February 17, 2002 Hebrews 11:31; Josh 2
“Looking for love in all the wrong places”
INTRODUCTION
I like the story about a Seminary student who wanted to have a scriptural basis for everything he did. He felt he was on solid ground if he could quote Bible book, chapter & verse to okay his actions. He did all right with that until he began to fall in love with a beautiful co-ed. He wanted very much to kiss her, but he just couldn’t find a scripture to okay it. So, true to his conscience, he would simply walk her to the dormitory each night, look at her longingly, & then say "Good night."
This went on for several weeks, & all the time he was searching the Bible, trying to find some scripture to okay kissing her good night. But he couldn’t find one, until finally he came across that passage in Romans that says, "Greet each other with a holy kiss." He thought, "At last, I have scriptural authority for kissing her good night." But to be sure, he went to his hermeneutics professor to check it out. After talking with the professor, he realized that the passage dealt more with a church setting than with a dating situation. So once again he simply didn’t have a passage of scripture to okay kissing his girl good night.
That evening he walked her to the dormitory & once again started to bid her "good night." But as he did, she grabbed him, pulled him toward her, & planted a 10-second kiss right on his lips. At the end of the kiss, the Seminary student gasped for air, & stammered, "Bible verse, Bible verse." The girl grabbed him a 2nd time, & just before kissing him again, said, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."
I think that it would be safe to say that everyone here is looking for love. Oh, you may have found the person who is your true love, but on a day to day basis, you are looking for that person to give you their love. You crave it. You need it just as much as you need food. And sometimes when you don’t get it, you substitute chocolate in its place. The children here, though they might not yet be willing to admit their desire for love from a girl or a guy, would willingly admit their need for a hug and a kiss from mom and dad. Part of the reason that you are here today is because you are looking for love from people who have experienced the love of God.
All of those are good places to find love. But there are a lot of places where people search for love and only find frustration, pain, and regret. We’re going to talk about a woman like that this morning. See if you can identify with her situation.
She was the talk of the town, but nobody talked to her. Every square inch of her seductive body was lovely, but she was unloved. I guess that’s the price you pay when you’re the town prostitute. Her name was Rahab. She was a street-walking hooker living in Jericho nearly 4000 yrs. ago. Women despised and cursed her. Men leered at, joked about and visited her.
Of all the people you’d least expect God to use in a significant way it was this woman, Rahab. After all she carried with her a rather unseemly past. By all standards of decency she was a tainted woman. Yet her life proves a truth that needs to be shouted for all to hear, especially in our modern times: Your past does not determine your future, your choices do.
Some of you here know what it’s like not to be able to get past your past either because of what you’ve done or because of what’s been done to you. You daily live with the constant ache of regret. Thoughts of your previous mistakes and sins still haunt you and you repeat the mantra, "If only …" "If only I’d done this. If only I hadn’t done that. Life would be as I have always dreamed."
Because you can’t get past your past you suffer from depression and fear. You may have a constant sense of failure. You lack joy or an awareness of purpose. Emotionally you often feel numb. Spiritually, you’re cold. Worst of all is this nagging sensation that your life is on hold and you’re waiting to really live. - Adapted from Susan Wilkinson’s book Getting Past Your Past (Multnomah Pub.), 44 and a sermon by Joel Smith of Wellspring Community Church.
Some of those descriptions are true of you. Get ready to see how you can get past your past. Some of those descriptions may be true of people that you know. Pay attention so that you can help them get past their past. Rahab did it. She found that your past does not determine your future, but your choices do. There are others of you out there who are saying, “This message is not for me. I’ve got no past to get past.” Yes, you do. You were born a sinner. We all were. And if you don’t get past that past, then there is no hope for your future. But you say, “I’m no hooker, pastor Chris. I’m a good person. You won’t find any street-walking clothes on me!” The Bible says that those self-righteous clothes that you are wearing right now are like filthy rags in the sight of God (Is. 64:6). The Bible also says that someone who breaks God’s law in just one point is guilty of all of His commandments (James 2:10) Your unforgiveness makes you just as ugly and repugnant toward God as homosexuality or prostitution. Your pride and gossip puts you in the same category as Satan. We’ve all got a past that we have to get past in order to enjoy the future that God has prepared for us. Godly decision-making is the key. Let’s look at the decisions that Rahab made which revolutionized her life.
Before we jump into the story of Rahab, let me set it in context for you. Two weeks ago, we talked about how the nation of Israel, God’s called out people, were moving out of a forty year detour in the desert and into the territory God had promised them as a home. The problem was that the land was inhabited with lots of people, so the nation of Israel had to first go in and conquer all the cities before they could move in and settle down. The first of these was a massive, fortress of a city called Jericho.
We know from our message a couple of weeks ago that through faith in God and obedience to Him, the walls of Jericho came crashing down. But before Joshua fit’ the battle of Jericho, he decided to first send in a two-man team of spies to case the city and look for weaknesses. Here’s where we pick up the story from the Bible.
[read Joshua 2:1-7]
Rahab recognized that something significant was happening in her life. She knew that God was up to something. She knew that God was trying to get her attention and she made a choice accordingly. She decided to …
1. Go with the "God moment."
From time to time we all have these God moments. They’re interruptions of our daily routine. They’re people or events that shake us out of life as usual. Rahab’s life was dramatically interrupted by a God moment. Two foreigners appeared at her door asking for lodging. They’re clothes were different. Their language was different. She recognized them as Israelites. The circumstances and the voice of God in her spirit told Rahab that this was a God moment.
God brings crises moments into all of our lives so we’ll bring a halt to business as usual and look to him. (Acts 17:26-27 NIV) From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.
All of the people that we have examined in our study of Hebrews 11 experienced God moments. For Joseph, it was the dreams that he had foretelling that he would one day be a great ruler. For Moses, it was a burning bush out in the desert. For Abraham, it was the voice of God telling him to leave behind everything that he knew. Whenever you experience one of those God moments, you have to make a choice in how you are going to respond. Pharaoh had a pretty big God moment. God really wanted his attention. He sent 10 plagues. But rather than listen with his heart, he hardened his heart. The result was the destruction of his nation and the death of his son.
You may never experience a burning bush or the parting of the Red Sea, but there are other more subtle but no less profound ways that God calls out to us. It may be the birth of a child. As you hold that child in your arms and wonder at the miracle of new life, God, the ultimate Father calls out, “I want you to be my child. I want to hold you in my arms and protect you from the dangers of this world just like you want to protect your child.” Your God moment may have been your marriage. As you looked into the eyes of your husband and wondered at the love that shown from those eyes, Jesus was whispering in your ear, “I want to love you more than He ever could.” And as your heart was breaking the day you buried that special someone, God was longing for you to reach out to Him so that He could wrap you in His arms of love.
I remember my first God-moment. It happened in a Sunday School class. I was 7 years old. [tell the rest of my testimony] That was my first God-moment. Because I responded in faith and took Jesus as my Savior, I have gotten to experience many more God-moments since then.
God has planned these God moments so that we’ll turn and respond in faith. That’s what Rahab did. She took a risk on God. When the king orders you to bring out spies it’s not a request. He wasn’t offering a reward for their capture. He wanted them dead. Anyone who aided them was guilty of treason as well. Rahab hid those men at the risk of her own pretty little neck. She decided to go with the "God moment" and it helped her to get past her past.
I don’t know what your "God moments" are right now, but you do. Maybe your God moment is happening right now. God has every one of you here for a reason. If you sense God calling you from the routine, from your comfort zone, from your safe life to a place that’s unfamiliar and dangerous … go with it. Take the risk. It’s a wake-up call from God. Recognize it as such and respond to his invitation. God-moments are pivotal times. Your response to them determines the direction of your life. This moment in Rahab’s life was her only chance. If she had chosen to harden her heart, there would have been no more God-moments in her life. She would have died with the rest of the inhabitants of Jericho. One chance. Maybe today is that one chance for you. "God moments" always push you into the future and never leave you trapped in the past.
TRAN: There’s another thing that must happen to get you past your past.
2. Confess the reality of your situation.
If you have an NIV Bible, you will notice that whenever the word “prostitute” comes up, there’s a little number or letter beside it. That symbol tells you to look in the margin or footnotes of your Bible for some type of explanation. There you’ll see that the word used here for “prostitute” could also be translated “innkeeper”. That changes everything. An innkeeper is a respectable profession – a necessary service. Maybe Rahab wasn’t so bad after all. Except for one thing. The verse that we first read this morning, Hebrews 11:31, calls her a prostitute too. And in that verse, there is no ambiguity – no doubt about the meaning of the word. Sure, Rahab may have been an innkeeper. But that just meant that when she needed a room for an hour or an evening, she didn’t have to go to the front desk. She just took her guests directly to the manager’s suite.
Nobody likes to confess that they have done something wrong. And we’ve come up with all kinds of elaborate ways to avoid confession. We call our lies “mistruths”, our adultery “affairs”, and our abortions “medical procedures”. I heard recently that in New Jersey, the education board has decided that in the public schools there, history books will no longer refer to war as “war”. They will now call it conflict. So now it’s World Conflict I and II and the Persian Gulf Conflict. Just by changing the name of something doesn’t change the fact that is an offense to a holy God and that you will have to suffer the consequences for it one day.
Rahab was a sinner. That’s why she lied when she was confronted with a sticky situation. The Bible records her lie, but it does not condone or excuse it. The Bible never condones lying because lying is sin. She was a good liar. Lies had gotten her out of many sticky situations in the past. When different women had come to her door wanting to know if their husband was there, she could bold-faced lie about it even as he climbed out her window that led over the wall. Rahab would have made an excellent Poker player. Rahab lied to herself too – telling herself that her profession made her valuable to men and to her god. She was such a good liar that on a really good day, she could even make herself believe that she actually enjoyed her lifestyle. But her lying was getting ready to change. She had been confronted with the true God and she knew that she couldn’t lie to the true God.
It’s easy to lie to yourself. You tell yourself that you are a good person. But you know the things that you’ve done. You know the evil desires that are within your heart. You lie to yourself and say that the past doesn’t matter. If you can just keep it hidden, keep it under the rug, then you can pretend it never happened. But you know that’s a lie. You will never find healing until you admit it to yourself, to God, and maybe even to some people.
Let’s see how Rahab came to an understanding of the truth about herself. Here, we’ll also see how she understood what God was doing.
[Read: Joshua 2:8-11]
There’s a lot going on in Rahab’s confession. First, she’s renouncing her false religion. This woman, like the people of her culture, was a Ba’al worshipper. He was the storm god. Worshippers of Ba’al performed elaborate, but perverted sex rituals to entice Ba’al to shower them with prosperity. When Rahab confessed the Israelites God as the true God, she rejected her former religion.
Confession is where we start today too. It is a confession not only of who we are – sinners- but also a confession that we understand that God is the only one who can forgive and heal us. We cannot heal ourselves. God made us. He alone can fix us.
For if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord [He is in charge] and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead [he can take dead hearts and resurrect them], you will be saved. (Romans 10:9 NLT)
It’s as simple as that. There’s no ritual, no pilgrimages, no good deeds, just a simple confession that you want Jesus as your forgiver and leader.
There’s another aspect to confession that needs to be pointed out. Confession for our past mistakes and sins is the path to healing. Author Susan Wilkinson mentions something she calls the regret cycle: An initial sin or mistake leads to regret … which is followed by some destructive coping mechanism … which brings more sin and mistakes … which prompts more regret. On and on the downward spiral goes
Some of the coping mechanisms we turn to include "drugs, alcohol, overeating, gambling, pornography, escapism, or inappropriate relationships. When we rely on these things to cope with guilt and hopelessness, we find that regret begets regret - and the cycle continues." (Susan Wilkinson, Getting Past Your Past, 40.
The only way to break the cycle is confession. Admitting that your past choices were wrong and you brought the consequences on yourself. Confession leads us to turn to God and away from the sin and mistakes of the past. It brings forgiveness and a restored relationship with God. Here’s a verse you’d do well to take to heart: If we confess our sins, He (God) is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9 (NLT)
Confession breaks the regret cycle and brings freedom.
So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. Romans 8:1 (NLT)
CONLUSION
Let me close with this illustration taken from Max Lucado’s book, “No Wonder They Call Him the Savior.”
Christina lives in a small dusty village in Brazil. Her heart was empty and she felt like society had cheated her of its joys. She longed for the excitement of the big city of Rio. One morning her mother Maria awoke to find Christina’s bed empty.
“Maria knew immediately where her daughter had gone. She also she knew immediately what she must do to find her. She quickly threw some clothes in a bag, gathered up all her money and ran out of the house.
On the way to the bus stop she entered a drugstore to get one last thing. Pictures. She sat in the photograph booth, closed the curtain, and spent all she could on pictures of herself. With her purse full of small black and white photos, she boarded the bus to Rio de Janeiro.
Maria knew that Christina had no way of earning money. She also knew that her daughter was too stubborn to give up. When pride meets hunger, a human will do things that before where unthinkable. Knowing this, Maria, began her search. Bars, hotels, nightclubs, any place with the reputation for street walkers or prostitutes. She went to them all. And at each place she left her picture – taped on a bathroom mirror, tacked to a hotel bulletin board, fastened to a corner phone booth. And on the back of each she wrote a note.
It wasn’t too long before both the money and the pictures ran out, and Maria had to go home. The weary mother wept as the bus began its long journey back to her small village.
It was a few weeks later that the young Christina descended the hotel stairs. Her young face was tired. Her brown eyes no longer danced with youth but spoke of pain and fear. Her laughter was broken. Her dream had become a nightmare. A thousand times over she had longed to trade these countless beds for her secure pallet. Yet the little village was, in too many ways, too far away.
As she reached the bottom of the stairs her eyes noticed a familiar face. She looked and there on the lobby mirror was a small picture of her mother. Christina’s eyes burned and her throat tightened as she walked across the room and removed the small photo. Written on the back was this compelling invitation. ‘Whatever you have done, whatever you have become, it doesn’t matter. Please come home!’ She did”
[Max Lucado. No Wonder They Call Him Savior. (Portland: Multnomah, 1986.) pp. 158-159]
