January 8, 2006
Download PDA Sermon
File
Faith
and Future
Joshua
3:14-4:9
An old Chinese proverb says, “May you live in interesting times.”
That has certainly been the case for the world this past year.
Mark Bowden, editor of The Gazette in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, offered this observation about
the year we have just come through: “The world was wracked with pain in 2005,
enduring a parade of natural disasters, and, of course some of the pain was
self-inflicted — war, terrorism, rebellion, violence, crime, drug abuse,
business fraud. . . . There is never a slow day in the news business.”
He was thinking of things like the Terri Schiavo case last year which
bitterly divided the nation. He was
remembering the terrorist attacks all over the world.
Among the most memorable were the attacks in London on three rush-hour
subway trains and a bus which killed 56 people on July 7.
The war in Iraq dragged on with daily reports of terrorist bombings and
the deaths of more American soldiers, as well as Iraqi civilians.
Then there were the hurricanes that ripped through the South.
Katrina, Rita and Wilma were just three of many storms that left
communities devastated and lives disrupted.
Katrina, a category 5 storm, killed more than 1,300 people in five
states, ravaged the Mississippi Gulf Coast and set off flooding that submerged
80 percent of New Orleans, forcing the largest urban dislocation in U.S.
history.
Toward the end of 2004 an earthquake hit off the island of Sumatra in the
Indian Ocean and was the most cataclysmic natural disaster of the modern era.
For much of 2005 world relief efforts focused on the area where more than
300,000 human lives were lost. Then
this past October an earthquake shook portions of Pakistan, Afghanistan and
northern India. It leveled entire
towns, killing some 87,000 people, and leaving more than 3 million homeless.
The catastrophic quake, which measured 7.6 on the Richter scale, was
followed by more than 1,200 aftershocks.
Now we are looking at floods in some parts of the West and dry winds and
forest fires in other western states. One
thing is hardly over before we are hearing of another, and a lot of people are
wondering what is going on. What is
going on? If you ask those in the media they will paint the most
frightening scenario possible. Bad
news sells, so we hear a lot of it. Michael
Crichton recently wrote about how the press has overplayed predictions of
disaster. He writes, “Paul
Ehrlich predicted mass starvation in the 1960's [due to over-population].
Sixty million Americans starving to death.
Didn’t happen. Other
scientists warned of mass species extinctions by the year 2000.
Ehrlich himself predicted that half of all species would become extinct
by 2000. Didn’t happen. The Club of Rome told us we would run out of raw materials
ranging from oil to copper by the 1990s. That
didn’t happen, either.” He also
wrote about the stories that warned us about magnetic fields and how things like
fluorescent lights were putting our health at risk.
But it wasn’t long until magnetic fields turned out to be good for you
and people were wearing magnets in their clothing and putting them in their
shoes. And we all remember the
predictions of gloom and disaster in the year 2000 about the “Y2K problem”
that was supposed to plunge the world into darkness and destroy the economies of
the world. But when we awakened on
January 1, the lights came on, banks opened and planes stayed in the air.
How do we as Christians respond when the media plays up their “end of
the world” script? Earlier in the year they were saying that gas to heat our
homes was going up by 70%, and gasoline and other shortages were going to
cripple the economy. The bird flu
was supposed to wipe out millions all over the world.
If we listened to the world it would be sitting in a dark corner with a
blanket over our heads. The message
of the Bible is a message of faith. It
is positive and faces the future confidently.
I love the story of Joshua that we read together today.
It is the story of a group of people who refused to be paralyzed by the
dangers of the times in which they lived. The
simple story we have read together today points out many lessons for us, but we
will look at only a few. The first
lesson is: Our faith in the future is
built on God’s faithfulness in the past.
Many people are familiar with the crossing of the Red Sea, but not as
many are familiar with this crossing of the Jordan river when the people of
Israel came into the promised land. But
it was the dramatic story in their history of God’s deliverance from Egypt and
parting the Red Sea that gave them the faith to be able to cross the Jordan.
It was God’s powerful hand of deliverance in the past that gave them
the faith to face the challenges in their future.
They knew they were going to face dangers in the future, but they knew
they were going to face them with God — a God who makes a way even when there
is no way. There was no way through
the Red Sea. There was no way
through the Jordan. But God made a
way. There is no way through the
things you may face this year, but God will make a way.
He has helped you in the past and he will be there in your future.
That doesn’t mean it is going to be easy.
God is always faithful, but doing his will is not always easy.
I was impressed again this year as I read the account of God’s covenant
with Abraham. God makes amazing
promises to Abraham. He promises to
be with him, and even though he is childless to make his offspring as numerous
as the grains of sand on the seashore or the number of stars in the sky.
But he also tells him of the difficulties that await him and his people.
He says, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a
country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred
years” (Genesis 15:13). The
future is not for the fearful or faint of heart.
There are difficulties ahead, challenges and dangers.
But the Lord says to us what he said to Joshua, “No one will be able to
stand up against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never
leave you nor forsake you” (Joshua 1:5).
He says to us what he said to Isaiah, “Fear not, for I have redeemed
you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine.
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass
through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the
flames will not set you ablaze. For
I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior” (Isaiah 43:1-3).
There will be high waters and hot fires, but the Lord will be with us and
save us.
Over and over in the book of Joshua we hear these words: “Do not be
afraid; do not be discouraged. Be
strong and courageous.” That is
what God is calling us to do — be strong and courageous.
And the reason we can be strong and courageous is because our faith is
grounded in a faithful God. He has
brought us through more than we thought we could bear, and saved us from more
than we will ever know.
We have just come through the season of Advent leading to Christmas.
Advent is a time of waiting — waiting for God to come and act on our
behalf — to bring the Messiah, our Savior and deliverer.
It occurred to me this year that there were two groups of people during
the time of Jesus. One which waited
as they placed their hope in God changing the political climate and making their
nation sovereign, and the other group which waited and saw Jesus as the
fulfillment of the promises of God — the One who ushered in the Kingdom of
God. The first group saw the
destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple and became sorely disillusioned and
angry at God, blaming him and saying that he was doing nothing. The second group went throughout the world excitedly telling
the world that God had shown up and spreading the Good News of what God had
done, in spite of terrible persecution. Their
joy and faith changed the world. By
God’s grace, I want to be a part of that second group that believes God, lives
in joy and helps to change the world, in spite of the difficulties and dangers
of life.
The second lesson from Joshua is: Our
faith determines our Future. If
Joshua and the Israelites had given up and sat down, they would never have known
God’s help and deliverance. Their
future would have been very different. They
would not have inherited the promise. How
do we know that? Because that is
exactly what too place with their fathers.
God had miraculously delivered the previous generation from Egypt with
signs and wonders, they crossed through the Red Sea on dry ground, but they
would not trust God to lead them into the future and into Promised Land.
They whined, whimpered and complained.
They were afraid and refused to believe God, in spite of what he had done
for them in the past. They sat down and cried, and God let them sit there in the
desert for forty years. However,
their children were willing to believe God, and therefore they miraculously
crossed the Jordan and entered the land that God had promised to them.
What we learn from this passage is that God is not going to do it all for
us. The Israelites of the previous
generation passed through the Red Sea after God parted the waters and the dry
ground appeared. But this time the
water did not part until the priests actually placed their feet in the water. And there was not only water in the river, it was at flood
stage. The water was raging.
The priests came closer and closer to the swirling water’s edge, but
nothing happened until they actually stepped into the flood.
God was helping them to grow up in their faith.
He did it all for them in the past, but now he was asking them to take a
new step of faith. That is what he
is asking you to do. God is helping
you to understand that the dangers and difficulties ahead are to be an adventure
in faith. He says to you what he
said through Jeremiah: “For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper
you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” (Jeremiah
29:11).
The real dilemma for most people is not trying to believe that God
exists, but trying to believe that God is good and trustworthy — that he has
their best interest at heart and will not let them be harmed in the future.
The temptation for many people is not to become an atheist, but to
believe that God does not care, or that he is weak, or mean.
It is not so much the question of whether God exists that torments us,
but the temptation to say to ourselves, “Oh, so that is what he is like.”
The real fear is not that God is not here, but that he is vengeful,
unpredictable and capricious. We do
not stop believing in him, but we stop believing we can depend on him.
The temptation is to become disillusioned, disappointed and disenchanted
with God. When he permits
difficulties to come in our lives, we become resentful toward him. For many people the question is not about whether they have
been forgiven by God, but whether they have forgiven God. That happens when he doesn’t meet our expectations or
answer our prayers the way we thought he should, and we realize we cannot
control him.
But it is our faith that determines our future.
We can actually change the future. When
we place our faith in God, God becomes a part of our future, and we inherit a
new future. Because Joshua and the
Israelites trusted God, they inherited the land and walked into their new
future. It was not without great
difficulties, but it was with great reward.
The same is true for you.
The third lesson we learn from Joshua and the Israelites is that when God
proves faithful: We need to build an altar
of faith for future generations. Joshua
had twelve men go into the dry bed of the Jordan river and take out twelve large
stones, one for each tribe of Israel, and built an altar with those stones.
Joshua said that the purpose was, “to serve as a sign among you.
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 4:5-7). Future generations
would learn of God’s faithfulness and understand that they could place their
trust in him as well. The purpose
of the altar was so that they could praise and worship God, and that their
children would ask the right questions and learn the right lessons.
It is important to share with your children stories of the faithfulness
of God from your life. It can be
done in many ways: write a document to be read, keep a scrapbook, create a photo
album, make or build something that is a symbol of what you have been through
and what God has done. This was a
common practice in the Bible. We
sing the song that says, “Here I raise mine Ebenezer; hither by thy help I’m
come,” but most don’t know what it means.
It is from a story in the Old Testament.
The Philistines, Israel’s enemies, gathered against Israel to engage
them in battle. Samuel the priest
was offering a sacrifice as the Philistines approached, and the Lord thundered
from heaven, throwing the Philistines into confusion and panic.
They fled from the battlefield, and Samuel took a large rock and set it
up as a reminder. He called the
stone Ebenezer, which means “stone of help,” and said, “Thus far has the
Lord helped us” (1 Samuel 7:12). Every
time an Israelite saw that stone they were reminded of what God had done for
them in the past and gained hope for the future.
Maybe you need to set up an Ebenezer, a “stone of help” — a
writing, a plaque, a picture, a marking, an object, a trip, a celebration.
Think of some creative way that you can mark a significant event in your
life where you say, “This far has the Lord helped us, and we know he will take
us the rest of the way.” Let it
be a permanent testimony to those who come after you.
When Rachel Strayer [my granddaughter] was healed of her cancer, the
Strayers [Jeremy and Lisa] held a celebration to mark the event.
Several of you were here for that celebration.
It was our Ebenezer. The
event was recorded on video and with photographs.
I use my family photos as screen savers on my computer, and those
pictures frequently are on the screen. It
never fails to create a feeling of deep gratitude to God and a reminder of his
faithfulness. We remember that God
is our rock of help.
Hudson Taylor was a missionary and founder of China Inland Mission.
In his home he kept a plaque with these Hebrew Words on it: EBENEZER,
meaning “Stone of help,” and JEHOVAH JIREH: “The Lord is my Provider.”
One looked back at what God had done and how he had helped in the past,
and the other looked forward to how he believed God would provide in the future.
One reminded him of God’s help and faithfulness, and the other helped
him to focus on God’s provision and assurance of help in the days to come.
As this new year begins, let’s raise an Ebenezer to God’s
faithfulness in the past, and let’s believe that God is Jehovah Jireh, our
Provider.
Rodney
J. Buchanan
January
8, 2006
Mulberry
St. UMC
Mount Vernon, OH
www.MulberryUMC.org
Rod.Buchanan@MulberryUMC.org
Mulberry
Street United Methodist Church