Listen Up!

 “Listen Up!”

 Message @ Jericho Ridge Community Church – Sunday, Aug 25, 2013

Text: Joshua 9 // Series: “Crossing Over: Life on the Edge of Faith” Family Inclusive

Song: “Everything is Not What It Seems” (from ‘Wizards of Waverly Place)

Well, good morning.  If you are new or visiting with us, welcome.  My name is Brad and I am part of the teaching and leadership team here at JRCC.  This summer we have been making our way through the fourth book in the Old Testament, the book of Numbers and now we are into the next part of the story – the book of Joshua. So today, we are going to dig into part 1 of a 2 part story which has all the makings of a great summer blockbuster because everything is not as it seems.  There’s deception, gullibility, integrity lost and regained.  There’s even an epic battle which we will get to next weekend.  But in all of this, as that song that we just played by Selena Gomez reminds us, everything is not as it seems. 

But lest you get confused, I’m going to cheat and tell you right off the top today what the main point of the passage is: that when we are unclear on what to do, God wants us to ask Him for direction.  When you and I are unsure on which way to turn in our lives, all of heaven is desperately hoping that each of us will tune our ears to the whisper the Holy Spirit and listen up.  Let’s pray and initiate that process as we begin. 

Our summer series here at Jericho has been all about “Crossing Over: Life at the Edge of Faith”.  This is a very real description, not only of this historical journey of the people of ancient Israel as their story plays out in the pages of the Bible, but also your life and mine.  We waffle. Sometimes we display great steps of faith and confidence in God and sometimes we doubt He exists.  We live so much of our lives on or close to that line between faith and unbelief.  And in our story today, we’re going to see that this is not only true of the people of Israel but it is also true of their leaders.

Let me remind you where we’ve been over the course of the summer months in our journey together.  When the people of Israel left Egypt, they wandered in the wilderness for 40+ years.  And now they are poised at the edge of the land that God has promised to bring them to, they are ready to cross over.  They start out with a fantastic military and spiritual victory at Jericho where the walls fall down.  This is followed quickly by the text that Mike preached on last weekend – their initial defeat by a fairly small city Ai because of the hidden sins and disobedience of a man named what? [Achan]

So here we are at the start of Joshua 9 so let’s pick up the story in 9:1-2. 

So there’s a huge army amassing, which we will get to next weekend.  These kings have heard not only about God’s incredible wonders and power that He has shown on behalf of Israel – dividing the Red Sea and the Jordan River so they could walk through on dry land; giving them miraculous military victory over nations double their size; the amazing story of how the walls of the city of Jericho fell down with only a shout.  They were understandably freaked out.  But they had also heard, perhaps, of the defeat of the people of Israel at Ai and they may have thought “ah ha! They are not invincible after all.  Perhaps we all join together, we can beat them!”  But one group, one little cluster of 4 small cities, decides on a different tactic.  They resort to a ruse, deception, to save themselves.  Let’s keep reading.  [Verses 3-6] 

The Israelites are suspicious, and rightly so because everything is not quite what it seems.  The people of Israel have been explicitly instructed by God not to make treaties of peace with people who live in the land.  The reason for this command which God gives in the book of Exodus 34 and again in Deuteronomy 20:15 is that these local people do not worship the One True God. They are deeply committed to other idols and sources of power, purpose and meaning for their lives.  God knows that if these peoples are allowed to remain and co-mingle with Israel, they will draw the hearts of His people away from Him.  And sure enough, over time, this happens.  Almost inevitably, faith begins to erode when people closest to you don’t share it.  We grow confused and unclear as to what is right and wrong and we can begin to make compromised decisions.   

But intriguingly, God gave His people a gracious provision to ask Him for clear direction when and if they ran into any challenges in knowing what they should do in these encounters.  In Numbers 27:21, God specifically said to Joshua When direction from the Lord is needed, go and ask the priest and you can consult me together.  It is an open and clear invitation.  God wants to be asked. But even though the leaders of the people of Israel are suspicious about the Gibeonites, they make a critical and massive error.  They fail to consult God.  This is the point of this whole chapter summed up in one sentence: “But they failed to consult the Lord.”   

The scene, as told from the perspective of the people of Gibeon, is dramatic.  Parched, dry, dusty travelers stumble into the camp… “water… Water!  We need water!” and they spill their sorry story and supposed mission.  “Your servants have come from a very distant country. We have heard of the might of the Lord your God and of all he did in Egypt. 10 We have also heard what he did to the two Amorite kings east of the Jordan River… 11 So our elders and all our people instructed us, ‘Take supplies for a long journey. Go meet with the people of Israel and tell them, “We are your servants; please make a treaty with us.”’12 “This bread was hot from the ovens when we left our homes. But now, as you can see, it is dry and moldy. 13 These wineskins were new when we filled them, but now they are old and split open. And our clothing and sandals are worn out from our very long journey.”  But everything is not as it seems.

Here is where the leaders go wrong…  They smell the sandals, they taste the bread and they come to their own conclusions.  They failed to consult the Lord.  Which brings us to this morning’s installment of everyone’s favorite game show: “Which one is older?”  [Music CUE: Who Wants to Be A Millionaire]

• Exhibit 1 – Goh brothers.  People often get them confused… Which one is older?  How do you know?
• Exhibit 2 – Stuffed animals – what is your clue?
• Exhibit 3 – Booster seats – materials they are made out of
• Exhibit 4 – Sandals – close up look (sense of smell will tell you).    
• Exhibit 5 – Cheeses – taste (bit confusing… isn’t it?)
• Exhibit 6 – TV shows – Polka Dot Door (1971) or MASH (1972)

The point is that sometimes things are clear. But often they are NOT.  Sometimes, it is fairly easy to assess things and in these situations, God have given you and brain and He wants you to use it.  But so often in our lives, things are not always as they seem and it is in these kinds of situation, where you need good input and advice, and here is where the really good news kicks in: God invites you & I to talk with Him.  I love the way James 1:5 puts this invitation, I almost think its worth putting on the back of a jersey as a reminder:  “If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking.” 

You see, so often, we get caught in the trap of looking at something from a strictly naturalistic point of view and we can get drawn in and sometimes deceived because we fail to consult the Lord.  Oh, that commercial for that religion looks nice – they seem like they are all about families and warm fuzzies.  Oh, that school over there must be full of nothing but perfect people for my kids to hang out with because it has the label ‘Christian’ on the building.  Oh, that church must be the right place for me because all of my friends go there.  In a complex world like the one in which we live, you and I need wisdom from above to make good decisions.  We need to slow down and ask God to give us His perspective on things.

For me, this happens primarily through listening to God in prayer and through Scripture intake.  If I am going through my day and I bump up against a difficult counseling situation that I am not sure how to handle…  I can smell the sandals and examine the bread, but I might not get the full picture.  I need to stop and quietly ask God during the flow on the conversation “God, what is really going on here below the surface?”  If I am thinking about making a major decision at home or church, I can push ahead with what I think is best, but I have often discovered later that I didn’t have all the facts and I regretted not taking the time to pray about it and to ask God for wisdom and guidance from His Word and from wise people around me.  Many times you and I end up living with the consequences of bad decisions that were made simply because we failed to ask God for wisdom.  We failed to listen up.           

And that is how the rest of the chapter plays out.  Because it turns out three days later that low and behold, these people actually lived nearby!  But now that the leaders of Israel had made a binding treaty with the people of Gibeon, they are required to stick by their word.  The people of Israel failed to consult the Lord and now they have to live with the consequences of this failure.  In this regard, the story isn’t really about the lying and deception.  Obviously, it is not condoned or applauded by Scripture because, as we’ll see next week, in part 2 of the story of Gibeon, deception may pay temporarily, but never ultimately.  The point of Joshua 9 is that the Israelites, most specifically their leaders, are impulsive and make decisions in a way that doesn’t please the Lord.  They are easily fooled by the sandals and the bread and the dust and they get outwitted by the cunning of the Gibeonites. 

Some of us are living with the painful consequences of having done things in our lives quickly without consulting God.  The marriage relationship that was characterized by deception, which we overlooked as minor at the start but turned into something much, much more toxic.  The business partner that like the people of Gibeon, did whatever was necessary to get ahead and save their neck.  And it worked for a season, but then their dishonesty came to light and you both had to suffer the consequences.  I remember when we were building our house here in Willoughby, we met with our builder and his business partner and Meg said right away “there’s something shady about that business partner guy”.  I relied on appearances “No way, hon.  He’s a former cop, he’s probably just having an off day.  Don’t worry about it.”  Well, it turned out that this guy was real con artist and on another project, he took our builder for a real ride and he lost a ton of money.  You and I would do well to listen up, not only to God, but also to the people around us who carefully listen to Him and use the gifts of discernment and wisdom that He has given to them. 

This is one of the Questions to ask about my decisions that is an application point from Joshua 9…

1. Where am I acting impulsively and quickly vs. slowing down & listening?

This is one of the gifts of a community of faith that God has given to you.  A sense of collective wisdom and a committed core of people who are more than willing to seek God together with you to ask what is on God’s heart for your life and in the challenges that you and I face every day.  That’s why we have a prayer team available to you each and every weekend here on Sunday mornings.  They would love to ask God for wisdom together with you for anything that is going on in your life. 

Because this is often the objection I get when I talk about listening to God…  How do I know what to ask God about?  I mean, can’t I just make decisions on my own.  Do I need to ask him about what socks to wear in the morning?  I remember when Meg and I first got married we had a hard and fast rule about how much money you could spend alone without consulting the other partner.  We were poor students so it wasn’t very much.  But over time, as our relationship and our trust of one another developed, as we got to know each other much better we did away with the fixed dollar amount because after 14.5 years of marriage, we just kinda know what the other person would think about that spending decision.  I think in some ways, this is the same thing that we hope and pray for each one of you in your relationship with God… a depth that leads you beyond the superficial things into places where God is speaking actively and vibrantly to you about all aspects of your life.  So the second question to ask, which Joshua and the leaders didn’t, is

1. Where am I seeing things superficially as opposed to supernaturally?

This is part of our mission statement here at Jericho Ridge.  We aspire to be a loving and listening community…  And we listen not only horizontally to those in our neighbourhoods and to one another, but we also listen vertically – we listen UP – to what God is saying to each and every one of us.  We believe with our hearts that each and every one of you, from the oldest to the youngest, can learn to hear from God.  This is our goal, in fact, at JRCC.  To help each of us become listeners.  This is why we invite and challenge you to get into God’s Word – Project 3:45 – 3 minutes and 45 second of reading 5 days a week can help turn your into a listener.  Kids, when you spend time in Kids at the Ridge this fall, our goal and desire is for you to learn who God is so that you develop that relationship and your ears learn to hear what God is saying to you.  That’s why teachers who listen to the Lord are so important to us here at JRCC.   

And as we move into a time of communion, I want you to think of a decision that you are processing in your life right now or that is coming up.  Ask yourself what is the speed of your life and process & what is the depth of that vertical relationship (does your life look like that of a person who wants to hear from God?”).  Let’s pray together as the team comes. 

COMMUNION

At the end of the day, the people of Gibeon receive something they do not deserve: mercy.  As we move into a time of communion response, I am reminded that just like the people of Gibeon, all of us are “outsiders”. All who receive God’s grace are grafted in where we don’t belong”.  At its heart, this is the message of the cross and the invitation that is extended to us at the communion table.  You and I don’t need, in fact we can’t weasel our way into relationship with God… We come just as we are.  We come to God and say “this is me… warts and wounds and all.”  And by God’s mercy which is shown most clearly at the cross, Jesus says “I am inviting you into a covenant relationship with me.  But this covenant of peace is not based on who you are or what you do.  I know you too well for that.  It is entirely based on who I AM and what I have done on the cross for you.”  In fact, this is a new kind of covenant which is sealed by my own shed blood.  As a ragamuffin community of people on the journey of faith together, we are invited in 2 Cor to gather together and to use very earthy stuff - bread and the fruit of the vine, some churches use wine, we use grape juice especially today since we have kids present with us to help us remember this covenant.  The bread reminds us of His body.  This juice functions as a symbol of the blood of Jesus that was poured out for the forgiveness of sins.  And as we take it into our bodies, we are saying yet again “I trust you”.  As we to if you are not in a place today where you have trusted Christ as you forgiver and leader, then we would respectfully ask you to abstain from coming to the table.  This isn’t Jericho’s table so we don’t police it.  Parents, we ask you to use your own judgment and see this as a teaching moment with your kids.  If they understand the meaning and have come into a relationship with God, then we would welcome you to invite them to the table with you to reaffirm and remind yourselves as a family about the precious invitation we have received. 

As you come, prayer team is here.  If you have sensed that God is inviting you to come into His family, listen up as we worship.