You open up your home

“But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. And all the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and You gave Me drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’ Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You drink? And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? And when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly, I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’”

-Matthew 25:31-40 (NAS)

In relation to this, I would like to share a song that has encouraged me many times to keep on helping our boys:

Kingdom Comes

When anger fills your heart,
When in your pain and hurt,
You find the strength to stop,
You bless instead of curse.
When doubting floods your soul,
When all things feel unjust,
You open up your heart,
You find a way to trust.

That’s a little stone, that’s a little mortar;
That’s a little seed, that’s a little water;
In the hearts of the sons and daughters
This kingdom’s coming.

When fear engulfs your mind,
Says you protect you own,
You still extend your hand,
You open up your home.
When sorrow fills your life,
When in your grief and pain
You choose again to rise.

That’s a little stone, that’s a little mortar;
That’s a little seed, that’s a little water;
In the hearts of the sons and daughters
This kingdom’s coming.

In the mundane tasks of living,
In the pouring out and giving,
In the waking up and trying,
In the laying down and dying.

That’s a little stone, that’s a little mortar;
That’s a little seed, that’s a little water;
In the hearts of the sons and daughters
This kingdom’s coming.

-Sara Groves, Add to the Beauty

Blessings,

Julia

The integrity of community

Luke wrote both a gospel and a history of the early church in his two volumes, Luke and Acts. Not only was he a gifted writer, but he was an earnest student of the Old Testament. That doesn't mean that he had to read Hebrew; like most people in the early church, his Hebrew scriptures were most likely a Greek translation called the Septuagint. Most biblical scholars believe that Luke writes his gospel so as to tell the story while keeping it in parallel with the events that happened in the first five books of the OT (the Pentateuch). He also deliberately uses OT language as he writes his books. But what does Luke have to do with Joshua?

Well, what happens in Joshua? A man named Joshua (Yeshua in Hebrew [it means "salvation"], Iesous in Greek) leads God's people into a new, but long promised relationship with God. Sound familiar? In Acts, Jesus (a derivative of Joshua and the same in Greek as Joshua) leads his people through his spirit into a new, but long promised relationship with God. In both cases, community, and the holiness of that community are markers that these people are in relationship with God.

But what happens early on in the life of these new fellowships (koinonias)? Both Achan and Annanias commit an act which undermines the integrity of the fellowship. Both men are supposed to make an offering before God, but that which was supposed to be given to God is held back, and misrepresentations are made. As a matter of fact, Luke uses the same Greek verb in Acts 5.2 and 5.3 for "held back" that the translators of the Septuagint used in Josh 7 (this Greek verb is only used 3 times in the NT, and 2 of them are here in Acts 5). Not an accident.

These stories have in common sudden death: stoning in one case, and becoming as dead as a stone in the other. Their burials were also disgraceful. As for Achan, who would want a pile of rocks over them to remind everyone in perpetuity of their crime? In the case of Annanias, both he and his wife were buried swiftly and without ceremony. This is not typical of funerals of the day, any more than it would be today (the fast funerals may more closely parallel Lev 10.1-7).

OK, so what? The writers of Joshua and Luke/Acts all believe that the koinonia of God's people is so sacred that it requires God's people to passionately maintain its integrity and its unity. We will be severely tested, but we must offer whatever we offer to God with a courageous faith like that of Barnabas. To hold back is an act of faithlessness, of cowardice. Such cowardice affects not just our relationship with God, but for our relationship with the community and the community's with God. It is a unity issue. One of the few places in Acts where church growth is not described is Acts 5, and that, again, is probably not coincidental (the Israelites didn't take any land during Josh 7, either).

Achan is not so far from Annanias, who is not so far from us. Just because no one lately has been hauled to the cemetery after an offering does not mean that God has lost interest in receiving the offering that we claim we are giving.

Grace and peace,

Ron

A pile of stones

Everywhere you turn in the book of Joshua, there are rocks. Sometimes they are single stones, sometimes they are stacked with a particular number, sometimes they are just a massive pile of rocks.

Twelve stones are brought from the bed of the Jordan to serve as a memorial of the crossing of the twelve tribes (Josh 4). Knives are made from stone to make the people holy and one (Josh 5.2-8). This caused the reproach of Egypt to be rolled away like a stone (Josh 5.9). Jericho (Josh 6) fell into a heap of stones [except the stones of Rahab's house remained standing, the original witness protection plan]. When Achan erred, he was stoned and buried under a pile of stones (Josh 7) so that his error would not quickly be forgotten. When Ai fell (Josh 8), not only was it left as a heap of burnt rocks, its king was buried under a pile of rocks (Josh 8.29). Then, on top of Mount Ebal, an altar of uncut stones is built to worship God, and Joshua copies the Book of the Law onto stones (Josh 8.30-35). When the five kings of the Amorites come against Israel, God makes even water into rocks, and more Amorites die from hailstones than from the sword (Josh 10.5-11). When those kings hide in a cave, they are trapped inside with rocks, and after their deaths, that same cave is made into a tomb sealed with those rocks (Josh 10.16-27). A stone memorializing Bohan, son of Reuben, is made into a boundary marker (Josh 15.6; 18.17) and a silent reminder of a promise fulfilled.

Surely this has the least curious of us asking, "Why all of these rocks?" It might just be that the promised land has lots of rocks, and although that is true, it does not explain why the writer of this story bothered to tell us about them. Why all of these rocks?

The answer comes at the end of the book and the end of the life of Joshua. Joshua sets up a large stone near an oak near the holy place of the Lord (Josh 24.26). He then says, "See . . . this stone will be a witness against us. It has heard all the words the Lord has said to us. It will be a witness against you if you are untrue to your God." You have all heard the expressions: "If these walls could talk . . ." or "If these rocks could speak . . . ." For the people of God, all of nature stands as a witness to the acts of God through his people, and their own acts of wilfulness.

Not far from Hollis stands a rock, a stone not likely to be moved by the hands of men. It stands as a witness to the lives of a father and his son and their God, and their relationship with one another: Ron, Ben, YHWH. Its testimony would help you understand how close these three have become because of the events that happened in its presence some time ago. Triumph. Disaster. Pain. Hope. Fear. Courage. Power. Exhaustion. Salvation. And every time that this father and son return with their God, that stone's testimony is heard again in all three hearts.

What testimony will the rocks and trees in Harmon County give about our time there? God only knows now, but if we are truly passionate about our children and our God, now is the time for us to think and plan and prepare for those moments so that we can have some assurance that God will be glorified by that testimony.

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." Heb 12.1,2