Learning How to be a Faithful Farmer for God’s Harvest!

The Faith that Toots God’s Horn!

Hebrews 11:30 (NASB)

 

God is in the business of transforming stories through the gospel of Jesus Christ. We are to grow strong in God’s grace as active participants in the world He created. God has entrusted His creation to His people to work as His Harvest workers – “All the world’s a field, and all the disciples of Jesus Christ merely farmers!” Therefore, let’s be faithful farmers by following the four-step strategy of a hard-working farmer: 1) cultivate people with faith; 2) sow the good seed of God’s grace (the gospel) into their hearts and minds; 3) care for them as their stories are transformed into fruit-bearing plants; and 4) reap a harvest of praise as the church of Jesus Christ. This strategy must be empowered by the Holy Spirit because apart from God we cannot bear any good fruit (John 15:5). Therefore, harvest workers of God’s kingdom are called to grow strong in God’s grace. Let’s take the first step by learning from the transforming stories of the Hall of Faith, found in Hebrews 11.

 

STEP #1 OF THE FARMER’S STRATEGY: CULTIVATE THE SOIL WITH FAITH

 

Today’s story is about Joshua, found in Hebrews 11:30, “By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days.” This ancient story of Jericho is found in Joshua 6. Here are highlights from verses 1-5, 16, 19, 27:

 

Now Jericho was tightly shut because of the sons of Israel; no one went out and no one came in. The Lord said to Joshua, “See, I have given Jericho into your hand, with its king and the valiant warriors. You shall march around the city, all the men of war circling the city once. You shall do so for six days. Also seven priests shall carry seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark; then on the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets. It shall be that when they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, and when you hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city will fall down flat, and the people will go up every man straight ahead.” … At the seventh time, when the priests blew the trumpets, Joshua said to the people, “Shout! For the Lord has given you the city.” … So the people shouted, and priests blew the trumpets; and when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, the people shouted with a great shout and the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight ahead, and they took the city. … So the Lord was with Joshua, and his fame was in all the land.

 

What is it about this story that put Joshua in the hall of faith? To answer that question, we need to look at the next action step.

 

STEP #2 OF THE FARMER’S STRATEGY: SOW THE GOOD SEED OF GOD’S GRACE

 

Joshua’s life was formed during Moses’ formidable years. In other words, Joshua’s transforming story started because he experienced the fruit of Moses’ formidable faith, and the good seed was put into his heart and mind because of Moses’ faithfulness to God. We see here the importance of multiplying yourself, as 2 Timothy 2:2 teaches, “The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” Then, after Moses died, we watch Joshua called forth to succeed the man of God in Joshua 1:1-9:

 

Now it came about after the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, that the Lord spoke to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ servant, saying, “Moses My servant is dead; now therefore arise, cross this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them, to the sons of Israel. Every place on which the sole of your foot treads, I have given it to you, just as I spoke to Moses. From the wilderness and this Lebanon, even as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and as far as the Great Sea toward the setting of the sun will be your territory. No man will be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I have been with Moses, I will be with you; I will not fail you or forsake you. Be strong and courageous, for you shall give this people possession of the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous; be careful to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may have success wherever you go. This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

 

People presume that God commanded Joshua to “be strong and courageous” because of the long military campaign ahead, starting with Jericho, and while that is true, the only real danger Joshua faced was the people’s rebellion against God and their not following the Law as given to them by Moses in the Pentateuch. Joshua’s primary duty and greatest challenge was leading the people spiritually. Without obedience to God, there could be no military victory, nor rest in the land, as God made clear in Joshua 1:13-18:

 

“Remember the word which Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, saying, ‘The Lord your God gives you rest and will give you this land.’ Your wives, your little ones, and your cattle shall remain in the land which Moses gave you beyond the Jordan, but you shall cross before your brothers in battle array, all your valiant warriors, and shall help them, until the Lord gives your brothers rest, as He gives you, and they also possess the land which the Lord your God is giving them. Then you shall return to your own land, and possess that which Moses the servant of the Lord gave you beyond the Jordan toward the sunrise.” They answered Joshua, saying, “All that you have commanded us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go. Just as we obeyed Moses in all things, so we will obey you; only may the Lord your God be with you as He was with Moses. Anyone who rebels against your command and does not obey your words in all that you command him, shall be put to death; only be strong and courageous.”

 

The reality we are going to learn today is that God’s people don’t need a hero, they need a spiritual leader. That truth will be borne out time and time again in the history of Israel, especially once the people get judges then kings. God is the only hero the people of God will ever need, but we have this sinful, incessant desire to make heroes out of people who then afflict us. To learn this, Joshua had to mature as a man of God in his leadership calling.

 

STEP #3 OF THE FARMER’S STRATEGY: CARE FOR THE MATURING PLANT

 

Whereas heroes toot their own horns, and we happily grant them celebrity notoriety so that we can worship them like the idol worshippers we are, spiritual leaders toot God’s horn and point the people to their fundamental need to worship the only One worthy of our worship – God!

 

In today’s story about the famous battle of Jericho, Joshua exemplified the call of a true spiritual leader, who proved that his highest calling was to be strong and courageous, meditating upon God’s Word so that he would obey and be successful. Joshua received the battle plan from the “captain of the host of the Lord” in Joshua 5:13-15:

 

Now it came about when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing opposite him with his sword drawn in his hand, and Joshua went to him and said to him, “Are you for us or for our adversaries?” He said, “No; rather I indeed come now as captain of the host of the Lord.” And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and bowed down, and said to him, “What has my lord to say to his servant?” The captain of the Lord’s host said to Joshua, “Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.

 

Joshua, like the Centurion and how he submitted to Jesus in Matthew 8:5-13, executed the plan given to Him with great faith, even though it was an unusual plan. As a former military officer, sI want you to realize what a big moment this was for Joshua – God’s plan would have been unlike anything Joshua had ever seen or heard. God directed him in Joshua 6:3-5 to lead the army to walk around the city wall of Jericho for seven days, once per day for six days, and seven times on the seventh day. Upon completion of which the priests were to blow seven trumpets and the people were to shout out with a great shout. Then the wall of the city would fall flat.

 

I can only imagine how Joshua, an experienced military leader, could think of all the reasons this plan would not work. If this was Joshua’s burning bush moment, wouldn’t he second guess and argue against every point of God’s plan, just like Moses had done in Exodus 3:10-4:13? But he doesn’t – he had learned through his experiences as Moses’ second-in-command and as his time as a spy of the Land of Canaan to trust God to do the impossible! Joshua 6:6-7 describes how Joshua executed the Word of God without question:

 

So Joshua the son of Nun called the priests and said to them, “Take up the ark of the covenant, and let seven priests carry seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark of the Lord.” Then he said to the people, “Go forward, and march around the city, and let the armed men go on before the ark of the Lord.”

 

The battle for Jericho was a decisive victory that brought great glory to God. All because Joshua believed God and acted with absolute trust in God’s Word. This is the only way a leader will mature; not by seeking to be a hero for the people, but by pointing the people to the only hero they will ever need – God! Oh, how far the nation of Israel would fall, and how far we fall today when we refuse to trust God by obeying His Word in our own lives. That bring us to the last action point.

 

STEP #4 OF THE FARMER’S STRATEGY: REAP A HARVEST OF PRAISE

 

Joshua’ life reaped a harvest of praise – he successfully tooted God’s horn! But God’s people did not walk in the way of Joshua, he had no successor, and after the elders of Joshua, the people entered into tumultuous years of the Judges. There is a warning with a call to action built into Joshua’s life, and we only need to look at the Battle of Ai, found in Joshua 7 to realize what it is.

 

Joshua 7 is a sad story that starts with the startling defeat of the army of Israel at Ai. There was no military reason for their defeat, especially after the amazing victory at Jericho. The defeat was a spiritual one. In response to this unexpected defeat, Joshua’s charge from God was to lead the people in repentance so that he would once again lead them in God’s victory. Joshua led the people back to God in verse 13:

 

Rise up! Consecrate the people and say, “Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, for thus the Lord, the God of Israel, has said, ‘There are things under the ban in your midst, O Israel. You cannot stand before your enemies until you have removed the things under the ban from your midst.’”

 

As we learn from reading Joshua 7, the defeat was caused by the sin of Achan, who coveted after the spoils of war and greedily hid in his tent that which God forbade (16-26). What Achan thought would go unnoticed and had justified in his mind and heart to help his family survive, led to great devastation to the community of God, causing a major defeat in the Battle of Ai. That is the startling revelation that each of must ponder about Joshua’s life and his call to leadership of God’s people. The victory comes as each of us learn to submit to God’s Word, just as Joshua was commanded in Joshua 1:8. The calling of Joshua, and every spiritual leader to this day, is to toot God’s horn, emphasizing the importance of meditating upon God’s Word, day and night, teaching God’s people to listen and obey so that they may enter God’s rest. This is as emphasized in the New Testament, in Hebrews 4:8-12:

 

For if Joshua had given them rest, he would not have spoken of another day after that. So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His. Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall, through following the same example of disobedience. For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

 

We must not follow the example of disobedience. Instead, we must surrender ourselves holy and wholeheartedly to God’s commands as given to us through the Word of God. Consecrate yourself to God and dedicate your heart and mind to Him. At the end of his life, Joshua called the people to decide who they will serve; I join my voice to Joshua 24:14-15:

 

“Now, therefore, fear the Lord and serve Him in sincerity and truth; and put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

 

Brothers and sisters, you don’t need me or any person to be a hero to save the day for you! Jesus Christ has already done that for you – we have a Savior! Today, and every day until He returns, you need to respond to the invitation of Jesus Christ from Matthew 11:28-30, “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” This is what we learn from Joshua’s life – a life of absolute surrender to God! A life that abides in the vine bears good fruit – a harvest of praise to God!

You can watch the video of this message by clicking HERE.