Responding

Well my son Liam turned one last week and he is at such a fun age, because he is getting more of a personality and he is starting to understand when we are asking him to do something.

and he is still working on the actual listening to what we ask, but he is at least understanding

I can ask Liam to hand me the remote and occasionally he actually will

The other day we were at the beach and I ask Liam to hold my hand while he was walking around in the sand. and he gets to the area where the lake is and he pushes my hands away, because I guess he wanted to go in alone.

He didn’t want me

occasionally Liam will find something in the house that he shouldn't have and we will ask him to give it to us and he will take off sprinting.

But it is so funny watching how he responds to us.

Because every kid response in different ways to their parents and sometimes that is through listening, other times its through doing it there own way, and sometimes its just straight up rebelling.

But what is so interesting is if you look at our relationship with God it is pretty similar.

Because God pursues and directs us to live a certain way

He wants to be in a relationship with us

He calls us to live a certain way

And sometimes we listen, other times we say no, I’ve got this, and then other times we just completely rebel.

And really today we are in Joshua chapter 2:1-11 and we are going to be looking a few different response that individuals and groups have when God moves in their lives.

But let me get you up to speed in case you missed last week.

Because last week if you were with us we saw a guy named Joshua receive this huge call to basically lead the people of Israel to this area that God had given them called the promise land

but the issue is that there are so many things that stand in the way between Joshua and the Israelites and where God has called them.

but what we see is that Joshua trust God in the middle of it

And what I love about this is that right after the passage we were in last week (where Joshua receives this call) Joshua actually gets leaders to go out to the people in 1:11 and basically has them say “get ready to enter the promised land, because in three days we are heading there!”

You know Joshua has this call and he puts himself in a place where there is no way to go back.

And so they get ready to enter the promised land and this is where we are picking up today.

And we are just starting in the first part of the first verse of Joshua chapter 2 and it says this:

Joshua 2:1 (ESV)

Rahab Hides the Spies

2 And Joshua the son of Nun sent two men secretly from Shittim as spies, saying, “Go, view the land, especially Jericho.”

So the first thing Joshua does is he sends spies secretly into the land so he can know what they are about to face as they get ready to take this land.

But you know there is a reason Joshua did this in secret, because Joshua is this courageous leader who trust God, but then the Israelite people they are not.

Because they actually sent spies into the land 40 years ago and the spies came back and said the people in the land are huge and basically they say we will get destroyed if we go to war against these people.

and so even though God said I am going to give you this land they were focused on fear.

And so even though Joshua is this courageous leader he realizes that the Israelites are not.

Because if you were with us last week we talked about how for Joshua he does not worry about how big the problem is but he focuses on how big God is.

But the Israelite people do the opposite where they focus on how big the problem is and not how big their God is.

And can I just say I think if we were honest with ourselves a lot of our lives are similar to the Israelite people.

Because we follow God, but a lot of times something will come up in our life that is an obstacle and we say God I can’t do that!

I can’t put my self at risk like that

I can’t ruin my reputation like that

I can’t give that up

and we see the problem instead of seeing our God.

It is almost like if you were off roading in a F-150 and you are getting ready to have the time of your life

But as you are at the start of the trail you see a small puddle, and and some bumps on the trail and your going “I can’t do this, civic would probably get stuck in this”

And you focus on these puddles and bumps instead of focusing that you are in an F-150 that easily go through all of that.

But that is what we like to do with God, we see the obstacles and they stop us from fulfilling the call that God has given us personally in our lives.

We need to focus on how big our God is instead of how big the problem is, because I can guarantee that God is bigger then what your facing.

And look at this next part of the passage in starting in the second half of verse 1 going all the way to verse 11 and this is a little longer, but it gives us such a good idea what is going on here

Because the spies enter the land and it says:

Joshua 2:1–11 (ESV)

Rahab Hides the Spies

And they went and came into the house of a prostitute whose name was Rahab and lodged there. 2 And it was told to the king of Jericho, “Behold, men of Israel have come here tonight to search out the land.” 3 Then the king of Jericho sent to Rahab, saying, “Bring out the men who have come to you, who entered your house, for they have come to search out all the land.” 4 But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. And she said, “True, the men came to me, but I did not know where they were from. 5 And when the gate was about to be closed at dark, the men went out. I do not know where the men went. Pursue them quickly, for you will overtake them.” 6 But she had brought them up to the roof and hid them with the stalks of flax that she had laid in order on the roof. 7 So the men pursued after them on the way to the Jordan as far as the fords. And the gate was shut as soon as the pursuers had gone out.

8 Before the men lay down, she came up to them on the roof 9 and said to the men, “I know that the Lord has given you the land, and that the fear of you has fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land melt away before you. 10 For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you devoted to destruction. 11 And as soon as we heard it, our hearts melted, and there was no spirit left in any man because of you, for the Lord your God, he is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath.

You know the spies apparently were not very good because it looks like the king notices them right away.

and so the spies are staying with a woman named Rehab, and we are going to talk about more about who Rehab was in a second, but she hides these men from the king so they do not get killed.

And so after she hides them and protects them she goes up to the roof where the men are hiding and she is talking with them

and in verse 10 she is talking about how the people of this land (Jericho) are scared to death of the Israelites

And the Rehab tells them how they have heard about all these things that their God has done.

And they just know they do not stand a chance. They are going to get obliterated

And this is a little bit of a side note, but its important, because it is easy to get a little uncomfortable with this passage because they are going to war with these people and there are some violent parts in this book.

But the reason God has them take the land is because the people are extremely evil.

They would do unspeakable things.

And God is saying this can’t happen.

But whats amazing is if you read the Bible regardless of the people and how wicked they are if they turn to God and repent God embraces them.

And something that is so crazy with this passage is the people in Jericho hear about God, they heard of how he moved, they realize that He is an amazing God, but instead of turning to God they turn away.

And you are probably thinking how could they do that?!

They knew about God, they heard how He moved, but they rejected Him?

They knew his power, but they kept serving their gods?

And as I was working on this message God convicted me that this message is probably more relevant for us today then it was even back then.

Because anything we place above God becomes our “god.” it becomes an idol.

And the issue is we live for whatever our god is.

If our god is money, we live for it

If our god is our family (not a necessarily a bad thing), but we live for it

If our god is a goal we have, we live for it

And we might know of God, we might believe in Him and know He is the right way,

But we like to do what the people of Jericho do in this passage where they serve the gods they made instead of the God.

I had a friend that I went to high school with in Maryland and he was actually in my wedding, but whenever me or any other friends would come home to visit he would take us to this restaurant that none of us liked.

It was like this one star restaurant that you would eat at and it would make your stomach hurt. It was a bad restaurant.

And I remember we would be looking on yelp trying to convince him to go somewhere else, but he would be set on this restaurant

But he was convinced this one star restaurant was the best

But you know in our life we often choose the one star “gods” or idols, when we have a 5 star God that is pursuing us and is wanting to be in a relationship with us.

And something that is so cool about this passage is you have the people of Jericho who have decided they love their 1 star gods and the way they are living.

But then there is this women Rehab, and she is not happy with them.

And to make it even neater Rehab, wasn’t this amazing person, the Bible says she is a prostitute (one of the lower members in society)

But whats amazing is she submits to God.

Because she realizes that while Jericho has this great army and while the city is fortified, and they have their own gods, non of these can stop the God.

And it is a little crazy to think that out of all the people in the land God saves Rehab.

I mean if God was destroying Buchanan and would save one person we would probably assume it would be someone like a doctor or some sort of outstanding citizen

but God saves one of the lower people who was repentant

And I think this is a powerful reminder for us today as we close that Jesus did not come for the people who have their lives together.

But he came for the people who are a mess

And can I just say if you are breathing, guess what? God came for you.

And what I have seen is the people who realize their need for God and realize that without him they are a mess, are the ones who are often times closer to God.

I love the song we sang earlier Amazing Grace, because the person who wrote it was John Newton who was a slave trader

And when He accepted God He realized His need!

He wrote “amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me”

He realized the mess, but he also realized that in the mess we have a God whose grace is bigger.

Will you sing this with me?