Jump Start #1300

Joshua 4:7 “then you shall say to them, ‘Because the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord; when it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off.’ So these stones shall become a memorial to the sons of Israel forever.”

Our verse today signifies an important event in Israel’s history. After all those years, the nation was finally moving into the promise land. This was a promise God made to Abraham and his children a long time ago. Moses led the people up to this point but now, Joshua was leading them across the Jordan River and into the place God wanted them to be. A miracle took place as they crossed the Jordan. The waters parted, similar to the Red Sea, forty years before when they left Egypt. As they crossed the Jordan, orders were given to gather stones from the river bottom. These were reminders, memorials. This is where our verse takes place. Years later, when new generations ask about those rocks, they were to be told about crossing the Jordan and God keeping His promise. God didn’t want them to forget.

Memorials are important. Washington D.C. is a city full of memorials. Gettysburg is lined with memorials. Even in many of our homes, we have tokens, furniture, keep sakes that belonged to grandparents or great grandparents. There is sentimental meaning to those things. They are a connection to our past and to our people. We don’t want to forget.

In the N.T. we have the Lord’s Supper on Sunday, God’s grand reminder of the greatest act of love and the keeping of His promise to redeem us from our sins. A little cracker and a little juice and we can be on our way without much thought. Shame on us for that. We must pause. We must remember. We must reflect. We must thank. It was the cross that changed the world. It was the cross that changed our destiny. The cross was God’s explanation point to sin. It was the cross that the apostles preached everywhere. Remember the cross.

Within the N.T. are other reminders and things to remember.  The Hebrews were told to remember those who first taught them and led them. The flow of the passage leads us to believe that those early teachers had gone on. Don’t forget them. They were important in their lives and helped them to who they were. We have spiritual teachers like that in our lives. Those that taught us the gospel. Those that patiently answered our questions. Those first preachers that we remember. We were young and they were old. They seemed serious. They talked loud. Their suits were always dark. There was something special about those men of God. They helped us.

At the church building where I worship, there are a couple of special reminders that I really like. Recently, we acquired some very old, original Bible pages—three to be exact. They are framed and displayed in our entry way. One is from the 1600’s pulpit Bible that was printed on a Gutenberg press. Beside it, is hand written sheepskin from the book of Genesis. It’s written in Hebrew. It dates around the mid 1700’s. Then there is a page from the Collins’ Bible, which also dates from the late 1700’s. It was the first Bible printed in America after the Revolution. Old Bible pages. Reminders. I wish we knew where all those pages had been, who has read them and the good that they may have done. Those pages remind us to treasure, guard, love and teach the truth.

The other item in our church building is an old wooden pulpit. It’s now used in a classroom. There is a brass plate on it that reminds us that it was used as the main pulpit for more than 50 years. It was in use before I was born. When I stand behind that old pulpit, I think about some of the mighty voices that preached from it. The list is enormous. Great men of God have thundered God’s message from that old pulpit. Most of those men have passed on. Many lives were changed because of the message that sounded from that pulpit. The church stands strong today because of the men who courageously taught God’s word from that pulpit. It’s a reminder, much like a river bottom rock was. Those rocks weren’t the story, as neither is our old pulpit. The story is God. It was God who made and kept those promises. It is God whose message was preached and believed from that old pulpit.

Remember. Reminders. They serve a valuable lesson. These things teach us that we look both directions, much like we were taught when young about crossing the street. You look this way, and then you look that way. We look back, we remember, are thankful. We look forward and realize that God is not finished. There is still a work to be done and now it’s our time to do it. Carefully honoring God’s way, we move onward. We teach, reach and connect with others about Jesus. The work isn’t over. The church isn’t a museum gathering artifacts. We are marching onward, with the Lord. New technology allows more people to hear the message than ever before. The church is teaching more than those in the neighborhood. The message reaches across the ocean. The preached word is heard over and over because of recordings.

Recently I was given three CD’s of sermons preached by legendary Foy E. Wallace, Jr. A generation ago he was very famous and did much good throughout the kingdom. He has been gone for a long time. He died before CD’s were even thought of. But now, because of technology, these old sermons are still preached. That’s amazing in my book. The good that is being done lasts beyond us today, and even beyond this generation.

So, Onward Christian Soldiers, we must be. Ever faithful to the word of God. Ever true to the God we love. Doing all that we can for our God who loves us and saved us.

Roger