Joshua: Courage, Tribal Lines, and a Place of Relief

I talked about maybe six months ago.

There's this climber, this rock climber, his name's Alex Honaud.

And so he's a free solo climber, which means he climbs without a rope and without anybody else.

So no assistance and by himself.

So in 2011, a picture went viral, and it was him standing on this ledge.

And so it's a ledge of Half Dome in Yosemite.

Half Dome and Yosemite is that famous granite structure.

It goes straight up, it's super smooth, and it's one of the most famous and well-known rock climbing destinations in the entire, entire world.

And there's this famous picture that went around in 2011, sort of put them on the map, and everybody became aware of him.

And he's standing on this ledge, which is between five inches to 12 inches.

It runs 35 feet long.

It's 1800 feet above the ground, and he's standing on it like this, looking out.

There's no rope, his feet barely fit on the ledge, and is an 1800-foot drop down.

Maybe you've seen the picture.

I think it ended up on Time Magazine or one of the big magazines.

It's called Thank God Ledge.

And when you see the picture, you think, well, I don't know if I'd be thanking God if I was on that ledge.

I mean, that's kind of my thought.

My thought is, you know, oh God, or something more creative, perhaps, could be said.

And we would say those things because of fear, is why we would say those.

Because of the unknown.

And if you're in a situation where you're standing on that ledge without a rope, you have a lot of unknowns, right?

Just a slight breeze.

Or a sneeze, right?

I mean, just anything could happen that could throw you off and lose your balance.

What we said last week about fear is we said, fear arrives as we live in an unknown.

Or we realize we're not as in control as we thought.

And that's when fear starts to pop up inside of us.

So a few weeks ago, I was re-watching Free Solo, which is the same climber's rock climbing movie when in 2017 he climbed another route up half dome and is the first one to ever do this.

Huge climb.

I mean, it's just, you know, maybe you've seen it, have you seen it?

Have you seen it?

I mean, oh, I mean, I I watched it for a second time and I was just anxious.

Just, I mean, I was having an anxiety attack in my living room by myself.

I already know he lives, right?

Like I already know he makes it, and I'm still, I'm anxious.

I can't, at times, I can't even watch it.

And I'd already seen it.

I'd already seen it.

I know he lives.

I still can't watch it.

Because it's just there's so much fear.

But for him, like he's he's just processing through that, he's motoring through and he's accomplishing it.

But for me, there's so much fear.

But what hit me watching it the second time, you watch him the second time, you start to pick up on different things.

And what hit me the second time was uh he has fear.

Well, he has physical fear of like the rock and stuff, and that's why he's like just meticulous in his preparation, right?

But he can process through that.

But what's really clear in the movie is he has relational fear.

He's afraid to be close with his girlfriend, right?

I mean, you pick up on that when you watch the film, you're like, golly, how the same guy he can climb that rock and yet he's scared to open up just a little bit to his girlfriend.

He has relational fear.

We all have fear.

That's sort of my point.

Even the most fearless person in the world has fear.

We all have fear.

And what we talked about last week, looking in this book of Joshua, which is about a guy getting courage to do something that has a lot of fear, is that we don't want fear to enslave us, but it's not by ignoring our fears, by facing it.

And the way in which we can face our fears to know we are God's beloved through Christ, and that God is always with us.

And that's the way in which that we can face our fears and we can go into our weakness rather than ignore it and move away from it.

So we are teaching our way through the book of Joshua, and so this is the story where the Israelites, they had been in Egypt and they were enslaved, and they come out of their slavery, and then what should take a few weeks to move to the desert to get into Canaan or the promised land, this is the same land that is theirs.

It should take a few weeks, but because of fear, because of apathy, they settle down and they live in the desert for 40 years.

And then in Joshua 1, we see God comes to Joshua and begins to speak to Joshua and says, Hey, I'm gonna have you lead the people over the Jordan River and into the land.

And so this is where we pick back up in Joshua 1, the second part of Joshua 1.

So you can listen here is Joshua 1, 10 and 11.

And Joshua commanded the officers of the people, pass through the midst of the camp and command the people, prepare your provisions, for within three days you're to pass over this Jordan to go in to take possession of the land that the Lord your God is giving you to possess.

So, point number one is this a little bit of a repeat from last week.

We take steps of courage, not only because God calls us, right?

That'd be one thing, but we take it because he's with us.

We take steps of courage, not only because God calls us, but because God is with us.

So this is why cultivating spiritual practices like prayer and scripture reading matter.

They don't matter because it earns God's presence with you, they matter because it helps you understand God is with you through Jesus.

It reminds you who you already are.

And we see this distinct change in Joshua from the beginning of the chapter to the end of the chapter.

The first nine verses, it's a kind of a guy bound by fear.

And God's encouraging him, encouraging him, encouraging him.

And by the end of the chapter, these last eight verses, there's this distinct change, this transformation in Joshua.

And it all becomes because of his trust.

He trusts what God had promised him.

Right?

It's not because he ignored his fears.

He was facing his fears, he was voicing his fears.

But it's because he's willing to go into his fear and trust that God says, I'm with you.

I'm with you.

And so he has this distinct plan, right?

We see him get strategic.

This is how we know that there was a change.

All of a sudden he becomes a force.

He's strategic.

He probably has about 40,000 men out of 600,000 people.

So it's not like a group of 200 people in the desert.

There's 600,000 people in the desert, about 40,000 men who are gonna go and cross the Jordan.

So he sends word for the plan.

The plan goes out.

And he didn't know everything, he doesn't know every detail, he doesn't know how it's all gonna work out.

But he still goes forward, he still moves forward.

Is it not guaranteed there's gonna be no pain or no loss?

Still moves forward because he's had an experience with God and he knows God is with him.

And so for me, it brought up a question in my heart.

Question for you.

What if you knew no matter what failure or feeling?

Okay?

What if you knew no matter what failure you've had in the past or what feeling you have because our range of emotions is all over the place, given on the day and what's going on?

What if you just knew God was always with you?

What if you just knew that in the core of your being?

There's nothing you could do to cause that to change.

What if you knew that God fully and forever accepted you in Jesus?

Not in your own work, but in Jesus, and Jesus' work for you?

What if that was true?

And what if you knew that you held immeasurable worth because he deems you worthy?

Like, what would change?

Imagine the amount of courage that could rise up out of that, out of God's acceptance and presence.

That's what we're talking about here in this Joshua 1.

This is real gospel application.

If you want some life application, this is life application.

What it means to be worthy and loved in this way, and that God is with you no matter what you do.

Verses 12 and 13, and to the Reubenites and the Gadites, I have no idea if I'm saying those right, in the half tribe of Manasseh, Joshua said, Remember the word that Moses, the servant of the Lord, commanded you, saying, The Lord your God is providing you a place of rest and will give you this land.

Then in verses 14 and 15, Joshua goes on and he tells these two and a half tribes, out of 12 tribes, he tells these two and a half tribes, he tells them, Hey, your wives and your kids and your livestock, they can stay east of the Jordan River, but you gotta send your fighters.

We need your men.

So he's reminding us of something that's happened in the past.

So Moses had promised these tribes they could stay and live east of the Jordan with their livestock.

But you gotta send your men.

We need your men to be a part of this nationwide fight and move into Canaan.

So we could easily pass all that by and us history and move on, but it's actually more interesting than that.

Point number two is this God calls us to live and love across tribal lines.

God calls us to live in love across tribal lines.

So verse 12 mentions these two and a half tribes.

And the nation of Israel is 12 tribes.

And these two and a half, they have their own agenda.

Because they have livestock, and the best grazing for them and the best life for them is east of the Jordan.

Now that would mean I don't need to go with the rest of the nation over the Jordan to fight, right?

So I don't need to send fighters, I don't need to sacrifice for that.

We're gonna hold back, we're gonna stay here, this these two and a half tribes.

This is our goal.

And Moses said, Hey, you can stay there.

Like we're not gonna force you to come over the Jordan if this is what's good for you into Canaan proper, you can stay there, but you need to send your fighters.

And then Joshua, when he comes along, he says, Hey, same deal.

That Moses promised that you can stay here, but you need to you need to fight for the nation as a whole.

Okay, so can you just imagine?

600,000 people made up of 12 tribes.

Can you imagine that there would be um different goals?

Right?

I mean, could you imagine a country uh of two political parties with different goals?

Of course.

Of course.

Can you imagine a family?

Can you imagine a family with two people in it, or five people in it, four people in it, with different goals?

Of course.

So Joshua knows, like, of course, these people have different interests.

Of course.

And yet he has to keep them under one unifying national goal safety and security in their land.

Which is more important than any of the sub-goals that any given tribe has.

Okay, so by means of some application out of all that history, which I kind of find interesting, that's why I geeked out on it, out of some application comes this question.

Are there any personal views or goals I hold to too highly that need to come under a call of God for me or the good of my family or my friends or my community?

Is there a view I hold?

Is there some goal I have for myself?

And I just hold it too highly compared to God's call for how He wants me to live in this world among neighbors and community, amongst people that don't look exactly like me or speak like me?

Is there a view I have or a goal I have for me personally that's not necessarily the good for my family or my friends or my community?

And I just a grace on us to ask that question.

Wouldn't that be great to know the answer to that question as a way for our hearts to be opened up to God and what he has for us?

Tomorrow our country honors the minister Dr.

Martin Luther King Jr.

He knew the world was full of fear.

People are full of fear.

And what did he do?

He called people to live encouraged, to view people beyond their skin color.

It's just a shell.

It's just a shell.

Here's what he wrote when he was sitting in prison one time.

He's sitting in prison, he wrote this.

All too many others have been more cautious than courageous, and have remained silent behind the security of stained glass windows.

So obviously, he's talking about Christian vote.

He's talking about Christian folk not caring about something that we should care about, and that is the worth and equality of all people no matter how they look.

The image of God born into us, right?

This is the cause that he served, and it's still needing to be served.

And here's why: because there'll never be a time in history where one group of people is not subjugating and demeaning another group of people because we are people who fear.

And yet, for us as Christians, we believe in the worth and the value of all people.

And so we are called to what are we called?

We're called love our neighbor.

We're called to spread the gospel to every tongue and tribe and nation, right?

I mean, this is the call of God for us.

And it's gonna take great courage because we're gonna have friends and we're gonna have family, we're gonna have people in our community that don't believe that way.

They're not gonna speak that way, they're not gonna think that way.

See, we can't lose sight of what Joshua's doing here in this story.

Twelve tribes, diversity.

And he's gotta group them up, and they all have self-interest, and he's gotta group them up.

This happens in families, happens in community, happens all over the place.

All right, last point.

Joshua 1, 18 says this.

Whoever rebels against your commandment and disobeys your words, whatever you command him shall be put to death.

Only be strong and courageous.

Alright, so verse 18, I mean, we read this, oh my gosh, you know, that's severe.

Now remember, they're running an army in an ancient time.

It's not our time.

And it's an army.

Okay, so we're gonna get to that in coming weeks.

How do we think about this Old Testament stuff with wars and armies and all of that?

We're gonna get to that.

But our point number three is this overarching point of this passage of the book of Joshua.

Our resting place is Jesus.

If we look back to verse 13, the Lord your God is providing you a place of rest.

That's what this land is about.

This is a meaningful thought to these people.

It's been 40 years with no rest, wandering around.

Temporary home.

I mean, maybe you've known that for physical existence because you've been homeless.

It's very possible.

Or maybe you've just known that in your own heart.

We know the feelings of being held captive.

We know the feelings of being feeling like you're stuck, of not being able to get out of bed.

We know the feelings of like I'll never be at rest.

I don't have peace.

We know what it feels like to feel like we don't have a home.

And this story is not ultimately about five steps to courage.

Let me give you five things right now, and you're gonna have five steps to courage.

It's not what it is.

That would be demoralize the story and take it out of the gospel narrative.

And that's not what this is.

This story's leading us to the gospel story of the need for Jesus.

God's provision of Jesus for us and grace for us.

Hebrews 3 and 4 in the New Testament, it opens up this whole story of the promised land and Canaan for us because it invites us into the imagery of the promised land for our hearts.

Entering Canaan was about entering rest.

That's what it was about for these people.

And for us, that's about entering Jesus, for us to be in Jesus, right?

That our sin and our failure and our brokenness and all that's put upon him and his righteousness given to us, so we're securely God's beloved, not by what we do, but because of who he is for us.

Listen to Hebrews 4, 8 and 10.

I mean, think back to what we've been talking about, Joshua, Old Testament, and then the Radhard in Hebrews in the New Testament.

For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on.

So then there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works, as God did from his.

So after I wrote this sermon, I was out walking my dog, I walked my dog a good bit, and I was out walking my dog, and it hit me.

Why is it called Thank God Ledge?

Remember the rock climber saying, Thank God Ledge.

Why is it called Thank God Ledge?

And I started to think about it.

I'm like, oh, I'm you know, I'm working on the closing of the sermon as I walk, and I think, oh, this is so good.

It's probably because you climb up 1800 feet and finally you're standing on that ledge and you look out and you see the view of this mountain, and you say, Thank God for this view.

And I'm thinking, oh, that'll preach.

That's so good.

I'm gonna tie that in.

So good.

So I got home and I Googled and I started reading.

It's not what it is.

I was like, oh no, you know, sermon's ruined.

Uh actually, what it is, even better.

The climber's been climbing 1800 feet, he gets up to this ledge, and most climbers don't stand there just hanging out like Alex and Ald.

Most climbers they stick their hands in the walls and they can rest.

It's called, thank God, ledge because it's a place of rest and relief.

But that's the image for us to behold here.

That's the image of Canaan in the promised land.

It's the image that you and Jesus have a place of rest and relief.

That's the place courage is born.

So, my brothers and sisters, as we in grace, as we in grace seek to live in courage and across tribal lines, may you grow in the awareness that your ultimate rest of your heart and your soul is in Jesus, in Jesus alone.

Let's pray together.

God, thank you for your grace to us.

Thank you that even while we lack courage, you are the courageous one.

While we lack strength, you are the one with strength.

Thank you that you are the one that promises for us, promises for us, that no matter where we've been and what we've done, we are welcomed and we are wanted.

And you love us and you're enough for us.

Help our hearts to just rest deeply in Jesus this morning and to find in greater ways our identity in you.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.