In today’s reading we
have a story with three unique events.
First we have the dismissal of the 2 ½ tribes. Then we have the building of an altar. Lastly we have the investigation.
Faithfulness and the Spiritual Response
I think it is
important to understand Joshua’s words to the people of the Transjordan. Joshua told them that they had acted
faithfully. Joshua told them that they
had kept their promise before God and served well. Then, Joshua dismissed them so that they
might go back to their homes and live in peace.
Spiritually, when God
asks something of us He wants it to be our priority. He doesn’t want us to serve Him on our time
or when it is convenient. God wants us
to follow Him in obedience in the present.
Thus, we know that these 2 ½ tribes Hebrew tribes had a task to perform
before they could get on with their life in the area of the Transjordan.
I
think the witness of these tribes is a great testimony when it comes to what
are often called the Six Marks of Discipleship (Prayer, Worship,
Read the Bible, Serving, Relate spiritually, and Give):
- God doesn’t want us to pray whenever we get around to it; He wants us to begin every important action in prayer!
- God doesn’t want us to worship when we have the time; He wants us to worship Him regularly and He wants it to be a priority in our life rather than be displaced occasionally by other things in our life.
- God doesn’t want us to read and study His Word when we have time or when we think about it; He wants us to be devoted to His Word daily. {The first two verse of the book of Psalms tell us this much. “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.}
- God doesn’t want us to serve when it is convenient; He wants us to be willing to serve however and whenever He should call.
- God doesn’t want us to relate spiritually to people just when we are at church or when it is easy; He wants us to be spiritual people first and foremost in all of our dealings with others.
- God doesn’t want us to give to Him when it is convenient or easy; He wants us to give of our first fruits trusting in Him that He will continue to provide for us.
The
Transjordan tribes did their spiritual work.
They were faithful. They
accomplished what had been set before them.
Before
settling into the work of this world.
They went with their brothers and sisters and did God’s work first. When they had accomplished God’s work, only
then did they go back to their lives with the peace of mind that comes from
knowing they had put God first. The
first lesson today is this: Putting God first brings peace of spirit. The best way to have peace is to focus on
accomplishing the work of the Lord.
Altar Ego
On
their way, they build an altar. Of
course, as we read the story we know they built the altar in innocence. They built the altar as a reminder to the
people on the west of the Jordan that they serve the same God even though they
technically dwell “outside” the original boundaries of the Promised Land.
We
should not be surprised at all at their innocence – Joshua had just pronounced
them faithful in everything! This brings
us to our second lesson for today: spiritual people tend to do spiritual things
whether they appear spiritual to us as outside observers or not. This doesn’t mean spiritual people are free
from sin. We should investigate things
that appear spiritually strange. But we
should not be surprised when it turns out to be spiritual whether we first saw
it as spiritual or not.
Testing the Spirits
Therefore,
the western tribes send out a delegation to investigate. You see, although the eastern tribes had
acted in innocence, the story of the Golden Calf must be fresh in their
mind. Moses was gone for a short time
and the people turned on him. Even
fresher in their mind is the story of the Hebrew failing at Peor (Numbers 25). This is why it is good to investigate when
something seems strange.
Just
as I give the eastern tribes credit for acting in innocence and erecting a
reminder of their faithfulness, I also give the western tribes credit for
taking their faith seriously enough to investigate. People fall away from God very quickly. They sin readily – and sometimes even without
realizing it. The western tribes come to
investigate, they come to call the eastern tribes into repentance (if
necessary), and the come to go to war (if necessary).
You
might ask what the big deal is about the altar.
Simply put, God had commanded that all sacrifices be done at His altar –
the altar in the presence of the tabernacle.
The western tribes were coming out to make sure that the eastern tribes
weren’t planning on offering sacrifices to God outside of His presence – for
that would surely lead to doing other things outside of His presence and as you
can no doubt guess, it would lead to sinful behavior in matters that should
remain holy. The western tribes were
objecting out of concern for the holiness of their brothers and sisters across
the Jordan. I give them credit for being
concerned.
This
leads to an example of spiritually driven conflict resolution. You’ll notice that they come together to
speak before fully jumping to conclusions.
{Although they had to jump to some
conclusions simply because the western tribes sent out a delegation and began
to prepare for war.} In the
conversation you can see that true spiritual conflict resolution implies that
people put forth their concerns truthfully, honestly, and without holding
back. It also involves the other side
listening to the concerns and understanding them. I give the eastern tribes a lot of credit for
sitting there while they are accused of beginning down the trail of rebellion
against God when they are genuinely innocent!
But these eastern tribes did listen, they did understand, and they did hear
the concerns of their brothers without getting defensive! Then, the western tribes listened to the
reply from their eastern brothers. It
was their turn to listen without getting defensive and genuinely seek the
truth. And they did, too! In the end both sides believed one another and
there was peace. The matter was dropped
and there was even communal rejoicing.
The
ways of the world do not understand this approach. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been in
a conversation that was supposed to resolve conflict but those involved were
only interested in stating their claims and not listening to the other. I’ve been involved in meetings that were
supposed to bring understanding but neither side was willing to believe what
the other said. I’ve been in meetings
that were supposed to resolve the issue and yet not long into the future the same
old issues are brought up rather than being put to rest.
None
of these worldly approaches to conflict resolution are spirituality at
work. Spiritual people agree to come
together to be honest and agree to either resolve the issue or agree that the
issue is unable to be resolved. Spiritual
people don’t come together under the guise of seeking peace yet walk away from
the table still subtly planning war. They
either resolve the issue while burying it or else they openly declare the
problem still exists! In this case, the
Hebrew tribes get it right and let the matter drop knowing that God is in it
regardless of who thought what. Here is
our third truth of the passage: Spiritual people come to conflict resolution
not with the premise of being right but with the premise of finding God.
<><
No comments:
Post a Comment