The Lesson We Can Learn From Joshua

       The Book of Joshua is an amazing and wonderful book that many times gets overlooked in our study of scripture. I hear quite often, especially from the youth that the Bible is "so boring", when that tells me they obviously have never read Joshua and the conquests of God's people into the Promised Land. But what can we learn, if anything, from this book besides the history? After all, we are New Testament Christians and Joshua was leading the Israelites after the death of Moses, so it is simply history, right? Actually, this is the time when God's people were the most faithful than in any other time in the Bible, or since. And because of their faithfulness, God stayed with them, ensured their victory, and even stopped the sun from setting for an hour to give His people victory. All they had to do in return was to follow His commands exactly, even if they didn't understand them at the time. Complete obedience is necessary for our reward, just as it was for theirs. Partial obedience is the equivalent of total damnation, and God just wants us to simply obey His commands. Unfortunately, many today feel that partial obedience, or just by God's grace we are saved. We can learn from Joshua that there is more to the story.
       After the death of Moses, Joshua became the leader of the Israelite people, and God commands Joshua to cross the Jordan and enter the Promised Land. God tells Joshua that if he walks with Him, He will stand by the people and fight for them. So the promise of God was conditional, just as it is today (Mat. 7:21). In Joshua 1:16-18, we read where all the people spoke with voice, and all declared unity with God, swearing to obey. So the first thing they do is send spies into Jericho to scout out the land. They come upon a woman named Rahab, who hides the spies from the king, and asks them to spare her and her family when the army attacks. The spies agree, but again there is a condition. She must tell no one of the Israelites, she must tie a scarlet rope and hang it from her window, and all that she wants saved must be in her house at the time of the attack. She did exactly as she was told, and she was spared. If she had faltered in any way, she would have surely perished.
       In chapter 3 of Joshua, the people begin getting their exact commands from God to attack Jericho. The ark is to go before them, for God is always our king and should be followed. In verses 7-8, God parts the Jordan just as the priests feet touch the water. Then in chapter 4 there are commands that many did not understand at first, but they did them anyway without question. Each tribe were to take one stone and place it in the river as a memorial to the greatness of God. The people were to march around the city for six days, and then on the seventh day let out a great shout. Why? What did this have to do with anything? It was because God was testing them, to see if they could follow simple instructions. They did, and the walls came down, and the city fell. Of course, the faithfulness of the people was short lived, as Achan, a man in the army, went against God's wishes and broke the law, and he paid with his life.
       You see, God just wants us to do the same thing today. He has given us His very specific rules and laws that really are not that hard to understand, and simply follow them. After all, that is why He wrote them down. It wasn't for His own amusement, it was for man to follow, because without it, man would simply wander aimlessly and create his own wild religious ideas. 1 Cor. 6:9-11, James 1:21-22 tells us to do as God says, not as man says. If we just go, and teach the Word, the exact Word, God will be with us and guide us (Mark 16:20). Today, so many people want to be somewhat obedient, that is, obedient to their own extent. They figure that God won't mind that the rules might be changed a little, because they always kept Him in their minds. This is simply not true. Achan paid for this mistake with his life, as did Ananais and Saphira later on in the New Testament. God was proud of His people, yet it wasn't long before they turned their back on Him, and it would take a savior to reunite us with God, but on His terms and conditions. Thank God that so many men gave their lives so that we might have the gospel today, and follow our Father's simple commands.

What Would a New Church Look Like?

     What would a new church look like if all they had to go on was the Bible? Sounds interesting doesn't it? I think a question like this could even put a little panic into some denominational leaders of today, whose organization looks nothing like the descriptions in the Bible. I was recently told by someone lately who is a member of a major denomination that the church of the first century no longer exists, things change, and hey, change is good right? If so, why didn't God foresee these changes? He gave no instructions, examples, references or even inferences to what to do in the future, except to do His will which He already gave to us. In Mal. 3:6 He says He does not change, and in the next verse He begs us to return to His ordinances. His ordinances, not those of men who think the rules need to be rewritten to keep up with the times. How arrogant can anyone be to think they can help God better explain things than He can? So, what am I talking about? How has man changed the church of our Lord, and is it for the better?
     There are something in the neighborhood of 2,000 different Christian beliefs in society today. Each one is at least a little different than the next, and many if not all denominations have many separate sects within their own organizations that do something a little different, thus the reason for their split at sometime in their history. It may be due to financial, types of worship, times of worship, days of worship, the way they sing, don't sing, pray, don't pray, or a million other nuances that make them different. Some churches have their ministers wearing suits and ties, while others make them wear long flowing robes with crown-like hats that reach the ceiling, while some prefer a more relaxed style of shorts and flip-flops. Some prefer wine with their communion, grape juice, maybe even grape soda, (yes, I have even seen that), and recently I saw on the news of one drinking beer, which was okay because God told them so. But here's the kicker, even after all their different and separate beliefs, they all believe that the other groups are okay as well as long as they believe God. In reality, I think they are afraid to offend anyone, forgetting that God has already given us instructions and we could be offending Him. But what if all we knew was erased, all churches of every belief closed down and our memories vanished. What would happen then? What would a new church look like if all we had to go by was a single surviving Bible? Guess what? This has happened, and the results might shock you.
     In the 1950's, Communism was spreading rapidly in Southeast Asia, gobbling up countries like Korea, China, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. When the communists took over, usually what they would do is outlaw any type of religion and religious materials. If there were any missionaries in the area, they had to flee quickly, usually with nothing more than their clothes on their backs. Many items were left to be destroyed, but in some cases, small villages would be able to hide certain items from their enemies. This is exactly what happened in a small village in Laos where a Presbyterian mission group left a case of Bibles behind in their rush to escape. The villagers found the Bibles and hid them to use later. After a few years, these Bibles were brought out and a few people began reading them and spreading the truth that they were reading. It was kept as a closely guarded secret to protect any believers.
     In the 1990's, word spread to the U.S. of a number of villages in Laos and Northern Vietnam were practicing Christianity when no group had been there to teach them. When a mission group finally got permission to go there, what they found shocked them entirely. The Christians there were following a pattern that had been set up strictly by the Bible standards. They were meeting on the first day of the week as the Bible stated, believed that you can only be saved by hearing, believing, confessing Christ as their savior, repenting for their sins and being baptized by full immersion. Why would they do these things? Because the Bible told them so. There surprisingly wasn't any prayer's bench, choir, men blessing people, Holy water or people being saved by grace only or by sprinkling water over their heads. The name of the churches were simply the church at whatever village they were from, just as in the Bible, and the together they called themselves the churches of Christ, just as in the Bible. It appeared the church of the first century has not died, and is in fact alive and well just as God has said His church will never die, and His Word shall abide forever.