Mapperley Monday Morning Mail, 24th June 2013

Loving God | Loving Each Other | Loving our Community

Good Morning!

Yesterday was another really encouraging morning. We had almost record attendance at both morning services (certainly for my time here and away from Christmas / Easter) – helped by Isaac Lennon-McCalla's baptism at the 11am service.

We continued in our series on the first few chapters of Joshua, looking this time at crossing the Jordan river at just about its widest point when it was in flood. We looked at the three different responses that we can make when God calls us to do something. We can fear, we can forget or we can follow in faith.

Fear is an understandable response, especially when God calls us to do something outside our comfort zones or (as in Joshua 3-4), something seemingly impossible. I guess things we're often afraid of today are when we are worried that people will think worse of us because of how we are following Jesus, or when it means we lose some of our sense of security – it feels as if we're going out on a limb following him. But time and again at the start of Joshua, we see God reassuring his people. In chapter 1, it was by his word telling them he was with them. In chapter 2, it was by Rahab, who showed them how the Canaanites were afraid of them, and something of God's power and grace. In chapter 3, it is by stopping the Jordan river, which is done so that the people will always fear God. Fearing God means recognising how awesome he is, how completely he is able to provide for us, so that we don't fear anything else any more. God is with us! He is more than able to provide for us as we follow him, and so we don't need to be afraid of what other people think or losing our security.

Forgetfulness is also a common response. We easily forget how much God has done for us and all the ways he provides for us. That's why God tells Joshua and the Israelites to build a monument to remind them of how much God has done for them. In the same way, it can be really helpful to put up monuments in our own lives so we remember how God has blessed us in the past, as we saw in 1 Samuel 7 last year. The biggest monument God gives us is of course communion. We share the bread and wine, and remember everything Jesus did for us in dying in our place, in rising from the dead and how he has beaten sin, death and hell. And as we remember, we grow in confidence in God's power and so we trust him more.

Following in faith is the best way to respond to God's call on our lives. Sometimes we don't see his provision for us until we step out and follow him – just as the priests didn't see the waters stop flowing until after they took that first step into the raging flood. So let's follow him in faith this week, trusting in his promises, remembering his amazing grace and seeking his glory!