If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? Perhaps you would like more hair or fewer freckles. Maybe you want or to be taller or to be quicker on the playground. Did you know that God wants to change certain things about you? He doesn’t so much want to change what’s on the outside – the color of your hair or the size of your feet; he wants to change what’s on the inside. He wants to transform our selfishness into selflessness. He wants to turn our habit of worrying into the routine of trusting. He wants to dissolve our pessimism into optimism. As we continue our Faith Factor sermon series today we’ll see how faith in the true God induced a big change in a woman named Rahab.
In our Faith Factor sermon last week we heard how God appointed Joshua to lead the Israelites across the Jordan River into the Promised Land. To prepare the Israelites for this task, Joshua sent two spies to check out their first target: the city of Jericho. Some Bible students have wondered whether the use of spies showed a lack of trust in God’s promise to give the Israelites the land of Canaan. Not at all. People of faith don’t presume miracles. They diligently plan and work, trusting that God will bless the outcome in a way that is best for them. If God performs a miracle along the way, great, but they don’t sit around waiting for one. That’s worth remembering in regard to our building plans. The God-pleasing thing to do might seem to be this: dream, draw plans, and wait for an anonymous donation. While we could receive an anonymous donation that would pay for much of our new building, God doesn’t want us sitting on our hands while we wait for that to happen. Instead we are to remain diligent in caring out our plans to build a new church. Yes, this will take work (as we’re finding out!) but it is work we do to make God’s house here more inviting so more people will learn about God’s grace. God will bless this work in his way and in his time. Don’t become discouraged. Keep working!
Joshua’s spies arrived in Jericho where they made Rahab’s house their headquarters. This seemed to be a shrewd choice because Rahab was a prostitute. The spies probably figured no one would pay any attention when two strangers stayed at her place. Unfortunately someone realized that these men were not regular paying customers of Rahab’s but were in fact Israelite spies. So the king of Jericho sent soldiers to arrest the men. That sounds pretty routine doesn’t it? Only the king should have sent a peace delegation, not the Gestapo. I say this because, according to Rahab, the people of Jericho knew what God had done for the Israelites. They knew how God had parted the Red Sea some 40 years earlier so the Israelites miraculously escaped from Egypt. They also knew how God had given the Israelites strength to utterly destroy the kings Sihon and Og to the east of them. As a result the people of Jericho were terrified to hear that the Israelites were just across the river from them. But instead of repentance and a request for mercy, there was hardness of heart.
How do you react when God comes “nosing” around? When a Christian friend stops by to share concerns about what you are doing or not doing would you rather sic the dog on him than humbly listen to what he has to say? There is a part of us that never likes to be told that we’re mishandling our human relationships or that our inattentiveness to God’s Word is killing our relationship with our Lord. We might not run God’s messengers out of the house but our sinful nature knows that we can probably get rid of them just as easily by telling them what they want to hear. But God isn’t fooled. Anyway we probably wouldn’t do this if we had a clearer understanding of what’s at stake. In that sense the king of Jericho was more godly than many who claim membership in a church somewhere. At least the king knew enough to be afraid of God’s presence and power. Unfortunately Satan has so blinded us that we don’t take God’s warning of hell-fire seriously anymore. We don’t think this judgment could ever fall on us. Or we suppose that we have time enough to get serious about our faith later on. The time to get serious about spiritual matters is now. Why, you don’t even know if you’ll make it home from church alive this morning. Repent of your sins now, whatever they are, and turn to God for forgiveness.
That’s exactly what Rahab did. She received the spies in humility, not just because she was afraid of what God could do to her but also because she trusted that this was a loving God who wanted what was best for her. This trust was evident in Rahab’s actions. She put her life on the line and hid the spies from the soldiers. By doing so she threw her lot in with the Israelites and their God. Would God accept her repentance and spare Rahab from the destruction he had planned for Jericho because of its sinful ways? Yes! Before the spies left they instructed Rahab to hang a scarlet rope out her window. They promised that as long as the scarlet rope was visible, and as long as she and her family stayed in her house, they would survive the Israelite attack. When you think of it, a single scarlet rope doesn’t seem to offer lot of protection from an invading army. It’s seems an especially flimsy defense when you consider where Rahab lived and how God brought about the destruction of Jericho. Rahab’s house was built into Jericho’s walls, and God destroyed Jericho by causing its walls to crumble. When the Israelite priests began to blow their horns and when the Israelites soldiers started to shout so that the walls began to quake and crack, I wonder if Rahab wasn’t tempted to seek shelter in a friend’s house away from the wall? I wonder if she didn’t think that the spies had lied to her and that there was no way she and her family were going to be spared? Although she may have been tempted to run out of that house, she stayed where she was, trusting that the scarlet rope marked her and her family for salvation. God didn’t disappoint Rahab’s faith. Although the city walls toppled all around them God kept Rahab and her family safe.
Although the Bible doesn’t make this comparison I can’t help but think of the scarlet blood of Christ when I think of that scarlet rope Rahab was to hang out the window. Just as the scarlet rope didn’t seem like it would offer much protection from an invading army, hearing that the blood of Christ keeps us safe from God’s wrath might sound a little foolish. Yet this is God’s promise. All those who trust in Jesus, that is, all who believe his death on the cross paid for their sins will be saved from the fires of hell. Those who do not seek refuge behind the scarlet blood of Jesus will have to face God’s anger over their sins. Think of Rahab. It may have seemed like a good idea to leave her home while the walls of the city shuddered around her but had she left, she would have lost her life. And so it may seem like a good idea to tell God on Judgment Day that you’ve tried your best to be a good person but his verdict will be this: you haven’t been good enough. How good does God want us to be? He wants us to be perfect. Since we often criticize the people around us and look at them as our servants and not people we are to serve, we are far from perfect. Therefore if we want to escape God’s anger over our sins, we’ll need to take refuge behind the blood of Jesus. Those who put their trust in Jesus have nothing to fear – not even when the world is falling down around their ears as it will on Judgment Day. They will be saved just as Rahab and her family were saved.
There may be a lot of things about your outward appearance that you would like to change. It’s OK to diet to lose a few pounds or use make-up to hide a blemish or two. But spend as much time if not more working on the change that needs to happen on the inside. Don’t be content to remain bitter, cocky, or sarcastic. If you don’t want to change, if you make no effort to change, this is evidence that you really don’t have saving faith in Jesus. While Jesus does love you just the way you are he doesn’t want you to stay the way you are. Change can only happen by the power of the Holy Spirit working through his Word. Look at what it did for Rahab. She went from being a prostitute – someone who took advantage of other people’s fleshly weaknesses, to someone who willingly put her life on the line to save others. God has worked a similar change in you who have been brought to faith. The Apostle Paul put it this way: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Corinthians 5:17) God has planted a new spirit in you – a spirit that wants to serve others, a spirit that wants to encourage rather than tear down. Feed this spirit through the study of God’s Word and through the sacraments so that others see and enjoy this faith-induced change in your life. Amen.
