Discipleship Matters
These Stones (Memorial Day 2021)
Joshua 3-4
Pastor Jefferson M. Williams
Chenoa Baptist Church
5-30-2021
The Wall
Today we remember. We remember the more than 1.1 million men and women who have died in wartime (and 2.8 million wounded and missing) from the Revolutionary War until today. ?
I was 15 when I first began to understand this sacrifice. It started with a wall.
The first thing you notice is the scale. Two sections. 246 feet long each. The marble that was quarried in India is polished to almost mirror-like quality that you can see yourself in. Once your eyes adjust, you notice two more things. The silence. I’ve only experienced that one other time at the hole where the World Trade Centers stood in NY.
And then you see the names. Look left. Look right. 58,220 names etched into the stone.
My Aunt Diane had a list of friends that she wrote letters to while they were in Vietnam. As the weeks turned to months and the months to years, her list got shorter and shorter. These boys would be become men and then take their place on this wall.
Who were these individuals? They were normal human beings who, when presented to with the opportunity to serve, did not shy away from the danger. They answered the call. Not for medals or recognition but to protect our values as a country - life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
They were brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, and friends. Like Paul Foster who smothered a grenade with his body and saved four of his fellow Marines.
Sergeant Foster was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. At 3:00 pm tomorrow, we will stop as a nation and memorialize heroes like Paul Foster.
We’ve doing this since Waterloo, NY first celebrated what they called Decoration Day in 1866, where volunteers would place flowers on the graves of both Union and Confederate soldiers.
In 1971, it became a national holiday and for most people, it is the unofficial beginning of summer. Pools will open, grills fired up, and families will gather together to enjoy a day off.
As we gather with family and friends, we need to make sure that we don’t forget to remember.
President Roosevelt said:
“Those who have enjoyed such privileges as we enjoy forget in time that men have died to win them.”
Remember
The wall is a memorial, a place of remembrance. It is one of many memorials scattered all over the world to help us remember.
I asked people what was the most moving memorial they’ve ever been to on Facebook and here are some of there answers:
Arlington National Cemetery - particularly the change of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
The Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. [4,000 shoes]
“We are the shoes, we are the last witnesses.
We are the shoes from grandchildren and grandfathers,
From Prague, Paris, and Amsterdam
And because we are only made of fabric and leather
And not flesh and blood, each on of us avoided the hellfire.”
- Moshe Szulsztein
Ground Zero
Columbine Memorial
The Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tn
The Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg, South Africa
The Oklahoma Bombing Memorial
Pearl Harbor
Dachau Concentration Camp in Germany
There is a memorial where the plane carrying Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and the Big Bopper crashed in Iowa. There is also a memorial where Lynyrd Skynyrd’s plane crashed in Mississippi. And a memorial to the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster.
We have an entire mall in Washington, D.C. dedicated to memorials.
Why do we do this? Because humans are forgetful and need to be reminded of important events and people.
So far
We continue this morning with our Discipleship Matters series. We’ve learned that a follower of Jesus:
[Slide] Is a disciple who makes disciples who makes disciples
[Slide] Is passionately devoted to Jesus
[Slide] Is someone who loves people with extraordinary love
[Slide] Is someone who handles conflict in a Biblical, Christ-honoring way.
[Slide] is someone who understands the Gospel clearly and shares it boldly.
Today, we are going to learn that a disciple of Jesus is someone who remembers what’s most important.
Turn with me to Joshua 4.
Prayer
Get Ready to Move
Early in the morning Joshua and all the Israelites set out from Shittim and went to the Jordan, where they camped before crossing over. After three days the officers went throughout the camp, giving orders to the people: “When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, and the Levitical priests carrying it, you are to move out from your positions and follow it. Then you will know which way to go, since you have never been this way before. But keep a distance of about two thousand cubits between you and the ark; do not go near it.” (Joshua 3:1-4)
Moses is dead and the people are now looking to Joshua to lead them into the Promised Land.
For three days, the Israelites had been camped on the west side of the Jordan River. I’m sure there were spies from Jericho watching them, trying to figure out what there were doing.
How would they get across the river? The Jordan was at flood stage and was probably a mile across and up to twelve feet deep. Would they build rafts and try to get everyone across?
After three days of waiting, the leaders give the orders to follow the ark of the covenant when they see the Levitical priests carrying it.
Some of you may be familiar with the Ark from the Indiana Jones movie. It was a box about the size of an ottoman overlaid with gold. The top was covered with pure gold and two angels with wings that touched.
Inside the Ark was the gold jar of manna, Aaron’s staff that had budded, and the stone tablets containing the Ten Commandments.
It represented God’s presence and power among the Israelites.
The people were to follow the ark but stay back about a half a mile. Why? Because God is holy and they were to have a reverential awe of Him.
The people were to consecrate themselves. This meant taking a bath, changing clothes, and avoiding anything that would make them unclean.
“Joshua told the people, “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you.” (Joshua 3:5)
There was a buzz in the camp. What was going to happen tomorrow? Would it be like the Red Sea when Moses lifted up his staff and the waters parted? Would they have to try to swim across?
As Soon as their Feet Touch the Water
Joshua said to the Israelites, “Come here and listen to the words of the Lord your God. This is how you will know that the living God is among you and that he will certainly drive out before you the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites and Jebusites. See, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth will go into the Jordan ahead of you. Now then, choose twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one from each tribe. And as soon as the priests who carry the ark of the Lord—the Lord of all the earth—set foot in the Jordan, its waters flowing downstream will be cut off and stand up in a heap.” (Joshua 3:9-13)
Notice that Joshua calls God the “Living God,” as opposed to the false gods of the nations they would drive out of the land.
So it wouldn’t be like Moses lifting up his rod at the Red Sea. The priests would carry the ark and put their feet in the Jordan in an act of obedience.
The Jordan was running wild and one of priest’s foot could slip and they, and the ark, would be swept downstream.
But Joshua assured them that God was about to do an incredible miracle so they needed to trust Him. And that’s exactly what happened.
In a Heap
“So when the people broke camp to cross the Jordan, the priests carrying the ark of the covenant went ahead of them. Now the Jordan is at flood stage all during harvest. Yet as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water’s edge, the water from upstream stopped flowing. It piled up in a heap a great distance away, at a town called Adam in the vicinity of Zarethan, while the water flowing down to the Sea of the Arabah (that is, the Dead Sea) was completely cut off. So the people crossed over opposite Jericho. The priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord stopped in the middle of the Jordan and stood on dry ground, while all Israel passed by until the whole nation had completed the crossing on dry ground.” (Joshua 3:14-17)
Many people try to explain this miracle away. Twice, earthquakes caused the banks of the Jordan to fall in, stopping the water for 21 one hours in 1927.
But this never happened at flood stage. The waters never stood up in a heap and the riverbed wasn’t dry ground.
God supernaturally intervened and made a way when there was no way, just as He had done at the Red Sea.
The whole nation, two million people plus, passed through on dry ground while the people of Jericho must have been watching with their mouths wide open.
Twelve Stones
“When the whole nation had finished crossing the Jordan, the Lord said to Joshua, “Choose twelve men from among the people, one from each tribe, and tell them to take up twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, from right where the priests are standing, and carry them over with you and put them down at the place where you stay tonight.” (Joshua 4:1-3)
Twelve men, one from each tribe, were assigned to pick up a stone and carrying it, on their shoulders, to the place where they would be camping eight miles away that night - Gigal.
That brings us back to verse 19:
“On the tenth day of the first month the people went up from the Jordan and camped at Gilgal on the eastern border of Jericho. And Joshua set up at Gilgal the twelve stones they had taken out of the Jordan.” (Joshua 4:19-20)
Joshua sets up a memorial using these twelve stones at Gilgal. This is exactly 40 years to the day that the Israelites killed the Passover Lamb for the first Passover
The Question
Joshua understands that a heap of rocks might not make much sense to future generations who weren’t there to see this event happen. He knows that the children and grandchildren will have questions:
“He said to the Israelites, “In the future when your descendants ask their parents, ‘What do these stones mean?’” (Joshua 4:21)
I was born in 1968 and I have no memories of the Vietnam War. The wall told a powerful story but it would have been more powerful if I had someone who had experienced there to help me understand at a deeper level.
I remember sitting in a class of junior high students and answering questions for over an hour about what it was like on 9-11. They weren’t even born. They had no context. They wanted to know more.
Children naturally ask questions. It’s how they learn. And it can be maddening.
This past week, a 23 year old man tried to hijack a school bus. He was only on the bus for four miles when he told the driver to stop and let him off.
Why? Because the kids wouldn’t stop asking him questions!
So kids are going to be curious and ask questions. Who are responsible to answer those questions? Joshua says their parents.
The Answer
So what answer are the parents to give?
In verse 6, Joshua directs the parents to:
“tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever.” (Joshua 4:6-7)
And in verses 22-23:
“…tell them, ‘Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground.’ For the Lord your God dried up the Jordan before you until you had crossed over. The Lord your God did to the Jordan what he had done to the Red Sea when he dried it up before us until we had crossed over.” (Joshua 22-23)
I just imagine a young boy walking with his dad in Gilgal and stopping at this help of stones.
“Hey dad, why are these stones stacked up here?”
“Well son, let me tell you an amazing story!”
Then that dad would recall the story of when God helped them cross the Jordan River into the Promise land.
He would remind his son of God’s power, presence and faithfulness to them in the past, presents and future.
Asaph, the writer of Psalm 78 agreed with Joshua:
“My people, hear my teaching; listen to the words of my mouth.
I will open my mouth with a parable; I will utter hidden things, things from of old— things we have heard and known, things our ancestors have told us.
We will not hide them from their descendants; we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, his power, and the wonders he has done.
He decreed statutes for Jacob and established the law in Israel, which he commanded our ancestors to teach their children, so the next generation would know them, even the children yet to be born, and they in turn would tell their children. Then they would put their trust in God and would not forget his deeds but would keep his commands.” (Psalm 78:1-7)
Every morning and every night, a Jewish family would recite the Shema - a memorial prayer:
“Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One.
Blessed be the name of the glory of His kingdom forever and ever.
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might. And these words which I command you today shall be upon your heart.
You shall teach them thoroughly to your children, and you shall speak of them when you sit in your house and when you walk on the road, when you lie down and when you rise.
You shall bind them as a sign upon your hand, and they shall be for a reminder between your eyes. And you shall write them upon the doorposts of your house and upon your gates.”
We are not only to be ready when children ask us the questions but we are to be proactively teaching them about the goodness and faithfulness of the Lord.
The Significance
We’ve looked at the question and the answer but what’’s the significance of these twelve stones. What message is God sending through these stones?
Verse 24 gives us two reasons:
“God did this so that all the peoples of the earth might know that the hand of the Lord is powerful and so that you might always fear the Lord your God.” (Joshua 4:24)
Not only the people of Jericho who watched the entire nation of Israel walk through the Jordan on dry ground, but all the peoples of the earth will know that God’s powerful presence is with the Jewish people and to remind them to have a healthy awe and respect for Him.
It was, and always is, all about His glory.
The Greyhound Bus
On our shelf, there is a small Greyhound bus that friends gave us after hearing our testimony.
Maxine and I got married when we were 24 years old. I was 24 going on 17. She was 24 going on 40. Our first year of marriage was a disaster.
We actually had a serious talk and agreed that we might have made a mistake. But we had also made a commitment to never consider divorce so we had to figure something out.
I was a terrible husband. I was insensitive, childish, and demanding. I was addicted to pornography. I hurt Maxine deeply that first year.
What I didn’t know that the time was that Maxine was praying that I would be hit by a greyhound bus. Yep, she wanted me dead.
See, then she would be rid of the jerk she married and could also have had people’s sympathy in the process.
All that happened nearly 30 years ago, and we not only survived but have learned, with time, patience, and therapy, to thrive with each other.
This bus is our twelve stones. It helps us to remind that God is faithful. That He rescued our marriage and that we can always trust Him to do what’s going to bring Himself the most glory and do us the most good.
Do you have anything in your life that reminds you of God’s faithfulness?
In Remembrance of Me
All throughout the Bible, there is a motif of remembering. The idea of remember is used over 250 times in the Bible.
Noah built an altar when he got off the ark. Abraham built an altar to worship at where God spoke to Him first. Jacob set up a stone pillar at the place where God spoke to him and named the place Bethel, which means house of God.
Another memorial, a meal, was put in place to celebrate what happened when the Jewish people were rescued out of Egypt and the death angel passed over their houses.
The Passover is a form of memorial. It’s all about remembering the oppression in slavery and the rescue by the strong arm of the Lord.
Jewish people celebrate it every year and tell the story again and again.
The feast of Purim that we learned about in Esther, commemorates when Haman’s plan to annihilate the Jewish people was thwarted and, against all odds, they survived.
The Feasts all helped the Jewish people to remember God’s faithfulness to them through the year.
In the New Testament, we have five main ways of remembering.
Worship - when we come together corporately and sing to the Lord we are reminding each other of His goodness, grace, love, and faithfulness.
David wrote in his praise journal:
“Praise the Lord, my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits…” (Psalm 103:1-2)
Preaching - this may surprise you, but I really don’t have anything new to say. Preaching is basically reminding you of the truths of the Scriptures again and again again.
Legend has it that a church member once asked Martin Luther, “Why do you preach the Gospel to us week after week?”
Luther replied, “Because week after week you forget it.”
Peter wrote:
“So I will always remind you of these things, even though you know them and are firmly established in the truth you now have.” (2 Peter 1:12)
3. . Baptism - baptism is a word picture of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. It’s a public identification with Jesus; an outward expression of an inward reality. It’s like preaching a sermon without words.
It encourages others, it stamps the decision for Christ into the believer’s heart and gives them a memory of their step of faith, and it helps us remember that Jesus doesn’t just want to make us better, He wants to make us new.
"Your whole self ruled by the flesh was put off when you were circumcised by Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.” (Col 2:11-12)
4. Communion - in some denominations, communion is actually called a “memorial meal.” On the night that He was betrayed, Jesus:
“ After taking the cup, he gave thanks and said, “Take this and divide it among you. For I tell you I will not drink again from the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.”
And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.”
In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.” (Luke 22:19-20)
Every time we celebrate communion, which we will do next week, we are remembering Jesus’ perfect life, substitutionary death, and the atonement He made for sin on the cross, and His glorious resurrection.
5. The Cross - the cross is the ultimate reminder of God’s love for us. In fact, if you ever doubt that God loves you, or if God is good, look to the cross.
We wear crosses around our next, tattoo them on our body, and wear them in our ears.
But, here’s a question, is the cross you wear a decoration or a declaration?
John wrote:
“Greater love has no man than he lay down His life for his friends.” (John 15:13)
This verse is about the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus on the cross to secure our freedom from sin and death but each of the men and women that give their all lived out this verse as they paid the price to secure our freedom.
Three Minutes
On November 18, 1863, Edwin Everett, one of the best known orators of the day, was asked to commemorate the dedication of the cemetery at the Gettysburg Battlefield. President Lincoln was asked to give some closing remarks.
Everett eloquently spoke for over two hours, his text being over 13,000 words.
Lincoln, suffering from smallpox, stood, looking sad, mournful, and almost haggard, as one observer put it.
He adjusted his glasses and took out his notes. In less than 3 minutes he was done. But 155 years later, children have to memorize this famous speech. Which read in part:
“We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. ?
But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate—we cannot consecrate—we cannot hallow—this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced.
It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
Ending Song: How deep the Father’s Love
