137: Ben Pitcher - Exhortation: The Gift Of God

Automatically transcribed. Accuracy is good but not perfect, and words are sometimes wrong. Trust the audio over the text.

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   Welcome to Good Christadelphian Talks. I'm Levi. And I'm Chris. And I'm Brian. Thank you for joining us this week. On this podcast, we select one talk a week to help us get the Bible in our daily news feed. We post a new episode at the start of each week, with a short intro beforehand to kind of set the stage for the talk you're about to listen to.

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   And now, let's talk more about this week's talk. Welcome to the Good Christadelphian Talks podcast. This is Brother Brian. This week's talk is an exhortation from Brother Ben Pitcher, given in Adelaide back in July 2019. Brother Ben's topic is the gift of God. And he's looking at the Joshua 9 account of the Gibeonites.

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   And he notes how this is often referred to as the Gibeonite deception. And it's framed as an example of the Israelite congregation being swindled or tricked. When, in reality, as Brother Ben would suggest, it should be viewed as a demonstration of God's plan for salvation. And that our God, and by connection to the story, Joshua, being a type of Christ, can't be tricked into providing us salvation.

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   But that this act of grace typifies the consistency of God's character. Taking those who have been afar off and bringing them, as Brother Ben says, right into his presence. And even elevating them for his own namesake. I enjoyed the talk for its ability to take a familiar two-dimensional story and give it more depth.

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   Connecting it to the future hope of the kingdom that we share. And an interesting note about the nations being brought and put under Christ's command. A nice touch was also that apparently there had been a baptism that morning. So a number of the sentiments that are made in the talk are in connection to that.

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   And they resonate really well with our shared need to leave the world behind and cleave unto God. We hope this strengthens your faith and brightens your day. Brother Ben Pitcher, The Gift of God. Now I invite Brother Ben to prepare our minds for the emblems and to encourage us for the week ahead around the theme of The Gift of God.

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   Thanks, Brother Sebastian, and good morning, my brothers and sisters in the Lord Jesus Christ, young people and friends, and especially Brother Daniel. So it's a little bit of revision this morning, sorry. These remarks I prepared a month or so ago and they've been swaps. But it actually turns out, as my theme is The Gift of God, there's a surprising link to this morning.

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   And the God we serve and our service to him. Because this chapter's in our Bible up the top, often titled The Gibeonite Deception. But I hope that I can change your perception of that so that by the end of the exor, if that's the title in the Bible, maybe you'll be compelled to cross that out and write The Gift of God.

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   Because it's really God's abundant loving kindness that's the point of this chapter. Just the same that we've been witness to God's abundant loving kindness this morning.

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    And I don't know if you've seen it quite this clearly, but Joshua's obviously a book of types and symbols. And I believe this chapter hears an allegory of the return of Christ and the setting up of the kingdom, aspects of which are unravelled in each story in Joshua. So it starts back where his name was changed by Moses in Numbers 13 so that he would be Yahshua, or Jesus, as it is in the Greek.

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    And as a type of Christ establishing the kingdom, so does Joshua establish the kingdom of Israel. And he starts with rolling back the endless stream of humanity where its descent is from life in the Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea. And he reverses it back to Adam so that people can cross about 2,000 cubits after this mercy seat does.

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    From death to life. And to underscore the point, there's symbolically two piles of stones erected in the bed of the river and on the riverbank. With the deliberate intent that questions would be actually asked by children, what does this mean? And then all the males are circumcised with the explanation given that it's a symbol that they've left Egypt behind and have become Gilgal to God as the reproach of Egypt had been rolled away and removed.

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    And then we have Rahab, a type of the Gentile bride, us. And then there's the incident at Ai with Achan. And it's a symbol, I believe, of the judgment of the saints where the hidden things will be made open before the saints can go out as the rainbowed angel to defeat the enemy.

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    And then just like in the kingdom where the land of Israel will be divided up into oblations, in much the same way the land was divided up among the tribes in the time of Joshua. And just like in the time of Joshua that not all the enemy was defeated, so too in the kingdom there will be the serpent thinking that will be there for another 1,000 years before it's disposed in the pit in type in Revelation.

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    But this chapter that we've read this morning is really a cameo of the nations in the kingdom, how some will resist and fight like we saw in the opening verses, but some will come under God's influence and pay homage to Christ. So coming back to Joshua 9, look, I know a lot is made about how the Gibeonites deceived, but a Gibeonite is as a Gibeonite does.

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    And Paul, talking to us through his first letter that he wrote to Corinth in chapter 6, says that the immoral and idolaters will not inherit the kingdom of God in verse 9. And then he goes on to describe what you could determine a Gibeonite in verse 10. Nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

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    And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. So God can wash and sanctify. And set apart for his service a Gibeonite. And he does exactly the same today for you and I and he has for our brother Daniel this morning.

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    And you and I have actually come from a far country, haven't we? But we who were once afar off are now made nigh in a covenant through the blood of Christ. And sometimes much is made that, you know, Joshua didn't pray to God and therefore he got tricked. But think of the type.

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    John 2. But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them because he knew all people and needed no one to bear witness about a man for he himself knew what was in a man. And furthermore of our Lord Jesus Christ, God's given all things into his hand. So in the kingdom, which the book of Joshua is a type, Christ will be the judge and his decisions will stand.

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    So John 3, verse 35, the father loves the son, has given all things into his hand. Whoever believes in the son has eternal life and whoever does not obey the son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him. So when Christ makes a judgement, he makes it for God.

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    So the record in Deuteronomy is with Moses' final words that they've just listened to. In Deuteronomy 23, verse 3, Moses has said that an Ammonite or Moabite or an inhabitant of this area that they are in could not enter the sanctuary till the tenth generation. They'd just been given that as a law and yet God supersedes it straight away twice.

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    Once with Rahab and now God brings the Gibeonites in. Not just to the outskirts like it may be with our first instinct, as was done for Rahab's family, if you remember, but God working through the elders brings them right into the middle of the congregation. You know, you wonder what the people thought of that.

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    It just tells us that they murmured. They were obviously horrified when they found out that they were Gibeonites and had deceived them. I wonder what their initial reaction was. That Joshua had really got it wrong.

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    And yet the elders back up Joshua's decision. You know, it makes me wonder if it wasn't a bit like the parable of the workers in the vineyard who'd agreed to work for a talent. And now these new workers, these Gentiles, are being brought in later to work, just like these Gibeonites are being brought right into God's sanctuary to work there.

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    Think about that. God verifies Yahoshua's judgment in saving the Gibeonites. He doesn't backtrack on it or qualify it. He not only backs it up, but God adds abundance to it and brings them right in alongside the priests and the Levites, right into the court of the tabernacle,

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    right alongside him, as it were. Why did he do that? So they can learn of him. And just like in the kingdom, all nations will come up to the sanctuary year by year. Isaiah 2. It will come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord will be established as the highest of the mountains will be lifted up above the hills and all nations will flow unto it.

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    And many people will say, come, let us go to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and we may walk in his paths, for out of Zion will go forth the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And he, Yahoshua, will judge between the nations and he will decide disputes for many peoples and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, their spears into pruning hooks.

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    Nation will not lift up sword against nation, neither will they learn war anymore. O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord.

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    So why would God act with such loving kindness toward them when they've acted with such deceit? Well, not only is it part of who God is to act in such a way, so remember, here's our God that we worship.

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    Yahweh passed before him and proclaimed, Yahweh, Yahweh, an Elohim merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. Keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression and sin.

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    That's who God is and he showed his character. And why was longsuffering and mercy shown? Well, see, in verse 24, it's obvious that the Gibeonites were well aware of their own mortality, that they were going to die and that they needed to do something about it and that the answer lay with Yahshua.

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    God can work with that. Hebrews 11, without faith, it's impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those that seek him. The Gibeonites believed that God existed and that the answer to life or a reward lay with him.

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    You know, in a way, the Gibeonites are just like Jacob, the father of the Israelites, in his learning process. Remember when he tried tricking his way into the promises and then tried with his own ingenuity to increase his flocks and herds? So, natural Israel has learnt in the past what the nations will learn in the kingdom.

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    And the Gibeonites tried to save themselves through their own strength and trickery but they're just true to their own nature. The point, I think, of listing out their deception in detail is that they were true Gibeonites indeed.

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    But Joshua didn't make a mistake. All things work together for good for those that love God, we're told. And God worked out good in this situation and brought them right into the worship alongside the priests and the Levites where they could hear the law every day. See, the Gibeonites didn't know about trustworthiness and honesty and commitment.

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    They only knew deception and human ingenuity and human contrivance. But just like you and I, we didn't know love. John says in his first epistle that God is love. And you and I didn't know love until God loved us and gave his son as a propitiation for us. And so we learned that he first loved us and demonstrated love toward us so we could learn to love others.

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    And God didn't expect commitment from the Gibeonites until he first showed them so he promised them to be committed to the sanctuary and provided an example of his own commitment and a choice that they then be committed in return. Just like we have a choice to respond to him. We can either continue in our own selfish and self centred ways or we can demonstrate our understanding and gratitude for what has been done for us.

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    Firstly as our brother Daniel has done this morning in baptism and then through the submission principle and service that our brother Sebastian has reminded us of. And if the Gibeonites had chosen not to submit in service then they were not part of the sanctuary and they were not offered salvation.

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    And we are also part of the ecclesia of God by our service of submission also. We're members of the body of Christ not as selfish individuals but as members one of the other says Paul. And we've got free will to follow in sacrificing ourselves for others in the same way that Christ sacrificed himself for us.

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    So we have that same choice. And the Gibeonites learned commitment to God and they were made not just hewers as it is in our English versions but in the Hebrew what was initially becomes colloquially natab. So for example in Ezra 8 verse 20 also of the nethanims whom the beloved that's Yahoshua and the princes appointed for the service of the Levites 220 nethanims all of them expressed by name.

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    So Nachab or Nathan their name instead of Gibeonite is changed to gift. What a reminder to us that is. You all know where I'm going. Ephesians 2 verse 8 For by grace have you been saved through faith and this is not your own doing it is the gift or Nathan of God.

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    So we can't save ourselves. We rely totally on God's provision and his mercy. We just need a grain of faith. Remember believe who he is believe that he is and that he is a rewarder and then he holds the gift of life. And so think of the Gibeonites or the gift or Nathan as I read on in Ephesians 2 verse 9 not as a result of works so that anyone might boast for where his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should work beforehand.

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    So it's almost like there was this need for hewers of wooden drawers of water that was this prepared role that no one was fulfilling until the Nathan was provided. And just as we're not saved of work the Gibeonites didn't really work it out their own salvation by their own deception did they? God knew who they were.

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    God could have intervened and stepped in at any time but God commended them to good works because they needed to recognise that they were his workmanship and his gift of grace just like we can do a work for God as his children as well. So the true gift they received was having a place and a purpose.

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    remember like I said God shows by his example what he wants in response. So he made them a gift so that he could show a gift of grace toward them. So verse 27 But Joshua made them that day cutters of wood and drawers of water for the congregation and for the altar of the Lord to this day in the place that he should choose.

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    That has echoes of the offer of a permanent dwelling place in the kingdom doesn't it? And we too have a place. Remember it's our father's good pleasure to give us the kingdom and we don't earn it by works definitely not by our own ingenuity but we show our gratitude in acts of service once we realise the gift of grace given to us.

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    Now I said that I think primarily Joshua 9 is a cameo of the nations in the kingdom. You're welcome to have a look at Psalm 2 and see the parallel with our reading. So this is the nations in the kingdom in Psalm 2 verse 1 why do the nations rage and the people plot in vain?

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    So like the Gibeonites plotting and planning the kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against Yahweh and against his anointed his Yahshua saying let us burst their ponds apart and cast away their cords from us. So like in the early verses of Joshua 9 some nations will try to come up with a battle plan but it's futile because God is in control.

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    Verse 4 He who sits in the heavens laughs the Lord holds them in derision then he will speak to them in his wrath and terrify them in his fury saying and just think about the Gibeonites here being terrified and trying to save their lives and so the nations are going to be fearful is what it's telling us and they're going to be compelled to take action because they fear God so where will they go so verse six as for me I have set my king on Zion my holy hill I'll tell of the decree Yahweh said to me you are my son today I've begotten you ask of me and I will make the nations your heritage and the ends of the earth your possession so the son of God the true Yahoshua has all things given into his hand and the nations are going to be a gift and he'll subdue the nations who resist verse nine you break them with a rod of iron dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel so the nations have a choice resist and be broken or submit to a righteous king and learn to be a gift so verse 10 now therefore O kings with that as your choice be wise be warned O rulers of the earth serve Yahweh with fear rejoice with trembling and so the nations if they submit and serve perhaps with rejoicing you know don't you imagine that the Gibeonites heard all the hymns and the songs of the tabernacle worship and you can imagine them humming the tunes with rejoicing as they served hewing the wood and drawing the water

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    and in the kingdom again it's not a hard service or a service of fear they're being brought right alongside our Lord Jesus Christ and into a refuge verse 12 psalm to kiss ! kiss the son lest he be angry and you perish in the way for his wrath is quickly kindled blessed or happy are all those who take refuge in him and you know it's interesting the Gibeonites don't just disappear from the record never to be seen again they appear at the time of Samuel when Saul treats them badly for which the entire nation of Israel is punished by God because they were Nathan they had experienced God's gift of grace and it wasn't right for Saul to go back on !

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    God's word ! And treat them harshly and as I mentioned they appear again as a lesson to us 700 years after this introduction into the sanctuary they're there again at the time of Ezra and Nehemiah and we saw in the record of Ezra where they're called Nethanyims from the Hebrew Natar the ones given so the lesson for us is that they had learnt the meaning of commitment and service and 700 years later when most of Israel had become unfaithful and were punished with captivity the Gibeonites who were now Nathan Imns or evidence of God's gift have learned commitment from God who showed it to them first and they're still committed and they still love to be alongside him in the sanctuary 700 years is way more than 10 generations isn't it so there's now no longer any law for them to do so but instead they choose to do so alongside God is where they want to be so the challenge this morning for each of us is that we have a long suffering and merciful God do we try to take advantage of his graciousness and merciful kindness by exercising our own self centredness in what we can get away with do we try to twist things around to suit us and get a better end out of a deal that we think we're making with God or do we appreciate the gift God has given us and are we inspired to serve so as we come to examine ourselves and as our brother Daniel you join with us in that we should ask ourselves how is our service are we obsessed by great

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    convoluted and extravagant works like the Gibeonites once were well we know what Christ's thoughts are to those who think they can do grand things not everyone who says to me Lord Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven but the one who does the will of my father who is in heaven so note that it's the doing God's will or learning to serve that's important on that day many will say to me Lord Lord did we not prophesy in your name and cast out demons in your name and do mighty works in your name then I'll declare to them I never knew you depart from me not workers in my sanctuary but workers of lawlessness so on the other hand on the positive side we're not left with any doubt as to the gifts of service we are commended for if we follow the example of God who shows grace to us and we extend gifts of practical service to others like humbly !

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    carrying wood and water for God water is specifically mentioned in Matthew 25 by our Lord isn't it? Then the king will say to those on his right come you who are blessed of mine my father inherit the kingdom prepared from the foundation of the well so a place prepared for you like there was a place prepared for the Nathan him for I was hungry and you gave me food I was thirsty !

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    I was a stranger and you welcomed me right in right into the middle I was naked and you clothed me I was sick and you visited me I was in prison and you came to me then the righteous will answer and say Lord when did we see you hungry and feed you or thirsty and give you drink and when did we see you a stranger and welcome you or naked and clothe you and when did we see you sick in prison and visit you and the king will answer them truly I say to you as you did it unto the one of the least of these my Gibeonites my brothers you did it unto me so turning our minds to examining ourselves we're challenged aren't we by God's grace toward us and our response to that aren't we we've got a responsibility to act out and extend ourselves in consistent humble acts of service just like the Gibeonites we've all just we've all already committed ourselves through baptism and Daniel you've committed yourself this morning to a life in service in Christ Paul in Romans 6 says your servants of whoever you obey and later on in Romans he says that we're called to follow our Lord's example in presenting our bodies a living sacrifice it's not a one off sacrifice but a sacrifice every day and so too in the kingdom as we saw the nations will not be free to do as they please but will have to come year by year to worship and if they refuse we're told they'll have rain withheld but the key thing about this chapter in Joshua

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    is that it shows God's mercy and the Gibeonites learned about God's gift of grace by being made a gift of service and so we come now to analyse our service in the light of the greatest gift God has given the life of his son Romans 5 God shows his love for us Christ died for us but more than that he brings us right in just like God did for the Gibeonites Matthew 18 for where two or three are gathered in my name there am I in the midst of them so he's not nearby he's in the midst he's right among us in fact it's not just that Christ is in the middle he also at the same time brings us right through the veil and into God's presence in our lives so our brother Daniel as Sebastian said you're now in Christ and so any time that you pray you're also now at the right hand of God as it were straight away because you are in Christ and so we actually all have a even closer relationship with God through his gift than the Gibeonites had their gift was being alongside the sanctuary our gift is being right through the veil they were just brought up to the altar as far as the altar is as far as the Gibeonites went but we're brought right into the presence of a loving and merciful God full of abundant loving kindness toward us and so we already quoted from Ephesians 2 about the gift or Nathan of God I want to go back there in closing and read further so that we can be transported through to

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    the presence of God in the remembrance of his son's sacrifice in the bread and wine so Ephesians 2 verse 12 remember that you were at that time separated from Christ alienated from the commonwealth of Israel strangers from the covenants of promise having no hope and without God in the world but now in Christ Jesus you who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ so that's the representation of the bread of the wine we're about to drink for he himself is our peace who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility so his flesh that's the bread that we're about to share isn't it and he's done the same for us as he has for the gibbonites remember the law of the tenth generation by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinance that he might create in himself one new man in the place of two so making peace and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross thereby killing the hostility and he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near for through him we both have access in one spirit to the father so the Gibeonites made out that they were from a far off in reality they were far off in their attitudes and motivations we can see that clearly can't we that's our challenge though because our nature is no different verse 19 so then you are no longer strangers and aliens but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the

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    household of God so we like the Gibeonites Daniel we're no longer strangers but we're brought right into God's household but unlike the Gibeonites who served as part of a temporary structure and waited patiently for a place he would choose we're being built right now into a permanent dwelling place for God we're the place that he's chosen for the Gibeonites if you think about that if we choose to serve him the right way and the right with the right attitude so Ephesians 2 verse 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets Jesus Christ being himself the cornerstone and look Katab as well as being a huron and a cutter that we saw the Gibeonites interestingly has the meaning of the word polished so we're being polished like stones says Paul in whom the whole structure being joined together grows into a holy temple in the Lord in him also you're being built together into a dwelling place for God by the spirit so we can also be a dwelling place for God just like the Gibeonites were brought into God's presence we're offered rest along with learning service come to me all you who are labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest take my yoke of service upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and lowly in heart and you'll find rest to your souls for my yoke is easy and my burden is light thank you for listening to the good Christadelphian talks podcast we hope this talk helped you in your walk if you would like to hear more please subscribe for new episodes and

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