When you are up against a wall, there will be more than one way to deal with it. There will be the conventional way. And there will be the creative way. When you are up against a wall, there will be a way to break it down that costs a whole lot less than the usual way.
All of us remember Mark Twain’s "Tom Sawyer". There was a wall, or a fence, in Tom’s young life. He had been assigned to whitewash the thing, and it looked like a huge job. It would have cost him all day to do the thing; it would have cost him tremendous energy to deal with the wall in the usual way. So Tom got creative. He turned his problem into an opportunity. You remember the story: Tom hinted to all of the other kids that if they asked him very nicely, he just might let them have the privilege of painting a section of his wall. And pretty soon, without lifting a finger, Tom Sawyer had dealt with his problem; he had finished with the wall that stood in the way of his freedom, at no cost to him at all.
When you are up against a wall, there will be more than one way to deal with it. There will be the conventional way. And there will be the creative way, the way where somebody else pays the price.
We have wall problems around our church building. One of those wall problems is in the men’s rest room down in the basement. There you will find a leaky, rough, unsightly, ugly, half broken-down wall. It’s an awesome mess. And to fix it in the usual way would be very, very costly. It would involve digging out the ground on the outside and tearing out part of the foundation on the inside, then building it back. And we still may have to do at least some of that. But one of our men came up with another solution, a creative and a less costly solution. He just built a false wall a few inches inside of the old, ugly wall. He just hid the past and created a new present!
Creative, isn’t it? And not nearly as expensive as the usual way.
When you are up against a wall, there will be more than one way to deal with it. There will be the conventional, costly way. But there will also be a creative way, a way which is effective and which doesn’t cost so much.
The people of Israel, under their new captain, Joshua, had been promised the land of Canaan. From the Euphrates in the north to the desert in the south, from the Kingdom of the Hittites in the east to the Great Sea in the west, they had been promised this land. One major thing, however, stood in their way; and it was the wall of Jericho. Jericho was a walled fortress city, standing in the small valley that served as a pass through the mountains between the Jordan River and the coastal plains of Canaan. If you were to get to the land of Canaan, you had to go through the pass; and if you were to go through the pass, you had to contend with the city of Jericho, with its heavy walls. The walls of the city of Jericho stood as the barrier that kept God’s people from achieving what God had promised. Without dealing with the wall, they could not come to the land of promise.
So what would the strategy be? How would the walls be breached? How would the city be taken? There was the conventional way; they could have prepared their weapons, trained their soldiers, made crude ladders, scaled the walls. But the conventional way, the way of the usual hostilities, would have been costly. Many of the men of Israel would have died. Was there a better way? Was there a more creative, less costly way?
God said yes. God had another way, something better than the usual way. God had a creative gift to give.
I
Life is full of walls. There are all sorts of barriers keeping us from getting to what God has promised.
A
For some there is the wall of estrangement. Separation. We just can’t get past some strained relationship. We just can’t breach the hostility we feel from somebody. I tell you, there is nothing more tiresome than a hostile relationship. If you have a spouse or a child, a co-worker or a neighbor, and you are walled off from that person, you won’t get much of anything done. If you are out of sorts with somebody, it will take all your energy, it will absorb all your will, it will sap all your spiritual strength. I’ve found that if in the course of my day I have an argument, I might just as well pack up and go home, because I’m not going to get anything done. Fighting takes all my strength. Arguing takes all my energy. If you are walled off from somebody, and you try to deal with that by arguing or fighting, the usual means, it will cost you dearly. It will hurt. Does God have another way to deal with that wall? Does God have a creative way to break down that wall?
B
For others there is the wall of loss and grief. We can’t get past the losses in our lives. We lose a spouse or a parent, and it feels as though life just can’t go on. We lose a job or our financial security, and we can’t get past that. It looms up in our paths; nothing is going to happen until that problem is dealt with. You can try to take it by force if you want to; you can try to grin and bear it, to bulldoze your way through it, tough it out. But that will cost you. It will cost you dearly. I know people who try to deal with their grief just by keeping on keeping on, just by going back to work and acting as though nothing has happened. But pretty soon they collapse; soon they self-destruct in depression and in pain. You can, if you wish, try to deal with grief in the conventional way: the stiff upper lip, the tough facade. But that will take a terrible toll. Does God have another way? Does God have a creative way to break down that wall too?
C
For still others there is the wall of sickness. Sickness becomes a barrier to our being what we want to be. For some it’s chronic illness, for some it’s just getting older. But for others it’s addiction or alcoholism, it’s mental illness, it’s battling with runaway feelings: whatever kind of illness it is, we discover pretty soon that we don’t get well just by fighting it. We don’t cure it just by an act of will. You don’t get well just by hanging tough. Alcoholics Anonymous holds up as one of its cardinal principles that I am powerless over my own illness. Does God have another way to break with that wall? Does God have another and more creative way to deal with the sickness wall?
Here comes the good news! Listen! "See, I have handed Jericho over to you, along with its king and soldiers". "See, I have handed Jericho over to you, along with its king and soldiers." Even before Joshua and the army of Israel begin to join the battle, they have the word of our God that He wants the victory for them. The walls may have looked strong, and the barriers insurmountable; but God asked them to see this problem as an opportunity. And God asked Joshua not to use the conventional, costly means of battle, but to trust Him for something creative. Something which would not cost so dearly.
II
And so what was that creative strategy? What was that unconventional way to break through the walls? What is our weapon against hostility or loss or sickness?
In a word, worship. Worship. The worship of God tumbles down walls and breaks down barriers. The worship of God broke down the walls of Jericho for Joshua; the worship of God breaks down our personal barriers: hostility, loss, sickness.
Let’s look at the story. Look with me at four elements. I’ll make it easy for you; they all start with the letter “S". Let’s look for Sabbath and symbol, silence and shout. Sabbath and symbol, silence and shout.
A
First, Sabbath. Breaking down walls happens because of Sabbath worship. Now when I speak of Sabbath worship, I’m not dealing with what day of the week we come to church. That’s not the point. I’m speaking of Sabbath worship as the climax of a week of worship; I’m speaking of a seventh day that means something because it’s built on the other six days.
God asked Israel to do all this marching and trumpet blowing and carrying the ark ... all of this was to be done every day. Every day for six days. But when the seventh day came, they marched around the city seven times, and on a given signal, they were to shout and bring down the walls. The seventh day was the climax of the six previous days. The worship of the Sabbath day was made powerful because they had prepared for it all six days before the Sabbath Day.
I tell you, walls start to come down when people pray daily. Walls begin to crumble when God’s people dwell in His word every day. If you have a problem, a wall, it’s not going to be moved much if you show up here on Sunday morning like a gate-crasher! But if you have been at heaven’s gates about it every day, then walls will come down on the Sabbath day. When your worship here is the climax of six days of prayer and worship ahead of today, then walls come tumblin’ down. Sabbath.
B
Then, symbol. Walls are broken down by symbols. By actions that picture victory, that picture what God is about.
What a grand procession this was! All the people, the armed men first, then the priests, the ark, the trumpeters, the rear guard. It must have been a magnificent sight! Rich in symbolism. There is power when we share in ceremonies that lift us up and tell us we are rooted in something which is lasting. There is fulfillment when we participate in symbols that rivet in our memories the works of God. Olympic victors don’t just go home after the games; they wear medals, symbols of victory; they stand on platforms and lift their country’s flag and hear their national anthems. Symbols tell us we’re part of something great.
A few years ago we watched in wonder as Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat stood on the White House lawn and signed a peace accord, and them embraced warmly. A wall came tumblin’ down that day.
We need symbols to help us feel the mighty works of God. That’s why the church has windows and crosses, robes and processions, baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Symbols to break down walls.
C
Sabbath and symbols, and then silence. Walls sometimes have to be confronted with silence. "To the people Joshua gave this command, ’You shall not shout or let your voice be heard, nor shall you utter a word, until the day I tell you to shout.’" Walls sometimes demand silence.
Silence is a creative weapon against the walls. I’m told that the end of the Berlin wall came about as strangely, silently, without any organized effort, people just began to gather near the wall. On the east side and the west side, just slowly, silently, they gathered. Not a word being said. Then someone inched forward, into the no man’s land where the guards used to shoot; and nothing happened. He reached up, touched a loose block on top of the wall, and pulled it down. Still no response from the guards. And so another block; and another, and another. Others came forward, on both sides, still silent at first, but then, as the guns were not used, erupting into shouts as frantically they pulled at the symbol of hatred and division. Walls sometimes demand silence. And, at its best, worship compels us to be silent; worship forces us to listen. It’s not entertainment, it’s not noise, it’s not even preaching. It’s the silence of eternity, embraced by God’s love. And the silence, the listening, makes walls come tumblin’ down.
D
But then, finally, the shout. At last, the shout. When all is said and done, when worship takes place, there will be a shout. There has to be a shout. "And at the seventh time on the seventh day, when the priests had blown the trumpets, Joshua said to the people, ’Shout! For the Lord has given you the city."’. "Shout, for the Lord has given you the city."
When we worship, there will be a moment when we see, that moment when we get it, an instant, however fleeting, when we feel release and forgiveness, a moment when the power and the glory of the Lord comes flooding into our souls. And we’ll shout! In fact, if we did not shout, then the very stones would break their silence!
Notice that the walls hadn’t come down, just yet. No, not yet. But the Lord has given you the city. Notice that the problem still stood, and a whole lot of work had yet to be done. Yes. But shout. Shout, O people of God, for the Lord has already given you the victory. Claim it. Claim it! And rejoice.
Sabbath and symbol, silence and shout. Worship is the creative way to breach the walls. For when you are up against a wall, there will be more than one way to deal with it. There will be the conventional, costly way. And there will be the creative way. When you are up against a wall, there is a creative way to get around it. Worship is God’s creative way to break down the walls. And the best news of all is that somebody else has paid the price.
III
So, come to this Table. Come to this Table on this Sabbath day, having prepared yourself in prayer and in confession. Come hungry and thirsty, come, eager for some conflict to be reconciled, for some doubt to be answered, for some problem to be resolved. Come, believing that some wall will be broken down. Come with the piled up prayers of this week, this life. And the walls come tumblin’ down.
Come to this symbol, this ancient and wonderful symbol. See here a picture of the price that has already been paid, a price we did not have to pay, but which God in Jesus Christ has paid for us. See in this symbol a way to connect with what God has done. Come, knowing that in the cross God has broken down the wall of partition between himself and us. This symbol of his broken body, his shed blood, is a wall come tumblin’ down.
Come to this Table in silence, come struck with awe and wonder; come, not to make speeches, not to clamor, not to complain, but to listen, to feel, to see, to taste, to know. Come quietly to know the incomparable love of God. Come silently to taste and see that the Lord is good. Come softly to bask in the silence, listening, listening for the prompting of the Spirit. The world says argue and fight; but the Spirit says, "Be still and know."
And then at last, come and shout. Come and shout. Sabbath and symbol, silence and shout. "Rejoice greatly, 0 daughter of Zion. Shout, 0 daughter of Jerusalem; behold, Thy king cometh unto Thee." When you feel the release, shout the Amen with all the host of heaven. When you feel forgiveness, shout the Alleluia with all the company of saints. When you know the victory, shout it with Moses and with Joshua, with David and with Isaiah. Shout, "My soul doth magnify the Lord" with Elizabeth and with Mary. Shout, "Stand up and walk" with Peter and John. Shout with Paul, "We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ."
And shout with the church gathered around you, with those you like and those you don’t like; shout with those you trust and with those you fear; shout with those who are here and even with those who wouldn’t come if you paid them, "Christ is our peace; Christ is our peace, who in his flesh ... has broken down the dividing wall."
Come to the table; for the walls have fallen flat, walls come tumblin’ down. Thanks be to Christ!
