LIFE LESSONS
RAHAB
COMMUNION SUNDAY
DR. JIM DIXON
JOSHUA 2: 1-14
MARCH 16, 2003
The story of Rahab is one of the most incredible, amazing stories in the entire Bible. From her life this morning, we have two life lessons. The first life lesson concerns the subject of faith. Years ago, 185 years ago, a man named John Cleeve Symes developed what was called the “hollow earth theory.” John Cleeve Symes, in the year 1818, made known this theory that came to be called the hollow earth theory. In accordance with this theory, Symes believed the earth was hollow, that within the earth, there was a subterranean world, a world of rivers and lakes and trees and shrubs and meadows, a world of animals, perhaps even a world of people. In that same year, 1818, John Cleeve Symes wrote letters to scientists in the United States and to Great Britain asking them to endorse his hollow earth theory. Most of the scientists did not write him back, but a few did. They told him that indeed they did believe something was hollow and that if he would look in the mirror, he would see it.
In the year 1823, five years later, John Cleeve Symes came upon a United States congressman named Richard Johnson. Richard Johnson believed the hollow earth theory. Symes was able to convince him. Later that same year, 1823, Richard Johnson, the United States congressman, proposed a bill to Congress that would require the United States government to subsidize a journey to the center of the earth. This is historical fact. It’s a matter of the historical record, and the fact is that bill was defeated, but the amazing thing is that 25 United States congressmen voted in favor of that bill, in favor of the hollow earth theory, in favor of government subsidy for an expedition to the center of the earth.
Four years later, in 1827, John Cleeve Symes died. Ten years after that, in 1837, Richard Johnson, the congressman who proposed the hollow earth theory became Vice President of the United States of America. You see, we live in a strange world. We live in a very strange world. There’s no accounting for what people will believe or what people will choose not to believe. Of course, some things really don’t matter. You can choose to believe certain things or not believe certain things. It really doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter whether or not you believe in the hollow earth theory. It doesn’t really matter. It’s not going to change your eternal destiny. It’s not going to change your life.
There’s an organization in America today called The Flat Earth Society. These people actually believe in a flat earth. Some of them, I’m sure, have flat E.E.G.’s. Some of them believe that the lunar landings were actually staged in studios, but it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t really matter. The fact that they believe in a flat earth isn’t going to affect their eternal destiny. It probably doesn’t significantly affect the way they live day-to-day. Some people believe in the Loch Ness Monster. Some believe in UFO’s. Some believe in Bigfoot or Sasquatch. It doesn’t matter. It really doesn’t matter. Some people believe the Avalanche, the Colorado Avalanche, are going to win the Stanley Cup this year. It doesn’t matter. Some believe Jake the Snake Plumber is going to rescue the Broncos. It doesn’t matter. There’s a lot of stuff that just doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter whether you believe it or whether you don’t, but of course that’s not true of God. Everything is at stake with regard to God and whether or not you believe in Him, whether or not you have faith in him, whether or not you’ve come to faith in Him.
We look at Rahab, the harlot. She chose to believe in the God of Israel. She chose to believe in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and it changed everything. I mean Rahab, the harlot, was a prostitute. Of course, there are some Bible scholars, a few, who deny this. They say she was an innkeeper, but they’re just trying to clean things up. The reality is the Hebrew word in the Bible is the Hebrew word “zonah” and this word always means “harlot or prostitute.” Rahab was a harlot.
In the ancient world, it’s hard for us to even imagine the prominent position that some prostitutes held. Prostitution was part of the religion of the ancient nations, and there were sacred prostitutes. Many of them lived in fancy homes that surrounded temples of the gods. This was true in ancient Babylonia and in ancient Syria. This was true in the Egyptian world. This was true in the Greek and Roman worlds. In those cultures, prostitution had been elevated to great prominence. If you were a man living in the Roman world and you wanted intimacy with God or with one of the gods, you would go to a temple of that god and you would find a sacred prostitute and you would have relations with her that you might cultivate intimacy with that god.
If you were a farmer and your fields were barren and they were not bringing forth fruit and they were not productive, you would go to a temple of a fertility goddess and have sexual relations with a prostitute there. If your wife was barren and you were not able to have children, you might go to the temple of a fertility goddess and have sexual relations with a prostitute. This was the incomprehensible culture that existed in the ancient world and amongst the ancient peoples.
But the Jews knew better. The Jewish people knew better. They knew that prostitution was a grave offense in the sight of God. They knew this. They knew that prostitution was a tainting, a distortion of God’s gift of sexuality. They knew that ultimately prostitution degraded men and women. In the Jewish world, prostitution was viewed as sinful and evil. And so, we’re amazed when we come to the Bible and see a hero of the faith who was a prostitute. We’re amazed when we come to this person named Rahab. The Bible tells us that despite her sin, she was saved. There’s every indication that her life was completely changed because of her faith. She was saved by faith. She’s listed in Hebrews, chapter 11, amongst the heroes of the faith. We are told, by faith, Rahab the harlot did not perish with the disobedient. By faith. The Bible says, “By grace you have been saved through faith. It is a gift of God not of works lest anyone should boast.” Salvation comes by faith. So, Rahab the harlot was saved by faith in God.
Of course, there were a lot of people living in the city of Jericho. They had all heard the stories. They had heard about the children of Israel. They’d heard about their escape from the land of Egypt. They’d heard that they had escaped by the hand of God, the hand of Pharaoh. They’d heard the stories. They’d heard how the children of Israel had crossed the Red Sea as if upon dry land and how the Egyptians, when they tried to do the same, were drowned. They’d heard about miracles in the desert. They’d heard about miraculous victories. They’d heard about the Israelites and their victory over the Amorites beyond the Jordan. They’d all heard the stories, but only Rahab believed. Only Rahab had faith in the God of Israel. The other people of the city of Jericho chose to believe in their fortress walls. They chose to believe in their king, their earthly king. They chose to believe in themselves. They were afraid. They were afraid but they would not believe. They would not relinquish their life. They would not come to God in faith. Only Rahab.
Of course, things really aren’t that much different today. All of you have heard the story. You’ve heard the story of Christ. You’ve heard about His virgin birth. You’ve heard about His sinless life. You’ve heard about His atoning death. You’ve heard about the cross. You’ve heard the story. You know that death could not hold Him, that He rose from the dead in power and great glory. You have heard the story, and you’ve heard that He’s coming again. You have heard the stories of the miracles through the centuries that have been performed in His name. You know that the Bible gives us the testimony of eyewitnesses from the first century. You know that biblical prophecy has been fulfilled, much of it and more of it is being fulfilled right in our time. We’ve all heard the stories. Some choose to believe. Some do not …It’s all about faith, and nothing is more important because salvation comes by faith.
Albert Einstein was a brilliant man, certainly one of the greatest scientists the world has ever known. His theories are still foundational to science today. Einstein believed in God. He said it was irrational to not believe in God. He said it is irrational to believe in a creation without believing in a Creator. He said it is irrational to posit a creation without believing in a Creator. He said it is irrational to believe that the universe could have spontaneously generated ex nihilo, out of nothing. He said it is equally irrational to believe that the universe, the matter of the universe, has just eternally existed, eternally existing matter, as though there could be an effect without a cause. He said it is just irrational. “Reason demands,” Einstein said, “that we believe in God.” And certainly, reason can take us so far, but faith is not simply based on reason. Ultimately faith is a response to God Himself. Faith is response to the Spirit of God as the Spirit of God tugs on your heartstrings, as the Spirit of God communes with your spirit.
In the course of your life, there have been many times when the Spirit of God has tugged on your heartstrings, many times when the Spirit of God has communed with your spirit. How have you responded? Faith chooses to respond in belief, and the Holy Spirit bears witness to Jesus Christ, the Son of God, that He is the light of the world. And so, we have this choice set before us, whether we chose faith or whether we don’t. Sometimes the Bible speaks of faith as a gift. Sometimes the Bible speaks of faith as a choice. Insofar as it is a gift, we should pray for it. Insofar as it is a choice, we should choose it. This is the first life lesson that comes to us today through Rahab. Choose faith. Nothing is more important. No matter what you’ve done, no matter how you’ve lived, you can be saved through faith in Christ, through faith in the Son of God.
There’s a second life lesson from Rahab, and it concerns works. It concerns the subject of works. In the Book of James, we have this statement. “Was not Rahab the harlot saved by works when she received the spies and sent them out another way? Was not Rahab the harlot saved by works?”
Of course, at first glance this creates a kind of cognitive diffidence. I mean, it seems as though it is impossible that we could be saved by faith and yet saved by works. Does not the Bible say in Ephesians 2: 8 and 9 that “By grace we are saved through faith, a gift of God, not of works lest anyone should boast.” But, you see, there’s really no disharmony here. The Bible makes it clear that faith apart from works is dead. The Bible says faith apart from works is barren. The Bible also tells us that works without faith, those works are dead. No matter what your good works, if they’re not based in faith, they avail nothing. And so, what the Bible is telling us is that we are saved by faith, but genuine faith, real faith, saving faith changes us. It begins to change us and it begins to transform us, and it is expressed in a changed life, and it is expressed in a life of works.
Some of you have heard of Bartholomew Roberts. Bartholomew Roberts died 280 years ago. He was a famous sea captain and considered one of the greatest sea captains in history. Bartholomew Roberts had three ships. They were called The Fortune, The Good Fortune and The Royal Fortune. Onboard his ships, life was strict. There was worship service every Sunday morning onboard his ships. Attendance was not voluntary. Attendance was compulsory. You had to come if you served on his ships. There was no drinking allowed on any of his ships. No women were allowed onboard. Immorality, if discovered, was punished, sometimes by death. Gambling was not allowed on the ships of Bartholomew Roberts. Gambling was not allowed, and the sailors on those ships had to go to bed by 8:00. Lights out at 8:00.
Bartholomew Roberts himself was impeccably dressed in accordance with the seagoing traditions of his time. He had the finest trousers, and he had silk shirts. He had dueling pistols. He had a shiny sword that was perfectly polished. He had a feathered cap. He wore a gold chain around his neck. At the end of the chain, in clear view always, was a diamond cross because he wanted people to know he was a Christian and that Christ has prospered him. But historians tell us that Bartholomew Roberts did not live for Christ. He lived for himself. He’s known to history as Black Bart. This sea captain was a pirate, one of the most infamous pirates in the history of the world, perhaps more feared than any other pirate in history. Between 1720 and 1722, he seized and sunk 400 ships. Unbelievable, while claiming to be a Christian, holding worship services aboard his ships.
My son was at the first service. I went up to my office between services. My son came up and we were talking a little bit. He said, “You know I can’t imagine how anybody could live with such a dichotomy.” Isn’t that the mystery? How do people do that? How do they compartmentalize their lives like that? But you look at history, even a brief glimpse of history, and you see countless people who took the name of Christ and did not live for Christ. You see it during the period of the Crusades. You see it during the Spanish Inquisition. Countless times in history where people took the name of Christ but did not live for Christ.
How about you? Have any of us taken the name of Christ but we do not live for Christ? You see, Christ looks on the inside. He knows if we’ve compartmentalized our life. He knows if we’ve embraced a moral dichotomy. He knows. He knows whether our faith is genuine and whether it’s life-changing. Ultimately, you see, the issue is worship. If your faith is genuine, then you live a life of worship. Of course, I think few subjects are more misunderstood than the subject of worship. A lot of people seem to think worship is something we do on Sunday morning at church, and certainly that’s part of it. But, you see, worship is something we are to do every moment of every day.
In the Bible there are many Greek words for worship. There’s the word “sebazomai.” There’s the word “latria,” “threskeia.” There are other words such as “proskuneo.” Most of these words in the Greek and then also in the Hebrew connote service or submission. They literally mean, “to serve” or “to bow down.” Service and submission. That’s really the essence of worship if your life is lived in submission to God and in service to God, and that has to do with the way you live every day. You worship every day if you live to serve Him and if you live in submission to Him. It’s all about worship and whether our faith is genuine.
Of course, on Sunday morning we assemble. Part of it is worship. One of the Greek words for worship is the word “proskuneo” which literally means, “to kiss towards.” On Sunday mornings certainly we kiss towards God. We do that when we sing. We do that when we raise our hands. Some of you choose to raise your hands and some of you do not. It doesn’t matter. God is looking in your heart, but if in your heart you genuinely want to raise your hands, you should. I love to see hands raised if it’s genuine; an expression of kissing towards God, but kissing towards God is not something we only do on Sunday morning. Kissing towards God is something we should do from the moment we wake to the moment we go to sleep. With every breath we worship, and that worship is expressed primarily in submission and service.
I said before, one of the Greek words for worship is “threskeia.” This word means “religious worship,” and it is used in the Book of James where it says, “True, genuine worship before God and the Father is this: to visit widows and orphans in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained from the world.” So, it has to do with righteousness and acts of compassion. That’s worship. Do you ever think of worship that way, that the pursuit of righteousness is worship? That acts of compassion are viewed by God as worship? It’s all part of whether or not our faith is genuine and whether our life is being transformed.
As we come to the Communion Table, I want to remind you of a story that concerns a place called Jamaica Bay. I know some of you have been to Long Island in New York City and you’ve seen Jamaica Bay. It’s beautiful today. There was a time when it was very, very ugly. In the post-World War I years, about 80 years ago, Jamaica Bay was a disposal site for industrial waste. Refuse and garbage were just thrown at random into Jamaica Bay. Over a period of time Jamaica Bay became an ecological disaster and a pool of pollution so that it was virtually unusable in any part of it. The United States government decided to do something about that. After World War II, the Jamaica Bay Project began. It took years and a great deal of money and a lot of thinking and a lot of effort, but they decided they would transform Jamaica Bay into a wildlife refuge. They built dikes and they created fresh water pools. They brought in countless pumps, and through a variety of means began to draw out the industrial waste and the pollution and the refuse over years. They brought in a man named Herbert Johnson who, in 1953, became Director of the Jamaica Bay Project. He brought in trees and shrubs and grass. Today Jamaica Bay is 13,000 acres of beauty with more than 300 different varieties of birds. An amazing place. It was transformed.
As you come to the Table this morning, I hope you understand that’s what God wants to do with you. He wants to transform you. That’s what God did with Rahab. She believed, and God transformed her. God changed her. God blessed her. We’re told that she became great in the life of Israel. The Bible tells us that from Rahab the harlot ultimately came David, the King of Israel, and then beyond David, the Messiah, the Christ, the Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, from Rahab’s line. God had done amazing things with her, and there is beautiful tradition and Jewish literature of how Rahab became one of the most compassionate people in Israel and one of the most moral because God transforms people.
As you come here to the Table and you partake of the Body of Christ broken and His blood shed, thank Him for His grace and His mercy and for the faith by which you have been saved. Ask yourself if that faith is genuine. Ask yourself if you’re being transformed. Ask yourself if you’re becoming more like Christ. Ask yourself if your life is an expression of worship. Ask yourself if you are offering your life, all that you have, to all that He is every day. Ask yourself if you are learning to serve. Ask yourself if you are living in submission. If you have any doubt, repent as you come to the Table this morning. Make that choice of genuine faith and watch God work in you. Let’s look to the Lord with a word of prayer.