Joshua Chapter 22:1-8

Once you find a fellowship that's teaching the Word and reaching the lost, then you know what? You should make a commitment there because here's what's going to happen.

At some point, there will be some sort of offense, some sort of disagreement, and if you're kind of just sitting there waiting for that to happen, then there's not a real commitment. Welcome to Cross the Bridge with David McGee. David is the senior pastor of the bridge in Kernersville, North Carolina. We should have a commitment to one another and to the local body of believers. Today, Pastor David stresses the importance of commitment as he continues in the book of Joshua chapter 22. But before we join Pastor David, do you ever feel like God is cutting away parts of you like a gardener pruning a tree?

Well, I hope you said yes to this question because it means God is shaping you so that you can bear even more fruit in your life. We want to help you embrace God's pruning in your life by sending you Pastor David McGee's three-part audio series, Abiding in Christ, Keys to a Fruitful Life. It's our way of saying thank you for your gift to help share the truth of Scripture with more people around the world through Cross the Bridge.

So get your copy of Abiding in Christ when you give today at crossthebridge.com and discover how you can bear more fruit for God's kingdom. Now here's David McGee with his teaching, Which Side of the Jordan Are You On? Joshua chapter 22, verse 1. Then Joshua called the Reubenites, the Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh, and said to them, You have kept all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, and have obeyed my voice and all that I have commanded you.

In verse 3, You have not left your brethren these many days up to this day, but have kept the charge of the commandment of the Lord your God. Brief overview up to this point is they have fought many battles together. If you remember two and a half of the tribes settled on the east side of the Jordan, and part of the agreement with Moses is that they would go over the Jordan into the promised land, and they would fight while there was enemies to be fought, and then after that they were going to be allowed to go back home to the east side of the Jordan. Now we've talked in some measure about the fact that they settled on the east side of the Jordan, and I don't believe that that was the Lord's perfect will. You'll find some difference in different commentaries. Some think it was.

Some think it wasn't. I belong in the wasn't camp, but what I want to talk about right here and right now is the fact that they made such a commitment because, you know, it was just a few chapters to us, but it was actually seven years that they crossed over the Jordan. They fought side by side with their brothers, and they stayed until those battles were won, until they were victorious, and then now they're getting ready to go back to the east side of the Jordan. You know, that takes a lot of commitment, and I notice the phrase, you have not left your brethren. I like that because it shows that there was a commitment, a commitment that of seven years where they stuck it out. In looking at society today, you notice that there seems to be a lack of commitment in our society, a lack of commitment, and that brings us to the first life lesson right off the bat, that we should have a commitment to one another and to the local body of believers. We should have a commitment to one another and to the local body of believers. You see, this lack of commitment, and it's in so many areas, it's definitely in the area of marriage. Some people get married, and they think, okay, well, as long as this is going well, as long as I'm getting something out of this, I'm okay with being married. But as soon as it begins to fall apart, that commitment falls apart, and they end the marriage. And certainly we see in corporate America, and I'm not saying this isn't totally valid, but with all the downsizing and all the pension fund rating and all the stuff that's going on, there's a lack of commitment in the workplace too. And some of that is valid as far as the lack of commitment in the workplace, but some of it's not. And when we look in those two areas, we see some trouble with the commitment.

And you know what? I think the same trouble with commitment has bled over into the churches, because I think that we need to have a commitment to one another. And a lot of times what happens in churches, and it's kind of sad, is that somebody will go to a church until they get slightly offended, until they get their feelings hurt, or they don't like something that goes on. Now, keep in mind, I believe that there are valid reasons to leave a church. If you're in a church where they're not teaching the Word, if you're in a church where they're not reaching out to the lost, or worse yet, they've engaged in some type of heresy or something, you need to get out. You need to vote with your feet and get out of that fellowship.

Okay, but once you find a fellowship that's doing those things, that's teaching the Word and reaching the lost, then you know what? You should make a commitment there, because here's what's going to happen. At some point, there will be some sort of offense.

There will be some sort of disagreement. And if you're kind of just sitting there waiting for that to happen, then there's not a real commitment. You see, especially for leadership and myself included, there has to be a commitment. I mean, how silly would it be if I said, okay, well, I'm going to pastor as long as it goes well and nobody says anything bad about me and writes me any nasty emails, I'll be pastor. That doesn't make any sense, does it?

Okay, so that's not the approach I'm taking. Now, you know, of course, there has to be a season where you make sure that this is the place God's calling you to, but once you make sure of that, man, make that commitment. Here's what's supposed to happen in the body of Christ, that you make a commitment to a body of believers, and that commitment weathers storms that are coming.

You see, because at some point, God will use either this body, people around you, the word of God, to point out some things in your life that maybe don't line up with the word of God. And if you're sitting there kind of in this wait and see, and as soon as I feel bad about something, I'm out of here, well, guess what's going to happen? The moment the Holy Spirit points out something's wrong in your life, you're going to bail. You're going to bail, and then the sad thing is you'll probably go to another place, another church, and in six months, six weeks, six years, same thing happens. God brings to the forefront something in your life that you need to deal with, and what do you do again? You bail instead of dealing with that issue.

And see, what can happen is you don't grow spiritually like that, but if you are committed to a body of believers, and somebody comes up to you and says, hey, bro, I see that you're struggling with this area, or I'd like to pray with you about this, and you work through that issue, then you're much stronger spiritually for having weathered that storm. And I think that only comes with a commitment. Now, we don't have the typical commitment here.

We've talked about the fact we don't have an official membership. It used to be when we were real small, I could keep up with people, and if I didn't see somebody for a week or two, I'd call them. Hey, what are you doing? Where have you been? What's going on? And I'm sure that was a little unnerving having the pastor call you to ask you why you hadn't been to church, but I can't do that anymore. But you know what? You guys can. If there's somebody that you know that all of a sudden you don't see for a week or two, give them a call.

Send an email. Hey, man, is everything okay? Are you all right? Because, see, they might be scared and running from something God's wanting to deal with in their life. And see, we see it in these two and a half tribes. There was a real commitment to their brothers and to their sisters. And that's a wonderful thing.

That's a beautiful thing to see. And that's what I desire to have here is that we would have commitment to one another. And notice it also says, kept the charge of the commandment of the Lord your God. So there's the other part of the commitment. It's not just to the brothers and to their sisters, but also to the Lord.

That's something we need as well as being committed to one another. I believe that we need to be committed to what God is doing in our midst because God's doing an awesome thing. God has blessed us in the past. And it's okay to expect that God is going to bless us in the future as long as we stay focused on what the Lord wants to do.

And as long as we remember that's why we do anything we do here. Colossians chapter 3 verse 23 reminds us, it says, and whatever you do, do it heartily as to the Lord not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance for you serve the Lord Christ. So it's important to remember that we serve the Lord. The things you do around here, you're serving the Lord. Verse 4, and now the Lord your God has given rest to your brethren as he promised them.

Now therefore return and go to your tents and to the land of your possession which Moses the servant of the Lord gave you on the other side of the Jordan. So this is interesting because they're going back to have their rest. They've given the rest to their brethren as well. So what happened is because they all worked together, they all battled together, everybody got to rest. And I think this rest is more than just the absence of war.

This is rest and I think the truest spiritual sense. And you understand that it's an awesome thing but that we can rest now in the Lord. Do you understand that before you got saved, before you asked the Lord to forgive you of your sins, you were at war with God? The Bible is very plain about that and some of us think well you know we were doing okay before we just needed to try harder. No no no no no that's not biblical Christianity. Biblical Christianity is not that you needed to try harder. Biblical Christianity is that you were playing for like the wrong team.

You were on the wrong side and you needed to quit playing for that team and you need to join the Lord's team. Amen. And so when you make that commitment there's not only the absence of war but there's real rest and you realize that's something you can't have apart from God. That's something that the world is looking for. The world is looking for that rest that you and I can enjoy. You know when after you go home this evening and you're at the house or apartment or whatever you can you can sit there and just that sense of contentment and peace.

I mean there can be a lot of things wrong in your life that would just rattle somebody else but because you're walking with the Lord you can sit there and you can go there's real rest. The world doesn't have that. The world is searching for that. The world's searching for that through sexual misconduct, through alcohol, through drugs, through antidepressants, through all these things. They can't achieve that rest that you and I have available to us.

And it's an awesome thing that we shouldn't take for granted. And part of that too is well do you know how a war ends? One side has to surrender huh? So in our war with God was God supposed to surrender? No. We are to surrender to God. That's part of the agreement.

You understand? When you get saved, when you ask the Lord to forgive you of your sins that's part of what needs to go on is you need to ask the Lord you know what Lord I'm not going to fight anymore. This is I surrender. Even as we sing sometimes I surrender all. You're listening to Pastor David McGee on Cross the Bridge. He'll be back with more powerful insight from God's Word in just a moment. But first what does it mean when God prunes away at parts of your life? Is he angry at you? Have you done something wrong?

Far from it. Jesus teaches in John 15 that God lovingly removes things from your life so that you can grow into the person he created you to be and bear more fruit for Christ. We want to help you do that by sending you abiding in Christ, keys to a fruitful life. A three-part audio series from Pastor David McGee on what it means to be pruned by God and how you can embrace the process. This encouraging resource is our way of thanking you for your gift to help reach more people with the powerful truth of the gospel through Cross the Bridge.

So go to crossthebridge.com today and request your copy of this series. Now back to today's message. Verse 5, but take careful heed to do the commandment and the law which Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you to love the Lord your God to walk in all his ways to keep his commandments to hold fast to him and to serve him with all your heart with all your soul. Now here's an interesting statement huh and this is one we need to there's a lot of stuff packed up front in this chapter and this is a verse that we need to take a moment and kind of look at and consider carefully. We are under grace understand I understand we are under grace hopefully you understand that we're under grace and what that means is when we mess up we can be forgiven but let me tell you what it doesn't mean. It doesn't mean that now that we have grace God now blesses disobedience. See Paul makes it very clear when he's talking about grace he says you know now we've got grace do we sin all the more and he says God forbid God forbid but because we can have a fresh start let's even more follow the Lord and what happens sometimes and especially in fellowships where they just don't even teach the Hebrew scriptures they don't even teach the Old Testament as a matter of fact they've got this mental thing oh no we never teach out the Old Testament because it's you know it's old but there's so much in here and it it will benefit us to remember what Jesus said when it came to the law in Matthew 5 17 he says do not think that I came to destroy the law of the prophets I did not come to destroy but to fulfill now look at what that verse says he says he didn't come to abolish the law now let me repeat because I don't want to be misunderstood we are not made righteous by the law what the law does Paul calls it a schoolmaster a school teacher in other words when you compare yourself with the ten commandments you come up a little short don't you I mean I do let's be honest don't don't you know say oh no I've always kept all the ten commandments yeah well you just lied so now you got that to deal with um no we all fall short in one of those areas and what that does is it points out the need to be forgiven the need that we need a messiah we need Jesus and it points that out beautifully and it also helps to give us direction in our lives the law is by no means null and void and useless in our lives and some people they read the Hebrew scriptures and go boy I'm glad we don't have to do any of that stuff anymore whoa whoa because you know what I don't know if you've thought about this but in the new testament it doesn't get easier guys the bar gets lifted in the new testament you see in the old testament in the Hebrew scriptures we're told to love the Lord thy God with all thy heart all thy mind all thy soul now that's hard isn't it but you understand that Jesus lifted the bar even more in john 13 34 a new commandment I give to you that you love one another as I have loved you guys it didn't just get easier he's now telling us to love others as he has loved us God as God has loved us with that perfect agape love he now says I want you to love one another like that well it gets even more difficult Matthew chapter 22 verse 37 through 40 he says Jesus said to him you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul with all your mind this is the first and great commandment we have that from the Hebrew scriptures and the second is like it you shall love your neighbor as yourself on these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets beloved which part of this verse no longer applies this is new testament man and God is saying you know what you need to love the Lord your God with all your heart with all your mind with all your soul you need to love your neighbor as yourself it doesn't get easier there's actually it's more difficult and I've heard people go well this is you know I've tried doing this and it's it's hard it's not hard it's impossible you can't do it you in and of your own self you can't do this stuff there's no way I mean really if you're sitting here tonight and you're in your right mind you did not read that verse just didn't go all right chat doing that you read that verse you went oh boy I need some grace exactly but what the Lord will do us he will supernaturally empower us to love one another in that way to love one another as he's loved us to love him with all our heart and mind and soul and to love our neighbors ourself it's an amazing thing but that is God's desire for your life and as you look at this verse they list several things here take heed to do the law to love the Lord to walk in his ways to keep his commandments to hold fast to him and to serve him with all our heart and with all our soul see these are things that we should be doing today but all too often because we're in the first two-thirds of the book we go that's old testament don't have to do that oh we should be doing these things now I know that we won't get them perfect and that's where grace comes in that's such a beautiful thing because when we don't do these things we can say Lord forgive me but I want another shot and the Lord will forgive us and allow us to start with a fresh slate but again so what's happening here is Joshua is reminding them before they depart of their spiritual responsibility and that's kind of I appreciate that in Joshua as a spiritual leader because you understand that that's my role here in a spiritual leader is to encourage and exhort you guys to be doing the things that the word encourages you to do verse six so Joshua blessed them and sent them away and they went to their tents now there you see the other part of being a spiritual leader is to to bless people and you're probably if you've been here before you recognize at the end of every service I speak a blessing over you guys that's really important to me the reason is I want to be a blessing to you guys and I want you to be walking in that blessed life I want you to be blessed and so that's why every chance I get at the close of every service I say well Lord bless you and keep you it's called the Aaronic blessing because Aaron was the first one that said it he blessed the people he asked the Lord to bless the people and so what an awesome thing that we get the opportunity to be a blessing to one another and you know what this is it's such an important thing and you can't see it but I wear two rings I wear this one it reminds me that you know I'm married I have a wife I mean I don't forget that but you know what I mean but that reminds me of my commitment to my wife my other ring over here it reminds me of my commitment to this church see because it's written in Hebrew it reads in Hebrew the Lord bless you and keep you so I'm always reminded every time I'm looking at my hands I'm always reminded of my wife and I'm reminded of being a blessing to the people here and I think that's an awesome opportunity that we get to bless one another that's not just something that I can do to through the people here that's something you can do to one another and I'm not just talking about when somebody sneezes God bless you but being a blessing to one another I mean to go up and and man are do you realize how powerful our words are just to walk up to somebody and put your hand on their shoulder and say God bless you oh man it is a powerful powerful thing do you do that if you're a parent in here tonight when's the last time you did that to your child put your hand on their shoulder look them in the eye and say God bless you it's important it's really important because again as a spiritual leader we should be doing that reminding of the content of the word of God and being a blessing now verse seven now to half the tribe of Manasseh Moses had given a possession of Bashan but to the other half of it Joshua gave a possession among their brethren on this side of the Jordan westward and indeed when Joshua sent them away to their tents he blessed them so he's getting into this blessing thing he's just blessing them every time he gets chance now verse eight and he spoke to them and saying return with much riches to your tents with very much livestock and silver with gold with bronze with iron and with very much clothing and divide the spoil of your enemies with your brethren so now look at this this is really cool Joshua blesses them and then they go back and they bless others they're blessing the ones that stayed on the east side of the Jordan and again here's here's an interesting thing because everybody is getting blessed there's this cycle of blessing if you will this is what we can be doing to other folks even as you get blessed here go bless somebody else you go home you go oh man i gotta share this with you i was at church thursday night or sunday morning or other and oh and look oh i got this here here's some of this this is good stuff you like oh that's good stuff and so you're blessing other people with what you've been blessed with and it's amazing because you know people are starving for the word of God and as we sit under the teaching of the word of God you get so blessed with so eaten so much and then you can go into somebody else and go ah and you just give them a morsel and they're like that's so good sorry why because they're starving to death and you you have this buffet laid out in front of you and you can be a blessing to them and it starts the cycle of blessing it starts with God starts then goes to spiritual leadership and it goes to the people and the people can bless one another and it's a beautiful beautiful thing as long as it doesn't stop see because it can stop can't it you can look at someone go i'm not blessing him i don't like him he's been mean to me he looked at me funny last week or whatever and we can stop that cycle of blessing it's not God's desire God's desire is that we continue that cycle of blessing until somebody is so overwhelmed with you blessing them that they're like what's going on in your life that you desire to bless me remember in the third chapter of Romans it tells us that the goodness of God leads to repentance and as you exude as you pour out the goodness of God the people are going to go oh i want some of this mercy and this grace and this goodness that you got where do you get it and you get a chance to witness to them now can you imagine here they are they've just been blessed with all this stuff they have all this land and i wonder if any of them thought for just a moment i know that Joshua and Caleb thought back i know that Joshua and Caleb thought back and they thought man do you remember just a just a few years ago when we were in Egypt and we were in bondage and we were in slavery and the most that we could ever imagine is that perhaps one day maybe we'd get out of bondage and then God said God came and said you know i'm gonna give you a deliverer and he prophesied that they were gonna get out of bondage that they were gonna get out of slavery but he didn't stop there did it God said you know what not only am i going to free you but i'm going to bring you to a place of blessing i'm going to bring you to a place it's a good place a place where you can rest and a place where you can be a blessing to others friend do you know for sure that your sins have been forgiven you can know right now i want to lead you in a short simple prayer simply telling God you're sorry and asking him to help you to live for him please pray this prayer with me out loud right now dear Jesus i believe you died for me that i could be forgiven and i believe you were raised from the dead that i could have a new life and i've done wrong things i have sinned and i'm sorry please forgive me of all those things please give me the power to live for you all of my days in Jesus name amen friend if you prayed that prayer according to the bible you've been forgiven you've been born again so congratulations friend you just made the greatest decision that you will ever make God bless you if you prayed that prayer with David for the first time we'd love to hear from you you can call us toll free at 877-458-5508 to receive our first steps package with helpful resources to help you begin your walk with Christ do you feel like you're bearing fruit for Christ yet God keeps pruning away at your life and you're not sure why if so we'd love to send you pastor David McGee's series abiding in Christ keys to a fruitful life this encouraging resource shares from Jesus's own words as found in John 15 where he teaches that God's pruning is a sign that he is pleased with you and wants to prepare you to bear even more fruit for his kingdom this series is our way of thanking you for your gift today to help share the gospel with thousands around the world who need to hear God's word in clear straightforward language so visit cross the bridge.com today to request your copy of abiding in Christ when you give you know each day comes with its share of stresses you know each day comes with its share of stresses so what better way to wake up than with an encouraging word from the lord visit cross the bridge.com and sign up now for David McGee's email devotionals each devotion includes scripture and a message from the heart of David McGee it's easy and it's free sign up today at cross the bridge.com and be sure to join us next time on cross the bridge as we continue in the book of Joshua we'll see you then