Absurd Faith - Joshua 5:13-6:25

Introduction

The moment Israel had been waiting centuries for had finally arrived. Like a bride waiting of her wedding or a high school student waiting for his graduation, it must’ve felt like this day was never going to come — until it did. The had made plans and preparations and mistakes and experienced setbacks, but now they had crossed over the Jordan right into the very center of the Promised Land. Generations of angst and excitement and anticipation had culminated into this singular moment, and you can imagine exactly how they were feeling. Excitement came with nervousness. Thankfulness was bridled by trepidation. The promises they knew and had long been taught were now being met with the reality of what it was going to take for them to be fulfilled and realized.

God’s Word

Every step of faith by Joshua and Israel seems to require another, yet bolder step of faith to follow.

A life of faith isn’t a one bold step of faith followed by an easy path you can navigate on your own. A life of faith is following God’s call one step after another, like feeling your way through a dark cave because you trust that the steps are safe and are certain that the destination is worth it.

That’s how the Bible remembers Joshua 6. It remembers it as a victory of faith. It remembers it as a place where faith was exemplified and rewarded.

Hebrews 11:30 “30By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days.”

The walls fell, not by military power, not by great scheming, not through proper military tools. The walls were felled by faith.

Faith that Fells Walls (Headline)

A “Submissive” Faith — faith in spite of what I “see”.

Just as Moses had brought Israel across a divided Red Sea on dry ground, a final sign that God had delivered them from Egypt, so Joshua has just led Israel across a divided Jordan River on dry ground, a final sign that God was giving them the Promised Land. It’s all systems go, and we’re transported to the night before the final push to Jericho where Joshua is alone, thinking and prepping and praying about what lies ahead the following day.

Joshua 5:13–15 13When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing before him with his drawn sword in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said to him, “Are you for us, or for our adversaries?” 14And he said, “No; but I am the commander of the army of the Lord. Now I have come.” And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped and said to him, “What does my lord say to his servant?” 15And the commander of the Lord’s army said to Joshua, “Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.

Against the moonlit sky, Joshua has his head down.

Appears downcast — opposite posture of “strong and courageous”

God’s promises behind him, but Jericho’s walls before him — imposing, impenetrable walls that had led to the slaughter of untold thousands before Israel. Wrestling with what God has promised in light of what he sees. As leader, bearing the weight of his people and their wellbeing.

Opportunities of faith always look like impossible odds. When you look at your resources and compare them with your circumstances, they’ll come up short. Faith is accompanied by nerves and concern, questions and doubt. (ministry/marriage/family mission)

Joshua lifts up his eyes to realize that he’s not alone.

A warrior unlike any man in any army he’s ever seen — including his own and Egypt — with his sword drawn. He’s not sure if it’s good or bad, if it’s his salvation or his condemnation.

“Are you for us, or for our adversaries?” = “Are you going to serve us or Jericho?”

“No!” An either/or question with a yes/no answer. (Circle “yes” or “no” and circle the “or”. Do you like Alabama or Auburn? “No.”)

“I am the commander of the army of the LORD. Now I have come.”

“Joshua, you are not alone. Joshua, we’re going to do this my way. I am the commander, not you. I will determine our approach, not you.”

Joshua’s question amounted to him inviting God to join his plan. God’s commander had come to demand that Joshua join God’s plan.

It isn’t faith to create plans and designs for our lives that make sense to us and then invite God to join in and bless us. We pray ask God to bless what we have already decided to do, one way or another. We decide where our families will live and what career we will have and what we will do with our money and how we’ll spend our spare time, and then we ask, “Lord, won’t you bless me? Won’t you serve my plans? I’m willing to be this or that. I’ll go here or I’ll go there. I live here or I’ll live there. What do you think?” And, He answers us like the Commander answered Joshua, “No!” Sinners don’t get to present options to a holy God.

God is not our servant, and that is not faith. Faith is going to God with a heart that God knows is entirely open to his leadership.

Joshua’s answer is to worship. (Hebrews worship with their full bodies. So, he bows down.)

Worship/v. 15holy ground/6:2 “the LORD said” indicates a theophany —> likely a Christophany (preincarnate Son) (Commander of the Lord’s army - Rev 19-20)

Just like any nation their King was leading them, not Joshua. Unlike any nation, their King was seen with the eyes of faith, not sight.

Joshua bows down in submission to his leadership.

Romans 12:1 “Living sacrifice - holy and pleasing”

APP: Faith is signing your life over a blank check to God.

An “Absurd” Faith — faith in spite of how it “sounds”.

The plan comes directly from the LORD himself: “I have given Jericho into your hand” SO “march around the walls playing band music once a day for six days, seven times on the seventh day and then shout — the walls will fall right down.” It’s a downright absurd plan.

Absurd plans are a calling card of God’s leadership. Plans that look impossible to succeed or that have very little support seem to be the only types of plans that God specializes in. The plans of God typically look like foolishness to popular opinion.

1 Corinthians 1:25: “For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.”

The plan of God always pushes back on our earthly sensibilities.

Joy comes through self-denial. The greatest freedom comes through total submission. Immovable hope is impossible. Infinite power is available by only praying. The cross, that awful, tortuous instrument of death, is the very means by which we might obtain eternal life. “The foolishness of God is wiser than men.” God’s plans, God’s ways, God’s wisdom doesn’t make any sense to those looking in from the outside. They can only be seen through the eyes of faith.

God’s backwards, absurd plans call his people to stupendous, absurd faith.

God’s plans, if you follow them, ensure that people who don’t believe in him will think you’re crazy. Your operating system is foreign to the logic of this world. Israel marched around the walls of the city, and they didn’t say anything. There was must’ve looked like a wooden box (the arc of the covenant) in their midst and they were marching in circles blowing shofars. You can imagine as the people of Jericho looked through their windows in the walls how the mocked such a foolish military strategy. Israel was exposing itself every day to an easy attack. They weren’t making any progress. They seem to value a wooden box in the middle of their fighting men as though it was their king. They had brought priests to a war. Imagine how laughable it was to the mighty men of Jericho.

If you aren’t living your life in a way that the faithless think is crazy, are you really living by faith?

ILL: I have a friend that told me the story of his cousin. All his cousin had ever wanted was to be a dentist. He had worked and prepared, and he had made it all the way through dental school. He had reached the capstone course, and the final exam determined whether or not he would graduate as a dentist or not. It was the exam everybody feared and worried over. The night before the exam he gathered with some friends to study for the big exam, and they all studied through the night. The next day, his professor handed out the tests, and when he saw it his heart sank. He knew every answer. And, he knew every answer because, apparently, someone from his study group had stolen a copy of the test, and it had been the exact test that he’d been studying. He was conflicted as to what to do, but he was convicted that the Lord would not have him attain his goals that way. He stood, turned in a blank test, and received a zero. He never became a dentist.

The question we have to answer is: Is that foolish, or is it wise? The world would say it’s not his fault or that it doesn’t hurt anyone. But, what if being a dentist isn’t your highest goal? What if reaching your greatest aspirations isn’t what you live for? What if it’s the glory of God? Well, then it’s wise, isn’t it?

It’s an absurd faith! Are you following Jesus so closely that your life looks absurd to the faithless?

There’s something else that I want you to notice about God’s call to absurd faith. He calls Israel together. He’s not just calling Joshua or the priests; He’s calling all of Israel to join into this together and take responsibility for the plans that lie ahead.

Who is called to march around the city? v. 3 “ALL the men of war.”

Who is to shout on the seventh day after the seventh loop? v. 5 “ALL the people.”

Who must devote everything to destruction and not keep anything from Israel? v. 18 “Yourselves (plural; everyone involved)

Warning: v. 18 “lest (you)....make the camp of Israel a thing for destruction and bring trouble upon it.” (The implication is that if any one person fails to obey or operate by God’s absurd plan that it compromises the mission for everyone. The unfaithfulness of one will bring consequences upon everyone.

God isn’t just calling (you) to faith. God is calling (us) to faith. We’re always concerned with God’s individual plans for our lives. But, I challenge you to go to your Bible and come away with one instance in which God’s will is individualized. This is radical for our individualistic culture. God’s will in Jericho, and God’s will in the church involves all of his people. God’s plan isn’t about YOU; it’s about US.

APP:

When one of us is unfaithful, it brings consequences upon us all. (abdicating role in the body of Christ)

When each of us contributes an absurd faith to the whole, we have beckoned the very power that crushes Jericho’s walls to inhabit our ministries. Jericho is a case study of what can happen when God’s people join together in radical faith.

Collective faith = collective victory - outline specific collective victories at ICBC during pandemic

A “Confirmed” Faith - faith in light of what God has “said”.

Joshua 6:20 (ESV) 20So the people shouted, and the trumpets were blown. As soon as the people heard the sound of the trumpet, the people shouted a great shout, and the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they captured the city.

The question that faced Israel, and the question that faced Rahab were one and the same: Can we trust what God has said? That is, is radical faith worth it? Is radical, absurd faith reasonable?

Rahab: lie to the king, hide the spies, and ties a scarlet cord in the window.

Israel: put down the battering rams and pick up the shofars.

Can you imagine how Israel felt when the walls fell flat where they stood? Can you imagine how Rahab felt as her section of the wall was the only part left standing? Their faith was confirmed. They had banked their wellbeing upon the trustworthiness of God, and their faith had proven well-founded.

But, can you also imagine how Jericho felt when the walls fell down? Israel had seemed so crazy, so absurd. Rahab and her family had been the only people in the whole city to change their allegiance to the God of Israel.

Jericho was a grizzly, gruesome scene as Israel stormed what used to be the gates. Moms and dads, boys and girls were slaughtered and left behind. The city was burned to the ground. And, the only difference between them and Israel, them and Rahab was not that they were worse sinners or less valuable. It was that they refused to turn to YWHW. They refused to believe.

So, what we see on one hand is the confirmation of faith’s reward and on the other hand of unbelief’s cost.

I wonder how many are listening to me this morning, and you’ve built the nicest walls and the best city so that your family grows up with all the things and all the opportunities. You’ve spurned absurd, radical faith, and you’ve settled for what seems wisest right now. There is a judgement coming, and for houses where that is true, there will be men and women, boys and girls slaughtered and left behind. Today, will you abandon the wisdom of the world, and trust in the foolishness of the cross?