The Book of Joshua - Faith in Action
Have you ever been on an airplane? If so, think of the first time you were. You get in this giant metal tube, not knowing who built it or inspected it, or even if the person flying it had passed a driver's test, let alone had a pilot's license. But you got on anyway, buckled yourself in, and handed over control.
Getting on a plane involves risk. You have to surrender control to someone else and have faith. You have to have a belief and trust in something outside of yourself.
We have faith in all kinds of things – technology, devices, politicians, authority figures, finances, relationships – and if we’re following Jesus, we also have faith in Him.
Faith has action to it. Otherwise, it’s not faith.
We can believe that a plane will get us from point A to point B, but if we never get on the plane, that’s not faith, it’s agreement. Real faith always shows up in motion – it gets on the plane, it moves.
But there’s this tension when it comes to faith in God. When we place faith in things, we see an outcome. But when it comes to trusting God, we get shaky and hesitate because we don’t always see the outcome. It’s not always clear what God’s doing in the moment and the longer story of our lives.
Real faith in God requires action, involves risk, and we don’t always see the outcome.
Joshua 2
1 Then Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two spies from Shittim. “Go, look over the land,” he said, “especially Jericho.” So they went and entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there.
2 The king of Jericho was told, “Look, some of the Israelites have come here tonight to spy out the land.” 3 So the king of Jericho sent this message to Rahab: “Bring out the men who came to you and entered your house, because they have come to spy out the whole land.”
4 But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. She said, “Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they had come from. 5 At dusk, when it was time to close the city gate, they left. I don’t know which way they went. Go after them quickly. You may catch up with them.” 6 (But she had taken them up to the roof and hidden them under the stalks of flax she had laid out on the roof.) 7 So the men set out in pursuit of the spies on the road that leads to the fords of the Jordan, and as soon as the pursuers had gone out, the gate was shut.
8 Before the spies lay down for the night, she went up on the roof 9 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 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. 11 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.”
Faith is Born
You don't want to be seen or noticed when you're spying out a spot. Some scholars understand the phrase "the house of the prostitute" as a place with a lot of people they went to blend in.
But word travels fast that they’re there, and the King is alerted that some Israelites are there. But Rahab pretends she didn’t know them, and they are no longer there.
The first step of our belief and understanding of God is when we hear about Him. And it’s not just hearing about who He is, it’s hearing about something He’s done. It’s developed because of experience.
Faith is often born in the echoes of God’s past faithfulness.
Faith is often born out of testimony, by the stories of what God has already done. The echoes of His past faithfulness ripple out onto people who are listening, searching, and ready.
Rahab's faith wasn't grounded in personal experience, it was grounded in God's reputation. And sometimes, that's all we have to go on. This is why we worship. When we sing, we're not informing God of anything new, but we sing because we need the reminder. Worship both honors God and re-centers us.
There's the moment we trust Jesus as our Savior, which requires faith. But then there's the rest of the journey where we might be confused, afraid, angry, disappointed, or hurt.
God’s past faithfulness becomes the foundation of our future faith and continues to build as God continues to walk with us.
And Rahab’s faith costs her something. It demands she pick a side. So, what does she do? She lies. By faith, the prostitute Rahab was not killed with those who were disobedient. So, is God ok with lying?
No. Definitely not.
Rahab’s lie manifests something deeper going on in her life. It’s the first fruit of her faith in action. And God honors that change. To be clear, Rahab doesn’t lie, and God honors her sin – Rahab lied, and God honored her faith.
This is NOT an example of God winking and nodding at sin, it’s a picture of God being faithful to His word and choosing to partner with people in His redemptive process. God shows that when someone hears about Him, His faithfulness and love, and decides to move toward Him, He sees THAT and honors it. God doesn’t excuse sin, but He does redeem sinners.
God Rewrites our Legacy
We’re all going to fall short even in our best moments. God takes a woman with a scandalous past, a Canaanite outsider, and by her faith, grafts her into the very lineage of Jesus Himself. This isn’t just about rescuing her from destruction, it’s about rewriting her legacy.
But this isn’t about who she is, it’s about who God is. This is what He does.
He loves us, He saves us.
No matter our past, failures, or where we’ve come from, when we place our faith in Jesus, God doesn’t just forgive us, He welcomes, redefines, and works us into the family of faith.
God’s love is greater than our past.
Many of us struggle with our past. It still condemns us, speaks over us, and we let shame dictate our spiritual journey. This is why our faith starts to fade, because we don’t fully understand what Jesus did for us.
The enemy of our souls wants to hold our past against us. But God tells us that despite our past, He has adopted us as sons and daughters into his family.
12 Now then, 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 13 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.” 14 And the men said to her, “Our life for yours even to death! If you do not tell this business of ours, then when the Lord gives us the land we will deal kindly and faithfully with you.” 15 Then she let them down by a rope through the window, for her house was built into the city wall, so that she lived in the wall.
So, they make this deal, and she lets them down by a rope out the window. But how will they know where she is when they destroy the city?
Joshua 2
18 Behold, when we come into the land, you shall tie this scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down, and you shall gather into your house your father and mother, your brothers, and all your father's household.
Rahab hides the spies, and they strike a deal. Out of the shadows comes this loaded phrase: "Your life is for ours." It means that because of what she did in faith, they are bound to her by life itself. This is a foreshadowing of the Gospel.
When you look throughout the Bible, this is a repeating theme. God is giving His people a picture of Salvation:
We believe faith is individual, that it can’t save someone else. But what this proves is that you don’t know what God will do with your faith.
You have no idea what God wants to do with your faith, but He will do something.
Faith always has a ripple effect. It’s like planting a tree you’ll never sit under, but your grandkids will. You take a step of faith, not knowing the full outcome, not seeing the final picture, but God sees it all and works it all together.
Want to play catch-up, or are you looking for a specific topic? Check out our collection of sermons and Season 2 of our podcast, LHC Unplugged!
For more LHC content, subscribe to our newsletter or follow us on Instagram.
Getting on a plane involves risk. You have to surrender control to someone else and have faith. You have to have a belief and trust in something outside of yourself.
We have faith in all kinds of things – technology, devices, politicians, authority figures, finances, relationships – and if we’re following Jesus, we also have faith in Him.
Faith has action to it. Otherwise, it’s not faith.
We can believe that a plane will get us from point A to point B, but if we never get on the plane, that’s not faith, it’s agreement. Real faith always shows up in motion – it gets on the plane, it moves.
But there’s this tension when it comes to faith in God. When we place faith in things, we see an outcome. But when it comes to trusting God, we get shaky and hesitate because we don’t always see the outcome. It’s not always clear what God’s doing in the moment and the longer story of our lives.
Real faith in God requires action, involves risk, and we don’t always see the outcome.
Joshua 2
1 Then Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two spies from Shittim. “Go, look over the land,” he said, “especially Jericho.” So they went and entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there.
2 The king of Jericho was told, “Look, some of the Israelites have come here tonight to spy out the land.” 3 So the king of Jericho sent this message to Rahab: “Bring out the men who came to you and entered your house, because they have come to spy out the whole land.”
4 But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. She said, “Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they had come from. 5 At dusk, when it was time to close the city gate, they left. I don’t know which way they went. Go after them quickly. You may catch up with them.” 6 (But she had taken them up to the roof and hidden them under the stalks of flax she had laid out on the roof.) 7 So the men set out in pursuit of the spies on the road that leads to the fords of the Jordan, and as soon as the pursuers had gone out, the gate was shut.
8 Before the spies lay down for the night, she went up on the roof 9 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 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. 11 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.”
Faith is Born
You don't want to be seen or noticed when you're spying out a spot. Some scholars understand the phrase "the house of the prostitute" as a place with a lot of people they went to blend in.
But word travels fast that they’re there, and the King is alerted that some Israelites are there. But Rahab pretends she didn’t know them, and they are no longer there.
The first step of our belief and understanding of God is when we hear about Him. And it’s not just hearing about who He is, it’s hearing about something He’s done. It’s developed because of experience.
Faith is often born in the echoes of God’s past faithfulness.
Faith is often born out of testimony, by the stories of what God has already done. The echoes of His past faithfulness ripple out onto people who are listening, searching, and ready.
Rahab's faith wasn't grounded in personal experience, it was grounded in God's reputation. And sometimes, that's all we have to go on. This is why we worship. When we sing, we're not informing God of anything new, but we sing because we need the reminder. Worship both honors God and re-centers us.
There's the moment we trust Jesus as our Savior, which requires faith. But then there's the rest of the journey where we might be confused, afraid, angry, disappointed, or hurt.
God’s past faithfulness becomes the foundation of our future faith and continues to build as God continues to walk with us.
And Rahab’s faith costs her something. It demands she pick a side. So, what does she do? She lies. By faith, the prostitute Rahab was not killed with those who were disobedient. So, is God ok with lying?
No. Definitely not.
Rahab’s lie manifests something deeper going on in her life. It’s the first fruit of her faith in action. And God honors that change. To be clear, Rahab doesn’t lie, and God honors her sin – Rahab lied, and God honored her faith.
This is NOT an example of God winking and nodding at sin, it’s a picture of God being faithful to His word and choosing to partner with people in His redemptive process. God shows that when someone hears about Him, His faithfulness and love, and decides to move toward Him, He sees THAT and honors it. God doesn’t excuse sin, but He does redeem sinners.
God Rewrites our Legacy
We’re all going to fall short even in our best moments. God takes a woman with a scandalous past, a Canaanite outsider, and by her faith, grafts her into the very lineage of Jesus Himself. This isn’t just about rescuing her from destruction, it’s about rewriting her legacy.
But this isn’t about who she is, it’s about who God is. This is what He does.
He loves us, He saves us.
No matter our past, failures, or where we’ve come from, when we place our faith in Jesus, God doesn’t just forgive us, He welcomes, redefines, and works us into the family of faith.
God’s love is greater than our past.
Many of us struggle with our past. It still condemns us, speaks over us, and we let shame dictate our spiritual journey. This is why our faith starts to fade, because we don’t fully understand what Jesus did for us.
The enemy of our souls wants to hold our past against us. But God tells us that despite our past, He has adopted us as sons and daughters into his family.
- You were guilty, but now you’re washed.
- You were defined by sin, but now you’re sanctified.
- You stood condemned, but now you’re justified.
12 Now then, 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 13 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.” 14 And the men said to her, “Our life for yours even to death! If you do not tell this business of ours, then when the Lord gives us the land we will deal kindly and faithfully with you.” 15 Then she let them down by a rope through the window, for her house was built into the city wall, so that she lived in the wall.
So, they make this deal, and she lets them down by a rope out the window. But how will they know where she is when they destroy the city?
Joshua 2
18 Behold, when we come into the land, you shall tie this scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down, and you shall gather into your house your father and mother, your brothers, and all your father's household.
Rahab hides the spies, and they strike a deal. Out of the shadows comes this loaded phrase: "Your life is for ours." It means that because of what she did in faith, they are bound to her by life itself. This is a foreshadowing of the Gospel.
When you look throughout the Bible, this is a repeating theme. God is giving His people a picture of Salvation:
- Garden of Eden
- Ark with Noah
- Sacrificial ram with Abraham
- Blood over the door with Egypt
- Serpent on the pole in the wilderness
- Red rope here with Rahab
- Moabite women named Ruth
We believe faith is individual, that it can’t save someone else. But what this proves is that you don’t know what God will do with your faith.
You have no idea what God wants to do with your faith, but He will do something.
Faith always has a ripple effect. It’s like planting a tree you’ll never sit under, but your grandkids will. You take a step of faith, not knowing the full outcome, not seeing the final picture, but God sees it all and works it all together.
Want to play catch-up, or are you looking for a specific topic? Check out our collection of sermons and Season 2 of our podcast, LHC Unplugged!
For more LHC content, subscribe to our newsletter or follow us on Instagram.
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