Finding Your Spiritual Journey
"Journey from Slavery to Freedom"
Pastor Jerry
March 15, 2020
Joshua 2:1-21, 6:20-25
-------------------Sermon Synopsis-----------------
Nearly every family has a set of beloved stories they tell over and over. It may be how Grandpa came to this country with five dollars in his pocket. Or of an ancestor who fought in a famous battle. It may be the story of a romance, or a child’s rescue, or a moment of accomplishment. We all have stories.
I have a story. I live in a place called Naff’s Community (born and raised here). It’s in Franklin Co. VA. It’s the same place that my ancestor Jacob Naff, Sr. settled in 1782 when Franklin Co. was considered frontier wilderness – (just 6 years after this country declared its independence from England). My great, great, great, great grandfather Jacob Naff, Sr. came to this country from Switzerland near Germany in 1749 by selling himself into servitude for 7 years to pay his passage on the ship. He worked in Franklin Co, PA near Lancaster to pay off his debt. After becoming a pioneer in Franklin Co., he became a preacher in the Dunker church (church of the brethren); and many of his descendants have become ministers. The land that my grandfather settled on and built his house has never been owned by anyone other than descendants of the family.
In some ways, the stories we remember—and tell—shape us. They explain where we’ve come from. They shed light on who we are. They guide our steps as we move forward in life.
That is one of the reasons the Bible is so important, because it is the story of all of us. The story we focus on today is the story of Rahab from the book of Joshua. But in many ways, it is also my story—and yours.
God’s people had been delivered from slavery in Egypt, led through the Red Sea. In the story of Rehab something like that is happening again, for Rahab and her family. And Rahab’s story is yours and mine, too, at least in several ways:
- My story starts out sad (Joshua 2:1–3).
The two spies sent to Jericho to spy out the land entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab. She was a prostitute. How would you like to be known by your moral status? We kinda are known that way. Not publicly …but before the Lord. All of us are a sinner of one kind or another. The Bible says,
All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23, NIV). Jesus said:
“Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin” (John 8:34, NIV). Your sin may seem more “respectable” than mine, but it’s still sin, and it’s still slavery … according to Jesus. That’s a sad story. But it’s not the whole story.
- My story involves a choice (Joshua 2:4–14).
Rahab said to the spies, “I know that the Lord has given you this land… for the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below.” “Now then …show kindness to my family … save us from death.” The spies said OK …“Our lives for your lives!”
Now realize Rahab faced a decision. She could have turned the spies in. She didn’t have to help them. The safe choice probably would have been to stay out of the line of fire. But given a choice between the side the Lord was on and the
other side, she chose the Lord’s side. Like Rahab, each of us faces a decision, too. Sin or salvation? Slavery or freedom?
- My story is marked by a scarlet cord (Joshua 2:15–21, 6:20–25).
The spies said the oath we made will not be binding on us unless you tie a scarlet cord in the window of your house. A scarlet cord, red, like blood, must be hanging outside the window. When the city fell, when the wall of Jericho collapsed and the army of Joshua charged in they spared Rahab the prostitute, with her family. (Joshua 6:20, 25, NIV).
Rahab the prostitute …the sinner was saved…by a scarlet cord, hung outside the wall. She not only found a place of acceptance among the people of God, but she became the great-grandmother of King David … from whose royal line Jesus the Messiah came. That’s quite a journey, from “Rahab the prostitute” to “Rahab the ancestor of the Lord Jesus Christ.”
That is my story. And yours, too, if you’ll let it be. The Bible says: When the time arrived that was set by God the Father, God sent his Son, born among us of a woman, born under the conditions of the law so that he might redeem those of us who have been kidnapped by the law. Thus we have been set free to experience our rightful heritage (Galatians 4:4–5,
The Message). The choice, however, is yours. Freedom is in front of you.
The Bible says you have passed from slavery to freedom and have been set free.
