Joshua 5:13-15; 6:1-5

13 And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, a Man stood opposite him with His sword drawn in His hand. And Joshua went to Him and said to Him, “Are You for us or for our adversaries?” 14 So He said, “No, but as Commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.” And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped, and said to Him, “What does my Lord say to His servant?”15 Then the Commander of the Lord’s army said to Joshua, “Take your sandal off your foot, for the place where you stand is holy.” And Joshua did so.

1 Now the gates of Jericho were tightly shut because the people were afraid of the Israelites. No one was allowed to go out or in. 2 But the Lord said to Joshua, “I have given you Jericho, its king, and all its strong warriors. 3 You and your fighting men should march around the town once a day for six days. 4 Seven priests will walk ahead of the Ark, each carrying a ram’s horn. On the seventh day you are to march around the town seven times, with the priests blowing the horns. 5 When you hear the priests give one long blast on the rams’ horns, have all the people shout as loud as they can. Then the walls of the town will collapse, and the people can charge straight into the town.”

We don’t often think to put the words worship and warriors in the same sentence but there is a war and worship that wins involves:

• Wanting to hear the Lord

After receiving the report of the two spies, readying the troops, and crossing the Jordan, Joshua seeks to ready himself. He starts by studying the situation and surveying the landscape so as to devise a battle plan. It was there that as he “looked up” that he encountered a man with a sword in his hand. Joshua questioned the man to see if he was a friend or a foe, Joshua wanted to know whose side this man was on.  The response of the man is an interesting one, So He said, “No, but as Commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.” His response was not what Joshua expected he said, “Neither”, which revealed His purpose and then He went on to reveal His position. When God steps onto the scene He does not come to take sides, He comes to take over. Worship is not about what we want but what He wants. Today we want God to join us in our battles, but we should not ask if God is on our side, instead we must decide whether we are on God’s side. The more appropriate question is, “whose side are we on?” As we face the battles, physically, emotionally and spiritually we need to make sure that we are on the Lord’s side through all our confrontations.  When the messenger identified Himself, revealing His position, “Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped”.  There is no doubt that Joshua was in the presence of Jesus, first, this messenger allows himself to be worshipped, angels never do, and secondly, Joshua was instructed to remove his sandals because he was on holy ground just as Moses had at the burning bush Exodus 3:5. Jesus was the reason for Joshua’s worship and He is the reason for our worship. Worship is not a response to our changed circumstances but the unchanging Creator.

For Joshua worship also involved the question, “What does my Lord say to His servant?” For Worship warriors the battle doesn’t start with a sword but with submission. Winning begins before the battle, when we recognize and remember who is in charge. Real worship always involves wanting what God wants over our wants. When worship is centered around the Messiah and His message we care about His commands. God’s commands involve taking off and taking notice “Take your sandal off your foot, for the place where you stand is holy.” As we come into worship today do we really take notice of whose presence we are in and what needs to be removed in response? God wants us to recognize and be reverent yet so often we want to go and do instead of be. As we ask “God what do you want me to do” He responds, “Be still, and know that I am God” Psalm 46:10. We want to focus on the outcome without observing His omnipotence.  Yet it is only in the presence of His power that we can have peace in the problem we face. Most of our prayer time is taken up with telling not asking and listening, we usually tell God what we need and want. When Joshua realizes who he is addressing he immediately falls into worship which involving asking, listening and obeying. We want worship to address our answers but it was designed to addresses the Almighty because the Almighty is the answer. Today will you coming to hear His command, will you ask the crucial question of worship: “Lord what do You want me to hear and do?”

• Walking with the Lord

God reveals that the details of how the war was to be waged involved walking with Him. The significance of surrender is seen in the truth that with the Savior we are not fighting alone. Joshua was told that they were to march around the city for 6 days carrying the Ark because God’s battle plan involved His people walk with Him. That probably sounded pretty strange to Joshua but remember it’s not about God joining us but us joining Him and heading in the direction that He is going. Success was not found in walking around Jericho but walking with God around Jericho.  Success was not found in a sword but in spending time with the Savior.  We forget just how big the city was and how far they had to walk, it took a full day to get around. Today many of us won’t even walk to the front of a church to surrender let alone around a city.  So couldn’t God just have knocked the walls over without all the work? Can’t He take care of our problems without us having to do anything? Of course He could but He usually doesn’t. It’s in the walking with Him that our wanting turns to wonder as we watch His power at work. We need to learn the lessons but we usually don’t want to learn, we just WANT! Worship warriors spend their time in wonder not wanting. Today what moves us is not the Savior but selfishness and until we start walking with the Lord we are just going to be standing there staring at the walls saying “I wonder when God is going to do something about these walls? I told Him they needed to come down!” Today we have made it all about the walls instead of the walk, yet it is in the walk that the war is won. Can you imagine what the people in Jericho were thinking as they watched? Here are all these people marching around the walls of the city, blowing trumpets, carrying the Ark and not saying a word. Do you think we could get that many Christians together today and have everybody keep their mouths shut all day long as they marched? We want to make worship about the words but notice what Joshua commands the people in verse 10 “Do not give a war cry, do not raise your voices, do not say a word until the day I tell you to shout. Then shout!” The words come after the walk not before, after we walk in obedience then come the words. Today we worship with words and a wayward walk, yet God calls us to walk the talk.  Try worshipping God today by just walking with Him in wonder without the words.

Psalm 95:6-7

“Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker; 7 for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care. Today, if only you would hear his voice, “Do not harden your hearts.”

Unfortunately worship in the 21^st century seems to have produced more war than wonder, mostly because we have made worship more about our wants than His. Worship should be where our wants are overwhelmed by His wonder as we come willingly to God and recognize who He is. As we humble ourselves before Him declaring that He is our all in all. As we recognize that He is Sovereign and the source of all authority. As we express our love, loyalty, and longing for Him. When you study worship in the bible it doesn’t take long to discover two interesting ingredients, Awe and joy.

• Awe

When it comes to worship Isaiah in Isaiah 6:1-5 describes his experience: “I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high & exalted, & the train of His robe filled the temple.” And there were angels there, shouting, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty, the whole earth is full of His glory. At the sound of their voices the doorposts & thresholds shook & the temple was filled with smoke. ‘Woe to me,’ I cried. ‘I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, & I live among a people of unclean lips, & my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”  Do you discover the sense of awe there? Isaiah said, “I went into the temple & I saw the Lord! He was on His throne, & the glory of God was everywhere. I felt the ground shake & smoke filled the temple. Angels were saying, ‘Holy, Holy, Holy,’ & I felt totally unworthy of being in His presence.” Worship involves wonder, a sense of awe, have you ever felt that way? Have you ever looked up at the stars and marveled at the universe only to realize that the One who created it all loves you so much that He came to earth and died for you? That’s awe. David felt it and in Psalm 8 said, “When I consider your heavens & the work of your fingers, the moon & the stars which you set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him…?” Then he closes with these words, “Oh Lord, our God, how majestic is your name in all the earth.” When was the last time you were in awe of the Almighty?

• Joy

The second essential ingredient of worship is joy. Acts 2:46 tells us that the early church “worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people” Not only is there awe, but joy was there also. They discovered that God was not some awesome being waiting for them to make a mistake so that He can punish them. Instead the creator of the universe is a God of love who desires to express His mercy and grace and to save us from our sins. God has lifted you up out of the pit and brought you into His presence and that ought to bring joy into your heart. Psalm 100 says, “Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.” Reading through the Psalms I marvel at the number of times the idea of joy is expressed, we should be a joyful people for our God loves and cares for us.

The only problem with awe and joy is that we often see them in conflict with one another. If you come from a formal church background where the emphasize is on the importance of being still and acknowledging that God is God and then visit a service where people are laughing, clapping, raising hands, and expressing joy, you’d think they are being disrespectful. “They shouldn’t behave that way.”  But if you come from a contemporary background where you’re used to all that, and visit a service where people are sitting quietly, you’d think, “They need an infusion of joy.” Today in our war over our wants in worship we have missed the wonder of worship.  In the war over worship we see formal as being without joy and contemporary as disrespectfully carefree. We judge the hearts and motives of those around us whose worship is different, trying to conform them to fit our comfort. Yet true worship should conform us not the other way around “let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker” Today would we hear the truth that we are His people we are following our Father not our feelings. Worship is not about our wants but about His wonder.  When we see children coming to a parent with their raised hands, we don’t say, “put down your hands, you little charismatic.” What are they doing? They’re coming saying, pick me up, hold me.” When people sit in silence before their God it’s not stoic joyless worship but stillness before their Savior. Different styles but the same Savior, different ways of expressing their hearts but the same need, “God, I’m tired and I need you.” The truth is that it’s not about the styles it’s about the Savior. So whether your worship is reserved or raised we are all His sheep coming to submit and surrender. So when you see raise hands don’t consider them pharisaical, and if they are not raise don’t consider them unspiritual. Worship involves His Word and His Wonder and that always brings awe and joy.