By: Dale Weckbacher
Text: Joshua
24:1-13
Joshua 24:13
I gave you a land on
which you had not labored and cities that you had not built, and you dwell
in them. You eat the fruit of vineyards
and olive orchards that you did not plant.’
(ESV)
One of my favorite presidents in
United States history is Abraham Lincoln a man who came from the obscurity of a
humble log cabin to election as President of the United States in 1860. Lincoln was a self-educated man who had a
life of electoral defeat until achieving election as the 16th
President of the United States. As
President, Lincoln faced a time of serious divisiveness in the nation resulting
in a bloody civil war. While the life of
Lincoln was shortened by an assassin’s bullet, his leadership held the United
States together during a time of serious divisiveness.
The contentious election the
United States continues to experience shows the United States has divided once
again but this time the division is not territorial, north versus south, but
philosophical. The question that must be
answered is will the United States continue as a free constitutional republic
where individuals are free to pursue their dreams or become socialist with
individuals having greater dependence on government. The founding documents of the United States speak
of the unalienable rights of each individual to life, liberty, and the pursuit of
happiness
The United States and the rest of
the world need something they can unify behind.
The mention by the authors of the Declaration of Independence of
God-given unalienable rights indicates they believed the unifying force to be a
belief in God with the role of government being the protection of the right to
worship God without government interference.
This right to freely gather to worship God is presently under fire in some
states with lockdown orders restricting religious gatherings while allowing
other gatherings. The question for God’s
people is whether they will remain unified in Christ while functioning in the
context of restrictions on gathering or divide.
Jesus gave the Church clear instructions to spread the Gospel and make
disciples under the power of the Holy Spirit (Acts
1:8; Mark 16:15; Matthew 28:19-20). Therefore,
the Church must seek God’s guidance on how to remain unified behind its God-given
mission in a safe manner so as not to spread Covid19.
The history lesson of Joshua
24:1-13 illustrates what an obscure group of people can accomplish through
dependence on God’s power. The Egyptians
did not view the Israelites as a threat and pursued them through the Red Sea,
only to be destroyed by the power of God (Exodus
14). The Amorites believed they
could easily defeat the ordinary Israelites, only to suffer defeat through God’s
empowerment of Israel’s army as Moses prayed in intercession (Numbers
21:21-30). The Canaanites beginning
with Jericho also underestimated the power of a group of ordinary people who
have the power of God behind them (Joshua
6). Today’s world underestimates the
power of the Church, a group of ordinary people, to bring unity to a divided
nation and world.
The challenge for God’s people is
will they rise up to promote unity in Christ by calling for the nation to
return to the Godly principles upon which it was founded or remain silent. The history lesson provided by Joshua in Joshua
24:1-13 is a story of God using obscure people, beginning with Abraham and
transforming them into people used by God to depose the evil Canaanites from
the land promised to Abraham. It
illustrates a journey from obscurity to mightily used by God to rid the land of
Canaan of the evil people living in the land.
The Church has a similar opportunity to move from a group of obscure
people to a might force used by God to bring unity, not through condoning or
accepting evil practices like abortion on demand or gay marriage, but unity in
Christ.
To accomplish this, the Church
must put aside its non-essential theological differences like when the rapture
will occur, and instead focus on the fact that Jesus is returning for His bride
and that the bride must be ready for Christ’s return (John
14:1-3). The Church must stop the
bickering over what style of music to allow in worship and instead focus on the
object of worship, Jesus Christ (John
12:27-36). The Church must put aside
its division over whether people are born predestined to accept Christ or not
and instead focus on presenting the Gospel through Scripture, allowing the Holy
Spirit to convict individuals of their sin so they can choose to accept Christ
or not (John
16:4-15).
To return the United States to
its once great and united position of greatness as a world power requires God’s
people returning to Godly principles in their own lives and showing unity
within the Church. Jesus taught His
Disciples that the world would know they are His disciples by their love for
each other (John
13:34-35). However, throughout
Church history, the Church has shown the same divisiveness seen in the
world. My prayer is that Churches across
the world would put aside their differences and unify around the Godly mission
of spreading the Gospel and making disciples.
The Church must unify and focus on lifting up Jesus Christ so He can
draw people to him through the convicting power of the Holy Spirit. I challenge the Church and all believers to
focus on lifting up Jesus Christ.
1. National Archives. The Declaration of
Independence. archives.gov. [Online] The National Archives. [Cited:
November 21, 2020.] https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/declaration.
2. —. The Bill of
Rights. archives.gov. [Online] The National Archives. [Cited: November
21, 2020.] https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/bill-of-rights.
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