Reading: Joshua chapter 1 verses 1-16.
Ill:
George was 28 years old, single, and still living with his parents.
• One Sunday morning, George told his mother he wasn’t going to church.
• "First," he said, "I’m tired. Second, the people there don’t like me.
• And third, the sermons are dull."
But George’s mother wouldn’t take no for an answer. "George," she said, "you have to go.:
• First, we always worship on Sunday.
• Second, it doesn’t matter whether they like us or not.
• And third, you are the pastor!"
• God has always had some rather reluctant leaders.
• And the man who we are looking at tonight was no exception!
(1). Background:
• From Exodus 3 to Deuteronomy 34,
• The Bible focuses attention on the leadership of one man called Moses.
• Moses started out as a failed leader (Exodus chapters 2);
• God’s will his way ill: Cat & fireman – ended up killing an Egyptian.
• Moses became a reluctant leader (Exodus chapters 3)
• List of excuses why he could not lead the Hebrews (C.O.I.).
• Yet God took Moses and turned him into one of the greatest leaders;
• Not just of Israel but of all time.
But now the great Moses was dead:
• Dead but not be forgotten;
• Ill: He's named over fifty times in the Book of Joshua.
Quote:
“God buries His workers, but His work goes on."
• God’s replacement for Moses was Joshua,
• Only Joshua does not feel up to the task.
Ill:
• A man went to a psychiatrist and complained about an inferiority complex.
• The doctor listened to him for a while, then gave him a good news/bad news diagnosis:
• “The good news,” said the doctor, “Is that you don’t have a complex.
• The bad news is—you are inferior!”
Joshua had three reasons to be fearful:
(1). He is following a great leader.
Joshua is now in the un-envious position of having to fill the shoes of Moses!
• He is being asked to take the place of a man;
• Who spoke once to God ‘face to face’.
• And on one occasion he actually radiated God’s glory on his face.
• He was a man who performed miracle after miracle after miracle, after miracle.
• We would say; ‘Moses was a hard act to follow’.
• In comparison Joshua must have felt weak and insignificant.
Note:
• When God called Joshua to his new role as leader;
• Please do not think this calling was a ‘bolt out of the blue’.
• Joshua had been in leadership training for a number of years;
• In fact the book of Numbers chapter 11 verse 28:
• Joshua is referred to as Moses' ‘assistant from youth’,
• Which indicates that Joshua was an official aide to the leader of Israel.
• He would therefore had accompanied Moses;
• In a whole load of positive and negative situations.
• Joshua was up close and able to learn first hand many valuable lessons;
• From this great leader of God.
• He might not have realised it at the time;
• But I believe he was serving his apprentership preparing him for this type of occasion.
Quote: How we learn:
• 1% through taste
• 1.5% through touch
• 3.5% through smell
• 11% through hearing
• 83% through sight
ill:
• A Chinese boy who wanted to learn about jade went to study with a talented old teacher.
• This gentleman put a piece of the stone into the youth’s hand and told him to hold it tight.
• Then he began to talk of philosophy, men, women, the sun,
• And almost everything under it.
• After an hour he took back the stone and sent the boy home.
• The procedure was repeated for weeks.
• The boy became frustrated—when would he be told about jade?
• But he was too polite to interrupt his venerable teacher.
• Then one day when the old man put a stone into his hands,
• The boy cried out instantly, “That’s not jade!”
Joshua was learning lessons that could not be taught in a classroom:
• He was learning them first hand from Israel’s greatest teacher – Moses.
• Lessons that he himself in a different context would one day have to put into practice.
(2). He is leading a grumbling people.
• Joshua now finds himself the leader of a group of people;
• Who are known for murmuring, complaining;
• The Hebrews have been constantly moaning and wishing;
• That they were back in Egypt!
Ill:
There is a small wooden toy bird called the “Floogie Bird.”
• Around the Floogie Bird’s neck is a label reading,
• “I fly backwards, I don’t care where I’m going. I just want to see where I’ve been.
We noted last week:
• These people lacked faith and vision.
• They wanted the old and familiar & had become nostalgic regarding how it used to be.
• Taking a group of people like this forward would not be easy;
• But that is what God was calling Joshua to do.
Quote:
“Nothing will be attempted if all possible objections must first be overcome”.
• Joshua would have to overcome a reluctant people;
• And take them forward into the Promised land.
(3). He is having to go to war.
The “Promised Land” is still waiting to be claimed.
• That means going to war;
• After all the inhabitants of the land still must be defeated, and dislodged.
This was the easiest of his three daunting tasks because Joshua was a soldier:
• Joshua was a general with exceptional military skills.
• He was also a man of great courage, who wasn't afraid to confront his enemies.
• The first official recorded act of Joshua in the Bible is his defeat of the Amalekites.
• About two months after Israel's exodus from Egypt (Exodus chapter 17 verse 8-16).
• The Amalekites attacked Israel and Moses told Joshua
• To choose an army of men and then to go out and defeat them.
ANYONE OF THESE 3 TASKE WAS A HUGE UNDERTAKING:
• Yet if you put all three of these tasks together and it becomes an almost impossible job.
• That’s why the right man is needed.
• God now looks at Joshua and says;
• “Your the Man, you are the one who is to replace Moses!”
• Joshua was no doubt in awe of his task:
• Having to follow a great leader.
• Having to lead a reluctant and grumbling people.
• Having to defeat and dislodge the inhabitants of the promised Land.
So in this chapter God instructs Joshua 3 times to “be strong, and be courageous”:
• To accomplish these tasks would require more than:
• Experience, popularity with his people and military awareness.
• It would require ‘strength and courage’.
• That is why in verses 6, 7 and 9 God told him to be those things.
Ill:
• Story is told about the man who boasted;
• That he had cut off the tail of a man-eating lion with his pocket knife.
• Asked why he hadn’t cut off the lion’s head, the man replied:
• “Someone else had already done that!”
Anyone can pretend to be cocky, and brave:
• But what Joshua needed was a different type of bravery, and courage.
• The sort of bravery and courage that comes from God.
Ill:
Sometimes its hard to be strong, and courageous.
• One summer evening, during a violent thunderstorm,
• A mother was tucking her small boy into bed.
• She was about to turn off the light when he asked with a tremor in his voice,
• “Mommy, will you sleep with me tonight?”
• The mother smiled and gave him a reassuring hug. “I can’t dear,” she said,
• “I have to sleep with Daddy.”
• A long silence was broken at last by a shaken little voice saying,
• “The big sissy.”
Notice:
• God not only directs Joshua to be “strong, and courageous”
• But in this chapter he also dictates to him how to be that way.
3 things to note:
(1). Stand on the Promises (verse 3).
“I WILL GIVE you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses”.
What an awesome promise! This is:
• A reminder to Joshua that although God’s servant Moses is deceased,
• God’s plans, and promises are still the same.
• The God of Moses is the God of Joshua;
• He makes his promises, and he keeps them!
Ill:
• British sculptor Sir Jacob Epstein was once visited in his studio;
• By the eminent author and fellow Briton, George Bernard Shaw.
• The visitor noticed a huge block of stone standing in one corner and asked;
• “What it was for.”
• Sir Jacob Epstein;
• “I don’t know yet. I’m still making plans.”
• Shaw was astounded.
• “You mean you plan your work. Why, I change my mind several times a day!”
• “That’s all very well with a four-ounce manuscript,” replied the sculptor,
• “But not with a four-ton block.”
God’s plans were fixed and did not need changing:
• The death of Moses may have taken the nation by surprise;
• But it did not take God by surprise.
• He knew exactly what he was going to do;
• He already had his successor trained and ready to go,
• Only that successor had not yet realised he was the one!
• But now God will commission him in this new role.
But if Joshua is to be “strong, and courageous”:
• He must stand upon the promises of the word of God.
• And not just rely on his own military skills.
Ill:
• David’s sin in ordering a census of the people.
• We might say what is wrong with that?
• Problem was he was trusting in his numbers for victory;
• Rather than depending on God.
Ill:
• Gideon who God kept telling to loose his fighting men;
• Why because victory rests not in numbers or weapons but with God!
(2). Sense the Presence (verse 5):
“As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you”.
Question:
• How can Joshua lead with confidence,
• How can he confront the battles that lie ahead?
Answer:
• He can because the same God that was with Moses is with him.
• A God that will not forsake, and one that will not fail.
• Every place that the sole of his foot touched was to become their land;
• And every step that Joshua took God was with him.
Ill:
Campbell Morgan visiting two old ladies.
Ill:
• Missionary statesman Hudson Taylor had complete trust in God’s faithfulness.
• In his journal he wrote:
• “Our heavenly Father is a very experienced One.
• He knows very well that His children wake up with a good appetite every morning…
• He sustained 3 million Israelites in the wilderness for 40 years.
• We do not expect He will send 3 million missionaries to China;
• But if He did, He would have ample means to sustain them all… Depend on it,
• God’s work done in God’s way will never lack God’s supply.”
ILL:
Today, if we are children of God,
• He has promised never to leave us nor to forsake us.
• He not only is with us...but is in us.
(3). Stay the Path (verse 7):
“Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you;
do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go”.
If Joshua is to be “strong, and courageous”:
• He must stay the path, he must not turn, he must not compromise,
• He must not become distracted, he must not become detoured from what the will of God is.
• He must stay the path set before him.
• Faithfulness is the key.
Ill:
Postage stamps are getting more expensive,
• But at least they have one attribute that most of us could emulate:
• They stick to one thing until they get there.
Question:
• Are we being faithful?
• Or is it possible that we’ve gotten off the path that God has called us to follow?
Ill:
We easily suffer from the myopia of Alice in Alice in Wonderland:
• “Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?”
• “That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the cat.
• “I don’t much care where,” said Alice.
• “Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the cat.
• “So long as I get somewhere,” Alice added as an afterthought.
• “Oh, you’re sure to do that,” said the cat, “if only you walk long enough.”
Good leadership is not about “getting somewhere”;
• It is about getting to the desired destination.
• It is about helping those we lead—our congregation, our family, our Sunday school class
• Become all God designed them to be;
• And grow into the influence God wants them to exercise.
• God blesses our faithfulness!
• To his revealed word.
Ill:
Two frogs fell into a deep cream bowl;
The one was wise, and a cheery soul.
The other one took a gloomy view
And bade his friend a sad adieu.
Said the other frog with a merry grin,
“I can’t get out, but I won’t give in;
I’ll swim around till my strength is spent,
Then I will die the more content.”
And as he swam, though ever it seemed,
His struggling began to churn the cream
Until on top of pure butter he stopped,
And out of the bowl he quickly hopped.
The moral, you ask? Oh, it’s easily found!
If you can’t get out, keep swimming around.
(4). Start the Process (verse 11):
"Go through the camp and tell the people, 'Get your supplies ready. Three days from now you will cross the Jordan here to go in and take possession of the land the LORD your God is giving you for your own.' "
What God had told Joshua would have been no good if he had not began to assimilate this plan.
• In this verse, Joshua begins the process.
• The transfer of leadership has taken place,
• Joshua believes what God has said and begins to demonstrate it.
• He begins his journey of bravery, and courage.
Application:
• It is not enough simply to know the word of God;
• Sense his presence, we must put into action what he tells us to do!
ill:
• A parable to ponder:
• A group of priests went away to a monastery for a weekend retreat:
• It was Friday evening and they all joined together for prayer.
• There were four different orders represented.
• The Dominicans, The Benedictines,
• The Franciscans and the Jesuits.
Soon after the service had begun the lights went out and everybody was plunged into darkness.
• The Dominicans prayed on oblivious to the darkness,
• Because they knew the service off by heart.
• The Benedictines fell to their knees and prayed fervently that the light would be restored,
• So that they could continue with the service.
• The Franciscans sat back in the pews and had a philosophical and theological discussion
• As to the relative value of darkness and light.
• The Jesuits however;
• Got up, went outside and fixed the fuses!
