[NOTE: This series uses stones as visual cues for our journey through Lent. This is actually the first sermon in the series. Each week, I have the ushers make sure that everyone has a stone. I ask them to hold the stone during the service and then, at the end, I ask them to come forward and place their stone at the foot of a wooden cross we have at the front of the sanctuary. Each week during Lent they will receive another stone and place that stone at the base of the cross so they can watch the stones pile up. On Easter morning, however, they will come in to find all the stones are gone. A nice, powerful visual.]
Take a moment to look at the rock in your hand. Aside from the shape, what is one of its most obvious and important qualities? Its hardness. Another quality that a rock or stone has is that there are so many of them. Just go outside and look around. We have so many stones around here that we build houses and walls with them.
Look at your stone again. How old do you think that stone is? A hundred years? More like thousands, amen?
All of these qualities, as I have already suggested, make rocks or stone excellent building material. It’s strong, hard, and lasts for a long, long time … which is why stone is such a good material for building monuments … like statues and grave markers. Just walk through any of the church graveyards around here and you’ll find headstones that are 100 years old … or more, amen?
Headstones are monuments … sacred memorials. It’s not about the stone itself, is it? It’s about the person who lies beneath it. The stone is a way to help us remember a loved one, a family member, a friend who is no longer with us. These headstones … these grave markers … bring back memories and remind us that the person buried there once existed and were a part of our lives … and because of their memories, they are still a part of our lives, part of us today.
There are things that God wants us to remember, to never forget … such as the time when He liberated His Hebrew children from 400 years of bondage and servitude in Egypt. God told them to set a day aside as a “day of remembrance.” Do any of you recall what that day is called? “Passover.” “You shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord, throughout your generations you shall observe it as a perpetual ordinance” (Exodus 12:14). The festival of Passover officially starts when the youngest person at the table asks the question: “Why is this night so special?” And, once again, all around the world, God’s people retell and remember the mighty things that God did for His Hebrew children.
When Moses came down from Mt. Sinai with the Law … with a capital “L” … carved in what? … stone … he built an altar … a memorial. Exodus 24:4 says that Moses “rose early in the morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain and set up twelve pillars, corresponding to the twelve tribes of Israel.”
As the Israelites were about to enter the Promised Land, Moses issued a final warning: “… beware, lest you forget the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt” (Deuteronomy 6:12). So that they would never forget, God commanded them to build two very interesting monuments … one in the middle of the Jordan River and one just outside of the Canaanite city of Gilgal.
The Jordan River represented a border between the wilderness and the Promised Land … between where they had been and where they were going. When the Israelites first came to the Jordan River, it represented a barrier to blessing. On the other side was the Promised Land … a land flowing with milk and honey. The Israelites refused to pass through the river because the Promised Land was also flowing with Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites … all very powerful people … but not more powerful than God, amen? And so, they were turned back and the Jordan River became a symbol of impossibility and a memorial to their doubt and fear, their failure and their shame.
But God didn’t want it to be a symbol of impossibility or a memorial to their doubt and fear, their failure and their shame, did He? Forty years later they once again find themselves standing on the banks of the Jordan River … facing the same dilemma: to trust God and cross the river and claim the land that God had promised them or give in to their fear like their ancestors did and continue to wander homeless in the wilderness. To remind them of how it was going to be possible for them to claim the Promised Land … the land that God had promised them … God shows them Who is by going to go before them … Who is going to be with them … the same God that defeated Pharaoh … the same God that went before them in the wilderness. God commands them to build two monuments to remind them of the time that the Jordan River went from being symbol of impossibility and a memorial to their doubt and fear, their failure and their shame to a symbol of possibility and a reminder of the time that God went before them and led them into the land He promised them.
The very instant that the feet of the priests carrying the Ark touched the raging waters of the Jordan River, a miraculous thing happened. The water stopped flowing immediately and the Israelites literally walked through the river into the Promised Land without getting their feet wet.
The river didn’t stop flowing until when? Until the priests and people moved forward and took a step of faith … a very powerful and visual way for God to tell us that we have to step out in faith first. Faith isn’t much good if it isn’t acted on, right? I can say that I have ‘faith’ all day long but my faith is just empty words until I act, until I move forward, until I literally take that first step of faith, amen? It would not have taken much faith to cross the Jordan River if God had built a bridge across it first or if they just stood there and God parted the river. It took a lot of faith for them to step into the rushing waters of the Jordan not knowing what lie beneath the water or if they would make it to the other side. It also took a lot of faith for them to cross the Jordan only vaguely knowing the many challenges … great and small … that awaited them on the other side.
When we respond in faith, God responds with power, amen? The reason so many people live on the wrong side of the river is because they are waiting for God to stop the water before they attempt to cross it … and as a result are forced to wander aimlessly in the wilderness because they never step into the River of Possibility and discover the power and faithfulness of God.
Listen to what God tells them to do once they enter the river and cross to the other side.
[Read Joshua 4:1-7, 19-24]
God commanded that two monuments be made. The first was made up of a pile of twelve large stones stacked up in the middle of the Jordan River. Let’s pause here for a moment and try to picture that for a moment. Imagine walking along the banks of the Jordan River and you suddenly see a pile of huge stones jutting up out of the water in the middle of the river. God is right. You’re naturally going to wonder: “Hey! Look at that. How odd. That’s not something you see every day. What is it? Who did that? Why did they do that? And what does that mean?” Am I right?
As you look at it, you realize that what you are looking at was impossible 3,400 years ago. The only way that they could have made such a huge pile of rocks in the middle of a large and powerful river like the Jordan in Joshua’s day would be if the water had been stopped somehow. How could anyone get twelve smooth stones from the riverbed unless, well, they came from the riverbed … and the only way that they could get stones from the riverbed and pile them up in the middle of the Jordan like that would be if some great power stopped the river from flowing long enough for someone to gather up twelve stones and pile them up like that before the water began to flow again.
And what a display of God’s power before going into the Promised Land, amen? As Joshua pointed out, a vivid and powerful memorial not only of their crossing into the Promised Land but of a previous display of God’s power and faithfulness when God parted the Red Sea as they fled from Egypt.
The twelve stones piled up in the middle of the Jordan River were “stones of remembrance.” In generations to come, people would see this strange pile of stones rising from the middle of the river and know that someone had to have stacked them up when the river was dry and it would get them to think … to remember … the Power … with a capital “P” that made that monument, that pile of stones, in the middle of the river possible. See how that works?
God also told them to take twelve more stones from the river and carry them to their camp at Gilgal. Gilgal was roughly eight to 10 miles away from the Jordan River … which, again, would raise some interesting questions for anyone who saw it: “How did these 12 large, smooth stones get here? These are clearly ‘river stones.’ Who carried them all the way here from the Jordan? Why did they carry them all the way from the Jordan River to Gilgal? Why did they pile them up like this and what does it mean?” The unique shape and appearance of the stones, piled up so far from the Joran River, would no doubt cause future generations to ask the question: “What do these stones mean?” And the parents or grandparents or great-grand parents could use both rock piles, both monuments, as a teaching tool … telling the story behind the rock piles … and in the process of explaining how the stones got there, we, as well as our children, our grandchildren, our great-grandchildren, once again get to hear the story behind the stones ourselves and be reminded of God’s power and faithfulness.
When significant things happen in our lives today, we call them “milestones.” Milestones can commemorate any number of special moments or significant events in our lives: our first day at school … graduation from high school or college … getting married … the birth or a child … a promotion at work … retirement … a major illness … death of a loved one. But there are special milestones that Henry Blackaby, author of “Experiencing God,” calls “spiritual markers.” Spiritual markers commemorate a time in your life when you know that God has revealed His Presence and Power in your life.
We need to erect spiritual markers to prevent us from experiencing spiritual amnesia. Spiritual markers … stones of remembrance … point to the significant moments of our past where we have experienced God’s Presence and God’s Power so that we can have faith that God is at work in our present. Sometimes we can’t see what God is doing but when we look back, we see God’s fingerprints everywhere, don’t we? When we look to our past, we can see those times when we experienced God’s Presence and God’s power and that gives us faith that God is at work in our present even if we can’t see Him, amen?
Spiritual markers, such as the one in the middle of the Jordan or the one built in the camp at Gilgal remind us of a very simple yet powerful truth: God is able. “God is able to ______________” … fill in the blank. For the Israelites at Gilgal, God was able to bring them to the Promised Land and lead them through the River of Impossibility. For Abraham, God was able to give him and Sarah a child long past their childbearing years … and with that child, God was able to make Abraham’s descendants as numerous as the stars or the grains of sand on a beach. For Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, God was able to deliver them from the fiery furnace. For Daniel, God was able to shut the mouths of hungry lions.
What has God been able to do for you? Raise you from a bed of sickness? Heal your marriage? Come through for you in times of financial need?
We must not forget the blessings of the past because they serve as powerful reminders that whatever we face now or in the future as individuals or as a church, God is able. Say it with me: God is able. You better believe it because it’s true.
The stones in the middle of the river and the stones at the camp in Gilgal were not only stones of remembrance but also “stones of renewal” as well. When Joshua set up the two piles of stones, guess what? God wasn’t finished with His plan. His plans were only getting started. They still faced the daunting challenge of attacking Jericho, the most heavily fortified city in the ancient world. There were seven kingdoms occupying Canaan that would have to be conquered before the land would be theirs. Setting up those stones in the Jordan and at Gilgal were Joshua and the people’s way of saying: “Since you were faithful to us in the past, God, we’re going to trust you with our future.” It was a time for them to pause and reflect … to renew their commitment to God.
Why did they have to wander in the desert for 40 years? Because they did not cross the Jordan, the border of blessing, the first time they came to it. They did not enter the Promised Land because they did not trust God. Being made to wander in the desert for 40 years was not only a punishment but also a time for them to reflect upon their lack of faith. It gave them more time to follow God and to deepen their faith and trust in God.
Look at the difference. Same land. Same giants. Same mighty kingdoms that were there 40 years earlier … but now the Israelites, God’s children, were different. They know that God will be there with them … that God will go before them … and that He will keep His promise and give them the land. Their stones of remembrance reminded them of God’s love for them and the same goes for us. Our “spiritual markers” should give us more faith as we face the future.
Today is an opportunity for us to move into the future with a new attitude. “Consecrate yourselves,” Joshua commanded God’s people, “for tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you” (Joshua 3:5). As individuals and as a church, we will continue to be faced with new opportunities, new challenges, and bigger decisions. Where do we get the faith to face these future opportunities, challenges, and decisions? [Hold up Bible.] As long as we listen and obey the Word of God, we will never go wrong, amen? As long as we remember and hold on to our spiritual markers in the Bible and in the history of our lives and the history of this church … as long as we cherish and remember and hold on to those times in our lives and in the life of this church when God showed His power … when we felt His Presence and His love … we will continue to press forward into our promised future, amen?
Stones of remembrance … stones of renewal. There is a third truth symbolized by these two monuments, these two piles of stones. They represent the truth of the past … they represent the truth of the present … and they represent the truth of the future.
Let’s see if you’ve been paying attention. The second monument was set up where? That’s right … Gilgal. The name or word “gilgal” means … are you ready for this? “Gilgal” means “to roll away … to remove.”
For 40 years, God’s people wandered in endless circles of spiritual mediocrity and defeat. When the Israelites crossed the Jordan and camped out at Gilgal, 40 years of spiritual defeat and failure had been “rolled away” … had been removed. Gilgal represented a new start for a new generation in a new land. The fact that they camped at Gilgal and erected a stone monument was proof that they were now ready to wholeheartedly follow the Lord into the land that He had promised them. The dream that had been dead for 40 years was now resurrected.
Before something can be resurrected it must first what? Die! Amen? Their fear, their doubts, their stubbornness had to die in the wilderness so that God could resurrect His purposes and His plans in the hearts of His people.
Are you ready … as a church, are WE ready … to wholeheartedly follow the Lord into our promised future? In order for that to happen, we must first die to our own selfish plans and dreams. Only when we die to those things will we experience a resurrection of God’s hopes and dreams and plans for us.
The stones at Gilgal also spoke to the future … to a time 1,400 years into their future … and a time over 2,000 years into our past. In this case, it was only one stone. “Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise,” writes Mark in the 16th chapter of his gospel, “they were on their way to the tomb and they asked each other, ‘Who will roll the stone away from the entrance to the tomb?’ But when they looked up, they saw the stone, which was very large, rolled away” (Mark 16:2-4).
This is the “gilgal” of the New Testament … our “gilgal,” amen? Not only was the stone rolled away but all our shame and sin were removed when Jesus came forth from the grave like the Son of Righteousness, risen with healing on His wings!
You see, the stone was not rolled away so that Jesus could step out. So, sir! No, Ma’am! It was rolled away so that the world could look in. The cross and the empty tomb are our “gilgal” and Jesus Christ, our resurrected Lord and Savior, is our spiritual marker, our spiritual monument made of flesh and blood, amen?
When the Lord rescued the Hebrew slaves from their bondage in Egypt, He commanded them to observe a “Day of Remembrance.” When Jesus rescued us from our bondage to sin and death, He also commanded us to remember Him and what He did every time we sit down and break bread and share a cup of wine together. He also erected a monument for us to look at and remember … the cross. Just as the monument in the middle of the Jordan River represented the nation of Israel crossing over from the wilderness to the Promised Land, the cross represents our crossing … from this sinful, broken world to a promised future with God made possible by Christ’s sacrifice. Just as God parted the Jordan River, so Jesus parted the Temple curtains and opened the way for us to come into God’s Presence here and in the hereafter. The cross and the Lord’s Table are moments of remembrance … a time for us to remember and reflect upon what God and Jesus Christ have done for us in the past so that we may move forward into the future with faith.
During Passover, a child asks: "Why is this night different from all other nights?" And they, along with the guests at the Seder meal, get to hear and remember the mighty way in which God freed them from bondage in Egypt. When the descendants of the first generation to cross the Jordan River and enter Canaan would see the pile of stones in the river or the pile of stones at the site where they spent their first night in the Promised Land and would ask, “How did these stones get here and what do they mean?” they would hear and remember the providence of God in the wilderness and how God kept His promise to not only lead His chosen to the promised land but help them to conquer it and become a nation. When we look at the cross, when we come to His table, we remember how God took on flesh, how He suffered and died for our sins on the cross. And when we encounter the empty tomb on Easter morning, we remember Jesus’ promise that He has gone to prepare a place for us and when all is ready, that He will come and take us home to be with Him forever ever.
Look at the stone in your hand again. It didn’t come from the bottom of a river but it did come from the bottom of a lake … Lake Junaluska … which is actually river, to be honest. Hold that stone in your hand and think about a significant moment when God moved in your life. It can be more than one moment. For me, this stone represents the time what I had my last drink and smoked my last joint. It represents the day that I answered His call into ministry. Most importantly, it represents the day that I gave my life to Christ on the side of Archer Road in Gainesville, FL. Pick a moment or two or three or some significant event in your faith journey that you would like this stone to represent and then bring it up here when you come to celebrate at the Lord’s Table and leave your “stone of remembrance” at the foot of the cross.
[Long moment of silence … followed by Communion.]
