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Be Strong & Courageous

Rev. Paul Fahnestock — April 18, 2010
 

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Over 900 members and friends of First Presbyterian are participating in reading through the Bible in a year, and we are currently reading through the book of Joshua in the Old Testament and the Gospel of Luke in the New Testament. I will focus today’s message on the book of Joshua.

The context of this book goes back to Genesis, chapter 12, where God chose Abraham (2000 BC), entered into a covenant relationship with him, and promised to bless Abraham and his offspring with the land of Canaan. This promise is not fulfilled in Abraham’s lifetime, or with his offspring Isaac or Isaac’s family through Jacob.

Then, Jacob’s son Joseph is sold by his brothers as a slave to Egyptians (1900 BC). In Egypt, Joseph is falsely accused of rape and imprisoned. God gives Joseph the ability to interpret Pharaoh’s dream, and he is appointed prime minister of Egypt. Back in Canaan there is a drought and famine, and Joseph’s brothers come to Egypt to buy food. In the end, the family is reunited in Egypt, where they are given favor with Pharaoh because of Joseph.

Pharaoh dies and the next Egyptian ruler is threatened by the number and power of the Jews and enslaves them. 400 years later, God calls Moses to lead the Israelites out of Egypt, which he does through an amazing series of events demonstrating God’s power and will to have His people set free.

God has Moses send 12 scouts into Canaan to bring back a report about the land. They return saying the land is great, but there is no way they can defeat the ferocious people living there, except for two of the scouts, Joshua and Caleb, who confidently reported God would give them victory.

The fear and unbelief of the 10 and consequently the rest of the people brought God’s judgment upon them – none of them would enter the Promised Land. Israel would wander in the desert until that unbelieving generation died off. Only Joshua and Caleb would enter. Not even Moses and his brother Aaron would enter as a consequence of their disobedience.

Israel lived in the desert for 40 years and finally all that unbelieving generation, as well as Moses and Aaron, had died. (God revealed all of these events to Abraham in a dream 600 years earlier in Genesis 15:12-16, including why the people and cities in Canaan would be destroyed.)

All of this is written in the first 5 books of the Bible: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, which brings us to the book of Joshua (1400 BC). This morning let’s read from the first chapter, the first nine verses:

 1 After the death of Moses the LORD’s servant, the LORD spoke to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ assistant. He said, 2 “Moses my servant is dead. Therefore, the time has come for you to lead these people, the Israelites, across the Jordan River into the land I am giving them. 3 I promise you what I promised Moses: ‘Wherever you set foot, you will be on land I have given you—4 from the Negev wilderness in the south to the Lebanon mountains in the north, from the Euphrates River in the east to the Mediterranean Sea in the west, including all the land of the Hittites.’ 5 No one will be able to stand against you as long as you live. For I will be with you as I was with Moses. I will not fail you or abandon you.

 6 “Be strong and courageous, for you are the one who will lead these people to possess all the land I swore to their ancestors I would give them. 7 Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the instructions Moses gave you. Do not deviate from them, turning either to the right or to the left. Then you will be successful in everything you do. 8 Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do. 9 This is my command—be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”

The first statement in the John Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion, his magnum opus of Christian theology, states that “the sum of human wisdom consists of two parts: the knowledge of God and of ourselves.” Calvin believes that the knowledge of God is not inherent in humanity nor can it be discovered by observing this world. The only way to obtain it is to study Scripture; God’s self-revelation. In these opening nine verses, God taught Joshua some fundamental principles about who God is and about our relationship to Him. The first thing we learn about God from this passage is that Moses is dead but the plan of God is not. “Moses my servant is dead. Therefore, the time has come for you to lead these people, the Israelites, across the Jordan River into the land I am giving them.” The point is that the work of God is not dependent on men and women. It is God who is giving them the land.

That’s not to say that humanity is unimportant; men and women are called to serve God. But, God’s plans and purposes do not ultimately depend on us. The emphasis is on God’s sovereignty. The emphasis is on that which God is about to do. God will give Israel the land. This is God’s work and He will accomplish it, and God’s plan never fails.

The second thing we understand about God is closely related to the first, and it’s the reason why the plan of God is sure. It is because God always keeps His promise. Joshua stands at a moment of transition and at that moment he needs all of the grace of God that is possible, and God says to Joshua, “Remember My promise.”

The covenant God of Israel was dependable. His word was His bond. He had come to Abraham, He had come to Isaac, He had come to Jacob, He had come to Moses and He had said, “This is what I’m going to do and I will do it.”

First, we see God has a plan that cannot fail. Second, God is faithful to His promise, and the third point we see is that God has revealed His precepts. By that I mean He instructs us how to live and He guides our moral behavior. As Joshua is going to lead the people of God into the land of promise, they must understand the critical role of the word of God in their lives.

God says to Joshua, “Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the instructions Moses gave you. Do not deviate from them, turning either to the right or to the left. Then you will be successful in everything you do. Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do.” (Joshua 1:7-8)

Someone might comment that if you make too much of Scripture, to God’s instructions, then it becomes excessive, it becomes legalism. Why do we think a statement like that makes sense when we don’t apply that kind of logic to anything else important? We expect people to know and follow the rules. When you are playing golf, and the ball lands in the rough, if somebody goes and just picks up that ball and places it right in the middle of a fairway where he has a perfect sight to the green, you don’t say, “That’s ok, there is no need to be careful about the rules of golf.” That’s also true with the rules of driving, honest business practices, and any other endeavor that involves interaction with other people or with God. If we’re going to be men and women of God, if we are going to be successful in this game of life, then we must be careful to know and to do everything that God instructs us to do.

There is a fourth thing we learn about God in this passage. God says in verse 5 and again in verse 9, “No one will be able to stand against you as long as you live. For I will be with you as I was with Moses. . . . This is my command—be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”

Now matter how dark, no matter how difficult, no matter how trying the circumstances may be. No matter what obstacle, no matter how fierce the opposition, no matter how you may feel. God says, “I will be with you.” God will be with you.

God has a sovereign plan. God is faithful to fulfill His promises. God’s reveals His precepts – how you are to live with Him and with each other. And, God is always present with you. These are the four principles we learn about who God is from this passage.

Now, what do we learn about ourselves and what God expects from us in this relationship with Him? Our text says we are to “be strong and very courageous” and “be careful to obey all His instructions.” You can be strong and courageous, not because of your competence, but because you know and believe in this sovereign God, who is faithful to His promises and is always with you. And out of your trust in God will come your willingness to obey, to follow His instructions. We are to trust and obey God. Do this, and God says you will have success in all that you do.

I want to conclude the message this morning by looking at a passage in the New Testament, written 1, 400 years after God appointed Joshua to lead Israel into the Promised Land, from one of the biographies of Jesus written by Matthew, chapter 28, verses 18-20. The risen Lord appears to His disciples and gives these instructions to them and the Church:

 18 Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. 19 Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. 20 Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Consider the layers of God’s involvement, the weaving of the tapestry of God’s plan and fulfillment of His promises. Out of the joy, pain, triumphs and difficulties of individual lives, God is weaving His plan and His grace. And, across the centuries and millennium, God’s plan is evident in all the details.

This first interesting connection between our two passages this morning is that Joshua (Hebrew) and Jesus (Greek) are the same name, which translated means: “the Lord saves” or “the Lord is salvation.” In the Old Testament, as God works in Joshua’s life, we understand God is sovereignly working out His plan in His creation. In the New Testament, God reveals that in Jesus all authority in heaven and earth has been given to Him. Jesus is that sovereign God fulfilling His plan, and He says, “I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.” His plan and promise will not fail.

God chose and sent Joshua to lead His chosen people into the earthly Promised Land of Canaan, which is a shadow of God’s ultimate plan. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. God gave His Son Jesus to lead His chosen people into the heavenly Promised Land of eternal life. Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s promise.

In the Book of Joshua, God’s people are given responsibility in their relationship with the Sovereign, Creator God: “Be strong and courageous” and “obey God’s instructions.” God Himself in Jesus Christ gives His people new instructions: “Go and make disciples from every tribe, language, people, and nation, baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teach them all that He has commanded.” As God fulfilled His promise to Joshua and Israel, we can be sure God will fulfill His promise to us in Jesus Christ. The question is “Will we be brave and courageous, will we trust God and obey His commands? What is our response to our risen Lord’s command?

Do you ask the Lord regularly, “How do You want me to be involved in Your plans and purposes?”

Do you ask Him how He wants you to use your time, talents, and financial resources?

Are you an encouragement to others? 

Let me tell you about Marianne Harvey. Marianne was born in Houston and moved to Atlanta, where she grew up. She was an exchange student in France as a junior in high school and remained in France another year, where she graduated from high school. Then, she began university in France, but returned to the USA to attend Georgia Tech, where she graduated with a BA in Management.

Out of college she went to work for Arthur Anderson Consulting, International. She already was fluent in French, German, Italian, Spanish and she was studying Chinese – a real gift for languages. She wanted to be assigned in China, but Arthur Anderson said they had an opening in France. She took the position in France and worked all over Europe for the next six years.

She decided that languages were a real passion for her and returned to the USA and Biola University in Los Angeles, where she earned a Masters in Applied Linguistics. At Biola, several of her professors were missionaries with the mission organization, Wycliffe Bible Translators. From them she learned that over 2,000 languages in the world did not have a Bible translation.

Marianne is a committed Christian, and she was moved that some people did not have any portion of the Bible. She decided working with Wycliffe as a missionary was what she wanted to do. She is currently in Benin, West Africa, in a small rural village, working on a Bible translation for the Saxwe people, a group of 150,000 people whose language is unwritten.

Here’s my question: If Marianne were your daughter or granddaughter and she came home saying that God has called her to go and make disciples among the Saxwe people of Benin West Africa, would you encourage her and support her or would you say “Marianne, you are so talented and you have so much potential, don’t throw away all your opportunity for success and a good life by going off to a third-world country.”

The Lord, who has all authority in heaven and earth, has commanded us to go and make disciples among all the peoples. Do you, would you encourage your children or grandchildren to seriously think and pray about whether the Lord might call them, with all their talents and potential, to serve Him any place in the world? By the way, Marianne is supported with FPC Mission funds, and she will be here to visit us and make a presentation on Sunday, June 13. If you are here then, I hope you will plan to hear her presentation and encourage her.

The pastors and mission leadership of this church are committed to your growth in understanding and living out God’s instructions. The FPC mission leadership had a planning workshop this weekend, and we have begun to develop some very exciting ideas which will change the orientation and activities of our mission leadership. Rather than simply acting on behalf of the congregation, we are committed to serve the congregation: equipping, informing, inspiring, and enabling you to become personally involved in the ministries we support through all aspects of praying, giving, sending, and going.

Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or discouraged. Obey all of His commandments, and remember God’s promise, “I will be with you always. I will be with you until the end of the age.