Joshua: The Battles Before Us

Well, this morning you'll notice I I am hobbling a bit.

I had hydrocortisone shots in the bottom of each foot.

So if I fall out, it's not the Holy Spirit, it's just hydrocortisone at the bottom of my feet.

Sam will pick me up, put me in a stool.

Um, but we we will make it.

So uh speaking of drugs, this week we got uh way into the pharmacist.

Is anybody watching the pharmacist on Netflix?

We we got into that.

It's a six-part like docuseries, and I won't ruin it because it's super good, and you should actually watch it.

Um and so there's this guy, Dan, he's a he's a dad, and he's a pharmacist, and his son is murdered.

That's part of the plot.

I didn't ruin anything here.

And here's here's Dan, he's a pharmacist in New Orleans, and uh his his son gets murdered, it's like 20 years ago, his son gets murdered, and uh his son had got caught up in drugs and uh got murdered in a bad part of New Orleans.

And the police, just at the time, the murder rate in New Orleans was was awful, that the police were overwhelmed, and they just weren't motivated, they didn't do much about it.

And so uh this dad, Dan, he uh he he gets motivated and he begins to solve this uh murder mystery of his own son himself.

And then you would think that that would be enough, right?

Like for a man's calling in his grief uh to do that, but then after that he goes back to work, he's a pharmacist, and he keeps filling all these oxycotton prescriptions that are coming into his pharmacy.

Remember, this is 20 years ago.

This isn't like the last couple years that we've seen uh with this issue.

This is 20 years ago, he begins to see this problem going on in his community.

And so then he starts to fight this because he sees this one particular doctor is prescribing all this oxycotton over and over again.

He sees the addictions, he sees the deaths, it's all coming back to this one lady.

And so he starts this fight and this crusade.

And what you see, and what's so endearing about the show the whole time is this man.

It's Dan the entire time.

And you're just endeared to him, you're endeared to his heart and his mind, you're endeared that he's like super smart and a little obsessive, you're a little worried about him, and he's detailed, and he's just crying, literally, I mean he's just in tears over and over again because he cares for people.

And what he would do, and you had all these tape recordings from 20 years ago where he would just, he just recorded in his grief, he had no other outlet.

And so he would just he would talk into a tape recorder, and he would talk to God in a tape recorder.

And so you have all these recordings.

Here's what I found online this week in an interview with him this week.

He said this to a news outlet.

He said, I could talk, but I couldn't communicate.

But I could go upstairs in my son's room and sit on his bed, and I could actually talk into my recorder, so I have commentary on how I felt.

And what you see is over and over and over again, you get these recordings like, God, I need your help.

God, I I don't I don't know how to get through what I'm going through.

God, I know where you want me to go.

I can see where I want to go and where I should go, but I don't know how to get there.

I can kind of see the path where there's all this stuff in the way.

And like for me, this week I'm studying Joshua, we're studying Joshua, this ancient story in the Old Testament, we're studying this book, right?

And you remember the storyline is these people of Israel, they were in Egypt in slavery, and God eventually delivers them out of that.

They didn't think they're gonna get out of that, and they got out of that, God delivered them out of that into the wilderness, should have taken a few weeks to get through this wandering state.

We know that kind of wandering, we know the enslavement period, we know what that feels like in our lives, we know what wandering feels like, and they're in the wilderness, not for three weeks, should have taken three weeks to get through that desert, but it takes them 40 years.

Because their disobedience and their apathy, finally, the next generation comes.

God speaks to Joshua and says, Hey, lead my people across the river.

Okay, here we go.

I've got to take back our land, and I've got a river to deal with, and God provides a way through the river.

They get to the other side.

Remember, we looked at this last week.

You're the other side.

Do you think finally, you know, all forward, we're gonna we're gonna claim or get our land back.

God says, no, like circumcise all the men.

We talked about that last week.

That was interesting.

All right, they're forced to rest, forced to stop.

And then this week it's like, okay, all you know, forge ahead, and then there's this city waiting for them, the city of Jericho.

And this is a story for me, watching this pharmacist this week, and then studying Joshua, I'm like, well, this is what this feels like, right?

Like it feels like you know where you need to go, that you see the path ahead so often in life.

And it just feels like fortified city after fortified city, feels like walls.

What an image for us, because we know these feelings, these feelings of being stuck, feelings of being overwhelmed, feelings of being depressed.

So here's our text.

I'll reread some that um Zach read and then a little bit more.

Joshua 5, 13 through 15.

When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing before him with his drawn sword in his hand, and Joshua went to him and said to him, Are you for us or for our adversaries?

And he said, No, but I am a commander of the army of the Lord, and now I have come.

And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped, and said to him, What does my Lord say to his servant?

And the commander of the Lord's army said to Joshua, Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy, and Joshua did so.

So here's a picture of what Jericho probably looked like back then.

So, like when we say walls, it was like a complex of walls.

It was like two walls and stuff in between.

I mean, I mean, imagine trying to overcome this.

So Joshua sees this.

He has to go through this city.

This city is nestled up against up against like these hills, these mountains, and his land, the land they're going to take back, their land is up in these mountains.

So he knows where he needs to go, but he has to deal with this city.

If he passes by the city, that all these soldiers will come out, trap him in the mountains, and attack him.

He tries to just outweigh them, right?

That would have been a popular way to handle the situation.

You just like surround the city, cut off the food, eventually you starve out the city, right?

But then other cities would have come and attacked them.

They didn't have the weapons to overcome the walls.

He's stuck.

He's stuck.

What is he gonna do?

He needs breakthrough, but he doesn't have the power.

So the story says that Joshua looks up and sees this figure, this commander, commander of the army of the Lord.

Some people think, well, it might have been an angel.

Some people say, no, it's the precarnate Christ.

It actually was Christ, some people say.

This figure, whatever this figure was, he sees this figure.

He says, Are you for us?

Are you for our enemies, right?

This is how we like to play the game, us them.

Like, are you on my side?

Are you on their side?

Like, are you with the Republicans?

Are you with the Democrats?

Are you with me or them, or he or she, or we or that side of the family, or this side of the family?

We always like to do that.

And God usually doesn't play that game.

And he says, No, no, no, no, neither take your shoes off.

Something more important than that us them stuff.

And what he's saying is, stop analyzing and trying to control me and where I'm at.

The way forward is to live in awe and vulnerability, to actually live in humility and weakness.

2 Corinthians 12, 9 says this.

This is Paul.

Paul was wrestling with a what he called a thorn in his flesh.

We don't know what it was.

Some sort of weakness, something he didn't like, maybe a sin, maybe some brokenness, maybe some hurt.

We're not quite sure.

Something he didn't like, something's bothering him.

He's saying, God, take it from me, God take it from me.

It's not going away.

Verse 9, but he said to me, God said, My grace is sufficient for you.

For my power is made perfect in weakness.

Paul says, Therefore I will boast all the more gladly in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

So it means only in our weakness are we met by the power of the presence of God and love of Christ.

I wish it were different.

Wouldn't it be nice?

All the kindest people I know are the ones who have been the most broken.

Right?

The guy at the table, at the dinner table, and he's just sharing great story after great story and victory after victory.

At the end of the meal, you're like, that guy's a jerk.

Right?

It's not the guy you actually want to be around.

It's in weakness that we actually know the presence of God.

The way to victory is not to pull up your bootstraps even more, right?

It says, take your shoes off, kneel down, bow down.

More openness, more confession, more repentance, more vulnerability.

That's maturity.

That's growth and grace.

So, by means of some application for our lives, here are a few questions for our hearts.

I was asking myself this week, reading through this text.

What am I unwilling to face or feel?

What am I unwilling to face or feel?

What armor?

What armor have I developed over time that is only weighing me down now?

So, what am I unwilling to face or feel?

What armor have I developed over time that is only weighing me down now?

What am I still holding on to, but am actually enslaved by?

Right?

Do you see how these would be the kinds of questions Joshua be wrestling with?

I gotta let go of something, I gotta see something.

What am I holding on to?

Am I actually enslaved by it?

What would it mean for God's strength and presence to become your starting point and your way forward?

What would that mean for you?

In light of facing weakness.

In light of that, there's a way forward, but the way forward is actually by bowing down and living in humility and in your weakness.

Joshua 6, 1 and 2.

Now Jericho was shut up inside and outside because of the people of Israel.

None went out and none came in.

And the Lord said to Joshua, see, I have given Jericho into your hand with its king and mighty men of valor.

Now I would have looked at it, I'm sure Joshua's a bit like, what?

Like, because what it looks like to me is a fortified city.

And point number one is this.

A few points to guide us.

Point number one is this our fight is to rest and remember the victory already won as to be people of calling and mission.

The order matters there.

Because this is what keeps being laid out in the story of Joshua.

God is giving them and declaring over to them victory before they have victory.

Our fight is to rest and remember the victory already won for us, and Jesus as to be people of calling and mission.

So this commander of the Lord, he goes on to give this plan to Joshua.

Here's how we're gonna handle this.

You're gonna arm some men, okay?

So you got some armed men.

And then you're gonna have some priests, and you give the priests some trumpets, okay?

You know, real intimidating trumpets.

And then you have the Ark of the Covenant after that.

Okay, so to these people, it's just gonna look like a chest.

But they understand this is the presence of God.

So you got some armed soldiers, you got some guys with trumpets, and you got like a chest, okay?

And these guys are gonna walk around, you're gonna walk around the city every day.

Now, what's interesting in that, we could read right over, is the trumpet.

That's the most interesting thing, at least.

We've talked about the ark previously, but for today, the trumpet's kind of interesting because this just showed up for us.

And these trumpets were used to declare the year of Jubilee.

And so what that means is anybody would have heard it then when those trumpets played.

What it meant to them was it meant the presence of God's kingdom bringing liberty to captives.

See, the victory's already won.

So they're playing a victory song, walking around a city that is fortified, and they have no way to overcome the city.

And the victory song is already being played.

And the reason why is that victory, victory is by receiving, it's not by merit.

It's not by earning.

That even in your weakness, even when the city is fortified, even when you don't know your way forward, that is when you still have victory.

Because you have the presence of God, that God is for you, He's with you.

So Joshua's men, they march around the seventh day, they march around seven times.

After that, they blow those trumpets.

Imagine the sound for the people.

That proclamation?

What a sound for them.

The walls fall down and they go into the city, they take the city.

So the point is this.

I mean, what a great image for this point.

We say it all the time here grace is the end of earning, it's not the end of effort.

It is absolutely the end of merit and earning.

But it empowers us to move forward in calling and mission.

God's grace and the Holy Spirit empowers us in personal transformation and what it means to fight our battles.

So the story goes on, and it's a massacre, right?

Like we sing the song in Sunday school, we're gonna teach the song over there, but we sort of leave out the part that like everybody's massacred.

Men and women and children.

We talked about it a couple weeks ago.

We talked about war and the wrath of God, and we talked about how I talked about how I have my problems with this, I have issues, I'm still wrestling with some of this stuff.

I mean, I have a problem.

These women and children are massacred.

You can listen to that sermon.

Good sermon.

I won't re-preach it, I'll save it for you.

But here's what we do know.

Point number two the judgment of God is staggeringly awful, which moves us to deeper astonishment and appreciation of Jesus' work in love.

We understand grace and love because we understand judgment.

We understand our imperfection and sin.

A God that is just toward it, but a God who decides to be gracious despite it.

And the image we have in this story is Rahab.

Mentions again in Joshua 6.

She was mentioned in Joshua 2.

Do you remember in Joshua 2?

She helps out the spies who come, they come ahead to check out the city, see what's going on.

So when this day comes, I'll know where to go in the city and how to handle the city.

And Rahab saves them when they're found out.

And they say, God says to her, hey, when I come into the city, if you do nothing, go into your house and do nothing, you'll be saved.

So here we have these two images.

We have this military stud, Joshua, who has quite a resume.

I mean, this guy's a leader of leaders.

And he has to take his shoes off and he has to bow down.

And then we have Rahab, and she's saved.

A prostitute, a harlot.

No resume.

And in her nothingness, she's saved.

And what we have is we have both of these people experiencing God's love and presence, salvation, acceptance in their nothingness.

What good news to us because sometimes we feel like Joshua and sometimes we feel like Rahab.

Sometimes we feel like we have the resume.

Sometimes we feel like we have nothing left.

I listened to this podcast called The Mocking Cast.

And this past week they highlighted an article that came from the New York Times written by Jennifer Wiener, and she wrote about the Super Bowl halftime show by Shakir and J Lo.

Did anybody watch it?

You want to admit that?

Confess that out loud here in church?

Want to admit it?

Nobody's going to.

I watched it.

I remember.

I remember all of it.

And what you'll remember, if you saw it, is I know you, I know you saw it.

And uh, what you'll remember is uh you'll remember some dancing, you'll remember some of that, and what you'll come away with is this one thought of she's 50?

JLo's 50, and her hips were doing that.

Like, how'd her hips do that and her bottom was doing stuff?

I mean, I don't, I'm not.

Her face, how that f her skin, right?

Here's what Jennifer Wiener writes.

She says, I thought that pregnancy would be a nine-month time out from competing in the looking good Olympics.

Alas, I had my daughters in the heyday of the hot mom, an era where billowy maternity garments gave way to bump hugging body con styles, where celebrities left the hospitals holding their newborns, wearing their skinny jeans, no respite there.

Forty was clearly too soon to surrender, given Halle Berry and Jennifer Aniston.

Still, I'd been picturing 50 as the year where I'd be done.

I'd quit dyeing my hair and donate my high heels.

I'd greet the occasional chin hair with a Buddhist master zen and treat my body like a place I could exist without apology instead of something achen to a seedy apartment complex.

A place I needed to constantly manage and improve with unruly bits to be waxed and plucked, painted and dyed, trussed and spandex and lifted with underwire.

She goes on and she goes on.

And what she's saying is 50 would be the year for her.

50 was her year.

A place where she could finally give herself grace rather than judgment.

And then she saw the Super Bowl.

And then she saw this meme, this picture like the next week, the picture of JLo at 50 and Blanche from the Golden Girls at 50.

So 1985, Blanche, who was a hottie, right?

The symbol of Hottie in 1985, that was 50.

And this is 50 today.

And you can't help but look at it and feel judged.

Because I'm supposed to look like that.

Or maybe for us, uh, Brad Pitt at 56.

Have you seen him lately?

I'm not that.

I mean, my feet don't even work.

I had to get shots in my feet, right?

I mean, how easily we're sent into judgment.

And I mean, we're talking about worldly judgment there.

And then there's judgment in religion.

There's judgment in families, there's judgment in relationships, there's judgment upon sin.

And it's all because there's standards.

And some of these standards are real and some of these standards are made up.

But it's all a life of either, a life of either under judgment or under grace.

And we as a people of God are no longer under judgment.

We're under grace.

The judgment is awful.

The judgment is real and it is staggeringly awful.

It's a massacre upon our imperfection and sinfulness, which gives us greater appreciation and astonishment of God's grace to us.

See, this story is a part of a bigger story.

We don't just moralize Joshua and say, oh, be strong and courageous.

Like, go, here are three tips to be strong and courageous.

How limiting.

More judgment upon you.

No, no, no.

This is be strong and courageous.

And Joshua's head is down in front of Jericho.

He's not strong and courageous.

And there could have been judgment upon him for that lack of faith.

And God is gracious.

In Joshua's weakness, he's present with him.

The trumpet sound, they're playing for us.

The music is playing.

Point number three.

We need the invading, conquering grace of God in our hearts.

So the images for us to behold this morning, yes, it's Joshua in his bowing, Rahab and her nothingness, and the trumpets are the point.

The victory's already been sounded before you even get to work.

Before you're righteous, you're declared righteous.

Your sin is put upon the cross, and Jesus' righteousness is given to you.

You're forever beloved before you do a single thing, no matter what you've done or whatever you do, we have victory.

And in your weakness, He is with you.

My brothers and sisters, may you bring your weakness to him who is faithful to be with you always and forever.

Let's pray together.

God, thank you for your grace and mercy to us that while you have judgment, you choose to be gracious.

All the judgment that you would ever have toward any of our mistakes, any judgment of opinion, any judgment of disappointment, any judgment of justice has all been settled in your grace on the cross in Jesus the Christ.

What beautiful images for us to behold this morning that we get to live lives of receiving the kingdom of God.

That we are your children by your work and your love, your pursuit of us, that we have victory long before we win little battles in our lives.

Help us to rest and remember more.

That Jesus is enough.

In his great and powerful and mighty name we pray.

Amen.