Remember Your Deliverer
Remember November • Sermon • Submitted
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· 6 viewsOur part in God's story is about remembering His faithfulness while trusting in His goodness.
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Good morning, Ambassadors! Happy Thanksgiving to you all! I’m thankful to be gathering with all of you once again today. I know for some of you here with us today, this will be our last opportunity to gather like this for a little while longer, while we wait for the virus that has dominated our lives this year to be under control. We are grateful, however, to have technology and opportunities to stream our services into your homes or onto your devices as we seek to worship the Lord each and every week.
As we close out the month of November and the series Remember November, we do so in anticipation of the Advent season and all the joys that come with celebrating Christmas. Many of us may feel the need for this season, I know that I do; but we must be sure to remain focused on what God has for us is not just about what is ahead. God’s plan for our lives is so much about seeing how he took us through the yesterdays to show his promises and build our trust for the tomorrows.
Our text today is from Joshua 3. It’s a natural continuation, I believe from our text last week in Deuteronomy, where Pastor JP shared with us on remembering the why of our salvation. This week we look at 3 things surrounding our salvation and our participation in receiving the promises of God.
Before we read the text, let’s set the stage for where we are. The book of Joshua opens up as Moses is buried just outside the Promised Land, the land of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Joshua has become the new leader of the people and has been tasked with bringing this nomadic people back to the land of their fathers, after almost five centuries of being away. Can you imagine how strange it must have felt for this generation? They were the generation to have known the pain of their past and have experienced the trials of wandering, while getting to see the promised land they were told about from their parents and grandparents.
Let’s read our text for this morning:
1 Then Joshua rose early in the morning and they set out from Shittim. And they came to the Jordan, he and all the people of Israel, and lodged there before they passed over. 2 At the end of three days the officers went through the camp 3 and commanded the people, “As soon as you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God being carried by the Levitical priests, then you shall set out from your place and follow it. 4 Yet there shall be a distance between you and it, about 2,000 cubits in length. Do not come near it, in order that you may know the way you shall go, for you have not passed this way before.” 5 Then Joshua said to the people, “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.”
11 Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth is passing over before you into the Jordan. 12 Now therefore take twelve men from the tribes of Israel, from each tribe a man. 13 And when the soles of the feet of the priests bearing the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off from flowing, and the waters coming down from above shall stand in one heap.”
14 So when the people set out from their tents to pass over the Jordan with the priests bearing the ark of the covenant before the people, 15 and as soon as those bearing the ark had come as far as the Jordan, and the feet of the priests bearing the ark were dipped in the brink of the water (now the Jordan overflows all its banks throughout the time of harvest), 16 the waters coming down from above stood and rose up in a heap very far away, at Adam, the city that is beside Zarethan, and those flowing down toward the Sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, were completely cut off. And the people passed over opposite Jericho. 17 Now the priests bearing the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firmly on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan, and all Israel was passing over on dry ground until all the nation finished passing over the Jordan.
1 When all the nation had finished passing over the Jordan, the Lord said to Joshua, 2 “Take twelve men from the people, from each tribe a man, 3 and command them, saying, ‘Take twelve stones from here out of the midst of the Jordan, from the very place where the priests’ feet stood firmly, and bring them over with you and lay them down in the place where you lodge tonight.’ ” 4 Then Joshua called the twelve men from the people of Israel, whom he had appointed, a man from each tribe. 5 And Joshua said to them, “Pass on before the ark of the Lord your God into the midst of the Jordan, and take up each of you a stone upon his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the people of Israel, 6 that this may be a sign among you. When your children ask in time to come, ‘What do those stones mean to you?’ 7 then you shall tell them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it passed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. So these stones shall be to the people of Israel a memorial forever.”
As we reflect on this year (and how unbelievably difficult it has been for so many) and look ahead to a new year (fraught with caution and uncertainty) we can take to heart the faithfulness of our God. A God who has overseen the pain, trials, wandering, and confusion of His people for thousands of years. My hope for us this morning is to see ourselves as participants in the redemption story of God, trusting in His goodness and grace and relying on His power and might. There are 3 things from the text this morning that I’d like to observe together. There are 3 ways that we can participate in the holy activity of God and His work.
Consecrate
Consecrate
5 Then Joshua said to the people, “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.”
Consecrate is a word that we don’t use very often in today’s language, so I’d like to offer some synonyms for us to see a picture of what this is.
make holy, dedicate, sanctify, set apart, prepare, purify
These are words of activity. When Joshua was following the Lord’s leading to get them across the Jordan River, he wanted to have the people consecrate themselves. They needed to prepare their hearts, minds, bodies, and property. What did they need to prepare for? The land of Promise was staring them in the face, all they had to do was get across the river and make it work from there!
In your life and in mine, how often do we look at things practically and pragmatically, and not in consecration? When you make that decision to move, to get that new job, pick your education, enter that relationship, strike that business deal, have you prepared yourself for God’s movement in your life? Or are you asking God to come along?
Israel, and by his leadership, Joshua, knew that there would be no success in what they would try to do without first preparing themselves for what lay ahead. They took the time to do this even though they had been wandering for decades in the desert of the Middle East. They were no doubt tired, weary, heartbroken, and on edge after so much had happened. But getting to the promise land wasn’t really even the goal. The right goal was to be in the right place with God - no matter where they called home.
Cooperate
Cooperate
14 So when the people set out from their tents to pass over the Jordan with the priests bearing the ark of the covenant before the people, 15 and as soon as those bearing the ark had come as far as the Jordan, and the feet of the priests bearing the ark were dipped in the brink of the water (now the Jordan overflows all its banks throughout the time of harvest), 16 the waters coming down from above stood and rose up in a heap very far away, at Adam, the city that is beside Zarethan, and those flowing down toward the Sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, were completely cut off. And the people passed over opposite Jericho.
Salvation is of the Lord. One of my favorite quotes on our salvation is from Jonathan Edwards:
“You contribute nothing to your salvation except the sin that made it necessary.”
While this statement is true and good when it comes to our salvation, it does not speak to the cooperation of the people of God in the work of God in our daily lives. We have a rest and a hope in Jesus that means we don’t have to work to gain the status to be God’s child.
But our status as God’s children places on us a responsibility and honor of living a life that is more in line with His will. So much of this can be paralleled with the mindset of consecration, of setting apart. When we become followers of Jesus and we identify with what God did for us, we cannot help but do our best to align ourselves with God’s Word.
Here in the book of Joshua, God’s Word was the direct line He had with His people. For us today, Scripture through the illuminating of the Holy Spirit grants us that same opportunity. We can study God’s Word, dwell on it, obey it, trust it, and rely on it as the authority in our lives.
Our cooperation is very similar to that of the people of Israel - we are not causing the promise to be ours, but we are cooperating and obeying God’s Word to receive that promise. Our movement in obedience is the grease that moves the gears of God’s Will. It’s the same in how God accomplishes His desires throughout history. He wants us not just to be humble, but to walk humbly; He doesn’t want us to appreciate justice, but to do it.
Belonging to God has implications that we don’t have the time to unravel this morning, but our cooperation, or whatever you’d like to call it (obedience, action, etc) is VITAL to the movement of God in your life.
Would you like to cross the Jordan of 2020? Would you like to see God stop the waters from flowing that is preventing you from spiritual success and a joy in life? As a community, a country, a world, we don’t know when we’ll be able to cross the river from all the things that have made this year difficult - but we do know that our consecration and cooperation can have an amazing effect in seeing God move and do amazing things.
Whenever we do cross that river in any area of life, it is important for us then to:
Commemorate
Commemorate
The holiday of Thanksgiving has its roots in this thought and this action. When this tradition was instituted officially during the Civil War, people could see how important it was that we acknowledge the goodness of God and his faithfulness to us - even in a time of turmoil, pain, and strife.
This month we have learned through the idea of remembering. Thanksgiving is a time of gratitude in remembrance, giving thanks for delivery from trial and delivery to joy.
The theme of the holiday is echoed here in Joshua 4
4 Then Joshua called the twelve men from the people of Israel, whom he had appointed, a man from each tribe. 5 And Joshua said to them, “Pass on before the ark of the Lord your God into the midst of the Jordan, and take up each of you a stone upon his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the people of Israel, 6 that this may be a sign among you. When your children ask in time to come, ‘What do those stones mean to you?’ 7 then you shall tell them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it passed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. So these stones shall be to the people of Israel a memorial forever.”
When you gather this week in your homes for Thanksgiving and soon for Christmas, my hope is that there will be opportunity for you to express to your family members, even your children, the faithfulness of God this year. God has been faithful and oh so good to us this year. When Israel erected those stones in the water, they weren’t doing it for themselves. They did it for the faithfulness of God through 400 years of bondage in Egypt; they did it for the faithfulness of God through 40 years of wandering in the wilderness; they did it for God’s parting of the waters on 2 separate occasions for their deliverance.
Will you come to the Lord today to give thanks for his deliverance? Will you now consecrate yourself to be prepared for His movement in your life? Will you cooperate with the plan He has laid out for you by doing the gospel work He calls us to in His word? If you haven’t yet, what can you give over to Him today? How will you commemorate God’s work in your life this year?