SERIES: VBS 2007 #3/5

#1 · July 31, 2007, 3:20 pm

Quote from Forum Archives on July 31, 2007, 3:20 pm
Posted by: bhfbc <bhfbc@...>
SERIES: VBS 2007 #3/5

CRUMBLING WALLS

July 29, 2007

Text: Joshua 6:12-19

After two lessons of the Vacation Bible School curriculum from Avalanche Ranch, we finally come to a Bible story that is what I would call typical VBS material; namely, Joshua and the walls of Jericho. If you have spent any of your childhood in the church, who here has not come across this Bible story in either Sunday school or VBS or some other childrens ministry setting? The fall of Jericho provides some straightforward lessons about God and His people. In fact, the VBS Bible Point for this lesson is God is strong, and the Treasure Verse, from Psalm 118:14, reads, The Lord is my strength. So there we have it. Not difficult at all, right?

Well, before we leave, lets take a closer look at some of the lessons learned from Joshua six and related Scripture. Even though this encounter between the people of God and the people of Jericho took place a long time ago, there are still some truths with which Christians today should be familiar. After all, if there is no relevancy between then and now, why bother repeating the story at VBS?

The first observation I make about this encounter is the difference in attitudes. Joshua 6:1, Now Jericho was tightly shut up because of the Israelites. No one went out and no one came in. Joshua had already learned from the spies that the people in Canaan were melting in fear before the Israelites. They were closing themselves in. They were convincing themselves that their security was from their fortress walls. Their walls, no doubt, had saved them before. They might not have felt as secure this time, though, since the Israelites had already breached their first natural defense by crossing the Jordan at flood stage. That probably threw them off their battle plan a bit. Their response was to try to shut themselves off from the threat.

The problem with that response is that it usually leaves those living in a fearful, defensive mindset vulnerable to other catastrophes that they fail to foresee. In the years between the Great War World War I and World War II, the French created a line of fortresses along their eastern border that is known as the Maginot Line. It was quite an impressive defensive arrangement: heavily fortified bunkers with very big guns pointing at their prospective enemy. The problem with a static defense like that is that it assumes that the enemy will oblige by acting a certain way. When they invaded France, the Germans decided that it was in their best interest to not mount a frontal assault. Instead, they bypassed the Maginot Line and came at it from behind where the big guns were not pointing. The fortified bunkers became traps instead of protection for the French just as the walls of Jericho entrapped the citizens there.

On the other side of the wall, the Israelites were looking forward with confidence instead of fear. Joshua 6:2, Then the Lord said to Joshua, See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men. This is the key. Either Joshua and a reference to Joshua is a reference to all of the Israelites believed God, or he didnt. Belief in God right then meant that the time had come to take possession of the Promised Land, beginning with Jericho. God didnt say, Joshua, if you plan right, youll have them. He didnt say, Stock up your supplies and lay siege to Jericho. Theyll eventually give out and have to surrender. What He said, and what Joshua had to act on in faith, was, I have delivered Jericho into your hands. Even though the battle had not even begun, the outcome did not hang in the balance. It was a foregone conclusion. I have delivered Jericho into your hands.

This should be a reminder to Christians everywhere today. Our times, like many times before us, are full of uncertainties and challenges. There is a rising animosity toward the Christian faith. Are we facing Armageddon? Will Christianity survive new persecutions? Should we begin pulling in our resources and stocking up for the long haul? Well, that depends if you want to respond like Jericho or like Gods people. You mean theres a doubt about who is the victor in todays battle? If there is, go through Revelation again. The victor is revealed. Revelation 20:7-10, When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth Gog and Magog to gather them for battle. In number they are like the sand on the seashore. They marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of Gods people, the city he loves. But fire came down from heaven and devoured them. And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever. Joshua 6:2, Then the Lord said to Joshua, See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men. The outcome in either century does not hang in the balance.

God then gave Joshua his marching orders literally. For six days, the assembly marched once around the fortified city. The seven priests carrying the trumpets blew them as they marched, but no other shouts went up. On the seventh day, the assembly marched around the city seven times. The seventh time around, the Israelites raised their voices with a shout, and the walls of Jericho crumbled. The Israelite army rushed into the city and took it.

And then things got messy. Except for Rahab and the members of her family, there were to be no survivors. We dont like this in our time. We are used to being merciful and fair; at least, as fair as possible during a war. Even in our current war, we frequently hear that what distinguishes us from our enemy is our refrain from engaging in senseless brutality. Personally, I like that distinction. It is one of the many distinctions between Americans and our enemies that contribute to my national pride. So what gives here with Israel and Jericho?

Throughout the period of taking possession of the Promised Land, the Israelites are instructed to completely annihilate the vanquished. This has led some, Christians and non-Christians alike, to reject the reliability of Gods Word. Some offer the rationalism that this is what the Israelites believed that God was telling them; therefore, they recorded it as if it were Gods actual instruction. But to accept this viewpoint is to diminish Gods Word to a mere collection of human stories and perspectives. I cannot claim to be among the Bible scholars who can figure all this out and come to a nice, tidy conclusion. Instead, I am faced with a problem similar to that I shared about Rahab and the incident with the two spies. God used the faith of a prostitute and even her deception to her own people to carry out His divine purpose. I do not understand why this was the path chosen. The testimony is what it is.

Similarly, Gods direction to the Israelites in almost every confrontation they experienced while claiming the Promised Land was to completely destroy those who opposed them. That destruction included the non-combatant women and children. They devoted the city to the Lord and destroyed with the sword everything living in it men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep and donkeys. As a follower of Christ, I am not given the same instruction. In fact, I am to be willing to sacrifice myself on behalf of someone else for the sake of Christ. Why this significance difference? I do not know. I can only say that it is what it is. But it does not cause me to diminish or disbelieve the Word of God because it does not fit into my personal notions.

As Israel occupied the Promised Land, they were doing so as a witness and testimony to the power of God. They were doing so as a community of faith. They were either one community serving God, or they were a broken community falling away from Gods will. Indeed, an example of that was experienced by Israel shortly after the victory over Jericho. You can read the entire account in Joshua seven. One of the instructions to Gods people was that no one could take any treasure from Jericho for their personal use. It was all given to the Lord. But an Israelite named Achan chose to disobey. As a result, the Israelites were routed in their next confrontation with their enemy. In the end, it was revealed that God had been disobeyed, and that it was Achan who had done it. Consequently, Achan, his sons and daughters, and all that he had were taken to the Valley of Achor, stoned, and burned. Again, this strikes us as astonishingly and unnecessarily cruel.

The point of all this was that God could not tolerate sin and, subsequently, neither could His people. In fact, Gods people would not survive with the presence of sin in their assembly. It had to be completely removed, as in the case with Achan, and completely avoided, as in the case of the idolatry practiced by the people opposing the Israelites. Throughout their history, devastating punishment befell Israel when they allowed sin to enter into their nation. They could not allow a part of it here and a little of it there, for when they did, it ruined them.

Sin still brings ruin. It is no different in our day. We see the scenario repeated over and over. We come to the Lord and receive salvation, or we come for rededication. We give ourselves almost completely to Him. But there is one little treasure we decide we need to keep for ourselves. After all, its my life, and I can decide what to do with it. This is an unfortunate side effect of our freedom, both spiritual and secular. We are freed from the bondage of sin and death, and then begin believing that we are also free from some of the very instructions from God. But our private actions are not always private. They have a way of leaking out and contaminating others. We are no longer taken out by our community and put to death, so we think that we can get away with anything. But the so-called little sin has a way of growing out of control. One of the Veggie Tale episodes depicts Junior Asparagus becoming convinced by the Fib from Outer Space that one teensy, weensy, little fib will keep him out of trouble and wont hurt anyone. But that little fib keeps growing into full blown lies that threaten harm to poor little Junior. We dont have to turn to fiction to illustrate this meaning. We have the account of King David in 2 Samuel 11 and 12. It was so simple. David desired Bathsheba, and, as king, why couldnt he have her? But when she sent word that she was pregnant, David had to figure out how to hide his sin. And his sin grew from adultery and lies to murder.

This is what Israel faced and what Christians today face. How do we keep a pet sin from growing? The answer is always, We cant! It will always control us. Sin has to be cut out and cast away completely. Imagine the surgeon who tells you, after enduring a surgery to remove cancer, I got most of it, but there was a bit that was too difficult to get at without a lot of work. So I left it. After all, its only a little cancer. What would you think of him? I can tell you you would never have that surgeon touch you again. Most people I know take extreme measures to do everything they can to get rid of all the cancer. They take actions that even make them extremely ill and weak and vulnerable. But that is the radical steps that have to be done to hopefully rid the body of all a cancer, not just a part of it.

Sin is no different. It requires no less a radical response. There is almost always something we want to hang onto. We do so only with great peril. Jesus taught, If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell. (Matthew 5:29-30) Jesus knows exactly how deadly sin is.

The good news is that God is merciful. His Son, Jesus Christ, has crumbled the walls that have been erected between God and any man, woman, or child. Just like the walls of Jericho came tumbling down when Israel faithfully obeyed God, so the walls of sin that keep us from Gods love come tumbling down when we faithfully believe in Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and Lord. The VBS Bible point, God is Strong, is seen and understood plainly every time we reflect on the price that Jesus paid for our sin. The walls of sin and rejection have crumbled, so that we can invite and allow Jesus to make us a new creation. That is, indeed, the work of a strong God.

When the trumpets sounded, the people shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet, when the people gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed; so every man charged straight in, and they took the city. (Joshua 6:20)

Rev. Charles A. Layne
First Baptist Church
Bunker Hill, Indiana
-- To unsubscribe, send ANY message to: abesermons-unsubscribe@welovegod.org   

Posted by: bhfbc <bhfbc@...>

CRUMBLING WALLS

July 29, 2007

Text: Joshua 6:12-19

After two lessons of the Vacation Bible School curriculum from Avalanche Ranch, we finally come to a Bible story that is what I would call typical VBS material; namely, Joshua and the walls of Jericho. If you have spent any of your childhood in the church, who here has not come across this Bible story in either Sunday school or VBS or some other childrens ministry setting? The fall of Jericho provides some straightforward lessons about God and His people. In fact, the VBS Bible Point for this lesson is God is strong, and the Treasure Verse, from Psalm 118:14, reads, The Lord is my strength. So there we have it. Not difficult at all, right?

Well, before we leave, lets take a closer look at some of the lessons learned from Joshua six and related Scripture. Even though this encounter between the people of God and the people of Jericho took place a long time ago, there are still some truths with which Christians today should be familiar. After all, if there is no relevancy between then and now, why bother repeating the story at VBS?

The first observation I make about this encounter is the difference in attitudes. Joshua 6:1, Now Jericho was tightly shut up because of the Israelites. No one went out and no one came in. Joshua had already learned from the spies that the people in Canaan were melting in fear before the Israelites. They were closing themselves in. They were convincing themselves that their security was from their fortress walls. Their walls, no doubt, had saved them before. They might not have felt as secure this time, though, since the Israelites had already breached their first natural defense by crossing the Jordan at flood stage. That probably threw them off their battle plan a bit. Their response was to try to shut themselves off from the threat.

The problem with that response is that it usually leaves those living in a fearful, defensive mindset vulnerable to other catastrophes that they fail to foresee. In the years between the Great War World War I and World War II, the French created a line of fortresses along their eastern border that is known as the Maginot Line. It was quite an impressive defensive arrangement: heavily fortified bunkers with very big guns pointing at their prospective enemy. The problem with a static defense like that is that it assumes that the enemy will oblige by acting a certain way. When they invaded France, the Germans decided that it was in their best interest to not mount a frontal assault. Instead, they bypassed the Maginot Line and came at it from behind where the big guns were not pointing. The fortified bunkers became traps instead of protection for the French just as the walls of Jericho entrapped the citizens there.

On the other side of the wall, the Israelites were looking forward with confidence instead of fear. Joshua 6:2, Then the Lord said to Joshua, See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men. This is the key. Either Joshua and a reference to Joshua is a reference to all of the Israelites believed God, or he didnt. Belief in God right then meant that the time had come to take possession of the Promised Land, beginning with Jericho. God didnt say, Joshua, if you plan right, youll have them. He didnt say, Stock up your supplies and lay siege to Jericho. Theyll eventually give out and have to surrender. What He said, and what Joshua had to act on in faith, was, I have delivered Jericho into your hands. Even though the battle had not even begun, the outcome did not hang in the balance. It was a foregone conclusion. I have delivered Jericho into your hands.

This should be a reminder to Christians everywhere today. Our times, like many times before us, are full of uncertainties and challenges. There is a rising animosity toward the Christian faith. Are we facing Armageddon? Will Christianity survive new persecutions? Should we begin pulling in our resources and stocking up for the long haul? Well, that depends if you want to respond like Jericho or like Gods people. You mean theres a doubt about who is the victor in todays battle? If there is, go through Revelation again. The victor is revealed. Revelation 20:7-10, When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth Gog and Magog to gather them for battle. In number they are like the sand on the seashore. They marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of Gods people, the city he loves. But fire came down from heaven and devoured them. And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever. Joshua 6:2, Then the Lord said to Joshua, See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men. The outcome in either century does not hang in the balance.

God then gave Joshua his marching orders literally. For six days, the assembly marched once around the fortified city. The seven priests carrying the trumpets blew them as they marched, but no other shouts went up. On the seventh day, the assembly marched around the city seven times. The seventh time around, the Israelites raised their voices with a shout, and the walls of Jericho crumbled. The Israelite army rushed into the city and took it.

And then things got messy. Except for Rahab and the members of her family, there were to be no survivors. We dont like this in our time. We are used to being merciful and fair; at least, as fair as possible during a war. Even in our current war, we frequently hear that what distinguishes us from our enemy is our refrain from engaging in senseless brutality. Personally, I like that distinction. It is one of the many distinctions between Americans and our enemies that contribute to my national pride. So what gives here with Israel and Jericho?

Throughout the period of taking possession of the Promised Land, the Israelites are instructed to completely annihilate the vanquished. This has led some, Christians and non-Christians alike, to reject the reliability of Gods Word. Some offer the rationalism that this is what the Israelites believed that God was telling them; therefore, they recorded it as if it were Gods actual instruction. But to accept this viewpoint is to diminish Gods Word to a mere collection of human stories and perspectives. I cannot claim to be among the Bible scholars who can figure all this out and come to a nice, tidy conclusion. Instead, I am faced with a problem similar to that I shared about Rahab and the incident with the two spies. God used the faith of a prostitute and even her deception to her own people to carry out His divine purpose. I do not understand why this was the path chosen. The testimony is what it is.

Similarly, Gods direction to the Israelites in almost every confrontation they experienced while claiming the Promised Land was to completely destroy those who opposed them. That destruction included the non-combatant women and children. They devoted the city to the Lord and destroyed with the sword everything living in it men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep and donkeys. As a follower of Christ, I am not given the same instruction. In fact, I am to be willing to sacrifice myself on behalf of someone else for the sake of Christ. Why this significance difference? I do not know. I can only say that it is what it is. But it does not cause me to diminish or disbelieve the Word of God because it does not fit into my personal notions.

As Israel occupied the Promised Land, they were doing so as a witness and testimony to the power of God. They were doing so as a community of faith. They were either one community serving God, or they were a broken community falling away from Gods will. Indeed, an example of that was experienced by Israel shortly after the victory over Jericho. You can read the entire account in Joshua seven. One of the instructions to Gods people was that no one could take any treasure from Jericho for their personal use. It was all given to the Lord. But an Israelite named Achan chose to disobey. As a result, the Israelites were routed in their next confrontation with their enemy. In the end, it was revealed that God had been disobeyed, and that it was Achan who had done it. Consequently, Achan, his sons and daughters, and all that he had were taken to the Valley of Achor, stoned, and burned. Again, this strikes us as astonishingly and unnecessarily cruel.

The point of all this was that God could not tolerate sin and, subsequently, neither could His people. In fact, Gods people would not survive with the presence of sin in their assembly. It had to be completely removed, as in the case with Achan, and completely avoided, as in the case of the idolatry practiced by the people opposing the Israelites. Throughout their history, devastating punishment befell Israel when they allowed sin to enter into their nation. They could not allow a part of it here and a little of it there, for when they did, it ruined them.

Sin still brings ruin. It is no different in our day. We see the scenario repeated over and over. We come to the Lord and receive salvation, or we come for rededication. We give ourselves almost completely to Him. But there is one little treasure we decide we need to keep for ourselves. After all, its my life, and I can decide what to do with it. This is an unfortunate side effect of our freedom, both spiritual and secular. We are freed from the bondage of sin and death, and then begin believing that we are also free from some of the very instructions from God. But our private actions are not always private. They have a way of leaking out and contaminating others. We are no longer taken out by our community and put to death, so we think that we can get away with anything. But the so-called little sin has a way of growing out of control. One of the Veggie Tale episodes depicts Junior Asparagus becoming convinced by the Fib from Outer Space that one teensy, weensy, little fib will keep him out of trouble and wont hurt anyone. But that little fib keeps growing into full blown lies that threaten harm to poor little Junior. We dont have to turn to fiction to illustrate this meaning. We have the account of King David in 2 Samuel 11 and 12. It was so simple. David desired Bathsheba, and, as king, why couldnt he have her? But when she sent word that she was pregnant, David had to figure out how to hide his sin. And his sin grew from adultery and lies to murder.

This is what Israel faced and what Christians today face. How do we keep a pet sin from growing? The answer is always, We cant! It will always control us. Sin has to be cut out and cast away completely. Imagine the surgeon who tells you, after enduring a surgery to remove cancer, I got most of it, but there was a bit that was too difficult to get at without a lot of work. So I left it. After all, its only a little cancer. What would you think of him? I can tell you you would never have that surgeon touch you again. Most people I know take extreme measures to do everything they can to get rid of all the cancer. They take actions that even make them extremely ill and weak and vulnerable. But that is the radical steps that have to be done to hopefully rid the body of all a cancer, not just a part of it.

Sin is no different. It requires no less a radical response. There is almost always something we want to hang onto. We do so only with great peril. Jesus taught, If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell. (Matthew 5:29-30) Jesus knows exactly how deadly sin is.

The good news is that God is merciful. His Son, Jesus Christ, has crumbled the walls that have been erected between God and any man, woman, or child. Just like the walls of Jericho came tumbling down when Israel faithfully obeyed God, so the walls of sin that keep us from Gods love come tumbling down when we faithfully believe in Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and Lord. The VBS Bible point, God is Strong, is seen and understood plainly every time we reflect on the price that Jesus paid for our sin. The walls of sin and rejection have crumbled, so that we can invite and allow Jesus to make us a new creation. That is, indeed, the work of a strong God.

When the trumpets sounded, the people shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet, when the people gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed; so every man charged straight in, and they took the city. (Joshua 6:20)

Rev. Charles A. Layne
First Baptist Church
Bunker Hill, Indiana

-- To unsubscribe, send ANY message to: abesermons-unsubscribe@welovegod.org