Have you ever been on a
road trip that you thought would never end? Maybe you had a flat tire or took a
wrong turn. Hours, maybe even a day or two were added to the trip time.
The people in the car
became impatient. The snacks ran out. Your sister was snarling. You had to peel
the back of your legs off the leather seat. You couldn’t wait to get someplace
else, anyplace else but in that car.
Forty years. That’s how
long Joshua’s road trip was. He and his extended family of Israelites left
Egypt hoping for a better life. They had been walking together to a new place
to live for forty years. Forty years of being with the same people. Forty years
of the same trail mix. Forty
years. Are we there yet?
Then, the moment came for
Joshua and his family. A chance to move into a new place. An opportunity to
live a life he had only dreamed about. A challenge and blessing beyond his
imagining.
Joshua and God are looking
out on the horizon together. There is the Jordan River.
And on the other side of that river is a whole new life for Joshua and his
family. All they have to do is cross over the river, just step over the line.
And they will enter a whole new world. Looking down at that
river, how did Joshua feel? Elated? Relieved? READY? Maybe.
But the text says he was
mostly scared. God was about to lead him and all of Israel into a new chapter
in their life together. They would receive the blessing of bountiful land.
Finally, they could rest from their weary travels and live in peace.
Instead of wandering, they
would be settling down. Instead of moving, they would be making a new home. And
as much as Joshua and the people had hoped for this, now that it was here, well
. . .
They were scared. We know
this because in just 9 verses of our Old Testament reading, God has to tell
them 3 times to be courageous. God tells them twice that he will be with them.
And, God tells them to not be terrified.
Can you imagine? God says,
“Here, I have this great life all ready
for you!” And they respond with fear?
Seems like no matter how
things are going for us where we are, it is scary to leave what we know for a
new place. Even if our daily lives are unfulfilling or purposeless we like to
stay with what is familiar. So we stick with it. But that’s not what we have to
do.
Moments come for us when
God says, “I have another option for you.
Do you want to trust me?”
Unbinding
Your Soul author, Martha Grace Reese writes, “Self-relinquishment is at the heart of (Christian) faith.” Most
mature Christians have many moments of this surrender in their lives. Daily surrender
keeps us from staying put where we are when we could really be somewhere else
with God.
A youth at camp had a
Joshua experience. During one of the worship services, she felt this nagging
sense that God had something for her to do. It was pervasive enough that she
was compelled to go up to one of the adults after worship.
She explained that she felt
like God had something for her to do, but she didn’t know what it was. The adult
told her that sometimes we need to say ‘yes’ to God before we know what that
means. So the youth wrote in her
Bible that night: “I say ‘yes’ to you,
God. Whatever that means.”
“Be strong and courageous,” God told Joshua. “I will be with you wherever you go.” Today
you are invited to say a new “yes” to God.
I have asked Tim Binkley
to come and share about a time when he said yes to God.
(Tim Binkley Shares)
Maybe your yes to God
sounds similar to the testimony we just heard or maybe it’s more like the
experience of the youth at camp who said, “I
say ‘yes’ to you, God. Whatever that
means.”
When Joshua and the
Israelites were standing on the banks of the river, the Lord was calling them
to come to the other side. They were
being called to step over the line. And
because they knew that God was with them, they did, and they finally entered
the Promised Land.
Jesus also stepped over
the line when he entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. He knew that he was being called to offer his
life by dying on a cross for the sins of the world. Jesus stepped over the line
for us.
Today marks the beginning
of Holy Week when we relive those final days of Jesus’ life. We are called to follow him as enters the
city of Jerusalem on a donkey, as he goes to the Upper Room on Thursday where he
will share a Last Supper and Passover meal with the disciples, and then on Friday through
the city streets to a wooden cross just outside of Jerusalem where he will die
for our sins. But that’s not the end of our journey because
Holy Week will lead us to Easter Sunday and the good news of the empty tomb.
Holy Week is about
stepping over the line and taking our faith to a whole new level. It’s about letting go of the past and moving
into the future that God has in mind for us.
This morning, we are
invited to come forward to one of the communion stations to receive Holy
Communion and remember what Jesus has done for us. In front of each communion station, you will
notice a line that is taped on the floor.
That line is there to symbolize the line that God is calling us to step
over so that we might turn from our past and receive all that God is offering
us – salvation, new life, forgiveness of sins, hope, encouragement.
Think of this line as your
Jordan River. But it is also your place to cross over into more trust in God.
Ask God what you need to surrender . . . what
you’re afraid of . . . and what might be holding you back. And when you step
over that line to receive Holy Communion, may you hear God saying to you, “Be strong and courageous.”
Jesus stepped over the
line for us. What if we step over the
line for him?
William Temple was the Arch
Bishop of Canterbury in the last century.
In 1931, following a revival service, he led a congregation in the
singing of a hymn that is often sung during Holy Week, “When I Survey the
Wondrous Cross.”
There are four verses of
this hymn and just as the congregation finished the third verse, Arch Bishop
Temple stopped them and asked them to read the words of the last verse to
themselves.
After he gave them enough
time to do this he then said, “Now, if
you believe these words with all of your heart, I want you to sing them as loud
as you can. If you don’t believe in them
at all, then keep silent. And if you
believe them even just a little and want to believe in them more, then sing
them very softly.”
The organ played the last
verse and the two thousand people who were in attendance whispered the final
verse.
Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were an offering far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.
It is said that the people
who were in church that day never forgot that powerful moment.
Let’s sing that hymn together.
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