Derek Grier - Crossing The Jordan
We're gonna be in Joshua 3:1. It begins, "Then Joshua". Jesus is the Greek translation of the Hebrew name Joshua or Yeshua. And as their shared names suggest, Joshua's career here prefigures Christ's. So whatever Israel received in the Promised Land was a result of Joshua-Yeshua. And likewise, whatever we receive in the kingdom of God is a result of Yeshua-Jesus. Joshua conquered by the tip of the spear. Jesus conquered by taking a spear. Joshua secured boundaries of a geographical kingdom. But Jesus secured a spiritual global kingdom without walls.
The consistency between the Old and New Testament is absolutely staggering. Everything of significance in the Old was recorded to point to Jesus in the New. Then Yeshua-Joshua rose early in the morning, as a man 1,400 years later would also rise again in the morning. And they set out from Acacia Grove, which is Shittim, and came to the Jordan. He and all the children of Israel, anticipation and excitement filled the air, their parents, their grandparents, their aunties, their uncles witnessed the greatest signs that any nation in history had ever experienced.
But the challenge was their parents died waiting. Their grandparents died waiting. Their aunties, their uncles died waiting. Even Moses died in waiting. The problem with surviving is that the ghost of everyone you ever left behind is riding on your shoulders. And they lodged there before they crossed over. So God had been faithful and he finally got into the place where they were right on the verge of the Promised Land. But there was a final obstacle, a final challenge in their way.
Now, most of the year the Jordan was simply a muddy creek. But at harvest time, it would reach flood stage and it would swell to up to a couple miles wide. And it was too deep to stand in. And the current was too strong to swim in. Now, God could have led them to the Jordan at another time, when it was easy to cross. But God is intentional. God is intentional. Not only about our blessings, but also our obstacles. Just because you face a crisis, doesn't mean that God has not led you every step of the way. We have been over budget, outnumbered, underfunded, second guessed, understaffed, face legal battles, church splits, started from the bottom now we're here. Started from the bottom now...
Look at your neighbor, say So it was, after three days, that the officers went through the camp. The camp had grown so large, it took days to get the instructions to the people. But when you focus on getting people better, bigger will take care of itself. And the command of the people saying, "When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, and the priests, the Levites, bearing it," and you know, we're from a different culture, different age, and the arc here represented the presence and the power of God, the mercy and the direction and the goodness and kindness of our God.
But for the ark to fulfill its purpose it had to be removed from hiding. It had to be removed from hiding. It had to be removed from hiding and put in plain sight. And they went and told 'em, "Then you shall set out from your place and go after it". No more a pillar cloud by day or a pillar by night. From this point of the journey, pay attention to me here, church, only the ark would lead them. Be stubborn about your goals. But be flexible about your methods. Stop trying to stretch what was only intended for a season into a lifetime. Steel is stronger than iron for one simple reason, tensile strength, its ability to bend without breaking.
And over the last couple years, the winds blew, but we were planted. The floods rose, but we were anchored. The devil pushed, but we pushed back. The difference between iron and steel is its ability to bend without being broken. Yet there shall be a space between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure. Cubit's about a yard. Love God enough not to stray far, but respect him enough for him to remain God and first, don't get so familiar that he's no longer the one who created the universe. Yes, he's in my private life, but he also is Lord of all the earth. And we have to keep that in mind if we're gonna journey with the Lord safely. Do not come near it, that you may know the way by which you must go.
Again, Jesus is a friend that sticks closer than a brother, but he will also make the hair stand up on the back of your neck if you forget yourself. You remember what the scripture says, Matthew 8:27, the disciples almost lost their mind saying, "Who could this man be, that even the winds and the sea obey Him"? Don't get so familiar with Jesus you kind of fit him in your little box. But here's what the Lord is saying to us today. "For you have not passed this way before".
What God did in Hilton High School was good. What God did in the Commerce Center at Fraley Boulevard was good. 350 seats, three to four services a weekend. What God did at Williamstown Road, the Ambassador, 750 seats three times a weekend. But don't you dare think you have already seen all that God can do. God is just getting warmed up. He's just stretching. He's just getting star. He's just getting limber.
Eyes have not seen, ears have not heard, neither has it entered into the hearts and minds of man what God has prepared for a church that would love him, love him, love him, love him. For you have not passed this way before. Egypt was behind them, wondering in the wilderness was behind them. But in front of them was a new land, new lives, new adventure. I thank God for the past, but get ready, get ready, get ready, get ready, get ready, get, get, get, get ready, your future will not look like your past.
It takes courage to walk into something new, something unfamiliar, something different. So in verse five, Joshua gives them some instructions, the same instructions I'm giving you today. And Joshua said to the people, "Sanctify," big word, "yourself". More simply put, get some alone time with God. Make the corrections that you know are overdue, refocus. Because you can't walk on two paths at the same time. Energy flows to where the attention goes.
You see, the bad news is time flies. The good news is you're the pilot. Church, Bernie Madoff was not the biggest thief in history. It's the small things that we let distract us from the things that matter most in life. That's the real bandit. So you say consecrate yourself, concentrate just means separate yourself, pull aside and get with God. We're so fast to get with people and get in the flow. Let me tell you something, God comes first. And just like on the airplane, whether they tell you, say, first put the air mask on you so you can help others. And if you're not first with God, how are you gonna bring God to others? And when you actually read the Bible, Jesus gave the disciples a simple command. He didn't say to go to graduate school. That's not what he said. He said, here's your job. Be with me and I'll send you out.
So our first job is to be with God. So Joshua said, listen, thank God for the land, thank God of the great things ahead, but it begins with your relationship with God. Consecrate yourself, sanctify yourselves, refocus on what matters. Not what she said he said or what he did or didn't do. Stop letting the little things get in the way the big. "For tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you". So number one, set your eyes on the ark, the power and the presence of God, not on people. Keep it personal. Don't just try to run on momentum. Keep it real. Second, consecrate yourselves, refocus your heart on God. But the final step or the final thing you need to do to cross over your Jordan is step in, verse nine.
So Joshua said to the children of Israel, "Come here, and hear the words of the Lord your God". This is our problem. We listen to friends, we listen to celebrities, we listen to preachers who divorced themselves a long time ago from the Bible. Pay attention to what I'm saying. But does anyone take time to hear from God anymore? We'll google it. We'll pay $200 for an appointment. But does anyone take the time to hear God? Verse 12.
Now therefore, take for yourselves twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one man from every tribe. And it shall come to pass, as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests who bear the ark of the Lord; watch this, the Lord of all the earth it. He wasn't satisfied to just say the Lord. The challenge is we got a church God. But he's not just Lord of the church house. I've lived long enough to find that he's also Lord of the courthouse. I've lived long enough to find he's also Lord of the state house, the schoolhouse.
The Bible said he Lord of all the earth, he's Lord of the jailhouse. And if you're slipping, he's Lord of the bath house, the drug house. Even those of us in the dog house, can anyone say amen there? He's Lord of whatever house you may find yourself. And he's Lord of all. Stop making God so provincial. Stop thinking so small. Stop thinking so tiny about what God wants to do in your life. He's not just God of Sunday morning. Yes, he owns the Sabbat, but every other day of the week. Hear what I'm saying. He's God of all the earth and every day of my life, the earth is the Lord's, the fullness there of and all that. This is the day, whether it's Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, the Lord has, I will rejoice and be glad. And he's the Lord of all the earth.
As soon as the souls of the feet of the priests who bear the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off. God promised, but they had to take the step. Church, God gave us a promise, but we had to prove ourself faithful. Success at anything is about maybe 10% inspiration, 90% perspiration. And church, we have worked, we have prayed together, we have cried together, we have buried loved ones, we have brought children into this world, we have married couples for, we have continued to work through some of our most difficult hours. He said, the waters of Jordan shall be cut off, the waters that came down from upstream, stay with me, and they shall stand as a heap.
So it was, when the people set out from their camp to cross over the Jordan, with the priests bearing the ark of the covenant before the people, and as those who bore the, a little wordie here, bore the ark came to the Jordan, and the feet of the priests who bore the ark dipped in the edge of the water. If you want what God has for you in your life, you're gonna have to get your feet wet. You're gonna have to risk getting disappointed again. You're gonna have to risk being criticized by people who don't get it. You're gonna have to risk that it may not work out exactly the way you had hoped. The hardest thing in life sometimes is to know what bridges to cross and what bridges to burn.
Stay with me in this quiet Episcopal church. You're quiet 'cause you're thinking. I respect your mind. That's why I preached it. For the Jordan overflows all its banks during the whole time of harvest. God intentionally sent them to the Jordan when it was at his height. He sent them to the Jordan when the Jordan possessed the greatest threat. Why did God set it up so that we had to build during the most deadly plague in American history? Why did God have us build in the most uncertain conflict-ridden times in the last 100 years? I'm about to tell you. Thank you for asking. Just as God wanted to show Joshua's generation that he was the same God that parted the Red Sea in Moses' generation, he wanted to show then he's still a God that order steps.
God wanted to show us, if he brings you to it, he can bring you through it. But what I want you to notice here is that God did not remove the Red Sea or the Jordan. He opened them. Now, you missed that. You missed that. You said, God, if you were with me, I wouldn't have this problem. God, if you were with me, I wouldn't have this issue. God, how could you lead me into this marriage? How could you have me give birth to that child? God, how could you have given me this job? Why did you lead me into that interview and why did you accept that or had them hire me? God, why? How? God, what are you thinking?
God doesn't always remove the problem. I can't tell you over the last 24 years how many late nights, sleepless nights, I can't tell you the things that we have experienced over these last two decades serving this congregation and all. And sometimes, "God, why"? I want you to notice God didn't remove it. He just opened it.