We had a very exciting and very emotion filled spring. My daughter Beth, my baby, graduated from college. I remember very well when she was about to start classes four years before. She openly wondered if she could actually do college level work. Well, she did indeed and now has a college diploma to prove it. But the other day she shared some equally troubling thoughts - she said "I realized that I don’t have summer anymore."
What she was saying was that there was no more school to look forward to next fall; no more protected environment in which to learn and grow and pass or fail classes. Instead of facing summer she faced the rest of her life and being on her own and it was scaring her.
Now, don’t get me wrong, she will do wonderfully. But I wonder if the two and half tribes of the nation of Israel that we see in chapter 22 didn’t have somewhat the same jitters. For years and years they had fought alongside their brothers to secure the land west of the Jordan. They had promised Moses and later Joshua that they would not return to their lands east of the Jordan until all the land had been subdued.
That time had come and now they must gather their swords and uniforms and march back to "the real world." What happens to us when after spending so many years fighting battles against the flesh, the world, and the enemy - do we find ourselves out on our own?
Sometimes we love having so many people surround us in youth group or fellowship group or Bible study or just in church. Then at some point we hear that voice of the Lord saying it is time to pack up and go to the next stage. We feel a little like someone graduating from college. We didn’t think we could do the level of work and maturity that we see in the Word, but God has done it in us and we are so much stronger for it. Now He wants to put that knowledge and experience to work - in a different place or radically different way. What do we do? Let’s get some challenge and encouragement from this chapter.
Verses 1 - 4
These two and half tribes listened to God’s Word, and obeyed it. They finished the task God had set before them, waiting until their brothers had rest. In Joshua 1 they had said: "All that you have commanded us we will do, and wherever you send us, we will go."
Doesn’t it feel great when we can say that too? I think as we mature as believers we begin to get that sense that for something God charged us with doing, we accomplished it, we stuck to it, and the work got done.
It reminds me a little of what the Apostle Paul said:
2 Timothy 4:7-8 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing. ESV
It doesn’t mean we get sent out to pasture - no longer effective in ministry (quite the opposite actually), but there is freedom in knowing that you heard the voice of God and obeyed, and can now move on to something new.
So Joshua has some helpful insight for them in what to avoid and what to cling to - lessons that can help us when we feel "sent out."
Verses 5 - 6
There is so much in these two verses - great principals for leadership in ministry:
1. Your respect for the Word must be overriding ("observe the command")
2. Your relationship with God must be nurtured ("love the Lord")
3. Your reliance on God must be maintained ("keep" and "cling")
4. Your readiness to serve must be your focus ("serve him with all your heart")
Love, walk, keep, cling, and serve. Aren’t those great verbs? Every leader, in fact every Christian, should use these as guiding principals. They are especially important for the person heading out in ministry. Here’s why:
What can happen is that as we leave our support system and sometimes our accountability system, our ideas can begin to become more important than God’s ideas and our doctrine begins to slant off in a particular direction. It is slow at first, but even a 1 degree difference can make you miss your target by hundreds of miles. Again, this is why we teach verse by verse - it keeps us on track of the "whole counsel of God"
Another thing that happens is we can begin to neglect our personal relationship with God. This happens so often. You get busy in ministry, and not just full time vocational pastoral ministry either - and you don’t take the time to just love God, just spend time with Him, let Him talk to you personally. You can get bitter and tired and burned out pretty quickly unless you are personally refreshed.
A third thing that happens is that as things go pretty well we begin to subtly think that we can do it. I’ve seen this happen to guys whose churches grow pretty big pretty fast. I’m thankful that didn’t happen to us. I’m thankful that for years I had to really pray each month for just the money to pay the essential bills. It teaches you that it isn’t about you nor is it coming from you.
And then finally we must remember that God is God and we are not. We "serve at the pleasure of the King of the Universe." It isn’t our kingdom; we just "works here and brings our lunch." It also isn’t to benefit us. Yes, we are blessed, but our primary job is to further God’s kingdom and bring Him glory. Too many people lose out at this point and create their own kingdoms for their own glory. What would happen if you woke up one day and God said: "Time for you to move on; quit today." Would you be able to leave it all behind? It’s also an attitude that realizes "its not about me." We live in a society where self is all that matters - and it even translates to our choice of churches. We come to see what’s here for me to get. The attitude of a mature Christian is "what’s here for me to give?"
So: love, walk, keep, cling, and serve - and you will be blessed, just as Joshua blessed the East Jordan tribes.
Verses 7 - 9
They were not go out empty handed. They divided the spoil - they got something for their service to the Children of Israel. I think it’s great when I’ve seen ministries really send out folks not with a hug and a prayer, but with real support to get going on what they are endeavoring in. I think that there is nothing wrong with being supported in ministry.
I get a little concerned, and I hear this all the time, that ministry should equal bad pay. Who ever created that? Sure, when we work for the Lord that is part of the reward, but isn’t that true whether we get paid or not? I think you should pay someone a fair wage no matter what they do, even if it is in vocational full time ministry. Now I’m not bucking for a raise here, just pointing out a spiritual principal.
3 John 5-8 Beloved, it is a faithful thing you do in all your efforts for these brothers, strangers as they are, 6 who testified to your love before the church. You will do well to send them on their journey in a manner worthy of God. 7 For they have gone out for the sake of the name, accepting nothing from the Gentiles. 8 Therefore we ought to support people like these, that we may be fellow workers for the truth. ESV
1 Corinthians 9:7 Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard without eating any of its fruit? Or who tends a flock without getting some of the milk? ESV
So now comes the controversial thing these tribes did when they got home:
Verses 10 - 12
These tribes were sincere in what they did - they were not moving away from Yahweh spiritually. But God never intended from anyone to live outside of Canaan. As the tribes moved away from the land, they might have felt isolated, so they wanted to erect an altar to remind them and everyone else who they belonged to. Had they lived on the west of the Jordan this would not have been necessary.
The rest of the people misunderstood them and thought they were perhaps saying they were not part of the rest of the nation. So they were ready for war. Fortunately, cooler heads prevailed and the rest of Israel did some investigating before drawing their swords (which is always a good move).
Verses 13 - 34
The key in what the Eastern Jordanian tribes said was that they were not setting up a rival religion and the altar was not for sacrifice but rather for witness that they did indeed belong with the rest of the nation of Israel. They didn’t react in kind, but explained carefully what they had done. This is another good lesson in terms of getting along together.
In reality, though, this trend of separation was Israel’s undoing. The Law required them to appear at the Tabernacle three times a year. Not too long from this time, the tribes will have set up altars to all kinds of other gods and all but abandon the Tabernacle.
The trans-Jordan tribes wanted their lands not because God gave it to them but because the land looked good to them. So though they feign allegiance, they have moved partial degree away from what God wanted and will move further as time goes on, in fact they are among the first to fall into idolatry (1 Chronicles 5:25).
So there are two things that we can learn as God sends us out on our own for ministry.
1. Watch your motivations
Fame, fortune, and power can lure the best intentioned person into doing something in the flesh instead of the Spirit. An invitation to pastor a huge church might illicit a response like "well, of course God wants me to go there, they obviously need me and what an opportunity!" Serving God in the bush of Kenya is just as important as a huge ministry here in the states.
2. Don’t ever stray too far from home base
These tribes felt like they had to put up an altar so that future generations would be reminded that they were all part of the same team. Doesn’t that strike you as odd? Were they anticipating changing so much that their brothers would no longer recognize them? Were they going to abandon their faith or modulate it so much that their fellow Israelites wouldn’t recognize it?
Don’t let your ministry change you into something that is unrecognizable to your brothers and sisters - it might be a sign that what you’ve really left is the "pattern of sound words" contained in the gospel.
Lessons
So what can we learn from the trans-Jordan tribes in terms of ministering for the Lord?
1. You may hear the call one day - don’t stay in the "comfort zone" forever
2. When it comes time to go on your own, remember: love, walk, keep, cling, and serve.
3. Be careful about your motivations, make sure it is for God’s glory
4. Remain true to the "you" the Lord made and to your roots, especially of the true gospel.
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