Joshua 1:10-18
We are continuing our series on Everyday Leaders, and if you look at your everyday life, I want you to think about the people you interact with on a regular basis. Maybe even right their name down on the paper you have with you or type it in the notes app on your phone. Last week we talked about how the relationships that we have are a platform to create boldness in us when God gives us a burden, but those relationships are a two way street. We can’t just build relationships in order to gain what we want, we also need to seek opportunities to impact peoples lives, to bless them and each one of us has the power to do that, to help people chart a course that God wants for them and the key word in that is influence.
Today we are going to look at another everyday leader from scripture who exemplified that, today we are going to learn from the influential leadership of Joshua. Open your Bible with me this morning to Joshua 1 starting at verse 10. Joshua was the understudy, if you will, of Moses, he was his assistant and for about forty years had a front row seat to Moses’ ministry and service to God. He saw first hand the power of God at work in the leadership of Moses. Joshua was a great leader because of the example he had in Moses. Joshua had been fearless in the wilderness period leading up to this passage, he fought alongside the Israelite armies and was victorious, he had in fact seen the promised land for himself, being one twelve spies sent in to survey the land and its resources and its enemies, and in the text we will study this morning, Joshua is now tasked with completing the work originally ascribed to Moses his mentor. This is the backdrop for our introduction to Joshua the Son of Nun, a man who had powerful influencers around him who helped prepare him to be a great influencer. Joshua lived out a fundamental leadership principle that we can learn: great leaders guide the way to great things.
Our reading this morning is from Joshua 1:10-18:
Joshua 1:10-18(ESV) 10 And Joshua commanded the officers of the people, 11 “Pass through the midst of the camp and command the people, ‘Prepare your provisions, for within three days you are to pass over this Jordan to go in to take possession of the land that the LORD your God is giving you to possess.’”
12 And to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh Joshua said, 13 “Remember the word that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you, saying, ‘The LORD your God is providing you a place of rest and will give you this land.’ 14 Your wives, your little ones, and your livestock shall remain in the land that Moses gave you beyond the Jordan, but all the men of valor among you shall pass over armed before your brothers and shall help them, 15 until the LORD gives rest to your brothers as he has to you, and they also take possession of the land that the LORD your God is giving them. Then you shall return to the land of your possession and shall possess it, the land that Moses the servant of the LORD gave you beyond the Jordan toward the sunrise.”
16 And they answered Joshua, “All that you have commanded us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go. 17 Just as we obeyed Moses in all things, so we will obey you. Only may the LORD your God be with you, as he was with Moses! 18 Whoever rebels against your commandment and disobeys your words, whatever you command him, shall be put to death. Only be strong and courageous.”
You may be seated, may God add his blessing to the reading of his word.
As we read this section of Joshua and his first encounter with God’s people that we have recorded without Moses, think for a moment about who he is talking to; a generation who hadthisas the narrative for their lives: slavery, homelessness and there parents dying in the wilderness because of their disobedience.
Think about growing up with that as your narrative and how you are on the edge of the land you’ve been told God has promised you, you’ve been told by Moses, but because of his disobedience he is not there to take you into this land, you know your history, you know this is why God called your people out of slavery in Egypt in the first place, but you’ve been wandering in the wilderness and the one you thought was going to lead you into this place is gone, the generation before you to whom the promise was first given is now gone and you sit at the banks of the Jordan River with all of this as your back story.
Think about the doubts you would have, the fears you would have, but the deep desire to believe and hope that God is with you. Have you ever found yourself in that place; wanting to believe and hope in what God wants for you, but you are so afraid it won’t be fulfilled? What you need, , what Israel needed more than anything else, to lead them and who was so committed to them that he would not let them fail. That is what Israel needed and that is what they received in Joshua.
Move 1: We Need Leaders Who Understand Our Need forStrength and Courage
At the end of this passage we see a group of people who are ready to follow Joshua, they are ready to obey him, follow him and in fact they are willing, according to the text, to destroy anyone who will derail the leadership of Joshua. All they want is one thing, you see it at the very end of the passage, this is the only request they make of Joshua as their leader; be strong and courageous.
Be strong and courageous, that’s all they wanted. They didn’t say they wanted someone with an outstanding family pedigree, they didn’t want someone who had gone through the Israelite Management Placement Program, or the most educated or the most decorated individual, what they wanted was someone who would be strong and courageous.
And that phrase is very important, because it is a phrase they are familiar with because it is exactly what God wanted for them.
In Deuteronomy 31 Moses is giving his farewell address to the people and he is preparing them for this moment. He is telling them he will not be crossing over the Jordan with them, but he is telling them they will in fact do it, he was preparing them for this moment. And as he does this, here is what he tells them: Deuteronomy 31:6 (ESV) 6 Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the LORD your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.”
As you put the puzzle pieces together of the scriptures something should shout to you from the words of the text; they had been told to be strong and courageous so what they want and need is for their new leader Joshua to understand and share in the very thing they have been told to be; strong and courageous.
Or to say it another way, the only way they can be strong and courageous is to have a leader who is also strong and courageous.
Meanwhile, Joshua has been called to be the exact same thing. In Deuteronomy 31:7-8 Moses takes the same exact command he has just given to Israel and he gives it to Joshua, be strong and courageous. Lead the people into the land, take them where they need to go, to the place we’ve been preparing for. They are going to need a lot of things they are going to need provisions, they are going to have to be battle ready, they are going to have to be resourceful, but above everything else they are going to need to be strong and courageous, but they are not going to naturally do that as a people, they need you to guide them Joshua, they need you to lead them they need you to influence them to be the very thing they will not be prone to be without someone to guide them, they need you to be strong and courageous.
Joshua knew that this is what the Israelites needed more than anything else because Moses prepared him for this, but also because God spoke directly to him and prepared him for the very same thing: Three times in the preceding nine verses as Joshua speaks with the Lord, as he is preparing to guide the people, he is told three times by God the exact same phrase: be strong and courageous.
But there is also another reason, according to this passage, that the Israelites are willing to follow Joshua. It’s not just because of the call to be strong and courageous, it is because of his alignment with Moses. Loog again at verse 17 Just as we obeyed Moses in all things, so we will obey you. Only may the LORD your God be with you, as he was with Moses!
What a qualifying statement, and what a testimony to the leadership of Moses. Moses was a leader of such strength, of such courage that simply based on Joshua’s alignment with him they were willing to obey him even in the uncertainty. They are very clear with Joshua that their is, in fact, uncertainty, the latter half of verse 17 makes that abundantly clear, “Hey we are willing to obey you and follow you, and give you the same type of allegiance that we gave Mose, but man…we sure are praying that the Lord will be with you as he was with Moses.”
They had a level of risk in trusting Joshua, but they were able to trust Joshua to be strong and courageous because they were able to trust Moses and they had seen Moses be strong and courageous.
Friends, the needs of God’s people haven’t changed. God is calling each of us to be strong and courageous and we need people around us who are going to be strong and courageous, that is the kind of influential leadership we can replicate.
Can I commend to you that the people we surround ourselves with are either going to elevate us into the level of strength and courage God wants from us or they are going to inhibit it.
An old line of mine that I’ve shared with students for years is “show me your friends, I’ll show you your future.”
Good leadership and being an influencer is all about replicating ourselves. Moses did it with Joshua and now Joshua is doing it with the Israelites. The Israelites could be strong and courageous because Joshua was strong and courageous because Moses was strong and courageous because he found his strength and courage in God.
And it is in that strength and in that courage that we can influence people into God’s greatest good. There are two things we see in Joshua and how he uses his influence. First…
Move 2: He Focuses on the Promises of God
If we were to go back and consider the conversation that Joshua has with God preceding this passage wouldn’t it have been easy for Joshua to lead in with: “Hey guys, just so you know I just talked with God and I just want you to know he has in fact called me, I’m going to lead you with strength, I’m going to lead you with courage. You can trust my leadership because God said he will never leave me nor forsake me and I’m going to give it all that I have.”
Great sounding speech right? But that is not what the Israelites needed to hear. They needed strength and courage, but for what? They didn’t need to hear how great a leader Joshua was called to be they simply needed him to lead and he does. He gives no speech, no emphasis on his call or his leadership ability at all, what he focuses in on is the promise that God made, that’s why they needed to be strong and courageous and why they needed him to be the same; the whole reason they left Egypt, the laser beam focused thing that Moses always had in front of him was this promise. Look at verse 11:
11 “Pass through the midst of the camp and command the people, ‘Prepare your provisions, for within three days you are to pass over this Jordan to go in to take possession of the land that the LORD your God is giving you to possess.’”
There was no time for a speech, no need for a speech, no need to focus on anything Joshua was capable of, because what Joshua was in this wasn’t important and Joshua knew that, the most important thing was the promise that God made to them to get them across to the westside of the Jordan River where he had promised them a home.
There wasn’t any way for Joshua to improve on the promise of God and they didn’t need that from him, in fact I would go so far as to say that Joshua displayed great strength and great courage in not trying to add to or shift the focus from the promise God had made them.
Joshua knew that the promise of God was what the Israelites need most, but there is also something else perhaps he didn’t know.
Move 3: Others WereWaitingfor the Promises of God
Upon entering the promised land there are people who stand at this point as enemies of God, but some who have heard of the promises made to Israel and they want to be included in that promise. As spies enter the land one more time for a final recon mission they happen upon Rahab and her family and we read this:
Joshua 2:8-13(ESV) 8 Before the men lay down, she came up to them on the roof 9 and said to the men, “I know that the LORD has given you the land, and that the fear of you has fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land melt away before you. 10 For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you devoted to destruction. 11 And as soon as we heard it, our hearts melted, and there was no spirit left in any man because of you, for the LORD your God, he is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath. 12 Now then, please swear to me by the LORD that, as I have dealt kindly with you, you also will deal kindly with my father’s house, and give me a sure sign 13 that you will save alive my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them, and deliver our lives from death.”
Rahab was longing for what the Israelites had and God was going to use the Israelites to help her see the promises of God actualized in her life and in the life of her family.
This is a foreshadowing of what God calls us to do and be as light in a dark world. There are Rahabs all over our city and our world who need to know the promise we have is for them. The gospel of Jesus Christ is the greatest influence we can have in the world and because Joshua lived this out, Israel received their promise and because Israel lived it out Rahab received her promise.
That is influence, that is what Joshua teaches us and this how great leaders can lead.
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