Joshua 2:8-21

Before the spies lay down for the night, she went up on the roof and said to them, “I know that the Lord has given you this land and that a great fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who live in this country are melting in fear because of you. 10 We have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea[a] for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan, whom you completely destroyed.[b11 When we heard of it, our hearts melted in fear and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below.

12 “Now then, please swear to me by the Lord that you will show kindness to my family, because I have shown kindness to you. Give me a sure sign 13 that you will spare the lives of my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them—and that you will save us from death.”

14 “Our lives for your lives!” the men assured her. “If you don’t tell what we are doing, we will treat you kindly and faithfully when the Lord gives us the land.”

15 So she let them down by a rope through the window, for the house she lived in was part of the city wall. 16 She said to them, “Go to the hills so the pursuers will not find you. Hide yourselves there three days until they return, and then go on your way.”

17 Now the men had said to her, “This oath you made us swear will not be binding on us 18 unless, when we enter the land, you have tied this scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down, and unless you have brought your father and mother, your brothers and all your family into your house. 19 If any of them go outside your house into the street, their blood will be on their own heads; we will not be responsible. As for those who are in the house with you, their blood will be on our head if a hand is laid on them. 20 But if you tell what we are doing, we will be released from the oath you made us swear.”

21 “Agreed,” she replied. “Let it be as you say.”

So she sent them away, and they departed. And she tied the scarlet cord in the window.

Sermon

Listening guide

Discussion questions

Intro 

Husband and wife. Both Christian. Different confessions of faith, different church bodies, different denominations. The wife was disappointed, even upset that she couldn’t have communion at the husband’s church. She complained, or at least expressed her disappointment, to the husband’s pastor. Then they wanted their baby baptized. They went to the wife’s church. The husband wasn’t allowed to attend the baptism.  

Most of us are pretty upset when this stuff happens in churches. Religion is often perceived as incredibly exclusive 

That’s nothing. I would put to you that we are way more exclusive on a daily basis.  

I think we like to imagine that we do much better including other people on a daily basis. I remember a previous neighbor. We had a little bit of conflict about our mailbox. We had one of these pass through driveways for his house and ours. For some reason, the mailperson wouldn’t walk up the driveway. So if we had people over and they parked in the driveway or we didn’t get the snow shoveled soon enough, the mailperson wouldn’t deliver the mail.  I know another person who lived in a duplex. They accused their neighbor of listening in on conversations and not mowing the lawn well. They disagreed so much that when I stopped by to say hi to the neighbor one time, he refused to talk to me.  

I think we imagine we include others because we act decently in public, but I would say we’re far more exclusive than inclusive.  

Discover 

God wants to help you deal with that today. The event is Jericho, two spies, and a woman named Rahab. This is a pivotal moment in the history of Israel.  

The Israelites have wandered in the wilderness for 40 years. Moses is passing on leadership to Joshua. God has promised the Israelites the land of Canaan. The Israelites have traveled to the border so they can enter the land. The first step: what to do about Jericho. God intended to destroy Jericho. The promise of this event is, there is something that can be done to include people in God’s exclusive kingdom.  

There has to be a supernatural change. Let’s see what it is. Let’s discover God’s inclusive exclusivity  

Development  

Let’s start with this woman Rahab. She is up on the roof to talk to the spies. She is not what some would call an easy neighbor.    

  • She is a Canaanite. The reason for this whole event is that the Canaanite people and more specifically the city of Jericho is set aside for destruction. This is a woman who God and his people fully intend to destroy.  

  • Single woman 

  • Prostitute 

That only makes her all the more remarkable.  

  • As best we know, she is perhaps the only one to survive the attack on Jericho 

  • She is one of Jesus’ ancestors (Matthew 1)  

  • She is listed in the hall of faith (Hebrews 11), the only woman other Sarah  

You’ve got to look at Rahab and say, wow, look at how much God loves this person. This unlovable person. She is not the person we would pick for a neighbor, God picks her.  

God loves the marginalized. Jesus put it this way, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you.  For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did.” Matthew 21:31-32   

I would put to you that this is the beginning of real inclusive exclusivity.  

Traditional ways of thinking say good people get to be part of our tribe. Traditional religion even says, good works are enough to get you to God. And initially, this seems incredibly inclusive.  

When we say be good and you can be in, suddenly it doesn’t matter what family you’re from. It doesn’t matter how rich or poor you are. It doesn’t matter what your ethnicity is. You can be in. That is pretty inclusive.  

You think, you can’t be a lawyer in many major law firms unless you graduated from one of the Ivy League schools. You can’t get into certain social clubs unless you’re a member of certain families. You can’t be part of certain political groups unless you belong to the right kind of people. These aren’t just social constraints. These are rules! There are plenty of groups that only let people in if they have the right education, the right family background, the right ethnicity, or the right social class.  

To come along and say, do good, be good enough, good works are enough. They get you in. They get you to God. That seems really inclusive.  

The problem is, this is really quite exclusive. It says, “good people are in and the bad people are out.” What about those of us with moral failures? What if I have made bad choices? What if I’ve messed things up even if I don’t know what I’m doing? Then we are excluded!  

The Christian message is exclusive. It is. I’ll admit that. Only people who believe in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord are welcomed by God and embraced by him.  

That message is exclusive. Good works are exclusive. Both approaches are exclusive, but the gospel is the more inclusive exclusivity. It says ‘It doesn’t matter who you are, or what your education is, or what your background is, or what you’ve done. It doesn’t matter if you’ve been at the gates of hell. You can be forgiven and embraced fully and instantly through Christ.'” 

I am sure Rahab got that message. There are plenty of other Bible stories that tell us God loves the marginalized.  Jesus and the adulteress person. Jesus and the tax collector. Elijah and the widow of Zarapheth.  

The true marvel of the story is this. This incredible woman, Rahab receives spies. The prostitute receives the spies. It is the outsider who welcomes the very people who want to destroy her.  

This is the true marvel of the story. Not only is this woman welcomed into God’s family. She welcomes the very people who will destroy her!   

The Triune God loves unlovable people through people who are equally unlovable.  

Something incredible has happened to this woman and this lesson tells us what. In verse 12, the woman asks, “Give me a sure sign that you will spare our lives” (verse 12) The spies tell her back, “Our lives for your lives!” (verse 14) Which, if you’re thinking about it, 

They don’t give her a sign. They don’t give her a guarantee. I don’t know if they can. No one can buy back someone else’s life. No one can redeem someone else’s life. No one can save someone else’s life. No one, except for one.  

The woman hangs a red cord in her window. She doesn’t say so much, give me a sign, as a sign has been given to me.  

She says, I have been given a sign that I am forgiven and embraced, and because of that sign I will forgive you for wanting to destroy me and I will embrace you.  

A red cord she says, has been hung for me. A red cord.  

And how can we not think of Jesus. He was a hung on a cross bleeding. He is the red sign that declares she is forgiven.  

You see, that is what this story is saying. He is the true red sign.  

What happened to Rahab still happens to people.  

“In 2015, I met an Iranian science professor from a world-class university. I asked him how he came to be a Christian. He replied, “Through the ministry of J.S. Bach!” My new friend had been raised in a Muslim family. But when the Islamic revolution swept through Iran in 1980, he abandoned his familial faith. Alongside his scientific studies my friend was a semiprofessional flutist. Classical music was banned by the new government, so must lovers crowded into private houses to savor illicit sonatas. Before one secret concert, my friend reheared a Bach flute sonata with his musical mentor but was stopped a few bars in: “I cannot hear the cross of Christ in what you are playing,”, his mentor complained. My friend was bewildered: with 1little knowledge of Christianity, he had no idea what his mentor meant. But the challenge  struck with him. Gradually he began to apprehend the profoundly Christian fabric of Bach’s works; and when he frist walked into a church a few years later, he sensed the same reality.  

Before one concert, this man reheared a Bach flute sonata with his instructor. His instructor stopped him a few measures in and said, “I cannot hear a 

My friend was troubled. In Iran, he had witnessed the full force of religious coercion. He had converted from Islam to Christianity partly as a reaction against that force. Now a Christian, he longed for others to come to know Jesus.  

 

See, everyone has a set of exclusive beliefs, and Christianity has exclusive beliefs. Which set of beliefs leads to the most inclusive behavior? I submit this. Take moralistic religion into the center of your life, and you’ll feel superior to people who aren’t religious. Take secularism into the center of your life, and you’ll feel superior to all those foolish religious people. Take the gospel into the center of your life, and you’ll be humbled before people who don’t believe what you believe. 

The Triune God loves unlovable people through people who are equally unlovable.  

 

Action 

Hang your rope. Or to put it a way we might say it, carry around that sign that lets you know you’ve been loved and you need love. Sometimes loving your unlovable neighbor is not so much about saying, let me love you. It’s simply saying, I need love just as much as you. That’s what Rahab says, and look what God does for her!  

You and I, believers in Jesus, we can’t weaken, downplay, or minimize our religion. It can’t just be a personal thing.  

At the very core of our faith is the simple conviction, I’m a sinner and I need love even more than you.  

What I am asking you to do with that is, I’m asking you to love me not for anything in me, but for something in you. I am asking you to make a commitment to me because of you, not because of me. I am asking you to make a sacrifice to me because of you . I am asking you to express love toward me because of you, not because of me.  

And you know what it is when you and I do something that is not motivated by the other person, or the world around us and what they perceive, or even by our own personal gain, but is solely driven by some altruistic, higher purpose, some sacred action?  

That’s religion. It can never just be a private thing.  

Yes the Christian faith is exclusive. Absolutely. But it is the only one driven by not by what can I do for you, or what can you do for me, but what has been done for us.  

And that is an amazing thing. It is absolutely amazing when God loves unlovable people through other unlovable people.