Broadway Christian Church · Columbia, Missouri
Morning Worship · November 2, 2008
Twenty-Fifth Sunday After Pentecost
Prayer of the Day
Loving God, meet us here and make your Word alive in us. Remind us of the cloud of witnesses that surround us and help us to follow their example. Make us like all the saints before us – a people who are eager to share God’s love with those near and far. Amen.
Scripture
Joshua 3:7-17
The Lord said to Joshua, “This day I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel, so that they may know that I will be with you as I was with Moses. You are the one who shall command the priests who bear the ark of the covenant, ‘When you come to the edge of the waters of the Jordan, you shall stand still in the Jordan.’” Joshua then said to the Israelites, “Draw near and hear the words of the Lord your God.” Joshua said, “By this you shall know that among you is the living God who without fail will drive out from before you the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites, and Jebusites: the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth is going to pass before you into the Jordan. So now select twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one from each tribe. When the soles of the feet of the priests who bear the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, rest in the waters of the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan flowing from above shall be cut off; they shall stand in a single heap.”
When the people set out from their tents to cross over the Jordan, the priests bearing the ark of the covenant were in front of the people. Now the Jordan overflows all its banks throughout the time of harvest. So when those who bore the ark had come to the Jordan, and the feet of the priests bearing the ark were dipped in the edge of the water, the waters flowing from above stood still, rising up in a single heap far off at Adam, the city that is beside Zarethan, while those flowing toward the sea of the Arabah, the Dead Sea, were wholly cut off. Then the people crossed over opposite Jericho. While all Israel were crossing over on dry ground, the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan, until the entire nation finished crossing over the Jordan.
Message
Crossing Over
Larry Gallamore
Some of you have seen the television show “Crossing Over.” John Edward presents information being communicated by their deceased friends and relatives to audience members; information that will help those on this side to live more satisfactory lives.
The “crossing over” we are examining today is that of Israel crossing over the Jordan River into the Promised Land. The story is a tremendous episode of Israel’s history that, when told again and again, always communicates something of exceptional value. It is one of the most exciting stories you have every heard. Israel comes right up to the Promised Land only to be encountered by a roadblock – the raging Jordan River. Israel’s priests have the Ark of the Covenant, a sacred container carrying the tablets of stone containing the Ten Commandments, Aaron’s rod, and manna. The Ark was Israel’s most sacred icon. When it is borne by the priest in the bed of the Jordan, the river separates, opening a pathway for the whole of the host to cross over.
For some, this incredible story has become a metaphor. The Promised Land, which was a real place located in space and time, is seen as a place where people go after death. People go through death into the eternal realm of God to heaven where death is no more. While it’s fine to see the story in this way, I find it much more exciting and, I might add, biblically correct to see the story as one that takes place in biblical time when Israel was going into the Promised Land to live. The Promised Land was a real place located in space and time, a place that offered a kind of life Israel longed for. The idea of living in this Promised Land represents something we all desire. The place has been referred to historically as an ideal place, a land flowing with milk and honey, a wonder-land, even the Land of Oz. Sir Thomas More, in 1516, described such a perfect place as a utopia, an ideal place or state. We’ve called it the Garden of Eden, the Celestial City, the New Canaan, Paradise, Camelot, and the list goes on and on.
Here is the exciting news. Our story from Joshua 3:7-17 tells us how to go there. I knew that would get your attention. If you’ll get really involved in the story, we’ll cross over this morning. You’ll see the Promised Land as a place in time you can actually go to. You don’t have to wait until you die. You can live in the Promised Land as Israel did right now. Imagine an abundant life in the Promised Land. Of course, we have to pull some strings to get there. We have to make changes in our imagination. The saints that have gone on before would, no doubt, tell you that you can start living abundantly now. They would tell you how they learned to live in your Promised Land while you are still here on planet Earth. Some of them will even tell you that you must face reality. Like them, you can become a saint while still living. A saint is nothing more than a sinner saved by grace. A saint is a child of God, a godly person, a woman or man of God, or a believer. Now I’m guessing you’re not a psychic. Neither am I, but you can read between the lines in these biblical stories. You can imagine what the people thought, how they felt, and you can learn so much from them.
Come; let us go back in time to the banks of the Jordan River. Joshua will tell us what to do. We go back to Joshua because he was Moses’ successor. We’re going back to the 13-15th century BC. We’re crossing over. This is better than John Edward. This is biblical. You can verify everything. Remember what Ronald Reagan said, “Trust but verify.” If you want to go to the Promised Land, here’s what Joshua says you must do. First, you must follow God, for you have not passed this way before (Joshua 3:4a). Now this sounds ominous. It is incredibly hard. You must follow God. People usually have to learn the hard way to follow God. If all the saints could speak to you today, they would tell you just how they learned the hard way to follow God.
Let’s ask one of the world’s most notorious sinners: the Prodigal Son. We can verify everything he tells us in the fifteenth chapter of Luke (Luke 15:11-24). If anyone ever faced reality, this poor kid did. He wandered off to a place he had never been before. He got so far away from his Promised Land that he didn’t even know where he was and ended up down at “No Hope Junction” in some pig sty. Instead of following God, he was following the popular notion that if you can just get away from home and sow a few wild oats you’ll find the good life. Let me assure you this is not the way to your Promised Land. Let’s examine this story. If you want to use John Edward’s method, we’ll call up the Prodigal Son.
A younger son comes to his father. He can’t wait for Dad to die to get his inheritance. Back then, the older son got 2/3 and the younger son got 1/3 of all Dad’s assets. This Dad is a godly father. He gives the younger son his money. Free at last, the boy runs straight for the nearest resort area. Before his feet hit the ground, he was spending. It wasn’t long before the money ran out. He got really hungry. All he could think of was “two all-beef patties, special sauce, extra cheese, lettuce, pickles, and onions on a sesame seed bun” but he had no cash. His money was gone. A novel idea crossed his mind. He could get a job. However, the only job available was feeding pigs – not a white collar job, and not a good job for a Jewish boy. You have to do what you have to do when you’re out of money. He took the job. He got hungrier and began to do some soul searching. No doubt he’s thinking, “How did I get myself in this mess?” In his mind, he knew he had created his own problems. We have the power to do that you know. One day, the Bible says, he came to himself. Do you know what that means? He knew he had to make some changes in his life. He had to stop being foolish. He had to start following God. He starts back to his father. This is a road he’s never traveled before. He has to trust God to get him there. Listen carefully to what he is saying to himself. “I will get up and go to my father. I will say to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’”
But notice what happens. The father sees him coming and is elated that his son has come back home. I suggest to you that the Prodigal Son found his way back to his father by following God. He also returned to his Promised Land.
The second thing we learn from our Joshua story of crossing over is you get to the Promised Land by stepping out in faith. The Prodigal Son had to step out in faith as he started his long journey home. The priests that were carrying the Ark of the Covenant in our Joshua story had to step out in faith. Wow! Did they ever step out in faith! Do you know what they were carrying? They were carrying Israel’s most sacred icon. It contained the tablets of the Ten Commandments, Aaron’s rod, and manna from on high. This was their most sacred container. It was moved 2,000 cubits in advance of the people. It was wrapped in a veil and carefully concealed even from the eyes of the Levites who carried it. When the Ark borne by the priests was carried into the bed of the Jordan River, the river separated, opening a passageway for the whole host to cross. They were crossing over to the Promised Land. Note: the priests had to step into the water before anything happened. They had to have faith. Nothing ever happens without faith. They had to believe that God would come through. They had to risk it. You get to the Promised Land by trusting God. Think of the saints that have gone before you. They trusted God. They knew that any woman or man was capable of drawing on the resources of the Infinite up to the limit of the faith that was in them.
Every day you step out in faith toward your own Promised Land. You know you’ve come this far by faith. And you know as the ancient Israelites knew that God goes before you. This is why they carried the Ark of the Covenant 2,000 cubits ahead of the congregation, to symbolize that God goes before God’s people preparing the way. If the saints could speak to us today, they would say, “You know what faith can do. You’ve seen it work.”
There is a story about a church in a small town in the Smokey Mountains. They built a new sanctuary on a piece of land willed to them by a member. Ten days before the church was to open, the local building inspector informed the pastor that the parking lot was inadequate for the size of the building. Until the church doubled the size of the parking lot, they would not be able to use the new sanctuary. Unfortunately the church with its undersized lot had used every inch of their land except for the mountain against which it had been built.
In order to build more parking spaces, they would have to move the mountain out of the back yard. Undaunted, the pastor announced the next Sunday morning that he would meet that evening with all members who had “mountain-moving faith.” They would hold a prayer session asking God to remove the mountain from the back yard and to somehow provide enough money to have it paved and painted before the scheduled opening dedication service the following week.
At the appointed time, 24 of the congregation’s 300 members assembled for prayer. They prayed for nearly three hours. At 10 p.m., the pastor said the final “Amen.” “We’ll open next Sunday as scheduled,” he assured everyone. “God has never let us down before, and I believe he will be faithful this time, too.”
The next morning, as he was working in his study, there came a loud knock at his door. When he called, “Come in,” a rough-looking construction foreman appeared removing his hard hat as he entered. “Excuse me, Reverend, I’m from Acme Construction Company over in the next county. We’re building a huge shopping mall and we need some fill dirt. Would you be willing to sell us a chunk of that mountain behind the church? We’ll pay you for the dirt we remove and pave all the exposed area free of charge if we can have it right away. We can’t do anything else until we get the dirt in and allow it to settle properly.”
The little church was dedicated the next Sunday as originally planned and there were far more members with “mountain-moving faith” on opening Sunday than there had been the previous week.
You know what faith can do. You’ve seen it work.
So be it. Amen.
Benediction
Sweet God, with a wide embrace, you have welcomed the spirits of those who have come home ahead of us. Hear our hearts as we sing our gratitude for their lives, their leadership, and their love. As we remember them, inspire us to weave into our hearts the very best of who they have been. Amen.
