Survivor Series
(Joshua 23:1–16)
God Has Brought Us a Mighty Long Way…And We Still Got a Mighty Long Way to Go
Joshua gathers the leaders of Israel near the end of his life. The Lord has given them rest from their enemies for a period most scholars believe to be at least 25 years! (Upon giving this message, I did a check during our Sunday gathering and discovered six of our folks had been a part of our family for that time or longer. Really a beautiful site, but I’m going somewhere with that note.) Promises have been fulfilled. Land has been distributed. Yet Joshua does not speak as though the journey is complete. He reminds them that the same God who brought them this far must still carry them forward. The Lord has fought for them. The Lord has kept His word. But rest does not remove responsibility. Faithfulness must continue. The paradox is clear. God has brought them a mighty long way, and they still have a long way to go. Victory behind them does not guarantee vigilance ahead.
I believe the parallel is quite clear in this instance. These days, no shade or shame, I feel the need to ask our church family very tough questions. Even to some of those who have been with us 25 years or longer, I feel the need to beg the following questions. Maybe they’re questions we all should ask ourselves:
How long should it take for us to start the commitment process in church? It is our manifest expression of a commitment to Christ to join ourselves to His body. In our space, this looks like joining small groups and/or core groups, serving on a team for the Sunday gathering or throughout the week, becoming a part of our community outreach team and the like. These are things that surprisingly aren’t considered a part of the rhythms of many who would frequent a church space. Ironically enough, many of these same folks are the ones who feel they “aren’t getting anything” from being a part of a church family. Just saying the quiet part out loud.
Second, before we can even have that conversation, for many of us we have to ask as we’re being discipled “am I truly investing into this” from a followership standpoint. The life of Jesus is a clear reflection of things we should be doing that just don’t meet modern, “sexy” standards in Christianity. Prayer, studying the Word, silence, solace, solitude…meditation…FASTING. I feel like I’m bein’ messy, but sheer honesty will reveal that the things Jesus did while He was here are tried and true and don’t need to be changed. THIS is gonna be something very hard for many to process, even in our justification by faith; hence the reason for all of us who believe, we have no choice but to say that He truly has brought us a might long way…and we still have a very long way to go. And speaking of tried and true…
If It Ain’t Broke, Don’t Fix It
Joshua urges the people to follow the Book of Instruction without turning to the right or to the left. They are to cling tightly to the Lord. The pattern has worked. God fights for them. God drives out enemies. God keeps promises. The danger is not open rebellion at first. It is drift. It is subtle compromise. Recall that, in this narrative, 25 years passes from the end of chapter 22 to the beginning of chapter 23. I think about 25 years of my life and how much I’ve changed, thankfully for the better! My ratchet has very much become more like His righteousness (although I still have a very long wa…you get the point.) It is the slow acceptance of practices and loyalties that do not belong. Over time, what once seemed small becomes a snare. What once felt manageable becomes a trap. This was the case for the Israelites, and it serves as the greatest lesson for us as well. Let the time continue to lag on our faith, allow the things that we know shouldn’t survive to do so, and we can…will come across the same exact issues. Faithfulness is not maintained through innovation but through obedience. If God’s way has led to life, do not trade it for something easier or more comfortable.
What You Allow to Survive Will Outlast You
Joshua warns them clearly. If they cling to the customs of the remaining nations and intermarry with them, those influences will become thorns and traps. Let something survive long enough and it will eventually rule. The danger is not just military defeat but spiritual surrender. After years of coexistence, fatigue can set in. Familiarity can dull conviction. The people who once drove out enemies can begin tolerating them. The same is true in the life of faith. Compromise rarely feels catastrophic at first. It feels convenient. It feels harmless. But worship determines survival. Worship the Lord and live. Cling to lesser things and eventually lose what was given.
Joshua was doing his best to create systems of worship for the Israelites, knowing that his end was near. He was very strategic, and in his “strategicness” I have a confession to make. For years I thought he didn’t do well the job of making sure that the people remembered.
I was dead wrong.
The second verse of ch. 23 tells me everything I need to know about his efforts to ensure the people would do the work of worship and remembering the God who rescued them from Egypt. He spared no resource, and at the end of the day we again find the people of God being…the people. And not in a good way. He made sure they had high definition delegation, established accountability, succession of leadership, and unity of the people lined up and they STILL couldn’t get it right. By the beginning of the book of Judges some years later, everyone forgot all that the Lord did for them. Sad. And a major part of all of it stems from the fact that, for those 25 years they didn’t drive out all the people as the Lord commanded. And in their fatigue, those 25 years, they compromised and yielded their worship. This is a lesson we should definitely heed to this day.
The Greater Joshua and True Endurance
Joshua’s final words press urgency into the hearts of the leaders. History ultimately reveals that they failed. The rest Joshua gave was real but incomplete. It pointed forward to a greater rest. Jesus, the greater Joshua, secures what cannot be lost. He fights the battle sin could not win, including the one for all salvation. As God went ahead of the Israelites to fight their enemies and deliver the land to them, so Jesus went ahead of all of us and fought on the cross for our salvation and the victorious gift of eternal life; a job very well done. He provides endurance where Israel grew weary. And still, to this day, we are outlasting because He is everlasting. The call remains simple and searching. Has the Lord been carrying you, or have you tried to carry yourself? Are you clinging to Him, or to something else? True rest survives only when worship remains fixed on the one true King.
— Jordan Brown
Pastor (Ministries and Outreach) [OV] Church