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16 01 2010

Your Kidding…. aren’t you???

Posted by: John in Uncategorized

 

Ever not known the answer. Can’t quite understand – maybe you feel you should but can’t. Still looking. Just like Bono from U2 knew the answer – knows all about Jesus but things didn’t add up. He just couldn’t come to grips with a loving God but starving children, a message of salvation, unity and hope but Irish people fighting and killing each other over Christian distinctives. He still struggles.

Yeh, I admit something’s just don’t add up. A loving God but people die in pain or hunger, I know how to live but still make mistakes, life as a Christian should be great but sometimes it’s a struggle. Ever felt like you missed something?  This passage is for you.

Let’s work through it.  

1.      Everyone is scared of us. No everyone heard what the LORD had done.  

JOS 5:1 Now when all the Amorite kings west of the Jordan and all the Canaanite kings along the coast heard how the LORD had dried up the Jordan before the Israelites until we had crossed over, their hearts melted and they no longer had the courage to face the Israelites.This is what God had promised. That people would be scared. Not of them but of Him.Remember a couple of weeks ago we commented on what Rahab the prostitute said.. 11 When we heard of it, our hearts melted and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the LORD your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below. Notice it says that people are melting with fear.Why are they scared? Because the Lord is God. Not because of any great army but because of God. Rahab has the perspective right. The Lord is God.  He is to be feared. God had promised the Jews that he would frighten the people they where to conquer.“This day will I begin to put the dread of thee and the fear of theeupon the nations that are under the whole heaven, who shall hearreport of thee, and shall tremble and be in anguish because of thee”(Deuteronomy 2:25). 

2.      Just as God has all the people scared – he places the whole army defenseless. He says get circumcised. Now this don’t make sense. Imagine Joshua – Arrh excuse me God I don’t know what is happening here. JOS 5:2 At that time the LORD said to Joshua, “Make flint knives and circumcise the Israelites again.” 3 So Joshua made flint knives and circumcised the Israelites at Gibeath Haaraloth. 

From a military position this is crazy. If the enemy found out, they would be in trouble. Circumcision has the impact on guys of making them weak. Incapacitated actually. There was no way these guys could defend themselves let alone take over the country.

Hey that is part of the point.God wanted them to be dependant on Him to listen to him. After all it was what God had done that made people’s hearts melt not the might of the army. The army might have a crisis of self confidence here but it had nothing to do with them.  

3.      Why did it have to happen? Because they had not done the deed in the wilderness. Here is part of the answer to Bono’s question in that song _ I stil ahven’t found what I’m looking for. Obedience. Often the answer is the other side of obedience, not before obedience. They were supposed to but they hadn’t.JOS 5:4 Now this is why he did so: All those who came out of Egypt–all the men of military age–died in the desert on the way after leaving

Egypt. 5 All the people that came out had been circumcised, but all the people born in the desert during the journey from

Egypt had not. 6 The Israelites had moved about in the desert forty years until all the men who were of military age when they left

Egypt had died, since they had not obeyed the LORD. For the LORD had sworn to them that they would not see the land that he had solemnly promised their fathers to give us, a land flowing with milk and honey. 7 So he raised up their sons in their place, and these were the ones Joshua circumcised. They were still uncircumcised because they had not been circumcised on the way. 8 And after the whole nation had been circumcised, they remained where they were in camp until they were healed. Says it pretty plain. It wasn’t done so it needed to be. 

But why was circumcision so important?Listen to what the New Bible dictionary says about it.Among the Hebrews the rite was instituted by God as the sign of the covenant between him and Abraham, shortly after the latter’s sojourn in

Egypt. God ordained that it be performed on Abraham, on his posterity and slaves, and on foreigners joining themselves to the Hebrew nation (Gen 17:12). Every male child was to be circumcised on the eighth day. In later times a Hebrew surgeon was called in. The child was also named at the ceremony.  According to the terms of the covenant symbolized by circumcision, the Lord undertook to be the God of Abraham and his descendants, and they were to belong to him, worshiping and obeying only him. The rite effected admission to the fellowship of the covenant people and secured for the individual, as a member of the nation, his share in the promises God made to the nation as a whole. Circumcision reminded the Israelites of God’s promises to them and of the duties they had assumed.  

This was a symbol of belonging. It was a consecration if you want to use an old term, a setting apart. The word holy, means set apart, different. This act of obeying God was an act of being Holy. God wanted them to know they needed to keep their end of the bargain. If they did, he would keep His.

The nation was saying that they were serious with God.  

4.      This symbolism continued. The ate a passover meal.JOS 5:9 Then the LORD said to Joshua, “Today I have rolled away the reproach of

Egypt from you.” So the place has been called Gilgal to this day.    JOS 5:10 On the evening of the fourteenth day of the month, while camped at Gilgal on the plains of Jericho, the Israelites celebrated the Passover.  Remember that when they left

Egypt, they ate this meal together. It was part of their system of making themselves God’s people. It is called the passover because they killed the animal, then wiped it’s blood around the door posts so the angel didn’t kill their kids. (It killed the first born of all those without blood on the door posts.) That’s why it is called passover – because the angel passover the people who did as God said.This meal was symbolic of belonging to God.  

5.      Notice that it was significant in that these symbolic acts changed their lifestyle. 11 The day after the Passover, that very day, they ate some of the produce of the land: unleavened bread and roasted grain. 12 The manna stopped the day after they ate this food from the land; there was no longer any manna for the Israelites, but that year they ate of the produce of

Canaan.

They ate the meal, got circumcised and then God allowed them to eat the produce of the land – it was starting to be theirs. See obedience – then blessing. Obedience then things start to come together. I am not saying it all happens over night. But look at it. They obeyed then they no longer had to eat manna and quail. They ate normal food. This is what God had promised.

 

We let Him show us what He wants of us.

And we do it. The bible calls it obedience. We just do it.

 

Maybe we need to consecrate our selves. To make a showing that we are serious about God. The whole nation was involved in this story in Joshua. Everyone needed to be serious and say whatever you want God – even if it hurts.

Notice the last phrase of that passage – and Joshua did so.

Now it is our turn. Even the leader has to do so. Everyone is included. Let’s do so.

 

We have the opportunity to do so this morning. We will share in communion – in obedience to Jesus command to do so. Let’s come before God in willingness to obey.

What does God require of you? Obedience. What in particular? Maybe something small, maybe baptism, maybe membership maybe ministry, maybe doing something, maybe giving something up.

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 16th, 2010 at 5:04 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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