Joshua Series: Part 4 Preparation Part 2

Scripture focus: Joshua 1:10-11 and Hebrews 12:1-2

Disclaimer: Please forgive any typographical, grammatical, and/or content errors in the following notes. They are not meant to be an exact transcription, but rather a helpful guide for those who appreciate the written word along with the spoken word. If you have any questions on what was taught, feel free to reach out on our ‘Contact Us’ page.

Eric Liddell was a Scotsman who ran for England in the 1924 Olympics. You may have seen the classic film “Chariots of Fire” based upon the event. He was one of the best 100 meter sprinters in the world. Upon discovering that the race would be held on a Sunday, he refused to enter it. He entered the 400 meter race instead – a distance for which he was much slower. Astonishing everyone, he won the gold medal and smashed the world record. When asked about the race, Liddell said, “The secret of my success over the 400m is that I run the first 200m as fast as I can. Then, for the second 200m, with God’s help I run faster.” Liddell was willing to leave an event in which he was the best in the world. This teaching will focus on the part of preparation that allows us to leave things behind for the race ahead for which God has called us.

1. Hebrew Mindset
   1. In the previous teaching we examined the Hebrew mindset toward preparation. This is the idea to prepare in order to stand firm in light of whatever may come, including the worst case scenario.  Scripture gives analogies of this Hebrew mentality of preparation in counting the cost before building and having strong roots in truth. We asked ourselves: With what kind of sustenance are we preparing for God’s work?
2. Greek Mindset
   1. Specificity – The Greek mindset toward preparation is the idea that one makes ready for a specific task, being trained and equipped for a particular job. We find this mindset in the Septuagint (Greek Old Testament) and it has many crossover applications in the New Testament, especially Paul’s writings in the context of running a race and preparing to run well.
   2. Flexibility – The Greek mentality includes intentional understanding of contingencies and counts it a virtue to be able to adjust and adapt based on new information and as different situations arise.
   3. Sovereignty – Preparing and planning to do the Lord’s work is not about my plan, but a plan that the Lord has the right to carry out and adjust as He sees fit. We must acknowledge His sovereignty as we are rooted in truth, but also flexible.
      1. James 4:14-16 – Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.
3. Biblical Texts
   1. Joshua 1:10-11 – And Joshua commanded the officers of the people, “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.’”
      1. Individual Preparation – It’s easy to get in an individual mindset when we read the Word because we’re reading to ourselves. Joshua is giving a command at an individual level to be prepared – each person must do their part – but, more importantly, this command is for the community…
      2. Community Preparation – Communal identity was very important. There was the overall community of Israel, which was broken into tribes (each with their strengths and weaknesses), which were broken into families. Everything and everyone had their center on the Lord their God. He was in the center of their midst (quite literally in the tabernacle of the camp around which the tribes were arranged). The structure of the community came first and then the individual, which is difficult for us to grasp in our individualistic culture which is antithetical to God’s community mindset. “Be your own independent person, self-determining, and doing your own thing” is what our world tells us – not what Joshua was commanding and not what God is calling His people to do.
         1. Find your tribe (aka seed group)! Have individual gifts, but operate within your community to accomplish the work God has called us collectively.
   2. Hebrews 12:1-2 – Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
      1. ‘Lay Aside Every Weight and Sin’ – The Greek meaning for preparation in Joshua 1:10-11 is connected to the meaning of ‘lay aside’ in Hebrews:1. In order to be prepared we need to get rid of everything that would hold us back.
         1. ‘Lay aside’ means “to strip yourself.” Nothing that will hold me back is worth carrying into the task ahead! Example of shedding the excess before a race…On the day of a race, many runners will wear “throwaway gear” – sweatshirts and pants that will be tossed aside at the starting line. At the finish line the same is true. There will be mounds of shoes and more clothing that is tossed aside. The ancient Greeks would run naked after they discovered a loincloth impeded their speed. Today we use technology to its fullest extent as seen by the Olympic uniforms in swimming, speed skating, and track.
         2. What should we lay aside?
            1. Romans 13 – works of darkness
            2. Ephesians 4 – old self
            3. Colossians 3 – anger, wrath, malice, slander, obscene talk
            4. James 1 – all filthiness and wickedness
            5. 1 Peter 2 – malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, slander
         3. ‘Weight’ means “any bulky mass that is unwieldy and an encumbrance.” Example of Alexander the Great and Greek thought of preparation…His army grew very wealthy on the spoils of their conquests through Persia and their men and marches grew slower. Alexander decided to round up all the valuables and made a giant bonfire and burned it all in the sight of his dismayed army. The troops then went on to capture the Persian capital city replenishing everything they just burned. Get rid of the weight!
         4. John Piper says, “The race of the Christian life is not fought well or run well by asking, ‘What’s wrong with this or that?’ but by asking ‘Is it in the way of greater faith and greater love and greater purity and greater courage and greater humility and greater patience and greater self-control?’ Can you picture that? No! Is it sin? Are these things sin? No! But ask the question, ‘Does it help me run? Is it in the way? Don’t ask about your music, your movies, your parties, your habits, your friends – what’s wrong with it. Ask – ‘Does it help me run the race better? Does it help me achieve victory for Jesus?’” 
         5. F.B. Meyer writes, “Every believer must be left to decide what is his own special weight. We may not judge for one another what our special weight is. What is a weight to one is not so to all. But the Holy Spirit, if he be consulted and asked to reveal the hindrance to the earnestness and speed of the soul’s progress in divine things, the Holy Spirit will not fail to indicate it swiftly and infallibly. And this is the excellence of the Holy Spirit’s teaching. It is ever definite. If you have a general undefined feeling of discouragement, it is probably the work of the great enemy of souls; but if you are aware of some one hindrance and encumbrance which stays your speed, it is almost certainly the work of the divine Spirit who is leading you to relinquish something which is slackening your progress in the spiritual life. There would be little difficulty in maintaining an intense and ardent spirit if we were more faithful in dealing with the habits and indulgences which cling around us and impede our steps. Thousands of Christians are like water-logged vessels. They cannot sink but they are so saturated with inconsistencies and worldliness and permitted evil that they can only be towed with difficulty into the celestial port. Is there anything in your life which dissipates your energy from holy things? Which disinclines you to the practice of prayer and bible study? Which rises before you in your best moments and produces in you a general sense of uneasiness and disturbance? Something which others account harmless and permit and in which you once saw no cause for anxiety but which you now look on with a feeling of self-condemnation? It is likely enough a weight. Is there anything within the circle of consciousness concerning which you have to argue with yourself or which you do not care to investigate? We so often allow in ourselves things which we would be the first to condemn in others. We frequently find ourselves engaged in discovering ingenious reasons why a certain course which would be wrong in others is justifiable in ourselves. All such things may be considered as weights. It may be a friendship which is too engrossing, a habit which is sapping away our energy, a pursuit, an amusement, a pastime, a system of reading, a method of spending time, a job, something too fascinating and too absorbing and therefore harmful to the soul which is tempted to walk when it should run and to loiter when it should haste.”
         6. Discern your weights – Many times we have difficulty discerning if we have excess weight because we’re not actually doing anything difficult to notice if the weight is there. Do we know we’re out of shape if we don’t participate in any physical activity? Praise God, for those of us out of shape, He gives us a little and it grows into more. Are we seeking to be faithful with the small task the Lord has placed before us? During that faithful action, if we find ourselves getting winded, we need to ask what’s making me winded – why am I out of shape? What weight is holding me back? What thing is preventing me from being able to run well? Theologian Marcus Dodds says, “It is by running that he learns what these things that weigh us down are. So long as he stands he does not feel that they are burdensome and hampering.” Let’s get running so we can discover the weights!
      2. ‘Looking to Jesus’
         1. Story – When Matthew was younger his father would train him through lifting weights. He would say, “Ok, Matthew, give me 10 reps. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9…ok, only three more!” Matthew’s body was only prepared to handle 10, not 3 more after the 9th rep. Here’s where the Greek mentality of preparation comes back into play. Sometimes in life the finish line is moved. Things don’t go as originally planned. It’s hard and it stinks sometimes! We need to adjust so as not to fail or fall short.
         2. Spiritual Toughness (aka Spiritual Maturity) – Many of us are too comfortable. We are called to look to Jesus. He endured the shame of the cross and he will give us the strength to endure through the Holy Spirit. 
         3. Expectations – Mental and spiritual preparation is key! In our preparation we need to expect the finish line to be moved, reps to increase, and the pressure to get even stronger than we expect. There will be difficulty and trial and change. At the root of conflict is unmet expectations. Are our expectations in line with God’s expectations? Lord, align our expectations!
            1. James 4:1 – What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.
            2. God commanded the people to be physically, mentally, and spiritually ready in three days. Charles Spurgeon says, “Stand ready for the time is getting very short. There is not long to wait. Very soon you will have traversed the stream and landed on the hither shore. Even now you can catch a glimpse of the palm trees of Jericho on the other side. But in three days you shall gather their fruit. Beloved, how would you feel if you knew that within three days you might die? Would you welcome the news? Are you quite sure that it would please you? Remember the wife and family and the business and all of that! Can you bear the snapping of the ties which bind you to this life? Have you learned so to live in this world that you are not of it? Could you cheerfully say ‘Forever with the Lord! Amen, so let it be.’?” How can this be our attitude? …
4. 3 ways to grow in spiritual maturity by preparing to align our expectations with God’s
   1. Trust in God’s promises
      1. One of God’s promises is that trouble will come. Be prepared for it! John 16:33 – I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.
      2. Run the race in community to encourage one another during the hard times, pointing each other to Jesus and reminding each other what we have to look forward to.
   2. Trust in God’s process
      1. Waiting is hard, especially if we feel we know what the next step is and God doesn’t want us to take it yet. We wait with expectation – not with anxiety, fear, or stress!
      2. God always works in a clear process throughout scripture so His people are ready. He knows when we’re ready! When waiting is involved it’s not because God needs to grow or change, it’s because we do. For example, God didn’t give the Israelites the Promised Land all in one piece. There was a physical and spiritual process that they needed to grow through. Exodus 23:29-30 – I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the wild beasts multiply against you. Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased and possess the land.
      3. Isaiah 40:27-31 – Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, “My way is hidden from the Lord, and my right is disregarded by my God”? Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.
   3. Trust in your own experiences with God
      1. We quickly and easily forget what God has done in our lives. He has done so many miraculous things in your life and he can and will do it again in your life in his timing. It’s a mercy in our lives when we are broken in our prideful self-reliance. There was a shorter way to the Promised Land, but God knew his children weren’t ready for it yet, so he took them another way until they were prepared and equipped for the next battle. Exodus 13:17-18 – When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near. For God said, “Lest the people change their minds when they see war and return to Egypt.” But God led the people around by the way of the wilderness toward the Red Sea. And the people of Israel went up out of the land of Egypt equipped for battle.
      2. Where you are right now is preparation for the next season and so on and again until we meet Jesus at the finish line. Ultimately, we are to have shallow roots in the earth because our time here is short, but to have deep roots in eternity. This is the ultimate way we continue to align our expectations – ever eternal. Charles Spurgeon says, “Children of God, be ready to go from this world, let not your roots strike deep into this earthly soil. For you must in due time be transplanted and the more roothold you get to this world the worse it will be for you. Hold everything with a loose hand. The soldier in a foreign land must not settle down and begin to gather surroundings about him which would naturalize him to the country. He is an alien tarrying til his prince shall call him back to the home country. You cannot be an exile long. Heaven is prepared to receive you. Be ready! Your heart must be in heaven. Send your best goods tither where they will be safe from moth and rust. Have about you what little things you want for spending money but make the best of your way through this Vanity Fair. Keep in marching order. Be prepared at a moment’s notice to start on your way.”
      3. Ultimately we are preparing to do the work God prepared in advance for us and in short order die. And that’s not a sad thing – that’s our joy! We are to reach the end of the race and hear “Well done, good and faithful servant!”

Conclusion

After winning the Olympics, Eric Liddell decided to go to the mission field in China where he was originally born to missionary parents. He left his athletic career at its peak. He married, had a young family, and ministered in the country for over 10 years. Liddell sent his family home as WWII started and the Japanese invaded China. His life ended in a Japanese internment camp. He was remembered by those in the camp as a loving servant who sacrificed his own life. When a prisoner exchange was negotiated for him, he gave his place to a pregnant woman. The world applauds his athletic skill. We know his race was for the Lord. We strive to prepare to align our expectations with the Lord’s so that when we are called to his work we, too,  can run the race strong. Philippians 3:13-15 – Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you.