View source for Joshua 8:30-35: Renewing the Covenant

'''Theological Proposition/Focus: God has done things worth remembering.''' 

'''Homiletical Proposition/Application: Take advantage of the divine memorial that God has set up by practicing those memorials.''' 
=Introduction:=

==Image: Why take so many pictures? So you can remember==
Emily loves to take pictures. I checked the other day and she has 41,000 photos saved. When we were on vacation as she was taking pictures I asked her, "why do you take so many pictures." She told me "because I know I will forget these things but if I have a picture then I will remember." You see we all have a tendency to forget and so we do things to remind ourselves of significant items. We need reminding!

==Preview: We are going to look at Joshua 8:30-35 and see that God's promises are worth recounting. Then we will practice the two ordained memorials that God has provided for his people.==
==Text: Joshua 8:30-35; 1 Cor. 11:23-29; Acts 2:36-41==

==Setting the Stage:==


=Body=

==God's words, promises, and acts are worth recounting (30-35).==
===In the wake of major victories, it was time to remember.===
Defeating Ai essentially opened up the region for Joshua to begin a major military campaign. The foothold had been established and a military leader would likely have thought it appropriate to push the advantage and secure the entire central region. However, Joshua did something different.
====The Significance====
=====In Deuteronomy 27:1-8 Moses commanded Israel to perform a covenant renewal ceremony on Mt. Ebal upon entering the land.=====
With the entryway cities in ruin Israel could now perform this important ceremony.
=====The march from the camp at Gilgal northward would have been about 30 miles through sparsely populated areas.=====
=====Why here? because from these centrally located peaks most of the promised land can be seen.=====
=====Covenant renewal can be most useful at times when you can look forward and backward.=====

===Joshua performed three actions to lead the people through covenant renewal.===

====The erecting of the alter provided the opportunity for both confession and fellowship.====
=====The significance of uncut stones and abscence of tools was Israel's differentness.=====
"The unfinished stones would have contrasted with the finished stones found in many Canaanite altars, a reminder that, even in such rituals as offering sacrifices (which were shared by the Israelites), the Israelites were to be different. See Boling, Joshua, 248." <ref>David M. Howard Jr., Joshua, vol. 5, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1998).</ref>
=====Burnt offerings - consisted of entirely consumed animals offered to atone for sins.=====
In Lev. 1:4 we learn about the significance of the atoning burn sacrifice.
=====The word for atonement (כפר) carries the idea of to appease=====
The Hebrew word has the idea of covering. So to atone is to cover or to hide. 
Actually, the word we use, atonement, has theological roots in the English language and it based on the idea of "at-one." The idea is the restoration of a broken relationship. A key aspect of Israel's covenant renewal was atonement. To make right that which was broken by sin. To restore the previously broken relationships.
=====Fellowship offerings - consisted of offerings where portions were eaten by the people as they entered into fellowship with God and others.=====
I find this to be a fascinating aspect of theology. Central to God seems to be the idea of fellowship. Fellowship is literally baked into the very fabric of God's interactions with humans.


====The duplication of the Law reminded the people of the centrality of God's word.====
We actually don't know what stones Joshua wrote on. They may have been new stones or they may have been the stones of the alter. The point is that God's word was so important that Joshua needed to make a copy. The at of copying was a statement of worth and dependence on God. Surely the leader of the people had something better to do with his time than write out the OT Law. Writing it out demonstrated that God and his Word were vitally important.

===Joshua led the people in corporate reading of the Law.===
====A huge natural amphitheater still exists in this place today.====
====The reading, as described/commanded in Deut. 27:15-26 would have included going over all the curses.====
====Verse 34 indicates that Joshua covered both blessings and curses.====

===MTR: Commit to reading your Bible daily this week (5 min., 10 min. 30 min. 60 min.)===

==Christ's payment for sins is worth recounting (11:23-29)==
===The proclamation of the Lord's Supper is significant (26).===

===The seriousness of the Lord's Supper demands attention (27-29).===
===MTR: Corporate prayer of confession===
===The memorial of the Lord's Supper should be celebrated (23-26).===
====The broken Body (23-24)====
====The covenant of the blood (25)====

===MTR: Let's practice the Lord's supper together.===

==Your personal decision to place your complete faith in Christ is worth recounting (Acts 2:36-41)==
===The nagging question we each must answer is that of what do we do with our sin (36-37).===
===The solution you need is to repent and believe in Christ's atonement (38-39).===
===The natural next step is baptism (40-41).===
===MTR: As we baptize today, recall your own commitment to trust Christ.===

[[Category:Sermons]]