Revisiting The Past: Children’s Stories Today (Part XI)

Sermon Title: Revisiting the Past: Children’s Stories Today—Remove the Past

Good News Statement: Jesus remove us from the past…

Summary: It’s obvious God forgave Rahab her sin… but if He forgave her, how come the Bible repeatedly refers to her as “Rahab The Harlot”?

Preached: Sunday, August 18^th, 2024, at Dogwood Prairie and Seed Chapel UMC

Pastor Daniel G. Skelton, M.Div.

 

Scripture (NRSV): Hebrews 11:31, Today’s scripture reading comes from the “Chapter of Faith” found in the Book of Hebrews. This specific text focuses on the faith of Rahab, a prostitute who was forgiven and saved by God because she didn’t let her past define her but motivate her to change her life. Let’s read Hebrews, Chapter Eleven, Verse Thirty-one. May the hearing and reading of this scripture add understanding and meaning to your life.

 

Book of Faith:

³¹ By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had received the spies in peace.

 

Spies Sent to Jericho

2 Then Joshua son of Nun sent two men secretly from Shittim as spies, saying, “Go, view the land, especially Jericho.” So they went and entered the house of a prostitute whose name was Rahab and spent the night there. ² The king of Jericho was told, “Some Israelites have come here tonight to search out the land.” ³ Then the king of Jericho sent orders to Rahab, “Bring out the men who have come to you, who entered your house, for they have come to search out the whole land.” ⁴ But the woman took the two men and hid them.^[a] Then she said, “True, the men came to me, but I did not know where they came from. ⁵ And when it was time to close the gate at dark, the men went out. Where the men went I do not know. Pursue them quickly, for you can overtake them.” ⁶ She had, however, brought them up to the roof and hidden them with the stalks of flax that she had laid out on the roof. ⁷ So the men pursued them on the way to the Jordan as far as the fords. As soon as the pursuers had gone out, the gate was shut.

⁸ Before they went to sleep, she came up to them on the roof ⁹ and said to the men, “I know that the Lord has given you the land and that dread of you has fallen on us and that all the inhabitants of the land melt in fear before you. ¹⁰ For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea^[b] before you when you came out of Egypt and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed. ¹¹ As soon as we heard it, our hearts melted, and there was no courage left in any of us because of you. The Lord your God is indeed God in heaven above and on earth below. ¹² Now then, since I have dealt kindly with you, swear to me by the Lord that you in turn will deal kindly with my family. Give me a sign of good faith ¹³ that you will spare my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them and deliver our lives from death.” ¹⁴ The men said to her, “Our life for yours! If you do not tell this business of ours, then we will deal kindly and faithfully with you when the Lord gives us the land.”

 

The Word of God, for the People of God; And all God’s People said, “Thanks Be To God.”

 

Introduction:

Do you remember the first Bible story you were taught as a child? Were you taught about Adam and Eve? Did you read the accounts of Noah, the Ark, and the Great Flood? Were you in fascination of Daniel in the Lion’s Den? Were you caught up in the love story of Samson and Delilah? Did you ever find yourself wanting a technicolor coat like Joseph? Did you want to march around Jericho or use a sling-shot to take down giants? Did you want to build a basket and float down a river like Moses? Maybe you were curious about a tower that went by the name “Tower of Babel”? Perhaps, it was the story of Jonah and a whale that inspired you to dive into the Word of God? Or was it the story of Jesus feeding five-thousand people on the shores of Galilee with only two little fish and five loaves of bread? If you can’t remember the first Bible story you were taught as a child, maybe you have a favorite Bible Story that has helped you deepen your faith and strengthen your trust in God.

If you are trying to remember some of those famous Bible Stories you may have learned or heard about as a child, let me jog your memory of a few. According to Dr. Oliver Tearle of Loughborough University, here are the top twelve stories of the Bible that many people have been raised on: “Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Noah’s Ark and the Flood, The Tower of Babel, Moses in a basket, Moses parting the Red Sea, David and Goliath, Samson and Delilah, Daniel in the Lions’ Den, Jonah and the Whale, The Nativity Scene, The Raising of Lazarus, and the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus.” There are many, many, more stories that probably come to mind, but these are the twelve most popular Bible stories that most of us can remember learning as a child. But, what do the stories of back then teach us today? When was the last time you revisited the first stories of your faith?

Over the span of the next few months—June, July, and August—we are going to explore some of these early childhood Bible Stories. As we explore these stories, each of you will be encouraged to think about the first time you heard that story and what that story means to you today. Dr. Tearle notes, in his article titled 12 of the Best Stories from the Bible Everyone Should Know, “The Bible contains many well-known stories, but how much do we know about them? And what are the best Bible stories everyone should know? Many people, even those raised in countries where Sunday school and religious assemblies are a mainstay of many children’s education, may find they’ve misremembered, or got the wrong impression about, some of the iconic tales from the Bible.”

So, what do you remember about some of those “iconic tales” from the Bible; and what about them today can help deepen your faith and strengthen your trust in God as you strive to be the disciple and church Jesus needs you and us to be? We continue the journey by examining the faith and past of Rahab…

 

Body:

Author and scholar Jared E. Alcántara, when discussing the methodology to creating concrete preaching, shared a story in his book, The Practices of Christian Preaching: Essentials for Effective Proclamation, about a tragic incident that involved two people: Marlon Byrd and Oshea Israel. This story took place in the early 90s, and it was gang-related.

“In 1993, two young men living in Minneapolis got into a gang-related dispute, and one of them shot and killed the other. One was a teenager, and the other was twenty years old. The police informed the youth’s mother, a woman by the name of Mary Johnson, that her son, Marlon Byrd, had been shot and killed, and the police identified the killer: a teenage boy named Oshea Israel. The young man stood trial, was convicted of homicide, and was sent to the local penitentiary for the murder.

“Mary said all the right things after her son died. She explained to  people at the trial that she was a Christian; she was a ‘daughter of the church.’ Thus she would find space in her heart to forgive her son’s killer. After all, that is what Christians do, or at least that is what they are supposed to do. But as time passed, Mary found bitterness and resentment eating away at her soul. If felt almost impossible to let go of the anger she felt. Her church did not help her much. Her pastor told her that her son was murdered because she did not pray enough. After she left that church, the people at the next church told her that she should just get over it and move on from the tragedy. She was hanging on to the past, they said.”[1]

I will share with you the conclusion to this story later on; but for right now, I invite you to think about what one of the churches told Mary. They told her, “She was hanging on to the past.” There times when hanging on to the past is needed to move forward; and there are times that the past just won’t leave you alone. Today, we encounter someone who had a past and as much as she wanted to leave that past behind and live in the present so she could think about the future, those around her kept reminding her of who she was. She wanted people to know who she is, not who she was. This person went by the name of Rahab, and God saw her faith while others saw her past acts of prostitution.

Thinking about “the past”, how many of you have a past? Maybe you aren’t the same person you were 10, 15, or even 20 years ago. Maybe you did something in the past that has stayed there, but maybe other things from your past have crept into the present. Are there any people today that consistently remind you of your past: the things you did, the words you stated, the promises you made but didn’t keep? We all have a past…and I include myself in that statement.

It was the summer of my junior year of high school. I was driving home from band camp one evening, it was about 9:30PM when I left the school. The girl that I was interested at the time, asked if I could follow her home: she only lived about three minutes from where I lived, so I thought that would be fine. Curfew wasn’t until 10:30PM. So, I followed her home and stayed for a little while. I notified my mom that I would be home by curfew, I was just stopping by a friend’s house. After a little while I looked at the clock and it read 10:25PM…. I panicked. I freaked out. I said, “I have to go.” Remember, my parent’s house was only three minutes away…so, theoretically, leaving at 10:25PM would give me two minutes to spare. I would have been on time, if I didn’t encounter some flashing red and blue lights on the way home.

The police officer pulled me over. He was very nice. It turned out he was related to my mom’s side of the family in some way. I was given a ticket, my very first ticket, for going 80mph in a 55mph speed zone. On top of that, I got a ticket for being out past curfew, since I was out past 10:30PM, and I received a fine because one of my headlights was dimmer than the other. (Fixing that headlight was the first time I learned the importance of having access to duct tape!)

Not knowing exactly how to report this incident to my parents, I called my eldest brother and we worked out a deal. He would pay my ticket as long as I worked at his house that summer. And he promised that he wouldn’t tell my parents. He didn’t tell them; but the insurance company notified my dad. My dad wasn’t too happy, but he wasn’t all that upset either. My mom’s reaction was a completely different story: I lost a few privileges for a couple of weeks. This incident from my past still lingers within my family. Sometimes the things we want people to forget are the things that they remember for the rest of their life, and sometimes what they remember hinders us from being able to move forward.

Rahab experienced the same thing. She wanted to move forward, but her life decisions from the past wouldn’t let her…or at least the people around her wouldn’t let her move forward. Again, is there something from your past that still lingers today, which is preventing you from being able to move forward? Let’s look at the story of Rahab and see if we can receive a glimmer of hope for our lives today.

 

Movement One: Rahab the Prostitute…

As I stated earlier, Rahab was a prostitute. Rahab was a prostitute before she was a spy for Joshua and saved his men. The story of Rahab can be found in Joshua 2: “Before the Israelites cross the Jordan, Joshua sends men to scout out the land. Arriving in Jericho, they decide to spend the night at the house of the prostitute Rahab. When Jericho’s ruler tries to apprehend them, Rahab hides them and then helps them escape through the window, thus saving their lives. In return, she and her household are spared the destruction of Jericho and become part of the people Israel. In saving the spies, Rahab acts as head of her household. She also functions as a prophetic voice anticipating Israel’s occupation of the land.”[2] Rahab was a hero! James 2:25 tells us, “In the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way?” And Hebrews 11:31 declared, “By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies.” Rahab was a faithful hero to and for God’s people, but she was still viewed as a prostitute.

Now, just so we’re clear here… prostitution is a sinful lifestyle. In Deuteronomy 23:17 God declared, “There shall be no whore of the daughters of Israel, nor a sodomite of the sons of Israel.” And Leviticus 19:29 says, “Do not prostitute your daughter to cause her to be a whore; lest the land fall to whoredom, and the land become full of wickedness.” And in the New Testament 1 Corinthians 6:16-20 reminds us, “Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, ‘The two will become one flesh.’…. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.” Prostitution back then and today was and is not an acceptable lifestyle according to God. But, yet God chose a prostitute to protect His people.

As a matter of fact, once Joshua rescued her and her family out of Jericho, Rahab lived outside the camp and she ultimately married a man from the tribe of Judah named Salmon. They were the great-great-grandparents of King David. That resulted in her being one of only five women included in Jesus’ genealogy mentioned in the opening Chapter of the Book of Matthew. She is named by God as an ancestor of Jesus. Then, of course, Hebrews and James tell us God praised her for her faith. However, people didn’t know Rahab because of her faith; they knew her because of what she did in the past. This raises an important question: “If Rahab was praised by God for her faith, then why repeatedly refer to her as a ‘The Prostitute’?”

Well, actually, God has done that with others. Matthew, for example is called “Matthew the tax collector” (Matthew 10:3). Tax collectors were not upstanding citizens in Israel. The Pharisees once asked why Jesus was eating with the “tax collectors” and sinners. And one of the other disciples is called “Simon the Zealot” (Mark 3:18).  Zealots were a fanatical sect of Jews who were known for their tendency to assassinate people for political or religious reasons. They were not nice people! Let’s not forget about Thomas: Thomas is known as “Doubting Thomas.” Even though after placing his fingers in the wounds of Jesus’ hands and feet and believing fully in the resurrected Christ, people stilled called him “Doubting Thomas” when they should have called him “Believing Thomas” (John 20:24-27). Lastly, before the Apostle Paul became an apostle and follower of Christ, he did the complete opposite of what Jesus asked his followers to do. Paul wrote in Galatians 1:13-14, “You have heard, no doubt, of my earlier life in Judaism. I was violently persecuting the church of God and was trying to destroy it. I advanced in Judaism beyond many among my people of the same age, for I was far more zealous for the traditions of my ancestors.” Before the Epistle of Galatians, Luke wrote in the Book of Acts, “But Saul (later named Paul) was ravaging the church by entering house after house; dragging off both men and women, he committed them to prison” (Acts 8:3). Paul was a persecutor of the early Christians. Persecutor Paul became Apostle Paul, but yet people still reminded him of his past. Matthew, Simon, Thomas, and Paul were never able to escape their past history, which is what Rahab is experiencing and what some of you are experiencing.

Although I mention these individual’s names, I still haven’t answered the question that I originally asked you: “Why would God repeatedly refer to Rahab as a Prostitute?” Why allow Rahab’s past to continually haunt her and cause her to have limits on life? I believe God did this because it was God’s way of saying He can forgive anybody and anyone and from that forgiveness they, too, can move forward.

 

Movement Two: God Forgives Anybody and Anyone…

First Timothy 1:15-16 says, “Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I, Paul, am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life.” (John 3:16) Paul was declaring, “I AM THE WORST of all sinners! Of all sinners, I am chief! That’s MY testimony. And if God can forgive me, he can forgive you!” If Jesus, from the cross, using the remaining of his breath and strength, can look out into the crowd below him and pray, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34) and also forgive the thief on the cross, then certainly Rahab can receive that same forgiveness that we are given, that the crowd was given.

I once read a story of a preacher named Carl Ketcherside who began working with kids in St. Louis who had a history of drug addiction. But he loved them, listened to them, and one by one baptized them into Christ. A wealthy member of the congregation wasn’t pleased with the preacher’s ministry with them and asked, “How is it going with those long haired, sad looking specimens you have been meeting with?” Ketcherside responded, “Those are not specimens, they are children of God. You are talking about my brethren in the Lord.” The other man frowned and said, “They look to me like something the cat dragged in.” And Ketcherside replied, “They look to me like someone the shepherd brought home.” You see, there are a lot of people out there like Rahab that don’t look like they belong in church. That’s what the Chief Priests thought. So Jesus told those pious religious leaders “Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the PROSTITUTES will go into the kingdom of God before you” (Matthew 21:31). And that is essentially what’s happening with Rahab. God forgave her, and then He used her former life as a billboard telling the world that He can and will save ANYONE who comes to Him. And I believe Rahab was starting to have that same realization.

Now, the Spies that Joshua sent into Jericho… where did they go? Well, Joshua 2:1 tells us, “They went, and came into a harlot’s/prostitute’s house, named Rahab, and lodged there.” Prostitutes of that day would often rent out rooms to travelers. It was another way to make money. So the spies went to find a place to stay and they ended up in the home of prostitute. But now, WHY did they go to this woman’s home? Couldn’t they have stayed somewhere else, with someone else who didn’t have a bad reputation? Well, of course they could have, but I think they went to Rahab’s home because that’s where God WANTED them to be.

Notice in the story of Rahab, SHE HIDES THEM… she didn’t have to do that. And SHE TALKS TO THEM about their God and she didn’t have to do that. In Joshua 2:9 we read that she says: “I know that the LORD has given you the land, and that the fear of you has fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land melt away before you.” She knows there’s a DAY OF JUDGMENT coming, maybe destruction and defeat. And she knows, unless she appeals to them to be saved, she’s going to die. So she says to them “please swear to me by the LORD that, as I have dealt kindly with you, you also will deal kindly with my father’s house, and give me a sure sign that you will save alive my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them, and deliver our lives from death” (Joshua 2:12-13).

I once read an article in Newsweek about religion and street gangs. They told of a street preacher who was struggling to reach the gangs of that city and he asked a drug dealer why that dealer was reaching the kids but he wasn’t. The drug dealer told him this: “I’m there when Johnny goes out for a loaf of bread for Mama. I’m there, you’re not. I win, you lose. It’s all about being there.” Do you realize, that if the spies hadn’t gone to her home, Rahab would have died? Neither she nor her family would have been saved when Jericho was destroyed. But the spies did go there—they were there in her house! It was all about “being there.” That’s why she and her family were saved.

I’m not sure they said anything to her about God while they were there, but she KNEW who they were, and she KNEW all about their God, and she was convicted BY THEIR PRESENCE about her need to be saved. You see God uses our past to help better our present. He allows our past to linger so that we can be reminded of how we have been saved, of how we have changed, of how we have been transformed from the inside out. Rahab, in the bible, will allows be labeled as a prostitute because God wants to remind her of the life that used to be so that she is more grateful and blessed for the life that is. And the life that is, is found through her faith. And because of her faith, she was forgiven.

 

Movement Three: Owning our Past so that we can Live in the Present…

Now a couple of closing thoughts. First, Rahab asked the spies for help in how she could be saved. She knew they could help her. And the spies didn’t say: “Well we need to go ask Joshua.” No, they knew just what to say. They told her: “When we come into the land, you shall tie this scarlet cord in the window through which you [set us free], and you shall gather into your house your father and mother, your brothers, and all your father’s household” (Joshua 2:18).

They knew just what to tell her to be saved. They knew that she could be saved. Although she had a past, they didn’t questioned her, but let her know that she could be saved today. If Rahab had gotten a speeding ticket, that didn’t matter to the spies. What mattered to the spies, was that she understood her wrong doings, admitted them, and promised to live a better life. At this point, Rahab was living a life like Gomer: being given a second chance at living a salvific life in God (Hosea 3). Can you do the same thing? Can you leave the past in the past and be set free today? To throw down your scarlet rope…

The question for you this morning is this: do you know what to tell people to be saved? You know what it takes to be saved, but how can you help others to be saved? Let me help you: 1) Believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God (Matthew 16:16; John 11:27); 2) Repent of your sins (Acts 2:38, Acts 3:19); 3) Confess Jesus as your Lord and Savior (Romans 10:9); and 4) Allow yourself to be buried in the waters of baptism for forgiveness of sin and the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38, Romans 6:2-5). This is how you were saved from your past; and this is how others find freedom from their past.

Finally, there was one last thing that caught my attention in this story. The spies end their conversation with Rahab with these words: “You shall tie this scarlet cord in the window through which you [set us free], and you shall gather into your house your father and mother, your brothers, and all your father’s household. Then if anyone goes out of the doors of your house into the street, his blood shall be on his own head, and we shall be guiltless. But if a hand is laid on anyone who is with you in the house, his blood shall be on our head” (Joshua 2:18-19). In other words… if you don’t do what we’ve asked, we can’t guarantee you’ll be saved. If somebody else tells you that there’s safety to be had some other way, you’re rolling the dice. You’ll be taking your chances on something that we didn’t tell you to do.

On numerous accounts, the scriptures tell us of people being transformed and of people being saved: Paul, Matthew, Simon, Thomas, Peter, Moses, David, Jonah, Abraham, Sarah, Gomer, Rahab, Ruth, and Naomi to name a few. And everyone in the New Testament that Jesus encountered was transformed. Everybody mentioned in the Bible—whether given a name or not—had a past, had a history, lived a life that was changed in the present. Everybody in the Bible had a past, which is similar to all of us. If they can be saved by their faith, then so can we. “For by grace you have been saved through faith” (Ephesians 2:8-10).

Right now, I invite you to think about something in your life that occurred in the past but still lingers today: something that has come to represent you but doesn’t define you. What from your past is preventing you from living in the present, from being set free, from being saved? Whatever it is, give it to God. Let God remove that from your life. Now what about us as the church….As a church, is there something from our past that is preventing us from moving forward? Is there something that this church did in the past that no longer defines it today? How can we begin to live in the present so that we can focus on the future?

We have been saved for a reason, what is that reason? Why are you here today? Why are we here today as a church? People throughout history have been labeled by something they did in the past, maybe it’s time to put more focus on the present and truly be guided by our faith instead of labels.

 

Conclusion:

Returning to the story that I began our time with, I encourage you to think about how the past should not define us. Remember, Mary, the mother of Marlon Byrd, the youth who was killed in a gang-related incident, was told by a church, “You are hanging on to the past.”

“Mary needed what so many of us need. She needed to be able to pray, ‘Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.’ Easier said than done. One day, Mary read a poem about two women who meet for the first time in heaven. When the women meet, they can tell from each other’s crowns that they are both mothers of sons who have died. The poem reads: ‘I would have taken my son’s place on the cross,’ said one. ‘Oh, you are the mother of Christ,’ said the other mother, falling to her knee. Kissing the tear away, the first mother said, ‘Tell me who your son is, that I may grieve with you also.’ ‘My son is Judas Iscariot.’”

That is how the poem ends. Something clicked inside Mary Johnson after she read it. She knew that something had to change. So she made a decision that most mothers of murdered children would not make. She decided to visit Oshea Israel in prison. She almost did not go through with it, but somehow she found the courage and strength to move forward. To her surprise, he expressed openness to the idea. She started their meetings with simple discussions designed to get to know each other. After a while, they became friends. On his release from prison, Oshea had no place to go, so Mary convinced her landlord to let him move in to the apartment next door. Today, the two check in with each other on a regular basis. Oshea can never undo what he did to her son in the past, and he can never replace her son in the present. But by the grace of God, it is as if Oshea [changed].”[3] Rahab—Mary—welcomed in the spies—Oshea, the enemy—to have her life changed, to seek a new beginning, to leave the past.

Everybody has a past. Everybody has done something that they regret doing and wish they could have a do over. Through God, we can! Although people may continually remind you of your past, know that God understands your past, sees your present, and is creating a future for you. Don’t let your past define you. Let your faith define you so that you can be saved. What from your past needs to be given to God so that you can faithfully live in the present? Let it be so…

 

Closing Prayer:

Dear Jesus, may we acknowledge our past, but strive to live in the present with you. Help us to live a life that is defined by your salvation and not by what we have wrongfully down in the past. Guide us to live a life of faith in your presence. In your mighty name we pray, Amen.

 

Benediction:

May the Lord bless you this week by removing from you what is keeping you from being saved. The Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you; and May the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace (Numbers 6:24-26). In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, go living in the present so that you can plan for the future. And all God’s people said, Amen. Amen. Amen.

 

 

[1] Jared E. Alcántara, The Practices of Christian Preaching: Essentials for Effective Proclamation, 2019. Baker Academic: Grand Rapids, MI. pg. 146.

[2] https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/rahabbible#:~:text=Before%20the%20Israelites%20cross%20the,window%2C%20thus%20saving%20their%20lives.

[3] Jared E. Alcántara, The Practices of Christian Preaching: Essentials for Effective Proclamation, 2019. Baker Academic: Grand Rapids, MI. pg. 146-147.