Sermon Tone Analysis

I. Reading of Scripture

This is God’s Word, Amen!

Pray

II.

Introduction

A. Introduction to Theme

I’ve chosen as the title for this sermon, the same title the Scriptures give to Joshua at the end of this book that bears his name:

“The servant of the Lord.”

“The servant of the Lord.”

This title represents one of the highest praises a follower of God may receive.

To look back upon one’s life and hear those words spoken in

Matthew 25:23 (ESV)

“Well done, good and faithful servant.”

We can earn many titles in life, but only one represents true greatness.

Jesus said:

If we want to be like Jesus, we will endeavor to become a servant of Jesus.

How do we do that?

Becoming a servant is not something that is earned.

It is something that is learned.

It is something one generation may pass on to another through a process of instruction but also through being an example.

Joshua teaches us this.

When the book of Joshua began, Joshua was not the servant of the LORD — Moses was.

This book began with Joshua being known, not as the servant of the Lord, but as as the son of Nun, Moses’ assistant.

And as Moses’ assistant, Joshua learned what it meant to be a servant of the Lord.

When Moses rose to go up into the mountain of God, to receive the tables of stone with the law and the commandment for instruction, Joshua was with him.

(Ex 24:13).

When the LORD spoke with Moses face to face, Joshua was with him (Ex 33:11).

Joshua was with Moses from his youth (Num 11:28)!

And in growing up as Moses’ assistant, Joshua learned through the proximity and access he had to Moses’ life, and the example that was set for him in Moses, and through the experiences of God’s grace he witnessed over the years — Joshua did not earn but he learned what it meant to be the LORD’s servant.

When the time came for Moses to die, the LORD could have chosen anyone else to lead Israel in to the land of promise.

But the LORD did not choose someone else, for the Scriptures tell us it was to Joshua that the voice of the LORD came, to stand in Moses’ place as the LORD’s servant before a new generation.

B. Introduction to Text

But just as Moses died, Joshua too dies.

This text invites us all to his funeral, and not just Joshua’s funeral but two others.

There are three funerals in this text to close the book of Joshua.

Three funerals to mark the end of an era.

Three lives that represent God’s purposes for his people.

Three periods to mark the completion of sentences in the story of God through these men.

Three deaths are proclaimed.

And these funerals might seem to us to be an after-thought, they were important enough for God to preserve in His word, so they are worth our time.

Because while these funerals represent the end of three earthy lives, they do not represent the end of God’s eternal story.

III.

Exposition

A. Joshua | 24:29-31

Illustration: We all have been to funerals.

At the front lies either a body, or some token of remembrance of that person’s life — it is something visual, to capture the lifetime in a moment.

Here representing the life of Joshua before us, is this large Bible: God’s Word.

As we begin this funeral service, let us begin by hearing a reading of Joshua’s obituary.

An obituary is a notice of death and it often includes a brief summary of that person’s life.

This text begins with the phrase: “After these things.”

“After” — not “before.”

This statement of timing reveals that Joshua did not die until the LORD was finished with him.

The LORD’s work was not finished, or else the Bible would end with the book of Joshua.

But the LORD’s work through Joshua’s life was finished.

Joshua’s death is presented as a moment of completion.

“After these things.”

Notice that it took 24 chapters for Joshua to go from being known as Moses’ assistant (1:1) to being known as “the servant of the LORD” (24:29).

Yet here in this final summary, we are not given a highlight reel of Joshua’s life.

All is summed up in this one phrase: “The servant of the LORD.”

One of the most important features of a book is the title.

An author that wants people to read the details inside a book must work hard to interest the reader with an attractive and interesting title.

The title of our life will be one of two options: Were we “A Servant of Ourselves?” or were we “A Servant of the Lord”?

That summary makes all the difference!

Joshua was a “Servant of the LORD” and representing his life is this Bible: God’s Word.

A Bible is chosen because Joshua spoke the Word of God to the people.

When God first spoke to him, God said:

And Joshua did so.

We know this not because he published his Bible reading plan or his journal that we might check his daily readings.

We know this because he remained faithful to the Lord and “never compromised his worship of the Lord” (KM).

Even unto his last speech to the people he was repeating this theme:

Joshua did not memorize God’s Word.

Joshua internalized God’s Word!

He did not get in to the Word.

He let the Word get in to Him!

And the same instruction God gave to him in the beginning, he passed on to the people in the end.

Joshua meditated on God’s Word, obeyed God’s Word, lived God’s Word, and Joshua spoke the Word of God to the people with faith.

And Joshua’s earthly life is brought to completion as his body is buried in the land that was his own inheritance, to rest secure in God’s promise.

And the writer of this text adds one more comment to highlight the faithfulness of Joshua to God’s Word:

That statement “Israel served the LORD” occurs only here in the Old Testament (KM).

It is found nowhere else.

And this speaks highly of Joshua and his generation (KM).

Those who had experienced God’s mighty works for themselves served the Lord.

But personal experiences don’t last.

Personal experiences fade one generation to another.

Just a couple pages turns later, we read in

It did not take long for the succeeding generation to turn from the Lord.

They failed to remember what Joshua taught them throughout his life.

That faithfulness is not grounded in what we see, but in what we hear.

— Live by God’s Word!

B. Joseph | 24:32

This text proclaims another death, the death of Joseph.

Here representing the life of Joseph before us, is this purple cloth, representing a King.

Joseph was one of Jacob’s sons and like Joshua, Joseph also lived 110 years.

Joseph did not die in the promised land.

Joseph died in Egypt, where he was a kingly figure.

A vice-regent, made so by the providence of God to provide in Egypt for the family of Israel during a famine.

But Joseph’s reign was not eternal, for the time came for him too, to die.

What God was doing in Joshua, bringing the people IN to the land of promise, was the completion of God bringing Israel OUT of Egypt.

God brought Israel IN to Egypt under Joseph, but God did not bring Israel IN to Egypt with the intent on leaving them there!

Egypt was just a part of God’s plan.