Meeting the Challenge
Mission Impossible, but Accomplished!
Joshua 1:1-9
* For 400 years, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, & Joseph lived in Egypt as slaves of the state. Oppression, expectation, and mistreatment, were the difficulty of that life. The Jewish people needed a deliverer and a messiah to lead them out of captivity and into the land God promised “Father Abraham.” Finally, Moses arrived on the scene, was the obvious choice to be this deliverer, and yet he made a mess out of his first attempt.
* After hiding from Pharaoh for 40 years Moses met God. Speaking from a burning bush, God told Moses to return to Egypt and rescue the Israelites from oppression & lead them into possession of the Promised Land. After making excuses, Moses answered God’s call. At first blush, it would seem highly unlikely that Moses would be able to free over a million slaves from Pharaoh, yet their freedom turned out to be the easy part of the job.
* About three weeks after leaving Egypt, they were in position to claim the land which God had promised Abraham. Leading this group of selfish people was not happening. For this reason, they spent 40 years wondering in the wilderness. At the end of Deuteronomy, we see Moses handing off the mantle of leadership to Joshua. He then died, & being buried by the hand of God. Yet, his death wasn’t the end of the journey, only the end of a chapter. As the book of Joshua opens we see the “Rest of the story.” (TEXT)
* How many remember this? (THEME SONG – MISSION IMPOSSIBLE) The plot of this show was in the name, “Mission Impossible?” Yet, Ethan Hunt and His team always got the job done. It was Mission Impossible but completed.
* Would it be fair to say that ‘Changing our Culture’ seems to rise to be level of being a “Mission Impossible?” If it’s not impossible, it would seem so. Perhaps the reason for this is that we walk in a world of spiritual darkness. Candidly, we do not have to look for darkness, for it finds us every day. We read the paper and there it is, we listen to the radio only to hear it, and we watch the TV and see it. We can walk down the street of our community and we’re confronted with the darkness & sin of this world. We can listen to our scanners & be reminded that the community we once was, we are not any longer.
* It is into just such a world as this that Christ sends His own. Unlike the movie and TV show “Mission Impossible”, this is not our mission should we choose to accept it, this becomes our mission when we accept Him. He says, “Go make disciples, as the Father sent me, and be witnesses.”
* When I consider the Children of Israel’s dilemma and our current cultural issues, without a doubt I know in my spirit, that for God’s people to succeed in our mission, we must be empowered by the Spirit & follow His word.
1. Requires a Death – Make no mistake, any death is difficult. Most of us here have said good-by to someone via the pain of death. Moses had been everything to the Children of Israel for over 40 years (talk about a long-term Pastor or staff person?!?!) While the word “Messiah” is apply given to our Lord Jesus, this word literally means, “expected deliverer.” Jesus was expected because His coming was foretold, but Moses was expected for the same reason. To the Children of Israel Moses delivered them from the hash hand of Pharaoh. He had been used by God to part the waters of the red sea, He had brought water from the rock, been their spokes person when they needed bread & meat, and He had even stood between them & God’s judgment. They had so much history with and dependence on Moses that it would have been easy to say, ‘We can’t go on without him.” However, Moses could never lead them into the land of promise. For them to Cross over Jordan, Moses had to die. To read Deuteronomy 34 is to get a clear understanding of the hurt throughout the Children of Israel at the death of Moses. Verse 8 begins by telling us they mourned for 30 days.
* Death hurts us so badly that we don’t discuss the subject. Yet dying is a part of the ‘process of life.’ (Briefly explain the process of grieving).
* In the words of Jesus (12:24) “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains by itself. But if it dies, it produces a large crop.” Do you remember the Christian Prayer which is credited to St. Francis of Assisi? The last line says, “It is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.” Unless we die and are reborn, we will never possess eternal life. Unless Moses had died so that Joshua could lead, the Children of Israel would not have been able to possess Canaan. Now, let’s consider what must die among US, if one day we are to hear the words, “Mission Accomplished, Job Well Done.”
a) Our Past – Many times, things in our past stand in the way of both our present and our future. When Paul writes, ‘forgetting those things which are behind,’ he is using the same word used by the Gospel writers when they painted the picture of the disciples forgetting to take bread to eat. In other words, they were so focused on the things at hand, they were not focused on the bread; it was ‘out of their mind.’ To complete God’s mission for us, there are times when we need to get so focused on what He is doing today that forget the victories and defeats of yesterday.
b) Our Preconceptions – Candidly, many of these come from our formative years. I get amazed and tickled (perhaps saddened) when people raise philosophy to the level of theology. In the case of the Jewish people, they could have said, “We have always had Moses, how can we continue?” In our world today, it can be a person, program, or even a plan that we hang on to as “FACT” and miss the mission altogether. Wouldn’t I hate to know that I was standing before God having obstructed His mission with my will.
c) Our Pride – When I think about someone laying aside their pride, I start with a man named Caleb. Caleb had been with Moses & Joshua every step of the way. It would have been easy for him to attempt a coupe to take over control from Joshua. But he knew that Joshua was God’s anointed leader and that following Joshua was tantamount to following God. As easy as the Israelites had been to mislead during these forty years, I only can imagine how little it would have taken to get them off-track. Caleb would have no part of this. His showed no signs of pride.
* Pride is the ugly duckling in the church. Everyone sees it and no one cares to point it out. It has far-reaching effects which disintegrates the impact of the gospel by destroying the unity & harmony of God’s people.
* To accomplish our impossible mission means we have to let some things die.
2. Requires a Directive – It’s not just any directive; it needs to be a divine directive. “After the death of Moses, God said to Joshua” is a sobering passage. Moses was God’s chosen man! He was picked up on the back side of Midian, given a directive through a burning bush, and was God’s representative to the nation of Israel for over 40 years. Now, Moses was gone & God was speaking to Joshua. What a responsibility! Here is my take on God’s directive to Joshua, ‘Moses was a good one! Yes, he had a few weaknesses but He listened to me, he loved me, he led my people, but he brought the people to this point. That’s great! But now, he’s with me. So let’s not waste time and let’s finish the task which he began for me. Get ready, get set, and let’s go.’ In human history, there always comes a time for a new chapter. We can mulligrub, gripe, complain, and not like it, but the time still comes for change, a new chapter, and a new directive. Interestingly enough, we know that they is one overriding directive for us that never changes. That is this; we are to be busy about making disciples for Christ. God told Joshua to ‘cross over Jordan and claim the land.’ We cross over our Jordan (under God’s directions) when we leave this campus, when we go to our schools, when we go to offices, when we encounter people who need to be touched, and when we bring them here. God’s directive is a Mission Impossible that is going largely unaccomplished. Could one reason be because His people are largely AWOL? Think about being AWOL in the military. That doesn’t mean that the soldier is a bad person, nor does it mean that his activities (wherever he is) is criminal, but what it does mean is that he is not where he is suppose to be doing what he is supposed to do – and that, as they say, is a crime. In God’s army, being AWOL is a sin. Consider the ways to be AWOL in God’s army & then ask yourself the hard question. No Army can survive let alone thrive if the troops are not fulfilling their assignment. God has placed on us the task of sharing Jesus with this world; it is our Mission, our directive, & our goal.
3. Requires a Decision – Life is just a series of decisions. This morning you & I have made numerous decisions. We decided to get out of bed, to take a bath (I hope), & to attend this service. Additionally, we have decided whether we will listen for God’s voice or be distracted by any little thing that doesn’t please us. Right now, we are deciding whether to consider these words or not. Decisions are what life is made of.
* Whether a mission is accomplished or not depends on several things, but it boils down to decisions. Did the leader decide on the right strategy for completing the mission? Did he determine a mission that is “doable?” Did he adequately communicate the mission? Within the task of changing lives for time & eternity, bringing light into the darkness, and developing people into disciples; our Lord Jesus did everything well.
* The next part of the mission gets personal. Have we joined HIS army? Do we trust our leader? Have we committed to HIS plan? Have we sold out to HIS Lordship?
* In our text, God spoke to Joshua and said, “Get the people ready to cross over Jordan; it is your last obstacle to possessing the land I have promised you.” Approximately 40 years earlier God had spoken similar words to a previous generation and they decided not to go. Today, God’s call is still for us to cross over, to go on, to touch people, invite people, care for people, love people, and tell people. Only in this way will HIS mission, which seems so impossible, be accomplished. When we respond to His word, then HIS spirit empowers and controls us that we might fulfill His task of bringing light to into the darkness. Why He even allows us to make this kind of decision is beyond me, but where He guides, He provides.
* By the way, to not make a decision is to decide.
* Former President Ronald Reagan says he learned the need for decision-making early in life. An aunt had taken him to a cobbler to have a pair of shoes made for him. The shoemaker asked young Ronald Reagan, “Do you want a square toe or a round toe?” Reagan hemmed and hawed. So the cobbler said, “Come back in a day or two and let me know what you want.” A few days later the shoemaker saw Reagan on the street and asked what he had decided about the shoes. “I still haven’t made up my mind,” the boy answered. “Very well,” said the cobbler. When Reagan received the shoes, he was shocked to see that one shoe had a square toe and the other a round toe. “Looking at those shoes every day taught me a lesson,” said Reagan years later. “If you don’t make your own decisions, somebody else will make them for you!”
* The Children of Israel thought their task was Impossible so they revolted at Kadesh-Barnea and it cost them a generation of God’s people & 40 years. When they made the decision to respond to God, they succeeded.
* What will your decision be today?
