ATTENTION: Please note that this is The Adult Sunday School Lesson, God Has Expectations aka God Expects Obedience, on Joshua 1:7-16 or Joshua 1:7-18 for the 6-12-11 International Sunday School Lesson. You will find the 6-05-11 lesson, God’s Promises Fulfilled aka God Keeps His Promises directly beneath this message and on the right side.
Jed
God Has Expectations
or
God Expects Obedience
Joshua 1:7-16 or 1:7-18
International Sunday School Lesson
June 12, 2011
Commentary
By
Jed Greenough
“Because you will lead”, that is how we start out with today’s lesson. Leadership is clearly something God doesn’t take lightly; He has expectations for all of us and especially for those who lead us.
Go through today’s scripture verse by verse and you will see an actual formula for what He expects:
Strength
Courage
Careful
Obedient
True
Studious
Not all the words are exactly perfect matches, but you get the idea. God knew that for Joshua to lead these people just as Moses did, he would need to have similar traits, traits that anyone who wishes to lead would be wise to emulate.
Clearly we can see the advantage of strength over weakness, courage over fear, carefulness versus reckless, obedience as opposed to disobedience, straight and true over one who strays.
These things all sort of fit into a circle of leadership traits that God expects of leaders. I think about the circle rolling along like a wheel with these characteristics being wedge shaped pieces joined together to make the whole. Take one wedge out and ca-chunk the wheel falls over.
Strength and courage evidently have a special significance if you notice how these traits are repeated 3 times from verse 6 through today’s verse 18. What does courage have to do with it? Without courage you cannot stand your ground, and if you don’t stand for something you will fall for anything, to borrow the idea of a country song. And the leader without strength will never be able to withstand the arrows and sling stones that come their way.
Obedience to His will means following that will and not the will of the individual. Following the will of the leader causes the leader to stray from the narrow path, the true path. This leader who goes all over the compass to the left and to the right will never arrive at the destination that God would desire.
By being studious, by never letting the word depart from their mouth, by immersing themselves in His word they will have the most important trait that will enable them to know God as opposed to the Biblically illiterate who will never truly understand.
The leader that possesses all of these characteristics will have the Lord their God with them wherever they go as it says in verse 9. And as we read in the Israelite’s case the leader will have the people as well. Just as in Joshua’s case the people want their leader to be strong, to be courageous. Just as in Joshua’s case our leaders must meet the expectations of God.
For Discussion:
1. Discuss whether you think these traits should apply to all of our Christian leaders.
2. Discuss verse 18
3. The words of Joshua in farewell at the end of his life, “Be very strong; be careful to obey all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses without turning aside to the right or to the left.” Joshua 23:6
4. It seems simple, “do not turn from it to the right or to the left”, but consider it anyway! How do we turn, why do we turn, is it ever okay? If not what can/should be done?
5. Consider the “rest” that Joshua is referring to in verse 13; don’t forget to include verse 15 in your consideration.
6. Are we willing to say to Christ what the people said to Joshua in verse 16?
7. Read Deuteronomy 31:1-8
8. In reading today’s scripture, consider and discuss the transition of power from Moses to Joshua including its application to our world today.
6-19-11: God Protects (God Protects His People) Joshua 2:2-9, 15-16, 22-24
6-26-11: God is Victorious (God Gives Victory) Joshua 6:2-3, 4b, 12-20 or Joshua 6:2-4, 12-20
7-03-11: God Responds to Disobedience (God Reacts to Disobedience) Joshua 7:1, 10-12, 22- 26
7-10-11: Listen to God’s Judges; Judges 2:11-19
Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 Biblica. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved
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