Fight the Good Fight of the Faith: Fighting in Ordinary Life

As we have gone through to book of Joshua, we have been talking about living this Christian life and fighting the battles of this life--fighting the good fight of the faith (1 Ti. 6:12). And, while this book has given us a lot of great teaching from God on the Christian life, it certainly cannot cover it exhaustively. One particular part of this Christian life that we have not addressed because it does not come out of the text of Joshua is vocation--our calling in this life; what God would have us do as our career in this world. But, in God's providence, He has had Ed Stetzer of Christianity Today start a two-part series on it called: "Jesus on the Job: How Faith Mixes With Work." Part 1 is up, and it is a great start. I would particularly recommend you watch the video at the bottom. It is about six minutes, and it is a great, short explanation of how God calls His people to all sorts of vocations in this world and all are equally valuable, necessary, and dignified for the people of God. (Edit: Since I wrote this devotional as an email to my church, the second part of the series was posted.)

The article and the video are a good counter and cure for bad theologies that are being spread through the Church these days--theologies that say if do not do something "radical" or "missional" for God, then what we do is not honoring to God; is not good enough. Nothing could be further from the truth. The vast majority of God's people are called to glorify Him through ordinary, mundane, faithful lives, and this pleases God far more than chasing a new, radical legalism. One quick example: read the book of Ephesians through in one sitting some time, and I think you will notice this. The first three chapters are an incredible, God-exalting exposition of the supremacy of Christ, the glories of God's eternal plan of redemption, and how Jesus came into this world to redeem a people for Himself. It is an amazing and glorious exposition of God's grace that is difficult to rival, even in the rest of inspired Scripture. After that, in chs. 4-6, Paul tells us how to respond as God's redeemed people. After telling us of the incredible, radical grace of God, if Paul were a modern preacher, he might have told us that this means we all need to give all our money away, become missionaries, go to seminary, or do something like that.

But, no. What does Paul say under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit? What does he tell us to do after giving an imcomparable exposition of God's amazing grace? He tells us to live with one another in patience (4:2), to grow in Christ (4:13-22), to work hard (4:28), to watch our speech (4:29-5:4), to be kind to each other (4:28), to be sexually pure (5:3-7), to walk in light (5:7-17), not to get drunk (5:18), to give thanks together (5:20), to worship together (5:19), to model our marriages after Christ and the Church (5:22ff), to love our children (6:4), children to obey their parents (6:1-3), employees to work hard for their employers (6:5-9), and to fight against the attacks of the devil (6:10-20). Huh... that sounds like an ordinary Christian life to me.

It sounds like living the Christian life for the glory of God in whatever He has called us to do in this world, and it sounds like whatever that is, we can glorify God in it by striving to be Christlike at home, at work, and at church. It sounds like what Paul says to Timothy later on in 1 Ti. 2, where he tells Timothy to pray for leaders and government, and the result of that prayer is that Christians might "lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth." That is not really "radical" or "missional" according to these new theologies being taught today. In fact, it is quite ordinary, but it is God-glorifying and what God calls us to as His people in this world.

For some more resources on living a God-glorifying life in whatever vocation/work He has called you to do without creating a new legalism, I would recommend these books:

• Just Do Something: A Liberating Approach to Finding God's Will by Kevin DeYoung and Joshua Harris
• The God Of The Mundane: Reflections on Ordinary Life for Ordinary People by Matt Redmond
• Ordinary: Sustainable Faith in a Radical, Restless World by Michael Horton

I hope they bless your soul and help you to glorify and enjoy God in your ordinary life where you live, work, and worship. 

By His Grace,
Taylor

Fight the Good Fight of the Faith: Refuge!

In the last devotional post, I discussed some reflections on God's dividing up of the land of Canaan--the Promised Land--among the tribes, which is a section that we are going to skip almost completely (except for this one sermon). By ch. 12, God’s people have essentially taken the Promised Land. They have broken the backs of the enemy and destroyed all the strongholds, so the land is essentially theirs, but the individual tribes have to do the “cleanup work,” we could say, of killing or driving out the remaining Canaanites. That means, the land has to be divided between the tribes, which is what chapters 13-22 are all about. And, again, as I mentioned in this past Friday’s post, this is not just a list of territories but a demonstration of God’s redeeming nature. He knows that we are sinful people, prone to fight among ourselves, and inheritance and property is one thing over which even families can become quickly divided: “I want this land,” “I don’t have enough because my family is bigger,” etc., and God cuts through all that by dividing the land proportionally Himself. No one can argue with that.

Now, part of the dividing up of the land is the giving of certain cities to the Levites. The Levites were the tribe tasked with serving God in the Tabernacle, Temple, and for the whole nation, so they did not get a specific territory, for, as the Scripture says in several places, their inheritance was the LORD Himself. However, they did need a place in which to live, so God allots them 48 cities distributed throughout the Promised Land on both sides of the Jordan, which also shows us God’s redeeming nature: He is concerned about the pastoral care of His people. By distributing the Levites throughout the land, He makes sure they are near to all peoples in all the tribes for care like marriages, funerals, circumcisions, and any spiritual guidance the people might need.

Among the Levite cities, God creates a subcategory: cities of refuge. There were to be six of them--three on either side of the Jordan, one in the north, middle, and south (see the map of the Promised Land above). And, these cities are the subject of the chapter for today's sermon: Jos. 20. They were the only place of refuge for someone whose life was being sought--someone was trying to kill them, and they had no place to flee except the cities of refuge. And, while this is still part of the dividing up of the land, which I have mostly skipped, it is a very special part. These cities, in particular, point us to the gospel and the work of Jesus Christ.

If you want to hear more, you can listen to the sermon here or read the transcript here.

I pray that God will use it to magnify His glory in your heart and fortify you for the battles of this Christian life.

By His Grace,
Taylor

Fight the Good Fight of the Faith: Some Reflections on the Dividing of the Promised Land

As I mentioned in the last devotional post in this series, we are moving ahead at warp speed through the last half of the book of Joshua, but, fortunately, Joshua lends itself to that. By the end of ch. 12, the Israelites have essentially taken all the Promised Land. They have broken the backs of their enemies, destroyed the strongholds, and basically won the war, but there is still a lot of "cleanup work" to be done. So, God divides the land between the twelve tribes of Israel and commands them to go into their various regions and kill or drive out the remaining Canaanites. That is what chs. 13-22 are mostly about, so we are going to summarize and skip almost all of it, with the exception of ch. 20, on which this Sunday's sermon will be.

However, even though we are skipping most of the dividing up of the land, that does not mean there's nothing for us to learn from that section. There are probably many theological and spiritual truths we could glean from it--too many to put in one post--so let me just hit a few highlights from these chapters.

First, one of the things that comes out in these chapters is that God gives the Israelites more land than they can possibly settle, at least at this point, but that should not surprise us at all. Our God is an abundantly gracious God. Christ Himself is far more full of grace than we are of sin and folly. When we go to the fountain of God's grace, it is kind of like taking a drink from a river. We can drink all that we can possibly hold and not even begin to drain the river of grace.

Second, God distributes the land to the tribes Himself, which is an important act of grace on God's part. Think about what would have happened if God had just said to the Israelites, "Here's the land, now go divide it up among yourselves." Do you think they would have done that without fights, without disagreements? Not hardly. Nothing can cause a family to turn on one another faster than dividing up an inheritance--"I want this land," "We deserve more because we're a bigger family," etc.--and the Israelites were no different. God knows their sinful hearts. He knows that if He had just sent them into the land with no instructions on dividing it up, they would have turned on each other, and there would have been a huge civil war that might have destroyed them. So, in His grace and wisdom, God divides the land Himself and proportions it as He sees fit. Therefore, when they go to settle the land, their property lines are clearly marked by God Himself, and no one can argue with that.

Third, the Levites do not get a specific territory. They are the one tribe that does not get a plot of land solely to themselves. Instead, they get allotted 48 cities distributed throughout the entire Promised Land. Why is that? Well, the Levites are the tribe specifically tasked with the service of God in the Tabernacle, later the Temple, and for the whole people of God. So, God does not put His ministers in one region but spreads them out throughout the whole land. This shows us that God is very concerned for the pastoral care of His people. If the Levites had one territory, say surrounding Jerusalem, then the tribes in the North would have to travel very far simply to get a circumcision or a funeral done. Instead, God distributes His servants throughout the land, so that they are close to all Israelites for weddings, funerals, circumcisions, or any other spiritual guidance that the people need. God loves His people and wants them to be cared for spiritually, and we can see that even in how He divides up the land!

Fourth, the dividing up of the land revealed a tension in which the Israelites would have to live for a time: the Promised Land was theirs--they had won the war--but there was also still a lot of "cleanup work" to be done to purge the land of Canaanites. So, the war was over, but the losers were still there and those Canaanites weren't going to be done away with easily. This is a kind of spiritual picture of how we live in the Christian life. For us, Jesus has won the war: sin has been defeated, death has been defanged, and the devil has lost. The war is essentially over--Jesus has won. Yet, we live in a tension like the Israelites. Though sin, death, and the prince of despair have been beaten, the losers still fight. We still must die a physical death, though it no longer has the sting of hell for God's people. The devil can still tempt us, but he must flee at the name of Jesus. And, while we are no longer slaves to sin, there are still many, many "Canaanites" in our hearts that need to be purged. Even though the war has been won, this life is still a battle that we have to fight by faith in Jesus each and every day, just like the Israelites had won the war but still had many, many Canaanites to get rid of.

But, God has not left us to live in this tension and fight these battles alone. He has give us His Word, prayer, worship, His people, and, most of all, the Holy Spirit to give us the strength to fight. As Paul says in Ro. 8:11, "If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you." Because the Spirit dwells in us, the same power that raised Jesus from the dead is at work in us--resurrection-power working in us. So, while there is much work to be done--many more "Canaanites" in our hearts to be purged--we can know that "it is God who works in us, both to will and to work for his good pleasure."

Those are just a few spiritual highlights from this section of Joshua. I would encourage you to read through it yourself, even though it may seem boring and repetitive, and see what the Spirit shows you about Jesus and the battles we fight for the Christian life.

By His Grace,
Taylor

Fight the Good Fight of the Faith: The LORD is Victorious

As we continue our way through the book of Joshua, we come to ch. 10, and, as I mentioned in the previous post, after this passage, we will skip ahead at "warp speed," covering twelve chapters of material in two posts: last Friday's and next's.In this story, we learn something important about the Christian life: God is always victorious, but sometimes His plan of achieving victory is quite peculiar.

If you have read much about Church history, you have probably read about the great persecutions of the Church in the first few centuries AD. There are many, many stories of the brutality that Christians endured, but in my opinion, one, in particular, stands out. During the reign of Marcus Aurelius in Rome, persecution was not yet empire-wide, but it was quite heavy in certain areas. One of those areas was Gaul (the geographic region that would later become France). From that area, the church historian Eusebius recounts the story of a slave girl named Blandina, who suffered unthinkable tortures over the course of several days because she would not deny Christ. Eusebius reports:

Blandina was filled with such power, that those who tortured her one after the other in every way from morning till evening were wearied and tired, confessing that they had been baffled, for they had no other torture they could apply to her; and they were astonished that she remained in life, when her whole body was torn and opened up, and they gave their testimony that one only of the modes of torture employed was sufficient to have deprived her of life, not to speak of so many excruciating inflictions.

He goes on to describe how Blandina was next thrown to the beasts in the arena, along with a boy, whom she encouraged to remain faithful to his death. Finally, Eusebius says, “And, after the scourging, after the wild beasts, after the roasting seat, she was finally enclosed in a net, and thrown before a bull,” and that is how she died.

We might look at that and think, “Is that really worth it? What good does enduring that suffering bring? Wouldn’t Christ’s blood cover her if she gave in?” Absolutely, for Christ’s blood covers all our sins, but Blandina’s suffering was worth it, for Eusebius tells us that several of her tortures turned to Christ after they saw her unwavering hope in the gospel. And, who knows how many more thousands of pagans came to Christ because of how Christians, like Blandina, showed them hope in suffering. This is why Tertullian said, “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.” God used their hope in suffering to draw those who assaulted them to Himself. And, while that plan of God seems quite strange to us, His victory was complete. William Durant writes in his 11-volume work The Story of Civilization:

There is no greater drama in human record than the sight of a few Christians scorned or oppressed by a succession of emperors, bearing all trials by a fierce tenacity, multiplying quietly, building order while their enemies generated chaos, fighting the sword with the Word, brutality with hope, and at last defeating the strongest state that history has ever known. Caesar and Christ had met in the arena and Christ had won.

God’s plan may have been strange and His methods foolishness to the watching world, but they worked and His victory was complete: the Roman Empire died but the Christian Church continued to grow.

As remarkable as it is, that basic story is not unique in the history of God’s people. In fact, it is really quite common. We see it in our episode of Joshua for today, and, as we talk along the way, we will see it in our own lives. Again, this is why this book is so applicable to our lives today: It is a story of God’s redeemed people having to fight by faith in God who truly fights the battles for them, using God’s ways to possess rest in the Promised Land, which is exactly a mirror of our lives today, although spiritually; not physically.

If you want to hear more, you can listen to the sermon here or read the transcript here.

I pray that God will use it to magnify His glory in your heart and fortify you for the battles of this Christian life.

By His Grace,
Taylor

Fight the Good Fight of the Faith: Warp Speed Ahead!

We have been proceeding through Joshua at a pretty good pace so far already, but in order to finish the book in eleven sermons (which is how many I had over the summer), we need to speed up even more. We are about to do that at proverbial "warp speed" because in this Friday post and in the next, I am going to cover twelve chapters worth of material, with the noted exception of Jos. 20, which will be the text for the next sermon.

Fortunately, the book of Joshua lends itself to that pace in second half of the book because most of the content of chs. 11-22 is summaries of the final conquests and the dividing up of the land between the tribes. So, this week I am going to cover some historical issues from these chapters, and next week we will look at some theological highlights from that section.

You might not notice historical issues at first when you look just at the book of Joshua itself, but when we get to Judges, some have said that these two books present contradictory views of the conquest of the Promised Land. Voltaire was one of the first to make this claim and use it as a reason not to trust the Bible, and many have attempted to say the same thing since. Voltaire claimed that Joshua describes a period of "unstoppable progress" in taking the land--that the Canaanites were all wiped out and the cities were left empty for settlement. Then, he claimed that the book of Judges makes it appear that the conquest was a gradual process with many setbacks and ultimately incomplete. That, he claimed, is a contradiction. So, from a historical perspective of Scripture, how are we to take this challenge?

First, read more carefully: When you think you have a problem with Scripture, ask for God's help and read more carefully. In Jos. 13:1-6, the LORD tells Joshua, "There remains yet very much land to possess," and Joshua tells the people to go to their allotments and proceed with the gradual, cleanup work of driving out the remaining Canaanites. So, the book of Joshua does not teach that Israel took the entire land with "unstoppable progress." You see, what the first twelve chapters of Joshua describe for us is not a total defeat of the enemy but the cropping of the leadership, the destroying of the strongholds, and the breaking of the back of the enemy. One can think if it kind of like the difference between D-Day and V-Day in WWII. On D-Day outcome of the war was essentially decided, but there was still lots of work to do before V-Day finally arrived. For Israel, once those strongholds were taken and great powers defeated, the land was won for them, but the tribes still had the task of driving out the remaining Canaanites in their areas. (That is what was supposed to happen in the book of Judges, but Israel failed because of their sin.) Voltaire's challenge comes from making unfounded assumptions based on a cursory reading of the books.

Second, the books of Joshua and Judges use language that helps us to see this difference, though it is somewhat hidden in the English language, so let me try to expose it. In Joshua, the verb predominantly used for the defeat of the Canaanites and the taking of the land is lakad, which means "to take, to gain control," which is indicative of what Israel does in the book of Joshua: they delivered the devastating blow against the Canaanites and gained effective control of all the land. In the book of Judges, however, the word dominantly used for what they are commanded to do is yarash, which means "to possess (for yourself), to dispossess (from others), or to drive out." (In fact, this is the verb God uses in Jos. 13:1 where He tells Joshua there is much land "to possess," i.e. what the tribes are now to do in the book of Judges.) And, that is what the tribes are commanded to do in Joshua 13-22 and what they were to do in Judges: to occupy completely the defeated territory and either kill or drive out the Canaanites that still remained in the land they controlled. What has been taken (lakad-ed) may still need to be dispossessed of remaining Canaanites (yarash-ed). The alleged contradiction between these books fades when we expose the careful distinction the authors make between what Israel did under Joshua and what they were supposed to in their own allotments in the book of Judges.

So, again, these books are historically accurate and consistent, and chs. 11-22 give us the details of the taking of the control of the Land and the distributing of the Land to the tribes for the final driving out of the remaining Canaanites, which is what was supposed to happen in  the book of Judges. This is another example of how God's Word is entirely trustworthy in all its assertions, whether theological or historical or scientific.

By His Grace,
Taylor