AGGRESIVE CHRISTIANITY: BE STRONG (ARTICLE 1 OF 6)
THE COURAGE TO ADVANCE
I. THERE COMES A TIME WHEN YOU MUST MOVE FORWARD
“Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel.”— Joshua 1:2
There are moments in life when something is over.
Something has changed.
Something has been lost.
Something didn't happen the way we expected.
And there comes a point when we have to decide whether we are going to spend the rest of our lives staring backward—or whether we are going to arise and move forward with God.
Joshua had reached one of those moments.
God said:
“Moses my servant is dead...”
Think about the weight of those words.
This was Moses.
The man who stood before Pharaoh and said:
“Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Let my people go...”— Exodus 5:1
The man who lifted his rod over the Red Sea.
The man who went up into Mount Sinai.
The man through whom God gave Israel His law.
The man who had led this nation for forty years.
Joshua had served beside him.
Joshua had learned from him.
Joshua had watched him.
But now—
Moses was dead.
There was no bringing Moses back.
There was no returning to Egypt.
There was no starting the wilderness journey again.
That chapter was finished.
And notice what God says immediately afterward:
“Moses my servant is dead; NOW THEREFORE ARISE...”
God allowed Joshua to know that something had ended.
But God would not allow Joshua to believe that everything had ended.
Moses was dead, but God wasn't.
The servant was gone.
The God of the servant was still there.
The leader had changed.
The promises of God had not changed.
The circumstances were different.
The commission remained.
And God said:
“NOW THEREFORE ARISE.”
There is a time to mourn.
There is a time to remember.
There is a time to honour what God has done in the past.
But eventually there comes a time when God says:
GET UP.
There is still work to do.
DUNKIRK — A SETBACK DID NOT MEAN THE WAR WAS OVER
History gives us a remarkable picture of this.
In the spring of 1940, Nazi Germany swept through Western Europe.
The Allied armies were overwhelmed by the speed of the German advance.
Belgium was invaded.
France was collapsing.
And the British Expeditionary Force, along with French and other Allied troops, found themselves driven toward the English Channel.
Hundreds of thousands of men were trapped around Dunkirk.
Think about that picture.
They weren't advancing.
They were retreating.
They weren't conquering territory.
They were losing it.
The situation had become so desperate that Britain launched an enormous evacuation across the English Channel.
Naval vessels came.
Merchant ships came.
And the famous “little ships”—civilian craft—helped ferry soldiers from the beaches and harbour.
More than 300,000 Allied servicemen escaped.
It was an extraordinary deliverance.
But Winston Churchill refused to pretend that an evacuation was the same thing as winning the war.
He reminded Parliament:
“Wars are not won by evacuations.”
Dunkirk was not the victory Britain had planned.
They had lost ground.
They had lost equipment.
France would fall.
The British army had been driven from continental Europe.
But here is the important thing:
THE WAR WAS NOT OVER.
Imagine if Britain had decided:
“We have been driven backward. Therefore we are finished.”
Imagine if they had allowed one terrible chapter to determine the ending of the entire story.
But they didn't.
They survived.
They regrouped.
They rebuilt.
They continued.
And four years later, Allied armies crossed that same English Channel again.
But this time they weren't crossing it to escape Europe.
They were crossing it to return to Europe.
That's a lesson some Christians desperately need.
A setback is not necessarily the end of the war.
Maybe you lost some ground.
Maybe something didn't work.
Maybe somebody you depended upon is gone.
Maybe there was disappointment.
Maybe there was failure.
Maybe the plans you made collapsed.
Maybe you look backward and think:
“That isn't how I thought this would happen.”
Neither did Joshua.
Joshua didn't expect to enter Canaan without Moses.
But God said:
“Moses my servant is dead; NOW THEREFORE ARISE...”
You cannot fight yesterday's battle again.
You cannot rewrite yesterday.
You cannot live forever staring at what happened behind you.
At some point—
YOU HAVE TO ARISE.
BASTOGNE — SOMETIMES VICTORY BEGINS WITH REFUSING TO SURRENDER
Four years after Dunkirk, the Allied armies had returned to Europe.
By December 1944, they were advancing toward Germany.
It appeared that the war in Europe might be approaching its end.
And then suddenly Hitler launched a massive counteroffensive through the Ardennes.
It became known as the Battle of the Bulge.
The attack caught the Allies by surprise.
German forces punched through the Allied lines and drove westward, creating the great “bulge” from which the battle received its name.
And one of the most important places in that battle was the Belgian town of Bastogne.
American troops defending Bastogne became surrounded.
It was winter.
It was bitterly cold.
The weather made Allied air support difficult.
Supplies were strained.
The Germans were all around them.
Then the Germans sent a message demanding the Americans surrender.
Brigadier General Anthony McAuliffe gave an answer that became famous.
His response was one word:
“NUTS!”
The Germans initially didn't even understand what he meant.
But the meaning was simple enough:
WE ARE NOT SURRENDERING.
Look at the situation.
Surrounded.
Outnumbered.
Under attack.
Cold.
Short of supplies.
The enemy demanding surrender.
And the answer was:
NO.
We're still here.
We're holding this ground.
And they held Bastogne.
The weather eventually improved.
Allied aircraft returned to the skies.
Reinforcements arrived.
The German offensive was ultimately defeated.
But before there could be another advance—
SOMEBODY HAD TO REFUSE TO SURRENDER.
And sometimes that is what aggressive Christianity looks like.
We often think aggressive Christianity always means charging forward.
Sometimes it does.
David:
“...ran toward the army to meet the Philistine.”— 1 Samuel 17:48
But sometimes aggressive Christianity means:
I'M NOT MOVING.
Paul said:
“Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.”— Ephesians 6:13
Having done all—STAND.
There will be times when you feel surrounded.
There will be times when the enemy seems to have gained ground.
There will be times when discouragement says:
Surrender.
Fear says:
Surrender.
Circumstances say:
Surrender.
People may even tell you:
It's over. Give up.
But if God has told you where to stand—
STAND.
Don't surrender your Bible.
Don't surrender sound doctrine.
Don't surrender your testimony.
Don't surrender your family.
Don't surrender your calling.
Don't surrender the work God has given you.
Don't surrender the gospel.
Don't surrender ground simply because the battle became difficult.
There are times when aggressive Christianity says:
ADVANCE!
And there are times when aggressive Christianity plants its feet, takes up the whole armour of God and says:
I WILL NOT RETREAT.
BUT JOSHUA COULD NOT STAY ON THE EAST SIDE OF JORDAN FOREVER
Here is where Joshua takes us one step further.
God wasn't merely telling Joshua:
Hold your position.
Israel had been standing on the edge of the Promised Land long enough.
There was a Jordan in front of them.
There were walls beyond it.
There were enemies beyond those walls.
There were battles ahead.
But there was also an inheritance God had promised.
So God said:
“NOW THEREFORE ARISE, GO OVER THIS JORDAN...”
I love those words.
ARISE.
Get up.
GO OVER.
Move forward.
There comes a time when standing is necessary.
But there also comes a time when standing becomes stagnation if God has told you to move.
You cannot spend your whole Christian life defending yesterday's ground.
There is still ground ahead that God wants taken.
There are still souls that need reaching.
There are still places that need the gospel.
There are still churches that need planting.
There are still young Christians who need discipling.
There are still Bibles that need distributing.
There are still gospel tracts that need handing out.
There are still streets where Christ needs to be preached.
There is still a generation that needs somebody to tell them:
“Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners...”— 1 Timothy 1:15
We should thank God for what the generations before us accomplished.
But we cannot live on their victories.
Joshua could appreciate Moses.
Joshua could honour Moses.
Joshua could learn from Moses.
But Joshua could not say:
“Moses did enough, so we don't have to do anything.”
No.
God said:
“NOW THEREFORE ARISE.”
And maybe that is God's word to some of us.
You've mourned long enough.
You've talked about the setback long enough.
You've looked backward long enough.
You've talked about what used to be long enough.
There is a Jordan in front of you.
There is a Jericho beyond it.
There are giants farther down the road.
And somewhere out there is a mountain waiting for somebody with the spirit of Caleb to say:
“Now therefore give me this mountain...”— Joshua 14:12
Aggressive Christianity does not allow yesterday's defeat to cancel tomorrow's obedience.
Dunkirk says:
A setback doesn't mean the war is over.
Bastogne says:
When surrender is demanded—stand.
And Joshua says:
WHEN GOD SAYS MOVE—ARISE AND GO FORWARD.
“Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan...”
Yesterday is finished.
God is still on the throne.
His Word is still true.
His promises still stand.
The gospel still saves.
The battle is still worth fighting.
There is still ground to take.
So—
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