January 27, 2007

Don’t Sweat the Giants!

Joshua 14:6-15, 13-17

There is a lot for us in this Scripture on the exchange between Joshua and Caleb. There is particularly a lot for us in our day when the people of God seem to have lost their nerve. The words of Caleb ring out through history, “Give me the mountain! If the Lord is with me, I will drive them out!”

We hear much today about the strength and power of America. We hear much today about how, if we don’t kill our enemies “over there,” they will kill us “over here” – kill or be killed. We hear much today about WE – WE – WE. We hear little about the power and sovereignty of God.

Those of us who truly believe in the power and sovereignty of God are often loath to permit that power and sovereignty to direct our actions. In short, we are cowards, hiding behind our weaknesses rather than going forward in God’s strength.

I had breakfast yesterday morning with Jim Webster, who was the treasurer for Barbara Merrill’s gubernatorial campaign. Jim came to breakfast with his hands all imbedded with black oil stains. He works for his brother, Charlie, in the heating business. After our breakfast, he was going to have to go crawl under a house and thaw out the pipes that had frozen in the night.

But Jim has a passion for life. He wants to get involved with CPI but at some level where he can continue his hands-on work with the poor in such areas as helping them with housing problems. There was something about meeting with Jim that made my soul soar.

What a novel idea – putting our faith to work in directly helping others. Jim has been frustrated by the experience in his church because there are too many people whose idea of help is to write a check, not that money is not a good thing to have when you need it. But being able to write a check can also be an inhibition to charity.

On the other hand, hands-on help is something every one of us can do, no matter how old or how young we may be. I was convicted, as I listened to Jim talk, that I criticize the Christian Right because it has transferred its faith from God to Caesar – or, in this case, America. It wants to create America in the image of God so it can act spontaneously whenever it wishes – it will not have to wait for God or His timing.

On the other hand, I have to ask myself, “What are we who claim belief in the sovereignty of God doing to relieve the suffering and pain of others around us? What is OUR hands-on ministry?

Practicing the social gospel is not what I am referring to here. Feel-good charity is not what the Kingdom of God is about. What the Kingdom of God is about is the people of God living as though they don’t sweat the giants. No financial statement; no excuse of age; no level of poverty; no lack of time ought to be our excuse for being willing to go forward in the strength of our God.

God has given us every thing that we have asked of Him over these past 13 years. Nothing we have needed has He held back from us. Even today, God sustains and nourishes this little ministry way beyond our capacity. This very church has been brought to life through the prayers and faith of many of you who are here this morning, and of others who are not.

There was no pent-up need for this church when we were crawling around underneath, putting up heat vents and attaching the old post office to the side. There was no pent-up demand when Tom Oliver and I negotiated for purchase of 1 ¼ acres of land from NE Forestry Foundation so we could meet the code – the first time they had ever done anything like that.

Your God did something for you that has never been done here since Isaac Case in 1793.

We faced the giants in the power of the sovereign Lord, and we won. We must now be asking God, “What giants can we fight tomorrow so that we can take possession of the land flowing with milk and honey – the Kingdom?” “What obstacles can we overcome now, Lord, that can help us as a church participate in the grand plan for your holy church?”

Are we content now to kick back and rest on the budget? The budget was never a problem in the past. Are we too few to do much of anything? We were a lot fewer back before we got started. Are we too OLD to get the job done – too pooped to participate, so to speak? Caleb was 85 when he conquered the cities of Hebron. He was not a man of extraordinary faith – anymore than are you and I.

Caleb was a man of faith in an extraordinary God.

There is a big difference, isn’t there? Jesus told us that the Kingdom of God requires only a little faith – the size of a mustard seed. It is our view of God that keeps us from applying that little faith. In a nutshell – or in a mustard seed – our God is too small.

We’re going to take a look at this guy, Caleb this morning.

There is an old chorus that the kids used to sing, a line of which says, “The others saw the giants, but Caleb saw the Lord.”

The 13^th chapter of the Book of Numbers has the account of the 12 spies going into the Promised land. Moses had led them for 40 years in the wilderness; he sends them in to do some scouting. They come back with a load of grapes, pomegranates and figs – proof that the land did indeed flow with milk and honey.

“You were right, Moses,” they said. The land DOES flow with mild and honey. See; here is the proof! BUT… It was that BUT that sealed the fate of the people of Israel for the next 40 years. “That’s a great idea, BUT…” I’d like to do that, BUT… This could be done, BUT… That’s the point at which your BUT gets in the way of your faith!

Where had they been that they should bring their butts back with their buts?

They had been to Hebron! They had gone up into the hill country, where there were fortified cities, and sat down with the very Anakites that Caleb, at age 85, is ready to march against. “Give ME the mountain, Joshua! If God is with me, I will drive them out.” Implied is, if God is Not with me, I want to know it right now. Because if He is NOT with me, He is a liar.

“Everything’s great in there, Moses. Everything is just the way God told you it was. BUT…we can’t go in there. The people who live there are giants, and their cities are large and well fortified.” “Your God is too small, Moses!” “The giants are too big!”

Joshua and Caleb presented the other view – “If God be for us, who can be against us?”

They had experienced the miraculous delivery from Egypt. They had been there when God rolled back the Red Sea, and they crossed over on dry land. They had seen the earthquakes and lightening and the presence of God on Mt. Sinai. They had read the stone tablets that God, Himself, had written. They had followed the cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night. And God had fed them with manna from heaven.

But that same God could not overcome the giants. The people believed the 1-0 spies because it was more comfortable to believe THEM than is was to plunge into the unknown.

That is like us, is it not? God bails us out when we are in trouble, but He is not powerful and sovereign enough for us when things are going relatively smoothly.

There is one thing here that we need to take into consideration. No matter how smoothly things are going, there is one thing that is happening – we are all getting older. This story, however, defies the law of gravity.

The reason this land was being parceled out to the 10 tribes was that it was time for Joshua to die. Chapter 13 begins with, “When Joshua was old and well advanced in years, the Lord said to him, ‘You are very old, and there are still very large areas of land to be taken over.’”

Now you may think that Joshua was whoosing out. But it is clear that he had led these people way into his elderly years. He had not retired, or kicked back, or reduced his work load. He waited until he got instructions from the Lord before planning for his replacement. Joshua saw age as no limitation on his duty to God. God lets him off the hook when it is God’s time – not when he was eligible for social security.

Along comes Caleb. There was some choice land near the sea of Gallilee. Caleb certainly was entitled to a place on the shore, where it was flat, and the view was great. He could live out the rest of his life fishing off the dock and sitting in the square with the other old men. But God’s promise to Caleb that he would have an inheritance had not yet been fulfilled.

He opts to take, as his inheritance, the highest mountain in the region – about 20 miles south of what is now Jerusalem. The city is at the top of that mountain and well fortified. At 85, Caleb still wants to experience the power and glory of God. So he takes the toughest piece of land and the toughest job – the very land that held the giants. He does this trusting in God to deliver it into his hands.

Caleb comes to Joshua who, by that time, is rather distant in the food chain. Joshua is trying to assign inheritances by tribe. Caleb brings the elders of the tribe of Judah for witnesses and challenges Joshua to follow through on Moses’ promise:

“You know what the Lord said to Moses…about you and me. I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the Lord sent me from Kadesh Barnea to explore the land. And I brought back to him a report according to my convictions, but my brothers, who went up with me, made the hearts of the people melt with fear. I, however, followed the Lord my God wholeheartedly. So on that day, Moses swore to me, “The land on which your feet have walked will be your inheritance, because you have followed the Lord wholeheartedly…Now give me the mountain that the Lord promised me that day.”

All 12 spies brought back a report according to their convictions, I suspect. The difference is that Caleb followed the Lord his God wholeheartedly. There is the distinction. We have 10 spies reporting according to their convictions, and we have 2 spies reporting according to theirs. Ten are driven by practicalities and reason; the other two are driven by a wholehearted desire to follow God.

Ten were practical and reasonable. Two were faithful. Because of their allegiances, the two reports were totally at odds. But here is where practical and reasonable led the people of Israel.

Their hearts melted with fear – fear fed by the unknown and by failure to worship God as sovereign Lord.

The generation of those who opted for practicality and reason died in the desert.

The inheritance did not fall on those in the Exodus from Egypt but on their children and grandchildren.

The 10 spies who were practical and reasonable are totally obscure in redemptive history. Only Joshua and Caleb are known to us.

What happened to Joshua and Caleb? They lived to be the only two of the original tribe to go into the Promised Land. They were vital right up to the end of their lives. What they accomplished was not dependent on their age or vitality. It was dependent on the power of the God they followed wholeheartedly. They were victorious, and they were rewarded for their Godly perspectives.

I see that as a great example to you and me. Are there too many giants in our lives – in the life of this church? Are we content to be reasonable and practical to a fault, expecting that the cautious approach is the best way to go?

The Church of Jesus Christ is being practical and reasonable, while the world is dying for Godly leadership of the kind that trusts in a sovereign God.

Everything we have done here at the NMMH Church has been successful. We have done here what has never been done in its history. At times, we have followed God wholeheartedly. At times, we have been practical and reasonable.

The giants we face are really not giants at all – they are mere challenges easily defeated by a God whom we follow wholeheartedly. Age is no barrier. Finances are no barrier. Talent is no barrier. Time is no barrier.

There are things that I should like for us to accomplish together – like an active web presence, a more focused music program, a youth ministry, a ministry to our elderly and to those in prison. Most importantly, I should like for you to bring your creative ideas to me so that we can work them through together.

It would appear from the message this morning that God not only promises good things to those who follow Him wholeheartedly, He gives to them long life, vitality, vision and great blessings.

That’s what I want for my life, and I know that is what most of you want for your lives. This is not about accomplishing things. This is about a walk with God that moves from the cautious to the wholehearted. This is not about expectations and committees and meetings. This is about ideas from the heart of those who follow Him wholeheartedly.

That’s what I want. If that’s what YOU want, all we have to do is follow His leading and see where it goes.

“Give me this mountain. If the Lord is with me, I shall drive them out of the land.” Not bad for an 85 year old guy!