Telling Stories
Bible Reading:
Joshua 1: 1-9
PREPARED BY
KEN GEHRELS
PASTOR
CALVIN CHRISTIAN REFORMED CHURCH
NEPEAN, ONTARIO
He faced a formidable task.
Joshua, son of Nun, had been serving as aide to Moses for some 40 years during Israel’s trek through the desert.
The journey is nearly over.
Now the hard work of moving in and taking possession of the land that will be their home is to begin.
Canaan is to be conquered.
And Joshua has to lead, taking over the leadership of the nation now that Moses is dead. "No 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."
Forty years had allowed for much learning to occur. Joshua had seen much. And yet, as we can probably expect, there is tremendous apprehension at such an enormous challenge. Only a total fool would not feel at least some little tingle in the pit of his stomach!
God sees that - even as He issues His divine edict to Joshua He sees that.
And so it is that immediately on the heels of issuing His order to enter Canaan and describing how far the boundaries of the promised Land will extend, a word of comfort is passed to Joshua.
It comes in the form of a promise:
"As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you. Be strong and courageous...." (v.5,6)
Hear what God says:
"I will be with you....."
How will "I be with you"?
"......as I was with Moses."
Do you notice what the Lord does?
He invokes memories within Joshua.
Like I said - much had occurred in 40 years. Earlier pages of scripture record many exploits during Israel’s wandering in the desert, some of great faith and others of downright disastrous human sinfulness and arrogance. All through those forty years, Joshua had been by Moses’ side.
Watching.
Participating.
Forty years - one event after another.
Ah, the stories that Joshua would be able to tell his grandchildren.
"Remember these events, Joshua?
Remember!
As I was with Moses, so I will be with you."
The Lord reaches back into the memory of His servant and pulls out stories. And He flashes them through his mind. What stories, indeed!
Joshua had seen the Red Sea open to allow Israel to pass, and close to swallow the most powerful army in the world.
Remember, Joshua!
He’d seen Manna come from heaven and water gush out of a rock.
Remember, Joshua!
He’d seen the sun stand still because Moses’ hands remained raised to heaven in prayer.
Remember, Joshua!
He’d seen the ground open to swallow rebels who threatened Moses’ leadership.
Remember, Joshua!
Remember......... and in that looking back find strength to move forward into the future that God has planned.
"As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you."
Remembering the past, and on that foundation moving towards the future.
I want to suggest to you this evening that this is one of the most basic dynamics of the Kingdom of God in gathering and equipping a holy army to work for the King.
Looking back and then looking forward.
Not because of some desire to perpetuate the past.
Not because of some fear of moving forward.
But because of the radical continuity between the past and the future.
Radical and total continuity because of the one who holds past, present and future in His powerful hands.
Remember!
It is an echoing cry that comes not only here, in one isolated incident to Joshua, but countless times through the pages of Scripture.
- Genesis 9: When you see the rainbow remember.
- Numbers 15: God commands tassels to be put on the corner of Israelite garments. Use them to remember the commands of God.
- Deuteronomy 4: Remember when you stood at Sinai.
- Deut 15: Remember that you were slaves in Egypt.
- Psalm 105: Remember the wonders that God has done
- Isaiah 46: Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me.
Four chapters after this account, Israel crosses the Jordan, and Joshua commands that stones be gathered from the river to build a monument.
Each of you is to take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites,
6 to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’
7 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 forever."
Give your children an occasion to ask.
And when they ask, tell them!
Remember with them.
When Moses was giving His farewell sermon to the people of Israel
- oh, as an aside: do you remember where in the Bible we find that sermon?
remember???
The entire book of Deuteronomy is that sermon! -
When Moses was giving his farewell sermon he included a command to parents that they engage in this task of teaching and remembering:
"these commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates" (Deut 4)
In every part of your family happenings include the Lord, His commands, and how they weave into your life.
It’s part of the remembering: weaving the Great Story of God’s work into the daily events and chapters of the story of our lives.
Remember!
That is the call which comes to believers all through time.
It comes to you and I as people who stand in that same line of salvation working as did Joshua and Moses.
It is part of the great working of God all through Cosmic history.
The Scriptures, really, tell one great, continuous story.
Recall the first words?
"In the beginning......."
That’s where the story starts for us.
Through the Great Mother Promise of Genesis 3:15, the promise given after the Fall:
"And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers, he will crush your head and you will strike his heel."
To Golgotha and Gethsemane
Jerusalem.
Rome.
Ending one day with the Great Return of Jesus, coming on the clouds.
The God who began all things will one day bring all things to a conclusion.
And as He worked in the beginning:
same love
same power
same holy determination
same purity
So He continues to work.
So He will complete His work.
The same God working His same grand plan.
So...... remember!!
Which is why there is so much story telling in Scripture.
And why there are so many geneologies. To connect the generations.
Even Matthew - begins the grand life story of Jesus with.........
do you recall??
Christ’s family tree.
The remembering of his earthly roots!
Remember -
That’s why when Stephen is on trial for his life, what does he do?
He tells a story.
The story of Israel’s heritage and faith.
And in that heritage, in that telling, in that history, truth is found, the present finds meaning, and direction to the future can be seen.
Psalm 78 is one example of remembering put to song - telling the true tale of God’s working through Israel’s history.
And Hebrews 11, which we considered last week in the context of discussing faith. Again and again the theme resounds -
Remember!!
Telling the true stories, the history, of life
your own life and the life of your family and people.
God has built something within every person that longs to be connected, to be plugged into such a story.
That’s how He has made us.
Think of little children who crawl into their parent lap:
"Daddy, tell me about the time that you..."
That’s why some of the most enjoyable moments at wedding receptions come when the tales and exploits are told. The history is woken and unfolded for all to see where the bride and groom come from.
Or when you go to a funeral, to the wake – ever notice how people gather around the picture board? How they will point, and then begin to share,
"Remember when he....."
"Remember how she....."
Ever notice how a funeral service seems rather barren if there is no reference to the person, no telling in some form of the story of that person’s life?
It’s important.
It puts their life within a context
Telling the story, exploring the issues of remember: one very common dynamic among adopted children is that when they hit some point along the way, often in their teen years or early adulthood, they become restless.
They feel a void - no matter how loving their adoptive home is.
They want to know their roots.
They will sometimes search for birth parents.
In that searching they are reaching for their own story’s beginning.
That is true and a powerful dynamic on a natural level.
It is equally true on a spiritual plane.
We are part of a large family - the family of faith.
It is a family with a story.
And one very important element of being part of that family is that we come to know the history, the story of that family.
That we exercise the times of remembering.
In our Reformed tradition we have established an excellent program of remembering the working of God throughout biblical times.
An excellent church school program.
But it needs to go beyond there. Remembering the work of God needs to become more visible and active into how the Lord works in our lives today.
When God speaks to Joshua and gives comfort, He doesn’t reach way back into history. He uses a contemporary of Joshua. Events near and easily recalled.
There’s great power in that.
I, for one, gain great comfort and courage when I visit with a senior saint who can quietly recall how the Lord has been at work in their life through many challenges of life and brought them safely to today.
I long for the day we can see far more of that. When we can let go completely of this hangup we have with testimony. When I was young I recall some people muttering after someone shared in a public setting how the Lord had been at work in their lives.
"Ah, just bragging!" they sneered.
I wish I could find those people now and tell them,
"Dear brother and sister - it’s NOT bragging. It’s sharing the faithfulness of the Lord! It’s telling the story...... HIS story. It’s setting the context for future generations to work!"
What do you think was the driving engine for this hymn:
Great is thy faithfulness, O God my Father.
There is no shadow of turning with thee;
Thou changest not, thy compassions, they fail not;
As thou hast been thou forever wilt be.
Great is thy faithfulness!
Great is thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see.
All I have needed thy hand hath provided.
Great is thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!
Remembering!
Telling stories of how God’s saving, life-giving power has worked and continues to work. It is important.
It’s an area of life where we Reformed folk want to keep growing and practicing, especially in a day and age where we live such isolated lives and bypass each other;
a postmodern day and age that claims there is no such thing as a grand timeless true story; that we all live little isolated chunks, disjointed from each other.
Our children and grandchildren are growing up with that message all around them. And unless we show and tell them different, they will swallow it hook, line and sinker. And any faith they may be left with will be terribly thin and shallow.
We have a witness to bring. A witness bound in story.
Remember - Moses, Joshua, mom, grandpa, fellow church member.
See how Christ’s promise came good for them:
"And surely I will be with you always, even to the close of the age." (Mt 28)
My child, that promise is there for you, too!
Fellow believer, that promise is there for you, too!
And next week when we gather for communion – there too, the key word will be.......Remember!!
