September 13, 2020 Sermon

Introduction

Opening Up Joshua Chapter 7: Results of the Crossing (4:1–5:1)

‘For … God to close off the Jordan is less trouble than for us to turn off a tap.’

What happened after they crossed the Jordan river?

Last week we talked about and looked at the crossing of the Jordan River. We saw how God provided miraculously to bring the nation across the final obstacle before entering the land He promised to them.

Today when we look at the passage we will see 3 thing things that happened after the crossing.

Now we pick up this chapter as they are finishing their crossing. God speaks again with some specific instructions.

Joshua 4:1–9 ESV

1 When all the nation had finished passing over the Jordan, the Lord said to Joshua, 2 “Take twelve men from the people, from each tribe a man, 3 and command them, saying, ‘Take twelve stones from here out of the midst of the Jordan, from the very place where the priests’ feet stood firmly, and bring them over with you and lay them down in the place where you lodge tonight.’ ” 4 Then Joshua called the twelve men from the people of Israel, whom he had appointed, a man from each tribe. 5 And Joshua said to them, “Pass on before the ark of the Lord your God into the midst of the Jordan, and take up each of you a stone upon his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the people of Israel, 6 that this may be a sign among you. When your children ask in time to come, ‘What do those stones mean to you?’ 7 then you shall tell them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it passed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. So these stones shall be to the people of Israel a memorial forever.” 8 And the people of Israel did just as Joshua commanded and took up twelve stones out of the midst of the Jordan, according to the number of the tribes of the people of Israel, just as the Lord told Joshua. And they carried them over with them to the place where they lodged and laid them down there. 9 And Joshua set up twelve stones in the midst of the Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests bearing the ark of the covenant had stood; and they are there to this day.

Two memorials are built

One is built in the middle of the river itself

Joshua 4:9 ESV

9 And Joshua set up twelve stones in the midst of the Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests bearing the ark of the covenant had stood; and they are there to this day.

The other is built at Gilgal, the site where they first camped near Jericho.

Joshua 4:15–24 ESV

15 And the Lord said to Joshua, 16 “Command the priests bearing the ark of the testimony to come up out of the Jordan.” 17 So Joshua commanded the priests, “Come up out of the Jordan.” 18 And when the priests bearing the ark of the covenant of the Lord came up from the midst of the Jordan, and the soles of the priests’ feet were lifted up on dry ground, the waters of the Jordan returned to their place and overflowed all its banks, as before. 19 The people came up out of the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and they encamped at Gilgal on the east border of Jericho. 20 And those twelve stones, which they took out of the Jordan, Joshua set up at Gilgal. 21 And he said to the people of Israel, “When your children ask their fathers in times to come, ‘What do these stones mean?’ 22 then you shall let your children know, ‘Israel passed over this Jordan on dry ground.’ 23 For the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan for you until you passed over, as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea, which he dried up for us until we passed over, 24 so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty, that you may fear the Lord your God forever.”

Remember when Jesus stood up and stopped a storm? This totally reminds me of that moment.

Mark 4:39–41 ESV

39 And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. 40 He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” 41 And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”

So what was the reason for the memorials?

Think about both the passages you read there. It was crucial for the parents to talk about their faith with their children! It was crucial for parents to live their faith with their children.

Why do we need memorials and reminders of what God has done?

We need memorials of the past because when we forget the past we can tend to repeat the past. When we build up a memorial it causes people to ask questions about it. Those questions allow us to talk about the past.

One of the greatest weaknesses of the culture we are in today is this tendency to cancel or remove what we disagree with. In the aftermath of racially charged incidents around the country there has been this rush to remove monuments from the past. The danger in removing these monuments is that it promotes forgetting the past rather than learning from it.

Today more and more men and women are growing up without a working knowledge of the stories of the Bible. Without these stories of God’s provision they are impoverished with no understanding of how God has provided and what God has done.

The memorials were built for the children!

Do you have memorials in your life that remind you to talk about what God has done for you or your family?

We build all sorts of memorials to the things that are important to us.

Here are a few of mine:

1: In my office I have a shelf of medals from the races I’ve one. They remind me of those moments running.

2: In the basement of our house I have a shelf full of white boxes from many of the apple products I’ve purchased. I think they make the best product boxes and I love remembering the things I got.

3: On the top shelf in my office I have a whole row of artifacts from my trip to Israel in 2005. I want to remember the experience of being in Israel.

Do you have physical spaces in your life that remind you and others of your faith in God?

We all have memorials built to what is important. Maybe it’s the living room setup in front of the tv or the layout of your garage.

Our faith and stories about God should infect all of our lives. It should make those close to us ask questions. We must continue to tell the stories again and again of God’s provision.

Another result of God’s enabling the people to cross the river was Joshua being magnified.

Joshua 4:14 ESV

14 On that day the Lord exalted Joshua in the sight of all Israel, and they stood in awe of him just as they had stood in awe of Moses, all the days of his life.

The people gained confidence in Joshua as a leader and representative for God after he lead them across the Jordan river. God understands how important it is to believe in and trust your leader.

God instilled fear in the hearts of the enemies

Joshua 5:1 ESV

1 As soon as all the kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan to the west, and all the kings of the Canaanites who were by the sea, heard that the Lord had dried up the waters of the Jordan for the people of Israel until they had crossed over, their hearts melted and there was no longer any spirit in them because of the people of Israel.

Really the conquest of the land began without a single arrow being shot. God prepared the land to be defeated by putting a fear of the people of Israel on all the people of the land.

Do we live with faith in a God who can instill fear like that of stopping the Jordan river?

What can we learn from this passage?

Know God

We serve the same God today with power to override the power of nature. He is rich and full of grace and mercy. He is willing to do for us what we can’t do for ourselves. God is worthy of worship, obedience and more.

Slow down, shut your devices down, take time to listen and know the God of the universe. He is worthy of worship, attention and praise.

He is able to satisfy and give you hope.

Honor God’s Appointed Leaders

God went out of His way to magnify and elevate Joshua in front of the people. He wanted them to honor and follow him. It’s very easy to criticize leaders today.

We need to remember, however, that we honor God by honoring the leaders he has put in place over us. When we attack our leaders we attack God.

Now let me say this. A commitment to honor the leaders God sets over us doesn’t mean we condone or excuse sin. Honoring our leaders doesn’t mean we shut down our minds, observations, and opinions.

Let’s think about this in the church.

When we see a Pastor or an elder sin, we honor them by humbly going to them and pointing out what we see as sin.

When we don’t like a decision made by the church leaders we honor them by first discerning whether this is a preference or an issue of right and wrong.

This means when you look at me at at a youthful (or old) 35 you chose to assume the best, to listen hard in sermons, to take spiritual advice seriously, and to commit to support the work I do at CBC. You show honor not because of me but because God has worked really hard over the years to put and keep me here. God has me here now as pastor and you honor God through me.

Let me back up a second. How many of you have a deep experience of reverence for God? How many of you have taken time this week on your own just to sing praises to God in your own private space?

Do you fear God with your finances?

Do you revere God with how you budget your time?

Do you prioritize God with your investment in church?

If you fail to see God for Who He is in your life it will show up as difficulty to honor your leaders in the church. It’s like a child who grows up without a father. That fatherless child struggle with authority as an adult.

Let your children know about God

Both memorials God instructed the Israelites to build beside and inside the Jordan were for the kids. We need to talk about our faith with our children. We need to live with a sense of reverence for God and telegraph that reverence through how we parent and interact with our children.

Deuteronomy 6:6–7 ESV

6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.

Talk about God over dinner. Talk about Jesus on your walks. Remind your children of the presence of the Holy Spirit when they lay down and when they rise.

Remember, God wants us to produce children who honor Him.

Malachi 2:15 ESV

15 Did he not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their union? And what was the one God seeking? Godly offspring. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and let none of you be faithless to the wife of your youth.

We must diligently teach our faith to our children no matter how old or young our children are. We have the opportunity to influence them. The way you live our your sincere faith in God affects and changes your children throughout your entire life!

I’ve buried a number of 70 and 80 year olds and listened to their children talk. They share about their parent’s faith when they were younger and when they were older. Don’t give up passing your faith on.

Remember

On Friday we remembered a devastating attack that shook our country almost 20 years ago. Every year our country remembers that tragedy. We must remember.

We must also remember what God has done for us. We must remember how He provided for us in the past. We must remember what He teaches in His Word. We must remember and remind ourselves often of His truths.

Conclusion

I suppose what I’m trying to say here is we must remember to worship God each and every day. We must live with such an obedient reverence for God that honoring our flawed leaders is easy. We must live with such a consuming worship of God that we can’t help but talk about Him with our children. We must build monuments, memories, stories and more of God’s provision. Remember!