“I gave you a land on which you had not labored and cities that you had not built and you dwell in them. You eat the fruit of vineyards and olive orchards that you did not plant.”

–Joshua 24.13–

Each of us lives on land on which we labor. In order to sustain and maintain the property that our homes occupy, our hands have to get dirty, our clothes have to get torn and worn, and our muscles have to ache. Mowing the lawn, trimming the hedges, raking the leaves, weeding the garden, power washing the siding and/or deck, and shoveling snow, are just some of the physically intense activities that require our blood, sweat, and tears on a regular basis in order to keep our land safe, healthy, and hospitable.

We also live in cities that we help build. Some help build the cities that they live in directly through the vocations of construction, carpentry, iron working, electrical engineering, etc. While others help build the cities that they live in through the indirect work of paying taxes to support the vocations that are directly involved in planning, creating, and executing the livable space that they occupy.

And, finally, each of us eats from the fruit of vineyards, orchards, and farms that we plant. Again, some do the direct work of providing food for themselves through the vocations of farming and husbandry. While others do the indirect work of providing food for themselves by purchasing the fruits, vegetables, and meat, that in turn pay those in the vocations that do the hands on, blood, sweat, and tears, work of planting, harvesting, and raising of animals.

You know what it is to work hard and earn what you have.

You also know what it is to work hard and fail.

There are times that you labor for hours, days, weeks, months, and even years without being able to obtain what you need and want.

You have pulled many all-nighters while in school only to receive a failing grade, or a grade less than you hoped to receive.

You have worked overtime, hardly ever called out sick, and worked every holiday, and never received a raise, a raise that reflects the work you have done, a promotion, or even simple recognition for the dedication you have shown.

You have loved as best as you could only to end up divorced, separated from your children, or both.

You have served in any and every ministry at church, put countless hours in behind the scenes as well as in front of the scenes, never to be thanked privately or publically, and never to have been offered the position within God’s local kingdom that you have desired more than anything else.

You have done your best in life but still lack confidence that God loves you and cares about you.

God’s promise to you is the promise of the rest and peace that comes from having land and food that will never fade, decay, rot, be stolen or destroyed.

The land that you are promised is a place in God’s Kingdom of Heaven.

The food that you are promised is the provision for all of your needs today and forever.

Due to the sin that corrupts, you see this promise of God as something that will only be received as a compensation for the hard work you have done.

However, you fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3.23) and cannot offer God anything in exchange for God’s land and food. Only a completely different person, a completely new person with a new mind can know, understand, and believe that their work leads only to death and separation from God (Romans 6.23). Only a new creation can believe and trust in the truth that Jesus Christ did all of the work to provide for their needs and secure a place in God’s Kingdom through the forgiveness of their sin (1 Corinthians 2.16; 2 Corinthians 5.17).

God, the Father Almighty, speaks to you through His servant Joshua and gives you the good news that He is giving you the gift of land in a city and food to nourish your body without any work on your part. God, the giver of good gifts, is providing you with confidence, security, provision for your needs, and hope in a perfect and eternal future.

Through faith in Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, God, your Creator and Redeemer, promises you and inheritance with all of those that He calls His children. God promises you hope and a future (Jeremiah 29.11).

The hope you have been given is the hope that you are and will always be called right and just before God’s throne because of Jesus Christ’s work on your behalf. Jesus worked during His life to be completely obedient to God for you. Jesus worked on the cross to release you from your debt before God, incurred by your sin, and forgiven by His gracious and merciful death (Colossians 2.13-15). God worked when He miraculously raised Jesus from the dead, defeating the power of sin and death for you (Romans 6.8-10).

The future that you have been given is defined by rest and peace. It is a future defined as being free of pain, free of suffering, free of mourning, and free of tears (Revelation 21.4).

You did not labor for land that lasts.

You have not built the Heavenly city.

You have not planted food that truly nourishes.

Because of God’s love for you, you have been gifted land and a city for which you did not work, but for which Jesus worked to obtain for you.

Because of God’s love for you, you have been given food to eat for which you did not labor, but for which Jesus labored to obtain for you.

You will live on the eternal land that God created for you in the eternal city that God built for you, being sustained by the eternal garden that God planted, harvests, and uses to provide for all of your needs.

Amen.

Pastor Fred

July 6, 2017