what you are reading. Do the who what where when why trick with the bible. It really helps.

Then you get renewed. Your mind is washed, your spirit is fed. You get to hear the words of God himself.

We are renewed by reading Scripture .

Sometimes we are even renewed by serving others. What did Jesus do? He served others. He came to serve the lost.

Renewal is in the heart of every one of us. We desire to be renewed. And God desires the same thing.

But we cannot renew ourselves, God has to do that in us. He does it through our spending time with Him. Prayer/Scripture reading.

What is holding you back from renewing your relationship with God?

Is it that you have never actually received Jesus as Lord of your life?

Or is it that you have gotten lazy? Or that you have become self centereed?

Renew your minds this morning. Think about what God has done for you and thank Him. Think long and hard about the way God has moved in your life.

Let me tell you, still willing to move in your life like that if you truly let go and give yourself to Him.

Lord, we desire to be renewed. And that is great because you desire the same thing. We get stale and we get bored because we drift away from you.

Motivate us this morning, Lord to renew our walk with you. Renew our relationship this morning God. Renew how we approach you, oh God.

Evangelical Commentary on the Bible B. The Central Campaign (6–9)

Chapter 9 is a complex chapter that develops several themes. First, the account relates another step in the subjugation of Canaan, the alliance with the Gibeonite league. Second, the theme of the conversion of the Canaanites is advanced with the record of the conversion of the Gibeonites, however questionable or insincere it may have been. Third, the danger of trusting in human wisdom without God’s supernatural direction is illustrated.