Practice Continual Commemoration

Written by Ed Allen
Tuesday, 12 February 2002 19:00

Out With the Old, In With the New

We need to celebrate.

God recognizes this need and built a system of rituals that served as audiovisual aids and helped His people remember who they are and how He has provided for them. In the case of the Israelites under Joshua's leadership, God prescribed certain commemoration ceremonies that helped them remember who they were and how God had provided for them.

God intended for these ceremonies to be one of the means by which He sustained and managed His ongoing work among them.

Joshua 4:1-9

"(1) When the whole nation had finished crossing the Jordan, the Lord said to Joshua, (2) "Choose twelve men from among the people, one from each tribe, (3) and tell them to take up twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan from right where the priests stood and to carry them over with you and put them down at the place where you stay tonight."

(4) So Joshua called together the twelve men he had appointed from the Israelites, one from each tribe, (5) and said to them, "Go over before the ark of the Lord your God into the middle of the Jordan. Each of you is to take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, (6) to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, 'What do these stones mean?' (7) tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord . When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever."

(8) So the Israelites did as Joshua commanded them. They took twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, as the Lord had told Joshua; and they carried them over with them to their camp, where they put them down. (9) Joshua set up the twelve stones that had been in the middle of the Jordan at the spot where the priests who carried the ark of the covenant had stood. And they are there to this day."

Joshua 5:1-12

"(1) 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.

(2) At that time the Lord said to Joshua, "Make flint knives and circumcise the Israelites again." (3) So Joshua made flint knives and circumcised the Israelites at Gibeath Haaraloth.

(4) Now this is why he did so: All those who came out of Egypt-all the men of military age-died in the desert on the way after leaving Egypt. (5) All the people that came out had been circumcised, but all the people born in the desert during the journey from Egypt had not. (6) The Israelites had moved about in the desert forty years until all the men who were of military age when they left Egypt had died, since they had not obeyed the Lord . For the Lord had sworn to them that they would not see the land that he had solemnly promised their fathers to give us, a land flowing with milk and honey. (7) So he raised up their sons in their place, and these were the ones Joshua circumcised. They were still uncircumcised because they had not been circumcised on the way. (8) And after the whole nation had been circumcised, they remained where they were in camp until they were healed.

(9) Then the Lord said to Joshua, "Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you." So the place has been called Gilgal to this day.

(10) On the evening of the fourteenth day of the month, while camped at Gilgal on the plains of Jericho, the Israelites celebrated the Passover. (11) The day after the Passover, that very day, they ate some of the produce of the land: unleavened bread and roasted grain. (12) The manna stopped the day after they ate this food from the land; there was no longer any manna for the Israelites, but that year they ate of the produce of Canaan."

Joshua 7:26

"(26) Over Achan they heaped up a large pile of rocks, which remains to this day. Then the Lord turned from his fierce anger. Therefore that place has been called the Valley of Achor ever since."

Joshua 8:28-29

"(28) So Joshua burned Ai and made it a permanent heap of ruins, a desolate place to this day. (29) He hung the king of Ai on a tree and left him there until evening. At sunset, Joshua ordered them to take his body from the tree and throw it down at the entrance of the city gate. And they raised a large pile of rocks over it, which remains to this day."

Joshua 8:30-31

"(30) Then Joshua built on Mount Ebal an altar to the Lord , the God of Israel, (31) as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded the Israelites. He built it according to what is written in the Book of the Law of Moses-an altar of uncut stones, on which no iron tool had been used. On it they offered to the Lord burnt offerings and sacrificed fellowship offerings."

The lesson for us is simple: if we want to make room for God to make worthwhile changes in us and make those changes stick, then we have to practice continual commemoration.

That's what Lent is: commemoration. We are remembering Christ's sacrifice on our behalf and we are giving thanks for all that He has done for us. Two themes to keep in mind:

Reduce - Cut out

• How can I reduce? What can I cut out?
• Point of sacrifice is not to suffer as if we owe anything to God or as if we can prove anything to Him. God is not opposed to pleasure. He created pleasure.
• Point is to create time and space to reflect and remember.
• TV, food, travel, activities, put off some purchase, telephone-- Remember - commemorate
• What do we need to remember? How do we commemorate it?
• What has God done this past year? How has He worked in my life overall?

It was lack of commemoration that led to their downfall.

Deuteronomy 8:1-5

"(1) Be careful to follow every command I am giving you today, so that you may live and increase and may enter and possess the land that the Lord promised on oath to your forefathers. (2) Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. (3) He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord . (4) Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years. (5) Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the Lord your God disciplines you."

Deuteronomy 8:10-14

"(10) When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you. (11) Be careful that you do not forget the Lord your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day. (12) Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, (13) and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, (14) then your heart will become proud and you will forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery."