Evening SermonSeptember 16, 2007Memorial DayText Memorial Day is a very meaningful holiday for our country, a day to remember and to honor the men and women who have lost their lives in the armed services of the United States of America. It is a solemn celebration. It is a celebration of our freedom and military strength, one that calls to mind the painful price which has had to paid for that freedom, measured by the lives of American citizens killed in service. Memorial Day is also a day for parades. It is a day for flags to be flying and emotions to be high. It is not so much a day merely to grieve for those who have died, but a day to honor them. It is a day to remember the courage and the patriotism of otherwise ordinary American citizens. So, if last week was D-Day in the life of Joshua, today is Memorial Day. Yet for Joshua and the people of Israel, Memorial Day clearly wasn't a day to remember the dead. Rather, it was a day to remember the works of God. That was the memorial. It was a day to remember what God had done for his people, and God instructs Joshua to use certain signs to help the people remember. I.GOD PROVIDES HIS PEOPLE WITH SIGNS AND MEMORIALS. Very specific directions, v.1-6a I expect that it was quite an honor to be selected as one of those 12 men. Only one man from each tribe. 3:12 You also get the impression they were pretty big stones to be taken. This was going to be very significant and substantial memorial. Illus: Just think of the memorials in the Washington D.C. mall, the area around the Capital Building, the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian Museum, and the White House. In that same area are the huge and impressive Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monument. If you have never visited any of those, then you have really missed a part of American history. You get the feeling that this memorial set up by Joshua is on the same scale as the Washington Monument. It is a huge thing. We are all used to memorials. We often use pictures as memorials, and never is that more obvious than with wedding pictures. Why do people take wedding pictures? Why do they hang them up on their walls or keep them in fancy albums? As a memorial, as a sign, as an obvious remembrance of a very significant event. God provides his people with many such memorials. These stones in the Jordan provide an excellent explanation of the purpose of memorials. For these stones in the Jordan are, A. A sign of God's faithfulness to care for his people. Look more closely at, v.8-9 Some discussion on whether v.9 refers to a separate memorial, or if it just refers to the same stones as the one memorial. Apparently there were two memorials. One at camp, on the western side of the Jordan, and the other right in the middle of the Jordan. Why 12 stones, why 12 men? That represented all 12 tribes of Israel, all of Israel. And why did those stones come from the middle of the Jordan River? And why was a separate memorial established in the middle of the river? Because the middle of the Jordan is where the ark was. And remember, where the ark was, God was. The stones came from the exact place where God stood to stop the water so that all the people could cross over into the promised land. v.10 The stones represented God's faithfulness, his covenant faithfulness. God had promised this land to Abraham, when that covenant was first established. God promised Abraham that he would receive the land as an inheritance, and that his descendants would be as numerous as the sand on the seashore. And God is faithful to keep his promise! And God is faithful to care for all his covenant people. We often sing about God's faithfulness to care for his people with the words: "Come, thou fount of every blessing, tune my heart to sing thy grace." "Here I raise my ebenezer; hither by thy help I'm come; and I hope, by thy good pleasure, safely to arrive at home. Jesus sought me when a stranger, wandering from the fold of God: he, to rescue me from danger, interposed his precious blood." What in the world is an ebenezer? It comes from a story in the life of Samuel. 1Sam. 7:10 Now as Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel. But the LORD thundered with a loud thunder upon the Philistines that day, and so confused them that they were overcome before Israel. 11 And the men of Israel went out of Mizpah and pursued the Philistines, and drove them back as far as below Beth Car. 12 Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen, and called its name Ebenezer, saying, "Thus far the LORD has helped us." 13 So the Philistines were subdued, and they did not come anymore into the territory of Israel. And the hand of the LORD was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel. The ebenezer was the stone which meant, "thus far has the Lord helped us." Literally it means, "the stone of help." Do you have such ebenezers in your life? Do you have such stones in the Jordan? Do you any signs and memorials of how the Lord has helped you and been faithful to care for you? Those signs are very useful and very encouraging to our faith. For Joshua, these stones were also, B. A sign of God's supernatural power. Let's review the events, and imagine that you are actually there watching. Or imagine that we are doing a reenactment. Put yourself into the picture, and imagine what you might be feeling. v.10-20 40,000 men armed for battle. A river at flood stage made completely dry for 30 miles. Water is walled up at either side. And no sooner had they set their feet on the dry ground than the waters of the Jordan returned to their place and ran at flood stage as before. If those 12 stones set up in the middle of the Jordan, and those 12 stones set up at Gilgal remind us of anything at all, they should remind us of God's supernatural power. Don't underestimate the power of God! God is able to do immeasurably more than all you ask or even imagine. So don't underestimate the power of God when you pray. Don't ask just for small things. Don't pray with the false humility of expecting very little. Ask for big things. Expect to see God's power. And what you pray for, and how you pray, will indicate how much of God's power you expect to see! I'm not talking about the power of positive thinking. I'm talking about the power of Almighty God! Don't be a pessimist. Don't be negative in your approach to life. Don't live in constant fear. Live with the awareness that the God who stopped the waters of the Jordan River is the God who loves you and still cares for you with his supernatural power. And expect to see that power working in your own life! These verses go on to give us two specific reasons for the memorial signs. The first is that, II. SIGNS ARE A WONDERFUL WAY TO TEACH ABOUT THE WORKS OF THE LORD TO THE NEXT GENERATION OF CHILDREN. v.6-7 v.21-22 God is always concerned about the training of future generations. Ps. 145:4 "One generation shall praise Your works to another, And shall declare Your mighty acts." Ps. 71:18 "Now also when I am old and grayheaded, O God, do not forsake me, Until I declare Your strength to this generation, Your power to everyone who is to come." Ps. 78:4 "We will not hide them from their children, Telling to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, And His strength and His wonderful works that He has done. 5 For He established a testimony in Jacob, And appointed a law in Israel, Which He commanded our fathers, That they should make them known to their children; 6 That the generation to come might know them, The children who would be born, That they may arise and declare them to their children, 7 That they may set their hope in God, And not forget the works of God, But keep His commandments; 8 And may not be like their fathers, A stubborn and rebellious generation, A generation that did not set its heart aright, And whose spirit was not faithful to God." Sadly, the next generation wasn't too faithful. They didn't learn the lessons of these signs. And the very place of this memorial, Gilgal, became a place of false worship. Hosea 9:15 "All their wickedness is in Gilgal, For there I hated them. Because of the evil of their deeds I will drive them from My house; I will love them no more. All their princes are rebellious." Amos 5:4 "For thus says the LORD to the house of Israel: "Seek Me and live; 5 But do not seek Bethel, Nor enter Gilgal, Nor pass over to Beersheba; For Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, And Bethel shall come to nothing. 6 Seek the LORD and live, Lest He break out like fire in the house of Joseph, And devour it, With no one to quench it in Bethel." God knew that the next generation had to learn to serve him and love him. He knew that the next generation would also be tempted by sin and rebellion. And God tells the Israelites, just as clearly as he tells us today, proclaim to the next generation the mighty works of the Lord! And one of the best ways of doing that is with signs and memorials. Illus: I still remember a trip I took with my family as a teenager, up to the city of St. John, in the Canadian province of New Brunswick. We drove up through Connecticut and Massachusetts, through Maine and into Canada, and spent several days at a cabin owned by my grandfather's brother. On that trip, we toured the city of St. John, and in a park in the middle of town is a large statue of Sir Arthur Tilley, one of the founding fathers of Canadian history. Well, Sir Arthur Tilley is a direct ancestor of my grandmother, also raised in St. John, New Brunswick. It was very meaningful for me, as a teenager, to see that statue of my not-too-distant ancestor. My grandmother had prepared a thorough genealogy of the Willet family, and it is the Tilley family that I remember the most, in part because of seeing this statue. We learn things that we can see. Memorials are a great way to teach children, as we see here an example of the reality that, A. Children learn by asking their parents questions. So obvious in, v.6,21 Not a matter if children will ask questions, but when. And the responsibility to teach those children lies primarily with the parents. Deut. 6:20 "When your son asks you in time to come, saying, 'What is the meaning of the testimonies, the statutes, and the judgments which the LORD our God has commanded you?' 21 "then you shall say to your son: 'We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, and the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand; 22 'and the LORD showed signs and wonders before our eyes, great and severe, against Egypt, Pharaoh, and all his household. 23 'Then He brought us out from there, that He might bring us in, to give us the land of which He swore to our fathers. 24 'And the LORD commanded us to observe all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God, for our good always, that He might preserve us alive, as it is this day. 25 'Then it will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to observe all these commandments before the LORD our God, as He has commanded us.'" Exod. 12:24 "And you shall observe this thing as an ordinance for you and your sons forever. 25 "It will come to pass when you come to the land which the LORD will give you, just as He promised, that you shall keep this service. 26 "And it shall be, when your children say to you, 'What do you mean by this service?'" One of the reasons that God uses signs and memorials is to teach children. If you have children, use those signs today to teach your children. The Lord's Supper is the most obvious. Even for children who are not yet mature enough to receive that sacrament, it is a wonderful occasion to ask questions. Parents ought to teach their children about each part of the worship service, and why we do the things that we do, and what they mean. But will they be interested? Will they ask questions? In this generation, the common thinking is that children will only be interested if they are the center of attention, and so many families have made their children the center of attention. Result so often, the children get bored unless they are being constantly entertained. I believe that the principle here in Joshua is that: B. Children will learn by observing what is important to their parents. In other words, the questions will come when children see that something is important to their parents. If you want to pass along to your children your faith, then show them how important it is in your life. If you want your children to be faithful to God, and a faithful part of his church, then show them that your relationship with God and with his church is important to you. So you shouldn't bring your children to church, or to Sunday School, because it is important for them. Bring them because it is important for you to be there. Don't pray with your children or read the Bible with your children because you think it is important for them to learn to do those things. Pray with them and read with them, because that is an important part of your life. That may not seem like a big difference to you, but I think that it will be a very big difference to your children. Children will learn their most enduring lessons by observing what is important to their parents, and asking questions about it. And in the church, it is the responsibility of all of us to assist the parents in raising their children. And part of that assistance is showing the children what is important to us. That is one reason God gave the Israelites this memorial. There was another reason: III. SIGNS ARE A USEFUL WAY TO PROCLAIM THE WORKS OF THE LORD. v.23-24 God instructs Joshua to erect this memorial in order to proclaim the power of God. The Lord wants evident and obvious testimonies of his power and his glory. He wants his people to be constantly reminded of his power. And just like the Israelites, we need that reminder. We need that encouragement. We need those signs. And we need to use those signs of God's power when we share our faith with unbelievers, because, A. Unbelievers will be humbled by the evidence of God's power. v.24 God is using this sign as a witness, a witness for all the nations. As Christians, our testimony to unbelievers must be that God is powerful. So when unbelievers look at your life, and when they look at the life of our church, what do they conclude about the power of God? In other words, do they see the power of God at work in your life? Do they see a difference in your life, a difference that can be explained only by the presence of God? And do they see the power of God at work in the life of our church? We as a church out to consider our mission as a church to erect a memorial in the middle of our Jordan River, a memorial that testifies of God's power, power that is at work within us, here in this community. Unbelievers will be humbled by the evidence of God's power, and they will be attracted to that God of power. Would that unbelievers be attracted to this church because they see God's power working in us. What a glorious day that would be! Yet signs and memorials aren't just for unbelievers. They are also for believers. They proclaim God's power, which humbles unbelievers, but moves believers to praise and worship. B. Believers will be moved to sincere worship by the evidence of God's power. God wants his people to respond to his power with reverent, sincere, genuine worship. And the word that sums up that response is fear. v.24 Fear does not mean here a slavish dread. It does not mean terror and intimidation. It does not imply judgment or condemnation, neither guilt nor shame. Rather fear is the word used to describe the response of deep respect, of awe, and honor when we see God's power. The word fear could best be translated reverence. To fear the Lord in this sense is to honor him with your sincere worship. And that is the response he most wants from us. God does not want us to honor him because of the threat of punishment or the dread of condemnation. He does not want us to honor him because we are terrified of him. God wants us to honor him because we have seen his power and his goodness. Exod. 14:31 "Thus Israel saw the great work which the LORD had done in Egypt; so the people feared the LORD, and believed the LORD and His servant Moses." They were not in terror of him, they were in awe. God wants us to honor him because we have experienced his forgiveness. Jer. 33:8 'I will cleanse them from all their iniquity by which they have sinned against Me, and I will pardon all their iniquities by which they have sinned and by which they have transgressed against Me. 9 'Then it shall be to Me a name of joy, a praise, and an honor before all nations of the earth, who shall hear all the good that I do to them; they shall fear and tremble for all the goodness and all the prosperity that I provide for it.' Ps. 130:3 "If You, LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? 4 But there is forgiveness with You, That You may be feared." When you see the evidence of God's power at work in our lives, you should be filled with awe and moved to sincere worship. So what are the memorials that God has provided in your life? Think about it. What are the stones in the Jordan for you, the events or circumstances that demonstrate God's power in your life? It is good to think that way. Memorials are good. Looking back on your life is good. But not for the purpose of longing for the good old days. God is not suggesting that we go on some long sentimental journey, nostalgically wishing things were the way they used to be. No, looking back is good so that you can be reminded of how the power of God has been at work in your life. And when your are reminded of how God has been at work in your past, you can find the courage to believe that his power will continue to be at work in your future. Remember what God has done in your life. And when you see those stones, learn from them and be reminded by them that the hand of the Lord is powerful. Then worship him.
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