A Monumental Misunderstanding

Today, we're going to be studying Joshua Chapter 22. We have learned so much already in the first 21 chapters of Joshua. We have learned about Israel's barriers and battles that parallel those same things in our life, those barriers that maybe come from within that need to come down, those battles that come from without and attack us. And this week, we are turning to a little bit of a different twist. We are going to be looking at battles between people, between people in our families, in our relationships, even in the body of Christ. You might wonder, as you were doing the study guide, why in the world did she make us do 11 chapters last week and now just one? Couldn't she even that out a little bit? But the reason I did, and you probably figured it out, is because I wanted one whole week on this chapter. This is the definitive text on unity, specifically how misunderstandings play into unity, play into our lives. And so we're going to learn what fuels them, how to prevent them, how to deal with them once they arise. If you did your study guide, then you'll really appreciate my title, A Monumental Misunderstanding. Not only is it an alliteration, but it is a good play on words, isn't it? So let's begin with our memory verse for this week. We'll take a look at that. I'll put it on the screen. It was from Psalm 133, 1 and 3, behold, how good and how pleasant it is when brothers dwell together in unity, for there the Lord has commanded the blessing life forevermore. Such a great text. You might wonder, why did she leave out verse 2? If you went and looked it up, I just didn't want anybody to get tripped up with the oil on Aaron's beard and the dew on Mount Hermon. You can memorize that too if you want to. I just thought, you know, for our purposes, really verse 1 is good for our purposes. So let's get into it. We're in Joshua 22, verse 1. We'll start reading the text.

This little send off is such a great example for us of any kind of a send off for anyone. Look at the bullet points. Love the Lord, your God, walk in his ways, keep his commandments, cling to him and serve him with all of your heart and all of your soul. Those things can be easier to do when we are rubbing shoulders with like-minded people. It makes it a little bit easier for us to do because everybody around us is doing that. And so we can, you know, it just helps. What happens when we have to step out of our bubble and then do those things? It's harder, isn't it? And maybe we've experienced that in a lot of ways in a job, in moving, our kids leaving home. So this is really a good reminder. It's like, okay, these are the things that you've been taught. These are the things that have been pretty easy to do inside the bubble. But now in this case, they're going into the enemy territory. So remember these things. That's what Joshua is saying. Remember these things. Really good point. So in verse eight, it says, they went away with much wealth, with very much livestock, with silver, gold, bronze, iron, and much clothing. And in verse 10, when they came to the region of the Jordan that is in the land of Canaan, the people built there an altar by the Jordan, an altar of imposing size. It was a monument, okay? And we don't know in the text yet why they did this. The text doesn't tell us, but that doesn't stop Israel from assuming they know why. Look at verse 11, the people of Israel heard it and said, well, behold, the people of Reuben, the people of Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh have built an altar at the frontier of the land of Canaan in the region about the Jordan on the side that belongs to the people of Israel. Suddenly they have land that belongs to them and land that belongs to, do you see how they've sort of drawn a line here? They've taken sides. They've created sides with this statement. Verse 12, and when the people of Israel heard of it, the whole assembly of the people of Israel gathered at Shiloh to make war against them. What just happened here? What just happened? We went from victory and rest and carrying home your spoils in style to civil war in 60 seconds. How fragile is unity? How very fragile in 12 verses we can go from one thing to another thing. Wow. In our study guide, I crafted six lessons that we can learn from this, and you can see that I went right into application and that's what we're going to do today. Although we, you know, we'll grip the story as well. I'm going to do the same thing here. They might be in a little bit different order, a little bit different phrases, but before we start in on our lessons, I want to preface by reminding us something that I probably say once a week in a different context. Well, we're all different. Have you noticed that in life? We're all different. We see things differently. We respond differently. We have different backgrounds. So I'll just give you one example from my life that plays out where it really is a highlight how different we are. In 30 years in this church, as people have come into our church body, there is a complete spectrum of their desires and their expectations. And over on this side, we have people who come for the first time and their desire and expectation is that they would be warmly greeted by at least a dozen people, including the pastor, and people would get to know them that first Sunday. And then on this side of the spectrum are people that just slink in the back door and are hoping beyond hope that no one notices them. They're just wanting to get in and worship God and hear the message and make no eye contact with anyone. And so we're all different, and we cannot guess up front where, you know, where those differences lie. So just remember that it plays out differently in your world, but we're all different. Okay, so I'm going to jump into these lessons that we can gain from this. I'm going to do three of them right now. Lesson number one, I'll put it on the screen for you. Do not jump to conclusions based on hearsay. Don't jump to conclusions based on hearsay. As we like to say, there are two sides to every coin. Actually brought a visual with me, have a nickel right here. And you might say, I know all about a nickel. It has the face of Thomas Jefferson. I'm absolutely sure Thomas Jefferson is on an American nickel. And then the next person might say, no, I know all about a nickel Monticello. The building is on the other side is on that nickel. No, it's a face of one of our presence. No, it's a building, right? There's two sides to the same nickel. So the lesson number one is don't jump to conclusions until you've had the opportunity to see the other side. Jumping to conclusions often leads to taking sides like we saw in this division. OK, so if we would reserve our conclusion making until we have the time and the opportunity to view the other side, it could solve a lot of problems. Lesson number two, resist the temptation to overthink other people's actions. Paul and I have actually had a lot of fun with this because, you know, he's doing a men's Bible study over there and he wanted to see my lessons. He threw this one out and we laughed about it. We said, I don't think men overthink. This is maybe more of a female thing. Some men might. But when we continue to look at something from one side only, we continue to think about it and think about it and think about it from that side until we overthink. And we just can't stop. And then our conclusions become more entrenched and even deeper. Social media knows this. Social media creates for you an echo chamber. They feed you, whether it's Facebook or whatever, you are fed what they believe you are interested and want to hear. And it becomes a complete echo chamber. That's kind of this overthinking, maybe an example of this. Okay, lesson number three, don't overreact when fed information about others. When we make a swift conclusion and then we overthink, it often leads us to overreacting. In our text, the overreaction was war. What in the world? That's an overreaction, don't you think? Who would do that? When was your last overreaction? We all have a story of overreacting and then having to back up. Maybe it was last year, maybe it was yesterday, maybe it was this morning. But we are prone to overreacting. So to know it, resist the temptation to overreact. Now, I'm not saying that we should just let people do and say whatever they want to do and say, okay? That's not what this is about. But there is a time to investigate. There is a time to go and say to them, can you tell me what you're thinking here? Now, this is hard for non-confrontational personalities. A non-confrontational personality just doesn't want to look face to face in somebody. Can you tell me what you're thinking? Can you tell me why you said that? What's behind that? Why did you say that? That can be really hard, but it can be really beneficial. And we'll see how that could have solved our problem right here, okay? Let's keep reading. Now, before we get to it, I want to say, to their credit, to Israel's credit, they did this. They actually went to them to say, what were you thinking? They sent Phineas, the son of Eleazar, the priest, and they sent 10 men, one from each tribe. That was 10 tribes remaining on the Western side. And they finally did go and ask, what were you thinking by doing this? And we have to give them credit for that, but I'm only gonna give them a half a credit right here. And I'll tell you why. It's because verse 16, they said to them, thus says the whole congregation of the Lord. In other words, we're representing all of the rest of Israel. What is this breach of faith that you have committed against the God of Israel in turning away this day from following the Lord by building yourselves and alter this day in rebellion against the Lord? And that is why they only get a half a credit, because they spilled out all of these accusatory assumptions. Look at those phrases. Breach of faith, turning away from following the Lord, building an altar in rebellion. They kind of spewed a little bit here. Now, the good thing is that at least they put their assumptions out on the table. At least they clearly communicated. The bad thing is that they put their assumptions out on the table before they had a chance to hear what these Eastern tribes had to say. But the very bad thing is that, again, before they even heard the story, they brought up the past. I can understand it's Phineas. Do you remember his history? I sent you back to Numbers 25. At least I think I did. Okay, so in that time in Israel's history, they, Balak had hired Balaam to pronounce curses on Israel. God wouldn't let him do it. And so after the whole thing was over, he said, but I'll tell you how you can get at them. See how pretty those Moabite women are? You just get them in the way of the Israelite men. They'll scoop them up, and pretty soon they'll be worshiping their God. That's what you do. And it happened pretty much like that. And there was one day that an Israelite man grabbed one of those Moabite women right under Moses' nose and took her into his tent, and they weren't gonna have tea. And Phineas, zealous for God's people, zealous for God's ways, he went in and he speared them through. That kind of stuff really sticks with you. Like, you kind of remember that. This is the guy that's talking to these people who have moved over to the Moab side of the Jordan. He's triggered, and he's like, so he brings up the past. And he's like, okay, you guys, in verse 17, he brought up the sin at Peor, which we just talked about, which caused a plague on the congregation. And then he brought up Achan, breaking faith, which we studied, which caused wrath to fall on the congregation. He is protective of Israel. He doesn't want bad things to happen. That is a good thing. He has a good heart. But I just think that maybe his bringing up the past was premature, because they haven't had a chance to talk yet. You gotta give people a chance to talk. So that leads us into lesson four. Resist bringing up the past, especially in marriage relationships. And if you've been married for longer than a week, you've done it. You have brought up something from the past that you shouldn't have. And bringing up the past will very likely cause an otherwise productive conversation to become derailed. Now, in this case, God's grace was covering this. And they had an opportunity, but it's a good lesson for us to refrain until we've gathered the facts, okay? So let's look at verse 21. The people of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh said in answer to the heads of the families of Israel. Here's their first response, first opportunity to speak. They say, the mighty one, God, the Lord. And they repeat it. The mighty one, God, the Lord, he knows. Now stop right there. They invoked three different names for God right here. They were saying Elohim, El, Yahweh. All the ways we can say God's name, we're saying it and then we're repeating it again. It's like we would say, I swear. And he knows our motives. And then they go on to say, so let Israel know if it was in rebellion or in breach of faith against the Lord, well then don't spare us today for building an altar to turn away from following the Lord. Like you would be justified if that was our motive. Or if we did so to offer burnt offerings or grain offerings or peace offerings on it, may the Lord himself take vengeance. So they're saying, this was not rebellion. This is not an altar for offerings. We get it. We are part of Israel. Being part of Israel means we have one God. We have one altar. It's at the tabernacle, which is now at Shiloh. And we worship in unity. We totally get it. We did not do this to separate and do anything that would hinder that. Verse 24, they said, no, we did it from fear. Uh-oh, bad motivation. We'll get to that. We did it from fear that in time to come, your children might say to our children, well, what have you to do with the Lord, the God of Israel? For the Lord has made the Jordan a boundary between us and you. You people of Reuben and people of Gad, you have no portion in the Lord. So your children might make our children cease to worship the Lord. Well, therefore, we said, well, let's now build an altar, not for burnt offering or for sacrifice, but to be a witness between us and you and between our generations after us that we do perform the service of the Lord in the presence with our burnt offerings and our sacrifices and our peace offerings. So your children will not say to our children in time to come, you have no portion in the Lord. So you see, the purpose of the altar was the exact opposite of what Israel had assumed. Rather than disconnecting from Israel and creating their own system, they wanted identification with Israel. They wanted to prove. They were part of Israel, lest in the future it become uncertain why they were over on that side. It was a clumsy gesture, I think. It caused trouble. But again, let's hear their heart one last time. In verse 28, they say, we thought if this should be said to us or to our descendants in time to come, then we should say, behold, a copy of the altar of the Lord. This proves we belong, which our fathers made not for burnt offerings nor for sacrifices, but to be a witness between us and you. All right, let's bring this into our final two lessons. Lesson number five, resist taking action based on fear of what might happen. Now, we're talking about the Eastern tribes, but this relates to our lives. How often do we think or even say the words, well, I'm afraid that if I don't do this, this will happen. And we do things based on fear of what might happen in the future. The Eastern tribes were borrowing trouble from tomorrow, weren't they? They were saying, well, tomorrow, this might happen. And so they were, you know, taking action today. Now, planning ahead isn't necessarily a bad thing, okay? That is actually a good trait, thinking down the road. However, in this case, it tells us we did it from fear that in time to come. So that's a good filter is to be able to say to yourself, am I just afraid that something will play out in the future? Am I, is my motivation fear? And then stop right there and take some time to pray. Now, they could have avoided this whole mess. And you probably all figured that out in your lesson. They could have avoided this whole thing with one easy trick, communicate. And that is our last lesson. Consider clearly communicating your intentions up front. If they had only gotten the idea, if someone had just said, hey, let's send a messenger back to Joshua and tell him what we're doing. They only need to send a 15 year old boy to run back and say, hey, Joshua, all these tribes heading back, they're so happy, they wanna make sure that they're forever identified with Israel. So they're building this replica of the altar, just wanted you to know what was going on. We wouldn't have this chapter in our Bible. And that's a good lesson for us sometimes to stop long enough to just clearly communicate. What's in your head? Why are you doing what you're doing? Just tell it, it's a good, good lesson. See, it was never an intention to rebel against the Lord. It was never their intention to build an altar other than the altar that stands before the tabernacle. So now to his credit, Phineas backs down. And that's good. Verse 31, Phineas said to the people of Reuben and Gad and Manasseh, well, today we know that the Lord is in our midst because you've not committed this breach of faith against the Lord. And now you have delivered the people of Israel from the hand of the Lord. And then the diplomatic delegation goes back to Joshua and Israel. And in verse 33, the report was good in the eyes of the people of Israel. And the people of Israel blessed God and spoke no more of making war. Okay, spoke no more. I wish I had made a seventh lesson because that is a good phrase. They spoke no more of this monumental misunderstanding. When something gets resolved, it is time to just let it chill out. It says they spoke no more of making war against them to destroy the land where the people of Reuben and the people of Gad were settled. The people of Reuben and the people of Gad called the altar witness for they said, it is a witness between us that the Lord is God. There are so many elements that we see here to protecting unity. Misunderstandings crop up with the same regularity as the sun comes up, I think. It is just a common battle. It's another common battle in our path of promise. And maybe there's something in these keys that will ignite, that the Lord will use for us to put into play to protect unity between friends, between family and extended family in our church body. There are so many opportunities. Life in the promised land is hard enough with the battles from the enemy that come at us. If there's anything proactive we can do to not invite battles, civil war between us, we should be doing that. Now, I'm well aware that as you studied this week and even this morning as I'm talking, your mind is playing out all kinds of scenarios from the past where maybe you failed at one of these lessons or maybe you think I do that all the time. And so before, I wanna finish by just pointing out some of our verses that were in our text. But before I do that, I wanna give you an exhortation. The things that are written in the word are written to build us up. They are written to encourage us. Yes, we fail. Yes, we may make mistakes. Yes, I've thrown up the past in somebody's face. But right here, right now today, when you guys go to prayer, after you discuss, here's what I want you to do. I want you to cover that. You can do it verbally or in your own heart. And I want you to just say to the Lord, I've messed up in areas of unity. Would you cover it today? Write in your Bible in this chapter, write the date, what is it? March 6th, 2020. Say covered, done. I am moving on. Spoke no more of it. That's the important thing. We need to glean from scripture for the future, not to depress us about the past. All right, let's go through just some of these final verses that we had in our study guide. They're so good. Proverbs 14, 29 tells us, whoever is slow to anger, and I'll just add slow to jumping to conclusions, has great understanding. But he who has a hasty temper exalts folly. Proverbs 15, one, a soft answer turns away wrath. I wish I had a softer voice. A soft answer turns away wrath. This was one of my really first mothering verses that I grabbed onto, that I have worked at in my life. But a harsh word stirs up anger, and so can accusing someone or throwing up the past in their face. Proverbs 18, 17, the one who states his case first seems right until the other comes and examines him. And we remember there's two sides to every coin. And James 1, 19, let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger, for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Good verses, good lessons in this chapter today. Let's pray about it. Father, thank you that you show us these things in your word, and Lord God, I just ask for myself and for all my hearers that your Holy Spirit would make this productive in our life. Lord, I pray that we would be able to release any sort of anything we're holding onto that we have done, or someone has done against us in this area. Just be able to release it right now, Lord God, and take these lessons and apply them, walk in them, build ourselves up for the future, that we might have a pleasant experience in our land of promise, Lord. How good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell together in unity. Lord, help us. We need your help with this, and we ask for it in Jesus' name, amen.