Reasonable Faith

Last week, we began our series on Joshua. We considered the great promises that God makes to Joshua and to us. Be bold and very courageous, for I will never leave you nor forsake you. This means that in all areas of our life, God is present with us, and he equips us to live boldly and courageously with Christ in us.

God demonstrated his faithfulness, his power and his concern for Israel by dramatically rescuing them from Egypt, then providing for their every need for 40 years. With a new adventure before them, Joshua places his trust in God and wisely scouts out the land immediately before them. He himself had scouted the land 40 years earlier, so there’s no need to go far. Joshua wants to know what the people of Jericho are thinking.

Joshua’s Faith

The last time Israel sent spies, it didn’t turn out well. God commanded Moses to choose one leader from each of the twelve tribes to spy out the land, giving them these instructions: “Go up this way into the South, and go up to the mountains, and see what the land is like: whether the people who dwell in it are strong or weak, few or many; whether the land they dwell in is good or bad; whether the cities they inhabit are like camps or strongholds; whether the land is rich or poor; and whether there are forests there or not. Be of good courage. And bring some of the fruit of the land” (Num 13:17-20a).

But when the spies returned, only Joshua and Caleb believed that they would be able to overcome the land. But the other spies disagreed, saying, “we are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we.” And they gave the children of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, “The land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature” (Num 13:32).

The people of Israel cried out to God, complained against Moses and Aaron, and believe the majority. This is a wise lesson for us. The rule of the majority does not necessarily guarantee God’s will. Nor does it necessarily hinder God’s will. When there are meetings and decisions, large groups do not always follow or make the wisest decisions. When we have clear instructions from the Lord, as contained in His Word, then we must trust the Lord to provide all our needs, even when it seems impossible.

God clearly told them they would be able to take the land, because He was going to battle for them. Fear, insecurity—not surprising after years of slavery, a lack of trust in God, all resulted in death for that generation. Following God is a serious undertaking.

Reasonable Faith

Jesus told a parable about it saying, “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, saying, ‘This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.’

“Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Will he not first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple” (Lk. 14:28-33).

Now at first hearing, it sounds like Israel was right, they counted the men, and figured that they were outnumbered. But, they didn’t count on God. That’s what Jesus demands we do. We count on him; we totally depend upon God, so much so that we don’t even bring anything to the table. Jesus says, you can’t depend upon yourself and your own strength. You’re bringing a knife to gunfight. Actually, we’re bringing sticks and stones to a nuclear war.

We need to trust God completely. Joshua did. Still, he sent two spies. This time the results were vastly different. From the spies, Joshua learned that the people were extremely afraid of Israel. They’d heard about them. They’d heard about the battles they’d recently won. They’d heard about the miraculous crossing of the Red Sea.

Properly Placed Confidence

To Joshua and Israel, this was music to their ears. It erased their worries. God orchestrated this as part of his plan, so that Joshua’s confidence would grow, not in himself, but in God. God, already in chapter two wants Joshua to know that he’s with him. God is faithfully fulfilling his promises to Joshua.

God does the same for us, of course. Sometimes there are walls around our objectives, preventing us from seeing any possible way of accomplishing our goals, our plans. Sometimes it is people we have to work with, sometimes it is family members, sometimes it is health, or sometimes it is forces completely outside of us. The only option we have, the only option that works is for us to trust in God.

As we’ll see, God is patient, he is just and he is gracious. God works in and through us, sometimes despite us, and others. God’s plan cannot be thwarted. Nothing prevents God from doing what he plans to do. Not one thing, not you, not me. Yes, there are times where we get ourselves, or others get themselves in the way. But in the end, we can trust God to work, to do the impossible.

Humble Faith

In 1 Peter 5:6-7, we read, “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” The key to living a no worries life is to humble yourself before God, and trust him to work everything out, through you. This is what it looks like:

Most times, we think we know, we think we’re in control; we get ‘er done. Every now and then, God allows things to happen to dispel this misconception. He sharply brings our attention to him. And in the process, he humbles us. If you’ve gone through a difficult time, an accident, an illness, financial distress, whatever, those things serve to bring our attention back to God.

The response I, we have to make is, “Lord I bow before your will. I surrender my life, again, to you. You are the potter; I am the clay. All the worries I have in my life right now, I give them over to you. I trust you will work through me, through others, to transform me according to your will, so that more and more I may give glory and honour to you.”

No worries, Jesus said, “I came so that you may have life, to the fullest.” God wants us to focus on him so that we enjoy him, now and forever. In God, we find our greatest satisfaction. In God is our greatest delight. That’s the chief end of man, according to the first question and answer of the Westminster Shorter Catechism, “What is the chief end of man? To glorify God, and enjoy him forever.” Pastor John Piper, has modified that answer slightly by changing it to say, “To glorify God by enjoying him forever.” To fully understand what he means by that, I suggest you read his book, “Desiring God”.

“No worries, Joshua,” says the Lord. “I’m preparing the land for your taking. I’ve put fear into the hearts of the people. Trust me. Humble yourself before me. I am going on ahead of you.”

Rahab’s Example

The other point that I want to note from this passage is God’s remarkable plan for Rahab. Rahab was a Canaanite. She was a prostitute. She was a nobody, a nothing. If she were to walk into this church, many would be very shocked and bothered by her presence. And yet, she showed a great deal of faith in God.

As a foreigner, she should have trusted her own gods. She should have put her confidence in the strong walls of Jericho. She should have trusted her leaders. But given the overwhelming evidence, she trusted in God. She heard the reports, she knew of the crossing of the Red Sea, the defeat of the two Amorite kings, Sihon and Og. She, and she alone of all the people in Jericho, placed her life in God’s hands. She exhibited the words of 1 Peter 5:6-7. She humbled herself, and then she cast all her cares upon God.

Her faith caused her to act. She disobeyed a direct order. She lied to her king. This reminds me of WWII. Some Christians had a hard time lying to the occupying government when they were disobeying orders, rescuing and protecting people. But though they disobeyed the civil government, that government was acting contrary to God’s law. That was the right thing to do. The king of Jericho was acting outside God’s law. If one prostitute could have been saved, could not the whole down have been saved? If the king had acted as Rahab did, what might have happened to Jericho?

Rahab’s faith and her inclusion in God’s family teaches us a lesson about God’s grace. Let’s infiltrate our communities, our schools, our workplaces and tell people of the God we serve. Let’s fill this building with people that no one else considers or cares for, the prostitutes, the down and out, the hopeless and the afraid. Sure, it would be great if some of those who haven’t been attending came back again, especially if they haven’t been able to connect with God’s people elsewhere. Let’s encourage that idea, for sure, but let’s expand our horizon to include those who don’t know anything about Christ yet.

What a story we have to share! Look at what God did for his people, Israel!

We already know the objections that might come up, “God? I’ve heard about God, he’s just up there, somewhere in heaven, he doesn’t care about me, about life, real life!”

“Are you kidding me? Of course he does! He really cares for you. He cares enough to have come down to earth in person. To live exactly as we live. He knows! He really knows what it is like! What is more, he knows everything there is to know about you. He knows your fears, your worries, your hopes, your dreams. He knows that what you really need is him. So come on, get to know him today. Don’t go by what you’ve heard, take him at his word! Here, let me show you!”

What do you think congregation? If any one of us thinks we’re more deserving than others, we’re dead wrong. There shouldn’t be a single person on the planet who wouldn’t be welcome here. This isn’t a hang out for righteous, it’s an hospital for sinners.

Rahab had it right in her heart. She trusted God. God transformed her life, she turned away from her life of sin, and pursued righteousness. That’s no different from any of us, except perhaps that our sins are quite as public. But God transformed her and made her life special. She is the great ancestor of Kind David, of Jesus.

Now I know myself. The temptation, always is to judge people by what we see. We look at how people look, dress, etc. God knows the heart. Let’s trust God, let’s recklessly pour out grace into our communities, and trust God to transform their hearts and ours.

At the very least, let us be as generous as God is. “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” While we were still enemies with God, Christ gave up his life as atonement for sin. By faith, we trust that God has reached down, into our hearts. He’s removed the heart of stone, and replaced it with a heart of flesh. Out of the overflow of your heart, we speak and act. Consider your words and your actions, and you’ll be able to gauge your heart.

Let us pray: “Father in heaven, we ask you to open our eyes to see the world as you see it, full of people dying to know you, to live in you, to experience hope, joy and forgiveness. Help us to be as welcoming and as radically gracious as you are. Move in us to tell people all the wonderful things you have done and are doing in us, so that they too can share in them. Amen!”