"Accepting God's Challenge"

A sermon preached by the Rev. Christopher E. Yopp at Edgemont Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) based on Joshua 3:7-17.

This past week I was thinking a great deal about my grandfather. My grandfather died when I was 13 years old. I took his death very hard because we were extremely close. I attribute my coffee consumption to my grandfather - it was with him that I develop a love for coffee. I can remember spending the night with my grandparents and always looking forward to eating breakfast with my grandfather the next morning. As we sat at the kitchen table, we would eat and talk and sip coffee. My coffee cup was filled predominately with milk with a little bit of coffee but that didn’t matter. I find myself, many mornings, while sitting and having a cup of coffee thinking about my grandfather. But this week, I couldn’t help but think of a song that was sung at his funeral. It is one of those old hymns, “I Won‘t Have to Cross Jordan Alone.” And this hymn stuck with me throughout the week and led me to the 3rd chapter of Joshua. Those of you who were a part of our Vacation Bible School this year remember this chapter real well.
Wes Seeliger in his book, Western Theology, confronts Christianity’s weaknesses. The Church, he says, has fallen out of favor many today. Seeliger suggests that we have the wrong mental images attached to faith. He gives two contrasting images to clarify the issue: the settler spirit and the pioneer spirit. The settler’s spirit is satisfied with the surrounding conditions. Someone with this spirit likes where they are and would fight to protect their territory. On the other hand, the pioneer’s spirit is never settled. Someone possessing this spirit has “Adventure” as their middle name. For them, life is forever a new and exciting pilgrimage.
It is not hard to see where the thrust of the Biblical witness is and certainly, the Book of Joshua makes it clear. God’s people are a people on the move. God has been called “the great deity of the road.” Look at it broadly. God called Moses to chosen people out of Egypt. They came to a mountain - Sinai - and were reminded of the covenant. The harsh wilderness disciplined and prepared them for their destination. It seems to be that way with God’s people. We begin in liberation and proceed to covenant formation. Then there is our wilderness training - the wilderness is a part of life’s journey. We can’t get around it, we can’t pass over it, we can’t skip by it - it is a part of life!
We read that the people of God’s deepest desire was to enter the Promised Land. It began as a glimmer of hope in Egypt. But after forty-years of wandering, their desire reached fever pitch. They stood on Jordan’s stormy banks and cast a wishful eye into Canaan’s fair and happy land. But standing between them and their desire was this river - one more time. They had fought the good fight but had not yet finished the course. There was this river and it was the spring of the year, the snow caps of Mount Hermon had melted and caused the river to swell to its highest. There were no bridges to cross, no ferries to ride, no shallow shoals to wade - only the deep and fear-laden waters of the Jordan. Perhaps they feared that this was the end of the line, that they were not going to make it to their home. And you know, we too have been to that river; in fact, we’ve been there many times in our lives.
God has instructed the people; “When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, and the priests, the Levites, bearing it, then you shall set out from our place and go after it. Yet there shall be a space between you of about two thousand cubits. Do not come near it, that you may know the way by which you must go, for you have not passed this way before” (Joshua 3:3-4).
The Ark of the Covenant was only a simple wooden box, forty-five inches by twenty-seven inches. It got its significance for what it represented. Inside were the relics from Israel’s holy history: Aaron’s rod, some manna, and the tablets of the Ten Commandments. The ark represented the presence of God. It was built with rings along its sides into which poles were inserted for carrying. There was no static legalism here - the God of the Covenant was on the move.
Lee McGlone offers an interesting point pertaining to the ark. He writes; “It’s a funny thing about the Ark of the Covenant. With so much significance put on it, you never hear about it after the Temple is built. Somehow the symbol of the times changed. Maybe that’s why they were told to walk behind it two thousand cubits - almost a thousand yards. It was a way of saying; ‘Don’t get too attached to this thing.’ It’s only going to be here for a little while. When you enter the new land, a new faith will be required. The God you have known in the wilderness has something new and vital in store for you. Be ready for it.”