The Blessing of Those Who Fulfill Their Calling

1Then Joshua called the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, 2and said to them, “You have kept all that Moses the servant of Yahweh commanded you, and have listened to my voice in all that I commanded you. 3You have not left your brothers these many days to this day, but have performed the duty of the commandment of Yahweh your God. 4Now Yahweh your God has given rest to your brothers, as he spoke to them. Therefore now return and go to your tents, to the land of your possession, which Moses the servant of Yahweh gave you beyond the Jordan. 5Only take diligent heed to do the commandment and the law which Moses the servant of Yahweh commanded you, to love Yahweh your God, to walk in all his ways, to keep his commandments, to hold fast to him, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.” 6So Joshua blessed them, and sent them away; and they went to their tents.

We who belong to God often feel that we live under more restrictions than other people, but if we think about it, we were the first of all to receive the blessing of peace. God gave us his law not to fence in our freedom but to help us live a higher and nobler life, so if we keep and do what he forbids and what he commands, we can live a holy life. If you have realized how blessed it is that God called you by name and led you to salvation, you should be faithful with the faith that says, “If I perish, I perish.”

Just as the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh crossed the Jordan for the peace of their brothers in faith, so too, if those who have been saved give their strength, their ability, and their very lives in faithful service, more souls could be saved. Having fulfilled their charge faithfully to this point, these three tribes could at last return to their own land.

Joshua 22:3-4

3You have not left your brothers these many days to this day, but have performed the duty of the commandment of Yahweh your God. 4Now Yahweh your God has given rest to your brothers, as he spoke to them. Therefore now return and go to your tents, to the land of your possession, which Moses the servant of Yahweh gave you beyond the Jordan.

Seven years earlier, when Israel arrived east of the Jordan, the tribe of Reuben, the tribe of Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh judged that the land of Jazer and the land of Gilead were well suited to raising livestock, and they asked Moses to let them stay there rather than cross the Jordan. Moses rebuked them: their brothers were risking their lives and heading into battle to conquer Canaan, and did they really think they alone could stay behind in comfort? If the other tribes, who had to go into Canaan and fight, learned that three tribes would stay in this rich land, they might lose heart. Since the rest of the people also knew that life east of the Jordan was easier than going on into Canaan, the decision threatened to split the community.

To those who wanted to remain east of the Jordan, Moses issued a rebuke: if they gave no thought to the community and sought only their own comfort, they would be no different from the ten spies at Kadesh Barnea, whose unbelief set itself against God’s plan.

The three tribes understood well why Moses was so concerned. To show that they had not abandoned the people for a comfortable life, they promised to build cities for their families to live in and then to cross the Jordan ahead of the other tribes. They also promised not to return home until each of their brothers had received an inheritance. When the three tribes swore this in earnest, Moses promised in return that once all the other tribes had settled in the land of Canaan, he would send them back to Gilead, where their families were.

To keep their promise to God, the three tribes chose about forty thousand soldiers and crossed the Jordan ahead of the people. With their families safe east of the Jordan, they resolved that, as those who had been blessed first, they would give themselves for their brothers. Had they not feared God, they would never have marched off to a war with no end in sight. They would have told themselves that since they already had their land, there was no need to cross the Jordan and fight.

What they needed to understand, however, was that they had not gained the lands of Jazer and Gilead by their own strength but because the other tribes had helped them. The foreign nations had not been able to attack them for one reason: the twelve tribes of Israel stood together. So the three tribes were not to rest content with their rich land. Until the moment the brothers who had stood by them gained land of their own, they had to fight in the front line as those who had been blessed first.

The blessings you now enjoy are not something you gained by your own strength. They came to you through the prayers of the Holy Spirit for you and the intercession of a brother or sister in faith at your side. Since you did not earn these blessings alone, give thanks to God and spend yourselves so that more souls may be saved.

When they swore that they would lead the fight until their brothers in faith had received their portions, Moses told them that if they did not fight to the end, it would be a sin before Yahweh and before Israel. In the same way, when those who have received God into their lives fail to sacrifice themselves for their brothers and sisters in faith, they sin. Only when we truly grasp this can we refuse to rest content with things as they are and throw ourselves wholeheartedly into spiritual warfare. These tribes could have died in Canaan, yet they fought with all their strength for the other tribes. And at last the land was divided among all the tribes of Israel.

To the three tribes who had labored so long and so faithfully at their calling to keep their promise, Joshua said that they might now return to their families. Those words must have been a great joy and a reward to men who had given their all. God had watched them spend seven years away from home, giving themselves for their brothers, and he not only kept alive the men who so sincerely sacrificed themselves but also enabled them to fight with twice their strength.

We who were called by God out of a dark world and born again have, through salvation, received rest and peace before others. If, as those who received God’s blessing first, we do our utmost so that others too may receive the gospel, God will grant us, as we give ourselves to this work, the blessing he gave the three tribes.

If you, who have come out into the bright light, use the abilities and talents you have to lead the souls still in darkness, God will be at work to give you a greater reward. Just as Jesus sacrificed himself, we must learn to sacrifice ourselves; just as God has poured out his love unconditionally, we must learn to love without conditions.

Had they abandoned the brothers with whom they had come out of Egypt and lived through so many miracles and hardships, and chosen to live at ease in the rich land by themselves, God would never have forgiven them. Had God’s wrath fallen on the three tribes, even the rich land they had greedily claimed would have meant nothing. For he would have taken the lives of those who had cast off love, and raised up foreign nations to take the land from them as well. But because the three tribes loved and cherished their brothers as themselves, they now had the great joy of returning to their families with much wealth.

1 Corinthians 12:12

12For as the body is one, and has many members, and all the members of the body, being many, are one body; so also is Christ.

We are all members of Christ. Just as each member of the body has its own task, so we who are the body of Christ have each received different talents. If every one of us had the same talent, we could not carry the work forward. God has given wisdom and understanding, wealth and health, and the ability to discern spirits to each of us differently, and that difference is what enables us to work together to fulfill the calling entrusted to us. The hand has the hand’s work, and the foot has work of its own. Yet if the hand neglected its own work and insisted on doing the foot’s, the body of Christ would fall sick.

If the members of Christ each strive to do good in their own place, the Kingdom of God can spread all the wider. If, in keeping with the Lord’s command to love our neighbor as ourselves, we serve in lowly places out of love for one another, every one of us can live a life that shines. I hope you will not forget that the talents, wealth, and abilities you have received were entrusted to you by God to keep the body of Christ healthy.

Because the three tribes went ahead and fulfilled their charge for their brothers, they could live with their heads held high before God and their brothers. So it is with us: the way to keep the grace and blessing God has given is to be all the more faithful in his work.

Joshua 22:5

5Only take diligent heed to do the commandment and the law which Moses the servant of Yahweh commanded you, to love Yahweh your God, to walk in all his ways, to keep his commandments, to hold fast to him, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.”

As they returned east of the Jordan, Joshua urged them to do the law, to hold fast to God, to keep his commandments, and to serve him with all their heart and with all their soul. To hold fast here means to cling tightly to God, to hang on to him firmly. If we truly love God and are united with him, we will live in step with the word, and we will naturally be praised and loved. To live in harmony with God is the very way his people enjoy peace, and that is why Joshua asked them not to betray him.

A certain lawyer came to Jesus to test him. When he asked what he must do to inherit eternal life, Jesus answered from the law: love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself. There is no human righteousness in these words. Jesus said that those who love God without reserve can love their neighbor, that we can be at peace with God only by giving heart, soul, strength, and mind, and that whoever is at peace with God receives eternal life.

The three tribes who crossed the Jordan by faith went into battle with a love for their brothers that was ready to give life itself, and because that love sprang from hearts that believed in and served God, God helped them return to their families with the great joy of victory. The lesson is that blessing comes to those among God’s people who weigh their priorities well and decide accordingly.

Now, as they returned east of the Jordan, Joshua blessed them richly and gave them as a reward very much livestock and clothing, along with silver, gold, bronze, and iron. All the three tribes had done was to help their brothers with a sincere heart, yet God gave them great wealth as a reward so that they could now live in peace with their families. As we go on being faithful to God, he gives us wealth, authority, and ability so that we can take up still more of his work. If we give thanks in all things and are the first to give ourselves in faith, God will see that resolve and fill us with much.

Deuteronomy 6:10-11

10It shall be, when Yahweh your God brings you into the land which he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you, great and goodly cities, which you didn’t build, 11and houses full of all good things, which you didn’t fill, and cisterns dug out, which you didn’t dig, vineyards and olive trees, which you didn’t plant, and you shall eat and be full;

This is the blessing God gives, and this is prophecy fulfilled. When his people are faithful to the Kingdom of God and to their brothers and sisters in faith, he causes them to gain, without cost, great and goodly cities they did not build. He brings them into houses full of good things that they did not fill, gives them cisterns they did not dig, and will make them full with fruit they did not plant. Those who trust in God receive blessing as wonderful as this.

The three tribes would go home having seen their brothers receive their portions and enter into rest, so they would be able to live with easy hearts. You can imagine how their hearts must have soared as they returned to their families with so much wealth. This is exactly the kind of blessing God truly longs to give his people. Not blessing measured out by how hard you have worked, but blessing poured out until there is no room to store it — that is the grace he longs to give those who are his.

May you stand in a place of plenty, able to share the grace you have received from God. As the word says, there is one who scatters and yet increases. So too, if we share grace, give ourselves sincerely, and share our material goods, the church will grow rich in true fellowship and sharing. You must train yourselves in sharing, because when you share what is yours, even if it seems you are losing a little and it is hard to let go, God remembers you and commends you.

If a child who has two of something gladly gives one to a friend, the grown-ups will feel that nothing they could buy that child would be too much. But if a child who has two wants to keep both and eat them alone, nothing can be entrusted to that child. Even people love the child who shares well all the more and trust that child with anything; how much more would God, who tells us to love our neighbor as ourselves, feel the same.

If God’s children, walking the road of pilgrims, turn a blind eye to the pain, hunger, and suffering of their brothers and sisters in order to possess more, God will entrust nothing to them. Even now, God loves those who share, who watch over others and take them into their care, and he pours out blessing on them until there is no room to store it. Let us believe this and live lives of goodness.

What have you received from God most abundantly? Then I hope you will ask yourself whether you have tried to share that blessing. Sharing what is ours is not easy, but if we lay down our greed and sacrifice and give ourselves out of love and faith toward God and our brothers and sisters, God will commend us. Just as these tribes gave themselves, ready to die, until they returned to their homes east of the Jordan, may you keep the promises you have made to God and faithfully fulfill your calling to love your brothers and sisters until you return to heaven, your eternal home.

May you always be faithful to God and receive and enjoy many blessings you never prepared. I bless you in the name of Jesus Christ.