Fight the Good Fight of the Faith: Recounting the History of God's Grace

Well, we have made it through the book of Joshua. This Sunday, the sermon posted will look at the final chapter and see how God and Joshua end this wonderful book that teaches us how to fight the good fight of the faith.

In the previous sermon, we saw Joshua's final words to the leaders of Israel that teach them about living by faith. In this final chapter of the book, Joshua leads the people in renewing the covenant with God, which is an act of rededicating themselves to His service before Joshua passes into glory and they are on their own. The way the covenant renewal ceremony is laid out in this passage is very similar to the covenants of the other peoples of the ancient near east surrounding Israel. God chose to make His covenants with them in a way that would be familiar to them (in and of itself and act of grace!).

The ceremonies generally opened with a preamble where the parties making the covenant introduce themselves, and then they go on to a "historical prologue" where the history of the relationship between the parties is recounted (i.e. everything that is leading up to the covenant ceremony). The covenant renewal ceremony in Jos. 24 follows that pattern, and it is the historical prologue that I want to focus on for this devotional. We will talk about it a little Sunday, but we will not be able to go into detail there. So, here are a few theological highlights from the recounting of the history of God and His people to this point (reading Jos. 24:1-13 first would be helpful):

• Unconditional Election: Joshua starts out by reminding them that God took Abraham from Ur while Abraham was still a pagan. And, Abraham was chosen; not his brother Nahor, yet Abraham deserved it no more than Nahor. Abraham was no saint when God found him. He was plunged into pagan worship probably just as much as the Canaanites. Abraham did not become a believer because he was somehow inherently better than his father or brother. Abraham did not deserve it any more than anyone else. No, it was because God "took" him and "led" him. God loved Abraham when he deserved only wrath. The fact that Israel exists at all is simply an act of God's free grace and unconditional election. And, this is consistent with the rest of Scripture. The Bible constantly reminds us of who we were, but it is not to bring us to despair but to show us the incredible grace of God. Francis Schaeffer once wrote:

Whether studying the Old Testament or the New, we are reminded that we are not where we are because of a long, wise, and godly heritage. We come from rebellion. Individually, we are children of wrath. After we are Christians, we must look at others who are still under God's wrath and always say, "I am essentially what you are. If I am in a different place, it is not because I am intrinsically better than you, but simply because God has done something in my life." There is no place for pride.

• Slow growth: Joshua tells us that God multiplied Abraham's seed, but it was really, really slow. He only gave him Isaac. Isaac only had two sons, one of which would not produce people of God (i.e. Esau). Finally, with Jacob's twelve sons, things start to speed up. So, we see from this that God does what He promises, but sometimes it is so gradual that we do not notice until it has been going on for a long time. We need to keep this in mind and walk by faith; not by sight. As one commentator says, "We easily lose sight of what Yahweh has done by demanding too much too soon."
• Rough spots: Joshua also points out that Esau and his people (not God's people) get their inheritance right away but Jacob and his sons (God's people!) go to Egypt and become slaves. What? Why do the covenant people get slavery while the others get their land? Sometimes history seems to conflict with God's design, which is, again, why we have to walk by faith and not by sight. God always accomplishes His design, but sometimes it is not at all when we would expect it (cf. e.g. He. 11:32-38). The Scriptures are realistic about this and do not hide the "rough spots" from us, and that shows God is honest, realistic, and always faithful. God showing us the "rough spots" and confusing parts of history is not to make us relish the difficult aspects of the life to which He has called His people but to show us that He is faithful to hold us in and bring us through the "rough spots."
• God's power: In vv. 5-12, Joshua recounts God's incredible power to deliver His people from Egypt (the greatest power in the world at the time), conquer the kings east of the Jordan, and conquer the Promised Land. Joshua sums it up with telling the people that it was not by their sword or bow that all this was accomplished but by God's mighty power. Time and time again God's people are outnumbered, outgunned, or even completely helpless, and God fights for them by His mighty power. This shows us what Jonah learned in Jon. 2:9: Salvation is of the LORD. Paul also tells us this in 2 Co. 4:7. This is not to say that we just "let go and let God," for God uses our struggles, as we fight by faith, but it does show us that our struggles would be nothing, useless, futile without God's mighty power. (We will talk more about this in the upcoming sermon.)
• God's provision: If we look at vv. 7, 13, Joshua shows us God's provision in necessity and abundance, but also note that His provision is the basic stuff: manna, grain, towns, houses. It, with the exception of the manna, is ordinary stuff that we take for granted every day, but it is all of God's grace. God always provides for His people, but we need to remember too that God isn't some kind of genie that just grants our wishes. He gives us our needs; not necessarily our desires. And, most often He does it through the normal, ordinary means of a job, a family, etc.

You see, Joshua does not recount their history just to show them their past but to show them the great God whom they serve. That is the basis for the rest of the covenant renewal ceremony, which we will talk more about on Sunday. Until then, think about your own history, and I bet if you think long and hard enough, you could find some very similar displays of God's grace, faithfulness, power, and provision even during the rought spots, and if you do that, it will refresh your soul.

By His Grace,
Taylor

The Gospel According to Joseph: The Gospel and Grace

My apologies for not publishing this on Sunday, my friends. The weekend was very busy for a number of reasons, and I simply forgot. Please forgive that memory lapse. Here it is, though, the sermon that complements last Friday's devotional: The Gospel and Grace. Israel's life has been a picture of God's amazing grace ever since he was born clinging to Esau's ankle, and here at the end of his life and near the end of this whole narrative, he becomes a bestower of grace through the blessings he gives to his sons and grandsons. The scope of this sermon only had room to look at two of those blessings--the blessing on Joseph's sons and the blessing on Judah--but in those two blessings we learn a lot about God's grace to us. So, if you want to hear about that, you can listen to the sermon here or read the transcript here.

Now, as we have also talked about in the other posts in this series, in each sermon, I try to highlight a question that we can ask of any Old Testament text to help us to see how Jesus may be on that page of Scripture. This week's sermon did not add a new question, but it does show another way that we can use a question we have talked about in previous sermons: How does this passage reflect upon or prepare us for the person or work of Christ—i.e. who He is to us (His person) and what He does for us (His work)? So, check out the sermon if you want to learn more.

I pray that this sermon will show you Jesus clearly and Him only and that it will be a blessing to your soul.

By His Grace,
Taylor

Mistakes, Second Chances, and Grace

"Perhaps one of the lessons is that we need Pauls who lead the army into battle. And, we need Barnabases who care for the wounded and shell shocked and get them back into the war." ~ The Christian Curmudgeon, "I Don't Believe in Second Chances"

In the article linked above, the Christian Curmudgeon talks about the grace of second (and third and fourth and fifth...) chances using the story of John Mark as an example. If you do not know what happened there, John Mark was a companion of Paul and Barnabas on their first missionary journey (Ac. 12:25). However, something happened (no one knows exactly what happened) and John Mark left prematurely (Ac. 13:48). When Paul and Barnabas were starting out their second missionary journey, Barnabas wanted to take John Mark but Paul would not allow it. Apparently John Mark's departure on the first missionary journey made Paul feel he was not suited for their work anymore. The disagreement was so sharp between the two of them that they split: Barnabas with John Mark and Paul with Silas (Ac. 15:36-40).

Now, think about that. Paul--the man who used to be Saul, persecuted Christians, and murdered who knows how many believers--would not extend grace to John Mark for his mistake (whatever it was). Paul--the man who championed absolutely free grace, wrote things like "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost" (1 Ti. 1:15), and gave us nearly half the NT--would not give John Mark a second chance. This would shock me, if I was not so much like Paul. Given Paul's background he should have been the first to give John Mark another chance. In fact, I can imagine Barnabas saying something like this to Paul: "Don't you remember that no one in the church would trust you until I took a chance on you? [Ac. 9:26-27] Don't you remember Who sought you out and stopped you on the road to Damascus when you were trying to kill us? [Ac. 9:1-19] Why won't you give John Mark another opportunity?" But, whatever Barnabas said obviously did not work... at least not at first.

When we read Paul's later letters, however, we realize that somewhere along the line he had a change of heart about John Mark. During his first imprisonment, perhaps as much as 15 years after he and Barnabas split, Paul wrote that he was sending John Mark to the Colossians and that they should welcome him (Col. 4:10), and he names John Mark as a fellow worker in his letter to Philemon (Phm. 24). Furthermore, during his second and last imprisonment in Rome, when Paul was writing his final words to his protege Timothy, he said, "Luke alone is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is very useful to me for ministry.... Do your best to come before winter..." (2 Ti. 4:11, 21) So many years after Barnabas tried to convince Paul that John Mark deserved another chance, Paul realized it and John Mark became a valuable companion, so valuable that when he was facing his impending martyrdom Paul wanted to see two men: Timothy and John Mark.

So what is the point of saying all this? Well, it is similar to what the Christian Curmudgeon wrote, which I quoted above. The Church needs Pauls because Pauls are willing to speak harshly when necessary in order to protect the sheep from wolves. However, the Church also desperately needs Barnabases to check the Pauls and make sure that the grace Christ gave us is given to others. I fear we have many more Pauls than Barnabases these days. I can say that because if I take an honest look at myself, I am more like Paul than Barnabas. I am too quick to say, "He is no longer useful." But, what if I acted like Barnabas? What if I remembered how much grace Jesus has given me? What if I remembered how many times I have returned to Him to repent of the same sins over and over again and that He has taken me back every single time? What if I gave second, third, fourth, fifth, and so on chances, just like Jesus has given me? Perhaps I would find someone like John Mark who would become one of the last men I would want to see before I died. Perhaps such a story of grace would be seen by the world and it would say, "Huh? What is going on there?"

Look, I know we need to protect the purity of the Church. I know we need to get the wolves out before they destroy the flock. Those of you who know me personally know how concerned I am with that. But, what would happen if someone who had the potential to be a wolf received grace from us instead of estrangement? Perhaps the Spirit would use that grace to bring them to repentance (cf. Ro. 2:4) and make them useful to us, just like John Mark became useful to Paul. The Spirit did it with me, so I am pretty sure He can do it with anyone else out there.

I pray daily for the grace and compassion of men like Barnabas. I am not there yet, but I am also thankful every day that God is not finished with me yet.

By His Grace,
Taylor

Unconditional

"If we could fix each other we would never understand unconditional love. You having trouble loving people? Say, 'God show me my sin and then hug me and then maybe I can go out and hug some others.'" ~ Steve Brown

I like this quote from Steve because it reminds me of one of the ways that sin is a blessing in disguise. When we really understand our sin we can really understand how incredible Christ's love is. To say, "Jesus loves me" is great, but if we do not remember what condition we were in when Jesus loved us then that statement has no depth and no real comfort. When we really see and know our sin then we really understand what Jesus did for us and only then can we really love others the way He has called us to love others. Steve also gives a principle: "You can't love until you've been loved and then you can only love to the degree that you have been loved."

By His Grace,

Taylor