JOSHUA (WEEK 3/9:...GOD S POWER)

JOSHUA (WEEK 3/9:...GOD S POWER) SMALL GROUP DISCUSSION QUESTIONS CONNECT (from last week): Make a list of promises that God has made and write down how you recognise these as fulfilled, being fulfilled, and ultimately will be fulfilled in your own life? WARM-UP Questions 1. What most strikes you about God s power? READ Joshua 3:1-6 2. What were the key preparations that people had to make in order to cross the river? What is meant by consecrate yourselves? Why was this so critical? 3. Are we ever in danger of being too busy for God? How might this busyness be preventing us from seeing how God is at work (and accordingly being thankful!)? 4. Could better prepare for weekly worship in anticipation of meeting with God? What would that involve? 5. Why was the ark of the covenant so central to the process? What did the ark symbolise? 6. What is significant about following the ark out? Why was this so important? READ Joshua 3:7-17 7. Why would God choose to have Israel cross the river in flood stage? 8. What are the clues in the text that make it clear that this was all of God s action? 9. Why was it important for the people to cross so far behind the ark? What could they witness from a distance that they couldn t if they were closer? 10. Are we ever in danger of having too small of a view of God? What is the best antidote to this? READ Joshua 4 11. Why is there so much emphasis on how they are to remember this event? Why was it so important for Israel to remember this moment? 12. What do you think are the biggest threats to your faith? Do you think forgetfulness is also a risk? 13. What are the regular rhythms in your life that help you to remember all that God has done? What helps you to regularly share that with people (especially think of children and grandchildren if relevant)? 14. How does the crossing of the Jordan help you to trust more in the power and promises of God? APPLY (to this week): What habits/rhythms can you grow and develop in your life to better remember all that God has done for us? PRAY: Thank you God that you chose to use your power to save us! Please help us to remember all that you have done, in order that we might trust in you more. In Jesus Name, Amen. For sermons and additional resources, visit STBARTS.COM.AU

JOSHUA (WEEK 3/9:...GOD S POWER) GOING DEEPER RESOURCES & SUGGESTIONS Each week we provide additional resources that help to go deeper with whatever series we re currently focusing on as a church. Resources could include recommended books, articles, online sermons, courses, or videos. These are optional extras! Please don t feel under pressure to look at every resource, but consider what could be useful to. Video VIDEO: This overview by the Bible Project is an excellent summary of the major themes in the book of Joshua: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqoqjlff_eu CHILDREN S VIDEO: Crossing the Jordan River a video for kids: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wzea2y9x7g VIDEO: The Jordan River in High Flow https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38-8wtnksdi Talks & Other Audio AUDIO: Crossing over a sermon about crossing the Jordan by Rupert Higgins http://www.allsouls.org/media/allmedia.aspx AUDIO: The Power of God a sermon by Paul Clarke http://www.st-helens.org.uk/resources/media-library/src/talk/51938/title/the-power-of-god AUDIO: That they may know a sermon by Mark Chew http://www.holytrinitydoncaster.org.au/resources/sermons/?sermon_id=2256 Articles and Other Reading BOOK: Joshua, Judges and Ruth for Everyone by Professor John Goldingay. Available at Koorong (by order), or: https://www.bookdepository.com/joshu-judges-and-ruth-for-everyone-john- Goldingay/9780281061280?ref=grid-view&qid=1492859279769&sr=1-1 EXCERPT: An excerpt from the above book is available at: http://stbarts.com.au/2017/04/22/violence-in-the-book-of-joshua/ ARTICLE: Crossing the Jordan by J. Hampton Keathley: https://bible.org/seriespage/3-crossing-jordan-joshua-31-424 POSTER: A poster overview of the book of Joshua: https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/tbpwp/wp-content/uploads/woocommerce_uploads/2016/05/08-joshua-fnl.jpg BOOK: Joshua: No Falling Words by Dale Ralph Davis. Available at: https://www.bookdepository.com/joshu-dale-ralph-davis/9781845501372?ref=gridview&qid=1492859381115&sr=1-1 For sermons and additional resources, visit STBARTS.COM.AU

Talk 3/9 (Following Jesus): 07/05/17 God s Power by the Rev d Adam Lowe Bible Passage: Joshua 3 & 4 INTRODUCTION \\ THE TIME IS NOW! Today we come to the third week in our series on the Book of Joshua, all about the faithfulness of God, and how because God is faithful, we can trust in his promises. And today we reach a momentous point in the story as they cross the River Jordan, setting their feet on the promised land: this is the moment they ve been waiting for. We ve seen that unfolding with the leadership transition from Moses to Joshua; We ve seen that unfolding with Rahab helping the spies and setting the stage. Chapter 2 finished with the resolution of a united Israel recognising, that the Lord has surely given the whole land into our hands. And now, chapter 3 begins with the dawning of that momentous day. Early in the morning Joshua and all the Israelites set out from Shittim and went to the Jordan, where they camped before crossing over. (3:1) The whole of the history of the people of God, The whole of their salvation story so far, is now zeroing in on this one key event!!2

The anticipation would have been palpable! The multi-generational longing as a people was about to be fulfilled! They ve been waiting 400 years, since the promise to Abraham, for a land of rest. // Can you imagine waiting 400 years for something? having come out of Egypt, having been promised a land, having been led by Moses, now is the time when God s promise will be fulfilled. And the key point, as they prepare to cross that river, and everything it stands for, is that: only God can get his people to the land of rest. That becomes overwhelmingly evident, as we look at chapters 3 and 4 and see that, as they cross the river, the Lord leads people to three actions, all of which cause them to orientate themselves to God. So three key actions. They are to: PREPARE to leave to and to follow (3:1-6); WITNESS God s power at work (3:7-17); and REMEMBER and TELL of what God has done (4:ff).!3 #1 PREPARE \\ TO LEAVE AND TO FOLLOW (JOSHUA 3:1-6) So first, they are to PREPARE to leave and to follow. After three days the officers went throughout the camp, giving orders to the people: When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, and the Levitical priests carrying it, you are to move out from your positions and follow it. Then you will know which way to go, since you have never been this way before. But keep a distance of about two thousand cubits between you and the ark; do not go near it. Joshua told the people, Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you. (vv.2-5) Whenever you go away, there s usually some preparations to be made. The Lowe s are a bit of a task list sort of family, so I would absolutely expect that before you take two million people into a new place, that there are some preparations to be made; there are some things to be done. But what s unexpected, is that the preparations that are instructed of the people, might not be what typically comes to mind. In fact, when it comes to preparing both to leave and to follow it s a bit surprising.!4

When it comes to preparing to leave, the command in focus is that they are to consecrate themselves. Why? For tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you. The language of consecration, alludes to a very special type of preparation. This is not packing your bags and brushing your teeth, but a far deeper form of readying oneself in anticipation of God revealing himself. That s what happened at Mt Sinai with the revealing of the Law, in anticipation of that great event, the people had to consecrate themselves. That form of preparation could involve all sorts of things, but the point always, of these type of ceremonies was to emphasise the importance of approaching God with a pure heart, with a heart orientated the right way. That s even further emphasised in verse 9 when Joshua reads from God s Words. Here are the people, excited in anticipation of finally having a land, possibly nervous in the battles that are yet to face, probably stressed with all of the practical things they have to do, but the most important point of preparation required of them, is spiritual.!5 Why? Because unless they are truly ready in this way, they are going to fail to see the significance of what God is about to do, and then possibly put their trust in all the wrong places. Remember the key point here: only God can get his people to the land of rest, thus the most important thing they can do is start by focusing on the Lord. I wonder sometimes, living in such a fast-paced age, if we re in danger of being so caught up in tasks, perhaps even doing many things for God, yet we miss something of the wonder and delight of spending time with God. That can happen sometimes with worship. We talk about the significance of worship, that we are the gathered people of God in the presence of God, yet really fail to take any time out to prepare ourselves for worship, and then wonder why we can t really sense God at work in our inner lives.!6

If it s only God who can get his people to the land of rest, they must not only orientate their hearts to him, but they must also be willing to follow him wherever and however he goes. And so, the people are to follow the ark of the covenant as it is carried across the river. At one level that sounds very practical - they ve never been this way before - but the ark is not acting here as some sort of ancient navigation system! The ark of the covenant, the most sacred treasure of Israel, containing: is the greatest and most tangible of symbols of God s presence and power. The ark is mentioned over-and-over again in these chapters, seventeen times, it s there at every turn of the story! Why? Because it s there to remind them that if this promise is going to be fulfilled, all they need to do, what they myst do, is follow God, who is with them. But he s not only with him, but he s able, he's powerful.!7 #2 WITNESS \\ GOD S POWER AT WORK (JOSHUA 3:7-17) That s the second point. They are to PREPARE to lead and to follow, second, they are to witness God s power at work. Note the instruction half way through verse 4 that they are to keep a distance, of about two thousand cubits, almost one kilometre, between them and the ark. Joshua tells the priests to make sure they go ahead of the people in verse 6, it s reiterated again in verse 11, the account of that taking place is told in verse 14. It s really important that the ark goes ahead of them!!! Now at one level, that could be because there was always a strange tension, of being in God s presence but not being able to approach God too closely, but that doesn t seem to be the case, or that s not what the text is emphasising here. Actually, whilst most modern translations put the command to not go near it after the command to follow it, in the original language - in Hebrew - actually there is a sense of it saying: don t go near it IN ORDER that you know where to go.!8

There s an implied sense that the reason to follow the ark, from a distance, is in order to have the best possible vantage point to witness all that God was about to do! Imagine for a moment, with an enormous throng of people, lined up in the distance following the ark. The Jordan is at full power. At regular times of year, it was perhaps 100 feet wide, and 3-10 feet deep; but the text reminds us that this was actually at flood time, so the river was perhaps some 600 feed wide and 150 feet in depth! The river is at it s widest, deepest, and strongest. Everyone is watching, wondering what is going to happen. The Priests up front must have been thinking, I hope this works, will this work, perhaps even, this seems like madness, we can t possibly do this on our own! Yet as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water s edge, the water from upstream stopped flowing. It piled up in a heap a great distance away (v.15b) We re to be left in no doubt that this was all of God s doing.!9 In verse 16, the waters upstream rise up and stand in a heap. This is the same language used in the great Exodus parting of the Red Sea. It literally means something akin to the water standing aside at God s will! They people would have been astonished! When did God lead Israel through the Jordan? As one commentator puts it, Precisely at the time when it looked like it was impossible. For a people for whom water represented chaos, God was bringing order, For a people who had been taken through the sea before, God is doing it again, For a people faced with an unimaginable journey, God will bring it to completion. 24 He did this so that all the peoples of the earth might know that the hand of the Lord is powerful and so that you might always fear the Lord your God. (4:24) God could have brought them through in a million different ways, but he did it this way, in order that they and the whole earth, would know his power, and come to trust in him. That it might be impressed upon them: if God can do this, then he can do anything. If God can hold these waters back, then he most certainly can save us.!10

Maybe you re thinking, well, isn t that God just showing off?, why is it so important that everyone see his power?. Because God wants them to see that it s only him who can save them, but that requires them to put their trust in him. I think one of the real modern dangers for Christians, is that we can really fail to let the power of God take a grip on our lives. We all-too-readily can have a puny view of God. But God is not just a three letter word, or a personification of a philosophy to which we subscribe, or a teacher who just gives food for thought, this is the Lord of all the earth. In bringing them through the river in this way, they can be left with no doubt of what they have witnessed, had nothing to do with their adequacy, but everything to do with the adequacy of their God.!11 #3 REMEMBER \\ AND TELL WHAT GOD HAS DONE (Joshua 4) And so, having prepared to lead and to follow, having witnessed God s power at work, they are to remember and tell of what God has done. Despite this being the most phenomenal miracle, the instructions of the memorial occupy more words then the crossing of the river! Twelve men, each taking one stone, to be setup as a sign among them. But not just them, as an instructional aid to their children, and to their children s children, that they might keep on telling all that God has done. In the future, when your children ask you, What do these stones mean? tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever. (Joshua 4:6b-7) This wasn t a magic act merely impress people, this to be a lasting memorial of God s grace and power, of when he intervened in history, to save his people and fulfil his promises.!12

The place where the stones were set, was to become an important place of worship. You can imagine the parents, or grandparents, gathered with the children, and the children asking, What are these stones, and the parents excitingly retelling the account of what God did on that day. Yet we can also read in Judges, only 50 years later, when Joshua dies, we read that the generation who followed grew up, who knew neither the LORD, nor what he had done for Israel (cf. Judges 2:8-11) God knew what we can be like. We can think that all sorts of things are enemies of our faith, yet perhaps the greatest enemy of all, is forgetfulness. It was for the people of Israel, it can be for us too. Personally, I always love the multi-day journey through Easter. As I spend time letting the reality of all that God has done, As I spend time letting the reality of Jesus death and resurrection grip me more, I can t help be led back into deeper relationship with God. Yet I forget.!13 Recently, I looked at some prayers that I had written down sometime ago, only to realise that they had all been answered - one way or another - but I had failed to recognise how God had been at work, not because of some super-spiritual lack of insight, but simply because I had forgotten. God called them to remember what he had done, and even gave them the means to do it, because it s part of the human condition that we all too easily forget. To remember what God has done, to remember who God is, helps us to put our trust in him. // What are the rhythms in your life, how are your days and weeks punctuated with opportunities, that lead you to remember all that God has done?!14

CONCLUSION \\ PASSOVER (cf. JOSHUA 5) In the perfect timing of God, after they crossed the river, it isn t long before they celebrate the Passover. That great festival, when they recall that night when they took a lamb, and put it s blood on the door frame, that the Lord might pass over them, and then they would be rescued out of Egypt. And each and every year since, they celebrated that meal, to remember. But what God had begun, has now been brought to a completion. Centuries later, another Joshua, a greater Joshua, Jesus, would celebrate the Passover, and as he shared the bread and wine, he said do this in remembrance of me. Do this in remembrance of his blood that was shed, for you and for me. Do this in remembrance that because Jesus died and rose, you are set free. Do this in remembrance that because of Jesus, sin and death have been conquered. Do this in remembrance that because God did did not even hold his own son back, that we truly can trust in his power to bring us through. In the Lord Jesus, we too have witnessed God s power at work, in order that we would put our ultimate trust in him.!15