I ordered take out the other night, and got some mashed potatoes. All I got was mashed potatoes. No gravy, no butter, no salt or pepper, just a glob of lukewarm potatoes sitting there unmoving on the plate. So I called and asked the restaurant how they serve their mashed potatoes in the restaurant; guess what they said? They serve their mashed potatoes plain, in a glob, no gravy, no butter, and no spices. I would say their cooks are just “phoning in” their talent.

Two police officers arrested a thief after he cut in front of them in line at a Starbucks and attempted to rob the store. Two police officers were in line speaking with the Starbucks employee when a man cut in front of them, apparently oblivious of the policemen, and demanded the employee give him money from the register. That’s “phoning in” his robbery attempt. Might as well have not even been there since his brain was somewhere else.

When we do things without any preparation, in a sort of automatic, unthinking, off-handed manner – we’re “phoning it in.” “Phoning it in” or being half-hearted and performing under par brings some consequences. That’s what we’ll learn here about the Israelites conquest of the Promised Land.

As we’ve already covered, Moses lead the people called “Israel” out of captivity in Egypt. God gave them the Law to help them know how to live in ways at least partially acceptable to God, and He gave them the Tabernacle as the portable, moving sanctuary of God in their midst. In this blog I’m talking about the people of Israel at the border of the Promised Land – and God’s plan for them and their response. Will they enter the land? Will they possess it? Will they prosper? Will they live up to God’s plan for them to bless the nations of the world - or will they just “phone it in” as if they’re not really even there, and hardly caring about their attempt?

They’ve arrived – once again – after 40 years of wandering in the desert wilderness, at the border of the Promised Land. “Then the Israelites traveled to the plains of Moab and camped along the Jordan across from Jericho” (Numbers 22:1). In order to get here, they’ve fought and defeated the people of the kingdom of Arad, they fought and defeated the Amorites, they fought and defeated the Midianites, and subdued the Moabites. They have control of what is known as the trans-Jordan, or the land on the east side of the Jordan river – the staging area for their conquest of Canaan. They’ve already fought numerous battles just to get themselves in position for their greatest battles yet to come. Here they sit on the trans-Jordan, in the plains of Moab, and they’re ready to do whatever the Lord tells them. What’s going to happen?

Two of the tribes of Israel – Gad and Reuben – find this land to their liking. They ask Moses if this trans-Jordan land can be their inheritance. At first, Moses bristles with anger: “here you are a brood of sinners, standing in the place of your fathers (like 40 years earlier when the whole nation of Israel refused to go into the Promised Land) and making the Lord even more angry with Israel. If you turn away from following him, He will again leave all this people in the desert, and you will be the cause of their destruction.” (Numbers 32:14-15)

But the men of Gad and Reuben say “We would like to build pens here for our livestock and cities for our women and children. But we are ready to arm ourselves and go ahead of the Israelites until we have brought them to their place. Meanwhile our women and children will live in fortified cities, for protection from the inhabitants of the land. We will not return to our homes until every Israelite has received his inheritance. We will not receive any inheritance with them on the other side of the Jordan, because our inheritance has come to us on the east side of the Jordan.” (Numbers 32:16-19)

Moses finds that acceptable, and for that reason Gad and Reuben become known as the “trans-Jordan tribes,” living on the east side of the Jordan River. So – here the nation of Israel is camped in the plains of Moab, ready for God’s instructions – and this is what happens.

On the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho the Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘When you cross the Jordan into Canaan, drive out all the inhabitants of the land before you. Destroy all their carved images and their cast idols, and demolish all their high places. Take possession of the land and settle in it, for I have given you the land to possess. Distribute the land by lot, according to your clans. To a larger group give a larger inheritance, and to a smaller group a smaller one. Whatever falls to them by lot will be theirs. Distribute it according to your ancestral tribes. But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land, those you allow to remain will become barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides. They will give you trouble in the land where you will live. And then I will do to you what I plan to do to them.’ ” (Numbers 33:50-56)

Get that? If you don’t do this – they’ll be barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides and give you trouble where you live – and I will do to you the very things I’m planning to do to them. Yikes! Better not “phone in” this attempt – better give it your best shot!

There are three things I want to point out – two things that may be troubling to you, and one thing that you simply need to grasp.

God is turning over the land to the people of Israel. Right now, it’s inhabited by the Philistines (who later become known as the Palestinians) and the Canaanites. It’s surrounded by the Ammonites, the Moabites, and the Edomites. Some people may say, how fair is it that God pushes them out and gives the land to Israel? Well – God is sovereign – and the peoples of earth live where they live according to His good nature and decision. That’s as true today as it was back then. America possesses the land we possess according to God’s sovereignty and will.

You should also remember that these people are godless people. Jericho is filled with sun-worshippers. There are people in the land who worship horrible gods – gods like Molech who demands infant and child sacrifice; earth gods and goddesses like Asherah who demand ritualistic sex practices in return for good crops. There’s Chemosh, Baal, and a whole array of other detestable gods. The land is filled with people who need to move along, so that God’s people can live there.

We also need to remember that the Philistine’s origins are traced to the arrival as a group of sea-faring people on the coast of Canaan at Gaza. They were culturally related to the Mycenaean or bronze-aged proto-Greek world and came either from the island of Crete in the southern Aegean Sea, or from the Peloponnesian peninsula of what is modern-day Greece. The modern-day Palestinian language, while strongly influenced by Arabic, still contains many Indo-European words and is closely related to Spanish, Russian, German, French, Italian, and even English – strongly suggesting a proto-Greek, Aegean Sea origin. In short, the Philistines (a.k.a. Palestinians) aren’t native to Palestine, which kind of undermines their modern-day claim to be indigenous to that region.

The fact that all of these people, Philistines, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites are entrenched in Canaan should rest some on the shoulders of Israel. They spent 400 years lounging in Egypt before God soured their existence with slavery and sent Moses to lead them home. It was Israel who wimped out at the border of the Promised Land at Kadesh-Barnea and then were sent packing for 40 years of wandering in the wilderness. They could have taken the land nearly many years earlier!

They had a covenant: God would be their God, if they would obey Him. So far, they haven’t learned to obey much at all – but they’re getting pretty good at giving Him lip-service. “Oh, we’ll do what you say, God! We’ll obey!” Then they sneak around and find ways to disobey Him and do the bare minimum and “phone in” their obedience and hope He doesn’t notice.

You and I are in relationship with the same God – and many of us “phone in” our faith. The difference is – God now looks at us through Jesus’ eyes, and sees in us what Jesus sees. When God sees us, He sees Jesus’ righteousness all over us. He’s loving towards us and forgiving towards us because we no longer are under the Law – but under Grace - “God’s unmerited favor.” We can’t earn it, but He offers it to all who will bend their knee and follow Jesus as Master.

All this to say that we need to remember this about God: when God gives you an assignment – do it! So let’s see what Israel does.

Aaron the high priest has died. Moses dies as the people are camped in the plains of Moab, just before they cross the Jordan, and God selects Joshua to take over for Moses and to lead the nation and the army into the promised land.

Remember how they escaped the Egyptians 40 some years ago? Moses held up his staff, God parted the waters, and they crossed over on dry land. Here is the Jordan River. It’s in flood stage during the time of harvest. It’s overflowing its banks and is a swift, broad river. How to get across?

Read Joshua 3:14-17. God parted the water – but this time, they had to walk into it first. OK – so far, so good. They made the crossing – with faith – so no “phoning it in” so far.

The first fortified city they encounter is Jericho. You’ve probably heard the story of Jericho. . . “Joshua fit (fought) the battle of Jericho – and the walls came a’tumblin’ down.” God supernaturally gave them the heavily fortified city.

There was another battle with Israel fighting an Amorite confederation of the kings of Jerusalem, Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish, and Eglon. God rained down hailstones on the enemy and more people were killed by hail than by the swords of the Israelites. God even granted an unusual request from Joshua and halted the progress of the sun for an entire day so they Israelites could win. God supernaturally brought them victory after victory – as long as they were committed to the plan.

They fought a central campaign, a southern campaign, and a northern campaign to drive out the people of the land. OK – looks like they may be doing a good job. . . but wait, there were also some problems.

The leaders of Gibeon tricked Joshua into signing a treaty with them. The Gibeonites said they were from far away, when they were actually in the middle of the countryside Joshua was attacking. When Joshua and his army approached, out came the leaders “Hey! Hi, Josh! We have a treaty.” And Joshua honored the treaty instead of honoring God’s instructions. One of many mistakes.

Another mistake is that the Israelites simply ignored the five major cities of the Philistines who we now know as Palestinians. Ekron, Gath (where Goliath will come from), Ashkelon, Ashdod, and Gaza – as in the Gaza Strip – become trouble for Israel later, and are still a continual sore spot for modern Israel. It looks like Israel might have just “phoned in” their conquest of Canaan!

Read Joshua 13:2-5. There are still very large areas of land to be taken. There’s a lot yet to be done, and, as we progress through the biblical narrative, we find out that it really doesn’t ever get done.

In Joshua chapter 13 we read about the division of the land east of the Jordan to Gad and Reuben. In chapter 14 we read about the division of the land west of the Jordan to the remaining tribes – except the Levites. The Levites were the priests – and they were not given land because they were to be cared for by all of the other tribes. The other tribes were to give a percentage of their income so that the Levites could be fed, clothed, and housed throughout the lands.

But once the land is divvied up – they go off in their own directions and start settling in without finishing the work of driving out the people who were not supposed to be there. Then – in Joshua chapter 24, the people assembled at Shechem and they presented themselves before the Lord to renew the covenant. What covenant? To keep Laws? To possess the land? To be a blessing? As they talked something came to the fore.

Read Joshua 24:1-27. It’s both a quick rundown of their history, which is helpful, but it brings up a vital piece we need to understand.

Note that It does not say the people threw away their idols, it just sounds like some kind of ritual or responsive reading: “We will serve the Lord our God and obey him. . .” Lip service!

On that day Joshua made a covenant for the people and drew up decrees and laws and recorded them in the Book of the Law of God. Clearly, Joshua added to the Law codes given by God and given by Moses – the beginning of interpretation and manipulation of the Law by leaders that took place right up to Jesus’ entry into the picture.

God led His people. He performed many miracles. He supernaturally fought for them and with them. He gave them the land – but they did not drive all of the inhabitants out. In one case, the people of the tribe of Dan can’t even live in the land allotted to them because it’s still filled with the Philistine people living in their five great cities. The land is theirs, but it’s filled with enemies who have false gods and weird beliefs and carved idols. Worse, we find out later in Scripture that the people still have idols and still involve themselves in false religions and get sucked into the worship of horrendous entities by the people living around them in the land.

The world is very similar for us today – but our mission is very different. There is all kinds of evil in the world, but instead of being told to drive the people out before us, we’re called to go into all the world (Matthew 28:18). Instead of having enemies we hate, we’re told to love our enemies. Jesus taught us this: “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matthew 5:43-48)

There are all kinds of things we can worship: money, sex, power. . . Scientology, the Celestine Prophecy, numerology, astrology, Eckankar, Tarot, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Unification, Universalism, Unitarianism. . . But – like the Israelites – God asks us to worship no other god but Him.

But we sure seem to try it the Old Testament way: We hate and mistrust people who are different than us and hate and distrust people who believe differently than us we do - when we should be sharing our faith. We try to segregate ourselves into gated Christian communities – sometimes literally like Lakewood on Lake Erie and Chautauqua in New York; but usually ideologically into our churches which we guard fiercely as our “safety zone” against “outsiders” – when we should be inviting and including and living among the world around us. We tend to let other things become more important in our lives than God – including things that seem OK: like family, spouse, children, job, friends, vacations, retirement – not to mention the big religions or the big temptations of money, sex, and power. We still try to do it like the Israelites. . .

The Church – you and I – are the Chosen People of God. The Church is the Covenant Community God is using to reach the world with the “Good News” of Christ. That’s what we learn from Israel’s half-hearted or partially-completed attempt to conquer the Promised Land. They couldn’t get it done – and so the mission has changed.

Remember what I said earlier – when God gives you an assignment – do it! The Israelites didn’t get the job done. They “phoned in” their conquest of Canaan. They drug their feet, chickened out, made promises they had no intention of keeping, broke promises they might have thought about keeping, did their assignments half-way – if at all, and tried their best to do the bare minimum, while giving incredible lip service and going through the motions of being a people of faith. That’s the epitome of “phoning it in” and not giving it their all. So, God moved on to the next part of His long-range plan. . .

Finally – the Promised Descendant of Abraham – Jesus Christ, the Savior – was given to the world as our redeemer, forgiver, and master – and God stopped His endeavor to reach the world through Israel, and changed the nature and birthright and entrance into the Chosen People of God: If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. (Galatians 3:26-29)

God now gives the instructions about His mission in the world to you and to me. The mission has changed from a military program to an evangelistic one: spreading the Good News about Christ, and growing to be just like Him. Jesus said: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20)

The Israelites were to conquer the land of Canaan - you and I are on a new mission to conquer the world. The Israelites were to drive the people out of the Promised Land so it could be settled and used as a launching pad and a staging area to reach the world - you and I are the moveable sanctuary and dwelling place of God as we enter the world and love the world right where they are; and our church and our homes are the launching pads and staging areas to reach the world.

Let’s not “phone in” our mission to reach the world for Christ.