Vision + Faith + Action =Victory
Joshua 6:1-5; 20
The text for the message this morning is one that is quite familiar to all of us. As children we used to sing songs about “Joshua and the battle of Jericho,” and how those walls came “a tumblin’ down.” This is, without question, one of the most exciting stories in the Bible in which the mighty, supernatural power of God is displayed in response to the obedience and faith of His people.
Oftentimes, familiarity with something causes us to take it for granted, or to hold it in low esteem; but not so with this tireless story where there are yet lessons to be learned by the church whose desire it would be to accomplish much for the glory of God.
As we look at this passage of scripture, we find that the children of Israel, under the leadership of Joshua, are about to enter the land of promise. All they have to do is cross the swelling Jordan River by following the ark of God as it is carried by the priests. God has already told them that the land was theirs for the taking, and that their possession of the land was limited only by their vision to obtain it. In Joshua 1:3-5 God told Joshua:
“Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given you, as I said to Moses. From the wilderness and this Lebanon as far as the great river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and to the Great Sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your territory. No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life; as I was with Moses I will be with you. I will not leave you nor forsake you.”
Now, I want you to note something here! God made a promise concerning their possession, and of their protection, but He did not promise that their possession of the land would be without a fight! It has often been said that “Anything worth having is worth fighting for.” This is especially true in the spiritual realm because we are engaged in spiritual warfare against a powerful enemy who is determined to thwart the plans and purposes of God in his attacks against God’s people. Just as the land of Canaan belonged to Israel….but to receive its benefits and blessings they would have to conquer many enemies….so new experiences through the gaining of new ground belongs to us, but there are enemies to be fought, and walls to be torn down.
Jericho was a fortified city. There were two walls that surrounded the entire city, and each wall was posted with sentinels. The outer wall was six feet thick, and the inner was purportedly twelve feet thick. As far as mere man was concerned the walls were impregnable! But, with God all things are possible! And, as we will see the walls fell flat before the children of Israel, and every man went straight in to conquer the inhabitants.
How was it that Israel experienced such victory? Well, it began as only it could have: with a God-given vision. In Joshua 6:2 God said to Joshua, “See, I have given Jericho into your hand, it’s king, and it’s mighty men of valor.”
The word see comes from the Hebrew word râw-âw, and it means to envision something: to see far beyond the physical realm of present reality to see something as it can, and will be. God’s call for Joshua to envision the fall of Jericho was based not upon Israel’s power and might, but upon God Himself, as He declared unto Joshua, “See, I have given Jericho into your hand…”
Joshua knew what it meant to have vision of future things. He and Caleb were two of twelve spies sent in to spy out the promised land some forty years before. Like the others, Joshua and Caleb saw the inhabitants of the land; they had seen the fortified cities; but they also saw the blessings of God that lay before them, and while ten spies saw themselves as nothing more than grasshoppers in the eyes of their enemies, Joshua and Caleb were visionaries, and tried to encourage the people to move forward to receive God’s blessings.
Solomon, in his great wisdom, declared in Proverbs 29:18 “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” The word vision is defined as simply a dream, or a revelation. I cannot help but think of the late Dr. Martin Luther King who often proclaimed: “I have a dream!” His dream, or vision was for equality for men and women of all races. Well, long before God appointed Joshua to succeed Moses and lead the nation Israel into the promised land, Joshua had a dream! His dream was to possess the land of Canaan. His dream was to receive and enjoy the promise of God. His dream was to live in a land of plenty in peace. It was something that he longed for so badly that he could taste it. He lived and breathed the dream.
I would ask you, this morning, “Do you have a dream?” Of course you do! We all have dreams of the future and how bright it can be. We have dreams of peace and prosperity. Perhaps those dreams include a new home, or a new car, or a rewarding career. But, while you may have personal hopes and dreams, what is your dream for this church? What is your vision of the future? Last Sunday night we voted to move forward with the preliminary design phase of our future building, knowing full-well that we cannot move into the construction phase until we have, first, grown more, and until we have a stronger financial base. For those of you who may be fearful and doubtful, I pray that you know by now, that I will never lead this church to do something unless I have the assurance that God is leading me to do it. But, at the same time, I pray that you know that I have always had a vision for the future of this church. And that vision is not just having a new building sitting here on this lot, but it is a vision of reaching so many people for Christ that we will one day need a building large enough to house them and minister to their need. And that, beloved, is a God-given vision that I believe He will bring to pass because He put us here, and sustained us over the years, for that very purpose!
It has been said that “Vision that looks inward becomes duty; vision that looks outward becomes aspiration; but vision that looks upward becomes faith.” Whatever our vision for the future may be, it must be given to us by God, and we must ever look to Him for it to become reality.
The writer of Hebrews, in Hebrews 11:1 declared: “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Joshua received a command from God. He was given a vision. He responded in faith.
Now, imagine trying to organize the army of Israel to act in obedience to God. It was not as if they were actually going to war against Jericho with swords and spears. Joshua told the people, “This is the plan! All the men of war will march around the city once a day for six days with the priests carrying seven trumpets of ram‘s horns before the ark of the covenant. Then, on the seventh day, we will march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets. When you hear the long blast on the trumpets, all the people shall shout with a great shot, and the wall of the city shall fall flat.”
Now, what would your response be if I shared with you such a plan for our future? Some, if not all of you, would say: “Yeah, right! Like its really going to happen?” But folks, note that Joshua really was just the messenger. The words were from the Lord, Himself. Joshua needed just as much faith to believe what God had said as did any man or woman in Israel. Faith is taking God at His Word, and responding in obedience to Him, knowing that God will never lead you in paths where His grace cannot sustain you!
In the classic movie Miracle on 34th Street, Santa Claus utters what much of the world thinks faith is. He said: “Faith is believing in things when common sense tells you not to.” In other words, faith is irrational, contrary to experience, logic, and knowledge. If we cannot see it, explain it through simple logic and reasoning, we have a tendency not to trust it.
I am afraid that we are sometimes like the man who was walking down a long, narrow path one night, not paying much attention to where he was going. Suddenly he slipped over the edge of a cliff. As he fell he managed to grab hold of a branch growing out of the side of the cliff. Not being able to see because of the darkness of night, he had no idea that he was just two feet from the bottom where he could safely drop without injury. Believing that he could lose his grasp and plummet to his death, he began to cry out for help.
He yelled…“Is anybody up there?”
A voice was heard, “Yes! I am here.”
Who’s that?” the man asked.
“It’s the Lord!”
“O, Lord! I am glad you’re here. Please help me!”
“Do you trust me?” asked the Lord.
“ I trust You completely, Lord.”
“Good. Let go of the branch.”
“What???”
“I said, Let go of the branch.”
“Help!!! Is anybody else up there?”
Israel could have said to Joshua, “Have you really thought this thing through?” “Don’t you have a better plan?” No! They simply responded in faith to what they believed God had led them to do. They believed God and acted upon what He has said.
That is my prayer for this church.! Not to go ahead of God and presume upon His provision, but most certainly not to lag behind and miss His blessing.
As we look back to our text, we find in verses 16 and 20 “And the seventh time it happened, when the priests blew the trumpets, that Joshua said to the people, Shout for the Lord has given you the city…..So the people shouted when the priests blew the trumpets. And it happened when the people heard the sounds of the trumpets, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat….”
Simply put: Vision + Faith + Action = Victory!
There is no doubt but that there are walls of obstacle that rise up before us. There are seemingly impossible barriers to overcome. But, they are not barriers that have to come crashing down. And, they will! It is not up to us to devise the plan of how it will all happen. It is simply up to us to lay hold of God’s vision for this church in this community….to have faith that God will provide every means to do whatever He leads us to do…and then to respond in faith and obedience to His leading. Then, and then alone, will we have the victory that will bring much honor and glory to God.
In closing, this morning, I simply ant to ask you, “What part will you play in God’s plan for this church? Will you be an encourager, or a discourager? Will you be an instrument in God’s hands? Will you dare to dream a dream and lay hold of a vision, or will you be one to say, “It is impossible. It can never happen?”
Shall we pray?
