Joshua 1:1-9 "Big shoes to fill"

Joshua 1:1-9

Psalm 1:1-6

“Big shoes to fill”

Have you ever started a job, a new position and someone has come and whispered those dreaded words to you……”….ooshhhg!......You have big shoes to fill”

Those words can be so dreadful, because you know that the person who went before you, did such a wonderful job, that they became legends of the company, so much so, that they became life time members, so much so that they have a picture on the office wall, with the title “the boss”

Those words of “you have big shoes to fill”- can be a weight around your neck tying you down, as you know, you will never be able to fill the shoes of those gone before.

You know that whatever you do, it won’t be as good as your previous boss, whatever you do, you will just never match up to those gone before you.

I think the classic example of this “big shoes to fill” was most clearly seen at the football club- Manchester United. Yes, as much as it pains me, to even say that name – Manchester united, it clearly is a classic case that the “big shoes to fill” syndrome hit hardest at that football club. For 20 years, the boss- the coach, was a bloke called Alex Ferguson, so good was this bloke that he was knighted, he goes by the title of sir Alex Ferguson now. During the 20 year reign of Sir Alex Ferguson, this is what Manchester United won: 38 Major trophies, 13 Premier league titles, 5 FA cups, 2 Champions leagues and lots of others.

After Alex Ferguson resigned in 2013, Manchester united have had 10 different coaches and have only won 8 trophies in 13 years, and many of them were not major ones like the Premiere league or champions league.

For the managers who came after Sir Alex Ferguson, they felt the weight of “big shoes to fill”. Perhaps the one who felt the most weight, was the one who was hand-picked by Sir Alex Ferguson himself: David Moyes, who only lasted only 10 months in charge- not even a year. He had big shoes to fill- and he just couldn’t fill them the way Alex Ferguson did.

Now, if you think David Moyes may had it tough to fill the shoes of Sir Alex Ferguson, just spare a thought this morning for the person whom this book isa named after- Joshua.

The bloke we are going to look at over the next 10 weeks.

Joshua, had the biggest shoes in the world to fill.

Joshua, had to fill the shoes of Moses.

Joshua had been commissioned by God, commissioned by Moses, in front of the whole of the assembly of Israel to take on the baton when Moses died.

Good luck – Joshau….

Just look at Deuteronomy 34:9-12 with me:

And Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands on him. So the people of Israel obeyed him and did as the Lord had commanded Moses. ¹⁰ And there has not arisen a prophet since in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, ¹¹ none like him for all the signs and the wonders that the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land, ¹² and for all the mighty power and all the great deeds of terror that Moses did in the sight of all Israel.

Moses had quite the CV.

Moses was the one through whom God saved his people from the Egyptians, Moses was the one whom God gave his Law to, to give to his people, Moses was the one whom God spoke to like no other prophet, face to face, Moses was the one whom God described as the most humble man on the planet……………

Boy, oh, boy, Joshua had big shoes to fill……..and so let us look at the words that God told Joshua as Joshua was about to take on the mantle, as he was going to fill the big shoes of Moses.

Look at Joshua chapter 1, verses 1 and 2 with me:

After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses' assistant, ² “Moses my servant is dead. Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the people of Israel.

Notice, there was not a hint from God-of “gee Joshua, you have big shoes to fill”, but instead, some would say God was being quite harsh, he simply said to Joshua….

Moses my servant is dead.

Now therefore arise……

Now, we know from Deuteronomy 34, that the Israelites had spent 30 days in the plains of Moab, weeping, grieving over the death of Moses, and so there is a place for grieving, there is a place for honouring God’s servants when God takes them home, but there is also a time to stop grieving and getting on with the task that God has given you to do.

As God told Joshua

Moses my servant is dead.

Now therefore arise…….go……

What else was God doing here?

….well I think and many commentaries think on these lines also, I think God was making it clear to Joshua, to the Israelites, to us, that God is bigger than any individual.

Or let me put it blunt.

God was making it clear, that he didn’t need Moses to carry out his plans, but in his grace and mercy, he called Moses to carry out his plans, and now he was calling Joshua to continue his plans.

Perhaps this is one of the reasons why it tells us in Deuteronomy 34: 6, that no-one knew where Moses was buried, and by the way it also tells us that God buried him.

If no-one knew where Moses was buried, no-one could make a shrine of his grave, no-one could elevate Moses to a god-like status.

When God simply declared to Joshua

Moses my servant is dead

Now therefore arise……go

God was making the humbling, and yet freeing truth, that God’s plans and purposes are not restrained by individuals, No, God will call whomever he pleases to carry out his purposes, and God will not share his glory with any individual, NO- all glory belongs to him.

Friends, here is a humbling and yet freeing truth for all of us.

God doesn’t need me on his team.

God doesn’t need you on his team.

Despite your wonderful gifts and talents, despite your wonderful cv, God doesn’t need us.

He has told us constantly throughout the scriptures that he can call whomever He chooses and his plans will not be thwarted.

God used an ass to speak to his servant Balaam

Jesus said that if the people of Jerusalem would not lift their voices to praise him, then even the stones on the street would.

Perhaps we live in a world, where we feel we have to be significant, we have to have followers on our YouTube channel, we have to make a significant impact, we have to build as stone wall church which will last forever.

Perhaps we feel deep down, that we want to be that person, who others say to those who come after us, “you have big shoes to fill”.

And yet, friends, we need to have a godly view of ourselves, the scriptures tell us all flesh is like the morning due on the grass, we are here one minute, gone the next.

We must remember that we don’t write our own stories, but we are a very small part of God’s big story over all of time: and friends, being part of the story, however big or small is infinitely better than making your own story- your own story won’t end well.

God graciously calls us to be part of his story, not because he needs us, but because he loves us.

Moses my servant is dead

Now therefore arise…..go…..

So friends, we are 15 minutes in and we have looked at 8 words, we only have the rest of the chapter to go.

Obviously I won’t be able to cover everything, so I just want to focus on a few more truths from this passage today.

The first one is this…..

God’s servants may come and go, but His word lasts forever.

God’s servants may come and go, but His word lasts forever.

Just look at what God said to Joshua from verses 7-9.

Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go. ⁸ This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success

God commanded Joshua to not depart from the book of the law, which would have at least included the book of Deuteronomy, although could have been all 5 books of the Torah: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.

God commanded Joshua to proclaim His law, - “don’t depart it from your mouth”, but he also commanded Joshua to meditate on God’s law…in other words Joshua wasn’t just to learn it parrot fashion, but he was to think upon God’s law day and night, he was to understand God’s law, and even as the psalmist says in Psalm 1, he was to delight in God’s law. And perhaps most importantly as Joshua was to speak God’s law, meditate on God’s law, delight in God’s law, he was to practice God’s law in his life.

God promised Joshua that if, if…. he lived out God’s law, that he would have good success wherever he went.

Friends, I am convinced that we have that same mandate given to us today, that was given to Joshua. We too, believe that as a local church it is absolutely vital for success that we keep to God’s word the bible. We heart God’s word, we proclaim God’s word, we meditate on God’s word, we live out God’s word, we delight in God’s word.

It is vital we don’t wander from God’s word. It is vital we don’t stray from teachings God’s word. This is why two of our congregations have bible in their titles- Old Bar Bible Church/ Krambach Bible church. We want to be clear that we want to base of our lives upon the words that God has spoken to us through the bible.

And the best way we can keep to God’s word, is by delighting in God’s word.

We delight in God’s word when we see whom God is through his word, see whom his son Jesus is, through his word and see whom we are in the person of Jesus through his word.

Our motto here is “Enjoying Jesus Together” and we can only enjoy Jesus, when we know Jesus and we can only know Jesus through his word and so we must learn to cherish and meditate and enjoy God’s word.

Pastors and elders may come and go, but it is vital for success that God’s word is continued to be proclaimed, understood, loved, but most importantly lived out.

As God’s word is cherished and lived out, that is what gives us success, not numbers, not programs, not plaques, not finances, but success is being faithful to God, trusting in his promises, trusting that his way really is the only way of life.

Sadly, churches move away from God’s word, they turn to the left or to the right, they start spouting politics, rather than God’s word, they start saying “the politically correct things”, they leave out tough truths of the bible, they start trying to entertain people, in the hope they would stay, they try the latest gimmicks and yet God has called us, not just this church but all believers, to be strong and courageous and that means “sticking to God’s word” no matter what.

It is only through the word of God, that God’s church is successful, and that success is God’s people sticking to him.

The second point I want to make from this passage is this:

Just as God called Joshua to be strong and courageous because God was with him, God is calling us to be strong and courageous because he is also with us.

God didn’t tell Joshua to “think positively”, God didn’t tell Joshua, “to just believe in himself”, God didn’t tell Joshua, “you got this man….you can be brave”- No God commanded Joshua to be strong and courageous because and only because God was with him.

In Matthew 28:16-20, Jesus commanded us to go and make disciples of all nations, by baptising them in the name of the father, son and Holy Spirit, and to teach them all that Jesus taught…..and why did Jesus give us this bold command?,

Because he made the same promise to us…..He said as we go and make disciples oh Him, he is with us always till the end of the age.

Friends, your courage, your bravery to speak God’s word, to live out God’s word, doesn’t come from you, but it comes from knowing that Christ is with you.

Last summer holidays, we went to a beautiful place called Seals Rock.

It is beautiful place, and on this particular day the weather was beautiful the water was crystal clear.

And so we arrived at the beach and we all set off for a snorkel around the rock.

There was about 10 of us in the group.

And thankfully, we had one guy with us- Andrew, who was an experienced deep sea diver, is was part of the Manly diving club, and he is also a life guard.

As we swam and snorkelled around the rock, we saw big turtles and we also saw sharks.

And Esther saw one shark that was sitting on the bottom, quite big….and this sounds crazy, but as we saw those sharks and turtles and as the waves were getting slightly rough, I didn’t feel afraid,…..normally I would be petrified, but I didn’t feel afraid, why?

Because Andrew was with us in the water.

I am not sure he could have done much to save us from the shark, but his mere presence with me, made me bolder, made me more courageous.

Friends, God is with us.

God is with you

God is with me

We know God is with because his word tells us, that we have received his Holy Spirit, God dwells in our hearts, and that means wherever we go, where ever we go, just like Joshua God is with us.

Whether we are snorkelling in shark infested waters- God is with us

Whether we are on the beach, God is with us

Whether we are telling someone about Jesus- God is with us

Whether we are holding to the truth of God’s word, God is with us.

God has given us freedom to walk in his ways, because whatever happens, He is with us.

And He is with us, not in a way where he constantly reminds us of how other people did it better, or reminding us that we have got big shoes to fill, but he is with us, and he is cheering us on, as we boldly walk with Him each day. He delights in us, as we delight in his son Jesus.

Let us pray.