A couple of weeks ago, I decided to clean my closet.  Actually, I decided to clean one shelf in my closet – the shelf with the piggy bank on it.  It was a good decision, not only was able to cash in on lots of coins in my bank, I also found dozens of pens and a check.  The check was a commercial check that was declared void after 120 days.  Unfortunately for me, it was over a year old.  Fortunately, the company that issued the check was kind enough to re-issue a replacement.  It was like finding buried treasure.

That is what we have been doing this summer, digging through parts of the scripture that are often shoved to one side in our pursuit of more familiar passages.  In searching these portions of the scripture, we have found some buried treasures.  We have found providence in the midst of pain in Joseph’s life; and a reminder to rely on the Lord in the story of Balaam, his talking donkey, and a stubborn king.  Today, we discover something for which every father longs – and, no, I don’t mean socks and a necktie (though I have nothing against these gifts).  Chazaq v’amatz is the perfect Father’s Day present.  Chazaq v’amatz.  Say it with me, “chazaq v’amatz”.  It is Hebrew for, “Be strong and courageous.”  It is a great expression used eleven times in the Old Testament.  Eight of those times this expression is used in connection with a man named Joshua, the son of Nun.  Before we read the scripture, I’d like for us to prepare for the Word, by acknowledging its power for our lives through this familiar line of Psalm 119:105.  Let’s sing it through twice, “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.”  Hear now the Word of the Lord even as you join me in our search for buried treasure:

⁶Be strong and courageous; for you shall put this people in possession of the land that I swore to their ancestors to give them. ⁷Only 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. ⁸This 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. ⁹I hereby command you: Be strong and courageous; do not be frightened or dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

This is the word of God for the people of God.  In this passage the author of Joshua reminded his readers of what it takes to live for God.  

Chazaq v’amatz.  Dads, if we get this down today, we can move forward in our never ending role of fatherhood.  Chazaq v’amatz.  Church, if we really grasp the promise in these words, we can move forward in our mission to be all that God calls us to be.  Chazaq v’amatz.  These words translated, “Be strong and courageous,” have the connotation, “Be immovable and unstoppable.”  Chazaq is a word that speaks about being so firmly planted, rooted, secured, or a great King James word, “stablished” that one will be practically immovable.  ’Amatz is a word that expresses being determined, bold, courageous, so that one will be practically unstoppable.   Chazaq v’amatz.  We find it in fulfilling our purpose, faithfulness to our priorities, and focusing on the presence of God.   
 

Be Strong and Courageous in Fulfilling your Purpose

Joshua’s purpose was made clear.  He was to put the people in possession of the land that the Lord had promised Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  Joshua does not get as much press as his predecessor Moses, but his life is a great story and begins as all great stories do, “Once upon a time…” Once upon a time there was a man named Joshua.  From every report he was a fine man. He was born in Egypt as the son of Nun, an Ephramite, and one of the Hebrew slaves.  His father actually named him Oshea, which means helper and he was a great helper.  His first appearance in the Bible came shortly after Israel had left Egypt.  They were confronted by the Amalekites and Joshua was the commander of a quickly assembled army who won the battle with the help of the Lord.  Joshua was thanked and reminded that the Lord had helped them prevail against the Amalekites.  It was his first Bible lesson, but it was not his last.  Now he stood on the eastern banks of the Jordan River.  He was to lead the Israelites out of the wilderness and into the Promised Land.

He must have remembered forty years earlier, when he was so close to doing that very thing.  The Israelites had not been in the Wilderness that long when they sent twelve spies, one from each tribe, to survey the land for forty days and assess the strength of the current residents.  Joshua was the representative of his tribe, and it was here (Numbers 13) that Moses changed the name of Hoshea (helper) to Joshua, which means “the Lord is our helper”. The spies snuck in from the south and found extraordinary produce; figs, pomegranates, and grapes so large that it took two men to carry one cluster suspended on a pole.  This is actually the Ministry of Tourism logo in Israel.  The spies described the land as flowing with milk and honey – a land of abundance.  However, they also said that there was a pretty strong defense system in place, which included some really big warriors.  Joshua’s buddy and fellow spy, Caleb, assured the people of Israel that this was doable, and suggested they act at once.  That’s when the ten other spies turned on Joshua and Caleb.  They began to stretch the truth and talk not only about big soldiers, but giants – half god and half man kind of giants.  The land was no longer described as flowing with milk and honey, but as a land that would eat them alive.  They actually tipped their hand a bit when they said, “To ourselves we seemed like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.”  The ten spies reported that they felt so small when looking at their task.  Of course, you will find in this buried treasure that this is one of the keys to being strong and courageous – looking in the right direction.  All night long the people of Israel wept in despair at this impossible situation.  They even devised a plan to elect a leader that would take them back to Egypt, back to slavery!

Joshua and Caleb tore their clothes as a sign of mourning over the faithless followers of the rebellion.  They pleaded with the people to reconsider, “The land is ripe for the picking,” they exclaimed, “It had been promised to us by the Lord.”  Then they tipped their hand by saying, “The Lord is with us, do not fear.”  They were so close to being in the Promised Land, but instead of listening to Joshua and Caleb, they prepared to stone them to death.  That is when God intervened.  He told them that none of them would enter the Promised Land, except Joshua and Caleb.  The Lord told them that because they surveyed the land for forty days and decided to do nothing about it, they would do nothing – for forty years.

Now here Joshua was once more – this time on the Eastern border.  He must have been remembering forty years earlier when they were this close.  Now Moses was dead and he was to lead the people into the Promised Land, through the swollen waters of the Jordan River.  Chazaq v’amatz, be strong and courageous, immovable and unstoppable, in fulfilling your purpose.

I wonder how many times we have been close to accomplishing God’s purpose in our lives and in this church only to wander away from the land that is ours.  We have had a tremendous run in our ministry directly across the street from a growing university.  Yet I can’t help but feel that we could have an even greater positive impact in the lives of students and in this community.  Perhaps at times the task seems too big, we are a church of 1,400 members and there are 45,000 students over there.  If we minister to 1% of the students we would have a college ministry of 450 students.  Mosaic, our college midweek worship experience, would have to be held in this sanctuary of the Great Hall – for only 1% of the students.  How many neighbors do we have who don’t have a church home and we have been reluctant to even invite them to ride with us to worship or a special event?  Chazaq v’amatz, be strong and courageous, immovable and unstoppable, in fulfilling your purpose.
 

Be Strong and Courageous in Faithfulness to your Priorities

Joshua was told that before he stepped one foot into the Promised Land, he needed to be careful to observe the Torah, the Law, the covenant between the Lord and his people.  In fact, it seemed like this was far more important than any military strategy.  Joshua was quite familiar with this law.  For years he had served as Moses’ aide.  Everywhere that Moses went, it seemed like Joshua was with him.  As he heard this imperative, “Chazaq v’amatz, be strong and courageous, immovable and unstoppable, in faithfulness to your priorities”, I wonder if he remembered 40 years earlier when he was on Mount Sinai with Moses.  It was another forty day experience. He took Joshua with him and no one knows what Joshua did while Moses and the Lord visited, but we do know that after Moses left the meeting with tablets engraved by God, Joshua heard the sounds of war in the camp.  Moses listened and pointed out to his protégé that there were not cries of the conqueror or the conquered, these were cries of revelers – they were having a party.  When Joshua and Moses arrived they discovered the people of Israel worshipping a golden calf that they had made, breaking several of the commandments that Moses had in his hands.  Moses was so mad that he threw the tablets down on the mountain shattering the first set of commandments (he would later have to do his own engraving for the second edition).

Joshua stayed close to Moses.  When the second set of commandments were given in the tent that Moses set up outside the camp of the people that he loved so dearly and who irritated him to know end, Joshua was right there in the tent.  He was well acquainted with the Torah, the covenant agreement between God and God’s people.  Long before this day as he stood on the other side of the Jordan from the Promised Land, he knew that he was to succeed Moses as the keeper of this covenant.  Moses had selected him and put his hands on him in the presence of the people of Israel.  Moses was told by God to encourage him and a good part of that encouragement was to clarify the priorities.

It is so easy to get busy doing things, even things for the Lord, that we lose sight of the priorities.  Wayne Codeiro spoke to one of the highly publicized fallen pastors years ago and asked him how he could be leading so effectively and living out of concert with his own teaching.  The fallen pastor said it was simple, he wandered from the covenant.  Instead of feeding himself spiritually he was taking the Word of God and feeding it to the people, without meditating on it himself.  The psalmist in the longest chapter in the Bible, a chapter focused on the word of God, wrote, “I treasure thy word in my heart, so that I might not sin against you.”

Chazaq v’amatz, be strong and courageous, immovable and unstoppable, in faithfulness to your priorities.  Remember, the chief priority has to be in a personal relationship with God who reveals himself through this book.  Read it, study it, meditate on it, discovered the buried treasures in it.
 

Be Strong and Courageous in Focusing on the Presence of God

Joshua 1:9 is really the clincher, “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.”   Wow! Did you hear that?  The Lord is with you wherever you go.  I wonder if Joshua’s mind went back to just a few days before Moses had died.  He reminded Israel and Joshua in particular of this presence.  He encouraged them to remember when Sihon of the Amorites and Og of Bashan came out against Israel.  This was our story last week, when King Balak of Moab realized he had no chance against the people that defeated these formidable forces, and tried to get Balaam to put a hex on them.  Moses said, in essence, “Remember how the Lord was with you when Sihon and Og came out against us.  The Lord will always be with you like that, as long as you stay with the Lord.”  Moses reminded Joshua of that a couple of times and I can’t help but feel that Joshua’s mind went back to those mentor talks by Moses even as he stood on the banks of the Jordan contemplating how God was going to do what God was going to do.  Of course, it wasn’t his job to figure out how God was going to do it, his job was chazaq v’amatz, be strong and courageous, immovable and unstoppable, in focusing on the presence of God. 

Wednesday night I went up to the hospital to visit a young couple in our church who were about to have their first baby.  They had both admitted to me that they were nervous.  The scariest part for Megan was having the IV inserted into her arm.  She had never had an IV before and hates needles.  I arrived just after the IV procedure and she was doing well, much relieved.  After inquiring about Megan’s well-being I looked at her husband and asked how he held up watching that.  His response was golden.  He said, “I never looked over there.  I just kept my eyes on Megan.”  It was at that moment that I heard God’s Spirit whisper in my soul, “That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you.  Keep your eyes on me!” 

So I was amazed as I studied this scripture and the other stories associated with Joshua about how little is said about the situations or the battles at hand.  Joshua does not get a rundown of all the weapons and military intelligence of those on the other side of the river.  That is not the issue.  The issue is chazaq v’amatz, be strong and courageous, immovable and unstoppable.  He has a purpose, he has priorities, and he has the presence of God with him always.  That is enough.

How often do we face difficult times and almost become obsessed with our problem?  Perhaps we give the problem too much attention and the solution too little consideration.  Chazaq v’amatz, be strong and courageous, immovable and unstoppable.  If you are able to do this in the midst of life’s challenges you will have discovered some buried treasure.  Amen.