Joshua 21 – 22 is a fascinating portion of text (go here to read the passage). The first thing that happens here is the Lord speaks to Joshua and he instructs him to go to the people of Israel and instruct them to designate six cities of refuge for people who commit accidental manslaughter (vss. 1 – 6).

These six cities are suppose to be set up throughout the Promised Land so that each city is in close proximity to certain clusters of Israel’s tribes. This would make it relatively easy for a refugee to make it to the city before anyone takes revenge on him in the heat of the moment.

Its also interesting to note that the refugee is allowed to return home after the current head priest dies (vs. 6). Long story short, the Lord is instructing Israel to set up safe-cities for refugees who accidentally kill someone and the Israelites jump right on it. They appoint Kedesh, Shechem, Kiriath-arba (Hebron), Bezer, Ramoth and Golan as the six cities of refuge (vss. 7 – 9).

The second thing that happens is the Levites come to the leaders of Israel and they ask for the cities and the pasturelands that have been promised to them (vss. 1 – 3). Now you may remember that the Levites did not receive an inheritance like the rest of Israel; they didn’t receive portions of land with boundaries to hang their tribal flags on. Instead, the Levites received the Lord himself and their ministry as an inheritance (13:33; 14).

But they still need a place to “live at” and to “minister from” along with pasturelands to sustain themselves. So the Lord disperses them strategically by lot throughout the Promised Land so they can live and minister while being sustained by the gifts of the tribes they serve (vss. 4 – 42). In all, forty-eight cities with pasturelands are given to the three clans of Levitical priests.

The third thing we see in this text is a closing statement in verses 43 – 45 where we hear that the Lord gave Israel the land he had promised to them; he gave them rest on every side as he gave them victory over their enemies; not one of God’s promises failed to come true. Everything happened just as the Lord said it would.

WHY DOES THIS MATTER FOR US?

What difference will this make in our lives? We’ve just learned that God instructed Israel to set up safe-cities for manslaughter refugees. The Levites have received cities to live and minister in. God is a giver whose promises never fail. We could summarize all of these verses under the headings: Safety, Worship and Promises. God is strategic about creating safety. God is serious about the administration of worship. What God promises, God makes happen.

THINK ABOUT SAFETY FOR A FEW MINUTES

How important is safety to you? For some of us safety is at the top of our list of what’s important. For others of us, safety isn’t a big deal at all; at least for the risk-takers among us. But I’m not really talking about the ability to take risks or to play things safe. I’m talking more about the deep desire we all have to be safe, to know that at the end of this life we will be safe. I think we all face some seasons of deep fear and introspection about what the future may hold. We worry about our health. We fear the stock market may crash. We get angry about the political instability in our nation. We lie awake at night wondering if our kids are safe or not.

At the end of the day, you might be a massive risk taker but the reality is that you and I still have a deep desire for safety built right into us. It’s a longing that has been placed there by God. In and of itself the desire for safety is not sinful or wrong but it has been infected by sin. So sometimes the way we pursue safety is sinful. We might pursue safety by greedily holding onto our money or staying in a sinful relationship or isolating ourselves from true community. There are tons of ways that we can pursue safety in sinful ways.

Now again, the desire for safety is not necessarily wrong at all. As I said before, I believe that has God created us with the desire for safety so that when we come to the realization that we are pursuing the satisfaction of that desire sinfully then we can come to him and confess our sin, receive forgiveness and find true refuge in Him. The safe-cities in our Joshua-text definitely served a practical purpose in their day. And we follow suit practically by providing safe places for accidental refugees in our society. But I think the clearest Christological interpretation of this passage is to recognize that every one of us desires safety and we’ve pursued it sinfully and God has given himself to us in the cross of Christ to be our refuge; our hiding place; our safety net.

This is what leads the Psalmist to proclaim: “For God alone my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken. On God rests my salvation and my glory; my mighty rock, my refuge is God. Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us” (Ps. 62:1 – 2; 7 – 8). Where are you longing for safety right now?

THINK ABOUT WORSHIP FOR A FEW MINUTES

How serious are you about worship? Now let’s get something straight right off the bat. Worship is not merely something we experience with lights that set the mood and emotionally moving music. Worship is an encounter with the living God that transforms us from consumers into contributors. In other words, when the Bible talks about worship it doesn’t talk about an experience that serves to get you into the presence of God. Worship is a transforming encounter with God as you bring yourself as a living, contributing, sacrifice. How serious are you about worship?

In our Joshua-text we’ve read just a small portion of how serious God is about worship. He dispersed worship leaders in their own cities with their own pasturelands throughout the nation of Israel. Israel literally supported her worship leaders (her pastors, priests and shepherds) through the proportionate giving of their physical possessions. God gave the land to Israel and then instructed them to give a portion of it back to her spiritual leaders for the administration of their spiritual care as worshippers. So God seems to take the topic of worship very seriously.

In fact, there’s an entire book in the Bible devoted to instructing the Levitical priests in their duties for leading and shaping the nation as a worshipping nation; the book of Leviticus is where you’ll find all of these instructions. And do you know how many passages in Leviticus describe the worship setting as one that is full of mood lighting, emotional experience and great music to get you in the mood for worship? You would be right if you answered: zero! The entire book is full of sacrifice, death, confession of sin and blood. And all of it finds its ultimate fulfillment in the cross of Christ where his body was broken and his blood was poured out so that we could come close to God on our own and be transformed in his presence.

When you and I show up to church gatherings (not services to serve our consumer-hearts) we aren’t showing up merely for an encounter with God. We are showing up to share our six-day-a-week God-encounters with everyone else. Worship is about encountering God in the day-to-day activities of our lives and then sharing that encounter with other brothers and sisters in Christ. This is what leads Paul to say “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship” (Rom. 12:1) and immediately after that he launches into a description of our spiritual gifts and the true marks of a Christian lest anyone begin to believe that this whole worship thing is about an experience to be had.

So how serious are you about worship? Would your coworkers; your family members and your friends know that you are a person who takes worship seriously? And I’m not talking about how much you talk about going to church gatherings. I’m talking about how holy you are living in front of your coworkers, your family members and your friends. Could someone spot you for a person of worship by how much time you spend talking about your encounter with the Lord throughout the week? What are your daily rhythms of seeking the voice of God? What have you heard from him outside the Sunday gathering or mid-week gathering experience?

If reading your Bible and spending time in prayer on your own to encounter the living God is too inconvenient for you then I have to wonder about your comprehension of your own sin and the sacrifice that happened at the cross of Calvary on your behalf. How serious are you about worship?

THINK ABOUT GOD’S PROMISES FOR A FEW MINUTES

What promises from God do you need to trust in today? Our Joshua-text tells us that the Lord gave Israel the land he had promised to them; he gave them rest on every side as he gave them victory over their enemies; not one of God’s promises failed to come true. Everything happened just as the Lord said it would. What God promises, God makes happen.

I have to be honest and say that after studying and preaching last week’s text (15:20 – 19:51) I felt more than a little discouraged. The deep evaluation of Israel’s rebellion and failure to completely possess all of what the Lord gave to them really cause some deep introspection for me this week. For every point of laziness, rebellion, disobedience or selfishness that I saw in Israel, there were at least multiple points of the same failures in my life. In my profession as a pastor, I catch myself yo-yoing between impatience, cynicism, anger and passively dreaming about a different job. In my role as a husband and father I find myself stretched between laziness with spiritual disciplines and relational isolation (I am privileged to spend all day with people in the Bible but when I get home I just want to check out).

I could go on and on about the connections between Israel’s sin and my sin and basically live in depression and despair as a result. And I said it last, and its true, without recognition of sin there can be no confession; without confession of sin there can be no repentance; without repentance there can be no salvation. So we must recognize our sin and we must confess it and we must repent from it as we turn to Christ in faith. But then it struck me as I was praying my way through this. It came to me in the form of a question: Why would anyone want to recognize his or her sin in the first place?

Now, unless you’re a morbid person, then you probably don’t get all jacked up about thinking about sin. Rainbows and unicorns and social problems are more fun to think about. The train wreck of the so-called impeachment trial of our president is more fun for most of us to think about. We certainly love to think about our next purchase or our next pursuit more than we love to think about sin. So why would anyone want to think about sin? What would make a person even take a step towards admitting their sin so he or she could take the next step of actually confessing it and turning from that sin in repentance and faith in Christ?

And that’s when the answer from this Joshua-text struck me. Previously (15:20 – 19:51) we witnessed the horror of Israel only possessing 10% of the Promised Land because of their disobedience. What provision does God provide for them to turn form their sin? I think we see it in the final couple of verses where we read in verses 43 – 45 that the Lord gave to Israel all the land that he swore to give to their fathers. And they took possession of it and they settled there. And the Lord gave them rest on every side just as he had sworn to their fathers. Not one of their enemies had withstood them, for the Lord had given all their enemies into their hands. Not one word of all the good promises that the Lord had made to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass. The focus of these final verses is not on Israel’s failure (as we saw in the previous five chapters) its on the faithful promises of God.

The faithful promises of God are the exclamation point at the end of a long portion of narrative that highlights Israel’s sin. Think about the exclamation point at the end of your confession of sin. Is it God’s promises? Think about this, Israel’s sin and rebellion is bookended by the promises of God? The first chapter of Joshua opens with God’s promises. The entire book is saturated with God’s promises in contrast to Israel’s sin. That’s the story of the Bible for Heaven’s sake!

So regardless of where you’re at today, fifteen seconds into your journey with Jesus or fifteen years into your journey with Jesus, the reality is that God’s promises are meant to be the bookends of your sin. God’s faithful promises are the motivators that help you want to recognize your sin, confess your sin and turn in repentant faith towards Christ. So I ask you again: What promises from God do you need to trust in today?

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, as I contemplated this sermon and the implications of it throughout the week I kept landing on my favorite promises from God in all of Scripture. They are too numerous to share with you today but I’ll share two that are closest to my heart.

The first one is that “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:1) and the second one is “I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you. Be strong and courageous” (Josh. 1:5 – 6). Safety, Worship and Promises; God is strategic about your safety, he is serious about your worship and his promises never fail.

Look to the cross of Christ and I think you’ll find that all of this true. Christ died so that you could find refuge from your sin. Christ died so that you could be transformed into a worshipper of God. Christ died so that you could encounter the promise of God’s never failing presence.