Covenant Renewal

Today we conclude our series on Joshua. In this morning’s passage, Israel stops their invasion, or at least, pauses it for a time in order to head about 40 km north to Shechem.

Renewed Covenant

Israel gathered between the mountains, Ebal on the North, Gerizim on the South. The tribes were separated, six on Ebal, six on Gerizim, with the Ark of the Covenant between them.

There, Israel renewed their covenant with God. They presented themselves as living sacrifices, willing to serve and obey God, by keeping his law. The blessings of faithfulness to the Law were put on Mt. Gerizim, but the curses were put on Mt. Ebal. It is worth noting that the altar was on Mt. Ebal.

This is no coincidence. It reminds us that an atoning sacrifice is needed to remove the curse. It reminds us that though we fail to keep God’s law, though we deserve the curse, the sacrifice takes care of it. Later, Christ himself would be the atoning sacrifice, taking the full weight of the curse upon himself. Already then, the connection to Christ is clear. They were looking forward to a true sacrifice that was able to take away all sin, Christ. This is the theme running throughout scripture, that a descendant of Eve would bear the curse of sin. It is renewed with Abraham when Isaac was replaced by a lamb, pointing to Jesus Christ, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

We look back at the single sacrifice of Christ and we remember his death, as a perfect atonement for sin, our sin. Whenever we celebrate communion, we renew our covenant in Christ. We promise anew that we will live our lives for him, in obedience to the Holy Spirit who lives within the hearts of those who believe in and trust in Jesus.

The Reading of the Law

Joshua, while he was on Mt. Ebal, copied the summary of the Law, the 10 commandments, onto new stone tablets. Some commentators suggest that they were clay tablets, that only God inscribed the stone tablets. After that, Joshua read the entire book of the covenant.

As they travelled from Ai to Shechem, Joshua prepared the people, bring food, find a place to sit, I’m re-reading the covenant to you. This means that he read at the very least, the book of Deuteronomy, Leviticus and Numbers. He may have even read Exodus and Genesis.

The people understood. This was important. All Israel was gathered, from the youngest to the oldest, both genders, even the non-Israelites were there, Rahab was there. Each person pledged themselves to God. God welcomes anyone. Even then, there were no real restrictions to being a part of the covenant. There are none now. All you have to do is accept Christ’s work on your behalf. All you have to do is accept Christ’s promises to you. He’s paid it all.

Israel, at the beginning of the conquest of Canaan, renewed her covenant with God. She promised to faithfully keep all God’s commandments. We know from the historical books, that this is not true. In fact, in the very next chapter Israel is deceived by the Gibeonites, because they fail to consult God. And yet, God received their covenant renewal, even though he knew they would fail on their part. He placed the altar on Mt. Ebal to say, “I’ll be faithful. I’ll keep my covenant, yes, even for you!”

God’s Covenant with Us

Beloved congregation, God has covenanted with you. He has called you to be his people, you have responded. You’ve accepted his promises. You have renewed your covenant with him. God is at work in your hearts, in your lives preparing you for works of service and sacrifice. You are ready. You are able.

God has brought us together for a reason, for a purpose. God led me here to serve you, to encourage you to serve Christ. For me, this is incredibly exciting. I can see God at work in all of you. Everything that has ever happened has happened for a reason. Everything has happened so that God may be glorified in us, in our communities.

God has gone before us. He’s prepared the way. The mountains are made low, the valleys are filled in. Christ has conquered sin and death. All we need to do is follow Christ, our commanding officer.

We stand today upon the work of others, other pastors, elders, deacons, teachers, leaders, pew sitters, etc. We are where we are because of Christ. God has a plan for us, for 2013 and beyond. Are you ready?

Many of you are excited, somewhat apprehensive, but still excited. You see good things happening, and you rejoice. Some of you are still tired and worn out. The last few years were a tough go. You dedicated a lot of time and energy, and at the end you feel as though you did not make the difference you’d hope to make.

C.S. Lewis made the following observation in the Narnia book, The Horse and His Boy. Often, when you’ve completed an arduous, nearly impossible act of service, you reward is to get another important and difficult task.

Moving forward, the sense that I have is not an arduous or difficult task, but simply put, a task. God is calling us to fulfil the great commission. God is calling Springdale to go, make disciples, baptising and teaching them to obey everything he’s commanded us.

Maybe you’re sitting there thinking, “I don’t know. This isn’t for me. I’m not one to say much, I’m not sure if I can contribute.” Let me remind you of something. God commanded that the altar be made of undressed stones. No tools were used on the stones for the altar. They were to get normal stones and fit them together as best they can.

You see, when God builds his church, he doesn’t look for the most put together people. He’s not looking for people who are perfect, who are already super-spiritual. He’s looking for ordinary people. He’s looking for imperfect, humble, open people. He is the one who transforms us. He doesn’t call the equipped; he equips the called.

Reality

There was nothing special about Israel. They were not so spiritual; they were not so obedient. In fact, God knew that they would fail miserably. They didn’t even conquer the land. They let more than the Gibeonites live among them, corrupting their worship, as he said they would. But God didn’t wait for them to “arrive.” He didn’t ask them to be as perfect as possible before he called them. He called them because he knew he would have to work in and through them.

God has called all of us, from youngest to oldest. He’s equipped us all to do the work he’s planned in advance for us to do. You don’t have to wait until you’re ready, God has given you everything you need already. Sometimes, when we read the stories in the Bible about amazing, incredible people like David fighting Goliath, we think, “They were super awesome people, they could do things like that. I’m not like that.” But David wasn’t super awesome. David was someone, who, like Joshua, trusted the Lord. David knew the Lord would fight the battle.

Our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities and powers of darkness. Let’s trust God to lead us, to fight the battle for us. Let’s do it, trusting the Lord who calls us to be bold and very courageous. Jesus, our great redeemer, guides us! Amen!