Recyclable

Joshua 8:24-29

24 When Israel had finished killing all the men of Ai in the fields and in the wilderness where they had chased them, and when every one of them had been put to the sword, all the Israelites returned to Ai and killed those who were in it. 25 Twelve thousand men and women fell that day—all the people of Ai. 26 For Joshua did not draw back the hand that held out his javelin until he had destroyed all who lived in Ai. 27 But Israel did carry off for themselves the livestock and plunder of this city, as the Lord had instructed Joshua.
28 So Joshua burned Ai and made it a permanent heap of ruins, a desolate place to this day. 29 He impaled the body of the king of Ai on a pole and left it there until evening. At sunset, Joshua ordered them to take the body from the pole and throw it down at the entrance of the city gate. And they raised a large pile of rocks over it, which remains to this day.

Introduction

Many Canadians buy the newest television set and throw away older functional televisions. Garbage collectors would be glad to recycle them. Recyclable materials are totally destroyed before they become useful materials again.

The Lord ordered the Israelites to destroy everything in Ai, why? They could have used their houses, right? Why did God not want the Israelites to the houses of the Canaanite people? It could have saved them time and energy, right?
Destroying the whole city would eliminate any sign of Canaanite lifestyle. God did not want His people to follow the lifestyle of the people of Canaan. That was why He ordered the Israelites to destroy everything.

1. Destroy

24 When Israel had finished killing all the men of Ai in the fields and in the wilderness ‎where they had chased them, and when every one of them had been put to the sword, ‎all the Israelites returned to Ai and killed those who were in it. 25 Twelve thousand ‎men and women fell that day—all the people of Ai. 26 For Joshua did not draw back ‎the hand that held out his javelin until he had destroyed all who lived in Ai. 27 But ‎Israel did carry off for themselves the livestock and plunder of this city, as the Lord ‎had instructed Joshua.‎

The first city that the Israelites conquered was Jericho. Everything was destroyed in Jericho except for things that cannot be destroyed by fire. Precious stones were kept in the treasury of the Lord’s house. In the city of Ai, they also destroyed everything except for livestock and precious materials. They divided them among themselves.
When the Lord gives instruction, He wants us to obey even if we don’t understand His reason. Obedience manifests trust in Him that He cares for us. Obedience indicates trust in God’s process. Do you agree that God has designed the best life only for you?
Like the city of Ai, because of sin, we are meant to be destroyed in the lake of fire. God does not recycle the unrepentant. God recycled us to be His useful instruments by faith in Christ. As God’s useful instruments, He must totally destroy our old lifestyle.

God ordered the Israelite to destroy the city of Ai to eliminate any sign of Canaanite lifestyle. Canaanite lifestyle may contaminate or pollute the lifestyle that God desires for His people. Similarly, the Holy Spirit must totally destroy our old lifestyle that may contamination or pollute our Christian lifestyle.
The Holy Spirit appeared like tongues of fire and rested on each of the disciples. The Holy Spirit totally destroyed the fear and old lifestyle of the disciples. They became courageous in spreading the gospel. If we allow the Holy Spirit to destroy our old lifestyle, only then can the Lord renew and recycle us to be His effective instrument.

Melted Toy Soldiers

In a TV show a soldier and his young son were escaping from the enemies. They hid in a very strategic position to ambush those who were running after them. There was a problem. They were short of bullet. As the father planned for strategy, he watched his son arranging his toy soldier collections.
He picked up one of the toy soldiers and observed that they wee made out of lead materials. He told his son that they ran out of bullet and the toy soldiers can be melted into bullets. The movie showed that they defeated the enemies who running after them because of those melted and recycled toy soldiers.

God has many resources but He chooses to recycle us to be His effective instrument. Let the Holy Spirit melt our old lifestyle and mould us into His preferred design device or instrument for us to be used appropriately according to His plan.
The ways of the Lord are hard to understand. We ask, why must a loving God destroy the Canaanites? They could have helped the Israelites to learn how to live in Canaan, right? Why did the Lord not order the Israelites to just befriend the Canaanites instead of eliminating them? Why did the Lord want Canaan desolate?

2. Desolate

28 So Joshua burned Ai and made it a permanent heap of ruins, a desolate place to ‎this day. 29 He impaled the body of the king of Ai on a pole and left it there until ‎evening. At sunset, Joshua ordered them to take the body from the pole and throw it ‎down at the entrance of the city gate. And they raised a large pile of rocks over it, ‎which remains to this day.‎

Burning a whole city and its people, impaling, piercing or torturing the king to death, and throwing a large pile of stone were overkill. Not a few individuals can accept such cruel act. Why should a loving and caring God execute them like that?
God’s command, to destroy the Canaanite and occupy their land, is not easy to reconcile with the Lord’s command to love our neighbors. The Israelites did not question Joshua even if they did not understand the process of God. They learned their lesson from their forefathers who disobeyed the Lord when they opposed Moses and Aaron.

We believe that God established authorities. We believe that our elected leaders are God’s instrument to establish His purposes in the church. It says in John 13:20, Very truly I tell you, whoever accepts anyone I send accepts me; and whoever accepts me accepts the one who sent me.”

The opposite of accept is reject or oppose. To accept or reject the one whom God sent is to reject His process. Do you agree with that? Who are those God has sent into this church? In the first century, church leaders rejected each other’s decision, too. Why did God allow those He sent to reject each other’s decisions? Why can they not agree? Disagreement may benefit God’s kingdom. It also challenges spiritual maturity.
In Acts 15:36-39, 36 Some time later Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us go back and visit the believers in all the towns where we preached the word of the Lord and see how they are doing.” 37 Barnabas wanted to take John, also called Mark, with them, 38 but Paul did not think it wise to take him, because he had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not continued with them in the work. 39 They had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company. Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus.

Paul and Barnabas agreed to disagree. They agreed to separate. Barnabas might have wanted to bring John Mark because John Mark was still young in his faith and he was also the cousin of Barnabas.
Paul might not want John Mark as precedent for his mission team. Paul did not want anybody from his mission team, Silas, Timothy, Titus and Dr. Luke to desert him whenever they wish to leave. He wanted commitment from his mission team.

In Acts 4:36, Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means “son of encouragement”). Being an encourager, Barnabas might be a soft spoken and sweet-talking person.
In contrast, Paul was no-nonsense and straight-forward person. Paul did not mind if the Galatians were disappointed or not. He wanted them to know ‎that what they were doing was wrong. ‎In Galatians 3:1, You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified.

Believers who observed the sharp disagreement of Paul and Barnabas might have been bothered. Many believers are also bothered when church leaders disagree.
When Paul and Barnabas parted ways, it could have been heart-breaking for others to see the two partners went on separate ways. Many church members leave the church because of different views. It is tough experience but we need to keep on trusting God.

Will you be disappointed with the problems of the church?
Will you be bothered when church leaders disagree with each other?
Will you follow a soft-spoken and sweet-talking encourager like Barnabas?
Will you follow a tough and straight-forward talking church leader like Paul?

The book of Acts followed the ministry trail of Paul because Dr. Luke ‎was with Paul. The ministry of Barnabas was never included in the Bible after he disagreed and separated from Paul. Did Barnabas continue in the ministry? Was he disappointed? ‎

Will your ministry be remembered like Paul or forgotten? Giving a second chance to John Mark was Barnabas’ recycling idea but Paul did not like to recycle quitters.
For the Lord to recycle quitters, He must completely destroy that quitter behavior.
Pray that God would raise leaders who are dedicated like Paul.
Pray that God would destroy quitter behavior before they are recycled as leaders.

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