“Jumping the Gun”
Joshua 22
Pastor Ryan Welsh
3/26/06
• Intro.
o “Cookie Thief” by Valerie Cox
Have we ever done something stupid like this?
I know I have
o Today we are going to take a look at a wrong assumption that Israel made about their own people in Joshua 22.
Before we do this, “you might be wondering why Frank preached on Joshua 10 last week, and this week I am preaching on Joshua 22, well the reason is… we just don’t like chapters 11-21, so we skipped them.” Just kidding… explain the chapters/ the power point will explain the chapters.
o Pray
• Body
o Read v. 1-9
At first glance it seems to be sad that the Reubenites, Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh had to go to their home on the other side of the Jordan.
Wasn’t the Jordan what separated the promise land from the rest of the land?
But… wait a minute… we have to look back earlier in the journey of Israel.
Explain Numbers 32
• Like the land
• Build homes
• Leave woman and children
• Cross over with Israel
• Fight
• Return home
We cannot feel sorry for these 2 and a half tribes of Israel whose inheritance was not in the promised land, this was their choice.
Let’s take a look at how all this looked on a map.
• Map slides (follow my lead)
So lets review
• Israel entered into the promise land, fought for it, and conquered it.
• Reuben, Gad, and half of Manasseh start heading back to their land on the other side of the Jordan.
o Read v. 10-12
Let’s take a look at the map again.
Reuben, Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh head back to their own land, but on the way stop and build a huge alter on the border of Canaan and the Jordan.
Why is Israel so mad?
• They remember the command that they heard way back in Deut. 13:12-15.
Read Deut. 13:12-15
• “If you hear it said about one of the towns the Lord your God is giving you to live in that wicked men have arisen among you and have led the people astray, saying, “Let us go and worship other gods”, then you must inquire, probe and investigate it thoroughly. And if it is true and it has been proved that this detestable thing has been done among you, you must certainly put to the sword all who live in that town. Destroy it completely, both its people and its livestock.”
• Seems to me…, referring back to this commandment, Israel was doing the right thing.
o Right?
o Well… let’s read on.
o Read v. 13- 21
It seems to me that Israel was extremely zealous for obeying the command of Moses, but it also sounds like they forgot part of the commandment.
• Read Deut. 13:12-15 again.
• “If you hear it said about one of the towns the Lord your God is giving you to live in that wicked men have arisen among you and have led the people astray, saying, “Let us go and worship other gods”, then you must inquire, probe and investigate it thoroughly. And if it is true and it has been proved that this detestable thing has been done among you, you must certainly put to the sword all who live in that town. Destroy it completely, both its people and its livestock.”
• Israel seems to have forgotten the middle part of the command, and just jumped to the fun stuff.
• “Then you must inquire, probe and investigate it thoroughly and if it is true and it has been proved that this detestable thing has been done… then…
• Hear are a couple true stories of people jumping the gun.
o “Benjamin Franklin’s mother in law hesitated at letting her daughter marry a printer. There were already two printing offices in the United States, and she feared that the country might not be able to support a 3rd.”
o “Here’s how the Chicago Times in 1865 evaluated the Gettysburg Address in commenting on it the day after its delivery: ‘ The cheek of every American must tingle with shame as he reads the silly, flat, and dish-watery utterances of a man who has to be pointed out to intelligent foreigners as President of the United States.’”
o One last thing… is something disturbing that I saw on T.V. this last week. “Unanimous”.
I’m sure that a lot of people are going to jump the gun on judging Christianity as a whole because of one stupid “minister”.
• Lets see what happens when Israel jumps the gun on their Eastern brothers and sister.
o Read v. 21-29
To summarize v. 30-34,
• The Israelites were pleased… it was kinda like… ohhhhhh ok.
This brings us back to the cookie thief.
• The whole time the woman thought that the man was eating her cookies, yet she was eating his all along.
o Israel in the same way didn’t investigate, but instead accused.
Stupid Israelites… right?
• We do the same thing all the time!
o All the time we jump the gun and make assumptions about people in our own church.
o Do you see a fellow churchgoer walking into a pub, and automatically assume that they are a boozer on the side?
o Do you see a fellow churchgoer at a restaurant with the opposite sex and automatically assume they are cheating on their spouse?
o Do you overhear a fellow churchgoer talking to someone about doing something they shouldn’t have done, and think less of them?
o Come later to find out, your friend that you saw walking into the bar was there to pick up a friend that couldn’t drive himself home, or that your friend’s sister or brother was in town and that is who they were out to eat with, or the conversation you overheard from your friend, turned out to be he/she telling a story about someone else that they are helping through something.
o In today’s church music style is a huge dispute. Do you judge whether the church music is okay or not based on appearance and sound, or do you base it on the content of the lyrics?
Big issue today, I think it is easily solved by looking to the content and not mere appearance.
• This is not to say that you can’t have preference, but it is when you bash the other that it becomes a problem.
• We are so very quick to jump the gun.
• In John 7:24, Jesus speaks of this.
o Read John 7:24
Preface/ healing on the Sabbath.
“Stop judging by mere appearances, and make a right judgment.”
o It seems to be pretty clear by Jesus’ words that we are not to judge on the way things look, but instead make the right judgment by investigating what’s really going on.
o The application of this chapter is really two fold.
We have talked about making the right judgment by investigating and not jumping the gun… but I think there is more to this passage then just this.
We looked at the example of the western tribes as what not to do, but what about the eastern tribes?
• I think that we can also learn a lot from the eastern tribes here in Joshua 22.
• They were sent back to their own land on the eastern side of the Jordan, but before they went over to their own side they built a huge alter… why did they do this?
• Read v. 24-25
o They did this to show everyone that they feared the Lord.
o Wow!!!
They were so worried about people in the future thinking that they were not God fearers that they built and alter to show that they we God’s people.
o They chose to live on the other side of the Jordan, but they still wanted to be associated with God as His children.
o Are we not called to do the same thing today?
o Read Titus 2:11-12
“For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say, “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in this present age…”
o I think this was the point of building the alter, it was to show the other Israelites as well as the rest of the world that they were God’s people.
o How are we doing in this area?
I have asked my highschoolers this question a few times in the past…
• If you were on trial for being a Christian… would you be found guilty?
o The Eastern tribes would have been found guilty; they went out of their way to show that they were God’s people.
o Now… I’m not suggesting that we build huge alters half way in between our homes and the church, but instead I’m suggesting that we follow the Eastern tribes example and live a life that shows everyone that we are God’s children.
• Conclusion
o We have seen here in Joshua 22, the bad example of the western tribes jumping the gun and assuming that the eastern tribes were doing wrong.
o We have also seen the eastern tribes show us their great example of standing out in the world for God.
Taking it home
• Can you think of times in the last week, month, or year that you have assumed something by mere appearance?
o My guess is that it is within the last week for all of us.
• Can you think of something you said or something you did in the last week, month, or year that has made you look just like the rest of the world?
o My guess is that it is within the last week for all of us.
• Let me finish with this…
o Don’t assume that the jury will find you guilty for being a Christian, without first looking at the evidence.
• Pray
