Memorial Day, May 25, 2007

Joshua 4-5: “Commander of the army of the LORD”

 

Memorial Day weekend is a good time to reflect on our lives, to remember, and to ask ourselves the questions:  “Do we know our individual place in history?” and “Have we prepared those we leave behind to exceed our measure of success?” Let’s see if the time we spend together this morning doesn’t alter our immediate responses to these questions through a more thoughtful and Scripture-inspired approach to these questions. The Pentateuch and the first few chapters of the book of Joshua will provide our source for the morning.

 

Moses’ answers to these questions are displayed in the importance he placed on preparing Joshua and the living generation of Israelites he shepherded for his eventual death and their taking of the Promised Land. None of us like to ponder our deaths, but Moses lived knowing his failure to obey God would keep him from ever setting foot in the Promised Land (Numbers 20). Still, Moses did not pout or waste the time he spent with God and the nation of Israel in the wilderness; instead he lived to make sure the impact of 400 years of slavery was eradicated while a generation of obedient warriors grew strong.

 

The power of these relationships is never more evident than in Joshua 4:10 where we read, “Now the priests who carried the ark remained standing in the middle of the Jordan until everything the LORD had commanded Joshua was done by the people, just as Moses had directed Joshua.”  Scripture sees no difficulty freely transitioning between “just as Moses had directed Joshua” and “everything the LORD had commanded Joshua.”  The secret formula for success Moses had taught Joshua and the nation of Israel was simple:

 

1. Hear what God is saying:  Then the LORD said to Joshua, "Command the priests carrying the ark of the Testimony to come up out of the Jordan"

 

2. Do what God tells you to do:  So Joshua commanded the priests, "Come up out of the Jordan."

 

3. Earn the respect of those entrusted to you so that they will do what God tells you and them to do: And the priests came up out of the river carrying the ark of the covenant of the LORD (4:15-18).

 

This formula teaches us that the success of Christian walk can be measured by (1) how clearly we can distinguish the voice of God from our selfish desires and the temptations coming from the evil one and his army; (2) how quickly and accurately we obey the voice of God; and (3) the impact our clarity of hearing what God is saying and our resultant obedience has on other people.

 

So how does this formula for Christian growth, these Scriptural passages, and Memorial Day all fit together? Well I’m glad you asked! The answer comes when you ask another question: “Why were the priests standing in the middle of the Jordan River when the Jordan River was at its flood stage (meaning they should be drowning, not standing)?”

 

When God began the process of turning enslaved, idolatrous Israel into “a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that [they] may declare the praises of him who called [them] out of darkness into his wonderful light” (1 Peter 2:9), Moses commanded the circumcised nation (Exodus 4) to put blood on the doorposts of their homes in the shape of a cross (Exodus 12), eat a “Passover meal” of unleavened bread (Exodus 12), cross the Red Sea on dry ground ahead of a pursuing Egyptian army (Exodus 14), and to eat “manna” until further notice (Exodus 16). For the most part, all of this was accomplished quite well.

 

Now, some 40-years later, a new generation of Israelites under the command of Moses’ apprentice is in the process of following these steps in reverse.  Joshua 3-5 details the process whereby the Israelites crossed the Jordan River on dry ground to confront the Canaanites and other “-ites” in battle, were circumcised and waited 40 days to heal without any enemy attacking them, and ate the Passover meal in the Promised land for the first time and stopped eating manna.

 

The “Memorial Day” aspect of this story begins right in the middle of the Jordan River, right around the passage we quoted earlier displaying Joshua and Moses’ formula for success.  Let’s look at this passage in more detail.

 

Scriptures says twelve men were chosen, one from each of the 12 tribes, and told to “take up twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan from right where the priests stood and to carry them over with you and put them down at the place where you stay tonight" (Joshua 4:3). Then “Joshua set up the twelve stones that had been in the middle of the Jordan at the spot where the priests who carried the ark of the covenant had stood. And they are there to this day” (4:9).

 

Now comes the most important part of the story, the “why:” Joshua “said to the Israelites, "In the future when your descendants ask their fathers, 'What do these stones mean?' tell them, 'Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground.' For the LORD your God dried up the Jordan before you until you had crossed over. The LORD your God did to the Jordan just what he had done to the Red Sea when he dried it up before us until we had crossed over. He did this so that all the peoples of the earth might know that the hand of the LORD is powerful and so that you might always fear the LORD your God" (4:21-24).

 

But this action had another equally important result: “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” (5:1).

 

The generation of Israelites who crossed the Red Sea on dry land had spent the first part of their lives building pyramids, giant, “wonder of the world” tombs, for dead humans thought to be gods whom the God of the Israelites defeated in a series of plagues. That generation was supposed to raise this generation on the wonder-filled stories of the powerful and gracious God who set them free from their sin and captivity.  Now this generation took only a few moments to gather 12 simple stones which had come from the middle of the dried-up Jordan River, from the place where the Ark of the Covenant which symbolically represented the presence of God Himself who had provided safe passage into the land of freedom and prosperity. From these stones Joshua built a simple monument.

 

Human pharaohs posed as false gods needed impressive tombs built by imprisoned and beaten slaves to make sure history remembered their stories. Our living God needed only simple stones selected by free men to prod inquisitive minds. Nothing about these 12 stones was man-made. They were not formed into a tower. They were not engraved or written upon. Yet these 12 “memorial stones “are there to this day” (4:9) reminding generations of God’s love and power.

 

Stories passed from generation to generation are important. Stories of real men who have been in the presence of God, stories of men who have heard His voice and obeyed it, have the power to shape generations. The power is not in the architecture or the skill and craftsmanship of any man; the power is the ability of God to touch hearts and lives, the power of God to set men free of their slavery and bondage to sin and to bring them into the Promised Land, the land flowing with milk and honey.

 

Memorial Day is about stories of brave men and women who have fought and maybe even lost their lives bringing freedom from slavery and bondage to sinful and oppressive governments. Memorial Day is about moms and dads, grandpas and grandmas teaching future generations the story of a nation and keeping a dream alive.  History books are filled with battles and statistics; hearts need to filled by individual people sitting little boys and little girls in their laps and filling their hearts and minds with their own stories of their own sacrifices.

 

My grandpa used to walk me up and down streets filling my head with stories of how things used to be.  We took rides as he recounted the world that shaped him. My other grandpa left me picture books that told the story of his world.  My grandma showed her commitment by taking care of a disabled veteran for close to 40 years.  My other grandma told me about how she went to work to packing parachutes and making lighter-than-air balloons to help out the war cause.  My mom and dad made sure I remembered the real cost of war.

 

Children need stories told by tender hearts on welcoming laps. Whatever our ages and whatever our needs, it is our stories that keep people and dreams alive.  In the 30 or so years of my ministry every funeral I’ve attended or officiated has revolved around stories. Those we love live on through the stories we remember and tell. The best stories are told over and over again till we know them so well we can’t let anyone tell them without getting each detail right. We still laugh or shake our heads every time we hear our favorite stories because they make us feel close to those who are not close by for whatever the reason. Stories give us the strength and courage to go on living despite the pain.  Stories give us the strength and courage to open our hearts to new loves and new experiences because we don’t have give up those we love.  Stories expand our capacity to love so that those we meet for the first time can touch us in a different way.

 

I found this quote I wanted to share with you this morning. Let me share it with you, and then leave you with a final thought.

 

“When Sarah [Abraham’s wife and Isaac’s mother] died, Isaac was left with an empty heart; but when Rebecca [Isaac’s wife] came to him, he was comforted.  The precise blank that death leaves may never be wholly filled, but the heart expands in other directions, and with new objects of affection the gnawing void ceases to be acutely felt.  As old attachments are snapped, new are gradually formed. And even in old age a law of compensation often comes in; children and children’s children bring new interests and pleasures, and the green hues of youth modify the grey of age”  (William Garden Blaikie, The Book of Joshua, Klock & Klock Christian Publishers, originally published 1908, reprinted 1978, pp.125-126).

 

The stones taken from the river were to remind us that God’s presence makes everything around Him holy and eternal.  Death has been defeated allowing us to continue to love those we have lost by retelling their stories over and over and over again. But God’s presence also allows us to continue living, to continue to touch others not only with the stories of our past, but to make new stories with the living. By touching new and living lives and sharing our stories afresh, those we have lost continue to live for another generation. 

 

All of us came to know God because someone shared their personal story and the stories from the Bible with us.  Salvation and eternity require linking the past generation with the next generation. We cannot allow our loss of however dear a loved one keep us from passing their stories on and making new memories with other people. Stories are our link to eternity. Share a few with those you already love this weekend; make some new ones as well and see if God won’t allow you to stretch your heart just a little more.