The Beginning of the End

1) 9-7-08…AM…SBC

“The Beginning of the End”

Joshua 22

Introduction:

1. The final three chapters all deal with farewells of some kind[1]

1. Joshua announces farewell to Transjordan tribes (Reuben, Gad, ½ of the tribe of Manasseh) and sends them home to their inheritance – Chapter 22
2. Joshua announces farewell to Israel and exhorts them to follow the Lord – Chapter 23
3. Joshua announces farewell to Israel again and lead them in a covenant renewal ceremony – Ch24

1. We do not find any new initiatives on God’s part in these chapters, undoubtedly because his promises were now all fulfilled (see 21:43–45).1  The focus now is on the people’s loyalty, obedience, and service to him.[2]  

1) A Charge to Commitment        v1-9

Ø      After all that had happened, and all the victories that were fought, it is now time for the Transjordan tribes to return to their inheritance in the east side of the Jordan River

Ø      These verses show us how the Transjordan Tribes have been faithful to God and their fellow Israelites by obeying the command of Joshua back in 1:12-18

A- Commendation for Past Obedience       v1-4

            1- They had displayed faith’s endurance in performing this mission over a long time and finished their task.[3]

B- A Commission for Future Obedience    v5

1-      6 exhortations compile Joshua’s charge to these tribes

-          These words echo the main message of the book – be faithful  to a faithful God

-          What God had urged Joshua himself to do in chap. 1, Joshua now urged the people to do.[4]

-          This exhortation by Joshua is the core of the first and greatest commandment (Deut 6:5; Mt 22:37)

-          The Soldiers that are returning are left with 6 orders from their General

a.       Love the Lord your God – this love is then fleshed out

b.      Walk in all His ways – kids walking in adult shoes

c.       Keep His commandments -

d.      Cling to Him – like a child to their blankie

e.       Serve Him with all your heart – the ultimate test of all true discipleship

Ø      Their military obligations were fulfilled, but Joshua reminded them of their abiding spiritual commitments[5]

Ø      The verbs in v. 5 give a comprehensive picture of what a proper relationship to God was to include[6]

Ø      These were to be done not as a matter of external conformity but “with all your heart and all your soul.[7]

Application:

1-      The proper pattern for glorifying God is always displayed in Scripture as knowing God’s initiatives and then striving to be loyal and obedient to those initiatives

2-      The call to the people of God is and always has been a call to discipleship, commitment and loyalty

3-      The Emphasis of this text is placed on the regulating of their spiritual lives  (regulating hot and cold water)

4-      It is not sufficient to know God’s law we are required to do it

Salvation Call – You can know God and still go to hell – repent and believe for salvation

·         We will only walk in God’s ways to the extent that we serve Him wholeheartedly

·         Love to God is the spring that leads to all obedience and worship

·         The spring of the Christian life is a love for God – the raging river that that love grows into is a life that is a life of service to the initiatives of God

Practical Appliation:

1. Are you carefully keeping the comandments of the Lord in your life?

-          Are the concerns of others (Phi 2:4) more important than your selfish desires?

-          Are you making purity a priority – thoughts and relationships?

Aare you living a joyful and victorious life? – joy in the midst of difficult circumstances

1. Are you loving God by walking in His ways

-          Do you thoughts, words and actions reveal anger, jealousy, greed, coveteouness?

1. Are you clinging to him through the storms of life?

-          You sin when you worry or are anxious because both of these are self-centered responses that reveal a lack of trust in God’s care and sovereignty in your life

-          Mt 6; 10:16-20; Lk 12:22-31; Phil 4:6-7

1. Are you dying to self by serving others?

-          Are you serving just when it is convenient for you and when it fits your schedule?

-          Are you serving just in ways that you are gifted or are you willing to serve anywhere you may be needed?

-          Are you exercising your God given gifts in order to build up the body?

·         this is why Christ instituted the church- so that we may use our gifts together to minister to each other

·         to forsake local church membership is to selfishly hoard your gifts without thought of anyone else

·         to not serve in the church is to also be selfish and a poor steward of what God has given you

Does the well spring of your love for God flow into a raging river rapids or dried up river bed of obedience?

Transition:  After Joshua praised the Transjordan tribes for their faithfulness, a misunderstanding arose concerning the tribes’ relationship with each other, one that was important to resolve in order for future relationships to be clear.[8]

2) A Perceived Conflict         v10-34

A-    The Conflict Summarized

1-      Just before the tribes crossed the Jordan to go home they built an altar of imposing side on the Canaan side (West) side of the Jordan River v10

2-      The rest of the Israelites heard about it they assumed that the Transjordan tribes had committed a breach of faith against God and prepared to fight in war against them         Read v11-12; 16

3-       Israel sends leaders over to their brothers to inquiry of this rebellion against God               v13-20

4-      The Transjordan tribes respond to the allegations of rebellion against God               v21-29

-          their motivation is revealed

-          Read 22-24

-          Their motivation was that in the future their children would not be cut of from Israel

5-      The report is accepted by the leaders of Israel           v30; 32-33

Ø      The threat of the Lord’s wrath being poured out on the entire nation, which was a very real fear (vv. 18, 20), was now averted. The Cisjordan tribes were now assured that their eastern brothers had not been acting faithlessly[9]

Ø      In a very real sense, then, they had “rescued” the nation from catastrophe.[10]

Ø      God once again proved his faithfulness to His people

Conclusion:

1.      What we are taught in this passage is that a faithful God desires for us to love Him wholeheartedly, and out of that wholehearted love for God must come repeated acts of obedience

2.      Know that obedience is possible, but only through God’s power at work within us              Ephesians 3:20

·         Have confidence that you can be obedience regardless of how many times you have failed in the past

·         Obedience comes by growing in your relationship and knowledge of who God is – attributes

·         Obedience comes when we focus on the divine resources at our disposal

Be obedient by trusting that a faithful God has given you all things that pertain to life and godliness and that through Him who gives strength, you can confidently face any struggle and conquer sin.

Chorus #185 – You Love Compels Me Lord

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[1]David M. Howard, Jr, vol. 5, Joshua, electronic ed., Logos Library System; The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2001, c1998), 401.

1 H. J. Koorevaar has analyzed the book’s overall structure in terms of God’s initiatives: (1) that the Israelites should cross the Jordan (1:1–9); (2) that they should take Jericho and the land (5:13–6:5); (3) that they should divide Canaan (13:1–7); and (4) that they should designate cities of refuge (20:1–6). The last section of the book is dominated by three initiatives of Joshua (22:1; 23:1–2; 24:1), not God, because God’s promises had now been fulfilled. See the summary of Koorevaar’s analysis in J. R. Vannoy, “Joshua: Theology of,” NIDOTTE 4:811–14; the original work is H. J. Koorevaar, De Opbouw van het Boek Jozua (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Brussels, 1990).

[2]David M. Howard, Jr, vol. 5, Joshua, electronic ed., Logos Library System; The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2001, c1998), 402.

[3]D. A. Carson, New Bible Commentary : 21st Century Edition, Rev. Ed. of: The New Bible Commentary. 3rd Ed. / Edited by D. Guthrie, J.A. Motyer. 1970., 4th ed. (Leicester, England; Downers Grove, Ill., USA: Inter-Varsity Press, 1994), Jos 22:1.

[4]David M. Howard, Jr, vol. 5, Joshua, electronic ed., Logos Library System; The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2001, c1998), 404.

[5]John F. Walvoord, Roy B. Zuck and Dallas Theological Seminary, The Bible Knowledge Commentary : An Exposition of the Scriptures (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1983-c1985), 1:365.

[6]David M. Howard, Jr, vol. 5, Joshua, electronic ed., Logos Library System; The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2001, c1998), 404.

[7]David M. Howard, Jr, vol. 5, Joshua, electronic ed., Logos Library System; The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2001, c1998), 404.

[8]David M. Howard, Jr, vol. 5, Joshua, electronic ed., Logos Library System; The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2001, c1998), 402.

[9]David M. Howard, Jr, vol. 5, Joshua, electronic ed., Logos Library System; The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2001, c1998), 415.

[10]David M. Howard, Jr, vol. 5, Joshua, electronic ed., Logos Library System; The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2001, c1998), 415.