Culture and Church (Step by Step)

We have been talking about how we can make a difference and change the climate or culture in our communities. I have been encouraged by this study and have found myself being drawn to really make this happen. We have to realize that this is not a one time push or a week long battle but it is about living your whole life prepared to permeate the culture, in other words it is little by little, step by step.

The reason I began thinking about this concept was that the Lord took me to Joshua Chapter 18 yesterday. As I read that chapter I was amazed. When I think about the Promised Land that the Lord gave to the Children of Israel I think about how they went into the Land and the Lord caused the hearts of the men of those nations to be afraid. Josh 5:11 Now when all the Amorite kings west of the Jordan and all the Canaanite kings along the coast heard how the LORD had dried up the Jordan before the Israelites until we had crossed over, their hearts melted and they no longer had the courage to face the Israelites. (NIV) The hearts melted because of a supernatural event (more on that in another post).

I always assumed that this was a one-time deal, or at the very least it was an on-going deal that the land was theirs and that they took over after Jericho. Shows you how much I don't know. Anyhow in Chapter 18 I read this yesterday:

Josh 18:1-41 The whole assembly of the Israelites gathered at Shiloh and set up the Tent of Meeting there. The country was brought under their control,2 but there were still seven Israelite tribes who had not yet received their inheritance.3 So Joshua said to the Israelites: "How long will you wait before you begin to take possession of the land that the LORD, the God of your fathers, has given you?4 Appoint three men from each tribe. I will send them out to make a survey of the land and to write a description of it, according to the inheritance of each. Then they will return to me.(NIV)

This passage intrigued me because these seven tribes had not taken possesion of the land that was allotted them. The significant thing that I thought about was that in taking the promised land this was not just a sweeping campaign, but rather a daily, step by step living out their life in order to take control of the Land that the Lord gave them. According to this scripture some did it faster than others, some needed more instruction, some were afraid and others needed more land. You can read chapter17 and 18 and you will see that. Joshua is a picture of how the church ought to permeate the land, little by little, step by step. Until Later.

~SO~