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"CROSSING OVER"

JOSHUA 3:1-17

I suppose most of you here today could tell a story about trying to find a place you've never been to before without having adequate directions. It happened to me again just a couple of weeks ago. Now I've never considered inadequate directions, or even a lack of directions altogether to be a particular problem.

I mean if I have the address or the basic location of something, I always figure that eventually I can find it. I don't know, I guess there's something about the challenge of that I like.

My idea of adequate directions is kind of like this: if you want to go say, to Wrigley Field in Chicago, that's really all you need to know. Because in my mind, you just go to Chicago and it's got to be there somewhere.

Maybe it has something to do with the pioneer spirit. I guess I enjoy the challenge of trying to find my way through the urban jungle. Now amazing as it may seem, my wife doesn't appear to particularly appreciate this aspect of my personality. I was reminded of that on a recent journey we made together.

We drove down to a nearby city a couple of weeks ago and our simple task was to find a particular church. Now how hard can that be, right? We even had some directions and this nifty city map that I found over the internet. So I thought we were set.

And I think it would have been fine, but my wife thought she would help by playing navigator. Ladies, would you let me help you out a little bit here with your husbands? I'll let you in on something. Here's a piece of insider information: you can't help.

It doesn't matter if you have all the right information. It doesn't matter that you know exactly how to do it, that's not even the point. You just can't help. Maybe it's all part of the fall, I don't know, but I know it's true.

Let me summarize my sordid tale by telling you that we were late to our appointment. And needless to say the atmosphere in the car was a little tense. You know what she was saying to me the whole time we were lost don't you? "Why don't you just call and ask directions?" You see that just demonstrates how little you wives understand about these things.

You probably think it's because we don't want to find a phone, pull over, get out and make the call. That's not the point. I had a phone at my fingertips. I could have made the call. But it's the principle of the thing. You'll just never understand.

Well, it is amazing, isn't it, how often we try to find our own way? Not just in terms of finding locations, but in lots of ways in our lives, each of us is probably guilty of trying to make it on our own when we really do need help.

As we've been reading the story of Joshua and the nation of Israel trying finally to cross over into the promised land, we've discovered (I hope) some truths that apply to our own lives.

We're taking this story as a kind of metaphor for our spiritual journey, realizing that god has called every one of us into a new land - spiritually. He has called us to leave the desert of our own making and cross over into a life of freedom and joy and peace that he has provided for us through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Yet even though the promise is great, and the new land is wonderful, many Christians find themselves still wandering the desert, camped out on the wrong side of the river, unable to cross over. Sometimes it's the past that keeps us from crossing over. Sometimes it's fear that keeps us from crossing over.

And yet we heard the Lord say to them, "It's time to get up and dust yourself off and get moving. Stop allowing your future to be defined by your past and move on." We heard him say, "Don't be afraid because I have already gone before you to prepare the way and to remove the barriers."

Now we come to chapter three and the people are ready finally to cross over. It's time to go. But there's still a problem. Joshua and his officials define the problem very clearly and concisely in verse 4: "You have never been this way before." In other words, "you don't have adequate directions. And it's not good enough to think that somehow you can just figure it out on your own. You can't make it on your own, you need help."

I think it's another mirror of our spiritual lives. Perhaps one of the reasons that some of us have never really crossed over into God's new land of promise is that we've tried it before, but we got lost. Once we started the journey, we tried to go our own way, tried to follow Jesus on our own terms and we got lost. We hear God's call to go deeper in our spiritual lives and immediately we think, "Okay I can do that. I know the way. "

The problem is when God calls us to something new and deeper in our life with him we can't just strike out on our own. We don't know the way. We've never been this way before.

I'll give you an example. Sometimes we sense God's inner call to deepen our spiritual disciplines, to become closer to him. But then we think we can do it individually and we resist truly making ourselves accountable to another. We resist receiving spiritual direction. We think we know the way. But we don't know, so pretty soon we make compromises and wrong turns and before you know it we're wandering around spiritually, not quite sure where we are anymore.

The simple truth is that when God calls us to a new land, we need help. We need a navigator whether we want to admit it or not.

Well, Joshua chapter three is a simple but powerful story of how God showed these people the way to the new land. There are three actions these people are called to and I believe they could be instructive for us.

First, they would have to follow Yahweh. The way to do that would be to follow the ark of the covenant, the symbol and center of God's presence with his people at this time.

It's interesting that in chapters three and four, the ark (the symbol of God's promise and presence) is mentioned no less than 17 times. It's as if the writer wants to make sure we don't lose sight of it.

I think he got the lesson. If you lose sight of God, you're sunk. If you lose sight of the goal, all your religious activity comes to nothing. If you lose sight of the father, you're wandering in the desert, no matter what you call it.

Now following God in this journey to the new land sounds very reasonable. It's obviously the right thing to do. The crazy thing about it is, that so often God leads us in directions that seem to be the absolute opposite of what we would do.

He's going to lead these people across the Jordan river. The thing is, he does it at a time when the river is at flood stage. Now that's crazy. And these people have waited 40 years so what would the harm be in waiting a few more months until the river goes down?

It doesn't make a lot of sense according to our way of doing things. But have you ever noticed that God often seems to work like that? When it's time to cross over, it could be that God will ask of us something that on the surface seems crazy, at least to our way of thinking.

The issue is: "Will you follow me? Even when it looks to be against common sense, will you follow me instead of trying to find your own way?"

There's a second action that these people are called to. Joshua goes through the camp and tells the people: "Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you."

Consecrate - sanctify - set apart. There a was a special preparation that was called for on the part of the people whenever God was about to reveal himself in a special way. And somehow this preparation was critical to the people understanding clearly that what is about to happen is God's work.

Could it be that we don't see mighty acts of God more often simply because we don't prepare for them? You know what we tend to say? We tend to say, "God, you do something great and we'll respond. God, you move powerfully in my life and I'll really get serious about following you." But God says, "You get serious and following me and then I'll do something great in your life."

We've seen some mighty acts of God's power right in this congregation. He has been gracious to us and shown himself to us. But I wonder, would we see even more of his mighty acts if we were intentionally consecrating ourselves, preparing ourselves in expectation of seeing him move among us?

What might that mean? I believe God calls us to different things at different times in terms of preparation. But I also believe it always includes some basic things.

For example, we must simplify our lives. I am convinced that many of us are just so busy and crammed full of activity that we never really hear God when he does speak.

We need to eliminate from our lives that which is superfluous and quiet ourselves long enough so that he can direct us and shape us. A large part of this is prayer.

We've been focusing together about what it would mean for prayer truly to become the very center of our spiritual life and health, individually and corporately. The primary question is not about the discipline of prayer. It's about our hunger and thirst for God.

Are we hungry to see God move? Are we thirsty to know him in his powerful presence? Moving toward that hunger and thirst for righteousness is a part of how we consecrate ourselves in preparing for the mighty acts of God.

There's a third thing these people are called to do. I'll confess it makes me a bit uncomfortable to talk about it, but it is so clearly a part of this text I cannot ignore it.

Besides following God and consecrating themselves, the people are told to follow the leader. Very often the way God takes us to new places in our spiritual journey is through the spiritual leadership of those he has placed in our lives.

In this case it was primarily Joshua. God clearly said to Joshua, "I am going to exalt you in the eyes of the people and I am going to show myself to them through you. I'm going to direct them through your actions and your mouth."

That's a tall order. But throughout the history of God dealing with his people, that's how he has directed them. They were to follow Joshua and they were to follow the priests whom God had appointed to lead them across the river.

Now this is hard for us. We have learned to be very independent and individualistic in our faith. We aren't taking orders from anybody! But the truth is, based on the consistent witness of the scriptures, that the pastors of this church have been placed here to give spiritual guidance and leadership to the people. And at the risk of being terribly misunderstood may I suggest this to you?

Perhaps one reason that some of you aren't growing in your relationship with the Lord is because you aren't listening to your pastor. Now before you go taking off with that idea, please hear me out. I am not saying that I am "holier than thou." I am not saying that i am infallible in knowledge and wisdom. I am not saying that you should never challenge me or disagree with me or teach me.

But I am saying that I am here for one basic reason: to be the mouthpiece of God in this place and among this people. I am here as a priest. I am here as a prophet. I am here as a shepherd.

And yet some of you insist on treating me like nothing more than a spiritual errand boy. All you really want me for is to take care of the ceremonies related to hatching and dispatching. All you really want me for is to conduct a "nice" service on Sunday.

Whether you recognize it or not, I am here to proclaim to you, "Thus says the Lord." I promise you that I never step into this pulpit without having come before the Lord and pleaded with him to speak to you through me. May I remind you that I'm not working alone up here. The Spirit of God who is present and active in this place takes the words that God has given me and delivers them to you as a word from the Lord.

God clearly designed it so that if these people wanted to successfully cross over, they would have to follow the leader. First of all, God - but also God's servants. It's not different now.

I say to you as your pastor with an awesome sense of what this means, "Follow me as I follow Christ." When the truth of God pierces your heart, don't write it off just because it came through these feeble lips. You listen to God. And follow the leader.

Well, the Israelites put these three things into practice. They watched as the ark of the covenant went on before them. They followed their leaders as they took the ark and stepped into the swollen waters of the Jordan.

They watched in utter amazement as the waters of the Jordan river stopped up and allowed them to cross over to the promised land on dry ground.

And they knew that God was with them. They learned the lesson again --when God calls you something new, when he calls you to something deeper, when he invites you to cross over into a new land, he will never call you to where he does not lead you. He will never ask anything of you without providing all that you need to follow him faithfully.

So I ask you again, what is the new land that God is leading you toward? What are you going to do about that hunger in your heart to know him more? When are you going to respond to the call of God to move on into the new thing he has for you? The time has come. It's time to cross over.

"So consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you."