Renewing Your Vows
Joshua 5:1-12
Intro:
It has been a wonderful weekend of celebrating our Lord and all He is doing among us. We also want to celebrate fathers today, and I’d like to do that in prayer. Kids, we are very glad to have you as part of this whole service. We wanted you here as we recognized and thanked your teachers, for Kristina’s baptism, and as we said goodbye to Pastor Matt and Dawn. And just before we open the Bible I want you to pray with me that God would bless our dads – so if you are here with your dad, reach over and take his hand, or sit on his knee for a moment and give him a hug, and let’s pray for them.
Context:
We have been following the people of Israel into the promised land, seen how God miraculously caused the Jordan river to stop flowing so that the people could walk across dry land. As soon as they got across, they set up a permanent marker to remind everyone of the miraculous thing God had done. We would think it was now time for battle – time to run into the land, break out the weapons and fight for the land that God had promised them. After all, the people in the land are scared, now is the time to pounce on them and take full advantage of the fear they have.
But that is not what happens. Let’s read Joshua 5:1-12 and see what God commands them to do once they have crossed over the Jordan into the promised land.
Read Joshua 5:1-12
It is a fairly simple story, but there are a number of really important things to point out:
1. When God Acts, People Notice (v. 1):
Word of the miracle God had done at the Jordan river got around, and the result was that the kings who had been getting ready to fight the Israelites for the land lost heart – they got scared – the verse says literally that “their hearts melted in fear.”
This is pretty simple, but incredibly important. When God acts, people notice. And I’m convinced that that is the reason why God acts, why He does amazing things in our lives – so that people will sit up and take notice of who God is, and eventually come to know Jesus as their Saviour and Lord.
This weekend we have had eight people take the step of faith of baptism – a public profession of the miracle God has done in their lives in rescuing them from sin and adopting them into His family. Last night, four of the people we baptized were teenagers, and what stuck out for me was how each of them talked about sharing their faith with their friends. They mentioned how excited they were about having God in their lives, and how they desired their friends know this joy also. I know their friends will be impacted by their words, because they will also see it in their lives.
Last week we talked about how God does miracles so that all people will come to know of His power. And at the end, I prayed that we would each have opportunities to share something of God’s greatness with people around us. I have been encouraged to hear a couple of stories already, and I’m anxious to hear the others as well. One that I’d like to pass along: A man in our church had a friend killed suddenly in a motorcycle accident, and took some time off work to attend the funeral. A coworker heard that he was going to a funeral, and said something about how much he hated funerals because they were so depressing and hopeless. Aha – the open door… This man in our church was able to reply, “Actually, most of the funerals I go to aren’t depressing at all; in fact we often celebrate the person’s life, and usually even laugh some.” This was quite confusing to this coworker, leading his friend to explain that with faith in Christ, death is not an end – there is a future, there is hope, there is the realization that there is something more, and something better. God provided an opportunity for this person to share the greatest miracle of all – the miracle that we can be reconciled to God and spend eternity with Him.
When God acts, people notice.
2. Trusting God Makes Us Vulnerable (vss. 2-9):
The next part of the story, verses 2-9, just does not make sense. I cannot imagine any military training school looking at these verses and concluding, “that is a perfect tactic! We have to try this!”
Let’s remind ourselves what is happening. The Israelites have entered the land which they are claiming as their own, with the command to drive out all the inhabitants of the land by force. They have crossed the major barrier and are now encamped on the plains outside the first major city in the land, the fortified city of Jericho. Everybody knows there is going to be a battle. So what does the invading army do? Joshua circumcises all of the warriors in his army. He takes them out of commission, renders them helpless, unable to fight. Verse 8 tells us they remained in the camp until they were healed. The other verses tell us that this was necessary because during the years of wilderness wandering, the nation hadn’t practiced circumcision, and so before taking the promised land they needed to recommit to the covenant with God and express that through circumcision.
Yet from a human standpoint, this just does not make any sense! You don’t invade hostile territory and make yourself vulnerable, you don’t deliberately injure your team the week before the championship. Why not do it on the other side of the river, before crossing into hostile territory? Why does God command Joshua to do this at all? I believe there are two reasons, reasons which still apply to us today:
A. We are called to obey God, whatever the cost. This would have been a painful ritual for those grown Israelite men to go through, yet they did it out of obedience to God. Circumcision was the sign of the covenant, the seal of the agreement between God and His people that God would provide and that they would worship Him alone. The covenant sign of circumcision was a painful one, yet it was critical – it stated their commitment to abide by the terms of the covenant and to worship God alone.
That can be hard for us. We tend to be willing to obey if there is something in it for us – if we can see the benefit. We also obey, sometimes reluctantly, if disobedience will bring too much punishment and we decide the consequences aren’t worth it. But the call to obedience to God is different – it is a call to obey at all costs.
I recently had the opportunity to visit someone in the hospital, going through a very difficult time. We agreed that we didn’t understand what God was doing or why, but then this person said to me, “I only want to obey God and be in the center of His will.” I asked if the cost was too great, the price too high. The response came quickly and out of a depth of faith: “No. The price is high, but the reward of knowing I’ve obeyed God and being in the middle of all He wants for me is worth it.”
We are called to obey, whatever the cost. The second reason is this:
B. We only learn what it means to trust when we are vulnerable. I see an incredible act of faith in the obedience of Joshua and the Israelite army. They made themselves completely dependant on God for protection, they opened themselves up to attack from their enemies which could have been fatal. The whole conquest could have been squashed right then if the men of Jericho had came out and attacked right after the Israelites had been circumcised. They learned what it meant to trust God through their obedience to His command.
I see the same principle in our lives as well. We only learn what it means to trust when we are vulnerable, when we feel like life is out of our control, when things start to go bad, when we face things that are beyond our ability to heal and to manage. Those are the times we cry out to God for help, we cry to Him because we know we can’t handle the situation on our own, when we are powerless to change something. And I believe that is sometimes why God allows us to experience those difficult times, to teach us to trust Him.
And yet the truth is that we are never in control, we are always vulnerable. It is true that we make decisions every day, and those decisions have consequences, but ultimately we need to recognize that God is the one in control. He is the one in charge of the universe. Faith and trust are about that recognition – that we are in God’s hands, that He is sovereign over all. And that is ok, because we know He is good.
So the point is that we need to recognize our need for God, our dependence on Him, and trust Him as we walk with Him daily.
C. God Provides (vss. 10-12).
Finally, I want to point out what is happening in these last two verses. (read 10-12). The theme of these verses is that God provides, and we see that in both His perfect timing and in His provision.
Chapter 4:19 tells us that it was the 10th day of the first month when the Israelites crossed the Jordan. God timed this perfectly, so that once across the Israelites could celebrate the feast of Passover at exactly the time He had prescribed – the 14th day of the first month. If you recall, the Passover feast was to be a celebration and remembrance of God’s mighty deliverance from Egypt, and His sparing of His people when the angel of death killed the first-born of every Egyptian family. It is significant that the first things the Israelites did upon entering the Land reminded them of their covenant relationship with the Lord, both circumcision and celebrating the feast of Passover. God’s timing was perfect – He led them across the river at exactly the right time to begin in the Land by remembering their deliverance from Egypt.
And then the manna stops. For forty years, God had provided them daily with this staple food, as He led them to the promised land. They looked ahead to a land “flowing with milk and honey,” a land of bounty. And now that they are in this land, they get their first taste. The miracle comes to an end.
I wonder if the Israelites were sad when the manna was gone. I mean, I know they had grown tired of it, and accustomed to it, but it was still a daily, visible reminder of God’s provision and goodness. And now it is gone. But is God no longer providing for them? Of course He is! He is just now using a natural means to provide instead of a supernatural one. Both come from God, both are His provision, both deserve our thanks. Kids, how many of you say a prayer before eating? Part of that is to thank God for the food, right? Have you ever wondered why we thank God when the food came from the grocery store and then was prepared by your mom or dad? We do that to remind us that God is the one who ultimately provides for us – even our food. We can’t make a carrot grow in the garden – we can plant the seed and give it water, but only God can actually make it grow. And besides, it is God that gave us the seeds in the first place! He put the sun in the sky, He sends the rain. And so we recognize that He is the one who provides for us, and that is why we thank God for our food.
And that is what the Israelites learned when the manna stopped falling from the sky. God still provided, He just did it in a different way – through natural means instead of supernatural.
Conclusion:
When God chose the Israelites to be His people, He entered into a covenant relationship with them. He said, “I will be your God, and you will be My people.” As they enter the Land, they re-enact the terms of the covenant both through the covenant sign, circumcision, and the covenant meal, the Passover. It is kind of like renewing their vows, pledging and committing once again to the relationship they have with God. It was a chance to begin again, in a new place, by reaffirming their relationship with God and by recommitting to it.
Let me tell you what I believe this means for you and for me. There are times in our lives when God does miraculous things, He surprises us and rescues us and forgives us and changes us. And He expects us to respond. Sometimes it is painful and costly and dangerous to obey – like circumcision when camped just outside the wall of the enemy you are about to attack. And sometimes it is a celebration – like the Passover was.
We’ve been privileged to be a part of 8 people taking the step of baptism this weekend – those 8 people responded to how God has been working in their lives by taking that step of faith. What is the next step for you? Do you need to get off the river bank and into the river? Do you need to obey even though it is scary and makes you vulnerable? Or do you need to celebrate? Whatever that next step, I encourage you to take it today. And I pray that through that step, people would see how God is acting and be drawn to Him as a result.
