In Joshua 5, the topic of H&L week 6, God gives the nation of Israel an important directive for their fresh start… and we spend the whole sermon talking about everyone’s favorite awkward topic: circumcision. As the entire generation of Israelites who God brought out of Egypt had passed away, it was time for God to re-assert his connection with his people. He commands the men of Israel to undergo circumcision before entering the promised land. Why? The ritual was a mark of his everlasting covenant with them.
Through Pastor Yami’s sermon, God uses this Joshua account to teach us about the role of rituals in our lives, about the necessity for waiting, and about how he is able to roll back disgrace and reproach and heal us from our pasts. We can all use a fresh start sometimes, whether in our relationship with God in or work we have been called to do. God’s grace was enough for Israel and it is more than enough for us today.
In the Highs and Lows series, we are going through the book of Joshua. Together, we examine the ever varying seasons of our lives by using the Bible’s story of the Israelites entering the land of God’s promise as a mirror. Reflected in this story we will find moments of celebration, of crisis, of faith, of doubt, of winning, and of losing. Sometimes we will find highs and lows both in the very same moment. A new generation of Israel wrestles with themselves and their leader, Joshua, to trust God and go where he leads them. We, too, wrestle with our own faith (or lack thereof.) No life is devoid of highs; no life is devoid of lows. And no life is devoid of God if we choose to open up our eyes and seek him, no matter where we are on our journey. Welcome to Highs and Lows.
Christianity is a faith that is rooted in tradition. From the Genesis of the Bible we see traditions set in place through covenants and we see covenants continue throughout the Old Testament. In the New Testament, we see Jesus fulfill those traditions (old covenant) and replace them with, you guessed it, new traditions (new covenant.) Traditions of various kinds can be a beautiful remembrance of something as well as a heritage shared with people of the same mind across the world, but traditions can also be burdensome when practised merely for the sake of it.
A couple of weeks ago, when Ian Farrimond preached on Joshua 4 one of the things he touched on was the command that God gave to Israel. God told them to set up the stones they had carried from the Jordan as a remembrance for what God had done, saying that they would see those stones in the future and be reminded that God carried them through the dry land. More importantly, these stones would serve as a reminder to their children, that when they ask their parents of the significance of the stones, they will be able to testify of what the Lord had done. These stones were not just traditional symbols, they were an Ebenezer (stone of help.) The stones in themselves were not special; it was what they symbolized that made them special.
In his sermon, Ian reminded us that “our greatest Ebenezer stone is the cross of Calvary, which we need to keep coming back to daily. As we come back to it, we need to take it with us as we move forward wherever we go.”
What the cross symbolizes for us as a community is the reason why we do all that we do. As we took communion this past Sunday, it was not merely a tradition but a powerful reminder of our greatest Ebenezer. As we pray for one another during the service, we practice living with the reality of the cross in our lives as a community. As we sing the words of the hymns and spiritual songs, we confess that the cross is indeed our greatest Ebenezer. As we hear the sermon, we are pointed to the cross as our Ebenezer. As our children, as well as others, watching what we do ask us “What do these traditions mean to you?”, we can boldly answer them by sharing that the cross brings power in these things that we practice every Sunday.
So why do we do what we do? Because of what God has done for us through Jesus Christ: the gospel has given us life and hope. Everything we do and practice as a church is more than just tradition or religion; we are celebrating and remembering what Christ has done with every practice and every act. Our hope as Flood Church Blantyre is that we will keep coming back to the gospel daily but also take it forward with us into the city, in our work, in our relationships and in all that we do serving and loving the city.
You can listen to this sermon as well as past sermons through our church podcast available on all platforms.
In Week 5, Ian Farrimond proposes this pattern for our lives: Looking back, moving forward. Where does he get it? In Joshua 3 and 4, God leads the Israelites across the Jordan river. As the priests enter the river, God pulls back the water and leads his people across it on dry land. Then, Joshua collects the 12 stones each of the tribes of Israel has carried from the Jordan. He builds a monument with them, what we call the Ebenezer stone. Why? Joshua says: “In the future when your descendants ask their parents, ‘What do these stones mean?’ tell them, ‘Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground.’ ” The monument was built to help them remember.
But we don’t remember just for the sake of it. We remember our past that we might learn from it and more forward into the future. The ebenezer stone was a marker of what God had done, so the Israelites could look back and be encouraged as they moved forward. The ebenezer stone was a way to tell the story to those who were not there to experience it themselves. Listen to the sermon, contemplate your “crossing the Jordan moments,” and see the faithfulness of God.
In the Highs and Lows series, we are going through the book of Joshua. Together, we examine the ever varying seasons of our lives by using the Bible’s story of the Israelites entering the land of God’s promise as a mirror. Reflected in this story we will find moments of celebration, of crisis, of faith, of doubt, of winning, and of losing. Sometimes we will find highs and lows both in the very same moment. A new generation of Israel wrestles with themselves and their leader, Joshua, to trust God and go where he leads them. We, too, wrestle with our own faith (or lack thereof.) No life is devoid of highs; no life is devoid of lows. And no life is devoid of God if we choose to open up our eyes and seek him, no matter where we are on our journey. Welcome to Highs and Lows.
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