"Be Strong and Courageous"

 

"I gave you a land on which you did not toil and cities you did not build; and you live in them and eat from vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant. Now fear the Lord and serve him with faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord." – Joshua 24:13-15

 

            Once I was leading a class for people who had a limited knowledge of the Bible. One Sunday I told them if they wanted to find a picture of the love of God to read the book of Hosea, because there the prophet marries a prostitute, and she goes back to her old way of life, and he restores her to the marriage, and this is how God treats Israel when they wander from him and chase after idols. But one of the men in the group went home and told his wife, who had not been there, to read the book of Joshua, not Hosea, to find out about the love of God. She found accounts of battles and instructions to kill all the inhabitants of conquered towns, but nothing about the love of God. Joshua is a hard book to read.

            Sometimes we view it as a children's Bible story. We tell about the walls of Jericho tumbling down, but leave out the part about killing all the inhabitants. Years ago when I was a student at North Park College, we went out to Wheaton to play a game of basketball. While the teams were warming up, the Wheaton pep band played "Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho" and their cheering squad began running circles around our team. All of a sudden I realized this was no longer friendly competition, this was Biblical drama, and we were the Canaanites.

            As Christians, how do we read the book of Joshua? What do we do with the destruction of Jericho and all its inhabitants? How do we understand its battles, with whole populations of cities annihilated? As the men's Bible study said on Friday, "we seem to be a long way from Jesus here." This is surely the most difficult part of the Old Testament for us to read.

            After 40 years in the wilderness, the Israelites make their way to the Jordan River, and then Moses dies and Joshua takes over. Joshua was a close aide to Moses, and was mentioned as one who was with Moses on Mt. Sinai. He was one of the 12 spies who went into the land of Canaan, and only he and Caleb had faith to call Israel to take the land. He was a military commander who defeated the Amalekites in the wilderness. He is noted for his obedience to the Lord, and for his courage and strength in clinging to God through many difficult challenges.

            Israel entered Canaan about 1400 BC, during a time of decline in the civilization there. It was a chaotic political time, with many rival kings leading small nations. Evidence found outside the Biblical record confirms that it was a particularly debased culture with the practice of child sacrifice, ritual prostitution and general immorality. The civilization collapsed about 1200 BC.

            It is hard to read Joshua because it tells of the complete destruction of the people in the conquered cities. Jericho, for instance, was "devoted" to the Lord. David Howard explains that "this Hebrew term, 'devoted,' refers to the irrevocable giving over of things or persons to the Lord, often by totally destroying them."

 This practice of devoting cities was not practiced after the conquest. It soon disappears from the Bible. It was also not carried out as thoroughly as the book of Joshua reports. Judges chapter 1 indicates that the victories described in Joshua were incomplete, as many of the people were not driven out. There is no indication that his practice is to be followed again. And we soon meet Ruth, who is from Moab, and she is a righteous woman who is allowed to marry an Israelite. All Canaanites were not immoral. There are some things in the Old Testament that do not have an easy explanation.

            What are we as Christians to take from the book of Joshua? Howard identifies several themes that emerge from Joshua. The first is that in this book, the people fully obey both God and Joshua. This may be an idealized picture, given what we know about the grumbling in the wilderness, and the lawlessness in the time of the judges. But the scripture asks us, what would happen if people truly obeyed God? Would peace come into our lives as it did to Israel?

 If we practiced obedience to Christ, would we feel his presence more deeply in our lives? After Jesus gives the Great Commission, he says "surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." If we compromise with the world, or if we fail to do God's will because we are afraid we might fail, do we really expect to know the presence of the Lord in our lives?

            One other theme Howard points to is that of rest. In Joshua, the possession of the land is the accomplishment of God's rest for the people. God rested on the 7^th day. The people experienced rest in the land when the conquest was over. They not only rested from their enemies, but also from their sins. There was a Sabbath of peace in the land.

 We feel worn out from being overly busy. Sometimes our recreation wears us out, our rest is not restful. We too easily follow the dictates of our secular culture. But sin does not give peace. Joshua says that when we do God's will, we will find rest, the peace of God we long for. In an ultimate sense, the hope of heaven is our rest. Heaven is not something we wait for passively. Obedience and rest are closely tied together.

             In chapter 24, Joshua, now an old man, sets before the people three statements. In verse 13 he says that God gave them a land on which they did not toil, cities they did not build and vineyards they did not plant.

What does it mean to you to recognize the gifts and blessings of God in your life and to live more fully by grace? What does it mean to you that your life is a gift from God? Can you become a generous person because of all God has given you?

            In verse 14 he says, "throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped . . . and serve the Lord." We all have inherited things from our families that we need to throw away. Some of what we have been given speaks of idolatry, of sin, of moral failure, of brokenness. We can hold on to these things, or we can let go of them.  The Lord always calls us to that which is new, to that which saves and redeems. But part of receiving the Lord's salvation is letting go of that which is hurtful, that which holds us back from knowing and following the Lord. What habits, attitudes and behaviors have you inherited from your family that you need to throw away?

            Finally, in verse 15 Joshua says "choose for yourselves whom you will serve . . . but as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord." What does it mean for you to choose today whom you will serve? Today there are many voices calling for your money and your time and your abilities. I like the way Ruth Hill puts it: Will you lay down on the altar your calendar, your checkbook and your keys? Because we really are not serving the Lord until it gets to writing down day by day what we will do, until we actually look at where our money is going, until we stop believing we can do everything and go everywhere, and put the name of the Lord on our car keys. Where am I driving and why? What am I going to do today? Who is my money serving?

          My checkbook, my calendar and my keys.

          "Choose this day whom you will serve. As for me, I will serve the Lord."

          Amen.