Last Words

Posted on February 27, 2018 by dkoop

What would you tell your spouse or children if you knew you only had a short time live? Would you make small talk? Would you discuss the weather? Probably not, but you’d make sure you said what was most important to you. You’d choose your final words very carefully in order to express the depth of your love or give needed guidance.   Our last words have a lasting impact.

As a pastor I’ve done plenty of funerals and have been around many families in their times of loss.  As a loved one is getting close to death, the family and friends of the loved one will gather.  They are hoping for chance to say good bye and more importantly to hear the last words of their loved one.   Sadly I have seen instances where there was not time to gather and there was a lot of guilt and grief because the last words were a quarrel.    I’m thankful that my mom taught me to always make my last words count by saying, “I love you.”  I talked to my dad a few days ago, who is over 70 years old and our last words to each other were, “I love you.”   When my son Kaleb was about to leave for work on rainy day Saturday our last words were, “I love you.”

If there was not a chance for formal last words, then family members and friends will try to recall their last verbal exchange, sifting through the memories of their conversations with them like miners panning for gold. And we all do this. When someone dies we cling to his or her final words. Those words are very special, very precious to us.

We cling to last words for two reasons. First, we know that even as Christians it may be a long time before we hear our loved one speak again. But we also cherish those words because an individual’s final words are often filled with a special depth of wisdom, especially if the individual knows that death is near. Most people don’t engage in chit chad when they know they are about to breathe their last.

In our passage today in Joshua 24, Joshua gives some powerful last words.  Joshua is 110 years old. And knowing that he will soon to pass from the scene, he gathers the leaders and the people together to give them his final charge.   He’s about to finish a long life of service to God’s people; forty years as Moses’ assistant, 25 years as his successor leading the people to conquer and settle in the promised land. So his final words are precious, indeed, because they come from the perspective of someone who has hung in there for the long haul, someone who has decades of accumulated wisdom gleaned from faithfully, humbly following God.  It’s like Billy Graham gathering everyone to hear one last sermon.

I’m sure everyone came and everyone listened. I would have!  His message is in chapters 23 and 24. We won’t read all of it but let’s look at an excerpt.  Joshua says,

14  “Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD.  Joshua 24:14 (NIV)

Joshua’s Farewell reminds us that our commitment is God is to be Exclusive.

Faithfulness is a word that is also referenced in marriage.  Would I be faithful to my wife Niki if I was only half faithful?  No, half faithful is not faithful at all.   Joshua uses the term “ALL faithful.”

When Niki and I were engaged she discovered that I had a box of letters from old girl friends. I wanted to hold on to these for some crazy reason!   Luckily common sense prevailed and I threw them out.   Joshua has similar advice for us as followers of God.  Throw away anything that competes with our commitment to God.

He used his precious final words to charge them with the responsibility to move beyond indecision and restlessness to a clear-cut, exclusive commitment to God.

Joshua went so far as to remind them of the four options they had to select from. First, he said they could serve the gods of forefathers.  This is what the phrase “beyond the river” refers to because the river is the Euphrates and the gods served beyond that river were the same gods the Babylonians would worship. A second option would be for them to choose to serve the gods of Egypt…the gods of the Nile, the land, and the sky, like Ra-the sun god for example, gods who seemed attractive in their memories because when they left Egypt, it was at the height of it’s power culturally and militarily. It looked like those were good gods to follow. And then, a third choice would be to serve the local gods, fertility gods who were worshiped by cultic prostitution. The temples in which these gods were worshiped were sensual, emotionally fulfilling, and attractive. In contrast, the worship of Yahweh seemed word-oriented and austere, which leads to their final choice. Joshua said, they could choose to serve the true god, the God Who had made Israel into a people, the God Who had given them His Word, the God Who had brought them out of Egypt and established them in their own land.

These were the choices that faced the Hebrew people in this hour of decision, and Joshua was saying, “It’s time to quit straddling the fence. You have to choose. But remember, this is an exclusive choice. God will tolerate no rivals. Just like your spouse!  A choice to follow Him, to serve Him, is an exclusive choice.”

Let’s ask ourselves, what idols compete with the One True God in your life? As a reminder,  idolatry is moving God out of His rightful place in our day-to-day lives-and replacing Him with something or someone else. These days there are so many ways that we replace God with other things. In the 21st century, we so often sacrifice our best time, energy, and attention not to God, but to the idols of entertainment, wealth, relationships, fashion, sexual indulgence, stock portfolios, cars, and personal power. We especially bow down to our careers or our families, and through His servant Joshua God says we can’t do that and choose to follow God. Our God is a jealous God. He is jealous, or as some have translated the word, God is zealous for our complete devotion.  As Joshua says, when it comes to choosing to serve Him it’s all or nothing! So, let me ask, what about it? Have we given our exclusive allegiance to God?  What do you need to throw away?  Pornography, shopping ads, a hobby, an unhealthy friendship, a boat, car?

Here’s some questions to help us in our answer: What preoccupies or rules your heart? Your thoughts? Your time? What compels you? Controls you? Drives you? Motivates you? To what does your heart cling? What takes first place when it comes to your schedule? Spending? What gives you a sense of worth? What defines your identity? What do family or close friends think may be idols in your life? This last one is a good question to ask because you see the object of your worship shows. People will notice what it is that is first in your life.    Joshua’s last words are powerful words.

I’ve noticed that as people get ready to die, they don’t ask to see their trophies, stock portfolios, or boats, but want to be with their loved ones.  They also reflect on their standing with God.   Why not do that now?

In our next post we will look more of what Joshua says and how our commitment to serve God should also be based on what God has done in our past.

Darrell

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Courage to Work Through Conflict

Posted on February 20, 2018 by dkoop

I’m amused at the humorous translation glitches that some major corporations had while trying to globalize their brand.    Here are a few of my favorites:  Coors translated its slogan, “Turn It Loose,” into Spanish, where it is a colloquial term for having diarrhea. Colgate launched toothpaste in France named “Cue” without realizing that it’s also the name of a French pornographic magazine. Pepsi’s slogan “Pepsi Brings You Back to Life” was debuted in China as “Pepsi Brings You Back from the Grave.”  The American Dairy Association replicated its “Got Milk?” campaign in Spanish-speaking countries where it was translated into “Are You Lactating?”[i]

Such good intentions, so horribly received.  It’s funny when it’s a corporate story, but much less funny when it us and our relationships. How many relationships and even entire churches are decimated by a simple misunderstanding?

In the early days of the Israelites in the Promised Land a simple misunderstanding threatened to start a civil war.   As the enemies of Israel were finally dealt with, they weren’t prepared for what happened in Joshua 22 . They had peace on the outside but now they had disunity within the Promised Land. Thankfully, clear communication won the day and civil war did not happen.  We must acknowledge that misunderstandings happen and we do well to give a gracious ear to both parties.

Here’s a summary of what happened:  The tribe of Reuben and Gad wanted to set up a memorial to show their solidarity with the people of Israel. But this was seen as an idolatrous act by the other tribes. Thankfully, no blood was shed because everyone explained their story and moved on from this conflict. In doing so they give us a good path to travel when we find our own conflicts.  Here are three steps to handle conflict.

  1. When in conflict the offended party should lovingly confront.  Joshua 22:11-19

 Though I don’t believe they quite modeled “lovingly confront” the people of Israel did have the guts to actually confront the ones who had offended them instead of cutting their heads off!   The biblical response would have been for them to assume the best of their brothers and to have perhaps taken a listening ear instead of a sharpened spear. Yet, they did have the grace to hear out their brothers before engaging in civil war.

As a pastor I’ve had to mediate between fighting couples and fighting friends. Almost without exception the problem comes down to a lack of communication. Rather than actually talk about what has offended them the offended party simply sulks and/or wages war. When things get out in the open there is usually a simple misunderstanding and things are resolved. This same thing happens in churches. Leaders might be guilty of assuming they understand what is going on, but in reality there is much more to a story. Likewise, those being led might assume some nefarious plans on the part of the leader. Much of this could be dealt with if believers would do as the people of Israel here and confront those who have offended them.

 Are there relationships that are broken in our lives because of a lack of communication? Are there people who have offended us and do not know it? Perhaps we should do the hard thing and clear the air?

 2. When in conflict the offended party should graciously listen.   Joshua 22:21-28

 Can you imagine the people of Israel in a counseling session, explaining their beef with the two offending tribes? Their story seemed so right. They had every right to be angry at the idolatry and treacherous act of their brothers. How could they do such a thing? An inexperienced leader would have maybe even counseled them to take up arms against their brothers.

But if we really wisely pause and realize there is usually another side to the story. In the case presented in Joshua 22 there was a legitimate explanation for this altar. It wasn’t for idolatry it was a sign of peace and unity between all the tribes of Israel. How terrible that what was intended to be a sign of peace became a source of division.

Thankfully the Israelites graciously listened to the explanation of their brothers. We would do well as leaders to listen to both sides of every story. And even as individual believers we should always remember there are probably two sides to every story—even if we are the ones in conflict.

Are there ways that we can be more intentional in listening to someone else’s story? How we respond to an explanation is often telling of our hearts. If we respond in anger and distrust that is telling us that something is lopsided. But if we are quick to forgive and quick to listen to an explanation it tells us that we’ve likely experienced grace.

 3. When in conflict work through it in a way that honors the Lord.   Joshua 22:29-34

All of the tribes involved in this conflict wanted the same thing—to honor the Lord and to live in peace. Even today if warring parties share this desire then you can feel confident that a conflict will be resolved. That does not mean that both parties (or either) will get their way. But what it does mean is that they’ll be able to live in unity. In the story in Joshua 22 both parties were satisfied and both worshipped God. This is what happens when conflict is brought out into the open and biblically dealt with—it ends in praise to God.

 Ultimately our peace and unity with one another has already been purchased by Christ. Because He has drawn us to Himself, He has also drawn us to one another. We are united with one another because we are united to Him. But we must be “eager to maintain” this unity. We do this, not by being focused on unity but by being focused on Christ. Ultimately, our display of unity is a display of how much we value Christ. Someday every conflict will be over and everything will be out in the open.  No more misunderstandings. No more fractured relationships. Instead we will live in perfect peace with one another. This is what Christ has purchased for us. And we are invited to live this out even today.

Darrell

[i] https://www.inc.com/geoffrey-james/the-20-worst-brand-translations-of-all-time.html

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Our Worst Enemy is Ourself

Posted on February 13, 2018 by dkoop

Our worst enemy is our self.  Occupying the same skin that we occupy, using same brain that we use, and using the same hands that we use. This enemy can do more harm to us than anyone else.

There are several challenges that make dealing with this enemy difficult. First is that we are quick to deny defend, make excuses for or even believe that this enemy could lead to our downfall. Second we are reluctant to recognize and identify this enemy because most of us like him/her too much.  Nations, cities, churches, and individuals have been destroyed by the enemy within.

You may have heard of the old story of how the city of Troy held off the Greeks for ten long, weary years. Finally the Greeks sailed away leaving a wooden horse. The Trojans took that wooden horse within their gates, and that was the undoing and destruction of Troy.

In a similar way churches are wrecked from within, not from forces without. “Jesus Christ in his letters to the seven churches in Asia Minor gave them certain warnings; yet not one of these churches received warning as to the enemy on the outside,” commentator J. Vernon McGee reminds us.  Christ said to these churches (in effect), “You have something within that is bringing about your own destruction.” Disloyalty and unfaithfulness in the church today is hurting God’s cause more than any enemy that is on the outside.

Individuals are destroyed from the inside too. Alexander the Great was probably the greatest military genius who ever moved armies across the known world in victory after victory.  Before the age of thirty he had conquered the world, but historians report that he struggled with drinking and lost that battle at age 32.  He had conquered the world, but he could not conquer Alexander the Great.

The only battle that Joshua and Israel lost in taking the Promised Land was a battle in which the defeat came, not from without, but from within.

One guy named Achan caused the defeat of his fellow soldiers and countrymen; one guy was responsible for 36 men losing their lives.

Joshua and the elders had to go through this long procedure in order to find the guilty party. It was difficult for them to distinguish evil in the camp. For us, also, it seems to be difficult to distinguish evil in the church. Church members seem to be the most blind to evil in their own communities. They can see evil in a night club downtown or in the adult film store or in some politician, but they cannot see sin in their family or church. How tragic that is.

As I wrote in the last post, God could have just told Joshua who the guilty party was, but He didn’t. And I think the reason He didn’t was to give Achan time to confess. God was giving him a chance to admit his wrong and show that he realized what he had done to his people. In fact, I think if he had come forth earlier, perhaps the night before when Joshua said they would draw lots or the next morning or even at the beginning of the lottery process. I think if he came forward then that God would have forgiven Him but he didn’t. Achan hid his deed until the very end.

His stubborn behavior reminds me of something I learned as a child-it is always better to admit your sin to your parents rather than have them discover it. You still get punished, but not as severely.  As someone has put it, “The pain of exposure is better than the pain of concealment.”

Achan’s name literally means “trouble” and Joshua played on this in verses 23-25 as he confronted Achan and said, “Why have you troubled us? Why have you lived up to your name Achan?”  Achan finally confesses.

Before justice could be carried out, Joshua had to present the evidence that substantiated Achan’s confession. The messengers dug under Achan’s tent and found the stolen items that had brought defeat to Israel. The stolen goods were spread out before the Lord so He could see that all Israel was renouncing their hold on this stolen treasure. The confession and the evidence were enough to convict the accused man.  (Joshua 7:22-23)

Since a law in Israel prohibited innocent family members from being punished for the sins of their relatives (Deut. 24:16), Achan’s family must have been guilty of assisting him in this crime.

He and the guilty members of his family were executed. (Joshua 7:24-26)

Achan’s experience shows that there really is no such thing as hidden sin, secret sin. As Numbers 32:23 says, “You can be sure that your sin will find you out.”

As Matthew 6:18 says our God, “…sees what is done in secret.” Psalm 139 goes so far as to say that God knows literally everything about us. He knows, “…when we sit and when we rise….He perceives even our thoughts…He is familiar with all our ways.” There is no where that we can go that He does not see what we do for, “…even the darkness is not dark to Him…” Psalm 90:8 says, “[Oh God] You have set our iniquities before You, our secret sins in the light of Your presence.” As Psalm 10:13 says, “Why does the wicked man say, ‘God won’t call me into account?’” He will. Romans 2:16 says that a day will come when God will, “…judge men’s secrets.” The clear teaching of Scripture is that there is no such thing as a secret sin. Sooner or later our sins will find us out.

One night a drunk husband snuck up the stairs quietly. He looked in the bathroom mirror and carefully bandaged the cuts and scrapes he had received in a fight earlier that night. In his befuddled mind he reasoned that the next morning he would tell his wife the bandages were the result of his cutting himself shaving or something like that. Then he proceeded to climb into bed, smiling at the thought that he had pulled one over on his wife. When morning came, he opened his eyes and there she stood looking down at him. She said, “You were drunk last night weren’t you.” “No, honey.” he replied. She said, “Well, if you weren’t then who put all the band-aids on the bathroom mirror?”

Like this deceptive drunk a time will come when our sins will be revealed. In Achan’s case it took only a few days. Achan had plenty of opportunity to repent but he stubbornly, selfishly refused to do so. He continued to hide his sin and in my mind this is why his punishment was capital. Peter Wagner is right on the money when he writes, “The Bible says, ‘Humble yourself.’ Go ahead and humble yourself because if God has to humble you, it’s too late.”

The apostle Paul said, “For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.”  1 Corinthians 11:31 If we don’t judge ourselves, God has to step in and judge us, and His judgment is sometimes pretty serious.

But what are we to do? “IF we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” 1 John 1:9

Pray to God and tell Him exactly what you did. That is confession. There can be no joy in our lives; there can be no power in our lives; there can be no victory in our lives until there is confession.

I want to keep a short account with God, will you?

Darrell

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Avoiding Destructive Failure

Posted on February 12, 2018 by dkoop

Failure is a process. “Nobody plans to fail, but fails to plan.”   I don’t meet people that say, “Today I’m going to have an affair!”  “Today, I’m going to destroy my family.”  It’s a slow process of steps that if we understand them we can begin to avoid them before we get too far down the path of destruction.

Achan didn’t just walk into that Jericho home and steal those things. No. If you examine what happened closely you can see that there was a discernable process in his failure, a downward spiral to sin.

Here’s what happened,

20  Achan replied, “It is true! I have sinned against the LORD, the God of Israel. This is what I have done: 21  When I saw in the plunder a beautiful robe from Babylonia, two hundred shekels of silver and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them. They are hidden in the ground inside my tent, with the silver underneath.” Joshua 7:20-21 (NIV)

Notice the pattern: “I saw…I coveted…I took.. I hid.”  The same pattern is often repeated. Eve did the same thing when she listened to the devil in the Garden of Eden (Gen. 3:6-7), and so did David when he committed adultery with Bathsheba.  (2 Sam. 11:2-15).

We will break each of these down to learn from them.

Achan’s first mistake was to look at these treasures a second time. He probably couldn’t help seeing them the first time, but he should never have looked again and considered taking them. A man’s first glance at a woman may say to him, “She’s attractive!” But it’s that second glance that gets the imagination working and leads to sin Matt. 5:28).

His second mistake was to reclassify those treasures and call them “plunder.”  As if they belonged to him from his hard work in battle! They were not “his plunder”; they were a part of the Lord’s treasury and wholly dedicated to Him. They didn’t belong to Achan, or even to Israel; they belonged to God. When God identifies something in a special way, we have no right to change it.

Achan’s third mistake was to covet.  He should have been of singing praises in his heart for the great victory God had given! Instead Achan was imagining in his heart what it would be like to own all that treasure

His stealing from God began with him being dissatisfied.

Like all of the Hebrews, I’m sure Achan knew that God had promised to lead them into a new land of great wealth and opportunity, a country in which each family was to possess its own land and own its own house.

As he explored his assigned part of Jericho he probably entertained thoughts like this: “God has not treated us very well in these years of wandering. Sure-He gave us manna and quail to eat and He has kept our clothes from wearing out all these decades but I don’t like wearing the same outfit every single day. I’m tired of the same food day after day, week after week, month after month. I’m sick of having no money for the future. The first chance I get I’m going to improve my situation.”

Think about it Achan didn’t need any of the things he stole.

In fact, if he had waited one more battle Achan would have had all the gold he could carry, because in that battle God told them they could have all the spoils.

I’m reminded of Jesus’ words in Matthew 6:33 where He said, “Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, [put God’s will first] and all these things will be given to you as well.” But Achan didn’t think this way. He wanted the other things first. The will of God could wait. He wasn’t satisfied with God’s provision and this mindset led him to justify his stealing.

Dissatisfaction gives birth to us taking what is not ours. Satan rebelled against God because of his dissatisfaction with his position in God’s world. He was the creature. God was the Creator and he wanted more. He wanted to be like God. It was the same with Adam and Eve. They ate the forbidden fruit because they were not happy with what God had given them. Their desire for more led them to disobedience and sin. We would do well to remember this and learn as Paul did “…the secret of being content in every situation…” (Philippians 4:12) by learning to trust God to provide for our needs.

Achan’s stealing (and ours too) becomes even more disturbing when you stop to realize all that God had done for him. God had cared for him and his family in the wilderness. He had brought them safely across the Jordan and given the army victory at Jericho. The Lord had accepted Achan as a son of the covenant at Gilgal. Yet in spite of all these wonderful experiences, Achan disobeyed God just to possess some wealth that he couldn’t even enjoy. Had he waited just a day or two, he could have gathered all the spoils he wanted from the victory at Ai!

What about all the blessing God has giving you? Is it not enough?

Achan forgot that even though he was a soldier he had no right to take any of the bounty because God, not Achan, had conquered Jericho. As God told Joshua, Achan had, “…taken some of the devoted things…” He had, “…stolen, lied, and put them with his own possessions.” He probably justified his actions by thinking, “My family and I have been deprived of many good things during our years of wilderness living. Here is this beautiful, new, stylish garment-just my size, a little bit of silver, and a handful of gold. Think of what it could buy! After this long journey I deserve a little finery. This is no big deal. God will never miss this in light of all the treasury that we’ll haul back from Jericho. After all, I marched for seven days! I’m entitled to a few nice things in life.” So, dissatisfaction led to coveting…

And then Achan acted.

He stole and then tried to hide his sin. This is the way sin always works. Sinful thoughts lead to sinful rationalizations, which lead to sinful actions. The fact is sinful speculations will inevitably break out into the open. As James 1:13-15 says, “Each one is tempted when by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.” So Achan’s deed was not a single act. No, it was a downward spiral to sin, a series of stumbles. He saw, coveted, took, and hid.

Think how much happier we would be in life if we could learn to nip failure in the bud by controlling our thoughts and desires. This is what Paul was talking about when he said, “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” (2 Corinthians 10:5) The more we make Jesus Lord of our thought life, the less we will fall captive to sin because sin is a process.

In the next post we will see the danger of trying to hide our mistakes.

Darrell

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