Joshua 23:1-16 – Close to Sinners, Far From Sin
There’s an old story about a man who tried to save the city of Sodom from destruction by warning the citizens. But the people ignored him. One day someone asked, “Why bother everyone? You can’t change them.”
“Maybe I can’t,” the man replied, “but I still shout and scream to prevent them from changing me!”
This morning I am not going to be talking specifically about Sodom, as in the Sodom and Gomorrah from the Bible, but I am going to talk about how Christians are to relate to the world around us. I have a few definite things, but a lot of what I will say will be an attempt to help people see the other side of things, too. But first, we must read our passage for today. Joshua 23:1-16.
Now, here’s the picture. As we wrap up our series on the book of Joshua, we’re also coming to the end of Joshua’s life, as well. By the time chapter 23 comes around, Joshua is now “old and well advanced in years.” And he wants to speak to the people in charge of the nation of Israel: their “elders, leaders, judges and officials.”
Joshua’s message to the nation’s leaders has 2 main points: 1) Remember all the Lord’s promises to you about this land that He gave you, and 2) Remember not to be like the nations that God drove out from around you. Joshua tells them to remember God’s strength, and remember God’s standards.
It’s this 2nd point I’d like to spend time with today. Some of the verses jumped out at me as I studied this passage, and I’d like to comment on them. In particular, there is one verse: v7 – “Do not associate with these nations that remain among you.” V12 carries a like meaning: “If you turn away and ally yourselves with the survivors of these nations that remain among you and if you intermarry with them and associate with them…”
There are other verses that carry similar meanings. In fact, this whole passage is a warning not to fall into the sins that the nations driven out had committed. V7 also says, “Do not invoke the names of their gods or swear by them. You must not serve them or bow down to them.” V16 says not to “violate the covenant of the LORD your God,” nor to “go and serve other gods and bow down to them.”
But again, I go back to v7: “Do not associate with these nations that remain among you.” What does that mean? What did it mean for the nation of Israel? Were they supposed to take it at face value? And what does it mean for us, if anything? Do we take it at face value, as is?
Well, to the Israelites, it was a clear command. They were not to fraternize with the enemy. They would allow the cultures and traditions of the foreign nations to run off on themselves, and would eventually be carried away into apostasy. And God wanted this not to happen.
God’s method of evangelism in the OT was more of an inward focus. That is, if He could get His people to look like His people, then the surrounding nations would look in at them, want what they had, and would turn to Judaism.
The NT changed all that. It changed because it didn’t work. In theory, it was fine. Like a moth attracted to a light, nations would be attracted to follow the God of the Jewish nation. But it didn’t work because the people never acquired an inner light. They might have looked the part, but too many of them lacked the internal qualities God wanted them to have, like compassion, mercy, righteousness, and faith. The NT changed that by the arrival of Jesus, who is able to make external rules get written on our hearts.
So, rather than moths attracted to a light, rather, the NT says we should be wandering into the darkness with flashlights. The OT says, “Come in.” The NT says, “Go out.” The OT says, “Come to us.” The NT says, “We’ll come to you.” The OT is an eat-in. The NT is a delivery shuttle.
But these mental images that are not perfect descriptions, either. Even as the OT said how a child of God should live, so does the NT. The NT has very clear standards about how a person is meant to live godly lives.
Which actually makes things harder. To get the message of salvation to sinners, but at the same time stay away from sinners. I mean, people quote all kinds of verses that tell us to stay away from evil.
Psalm 1:1 is a popular one: “Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers.” That is, do not stand around with sinners. 1 Thessalonians 5:22 says, “Avoid every kind of evil.” How can a person avoid evil in the middle of going out into it? 1 Corinthians 6:18 says, “Flee from sexual immorality.” Well, that clearly means we are not to go near people who are being sexually immoral. Right?
Then there’s this verse in Philippians 4:8: “Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things.” Well, I must say, that if I am hanging around unclean people with unclean lips, as Isaiah said, not everything that enters my head is clean.
And Paul teaches his disciple in 2 Timothy 3:5 what to do around people who look like they are godly but really are not. That is, these people are churchy and may even sound religious, but they don’t live godly lifestyle. Paul says, “Have nothing to do with them.” Paul tells us to avoid carnal people. Well, if that were the case, taking just these words by themselves, we should not even talk to people who are baptized or who go to church but don’t live very Christian lives. Is that it?
The question is, when our Joshua passage tells us not even to associate with unbelievers around us, what does that mean for us today? Well, I think we must look at Jesus’ example on this issue, as well as in every other issue in life. The Bible tells us in Hebrews 7:26 that He was “holy, blameless, pure, [and] set apart from sinners.” Jesus was not defiled by sin in the slightest.
And yet, Luke 7:34 says that He was called “a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.” So at the same time, He never sinned but got so close to sinners that He was accused of being one. Now, the word there, “sinners”, doesn’t just mean people who sin. It’s more of an insult, language used to separate good people from bad people.
But if you think of it, compared to Jesus, everyone was a sinner. There were those whose sins were more open, and those whose sins were hidden better, like greed, jealousy, and pride. The point is, Jesus spent the most time with His followers, first, and then spent the most time with people with the obvious sins
So, I have to believe that avoiding sin, and avoiding people who sin are obviously not the same things. He have to believe that it must be possible to be clean and pure while being with people who aren’t. In other, more spiritual-sounding words, how can a believer be in the world, but not of it? Can a person be a good reflection of Jesus while they spend time with people who need Him?
Let me give you 4 thoughts about tying together 2 very clear commands in the NT: be clean, but reflect Jesus to people who aren’t.
1) Learn the difference between loving the world and loving the people in it. Let me tell you, people hate the phrase, “Love the sinner, hate the sin.” Don’t use it. It’s not that it’s a bad thing, but it’s also a cliché that has grown offensive.
But the idea is still true. Look at a person for more than what they do. When Jesus spent time with the Samaritan women, He didn’t see her as someone who did a lot of sleeping around. He saw her as a person who needed the Lord. Look past a person’s lifestyle. Don’t judge them by their mistakes. Look for the person inside.
Remember that a person sins because that’s what they use to cover over their hurt. Their sin, any sin, is a crutch to hide pain and doubts. If you can remember that, you can get past the things a person does on the outside and get a glimpse of who they are on the inside.
2) Don’t ingest the contamination. You see, here’s the catch. This is why the nation was told to avoid the surrounding nations: because their sins would rub off. You have to be careful, but you can’t run from it either. Pray that you would be a bigger influence on your friends than they are on you. Ask the Lord to make you effective. Ask Him to help you resist the influences that you get exposed to when watching TV or movies with your friends. Ask Him to keep you alert to subtle thoughts that creep into the media and into conversation. Somehow Jesus was able to be pure in an impure world while hanging out with impure people. Ask Him how you can do it too.
3) Sift through issues before attacking them. I say this because we love to jump all over things. We attack Halloween instead of sorting through it. We attack Harry Potter without sorting through it. I heard of one person attacking Boy Scouts because it didn’t stand against homosexuality. Whaa? Well, it doesn’t take a stand either way, actually. Let me tell you, attacking things in the culture without understanding them undermines your witness.
But Jesus knew current events, and Paul could quote secular poetry. Both used these things to explain God’s truths. Use what you read and see, in order to help explain Jesus to people.
One last thing: 4) Others may not approve of your tactics. Jesus was labeled a drunk and a sinner, neither of which was true. When you try to help people see Jesus, and you are willing to try anything to do it, you will be misunderstood. You will be criticized and murmured against. People will complain about your tactics. They’ll say you’re watering it down or becoming liberal or becoming carnal or selling out or compromising your beliefs or being a bad witness or giving them a bad name or something.
Listen: I’m not saying a person should throw all advice out the window. I’m saying that sometimes when you obey God, others won’t understand. So you need to sort out what you’re doing, especially if others disagree with you, and ask God about it all. Then do what you feel is right.
I understand this can sometimes be tricky. To be with others, and their sins, without the sins creeping into our own lives. But it’s what Jesus came to do, and He’s given us the same mission. It takes work, prayer, sensitivity and the use of our brains. But it’s worth it. Will you today decide to do whatever it takes to share Jesus’ love with people?
