Joshua 14 &15
Calebs Reward
In The
1996 Summer Olympics held in Atlanta There were several awesome stories
& Moments like in all Olympic games
A)But of all the stories the one that was Probably
the most inspirational was reported in
US News & World Report
B) It involved an
American runner by the name of Tony Volpentest
1) Im sure that most if
not all of you have never heard of Tony for you see although he performed in
the Olympics that yr./ not the ones your thinking
C) Tony ran in the Para Olympics - he was
born without hands or feet. hoping to make friends/ Tony took up track as a
high school sophomore,. 1)Fitted with lightweight carbon-fiber prostheses that
mimic the muscle action of natural feet, he became a
world-class sprinter.
D)Although he's not as fast as Canada's Donovan Bailey,
who won the gold medal in Atlanta that
yr. by running 100 meters in a world-record time of 9.84 seconds.
1)But running on the same
track in the Para-olympics, Tony posted his own
world record in the same event.
E) The 23-year-old
sprinter from Federal Way, WA, clocked in at 11.36 seconds-only about a 2 &1/2 seconds
behind Bailey the world's fastest able-bodied man that yr. { Amazing
Story
You
know Stories like that are Inspirational They encourage us to rise above our Limitations / Be they
Physical / emotional / spiritual
A)They inspire us to rise above our hangs ups be they w/ others or ourselves / Rise above our Fears- & say: Here I am God use me
B) Well the Story in our
text this morning is such a story : For in it we see a man who rose above His
limitations to do great things for God
1) His name was Caleb
read his story - Rd v.6-15 of Ch. 14
Now
there are 5 things that I want us to consider about this man Caleb-
1st
Consider who was this man 2 things to consider
A)#1 His name / #2 We want to look at his Lineage - So first his name
A)Most of you know that
in the Bible, people names and place names have great spiritual significance.
B) Well Caleb's name means "Dog." [UGLY] To call someone a dog in Bible times was the
worst insult
1) You can't help but
wonder what kind of parents Caleb had that they would name their child this
way. See
Dogs were of no value in that culture.
C)All of this hints that
Caleb might have been abandoned, an unwanted child who was adopted into the tribe of Judah
1) And Judah was
the most Prominent Tribe from Judah came kings & leaders{
Eventually Jesus
D) It is interesting to note that in 1 Chron. 2 Herzon is listed as Calebs father Herzon was from the tribe of Judah possibly adopted Caleb
1) SO first of all we see that Caleb had an unusual
name
The 2nd
thing we want to consider is his Lineage
A)We are told in v.6 that
Caleb was the son of Jephun'neh the Ken'izzite" Which tells us that
Caleb's family origin was Edomite.
B)The Ken'izzites were
distant cousins to the nation of Israel. They were descended from Esau, Jacob's
brother they were the sons of Isaac.
C) When Esau lost his
inheritance to his brother Jacob, he went and lived in Edom across the Jordan
River.
1)The Edomites were
long-standing enemies of Israel.
Now I
have pointed all of this out because it has great symbolic application to us
We were outcast because of Sin
A)Meandering aimless thru life like a pack of dogs no direction . But thru the grace of God & the work of Christ Adopted into Gods family
B) And in Heb 2:11
Jesus our King we are told is not
ashamed to call us his Brothers & Sisters He is not ashamed of us
1) So of you know what it is like to have family
members who are ashamed of you { Or what it is like to be ashamed of yourself
C) But our Lord is not
ashamed of us - Our life now has meaning & purpose & Significance
1)In the same way that
Calebs life had been touched by God so has ours & now we have the
Privilege of serving God / being used of God
D)When you think about
Caleb's origins & all the things that he had going against him as a child,
- He refused to be Victimized by his Past
1) the fact that he lives out his faith with such
gusto, vitality, and enthusiasm is SIMPLY amazing.
HE ROSE ABOVE
Which
leads us to the 2nd thing that we want to consider about Caleb &
that is His Faith
A)In v. 7-9 Caleb recounts the story of when in Num 13 Moses sent him & the other 11 spies into spy out the land of Promise
B) And as the spies came
back there were two reports the MAJORITY
report & the MINORITY report
1) The Majority report was 2 fold all the spies said
it was a great land land flowing w/ milk & honey but 10 proceeded
..
giants - hopeless
C)
The Minority report came from Joshua & Caleb Caleb was the Spokesmen
Yes land is great Yes Giants too big to miss
1) God has given us the land
D) The Majority the 10
unbelieving spies measured the giants against themselves Caleb & Joshua
measured the Giants against God
1) The Majority
trembled in Fear / C & J Triumphed in God !!!!
It was
there in that Moment that Caleb Presented himself as a man who was willing to
live by faith
A)In verse 7 Caleb says,
"I brought back word to him as it was in my
heart." It literally says in the Hebrew that his heart was
overflowing with confidence,
B)Caleb believed God
could take this land thru them. It was this faith that led the Lord to describe
Caleb in Num 14:24 as a Man of a Different
Spirit.
C) Just a guy w/ a different Spirit What makes a person that way? It is not that they are looking at the world thru rose colored glasses
D) But that they see
everything in light of the Lord From Gods perspective They factor in the
Lord
1) They see the realities in front of them in light of
the Word of God In light of the Promises of God
Which
leads us to the 3rd thing we want to Consider about Caleb He Clung
to the Promise of God
A)More than a million
people died in the wilderness. But through all those difficult years, & the
7 yrs of Battling
B) Caleb hung on to the
promise that God made him through Moses that he would survive and claim his
inheritance in the land.
C)How
could he sustain that thru all of the yrs of traveling with these people who
were murmuring & complaining about how tough life was?
1)
How did he handle
seeing family & friends dying off in the wilderness
How can Caleb show up at age 85 full of
spiritual vitality?
D) The
answer is that even though his physical body was in the wilderness, his heart
and mind were already in Canaan,
1)Caleb caught a glimpse
of the promise of the Reward - & it was Sufficient to keep him true for all
the rest of his life { He lived for that Mt
E)Caleb is a great example of the living hope the apostle Peter described in 1 Peter 1:3. Hope based on Rez Christ & ours / Christ in us
1) This living hope for
the future helps us to not just survive but thrive here and now, even when
things are really tough, confusing, and discouraging.
2) LIVING FOR THE MT. LIVING FOR HEAVEN
Now the 4th
thing we want to Consider about Caleb is he knew where his Strength came from:
Pick it up in the end of v.10 rd thru v.12
A)Now there was no way that this man Physically was as strong at 85 as he was at 40 So what does he mean Strong now as I was then? [SENILE?]
it is not me But God in me
that will allow me to take them
1) and because of that here he is at 85 LET ME HAVE MY MT. I am as strong now as I was then.
C) I Love this heart
that says I am going to press on until the very end
How did Caleb
so consistently live this kind of life?
A)There is a certain
statement made about him six times in the Bible, three times in the book of
Numbers and three times in our passage here,
B)The first time here in
our text is in v 8. Caleb says of himself to Moses, "...I wholly followed the Lord my God."
C)In V.9, after Moses has given him the promise of the inheritance, he says, "...because you have wholly followed the Lord my God."
1) In V.14, Joshua writes why he fulfilled the promise
of the inheritance: "...because he
[Caleb] wholly followed the Lord, the God of Israel."
D)Now That phrase "wholly followed the Lord" literally speaks of 2 things 1) The obvious is that it speaks of an unwavering devotion
1) But it also means that
he was filled to the fullest with God,
or flooded with the presence and power of God.
The
apostle Paul describes this same kind of authentic Christian life in 2
Corinthians.
A)He honestly talks about
the difficulty, the tension of following Jesus Christ faithfully, asking the
rhetorical question in 2:16, "Who is
sufficient for these things?" Who can live out this kind of life?
B)And
then he answers the question in 3:5-6, "Not
that we are sufficient of ourselves to claim anything as coming from us; our
sufficiency is from God, who has qualified us to be ministers of a new
covenant...."
C)That new-covenant
lifestyle was the key to Caleb's success in life. He completely followed his
God, the Lord God of Israel.
1)He was flooded with the
presence of God himself.
What
set Caleb apart from everyone else is that he wanted the very best that God had
for him, and nothing less.
A)To experience the best,
he had to allow God to fill him, to pervade every area of his life.
B)So his hope, strength,
optimism, and sufficiency were from God. He was totally dependent on the Lord.
1)That was the secret of
his life, and what made him a man of spiritual success and influence.
C) The victories he experienced
in Hebron and then in Debir were accomplished in the power of God.
1)That is the key to
triumph out of tragedy for each one of us.
D) Do
you have a Mt to climb/ do you have Giants to Kill ? Do you have a background
to overcome [We are not sufficient of
ourselves]
1)But Our Sufficiency is
from God & that Sufficiency is only experienced as we yield ourselves to
His Spirit Depend upon His Power
E) Of which the first
step is to acknowledge to God that you have no power in & of yourself to
get it done !!!!!
Well
we cant leave this study w/out Considering one more thing about Caleb &
that is the Contagious affect his faith had on others
A)His life of faith
impacts his own family, and through his family it impacts the entire nation of
Israel.
Ch.15:13-19
B)This is a great story
about Caleb's influence. He encourages his nephew Oth'ni-el as they're facing
this strong Canaanite city.
1)Caleb is saying to this
young man,"You can take it. We can conquer this city."
C) Oth'ni-el, who has
already seen the results of faith in his uncle Caleb's life LEADS the victory
over the city and gains his young bride, Achsah - daughter
D)And In the period of
the Judges, Oth'ni-el will become the very first judge that God raises up to lead the nation of Israel during that
dark, confusing, tumultuous period. - He will
continue the family spiritual leadership.
Now Calebs
daughter Achsah was also influenced by Calebs faith :
A)As a new bride, Achsah
comes back to her father asking for his
blessing on her life & her marriage,& also for the gift of these
springs of water.
B)Her father's influence on her is apparent. She is not afraid to ask for the best, the highest,
the greatest good in this place.
C) The area around Debir
was dry and barren & the possession of those springs was vital for
agriculture & also their live stock
1) Those springs are
still there today Hundreds of gallons of water per minute gush from them.
So
Caleb Became a source of blessing, encouragement, spiritual influence, and
strength in his own family & to those around Him
A)His Family blessed the rest of the nation for centuries to follow
B) But that is the result of the life that is lived by faith The person who is willing to Believe God Cling to the Promise
1) Surrender his heart to be whole heartedly and
Completely flooded with the presence of
God himself.
C) That person will have a Contagious affect upon others !!!!
1) Kids / Friends / the Church / maybe even History
Maybe
your sitting here today thinking Well my kids are all grown I really dont
see them Lost that influence
A)Never too late But
there are other kids you can influence They are in the Class rooms on the
other side of that wall
B) I can think back of
the Sunday School teachers youth group
counselors
Who made a huge influence
on my life
1) I know are part of the reason I am doing what I am
doing today
C) Men & women who
modeled Faith Men & women who model what it meant to be a Servant
1) Biblical mandate to train up the next Gen. We as a
Church need to take that more seriously
D) I
dont feel called or gifted to teach kids Fine you can be an extra body in a Class room
to keep order so that those who are gifted can teach
1) You can be a vessel of
love to a child who is hurting You can be a source of encouragement to a
Child/ Your encouragement ignites their faith
But it
is not just the kids that we influence All of us who have been in the Lord
for a while should have some spiritual kids
A)People we have brought
to the Lord or someone younger in the faith that God has brought into our lives
B) A
person who will invest time to help
them grow up in Jesus / Help them get grounded Help them Develop
1) Make yourself available
to the Lord & allow him to use you to be a Caleb in the Life of someone
else
C)So we see this inspirational story:
1)Caleb, the outcast who
had few personal resources, a terrible family background, & nothing within
himself to give.
D)Yet because he wholly
followed the Lord God of Israel, he was a hero, a great encouragement to us.
1) More importantly,
according to the Scriptures, a man of faith like Caleb is heroic in God's eyes.
The Lord looks on him with great delight.