Sharon Reformed Presbyterian Church · Sermon study sheet

Look to God

Bryan Schneider · May 7, 2022

Joshua 13:8-33

sharonrpc.org/sermons/look-to-god

Summary

The repeated names of defeated kings and allotted cities call Israel to remember God's concrete acts of deliverance and provision.
God's people are forgetful, so Scripture and the Lord's Supper repeatedly direct attention back to what the Lord has done.
Israel's failure to remove the Geshurites and Maacathites warns that comfort and prosperity can produce halfhearted obedience after great crises have passed.
Prosperity becomes a snare when possessions, work, and ordinary cares choke the Word and make people ask, 'Who is the Lord?'
Faithfulness is required not only in dramatic trials but in the patient, ordinary work of resisting sin and obeying in small things.
The Levites receive no territorial allotment because the Lord himself is their inheritance, pointing every believer beyond earthly possessions to God as the lasting portion.
Through Christ's priesthood the church is a royal priesthood whose joy is communion with God and whose final inheritance is his presence forever.

Which concrete deliverances and provisions of God have I begun to forget?
How do Scripture and the Lord's Supper correct my forgetfulness and return my attention to Christ?
Has comfort made me less watchful and less faithful in ordinary obedience?
Which possession, task, or care is presently competing with God's Word for the allegiance of my heart?
Do I ask for sufficient daily bread, or treat prosperity as the source of safety and joy?
If material security were removed, could I still say that God is my portion forever?
How should belonging to Christ's royal priesthood shape my worship and witness this week?

Remembrance: Deliberately recalling God's revealed acts and promises so past grace shapes present faith and obedience.
Prosperity: Material abundance that is a divine gift but becomes spiritually dangerous when it displaces dependence upon God.
Halfhearted obedience: Stopping short of God's command once circumstances become comfortable or costly perseverance is required.
Daily bread: The sufficient provision believers ask from the Father without making either poverty or riches their security.
Portion: God himself as the believer's satisfying possession, refuge, strength, and everlasting good.
Royal priesthood: The people joined to Christ the great priest and called to worship God and proclaim his excellencies.