Joshua 18-19: Don't be content with partial victory

Theological Proposition/Focus: God desires his people to be Christ-like and continues to push us forward in growth.

Homiletical Proposition/Application: We have a tendency to declare victory once we have finished the easy part. In our spiritual growth, we must not declare victory simply because we are ready to be done.

Introduction:

Image: Completed Ocarina of Time, Now What?

The first video game that I remember really completing was "The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time." I remember finishing the game (somewhere around 27 hours of playing the game) and then thinking, Okay, what do I do now? I suppose I can go back and finish some of the side items that I had not finished. I went back and played a little but it really felt like I was just nomadically playing the game. I really wasn't motivated to 100% the game and so I just nomadically wandered around until I got bored and moved onto something else. I settled for just beating the game and not 100% the game. I suppose it really doesn't matter but as I considered Joshua 18-19 I was reminded.

Preview: In this passage, we will see that we should not settle for less than God is offering us. This means we need to take note of what God is offering and take action as God directs.

We should not settle for just solving the sin problem (or I suppose allowing God through the cross to solve the sin problem), we should aim to 100% life.

Setting the Stage:

Joshua wisely noted the war weariness

With this in mind, let me read the passage to you and then we will talk through a few key ideas.

Body

The whole assembly of the Israelites gathered at Shiloh and set up the tent of meeting there. The country was brought under their control, 2 but there were still seven Israelite tribes who had not yet received their inheritance. 3 So Joshua said to the Israelites: “How long will you wait before you begin to take possession of the land that the LORD, the God of your ancestors, has given you? 4 Appoint three men from each tribe. I will send them out to make a survey of the land and to write a description of it, according to the inheritance of each. Then they will return to me. 5 You are to divide the land into seven parts. Judah is to remain in its territory on the south and the tribes of Joseph in their territory on the north. 6 After you have written descriptions of the seven parts of the land, bring them here to me and I will cast lots for you in the presence of the LORD our God. 7 The Levites, however, do not get a portion among you, because the priestly service of the LORD is their inheritance. And Gad, Reuben and the half-tribe of Manasseh have already received their inheritance on the east side of the Jordan. Moses the servant of the LORD gave it to them.” 8 As the men started on their way to map out the land, Joshua instructed them, “Go and make a survey of the land and write a description of it. Then return to me, and I will cast lots for you here at Shiloh in the presence of the LORD.” 9 So the men left and went through the land. They wrote its description on a scroll, town by town, in seven parts, and returned to Joshua in the camp at Shiloh. 10 Joshua then cast lots for them in Shiloh in the presence of the LORD, and there he distributed the land to the Israelites according to their tribal divisions.

The first point that I see in this passage is that Christ followers we must be careful.

Don't settle for a spiritually purposeless nomadic existence

Weariness often leads us to prematurely end the fight (18:1-3).

I think that the people, tired from war weariness, having experienced some victory, decided that they were done. I fear that at time, in our Christian walk we can become weary, we can feel like the victories of the past are in the past and it is no longer worth the effort to have victories or that we just will never have those same victories that we enjoyed in the past.

Take note of the blessing that God is offering (18:4-7)

Joshua called on the people to take note of what God was offering.

After calling Israel together and reprimanding them for not taking action, Joshua proceeds to call on them to take some time to assess the land.

Now, we are not Israel and the church does not replace Israel. God is not offering us a tract of land in Canaan.

However, God does still offer us something significant.

Take note of the blessing that God is offering (Gal. 5:22-23).

The fruit of the Spirit provides us a list of some of what God offers us.

The fruit here described is not produced by a believer, but by the Holy Spirit working through a Christian who is in vital union with Christ (cf. John 15:1–8). The word “fruit” is singular, indicating that these qualities constitute a unity, all of which should be found in a believer who lives under the control of the Spirit. In an ultimate sense this “fruit” is simply the life of Christ lived out in a Christian.

The word fruit (καρπος) is singular suggesting that these are not each individual fruits but rather a singular fruit of the Spirit.

That is, all of these are given to the one who is indwelled by the Holy Spirit.

The First Triad - habits of mind

The first three of the fruit center on the mind of the Christian.

Peace

We should nurture love, joy, and peace in our minds.

The Second Triad - an outward reaching invitation

The second three of the fruit reach out by inviting others into a relationship with someone who is truly different from the world.

The Third Triad - conduct befitting a little Christ

The third triad brings together the other two in what might be called conduct or consistency.

MTR: Take a minute and dream, pick an area of Spiritual growth and imagine what it might look like to grow in this area.

Remember that the fruit is a unity and so we should see all of these present in our life. This is the blessing that God is offering us.

Take action to realize the blessing that God is offering (2 Peter 1:5-8).

We must realize that it was not enough for Israel to just sit and expect the blessing to fall into their lap. God wanted Israel to take action. Joshua called for action. So what does action look like for the Christian? In 2 Peter 1:5-8 I see

A recipe for growth (2 Peter 1:5-8)

5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7 and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. 8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins. 10 Therefore, my brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things, you will never stumble, 11 and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

The passage starts out with "for this reason" and you are probably asking for what reason? The answer comes from verses three and four, Salvation. Since we have been saved from sin God desires for us to be more like Christ.

What he asks is not easy and will require every effort, or all diligence.

But it will be worth it.

faith + goodness

Goodness (ἀρετή) - is the idea of what society sees as good.

One step in spiritual growth is for society to recognize an individual as being a good person. Note, this is only step 2. This is the beginning of Spiritual growth. We should be people who are known as "good people."

steadfastness+godliness

After learning consistency we can begin to practice godliness or piety.

The word piety can be viewed negatively because so many un-pious people have been labeled as pious but this should not be the case. A truly pious person is actually a wonderful thing to behold.

Image: No recipe for a good landing but leaving something out will result in a bad landing.

Have you ever experienced a great landing on an airplane? What about a hard landing? When I fly I like to try and guess if the pilot or computer landed the airplane. You see a computer can land an airplane successfully but not smoothly. A pilot can land the airplane smoothly or really badly. Just because you follow all the steps does not mean your landing will be perfect, there is an art to it. However, if you leave out a step you are almost guaranteed to have a bad landing. That is why a computer always has an ok landing. It follows the steps but lacks the art. I think spiritual growth is sort of like this. There are steps to follow. and I have just outlined those. These are important steps. However, this is not a recipe, these are simply the steps you need to follow.

Conclusion: Always pressing forward, Phil 3:12-14.

We need to be always straining forward. A successful racer does not think about what should have been done in the last lap or how well the first lap went. A successful racer thinks about the current lap and the next lap always pressing forward. Don't settle for a spiritually nomadic existence. Press forward.