The commander of the Lord’s army replied, “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.” (Jos 5:15)
 
We’ve been talking about how to live as people of the kingdom of God through the book of Joshua. Last Sunday, we started to talk about the meaning behind taking off shoes in the Bible.
 
After all of Israel was circumcised, Joshua went near Jericho where he saw a man in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. The man said that he was the commander of the army of the Lord. When Joshua heard this, he fell face down to the ground and asked him to give him the Lord's message.
 
The man answered, “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy” (Jos 5:15)
 
That was the end of the conversation. It implies that taking off the shoes was itself the message from the Lord. We talked about what this meant through some case studies.
 
When God called Moses at the burning bush, God told him to take off his shoes. And Moses knew what it meant. In the culture of the time, to be barefoot was a sign that you were a slave who didn’t have rights. So by telling Moses to take off his shoes, God was asking him to give up his rights and become God's servant.
 
We also looked at a law in Deuteronomy 25 that said that when a husband died, his brother was to take his wife as his own so that he could continue to do his brother’s duties as a husband. This was called a levirate marriage.
 
But if the dead man's brother didn't want to marry his brother's wife, his shoes had to be taken off as a sign of shame. It was a symbolic act that said that he had given up his right and responsibility as the dead man’s brother.
 
We saw how levirate marriage worked in Israel in the book of Ruth. Ruth was a Moabite woman who came to Bethlehem with her mother-in-law. According to the levirate marriage law, she couldn’t marry again because her dead husband's brother was also dead. So, in order for Ruth to marry, there had to be someone who was related to her father-in-law, Elimelek.
 
One day, she entered a field to glean. The field belonged to a man named Boaz, who was related to Elimelek. He wanted to marry Ruth, but there was a problem. There was someone who was more closely related to Elimelek. So, for Boaz to be able to marry Ruth, that man had to give up his right to marry Ruth first.
 
So Boaz called the man and ten of the elders of the town and asked him if he would redeem the piece of land that belonged to Elimelek and marry Ruth. The man didn’t want to, and he took off his sandals as a sign that he gave up his right.
 
Therefore, the meaning behind taking off shoes in the Bible is that we give up the rights we have before God. And this is crucial for us to live as people of God’s kingdom because His kingdom can’t be built and expanded through our lives if we continue to claim our rights.
 
The kingdom of God will be established here on earth through our obedience as we humbly acknowledge that everything we have belongs to God, surrender our right to use it, and use it according to God's will rather than our own will or for our own pleasure.
 
We must also remember that we have already been given the greatest right of all.
 
John 1:12 says, “To all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” (Jn 1:12)
 
And Romans 8:17 says, “If we are children, then we are heirs - heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ” (Rm 8:17)
 
We were sinners who deserved to die forever for our sins, but God sent Jesus Christ to earth to take our sins upon His body and die on the cross to forgive us of all our sins. Through faith in Jesus Christ, we have been given the right to become children of God.
 
As children of God, we also inherit the kingdom of God. We've been given the right to share in His eternal life. Nothing in this world can even compare to a single one of these amazing blessings.
 
To give us these blessings, Jesus Christ gave up all of His rights and privileges as the Son of God in heaven, came to this earth, and died on the cross.
 
Now it's our turn. God is asking us now to take off our shoes. He asks us to give up our rights in this world. But it's not something we lose, because as I said earlier, by giving up our rights in the world, we gain an eternal right that God gives us: the right to inherit His kingdom as His children.
 
That’s the right we should look forward to and seek in order to truly live as God’s people by using everything we have for His kingdom.
 
The Right to Spend Money
So, in order for us to live for His kingdom, we should be able to give up our rights and use what we have to carry out His will on earth. Then, the question we need to ask ourselves is: what rights do we need to give up for the glory of God?
 
There are many rights to talk about, but I want to talk about our right to money today. Money is one of God’s most useful gifts. Some Christians portray money as a negative thing, but money itself has no moral value. Money is neither good nor evil in and of itself. But the way we earn and spend money can be good or evil.
 
It's good to make money by doing things in a fair way that doesn't harm anyone. However, it is evil to seek profit at the expense of others, such as through fraud, exploitation, or other criminal methods.
 
I think we can all agree on this. But for Christians, the more important question when it comes to money is not how we make it, but how we spend it.
 
From the perspective of the world, if you've earned your money the right way, it's up to you how you spend it, as long as it doesn't involve criminal activity.
 
But, the Bible provides some guidelines for how Christians should use money. The apostle Paul said in 1 Timothy 6:10-11, “The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. But you, man of God, flee from all this…” (1Tm 6:10-11)
 
Paul didn’t say that money is the root of all kinds of evil. It's not money that we should be wary of, but the love of money.
 
We need money because it allows us to get the things we need and want. We can buy delicious food, live in a safe and comfortable house, get medical treatment when we are sick, and travel to different parts of the world.
 
For this reason, money has become an important basis for our decisions about everything. When we decide where to live and what to do, money is always at the base of our decisions.
 
And, because money is so intertwined with our lives, it's easy to fall in love with it. For those who do not believe in God, and even for many Christians, money takes the place of God. That is what we should be wary of. When we love money, we lose faith in God. If we love money, we’ll come to rely on money more than we rely on God. That's why the Bible talks about money and warns against loving it so much.
 
Jesus Himself talked a lot about money. So, why did He give such attention to it? Because He knew how close our wallets are to our hearts.
 
Jesus said, “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money” (Mt 6:24)
 
The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil because it makes us slaves to it. The more you love money, the more you're attached to it. Money will influence every decision you make in your life.
 
So, the love of money causes us to abandon God as our Master and the only object of our worship. And if we live apart from God, we will naturally live a sinful life, following the ways of the world and our evil desires of the flesh.
 
So as Christians, we should always be careful of how we think about and spend our money. We cannot live completely free from money because our lives are so intimately tied to it. We need money to sustain our lives and God knows it too. But we must always guard our hearts so that we don't love money more than we love God. And the best way to do that is to continually remember and confess that God is the true Owner of our possessions.
 
It should not only be a verbal confession, but it should be demonstrated by our offerings and tithes to God, and by the way we live our lives, using our finances the way God wants us to use them.
 
The reason we think we are the owners of our finances is because we think we earn our money by our own strength and ability, by using our own time and energy. That's true. But who gave us the strength and ability to make money? Who gave us health? Who gave us time?
 
If we believe the answer to these questions is God, then we must also confess that God is the true Owner of our finances. And, if we believe that He is the true Master, then we should also be able to use our money for His glory and His will.
 
Deuteronomy 8:17-19 says, “You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.” But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth... If you ever forget the Lord your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed.” (Dt 8:17-19)
 
Paul also said in 2 Corinthians 9, “Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work…  You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God… Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, others will praise God…  for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else.” (2 Cor. 9:7-8, 11, 13)
 
These passages are great reminders of how we should view our possessions and how we should use them for the glory of God. Again, all our possessions ultimately belong to God because it is He who gives us the ability, time, and health to produce wealth. And the reason He has blessed us abundantly with earthly possessions is so that we may abound in every good work and be generous on every occasion.
 
Then, what’s the result? Our generosity will lead to thanksgiving to God. And others will praise Him for our generosity. As Jesus said, “In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven” (Mt 5:16)
 
This is the life we're called to live as Christians. We're called to take off our shoes when it comes to our earthly possessions. We're called to give up our right to spend our money as we please. And, we're called to use our money for God's kingdom and glory.
 
Most Christians have no problem understanding their God-given right to their property. What is out of balance is our willingness to obey God in giving.
 
Do you want to know what you’re really living for? You can easily find out by reading your bank statement. What percentage of your spending is according to God’s will? How much do you use and sacrifice for the sake of His kingdom? We must always remember that our faith is not proven by the words from our mouths, but by the way we actually live our lives.
 
All God wants is for us to relax our grip on what we own, to open our hands and allow Him to use what He has placed in them. He has given us the ability to make money. He has given us the right to own things. Then, He can ask us to give back to Him freely what He has blessed us with.
 
So we must choose either to be a good steward of what He has allowed us to have, or to be a thief and steal from Him. We can’t be a servant to money and a servant to God at the same time. Remember, it’s not how much money we give to God that counts. It's really about how much of His money we use for ourselves.
 
The real battle we have to fight as Christians is not how much of what we have to give to the Lord. It's how much we don’t steal from Him. So every time we spend our money, we need to think about whether or not our spending is in line with God's will. If it's not, it means that we love money more than we love God.
 
This may sound too strict and harsh. But it doesn't mean that we shouldn't use what we have for our pleasure. God has given us many good things in this world: the pleasure of eating good food, the pleasure of looking at beautiful scenery. It's not a bad thing if we use our money for these things. God knows our needs.
 
But if we use our money only for our own pleasure and needs, then it means that something is wrong. Again, it's about balance. The finances we use for our pleasure must be balanced with the finances we use for God's will, for His kingdom, for His glory, and for the good of the people around us.
 
It's not easy to know how to balance the two. Everyone may have a different standard in this matter according to their situations and level of faith. But what's important is that we at least set our own standard for how we spend our money before God.
 
As I said before, there are enormous needs in the world today. Over 864 million people experience severe food insecurity. We may ask, why doesn’t God do something about this? If God could create manna and rain down food for several million of His people in the wilderness, can’t He just produce enough money to meet the needs of the world today?
 
But what I believe is that God has already given His people enough resources to meet these needs. The resources are already there. A Christian researcher once said that Christians have an annual income of about 8.2 trillion dollars and own two-thirds of the world's resources.
 
It's also said that there are more than 2 billion people in the world who claim to be Christians. Then, what would happen if they all used a portion of their finances to help someone struggling with hunger? The reason there is hunger in the world is not because God does not provide, but because His people do not use what He gives them according to His will.
 
Even now, God wants to meet every person’s needs—spiritual and physical. And, He wants to involve us in meeting that need. The question is whether or not we willingly give up our right to our money and use it according to His will.
 
So, what is in your pocket right now? Are you willing to let God tell you what to do with it? Are you willing to let Him control your wallet? Or are you holding back?
 
It’s not easy to give up the right to our possessions. That’s the reason we need to keep reminding ourselves of the treasure in heaven that Jesus will give us at the end.
 
One day, Jesus told a rich young man, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor” (Mt 19:21)
 
This may sound harsh. But Jesus didn’t just ask the man to sell his possessions and give to the poor. He also said, “And, you will have treasure in heaven.” (Mt 19:21)
 
The reason we hesitate to use our finances for God's will is because we think we will lose them. But it is not a loss. If we can gain infinite and eternal heavenly treasures by spending finite earthly possessions, how is that a loss?
 
So, what we really need in order to willingly give up our right to earthly possessions is an eternal, kingdom perspective. Those who truly know the value of heavenly treasure won’t ever hesitate to spend their money for the kingdom of God. Rather, just as the man who had found the treasure hidden in the field sold everything he had to buy the field, we would spend all we have for His kingdom to get the heavenly treasure. That’s the perspective we need.
 
Paul said in 1 Timothy, “Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.” (1Tm 6:17-19)
 
May these words be heard as the voice of God in our hearts today. God will give us something far greater and more precious than all that we use for His glory here on earth. But even if He doesn't, we should be able to give Him our rights to what we have because He is the true Lord of it all.
 
May the perspective of the eternal kingdom of God be given to all of us here today, so that we may willingly and joyfully use what we have for His kingdom and for His glory as an offering of thanksgiving to God and for the expansion of His kingdom on earth.
 
Let’s pray.
 
[Prayer]
Dear Lord, we thank You for everything You’ve allowed us to have on earth. We profess that all we have is Yours because it's You who gave us everything we have.
 
Now Lord, we want to take off our shoes before You and give up our right to our possessions. We want to give You control of what we have. Please tell us what to do with what You’ve given us and give us willing hearts to obey Your will.
 
We want only Your name to be praised and glorified and Your kingdom to be built and expanded through our giving. Please use us as Your vessels.
 
We pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
 
[Reflection Questions]
1) How much of your spending is for God's will? Apart from offerings and tithes, are there any expenses that you use for the kingdom of God? How do you balance what you need and want with what you use for the kingdom of God?

“Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, “Are you for us or for our enemies?” “Neither,” he replied, “but as commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.” Then Joshua fell facedown to the ground in reverence, and asked him, “What message does my Lord have for his servant?” The commander of the Lord’s army replied, “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.” (Jos 5:13-15)
 
We’ve been talking about how we should live as people of the kingdom of God through the story of the Exodus.
 
First, through the story of the Israelites crossing the Jordan River, we saw the importance of baptism in the lives of God’s people. For the Israelites, crossing the Jordan River was like a repetition of crossing the Red Sea, which symbolized baptism. And the meaning of baptism lies in a believer’s union with the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
 
It shows us the mindset we should have as the people of God’s kingdom. Unless we decide to die to sin and our sinful desires and live for God and His kingdom, we can’t possibly join in God’s mission to build His kingdom on earth.
 
Two weeks ago, we talked about what God commanded the Israelites to do right after they crossed the Jordan River. God said to Joshua, “Make flint knives and circumcise the Israelites again.” (Jos 5:2)
 
Circumcision is a very important ritual that served as a sign of God's people according to the covenant God made with Abraham. But the Israelites born in the wilderness had not been circumcised, so God commanded them to be circumcised first. 
 
But He gave the command right after the Israelites crossed the river. Now, they were in the land of Canaan.
 
The enemy they were to fight was not far away, and they knew that the Israelites had crossed the Jordan and were watching for them. For the Israelites to be circumcised all at the same time under these conditions would be the worst strategic choice—it was reckless and suicidal.
 
But still, knowing that they would be very weak and vulnerable, the Israelites were circumcised in the presence of their enemies at God’s command. This shows how much they trusted God more than they trusted their circumstances. In this way, they could experience God’s constant presence and protection.
 
We also talked about the spiritual meaning of circumcision. The basic meaning of the word “circumcise” is to cut off. The Israelites had to cut off a piece of flesh as a sign of God’s people, but this physical circumcision was only an outward expression of an inward, spiritual circumcision of the heart, which is to remove our hardened, thickened, and stubborn heart against God.
 
What God really looks at is not how holy and godly we look on the outside, but what kind of heart we have towards Him. That's why it's so important for us as Christians to keep a clean, pure, and tender heart before Him.
 
The Bible tells us what will happen if we let our hearts grow thick against God. Our hearts will be hardened against Him, and the skin of our hearts will be covered with hard calluses. We will become spiritually dull and won't be able to hear God or feel His presence.
 
And, if this persists, our hearts will eventually become so thick that we don’t hear God’s voice at all.  Our conscience will become numb, like skin that’s been scorched with a hot iron, and we will no longer be sensitive to sin. We will lose our spiritual sensitivity and start to live as slaves of sin.
 
We may still go to church. We may still do religious works. But our hearts will be far from our heavenly Father and we will be like whitewashed tombs who look good on the outside, but whose hearts are full of dead, sinful, and filthy things.
 
That is why we must quickly circumcise our hearts before it is too late, remove all the stubborn, dirty calluses from our hearts, and return to God. We can’t do this alone. But the good news is that Jesus Christ came into the world to take out our hearts of stone and give us new, tender hearts. He did so by shedding His precious blood on the cross and sending us the Holy Spirit.
 
This is the circumcision of Christ. Without it we cannot live as true people of God. It is only when Christ cleanses our hearts by washing them with His blood and gives us His heart that we are able to do the work that God wants us to do, carrying out His will and building His kingdom in this world.
 
Joshua and the Commander of the Lord
All right. That's what we talked about last time. Now, let's move on to the next scene.
 
After the whole nation had been circumcised, the Israelites remained in the camp until they were healed. After that, on the fourteenth day of the month, they celebrated the Passover.
 
Now, the time had come for the Israelites to conquer Jericho. One day, when Joshua went near Jericho, he saw a man in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand.
 
Joshua wasn’t sure if the man was on their side or not. So, he asked him, “Are you for us or for our enemies?” (Jos 5:13)
 
The man answered, “Neither, but as commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.” (Jos 5:14)
 
When he heard this, Joshua fell facedown to the ground and asked him, “What message does my Lord have for his servant?” (Jos 5:14)
 
Then the man said, “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy” (Jos 5:15) And Joshua did so.
 
What’s strange is that Joshua's conversation with the commander ended here. Joshua asked the man if God had a special message for him, but the man didn't tell him anything other than to take off his shoes. This suggests that taking off the shoes was itself the message from the Lord.
 
Then, what does it mean to take off our shoes? And how does it relate to our faith as people of the kingdom of God? These are the questions I want us to think about today.
 
The Meaning of Taking off Shoes
Taking off your shoes is primarily about removing something unclean. It is part of American culture to enter the house with shoes on. If you use Airbnb, the floors are often dirty because guests enter the house with shoes on. But if we are invited to a really clean place, the first thing we would do is take off our shoes, because we don't want to bring in the dirt from outside. In this way, when we take off our shoes before God's presence, it means that we remove all our sinfulness and filthiness before His holiness.
 
That’s how we should go before God. The apostle Paul said, “But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.” (Col 3:8-10)
 
Hebrews 10:22 also says, “Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.” (Heb 10:22)
 
We used to be sinners, incapable of approaching God's presence. We cannot purify ourselves, even if we take off our shoes. But when Jesus took our sins upon Himself and died on the cross, He made a way for us to be made righteous and have access to God. Now, we can now boldly go to our holy God through the blood of Jesus Christ. That’s what we must remember whenever we go before God.
 
But in the Bible, taking off our shoes means more than just taking off and removing sinful things from our lives. When we take off our shoes, it means that we give up our rights before God.
 
In the Bible, we find several instances of people taking off their shoes. When Moses had his first encounter with God at the burning bush, God told him to take off his shoes because he was standing on holy ground.
 
Exodus 3:2-5 says, “There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight - why the bush does not burn up.” When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!” And Moses said, “Here I am.” “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground”” (Ex 3:2-5)
 
In the culture of the time, to be barefoot was a sign that you were a slave. Moses knew exactly what it meant when God told him to take off his shoes. He had grown up in the Pharaoh’s palace where there were lots of slaves. A slave had no rights. A slave didn’t wear shoes. In the burning presence of God, Moses was asked to give up his rights, become God’s servant, and accept the assignment God was giving him to go and deliver His people.
 
In Ruth 4, we see how Boaz took Ruth as his wife by observing the law. Ruth was Naomi's daughter-in-law. She was a Moabite. Unfortunately, Naomi’s two sons died in Moab. Ruth lost her husband, but she still followed her mother-in-law.
 
But Naomi told Ruth to leave her because she knew that Ruth wouldn’t be able to marry if she was with her, since Naomi had no sons left.
 
According to the law in Deuteronomy 25, when a husband died, his brother was to take his wife as his own so that he could continue to do his brother’s duties as a husband. Deuteronomy 25:5-6 says,
 
“If brothers are living together and one of them dies without a son, his widow must not marry outside the family. Her husband’s brother shall take her and marry her and fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to her. The first son she bears shall carry on the name of the dead brother so that his name will not be blotted out from Israel.” (Dt 25:5-6)
 
This is called a levirate marriage. But if the dead man's brother didn't want to marry his brother's wife, his shoes had to be taken off as a sign of shame.
 
Verses 7-10 continues, “However, if a man does not want to marry his brother’s wife, she shall go to the elders at the town gate and say, “My husband’s brother refuses to carry on his brother’s name in Israel. He will not fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to me.” Then the elders of his town shall summon him and talk to him. If he persists in saying, “I do not want to marry her,” his brother’s widow shall go up to him in the presence of the elders, take off one of his sandals, spit in his face and say, “This is what is done to the man who will not build up his brother’s family line.” That man’s line shall be known in Israel as The Family of the Unsandaled.”  (Dt 25:7-10)
 
This law was originally derived from the ancient practice of notarization, where the owner of a piece of land confirmed and asserted his ownership of the land by treading on it with his feet.
 
So, a person who wanted to transfer his land to another person would take off the shoes he was wearing and give them to that person. This meant that he was giving up his right to the land and handing over ownership to that person.
 
Thus, removing the shoes of a man who refused to marry his dead brother's wife was a symbolic act that officially declared that he was no longer entitled to his brother's inheritance.
 
That's why Naomi told Ruth to leave her, so that Ruth would be free to marry another man. But Ruth didn’t leave Naomi; instead, she followed her to the land of Judah, and they lived in Bethlehem. But they had nothing. So Ruth went out to the fields to pick up some leftover grain.
 
One day, Ruth entered a field to glean behind the harvesters, and it turned out that the field belonged to a man named Boaz. Boaz was related to Elimelek, Naomi's husband. He was a very generous man. He was kind to Ruth and allowed her to continue gleaning in his field so that she wouldn’t have to go to another field, where she could be harmed. He gave her bread and roasted grain.
 
When Naomi heard what had happened, she realized that Ruth could marry Boaz because he was related to her husband. She said, “That man is our close relative; he is one of our guardian-redeemers.” (Ru 2:20)
 
Here, the Hebrew word for “guardian-redeemer” is a legal term for one who has the obligation to redeem a relative in serious difficulty. So Naomi told Ruth to continue to go to Boaz’s field.
 
Later, Boaz wanted to marry Ruth, but there was someone who was more closely related to Elimelek than he was, which meant that that man had to give up his right to marry Ruth first in order for Boaz to be able to marry her.
 
Boaz didn’t want to break the law to marry Ruth. So, he called the man and ten of the elders of the town as witnesses and said to him,
 
“Naomi, who has come back from Moab, is selling the piece of land that belonged to our relative Elimelek… If you will redeem it, do so. But if you will not, tell me, so I will know. For no one has the right to do it except you, and I am next in line… On the day you buy the land from Naomi, you also acquire Ruth the Moabite, the dead man’s widow, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property.” (Ru 4:3-5)
 
The man replied, “Then I cannot redeem it because I might endanger my own estate. You redeem it yourself.” (Ru 4:6)
 
Then, the man took off his sandals as a sign that he gave up his right as the first guardian-redeemer.
 
Ruth 4:7-8 says, “Now in earlier times in Israel, for the redemption and transfer of property to become final, one party took off his sandal and gave it to the other. This was the method of legalizing transactions in Israel. So the guardian-redeemer said to Boaz, “Buy it yourself.” And he removed his sandal.” (Ru 4:7-8)
 
This, then, is the meaning of taking off shoes in the Bible. It means that we give up the rights we have before God. This is crucial for us to live as people of God's kingdom.
 
How can God's will be done in our lives and His kingdom established through us if we continue to claim our rights to the things we have and use them only as we please, in ways that give us pleasure?
 
One of the most important mindsets we should have as God's people building His kingdom on earth is stewardship. It is an acknowledgement that God is the true Owner of everything we have: our time, our money, our talents, and even our lives.
 
This is how it works. First, God gives us rights. James 1:17 says, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights” (Jms 1:17)
 
The apostle Paul also said in 1 Tm 6:7, “For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it” (1Tm 6:7)
 
What Paul is saying here is that nothing we have on earth is really ours because it is given to us by God. We think we're giving God something, but we're not. There's only one thing we can give to God, and that's worship, because everything else is given to us by Him first. We're just giving back to Him what is His, as a confession that He is the Lord and the Owner.
 
God gave us the right to have a family. God gave us the right to have things on earth, the right to freedom, the right to use our time. And God has given us many other blessings.
 
Then, why is He asking us to give Him back those rights? Because it is really the only way we can express our love back to Him. We have nothing that He hasn’t given us. We show our love to Him by giving freely to Him.
 
We need to remember that God doesn’t require us to give up our rights and give what we have back to Him because He needs it. God owns all the earth. He lacks nothing. But when we give Him what He has blessed us with, the expression of our love brings joy to His heart.
 
Another reason God asks us to give something up is because He wants to give us something greater. It is a rule of the kingdom of God. If we give up something good, we’ll receive something of greater value. If we give up our rights, we’ll receive greater privileges with God.
 
And God has already freely given us the greatest blessing of all: our salvation and the right to become His children. We have already received His amazing grace, which we cannot repay with anything we have. Why, then, are we unwilling to give back to Him? Why are we reluctant to give our rights to Him when He has given us the greatest right to inherit His kingdom as His children?
 
God promised Joshua, “Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you…” (Jos 1:3). God didn’t say the sole of his shoe, but the sole of his foot. Being barefoot is a sign of humility and of having given up everything. To the barefoot, God promises possession of the nations, to rule and reign with Jesus, the returning King of kings and Lord of lords.
 
So let us not hesitate to give up our rights before God. Let's not hesitate to give to God. Let us be willing to use our time, finances, and talents for the kingdom of God. Let’s take off our shoes and decide to seek first His kingdom and His righteousness.
 
If we humbly give up our rights and use what we have for God's will, His kingdom will be built through our sacrifice and giving. That’s the way we’re called to live as His people in this world.
 
All right. Let’s continue to talk about giving up rights next Sunday. Now, let’s sing “Jesus My Everything” before we wrap up with prayer.
 
 
[Prayer]
Let’s take a few moments to reflect on the message God has given us today and take time to pray.
 
Are you ready to take off your shoes for the kingdom of God? What rights will you give up for the sake of God's kingdom?
 
God can't work through us when we are clinging to our rights and the things we think are ours. But when we humbly lay down our rights, confess that God is the owner of all that we have, and decide to use what we have for His will, God is pleased, and He will build His kingdom through our lives.
 
In this time of coming to the Lord in prayer, I want us to give Him our all, not just part of ourselves. Like the woman who broke her alabaster jar, I want us to give Him the most precious thing we have, not what we think we can give or what we have left to spend.
 
So, during this time, let’s ask for a willing spirit. Let’s ask that God would open our minds and hearts to His truth so that we may know who He is and what He has done for us, and so that we can joyfully and willingly give Him everything we have, giving thanks to Him for the right to become His children and to join in His mission of building His kingdom on earth.
 
Let’s pray.
 
__________________
Dear God, thank You for speaking to us and enlightening us through the book of Joshua today.
 
Lord, we thank You for all the blessings and rights You have given us. We confess that everything we have is from You, and we declare that You are the owner of it all. Now, we want to take off our shoes before You. We surrender our rights to You. We want to use what we have for Your will.
 
Please use us and build Your kingdom through us, so that on the day Jesus Christ returns, we may all rejoice with You and receive as our inheritance the kingdom that He will bring.
 
We give You our all, Lord. Take it and use it for Your will.
 
We pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
 
[Reflection Questions]
1) What rights do you think you have? Which of them are you willing to give up to God? Which of them are difficult for you to give up? Why?

“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 they had crossed over, their hearts melted in fear and they no longer had the courage to face the Israelites. At that time the Lord said to Joshua, “Make flint knives and circumcise the Israelites again.” So Joshua made flint knives and circumcised the Israelites. Now this is why he did so: All those who came out of Egypt - all the men of military age - died in the wilderness on the way after leaving Egypt. All the people that came out had been circumcised, but all the people born in the wilderness during the journey from Egypt had not.” (Jos 5:1-5)
 
We’ve been talking about the kingdom of God through the story of the Exodus. For the last two weeks, we talked about the meaning of the Israelites crossing the Jordan River.
 
They didn’t have to cross the Jordan to enter Canaan. But God made them cross the river when it was most impossible to do so, in order to let them experience His great power of salvation and trust in Him more.
 
But first, they had to step into the fast-flowing river. God promised to stop the river, but that promise depended upon their obedience. The river would not stop until the priests trusted God's promise and actually dipped their feet into the river.
 
That’s how God trains and equips us as the people of His kingdom. He expects us to become His strong, courageous people who are not influenced by the world but influence it.
 
To do this, God sometimes puts us through difficult situations. He waits for us to take the first bold step, trusting in Him and His promise even when the reality before us seems hard, because that’s when we can really grow in the knowledge of God and our experience of Him.
 
Our faith in God is strengthened when we actually experience the knowledge of God that we have gained from the Bible, and those who have such faith are not easily shaken, no matter what difficulties come their way.
 
We must also remember that God never leaves us alone in our difficulties. Even when we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, He is always with us, guiding us with His rod and His staff. That is why we can keep going forward in obedience to God's word without fear as we face the difficult moments of life.
 
Because we know that God’s ultimate plan for us is to prosper us and give us hope and a future, not to harm us, we can continue to walk the narrow path with Him, looking forward to what He will give us at the end of this journey of faith.
 
Circumcision
Now, let’s move on to the next event. The Israelites had just crossed the Jordan River. Finally, they entered the land of Canaan, the land that God had promised to give to their ancestor, Abraham, hundreds of years before. They probably felt both joy at entering the promised land and fear at the enemies that lay ahead of them.
 
The nations in the land of Canaan also heard the news that the Israelites had crossed the Jordan River. They knew that the Israelites had already defeated the kings on the east side of the Jordan River. Now all that was left was war - a battle to take or lose the land of Canaan.
 
After crossing the Jordan River, the Israelites camped at a place called Gilgal, which was not far from Jericho, the first city they had to conquer.
 
So, what did they have to do there? Normally, people preparing for war would have checked their weapons, checked the condition of those who could go to war, and checked their supplies. But God didn't tell them to do any of those things.
 
Rather, God said to Josuah, “Make flint knives and circumcise the Israelites again.” (Jos 5:2)
 
God's first command to the Israelites in Canaan was to be circumcised. That’s because the first generation of Israelites who came out of Egypt were all circumcised, but the second generation born in the wilderness were uncircumcised.
 
As you may know, circumcision is an important ritual that served as a sign of God's people.
 
When God made a covenant with Abraham, He said, “The whole land of Canaan, where you now reside as a foreigner, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God. As for you, you must keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you for the generations to come. This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep: Every male among you shall be circumcised. You are to undergo circumcision, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and you. For the generations to come every male among you who is eight days old must be circumcised, including those born in your household or bought with money from a foreigner - those who are not your offspring. Whether born in your household or bought with your money, they must be circumcised. My covenant in your flesh is to be an everlasting covenant.” (Gn 17:8-13) 
 
As we can see here, circumcision was the most important sign that the Israelites were God's covenant people. Circumcision is very closely related to their identity as God’s people. In accordance with this covenantal command, all Israelite male children were circumcised at eight days of age. For some reason, however, the Israelites born in the wilderness were not circumcised. That’s the reason God commanded them to be circumcised first.
 
So, it's understandable that God commanded the Israelites to be circumcised. But, what's not so easy to understand is why God gave this command to them at this time. The Israelites who needed to be circumcised were adults, not children. Some of them would have been nearly 40 years old. Circumcision for these adults would have been extremely painful, and they would have been immobilized for several days while they recovered. So, to be circumcised in the presence of their enemies was very dangerous.
 
The best time to perform circumcision would have been before the Israelites crossed the Jordan, not after. The east side of the Jordan was a safer and more appropriate place to perform circumcision. Then, why did God command the Israelites to be circumcised after they had crossed the Jordan?
 
I think it’s because God wanted to show them that He was in control of all of their lives, including their battles. God wanted the Israelites to know that their lives and the success or failure of their battles depended on Him protecting and guiding them, not on their weapons or strength. In other words, by exposing the Israelites in this way at the most dangerous point in their journey, God demonstrated His power to protect them and His sovereignty over their battles.
 
So, the Israelites were circumcised in Gilgal at God’s command. Again, it was not an easy command to obey, because it would make them weak and vulnerable before their enemies. Nevertheless, they chose to obey because they trusted God, who had led them there, more than they trusted their circumstances.
 
The command to be circumcised must have required greater faith than the command to cross the Jordan.
 
Sure, God had commanded them to dip their feet first in the fast-flowing Jordan, but that was only for a few priests. The vast majority of the Israelites crossed the river on dry land after it had stopped flowing.
 
But now the command of circumcision was for all Israelites, and they were aware of how vulnerable they would be as a result. But they still chose to obey.
 
And I think the reason they were able to make the decision to be circumcised there was because they had just experienced how great and powerful God is through their experience of crossing the Jordan River. That experience enabled them to obey an even more difficult command: to be circumcised in the face of the enemy.
 
In other words, the faith of the Israelites grew and was strengthened through their obedience to God's command. Because they obeyed God’s command, they could experience His presence and great power. And that experience made them trust in God more and gave them the courage to obey Him in all circumstances.
 
I believe that’s how God trains us to be His people as well. The battles and conflicts we face now should be seen as training grounds that God uses to prepare us for greater challenges to come.
 
God said through the prophet Jeremiah, “If you have raced with men on foot, and they have wearied you, how will you compete with horses? And if in a safe land you are so trusting, what will you do in the thicket of the Jordan?” (Jr 12:5)
 
The difficulties that God allows us to go through now are so that we can stand firm and keep our faith when greater tests come our way in the future. And God does not give us trials that we cannot handle. So our attitude toward God in difficult situations should always be obedience to His will.
 
Circumcision of the Heart
Going back to circumcision, the corresponding Hebrew verb for circumcision is mûl, whose basic meaning is “to cut off.” So what did the Israelites have to cut off through circumcision? It was physically the cutting off of a piece of flesh, but the more important significance of circumcision is in the heart.
 
The word circumcision means “cut off,” and this cutting off was basically a circumcision of the heart - the removal of those parts of our hearts that are thick and stubborn against God. Physical circumcision was just an outward sign of this circumcision of the heart, meaning that what really matters is the change in our hearts, not the outward ritual.
 
This importance of a change of heart in circumcision is also found in Deuteronomy.
 
Moses said, “Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and do not be stiff-necked any longer.” (Dt 10:16)
 
He also said, “The Lord your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, so that you may love him with all your heart and with all your soul, and live.” (Dt 30:6)
 
God also said through the prophet Jeremiah, “Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, circumcise your hearts, you people of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, or my wrath will flare up and burn like fire because of the evil you have done - burn with no one to quench it.” (Jr 4:4)
 
As we can see from these verses, what God expected of the Israelites when He gave them the command of circumcision was that they would cut off their hearts, tear down all the walls they had built up against Him, and love Him with all their hearts. What God really wants from us is not our outward religious acts. He sees the center of our hearts.
 
The importance of circumcision continues in the New Testament. The apostle Paul said in Romans 2:28-29, “A person is not a Jew who is one only outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. No, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a person’s praise is not from other people, but from God.” (Rm 2:28-29)
 
As we see in this passage, it's not what we look like on the outside that God really cares about, but the condition of our hearts. God doesn't want us to be religious only on the outside, but rather to have our hearts centered on Him.
 
Then, what happens if we don't cut the skin of our heart and leave it thick against God?
 
Mark 8 records an event in which Jesus fed four thousand people with seven loaves of bread and two fish. After that, He got into a boat and traveled to another place. But the disciples forgot to bring bread. Seeing this, Jesus warned them, telling them to beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Herod. What Jesus meant when He said “yeast” was their hypocrisy. But the disciples didn't grasp the meaning. They simply thought He was rebuking them for not bringing bread.
 
Knowing this, Jesus said to them, “Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not see or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear? And don’t you remember?” (Mk 8:17-18)
 
Jesus said that their hearts were hardened. Here, the Greek word that’s translated as “hardened” is πωρόω (pōroō), which means to cover with a thick skin and to harden by covering with a callus.
 
When you’re first learning to play the guitar, it's difficult because the skin on the fingers that hold the strings is soft and tender, and it hurts. But if you keep playing, you develop calluses on your fingertips, and you feel less pain when you hold the strings.
 
That was the condition of the disciples' hearts. Their hearts had become dull, hardened, and thick, so they didn’t understand what Jesus was saying to them.
 
That's what happens when we allow our hearts to become thick: we have eyes, but we don't see; we have ears, but we don't hear; and we don't remember the things God has done. We hear God's word, but we don't understand it. And if this persists, eventually our hearts become so thick that we don't hear God's voice at all.
 
The apostle Paul said, “The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron.” (1Tm 4:1-2)
 
Here, the expression “seared as with a hot iron” is a rendering of the Greek word καυτηριάζω (kautēriazō), which means “to mark by branding.”
 
In those days, runaway slaves were branded with a hot iron, and the branded areas gradually hardened and eventually lost sensation. The skin could no longer function properly.
 
That's what happens when we allow our hearts to become hardened against God. Our hearts will be covered with calluses and we will lose our spiritual sense of God, just as branded skin loses its sensation. Even when we sin, we will not feel it as sin.
 
Paul said in Ephesians 4:18-19, “They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed.” (Eph 4:18-19)
 
This is what happens when we allow our hearts to grow thick and stubborn against God. The first time we do something wrong before God, we feel immense guilt in our conscience. But, when it happens over and over again, we become numb to it. We start to rationalize it to ourselves, saying that's just the way it is, that's how other Christians live too.
 
And if it continues, our conscience will lose its function. As a result, we lose our spiritual senses and naturally live in sin according to the evil desires of our flesh, not according to the way God wants us to live.
 
What makes me afraid is that we can become like this and still go on with our religious lives. That is what the Pharisees and the teachers of the law were like. The one word that characterizes them, according to Jesus, is “hypocrisy.” With their lips they honored God, but their hearts were far from him. They kept the law, but they had forsaken the spirit of the law—justice, compassion, and faith.
 
Jesus likened them to “whitewashed tombs”: they looked fine on the outside, but their hearts were full of dead and unclean things. That was the spiritual condition of the religious leaders.
 
Jesus said to them, “First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.” (Mt 23:26)
 
I believe this is the same instruction that Jesus is giving us today. When we come to the Lord, we should always look at how sensitive our hearts are to Him. Rather than trying to look right and godly to people, we should be more concerned about looking right to the Lord.
 
So today, I want us to examine our hearts before Him. And if our hearts are thickened by our own desires, sins, idols, cares, and anxieties, if our hearts have become so dull that we have lost our spiritual senses, I want us to tear our hearts, cut the thickened skin, and return to Him. We must return to the Lord quickly before it's too late, before our hearts become like branded skin, so stubborn that we can't feel anything.
 
If we humbly lift our hearts to the Lord, asking for healing and restoration, He will touch our broken hearts, mend them, and replace them with clean, pure, tender hearts. This is what God said through the prophet Ezekiel,
 
“I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. Then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. They will be my people, and I will be their God.” (Ezk 11:19-20)
 
We cannot soften our own hearts, which have become hard like stone because of sin. But God can. To fulfill these words of the covenant, God sent Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit to us.
 
There is no sin that the blood of Jesus Christ cannot wash away. No matter how stubborn it may seem, His blood can cover it all. We cannot remove the stigma of sin on our own, but the precious blood of Jesus Christ can remove it, set us free, and transform us into God’s people.
 
So, I want us to humbly lift our hearts to Him today. I want us to cut out the areas of our hearts that we can cut out, and lift up to Him the areas that we cannot. Then He will come into our hearts and cleanse and purify them with His blood, and He will strengthen our inner beings by the power of the Holy Spirit. That’s the circumcision of Christ Paul talked about in Colossians 2:11:
 
“In [Christ] you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole self ruled by the flesh was put off when you were circumcised by Christ” (Col 2:11)
 
Without this circumcision of our hearts, without cutting off the thick and hardened skins of our hearts, we can’t possibly live as the people of the kingdom of God.
 
I hope and pray that all of us here today will be cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ and strengthened by the power of the Holy Spirit, that the skin of our hearts will become like new flesh, that we will have tender hearts, that we will have a spiritual sense that's sensitive to the Lord, that we will be victorious by faith as children of God on this earth, and that we will live lives that build up the kingdom of God.
 
With this desire, let’s sing “I Give You My Heart” one more time before we close with prayer.
 
[Prayer]
Heavenly Father, we thank You for speaking to us today through Your word and enlightening us to Your will.
 
Lord, we come to You by tearing our hearts and lifting them to You. Please renew our hearts, which have become hardened and thickened against You because of our sins, our love of the world, and our evil desires.
 
We invite You into each of our hearts. Please come, touch, mend, and renew our hearts now, so that we may not live lives that look holy on the outside and are filled with all kinds of filthy things on the inside, but rather live lives that resemble Jesus Christ both on the outside and the inside. 
 
We want to serve You with a new heart. Purify our hearts through the precious blood of Jesus Christ and strengthen our spirits through the power of the Holy Spirit, so that we may live the holy lives that You want to see in us.
 
Lord, we hear You knocking at the door of our hearts now, and we open our hearts to You. Come, dwell in us, and lead us always in Your will and Your ways.
 
We pray that You may use us as Your vessels through which You build Your kingdom here on earth. May only Your name be glorified.
 
We pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
 
[Reflection Questions]
1) What do you think is the relationship between the knowledge of God, experience, and faith? Have you ever experienced your knowledge of God leading you to obey Him? How did that experience affect your faith in God?
 
2) What do you think makes your heart thick and hardened before God? Is your heart thick or soft towards God now? What practical things can you do this week to have a clean and tender heart before Him?