Joshua 3 Crossing the Jordan River

 

As a young adult, I remember being told that I need to discover who I am and what my purpose in life is so that my life will have meaning. I was drifting through life and enjoyed taking things as they came. I had no long-term plans, my plans stretched no further then getting to the weekend so I could play hockey or hang out with friends. Air Cadets and the naval reserve taught me some self discipline, but also encouraged my tendency to drift through life. I was content with who I was. Yet over the years I’ve met many people, even older people, who are still seeking and searching for who they are, what their truth is. This is all about a search for identity, for who they are.

Joshua and the people of Israel are sitting on the eastern bank of the river Jordan. They can see the Promised Land across the water, just waiting for them to enter it. They’ve been nomads wandering through the wilderness for the past 40 years, wanting to cross the river, but being stopped from crossing by God because they had decided not to trust him because the people living there seemed too powerful. They’ve always been God’s people, but their circumstances change according to how they trust or don’t trust God. 40 years before they were slaves rescued by God from Egypt’s power and oppression. In the 40 years of wandering they changed from people who saw themselves as slaves to a people who are now battle-hardened warriors who have grown in their relationship with God. Once they settle into the land, they will be God’s people with an address, a people with the resources to create a society based on God’s guidance and presence and an opportunity to grow even closer to God.

God gives Joshua instructions on how to enter the Promised Land. The warriors will not go first, the ark and priests will lead the way after everyone has consecrated themselves, made themselves ready to be in God’s presence, ready to be used by God. It’s not the rituals that are so important, but it’s that the rituals of consecrating yourself makes you more aware of God’s presence, makes you more aware of who you are. These rituals can often be an important part of growing deeper in our relationship with Jesus as we reflect on who Jesus is, who we are and what following Jesus as we follow his command on our lives. Once the Israelites enter the river, the priests and ark remain in the river until all God’s people have crossed. God wants every man, woman and child to see the ark and the priests standing in the center of the river as a reminder that this is all about God, not about them or Joshua or their own power and strength. God wants them to see themselves as his people. He is protecting them and providing for them in every way. This is who they are because this is who God is.

They’re God’s people and he leads them; gives them a way to live that will help them flourish and grow as individuals and as a people and become who God has created them to be. God is with them, he’s among them as Joshua says, “Joshua says to the Israelites, “Come here and listen to the words of the Lord your God. This is how you will know that the living God is among you and that he will certainly drive out before you the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites and Jebusites. See, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth will go into the Jordan ahead of you. Now then, choose twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one from each tribe. And as soon as the priests who carry the ark of the Lord—the Lord of all the earth—set foot in the Jordan, its waters flowing downstream will be cut off and stand up in a heap.”

As the people walk by the ark, they’re reminded that they’re God’s people. What a source of strength and hope. This is who they are. The reason they’re going into the Promised Land is to live out the call God first gave to Abraham, “The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” Israel is who they are because God has chosen them to be a blessing and show the nations who God is and what God’s kingdom looks like.

Identity is important, we need to know who we are and what we believe. Paul uses the picture of a storm at sea to show us the importance of knowing who we are, an image that’s rooted in Jesus, Ephesians 4:11–15, “So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.” This is why we installed elders and deacons this morning as well, to guide, teach and equip us for works of service and so we can be built up, growing in our relationship with God.

It’s the same for us today, our identity never changes: we belong to Jesus because he has claimed us as his own, and our purpose is to be a blessing and reveal God to the world. We do this by trusting God and who he’s calling us to be as his people. This is one of the most important parts of being an elder or deacon: to remind you who you are in Jesus and to reflect with you on how God is working in your life and who God is calling you to be. Leaders in the church are equipped to lead us into a closer walk with Jesus and to help us lead others into a relationship with Jesus. Each change in Israel’s situation helps them grow deeper into their identity as God’s people; each struggle, each change in your life situation, each joy and win, help you grow deeper in your identity as a follower of Jesus who loves God with everything you are and lets love shape all your relationships with those around you. It’s not always going to be easy, but God is with you through all the struggles, just as he is the one who drove out the Canaanites, Hittites and other “ites”, he is with you as you fight your own enemies, whether physical, emotional or spiritual.

Jesus died and was resurrected from the grave so you can grow your relationship with God deeper as he washed all your sin away through his sacrifice on the cross and gave you the gift of the Holy Spirit to guide you to God and who God created you to be.  Jesus stands in the center of the river of our sin and brokenness and he holds it back so we can cross over to our father on dry ground, to enter into a new and deeper relationship with God. We’re called to repent and believe and give our lives over to Jesus, to gratefully offer our lives to God’s work so that others can be won over to Jesus.

There is a call to obedience here, a reminder that the people are to trust God, “Come here and listen to the words of the Lord your God. This is how you will know that the living God is among you… See, the ark of the covenant of the Lord will go into the Jordan ahead of you.” We no longer have the ark of the covenant as God’s sign among us, we have been given the Holy Spirit, we too are called to listen to the worlds of God as we find them in the Bible, we are called to follow the leaders God has put in place, our elders and deacons, trusting that God is using them to lead and guide us into deeper relationship with God so  that we may be a blessing wherever we are, revealing God through our faith and obedience to him. This helps us to grow deeper in our identity as followers of Jesus, as children of God.