Set in Stone - Joshua 4
June 8/9, 2002
Intro:
An 80 year old couple were having problems remembering things, so they decided to go to their doctor to get checked out to make sure nothing was wrong with them. When they arrived at the doctor’s, they explained to the doctor about the problems they were having with their memory. After checking the couple out, the doctor tells them that they were physically okay but might want to start writing things down and make notes to help them remember things. The couple thanked the doctor and left.
Later that night while watching TV, the old man got up from his chair and his wife asks, "Where are you going?"
He replies, "To the kitchen."
She asks, "Will you get me a bowl of ice cream?"
He replies, "Sure."
She then asks him, "Don’t you think you should write it down so you can remember it?"
He says, "No, I can remember that."
She then says, "Well I also would like some strawberries on top. You had better write that down cause I know you’ll forget that."
He says, "I can remember that, you want a bowl of ice cream with strawberries."
She replies, "Well I also would like whip cream on top. I know you will forget that so you better write it down."
With irritation in his voice, he says, "I don’t need to write that down I can remember that." He then fumes into the kitchen. After about 20 minutes he returns from the kitchen and hands her a plate of bacon and eggs.
She stares at the plate for a moment and says, "I knew you were going to mess it up - You forgot my toast."
Sometimes instead of asking the question, "When did you become a Christian," I prefer to ask, "When was the first time you really knew God was real in your life?; When have you really experienced Him in a powerful way?" (Sat – ask the question, have some sharing.) Sun - If we were in a smaller group, I would love to ask that question right now and hear you share some of your responses. To hear you tell those stories, to reminisce a little in what God has done in your life. Every conversation I have ever had like that has left me encouraged and excited and filled once again with awe at the goodness, grace, and mercy of our God. Those are times when life feels real, when the things we are talking about are deep and significant.
How do you commemorate those memories? How do you preserve them, what do you do to remind yourself and celebrate those time? Some people journal – a practice which I recommend to you. They write down in a diary-type place how they are experiencing God at work in their life, and then occasionally read back through some of their experiences. One of the things I have always encouraged children and teens to do when they have reached points of spiritual decision is to write it down in their Bibles, so that there is a record which they can look back at and can see how real it is.
In our culture there is a variety of ways of keeping memories alive. We have statues, monuments, museums, and family lineages worked out in detail. On a more personal level, we have mementos – a tea pot of a grandmother’s, an old hand tool that belonged to dad or grandpa, maybe a pocket watch. I have an old KJV Bible that was given to my mom when she was 14 by an aunt and uncle. And we have photos too, which keep alive the memories of the past.
Why do we do this? Why are older people flocking to the internet in order to research their genealogies? Why the huge interest in antiques? Why do we care about what has happened in the past? Is it just casual interest, nostalgia for its own sake? Or is it something deeper?
I believe it is something deeper. I believe we look to the past in order to understand who we are in the present, and what that may mean for our future. We look to the past to discover where we have come from, which helps us understand why some of the things that are so important to us are that important, why we react certain ways in certain situations, why we have the fears and dreams we have. Now I am not a determinist – I don’t believe that our past determines our future – on the contrary I believe in change, in growth, in the ability to become more than the possibilities of the past may suggest by the power of God. But I recognize the importance of remembering who we are and where we come from, and using that knowledge to help us understand and bring change in our lives today.
Context:
The Jewish people have always had a strong sense of memory – a strong link to the ties of the past. We see strong roots of this established in the early chapters of the Bible, and we see that again today in Joshua 4. This morning I’m not going to read the whole chapter because the basic story is kind of repeated with different emphasis. Instead I’m going to read vss. 1-11, 15-18, and 24. (read).
In chapter 3 we have the story of the Israelites crossing the Jordan river into the promised land. Finally, 40 years after being delivered from slavery, the people enter the land that had been promised to Abraham, the land which they had been heading towards since they escaped from Egypt under Moses. We saw in chapter 3 that the crossing of the Jordan was a miraculous event, one which paralleled the escape from Egypt when the Red Sea parted. In this case, the Ark of the Lord led the way into the river, and as the priests stood in the flood waters of the Jordan, God miraculously dried up the river bed and enabled the Israelites to cross on dry ground. Here in chapter 4 we have the completion of the crossing story, with the emphasis here on preserving this miracle for the generations to come.
In its simplest form, the message of chapter 4 is that we must mark the miracles of God in our memories and pass those memories along to the next generation.
The Importance of Spiritual “milestones”:
In the middle of the last chapter, there is a strange verse which seems to have nothing else to do with the story – it is verse 12. Out of nowhere, there is this mention of choosing 12 men, and that is it. It just hangs there. Now in chapter 4 we find out what these 12 men are supposed to do – they are commanded to pick up one large stone each for a memorial. The number 12 is significant, as is the fact the men are chosen one from each tribe. It is an inclusive memorial, one from each tribe which makes up the nation. Every part is represented. The story tells of their obedience to the command, and of the creation of the monument according to the Lord’s command.
There is one thing that isn’t really clear in the text, and which isn’t critically important, but which I want to draw to your attention anyway. It is in verse 9. The verse as translated in the NIV makes it seem that the 12 stones brought out of the river by the 12 men came from the spot where the priests had stood. There is another possibility though, and that is that Joshua set up a second memorial of 12 stones in the middle of the river. That possibility is indicated by the little footnote in the NIV, which tells us that the translation could be, “Joshua also set up 12 stones…”. So there might have been only one memorial monument (the one on the western shore), there might have been two with a second one in the middle of the river, we don’t really know. I wanted to draw it to your attention not to make a big point out of, but rather to simply remind us that we are looking at really ancient documents here – records of events that occurred at least 3200 years ago. And sometimes there are some details which we just don’t know. If you really study some of these chapters in depth on your own, you will find even more of these types of questions. I just wanted to point out that there is room for ambiguity, and for different understandings of the Word of God, because it reminds us to remain open to other ideas and not get so set in our own ways and opinions that we assume we are right all of the time.
But like I said, one monument or two isn’t really the important point. The important point is that in the midst of the miracle, God instructed His people to create a means by which the act and its significance could be remembered in future generations. He commanded them to remember what He had done for His people in drying up the river and delivering them into the promised land.
Which leads to this question: how do we commemorate the mighty works of God in our lives? I think it is an important question, because I think we tend to forget too easily. We marvel when God does something amazing, and we celebrate His presence and His power, but then at the next difficult patch we forget and get upset at God and sometimes question whether or not He is even there. Sometimes we get so down and discouraged that we wonder if God is even real. In the darkness, we start to doubt. That is a natural thing, it is something we should expect to be part of our lives. Sometimes our spiritual lives are dry and dusty, we feel weary, and we start to wonder what it is really all about. That is part of the process of growth, part of what it means for us to be human, part of our experience here on earth. God frequently allows us to have these kind of “desert” experiences, out of which we (eventually) emerge closer to Him and deeper in our relationship with Him.
Because we tend to forget easily, and because we know we can expect dry and difficult times in our spiritual lives, God makes commands like we find here in Joshua 4. He tells us to create spiritual memories and to find ways to make those visible. To make permanent “markers” in our lives, which testify to the truth and reality of God and His power and presence in our lives. Then, during the difficult times, we can return to the marker and remember – God is real. He is powerful. He does care about me. He has proven all of these things to me in the past. And as a result, I can trust Him today.
How can you mark those events? Maybe you want to build a big pile of stones in your front yard, maybe there is another way. Maybe it’s a picture that hangs on your wall. Maybe it is some words written in the front of your Bible. Use your creativity how ever you like, but find a way to visibly mark the things that God has done in your life. And then, in the times when you faith is challenged, return to them. Pull them out, sit in front of them, and remember. Remember how God had been good to you, remember how He had come in power, how you had felt to be in His presence and His power. And in the remembrance, you will find the strength to continue. You will discover again that God has been real and powerful to you in the past, and from that we gain the encouragement that He is faithful and will come to us again.
The Israelites did an important thing here – they preserved the memory of the power of God which delivered them safely across the river. We need to preserve the memories we have of the power of God in our lives as well.
The Importance of a Family Heritage of Faith:
In addition to preserving the memory of God’s power for the people that experienced it directly, the monument was to serve an additional purpose: it was to be a tool to pass a heritage of faith along to future generations. Verses 6-7 say, “[the stones will] 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…”
So the stones also functioned as a teaching tool. They were there to remind all the people of what God had done, and to ensure that those stories continue to be told to the next generations, and those children grow up with an awe of what God had done and of course could still do for His people.
There is a critical point here, and that is that faith is a family thing. This verse isn’t addressed to professional educators whose responsibility it was to raise children in the faith, it was addressed to parents. All parents! I find this over and over in Scripture, OT and NT – passing faith along to the next generation is the responsibility of parents. Now I’m proud of our Children’s church/Sunday school, and of the teachers who spend so much time teaching and modeling faith to them. But they can never replace the lessons learned at home, they can never replace the influence parents have on their children. They can compliment, and cooperate, and sometimes even fill a vacuum, but they can never fully replace the impact of the family in transmitting faith.
Have you ever told your children about how you became a Christian? Have you shared something God has been teaching you in your life? It sometimes surprises me how little we talk about our faith with those who are closest to us. I wonder why that is… is it that we get caught up in the ordinary events of life, day in and day out, and thus don’t make the time for conversations about faith? Is it because we never had those conversations growing up and so don’t know how to have them in our families? Is it because we are afraid of being open, vulnerable, transparent, with those we love most? I think all of those are likely possibilities, but I tend to think the last one is the big one – we are afraid to be that intimate with our families and spouses. We get together in small groups, or in groups of three, and share and pray together – and that is great and we need to keep doing that! – but something is wrong if we pray with a best friend and not a spouse. If we share on a spiritual level with others but not in our own families.
I’ll be honest with you – this is a struggle for me. In some ways, it is easier for me to share from my soul with you in a setting like this than it is for me to do that with my wife Joanne. And here is why I think that is: Joanne sees me all the time. She knows when my actions don’t match my words, when I’m putting a “spin” on something to make it appear a little better maybe than it actually is. If I share something with her, then suddenly I am also accountable for that thing because she has the right to look at my life and call me on it when I don’t live it. It takes it out of the realm of thought and idea and makes it become real in life – and that can be a little bit scary and intimidating.
And yet that is intimacy. Yes it is risky, yes it is vulnerable, but yes it is worth it. Last week I shared a thought process with Joanne that I had found encouraging: we are often surprised at how much love we have for our son Thomas. Then I realized that no matter how much I love him, God loves Thomas more deeply than I do – and suddenly I had a deep appreciation for how much love that actually is! And then the Holy Spirit took the thought one step further: God loves me that much also. I found that encouraging and uplifting. And I wanted to share that insight with someone, and who better than Joanne who could follow along and understand with me each step of the way. And so I did – I mustered up some courage and shared that personal thought process with Joanne, and we were both encouraged. Yes, I felt a bit vulnerable, but then we had a good conversation together and were able to share that, and we felt close, and it was good. I tell you that to encourage you to take the risk, to open up with one another and be vulnerable. Be careful with each other as you do it, because you are sharing at a deep level and there are risks, but they are worth it!
(Sun) Now I can’t leave this point without asking whether or not you did the “homework” assignment I gave you at the end of last week’s service – to talk to your spouse or (if you don’t have a spouse) to a close friend about what “rivers” are in your life that you need to plunge into. Did you do it? Did you share those thoughts and feelings? I encourage you to do so!
The stones from the river were there in part to promote conversation among the family about spiritual things. To encourage the remembrance in the family of all that God had done for His people. Is there anything in your family that does that? The dinner table has been the place in our recent past where these kind of discussions could happen, maybe that is still a possibility. Maybe it is in the car or van on the way to school, where you could ask simply “how can I pray for your day ahead,” and where you can say, “here’s how you can pray for my day.” Maybe you need to set aside an evening every month – make it an unbreakable appointment together – to share and connect. Every week in our bulletin there is a resource to help encourage these types of conversations in your home, take those and use them!
This dynamic isn’t exclusively the domain of the immediate, nuclear family either. Grandparents, you are in a perfect place to share faith with your biological grandkids and your adopted grandkids. Uncles and Aunts, same thing – you are in a great place to share what God has done for you with others in your extended family. I encourage you to take those opportunities, and to make talking about God a regular part of your family conversations.
The Importance of Public Markers:
The last thing I want us to notice about these memorial stones is that they were public. Verse 24 reveals to us the purpose of God’s mighty action, and as a result the monuments which commemorate them: “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.”
God’s actions always have a redemptive purpose – everything God does is designed to encourage people to come into a deeper relationship with Him. That means that the world is supposed to see the mighty working of God in our lives. The world can’t see those workings unless we show them. That is one of the reasons I disagree with the “second monument” theory that says Joshua created a second memorial in the middle of the river – no one would ever see it. It is the main reason Jesus said, “Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.” (Matt. 5:15).
God wanted the memorial stones to be in a place where everyone who saw them could be reminded of His power. Do you know what that means for us? It means the miracles are not primarily for us, they are for God. He does powerful things in our lives – He sets us free and redeems us and makes us whole – so that everyone can know of His great power and love. It is something we cannot keep to ourselves, it is something that must be shared with those around us who do not yet know the depth of God’s love and power.
What this tells me is that I need to be open and involved in the lives of people who don’t know Jesus, and I need to be in a relationship with them that enables them to see how God is working in my life. That is a big challenge for me, since the majority of my time is spent with church people and that is where most of my relationships are. And that is an area I am struggling to change, because of how strongly I believe that it is what God has called us to as His people – as the next verse in Matt. 5 says: “In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.”
Conclusion:
The crossing of the Jordan River was an incredible milestone for the Jewish people. God did a mighty miracle to get them across, and He made sure it would not soon be forgotten. What has God done in your life? How can you make sure that you don’t forget? And with whom do you need to be sharing those memories – both in your family and with those who don’t know Jesus as their Lord and Savior. I want to close with a dangerous prayer, a prayer that each of us might have opportunity this week to open up and share what God has done for us with someone else.
