“What Lies Ahead" Joshua 1: 1-11

The book of Joshua is known for two things - the statement that we find repeated throughout today’s passage “Be Strong and Courageous” and the story of the Battle of Jericho. For the next three weeks we are going to dive deeper into the text of Joshua, looking both at these familiar passages and some others, and seeing how the stories found within this book apply to our lives today.

The book of Joshua continues the story of the people of Israel’s escape from Egypt and journey into the promise land. While Moses was the leader who brought the people out of the land of Egypt by the call and promise of God, and gave them their new law of the covenant, as well as ventured with them in the wilderness for 40 years, Moses could only take the people so far. He was prohibited from taking the people into the promise land. His past sin of killing an Egyptian who was beating a Hebrew made him go as far as the corner of the promise land, seeing it in all of its glory, but he was not allowed to be the one to lead the people across the threshold. 

Now a new leader has been appointed and installed by God - Joshua. But there is a small hiccup in the people’s claim to the promise land. Other people are living there. So Joshua must make military campaigns to enter into the land. What we find in today’s scripture is Joshua being called by God to be the people’s new leader and then Joshua’s address to the people of Israel.

Many folks have memory verses - verses of scripture that are committed to memory to be recalled at a later time - usually a time of trial. Amongst the verses folks memorized the statement made by God to Joshua is amongst the favorites, “Be strong and courageous.” We love the idea of God calling us to be strong and instilling courage in us, but when we lose the context of the verses, we displace their importance.

Consider this: the people of Israel have been wondering in the wilderness for nearly 40 years after escaping enslavement under the Pharaoh. Things have not necessarily been smooth. The people were hit with disease and famine from time to time because of their disobedience against God. They turned against God and Moses by building idols. They have complained so much that Moses had grown weary of them for a period of time. But even though the people and Moses often bumped heads, they still trusted Moses. However, now Moses is dead. Who is going to lead them into the promise land?

Even though the people appeared to be leader-less, the goal still remained the same - to get to the promise land. It is what God had called the people to do. It is what Moses risked his very life for. They are almost there, they can feel it, yet it seems so far away without someone to help them take the final steps - crossing the Jordan and claiming the land. So God raised up a leader - Joshua from amongst them. One who would be faithful and obedient. 

But that doesn’t make Joshua’s task any easier. He was probably still morning the death of his leader and mentor - Moses. He was caught between needing to mourn and this call to move forward. God showed up with a big call on Joshua’s life - not only to lead, but accompanied with the promise that everywhere Joshua set his foot, will be given to him and the people of Israel.

We like the phrase “be strong and courageous” because of their power, but Joshua needed to hear them from God. He needed them to move him forward. He needed them because the task seemed insurmountable - too big for him to comprehend on his own. And the task called for great risk in the face of danger.

We don’t call people courageous for doing simple things. No, we call people courageous for taking big risks. For being every-day heroes amongst us. And we may not like it, Church, but we have the same call as Joshua in a way today. No, not the call to go and engage in war for the purpose of conquering land, but the call to be strong and courageous in the face of insurmountable odds. To face the risk of rejection in order to bring froth the message of Good News. To face statistics that aren’t in our favor. We face the call to do the hard work of making God’s name known so people can come to know the saving love of Jesus Christ. And that means we can no longer simply do things as we have always done them.

Joshua could chosen to ignore the call of God, stayed behind mourning the death of Moses, and never moving the people forward into the Promise Land. Let’s be honest, we have plenty of churches that do that every day. Churches that think if they just hold on, doing what they have always done, that things will turn around. Churches that don’t want to risk changing something about themselves so new people can come, just as they are, and hear about Jesus Christ. We would rather have people come and adapt to us, because there is less risk in that, but that is no longer what we are called to do. It is no longer true that if we just keep the doors open people will flood in, or that if we hold a special event the next logical step for folks is to show up in worship Sunday morning. We now live in a world where people have to have multiple contacts with church folks where they consistently feel honored and loved before they can trust them. And by multiple, I do not mean 1 or 2, I mean 20 or 30. And that takes the risk of time. But it comes with such a beautiful reward.

What lies ahead for us is directly correlated to whether we are willing to risk being strong and courageous. And being strong and courageous often means risking to do what others see as foolish and going to the places others will not go for the sake of the Gospel message. I want to share with you some of the stories of hope I know about churches taking risks. One pastor I know has been offering free seasonal clothing once a month in her town. While it is important to offer this service in order to meet direct needs of those in her community, more importantly, relationships are being built between people from the church and community members. People are being prayed for. Hope is being shared, all because of the depth of these emerging relationships and the trust that is being built with consistency. Another pastor is offering a monthly service with a meal catered by Panera, so that people get to know each other’s stories and a safe space is created where people don’t feel like they have to have it all together or know everything before entering into a space for worship. The church is intentionally thinking about the potential obstacles that could prevent people from coming to worship and they are setting aside their familiar liturgies and known hymns so that new people can come and meaningful connect with God for the first time. Another church is having open discussions in local restaurants where people can come and talk about issues of faith in a deep way. No question is seen as off limits and people are starting to learn how to share their faith in a respectful way and people keep coming back. Another church decided to serve their community in Lent, by honoring a different group every week with a small gift and to let them know they are being prayed for. Instead of having a mid-week Lenten service they came together to create and deliver the gifts and then come back together to pray for the names of the people they just met. Another church is packing backpacks full of food for a local elementary school to distribute on Fridays so children could be fed during the weekend. 

There is no magical formula to engaging our community in a strong and courageous way. And sometimes the risks we take do not work out the way we expect. But we have a choice to make - here and now and in the coming days - are we going to stay the same for the sake of our own comfort or are we going to go out and engage new people in new ways? Are we going to be strong and courageous? Are we going to take a risk for the sake of the Kingdom of God, the Promised Land? Amen.