Grow Strong in God’s Grace (Wk 20)
Learning How to be a Faithful Farmer for God’s Harvest!
A Faith that Saves the Day!
Hebrews 11:31 (NASB)
God is in the business of transforming stories through the gospel of Jesus Christ. We are to grow strong in God’s grace as active participants in the world He created. God has entrusted His creation to His people to work as His Harvest workers – “All the world’s a field, and all the disciples of Jesus Christ merely farmers!” Therefore, let’s be faithful farmers by following the four-step strategy of a hard-working farmer: 1) cultivate people with faith; 2) sow the good seed of God’s grace (the gospel) into their hearts and minds; 3) care for them as their stories are transformed into fruit-bearing plants; and 4) reap a harvest of praise as the church of Jesus Christ. This strategy must be empowered by the Holy Spirit because apart from God we cannot bear any good fruit (John 15:5). Therefore, harvest workers of God’s kingdom are called to grow strong in God’s grace. Let’s take the first step by learning from the transforming stories of the Hall of Faith, found in Hebrews 11.
STEP #1 OF THE FARMER’S STRATEGY: CULTIVATE THE SOIL WITH FAITH
Today’s story is about Rahab, found in Hebrews 11:31, “By faith Rahab the harlot did not perish along with those who were disobedient, after she had welcomed the spies in peace.” This ancient story of Jericho is found in Joshua 2-6. Rahab’s specific part to play, when “she had welcomed the spies in peace” is found in Joshua 2, and when she “did not perish along with those who were disobedient” is found in Joshua 6. While we will walk through her faithfulness, as described in Joshua 2 later, allow me to read to you the reward of her faithfulness from Joshua 6:22-25:
Joshua said to the two men who had spied out the land, “Go into the harlot’s house and bring the woman and all she has out of there, as you have sworn to her.” So the young men who were spies went in and brought out Rahab and her father and her mother and her brothers and all she had; they also brought out all her relatives and placed them outside the camp of Israel. They burned the city with fire, and all that was in it. Only the silver and gold, and articles of bronze and iron, they put into the treasury of the house of the Lord. However, Rahab the harlot and her father’s household and all she had, Joshua spared; and she has lived in the midst of Israel to this day, for she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.
What is it about this story that put “Rahab the harlot” in the hall of faith? Let us pray and then we will look at the next action step to answer that question.
STEP #2 OF THE FARMER’S STRATEGY: SOW THE GOOD SEED OF GOD’S GRACE
Joshua 2 explains the answer to that big question. Joshua sent two men to spy on Jericho in preparation for the military conquest of the Promised Land. They ended up in Rahab’s house, verse 1 explicitly states, “So they went and came into the house of a harlot whose name was Rahab, and lodged there.” [emphasis added] There is a lot of discussion around this point, whether it was a brothel or a hostel.[1] Regardless, the king of Jericho, having found out where they were and why they were in Jericho, sent men to capture the spies of Israel (2-3). Rahab deceived to the king’s servants, protecting the spies from capture and certain death (4-7), giving the spies her reasoning in verses 9-13:
I know that the Lord has given you the land, and that the terror of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land have melted away before you. For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed. When we heard it, our hearts melted and no courage remained in any man any longer because of you; for the Lord your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath. Now therefore, please swear to me by the Lord, since I have dealt kindly with you, that you also will deal kindly with my father’s household, and give me a pledge of truth, and spare my father and my mother and my brothers and my sisters, with all who belong to them, and deliver our lives from death.
The spies promised to do as she said in return for her help, escaping safely back to Joshua (14-22). The rest is history as we already read in Joshua 6:22-25, and as proclaimed in today’s story from Hebrews 11:31. I want to emphasize how Rahab’s proclamation of faith and actions brought faith and hope to the people of God, from Joshua 2:23-24:
Then the two men returned and came down from the hill country and crossed over and came to Joshua the son of Nun, and they related to him all that had happened to them. They said to Joshua, “Surely the Lord has given all the land into our hands; moreover, all the inhabitants of the land have melted away before us.”
Rahab took a great personal risk to protect the spies because she feared the Lord. As we see repeatedly in the wisdom literature of the Bible, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding” (Proverbs 9:10). God prolonged the days of Rahab’s life, and that of her family and friends, because of her confession of faith. Her actions were motivated by faith, justifying her inclusion into the people of God. Rahab is in the hall of faith because she was the first gentile convert – a type (or foreshadowing) of that which was to come, which is us – the church of Jesus Christ from all nations! Rahab’s family was the first to experience the promise of God to Abraham in Genesis 12:3, “I will bless those who bless you … and in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”
Let’s take the next step to learn how this seed of faith, which can be planted into others through our faithfulness to act according to our own faith and convictions, growing into a faith that saves the day.
STEP #3 OF THE FARMER’S STRATEGY: CARE FOR THE MATURING PLANT
Rahab’s salvation from the destruction of Jericho caused by the wrath of God illuminates for us today the gospel of Jesus Christ. Paul taught us in the Romans Road to Salvation, four key passages that teach us the simple gospel message:
- Romans 3:23, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
- Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
- Romans 5:8, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
- Romans 10:9, “If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”
Just like with Rahab, we must come to a place of faith in God that causes us to make a public confession of our faith. The next step is to show our salvation by taking steps of obedience that prove to the world we belong to God. For most of us that is our baptism, as commanded by Jesus Christ in the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20). I often say to people, while baptism is not a requirement of your salvation, it is a necessary step of your discipleship. You don’t need to obey to be saved, but if you are saved you will w obey. This is Jesus’ classic invitation from Mark 1:15, “repent and believe in the gospel” and again in Mark 1:17, “Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” This is not an intellectual debate for Jesus; it is a simple reality of love, as He said in John 14:15, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” For this reason, the Bible puts Rahab right next to Father Abraham in its dialogue about the interplay between faith and works, as written by the half-brother of Jesus, in James 2:20-26, “In the same way, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead” (25-26).
While all this talk of faith and works can be misunderstood, I want to remind us of what our young seminarian taught us last week in his sermon from Ephesians 2:8-10, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” It is God who saves by grace through faith – it is faith alone so that all who are members of the household of God will never boast in their good works, but only boast in the Lord’s goodness and grace. Just like Joshua who had a faith that tooted God’s horn, Rahab had a faith that saved the day! Let’s now turn to the last action step so that our lives will reap a harvest of praise to the glory of God.
STEP #4 OF THE FARMER’S STRATEGY: REAP A HARVEST OF PRAISE
Bible scholar Richard Hess stated, “Rahab corresponds to Joshua as the faithful one of her people who is chosen to lead them to salvation, or at least to offer it to those who are interested.”[2] When God chooses you for salvation, regardless of how scandalous or broken or misunderstood your past was, or current occupation is, God has chosen you on purpose! In Rahab’s case, it was to be in the lineage of Jesus as recorded in Matthew 1:5-6, “Salmon was the father of Boaz by Rahab, Boaz was the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse. Jesse was the father of David the king. David was the father of Solomon by Bathsheba who had been the wife of Uriah.” [emphasis added] I love how scandalous these two verses are intentionally written! Rahab and Ruth were two non-Jewish women, two Gentile converts grafted into the covenant blood line of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and both were chosen by God to be in the lineage of Jesus Christ. [Interesting note: Have you ever noticed that Boaz, the man who would marry Ruth the Moabite, was raised by Rahab the Harlot? He grew up in a house of redemption! No wonder he had a heart open to be the kinsmen redeemer of Ruth – Praise the Lord! This is a sermon that must be preached another day.] Additionally, Jesus’ lineage includes an overt reminder that the child of Solomon was from Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah, whom he had murdered after committing adultery with his wife. In two verses of Jesus’ lineage, we find three scandals filled with God’s redemption! Richard Hess concluded his thoughts about Rahab:
For the Christian, the story of Rahab is the story of the shepherd’s search for the one lost sheep (Matt. 18:12–14; Luke 15:4–7). It is the concern of Jesus for the despised of the world (Matt. 15:21–28; John 8:1–11). It is the transformation of values to which Christianity calls disciples. Those rejected by the world are precious to God (1 Cor. 1:18–31; Jas 2:5).[3]
God loves a good scandal – it’s where His redemption shines brightest! That’s why God sent His Son Jesus Christ, and that is why the gospel of Jesus Christ is a stumbling block, or scandal, to so many people. God came to rescue people, not preserve a pristine blood line, or establish a moral religion where you get to heaven by your own merits! It’s all God’s grace! God sent His one and only son to seek and to save that which was lost because He loves the nations and wants to redeem them back to His sovereign rule (Matthew 28:18-20; John 3:16; Luke 19:10). This includes all peoples and desires to see none perish (2 Peter 3:9)! This is a scandalous message! Listen to Paul’s words from 1 Corinthians 1:21-31, written to encourage the early church in the city of Corinth, which oh by the way, was a hot mess much like America is today:
For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, so that no man may boast before God. But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, so that, just as it is written, “Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord.”
God rescued you, just like God rescued Rahab, by grace through faith! There are three applications that I would like to draw out of this story and give you as we head to our response:
- Rahab’s declaration of faith in God encouraged the people of God! Your application: Be a hope-bearer and not a doomsdayer! Share your testimony in why you are a shining light in a crooked and perverse generation. You never know how it will affect other people.
- Rahab’s activity of faith demonstrated to the world the saving power of God! She made her faith visible through her good works and that brought glory to God. Your application: seize the moment by doing good works and you will give glory to God every day!
- Rahab’s life of faith gave birth to the next generation in the lineage of faith – Boaz! And what did Boaz do but take in the outcast Ruth the Moabite, making her a part of the family of God. Your application: pass on your faith to others so that they too will invite others to be a part of the church, the household of God!
You, too, can have a faith that saves the day by seizing the moment and living out the redemption story of faith passed to you. I conclude with this invitation from Richard Hess, “The story of Rahab confirms God’s welcome to all people, whatever their condition. Christ died for all the world and the opportunity is available for all to come to him through faith, even the chief of sinners (1 Tim. 1:15).”[4] What is in your past that you feel disqualifies you from being a member of the body of Christ, the household of God? What is in your present that you feel disqualifies you from coming forward today to receive mercy and grace? Today is the day of salvation! Respond to the words of Paul from 1 Timothy 1:15-17:
It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all. Yet for this reason I found mercy, so that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in Him for eternal life. Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.
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FOOTNOTES:
[1] “In his retelling of the biblical story, Josephus portrays Rahab as an innkeeper. He might have chosen an alternate interpretation of the Hebrew term זנה (znh), which is most frequently translated as “prostitute” or “harlot.” On the other hand, he may have deliberately glossed over the issue of her profession (Antiquities 5.6–30). In either case, her “house” may indeed have functioned as an inn (Hess, Joshua, [92]). In comparison, the Septuagint and the authors of Hebrews and James all use the Greek word πόρνη (pornē, “prostitute”)” (Scott R. Moore, “Rahab the Prostitute,” ed. John D. Barry et al., The Lexham Bible Dictionary [Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016]).
[2] Richard S. Hess, Joshua: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 6, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1996), 88.
[3] Hess, Joshua: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 6, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries, 148.