Getting ready to teach my ‘Old Testament in 8 Hours’ class, I (Jay) read the historical books from Joshua to the end of II Chronicles. Beginning in the mid-seventies in the 8th grade, my Grandpa taught me to love the Old Testament. I’ve taught flavors of this multiple times over the years. Each one is different with a different focus as the spirit nudges me toward new and amazing. This time, I leaned into a focus on discipleship.
While reading the seminal book of the Bible on Leadership, Joshua (Nehemiah is right there, as well), I am struck once more about the lessons of ‘Be, Know, Do’ from the book of Joshua. This was the core concept in the Army Leadership manual across the 80s when I was a young lieutenant, patrolled the Iron Curtain with 1st Armored Division, then commanded an 8-inch howitzer battery in the 72nd FA Brigade. As a Lieutenant Colonel in Iraq building data centers and laying fiber trunks in 2006, I spent most of my time out with my troopers doing the work around the Balad perimeter. We received rockets and mortars three to five times every week… And often had to change our underwear accordingly, but praise the Lord, I did not lose a single one of my troopers.
While reading my large block of Bible History, Vince D’Acchioli spoke at Worshipper Warrior to the problem of Men’s ministry the last forty years being ineffective. Along the way, Stu Sheller’s book, Crises of Command, arrived on my doorstep. Stu calls military Generals and political leadership to accountability for their leadership failures. The pivot point for Stu was the totally bungled Afghanistan withdrawal and failure of accountability. That morning at Worshipper Warrior, Vince called us men to accountability for our Discipleship failures.
In so many ways, they are the same thing.
Stu details war fighting and Operational execution failures. Vince details the failure to daily disciple men in their lives… sounding so much like Stu’s criticisms of war fighting and operational failures. The bottom line in both cases is that Vince and Stu hold their individual audiences accountable for losing in war.
Reading Stu’s book, it struck me hard to realize that in his first 100 days in the position of Secretary of Defense, for all the rot, pathologies, education, and future peer adversary preparation ahead, Lloyd Austin said that the number one problem in the Department of Defense was COVID. That was foolishness.
Vince often lays out the fact that he and many speakers across forty years of men’s ministry point out that a serious problem for nearly every man is Porn. Vince is correct, but unlike Lloyd Austin whining about COVID, Vince stands tall and powerfully proclaims that the number one problems for Disciples are:
· INTIMACY with God
· Understanding the IMAGE of God
· INQUIRING about why God made each of us
· God’s INTENTION for us…
So we can…
· Be Disciples
· Know what a Disciple must KNOW
· Do Discipleship.
In Joshua 5, Israel has crossed the Jordan and they probably wonder ‘Why am I here?’ while facing an astonishing ratio of ten to one of the nations against Israel. Several things leap out in this passage to answer that question. God called them to cross the Jordan and go to war with the mission of restoring Abraham’s inheritance to them. To do that mission, God first needed to set them apart and roll away their reproach.
Joshua 5 details the ultimate Discipleship moment. God told Joshua in this chapter to circumcise their war fighting force and every male… In the face of the enemy! Every man I knew in the Army who had an adult circumcision was down for the count three to four days and walked funny for two weeks.
Okay, then…
Jos 5:3 So Joshua made flint knives for himself, and circumcised the sons of Israel at the hill of the foreskins (emphasis mine)
Jos 5:4 And this is the reason why Joshua circumcised them: All the people who came out of Egypt who were males, all the men of war, had died in the wilderness on the way, after they had come out of Egypt.
Skip forward a few verses and we discover the underlying reason for obedience in this Discipleship moment:
Jos 5:9 Then the LORD said to Joshua, “This day I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.” Therefore the name of the place is called Gilgal to this day.
Gilgal in Hebrew means ‘to roll away.’ Instead of wearing a mask like Lloyd Austin, wringing his hands over the ridicule of the Egyptians, and fearing the baby sacrificing Canaanite nations that outnumbered them, Joshua made flint knives and circumcised his leaders of 1,000s. They in turn circumcised their leaders of 100s. They circumcised their leaders of 50s, and so on down to the leaders of tens. The leaders of tens then circumcised their soldiers.
This is face to face Discipleship.
Circumcision rolled away the reproach and ridicule of Egypt and Egypt is a synonym for ‘world.’
Let’s take that a step further:
Rom 2:29 but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God.
Applying Paul’s words to Disciples, our reproach is rolled away in circumcision of the heart. We can’t do it ourselves, but must approach Jesus so that faith (like Circumcision on Foreskin Hill) sets us apart… And we walk with fellow Disciples with circumcised hearts.
Back to Joshua 5, for the rest of that book, Israel won all battles, except one, and every war until the land was at peace and Joshua died at great old age. Their operational excellence, self-examination before the next battle, and face to face leadership from Joshua down to leaders of tens was tenacious and victorious. Apply those concepts to Discipleship and you have an accurate picture of this hard Kingdom Warrior walk and its constant requirements. Joshua’s troopers were daunting, even taking on the Anakin giants their fathers feared… that lack of faith destroying the previous generation in the wilderness and making them run away, except Joshua and Caleb. In our day, we will face Giants as competent Disciples or run away like pissy little boys.
Foreskin Hill is face to face Discipleship far beyond just converting people then saying with a sweet smile, “Go forth and prosper.”
As Disciples, we are to competently disciple the Church by meeting at our equivalent of Foreskin Hill and rolling back (Gilgal) the reproach of sin with the blood of Christ. This is how we deal with Porn in men’s lives, by bringing them to Christ, and walking shoulder to shoulder with our brothers until we conquer this generation’s hearts and future generations’ hearts for the Kingdom of God. Circumcised Hearts.
Stu Sheller describes a Department of Defense that is in serious need of a meeting on Foreskin Hill to roll away the woke shame and woke agendas that are destroying our nation’s ability to win wars and defend our people. Vince eloquently proclaims that in the Church, Disciples have the similar tasks so that the Body of Christ does not imitate our culture, but rather imitates Christ... Being set apart, our sins rolled away, able to be competent Disciples.
Let’s make this intensely personal in our Discipleship!
Jay