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!

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.

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."

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 act 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.

Christ's payment for sins is worth recounting (1 Cor. 11:23-29)

We are going to go in a little bit of a different order with this passage. The thing I want you to notice first is

The proclamation of the Lord's Supper is significant (26).

All of the words for "you" are plural in this verse. This is a corporate function and by participating in the Lord's supper we are confirming that we together are God's people. Second, we celebrate the meal together until he comes. The significance is that we fully expect him to come.

The seriousness of the Lord's Supper demands attention (27-29).

To eat or drink unworthily is to make oneself guilty of Christ's death.

In a sense we are all already guilty of Christ's death, but this is something different. This is the idea of directly treating Christ with contempt which makes one liable for his death.

Unworthy -> not "no unconfessed sin" but disrespecting the ordinance.

Here is something really important. The word "in an unworthy manner" (αναξιως) is a hapax legomenon and so is hard to translate. In the context of 1 Cor. 11 the verse ahs to do with the manner of eating that the Corinthians were employing which was shameful (not waiting for each other). That being said, we can still do this today when we partake of the Lord's Supper in a way that is disrespectful or in known rebellion against God. Hence, we are going to take some time for solemn confession, time to trat the sacrificial death of Christ with the respect that is due it.

The memorial of the Lord's Supper should be celebrated (23-26).

The broken Body (23-24)

The word is in the phrase this "is" my body can mean "represents".

We do not believe that there is any mystical power in the bread, rather that as we partake of the break we recall the broken body of Jesus.

The Last Supper was connected with the time of remembrance of the Passover Meal

Jesus replaced the Jewish remembrance and made it all about him.

Your personal decision to place your complete faith in Christ is worth recounting (Acts 2:36-41)

In Acts 2:14-41, the Apostle Peter gives his first sermon and in this sermon, he includes a clear message of the Gospel. Peter argues that Jesus Christ is none other than the promised Messiah. Peter continues by noting that this Jesus is the one who was crucified. When faced with our sin there are really only two responses, rebellion or repentance. You see,

The nagging question we each must answer is that of what do we do with our sin (36-37).

I love the question that Peter's audience asks "What should we do?"

Have you ever heard the phrase "there are no bad questions?" It is baloney, there are many bad questions. Trust me, I think I have heard many of them. However, this, here, is not a bad question. This is actually the right question. This is the question that we should ask when faced with the God of the universe, "what should I do?"

In fact, this connects to the nagging question that we each must answer. What do we do with our sin? We are each sinners, we each have a sin problem, we each need a solution to our sin problem. The question Peter's audience asks needs to be our question.

The solution you need is to repent and believe in Christ's atonement (38-39).

There is a lot going on in verse 38.

Repent (μετανοησατε) means to change one's mind, be converted

It carries the idea of a change that takes place when one turns to Christ in humble submission and asks forgiveness. For us this means to reject our sin and accept Christ's complete payment for our sin.

Be baptized (βαπτισθητω) means to be immersed.

The Jews at the time would immerse themselves as a means of cleansing. At times they might even immerse themselves in the name of Yahweh, but never in the name of Moses.

To immerse oneself in the name of Jesus Christ was a strong statement of Christ's diety.

A natural question emerges, is baptism necessary for salvation? The answer comes down to the reading of one simple preposition "for" (εις).

The preposition "for" (εις) can be causal, i.e. the command to be baptized is since the sins have been forgiven.

Together with

The plural - singular - plural structure could be read as y'all repent, each of you be baptized, for y'all been forgiven.

we see that repentance is key to salvation but