Joshua & Identity Part 4

Sermon Text:

Exodus 3:1-15

Joshua 5:1-15

This sermon continues our examination of the book of Joshua and identity by first examining the rituals of circumcision and Passover. However, things get bonkers when Joshua meets this mysterious figure known as the Commander of the Lord’s Army. That means we get to talk about the divine warrior motif in the Ancient Near East and a really cool literary technique called ellipsis or gapping. We also discuss the divine name revealed in the Tetragrammaton and one of my favorite verses in the Bible in Amos 9 of all places.

Joshua & Identity Part 3

Sermon Text:

Joshua 3:1-4:24

Matthew 3:13-17

On the surface these two chapters in Joshua are just a simple story of the Israelites moving from one side of the Jordan River to the other. However, as we dig deep we see that it function as liturgy. Here we discuss the role of liturgy and worship in knowing and develop and see how ritual functions as a form of epistemology. We learn what this passage tells us about God and particular what it says about God and boundaries. Then we apply this knowledge to the account of the baptism of Jesus and examine how Jesus brings all of these ideas into fulfillment and what implications all of this has for the church.

Joshua & Identity Part 2

Sermon Text:

Joshua 2:1-24

This sermon examines the story of Rahab and how her story subverts the narrative established in Joshua chapter 1 of obedience and unity. The story of Rahab in Joshua 2 is an incredible piece of literature in which the most non-Israelite imaginable, a Canaanite, a woman, and a prostitute, becomes the hero of this story. It would have been shocking to its ancient audience. We recover the shocking nature of this story and see what it has to tell us about issues of God and identity.

Joshua & Identity Part 1

Sermons Text:

Joshua 1:1-18

Ephesians 4:1-16

This sermon begins to introduce the major themes of Joshua especially as the book relates to identity. We will interact with ideas of identity and how it shapes religion and politics and enter into the contemporary debate over issues of tribalism. Also in this sermon, we discuss how Bruce Springsteen’s 1984 hit, “Born in the U.S.A.” can be used as a key to understanding the subversive nature of Joshua.