Go
Forth With Courage
Joshua 1:1-9, 1
Thessalonians 5:1-14
November 9, 2014
Grace Presbyterian
Church
Rev. Dr. Richard E.
Miller
Barney Fife I loved Barney Fife of the Andy Griffith show. In
one episode, Barney catches a notorious criminal purely by accident. As the
criminal is being led away by the state police, he turns to Barney and
threatens him by saying, “I’ll get
you for this, Deputy.” A short time
later, the criminal escapes from custody and returns to Mayberry. People urge
Barney to leave town until the criminal is found. And as Andy Taylor prepares
to go find him and says to Barney, “You
don’t have to go, you know.” Barney pauses
a little bit, looks back at Andy, gives a nervous smile, and says, “Let’s go.” And he ends up capturing the criminal a
second time. Barney’s decision to go with Andy even though he was scared that
he might be hurt or killed took courage.
And my prayer and wish for us all is to go forth into the future with
courage.
Courage Courage
is such a wonderful word. It comes from an old French word “Coeur” meaning
heart. It is an inward decision to keep running the race and staying the course
no matter what might come. It carries with it connotations of bravery, mettle,
valor, endurance, and tenacity. It means steadfastness and firmness of mind in
the face of danger or extreme risk. Our nation’s Medal of Honor is awarded for
personal acts of valor above and beyond the call of duty. It takes great
courage to carry out such acts of valor.
Cowardly
Lion I think that each of
us would hope that we would have courage when we needed it. However, there are
sometimes when we feel like the Cowardly Lion who traveled to the Emerald
Kingdom in order to obtain the gift of courage from the Wizard of Oz. His
desire to be courageous is reflected in his song, “Life is sad, believe me Missy, when you're born
to be a sissy without the vim and verve. But I could change my habits,
nevermore be scared of rabbits If I only had the nerve.” Of course, without realizing it, he had courage all
along.
Bible The role-call of people of courage in the Bible
could include such people as Abraham, who left his home and walked into a new
land with courage, or Moses, who returned to Egypt to free his people with
Courage, or David who slew Goliath with courage. Paul started new
churches with courage. Stephen witnessed up to the moment of his death
with courage. The Reformers of the 1500's went against the flow with courage.
In all these cases, their source of courage and confidence was God.
They felt that if God be for them, who could be against them?
Joshua An outstanding example of courage is found in our
morning scripture from Joshua. Moses had led the people of Israel out of Egypt
into freedom from Pharaoh. Moses had guided them for forty years through the
Wilderness of Sinai until at last they arrived at the River Jordan. They
could see the Promised Land across the river. They were almost there! But then
the unthinkable happened. Moses died. Their leader, upon whom they had
depended for forty years, no longer was with them. At this point, our scripture
picks up the train of events. God came to Joshua, Moses’ second in
command, and said, “My servant Moses is dead. Now proceed to cross the
Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the
Israelites.” [Joshua 1:2]
Anxiety and
Self Doubt I suggest that two
reactions were going on at this point - first were the feelings of anxiety and
inadequacy that Joshua no doubt had in taking over the daunting
responsibilities of leading the people of Israel into a strange and hostile
land. Could he lead as well as Moses? Would he make the right decisions? Would
the people follow him? Could they really conquer the people that lived in the
Promised Land?
Sorrow Second, were the feelings of sorrow the Israelites
had as they mourned the death of Moses and the hesitation they may have felt in
following Joshua, a person untested in leadership responsibilities, into a
dangerous land.
The Rest of
the Story After God told Joshua
to lead the people into the land across the Jordan River, he no doubt sensed
Joshua’s feeling of in adequacy and said, “As
I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will not fail you or forsake you.
Be strong and courageous; do not be frightened or dismayed, for the Lord
your God is with you wherever you go.”
Joshua trusted God implicitly to do as he said. Such trust lead to courage.
Encourage
One Another Not only do we get
courage from God when we trust him, we also get courage from one another. We do
this by encouraging each other to remain true and faithful to God’s Word. Paul
writes to the Christians in Thessalonica, “Encourage
one another and build up each other, as indeed you are doing.” [1 Thessalonians 5:11] Encourage means to inspire
each other with hope and to fill them with a new spirit and resolve. Just as
cheerleaders help the fans encourage their team, I charge you to be
cheerleaders for each other. Encourage those who sorrow over the death of a
loved one by comforting them. Encourage our youth to remain faithful to their
Lord in the face of pressures to do otherwise. Encourage your Sunday School
teachers by sending them cards of thanks.
Korea
Sergeant A high school buddy of
mine, Larry Ramsay, served as a Marine during the Korean War. He told me a
great story of a Master Sergeant who began training a group of raw recruits.
One of the young men named Wilson was, in my friend’s term, a “mama’s boy.” As
a result, the rest of the recruits began to tease him, pick on him, and make
his life miserable. Wilson’s sergeant happened to be the middle weight boxing
champion of the Marine Corps. So he said, “Wilson, come with me!” He took
Wilson to the gym, locked the doors, and put boxing gloves on Wilson. He then
proceeded to teach Wilson to box. He did this every day for eight months until
Wilson became a very skilled and strong boxer. About that time, someone picked
on Wilson again and Wilson said, “Let’s take this to the gym.” Even though the
man who made fun of him was fifty pounds heavier, Wilson proceeded to beat the
daylights out of him and ended up knocking him out. Wilson then turned to the
crowd that was watching and said, “Anyone else want to pick on me?” No one said
a word. That sergeant gave Wilson the gift of courage.
Final
Thoughts But what of us who don’t fight in wars, who
don’t box in rings, who don’t risk our lives in courageous newsworthy
adventures? One author wrote, “Courage is
required in almost every basic human activity. To allow oneself to love and
commit to another takes immense courage. Separating from our parents to forge
an independent life is a courageous act. To survive an abusive, traumatic or
neglected childhood with some sense of dignity demonstrates tremendous courage.
Just getting old demands courage. Changing jobs requires courage. Where does this
courage come from? From inside ourselves with a little encouragement from our
friends.”
Courage is letting go of your desire for revenge.
Courage is defending the rights of the oppressed.
Courage is freeing yourself from an addiction.
Courage is refusing to belittle, tease or make fun
of another classmate.
Courage is doing and saying the right things no
matter what. As it is said, “To see what is right and not to do it is a lack of
courage.” [Confucius]
Courage is accepting change without panic.
So there
you have it We get courage
by trusting God. We keep that courage by knowing that God is always with
us, no matter what. We display that courage by how we handle set backs,
adversities and sorrows.
As we leave here this morning, I ask a simple, but
important, question. “Who do you know that needs to be encouraged? Who needs to
know that you are with them all the way? Who needs to know that they can make
it, and that you’ll always be there to help them do it? In today’s jargon, who
needs to know you’ve got their “back?” Who needs a phone call to hear you say
that you love them?” When you get home today, make that visit, or make that
call. For when you do, you will enable those persons to be fortified with a
little more courage than they had before. As Emerson wrote, “What a new face courage puts on everything.” [Ralph Waldo Emerson]. So as we leave here to face
the challenges life presents us, let us
remember to never be afraid to trust our unknown future to a known God.
Joshua 1:1-9 NRSV
After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord,
the Lord spoke to Joshua son of Nun, Moses' assistant, saying, "My servant
Moses is dead. Now proceed to cross the Jordan, you and all this people, into
the land that I am giving to them, to the Israelites. Every place that the sole
of your foot will tread upon I have given to you, as I promised to Moses. From
the wilderness and the Lebanon as far as the great river, the river Euphrates,
all the land of the Hittites, to the Great Sea in the west shall be your
territory. No one shall be able to stand against you all the days of your life.
As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will not fail you or forsake you.
Be strong and courageous; for you shall put this people in possession of the
land that I swore to their ancestors to give them. Only be strong and very
courageous, being careful to act in accordance with all the law that my servant
Moses commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, so
that you may be successful wherever you go. This book of the law shall not
depart out of your mouth; you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you
may be careful to act in accordance with all that is written in it. For then
you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall be successful. I hereby
command you: Be strong and courageous; do not be frightened or dismayed, for
the Lord your God is with you wherever you go."
1 Thessalonians 5:1-14 NRSV
Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers and sisters,
you do not need to have anything written to you. For you yourselves know very
well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. When they
say, ‘There is peace and security’, then sudden destruction will come upon
them, as labour pains come upon a pregnant woman, and there will be no escape!
But you, beloved, are not in darkness, for that day to surprise you like a
thief; for you are all children of light and children of the day; we are not of
the night or of darkness. So then, let us not fall asleep as others do, but let
us keep awake and be sober; for those who sleep sleep at night, and those who
are drunk get drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober,
and put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of
salvation. For God has destined us not for wrath but for obtaining salvation
through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or
asleep we may live with him. Therefore encourage one another and build up each
other, as indeed you are doing.
But we appeal to you, brothers and sisters, to respect
those who labour among you, and have charge of you in the Lord and admonish
you; esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among
yourselves. And we urge you, beloved, to admonish the idlers, encourage the
faint-hearted, help the weak, be patient with all of them.
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