A Walk Through Joshua: A Faith that was Assured

A Faith that was Assured
Verses 17-24

The author tells us that after Rahab had helped the spies and asks for mercy from the coming judgement of God the spies make an agreement with her to spare her and her family when the city finally falls. The spies tell Rahab that she needed to tie a scarlet cord in her window so that when the Israelites attacked the city they would know that her house was to be kept safe in the midst of judgement. The spies also tell Rahab that she needed to make sure that all her family was in the house because those outside would not be spared. Like Noah’s ark when the floods rose or like the houses with lamb’s blood smeared on the doorframes when the angel of death passed through Egypt, Rahab’s house would not suffer God’s judgement.

And Rahab’s experience of salvation is parallel to all those who come to faith in Jesus Christ today.

For we are Rahab if we truly understand the story!

We were not part of the people of God; we were not one of the faithful Israelites about to administer God’s judgement on the land. We were part of a corrupt and sinful generation that despised God; we were a citizen of Jericho, just as Rahab was.

But we were part of God’s plan; for we were chosen before the foundations of the earth were set. And God who loved us as a son or daughter enacted his sovereign will to lead us to faith – our faith was part of God’s plan. God brought his messengers into our life and through them we learnt of the great act of salvation that God has done in Christ Jesus. We ground our faith in what God has already done; we ground our faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus – We have a faith grounded in what God has done. And we work this faith out in action as we reject the ways of our people and identify with God’s people – We have a faith that works itself out into action.

And as a sign of that, the blood of Jesus, like a scarlet cord, is given to us that we may hang it in our window and over our lives. The blood of Jesus shows God that we are saved and that though we still live in Jericho, we are part of his kingdom.

And now we live as part of his kingdom, although we remain in Jericho as we await the time of his coming judgement and with it our complete deliverance.

Friends if we have faith in Christ then we have a faith that is assured. Like Rahab, we who have faith in the blood of Jesus know that we have the mercy of God and that on the final day when the wicked are judged, we will be shown mercy.

A Walk Through Joshua: A Faith that Worked itself out into Action

A Faith that worked itself out into Action

 So she let them down by a rope through the window, for the house she lived in was part of the city wall. Now she had said to them, “Go to the hills so the pursuers will not find you. Hide yourselves there three days until they return, and then go on your way.” (Joshua 2:15,16)

In James chapter 2 the apostle James is in the middle of his great argument about how faith and works are always inextricably linked and that faith without works is dead! And as he is making his point he turns to his readers (in case they hadn’t agreed with his argument up to this point) and says: “Look at Rahab the prostitute!” he says in Rahab the prostitute you see someone who gets what it means to live of faith that works itself out into action.

Rahab’s faith led to real action, she hid the spies, put her family at risk, she turned her back on her people and joined a foreign nation. Rahab didn’t just hear about God and believe in him. She heard about God, believed he was true and changed her whole life because of it!

We can all too often confine our faith to simply being head knowledge of who God is and what he has done and nothing more. But if that is all our faith is then the bible tells us that we are no different from the demons who know that there is a God and who hear his name and shudder!

Knowledge of God never saves. Faith, working itself out into action is what saves!

See all who lived in Jericho had heard what God had done in Egypt and in the desert, they knew about him but only Rahab acted on this knowledge, only Rahab decided to turn away from the sinfulness of her people and their false gods and seek refuge in the God of Israel. 

Faith must always work itself out into real action in every area of our life. Our faith must be always working itself out in the way we speak, the way we act, the way we use our money, the way we prioritise our time and in our relationships!

So many people hear about God, believe that he is real but never let their faith work out to change their life. They are just like a skydiver who jumps out of his plane believing that the parachute he has can save him, but who never acts on that belief by pulling the cord.

Is your faith more than head knowledge? Are you someone who comes to church each week but on a Monday morning is exactly the same as the person next to him on the street? If you are then learn from Rahab’s faith and work your faith out into life changing action!

A Walk Through Joshua: A Faith that was Grounded in what God had done

A Faith that was Grounded in what God had done

Verses 9-11 of this passage is sometimes called Rahab’s confession. In this confession we see that real faith is always grounded in what God has done. Rahab had faith in God because she knew what God had done for the Israelites, how he delivered them from their slavery to Pharaoh and how he defeated their enemies in the desert. Rahab didn’t just wake up one morning and decide to follow God, rather she had heard what God had done and from these things she knew that there is only one God in heaven above and on Earth below.

If you are in a relationship – a special friend type relationship, then you’ll know that you didn’t fall in love with the other person by just sighing and oohing and ahhing as you looked into each others eyes. Rather you talked and communicated and found out about each other – your pasts, your character your likes and dislikes etc. The notion of love at merely first sight is ridiculous; romance has its basis in knowledge! So too is the case with faith, Rahab’s faith was not just a warm cosy feeling towards God, her faith was a trust based on knowledge of what God had done.

Friends we like Rahab have heard how God has delivered his people and brought judgment to his enemies. We ground our faith in the real and true historical Jesus who died and rose again. Our faith is not just a vague belief that there is a God and that the bible is true so therefore we should live good lives and be kind to people. Nor is it just a warm cosy feeling we get when we hear that God loves us that helps us get through the tough times. No we have heard that God raised this Jesus from the dead showing to the entire world that this Jesus is both Lord and Christ! We know from this that he is alive today and that he has conquered death and sin and that we share in this victory. And we know that when we die we will not descend to the dead but will live forever with Christ in glory.

We know this because our faith, like Rahab’s faith, is grounded in what God has done.

A Walk through Joshua: Rahab, an example of faith?

By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient Hebrews 11:31

Joshua chapter 1 ends with the people of God ready to cross the river and fight heir way into the Promised Land! Joshua has been exhorted to be strong and courageous and he in turn has exhorted the people to be strong and courageous! Everyone is ready to go, we’re at battle stations! It is time to cross the river!

But then the story stops and zooms in on a quirky little story about a woman and two spies. It is a story you could take out of Joshua and not really miss it! I mean Joshua 1 ends with the people ready to enter the land and Joshua 3 begins with the people entering the land. We don’t need chapter 2! But of course the author of Joshua is quite intentional in his placement of the story there because the author is not just writing chronologically, he is also writing theologically! So he tells us the story of Rahab to give us a great example of faith!

Well if you remember, in Chapter 1 we met Joshua. Joshua was the kind of kid that was raised in a strong Christian home to loving Christian parents who were active in their church. His whole life he knew and loved God and worked his faith out in humble, consistent and faithful obedience. Joshua is just the kind of Christian person who reads his bible every day and is just putting one obedient foot in front of another as he walks the Christian life.

Well here in Chapter 2 we meet someone who is about as opposite to Joshua as you can get! Rahab!

Rahab was born into a pagan, Amorite, family, she never knew God, she never even heard of him. She most likely would have joined in with the various idol worship of her community, which included sacrificing children. We can probably assume that around the teenage years Rahab started hanging with the wrong crowd, around bikies (no, not the kind that ride the Tour de France). It wasn’t long before she ended up at the red light district of Jericho, the Kings Cross equivalent and started selling her body for sex. Rahab was about as opposite to Joshua as you could get.

But when we get to the New Testament we read that Rahab is an example of great faith! The New Testament tells us on two separate occasions (Hebrews 11 and James 2) that Rahab the Amorite prostitute is someone we need to look at to understand what saving faith is. The author of the Hebrews puts her in the same league as Abraham, Moses and Noah. And when the apostle James is arguing in his letter that faith without works is dead he holds up Rahab as an example of what saving faith is.

Rahab is someone who we can learn from what it means to have true faith! And so as we go through chapter 2 we are going to look at Rahab’s faith and learn what it means for us to have saving faith. We are going to study four elements of Rahab’s faith:

 

1/ It was a faith that was in God’s plan (verses 1-7)

2/ It was a faith that was grounded in what God had done (verses 8-11)

3/ It was a faith that worked itself out into action (verses 12-16)

4/ It was a faith that was assured (verses 17-24)

As an atheist, I truly believe Africa needs God

On the weekend I attended the NSW Young Adults TEAR group of which I am a part, we meet once a month to read the bible together, think through what the bible has to say about justice, oppression, poverty, money etc, then we usually have a book review,  a time of encouraging each other and some prayer. Every now and then however we have a guest come and share their experiences of poverty overseas.

Last weekend we had a couple who had just spent a year in Malwai doing malaria research and working with the UN World Food Program. During the meeting they raised a specific question to us, a question which I believe is extremely difficult to answer:

What makes Christians working amongst the world’s poorest communities different to secular organisations also working in these communities. What makes a church program different to a UN program? Is there even a difference at all?

It is a question that I have never had a clear answer for; I know that Christians are to live a life that is so full of generosity and love that without even having to try it makes the gospel attractive. But as I worked at Red Cross or Mission Ausralia or even at DoCS I have found that some of the most generous and love filled people are at core humanist secularists.

What makes Christians working amongst the world’s poorest communities different to secular organisations also working in these communities?

In answering this question they showed us this article:  “As an atheist, I truly believe Africa needs God” first published December 2008 in the Times by Matthew Parris – a strong atheist. It caused a bit of a riot in the humanitarian community and became quite a controversial point of discussion. I have decided to put the full article here, it is long, but well worth the read:

Matthew Parris

Before Christmas I returned, after 45 years, to the country that as a boy I knew as Nyasaland. Today it’s Malawi, and The Times Christmas Appeal includes a small British charity working there. Pump Aid helps rural communities to install a simple pump, letting people keep their village wells sealed and clean. I went to see this work.

It inspired me, renewing my flagging faith in development charities. But travelling in Malawi refreshed another belief, too: one I’ve been trying to banish all my life, but an observation I’ve been unable to avoid since my African childhood. It confounds my ideological beliefs, stubbornly refuses to fit my world view, and has embarrassed my growing belief that there is no God.

Now a confirmed atheist, I’ve become convinced of the enormous contribution that Christian evangelism makes in Africa: sharply distinct from the work of secular NGOs, government projects and international aid efforts. These alone will not do. Education and training alone will not do. In Africa Christianity changes people’s hearts. It brings a spiritual transformation. The rebirth is real. The change is good.

I used to avoid this truth by applauding – as you can – the practical work of mission churches in Africa. It’s a pity, I would say, that salvation is part of the package, but Christians black and white, working in Africa, do heal the sick, do teach people to read and write; and only the severest kind of secularist could see a mission hospital or school and say the world would be better without it. I would allow that if faith was needed to motivate missionaries to help, then, fine: but what counted was the help, not the faith.

But this doesn’t fit the facts. Faith does more than support the missionary; it is also transferred to his flock. This is the effect that matters so immensely, and which I cannot help observing.

First, then, the observation. We had friends who were missionaries, and as a child I stayed often with them; I also stayed, alone with my little brother, in a traditional rural African village. In the city we had working for us Africans who had converted and were strong believers. The Christians were always different. Far from having cowed or confined its converts, their faith appeared to have liberated and relaxed them. There was a liveliness, a curiosity, an engagement with the world – a directness in their dealings with others – that seemed to be missing in traditional African life. They stood tall.

At 24, travelling by land across the continent reinforced this impression. From Algiers to Niger, Nigeria, Cameroon and the Central African Republic, then right through the Congo to Rwanda, Tanzania and Kenya, four student friends and I drove our old Land Rover to Nairobi.

We slept under the stars, so it was important as we reached the more populated and lawless parts of the sub-Sahara that every day we find somewhere safe by nightfall. Often near a mission.

Whenever we entered a territory worked by missionaries, we had to acknowledge that something changed in the faces of the people we passed and spoke to: something in their eyes, the way they approached you direct, man-to-man, without looking down or away. They had not become more deferential towards strangers – in some ways less so – but more open.

This time in Malawi it was the same. I met no missionaries. You do not encounter missionaries in the lobbies of expensive hotels discussing development strategy documents, as you do with the big NGOs. But instead I noticed that a handful of the most impressive African members of the Pump Aid team (largely from Zimbabwe) were, privately, strong Christians. “Privately” because the charity is entirely secular and I never heard any of its team so much as mention religion while working in the villages. But I picked up the Christian references in our conversations. One, I saw, was studying a devotional textbook in the car. One, on Sunday, went off to church at dawn for a two-hour service.

It would suit me to believe that their honesty, diligence and optimism in their work was unconnected with personal faith. Their work was secular, but surely affected by what they were. What they were was, in turn, influenced by a conception of man’s place in the Universe that Christianity had taught.

There’s long been a fashion among Western academic sociologists for placing tribal value systems within a ring fence, beyond critiques founded in our own culture: “theirs” and therefore best for “them”; authentic and of intrinsically equal worth to ours.

I don’t follow this. I observe that tribal belief is no more peaceable than ours; and that it suppresses individuality. People think collectively; first in terms of the community, extended family and tribe. This rural-traditional mindset feeds into the “big man” and gangster politics of the African city: the exaggerated respect for a swaggering leader, and the (literal) inability to understand the whole idea of loyal opposition.

Anxiety – fear of evil spirits, of ancestors, of nature and the wild, of a tribal hierarchy, of quite everyday things – strikes deep into the whole structure of rural African thought. Every man has his place and, call it fear or respect, a great weight grinds down the individual spirit, stunting curiosity. People won’t take the initiative, won’t take things into their own hands or on their own shoulders.

How can I, as someone with a foot in both camps, explain? When the philosophical tourist moves from one world view to another he finds – at the very moment of passing into the new – that he loses the language to describe the landscape to the old. But let me try an example: the answer given by Sir Edmund Hillary to the question: Why climb the mountain? “Because it’s there,” he said.

To the rural African mind, this is an explanation of why one would not climb the mountain. It’s… well, there. Just there. Why interfere? Nothing to be done about it, or with it. Hillary’s further explanation – that nobody else had climbed it – would stand as a second reason for passivity.

Christianity, post-Reformation and post-Luther, with its teaching of a direct, personal, two-way link between the individual and God, unmediated by the collective, and unsubordinate to any other human being, smashes straight through the philosphical/spiritual framework I’ve just described. It offers something to hold on to to those anxious to cast off a crushing tribal groupthink. That is why and how it liberates.

Those who want Africa to walk tall amid 21st-century global competition must not kid themselves that providing the material means or even the knowhow that accompanies what we call development will make the change. A whole belief system must first be supplanted.

And I’m afraid it has to be supplanted by another. Removing Christian evangelism from the African equation may leave the continent at the mercy of a malign fusion of Nike, the witch doctor, the mobile phone and the machete.

Something very interesting to think about!

Just a quick plug: Our TEAR young adults group meets once a month on a Sunday arvo 2-4pm. We love having new people who want to think through tough issues like this and sit under God’s word as he teaches us about a biblically shaped response to poverty. Get in touch with me at jeremy_s@hotmail.com for more information!

happy birthday to you

Everyone loves celebrating a birthday! Cake, balloons and freinds! Everyone is also a little bit unique in how they celebrate their birthday. My litle sister Bronwyn(aka the Monster Bronster raar) for example had a ‘monster’ themed party a few weeks ago to celebrate her 21st.

Well today John Calvin hits the big 500. Its a pretty important birthday to celebrate and people all over the world will be celebrating it through theological conferences, growing their beards and releasing their urges to destroy stained glass windows! My family for example are celebrating it by having a special “family fun time” tonight! But I thought that we could celebrate it in our own modest way by looking at some of his best short quotes! Not as good as reading the Insititutes of course, but still good. Enjoy.

“Now we shall possess a right definition of faith if we call it a firm and certain knowledge of God’s benevolence toward us, founded upon the truth of the freely given promise in Christ, both revealed to our minds and sealed upon our hearts through the Holy Spirit.”

“Whomever the Lord has adopted and deemed worthy of his fellowship ought to prepare themselves for a hard, toilsome, and unquiet life, crammed with very many and various kinds of evil. It is the Heavenly Father’s will thus to exercise them so as to put his own children to a definite test. Beginning with Christ, his first-born, he follows this plan with all his children.”

“God tolerates even our stammering, and pardons our ignorance whenever something inadvertently escapes us — as, indeed, without this mercy there would be no freedom to pray.”

“All the blessings we enjoy are Divine deposits, committed to our trust on this condition, that they should be dispensed for the benefit of our neighbors.”

“I consider looseness with words no less of a defect than looseness of the bowels.”

“It would be the height of absurdity to label ignorance tempered by humility “faith”; for faith consists in the knowledge of God and Christ, not in reverence for the Church.”

“Every one of us is, even from his mother’s womb, a master craftsman of idols.”

“There is not one blade of grass, there is no color in this world that is not intended to make us rejoice.”

Do you have a favourite one? Any ones that I missed and should have included?