“Be Courageous: The Impossible” Joshua 6: 8-21

One of my favorite type of spiritual song is the spiritual. Most of us know them, we just don’t know where they came from. There is an old spiritual written about today’s bible passage: “Joshua fought the battle of Jericho, Jericho, Jericho. Joshua fought the battle of Jericho, An’ the walls come tumblin’ down.” Spirituals were Christian songs written by slaves that spoke both of Biblical stories and truths and had a much deeper meaning. For example, this spiritual also speaks of escaping from slavery as well as today’s Biblical text. 

We are now in our final week of our sermon series focusing on the book of Joshua found in the old testament. We have been exploring different ways to be courageous - preparing to follow God and putting God first in our lives. 

This week, our text takes us to a favorite story of Sunday School children - the battle of Jericho. Jericho was the first battle fought by the Israelites as they are entering into the promised land. However, it is a bit of a different battle, with an odd battle plan under the leadership of Joshua. The Israelite army didn’t rush into the city, taking it as their own. Instead, they marched around the city once a day for six days before the trumpets were blown and a loud shout came up from the people of Israel, causing the walls of the city to fall. 

The battle plan was not the most conventional, but it would set the tone for the rest of time Israel would be claiming the land. This was their first test of obedience - would the follow this plan that didn’t make sense to them, but that God had communicated to their leader Joshua, or would they try to go their own way instead. 

Every day we have a very similar choice to make in the world. Are we going to live our lives in a way that others would think to be unconventional, but as God calls us to live through scripture, or are we going to go about life the way that makes sense to everyone else. 

This morning in your bulletin you should have found a  piece of paper entitled “Journey Markers”. The first question is about how long you have attended worship at Grace or St. Paul’s. Think about it - the longer you walk with Christ the more you should be growing in obedience to Christ. It is not always easy growth, but it comes from choosing to follow God’s ways time and time again. 

The battle of Jericho was the first battle for the Israelites. It was going to set the tenor of every battle to follow. If you have read the book of Joshua before, you know that it wasn’t always easy for the people to follow Joshua’s instructions to them. In fact, there were some moments in the book where they were just as disobedient as they were back in the story told in Exodus. But this battle, where they were faithful, become the launching off point for everything to come. They had been faithful and obedient to God in the past so they knew they could be faithful and obedient to God in the future. 

We don’t necessarily expect the same obedience from new Christians as we do from folks who have been walking with Christ for years, because obedience is born out of trusting God and relying on God’s faithfulness, which comes with time. I invite you now to take time to mark down how long you have been attending worship in this particular church, however short or long, though we fully recognize that how long you have been attending worship with us may or may not be a reflection of how long you have been walking with Christ.

The last few weeks we have been talking about how the Israelites prepared for this journey to the promise land - packing what they needed and preparing themselves physically and spiritually. This is true for us on our Christian journey as well. We need to be prepared for whatever we may face. In fact, if we are not prepared we are more likely to be disobedient. How do you think the Israelites would have reacted to this plan to walk about the city walls for six days instead of trying to seize it immediately if they had not prepared? Probably not quite as willing to take the risk of following this seemingly impossible way, if not for that preparation.

We too, need to prepare. And while I acknowledge that each of us may prepare a bit differently, I am also aware that there are four things we all need to do in order to face the seemingly impossible together for God. The first is to worship. While we aren’t going to study it in this particular sermon series, the ending of the book of Joshua is all about worship - the people being called together to worship and to follow the most important command when they worship - to worship Yahweh and no other gods. We come together as the people of God to put God first, to learn about God, and to praise God together. The second is to pray daily. Prayer is the basic way we communicate with God. We talk to God through prayer, not because we want to get something in return, but simply to spend time in the presence of God. Think about talking to a friend or a spouse, if you only communicated when you wanted something it would not be a very life-giving relationship. So it is with God - we pray to spend time with the one who loves us the most. Third, read the Bible. We believe the Bible is the living word of God which teaches us about life and how to best represent Christ in the world. We need to be in the word in order to live out the word. One of my chief pet-peeves is when people tell me what they think the Bible says about something instead of what it actually says, not just in what is written but in the rich context and history surrounding it. We can never stop learning from the Bible, so we need to continually be reading it, daily. Lastly, studying scripture with other people. Our faith is both personal and communal. We need other people to study the word with us so we can hear what God is pointing out to them, because it may just be what we need to hear. We recognize things differently when we are studying scripture together, and it also gives us a group to hold us accountable to growing in Christ. 

Once we are prepared, we are sent forth to face the impossible - to help grow the Kingdom of God by sharing our faith in different ways, just as the Israelites were sent out once they were prepared. Once again, this may look a bit different for each of us, but there are three things we are all called to do Biblically - first, to tithe. Tithing, or giving a certain percentage of our income serves two purpose - first it allows the work of the Church to take place and second it strengthens us to trust God with every aspect of our lives, including our finances. Note in today’s passage that the Israelites were told to give everything to the Lord’s treasury. While God certainly deserves everything we have, we are instructed to give the first ten percent back to God, leaving the other ninety for our discretion. I am fully aware that this is a hard practice, but what would it look like to give 2 percent or 3 percent, working your way up to ten, if you have never tithed before? Second, sharing our faith. There are many different ways to share our faith, but we are called to share the good news of Jesus Christ as often as we can so that others may come to know the God we love and Savior we follow. Lastly, serve in a ministry. For some this may mean serving as a children’s church teacher inside of the church for others it may mean being a camp counselor or sorting food for community action - we are all called to serve others, to love our neighbors, in whatever way we feel lead in particular to use our gifts and talents.

Now I want you to fold up your journey marker sheet. If you wrote your name anywhere on it cross it out. If you feel comfortable doing so, please pass it in the offering plates being passed around. Joshua lead the people because he knew the people he was leading. He knew where they needed growth and what their strengths are. These sheets will help me see, as your leader, where we need to grow as a congregation in 2016 so we can trust God more fully. Do we need to focus more or preparation or more on facing the impossible? Let us face 2016 brothers and sisters, together, on this journey to glorify the Kingdom of God. Amen.