The Secret to Success
The nation of Israel is now on the east side of the Jordan River , about to enter the Promised Land. Their parents and grandparents did not enter the Promised Land forty years earlier because they did not believe God when He told them the land was theirs. But now, with Joshua as their leader, the people believed. Because of their belief that God would be with them the whole way—and that nobody would be able to stand against them—they could finally enter and conquer the land!
In Joshua chapter one God is encouraging Joshua as he prepares to lead the nation of Israel
Joshua 1:7-9
“Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go. This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe 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. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”
So that’s it. Easy peezy, lemon squeezy! Read the Bible every day and do everything it says and you’ll be successful.
In the next chapter we will look at verses 10 through 18.
What? We’re done here… there’s nothing more in this chapter… That’s it… you know what to do, now go do it.
You still here?
You Miserable Failure
OK…so maybe you’re like me and you’ve seen the 300-plus laws written in the Book of the Law and you break a minimum of 37 of them daily. And maybe, like me, there are three or four days out of the year (or in my case, week) that you don’t do your devotions. And maybe you try to meditate day and night, but honestly, during work, while you’re sleeping, or while you’re watching the evening news, it’s not happening as often as you’d like. Well, there you go, that’s why you’re not successful, you miserable failure. Don’t you know that it’s as easy as “just do it”?
I’ve been involved in quite a few different ministries through the years and have learned how to and how not to do ministry through observing my peers. One of the ministries I have been most involved in has been teaching classes for men and women and mentoring men who are dealing with life-controlling sin. When dealing with the addicted, you unfortunately see a lot more failure than success, especially at the beginning. As I was cutting my teeth in this area of ministry, I would watch others and how they dealt with the person who would come back from a failure. I’ll use the story of a guy named Mike who is addicted to doughnuts (name and substance changed to protect Greg’s identity).
Mike came to the Lord a few years ago, seeking freedom from his addiction to sugar glazed doughnuts. When he came to the church for help, it was obvious that Mike was genuinely seeking a change, and that he believed that Christ alone was the source for that change. But one day, after a couple of good weeks, temptation got the better of him as he drove by Krispy Kreme and saw the “hot” light on. A dozen glazed doughnuts later and he was crawling back to the church seeking counsel, feeling that he disappointed his Lord.
I would watch time and time again as the counselor asked him if he did his devotions that morning, and if not, when he last spent time in the Word. “Of course!” Mike would say, “I need to spend more time in the Word.” So he would study and memorize, read more and discuss more, and he would find relief for a couple of weeks until… So he would again be asked by his counselor, “Did you spend time in the Word today?”
But this time he had spent time in his devotions that morning. “But how much time? Only five minutes? You need to do more than that if you want to succeed. If you can’t devote ten percent of your time to the Lord you will most certainly fail again.” So Mike re-doubles his effort and spends more time studying. He enrolls in Bible college and gets involved in small groups, until one day six months later… “Again with the glazed!” His counselor asks. “Are you obeying the Bible or just reading it, because obedience is the key, you must do everything it says if you want to be successful....”
I saw way too many Mikes give up because the load was too heavy, and that breaks my heart. But even more heartbreaking for me is seeing the men and women entrenched in ministry getting burned out because they, with great intention, think it’s necessary to place a burden on those they are ministering to—burdens that they themselves cannot bear. That burden is the Law.
Law Means Freedom
So are these verses in Joshua wrong? Are they outdated? No. Those words are as true today as they were when God spoke them to Joshua. The Law, if you understand its purpose, will free you to become the person God has created you to be. Unfortunately, even the most well intentioned religious people will often distort the purpose of the Law and will make doing everything written within its pages the preeminent factor in how they live their lives and how they instruct others to live their lives. We have a tendency to make God into Father, Son, and Holy Bible instead of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Before you call me a heretic, let’s examine what I just said. I didn’t say that the Word of God should not be a factor in how we live our lives; I believe that the Bible is the Holy, inspired Word of God and needs to be an important part of daily life. What I am saying is that we need to understand the Bible’s purpose or it will cause us to be so burdened that we will easily become burned out trying to follow its many directives.
What Is the Purpose of the Law?
The Apostle Paul tells us that “the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith” (Galatians 3:24). God’s intent for the Law was not to use it to justify us or make us right with Him; it was to show us that by our works we cannot be justified because we will never be able to live up to the Law. How can we be made right with God if not by works? The remedy God gave us by which we can be justified is faith (or belief) in Jesus.
I know this is basic and you’ve heard it before, but please read this carefully: You cannot be justified by works. Success, as God defines it, can only come through a relationship with Him. A relationship with God can only happen if you are right with God. Becoming right with God cannot happen through works. Therefore, you cannot become successful through works, even if they are good works and even if you try really hard to not sin. You cannot be justified by works.
From Genesis to Revelation, the Bible’s purpose is to tell the story of Christ and to point us toward Him. Studying the Law in the light of this purpose will change your life; studying it outside the light of this purpose will burden your life.
A Disqualifying Sin
Let me better explain what I mean when I speak of studying the Law in the light of its purpose, by giving an example of how we should study. In Numbers chapter 20 something took place that disqualified Moses from entering the Promised Land. That “something” must have been something big, right? Is it the story about how he murdered the Egyptian? That’s got to be a disqualifier, right? Or is it the story about how he went against God’s directive and married an Ethiopian woman? Or is it when we’re told about how he didn’t circumcise his children like God commanded?
Nope, none of those sins disqualified Moses from the Promised Land. What happened?
In Exodus 17 (years prior to Numbers 20), Moses and the nation of Israel had just left Egypt
So Moses pleaded with the Lord to tell him what to do. God told him that He was going to lead them to a rock, and when they got there, Moses was to take his rod and strike the rock. Moses did just that and water gushed out of the rock, providing liquid sustenance for the people. Skip ahead a number of years… the people are again back in the desert and Moses has led them back to the same rock. Once again there was no water in sight and the people complained.
Moses, frustrated with the complaints, went to the Lord and pleaded for Him to tell him what to do. This time God told Moses to take his rod and go and speak to the rock. Ask the rock for water. But instead of speaking to the rock, Moses took his rod, insulted and rebuked the people, and then hit the rock just as he had done years earlier. This is what disqualified Moses from entering the Promised Land.
God’s True Nature
Why did striking a rock disqualify Moses when murder didn’t? To understand this story you must study it in the light of its purpose. How does it teach us about Christ? In First Corinthians chapter ten, Paul equates the rock to Jesus. The Israelites were in the desert, they were parched, dry, and on the verge of death. The remedy for their dryness was to strike the rock. When we are in the world (unsaved), we are dried up and dying in our sin. The remedy for that eminent death is to strike the Rock (Jesus). Someone needed to die in our place, and in Jesus’ death, we find life. But He only has to be struck once. He died once for all (Hebrews 10:10) and since the price has been paid, all we have to do when we need relief is speak to the Rock.
The reason Moses was disqualified from entering the Promised Land was because he misrepresented the nature of God. In God’s own words, "Because you did not believe Me, to hallow Me in the eyes of the children of Israel
But God was not mad or unjust—the price had already been paid; there was no need for the people to feel guilty. His remedy now was simply to speak to the rock. Jesus said: "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water" (John 7:37-38).
A Pastor’s Predicament
Here’s how we do it. Here’s how we might misrepresent God. This time I’ll use the name Tom to protect the identity of Greg. Tom is a pastor who is trying to lead his congregation into a better life, but he is frustrated with the lack of fruit in lives of his flock. He sees people in his church who are selfish with their money and time, struggling in their marriages, and their kids are running wild. So he prepares a series of messages to touch on each of these problem areas.
For the first month he teaches messages on stewardship, bringing his congregation to portions of Scripture that speak of stewardship. He shows them incontrovertible proof of how important it is to God that they be good stewards of what they’ve been given. He holds seminars about tithing and service, showing Biblically how giving sacrificially will actually benefit the giver more than the benefactor of the gift.
The next month Tom teaches messages on marriage, showing Biblically that giving up our selfish desires as husbands and wives is the key to a good marriage. He brings in marriage experts to hold workshops on how the husband can become a better leader by holding to his promises and washing his wife in the Word, and how a wife can better submit by humbling herself through service. He shows without question how the marriage you are looking for can be attained by working hard to do these things.
In month three Tom focuses in on parenting, teaching the principles of authority and consistency in discipline. He invites the kids into the main sanctuary to teach them how to be good kids, giving examples of how his kids act. He shows unequivocally exactly what the Bible says about what parents and kids should be doing to have the perfect parent/child relationship.
At the end of this three-month strategy, Tom is looking forward to sitting back and witnessing the fruit of his Biblical teaching. But there is little to no change in the congregation. So Tom re-groups and determines that what he needs to do is become a better example to the church. He begins to give more of his own time and resources. He humbly announces what he is doing, hoping it will spur others to follow. He offers his time to any and all that need him; he donates the money he raised from the sale of his RV and tells the congregation how great it felt to do so.
But still, no change in the lives of the congregation. A few more months pass and Pastor Tom, giving more of his time and resources than ever before, is exhausted. He no longer has his RV for his vacation and is depressed that he is making no inroads for the betterment of his flock. To add to his frustration, the time he is spending trying to help others is now negatively affecting his marriage and his family. The burden he carries is weighing him down to the point of breaking.
“Why?” he cries out. “Everything I’ve taught, everything I’ve done, and everything I’ve given has been based on Biblical principles. Why am I not reaping the benefits of all my hard work?”
Point to the Right Remedy
Tom is right. Everything he taught about stewardship, about marriage, and about rearing kids is Biblical. We should be good stewards and give sacrificially. In our marriages, husbands should lead and wives should follow. We do need to be consistent with the discipline of our children. So why is he finding no success in leading his flock into the Promised Land?
The problem here is that Tom is misrepresenting God. You see, those things, those actions he is teaching are not the remedy God has given us for our illness; they are the evidence of the cure. Our responsibility as leaders in the Church is to point people to the remedy God has prescribed—Christ! Teach them about Christ, show them the love of Christ, instruct them on how to find Christ in the Word, and encourage them to seek Christ in everything. Administer the remedy!
Once that remedy is administered, a supernatural change occurs in the individual who has received it. They can now look into the Bible like a mirror to see for themselves if they are exhibiting the evidence of being healed. And we as leaders can look at the flock through the Word to see if they need another dose of the remedy… Christ!
In our text, Joshua was already exhibiting the evidence of being cured. He had shown that he had the faith God required to enter the Promised Land. We know this because we are told that God had already given him the land. In Joshua chapter one God told Joshua to stay close to Him, talk to Him, listen to His words, and follow His commands. You’ve already made it, you’ve already done what is required to conquer the land, so follow Me and I’ll show you My faithfulness.
Jesus told us the same thing in John 15:4-5:
"Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.”
The secret to success is found in the study and meditation of the Book of the Law. “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God” (Romans 10:17). But the purpose of the Word of God is not to guilt us into doing works; the purpose of the Word is to point us to Christ.
Seek the remedy—and the evidence of the cure will occur naturally.
