BEGINNING AT THE END OF OURSELVES:
(The importance of relying on god’s power)
Joshua 6: 2-5 (p154) September 18, 2011
INTRODUCTION:
We in America love to glorify the strongest and smartest….The American Dream is somewhat built on becoming the biggest, richest, best in your field or in your culture.
In America you can do anything and be rewarded according to your ability.
James Truslow Adams who is credited with coining the phrase “American Dream” in 1931 said…”The American Dream is where each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are”
In layman’s language “You can become everything you were meant to be and your community will applaud your success”
Ability! Self-sufficiency! Ingenuity!
With these you can accomplish anything in America.
But the dangerous assumption here is that our greatest asset and our greatest power is in our ability…the American dream prizes what people can accomplish when they believe in themselves and trust in themselves.
But the gospel has different priorities...the Gospel beckons us to die to ourselves and to believe in God and to trust in His power.
In the Gospel Jesus confronts us with our utter inability to accomplish anything of eternal value apart from him.
“I am the Vine, you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in Him, he will bear much fruit’ apart from me you can d0 nothing.” (John 15:5)
I GOD HELPS US RECOGNIZE OUR INABILITY
If you’ve spent any time with me you know one of my favorite scriptures…and the theme of my life is 1Cor 1:26 “Brothers, think of what you were when you were called, not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were influential, not many were of noble birth…but God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the strong.”
God chose…He chooses to intentionally reveal our weaknesses. He chooses to put us in situations where our inability is apparent and we come face to face with our need for Him.
In the process…His process…He powerfully demonstrates His ability in the face of our inability…At the end it is His Name that is glorified not OURS!
C onsider Joshua’s story” Jericho is a strong city with massive walls surrounding it…Joshua is now the commander and leader of the people of God…It’s his first battle in this role…you can bet he’s anxious. I can only imagine how inadequate he felt as he contemplated the job before him…but suddenly the commander of the Lord’s Army (from heaven) appears…In this moment God promises Joshua victory and He gives Joshua the plans.
Joshua’s got to be thinking’…”what will it be “A frontal attack” “Will we try a flank manuv er”…will we lay siege and stave them out?”
And here’s God’s plan:
[March around the city once with all the armed men. Do this for 6 days. Have priests carry ram’s horn trumpets in front of the Ark of the Covenant…on the 7th day march around the city 7 times with the priest’s blowing the trumpets…when you hear them sound a long blast on the trumpets have all the people give a loud shout, then the walls of the city will collapse and the people will go up…every man straight in.”]
Let’s be honest…that’s weird…Joshua had to think….”that’s a crazy, stupid plan…it makes no sense..it doesn’t utilize our strengths and abilities at all!
Why did God design this battle plan? Don’t miss what God is doing in this plan to take the first city in the Promised Land.
He is demonstrating an important foundation truth for any of His people who choose to follow Him.
He will get the glory…He will exalt His name…He will deliver.
That’s how God works…He puts His people in positions where they are desperate for His power and then he shows His provisions in ways that display His greatness.
When the people of God stand in the ruble of friends they realize only God could have done this.
The Radical Question we need to address here in America and at Fern Creek Christian Church is….
II ARE WE DEPENDENT UPON OURSELVES OR DESPERATE FOR HIS SPIRIT?
For me this might be the most important single point I’ve ever written down in a sermon. Here in America we have a structure that seems to succeed in the work world…work hard…demonstrate ingenuity and self promotion….align yourself with powerful people, network socially…get noticed, get ahead, faun over important people, use others if necessary and folks, this system will work most of the time in this world’s structure.
But in America, many times we have transferred that worldly structure into the church.
David Platt in the book “Radical writes: This is where I am most convicted as a pastor of a church in the United States of America. I am part of a system that has created a whole host of means and methods, plans and strategies for doing church that require little if any power from God. And it’s not just pastors who are involved in this charade. I am concerned that all of us-pastors and church members in our culture- have blindly embraced an American dream mentality that emphasizes our abilities and exalts our names in the ways we do church.
Consider what it takes for successful businessmen’ and businesswomen, effective entrepreneurs and hardworking associates, shrewd retirees and idealistic students to combine forces with a creative pastor to grow a “successful church” today. Clearly, it doesn’t require the power of God to draw a crowd in our culture.
It doesn’t take the power of God to run a successful business…or produce a crowd …It just takes a good performance, a beautiful facility with nice touches, and programs for their kids and students and families.
But here’s the most important question…where is our desperation for the power of God? If we stopped praying…seeking God’s leadership….following His spirit in the current way we do things…would anything change?
If the answer is “Not really” …then who are we really depending on?
One last quest from David Platt….
But what is strangely lacking in the picture of performances, personalities, programs, and professionals is desperation for the power of God. God’s power is at best an add-on to our strategies. I am frightened by the reality that the church I lead can carry on most of our activities smoothly, efficiently, even successfully, never realizing that the Holy spirit of God is virtually absent from the picture. We can so easily deceive ourselves, mistaking the presence of physical bodies in a crowd for the existence of spiritual life in a community.
Sometimes the American church can be like what Joshua and the Israelites could have been like if things captured the city on their own…Suppose this huge army had organized destructive teams to crumble portion of the wall and then they snuck in doing the night and killed and destroyed and savaged the city.
They would have thought Joshua was a genius…the army was fantastic, especially those ordinance guys…at the end the people would have thought “God gave us the victory…” but all the credit went to the earthly leaders…lip service was given to the power of God…but “did we really need Him for the Victory.:”
You don’t need God to be an American success story…even in an American Church.
That’s why ….the Book of Acts presents an entirely different picture for the New Testament Church.
III PEOPLE UTTERLY DEPENDENT ON THE POWER OF GOD
We find a small band of timid disciples huddled together in an upper room. They know they need God’s power…they are Galileans, lower class, uneducated, rural, blue collar commoners…
This is the group that the Spread of Christianity depends on….So what are they doing? They are not plotting strategies…they are joined together in constant prayer” according to Acts 1: 14.
They are not putting their faith in themselves or relying on themselves…they are pleading for the power of God, and they are confident nothing will be accomplished without it.
Then God’s Spirit comes with Power and everything changes. These uneducated men start speaking the gospel in a multitude of languages that everyone can understand. The crowds are shocked…Peter then stands up to preach Christ. Peter who just weeks before denied that he even knew the man…Now stands with power in front of thousands proclaiming Jesus as Messiah, Savior and Lord. More than 3,000 people are saved.
You want church growth? Acts 1 started with 120 believers….now is Acts 2 there are more than 3,000 if you do the Math, that’s almost 2500 percent growth…in a day.
In Acts 3 Peter and John heal a man crippled from birth. In Acts 4 they pray until the building where are meeting shakes…then…as they head out
Luke records “when the crowds saw the courage of Peter and John and realized they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note these men had been with Jesus”. (Acts 4:13)
God’s power continues to produce wonders and miracles in Acts 5, 6, 7, but at the same time persecution scatters the church to Judea and Samaria in Acts chapter 8…In Acts 9 Saul becomes a follower of Jesus…after he’d been the only leader in this persecution…In Acts 10 radical and ethnic barriers fall as Cornelius and His family are added to the church. In Acts 11 the church at Antioch is founded and becomes the base for world missions. In Acts 12 Peter sits in a jail cell, the church prays and the earthquakes those chains fall off and he walks free…Acts 13 launches Paul into his travels…from city to city he preaches the gospel, healing people, casting out demons, even raising the dead…
What I love about the picture that unfolds in the book of Acts is the unmistakable truth…It is God at work…It is God demonstrating His power….It is God that’s impacting the world.
“Those who accepted the message were baptized and about 3,000 were added that day (2:41)
They were added…it begs the questions? Who added them…in verse 47 of the same chapter Luke makes sure we get the right answer “The Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.”
Acts 5:14 continues “More and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their
