Out of the wilderness

Introduction: Did you know that over 70% of the earth is covered by oceans, less than thirty percent of the earth is land. Of that 30%, one third of it is mountainous terrain or vast areas covered with ice and glaciers and deserts. That would mean that approximately 80% of the earth is uninhabitable wilderness.

The Pacific Ocean alone covers almost 9 million square kilometres. And yet God has made this world exactly the way it is which would tend to tip us off that He has a very particular role for the wilderness to play in the balance of this world and in the way that we live our lives.

The wilderness is a place where things are stripped away, where you are forced into a survival mode, it’s often seen as a place where God refines people. We are going to begin looking at the book of Joshua, the story of a nation of people coming out of a wilderness journey that has lasted forty yeast and in which the whole previous generation of people had dies.

The grandparents and even many of the parents have died, their disobedience meant that they would not / could not inhabit the promised land.

It’s their children, the next generation, who are now about to come out of the wilderness.

Wilderness can be a physical terrain like mountains and forest or desert but the wilderness can also be something that we experience within ourselves. It would be like living in a long period of dryness or darkness or loneliness.

Relate this to the current time

The spiritual and physical wilderness is something that Jesus experienced as Satan tried to tempt Him with every extreme he could offer. It was a time of testing and even preparation, for from this wilderness Jesus then stepped forward into a life that changed the world forever.

Relate this to the current opportunities

So when we look at the book of Joshua we are seeing a people that were slaves in Egypt for around 400 years, we are seeing a people led by Moses out of captivity and into freedom. Some call this the main redemptive event of the Old Testament, the redeeming of the people of Israel from the slavery of Egypt. They are redeemed, brought out and set free from captivity and they set course for the Promised Land.

They mess up at the border to the Promised Land and for the next 40 years they wander through the wilderness because they would not trust God. I think it is no different for us, we too will find ourselves wandering when we refuse to trust God. We can find ourselves in a long and twisting path of wilderness in which God continually refines us, prepares us and then invites us to leave the wilderness. So what will it take to leave the wilderness, let’s read Joshua 1 as we begin to find the answers to that question.  

Joshua 1 NIV

1 After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ aide: 2 “Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them—to the Israelites. 3 I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses. 4 Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the great river, the Euphrates—all the Hittite country—to the Mediterranean Sea in the west. 5 No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you. 6 Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their ancestors to give them. 7 “Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. 8 Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. 9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” 10 So Joshua ordered the officers of the people: 11 “Go through the camp and tell the people, ‘Get your provisions ready. Three days from now you will cross the Jordan here to go in and take possession of the land the Lord your God is giving you for your own.’ ” 12 But to the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh, Joshua said, 13 “Remember the command that Moses the servant of the Lord gave you after he said, ‘The Lord your God will give you rest by giving you this land.’ 14 Your wives, your children and your livestock may stay in the land that Moses gave you east of the Jordan, but all your fighting men, ready for battle, must cross over ahead of your fellow Israelites. You are to help them 15 until the Lord gives them rest, as he has done for you, and until they too have taken possession of the land the Lord your God is giving them. After that, you may go back and occupy your own land, which Moses the servant of the Lord gave you east of the Jordan toward the sunrise.” 16 Then they answered Joshua, “Whatever you have commanded us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go. 17 Just as we fully obeyed Moses, so we will obey you. Only may the Lord your God be with you as he was with Moses. 18 Whoever rebels against your word and does not obey it, whatever you may command them, will be put to death. Only be strong and courageous!”

Obedience

If you want to leave the wasteland be obedient.

Lead

In Order to Leave the Wilderness, Stop Following and Start Leading.

Joshua had a career as Moses assistant, I mean he spent 40 years doing that, I’d call that a career. For forty years he’d taken his cues from Moses, he’d been loyal when all others weren’t, he’d learned obedience and patience and faith from Moses. He’d heard Moses speak about God, about who God is and what God sought in Moses life.

Joshua was a good follower, he had not only learned from Moses but he had been prepared by Moses. We would say that Joshua had a mentor in Moses, someone who taught, encouraged, challenged and probably many times corrected Joshua. The idea of making disciples has the process of mentoring right at its core. The Great Commission that Jesus gave the church was that as they went, doing whatever they would do, they were to make disciples.

Why is that so important?

It’s not just that they would be stronger in their faith and in their ability to grow as Christians, it’s also that one day they would move from following and begin leading, they would be prepared to one day disciple others even as they had been. Leaving the wilderness is often a process that begins by connecting to those people God has put around you, people whom you have a respect for or an attraction to, people you know you can learn from. In many cases that’s exactly whom you have as your parents, they mentor you. But there will be others whom God will use to build you in your faith in Christ. Seek them out, approach them, know that they are put there for your preparation that one day you would disciple another. This was a forty year process, making disciples will take time and then God will move them to lead.                

Break through barriers

In Order to Leave the Wilderness There Will Be Barriers to Cross.

So God speaks to Joshua and says, “Now therefore, arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them - the children of Israel.”  There were physical barriers – the Jordan in full flood.

There were relational barriers – you and all this people, would they follow him like they had Moses, would they respect him?

There were territorial barriers – to the land which I am giving to you, which others presently occupied.

It’s a certainty that in order to leave the wilderness there will be barriers to cross, in fact to some degree it’s those barriers that have kept people in the wilderness in the first place.

The thing about barriers is that they create fear because of what is unseen and fear is what serves as a fence or barrier.

Example Jumping across a gap. between two trees

The gap was not large.

Th barrier was not the space, it was the fear of the space.

So whether the barriers in your life are physical… not enough money, not enough skill; or relational… will they respect me, will they forgive me, can I lead them; or territorial… the familiar country of temptations, guilt or not good enough, a territory that belongs to the enemy of your souls even Satan, the real component of all those barriers is the unseen and unknown which uses fear to hold you back.

Perhaps that was why God said to Joshua, “No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life; as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you nor forsake you.” What would enable Joshua to move past the fear of the unseen and unknown was a willingness to trust what he had already seen God do in Moses life and then to trust that God would be there to guide where his foot would land. If you will leave the wilderness it will mean that there are barriers you will have to cross but faith will overcome fear, God will not leave you or forsake you.

Commit to Gods plan, not yours.

In Order to Leave the Wilderness Resolve Yourself To God.

Three times, in verses 6, 7 and 9 God tells Joshua to be strong and courageous. let’s not forget Joshua was a warrior, proven in battle. Why did God think it necessary to to repeat this three times?

Maybe it was because when Joshua risked his own life that was one thing, but now he is being entrusted with the lives of hundreds of thousands of people.

Perhaps it was because Joshua despite being a leader still felt the fear of failure.

Or maybe, the greater reasons are that Joshua needed to commit to following God’s person and plan despite any short comings he saw in himself, despite any opinions he might entertain along the way and despite the great times of confusion he might encounter.

It was like God was putting a map in Joshua’s hand and asking him, ‘Do see which way to go?’ As Joshua would nod his head, then God would say, ‘Then never quit following this map and the route it takes you’ Joshua needed a resolve in order to accomplish the next step of the conquering and division of the land. Joshua needed a resolve to constantly read, know and meditate on the word of the Scriptures as they then had it. So despite the fact that God spoke directly to Joshua, the written word was crucial for setting direction out of the wilderness and Joshua needed to resolve within himself to rely on that word.

The command to be strong and of good courage was essentially a command to trust God and to let God be his strength, to allow God to be the source of his confidence. In some respects to moving to a point of trusting God’s plan may look a lot like repentance, it will shift your trust from yourself and your plans and turn from it in order to place your focus on God’s plan and on God himself.

It was with this strength of God and good courage in God that Joshua tells the people that in three days they will break camp, in three days they are going to leave the wilderness, crossing impossible barriers, resolved to be used of an Almighty God. In three days they will enter into the rest that God has planned for them, it is not the rest that we call heaven, it is the rest that is promised to a people who will leave the wilderness and commit themselves continually into the ability of God to care for them. The chapter closes with the people now saying to Joshua the very thing that God had said three times, “Only be strong and of good courage.” In Christ we are invited to that same thing, Jesus our Joshua is our hope for His courage and strength are what we follow and what enables us to leave the wilderness.

How this relates to now.

While we are keen to move back to our meetings it is important that we do not let ourselves be left in the wasteland that was not the lockdown but the places we were in before the lockdown

Traditions, bad theology, insecurity, unforgiveness, feed me feed me attitude. passivity .fear of failure, business, programmes, empire building, competitiveness, God Complex.

We are called to be pulled out of the wasteland.

Obedience - Listen

Lead - move forward - being called to do things, breaking from passivity, breaking from a consumer culture

Overcome - Be strong and courageous.

Focus on Gods plan.