Name
me some of the heroes/heroines in the Bible. Shout em out!
One
name didn’t hear – unsung hero – Joshua. Hear how important he was in the story
this morning.
Over
the past few months in church we’ve been working our way through a teaching
programme called the Story which is like the Bible in summary form, taking you
all the way through from Genesis to Revelation in 31 chapters.
And
up ‘til now, it’s been pretty familiar territory – we’ve met some of the big
heroes of the faith – Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph. And now Moses, probably
the biggest Old Testament hero of them all. Moses, who led the people of Israel
out of slavery in Egypt and brought them to the edge of the land God had
promised to give them. The land of Caanan.
But
at the beginning of today’s chapter, chapter 7, Moses has died, and it falls to
his assistant, Joshua, to fill his shoes.
Now
Joshua himself is a man to be reckoned with. He’s no green youth - he’d be well into middle age by this time. He’d
been at Moses’ right hand for years; he’d been one of the spies originally sent
in to Caanan for reconnaissance; He was as good a deputy as Moses could have
had. But the fact remained that he wasn’t Moses. And the prospect of following
on from such an imposing figure must have been incredibly dauntung. Just ask
Davy Moyes how that feels!
So
listen out for the reassurance God brings him as he starts out on his journey
of leadership. These are the first few lines in Chapter 7 of the story, which
are taken from the book of Joshua in the Old Testament:
1After the death of
Moses the servant of the Lord,
the Lord said to Joshua son
of Nun, Moses’ assistant: 2“Moses my servant is
dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River
into the land I am about to give to them—to the Israelites. 3I
will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses. 4Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon,
and from the great river, the Euphrates—all the Hittite country—to the Great
Sea£ on the west. 5No-one will be
able to stand up against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so
I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you.
6“Be strong and
courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to
their forefathers to give them. 7Be strong and
very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do
not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful
wherever you go.
Be
strong and courageous. Did you hear that? Twice in those verses, and another
two times before the end of the chapter.
God
knows that Joshua’s afraid – who wouldn’t be, in his shoes?
But
a hero isn’t someone who’s unafraid. A hero’s someone who manages to rise above
their fears and do what they have to do. That’s what makes them special. They
overcome their fear.
A
father and son were parting in a novel I read recently, and the boy was worried
about how he would cope without his dad. “Can
a man still be brave if he’s afraid?” asked the boy. “That’s the only time a man can be brave.” his father replied.
History
shows that Joshua faced up to his fears, and under his leadership, not Moses’, Israel
took possession of the land that God had promised to them.
But
how did he do it? How did he overcome his fears?
Well
we don’t get the inside story on that one, but it strikes me, from the passage
we just heard, that there were two things that must have helped him.
Firstly,
God reminds Joshua that there’s a much bigger story going on than the narrative
around his feelings and his fears. There’s a wider purpose and a greater good
he’s called to serve.
Be strong and courageous (he says), because you will lead these people
to inherit the land I swore to their forefathers to give them.
That’s
the big story. This isn’t just Joshua’s story – it’s the story of his fathers
and forefathers; his descendants and their descendants.
God’s
forming a nation here. Blessing Joshua’s people so that they in turn will
become a blessing to the whole world. That’s
where we’re headed. And that’s the perspective Joshua has to try and get on
things. His life is caught up into a greater cause.
As
many of you know I’m a Liverpool fan and I love reading the old stories about
Bill Shankly who managed them in the 1960’s.
Apparently
there was one occasion when Shanks found Tommy Smith, a no-nonsense defender,
stretched out on the treatment table at half-time. Shanks asked him what was
wrong and he said ‘It’s my leg, boss’.
“That’s
not your leg, son” said Shanks. “That’s Liverpool’s leg!”
Joshua
overcame his personal fears by remembering that he was called to serve a
greater cause.
And
I wonder how many of our unsung heroes in wartime found their courage and rose
to the occasion, in exactly the same way. By remembering the bigger picture
they were a part of – the defence of their nation and all it stood for, the
defence of the weak and vulnerable and the need to strike back against the
forces of tyranny.
Joshua
overcame his fears, firstly by remembering he was part of something greater.
But secondly, by remembering that he didn’t go alone.
“As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor
forsake you.”
If I had a pound for every time God
makes that kind of promise in the Bible I might not be rich, but I could afford
a nice lunch out at the Cock and Bull….
It’s a constant refrain on God’s lips.
And it almost always comes to people who are afraid –
Moses at the burning bush when he’s told to go back to Egypt.
Jacob when he’s told to go back home and face the wrath of his brother
Esau.
Gideon, when he’s told to take on the might of the people of Midian.
Jesus’ disciples, when he tells them that he’ll soon return to His
Father, but that he’ll send the Holy Spirit to remain with them
I will be with you – God says. Go in
faith, and you go in my strength, not just your own.
For the man or woman who believes,
those words are often enough to stir our courage to do what’s right, even when
it feels beyond us.
One of my favourite war poems expresses
that though beautifully. It was written by a soldier called Malcolm Boyle, and
it was found on his body after he was killed in action during the D-day
landings.
If I should never see the moon again
Rising red gold across the harvest field,
Or feel the stinging of soft April rain,
As the brown earth her hidden treasures yield.
If I should never taste the salt sea spray
As the ship beats her course against the breeze,
Or smell the dog-rose and the new mown hay
Or moss and primrose beneath the trees.
If I should never hear the thrushes wake
Long before the sunrise in the glimmering dawn
Or watch the huge Atlantic rollers break
Against the rugged cliffs in baffling scorn.
If I have said goodbye to stream and wood,
To the wide ocean and the green clad bill,
I know that He who made this world so good
Has somewhere made a heaven better still.
This I bear witness with my latest breath
Knowing the love of God,
I fear not death.
Today we’ve been thinking about unsung heroes.
Ordinary men and women, who found it within themselves to do extraordinary
things.
Three sailors, risking their lives to retrieve information that changed
the balance of the entire war.
Thousands of nurses, overcoming their own distress to put on a brave,
friendly face in dealing with the wounded and the dying.
One man, taking it upon himself to rescue hundreds of Jewish children
from the clutches of the Nazis.
Another, offering his life on a beach in Normandy with a poem tucked
into one of his uniform pockets.
And Joshua – accepting the call to lead his people,
knowing full well all the challenges that lay ahead.
They were heroes not because they knew no fear –
but because they knew fear and overcame it.
They understood that they were part of a bigger and
more important story that they needed to serve – maybe even with their lives.
And they knew, many of them, that when in faith we
seek to do what’s right, our God will be with us, whatever the future holds.
Amen
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