The Lord Is Our Inheritance
Download MP3Invite you to open your bibles to Joshua chapter 13. Joshua 13. I think the text is also in your worship guide. This will be a somewhat familiar passage to, to at least a handful of you. We looked at this text shortly after we started the church.
Joel Brooks:But we've noticed, the elders and staff, we noticed that some of these themes have continued to percolate over the years. And so we we thought it would be a good idea to revisit this. I'll be reading Joshua 13, beginning in verse 32. These are the inheritances that Moses distributed in the plains of Moab beyond the Jordan, east of Jericho. But to the tribe of Levi, Moses gave no inheritance.
Joel Brooks:The Lord, the God of Israel is their inheritance. Just as he said to them, pray with me. Our father, we need to hear from you this moment, at this time. Jesus, your words, they bring life, they draw us to you, and so we ask that you would speak. God, I pray in this moment, nobody would be drawn to anybody else other than you, Jesus.
Joel Brooks:Lord, may my words fall to the ground and blow away and not be remembered anymore, but lord, may your words remain and may they change us. We pray this in the strong name of Jesus. Amen. A number of years ago during some holiday, it was either Christmas or Thanksgiving. My mom gathered all of her children together.
Joel Brooks:I'm the youngest of 3 kids. And, during this holiday, decided it would be a good time to go over her will with us. It's it's how my mom rolls. And, and and so this really cheerful time just kind of became, well, it just wasn't very much fun. And we're going through this wheel, and my mom is anything but unfair.
Joel Brooks:She's just always tries to be the most fair person. And so she goes, this is what we're gonna do. Of the furniture, David, you get first dibs of the furniture. Cheryl, you get second dibs, and then you, Joel. And, and David's like, no score.
Joel Brooks:I mean, because my mom actually has some really good antiques there, and, and then my mom says, and next we're going to divide the jewelry, and Cheryl, you're going to get first pick of the jewelry. And, which is also a pretty big score, because my mom has, you know, some heirloom jewelry that's been handed down over the years. And then she gets to me, she says, Joel, you will get the first pick of everything electronic. And, and when she said that, my brother and my sister just erupted in laughter because my mom has nothing that is newer than like 22 years old. And essentially what she was willing to me was, a Sony Walkman cassette player, or she did have that VHS DVD combo drive that that could be mine.
Joel Brooks:And, and my brother leaned over to me, and he goes, Man, you just got gypped. You just got gypped. I want us to look at inheritance tonight. The kind of inheritance that we're gonna receive. As Christians, what is our inheritance, and are we gonna get gypped when it comes to it?
Joel Brooks:What we just read in Joshua 13 is, when Joshua is distributing all of the lands. And so, I want you to imagine this scene. All the tribal leaders are gathered before Joshua. And for over 40 years, they have been battling to take over this land. The land that was promised to them 400 years earlier to Abraham.
Joel Brooks:And now it's finally theirs. And Joshua is, you know, he undoes the scroll, and he's reading through all of the land allotments. And he's like, Reuben. Okay. You get all the land from the Arnon Gorge, you know, over to the river Jordan.
Joel Brooks:Gad, you get, you get the town of Gilead, and half of the Ammonite country, and, the east of the Jordan, all the way down to this other city. And, he goes on and on and on. To all of these tribes, and what they're gonna get, and finally he comes to the Levites. And so the tribe of Levi, the Lord, the God of Israel is your inheritance. And then you kind of wait for more, but nothing more comes.
Joel Brooks:We, we find out later in chapter 14, what's meant by this, they're they're merely given some scattered cities among all the other tribes, neighborhoods if you will. So they're giving, they're given a home that they can live. But they're not giving any land, so they can't ever grow crops. They can't ever raise cattle. And what God is doing is, he's saying, from now on, you will always be dependent upon everybody else.
Joel Brooks:You can never make your own money. You can never earn your own living. I'm the one who's going to be your inheritance. No land. Now, there's a part of me, when when I read this, kinda like my brother, I I kinda wanna whisper into the ear of the Levites, Guys, you got gypped.
Joel Brooks:You got gypped. I mean, come on. The Lord is your inheritance? What does that, what does that mean? You mean the reward for all of your hard labor, all of your work over these last 40 years is that you just get to keep making sacrifices to the Lord.
Joel Brooks:But there's there's no land, there's no wealth. You got chipped. And I just want to confess. There's a, there's a part of me that really wants to say that. And I think the reason I almost want to say
Jeffrey Heine:that is
Joel Brooks:because, the other tribes got the Lord too. It wasn't like they didn't get the Lord. I mean they they didn't get to make their sacrifices, you know, or like like the priest did, but they still got to go to the temple, still got to sing to the Lord, still got to present their offerings. God was still their God. So that they had all of that, and they got land.
Joel Brooks:They got wealth. So 11 tribes got land and the lord. One tribe just got the lord. And so, let me ask you a question, who got more? Who inherited more?
Joel Brooks:How you answer that is going to affect everything. It's gonna affect the the the career you have, the the things you pursue, the things that you buy, the relationships that you build. How you answer that question will have implications for all of those areas in your life. And at first, when you're reading this, you're like, no brainer. Alright.
Joel Brooks:So I get that you're saying, I get to have a relationship with the creator of the universe, plus a lot of wealth, or I get to just have the relationship with the creator of the universe. And you're tempted to just say, well, I'll take, you know, I'll take the relationship with wealth. Not so fast. Flip over to the new testament, to Luke chapter 12. It's a text we actually heard from recently, but I want us to read this text in light of what we have just read.
Joel Brooks:Luke chapter 12, I'll begin reading in verse 22. Jesus said to his disciples, therefore, I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat nor about your body, what you will put on for life is more than food, the body more than clothing. Consider the ravens. They neither sow nor reap. They have neither a storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them.
Joel Brooks:Oh, how much more value are you than the birds? In which if you by being anxious can add a single hour to a span of life. If then you are not able to do a small thing such as that, why are you anxious about the rest? Consider the lilies, how they grow. They neither toil nor spin.
Joel Brooks:Yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass, which is alive in the field today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you? Oh, you have little faith. And do not seek what you were to eat or what you were to drink, nor be worried. For all the nations of the world seek after these things and your father knows that you need them.
Joel Brooks:Instead, seek His kingdom and these things will be added to you. Fear not, little flock, for it is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Alright. In this text, Jesus, he he lists all of these things that we spend our energies on, and he says, Hey, don't waste your time. It's not worth it.
Joel Brooks:These things really don't matter. Life is more than eating, and your body was made for better things than just clothes. So, God knows you're gonna need, need these things. He's gonna take care of you. Just concentrate on Him.
Joel Brooks:That's what Jesus says. And then he's telling all of these wonderful things about how he's going to take care of us. Then suddenly out of the blue, he says in verse 32, fear not. Don't fear. This seems a little out of place to me when I'm reading through this.
Joel Brooks:The disciples had to be thinking, at at this point, afraid. Afraid? Jesus, we're not afraid. I mean, yeah, yeah, we're anxious at times, you know, we're maybe we're a little worried at times. But you know what, if if the following new thing doesn't work out, Peter can go back to fishing, make a pretty good living.
Joel Brooks:James and John could go with him. Matthew could go back to tax collecting. I mean, we're we're gonna be all right. We're we're not scared. We're not maybe a little worried.
Joel Brooks:Why is there is there something you're not telling us, Jesus? Is there something that we're supposed to be scared about? This comment seems a little out of place. Let me ask you, if you're, if you're on an airplane, you're over the ocean, the pilot gets on the intercom, and his first words are, I just want you to all know there is nothing for you to be scared of. Oh, what what emotion does that produce in you?
Joel Brooks:Like, thank you. I it lets me know I'm about to die imminent horrible death. Okay? That that is what I hear if if the pilot says that. Our kids have learned that whenever I tell them, hey, there's nothing to be scared of, that there's a lot to be scared of.
Joel Brooks:I told them there's nothing to be scared of when the tree went through our house and just almost took them out. Lauren's birthday is on April 27th, which, you know, that's the day that the tornadoes all came through Alabama. We're gathered in the Clings basement, their cellars, like the small room within their basement. The Johnsons were in there. The Klinges were in there.
Joel Brooks:We're in there. It's like all of us. And, and we get out the birthday cake and, you know, we're by candlelight and the darkness there. We're singing happy birthday to Lauren, all the while telling our kids, it's okay. It's okay.
Joel Brooks:There's nothing to be scared of. Tornado sirens are going off. They can hear the wind. We're all in here. It's like, like, really?
Joel Brooks:There's nothing to be scared of? I wonder if this comment began producing some fear. Verse 32. Jesus calls them his little flock. Fear not, little flock.
Joel Brooks:Then he says, for it is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. You just gotta kinda pause. I mean, I mean, you read through, I know you read through the New Testament about 10 times a year. You know, you just, you just kinda skip over that, but do you see the staggering promise that Jesus has just made? The Father is pleased to give you the kingdom.
Joel Brooks:These people are gonna inherit the earth. That means, there is not a king or a prince or a queen or an emperor that has anything on them. They are gonna one day own it all. And Jesus is saying, My father is pleased. It delights in to give you the world as your inheritance, his kingdom.
Joel Brooks:That's pretty big. And if the passage stopped there, I'd be really confused about the don't fear comment. But then you get verse 33. Sell your possessions. Give to the needy.
Joel Brooks:Provide yourself with the money bags that do not grow old, with the treasure in heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. At this moment, Jesus is looking at him and he's saying, alright. You say you want all of me. If you want all of me, then, I'm gonna have to be everything to you.
Joel Brooks:Sell your possessions. He's basically crying out what the Psalmist cried out, Whom have I in heaven, but you On earth, there is nothing I desire but you? And so in order for God to be everything in our life, He's got to become everything in our life, and that's what's happening here. He's he's got to be that pearl of great price, in which you sell everything in order to get it. He's the the treasure that's buried in the field in which, out of joy, you're gonna sell everything you have to purchase that land that you might own the treasure.
Joel Brooks:Jesus has to be that to us. I'm not I'm not asking you right now as like, hey, are you a Christian because you really need to be a Christian? I'm asking is, is Jesus worth this to you? I'm not asking if you tithe, if you go to church. I'm asking, is is Jesus your true desire?
Joel Brooks:I would have loved to been there to seeing the expression of the disciples after verse 33. I mean, he's going through all this, and they are shouting amens into where it like hits the pinnacle, verse 32. They're like, preach it, Jesus. That's right. Bring it.
Joel Brooks:And he's like, oh, yeah. Sell everything. Sell your possessions. And it's just like awkward, you know, just just that really awkward crickets chirping silence there. Wow.
Joel Brooks:I don't know about you, but, my family's kind of addicted to the Olympics. Are any of y'all like that? Completely have just shattered our kids' bedtime. I mean, they're they're like 11 o'clock every night. It's just they're they're supposed to go to bed, like, 7:45.
Joel Brooks:But I love, you know, I love the interviews with the athletes, as they talk about their family life, and the sacrifices, and all this. And you find this more with professional athletes. A lot of times a professional athlete is interviewed, and if they're Christians, sometimes they might say something like this, Well you know, God is first in my life. And then there's my family, and then there's football. Those are my priorities, and we we tend to be like, That's that's really good.
Joel Brooks:What a great Christian. Let's put them before 1,000 and let them preach. But Jesus would disagree with that so much. Because right there, you put Jesus on a list. The same list as others.
Joel Brooks:And Jesus says in a satellite, No, I am the list. There is no Jesus and then family, Jesus and then football. It's like, it's Jesus. The reason you love your family is because you love me. The reason you pursue your career is because you love me, and you want to see me glorified in your career.
Joel Brooks:For from me, and through me, and to me are all things. Whether you eat and drink, whatever you do, you do all to my glory. And Jesus says, I am the list. I'm not just the top, I'm at all. That's what Jesus is teaching these disciples here.
Joel Brooks:He says, don't be afraid. Do do you see the similarities? I hope you see the similarities between Joshua 13 and Luke 12. Don't be afraid. When when I look back at my Christian life, My biggest hindrance, I think, of my faith has not been any sin that that I'm aware of.
Joel Brooks:Not because I don't sin. There's plenty, but it's not been things like, you know, lack of Bible study or lack of prayer or something like that. That I don't think that's really been the biggest hindrance in my Christian life. The biggest hindrance I think has been fear. Fear.
Joel Brooks:Maybe some of you know what I mean. It's the fear of letting God have all of me. I have friends, just just a handful of friends who I think have really lived this stuff out. And let me tell you what, they scare me. I don't like being around them.
Joel Brooks:One of my friends, they saw somebody in need, so he sold his car, and he gave him the money. I'm like, Who does that? He's like, Jesus. I'm like, Oh, great. You know?
Joel Brooks:I've had friends who sold everything they had, you know, moved to India, and, to to serve orphans there. And, just people who've just really lived this. And I feel uncomfortable kind of when I'm in their presence. Be honest. Would it terrify you to pray this?
Joel Brooks:Lord, whatever you need to do, do in my life, until you're my only desire. Whatever you need to remove, remove till you're my only desire. Does that just kind of, you know, make your stomach kind of turn in little knots to pray that? It does with me. That's why Jesus said, don't be afraid.
Joel Brooks:When I was a junior at the University of Georgia, I remember walking by the student center, and and this is a defining moment in my life. Often when I meet with people for lunch or breakfast, I ask them, what's what's a defining moment in your life, for good or for bad? This is one of the defining moments in my life. I'm walking by the student center and they have, for some reason, they've built a free speech platform. Like, like, that's a good idea at the University of Georgia, to have a free speech platform.
Joel Brooks:And there's a psychotic preacher up there just spewing venom. Happens all the time. That wasn't enough to really raise my attention or to let me stop. That's a common occurrence at the University of Georgia. And, so I'm just walking by, not paying much much attention to it, and then I really feel like the spirit whispered in my ear, hey, you need to, you need to get up there and preach.
Joel Brooks:I was like, yeah. That's hilarious. And so I just kept walking, and then the same thing. It's like, no Joel, you need to get up there and preach. Terror might be too nice of a word to describe what I felt in that moment.
Joel Brooks:Absolute, total, just terror. Which is actually one of the reasons I knew it was from the Lord, because I was scared to death. Because if it was just something in my mind, I would have laughed and I would have just kept on going, but I couldn't. I couldn't. It was being pushed on me.
Joel Brooks:And so, kind of like my my little kids, you know, when when when they were, well, they still do it now, like to argue with me, I started doing that with the Lord. Raising up what I thought were my well thought, planned out objections, like, well, it's not really my thing or my gifts. Oh, yeah, you're the one who gives gifts. Alright. Check check that one off.
Joel Brooks:Alright. It's not my personality. No one's gonna listen to me. It's really bad timing. I'm I need to go study.
Joel Brooks:You know, I'm coming up with all these objections, Father, please don't make me do this. No objection. There was no reasoning. It was just, please don't make me do this. They're just gonna laugh at me.
Joel Brooks:And I, I thought about that a lot over the years, and why that fear was so crippling, and and later I got up, and why it was so liberating. But, why it was so crippling for me? And let me tell you, it wasn't a fear of rejection that I was struggling with. Because there's no such thing as a fear of rejection. My fear is that, when I was rejected, and it was just me and Jesus, that he would not be enough to sustain me.
Joel Brooks:That was my fear. My fear was that Jesus really would not be enough for me. When it was just me and him. Because you see, all along, I wanted Christ plus something. I wanted him plus my dignity.
Joel Brooks:Plus some respect. I wanted him plus some money. I wanted him plus a nice girlfriend. I wanted him plus a good job and a nice house someday. I wanted him plus all of these things, and my fear was, when it was just Jesus and me, and nothing else, He wouldn't sustain me.
Joel Brooks:That's my fear. And I didn't know it at the time, but, there was a deep, unresolved question that was lingering in my heart that was, Jesus, are you enough? Or am I just gonna get gypped? And I bet that's a fear that holds many of you back in your faith. The fear that keeps you from knowing and from experiencing the full joy that Jesus has to offer in him.
Joel Brooks:The fear of sharing your faith with your neighbor or a colleague and then rejecting you is not a real fear. The fear is that if they reject you, and it's only the smile of God on your life, that His smile will not be enough for you. The fear of getting old, or or getting sick, and your body breaking apart is not a real fear. The fear is when that happens, Jesus will not be enough to sustain you. Not be enough to nurse you.
Joel Brooks:The fear of, you know, for some of you singles, of not finding a spouse, which is a deep fear, it really isn't a fear at all. The fear is that the embrace of God, if that's all you're left with is His embrace, it will not be enough to satisfy you. His embrace alone won't give you joy. The fear of your career not working out, fear of you financially tanking is not a real fear. The fear is if that happens, you're gonna find that an identity built on Christ really wasn't rock solid.
Joel Brooks:And you'll crumble. The fear you have of confessing your sins to others, and then, maybe they're like, What in the world you did that stuff? And feeling rejected, that's not a real fear. The fear is that the smile and the acceptance of God in your life is not enough. That's the fear under all of those fears.
Joel Brooks:Is Jesus, will you be enough when it's just you? Or am I gonna get gypped? The bottom fear of everything is the question. God, are you enough for me? Are you really all I could hope for?
Joel Brooks:All I could ever need? Are you really, everlasting life? Does joy really flow from your presence? So let me ask you, is the Lord alone worth more to you than the Lord plus something? Jesus would say, yes.
Joel Brooks:Yes. And he says it all throughout scripture. Jesus would say, I'm the bread of life. And what He means by that is, Hey, come to me for your sustenance. Okay?
Joel Brooks:I will sustain you. Jesus would say, I, I am the good shepherd. And what He's saying is, Hey come to me for your care, come to me for your protection. I provide those things. When Jesus said, Come to me all who are, who are thirsty and I'll give you drink.
Joel Brooks:He's like, Come to me, I will satisfy your every desire, if you will just come to me. Jesus said, I am the resurrection, I am the life. And what he means is like, If you come to me, even death cannot separate my love for you. Just come to me. So, yes, Jesus is worth it.
Joel Brooks:And let me tell you a final thing about inheritance. You do nothing to receive it. An inheritance means somebody else did all the work, somebody else accumulated all of the wealth, and it is simply going to be given to you. You do nothing. And please, don't walk away from here, you know, and think, Alright, I just need to just need to do a better job.
Joel Brooks:I just really need to dig in and work really hard, and then the Lord's gonna bless me. That's not at all what I'm saying. You don't work for this. It's through the work of Jesus. And also, in an inheritance, it comes through death.
Joel Brooks:Our inheritance of Jesus came through his death. Our blessings came from his work and we need to rest in that. Rest in our glorious inheritance as the saints. Let me close by just reading you one short verse from Isaiah 49. Those who hope in me will not be disappointed.
Connor Coskery:Pray with me.
Joel Brooks:God, I ask that you would, through your spirit, by the work of your son, that you would strengthen our faith. To simply believe the glorious things you have promised promised us through your word. Jesus. Right now, we want to declare your worth, your worth far above everything. And we do want to pray that scary prayer, God, that you do whatever you need to do with us until you are our only desire and you are the only thing that satisfies.
Joel Brooks:Lord, I know that that prayer, some of us pray that in strong faith, some in weak faith, some of us are crying. I believe help my unbelief, but Lord hear our prayer. We pray this in the strong name of Jesus and for his glory. Amen.
