Step Up and Step Out!
Joshua 3:1-8
Have you ever been at a crossroads, a time in your life where you needed to make a critical decision that is going to have a huge effect on the rest of your life. You come to a moment and have to make a choice about what you’re going to do and the direction you’re going to take. It might be the type of people you’re going to surround yourself with growing up, what college you’re going to attend, what career you’re going to choose, or who you’re going to marry. For many of us, the biggest decision we make is spiritual, the moment you decide to follow Jesus and the moment you decide to respond to God’s call upon your life.
In our Scripture today, the Hebrew people are at such a moment of decision in their journey together. They had been traveling their entire lives hearing about the Promised Land filled “with milk and honey.” The journey had been long and hard, filled with many detours and trials. But now they stand on the shoreline of the Jordan River and it’s time to make one final crossing. Hopes and dreams are mixed with fears of the unknown of what lies ahead for them and the enemies and challenges they will encounter. They are filled with anticipation but also mired in uncertainty.
There are several things we learn from our Scripture today. First, as we come to make this commitment through “Illuminate”, we need to purify ourselves. Joshua told the people, “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you.” While there is no doubt that the Hebrew’s journey has been a physical one through the desert and wilderness, Joshua reminds them first foremost that this is a spiritual journey. So they wait for three days before they cross over. Why? So they could prepare spiritually for the journey which lies ahead. That included confessing their sin, laying aside their hatred and hurts, lifting their hearts toward God, checking their motives, trusting in the sovereign I AM, and choosing to do whatever God calls them to do ahead of time. God is calling us to purify ourselves and commit to the journey which lies ahead. That’s more than just giving lip service, the Hebrews have to cross the Jordan and work for what God wants to give them, the “land of milk and honey.”
Second, God wants to do great wonders among us! “The Lord will do great wonders among you.” God has brought them to this place and wants to do some amazing things through them. God had done some amazing things along the journey: parting the Red Sea to providing manna and water in the desert each day to leading them by pillar of fire by night a pillar of cloud by day. Now God’s ready to do another miracle in their midst. Where the Hebrews are in their journey speaks to us. The last six years has been a journey. God has done some amazing things in, among and through us. And we’ve, as the commercial used to say, have, “Come a long way baby!” but we also know we haven’t arrived and God’s not done with us yet.
Last week, we were reminded that all we have is from God and we are blessed to be a blessing. This series “Illuminate” is about four ways you can commit to be light and Illuminate the darkness in the world. First, it’s about being light in the world by blessing others and we did that by giving away almost $2000, asking you to go and bless someone. Second, it’s about serving others. We’re asking you to commit your time this week to some servant evangelism and go out and bless someone with a kind act. Third, on September 15, we’re celebrating ‘Invite a Friend Day and are asking you to invite and bring as many people as you can as we start a new series entitled, “Modern Family.” Fourth, on September 8, we’re seeking to raise a significant amount of money for marketing and advertising to get the word out about our church and what God is doing here and to pay our apportionments which is a portion meant for others where we support the outreach, ministry and missionaries across our state, nation and world. But this is more than money, it’s about your heart. More than your money, God wants your heart. That’s why we need to purify ourselves by confessing our sins, checking our motives and stepping up to the challenge to “Illuminate.” The point of Illuminate is not the gift but what happens in your heart when you’re captured by the Light of the World and become light to others. God needs your heart to be completely sold out for Jesus and God’s mission of “Connecting diverse communities to a lifestyle devoted to Jesus.” If so, then “the Lord will do great wonders among you.”
Last week, I challenged you to seek God’s face and His will and like the woman who annointed Jesus by breaking open the most precious gift she owned, a very expensive jar of oil and perfume, we’re asked you to break a jar, that is, to give up something of great value, give it to God and see what He does with it. I asked you not just to do what you can (too often we just help a little bit and say, “Well, I did what I could.”), but to pray about doing ALL you can. We challenged you to swing to the fence, to go all in and to dive in headfirst! Just like Joshua told the Israelites to get ready, I’m asking you to get ready as well. I have no doubt that God is going to do something amazing. Because this we know, When we do ALL we can, then God does what only He can do and great wonders occur. The first week I let you know what my commitment was. Today, we’re going to let you know what your leaders have committed ahead of time. They’re out in front and are challenging you with their gifts, leading, because that’s what leaders do. So here’s the amount they have committed: $______________.
Third, God’s not so much concerned with raising funds as He is about raising your faith. The Lord said to Joshua: “When you reach the edge of the Jordan’s waters, go and stand in the river.” The Hebrews have been traveling in the wilderness for 40 years and finally they stand on the edge of the River Jordan with the promised land on the other side. They had arrived to the place that God had promised and that they had dreamed of and in that moment, it’s so easy to take your foot off the accelerator, to lean back and rest. But here’s the thing: they weren’t moving into a fully furnished nation with towns and cities and homes and businesses just sitting there before them for the taking. They’re entering a place they were going to have to conquer and a land they were going to have to work for it to produce milk and honey. In many respects, all the hard work of just getting to this point and standing at the edge of the Jordan River was going to pale in comparison to conquering a nation, building homes, towns and cities, a temple and a life honoring God. This isn’t the end of the journey, it’s just the beginning.
We’ve had a vision given to us: “Connecting diverse communities to a lifestyle devoted to Jesus.” We know without a doubt that this is God’s mandate to us and His vision for our church. We’ve seen amazing growth and a diversity of people reached and committed to our life, vision and ministry here. But God’s not done with us yet. We’ve worked, we’ve struggled, we’ve been challenged and we’ve had setbacks. But God looks at us and says, ‘Gretna UMC, go stand in the water.’ In others words, this isn’t the end, you haven’t arrived, “It’s the beginning of a new journey with me, a new phase in our life together. I’m taking you to a new place!”
Fourth, now is the time to step out. But God is not just telling them to step up but to also step out. You’ve stepped up by being a part of the Become a Blessing Project. In week 2, you made a commitment to pray about what God might have you to give. But now we’re asking you to step out and that’s faith. And that’s where it can become challenging because so often we want to stay safe and secure in our lives. We want to stay within our comfort zone. The problem is that’s not where Jesus is. He’s out in the fringes. He’s where it’s not safe and secure. He’s out of the boat, walking on water and that’s fine and well for him. But then he turns to you, like he did Peter, and calls you to him. It’s time to step out. God calls us to stand in the water of Jordan and that can be hard to do because you don’t know what might happen if you fully commit yourself and make a big faith commitment. You might have two numbers in your mind at this point: what you think you can do and what you think God might be asking you to do. And you might be wrestling with that and that’s OK because that’s how our faith grows. There’s that number you could make work. Then there’s that number of ALL you can do that would cause you to have to rearrange your priorities and to give something precious up, like the woman giving up the most expensive things she owned, her bottle of perfume for Jesus. God is calling us to step out. It’s time for us to show audacious faith and stand on the edge of the river, on the edge of the precipice and for us to do that together.
Fifth, when you step up in responsibility and then you step out in faith, God steps in. You might be willing to step out in faith but when you begin to hear God’s number, you might think that’s not possible. But you’re thinking about it. But since he hasn’t told you why or what, you’re standing on the edge of the river and saying, “God, if you’ll just step in ahead of me, then I’ll step out.” The only problem is that doesn’t require any faith. Remember, Illuminate is about you growing in your faith and that happens best when we step out! First you have to step out and then God will step in. God does not part the waters until you’re standing in the water. That’s how faith works. Verse 13 says, “And as soon as the priests who carry the ark of the Lord—the Lord of all the earth—set foot in the Jordan, its waters flowing downstream will be cut off and stand up in a heap.” But before God would step out, they had to step in. What God is asking through Illuminate is generosity to your fullest capacity, not what you think you can do but ALL you can do and then God will step in.
Some of you may be thinking that you’re not going to stand in the river but just on the bank and watch everyone else. If that’s you, you’re missing it. You got to step up and then step out by getting in, then God steps in. 2 Corinthians 9:8 says, “And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.” If you step out in faith, God will be there for you. He will provide for your needs and he does all of that so that you can be like him on every occasion. You can be generous in every respect. When you step up and step out, He steps in. But first, you have to get in the water.
Here’s how the story ends: “So when the people broke camp to cross the Jordan, the priests carrying the ark of the covenant went ahead of them. Now the Jordan is at flood stage all during harvest. Yet as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water’s edge, he water from upstream stopped flowing. It piled up in a heap a great distance away, at a town called Adam in the vicinity of Zarethan, while the water flowing down to the Sea of the Arabah (that is, the Dead Sea) was completely cut off. So the people crossed over opposite Jericho. The priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord stopped in the middle of the Jordan and stood on dry ground, while all Israel passed by until the whole nation had completed the crossing on dry ground.”
Sixth, God wants us to exercise faith. When does God ask us to step into the water? At flood stage. He asked the Israelites to step into the water not at low tide but at flood stage, when the water is the deepest and flowing the fastest and things are most dangerous. By doing so, he stacks the odds and asks even greater faith of the Hebrew people. But notice what also happens, the glory of God is all the greater. God wants to take you through the Jordan at flood stage. There’s alot happening right now: the looming budget cuts of the government, higher taxes, an uncertain job market. Too often, fear and uncertainty moves us back to the edge of the river when that’s the time when we need to step out into the river at flood stage. And when we do, God does his greatest thing. God has been preparing us for this moment. We’re at the water’s edge. We are on the eve of the next phase of this journey into God’s vision for our church. Our leaders have gone before us, made their commitment and are standing in the middle of the Jordan, asking you to join God and them. When we all do ALL we can do, God can do what what only He can do. Now is the time for you to step out. Amen.
