STUDY THEME: JOSHUA ON LEADERSHIP.
“PASS ON THE BATON.” JOSHUA 24: 1-31.
JOSHUA 24: 14-15, 16-18, 19-20, 21-24, 25-27, 28-31.
PLEASE OPEN YOUR BIBLE TO JOSHUA 24.
Throughout the month of September we have been learning from Joshua how to be a leader. Today we ask, “How can I lead others to lead?” We came away from last week’s lesson with many questions.
Why was the taking of the objects from Jericho such a serious offense? Why should the sin of one man jeopardize the life of a nation and even result of the death of his wife and children? How can we account for the severity of Achan’s punishment and the drawn out account of its purpose and the aftermath?
Answers to these and other questions may not be easily forthcoming for the mysteries of the Lord’s dealings in both grace and judgment outstrip the capacity of finite minds.
One thing, however, is crystal clear: The Lord has revealed that He is utterly sovereign and holy, that He has a purpose and plan for nations and individuals, and that He demands adherence to the guidelines for human behavior that He has revealed in His holy Word.
No more than the pot can ask the potter, “Why have you made me like this?” can the child of God challenge His ways among us. Like Job in Job 42: 5-6, we should say of the Lord, “I had heard rumors about You, but now my eyes have seen You. Therefore I take back my words and repent in dust and ashes.”
After two victories, at the Jordan and at Jericho, Joshua was shocked by defeat at Ai. He humbled himself in prayer but prayed an unworthy prayer in which he complained to God, even implying that God was to blame. God called the people to concentrate themselves. God identified Achan as the sinner. When Achan realized his sin was known, he confessed. He explained how coveting some valuable things in the ruins of Jericho led him to take them and hide them in his tent. Achan and his family were put to death.
Leaders must be able to cope with failure as well as successes, defeats as well as victories. Rather than complaining and blaming God, the leader needs to take appropriate action to move forward.
The leader must lead the way in consecration to God. The leader often must confront others with their sins. And sometimes the leader must lead the group to administer discipline, making it as redemptive as possible for the most people.
The Biblical Truth is that those who exercise wise leadership will prepare others to lead, for good leadership is contagious.
A poplar axiom says, “Do as I do and not as I say.” That does not mean that verbal instruction or advice is not important but that mere words with out confirming action are of very little value.
Another way to put it is, “Your actions speak so loudly I cannot hear what you say.” People are not inclined to follow a self-described leader whose lifestyle and leadership skills betray his words of admonition and undercut the very objectives he is trying to accomplish.
People will follow a leader when he or she authenticates a word of command by a life of example. God is looking for the kind of leadership that dares to blaze the trail of obedience and not the kind that exhorts others from the safe vantage-point of the rear ranks. Joshua modeled that kind of leadership. He set a good example.
As we come to the close of our story of Joshua you will want to read the closing chapters of Joshua 21-24 as a group, as the matters with which they deal are all so intimately linked together.
In Joshua Ch. 1 we read of the separation of 48 cities from among the various tribes that were allotted to the Levites as they received no land allotment, as did the other tribes.
In chapter 22 we get the return of the warriors of the two and half tribes to their homes which had already been given to them by Moses on the east of the Jordan river.
In Ch. 23 and 24 we listen to Joshua as he seeks solemnly to impress upon the nation, which he had led into the possession of the Promised Land, the importance of clinging to the Word of the Lord and not being turned aside through following any of the customs of the surrounding nations.
God’s people were divided into three classes: priests, Levites and Warriors. Be sure and read Joshua 22: 10, of the misunderstanding that resulted from the building of the altar on the east side of the Jordan and the resolution of that misunderstanding.
Ch. 23 says that Joshua waxed old and stricken in age. In Joshua 23: 14 he said, “Behold, this day I am going the way of all the earth.” He warned the leaders of what would happen if they transgressed the Covenant of the Lord.
The first of these is often said to be only deep sense of reverence. But fear means more. It means the sense of awe and fear we feel in the presence of the holy God. Some people say that the N.T. replaced fear with trust: however, the N.T. still teaches in Heb. 10:31 that “it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”
The Hebrew word rendered serve appears 18 times in Joshua chapters 23-24, seven of them in vs. 14-15. o serve god is to worship Him, to obey Him, and to do whatever He asks one to do. It is the O.T.’s word for bringing together all that God expects of His people. The word, however, was also used of giving allegiance and worship to false gods.
Some people claim to serve the Lord, but actually they are serving false gods. They fear the Lord but serve their own gods. Joshua and the whole Bible warn against this hypocrisy.
Two words describe how we should fear and serve God---sincerity and truth. Sincerity indicates “wholeness,” “perfection,” “completeness,” “blamelessness,” and “integrity.” Thus it includes the totality of our service. Truth carries the idea of faithfulness. Thus true fear and service to the Lord must be done with total commitment and faithfulness.
The words “put away” or “get rid of,” indicate that that some of the Israelites were serving other gods, just as their forefathers had done and just as their descendants would do.
Vs. 14 lists two times in their history and vs. 15 will add a third when they worshiped and served other gods. As in vs. 2, fathers refers to their distant ancestors, not to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob .
The words on the other side of the flood refers to beyond the Euphrates River. This shows that Abraham came out of not only a country but also a family that worshiped many gods. There is some evidence that this continued in Haran. Jacob’s uncle Laban had other gods and in Gen. 31: 19, 30-32 even Jacob’s wife Rachel seems to have had them.
In Jacob 35:1-4 Jacob’s children had other Gods. And while the Israelites were in Egypt, they had other gods.
Vs. 15 is a truly great verse, probably the most familiar verse in the Book of Joshua. It is a favorite text for preaching. For one thing, it is a clear call for a decision to be made. The word choose is often used in the O.T. of God’s choice of His chosen people. That use emphasizes the sovereignty of God. Vs. 15 emphasizes the choice that people must make. Not only the divine will but also human choice are involved in a right relation with God.
Three facts about this choice stand out. For one thing, people are free to choose God or sin, but no one is free not to choose. That is the reason Joshua began vs. 15 with the words and if it seems evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve.
This call to choose is often compared with the challenge of Elijah to the people on Mount Carmel in 1 Kings 18:21: “How long will you hesitate between two opinions? If Yahweh is God, follow Him. But if Baal, follow him.”
Second, we must make a choice; we cannot serve God and false gods. Jesus said in Matt. 6: 24, “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one and love the other: or else he will hold to one, and despise the other.”
Third, we must live with the consequences of our choice if we choose other gods. These consequences are spelled out later in the message.
This day shows the urgency of the decision. Making the choice was urgent from Joshua’s point of view. He knew he would soon die, and this was his last opportunity to call Israel to choose to serve the Lord.
But it was also urgent from their point of view. This was as close as they would ever come to a decision in their short, uncertain lives.
Vs. 15 adds a third category of false gods to the two mentioned in vs. 14. Now that the Israelites were in Canaan, they would be tempted to worship the gods of the Amorites. The name Amorites is only another name for the people of Canaan. The chief religion of Canaan was Baal worship. Earlier the Israelites had already had a serious outbreak of this kind of worship in Numbers 25.
Baal worship appealed to the Israelites in two ways. It was a fertility religion that promised good corps, and it included sexual immorality as part of its worship.
Joshua showed one of the qualities of a good leader. He set the right example for those he led. He made his own commitment clear, saying, but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Joshua took his stand clearly and unambiguously on the Lord’s side.
He stands as a good example of a leader who was willing to move ahead of his people and commit himself, regardless of the people’s inclinations. He committed himself completely. His whole life had been one of total commitment. And he also included his household or “family.”
No father can guarantee that his entire family will share his commitment, but a godly father has great influence in the religious leadership of his family. Of all the leadership roles that must have a good example, the family is the one where it is most essential.
The passage we study this week shows how Joshua prepared the people of Israel to continue to move forward after his death. From Joshua’s example, we learn that those who exercise wise leadership prepare others to lead.
2. PLEASE READ JOSHUA 24: 16-18.
Joshua had proved himself to be a leader blessed by God. No one could find disparity between what he was now urging the people to do and what he had been doing for more than 40 years among them.
The response to such authentic leadership was immediate and heartfelt. “We will certainly not abandon the Lord to worship other gods,” the Israelites said, a promise that generation and the next one kept. Only after Joshua and the elders who succeeded him died did the nation forget the Lord and embrace the worship of the pagan gods about which Joshua had warned them in Judges 2: 8-13.
As long as the strong leader led by word and example the people wee faithful to the Lord. With Joshua’s passing and with no one of equal credibility to succeed him, the people lapsed into idolatry.
For the moment, however, they acknowledged that Joshua’s reminder of their history was sufficient to lead them to renewed commitment to the Lord. They confessed that He had brought them and their fathers out of the land of Egypt and had performed….great signs on their behalf.
As Joshua had reiterated, the Lord had protected them through the wilderness and had driven out all the peoples of the land. In light of such a marvelous history of God’s intervention on their behalf, the people exclaimed, “we too will worship the Lord, because He is our God.”
A generation of earlier Israelites made a similar vow in Ex. 19: 8, at Mount Sinai, but in Exodus 32 they made a golden calf.
The key statement is “we too will worship the Lord.” This is a direct response to Joshua’s pledge. “As for me and my family, we will worship the Lord.” The sign of a strong leader is his or her ability to persuade followers to a cause of action. This invariably happens when such a leader actually leads and not merely advocates some plea or procedure to which he is not committed sufficiently as an example.
In other words, people want to urge their leaders “to put their you money where your mouth is!”
These principles are especially important in spiritual leadership because so much is at stake. Persons in leadership in the church----whether clergy or laity---cannot lead effectively by word alone. Only as they exemplify their directives by godly obedience can they expect a loyal following.
How we live is more important than what we say. If our lives support what we say, people may not agree with what we say: but they will be convinced that we believe it is true. If our lives betray what we say we believe, people will doubt what we say and disdain our lives.
3. PLEASE READ JOSHUA 14: 19-20.
Like a slap in the face or a dousing in cold water, Joshua told the people after their avowals of faithfulness to the Lord that they would not be able to worship the Lord, because He is a holy God. Moreover, He, as a jealous God, would not remove their transgressions and sins.
This, despite their apparently strong words of genuine commitment, would be to no avail because God would pay them no heed. What good does it do to pledge oneself to the Lord if He turns a deaf ear and refuses to take one seriously?
These two qualities, holy and jealous, grow out of the Lord’s revelation of Himself as the one and only God, who expects total devotion from His people. The pagans worshiped many gods that made no moral demands on their followers. In fact, many of these religions promoted immoral living. But the God of Israel called for total devotion and a godly life from His followers.
The word holy in reference to God means two things. First, it refers to separation. God is not man; He is God. The word also took on a moral meaning. Because God is holy, He expects His people to be holy. Because He is jealous, He expects His people to be as faithful as a loyal wife. He will not tolerate rivals, and He punishes His people who forsake the Lord, and serve strange gods.
The statement he will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins does not contradict Exodus 34: 6-7. It does not deny that God is merciful to repentant sinners. But it does warn that high-handed and persistent sinning will bring sure punishment. Those who do this are warned. God will turn and do you hurt, and consume you. This warning was to those who vowed to serve the Lord but went back on their word.
As an insightful and spiritually sensitive leader Joshua could read his people like a book. If you abandon the Lord and worship foreign gods, Joshua said, the Lord will turn against you, harm you, and completely destroy you. The context makes clear that Joshua was not at all convinced of the sincerity of Israel’s promise to worship the Lord and Him alone.
They would not be able to worship the Lord nor would He remove their sins, not because of His weakness or unwillingness but because the people would have failed to meet the conditions necessary for these things to happen. If you abandon the Lord is better understood as “since you will abandon the Lord.”
Israel’s track record under Moses and Joshua gave Joshua no reason to believe that they would suddenly reverse course and become obedient to the covenant of the Lord. In fact, it seems that Israel continued to tolerate the presence of foreign gods among them despite the Lord’s command that they be eradicated from the land.
If their level of commitment to the Lord was not at the expense of purging idolatry from their midst, how much confidence could Joshua have that they would serve the Lord after his departure from them?
4. PLEASE READ JOSHUA 24: 21-24.
The people reacted strongly to Joshua’s stern warning. Maintaining their charade of at least outward conviction, the people responded to Joshua with aloud No! We will worship the Lord. A sensitive leader, it seems would be impressed by such and expression of loyalty and would at least give the people the benefit of the doubt. But a spiritually perceptive leader sees through hypocrisy and confronts it. He does himself, his followers, and his cause no good by patronizing insincerity and glossing over issues that need to be addressed.
Joshua had good reason to be skeptical of the people’s profession of obedience to the Lord. As long as they tolerated foreign gods any claim they made to wholehearted devotion to the Lord rang hollow. The true test of their faithfulness to Him was not the mouthing of words of compliance but action that resulted in the removal of those things offensive to Him.
Only when the foreign gods were gone could they really offer their hearts to the lord, the God of Israel. Effective leaders will insist on more than empty pledges to be or to do this or that. They will persist until genuine change of behavior takes place and deeds match words.
In vs. 23 Joshua introduced another way of describing false gods. He called them the strange gods. This shows how foreign these gods were to the worship of those who knew the Lord.
The gods that people worship today are not idols of wood and metal but things such as self, money, power, position, and pleasure.
The Bible has high standards for those who worship the Lord. He must be given first place and total devotion. Within ourselves we cannot do this, but we can by His grace and power determine the Lord our God will we serve and his voice will we obey. Only the Lord’s grace and power make this possible.
In order to underscore both his doubt and the need for Israel to take ultimate responsibility for their choices, using the language of the courtroom Joshua said to them that the words they so blithely uttered would someday testify against them. You are witnesses against yourselves, he said, and the promises they made that they themselves would choose to worship the Lord would come back to haunt them should they fail.
Despite these sober warnings, the people once more declared, We will worship the Lord our God and obey Him. Sadly, Joshua’s misgivings came to fruition in the subsequent history of the nation, one filled with a record in 2 Kings 17: 7-20 of spiritual apostasy, military defeat, and eventual deportation.