Joshua 3:1-17 – Sometimes Our Obedience Hurts Others
It was testimony night in the church. A lady got up and said, "We are living in a wicked land where sin is on every hand. I have had a terrible fight with the old devil all week."
Then, her husband, who was sitting glumly by her side said, "It’s not all my fault, though; she’s tough to get along with, too."
I use this joke to point out that sometimes in our walk of faith, in which we wage war against the enemy of our souls, other people get involved too. I want to look at that thought for a few minutes today as we continue again in the book of Joshua. Let’s look at Joshua 3:1-17.
Back in January, we started through this book. The book tells the stories of the children of Israel ending their 40 years of wandering in the desert and finally taking possession of Canaan, the land God had promised they could and would have. In the 1st message, we looked at faith and courage, how God might just be leading you to a deeper commitment with Him, but it takes belief and bravery to get to it. In the 2nd message, we looked at the number 3, how the number often shows us how God specializes in raising dead things to usefulness again. In the 3rd message, we saw how the people were tempted to settle, to be content with less than what God wanted to give them, and so are we. And in the last message at the end of January, we looked at the prostitute Rahab, and how God often picks unlikely people because they’re the ones who get the most committed.
Today, we are looking at the land the Israelites will be invading, or rather, the people groups they will be displacing. Alright, let’s go back just a little. A few hundred years before, God promised that land west of the Jordan River to Abraham. It was good and fertile land. But God’s time was not yet complete. They had some of the land, a family parcel, but not the whole thing. Abraham had Isaac, who led a fairly inconsequential life. Except the fact that he had twins, Jacob and Esau. Esau was older, but Jacob was sneakier and smarter. And it was through Jacob, also known as Israel, that God would fulfill His promises to Abraham. Jacob had 12 boys, who became known as the children of Israel. Go figure.
The youngest one, Joseph, was sold into slavery by his older brothers, but eventually ended up in Egypt as the prime minister. Through God’s revelation, Joseph saved his family back in Canaan from starvation. They all moved to Egypt. In another generation’s time, they were all slaves to the Egyptians. They multiplied for 400 years, until God sent Moses to get them all out of there. Moses led them through the desert for 40 years, but now it is time to enter Canaan.
But there’s one problem – people live there. V10 of Joshua 3 says that there are Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites, Jebusites, and more foreign people groups not mentioned here. So, this land promised to the Israelites already had inhabitants. They had local kings, leaders of the tribes. They had walled cities. They had families, women and children. This was not barren ground. This land was occupied.
And God wanted the Israelites to drive out these people. As we continue through the book, you’ll see that at times the Israelites were ruthless. They destroyed whole cities, killing all within them. The Israelites either scared the people away or killed them off.
Now, I must say, I struggle with this issue. In my so-called modern-day mind, I have a hard time with this idea. This mentality fueled the Crusades, when a millenium ago Christians thought it was horrible to have Muslims in the holy land of Israel. So they sent knights, soldiers and regular folk to drive out the infidels. It didn’t work. The word “crusade” comes from the word the same word as “cross” – it was done in the name of Jesus. Which is why Billy Graham changed the name of his rallies from crusades to celebrations. The word “crusade” brings up too many connotations of bad behavior by Christians.
So, for the Israelites to do this “ethnic cleansing” is hard for me to grasp. I’m not saying that I can’t see the consequences. If you read the very next book in the Bible, Judges, you can see the problems associated with not driving out the foreign nations. Because there were so many people worshipping false gods, the Israelites had a hard time sticking to the one and only true God. They were constantly being led astray. Tolerating the worship of things not worthy to be worshipped will lead to compromise in a believer’s life. Worshipping God plus anything else will eventually lead to not worshipping God at all. A person cannot serve more than one master.
But I still come back to this point: God told His people to get rid of the foreign nations. I can see why, but I still have a hard time with it. Perhaps you do too. Well, I’m not going to answer that for you today. But I am going to present you with a truth, one that applies to you today as much as it did with the Israelites of 1000BC. The truth is, sometimes following God leads to hurting other people.
Not to say that you can go around, whacking other people on the arm, and tell them that God made you do it. No, lots of things have been done in the name of Christ, like the Crusades, with God getting the blame for it, even though He had nothing to do with it at all.
What I mean is, sometimes, when God asks you to do something, it will hurt others. Your obedience will have a cost to others. Now, we know that our disobedience costs other people. In a few weeks we’ll look at Achan, who stole from Jericho and cost his countrymen a battle with Ai. Some of them even lost their lives because of Achan’s disobedience. David’s disobedience cost Uriah his life. Cain’s disobedience to offer the right sacrifices, and subsequent jealousy, cost his brother Abel his life. Judas’ disobedience cost Jesus his life. And Adam and Eve’s disobedience led to death for each of us. That’s a pretty high cost.
As well, we have been told that our obedience costs ourselves. Vashti’s integrity cost her her position in life. Paul’s obedience cost him everything he once held dear. And Jesus – his obedience cost Him his life. That’s a pretty high cost. The message has rung true through the ages: for us to take up our cross may cost us dearly.
But one thing that hasn’t come through as clear through the ages of preaching: our obedience will cost other people too. I think of Elisha, who left his family in the field when he accepted God’s call for his life. I think of James and John. They left their father mending the nets when they accepted Jesus’ call to become fishers of men. For them to follow Jesus, it was going to cost the ones they loved the most.
I think of Jesus. Simeon prophesied about Jesus, and told Mary that a sword would pierce her heart, even as Jesus’ life would be laid down as a sacrifice. She would suffer because of God’s plan for Jesus.
You have to understand: There are times that for you to do what God wants, others around you will face the consequences. Parents run the risk of hurting their children when they discipline. I’ve seen parents run the risk of ruining their kids lives when the dad moves to Bible college to learn a 2nd career in ministry. I’ve seen, and experienced, teens taking a stand for their faith and their parents turned against them for it. And for young people to date only Christians – that’s hard enough for them, but what does that say to other nice and moral kids? Girlfriends and boyfriends who suffer because their partners commit themselves to God and break up with them? Anytime that one’s commitment to God hurts others, you can see the truth of this point.
Luke 9:23-24 tells us that taking up your cross willingly is a sacrifice. It will cost. I’m not saying that when we are Christians, we can wield this truth like a weapon. The Bible still says that as fathers, we are not to exasperate our kids. As husbands, we are to love our wives like Christ would. You wives, you are meant to submit to your husbands. And as children, we are to obey and respect our parents. But still…
In comparison, as Luke 14:25-27 says, our love for others must pale in comparison to our love for God. Understand: we cannot disobey God in trying not to hurt others. There will be times when putting God first will turn others away. The words we say, the actions we take, the decisions we make, the roads we travel – all these from time to time will hurt others. But you have to trust the results into God’s hands.
Acts 4:19 says, “Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to obey you rather than God.” And you can find a similar verse in the very next chapter, 5:29, “We must obey God rather than men!”
This doesn’t mean you can stampede over others in the name of religion. After all, Ephesians 4:15 says that we are indeed to speak the truth, but we have to do it in love. So, share the truth, and do it lovingly.
But also, the truth is, God deserves our obedience first. No matter what happens to others as we walk with the Lord, we still need to walk with the Lord. We cannot live in fear of what might happen to others if we act on what God wants for us. Proverbs 29:25 says that when you fear man, that will be a snare to you. You will be stuck, trapped, pinned down, if your fear of others outweighs your fear of the Lord.
Don’t let the fear of others keep you from obeying!
