REFLECTIONS

 Joshua

Sermon Series: Victorious Living

Sermon Title: Commander's Call

Pastor Jim's message focused on Joshua 5:13-15, when Joshua met Jesus, the Commander of the Lord's army. Pastor Jim reminded us that we aren't leading anything - God is. Jesus didn't save us so He could do our bidding. He saved us so that we can join with Him in His Kingdom work.

Jesus is leading a rescue mission. Our church is part of this war. It is not a war against flesh and blood, against people or political ideologies. It is a spiritual battle (Ephesians. 6:12).  Our enemy lies to us all the time. He opposes our mission to make Jesus known (2 Corinthians 4:4). So we can't take a day off, because our enemy is not taking a day off. He prowls like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour (1 Peter 5:8). He has been doing this for a long time; he's very good at it.

Pushing back the darkness in our neighbourhood begins by pushing back the darkness in our own lives. We need to recognize and reject the lies of the enemy. We are here to continue Jesus' ministry - to proclaim good news to the poor, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners (Isaiah 61:1).  

Jesus didn't sacrifice Himself partially. He is our example. We need to give ourselves like He did. We must joyfully surrender to the ownership of Jesus and let go of everything we have. Jesus is the One who leads and guides. We can't keep putting ourselves in charge. Pray for Jesus' kingdom to come - Satan has no defence against that. Greater is He who is in us than he who is in the world (1 John 4:4).  

After hearing this message, God gave me a helpful analogy from a show that I've been watching. It's called Picard.  Picard used to be the captain of a ship. Now he is travelling on someone else's ship, but he keeps sitting in the captain's chair. This is Simply. Not. Done. You don't visit Buckingham Palace and plop down on the Queen's throne. You would never even dare to think of sitting on God's throne (only Satan has ever reached such depths of pride). But we do this so often in our everyday lives - we claim to be in charge, to be the ones to make the decisions - because we still think these are our bodies. And Jesus just stands there and waits patiently for us to realize our mistake and let Him take back His rightful place in the 'captain's chair' at the centre of our lives.

We may have heard this story about Joshua and Jesus many times, but based on the whole of human history, it wouldn't have been that surprising if Joshua had instead responded - "No, I'm the commander of the Lord's Army. See, these are God's people and I'm leading them into the Promised Land." Of course Joshua was much wiser than that; he'd spent a lot of time with God and recognized Him and His Lordship at once. Now if only we could do that ourselves, with all the everyday decisions that we make. Then we would be well on our way to victorious living.

Melanie Bueckert