JOSHUA: CHRISTIAN COURAGE
THE 52 GREATEST STORIES OF THE BIBLE • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 48:42
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Harriet Tubman was born into slavery on a Maryland plantation in 1822. As she grew up, she was made to work driving oxen, trapping muskrats in the woods, and as a nursemaid. Harriet's owners frequently whipped her. And she endured the pain of seeing three of her sisters sold, never to be seen again. But when her owner tried to sell one of her brothers, Harriet's mother openly rebelled. The would-be buyer gave up after Harriet's mother told him, "The first man that comes into my house, I will split his head open."
Her mother's actions likely implanted in Harriet the idea that resistance to evil was right—and could sometimes be successful. As a child, Harriet herself … would run away for days at a time. But there were rays of joy in her life, as well. Harriet's mother told her stories from the Bible, which developed in her a deep and abiding faith in God.
When Harriet was about 26 years old, she learned that she might be sold away from her family. The time had come to try to escape. She made her way some ninety miles along the Underground Railroad. She traveled at night to avoid slave catchers, following the North Star, until she reached Pennsylvania, and freedom. Once there, she dared to make a dangerous decision: She risked her own freedom in order to give others theirs.
For eight years, she led scores of slaves north to freedom. During these trips she relied upon God to guide and protect her. She never once lost a runaway slave. As Harriet herself later put it, "I never ran my train off the track and I never lost a passenger."
She gave all the credit to God, explaining, "'Twant me, 'twas the Lord. I always told him, 'I trusts to you. I don't know where to go or what to do, but I expect you to lead me,' and he always did." Her faith deeply impressed others. As abolitionist Thomas Garrett put it, "I never met with any person of any color who had more confidence in the voice of God, as spoken direct to her soul."
What is courage? Courage is the ability to keep going even when you can’t see the results because you know God is faithful. Courage is doing what one is afraid to do. Courage is the capacity to resist fear, to master it, not its absence.
“Courage is being scared to death but saddling up anyway.” John Wayne
The apostle Paul was not one who courted danger nor did he presume upon the Lord. As one who tenaciously pursued the will of God, Paul was always willing to move forward into danger if he was convinced it was God’s will or that it was right even though his heart might have been gripped with fear.
And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom.
For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.
And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling,
For even when we came into Macedonia, our bodies had no rest, but we were afflicted at every turn—fighting without and fear within.
Martin Luther possessed this important quality in unusual measure. It has been asserted that he was perhaps as fearless a man as ever lived. When he set out on his momentous journey to Worms, he said, “you can expect from me everything except fear or recantation. I shall not flee, much less recant.” His friends, warning him of the grave dangers he faced, sought to dissuade him. But Luther would not be dissuaded. “Not go to Worms!” he said. “I shall go to Worms though there were as many devils as tiles on the roofs.”
… But not all men are courageous by nature as Luther was, and that fact is both explicit and implicit in Scripture. The highest degree of courage is seen in the person who is most fearful but refuses to capitulate to it. However fearful they might have been, God’s leaders in succeeding generations have been commanded to be of good courage. Had they been without fear, the command would have been pointless…
“Courage is not simply one of the virtues but the form of every virtue at the testing point, which means at the point of highest reality.” C. S. Lewis
Without courage, men and women will fail to be loving, to sacrifice, to count the cost, to tackle the challenges or take on the responsibilities that God calls them to.
Needing courage or to be encouraged is one of the common experiences we all face as finite human beings, and we should never think it odd if we reach a place where we need to be encouraged. Such is clearly evident from Scripture itself where we often find the people of God in circumstances where they needed to be encouraged. Thus, Paul wrote:
For even when we came into Macedonia, our bodies had no rest, but we were afflicted at every turn—fighting without and fear within.
But God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus,
and not only by his coming but also by the comfort with which he was comforted by you, as he told us of your longing, your mourning, your zeal for me, so that I rejoiced still more.
On a drizzly afternoon in early 2015 seven people gathered for Washington D.C.'s newest group—The Quitters Club. Tagline: "Let's Give Up on Our Dreams … Together!" One attendee was ready to cast aside her long-held ambition to become an actress. Same deal for a would-be writer. Another was ready to quit Washington D.C. The hodgepodge group of strangers were drawn together by the same invite that read: "Most of us have something special we'd like to do with our lives. At the Quitters Club we can help each other stomp out the brush fires set in our hearts, and get on with our lives."
Founder Justin Cannon has quit all sorts of things—filmmaking, music, graphic design. He is tortured by the dueling forces of grand ambition and intense self-doubt. Most often, the battle leaves him frozen. And despondent. At one point Cannon expressed his growing exasperation. "I was like, 'We should have a group where people want to give up on their dreams.' I was making a joke," he recalls. "But somebody said, 'You know, that's a really good idea.'"
A few days later he took action. He posted a note on Meetup for his new group. He thought he might be forming a club of one, but within 48 hours, 35 people signed up. And for the next two hours, one after another the attendees expressed their dreams and their inability to make progress. But surprisingly they end up encouraging each other to persevere. The actress, they decide, should give it a hard push for a year before tossing out her ambitions of making it on the stage. The unhappy Washingtonian should look for a new job before giving up on the city. The writer whose day job is getting in the way of her artistic pursuits should carve out time each day for her passion.
"Here we are at the Quitters Club and we're all encouraging each other to keep going," one attendee mused. "I knew that was gonna happen," Cannon says. They will meet again the following month to continue in their quest to help people quit. Or, as it turns out, to keep on trying.
Why is courage important? Are there any Cowardly Lion’s in heaven?
And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”
And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment.
The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son.
But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”
But the one who endures to the end will be saved.
Endurance is what courage looks like over the long haul.
CHRISTIAN COURAGE NEEDS TO BE ROOTED IN . . .
CHRISTIAN COURAGE NEEDS TO BE ROOTED IN . . .
THE PRESENCES OF GOD
THE PRESENCES OF GOD
Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.”
Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me.
If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,”
even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you.
THE PROMISES OF GOD
THE PROMISES OF GOD
Let us remember that all of the principles and promises of the Bible are based on the character and being of God’s person and His historical acts in salvation just as He has promised. For instance, the book of Deuteronomy contains Moses’ instruction given during the final months of his life. The setting for this is significant. The new generation was encamped in the plains of Moab prior to their entrance into the Promised Land. They were facing fortified cities and warring people, some of whom were giants. As they entered this new land there would also be many temptations and a whole new way of life. And all of this was to take place under the leadership of Joshua who at that time was unproved, at least as Moses replacement. Further, this new generation had not personally experienced the deliverance out of Egypt or at the Red Sea or the giving of the Law at Sinai. Thus, if they were to have the courage needed to face the difficulties before them, they needed to be reminded of God’s person and his historical acts of deliverance. So Moses wrote these words in Deuteronomy 6.
“When your son asks you in time to come, ‘What is the meaning of the testimonies and the statutes and the rules that the Lord our God has commanded you?’
then you shall say to your son, ‘We were Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt. And the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand.
And the Lord showed signs and wonders, great and grievous, against Egypt and against Pharaoh and all his household, before our eyes.
And he brought us out from there, that he might bring us in and give us the land that he swore to give to our fathers.
It is this God-breathed, inerrant, and infallible revelation of God in Scripture that provides us with the greatest means of courage.
For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.
When we root ourselves in God’s promises we are given the endurance to go the distance.
THE POWER OF GOD
THE POWER OF GOD
Before the men lay down, she came up to them on the roof
and said to the men, “I know that the Lord has given you the land, and that the fear of you has fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land melt away before you.
For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you devoted to destruction.
And as soon as we heard it, our hearts melted, and there was no spirit left in any man because of you, for the Lord your God, he is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath.
CHRISTIAN COURAGE REQUIRES
CHRISTIAN COURAGE REQUIRES
SURRENDER TO THE WILL OF GOD
SURRENDER TO THE WILL OF GOD
STEADFASTNESS IN THE WORD OF GOD
STEADFASTNESS IN THE WORD OF GOD
CHRISTIAN COURAGE REFLECTS CHRIST.
CHRISTIAN COURAGE REFLECTS CHRIST.
HE CONQUERED THROUGH HIS FATHER’S PRESENCES
HE CONQUERED THROUGH HIS FATHER’S PRESENCES
HE CONQUERED THROUGH HIS FATHER’S PROMISES
HE CONQUERED THROUGH HIS FATHER’S PROMISES
HE CONQUERED THROUGH HIS FATHER’S POWER.
HE CONQUERED THROUGH HIS FATHER’S POWER.
When Christian’s live courageously we reflect Christ the Conqueror.
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
Courage is the audacity to walk in the Victory that Christ has won. Victory for the Christian is the application of the already. How do we apply Victory? Not by superior battle techniques but by shouting our belief over and over that He overcame the greatest battle of all for us and that he will continue to do so as he fights for us.