Joshua 7 Wrapped up in one another

We’re back in the OT book of Joshua after a few weeks away from it. And here we come to this passage in chapter 7. Where there is war, the anger of God, judgement and the stoning or a family. It’s a hugely difficult passage for our modern sensibilities. It seems primitive and barbaric. Is God going to be like this towards us?

It’s enough to makes us give up on the OT altogether. Some Christians do that, Except that there is a remarkably similar, parallel story in the NT to this one. Acts 5. Just following the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus, as the early church begins its work of taking the message of Jesus out, One family in the church, a couple called Ananias and Sapphira drop dead infront of the Apostles because they lied about a gift of money they were making to the church! They’d sold a property and said they were giving all the proceeds to the church when actually they’d kept a proportion for themselves. And they dropped down dead for it!  I remember preaching that passage on our penultimate Sunday at GCH before we started SBD. We were preaching through the book of Acts and that passage was where we’d got up to and it just so happened that on that very sunday we were having a gift day for people to give money for our new church plant! What a passage to preach on on a gift day. Is God going to be like this towards us??

To which the answer, I think is, no…. and yes 

No.. because these 2 incidences were both crucial moments in salvation history. The tiny, fledging church which carried the first single flickering torch of the truth about Jesus couldn’t afford for that precious flame to be compromised by dishonesty. Ananias and Sapphira needed to be taken to heaven early. 

Israel under Joshua have been taken into enemy territory. The nations of Canaan were brutal and pagan, engaging in practices like child sacrifice. The time had come for God to judge those nations he tells us very clearly in the Scripture. On a physical level if Israel do not destroy the Canaanites, they will be destroyed. This is what their world looks like. It’s kill or be killed. But also on a Spiritual level it’s even more crucial. This repetition of this phrase ‘the devoted things’is really important. Look back if you would at chapter 6 v17, God’s instructios to Israel about the conquest of the city of Jericho  “17 The city and all that is in it are to be devoted to the Lord. …. v18  keep away from the devoted things, so that you will not bring about your own destruction by taking any of them. Otherwise you will make the camp of Israel liable to destruction and bring trouble on it. 19 All the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron are sacred to the Lord and must go into his treasury…..So v21 They devoted the city to the Lord and destroyed with the sword every living thing in it—men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep and donkeys.

Everything in enemy Jericho is either destroyed or if it’s precious metals put into the treasury of the Lord. And there’s a spiritual reason for it. This language of devotion/devoted things is the language of worship. If Israel preserve Canaanite people or property for themselves, God had warned them, they will be corrupted by Canaanite idolatry. This must not be toyed with. The contagion must be removed. They must kill it or it will kill them - and at a deeper more serious level than the physical. Their spiritual, eternal well being is at stake. 

Remember we’ve said that these OT accounts of the Exodus - rescue from slavery in Egypt and the entering and conquest of the promised land. These happened and are recorded in the Scriptures as prototypes, models of the real story of God’s global salvation - Jesus rescuing the world from slavery to sin and death. Our entry into life with God. And our need to fight in the here and now - not against flesh and blood but our spiritual enemies of sin and fear inorder to take hold of the eternal life that God has for us ..while we wait for the day when God will act in final judgement to completely remove all sin and all evil from this world. 

So Joshua’s time is a foretaste of that. An intrusion of the future into history for our instruction. 

Achan and Ananias and Sapphira - they are people just like us. Covetous. A bit dishonest. They were unfortunate to mess up at crucial points in salvation history. Where crucial action had to be taken! 

But even though, NO God may not be like this towards us in our day

Nevertheless, Reality does not change and God does not change and we need to understand 1. how serious sin is - our selfish independence, our actions that disregard God and others. Affect others! And we need to understand how seriously God takes sin and is committed to exposing it and removing it. This passage challenges us and comforts us. 

So let’s look at it 

First thing to see is that. You are connected to others. We are not islands. We are not isolated individuals. We are wrapped up in each other. When it comes to sin, and when it comes to life our actions and their consequences are not limited to ourselves.  You are connected to others. 

Look at the passage. 

It was all going so well for Israel. God had said step into the raging Jordan river. Obey me and I wil be with and you’ll see my greatness. I will fight for you. And Israel does obey God and they find it to be true! They dare to step into the raging torrents of the Jordan and the river stops flowing. It piles up in a great heap a mile away and they cross on dry ground. They obey God’s bizarre instructions and startegy for the “battle” of jericho. Marching around, blowing trumpets, giving a big shout and the walls come tumbling down! They discover God is faithful to his promises. If they obey him he will be with them, he will fight for them, they will know life and rest. The principle is absolutely true today. 

But just when it’s all going so so well. A violent shock to the system. 

Spies have brought report that the stronghold of Ai is small and will need a force much smaller than Jericho. 3000 is plenty and the other men given a day off ….but  v4 the 3000  were routed by the men of Ai, 5 who killed about thirty-six of them. They chased the Israelites from the city gate as far as the stone quarries and struck them down on the slopes. At this the hearts of the people melted in fear and became like water.

What is this? This isn’t meant to happen. This isn’t meant to happen. Where is God? Suddenly Israel feel very very vulnerable. 

v6 Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell facedown to the ground before the ark of the Lord, remaining there till evening. The elders of Israel did the same, and sprinkled dust on their heads. 

And Joshua pours out his heart to God in fear and despair and self pity  “Alas, Sovereign Lord, why did you ever bring this people across the Jordan to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us? If only we had been content to stay on the other side of the Jordan! 8 Pardon your servant, Lord. What can I say, now that Israel has been routed by its enemies? 9 The Canaanites and the other people of the country will hear about this and they will surround us and wipe out our name from the earth. What then will you do for your own great name?”

Why has this happened? 

Was it overconfidence? - we only need a small force to overcome Ai 

Was it prayerlessness? they didn’t commit their way to God

Was God faithless? God doesn’t keep his promises. Earlier was just a coincidence when things were going well. God doesn’t care.. If he’s even there.. Ever feel like that a bit when things aren’t going your way? Well listen to what God says: 

10 The Lord said to Joshua, “Stand up! What are you doing down on your face? 11 Israel has sinned; they have violated my covenant, which I commanded them to keep. They have taken some of the devoted things; they have stolen, they have lied, they have put them with their own possessions. 12 That is why the Israelites cannot stand against their enemies; they turn their backs and run because they have been made liable to destruction. I will not be with you anymore unless you destroy whatever among you is devoted to destruction.

It wasn’t over confidence. It wasn’t prayerlessness. It wasn’t God’s faithlessness. It’s sin, trangression. Let me just say - not all seeming failures in our lives with God are the result of sin could be something else but where there is sin there is failure. 

But now here’s the thing that we are learning. You are connected to others. When it comes to sin (as well as life) We are wrapped up in each other. 

v1 told us the reason for the failure right at the start of the passage 

the Israelites were unfaithful in regard to the devoted things

it’s repeated here in God’s explanation to Joshua: Israel has sinned; they have violated my covenant, which I commanded them to keep. They have taken some of the devoted things; they have stolen, they have lied, they have put them with their own possessions.

But the slightly weird thing is. It’s only one guy who’s done wrong. Achan son of Karmi, the son of Zimri, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of the devoted things. One man does wrong but the Lord’s anger burned against Israel.

What we have here is the reality of corporate solidarity. The Bible is big on this. We are blind to it in our individualistic self obessed culture but it’s always been the case. We are wrapped up in each other. 

We do have some ways that we express it that can serve as an illustration. So for example - nationality. When Germany win the world cup in 4 weeks time. Any German you meet will be able to say ‘We won the world cup or even I’ve won. And of course it’s highly unlikely that the particular German you’re talking to actually won it - unless you’re interviewing Thomas Muller who’s injury time tap in sealed the victory. But the German who sat in a pub in Friebourg with one of those huge beers watching the final, she can still say we won the cup simply by virtue of the corporate solidarity of being German. 

It’s the same with being in a family. Did you notice Achan’s family references in v1? Your parents, grandparents, great grandparents.. their lives have a bearing on your life. You are wrapped up in each other

And it’s the same actuall with being human. The bible says that we are all impliated in our human parents Adam and Eve and when they chose to sin. All humanity fell. We unavoidably sin because we are in Adam. We bear te family likeness. Which seems unfair but that is they way corporate solidarity works. It was the case with Israel. In the case of Achan it led to the deaths of 36 people and risk to the whole nation. 

And while our place in salvation history is not the same as Achan’s, it is still true in the people of God the church that we are wrapped up in each other. We are one body, says the NT of the local church. Different parts of a single body joined together by joints and ligaments. The same blood flows in our veins. And so, again to quote the NT, when one part suffers, every part suffers. Whenone part rejoices every part rejoices. And when one part is sinning - the whole body is affected. What a sobering reproach towards our easy sinful independence and selfish gratification. We are not private individuals who can do as we damn well please. We are in community. Our private hidden decisions affect one another. 

Now, we might want to take God to task on his creation of corporate solidarity in church and humanity. Why should i bear the consequences of another person’s sin? whether it’s my yours or Adam’s sin. It’s just not fair. It’s not just. But here’s the thing…. There has to be corporate solidarity if there is to be salvation. If i truly was an isolated individual. If there was no way that i could be joined, hooked up to something better, some better humanity some better human. then i would be lost. I couldn’t be saved. But thanks be to God that he has sent a second Adam a new Adam. A perfectly obedient man. Who has created a new humanity. Jesus Christ. And i jpined to Adam by birth in sin, I can leave Adam’s doomed humanity and be connected by faith to Jesus’ death to sin and resurrection to life! 

While it was Jesus who conquered sin and death and rose to life I can say, along with all those connected to him. We’ve won. I’ve won. We died, We rose. We are alive forever. We’ve won simply by virtue of the corporate solidarity of being a Christian. In Christ. 

We are wrapped up in each other. Be challenged. Be comforted.. But get rid of your sin. You’ve died to sin, you’re alive in Christ. Obey him and know life 

2. Your sin will find you out. Your sin will find you out 

God takes sin seriously because he is holy and because sin is deathly. he will not be soft on it. he will not let it fester in our lives and in our community. because he cannot live with it. Look at v12 which comes right at the centre of the story. 

I will not be with you anymore unless you destroy whatever among you is devoted to destruction.

God will not abide sin 

And he roots it out. He exposes it 

Your sins will find you out. Achan thought his sin was well hidden under the ground in his tent. he’d smuggled the belongings out and no one had seen. He’d done it. But there is no such thing as hidden and secret and safe sin. Everyone is affected. Your wrapped up in one another. And God knows and he will root it out for everyone’s good. 

A whole night of preparation is given for the Israelites to come clean before the sin is exposed v13-15. But Achan does not come forward.  

The following morning Achan’s tribe are chosen from the 12 who present themselves. But Achan does not come forward. Achans clan is chosen among all Judah, and then his own family v17. But still Achan does not hold up his hand. When Achan is finally outed he freely admits his sin. I wonder if all along he was thinking - is this about me? i know i took a little bit of loot, just a bit of silver, a bar of gold.. just a nest egg a portion .. and that beautiful robe from babylonia. who could resist that. I wonder if all along he felt that his sin wasn’t such a big deal? He deserved something from the battle. I wonder if we rationalise things in the same kind of way? 

Achan lived at a crucial time. He really had no excuses. Israel needed God, holy and almighty close to them as they made this momentous step into enemy territory. The instructions about devotion and holiness had been very clear and Achan had violated them and he needed to be taken out. And he was. 

And for us. God won’t allow the death of sin to ruin our lives and our communities. For God to contemplate sin in a Christian is like a father seeing sickness in his beloved child - his hatred goes out towards the sickness his love and compassion towards his child. He’ll do anything to take us past those enemies to help us take hold of the life that is ours. Sometimes it’s only the exposure of sin that brings us to our senses and helps us overcome our addiction to sin. We need one another in that fight. 

The Parables of the Lost Things Luke 15:1-24

We’re looking at Parables of Jesus in the gospel of Luke and here Jesus speaks 3 parables to: some people who knew they’d messed up who suspected God would never want them and to other people who were confident in their righteousness - the Pharisees, the community leaders. 

3 parables back to back. 3 stories, similarly themed. In each parable 3 things happen 1) something is lost 2) the loss leads to a search, 3) retrieval brings rejoicing 

1. something is lost 

here’s the shepherd in his field caring for 100 sheep, it’s very unlikey that they all belong to him maybe 4 or 5 of them do. The flock is the combined ownership of his village his community and his job and responsibilty is to care for them all.  How regularly do you do a head count? Must be difficult.. they keep moving..

Except perhaps this shepherd doesn’t have to count - he knows his sheep -which means  hang on where’s fluffy? Haven’t seen him… fluffy? fluffy!? He’s wandered off again. 

Sheep are nototriously stupid and rebellious they get themselves into trouble, they need the Shepherd. A lost sheep

Then here’s the woman counting her valuable coins. My mum would always say If you count your money you’re going to lose it. One of this woman’s coins is lost! She counts again that sinking feeling of realisaton grows ….A lost coin 

Then a son comes to his father - says the unthinkable in that culture where you lived with your father until he died; where you’d bury your Father and only then would you leave. He says give me my share of the inheritance now, i’m leaving now. It’s a horrifying insult. It equates to saying ‘Dad i wish you were dead.’ Incredibly, the Father rather than punishing his wayward son, beating the living daylights out of him. This father …he grants his son the freedom even to reject his Fatherhood and love. The son takes the money, leaves his Father, squanders the wealth, winds up destitute.  A lost Son 

Jesus makes clear that in each case the lost things equate to people. ordinary people. people like us.  That we are in some way lost. And you don’t have to look lost to be lost. You don’t have to feel lost to be lost. 

The Bible says that Our true human home is in God; to be with God our Maker, the source of our existence. But perversely we know that instead of enjoying God, we largely ignore Him. Instead of discovering our true purpose living his way. We say with Frank Sinatra, ‘I’ll do it my way” 

Like a sheep wandering away from the Shepherd. 

Or like a Son saying to his Father -  I’ll take the gifts thanks - life, pleasure.. but i don’t want you. leave me alone God. Ill do it my way. 

This, we know, is the bias of our hearts. And you don’t even have to be a so called immoral or particularly dysfunctional person for this to be the case. The admired, well to do person who has given their life to charitable causes but has done so completely on her own terms with no reference to God is just as rebellious and just as Lost. 

We have wrenched ourselves from God who is the only life giver. And unchecked that lostness continues into eternity. 

But thank God is not the end of the story.  

Because the 2nd thing in the parables is that  

Each loss results in a search. Loss results in a SEARCH 

The shepherd leaves the 99 sheep and goes in search of the 1. Isn’t that extraordinary? If I was looking after a hundred sheep and only one went missing id think - well i haven’t done too badly. But not this shepherd. He’s not a generalist. He cares about the one. He embarks on a search and rescue expedition. 

The woman …turns the house upside down in search of the coin. 

And The father  ….. - implicit in the fact that He sees his returning son from a great distance and runs to him - is the reality that this Father was a horizon gazer. Every day this Father’s eyes never strayed for long from the horizon; from the road, longing for his son to come back. He’d put his office in that room and positioned his desk so that whatever work he was doing, regularly he’d break off to look out for his son. I bet people noticed him doing it. Perhaps some tried to dissuade him, perhaps you would have: “Give it up, do yourself a favour forget him, he’s never coming home. And anyway he did a disgraceful thing.”. He looks at you with tears in his eyes and says, ‘He’s my son - he’ll always be my son.” And his eyes return to the horizon. 

I think it might be a sign of getting on a bit .. but i’m always misplacing things and occasionally losing things. ‘Where are my keys! Has anyone seen my keys??” And when you lose something you can tell the value of that thing to you by the manner of your search. If you turn over a few cushions and shrug your shoulders and turn back to watching Strictly come dancing  - it obviously wasn’t that valuable. But if you’re missing Strictly! Urgently turning the house upside down because you can’t relax until you’ve found it, retracing your steps, you can’t sleep for racking your brains - then the thing that is lost must be of tremendous value to you! the value of the thing to you is revealed in the manner of the search. 

Humanity was lost and the Bible tells us that Jesus Christ did not merely shrug his shoulders, sadly shake his head and return to creating new worlds… No, he got up , he crossed the great divide from heaven to earth to come and find us. We had ignored and offended God and yet Jesus, eternally God humbled himself to share our broken humanity. He became human. He went from Glory to a stable floor. From the company of angels to the friendship of sinners. From the throne of Creation to the agony of the cross. To pay for our offences and to reconcile us to God. 

The value of the thing to you is revealed in the manner of the search. You and I have never clapped eyes on a human being who isn’t of absolute value to God. We might not know them, they may mean nothing to us. But God… he would die for them if they were the one person on earth. He would die for you if you were the one person on earth. You are infinitely valuable to God. he loves you. he came in search for you. 

The three parables end on similar notes 

Retrievals bring rejoicing. Retrievals bring rejoicing. 

It’s Classic  stuff. 

When the man finds his lost sheep, when the woman finds her lost coin, when the Father finds his lost son - the pattern is the same they call their friends and neighbours, come and celebrate with me! We’re killing the fatted calf, party of the century.  Come on!

Why? - what are we celebrating? It’s not your birthday? No. an anniversary? No. You’re getting married!!? No! You’ve got a job promotion? No!! What then? 

I’ve found fluffy! 

Fluffy? 

my lost sheep! 

Oh OK… what do you wear to a lost sheep party?

Come and celebrate with me. I’ve found my lost sheep, my lost coin, my lost son 

Just as we reserve the fullest searches for the things we think are the most valuable so we reserve the biggest celebrations don’t we for the times that we think are most important. Depending on whatever big story is governing our lives. If I’m living for material success and career achievement then the biggest celebrations in my life will be to celebrate promotions, contracts, awards. If it’s human relationships and families (probably a much healthier story) then it will be weddings and anniversaries. 

But according to Jesus - look at what gets the champagne flowing in heaven - in God’s dimension - look at what is deemed the reason for rejoicing v7, v10 rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents. One lost person who comes home. To be eternally found, eternally secure. This is the story that governs all reality. What really matters. That which energises heaven.

Actually did you notice the joy of the finder begins before the party? The party is just 

the corporate expression of the finder’s already joy. The finder’s suffering joy. 

Because the Shepherd’s joy doesn’t begin when he finally gets the sheep home. the shepherd rejoices when he finds the sheep - even though the sheep is still not restored and lost sheep normally need lifting out of some trouble they’ve got themselves into and lost sheep are normaly so parlaysed with fear that they don’t want to be found. Look at what the Shepherd has to do he has to carry the sheep on his shoulders all the way home. But he bear this burden willingly and with joy. The Bible says that for the joy set before him Jesus willingly endured the cross for us to carry us home. He did so joyfully. 

And the Father … he knows that the returning disgraced son may not even make it into the village if he is identified by others before the Father finds him. He will be humiliated, lynched he will suffer. So the Father when he sees the Son.. he runs that gauntlet so that his child will not have to. He literally runs. At the best of time men in late middle age look ridiculous running. In this culture it was humiliating for a man of stature to run. But this Father runs to intercept his son. To interrupt his words of apology, to publicly reconcile with his son, to protect him with his robe of righteousness and ring of sonship. No lectures, no reprimands. Acceptance and joy. 

It wouldn’t have been just the Father’s other son who thought the Father was foolish, outrageous, weak for just taking back the prodigal younger son. Most of the  village would have thought it. what a pushover. what an idiot. They probably only went to the party because of the free food and drink. 

But I don’t think that those people would affect the Father’s joy in his returning child one jot. And others would have been there saying, what a Father he is… What a Father! He suffers joyfully to bring his child home. 

I wonder, How do you imagine God? how do you picture him? Do you picture a distant thundering figure, who prefers fear and respect to love. Who forgives yes but reluctantly and after making the penitent person squirm? That is not the picture Jesus gives. Jesus tells of a crazy caring shepherd; of a housewife turning the house upside down so valuable is her lost coin; of a Father humiliating himself by running to embrace a son who has squandered half the family fortune.

This is who God is. This is how much he loves us. How much he wants to know us an bring us home eternally to himself. For we were lost but that loss led to an all out search and retrievals bring rejoicing. So come home. 

The Parable of the wedding guests Luke 14:1-14

The Parable of the Mustard seed and Yeast Luke 13:18-21

There's a video going viral on youtube - plays a sound and some people hear yanni and some people hear laurel. People hear the exact same thing but hear something completely different. Apparently it’s something to do with the shape of your ear. I personally hear ‘lobster…lobster’

Another thing that’s split opinion this last week is THAT sermon. Bishop Michael Curry’s passionate sermon at last weekend's Royal Wedding. The most heard piece of Christian communication in history with an estimated 2 billion people watching. Social media tells us that many loved it. Footage of facial expressions at the actual wedding tell us that others hated. Some Christians loved it. Some hated it. 

Set aside the fact that the leader of the Episcopal church of the USA, which is currently out of fellowship with the Anglican communion over the issue of marriage, probably shouldn’t have been given this platform. Set that aside and I think it was a GREAT sermon of how love can transform the world. Yes, the sermon could have told more of the gospel - about how our love is corrupted and fallen and needs the redeeming love of God to save us. Yes it could be misconstrued that Michael Curry was saying that human love changes the world. But i don;t think he did say that. he said that all love flows from the God who is love. the God of the cross. And that’s true and wonderful. 

I loved his passage where he said this 

Think and imagine a world where love is the way.”

Imagine our homes and families where love is the way. 

Imagine neighborhoods and communities where love is the way.

Imagine governments and nations where love is the way. 

Imagine business and commerce where this love is the way. 

Imagine this tired old world where love is the way. 

When love is the way, then no child will go to bed hungry in this world ever again.

When love is the way, we will let justice roll down like a mighty stream and righteousness like an ever-flowing brook.

When love is the way, poverty will become history. 

When love is the way, the earth will be a sanctuary.

When love is the way, we will lay down our swords and shields, down by the riverside, to study war no more.

When love is the way, there's plenty good room - plenty good room - for all of God's children.

"Because when love is the way, we actually treat each other, well... like we are actually family.

When love is the way, we know that God is the source of us all, and we are brothers and sisters, children of God.

My brothers and sisters, that's a new heaven, a new earth, a new world, a new human family.

He’s describing the plans and purposes of God through Jesus to renew this world completely and eternally by love. To restore what the Bible calls the Kingdom of God. This was God’s promised from the very start to Abraham - all the nations of the world will be blessed. And it’s the promise that is affirmed through Jesus. 

But of course there are big questions that this raise: like for a start:  

when? when are you gonna do this God? the disciples often asked Jesus this. Before he went back to heaven after his resurrection, the disciples said ‘are you now going to establish the Kingdom in Israel - are you now going to bring justice and perfection and equality and life like God has promised. When are you gonna do it? The Jews always expected that God’s kingdom would come in one mighty moment. But Jesus has been around and it hasn’t happened yet. 

Yes there have been glimpses - like what happens directly before our reading today when Jesus heals a woman. But Jesus always seems to take a step forward and then immediately two steps back! he draws huge crowds to him and then he speaks in unintelligible parables and issues such hard challenges that everybody leaves! he enters jerusalem as a king but then dies on a cross! he rises from the dead but then leaves everything to a fearful, uneducated, slow to believe, small bunch of disciples! 

So It’s not so much a question of when will the kingdom come but will it really come? 

global peace, environmental balance, inclusion and well being …?

I remember a woman once saying to me it feels like there are forces of good and forces of evil in this world.. and good is not winning. 

The kingdom of God seems a pipe dream.. 

it seemed that way to the disciples it can seem that way to us. 

the church takes a step forward and two steps back. in some parts of the world there is great interest in the things of God. In the west we are in terminal decline. peace comes in one part of the world war breaks out in three others. agreements on climate change get made then torn up. aid comes to the poor and hungry while the gap between the haves and the havenots grows larger than ever. 

Is it all just a pipe dream. Where is this promised Kingdom of God? How will it ever come?

Well this is the question Jesus is answering with these two simple parables. 

He wants to address our feelings of fear and confusion and potential despair about the Kingdom. 

By assuring us that the Kingdom will not fail but will prosper and grow. It will happen. Love wins. But you have to see how love wins 

v16 this grand oratoical question “What is the kingdom of God like? What shall I compare it to? 

The Kingdom of God - to what shal i compare it?

Hold your breath.. What answer will come

It is like …. a mustard seed 

See i told you, say the disciples, this thing is doomed 

A mustard seed. The tiniest seed in the garden. 

A cosmic mustard seed?

A special mustard seed?

No just a regular one that you plant..

If you think that the Kingdom of God can look unimpressive - infact you can’t even really see it. Jesus says yeah that’s right the Kingdom of God is like a mustard seed which a man took and planted in his garden.

The kingdom of God has terribly small and unimpressive beginnings 

Well that’s true of Jesus himself 

He came from the glory of heaven to poverty, humility, 

his cradle was a manger 

his nursery was a stable surrounded by beasts 

his home was a judea a backwater kind of place 

Nazareth to be specific - one of those disappointing from which nothing good comes 

a mustard seed 

a mustard seed planted 

the kingdom of God is quite literally an underground movement. It begins hidden. A seed hidden in a heart, hidden in a life that is hidden in God. 

When you think about the Kingdom of God don’t think region but reign, not location but lordship. The Kingdom of God is not a place it’s his loving rule over human hearts and the influence of that rule in the beginnings of obedient lives to him. It’s an underground movement 

and it begins with death 

unless the seed is buried in the ground, into death there can be no life

unless Jesus die for us and be buried for us there can be no life, no forgiveness, no resurrection for us. 

and unless a person dies to themselves their own hold on their lives, their own self rule and relinquishes lordship to Jesus - there can be no life with them 

the kingdom of God has terribly small and unimpressive beginnings - hidden from view, hidden in a heart 

but the kingdom will grow ..gradually ..imperceptibly but ultimately disproportionatley from its beginnings. Just as a mustard seed grows into these tree like extensive bushes 10 feet tall providing protection and shade for birds so the Kingdom will grow way way way beyond its initial signs of promise. It will happen 

In the OT time and again the Kingdom of God is pictured as a tree - a giant Cedar tree - where birds come and shelter and nest. The birds are the peoples of the earth. The gentile nations drawn in under God’s branches. A haven. A place where people of all races can comfortably reside. 

The Kingdom grows global and unites the world but Jesus hints that there will always be surprises about the way that the Kingdom comes. Not in ways anticipated, not instantly and mightily but gradually and through weakness. A mustard bush not a cedar tree. 

2nd parable - equally familiar and ordinary. jesus moves from the garden into the kitchen. 

Again the great oratorical question. ‘What shall i compare the kingdom of God to?’ 

Will it be a bigger thing now? The KINGDOM OF GOD! 

Hold your breath.. What answer will come?

It is like …. yeast 

yeast? yeast? 

Cosmic yeast? 

Special yeast?

No. Just yeast. the kind you mix into flour to make bread rise. 

yeast - tiny, microscopic. 

there are 20billion yeast cells in just one gram of baker’s yeast 

and here it is a tiny proportion in comparison to the large amount of flour. 3 measures - a measure was 13L so nearly 40 L of flour here a large pot

a tiny invisible organism but an incredible influence 

Jesus’ emphasis here is not the extensive nature of the kingdom as with the mustard seed 

The emphasis here is the transforming power of the kingdom 

The kingdom will be extended universally 

AND the kingdom will transform powerfully.

The Kingdom does not just grow it’s hidden power changes the world radically 

Note that the yeast only has influence because of where it is placed. It is mixed into the flour and it is worked through all the dough. You have to do that mixing and kneading don’t you? mixed in. worked through. 

The yeast cannot influence if it is on the side, left on the margins.  

Far from its influence being diminished by it being hidden, buried, overwhelmed, UNLESS it is hidden it has no influence at all. 

Let’s think about the implications of these 2 parables 

1. The Kingdom though seemingly small and insignificant will eventually grow universally and globally and will transform the whole earth. We can so often feel that renewal and change can never happen we can become disheartened but we are to take heart. This world has a future. God is committed to it. 
2. We ought not to think that our part in Kingdom business however lowly and unsee will ever be insignificant. Influence in the kingdom is through the small and the hidden. small unseen moments of prayer, love, action, kindness multiplied and blessed by God a billion fold 
3. You don’t have to be a famous entertainer, sport’s personality or celebrity to influence the world truly for the Kingdom of God. The kingdom of God doesn’t work in the same way as the Kingdom of the world. In fact they are opposites. In the Kingdom of God the last are first and greatness is service. We make a grave mistake if we ape the world’s methods. If we try and impress the world by size - big groups, influential names being powerful in our impact. Actually the Kingdom of the world is doomed. Human strength and power fails. [BBCMusic Big music weekend from Belfast - and the piece that the band Public Services Broadcasting commissioned to write about the sinking of the Titanic. This great symbol of human triumph and strength and power. So self confident. Sunk to the bottom of the sea. Promising to bring life it brought death. Inevitable the ways of the Kingdom of the world is the opposite of the way the Kingdom of God works.  Jesus says: I’ll take a mustard seed. I’ll take a yeast cell. I’ll take small. I’ll take the hidden, The obscure, I’ll take seeming uninfluential, i’ll take what seems ridiculous in it’s weakness. I’ll take hardship and i’ll take death and with these things I will change the world. It is always fatal to our spiritual health if we think in any way that we get to God or do things for God by our stengths, by our power and persuasion and ingenuity. Such an approach results in pride if we’re doing well or despair when we fail. God will not allow that. He wants humility and peace and security for us - birds sheltering in his abundat tree. So he never uses human strength for his purposes. He always uses human weakness, smallness, the unimpressive, the hidden. So we’d trust in Him and not in the Kingdom of the world. He uses mustard seeds and yeast cells and so must we. 
4. It is only as we are mixed in and worked through that we under God’s hand have an impact. A mustard seed left in the packet has no effect. It must be buried, hidden, it must die to bring life. A yeast cell left on the side, on the margin has no impact it must be mixed in and worked through. In the history of christian impact in the world, it’s as Christians have drawn close to the needs of others, issues of the day - not always with wise words or great arguments but with love and selflessness and compassion. small seeds planted that brought great change - the suffragetes, the abolition of slavery, the ragged school movement, the hospice movement. How mixed in are you in your local area? How worked through are you in your community? Salt - another image Jesus uses for his kingdom and his people. Salt, if it is to bring it’s savour and preservative - has to get out of the saltshaker. Many of you are amazing at this. We’re not a ghetto church - a holy huddle - we’re out there. sometimes i wish some of you were here at church more because out there in friendships and professions that I want to see you strengthened and resourced with love from God. But i’m so glad that you are out there. 
5. This is not a call to political, social and public reform but rather to an application of the gospel that has political and social implications. That’s important. The Kingdom of God work through Christ’s influence on the hearts of people not in ways that are at first external and visible but internal and spiritual. Therefore we don’t seek to effect political change inorder that moral and spiritual good may follow. We seek to preach the gospel inorder that moral and spiritual good will result thereby bringing political change. The message we bring is not economic freedom or political democracy. the message we take is Christ crucified and Christ exalted. we are not called to be a powerful political movement. But as we come to Jesus in prayer and worship and keep going into the world to live lives of love mustard seed and yeast seemingly insignificant, small and weak and hidden - their relentless power begins to grow and pervade all things 

This is the message to those disciples who think when is the Kingdom. where is the kingdom. It’s never gonna happen. Jesus says - the Kingdom is near, the Kingdom is among you - hidden but growing and will one day encompass all things. 

Joshua 5-6 God is God

Joshua 3-4 Step into the Jordan

The book of Joshua is all about how WE, the people God has made, are to TAKE HOLD of the promises of God our creator to us. 

Take Hold. 

I could give you this £10 note. I promise on my word that it’s yours. It’s yours now. Freely given. But in order to begin to benefit from the inheritance that is fully yours you need to take some steps, not inorder to deserve it or earn it (it’s already yours) just to take hold of it. Perhaps it begins with feelings of happiness and well being as you first register in your mind that the promised £10 is really yours, you are now £10 better off, you can begin to think what you might do with your £10, then the reality becomes more concrete as you get out of your seat and begin to cross the room to take your money.  

The promise is fully yours but to own and enjoy and take hold of the promise you need to take steps. 

The people of Israel here in the OT are God’s model, blue print, prototype to teach humanity what all this means. The promise they had received and now must take steps to take hold of is the promise of a homeland of fruitfulness rest and security. They must enter and take possession of the land of Canaan. 

The promise for all of US to which this model points is the promise from God of eternal life! Eternal life - A life that begins now and continues through death to a FULNESS of life on the other side. It’s difficult to get your head round what eternal life even means. It means to be truly home, truly at rest, deeply fulfilled in a renewed and creative world. But supremely eternal life is about knowing God, Father, Son and Holy spririt now and increasingly fully and completely. 

That promise and inheritance is offered to all and it’s yours completely as soon as you say Yes please to God (and we’ll talk about that) but then the promise - thoughout our Christian life -  must be taken hold of, progressively received.. We don’t stand still - we step forward through the Jordan into the land of promise..

So let’s learn about this from Israel our prototype. 

1. God brings us to the end of ourselves so we would depend on Jesus  

At the end of Joshua chapter 2 Israelite spies have returned from Jericho in the land of Canaan with reports that the people are melting with fear.  So you can perhaps imagine the enthusiasm as 3v1 Early in the morning Joshua and all the Israelites set out from Shittim and went to the Jordan, where they camped before crossing over. 

But i think that that initially self confidence very quickly would have ebbed away. It was probably easy to feel quite good about your prospects in Shittim which sounds like an awful place but actually it was a beautiful campsite the name means Oasis of Acacia trees. But now God brings them to camp for 3 days looking at the Jordan. The Jordan was a steep river valley with tangled trees and a mile wide fast moving river which was at its worst around the time of harvest when the river was in flood. Oh look v15 - the river was in flood! Nice one God. 

How on earth are we gonna cross that? 

The God who made us, wants us to know him. He is the fulfilment of all promises. He is who we were made for. Without him we cannot know rest. We cannot know fulness of joy. We will not know life. 

For it to be possible for us to come into relationship with God we need to trust him. Trust him with our lives, trust that his ways are best. That he is God and not us. 

The problem is that we all have a deep independent streak within us. We can handle our lives we say. We hold on stubbornly. Keeping God and life out. 

Friends of mine who work with people with serious addictions and even those of us who are parents are familiar with the idea of tough love. Sometimes the most loving and kind thing is not to give another person what they want but to deny them , get hard on them, be tough with them. It hurts to do it but you’re doing it because you really care about what they’re missing out on in their own self destructiveness. 

With stubborn independent humanity God has to bring us to places in our lives that we just can’t handle. Obstacles to bring us to the end of ourselves that we might start relying on him and come to know him and know life. he brings us to camp on the banks of the Jordan. 

He sometimes does this when he wants to bring us to know him in the first place. I can get to God my own way we say but then he shows us the obstacle of our sin of our deathliness. Like a great Jordan. How are you going to overcome that? How are you?

As we go on in the Christian life such is his love that he will bring us to impossible Jordans to keep on breaking our destructive self reliance that keeps us miserably stuck. He wants us to take hold of our inheritance. For some of us that will mean getting to absolute rock bottom - never a nice place to be - before we will relinquish our grip on our own solutions and start looking for help..

2 After three days the officers went throughout the camp, 3 giving orders to the people: “When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, and the Levitical priests carrying it, you are to move out from your positions and follow it. 4 Then you will know which way to go, since you have never been this way before. But keep a distance of about two thousand cubits between you and the ark; do not go near it.”

If all of your knowledge of the ark of the covenant comes from Indiana Jones - a radio for talking to God - I might need to put you straight. 

The ark was a Gold plated box with a seat on the top flanked by gold plated angel figures. It would be carried a bit like a sedan chair with long poles. This was God’s chair. God’s throne - symbolising his presence. He is with us. Inside the box were the stone tablets of the 10 commandments and some other items that represented the way that God had provided for Israel - like a jar of the manna bread he had given to them everyday. So the ark was the ark of THE COVENANT - the pledged relationship between God and his people. God’s loving presence. The ark was a picture of what Jesus is to us. Pledged relationship, God present …WITH US. 

The Israelites are being told to fix their eyes on the ark and follow it. The ark will be their Sat Nav v4 and they should keep their distance to about a kilometre - perhaps because the ark is holy but more so so that all of them can SEE the amazing things v5 that God is going to do among them. 

They must consecrate themselves v5 wash their clothes, abstain from sex the reason: to inculcate in yourself a spiritual posture towards God of openness, dependence, obedience. 

God brings us to the end of ourselves that we might put our eyes on Jesus and become open to, dependent on, submitted to him. He promises you life. Take hold of his promise. 

2. God calls us to Step into the water 

6 Joshua said to the priests, “Take up the ark of the covenant and pass on ahead of the people.” So they took it up and went ahead of them.

7 And the Lord said to Joshua, “Today I will begin to exalt you in the eyes of all Israel, so they may know that I am with you as I was with Moses. 8 Tell the priests who carry the ark of the covenant: ‘When you reach the edge of the Jordan’s waters, go and stand in the river.’”

Sorry … scramble down that slope toward that raging torrent and … start wading?

9 Joshua said to the Israelites, “Come here and listen to the words of the Lord your God. 10 This is how you will know that the living God is among you and that he will certainly drive out before you the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites and Jebusites. 11 See, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth will go into the Jordan ahead of you. 12 Now then, choose twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one from each tribe. 13 And …..AS SOON AS  the priests who carry the ark of the Lord—the Lord of all the earth—set foot in the Jordan, [then] its waters flowing downstream will be cut off and stand up in a heap.”

As soon as …

Im guessing the Priests must have been pretty nervous, maybe even terrified. But they needed to get their feet wet before God was going to work the miracle of faith.  

14 So when the people broke camp to cross the Jordan, the priests carrying the ark of the covenant went ahead of them. 15 Now the Jordan is at flood stage all during harvest. Yet as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water’s edge, 16 the water from upstream stopped flowing. It piled up in a heap a great distance away, at a town called Adam in the vicinity of Zarethan, while the water flowing down to the Sea of the Arabah (that is, the Dead Sea) was completely cut off. So the people crossed over opposite Jericho. 17 The priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord stopped in the middle of the Jordan and stood on dry ground, while all Israel passed by until the whole nation had completed the crossing on dry ground.

God holds out his promise of life to us. It’s there… but until we actually take a step to receive it we won’t know his life, his goodness, his trustworthiness his power. 

Often in our independent spiritual lives we want everything worked out ourselves before we’ll do anything. 

For those of us seeking God. Of course it’s not wrong to investigate faith. Weigh things up. seek evidence. But there comes a point where God says ‘Now, step into the Jordan’  

Step out beyond the known. Take the risk. Because then you will know me. I can’t show you my trustworthiness until you trust me. I can’t show you my power until you let me. If you want to walk on water you have to get out of the boat. 

Your sin and death How are you going to overcome that? You can’t But I can. I have. I will send my son ahead of you into that watery grave so you can walk across on dry land to life on the other side. 

Step into the jordan. 

It’s like any committed relationship isn’t it? A marriage or a deepening friendship. You can never understand everything there is to understand about another person. there’ll always be another question. Relationships demand a step of faith. To give/entrust yourself to another. So it is with God. 

What about those of us who have gotten stuck? But God is bringing us to the end of ourselves. The oasis of acacia trees is a distant memory we’ve been camped on the miserable jordan for years, wandering in the wilderness. Well there comes a point when God says, Now step into the Jordan. To grow - you have to seek help outside of yourself. You have to tell the truth. It’s a terrifying step. But until you do it you cannot know God’s transforming power and grace. The Lord longs to be gracious to you.  Instead of wandering in the wilderness he wants to take you through the Jordan. He wants you to take hold of your inheritance, to know resurrection LIFE. Step out. 

What about the thing perhaps that God is calling you to do? The work he has for you. It’s there in your heart. Has been for years. But it’s like a massive Jordan. It’s impossible. You don’t have what it takes. It can’t be a real thing. It terrifies you to even contemplate beginning. But you can’t shake it off. You know that life lies there. The time comes when God says “Now, step into the Jordan” 

You’re right in one sense, you don’t have what it takes, not on your own. But God says, i’ve given you this vision because I want to do it through you. I am with you. Now step in the Jordan and see what I can do through you. Take the risk. Get your feet wet! 

Look at the completeness of God’s salvation through the Jordan. 

v16 the water flowing down to the Sea …was completely cut off. 

v17 all Israel passed by

the whole nation completed the crossing

on dry ground. !

do you see - it’s utterly secure and safe - no one is left behind. they don’t even get their feet wet or their sandles muddy! 

so it is with Jesus’ salvation work for us. there are no doubts about whether it will hold. Like a bit more might be needed to be done. No it’s complete. Finished. Once for all time. We will never be disappointed. 

And notice that really and truly it IS ALL GOD’S WORK 

The people do not achieve this rescue do they? They’re obedient. They have to do something to recieve it. But there’s this emphasis in the passage that as long as the ark is in place the waters are held back and 4v18 as soon the ark leaves the river bed the waters return and run in flood again. There are no natural coincidences here. Neither was this a feat of human engineering. This was an amazing thing of God. He dried up the Jordan v23. That v24 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.”

It’s all God’s work: salvation, sanctification, service. It doesn’t depend on us - our stength our consistency. Just take hold of your inheritance. Step out. He wants to do amazing things among us. 

3. Never forget what God has done. 

Every year in dunbar scotland European stone stacking competition. Different categories such as ‘most stones balanced one on top of the other’. The stacks are beautiful - look it up 

But stone stacking starts here at the beginning of Joshua 4 on the banks of the Jordan. 12 stones, 1 for each tribe taken from the river bed where the ark had been and stacked on the western bank. As a lasting sign v6 for them and for their childen. A memorial of what God did here. 

Notice the repetition 

v1-3 Where God tells Joshua  to find 12 strapping lads, one from each tribe, to heft a stone each from the bed of the Jordan to stack on the bank of the promised land. 

then v4-7 where joshua tells the 12 hunks exactly the same thing 

lug a stone each from the bed of the Jordan and stack them on the bank of the promised land.

And then v8-9 where we’re told that the Israelites did exactly that 

They took twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, to stack em on the banks of the promised land. 

Why do we need to be told 3 times? 

For precisely the same reason that God gets Israel into stone stacking - because we so easily forget. 

Don’t forget the amazing things God has done among you. 

Why did Jesus give us baptism and the Lord’s Supper? so that we’d  remember and not forget Jesus leading us into the watery death of Jordan (baptism) where he died for us (lord’s supper) so that we might walk through on dry ground to resurrection life where we shall never die. 

1. God brings us to the end of ourselves so we would depend on Jesus 
2. God calls us to step into the waters that he might prove his love and all sufficiency to us
3. God calls us to remember his works as a spur for the future.  

Joshua 2 Your enemies are terrified

We’re in the book of Joshua 

and we’ve said that the Bible gives us lines of application that make this ancient book, the OT, potently relevant to us. 

For a start the Bible is of course about God who doesn’t change, He’s the same yesterday, today and forever. And more specifically, Jesus Christ, the author and perfector of our faith, says that the OT is about him. So we’re always asking where is Jesus in this text? where’s he being predicted and foreshadowed. He’s always there. The OT is about him. And in this passage we see that Jesus is mighty God and merciful refuge. 

The OT is also about us. written for us, the New Testament says. It’s story is Fulfilled in us! 

The OT is about God rescuing a people by sacrifice from slavery for a promised land. Israel were slaves in Egypt.. God rescued them and here in the book of Joshua we see God giving them their land/home/rest - it’s theirs but they have to fight and overcome enemies to take possesion of it. 

And that story is like a blue print, a prototype, a rehearsal in anticipation of THE GREAT overarching story of human history. God rescuing a people (his worldwide church) by the sacrifice of Jesus from slavery (to sin and death) for a promised land (eternal life). And so we learn things about Us and God from the OT prototype. Here in Joshua we learn that just like Israel God gives us our full promised inheritance - he gives us eternal life - the moment we turn to him, the moment we became Christians BUT in this life - our Christian life - we have to fight and overcome enemies - all that is godless in our world and in our hearts - to take possession of that promised inheritance. The promise of God is received by the activity of faith. 

We’re in a FIGHT 

We have to get this.. Are you fighting? 

Don’t think that you can just cruise. God’ll forgive me that’s his job. The promise of God is received by the activity of faith. 

You know I think many of us give up fighting because we feel weak, fearful and overwhelmed by the battles or we just get despondent. It’s too hard and we feel like God is hard on us. We feel like he’s let us down, like he doesn’t love me. 

Well I think Joshua 2 might help us if we feel like any of that. 

Cos it says 2 things 

1. (to the weak and overwhelmed it says) Know that Your enemies are terrified because Jesus is mighty  
2. (to the despondent and angry it says) Remember that Your God is SO merciful. because Jesus is our refuge.

1. Know that Your enemies are terrified. jesus is mighty!

v1 Then Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two spies from Shittim. “Go, look over the land,” he said, “especially Jericho.” 

Joshua is not being faithless, sending out spies instead of immediately crossing the Jordan. Having the promises of God doesn’t release us from acting wisely. There was precedent for sending spies into enemy lands. Moses, under God’s instruction, had sent 12 spies into Canaan 40 years earlier. Joshua had been one of those spies. One of only two who argued for entering the land - the other ten sowed fear among the Israelites with tales of giants and vast walled citadels and their hearts melted with fear, they refused to enter the land. 

So Joshua must have chosen well for this reconnaisance mission.  2 spies. 

Go look over the land - especially Jericho. Why Jericho? Jericho was the entry point to the rest of the land. The first obstacle. But as we will see, God had another reason why he wanted an advance party in Jericho.

So they went and entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there.

Why did they stay in a brothel - these were godly men? Anonymity? Lots of men coming and going - No questions asked? Some commentators try to protect the spies’ reputations by claiming that Rahab was in fact an inkeeper. But the text does call her ‘Rahab the Prostitute’. Others claim that she used to be a prostitute but the name had stuck. I think there’s evidence that we’ll see in the text that that could well be the case. Maybe she’d found them in the city and welcomed them in? Certainly God had brought them to her door. 

v2 The king of Jericho was told, “Look, some of the Israelites have come here tonight to spy out the land.” The spies have been spotted! They’ve been seen entering Rahab’s house. And pretty soon armed police are knocking at her door. These guys are toast. Their cover blown. They’re on the wrong side of town. In the house of a woman of questionable morals. The police are at the door and spies don’t get treated well in Jericho. they’ll be tortured for information and executed. 

But then something remarkable happens. 

4 the woman had taken the two men and hidden them.

At great personal risk Rahab the prostitiute spins out a yarn about how ‘the spies were here, yes, but they’re long gone.. almost certainly no longer in the city. you better get a move on if you want to catch them.’ 

You can’t believe that the police didn’t search the house. If they’d found the spies she would have been doubly guilty - a traitor. 

It makes me think of the Opening scene of Quentin Tarantino’s movie Inglourious Basterds - which drawn out masterclass in tension and building suspense. It begins with Nazis approaching and entering an Idyllic farmhouse and - following Hitchcock’s decree that you tell the audience there’s a bomb under the table long before it goes off - Tarantino pans down to reveal that there are Jewish refugees hiding beneath the farmhouse’s floorboards. Centimetres from the Nazi jackboots. The scene builds and builds.. 

Was that what it was like for Rahab and the spies?

The spies are well hidden (v6) and the gestapo finally leave. 

Why does Rahab do this? Why does she take such a risk for people she doesn’t even know? 

Well she tells them. She gives the spies the priceless military intelligence that they have come for. 

8 Before the spies lay down for the night, she went up on the roof 9 and said to them, “I know that the Lord has given you this land and that a great fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who live in this country are melting in fear because of you. 

The morale and confidence of an army is as, if not more important than the resources at their disposal. When Moses’s 12 spies 40 years earlier returned with news of the strength of the Canaanite armies it was the Israelites who’s courage failed and who’s hearts melted with fear. But here - the tables are turned. It is the powerful Canaanites who are crumbling at the Israelite threat. But why? The Israelites are not numerous, they’re poorly armed and inexperienced at war. 

v10 Here’s why the Canaanites melt like icecreams on a hot day. 

10 We have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan, whom you completely destroyed. 11 When we heard of it, our hearts melted in fear and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below.

You have a massively unfair advantage, says Rahab to the spies. The reason we are afraid of you is because you have a Mighty God on your side. It’s plain to see - WE are toast. 

Skip to the end of the passage v24 and when the 2 spies came back to Joshua They said to [Him], “The Lord has surely given the whole land into our hands; all the people are melting in fear because of us.”

Be strong and courageous. Your enemies are terrified because the Lord is mighty 

So often we feel desperately weak and fearful in the face of our battles. Speaking up for what is right in our workplaces we feel isolated. Working for justice in our communities we feel overwhelmed. Sharing the gospel with our friends we feel foolish. Fighting our apathy and addictions in order to grow we feel powerless. The church feels fragile, we feel weak. We melt.

But look look- Your enemies are terrified….terrified .. that you might speak, that you might start that project that beats in your heart.. terrified that you might share the gospel with a friend, or read your bible, or start getting praying friends around you to kick start your spiritual growth. terrified because they have seen how Jesus opened up a way through the sea, by his death and resurrection for all who believe in him to be forgiven and have life, they have seen how HE has thoroughly defeated our greatest enemies sin and death who he has completely destroyed. Their hearts melt and courage fails because Jesus our God IS God in heaven above and on earth below. He is mighty. 

Be strong and very courageous says Jesus to you. Because I am with you and I will never leave you nor forsake you. Enter the land that the Lord your God is giving you. Fight the battles that you must fight to inherit your Rest. 

Know that Your enemies are terrified 

2. Remember that Your God is rich in mercy - Jesus our refuge .

‘Go look over the land, especially Jericho’

Joshua didn’t send the spies especially to Jericho just because this was the strategic entry point to the land, OR because it was the place where they would glean the crucial intelligence that their enemies were melting with fear. There was a deeper reason for the spies being sent to Jericho that even Joshua was not aware of. The spies didn’t get spotted just because of their sloppiness or because of canaanite vigilance - there was a deeper reason for the spies being spotted. The spies didn’t enter the house of Rahab the prostitute just because a brothel was the perfect cover for strangers or because it was the first place they found a welcome. There was a deeper reason for them coming to that house. God is at work here.. 

The reason for it all was Rahab. God sends the spies to Jericho; allows the spies to be hunted down; leads the spies to stay in that house for the sake of Rahab for the sake of her refuge. 

Let’s ask the question again: Why does Rahab, at great personal risk, hide the spies and deceive the police? Is it just because she’s weighed things up, knows that Jericho doesn’t stand a chance against the LORD and is tactically changing sides? Well, the rest of Jericho have heard of God’s might and are melting with fear. But they make no effort to make peace with this God. There’s no delegation sent out to surrender to the Israelites. Fear alone doesn’t break defiance. 

But Rahab, in contrast seems to have gone much further than her fellow Canaanites. She, like them has heard of his might, but she goes further and recognises his majesty and appeals to his mercy. 

She recognises God’s majesty. At the end of v11 in what sounds like a declaration of faith she says ‘It’s because the Lord your God IS God in heaven above and on the earth below’

There is no other god, she says. 

Is this true faith, true belief? - well faith shows itself in action - a changed life and changed allegiance. 

Remember I said earlier that there’s an indication in this passage that Rahab the prostitute is no longer a prostitute. v6 tells us that she had hidden the spies under the stalks of flax that she had laid out on the roof. Flax was a plant that was industriously harvested, dried in sunshine and used for spinning and weaving cloth. In the last chapter of the book of proverbs  - The woman of godly character - works with wool and flax. Has God’s grace been at work in Rahab’s life to make a prostititue a woman of character?

The passage makes no judgement on whether she was right or wrong to lie to the police at her door. Did necessity make it legitimate? Certainly the courage and conviction that she shows in defying her own government and nation for the greater good of protecting God’s spies is further evidence of a change of allegiance. 

And her appeal for her whole family to receive God’s mercy needn’t be seen as presumptious but as further evidence that she had perceived the infinite mercy and willing grace of God. And she wasn’t disappointed. 

Rahab miraculously had become a christian. In the NT in Hebrews 11 and James 2 Rahab is commended for her actions rooted in her faith.

It’s amazing that  with no church, no Bibles, no believers around her - out of a pagan cuture and an immoral life Jesus has sought this woman out - not because of anything in her, not because she is inherently good, but out of his sheer kindness. She hears of God’s might and by grace she bows to his majesty and appeals to his mercy. 

And having become his child she now receives God’s refuge. The spies are in Jericho for Rahab. To make the covenant with her in vv17-21 which will guarantee her family’s safety . 

She must tie a red cord in the window of her house - which is in the city walls. It’s the sign that this house is covered, protected, a refuge. She must bring her family into the refuge and they are only safe inside. They mustn’t venture out. 

It’s vivid language that unmistakably takes us back to Noah and his ark - the refuge through the flood. And more so takes us back to the passover - when the Israelites in Egypt had to paint a line of red blood from a sacrificed lamb on their door frame and shelter in the house so that they wouldn’t die when the angel of death passed over. The lamb died in their place. The lamb was their refuge. 

An incredible picture pointing forward to it’s fulfilment in Jesus. the lamb of God who sheds his blood to defeat our enemies who were against us - sin and death. He dies in our place and we take refuge in HIM! 

are you angry with him in the face of your battles. It’s too hard and he’s too hard on you. you feel like he doesn’t love you. 

Just Remember the kindness and mercy of Jesus your refuge. 

Jesus first came for me - when i was 12 years old - he called me to be his. He showed me that he’d died for me that i could be forgiven. And he has been my refuge ever since. In his kindness he has pursued me in all my wilful wanderings - to protect me and bring me back. And as Psalm 23 says: Surely his goodness and mercy will follow us all the days of our lives. 

Joshua 1 Taking hold of God's promises

Welcome to the OT book of Joshua. 

This is the narrative account of how the nation of Israel, having been miraculously sprung out of slavery in Egypt, having wandered in the desert for 40 years. Now under the leadership of Joshua, enter into, conquer and take possession of the land of Canaan that had been promised to them by God. 

It’s an ancient story, 3000 years old. another time and another place. It’s not without it’s difficulties. Not least the God ordained genocide of the Canaanite nations which i will cautiously try and make some sense of in these coming weeks ..  

Why would we study this ancient seemingly primitive book? 

Well because it is not as distant as we might think. 

Jesus says in Luke 24:27 that all the OT Scriptures are about Him, So, Institutions in the OT - like the temple and sacrifices - they teach us about Jesus. People in the OT particularly prophets, priests, leaders and Kings in so far as they are good, they point us to the character of Jesus, in so far as they are bad- they point us to our need for Jesus who is the perfect prophet, priest and king. So Joshua the man foreshadows Jesus (actually Joshua and Jeshua are the same name). Joshua the leader points us to the ultimate leader - Jesus. So the story is about him. 

And the story is also about us. The apostle Paul says in a  couple of places - Romans 15, 1 Corinthians 10 - that the history of Israel occured and was written down to teach, warn and encourage us. Christians.  This OT story of a nation rescued through sacrifice from slavery for a promised land is kind of like the prototype, the model, the mini-trailer in anticipation of the fulfilment of the ultimate plan of God:  A world rescued through sacrifice from sin and death for a promised eternal rest.

You can see this link made in the NT. Hebrews chapter 4 verse 8 says 

if Joshua had given [the people of God] rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. 9 There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God.

The Israelites entry into their  promised land teaches us about OUR ultimate entering into God’s eternal land/rest to which all of this points.

So let’s begin there with the promise of rest. 

1. Our promise 

Do you long for a place called home? Your own bit of land that is your possession? Perhaps you own a home but that experience of settledness? .. It feels like something so fundamental doesn’t it? A human right. A heritage. Do you long for a home?

Do you long for rest? Rest from all your enemies. Security. Rest on every side. Rest from your restlessness. Peace for your mind and soul?

—

God had long promised a land, a rest, a home for his people. It had started with Abraham nearly 600 years before Joshua when the nation of Israel were then but a twinkle in Father Abraham’s eye. And now here the time has come for God it seems to make good on all his promises up to this point: 

1 After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ aide: 2 “Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them—to the Israelites. 3 I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses. 4 Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the great river, the Euphrates—all the Hittite country—to the Mediterranean Sea in the west. 5 No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you. 6 Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their ancestors to give them.

Here was the promise - the land of Canaan, A land ‘flowing with milk and honey’ as God described it to them. (A land also full of enemy squatter nations that will need to be removed - but we’ll come to that). This was good land that God who is owner and ruler of all the earth has pledged to these people to be their inheritance at this time.

Notice that the inheritance of this land is a gift from beginning to end. It’s the land I am giving you, says God. 

It’s not a portion to which they were entitled. not some birthright. 

nor had they or their ancestors done anything to merit such a heritage 

and nor would their subsequent conquering of the canaanites suggest that they had earned it. It is a gift from beginning to end. 

And so it is with our entry into the eternal rest of God. It’s never something that we deserve or that we have warranted or that we have earned. It is from beginning to end a gift of grace and mercy to be received by simple faith. 

It’s a gift 

and it is also a certain gift. 

God has sworn (v6) to give it. 

And as we read the book we will see Israel enter and conquer and settle in the land just as God has promised. Joshua 21v43 towards the end of the book sums it ll up. So the Lord gave Israel all the Land he had sworn to their fore-fathers, and they took possession of it and settled there. The Lord gave them rest on every side, just as he had sworn to their forefathers. Not one of their enemies withstood them; the Lord handed all their enemies over to them. Not one of all the Lord’s good promises to the house of Israel failed, everyone was fulfilled. 

This week’s News - a soldier in the american reserves lost her job after attempting to make a viral youtube video to impress her kids. She had a colleague video her taking her oath of allegiance with her commanding office with a dinosaur head puppet on her raised right hand mouthing the words of the oath as she repeated them. The commanding officer was also forced to stand down for colluding with the stunt and failing to raise his right hand. 

The swearing of oaths is a serious business. 

God promises on oath - his right hand raised - an eternal rest for his people. Peace and justice. Land and home. He swears on his life that he will bring it about. He did so for the children of Israel. Not one of his promises failed. Neither will he let us down. he is faithful and he will do it. Our promise 

2. Our battle 

v10 (we’ll come back to verses 6-9 in a bit) 

10 So Joshua ordered the officers of the people: 11 “Go through the camp and tell the people, ‘Get your provisions ready. Three days from now you will cross the Jordan here to go in and take possession of the land the Lord your God IS giving you for your own.’”

notice that present tense there? It’s the land - not that God has given you - so that you just can wander in when you’re ready when  you fancy. No, it’s more dynamic. It’s the land that God is giving you that now you have to cross the precipitous Jordan gorge while the river is in flood and face formidable obstacles - armies and walled cities in order to take possession of what is yours. the promise is assured but must be claimed. The land is God’s free gift and yet there is a command to lay hold of that gift. It is as the Israelites go in and take possession of it that God will progressively give the land to them. THE PROMISE OF GOD IS RECEIVED BY THE ACTIVITY OF FAITH. 

it was actually part of God’s compassion that Israel should inherit their rest progressively - as they moved forward. Back in Exodus 23 God had said this about entering the promised land. “[I will] drive [your enemies] the Hivites, Canaanites and Hittites out of your way. 29 But I will not drive them out in a single year, because the land would become desolate and the wild animals too numerous for you. 30 Little by little I will drive them out before you, until you have increased enough to take possession of the land.

Israel will enter into their land, their rest. But there’s a now and a not yet dimension to it. The land is theirs now but battles must be fought, obstacles overcome before they can enter into possession of and enjoy their inheritance. 

And it’s exactly the same for us in Christ in whom all these promises are being fulfilled. 

So, Hebrews 4v3 says ‘We who believe enter God’s promised rest.’ As soon as you believe in Jesus - the burden of your sins are rolled away, peace of conscience, rest of soul, assurance and acceptance by God are now yours…

BUT you are not there and then taken straight to heaven. No, you have to: fight a fight, run a race, keep the faith before you can fully enter your eternal rest. Become a Christian, cross the jordan, alive in Christ and suddenly you’re facing foes both within and without of which previously you knew nothing. Foes that God wants to rid you of that you might flourish. Now let’s be clear OUR foes are not fellow human beings; enemy nations that need to be defeated just as our inheritance isn’t a plot of land in the middle east. No Christians love their human enemies and pray for those who persecute them precisely because our real enemies are injustice and apathy and the evil desires that war against our souls - our anger, our hate our lust. God wants to lead us to overcome all that is godless in our world and in us to prepare us for our eternal rest. That’s the battle that you enter into inorder to take possession of your inheritance. It’s the battle for justice, the battle for our church, God’s kingdom, the battle for the restoration of our souls in the midst of the hardships of life. It’s the fight for the formation of christlike character within us. Our healing. That’s our battle. 

and so 6 verses after telling us that we who believe have entered God’s rest Hebrews 4v9 says ‘There remains, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; …11 Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest.’ Rest is now and rest is not yet. And the promise of God is received by the activity of faith. 

It is when we step out in faith - ceasing from fighting God, instead trusting and obeying Him that we find progressively the rest for our souls that we are promised. It is in losing our lives for Christ that we find life. 

I wonder where you are at in all of this?

I guess there would have been some Israelites back then who were very hesitant to enter the promised land at all. And perhaps you’re in that place with Jesus. I just want you to encourage you that his promise of rest and his love is real. Rest is found nowhere else. Step out in faith and you will find him unrelentingly faithful. 

perhaps other Israelites were deeply discouraged by the presence of so many enemies in the land. and we can become discouraged in the fight of our faith. cut off one temptation and three more appear in its place and nothing changes very fast. well, remember that it is a battle. If you’re struggling on that’s a good sign. And remember God doesn’t give victory over all our enemies all at once it wouldn’t be good for us if he did. God is patient and his timing is perfect. He waits to be gracious to you. He has many victories to give us that we are not yet quite fitted for. But we shall be. Gradually progresively he will do it. so don’t lose heart. Keep on. 

I bet there were some Israelites who were over confident. A bit like some Christians who use the promises of God like a couch to relax on rather than a spur to action. God has promised us eternal rest, they say, God has promised never to leave or forsake us and therefore it’s not then end of the world if i make peace with my weakness and sin. I’m not saved by what I do or don’t do but by God’s grace. But this of course is a cheap grace a non grace that releases us from the following of Jesus Christ! Don’t give up and rest on cheap grace. Don’t do it. There is no true rest there. 

I wonder finally if some of the Israelites felt weak, isolated and alone. I can’t do this. Is anyone watching my back? Do you ever feel that? Well, our passage answers this need for community wonderfully. See we’re to fight the good fight together. We’re to fight for one another. 

12 … to the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh, Joshua said, 13 “Remember the command that Moses the servant of the Lord gave you after he said, ‘The Lord your God will give you rest by giving you this land.’ 14 Your wives, your children and your livestock may stay in the land that Moses gave you east of the Jordan, but all your fighting men, ready for battle, must cross over ahead of your fellow Israelites. You are to help them 15 until the Lord gives them rest, as he has done for you, and until they too have taken possession of the land the Lord your God is giving them. After that, you may go back and occupy your own land, which Moses the servant of the Lord gave you east of the Jordan toward the sunrise.”

16 Then they answered Joshua, “Whatever you have commanded us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go. 

These 2 and a half tribes - the reubenites, gaddites and half Manasseh had already been given their inheritance of land and rest on the east side of the jordan river. But they could not be at rest until all their brothers and sisters were at rest as well. And so they are called to the frontline to selflessness and sacrifice for the sake of their fellow Israelites’ rest. And they agree to it!

In the same way Hebrews 4v1 says to us. since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us (plural) be careful that none of you (singular) be found to have fallen short of it.

We fight for one another. 

But finally we never fight alone because of Our Joshua. 3rd point. Our promise, Our Battle, Our Joshua. 

Look at the way the leader is prepared. His high calling. 

Taking over from the greatest of all the prophets Moses and Joshua is called to strength and courage v6 and 7, commanded to it v9!

He’s called v7 to complete, unswerving obedience to God’s word 

that will spring v8 from constant careful meditation on God’s words 

and God end of v9 will be with him and will never forsake him.  

Courage, faithfulness, bearing the presence of God. It’s an extraordinarily high calling for the leader of God’s people. And while Joshua is a wonderful leader we know that we are being pointed forward here to the true Joshua, the author and perfecter of our faith - Jesus. 

He is the one who with extraordinary strength and courage, in perfect unswerving obedience to his Father’s word which he had internalised from his youth, he lays down his life that he might lead us into an eternal future. he enters the battle with us and he has promised to never leave us nor forsake us.

He is our strength in the battle. 

Our response to Jesus could be none better than those tribes to Joshua in v16 

‘Whatever you command us we will do and wherever you send us we will go’

In christ we are called to strength, courage, obedience, internalising his words, living on his presence.. that we might be fruitful in the battles of our faith. 

Resurrection. Luke 24:1-11

Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here. He has risen! Just as he told you he would.  

Read the gospel texts and you will see that Jesus had told his disciples again and again that he would suffer and die but then after 3 days he would be raised from death to LIFE. 

Perhaps he put it like this: Christ will die, Christ will RISE, Christ will come again 

He had told them that he would be raised from death to life but here are the women rushing to the garden tomb early in the morning on the day after the sabbath and they are here not to witness a resurrection but to embalm Jesus’ dead body. They are shocked to find the stone rolled away and the body gone! 

When the women bring the news of resurrection to the 11 and all the other disciples the news is not met with joy it is discarded as nonsense. 

Peter ran to witness the empty tomb and grave clothes and he went away wondering what had happened. 

Jesus had told them THIS would happen!! 

Christ will die, Christ WILL RISE, Christ will come again 

Perhaps it’s a bit like when my wife, Fiona was pregnant for the first time and various dads offered this ‘dad to be’ advice about babies and fatherhood and nappies and i listened and i heard but i didn’t really hear, i couldn’t really hear. You can never be prepared for all that. I still couldn’t get my head around the fact that there really were twin babies growing inside Fiona who would one day be in our arms and in the world - let alone taking nappies on board. I heard but i didn’t really hear

Is that what it was like with the disciples? they believed in Jesus, they had followed him, they had listened to him. But the words about his resurrection had not really …entered  them; had not captured them, had not affected their hearts and their hopes. The words.. they had heard them but they hadn’t actually heard them. The words didn’t change their lives. 

And It’s only when the shining angels graciously visit the perplexed women and say, “What are you doing here looking for Jesus? He told you he’s not gonna be here.” It’s only then that they begin to re-member - put together - his words. 

I wonder if it’s the same for us when it comes to Easter? 

[Some of us struggle to believe this stuff at all and i’ll come to that in a moment]

But many of us do believe in Jesus, we have followed him, we have listened to him. And we’re told by God in his word again and again that Jesus suffered and died and then after 3 days he was raised from death to life. Christ has died, CHRIST is RISEN, Christ will come again. We remind ourselves sunday after sunday. BUT these words about his resurrection .. they haven’t really entered  us; haven’t captured us, haven’t affected our hearts and our hopes. We’ve heard the words but we haven’t actually heard them. The words haven’t changed our lives. And we end up looking for the living among the dead and he is not there. HE IS RISEN 

We need a shining angel, the Holy Spirit of God - to redirect us and open our eyes to the significance of what we are being told!

What about those of us who have real difficulty believing that these events could even have happened. dead men simply do not rise. it’s impossible. and therefore this text must be a fabrication presumably intended to promote a religion after it’s leader had died. it might have some universal themes but is not to be taken literally.. 

Well. look. I agree that dead men do not rise .. normally. But if there is a God who governs reality we cannot rule out the fact that God could raise a dead person. 

Furthermore. If these texts as you suppose were fabrications written a generation after the events to promote Christianity then not only would it’s author not have had women going first to the tomb (women were not considered credible witnesses in the ancient world, as this story itself bears out); but also the author would surely have had the 11 disciples believing in the resurrection gospel at once, ready to be models of faith to lead the church into God’s future. The only real explanation for why these events are written in such a real way is the same explanation for why from this feeble few the church exploded across the roman world: something really happened. there really was a resurrection. Jesus Christ really is Alive. 

And so what does it mean? 

O spirit open our hearts to hear 

Luke tells us that it was in the very early morning of the first day of the week that the stone was found to be rolled away and the body gone. In other words - Because of the resurrection of JC there is a new dawn, a new day, a new start, a new week, a new world. 

the overturning of our greatest and most pervasive enemy - death. 

When Adam - the father of humanity - sinned; when he pushed God aside - the consequence was death. Death came… to all : All Adam’s race (the human race) who sin just like him; and even to our planet - the earth was subjected to decay. Death. Death.

Until Good Friday when ‘Christ died for our sins.’ 

Astonishingly while we were the sinners, while we deserved our death penalty… 

Christ died…. For our sins.

Like the little boy who with his magnifying glass on a sunny day concentrates all the suns rays into one laser beam of light that can incinerate dry grass or small creatures or his sister’s hair…

So when Jesus hung on that cross it was as if some cosmic magnifying glass redirected and concentrated all of the destructive consequences of our sins and all God’s holy anger against sin onto him - bringing him death for the wages of sin is death and there dying on his cross jesus paid off the debt of sin once for all time. And Sin and death were stripped of their power. And now here on the first Easter day we begin to see the results.. 

The day that death died. Like the first green shoot of spring forcing its way up through the frozen ground of an eternal winter. Like the golden light of the dawn ending the longest and darkest night. So Jesus bursts from the tomb of death. Not a ghost having entered some new mode of existence, no, notice the emphasis that Jesus’ body was gone. His body is raised. This is  life returning to this world. Jesus - bodily alive and strong, complete forever. The resurrection marked the greatest turnaround in history. Death has lost its sting. Death has been swallowed up in victory. Death has been defeated!!!!

in another place in the NT the apostle Paul describes the risen Jesus as the firstfruits of those who have died

We are to Imagine a farmer toward the end of the growing season daily, anxiously looking over his crop. Watching the skies for sun and rain. His very life depends on the success of the crop. If it fails.. his family will die. 

And then.. early one morning… the thing he’s been watching for: in one corner of the field which receives the first sunlight of the day tiny ears of corn have begun to form and appear in the stalks of the crop. The first fruits!! The first fruits means the whole crop is successful! He tears it out of the ground and runs home to his wife.. Just a tiny part of the crop but proof that a harvest will follow.. 

Jesus is not raised alone. His resurrection is the firstfruits - the guarantee of a great harvest of people raised from the dead. Jesus is like a needle, he has pierced through the great shroud of death to life on the other side and those who are joined to Jesus by faith, as the thread is connected to the needle, shall surely follow him through. 

Christ is risen from the dead and we and all this broken world will follow. 

THEREFORE 

2 things 

1. We do not grieve as those who have no hope

Death. it’s horrible, it’s unnatural. Have you had a loved one close to you who has died? Do you fear your own death? Are you stuck in grief? Whether untimely or at  ripe old age. Death is not the way the world is meant to be. To lose our lives. To lose the presence of a loved one is always agonizing.. 

But Easter says that death has ultimately been defeated. Where o death is your victory? Where O death is your sting. Jesus is RISEN from the grave. 

Many people reach out to Jesus as death approaches and we should long for all to know him because Jesus says ‘I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; 26 and whoever lives believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

ill. We’re going to live forever. 

Do you hear this? Can you take it deep into your soul for yourself and your loved ones. 

Through Christ death is now merely a gardener and we are the seeds .

We will be raised and united eternally bodily with our loved ones. We will embrace. 

Our popular culture’s view of the afterlife is one, if any, of vague immateriality. Occasionally Harry Potter catches a glimpse of his deceased parents or Luke Skywalker glimpses a shimmering Obi Wan Kenobi. But these silent, transparent ghostly holograms what comfort do they provide - you can’t hug them. I want to hug. And the resurrection says - you will.

Jesus will wipe away every tear. he will reunite us on the day when death is no more.

In the face of defeated death we do not grieve as those who have no hope

and 

second thing 

We do not live as those who have no hope 

If Christ is not raised from the dead then the Bible tells us (1 corinthians 15) we should eat and drink for tomorrow we die. If this is all there is then maximise your happiness now! What are you doing here?? See the world, realise your dreams. You only live ONCE. Make a list - a thousand things i need to do before I DIE. 

The problem of course is we don’t even know how to live well with the one chance we have and time like sand is running through our fingers. If Christ is not raised from the dead we should eat and drink for tomorrow we die. But even this brief life does not go as we plan - i haven’t seen the world, i haven’t used my gifts, i haven’t realised my dreams…

But….. Christ has been raised from the dead. The tomb was empty. His Body was gone. His body was raised. The first fruits of the renewal of this world. This reality. The future is not some abstract ethereal heavenly existence. The future is this world restored forever. A new dawn, a new day, a new start a new ….CREATION.

And therefore - we do not despair 

see, listen.. take it to heart 

You don’t have to explore the world now 

the world’s not going anywhere ..

You don’t have to realise all your dreams now 

plenty of time to develop your gifts 

You don’t have to maximise your happiness actually 

You have an eternity when all things shall be made new 

So how then should we live in the light of this glorious resurrection hope for this world? 

Trust Jesus and tell people about him? Yes, absolutely. 

But also, if the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ means that this world, every part of it that is good, has a future. Then everything matters. Everything

whether you eat or drink or whatever you do - work, play, rest, love, nurture, rebuke, study, create, comfort, learn, teach, pray, weep, laugh - whatever you do. do it all to the glory of God. 

Do it all for others. cos you don’t have to cling to this life like it’s the only one you’ve got. 

Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here. He has risen! Just as he told you he would.

Maundy Thursday reflection. John 13:1-17, 34-35

Last Sunday, Palm Sunday around midnight a 26 year old man was murdered on my street. Shot dead in cold blood as he got out the car in front of his mum’s house. Shocking, appalling… challenging. 

Where is the love of God that comes in to redeem our lives, our communities, our world? The love that really makes a difference. The love that enables us to love with courage? 

The problem is that there is something about THAT LOVE that also shocks and appalls and challenges us..

This is Maundy Thursday. There’s something about Maundy Thursday that makes you squirm. One of the ancient practices of the church on this day is to submit to having your feet washed. We’ve often talked about whether we should adopt that practice here - does it culturally translate? maybe it would make people feel too embarassed, too awkward. But you see - that’s the whole point! There’s something about the love of God that makes us uncomfortable but until we move beyond that discomfort and accept his love and our utter need to be served by it we can never become agents of real change in his world.. 

—

The term maundy in Maundy Thursday comes to us from the Latin root maundatum, or commandment, from Jesus’s words in John 13:34:

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.

The command to love of course was nothing new. But the command to love in the manner that Jesus has loved - that is new. And the command to love, having been loved first by Jesus - that is new. 

How is it that Jesus has loved us ‘to the end’ - that we might then love? 

v3 “Jesus, knowing that the father had given all things into his hands, that he had come from God and was going back to God, got up from the meal … and began to wash his disciples feet..”

—-

For the sandal-wearing disciples, washing your filthy feet was a common cultural practice, as common in their day as brushing teeth is for us. When you arrived at a home a basin of water was provided for you to do the necessary… Now it could happen that in a very well to do household a servant would wash your feet. But this would only be the lowest gentile slave. Jewish slaves were exempted from such a low task. Everybody knows washing dirty feet is nasty. It’s base.

It’s difficult to find a contemporary cultural equivalent for the washing of another’s feet in Jesus’s day. A number of years ago i travelled by train from Mumbai to Delhi.  Travelling by train in India, it is the lowest caste people - often those with disabilities - who clean the trains. They do it by crawling on their bellies across the floor and gathering up rubbish and food which has been dropped there with their clothes. And they are largely ignored because their work is so humiliating.

Do you get, then.. Do you get ..something of the utter, raw, appalling sigificance of what Jesus does here when HE takes off his outer garment and drops to his knees to wash feet?!!!  We hear the shock in the voices of the disciples who are SO embarassed by his actions.. Jesus, their master, their LORD - is crawling on his belly gathering their filth. 

The Creator on his knees. 

And this.. is only the beginning, this is nothing….

incredibly, He will go even lower still -- for contained in John’s account are allusions everywhere to Jesus’ imminent humiliating death.

The verbs John uses for Jesus laying aside his outer clothing and then putting his clothing on again are not usual. They are the verbs John uses elsewhere in his gospel for Jesus saying he will lay down his life only to take it up again at the resurrection. The footwashing, this whole scene, is a picture, a parable of the greater humiliation of God - mocked, spat on, stripped, bruised, bleeding, stretched out, naked, nailed to a cross. A slave’s death. The cross - where the righteous and pure son of God became sin .. so that sinners like you and me could be made righteous and pure..

‘You do not realise now what i am doing,’ Jesus says to Peter v7 as he washes his feet.. ‘But later you will understand.’ 

Understand the breathtaking servant love of our God.                 Who serves us  right at the point of our need - for cleansing, for forgiveness.                                             Who loves in humility. He gives up His rights and privileges.          Who loves in an utterly  costly way.                                  Who loves even under pressure – the cross was just hours away!             Who loves unconditionally – these men would, by the end of the night, betray Him, desert Him or deny Him.  Yet He lovingly washes all their feet, even Judas’s.  And He loves in self-forgetfulness – He doesn’t care that He loses face. He is not concerned for His own self-image. 

Here is the God who stoops, who serves, who gives everything, who gives his life that we might live. 

And Jesus says A new commandment I give to YOU: love one another. As I have loved you so you must love one another.

How? I mean I’m an incredibly loving person … until it means inconvenience, or a loss of face, or until my love is not returned in kind.  And how often does my love evaporate when i’m under pressure from other quarters? As i have loved you, you must love one another??!! Are you kidding me???

But Jesus doesn’t just give us the manner in which we are to love. He also gives us the means by which we are to love. As I have loved you ..so you must love ..

See the order? First be loved.  Then love.  First know, realise, appreciate – then do. First receive Jesus’ love.  Then pass it on.

But receiving is hard for us. It humbles us. We like to provide for ourselves. You can’t love me, God. I haven’t had the chance to prove my own worth yet. And so we resist ‘You shall never wash my feet’ says Peter.But Jesus answers ‘unless i wash you, you have no part in me.’ 

It reminds me of those extraordinary moments I’ve witnessed where one cares for the physical needs of an infirm loved one.. maybe helping feed them or wash them when they cannot do it for themselves. For those of us who are able bodied, the idea of submitting to that would be startling, humiliating, weird.. 

But the truth is, spiritually we are infirm, utterly dependent. We can only serve like Christ if we are first served by Christ. We can only love as he has loved if we are first loved by him.. We must overcome that aversion, lay down our pride and let him serve us. Apart from me you can do nothing… nothing 

—- 

God knows about the murder of young men. Maundy Thursday reminds us that God the Father sent his only Son who willingly came as a lowly slave, to serve us, to be crushed for us, to free us from the sin slavery that leads to eternal death. 

Sisters and brothers, we are in receipt of incredible love.We have gathered here on this special night to experience that Love again. We are here to be fed so that we might go out and feed others.

 Tonight, let us remember to claim the love that Jesus gives, and to receive the command that comes through Christ’s self-giving spirit to share that love with a hungry, love-starved world. Amen

The Cross - Reconciled to God, each other, the world

LENT 5

Reconciliation. Colossians 1:19-20

Welcome to SBD.  Through the sundays of Lent leading up to Easter we’re focussing on one of the central events in the Christian faith, the cross of Jesus Christ. In these last weeks we have seen how the cross deals with our guilt (justification), our slavery (Redemption) and our shame (cleansing/expiation). This week we’re going to focus on how the cross deals with our alienation. We’re going to think about how the cross reconciles. We’re going to do that by looking at some verses from our reading in Colossians 1 on page … vv19-20.

What do I mean by alienation? Here’s an ancient story. 

Once a man and a woman lived in an unimaginable paradise. They had everything they could possibly want. They enjoyed an intimate relationship with God, with one another and with the world in which they lived. They had a freedom to know and to explore. 

But, they chose to betray the trust God had given them… Soon, instead of rushing to meet him, they hid from him; instead of selflessly loving one another, they began to blame and accuse; instead of developing the richness of their home, they experienced it as a place of frustrating labour. The story ends with an eviction. The couple are exiled to the east, from where no good thing can come. They are alienated from God, from one another and from home. 

The Jewish Intellectual Edward Said, begins his essay Reflections on Exile with these words: “Exile is strangely compelling to think about but terrible to experience. It is the unhealable rift forced between a human being and a native place, between the self and its true home: its essential sadness can never be surmounted.”

Now, I am sure many of you are familiar with that story from the opening chapters of the Hebrew Bible. It’s a story which has been told by Jews and Christians for thousands of years. It gives an account of our experience of tense sadness in the world.  

See on the one hand we’re aware that the world is a place of great beauty and goodness. It is full of endless riches and feels like home. [Science museum - Testament to the work of human discovery and ingenuity for the common good - you can watch IMAX 3D film about life under the oceans ..extraordinary - coral reef, touch it.  - miracle: on a precise day once a year the coral spawns - new life… ] endless riches. 

But, we are also aware that the world is a hard place in which to make our home.  often something is wrong. We feel displaced. Something is wrong. [Our work in the world, without which we feel less than human, often feels nothing like discovery for the common good. And more like slog and frustration. It can easily become selfish. Those same coral reefs that regenerate every year cannot do so fast enough to counter their destruction caused by human greed.  Great beauty and goodness in the world but…something is deeply wrong

We’re aware too that human beings are extraordinary creatures with an intense ability to create and to love. This last week i cam across another amazing growing charity operating in Hackney. The happy baby community provides support for women who are pregnant or have small children and are survivors of trafficking. But, we are also aware that human beings struggle to get on. We argue, we fight, we wage war, we retreat from one another. [Syria: 450k dead in 7 years/national, racial, class pride - we flock with those like us, we love those who love us. Roots of Bitterness can set in. 

Finally, many people are aware that there is more to the world than meets the eye. There is a sense of something, maybe somebody, which is transcendent. [Walk the city. encounter churches, temples, synagogues, meetings in homes where - something transcendent is being sought] But, we’re also aware that the transcendent is elusive. We often ignore it or struggle to find it. When we encounter it we often recoil from it or reject it or hate it. [Last week have you found even yourself withdrawing from God?]. 

All this is what it means to be alienated from the world, from each other, from God. We live east of Eden.  

Now the story says that When alienation sets in there is need for reconciliation. Parties who are set against each other need to be brought back together. Severed relationships need to be mended and restored. The ancient Jewish prophets imagined humanity reconciled to God, to each other and to the world. They called it, Shalom, Peace. [Extraordinary set of images to imagine what that will be like Wolf/lamb; child/snakes nest] All things will be reconciled

Colossians 1:19-20 tells us that God has already done that comprehensive work of reconciliation through the blood of Christ shed on the cross. Have a look at it. 

Notice first God’s passionate desire for reconciliation. God takes the initiative. ‘God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in Christ’ [Many of us when we fall out with each other. We specialise in the silent sulking approach, you don’t say anything but you let the other person know that they have deeply wounded you and you wait for them to come and talk to you] Colossians 1 says God does not sulk in a corner brooding over how mean human beings have been to him. Rather, he draws close. He holds nothing back. He is pleased to allow all his fullness to dwell in Christ who dwells with us in order that he might reconcile all things to himself. 

Notice too that reconciliation is costly. The God who draws close in Christ does so to shed his blood on the cross.  It’s about violent death. At one level we know that reconciliation is costly. If you have ever fallen out with someone then it will often take a lot out of you emotionally, spiritually and physically to restore the relationship. Have you ever felt that? And the greater the offence, the greater the cost particularly if you are the innocent party.

[Marilyn Robinson’s novel Home is the sister novel to her acclaimed Gilead. It tells the story of Glory Boughton - a teacher in her 40s who has never married and returns home to care for her dying Father. At the same time her youngest brother, Jack, the prodigal son, who has been gone twenty years, returns home seeking refuge and to make peace with the past. He is welcomed with love.. But reconciliation is costly. Old wounds are opened. Deep hurts and regret. And the fear of a repeat performance looms..

Reconcilation is costly. The greater the offence the greater the cost particularly if you are the innocent party. 

God was pleased to have all his fulness dwell in Christ, and through him to reconcile to himself all things… by making peace through his blood  shed on the cross. 

God draws close as the rejected creator and lover in order to make peace with his creatures who have chosen to be… his enemies. 

21 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of[g] your evil behavior. 22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation—

Enemies? Now you might say.. hang on a minute. Isn’t that overstating the case? I might not be that interested in God but I am not his enemy. We may not be on speaking terms but I don’t wish him any ill. 

Maybe it’s only when we get up close to the God of the Bible that we realise we might be his enemy after all. See, what if I said to you that this God says that He alone is the way to spiritual life and you can contribute nothing, you must come to him. What if I said to you that this God demands that you serve him with every part of your life that he has given you? What if I said to you that this God says you can hold nothing back from him? He wants everything. 

Maybe you don’t feel quite so neutral towards him then. Maybe we say ‘no’ and we fight him for control of our life. Maybe it’s not so far fetched to say that we are his enemies in need of reconciliation. 

Neither is it simply a one sided affair. As if we don’t like God and that hostility on our part just needs to be overcome by some good PR.  We just need to see how great God actually is. No, the enmity is on both sides. Our human rejection of God, our taking of the gifts but rejecting the giver. Our human self-love. Living like we are God. All this that the Bible calls sin - has provoked God’s righteous, holy anger. 

We have rejected God in his world and he is perfectly within his rights to reject us. It’s a punishment we perversely welcome and deserve. 

But still he comes after us in love. Even while we are still his enemies he loves us and he gives himself for us. In the shedding of his blood he does the costly work of reconciliation. In Christ, God takes upon himself his anger against our sin so that we will never have to bear it. He takes our place. This is an incredible discovery.  

Once when i was at university and a foolish young man, I inadvertently had managed to offend this guy who was a bit of a nutter. Apparently he was on his way round to my house to ‘kill me’ some friends of mine waited outside my house to bar his way incase he came. All the time i was totally unaware that this was happening - I was sleeping in my bed (suffice to say the misunderstanding was cleared up). But look, we were in terrible danger, having rejected God, perhaps we weren’t even aware of it. But while we were sleeping soundly in our beds, Jesus met that danger in our place and dealt with it. In paying for our sins Jesus absorbs the deep brokenness and alienation which have invaded reality and he mends it. He makes possible a new relationship between God and humanity, within humanity and between humanity and the world. In all the circles of our alienation He creates and brokers peace.

The Apostle Paul says an extraordinary thing in Ephesians 2 – he says, “Christ is our peace”. That’s unique. All the prophets of the world’s religions in one way or another call their followers to live lives of peace; all the people of good will who do the hard work of reconciliation from marriage counselling to inter-community relations to international diplomacy invite people to make peace. But, here we are promised that there is a man in whom dwells all the fullness of God and he is our peace!

This is an extraordinary claim. 

[Imagine: Tony Blair – UN Envoy for Middle East – Jerusalem “I am your peace!” unimaginable. (actually maybe you could imagine it but would be ridiculous. no mere human being would make that claim.] Christ is our peace. An extraordinary claim.

Let me end by working that out in the three circles of alienation where Jesus reconciles all things to God. First of all he turns us from being God’s enemies to being God’s friends as we trust in him. Access to God! He allows us to draw near to God the Father with confidence. Important to hear that because Maybe some of us are fearful of drawing near to God. We think that we’re not good enough. Maybe some of us are working hard to try and get close to God. Maybe some of us have allowed ourselves to grow distant from God. Listen: Jesus is our peace. Rest in Him. There is hope. [This is the great reality of adoption. Through union with Christ the Son, we now have the same Father. Jesus taught his disciples to pray Our Abba. More intimate word than Father.. more respectful than Daddy. Dad. Pray to your Dad in heaven. This is who he is to you. You who were once God’s enemies as you rest in Christ’s reconciling work - you now are able to call him Abba]

But, secondly Jesus our peace restores us to relationship with one another. If you put two or more human beings together for any length of time then conflict will emerge. There are no exceptions. Our default is to  quickly blame each other.  Or retreat into our comfortable tribes. The good news of the Gospel is that Christ is our peace. If we rest in him and see the cost of our reconciliation then maybe we stop blaming the other and are open to forgive. Christ our peace can and does restore broken human relationships.  [CTC Europe. Prague, Urban church plants 50 different cities, 20 European countries. Our best friends - the Germans. Berlin and Hamburg guys.. Communion - moving because 100 years ago.. and again 75 years ago our ancestors were killing one another. And now we break bread together because Christ is our peace.]  

In the church of Jesus Christ,  God is creating a new humanity - a disparate people, enemies, people who are chalk and cheese - he makes us One in Christ. Jesus says doesn’t he: ‘Don’t just love those who love you (who are like you) - everyone does that. Love your enemies.. Love the different. Love those who are difficult to love. Then you’ll be true children of your Father in heaven.’ In our church, in your workplace, at the schoolgates - move beyond your comfort zone - talk to people you’ve never talked to before. Find out about them. Christ is our peace. We commit ourselves to the peace of our church and our communities and our world because of Christ.

Finally, Jesus our peace ultimately reconciles the whole created order to God – all things whether on heaven or on earth. His body in which God’s fullness dwells, is raised from the dead. He promises that in and through this body the whole material created order will be renewed. We will one day no longer be alienated in this world. It will once again be our home. So, in and through Christ our peace we anticipate that life now. We seek the good of the earth. We pursue shalom. Because we know in Christ who is our peace there is hope.

Christ is our peace. Through him God has reconciled to himself all things in heaven and on earth by making peace through his blood shed on the cross.