The Law of the First Step - Joshua
Turn with me in your Bibles today to Joshua 1. We have been going through the OT, we have seen God deliver the Jews from slavery in Egypt, bear with them and teach them during 40 years of wandering in the wilderness, and bring them to the edge of the Promised Land. We saw last week that Moses knew he was going to die, so God lets him give a final address to the Jews, encouraging them to be completely committed to following the law of God. Then God takes Moses up on Mt. Nebo, lets him see over into the promised land, and then buries his body there on the mountain. Deut. 34:10-12 reminds us “Since then, no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face, who did all those miraculous signs and wonders the LORD sent him to do in Egypt--to Pharaoh and to all his officials and to his whole land. For no-one has ever shown the mighty power or performed the awesome deeds that Moses did in the sight of all Israel.”
That brings us to the book of Joshua. Genesis is a book that gives us the “beginnings” - Exodus teaches about “redemption” - Leviticus teaches about “holiness” - Numbers teaches about “testing” - and Deuteronomy teaches us about “instruction” and “wisdom” in obeying God’s word. Joshua is a book that teaches us about “faith in conquest” or “stepping out in faith.” If we could take the whole book and summarize it, it could be boiled down to one main idea, which some people have called “the law of the first step.” And it’s this:
Sometimes God waits to act until you begin to move in faith.
The 40 years of wandering in the wilderness were really like a school of faith for the Jews. It started in Egypt, where God brought the plagues, showed his strength over the Gods of Egypt, and parted the Red Sea for them. This was like their elementary school. They saw the basic power of God and didn’t have to do anything but follow. Then they entered the wilderness. They advanced a few grade levels, and the lessons given required them to exercise a little more faith. Now they are coming to the advanced lessons on faith. God has led them, trained them, prepared them 40 years, and now they are ready to go in and conquer the land. Now they come to the point of stepping out in faith, trusting God, where THEY are actually the ones who are taking the effort and acting in obedience to God, and God supplies them the strength they need.
This morning, we are going to look at some of the familiar stories many of us learned in SS, but we want to look at them a different way, through the perspective of the lesson of “stepping out in faith.” Remember, this was the same set of lessons God taught Abraham as we looked in the book of Genesis - continuing to lead him out of his comfort zone and to test his obedience. God told him, “leave your homeland, and while you’re on your way, I’ll show you where to go.” He said, “Take your only son, the one I promised you, and kill him as a human sacrifice to honor me” - never telling him that God was going to stop him at the last minute. God calls us out of our comfort zones, and to live by faith. We are going to look in Joshua today and learn some of the lessons about what is involved when we step out in faith.
Look first in Joshua 1:1-2 - After the death of Moses the servant of the LORD, the LORD said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ assistant: “Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them--to the Israelites.”
Stepping out in faith . . .
1. Involves embracing change! The first lesson we learn in Joshua about stepping out in faith is that we can’t rely on the past. God calls us to change. There are many people who live in the past. They love the past. They relive the “good old days” all the time. But the problem is we are never called to live in the “good old days” - and even if we could, we’d find that they probably weren’t all that good.
I can remember as a boy loving to watch Tarzan movies. I can remember the Mike Henry movies from the 70’s, and how much I liked them. Of course with DVD’s out now, you can get all kinds of old Tarzan movies for $3 at the grocery store. A few months ago I bought a VHS video of an old Tarzan movie that I remembered loving growing up. The only problem was, it wasn’t nearly as good as I remembered it being. Many times we live in the past, and long for the past, but God has called us to live in the present and look to the future. And if we are going to follow God, we need to be willing to embrace change.
Changes will come for all of us. God tells Joshua the time has come for a change. Moses is dead. This man who spoke face to face with God is no longer there to lead the Jews. What will they do? God gives the answer in verse 6 - “Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their forefathers to give them.” Along with change comes new responsibilities. The more we step out in faith and look for God to help us grow, the more opportunities God will give us to take on new responsibility.
In each step of faith that we take, God gives us help that is uniquely suited to our situation. For Joshua, coming in to a new land, God gives him this promise in verse 3 - “I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses.” And then in verse 5 - “No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
God reassures Joshua that even though there has been a change of leadership, God will continue to be there for him every day. Change is scary for many people. It is one of the hardest things for people to face. But when we step out in faith, we can be sure that God will continue to be with us as we face new, changing challenges each day.
We have said that stepping out in faith involves embracing change. Sometimes that change is deliberately choosing to do the opposite of what has been the status quo. What’s the biggest problem most churches face in implementing any change? “We’ve never done it THAT way before.” Joshua is called to lead the Jews in stepping out to change from the failure and sins of disobedience of their forefathers. In verse 6 God says, “Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their forefathers to give them.” God has promised the land years before, but as you remember the 2 week journey from Egypt to Israel ended up taking 40 years because of the sinful disobedience of the people. Josh. 5:6 reminds us “The Israelites had moved about in the desert forty years until all the men who were of military age when they left Egypt had died, since they had not obeyed the LORD. For the LORD had sworn to them that they would not see the land that he had solemnly promised their fathers to give us, a land flowing with milk and honey.”
God gives Joshua and all the nation another chance at obedience. And one of the greatest changes they undertake is a commitment to follow the LORD completely. To break away from the sins of their fathers. For many of us, we struggle with “generational sins.” I’m not one to give a lot of credence to this idea that because our ancestors sinned we are doomed to follow in their sinful patterns, because 1 Cor. 10:13 reminds us that each of us, when tempted, is always given a way out, a way of escape. But I do believe that many times we face the consequences of the sinful lifestyles and practices of our parents and relatives, and many times we end up making the same poor choices they did.
Growing up, my mom always took care of all the cooking and cleaning. We had a family of 5 boys, and I was the youngest. On Sunday we would all come home from church, change clothes and read the funny pages, turn on the TV for the afternoon movie, and do whatever until my mom slaved away setting the table, cooking the food, and getting everything laid out and then she called us for lunch. We would rush to the table like starving animals, reach for the biggest piece of meat as soon as the Amen was said, complain about how bad the food was the whole time we were gorging ourselves, and then after dessert go into the living room to finish our paper, movie, and take a nap, leaving my mom to take care of clearing the table, putting away any leftovers, and washing all the dishes.
In my college years, I began to feel great shame and regret over my actions and started becoming a help to my mom. When I got married, I was determined that I would be a helper to Ronda in all of the cooking, clearing, cleaning involved. I made a conscious choice that I wanted to respond differently that I was raised.
For many of us here today, we need to choose to make a change from the bad patterns we learned and grew up with. Maybe you learned a bad pattern of anger - saying things you don’t mean, throwing things, withholding love. Maybe it was the other extreme and you learned avoidance - don’t share anything deep, pretend that nothing is wrong, don’t talk about any problems. Maybe you learned unwise spending habits - spend more than you make and wait until the bottom drops out on your credit cards. Whatever the bad habits, we need to break the generational sins that we have learned and choose purposefully to follow God and do what is right. Stepping out in faith means we need to be willing to confront and change past failures.
Do you have one area of sinfulness that you find yourself continually messing up? Stepping out in faith means being willing to confront and change past failures. Notice in verse 16 the commitment of the people - “Then they answered Joshua, ‘Whatever you have commanded us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go.’” True obedience is open-ended, with no strings attached. There are no conditions to obedience. It is a complete step of faith. It is simply saying to God, “whatever you tell me to do, I’m willing to do.” Are you willing to make that commitment today. Are you willing to say as David did, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.” Psalm 139:23 NLT. When is the last time you paused to pray and ask God to show you any sin in your life so you could turn from it. This is not a prayer for knowledge - “show me so I can know’ - but rather a prayer of obedience - “show me and I WILL turn from it.” Before we go on with the message, let’s pause right now for prayer.
**Prayer for revelation of sin - confession - commitment to change -
Stepping out in faith . . .
1. Involves embracing change.
2. Involves confronting insurmountable obstacles.
Look with me in Joshua 3:1. In chapter 1, the people commit to obedience. In chapter 2 the spies go into town, meet Rahab, and promise to spare her family. As soon as they get back and give their report, we find Joshua acting right away. “Early in the morning Joshua and all the Israelites set out from Shittim and went to the Jordan, where they camped before crossing over.” Joshua and all the people are ready for God to work. And we need to be ready as well. God wants to bless this church and use us collectively to reach this area for Christ. Are we expecting God to do something great among us? So many times we have a defeated attitude, “God, we pray that you will bless us, even though we know you won’t ...” Instead, God wants us to have an expectant attitude - “God, we want to see you work, and we are expecting it, looking forward to it with eager expectation.” When is the last time you really prayed and expected God to work in helping you overcome a major obstacle. Not just to give you a raise or help your family, but something really big. God brings the Jews right up to the Jordan river, and tells them, “your land I promised you is right on the other side. Just step into the river, and you can go get it.” Look with me in Josh. 3:11 - Joshua tells the people - See, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth will go into the Jordan ahead of you. Now then, choose twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one from each tribe. Verse 13 - 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.” 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 in flood all during harvest. Yet as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water’s edge, the 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 (the Salt Sea) was completely cut off. So the people crossed over opposite Jericho. The priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD stood firm on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan, while all Israel passed by until the whole nation had completed the crossing on dry ground.”
God says he will part the water. When? When the high priests step in. It’s sort of like the little boy who can’t swim standing on the edge of the pool. The daddy says, “jump in, I’ll catch you.” the only problem is, most of us don’t have a child’s faith. What does the child do? He trusts his daddy, so he fearlessly jumps, knowing that daddy will be there for him. But many times God tells us to do things, but we refuse to obey.
God says, when you step in, I’ll stop the water. But verse 15 tells us the river is at flood stage when this happens. [Jordan slide] The Jordan is not a really big river. In fact, at most places, you could easily throw a rock across. But it is a FAST river. It starts at Mt. Hermon in the north, at 3000’ above sea level, and ends 90 miles south at the Dead Sea at 1300 feet below sea level. So it normally flows very fast. Now while the Jordan is not normally wide, at flood stage, it would overflow its banks and rush through this deep valley it is set in, and would be a raging torrent. It would be like going through a whitewater rapids adventure with no raft and no life jacket.
I grew up in the country with a trout stream in my extended backyard. It was normally a nice creek, but when we had a few days of rain, it rushed swiftly, and we never tried stepping into it. How much more intimidating would a river that was already running fast strike fear into their hearts.
But for the inhabitants of Jericho, there was another significance to the Jordan. They worshiped Baal, who was the fertility god who brought the rains to sustain their crops. They saw the Jordan river, especially at flood stage, as Baal’s protection of those in Jericho. But what does God do? He shows that his power is far greater than that of Baal. Baal cannot possibly protect the Canaanites from the power of Almighty God.
I think it is very significant that every single Israelite first walks through on dry ground, experiencing firsthand the power of God to overcome this insurmountable obstacle, and second, each one walks right past the priests holding the ark. Notice verse 17. In the middle of this miracle, every Jew is reminded that this is being done because God Almighty is working for them.
The lesson of Joshua is that we need to step out in faith to follow God. We need to be willing to change from our lives of ease and comfort to follow God, and we need to trust God to help us accomplish insurmountable goals. But God calls us to follow in faith. The third thing we learn is
Stepping out in faith . . .
1. Involves embracing change. 2. Involves confronting insurmountable obstacles.
3. Involves acknowledging God’s help. And we won’t touch on this today, but we will read the verses. Look in Joshua 4:1-7 - When the whole nation had finished crossing the Jordan, the LORD said to Joshua, “Choose twelve men from among the people, one from each tribe, and tell them to take up twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan from right where the priests stood and to carry them over with you and put them down at the place where you stay tonight.” So Joshua called together the twelve men he had appointed from the Israelites, one from each tribe, and said to them, “Go over before the ark of the LORD your God into the middle of the Jordan. Each of you is to take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’ tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel for ever.” Then in verse 24 - He did this so that all the peoples of the earth might know that the hand of the LORD is powerful and so that you might always fear the LORD your God.”
When God calls us to step out, and then proves His power for us, we need to give him the credit. Just one quick thought here: How much time do you spend THANKING God for what he has done? We pray and ask and ask and ask. But when God answers, do we thank him? Do we tell others what He did for us? Do we use his answers as an opportunity to tell others about the power of our God? Let’s make sure we acknowledge God whenever he works for us. (Whalen?)
The next place I want us to look is in Joshua 5. We know the Jordan crossing story and the walls of Jericho story, but most of us forget what comes next. verse 1 - Now when all the Amorite kings west of the Jordan and all the Canaanite kings along the coast heard how the LORD had dried up the Jordan before the Israelites until we had crossed over, their hearts sank and they no longer had the courage to face the Israelites. At that time the LORD said to Joshua, “Make flint knives and circumcise the Israelites again.” verse 5 - All the people that came out [of Egypt] had been circumcised, but all the people born in the desert during the journey from Egypt had not. verse 8 - And after the whole nation had been circumcised, they remained where they were in camp until they were healed.
Stepping out in faith . . .
1. Involves embracing change. 2. Involves confronting insurmountable obstacles.
3. Involves acknowledging God’s help.
4. Involves taking risks. It means being willing to put yourself in a vulnerable position. God knows and tells us in verse 1 that the Canaanites are scared to death, but it never says that God told Joshua that. God simply calls Joshua to obey, even though it seems a foolish thing to do. It would be like asking the troops on D-Day, once they landed on the beach at Normandy to stop and have a prayer meeting. They would be sitting ducks.
I can just imagine Joshua thinking, why didn’t we do this “before” we crossed the Jordan. Or maybe we can circumcise the people in shifts, maybe 25% each week. But God says circumcise everyone at once. Imagine the fear that would have been in the hearts of the Jews. They are placing themselves in a very risky, vulnerable position where they have to rely completely on God’s protection.
But we have a God who calls us to take risks. He never calls us to lives of comfort and ease, but he calls us to work, to adventure, to risk. He calls us to step out in faith and trust him. When is the last time you took a risk and trusted God to work. Our faith grows by stretching. The more we exercise our faith, the more faith we develop.
What are you doing today that in following God that is “risky” - that is placing yourself in a position where you need to trust God to come through for you?
Next, let’s look over in Joshua 6:1-5 at the story of the walls of Jericho. Now Jericho was tightly shut up because of the Israelites. No-one went out and no-one came in. Then the LORD said to Joshua, “See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men. March around the city once with all the armed men. Do this for six days. Make seven priests carry trumpets of rams’ horns in front of the ark. On the seventh day, march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets. When you hear them sound a long blast on the trumpets, make all the people give a loud shout; then the wall of the city will collapse and the people will go up, every man straight in.”
What kind of battle plan is this? Instead of planning an ambush or a mass frontal assault, God calls them to do something ridiculous. Probably every soldier is ready to fight and win a great victory. But how do you tell a soldier to just march around and not say a word?
Stepping out in faith . . .
1. Involves embracing change. 2. Involves confronting insurmountable obstacles.
3. Involves acknowledging God’s help. 4. Involves taking risks.
5. Involves humility.
Think about the people inside Jericho. The first day they are probably trembling in fear, waiting for a battle. But all the Jews is walk around silently blowing horns. After a while, their fear probably turned to relief and then to mockery. These Jews they had been so afraid of we only going to walk around the city. And probably the second,third, fourth day, the mocks and jeers probably came from the walls. But not of the people say one word - that was what God told them to do. And that takes humility - to hold your tongue and not lash out. To do something that looks and seems utterly ridiculous, foolish, because it is what God says. If we are going to step out in faith in following God, he will call us to do some foolish things.
Think about tithing. God says honor me with the first portion, the first ten percent. How foolish does it seem to give away 10% of your money. But God says if you will honor me, I will bless you greatly. If you will spend your money MY way.
Sometimes the most spiritual, godly choice we can make at the time is the one that involves the greatest humility. Some old friends of ours live in PA, Ned & Kim. Kim was telling us about their neighbor behind them who complained about some bushes Ned & Kim had planted too close to his property line. The next day they found spray paint on the grass where he thought they should have been planted. Kim was furious, and wanted to give him a piece of her mind. Ned said, “Let’s just cover this with grace and say nothing.” Later that day the neighbor came over to apologize and admit he had overstepped his rights. They could have lashed out, but the humble response won the victory.
Remember the story of Naaman the leper, who came to Elisha to be cured of leprosy. Elijah just said, go dip 7 times in the Jordan river. Naaman thought it was foolish, but when he humbled himself and obeyed, God healed him.
Many times God tests our humility before he exalts us. David was first faithful as a shepherd before God let him be a king. God wants men and women humble enough to do things His way. Many times God will test what is in our hearts by calling us to humble ourselves. 1 Peter 5 reminds us, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Some of the most humbling times in my life have been when I have said or done something wrong, and I have had to go to someone and say, “I’m sorry, I was wrong, I said or did something that was wrong, I offended you, will you please forgive me.”
As we think about stepping out in faith involving humility, let me ask you, is there someone you need to humble yourself and approach and ask forgiveness of? Not just say, “you know, you were right” or “I probably didn’t make the best choice” but “will you please forgive me.”
Talking about humbling ourselves and doing things that may not make sense to me, look at verse 24 - Then they burned the whole city and everything in it, but they put the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron into the treasury of the LORD’s house. After they capture this impregnable city, this fortress, they BURN IT! They don’t save it for their fort, their base, they don’t all take the goods for themselves. God said to burn it down! Why?
Remember, the first portion belongs to God. God said, “You give me this first city, and then you can have the rest.” Over in 8:2 when they come to the next city, God said, “You shall do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king, except that you may carry off their plunder and livestock for yourselves.”
Stepping out in faith . . .
1. Involves embracing change. 2. Involves confronting insurmountable obstacles.
3. Involves acknowledging God’s help. 4. Involves taking risks. 5. Involves humility.
6. is a lifelong process!
Look with me over in Joshua 14:10-13. We find here the story of Caleb. Caleb had been one of the 12 spies sent in with Joshua to scout out the promised land after leaving Egypt. God promised Caleb he would come in and enjoy the land he scouted out. In verse 10 he speaks to Joshua - “Now then, just as the LORD promised, he has kept me alive for forty-five years since the time he said this to Moses, while Israel moved about in the desert. So here I am today, eighty-five years old! I am still as strong today as the day Moses sent me out; I’m just as vigorous to go out to battle now as I was then. Now give me this hill country that the LORD promised me that day. You yourself heard then that the Anakites were there and their cities were large and fortified, but, the LORD helping me, I will drive them out just as he said.” Then Joshua blessed Caleb son of Jephunneh and gave him Hebron as his inheritance.”
In verse 10 we see this is is 5 years after crossing the Jordan - 40 years of wandering, 5 years of conquest - Caleb has been waiting 45 years to receive his promised land. He is 85 years old! But he still is living by faith. He says, there are Anakites - GIANTS - in the land - remember Goliath! He said, let me go in and tackle them. He didn’t look at his limitations - he looked in faith to see that even at 85 years old, God could still work through him to win the victory. Look in Josh 15:14 - From Hebron Caleb drove out the three Anakites--Sheshai, Ahiman and Talmai--descendants of Anak. This 85 year old man Caleb defeats 3 Goliaths, because he has learned to step out in faith all his life. In 14:8 Caleb says “I, however, followed the LORD my God wholeheartedly.”
We never get too old to follow God and live by faith. You may be 50, 60, 70, 80 or more. You might say, “I used to serve in the church. I used to teach SS. I used to help with AWANA. But that’s for younger people now.” But that’s not the attitude of Caleb. The church of Jesus Christ needs many older Christians who will REFUSE to retire from serving him. Have you given excuses why you no longer are involved serving God? God wants each one of us to live a lifetime living out this lesson of stepping out in faith.
Stepping out in faith . . .
1. Involves embracing change. 2. Involves confronting insurmountable obstacles.
3. Involves acknowledging God’s help. 4. Involves taking risks. 5. Involves humility.
6. is a lifelong process
May God help each one of us to step out in faith, commit to following God in whatever He calls us to do, and trust him to give us the victory. Let’s pray.
