Lived-out courage worships God in victory.

Once Joshua turned back to God, rooted out evil in his life, and began walking with God again; he started experiencing victory in his battles.  Lived-out courage recognizes that our victories are only at the hand of God.  So, we thank God for the victory.

At that time Joshua built an altar to the LORD, the God of Israel, on Mount Ebal, just as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded the people of Israel, as it is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, "an altar of uncut stones, upon which no man has wielded an iron tool." And they offered on it burnt offerings to the LORD and sacrificed peace offerings. (Joshua 8:30-31 ESV)

Sometimes we think of worship as thanksgiving, an this is certainly true.  We worship God when we thank God.  There is more to worship, though.  We worship God when we walk with Him.  This walk is a day by day, moment by moment journey.  As we live out our faith and trust in Him, we worship God.

And there, in the presence of the people of Israel, he wrote on the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he had written. And all Israel, sojourner as well as native born, with their elders and officers and their judges, stood on opposite sides of the ark before the Levitical priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD, half of them in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, just as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded at the first, to bless the people of Israel. (Joshua 8:32-33 ESV)

This is why we participate in worship services.  This is why we get in Bible studies.  This is why we read devotions in the privacy of our own world.  This is why we spend time in prayer.  We want to know the will of God so we can walk with God.  We do whatever it takes to walk with God.  We can start by thanking God for our victories.  Then, we remind ourselves of God’s picture for our lives, so we will experience victory more and more as the days go on.

And afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessing and the curse, according to all that is written in the Book of the Law. There was not a word of all that Moses commanded that Joshua did not read before all the assembly of Israel, and the women, and the little ones, and the sojourners who lived among them. (Joshua 8:34-35 ESV)

How about you?  Do you only turn to God when you are struggling and in defeat?  Or, do you turn to God in victory as well?  Do you worship God in victory?

Lived-out courage gets back into battle.

Joshua had to face one of the most difficult challenges in leadership: removing sin from the team.  Often times, we are afraid to remove the person or thing that is holding us back or pulling us down.  It’s easier to just try to get along.

The same is true in our personal lives.  It’s easier to just leave the anger inside but learn to “manage it.”  It’s easier, we think, just to leave the fear inside and just “push through it.”  We allow Satan, his thoughts, and his influences to hang around.  That way, we don’t get anyone upset.

God made it clear to Joshua, though, that he would continue to lose in battle “out there” as long as he ignored the problem at home.  He needed to remove the cause in Israel before he could go out and fight the battles of the world around him.  We need to do the same.  But when we remove the problems in us, it is not just so we can feel better or experience the fruit of God’s Spirit.  We fight and win the battles within ourselves so we can go back out into the world and start doing our part in battle “out there.”  Lived-out courage gets back into battle.

And the LORD said to Joshua, "Do not fear and do not be dismayed. Take all the fighting men with you, and arise, go up to Ai. See, I have given into your hand the king of Ai, and his people, his city, and his land. And you shall do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king. Only its spoil and its livestock you shall take as plunder for yourselves. Lay an ambush against the city, behind it." (Joshua 8:1-2 ESV)

How about you?  Do fight and win the battles in your own mind and heart?  Does it free you up to go out into the world and fight battles along with God?  Do you fight the enemy and love God?  Do you fight the enemy and love people?  Do you get back into battle?

Lived-out courage pursues righteousness.

Joshua and the Israelites just lost in battle.  They should have easily won.  So Joshua, and the Elders, turned to God in prayer.  “What have we done wrong,” they essentially asked God.  God’s answer was simple.  “You rebelled (sinned) against me.”  Then God told Joshua to get up – Joshua was going to be shown where the rebellion existed.

In the morning therefore you shall be brought near by your tribes. And the tribe that the LORD takes by lot shall come near by clans. And the clan that the LORD takes shall come near by households. And the household that the LORD takes shall come near man by man. And he who is taken with the devoted things shall be burned with fire, he and all that he has, because he has transgressed the covenant of the LORD, and because he has done an outrageous thing in Israel.'" (Joshua 7:14-15 ESV)

Courage from God will always drive us to walk with God.  It will help us overcome those things that separate us from God.  It will resist the enemy so the enemy will flee from us.  It will draw near to God, inviting God to draw near to us.  Joshua was going to need to root out the evil in Israel.  It wasn’t a fun calling, but it was what God was calling him to do.

So Joshua rose early in the morning and brought Israel near tribe by tribe, and the tribe of Judah was taken. And he brought near the clans of Judah, and the clan of the Zerahites was taken. And he brought near the clan of the Zerahites man by man, and Zabdi was taken. And he brought near his household man by man, and Achan the son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was taken. Then Joshua said to Achan, "My son, give glory to the LORD God of Israel and give praise to him. And tell me now what you have done; do not hide it from me." And Achan answered Joshua, "Truly I have sinned against the LORD God of Israel, and this is what I did: when I saw among the spoil a beautiful cloak from Shinar, and 200 shekels of silver, and a bar of gold weighing 50 shekels, then I coveted them and took them. And see, they are hidden in the earth inside my tent, with the silver underneath." So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent; and behold, it was hidden in his tent with the silver underneath. And they took them out of the tent and brought them to Joshua and to all the people of Israel. And they laid them down before the LORD. And Joshua and all Israel with him took Achan the son of Zerah, and the silver and the cloak and the bar of gold, and his sons and daughters and his oxen and donkeys and sheep and his tent and all that he had. And they brought them up to the Valley of Achor. And Joshua said, "Why did you bring trouble on us? The LORD brings trouble on you today." And all Israel stoned him with stones. They burned them with fire and stoned them with stones. And they raised over him a great heap of stones that remains to this day. Then the LORD turned from his burning anger. Therefore, to this day the name of that place is called the Valley of Achor. (Joshua 7:16-26 ESV)

How about you?  Do you have the courage to admit when you rebelled against God?  Do you have the courage to root-out evil in your own mind, heart, and life?  Do you have the courage to pursue righteousness?  Do you want to walk together with God?

Lived-out courage seeks wisdom from God.

Joshua and the people of Israel were stunned.  This small group of people, whom God had called them to defeat in battle, were winning.  Why?  What was wrong?  Why would God allow them to defeat the Israelites?  Weren’t we doing what God called us to do?

Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell to the earth on his face before the ark of the LORD until the evening, he and the elders of Israel. And they put dust on their heads. And Joshua said, "Alas, O Lord GOD, why have you brought this people over the Jordan at all, to give us into the hands of the Amorites, to destroy us? Would that we had been content to dwell beyond the Jordan! O Lord, what can I say, when Israel has turned their backs before their enemies! For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear of it and will surround us and cut off our name from the earth. And what will you do for your great name?" (Joshua 7:6-9 ESV)

Joshua doesn’t know what do to, so he turns to God.  Good move.

Do you ever feel this way?  God, I go to church services every Sunday!  God I serve on ministry teams every week!  God, I’m trying to walk with you and still these problems seem to defeat me.  Why?  Do you turn to God, too?  Good move.

The LORD said to Joshua, "Get up! Why have you fallen on your face? Israel has sinned; they have transgressed my covenant that I commanded them; they have taken some of the devoted things; they have stolen and lied and put them among their own belongings. Therefore the people of Israel cannot stand before their enemies. They turn their backs before their enemies, because they have become devoted for destruction. I will be with you no more, unless you destroy the devoted things from among you. Get up! Consecrate the people and say, 'Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow; for thus says the LORD, God of Israel, "There are devoted things in your midst, O Israel. You cannot stand before your enemies until you take away the devoted things from among you."  (Joshua 7:10-13 ESV)

When we ask God the question, we need to be ready for the answer.  Sometimes the answer is not what we want to hear. “You sinned.”  “You rebelled against me.”  “You are fighting me.”  These are not things God takes lightly. 

Still, the only good move is to seek wisdom from God.  Ignoring God got us into this mess.  Seeking God can get us out of it.  That’s what Joshua did.  How about you?

Do you turn to God in prayer?  Is it before or after you find yourself in a mess?  When do you seek wisdom from God?

Lived-Out Courage

Last week, we finished with the Israelites walking around the walls of Jericho (just as the LORD instructed) until they came tumbling down.  God had given them three simple instructions to follow.  1) Save Rahab’s family, 2) Bring the precious metals into the treasury of the LORD, and 3) Destroy the rest.  At first, it looked like they had lived out these instructions.

But the people of Israel broke faith in regard to the devoted things, for Achan the son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of the devoted things. And the anger of the LORD burned against the people of Israel. (Joshua 7:1 ESV)

It’s not fun to be in a place where the anger of the LORD burns against us.  Unfortunately, we bring that situation upon ourselves.  We know where God stands.  We know the terms of our covenant commitment with Him.  We know God’s design for our lives.  Yet we choose a different way.  When we do, we set ourselves up as God’s enemies.  The LORD’s anger burns against us.

Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is near Beth-aven, east of Bethel, and said to them, "Go up and spy out the land." And the men went up and spied out Ai. And they returned to Joshua and said to him, "Do not have all the people go up, but let about two or three thousand men go up and attack Ai. Do not make the whole people toil up there, for they are few." So about three thousand men went up there from the people. And they fled before the men of Ai, and the men of Ai killed about thirty-six of their men and chased them before the gate as far as Shebarim and struck them at the descent. And the hearts of the people melted and became as water. (Joshua 7:2-5 ESV)

Unfortunately, our rebellion against God doesn’t just affect us.  It affects the people around us.  It affects the people connected to us.  It affects the Body of Christ: God’s Church.  When we do what is right, we build up Christ’s Body.  When we rebel against God (sin), we hurt Christ’s Body.  All sin is corporate.  It negatively affects other people.  All righteousness is corporate, too.  It builds up other people out of love.

Lived-out courage causes us to act.  Since the courage is from God, it causes us to act as God calls us to act.  Sometimes the call is to speak.  Sometimes it is a call to be silent.  Sometimes God calls us to attack.  Other times, we walk around the city walls for seven days.  Whether the call is to move or stay, speak or be silent, attack or restraint, God’s call will always have us participate in God’s plan.  Lived-out courage strengthens us to do just that.

So, how about you?  Do you have the courage from God to do your part of God’s plan?  Do you live out that courage in your life?