Archive for April, 2009

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Day Three: Business as Usual

Monday, April 27th, 2009

joshua

As we continue our series through Joshua’s conquest of Jericho, we’ve pretty much established who’s in charge here: Jesus, then Joshua. We have a leadership in place. But what about the people. There’s something really interesting between the lines in Joshua 6: the people don’t do anything extraordinary. The only people who are responsible for the everyday marching and trumpet blowing are the armed men, the priests, and the trumpeters. The others are expected to wait until the seventh day…when they are to shout in celebration.

Here’s the thing: on those days in between, they are to go about their business as usual. Like we discussed yesterday at Harmony, their role in the conquest of Jericho was to do the day-in, day-out things with intentionality. The trumpeters/priests/soldiers needed sustenance and rest. The homes had to be ready when they returned. Meals had to be cooked. There was a lot going on behind the scenes of the marchers that was necessary to make it happen.

That being said, as God works in our city, it will not be because of Day Seven, an Easter Block Party, Worshipfest, or Embrace ECU (our upcoming love war of the campus). God uses events like these to rally the troops. But where the battle is either won or lost is with the people. God will bring revival to our city not through large-scale events, but by everyday people doing the mundane with Gospel-intentionality. We expect that God will bring waves of random people by our events (which is possible, and I am praying for), but the probability goes up astronomically when we are living our lives in light of the Gospel: forming relationships intentionally and inviting people to chase Jesus with us.  For more on this topic, I encourage you to grab the podcast from yesterday when it goes up at HarmonyGreenville.com. For the next month (no church on Mother’s Day), Justin Boulmay and I will be teaching on living missionally. Joshua’s people understood that it took not marching, but the mundane to make things happen. If we grasp the same concept, who knows what Jesus will do?

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Day Two: Someone Has to Lead

Sunday, April 26th, 2009

joshua

If you missed the first post in this series, check it out here (link). The way that Jesus works is through people. He is ultimately in charge, but then He selects men to lead His people according to His commands. We see this in the Exodus (Moses), the invasion of Canaan (Joshua), the expansion of Israel (David), the establishment of the church (Peter), and the mission to the Gentiles (Paul). We even see this today in Scriptural churches (elders).

The leadership of Joshua here in the fall of Jericho cannot be underestimated. Look at verses 10 and 11. Verse 10 reminds us that Joshua is a commander of the people. Not a cheerleader. Not someone to spoon-feed the people of Israel. A commander. And his leadership is so strong that the Scripture says in verse 11 that he ’caused’ the ark to go about the city. This is how well his people/priests listened to him. But here’s a thing about Joshua’s leadership: he was passionate about what God had told him concerning the city of Jericho.

Look at verse 12. Joshua rises early. That’s not in Jesus’ commands…it emerges out of Joshua’s passion for the cause and mission that Jesus had given him. He speaks with authority, and lives with passion. These are the kinds of leaders needed in Greenville. If Jesus is to accomplish His purpose here in Greenville, He will work through leaders who obey Him without question, and are willing to work with passion to accomplish the mission. 

Are you that kind of leader? The kind that works like it depends on you, and prays like it depends on God? A leader willing to rise early, sleep late, and do whatever it takes to see that Jesus is made famous in Greenville? 

If so, I know of a local church that wants you…. and a city that needs you.

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Day One: Jesus, Commander

Saturday, April 25th, 2009

joshua

On Friday, Christians from around our city will gather to pray for our city, to unite with our brothers and sisters, and ultimately to celebrate Jesus. This year’s vision Scripture for this gathering is Joel 2, but the origin of the gathering is from Joshua 6, which is of course the story of Joshua and Jericho. In encouraging my local blog readers to attend the gathering, I want to post daily on some aspects of the Jericho story that you may not have thought of. If you want more information on the Day Seven event, you can visit 6.22 ministries’ website here. Here’s your first thought from Joshua and Jericho:

Walls come down only because of Jesus. 

This seems obvious. Of course this is true. But when we walk about the walls of Jericho, we always focus on what the people do. They walk around the city. They blow trumpets. They shout. But we minimize God’s part here. He’s the One that tells Joshua to do this. The plan originates with Him. And He’s also the one that brings the walls down. It doesn’t matter if the trumpets’ noise exploited a flaw in the walls’ construction, or if it was supernatural. He designed both science and miracles. If Joshua and the people used a truth from acoustical physics, God put it there. If their act was one of faith, then God responded by supernaturally bringing the walls down. Either way, God did it. But the thought of the day is that the walls come down not just because of ‘God’, some vague being, but because of ‘Jesus’. And for that, we must turn to Joshua 5:13-15

When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing before him with his drawn sword in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said to him, “Are you for us, or for our adversaries?”  And he said, “No; but I am the commander of the army of the Lord. Now I have come.” And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped and said to him, “What does my lord say to his servant?”  And the commander of the Lord’s army said to Joshua, “Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.

Here’s the deal: Joshua meets a man (verse 13), who is also the commander of the Lord’s armies (verse 15). This man can only be Jesus. And Jesus is badass. Seriously. He has a sword in His hand, and Joshua questions as to which side He’s on. And Jesus’ answer is the most hardcore thing ever. Jack Bauer/Chuck Norris/Jean-Claude Van Damme doesn’t touch it.

Joshua: Whose side are you on?

Jesus: No one’s. I control the armies of God. And now I have come.

Hardcore. And Joshua realizes that it is God on earth. For who else could control the armies of God but God Himself? So Joshua does what we should all do before facing a city in battle: bow before Jesus. And Joshua realizes that this is really God’s fight. He’s just a servant. So Joshua does the wise thing, and listens to Jesus’ commands (which we read in Joshua 6:1-5).

Before Day Seven this Friday night, we need to bow before Jesus and realize that it’s His battle, and that it’s already won. We’re just the infantry.

 

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