Prerequisites For Success Series

Background to passage: After God had given Joshua encouragement and promises of his presence, Joshua gave the people instructions as to the preparations for the next few days when they would enter the land. He gave all the people a few instructions, but dealt with a the two and a half tribes specifically. After his instructions, the people respond in the affirmative, and there is much to learn from their response.

Joshua 1:16–18 ESV

And they answered Joshua, “All that you have commanded us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go.

Just as we obeyed Moses in all things, so we will obey you. Only may the Lord your God be with you, as he was with Moses!

Whoever rebels against your commandment and disobeys your words, whatever you command him, shall be put to death. Only be strong and courageous.”

Opening illustration: Someone who tries to get around the circumvent the requirements

Main thought: In order to go and possess the land of promise there are some prerequisites for success. In order for a church, or family, or organization to succeed, some things must happen first.

1) The Willingness of the People (v. 16)

Joshua 1:16 ESV

And they answered Joshua, “All that you have commanded us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go.

1) The Willingness of the People (v. 16)

Explanation: the people issued this promise: whatever you say, and wherever you go, we will do it. What is missing is the qualifications, the conditions. The people wrote Joshua (thus God) a blank check for their lives. The root word in the Hb for these words is “all.” They will do all things and go anywhere. Nowhere is off limits.

Argumentation: Paul’s response when he met Jesus on the road to Damascus

Illustration: “You cannot fully know if you know the will of God unless you remove all boundaries” In his book, Vision and Betrayal in America, former Congressman John B. Anderson of Illinois reminds us of the “black year” of the American Revolution—1777–1778—when there were fewer than five-hundred men in the colonies who were willing to pledge their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor for the cause of the nascent republic. Although small in number, the colonists’ commitment inspired others, and the foundations of liberty were successfully laid.

Application: We want to tell God: I will follow you and do what you say as long as I don’t have to… We want to put boundaries on God’s will for our lives. As a church, we say: we will do the will of God as long as it is something that we have done before. Sometimes it is geographical boundaries. Sometimes it is financial boundaries. Sometimes it is comfort boundaries. What is it for you? What is it in your life that you have said to God this is where I draw the line?

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2) The Unity of the People (v. 16-17)

Joshua 1:16–17 ESV

And they answered Joshua, “All that you have commanded us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go.

Just as we obeyed Moses in all things, so we will obey you. Only may the Lord your God be with you, as he was with Moses!

2) The Unity of the People (v. 16-17)

Explanation: This would have been the perfect time for division. Explain the situation with the 2.5 tribes settling to the east of the Jordan. But instead of division we see unity. They were focused on a couple of goals: 1) doing the will of God, 2) keeping the commitments that they had made. They had their eyes on the same things. They were not being self-centered, self-focused, or motivated by their own greed. Four times they said “we.”

Philippians 1:27 ESV

Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel,

Philippians 2:1–4 ESV

So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy,

complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.

Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

1 Corinthians 1:10 ESV

I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment.