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GEHAZI’S CHOICE

GEHAZI’S CHOICE

2 Kings 5:20-27 NET.

20 Gehazi, the prophet Elisha’s servant, thought, “Look, my master did not accept what this Syrian Naaman offered him. As certainly as the LORD lives, I will run after him and accept something from him.” 21 So Gehazi ran after Naaman. When Naaman saw someone running after him, he got down from his chariot to meet him and asked, “Is everything all right?” 22 He answered, “Everything is fine. My master sent me with this message, ‘Look, two servants of the prophets just arrived from the Ephraimite hill country. Please give them a talent of silver and two suits of clothes.” 23 Naaman said, “Please accept two talents of silver. He insisted and tied up two talents of silver in two bags, along with two suits of clothes. He gave them to two of his servants, and they carried them for Gehazi. 24 When he arrived at the hill, he took them from the servants and put them in the house. Then he sent the men on their way. 25 When he came and stood before his master, Elisha asked him, “Where have you been, Gehazi?” He answered, “Your servant hasn’t been anywhere.” 26 Elisha replied, “I was there in spirit when a man turned and got down from his chariot to meet you. This is not the proper time to accept silver or to accept clothes, olive groves, vineyards, sheep, cattle, and male and female servants. 27 Therefore, Naaman’s skin disease will afflict you and your descendants forever!” When Gehazi went out from his presence, his skin was as white as snow.

One of my favorite movies is Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, where Indiana teams up with his father to track down the legendary holy grail. However, when they arrive at the spot where this treasure lies, their enemy, Walter Donovan, holds them at gunpoint and seeks the grail for himself. The ancient knight who has guarded the grail for centuries warns Donovan to choose wisely, but Donovan lunges for the shiniest gold chalice he can find. Confident that he has discovered the glorious treasure, he quickly fills it with water and drinks. For a moment, nothing seems to change. Then Donovan begins to age rapidly and violently, dying before everyone. That is when the ancient knight states without emotion, “He chose poorly.”

Last week, Penny preached about another man who made a poor choice. She spoke from 1 Kings 12 about Solomon’s son, Rehoboam. He was king over all Israel until he made one bad decision, resulting in most of his kingdom abandoning him. Life occasionally offers us choices. There is a song where the singer must decide whether to go right or left at Oak Street. It’s a simple choice, but the consequences will change everything. This theme of decision-making keeps appearing as we read about the kings of Israel and Judah. It isn’t just the kings who face choices; prophets, priests, and ordinary people do too.

On Wednesday, we read about Elijah on Mt. Carmel. The problem for the people in Elijah’s day was that they had a decision to make, but couldn’t come to a conclusion. Their decision involved which God they would serve. Yahveh, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, rescued them, and they should have been serving Him. However, a new god had emerged. The Canaanites worshiped Baal, and the people wanted to follow the crowd. They didn’t want to be different. So, even though they had a history with Yahveh, they were tempted to serve Baal. Many new prophets had appeared—prophets of Baal—urging the people to make a change.

The problem was that the nation could not make a choice, so for a long time, the people remained divided. Elijah asked them, “How long are you going to be paralyzed by indecision? If the LORD is the true God, then follow him, but if Baal is, follow him!” But the people did not say a word.

Elijah summoned King Ahab to gather all of Israel on Mt. Carmel, where he constructed two altars. One altar was built for Yahveh, and the other for Baal. They waited to see which God would send down fire to consume the bull on the altar. At one altar stood Elijah, while at the other stood 450 prophets of Baal. From a numerical perspective, the odds favored the prophets of Baal. But Elijah understood that God is sovereign; He will never be outnumbered. Following Him is always the right choice.

You know the story: The prophets of Baal yelled, jumped around, prayed, and cut themselves with daggers and swords until they were a bloody mess. But Baal did not show up. All afternoon, they waited. When it was Elijah’s turn, he ordered the altar of Yahveh to be doused with water three times. At the time of the evening offering, Elijah prayed, “O Yahveh God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, prove today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. Answer me, Yahveh, answer me, so these people will know that you, Yahveh, are the true God and that you are winning back their allegiance.” Then fire from Yahveh fell from the sky. It consumed the offering, the wood, the stones, and the dirt, and licked up the water in the trench. When all the people saw this, they threw themselves down with their faces to the ground and said, “Yahveh is the true God! Yahveh is the true God!”

Today’s passage is from 2 Kings, chapter 5. At that time, Elijah’s successor, Elisha, was the prophet of Yahveh. The story of this chapter revolves around three men who had to make a choice. I want to talk about those three men, the choices they made, and the consequences of their choices.

  • Who was Naaman?

In 2 Kings 5:1, Naaman is identified as the commander of the King of Syria’s army. As most of you know, I was in the military. One of the things we learned in basic training is the ranking system to identify those in command. Officers in the army fall into three categories. The lowest category is company-grade officers, which include Second Lieutenants, First Lieutenants, and Captains. The next higher category is field-grade officers, which consist of Majors, Lieutenant Colonels, and Colonels. The highest category is general officers, which are Brigadier Generals (one star), Major Generals (two stars), Lieutenant Generals (three stars), and four-star Generals. Naaman would have held the highest rank, equivalent to a four-star general. The Bible says he “was esteemed and respected by his master, for through him the LORD had given Syria military victories.

But Naaman faced a challenge. He suffered from a skin disease, and it was more than just a minor annoyance. In those times, people believed that skin ailments indicated that a person was cursed. Naaman likely exhausted all the resources at his disposal to free himself from that affliction. Yet, the disease persisted.

The Syrians were oppressing the Israelites in many ways during those days. One thing they would do was launch raiding parties that would invade Israelite territory and capture people to make them their slaves. Naaman’s wife had an Israelite slave—a young girl. One day, Naaman’s wife was speaking to her slave about her husband’s disease. The young slave girl said, “If only my master were in the presence of the prophet who is in Samaria! Then he would cure him of his skin disease.”

Naaman, the king’s general, not only traveled to Israel but was also given a letter from the king that provided him protection and made his visit an official state occasion. He also went to the King of Israel with that letter and a considerable amount of loot. However, the King of Israel thought it was a trap, believing that Naaman was provoking him. But Elisha heard about this and told the king to send Naaman his way.

  • Who was Elisha?

Elisha was a great prophet who had been anointed by the prophet Elijah and had asked for double the spirit of that great prophet. The Lord answered that prayer. The Bible records seven great miracles performed by Elijah and fourteen great miracles performed by Elisha. Naaman came with horses and chariots and stood at the door of Elisha’s house. Elisha sent out a messenger who told him, “Go and wash seven times in the Jordan; your skin will be restored and you will be healed.” Naaman went away angry, saying, “Look, I thought for sure he would come out, stand there, invoke the name of the LORD his God, wave his hand over the area, and cure the skin disease. The rivers of Damascus, the Abana and Pharpar, are better than any of the waters of Israel! Could I not wash in them and be healed?” So he turned around and went away angry. His servants approached and said to him, “O master, if the prophet had told you to do some difficult task, you would have been willing to do it. It seems you should be happy that he said, “Wash and you will be healed.” So, he went down and dipped in the Jordan seven times, as the prophet had instructed. His skin became as smooth as a young child’s, and he was healed.

Naaman had a choice. He could have healing from the Lord, but it had to be on the Lord’s terms. Naaman chose wisely.

Not only was Elisha empowered by the Lord, but he also possessed the Lord’s wisdom. When Naaman approached Elisha, ready to express his gratitude with a gift (similar to the one he had given the king), Elisha declined. He refused to accept anything. Had he received the gift, Naaman would have perceived it as payment for the blessing, leaving no room for grace. Furthermore, according to the customs of that time, accepting the gift would have obligated Elisha to Naaman in the future.

Elisha allowed Naaman to bring back some dirt from Israel. Naaman believed that if he sacrificed his offerings over that dirt, it would be counted as a sacrifice to Yahveh. Elisha may not have thought that such a compromise would actually work. His only reply to Naaman was “Go in Peace.”

Elisha had a choice. He could represent the God of grace or pretend to be the power behind his ministry himself. Elisha chose wisely.

  • Who was Gehazi?

The title of today’s message comes from what happened next. After Naaman left, Elisha’s servant Gehazi thought that his master was wrong to refuse a gift from Naaman. He caught up with Naaman and lied to him, suggesting that Elisha really could use a gift. Naaman happily gave Gehazi twice what he asked for. But when Gehazi got back to his master, Elisha revealed that he knew what he had done.

Gehazi had a choice. He could either represent the God of grace or seek to satisfy his greed. Gehazi chose poorly. The consequence of that poor choice was that the skin disease that had afflicted Naaman now plagued Gehazi and his family forever. He had aimed to gain from Naaman, and he did gain. He gained Naaman’s pain and shame. Now, the name Gehazi is synonymous with greed. We don’t know about anything else that Gehazi did. His one choice irreparably altered his life.

The truth implied in today’s text is summarized in one of God’s titles. He is Yahveh Yireh, which you may have heard pronounced Jehovah Jireh. It means that the Lord is the provider. Gehazi—a servant of Elisha—had likely witnessed many miracles. However, he trusted Naaman’s money to get what he desired. His actions were driven by more than greed; he failed to trust God. This is where this story connects with us. We trust in God’s grace for our eternal salvation. Will we trust Him with the daily decisions we make? The same God who saved us wants us to follow Him. He desires for us to depend on Him.

At some point in the future, you and I will face a choice. The way of the Lord will lie before us, but we will also encounter a shortcut. We will have to choose between staying on the path God has given us or taking the shortcut to achieve what we desire. Our Savior encountered the same choice. The devil offered him all the kingdoms of the world without requiring him to die on the cross. Jesus rejected that shortcut, and that rejection was a victory over Satan and his lies. Therefore, when we confront temptation, we should remember Christ and Gehazi, trust God, and continue following his way.

LISTENING TO THE HOLY SPIRIT

LISTENING TO THE HOLY SPIRIT

1 Samuel 25:32-38 NET.

32 Then David said to Abigail, “Praised be the LORD, the God of Israel, who has sent you this day to meet me! 33 Praised be your good judgment! May you yourself be rewarded for having prevented me this day from shedding blood and taking matters into my own hands! 34 Otherwise, as surely as the LORD, the God of Israel, lives — he who has prevented me from harming you — if you had not come so quickly to meet me, by morning’s light not even one male belonging to Nabal would have remained alive!” 35 Then David took from her hand what she had brought to him. He said to her, “Go back to your home in peace. Be assured that I have listened to you and responded favorably.” 36 When Abigail went back to Nabal, he was holding a banquet in his house like that of the king. Nabal was having a good time and was very intoxicated. She told him absolutely nothing until morning’s light. 37 In the morning, when Nabal was sober, his wife told him about these matters. He had a stroke and was paralyzed. 38 After about ten days the LORD struck Nabal down and he died.

We have committed to reading through the Bible, two chapters a day. Our calendars have brought us to today’s text, in which David responds to Abigail’s appeal to him not to attack and destroy her husband and his men, even though he had acted foolishly and provoked David. Abigail listened to the Holy Spirit and saved her husband and David from making a rash decision. I’m going to approach today’s text by first looking at the background that helps explain what is going on. Then, I’m going to explore Abigail’s character by asking what made her such a wise person. Finally, I’m going to walk us all through the process of applying today’s lesson to our own lives by outlining how we should follow Abigail’s example of listening to the Holy Spirit when we face trouble.

The background to the story

In last week’s sermon, we learned that Samuel was an older man who promised to instruct the people in living God’s way. However, they wanted a king, and Samuel was allowed by God to give them one. The king’s name was Saul. Despite starting well, Saul proved to be a disappointment, both to Samuel and to God. So, God promised that he would tear the kingdom away from Saul, just like Saul accidentally tore Samuel’s robe.

In today’s chapter, Saul is still king, but Samuel had already anointed David and was biding his time before God’s promise would be fulfilled. At the beginning of this chapter, we learned that Samuel had died, and all Israel assembled and mourned for him. Having just experienced the death and funeral for Pope Francis, we have some idea what that would have been like. After this period of mourning, David went with his men to the open country. It was there that he started planning for the coming holiday. He had remembered that his men had protected the property of a wealthy man named Nabal while they were in Carmel.

David sent ten of his men to request that Nabal provide what they needed to celebrate the coming feast. This was not an unreasonable request since David’s men had protected his property in the past. Also, Nabal had thousands of animals, so meeting the request would not have harmed him. But Nabal was in a mood. He absolutely refused the request and spoke harshly about David. When David’s men returned and told him what Nabal had said, David was incensed. David decided to visit Nabal himself – fully armed – with four hundred of his men (to-thirds of his army)!

In the meantime, one of Abigail’s slaves had witnessed Nabal’s bad behavior and rushed to tell Abigail. The slave knew that Nabal had done something both foolish and dangerous. The slave did not appeal to Nabal’s sense of propriety. Apparently, Nabal did not have any common sense, and the slave knew it. Instead, the slave went to the one person in the household who could make a difference: her mistress, Abigail.

When Abigail heard about her husband’s insult, she assumed David would respond in anger. She quickly gathered 200 loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five sheep, five seahs of grain, 100 clusters of raisins, and 200 fig cakes and loaded them onto donkeys. She determined to intervene to keep Nabal’s foolishness from destroying him. She took the gift and met David’s army on the road. She bowed to David and apologized, accepting all the responsibility and seeking to make reparation for the insult. What we read in today’s text is the result of that act of wisdom.

That day, Abigail saved two men who were acting on their emotions. Her actions demonstrated wisdom, and David rightly commended her for rescuing both her husband and David himself.

What made Abigail a wise person

Abigail showed that humility is wise. She was beautiful and intelligent, but she approached David with humility and wisdom, acknowledging his authority and the fact that he could rightly bring harm on her husband and his men. She used her intelligence not for pride but to discern the situation and act appropriately. Abigail’s story demonstrates that wisdom and humility are not weaknesses but powerful virtues that can be used to overcome adversity, bring peace, and ultimately glorify God.

Abigail gave the soft answer that the Bible says turns away wrath. All too often, we have been led to believe that the only way to fight fire is with fire. But ask a firefighter. A firefighter will tell you that the proper way to fight a fire is with water. It puts out the fire. Abigail teaches us that in a volatile situation, you don’t need to strap on your swords. Sometimes, what you need is to bring a present.

Abigail showed that peacemaking is wise. The first act of peacemaking was not to run to Nabal and explain to him how foolish he had been. Instead, she snuck out without going to Nabal because he had made a mess that had to be cleaned up. Later, there would be time to approach Nabal, not while he was still in a drunken rage.

Her gift to David and his men effectively diffused a potentially deadly situation by offering a peace offering and acknowledging her husband’s wrongdoings. Her words and actions prevented a bloody confrontation and spared her family and servants.

Later, Abigail showed constraint when she returned and found Nabal drunk. She waited until he was sober to reveal what she had done to save him and his men. Sometimes peacemaking means knowing when to wait for the right time to act.

Abigail showed that Intercession is wise. Some think that Abigail’s story prefigures Jesus’s sacrifice, as she placed herself between David and Nabal, just as Jesus placed himself between God and humanity.  Abigail showed wisdom by taking the blame for her husband’s actions and making reparation even though she knew he was wrong.

Even if Abigail’s story were not intended to teach about the coming Messiah, we can see him in her actions. He was a man of peace in a time of violence and anger. He taught his followers to be peacemakers. He came to die in our place to keep us all from receiving the punishment that we deserve.  

Abigail showed that following God’s will is wise. She could have told her slave to go away and mind her own business. She could have said that her husband was a fool and he deserved whatever would happen to him. But Abigail was wise enough to realize that what was happening was her prompt to get involved. God’s will would not work itself out without her involvement.

We need to realize that as well. God has a plan to make a difference in our community, our homes, and our church. But his plan requires that we get off our easy chairs and make things happen. The message came to Abigail, not somebody else. If Abigail had decided to pass the buck, the story would have ended badly for everyone.

Abigail’s actions are a powerful reminder of the importance of choosing righteousness and aligning oneself with God’s will, even when it’s difficult. She decided to align herself with David, the future king, and did not let her husband’s actions dictate her behavior.

How we can act as wise people.

We can take our debts seriously. Abigail realized that her family owed David for his protection. When she found out that her husband had offended David by not helping out his men, she took it on herself to pay that debt. Paying our debts is a spiritual matter. The Apostle Paul told the believers to owe nobody anything except the continuing debt of love. Wise people determine to live with integrity. That means never skipping one’s obligations.

We should never hide behind anyone else. Abigail could have left everything to her husband, but that was not the wise approach in this situation. Wise men know they sometimes make mistakes, and are grateful for wives who will not let those mistakes go uncorrected. We should be correctors of problems. Passing the buck and leaving the problems for others to fix is not wise.

We should think and act beyond ourselves. When she did what she did, Abigail undoubtedly acted outside the expectations of others. That does not make her a rebel; it makes her a hero. As a wise person, she looked outside the box when staying inside the box would have ended in disaster. She demonstrated insight when she was moved to action. She could not remain passive. She did not say, “It’s not my place.”

Abigail was the precursor to Queen Esther. Both women recognized that they were placed into their circumstances by God because God had a mission for them. If either of these women had not taken the initiative, innocent people would have died. Neither of them was a person of violence. But if they had not acted, violence would have been the result.

We don’t know whether Abigail was a mother, but she probably was. It would have made sense for her to intercede to try to prevent the deaths of some of her sons. Today happens to be Mother’s Day here in this country. Some of the most outstanding leaders the world has ever known owe their greatness to the wisdom they acquired by following their mothers. Those mothers might have had a reputation for being passive and unassuming. But watch out when their children are in trouble. As a hiker, I learned the most dangerous thing you can encounter on the trail is a mother bear with her cubs.

It will not be every day that you and I are called on to do such extraordinary things. When the time is right, we will know it. Then, it will be up to us to listen to the Holy Spirit and make the wise decision, like Abigail did. It will be a decision that we must make because God wants to use us to accomplish his will. When the people most capable of making peace choose to do nothing, that will be our prompt to do what must be done to make peace.

JOSHUA THE MISSIONARY       

JOSHUA THE MISSIONARY       

Joshua 1:1-9 NET.

1 After Moses the LORD’s servant died, the LORD said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ assistant: 2 “Moses my servant is dead. Get ready! Cross the Jordan River! Lead these people into the land which I am ready to hand over to them. 3 I am handing over to you every place you set foot, as I promised Moses. 4 Your territory will extend from the wilderness in the south to Lebanon in the north. It will extend all the way to the great River Euphrates in the east (including all of Syria) and all the way to the Mediterranean Sea in the west. 5 No one will be able to resist you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not abandon you or leave you alone. 6   Be strong and brave! You must lead these people in the conquest of this land that I solemnly promised their ancestors I would hand over to them. 7 Make sure you are very strong and brave! Carefully obey all the law my servant Moses charged you to keep! Do not swerve from it to the right or to the left, so that you may be successful in all you do. 8  This law scroll must not leave your lips! You must memorize it day and night so you can carefully obey all that is written in it. Then you will prosper and be successful. 9 I repeat, be strong and brave! Don’t be afraid and don’t panic, for I, the LORD your God, am with you in all you do.”

We are still bunny-hopping our way through the Bible, stopping every Sunday at the place where we are in our reading—two chapters a day. This week, we finished Deuteronomy and began Joshua on Friday. Because I am planning two special messages for Palm Sunday and Easter, this will be our only message based on the book of Joshua. I am focusing on these introductory words from Joshua 1 as the text for my message.

It is essential at the outset that I establish the relevance of the study of Joshua. Some Christians find it difficult to study Old Testament books like Joshua because they fail to see what these ancient narratives have to do with them in their modern setting. We might remember some of the stories in Joshua from Sunday School lessons or past sermons, or cartoons. But aside from these little dips into the pool, we tend to shy away from Joshua because we might be tempted to think of it as a relatively shallow book. The truth is that Joshua is just as deep as the other biblical books we are studying. It had a purpose in the canon of Scripture, and that purpose is still as crucial today as it was when its words were first written.

But what is the purpose of the book of Joshua? Why are its words relevant for 21st-century Christians? The Bible teaches that every Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for us. But how can we profit from these old words and ancient stories?

The key to answering that question might be to come at the question from the other end first. Before asking what the old stories have to do with us, maybe we should take a closer look at what we are doing to see if there are some points of contact. There are lots of things we do today that are different than what God’s people were doing in the time of Joshua. What are some things that are the same?

One thing that is the same is that we are serving the same God that Joshua did. Marcion was wrong when he suggested that the God of the Old Testament was an evil, wrathful God and that a loving, compassionate God had replaced him. Remember, God does not change. He is immutable. Times change, circumstances change, but the God we believe in does not change.

When they asked Jesus what the greatest commandment was, he indicated that loving God wholeheartedly is #1. The second greatest commandment is to love our neighbors as ourselves. Those two life priorities were valid and relevant in Joshua’s time, and they are still valid and applicable to us today.

So, what has changed? The simple answer is that the mission God has called us to is different than the mission God was calling Joshua to. Jesus calls us all to a mission of cross-cultural evangelism. He commanded us to disciple all the nations. God called Joshua to a different mission. We are going to examine that mission this morning. However, the thing that we need to keep in mind is that even though our mission is different from Joshua’s, there will be points of contact. Some of the things that Joshua learned about his mission are helpful for us to keep in mind as we seek to fulfill our mission.

Joshua’s Mission

Instead of outlining every task Joshua was to do, the Lord described Joshua’s mission by summarizing the first three steps of that mission. We find that summary in verse 2. The Lord said that Joshua was to “Get ready! Cross the Jordan River! Lead these people into the land which I am ready to hand over to them.” The first phase was to get ready. This involved Joshua getting himself ready. You cannot get your team prepared if you are not ready yourself.

The principle of personal preparation applies to us in our mission as well. We should not expect to step into the task of global evangelization without preparation. Jesus prepared his apostles for the task over several years of training. Then he challenged them to feed the sheep – to get the other disciples trained so that they could continue the mission by being disciplers.

Joshua was encouraged to be ready emotionally and physically for the task of leadership. He was commanded to be strong and brave. He was told to resist the temptation to be afraid and panic when things got rough. He had to build up the strength he needed because the mission he was called to would not be an easy one. He was expected to display the confidence that comes from knowing that God was with him.

The second phase of Joshua’s to-do list in today’s text is to cross over the Jordan river. He could not do that himself. The command to him (as leader) was a command to the whole people of Israel. It was going to be a miracle that only God could accomplish, but the people needed to be prepared for it. The leaders needed to prepare the people. That is part of the job for anyone called into ministry. Our task is not simply to maintain the status quo, but it also requires us to prepare the church for the next thing God is going to do among us.

The third phase for Joshua was to lead the people into the Promised Land. He was not to merely point in the direction and drive the people into it. He was to be a frontline leader. It is one thing to be an armchair general. It is another thing to strap on the sword and tell the soldiers to follow you into battle. As I said, these three commands do not encompass all of Joshua’s mission. God did not reveal everything to Joshua. We should not expect him to do that for us either. If we knew all the details, most of us would go hide in the woods. Our Lord is wise to only show us the next few steps in our path of following him.

Joshua’s Master

Notice how many times the word “I” shows up in today’s text. These words are God’s words. He is challenging Joshua to lead his people to where he wants them, but the emphasis is not entirely on Joshua. Joshua is challenged to be strong and brave, but notice what God says he will do:

  • God says he is ready to hand over the land to them. He promises to give them all the land that they set foot on.
  • God promises to be with Joshua the same way he was with his predecessor, Moses.
  • God reminds Joshua that he solemnly promised his ancestors to hand the land over to their descendants. Now was the time to fulfill that promise.
  • God promises to be with Joshua in all that he does.

There are two truths that every Christian should remember every day. These two things seem like diametrical opposites, but they are both true. The first truth is that we are slaves of God. He is our owner and our master. That may seem to be a depressing reality, but it is actually quite freeing.

The second truth is that our Master is Almighty God. He controls the universe. Nothing happens that he does not allow. We pray to him because only he can make the impossible possible. We can face any challenge—not because we are able, but because our Master is always able.

Joshua’s Manual

Note also how God stresses to Moses his absolute reliance upon the holy Scriptures. God tells him to obey all the laws his servant Moses carefully charged him to keep! He said that Joshua should not swerve from it to the right or to the left so that he may be successful in all he does. He said that the law scroll must not leave Joshua’s lips! He had to memorize it day and night so he could carefully obey all that is written in it. Then, he would prosper and be successful. God was sending Joshua on a mission, and the word of God was to be his mission manual. He did not have the whole Bible, but every word he had was the Holy Bible.

What Joshua the missionary had for his missionary work would help him accomplish that work. The same is true for you and me today. We read and study the Bible not to entertain us – not even to inform us. Our goal is not to learn the Bible as if it were an encyclopedia of religious trivia. It is our mission manual. It empowers us to do what God has called us to do.

As we read Joshua this month, let’s remember that its words do not describe a king or a military general. Joshua’s work was missionary work. May its words help us to be strong, brave, and faithful in the missionary work God has called us to do.

Holy Communion

1 John 2:14 NET.

“I have written to you, children, that you have known the Father. I have written to you, fathers, that you have known him who has been from the beginning. I have written to you, young people, that you are strong, and the word of God resides in you, and you have conquered the evil one.”

As we consider the death of our Lord this morning, let us remember that what Jesus did for us on the cross is enough, no matter where we are in life’s journey.

If you are new to the faith – a mere child of God – you might wonder if you are going to survive the challenges of life and come out on the other end with a genuine faith. God’s word to you is that you have known the Father. That is all you need because your confidence is in Him, not yourself.

The same promise applies to the old-timers in the faith—the Fathers and Mothers who have fought most of their battles—their mission is almost accomplished. But their confidence is not in their own accomplishments. It is in the fact that they have come to know the Father because of the finished work of Christ on the cross.

And what about the young men and women? Those who are going to be first into the battle, claiming territory for God and his kingdom?  The manual tells them that they are strong, that the word of God resides in them, and that they have conquered the evil one. Their battle is fresh, and they are in the front of it, but from God’s perspective, they have already won. They are challenged to let the word of Christ dwell in them richly because it is the manual that will take them from the present battle to the future glory.

Lord, we thank you for your finished work of redemption. We pray for your power to take us to the finish of our mission for you. We ask that you make us strong and brave warriors and faithful slaves of our Almighty Master. Amen.

CLEAN BREAK

CLEAN BREAK

Numbers 33:50-56

50 The LORD spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan, across from Jericho. He said: 51 “Speak to the Israelites and tell them, ‘When you have crossed the Jordan into the land of Canaan, 52 you must drive out all the inhabitants of the land before you. Destroy all their carved images, all their molten images, and demolish their high places. 53 You must dispossess the inhabitants of the land and live in it, for I have given you the land to possess it. 54 You must divide the land by lot for an inheritance among your families. To a larger group you must give a larger inheritance, and to a smaller group you must give a smaller inheritance. Everyone’s inheritance must be in the place where his lot falls. You must inherit according to your ancestral tribes. 55 But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land before you, then those whom you allow to remain will be irritants in your eyes and thorns in your side, and will cause you trouble in the land where you will be living. 56 And what I intended to do to them I will do to you.”

The children of Israel are at the plains of Moab. They have a big job ahead of them. The Lord has brought them to this place. He knows where they have been and where they are going. Moses will not be going with them when they cross the Jordan, but the Lord does have one other job for Moses before he dies. I would say that Moses is going to give his people a pep-talk, but that does not sound serious enough to explain what Moses will say in today’s text. It is more like a mission statement. In these few verses, Moses outlines the mission for the nation of Israel when they cross over into the Promised Land.

The people themselves have changed since they left their slavery in Egypt. One whole generation has passed. They are not the slaves that they were when they cried out for God to deliver them. This body of people has grown up in transit. They don’t know Egypt. They have only stories passed down to them about how life was back under Pharaoh. But they don’t have any history as warriors either. They have a task before them, but they don’t know exactly what to do or how to do it.

As we read these pages from the Old Testament, we learn something about our God. We learn that if God wants us to do something, he will make sure we know exactly what we are to do and what we need to watch out for.

Some people are sure that these Old Testament stories are here to prepare us for eternity, but I don’t think that is the case. Think about it. Will we be fighting the Canaanites when Jesus returns and sets up his eternal kingdom? No, we will not. The conquest of the Promised Land is written in the Bible for our benefit. But it is not to teach us how to do battle in the future. The time for our spiritual warfare is not when Jesus comes again; it is going on now.

The New Testament teaches us that our warfare is not with flesh and blood but with the supernatural forces of evil in the unseen realm. God has provided supernatural armor to protect us against these enemies. By faith in God’s word and prayer, we are able to withstand their attacks. The purpose for this spiritual warfare is very much like that of the conquest of Canaan. God wants us to take over territory currently held by the enemies of Christ and his coming kingdom.

God has a plan for us to take dominion of that territory – not just at the coming of Christ but now. We begin by submitting to God and his will now. We continue by encouraging others to submit to his will and the commands of our King, Jesus. The devil will try to keep us from doing that, but we must resist him. He will try to set up strongholds in our families and communities where he reigns. We are commanded to demolish those strongholds. God’s kingdom and Satan’s kingdom must not be allowed to exist in the same territory. God’s will is our complete victory over Satan – not just later but now. The devil is looking for someone to devour but it is our responsibility to keep him from having his lunch in our territory.

Today, we will examine Moses’ mission statement for the people of God as they advance into the Promised Land. We will find three specific commands and one warning. The people would never be able to complain that they were unaware of what God wanted them to do, as Moses would spell it out for them. He will also warn them against being lazy, as laziness in the mission would mean disaster for them in the land.

The command to drive out the land’s inhabitants (52a).

The first command is not necessarily to commit genocide. They are to drive out all the inhabitants of the land. The only people they must kill are those who resist their possession of the land. That reinforces some things we already know about why God sent the Israelites to this land. God is the judge of all. All the land belongs to him. If he should decide that a certain people no longer deserve to live in this land, he is under no obligation to tolerate their presence there.

Some look at stories like this and reject the Bible because they think it depicts God as cruel and unforgiving. They feel that a holy God should be able to love everyone and that a holy people should be able to exist alongside everyone. But that idea is not consistent with what we know about God from either Testament. The Old Testament commands the Israelites to drive out God’s enemies from the land, and the New Testament tells us that when Jesus returns, he is going to destroy all his enemies.

A world in which everyone lives together regardless of the state of their hearts is impractical. It is absurd. When our ancestors rebelled in Eden, God did not accommodate their rebellion. He chased them out of his paradise. When the people of the ancient world became utterly sinful, God chose to destroy them, saving only one family by his grace. Noah’s flood was necessary because God could not tolerate sin. He had to destroy the sinners. When Sodom and Gomorrah became so wicked that God could not accept their continued existence, he sent the destroying angels. That is what God does to sin.

When God decides to move his presence into a place, all those who resist his will have a choice. They must move out of that land or be destroyed. That is what was taking place in Canaan. The Canaanites would have learned about God’s people, rescued by his power from slavery in Egypt, and headed their way. Their choice was simple: leave their land or face the consequences of rebelling against God’s will.

Now, some object to what God is saying on the basis that it was unfair to the current inhabitants of Canaan. But that is not true. God had already allowed many non-Israelites to become part of the community. They had merely to agree to live by the laws and regulations of the Mosaic covenant. These foreign guests were travelling along with the Israelites on the way to the Promised Land. They had a choice. If they were going to live in God’s land, they had to follow God’s rules. But the Canaanites would not agree to this. God knew that the various nations would not be able to coexist in the same land.

If we examine what is happening in the land of Israel today, we can see another example of this principle. There is constant conflict and violence, and suffering in that land today because the citizens of modern-day Israel are finding it impossible to be a unique people and also coexist with the Palestinians. The more they try to make peace, the more they are being forced to surrender their uniqueness as a Jewish state. We should not be surprised at this.

The command to destroy the land’s idols (52b).

It was not enough for the Israelites to drive out all the Canaanites from the land. They also had to cleanse the land of all its idolatry. God had already told them not to make any idols. Now, he tells them to destroy the idols that the Canaanites had already made and set up. He is particular about what the Israelites are going to discover when they get into that land.

In my travels as a missionary, I encountered many different idols in the lands where I served. There were crude idols and elaborate idols, sacred images and sacred places. There were idols people wore and idols people set up to venerate. Families owned some of the idols; others were owned by the community as a whole. Idols permeated the lands.

The Israelites were told that they would find carved images (made of wood and stone), molten images (made of metal), and high places (set apart for worship of the false gods). When they found carved images, they were to destroy them. When they found molten images, they were to melt them down and destroy them. When they found high places, they had to demolish them. They could not destroy the places, but they could reconstruct the landscape so that those places were no longer recognized as being dedicated to false gods.

The command to divide the land for an inheritance (54).

The final command involved reimagining the surface of the land. They would enter into land already claimed by cities and ethnic groups and remake its geopolitical characteristics. They would take over the cities, but these cities would now be allocated to the twelve tribes of Israel. Each tribe would be given an inheritance, and each family and clan would be given land within the territory assigned to it once that land was conquered.

Again, here, we see why it would not have been possible for the existing nations to coexist in the land with the Israelites. They claimed to own that land. But God owns the land, and he is establishing which Israelite tribe is to take possession of the territory. The tribes have dedicated themselves to the worship of one God. There could not be pockets of idol worshippers spread throughout the land devoted to Yahveh alone.

The warning if the commands are not obeyed (55-56).

The final part of today’s text is essential. It explains what would happen if the Israelites entered the land but refused to follow Moses’s prescribed mission. Those left in the land would become irritants in their eyes and thorns in their side. They would be constant sources of trouble. It would not be possible for the Israelites to live as God intended while all these others lived around them. The non-Israelites would tempt them to ignore their mission.

However, verse 56 tells us that if the Israelites chose to tolerate the outsiders, it would not be simply an irritant for them. God would judge them with the same judgment that he intended for the pagans. The holy land will not tolerate a mixed population.

If I have read today’s text correctly, it suggests that if you and I want to be obedient to God’s call, we cannot tolerate a mixed community either. We must seek to win the lost all around us. God can only bless a land where his people walk in obedience. Those of us who are saved by grace are now commissioned to share that salvation everywhere we live. If we refuse to do that, the unbelievers all around us will cause trouble for us.

But if we leave the mission undone, it will become even worse than that. God cannot bless a mixed land. He doesn’t want our children growing up in a mixed land. He does not want our towns and villages peppered with idols and temples to false gods.

The only thing that has changed in the New Testament under the covenant of grace is that the enemy is not political, ethnic, or national. The enemy is Satan and his demons in the unseen realm. We are not called on to defeat people in battle. We are called on to drive out those devoted to other gods by winning them to Christ. Jesus does not tell us to eradicate all nations but to make disciples of all nations. But success at the mission is still essential. We need to make a clean break with the old slavery and dedicate ourselves to building the new holy land. There is no third option.

LORD of our warfare, enable us to gain territory for the coming kingdom. Please help us to stop tolerating the evil all around us and overcome that evil with good. Forgive us for being such complacent creatures. Build in us a disgust for all that is unholy and a craving for all that is sacred. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

BLOODY TUNIC

BLOODY TUNIC

Genesis 37:31-35 NET.

31 So they took Joseph’s tunic, killed a young goat, and dipped the tunic in the blood. 32 Then they brought the special tunic to their father and said, “We found this. Determine now whether it is your son’s tunic or not.” 33 He recognized it and exclaimed, “It is my son’s tunic! A wild animal has eaten him! Joseph has surely been torn to pieces!” 34 Then Jacob tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and mourned for his son many days. 35 All his sons and daughters stood by him to console him, but he refused to be consoled. “No,” he said, “I will go to the grave mourning my son.” So Joseph’s father wept for him.

Penny and I had the opportunity to drive up to Virginia this past week. We got to walk in the snow and visit some people we hadn’t seen in a while. But the excuse we used for traveling was that it was Tuesday, the birthday of one of our grandchildren. Tuesday morning came, and I witnessed a wonderful sight. I had woken up and was doing my devotions at the kitchen table. Suddenly, the quietness was broken by two very small children running downstairs together. They were playing together and just enjoying each other’s company. The older sister started singing to the birthday girl. It was the happy birthday song – the same song we sing each Sunday morning when we are celebrating with one of our members. At the end of the song, the older sister tacked on, “Happy birthday, Jesus bless you.” and my heart melted.

One of the joys of being a parent is when you have the chance to see and hear your children or grandchildren enjoying each other’s company. That was a joy that Jacob had lost. He was a profoundly unhappy man, and the things that happened, as recorded in today’s text, added even more sorrow to him. I’m not going to go over all the events of the story because I’m sure you all have read today’s chapters. Instead, I am going to focus my message on one object that is introduced in the story. The bloody tunic that Jacob’s sons showed their father.

the tunic was a symbol of love

It did not start out as evidence in a crime scene. It started as a precious gift given by a proud father to his favorite son. Jacob loved Joseph because he was the firstborn of Rachel – who was always his favorite. This chapter says that “Israel loved Joseph more than all his sons because he was a son born to him late in life, and he made a special tunic for him. When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated Joseph and were not able to speak to him kindly” (vv. 3-4).

So, you see that the Patriarchs continue to produce broken, dysfunctional families. What made matters worse was that Joseph had some interesting dreams—dreams that indicated that, at some point, all his family would bow down to him. That just made the ten brothers greener and more angry at him. Meanwhile, his father just “kept in mind” what he had said. Like Mary, the mother of Jesus, Jacob pondered these things in his heart. He loved Joseph so much that he would not dare rebuke him.

The tunic was a special gift. It signified a special standing among Jacob’s children. It was like an inheritance given beforehand. It symbolized a special relationship and set Joseph apart as a special blessing who would be blessed. It was how Jacob expressed his love for his favorite son.

the tunic was a symbol of envy

I mentioned that the older brothers were envious of young Joseph. Because that special garment set him apart from them, some of their hatred was focused on that blessing. They considered it a curse. The brothers were so envious that they saw an opportunity for sweet revenge when Joseph came to Dothan. They saw him coming, and before he even reached them, they had already plotted to kill him. They said, “Come now, let’s kill him, throw him into one of the cisterns, and then say that a wild animal ate him. Then we’ll see how his dreams turn out!”

Two of the older brothers displayed a bit of constraint. Reuben, the oldest, suggested that they just throw him into a deep hole. Judah suggested that they sell him to some foreign traders who happened by. As soon as Joseph reached them, the brothers stripped him of that precious tunic and tossed him into the hole. When the foreign traders arrived, they fished him out and sold him to them for twenty silver coins. They got their revenge and some money to sweeten the deal.

the tunic was a symbol of treachery

It was a symbol of sibling rivalry to the extreme – like Cain, who waited until his brother was alone with him in the field and clobbered him to death. They cared so little for their own brother that when the opportunity presented itself – they took it. The wonderful colored tunic that had been a sign of their father’s love would now be evidence of Joseph’s supposed death by a wild animal. All it took was some goat’s blood.

No doubt these sons of Jacob had been told many times of their own father’s betrayal of his brother, Esau. He found Esau hungry and offered him a bargain – some stew for his birthright. Then he and Rachel cooked up a scheme where they would deceive his father, Isaac, by pretending to be Esau and getting his blessing as firstborn.

So, these sons of Jacob cooked up a plot of their own. They would present this tunic to their father as evidence that his favorite son was dead. How ironic that Jacob himself had used a goatskin to pass himself off as Esau. Now it would be goat’s blood that covered his precious garment.

the tunic was a symbol of deception

When the ten sons returned to their father, they came with a lie, and backed up their lie with a deception. They didn’t say it. The best lies are those you don’t say but force others to believe. They just “brought the special tunic to their father and said, “We found this. Determine now whether it is your son’s tunic or not.” Of course, Jacob had no problems identifying this sign of his love, now covered with evidence that he had met a sudden, violent death.

It was not just a lie; it was a false lie. Joseph had not died at all – though he probably often felt it would have been better if he did. At the time this incident is happening, Joseph is on the way to Egypt to be sold as a slave. He was on his way to his destiny. But his brothers had convinced Jacob that he was ended. They had their revenge against the dreamer and got rid of those pesky dreams – they thought.

the tunic was a symbol of mourning

When I was eleven years old, I had an older brother. His name was Gary.  He was 16. I remember a joyous day when Gary brought home his special prize. It was a green Honda 100 motorcycle. Gary loved that vehicle. He went everywhere with it. It was a symbol of his pride in being able to ride it and his joy that it was his very own.

But in June of that year, a terrible thing happened. I can still remember my mother getting a phone call. I don’t know who called her, but what I recall was that Mom was calm and collected on the phone. But as soon as she hung up, she called out to my Dad: “Come on, Buck, Gary’s been in a wreck.” The two of them left the house quickly, and my two sisters and I began praying and crying.

Gary died that day. Some well-meaning people took his broken and mangled motorcycle and brought it to all the nearby schools. They used it as evidence to teach young people to be extra cautious on motorcycles or don’t ride them at all. They also had his cracked helmet, with a blood smear still prominent on it. Sometime later, they brought that wrecked motorcycle back to our place and dumped it in a pile. From then on, every time we saw that pile, we grieved again.

The Bible does not say what Jacob did with that bloody tunic. It just says that “Jacob tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and mourned for his son many days. All his sons and daughters stood by him to console him, but he refused to be consoled. “No,” he said, “I will go to the grave mourning my son.” So Joseph’s father wept for him.”

Actually, the Hebrew says something even more specific. Jacob said that he would go down (יָרַד) to Sheol (שְׁאוֹל) to his son mourning. Sheol is the state of being dead. Jacob planned to mourn himself to death and join his son in the state of death. The Bible tells us some very specific things about Sheol.

Sheol is always described as a place that is down there – a place you descend (יָרַד) to. When the biblical authors compare it to something, they always compare it to a pit or destruction. When Eric Lewis examined the 65 references to Sheol in the Old Testament, he concluded that the term specified “not the place of interment, nor a presumed locality of departed spirits, but the condition of death, the death-state.”[1]

Sheol is also described as a place of silence. When David was in threat of death, he cried out to God to deliver him because he said, “In death, there is no remembrance of you; in Sheol who will give you praise?” (Psalm 6:5). To David, there is no afterlife. There was merely silence and stillness – a waiting on God to perhaps rescue by resurrection. To the Old Testament saints, a residence in Sheol would not be considered a goal to attain. It was an inevitable consequence of their mortality – to be avoided at all costs.

Sheol is also described as a dark place where people sleep. It is a silent, dark state or condition in which everyone exists at death and can only live again by a resurrection from the LORD. It is always contrasted with heaven and never equated with it. It is not the hope of the saints; rescue from it is the hope of the saints. That is the Old Testament consensus. When Jacob said he was going to Sheol he was not anticipating a happy reunion there.

When Jacob saw that bloody tunic, he was convinced that all hope was lost. When we experience tragedy, we can start feeling that way, too. But we can learn from this story. Tragedy does not mean that everything is lost. As long as we have a God in heaven with a plan for our lives, we can trust him to carry out that plan. Jesus told us that in the world, we will have trouble. But he also told us that he has overcome the world. We can find our hope in him. He gives a hope of a life after death. It starts with a resurrection unto eternal life. That is a destiny we can cling to no matter what we face today.

[1] Eric Lewis, Christ, The First Fruits (Boston: Warren Press, 1949), 48

Here is a quote from Devotions from Exodus:

“Nuisance

The frog was also a deity in the Egyptian pantheon. Heqet was a goddess who represented fertility. To have the territory overrun by these creatures was more than an annoyance. It was another reminder to Pharaoh that his worldview was erroneous. It was an embarrassment. And even though his magicians were able to duplicate the same thing on a smaller scale (because they were illusionists) he was perturbed, so he appealed to Moses to have Yahveh stop the plague. He was starting to take Yahveh seriously. Moses even gives Pharaoh the honor of choosing the day for the pestilence to stop. But when the break came, Pharaoh still stubbornly refused to comply with Yahveh’s demand.

I wonder if we are any better than Pharaoh was. We regularly experience nuisances in our lives, and they sometimes are so bad that we appeal to Yahveh to rescue us. But do we ever stop to ask if Yahveh wants to change us? Maybe an annoying event might be his way of getting our attention. Perhaps we should not be so quick to return to business as usual when the nuisance is over.

LORD, forgive us for ignoring you when you remind us of our need to change. Help us to see the possible significance of the annoying interruptions in our lives. Keep us sensitive to your guidance” (p. 40);

The book is 296 pages long and was released on May 17, 2024.