"There are still very large areas of land to be taken over" Joshua 11:16-12:1, 13:1 WBC 17 July 05am
The Secret of longevity: (show picture in Pictures folder)
A passer-by noticed an old lady sitting on her front step: "I couldn’t help noticing how happy you look! What is the secret for such a long, happy life?"
"I smoke 4 p packs of cigarettes a day", she said. "Before I go to bed , I smoke a pack of cigarettes. Apart from that , I drink a whole bottle of Jack Daniels every week, and eat only junk food. On weekends I pop a large number of pills and do no exercise at all."
"This is absolutely amazing at your age!!", says the passer-by. "How old are you?"
"Twenty-four"
OLD? "YOU ARE VERY OLD" 13:1
I was chatting with someone recently about just how tired out they felt. Old and aged (though YOUNG! In 40s!!)… having served the Lord
- and as we finished- out of the blue- I felt the Lord say "tell it to the congregation. Tell them there is life and fruitfulness, yet. Tell them that whether young or old…or feeling old- I still have good ground for them to take"
- I thought it would fit with yesterday’s Caleb challenge. Caleb- who said this:
JOS 14:10 "Now then, just as the LORD promised, he has kept me alive for forty-five years since the time he said this to Moses, while Israel moved about in the desert. So here I am today, eighty-five years old! 11 I am still as strong today as the day Moses sent me out; I’m just as vigorous to go out to battle now as I was then. 12 Now give me this hill country that the LORD promised me that day. You yourself heard then that the Anakites were there and their cities were large and fortified, but, the LORD helping me, I will drive them out just as he said."
So- how do you feel this morning? Do you feel old? Work out? Decrepit?
- if God were to say to you (as He did Joshua) "you are very old", would you say "You’re telling me!"
- and it’s not only the old who might say this
o as with a car- it’s not the years, it’s the mileage
o as ISA 40:30 says "Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall"
We can feel.. or you can feel "best years for the Lord… with the Lord… have passed us by"
- knocked out of the race
- "put me out to grass"
Some of you have even voiced that! Maybe for all kinds of reasons
- you’re not as young as you were
o now: got all this wisdom- but no energy to use it!
o "wisdom is the comb life gives you when you’ve run out of hair" (so true!)
- maybe battles in the "world". Scars of life. Battles with family. People (at work)
- maybe battles ’for the Lord’
o cf Joshua. Elijah.
o Serving the Lord IS costly
o Even youths grow tired and weary- can be true of our church experience, too
" "don’t let stress kill you. Let the church help"
" we try not to do that- but can happen!
o Can be true of your spiritual make up as well Ps 119:139. "My zeal wears me out"
If that’s you- if you are or feel old- God has a message for you this morning
- one that will ’renew your youth like that of the eagle’
- one that will give your vision back
(church bit?)
the message is encapsulated in this line 13:1 "there are STILL very large areas of land to be taken over"
- and YOU are the people to do it. Take the land. In your lives. God hasn’t passed you by. Cast you aside. Finished WITH you and IN you
Look at God’s statement to Joshua
- it’s not one of fact and FEAR
o fact= you are knackered!
o Fear- "oh dear…there go my plans. Caught on the hop by that one. I guess I can’t use **** after all"
- It’s not ’You are very old BUT there are large areas of land". "What are we going to do?"
- God’s statement is one of fact and FAITH
o Truth is- you are ’old’. "You are very old AND there is land to be taken- lots of it"
o "and I’m going to renew your strength/vision to do it as you wait on me"
Can be frightening when God says "I still have lots for you to do"
- but not when He says "I’m going to make it happen and you will do it AFTER I have renewed you"
There is no such thing as ’retirement’ in God’s plans (whether you WANT it or FEAR it)
- there is rest, recreation and renewal. Don’t retire- Get retreaded
- and then age, wisdom and power will combine to make you formidable!
o Illustr: Steve Price- the second half is going to be better than the first
So- ’age’ is one reason the Lord spoke to Joshua. The other is:
ARRIVED? "SO JOSHUA TOOK THE ENTIRE LAND" 11:23
The feeling he could have had… we can have as individuals… churches… is that we’ve done enough….even succeeded
- therefore no more land to take
- this may apply to us as well (in which case = awful! Stagnation!)
Joshua could have been content…rested on his laurels
- ch 10: S cities defeated
- ch 11: N kings defeated
- 11:23 Joshua took the entire land
- ch 12: impressive list of kings/cities taken
God says "Uh uh! No resting on laurels… there IS MORE land to be taken"
- can’t sit still. That’s going backwards
- either in walk with the Lord or churches
- actually: maturity is knowing you HAVEN’T arrived
"Success is not a destination, it’s a journey"
"You shouldn’t gloat over anything you’ve done; you ought to keep going and try to find something better to do" (David Packard who had just built HP into a $31Bn company and given $1Bn to charity)
God says to you…me … His church in general "there is more land to be taken… in your personal LIVES… for the Kingdom…. In this area. Don’t give up. Don’t stand still. Don’t rest on laurels. Watch you don’t become complacent. Don’t rest on your (our!) good past- build on it
THERE IS MORE LAND
So- what should I… we be doing. What does this land look like
- "okay. If God still has a task for me.. faith in me… what is it? What’s the vision? What does the land look like. What’s His ’new thing’?"
Basically it’s seen in 13:2 JOS 13:2 "This is the land that remains: all the regions of the Philistines and Geshurites: 3 from the Shihor River on the east of Egypt to the territory of Ekron on the north, all of it counted as Canaanite (the territory of the five Philistine rulers in Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gath and Ekron--that of the Avvites); 4 from the south, all the land of the Canaanites, from Arah of the Sidonians as far as Aphek, the region of the Amorites, 5 the area of the Gebalites; and all Lebanon to the east, from Baal Gad below Mount Hermon to Lebo Hamath.
Sorry to bring you to earth with a crash but basically it’s "more of the same". Nothing new about this territory… no novelty in it
- it’s a re-iteration of the familiar
- It’s what God had already expressed
o To Abram (600 years earlier) Gen 12:7 "to your offspring I will give this land"
o To Abraham Gen 15:18 "to your descendents.."
o To Moses Ex 3:8 at the start of his call
" Deut 34:4, just before he dies
o To Joshua. Josh 1:4
o A re-itteration of the same land… task… call.. territory (that hadn’t been completed)
God’s orders do not change
- that’s why I can say with 100% confidence what God wants of me as an individual… us as a church
Concerning the land "out there"… externally
- we ask "what should it be, Lord. Show me the NEW land"
He says "more of the same". "What have I said?" "Back to basics" "the main and the plain". "Old orders are good orders"
- mt 28:19 "Go and make disciples". Acts !:8 "you will be my witnesses". Mt 10:7 "as you GO, preach this message’ the kingdom of heaven is near. Heal the sick. Raise the dead. Cleanse leppers. Drive out demons"
o is that taxiing, exciting enough for us, you?
o Or do you feel you’ve arrived on this one?! Is it part of your regular experience
" Illustr: Alice & pet rescue healing
This is the land we must keep in our sights
- get rested. Retreaded. Get back out there.
There is also more land to be taken ’in here’. Heart. Internally
- yes, God does do new things in our lives. Great!
- To us it’s new- to God it’s "more of the same"
o Taking land He said WAS…should be… ours years ago when we first became Christians
Micah 6:6f
"He has shown you on man what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God
1 Jn is an marvellous example of how God reiterates familiar orders/territory. 1Jn 2:7, 3:11 "Dear friends; I am not writing you a NEW command but an old one which you have had since the beginning…. Yet I AM writing you a new command as you now see it in Jesus
… this is the message you heard from the beginning: we should love one another
This is the land God points us to: love each other
Let’s pray
- old? Need renewing? Refreshing. Show me how, Lord… and help me to realise it takes time. Help me to know WHEN it’s done
o thank you that I am never too old to be used by you
o renew our strength like the eagle’s
- forgive us when we think we have arrived. Resting on laurels… past. Coasting spiritually
- and thank you that today you renew your call to me. The SAME you gave me years ago
o "go and take that land. It’s not finished, yet. My call is the same"
o go and make disciples
o go and act justly. Walk in holiness
o love one another
JOS 11:16 So Joshua took this entire land: the hill country, all the Negev, the whole region of Goshen, the western foothills, the Arabah and the mountains of Israel with their foothills, 17 from Mount Halak, which rises toward Seir, to Baal Gad in the Valley of Lebanon below Mount Hermon. He captured all their kings and struck them down, putting them to death. 18 Joshua waged war against all these kings for a long time. 19 Except for the Hivites living in Gibeon, not one city made a treaty of peace with the Israelites, who took them all in battle. 20 For it was the LORD himself who hardened their hearts to wage war against Israel, so that he might destroy them totally, exterminating them without mercy, as the LORD had commanded Moses.
JOS 11:21 At that time Joshua went and destroyed the Anakites from the hill country: from Hebron, Debir and Anab, from all the hill country of Judah, and from all the hill country of Israel. Joshua totally destroyed them and their towns. 22 No Anakites were left in Israelite territory; only in Gaza, Gath and Ashdod did any survive. 23 So Joshua took the entire land, just as the LORD had directed Moses, and he gave it as an inheritance to Israel according to their tribal divisions.
Then the land had rest from war.
JOS 12:1 These are the kings of the land whom the Israelites had defeated and whose territory they took over east of the Jordan, from the Arnon Gorge to Mount Hermon, including all the eastern side of the Arabah:
JOS 13:1 When Joshua was old and well advanced in years, the LORD said to him, "You are very old, and there are still very large areas of land to be taken over.
JOS 13:2 "This is the land that remains……….
