Be Strong and Courageous

1. Joshua in the canon
The Bible as a whole has fantastically happy ending. But not every book of the Bible ends on a victorious note. We want the fairy tale ending, where the prince and princess live happily ever after. That will happen. However, when we reach the end of the book of Deuteronomy, we are faced with not with the hero living happily ever after, but we are faced with his death. Moses had led Israel out of Egypt, through the Red Sea, and had received the law of God for Israel. He saved Israel more than once through his prayers to God. And he had put up with their complaining for 40 years of wandering in the wilderness. Deuteronomy ends with his death. This is a problem. Israel is left outside of the promised land, with a brand new leader: Joshua.

The book of Joshua is a bridge between the first 5 books of the OT, which we call the Law, the Torah, the Pentateuch, or the books of Moses. In the Hebrew arrangement of the books of the OT, there is the Torah, the Prophets, and the writings. The former prophets are what we would call the historical books: Joshua, Judges, 1 &2 Samuel, and 1 & 2 Kings. Really, these historical books give a commentary on Israel’s history in light of the book of Deuteronomy. Basically: how did Israel live up to the covenant and commands God gave them through Moses.

2. Joshua is about God keeping his promises to Israel
Another way Joshua is a bridge, is that when we reach the end of Torah, there are many promises that God had given Israel that have not been fulfilled. All the way back in Genesis, God had promised Abraham that he would become a great nation and live in the land he wandered in. In Joshua, we see God keeping his promises to the nation by providing them the land. If there is one thing we can immediately take away from the book of Joshua, it is: God will keep his promises.

3. Joshua has 3 main sections
The book is broken into 3 main sections, focusing on the land that God had promised Israel. Chapters 1-12- Taking the land
Chapters 13-21- Dividing the land
Chapters 22-24- Covenants in the land

4. Joshua is narrative
As we saw this morning concerning the Gospel of Mark, Joshua is narrative. Many of us are used to studying the letters of the NT, especially the letters of the Apostle Paul, where we study small sections of text, and look for “therefores” and “so that’s” to find the meaning. When we study the narratives or stories of the OT, the main point is often found by looking a repeated points, contrasting stories, and the structure of an entire story. If that doesn’t make sense to you, don’t worry, the best way is to see it.

We’ll be going through Joshua at a rapid pace- a mere 8 weeks. But Joshua is best understood in large chunks.
I’m going to read the first chapter of Joshua for us. The outline is pretty simple. God gives Joshua a mission in verses 1-9, and then he passes that mission onto the people in the rest of the chapter. Look for some repeated words: Moses, land, strong and courageous.

What is the mission? It is for Israel to cross the Jordan River and take the land that God had promised them. In verse 4, we have the boundaries of the promise land. These boundaries were actually realized in the time of King David and King Solomon. This is a promise hundreds of years in the making.

I would like to give you 4 points about this all-important mission, than focus on some application for us.

1. The mission is endangered by the death of Moses
As I mentioned before, Deuteronomy ends with the death of Moses, and Israel camped outside the promised land. Would Israel be able to survive and receive God’s gift of the land? Look what God first says to Joshua: “Moses my servant is dead.” Thanks. I got that one. The text says before that- “after the death of Moses.” This is serious problem. Do not underestimate the importance of Moses for the nation of Israel.

Even though Moses is dead, he is still is mentioned a whole bunch: verses 3, 5, 7, 13, 14, 15, and 17. Joshua steps up to lead in the place of Moses, completely overshadowed by the mammoth influence of Moses. Would Joshua be able to lead this nation? Notice that Moses is called “the servant of the LORD.” This is a very special term used only for Moses up to this point. At the end of the book (24:29), Joshua is called “the servant of the Lord.” Yes, he did fill the shoes of Moses, but here in chapter 1, it looks like Joshua is a toddler trying on his daddy’s shoes. How in the world can Joshua survive?

2. The mission is empowered by God’s presence
The text doesn’t focus on Joshua’s leadership prowess, but on the power of God. Look at verse 5. Joshua will be basically invincible. Why? “Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you.” God repeats this promise in verse 9: “The Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” Joshua will be able to succeed in this God-given mission because God has promised his presence.

I know that we often pray that God would be “with us” or that God would “be with” someone we care about. But we often underestimate the biblical freight of this term. See, with God’s presence comes God’s blessing, provision, and power. We absolutely do not want to be without God’s presence. God promises that he will be with Joshua, the same way he was with Moses. He would not leave or forsake him.

When we look back at the life of Moses, this promise is given to Moses when God called him. Exodus 3: 11 But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?” 12 He said, “But I will be with you.” God didn’t say: “you’re able to handle it, Moses.” No, he said “I will be with you.” In other words, “you’re nothing, but I am powerful enough to get the job done through you.”

We fast forward in the book of Exodus to where Israel had made a royal mess of things by sinning against God. God said- “go up, and take the promised land, but I will not go with you.” In the midst of Moses interceding for the Israelites, he says: “If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here” (Exodus 33:15). Moses was rightly terrified to go forward without the presence of God. And we should be too. Without God’s presence we have nothing: no power, no provision, and no blessing.

However small and insignificant Joshua may have felt compared to Moses, if he had God with him, nothing could stop him. The threat to the mission of Moses’ death is removed by the promise of God’s presence.

3. The mission is accomplished by fear-defying obedience to God’s Word
Now God can tell Joshua to be strong and courageous. It would be pointless to command this without first promising his presence. God tells him to be strong and courageous 3 times, then the chapter ends with the Israelites telling him the same thing. Well, when you’re faced with an impossible task, you would need courage.

This courage is directed by God’s Word. We are to be courageous a certain way- according to God’s Word. Not just courageous obedience to God’s Word, but careful obedience- obeying all of it. This careful and courageous obedience is supported by the daily mediation on God’s Word. Joshua would not be able to courageously obey if he was not daily sustained by God’s Word to him.

When Joshua courageously obeyed the Lord, he would have success in the mission that God had given him. Notice the end of verse 7 and 8. God’s empowering presence would enable Joshua to courageously obey God’s commands, as he meditated on them. In his fear-defying obedience, he would have success in his mission to lead Israel across the Jordan and take the land that God had promised to them.

4. The mission brings unity to God’s people
Just as the death of Moses was a threat to the mission, there is another threat to the mission: the disunity of the nation of Israel. It might not be apparent at first, but verses 12-18 are addressing a potential division within the nation of Israel. There is an underlying tension in the book of Joshua between the tribes who settled on the east side of the Jordan, and the tribes that settled on the west side of the Jordan. We see that pop up here, in chapter 22, and also in the book of Judges.

The tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh were given their inheritance of land on the east side of the Jordan. The rest of the tribes were given their inheritance on the west side of the Jordan. See, the land that the 2 ½ tribes lived in was already conquered before the nation of Israel crossed the Jordan.
When Moses had given these tribes their land on the east side of the Jordan, he had strongly commanded them to make sure they help the rest of the tribes conquer their inheritance. We see that command repeated in verses 13-15.

There is a very real threat that these 2 ½ tribes would say: “enjoy the conquest, we’re going to sit here and enjoy our land.” This could have led to a civil war, and ripped the nation apart. But the tribes to the east of the Jordan, obeyed the command that Moses had given them and they submitted to the leadership of Joshua. Look at the strong words in verse 18.

They were on the God-given mission with the rest of the nation. When the nation submits itself to the commands of God and engages in the mission together, it brings unity to the nation.

Application
I want to spend a few minutes on how we do application from the OT. We believe that all Scripture is breathed out by God and useful for teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness, so that we may be equipped for every good work. Paul tells us that what was written in the OT was written for our example, and for our encouragement. It is a mistake to walk away from the OT stories without considering what God is revealing about himself and how we are to live for him. There are two common mistakes when making application from the OT to us as NT believers.

1. The OT is a history lesson
Some people treat the OT stories as a mere historical account that we must learn to grow in our understanding of the Bible. As we saw in Mark this morning, Joshua is historically accurate, but it is more than history. It is a historical account written to reveal God to us.

2. The OT was written to me
Some people take the OT texts and treat them if they were freshly written to them. Ignoring any sense of the historical context or God’s work with the nation of Israel, they make a direct line between the words of the text and their experiences in life. We have to realize that the OT was not to us. It was written to Israel. The OT was not written about us either, it was written about God. However, the OT was written for us.

Some examples of how not to apply Joshua 1.
-Joshua 1 is not about how to be a successful leader. When we start looking at God’s commands to Joshua as a leader, and his promise of success, we might be tempted to find in these verses keys to being a successful leader. Let me tell you, you can sell that stuff in bookstores.

-Joshua is not how to be successful in life. It would easy to say- well, if I just mediate on God’s Word and obey his commands, I will be successful in whatever I do, and my way will be prosperous. That kind of teaching will fill stadiums.

Both of these examples of misapplication try to apply Joshua 1 without considering the main point of the passage and without considering that this book was written to the nation of Israel, within the covenant that God had made with them.

Joshua 1 is not about leadership. It is not about how to have a successful life. It is not even about you. It is about God empowering weak, fearful people by his presence to accomplish his mission.

See, when understand the main point of an OT passage, we start to see a few roads that lead out of that passage, through the rest of the OT and into the NT. We could call them themes. They are called biblical-theological themes, for those of you who care to know. The biggest one, is the promise of a deliver, who finds it end in Christ. The theme of sacrifice is hugely important in the Bible, from the animal sacrifices of the OT to the sacrifice of Christ in the NT. In our chapter today, we have several important themes that we can trace through the Bible, so we can apply this passage to us. Can you see them? Do you see the routes that carry us into the NT? We talked about one already- the presence of God. We also have the mission that God gives to his people, and the unity of God’s people. Lastly, we have the centrality of God’s Word for God’s people.

If this passage is not about how to be a better leader, not about how to be successful in our lives, than what is it about? What can we take home and live this week?

1. Obedience to the mission links God’s empowering presence with our success
This is the problem when people want to use Joshua 1 about their own personal success in their lives or their jobs: God promises his people success when they are obeying his commands engaged in the mission he has provided for them. This promise of success is not a blanket statement to cover whatever you happen to be doing. The promise of success is success for the mission that God has given.

I’m sure some of you have heard this quote from the missionary Hudson Taylor: “God’s work, done God’s way, never lacks God’s supply.” If you take out the first two parts, you aren’t going to have God’s supply. Some people engage in work that is not blessed by God, and will not see God’s provision. Some people engage in God’s work in the wrong way and so will not see God’s provision. God commanded Joshua to do a certain mission in a certain way. Only when God’s mission was done in his way was Joshua successful. If you look ahead to chapter 7 of Joshua, you will see the disaster that comes when God’s work is done not in God’s way. We can fill these pews, we can run programs, but are we doing God’s work, God’s way?

2. God has given us a mission to accomplish
God has not given the church the mission of crossing the Jordan River, and taking out enemy armies. We have a different mission. And that is the Great Commission, to make disciples of all nations. Let’s look at the parallels between Israel’s mission and our mission.
“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

-Threat- Moses is gone. As Jesus gives the great commission to his disciples, he is departing from earth. But he has promised something better- the presence of the Holy Spirit.
-Presence- God promises his presence to his disciples as they engaged in his mission. I will be with you to the very end of the age.
-Obedience- teaching obedience to the commands of Christ is a part of the mission that Christ has given his church
-Unity- the mission that Christ has given to his church, keeps us pointed in the same direction. As at the firing range and in marriage, so in the church, if you are pointed the same direction, you won’t be firing at each other.

Joshua 1 points us forward to the mission that Christ has given us and for which he has promised his powerful presence. I hope we as a church want very much the presence of Christ to empower us. I hope we want very much to be successful. But neither of these are ours without being on the mission that God has given us to do.

There is a haunting quote that I wrote on an index card maybe 2 years ago. It sat in my office at my old church, and you will see it on my small bookcase if you walk into my study here.

“When the preferences of the church members are greater than their passion for the gospel, the church is dying.”

Is the Great Commission our great passion? I very much want the power and presence of Christ in my life and ministry. I want that for us as a church. But that is only found by engaging in the mission that Christ has given us.