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April 25, 2004
Confirmation Sunday
Joshua 1:1-9
Pastor Robert Raasch

Be Strong and Courageous

1. By Meditating on God's Word
2. By Trusting in God's Presence

As you maybe know, it's confirmation weekend here at Mount Olive. This Sunday 18 young adults will publicly confess their faith and be welcomed into communicant membership in this congregation. Just for a minute I want you to imagine that you are one of those young confirmands. You're sitting up here dressed in a white gown with a red carnation. You've already made it through the hardest part of confirmation. You survived examination. You know, when you have to sit up here facing the congregation and answer any question the pastor fired at you. You maybe remember what that was like. You had butterflies in your stomach. Your heart was pounding, your hands were sweaty. But now that you've survived that ordeal, you're thinking, "Whew! Now I can relax. The hard stuff is over." Actually you would be wrong. The hard stuff is not over. Actually, it's just begun. As confirmed young adults, you are about to face the greatest challenges of your life. Now that you are confirmed, the Devil is not going to give you a free pass. He's going to go after you all the harder. He's going to tempt you with money and movies. With wine coolers and Winstons, with friends and family. And what's really sad is that for some of you, Satan is going to win. If this year's confirmation is anything like previous confirmation classes, then within a year, 40% of you will be considered inactive in your church. You will have grown accustomed to missing church and despising the sacrament. You'll be on a path that leads directly away from God. Oh, you won't think you're moving away from God. You'll think everything's fine. But God will know differently. God will know that you're headed to destruction. And if that doesn't scare the living daylights out of you, it should!

But really doesn't that danger apply to all of us? We all have things in our future which are downright scary. And that's why the words of our text for today have such meaning for our lives. What God once said to his servant Joshua, he still says to each one of us today. God says, "Christian,

Be Strong and Courageous

1. By Meditating on God's Word
2. By Trusting in God's Presence

The words that we have before us were spoken by God to Joshua shortly after Moses had died. Joshua had already been informed by God that he was going to be Moses' successor. Joshua was the one whom God had chosen to lead the people into the Promised Land.

Now mind you, that was no small task. Remember, the land of Canaan was already occupied. The people who were living in the land were not going to welcome the Children of Israel with open arms. No, they were going to fight them tooth and nail. There were some bloody battles looming in Joshua's future. He was going to have to be strong and courageous to lead the people into the land. And yet, Joshua's biggest challenge was not the heathen nations in front of him. His biggest challenge may well have been the Israelite nation behind him. Time and time again the Children of Israel had shown themselves to be unfaithful to God and intolerant of his chosen leaders. As Joshua stood on the hill overlooking the Land of Canaan, he knew that he had some real battles up ahead.

Tell me, do you see any parallels between yourself and Joshua? Do you have any major challenges looming on your horizon? Maybe you know that you are going to have to talk to someone about a problem they have. You're already dreading the confrontation. Or maybe it's not a problem in someone else that's bothering you. It's a problem in yourself. A sin that you've grown far too comfortable with. A habit that you can't seem to break. A friend who has had a bad influence on you and whom you need to steer clear of. A temptation that you just can seem to overcome.

Like Joshua, you and I have some real challenges looming on the horizon. There are going to be times when we find it hard to walk in God's path. Times when we're going to be opposed not only by the people around us, but also by the person inside of us. That Old Adam who says, "No way am I going to do what God wants me to do."

Now, on each one of those occasions, we're going to be tempted to just wimp out . To say, "No, I can't stand up to those people. I better just go with the flow. I better just take the easy way out. I'm going to do what everyone else is doing. I'm going to do what feels good." But that's when we need to hear, more than ever, God's command, "Be Strong and Courageous!" Don't wimp out. Stand up to the challenge before you!

But now, that's easier said than done, isn't it? It's one thing to say, "Be strong and courageous." It's another thing entirely to actually be strong and courageous. It kind of reminds me of that old jingle, "Don't worry. Be happy." I'm sorry, but it doesn't work to simply say, "Don't worry." You have to give me a reason to not worry. I need a way or a means to "Be strong and courageous."

Here in our text God offers exactly that. He says, "Be strong courageous" I. By Meditating on God's Word. God puts it this way, "Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it."

Notice a number of things about that statement. Notice first of all that God refers to the Book of the Law. Technically, that would be a reference to the first five books of Moses, for in Joshua's day, that's all there was to the Old Testament Scriptures. It's all that had been written. Today of course, we have both the Old and New Testament in written form. Yet God's advice remains the same: "Don't let this book depart from your mouth." Hmmm. Isn't it interesting that he says not to let these words depart "from your mouth"? Isn't that an encouragement for us to not only have God's Word in our hearts but also on our lips? Isn't that one of the reasons we ask our confirmands to memorize Bible passages? So that they can speak God's Word without having to read it? It's a way for us to not let the Book of the Law depart from their mouths."

And yet, more important than having the Word on our lips is the idea of meditating on the Word with our hearts. God tells Joshua, "Meditate on it night and day." The idea there is to take hold of God's Word and really chew on it, think about it over until it becomes a part of who you are and what you think and say and do.

And why is that so important? Or to put it another way, "How does meditating on God's Word make us strong and courageous? Well, let me tell you. When you and I spend time in God's Word, it allows us to get a little clearer picture of ourselves. Actually, it gives us two pictures of ourselves. The picture we see in God's law is what we look like by nature. The Bible makes it clear that in and of ourselves, we're weak, miserable sinners. We're powerless to do what is right in God's eyes. The Bible tells us that "the sinful mind is hostile to God." The Bible says that "every inclination of man's heart is evil all the time." (Gen. 8:21) In Romans 7, St. Paul confesses that "nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out."

Now what does that picture of what we were like by nature have to do with being strong and courageous? Only this: It tells us where our strength, our determination to do the right thing is not going to come from. It's not going to come from inside somewhere. When you think of those challenges on your horizon: the challenge to put off the sin that has become so common-when you think of those major battles you face in life, if you think that you are going to automatically be victorious because you're a pretty good person, you'd better think again. God says that in and of yourself you're good for nothing.

Thank God that's not the only picture that his Word offers you, however. In the Gospel God offers a picture of what you look like in Christ. In an act of pure undeserved love, God has dressed you in Christ's righteousness. The Bible says, "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come." Do you realize what that means? It means that God has fully equipped you for the tasks that lie ahead. By giving you Jesus, God has given you the power and the motivation to do exactly what he says here in our text, namely, "obey all the law my servant Moses gave you." Because of what Jesus has done for you and in you, you can say with the Apostle Paul, "I can do everything through him who gives me strength." (Phil 4:13). My friends, that's the first reason you can be strong and courageous as you face the future. Through your meditation on God's Word, you will see who God has made you to be. You are children of God, members of the Lord's army, and dressed in his righteousness, you will be victorious. Your courage is in God and his love for you!

And yet, I expect that even if you know those things, there are still going to be times when things in your future will look a little scary. Maybe you're not so sure about what the next school year will bring. Maybe there's some kind of surgery in your future, some medical issues looming on the horizon. Maybe your career path is looking a little foggy right now. All of these things may have us feeling uneasy, tentative, yes, even frightened. How can we be strong and courageous at such a time as this? God answers that question when he says to Joshua and us, "Be strong and courageous, II. By Trusting in God's Presence.

Did you hear the remarkable promises God made to Joshua here in our text? He says to Joshua in v. 5, "As I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will never leave you or forsake you." And again in v. 8, "Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go." Wow! Now, there's a promise that could really fill a person with courage. I mean, to know that God Almighty was going to walk right with you every step of the way! Wherever Joshua traveled from one end of Canaan to the other, he had the assurance that God would be with him.

My friends, you realize that God has made that promise to more than just Joshua. He's also made it to you. Jesus promises to all Christians in Matthew 28:20, "Surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." He says in Hebrews 13:5, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." When it comes right down to it, that's all you really need to know in order to take on the challenges you'll face in life? God will be with you.

Maybe you remember a time when you were a child and you were scared by something. Maybe it was the loud thunderstorm or the flash of lightening in your bedroom window. And you said, "Mom or Dad, will you stay here with me awhile?" You knew that your parent couldn't make the storm go away. But just knowing that your parent was with you gave the courage you needed to make it through the night. Well, if that's true of our earthly parents, how much more so our heavenly parent? You can be sure that your good Lord is walking with you every step of the way. In fact, in many ways he's guiding your footsteps.

This past week I spent some time at my mom's place, sorting through a lot of stuff, getting ready for the farm auction, getting ready to move her to her new house. Well, long before I got up there, Mom had already sorted through a lot of the things that had accumulated over the years. And when I arrived, there was already a stack of things waiting for me. And what was on the top of the stack? This picture. A picture of a boy steering a ship through stormy seas. And standing behind the boy is Jesus, with his arm around the boy's shoulder, pointing the way to go. Do you know when I first received this picture? On my confirmation day, almost exactly thirty years ago. But you know, this picture applies to more than just me. This picture includes each one of you too. In fact you're in the picture. Each one of you is headed into some stormy seas. But you don't need to be afraid. Jesus is at your side. He has his arm around you. He's pointing the way. Put your trust in him. For whether you are a confirmand dressed in white or a grizzled veteran of the cross, or maybe you're a baby fresh out of the water of holy baptism-no matter where you are in your spiritual journey, no matter what challenges still loom on your horizon, God's Word rings loud and clear for you today: "Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified. Do not be discouraged. For the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go." In Jesus' name. Amen.