Onward, Christian Soldiers

John Maxwell, the best-selling author of The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, says, “A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.”

Bob Pruitt knew the way. He was a career officer in the US Army Field Artillery. He served in Vietnam and rose to the rank of colonel. He knew how to lead. After his retirement from the military, Bob worked in real estate and was active in Kiwanis. In fact, he served as president. Bob was a problem solver, and he led by example. When the Kiwanis group needed something to hold snow cones, Bob made it. And he made it right. That was the only way he knew how to do it.

Bob Pruitt

He could be rather particular about things. Some might even say demanding, but Bob believed in doing your best. So he was the best dad he knew how to be. He always attended his son’s ball games. When they beat the #1 team in the state, Bob praised Tom saying, “You played a good game….” Then Bob proceeded to tell Tom how he could improve. Bob knew the way.

He knew what needed to be done when St. Mark’s was just getting started and meeting in a community center. And he knew what needed to be done when his son wanted to get permission from the city of Germantown to use a trail for dirt bikes. He knew what needed to be done to stop a water tower from being built near the middle school. Bob knew the way.

And he wasn’t shy about offering advice. But he was always there to help when someone was in need. And if there was a job to do, Bob was there to do it.

Bob was a true leader. He knew the way of Jesus the Good Shepherd. He went the way of the Good Shepherd. And he showed others the way.

The same could be said of Joshua. He knew the way of servant leadership. And that way began with faith. He had faith in God. And, boy, did he need it!

If anyone was ever put to the test it was the newly appointed leader of the Israelite people. Joshua had some mighty big shoes to fill. Moses had guided the people for decades. In fact, it was Moses who led the people out of captivity in Egypt and through the Red Sea. It was Moses who drew water from a rock and brought down manna from heaven. It was Moses who received the 10 Commandments and built the Ark of the Covenant. It was Moses who had led the people to the Promised Land. But Moses was gone. He had died on Mount Nebo, looking down into the fertile valley of Canaan. Moses saw the land that God had promised to give the people of Israel, but Joshua would claim the prize.

Joshua had earned God’s favor. He had proven himself to be reliable. Strong. And faithful. Back when the Israelites first made their way to the edge of the Promised Land, Moses had sent 12 leaders to scout out the land. Joshua was one of them.

“See what the land is like,” Moses told the scouts. “Are the people strong? How many people live there? Are the towns well protected? Is the soil fertile? What kind of food grows there?” (Numbers 13:18-21) That’s the kind of thing you need to know before you attempt a takeover.

So the 12 scouts spent 40 days getting the lay of the land. When they returned, they told Moses that the land was very rich. It flowed with milk and honey! But the people who lived there were powerful, which just makes sense, right? If the land is fruitful, then the people who live there will be strong and healthy and rich, and the cities will be full of people and well protected.

Ten of the scouts discouraged Moses from even trying to enter the land, but Caleb said they should go and take possession of it. And Joshua reminded them that the Lord was with them so there was no reason for the people of Israel to be afraid. “The Lord will lead us, and the Lord will give the land to us.”

 But the people rebelled. They lost faith in God. They did not believe that the Lord would keep the promise to Abraham. They did not believe that God would give them the land. So they refused to go. In fact, they even talked about replacing Moses as their leader and heading back to Egypt! They were so afraid of what was ahead of them that they were ready to go back into SLAVERY.

And that made God very angry. “How long will these people treat me with contempt?” God fumed. “How long will they refuse to believe in me? In spite of all that I have done for them! I should strike them down.”

But Moses pleaded for mercy. And the Lord relented. God vowed to keep the promise made to Abraham. God would be faithful, even though the people were not. The Lord would give the Israelites the land that had been promised. But, first, they would have to wander in the desert for 40 years. Long enough for them to learn to trust God. And long enough for the unfaithful spies to die. The unfaithful ones would not enter the Promised Land, but their children would. God would show them the way. (Numbers 13-14)

Sure enough, four decades had passed. The disbelieving had fallen away. And the time had come, finally, for the Israelites to claim the land that had been promised to their ancestors. God would defeat their enemies. And Joshua would lead them to victory.

But it would not be easy. Leading others into battle never is. The Lord encourages Joshua, “Be strong and courageous. Follow my commands. Do what I tell you to do. Do not waver from my instructions, and you will succeed.” (Joshua 1:6-9)

So Joshua does exactly what the Lord tells him to do. He gathers up the people and tells them to get ready. In three days, you will take possession of the land that the Lord is giving you.

He does not doubt or waver or change the plans one iota. Joshua is faithful. He believes in God. He trusts that the Lord will do what God has promised to do. In fact, Joshua has so much faith in God, so much confidence in the Lord, that it inspires the people. They vow to follow Joshua and to obey his commands fully. “Just as we fully obeyed Moses,” they say, “we will obey you.”

Huh? Ae you paying attention? That right there is some revisionist history! Because the people were always rebelling against Moses and against God. That’s how they ended up wandering in a desert for 40 years, remember? But maybe they have learned a thing or two. Maybe all those days trusting God for food and water and life itself have taught them the wisdom of obedience. Maybe they truly have come to believe that God is good. Maybe they truly have come to believe that God is faithful. Maybe they really believe that God is trustworthy. Because Joshua tells them it is time to go and they go. They follow Joshua, and they follow the Lord. They follow even though the way forward is difficult.

The first hurdle they face is the Jordan River, which is at flood stage, but they line up behind the Ark of the Covenant and walk straight into it. And the water dries up! They walk right across a dry river bed, and, after 40 long years, they finally enter the Promised Land! The first thing they do is worship and recommit themselves to the Lord.

It appears that the Israelites have learned finally to trust the Lord. The faith of their leader has inspired them to believe. So they march together. Bravely into battle.

Before the battle begins, Joshua sees a warrior outside of the city. Joshua wants to know, “Are you for us or against us?” “Neither,” the man replies. “I am the commander of the army of the Lord.” Joshua fell face down on the ground in reverence and asks, “What message does my Lord have for his servant?”

Now THAT is humility! And obedience. Joshua has been chosen by the Lord God Almighty to lead a great nation, but he is not arrogant. Or boastful. Or domineering. Joshua does not believe that he is too great to bow down before the Lord. He does not believe he is too great to serve. Joshua is humble. Joshua is obedient. Joshua is respectful. Joshua does not act as if he is better than everybody else. He seems to know that it is his service to God that makes him great.

The commander tells Joshua to take off his shoes because he is standing on holy ground, and Joshua does what he is told. Again, Joshua is obedient. And faithful. He follows God’s commands.

The people of Jericho had heard that the Lord had dried up the mighty Jordan River so that the Israelites could cross it safely. They knew that Joshua and his army were coming for them, so they were shut up tight, ready to ward off an assault. They were bigger. They were stronger. And they were prepared for battle.

But the Lord had told Joshua, “I have delivered Jericho into your hands.” God promises victory to Joshua. “Just do what I tell you to do. March around the city once a day for six days. Have 7 priests carry trumpets of rams’ horns in front of the ark. Then on the 7^th day, march around the city 7 times with the priests blowing the trumpets. When they hit one long note, have all the people shout out loud. Then the wall of the city will collapse, and your people can walk right in.”

Sounds crazy, right? That is not how you win a war against a well-fortified city. Jericho was a spring-fed oasis. It dominated the lower Jordan plain, and it had for 6000 years or more. Its people were protected by a high wall and tower. Enemy invaders trying to take such a city must penetrate the walls and gates. To do that, you generally had three options. Use some sort of ruse like Trojan horse. Break through some weak place in the wall, or go over or under it. Or you can lay siege to the fortress, cutting off supply lines until residents are forced to surrender.[i] You want to take a well-fortified city, you go in with guns blazing. You don’t march around it and blow a few horns. What kind of military tactic is that? Foolishness like that could get everybody killed!

But Joshua does not waver. He does exactly as God had instructed. He gives the priests and the people and the armed guards their instructions. And they follow his lead. They line up and march around the city while 7 priests blow trumpets. But they don’t say a word. Not one cry. For six straight days. They follow God’s commands exactly. On the seventh day, they line up again and march around the city. But this time they circle the city 7 times, and when the priests finally hit one long blast on the trumpets, the people cry out, just as Joshua had told them to do. And the walls of the city collapsed! Just like that. Just as God had promised. Imagine that!

The Israelites were victorious. Even though they were small and weak and vulnerable. They defeated a much more powerful enemy. Because they trusted their leader, and they had faith in God.

---

[i] Jerome F.D. Creach. Joshua: Interpretation Commentary. Louisville: John Knox Press, 2003. 61-62.

Do the Hard Stuff: Move Outside Your Comfort Zone

He was 8 years old and about to take his first big step into adulthood. It was not a decision he made willingly. His parents had decided it was time. So they pushed him. Right out of the bathtub and into a shower stall. Before he could object, Brett found himself wearing nothing but his birthday suit and staring up into the dreaded showerhead. “It pointed down at me like an executioner’s gun,” the young man recalls. “Then Dad pulled the trigger, the shower began to rumble and hiss, and I was screaming before the first drop of water hit.” But that was years ago, and now Brett showers every day and doesn’t think twice about it.[i]

Be strong and courageous. God is with you wherever you go.

In the summer of 2005, Brett Harris and his twin brother Alex took a long hard look at the world around them and realized that our society has very low expectations of teenagers. But it hasn’t always been that way. Before labor and school reform laws were introduced in the early 1900s, young people were treated like adults. And young people were expected to perform like adults. And they lived up to the challenge.

George was only 11 years old when his father died, so he studied hard and mastered geometry, trigonometry and surveying. At 17 he got his first job—as the official surveyor of Culpepper County.[ii]

David was born in 1801 near Knoxville, where his dad served in the state militia. At the age of 10, David began a career at sea, serving as a naval cadet on the warship Essex. At 11 he saw his first battle, and by the time he was 12, David was the commander of a ship that had been captured in battle.[iii]

Clara was born in Oxford, Massachusetts, on Christmas Day in the year 1821. When she was 11 years old, her older brother David fell from the roof of a barn and was seriously injured. Clara begged to help take care of him. For two years, she nursed her brother until he made a full recovery. A year later, when she was only 14, Clara became the nurse for a hired hand who got small pox. As the epidemic spread, Clara’s work load increased.[iv]

These 3 young people accomplished great things because great things were expected of them. They did not stop doing great things as they got older. George went on to become the first president of the United States. David became the US Navy’s first admiral. And Clara founded the American Red Cross. But their commitment to excellency started in their teens. The Harris twins believe all young people can do hard and important things so they set out to start a teenage revolution against low expectations. In that way, they hope to change the world.

Friends, I believe we can learn something from Alex and Brett. I believe the Universal Church is suffering from the same dreaded disease of low expectations.

According to a 2015 report from the Barna Group, only 20 percent of Christian adults are involved in some sort of discipleship activity such as Sunday School, Bible study, spiritual mentoring, or Christian book clubs. And why should they bother? 38 percent of Christian adults say that they are happy with where they are in their spiritual lives, and another 36 percent say they are almost where they want to be.[v]

But, at the same time, about 49 percent of unchurched adults could not tell you a single favorable impact the Church has had on our nation.[vi]

We do little because little is expected of us. As a result, more and more people are growing up without any religious instruction. We can do better. We must do better.

In Philippians 3:10, the apostle Paul reminds us of our objective: “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection….” Therefore, he continues in verses 13 and 14, “… this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.”

Paul is not marking time. He is pushing himself hard to win a great prize, and he urges all believers to be just as diligent, if not more so. “Do you not know,” he writes in 1 Corinthians 9:24, “that in a race the runners all compete, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win it.”

God calls the Church to greatness. “Go … and make disciples of all nations,” Jesus urges in Matthew 28:19. And 1 Peter 2:9 reminds us, “… you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”

As followers of Jesus Christ, we are called to do great things. Not mediocre things. Great things! So for the next few weeks, we are going to look at some of the ways that we can overcome complacency. Friends, I’m not gonna lie to you. This is hard work. Striving for excellency is hard work. And it can be scary. Following Jesus may lead us to places we would rather not go. Following Jesus may lead us to do things we would rather not do. Following Jesus may lead us to do some really hard stuff. Following Jesus may lead us to move beyond our comfort zone.

Be strong and courageous. God is with you wherever you go.

No one knew that better than Joshua. We first meet Joshua about 2 years after the Israelites escaped from Egypt. They had been making their way through deserts and mountains, and they had encountered one trial after another. No water. No food. Attacked by enemies. But God had been with them all the way. God had provided for their every need. They finally reached the edge of the Promised Land, but instead of moving forward in faith, the people say, “Let’s send spies to scout out the land. What is the land like? Are the people who live there strong? How many of them are there? Are they prepared for battle? Is the land rich? Are there trees? Bring us some of the fruit that grows there.”

So the spies go and see how great the land is that God has promised to give them. The land is fertile. Livestock produces well. Crops provide abundant harvests. BUT the people who already live there are strong. Towns are well fortified. And the people are huge! So 10 of the scouts try to discourage the Israelites from going into the Promised Land. Only 2 say, “Let’s go. God is with us! We will overcome.” One of those is Joshua.

But the people were terrified, and they threatened to stone Joshua and Caleb. God gets angry because the Israelites are being disobedient. Again. They still do not trust God, even though God has already done amazing things for them. God has taken them safely through difficult times. God rescued them from slavery. God led them through the deep waters. God had provided for their every need. And they are still afraid! They are still rebelling against God. They are still determined to do things their own way instead of God’s way. God is fed up with them and threatens to strike them with disease and disinherit them. But Moses appeals to God. Seeks forgiveness. And God forgives. BUT there are consequences. The Israelites will be forced to wander in the wilderness for 40 years before they will ever be allowed to enter the Promised Land.

So now it’s 40 years later. Moses has died. Just about everybody who left Egypt with Moses has died. There’s a whole new generation of folks following the Lord. And they have a brand new leader. God puts Joshua in charge. The assistant is now the commander. And the first thing God tells Joshua is, “Go on now. Cross the Jordan. It is time for you to receive the land I have promised to give you.”

Talk about stepping outside your comfort zone! For 40 years, Joshua had lived comfortably under the leadership of Moses. Sure, as a leader of the tribe of Nun, Joshua had certain responsibilities, but, in the past, he could always look to Moses for guidance. Now the buck would stop with Joshua. He would now be the one everyone would look to for answers. And that can be kind of intimidating. Stepping into a place of authority for the very first time. New things can be a little scary.

Not only was Joshua being called into a brand new role, he was also being sent in an entirely new direction. He and his people would no longer wander in the wilderness. God was sending them into the Promised Land. A land brimming with promise and possibility. It was an exciting time! But it had to have been a scary one, too. After all, Joshua had seen with his own two eyes how formidable his opponents would be. This was no easy task that God had given him.

But don’t worry, God says. Be strong and courageous. I will be with you. Joshua had trusted God in the past. And Joshua can trust God now. “I will not fail you or forsake you,” God says. And God kept that promise. With God’s help, Joshua was able to do great things.

The same is true for us. When we have faith in God, we can do the hard stuff. We can move outside our comfort zone. We can face the challenges that lie before us. We can do new things. Things that challenge us and stretch us. Because God is with us. And God works in us. When we are weak, God is strong!

So, even if we only have faith the size of a mustard seed, we can move outside our comfort zone. That doesn’t mean we won’t be afraid. Doing new things can be scary. Courage is not the absence of fear. Courage is being afraid and doing what God calls us to do anyway.

So we have faith in God and move outside our comfort zone. And we can be bold because, even though we don’t know everything that lies ahead of us, we know God. We know that God is good and God loves us and God wants us to succeed!  

Be strong and courageous. God is with you wherever you go.

---

[i] Alex and Brett Harris. Do Hard Things: A Teenage Rebellion Against Low Expectations. Colorado Springs, CO: Multnomah Books, 2008. 65-66.

[ii] Harris, 31.

[iii] Harris, 31-32.

[iv] Harris, 32.

[v] “New Research on the State of Christian Discipleship.” Published December 1, 2015, on the Barna Group website at https://www.barna.com/research/new-research-on-the-state-of-discipleship/#.V8uYeyvF8xM. Copyrighted @ 2016 Barna Group Inc. Downloaded September 3, 2016.

[vi] “Five Trends Among the Unchurched.” Published October 9, 2014, on the Barna Group website at https://www.barna.com/research/five-trends-among-the-unchurched/#.V8uc8yvF8xM. Copyrighted @ 2016 Barna Group Inc. Downloaded September 3, 2016.