Conquering hearts – how does that work?

As disci­ples of Jesus, we have a mis­si­on to bring the gos­pel to other peo­p­le. Jesus wants to reach and con­quer hearts. Now how can this work? In the New Tes­ta­ment, Jesus says that if we have love for one ano­ther, ever­yo­ne will reco­g­ni­se Jesus in us.

In the Old Tes­ta­ment, the con­quest of Jeri­cho gives us an exam­p­le of how the «con­quest» of hearts can hap­pen through «obe­dient behaviour».

«By this ever­yo­ne will know that you are my disci­ples, if you have love for one ano­ther» (John 13:34 LUT).

Ever­yo­ne – is ever­yo­ne. If we want to be as effec­ti­ve as pos­si­ble in poin­ting peo­p­le to who Jesus is, we can do so by let­ting Jesus» love work among us. Sur­pri­sin­gly, it is not our words that draw the most atten­ti­on to Jesus, but our walk in love. You can talk a lot – but you can only crea­te a life of love with «Jesus insi­de» – Jesus insi­de us.

We also find an extre­me­ly vivid exam­p­le of this in the Old Tes­ta­ment, among the peo­p­le of Isra­el: The con­quest of Jericho

What does Jeri­cho stand for? Jeri­cho is one of the oldest cities in the world. At the time of our histo­ry, it was for­ti­fied with two rings of walls. The outer wall was 8 met­res high and 2 met­res wide. The inner wall was 3.5 met­res wide. Jeri­cho was con­side­red impregnable. The name Jeri­cho was deri­ved from the moon god «Jerich», whom the inha­bi­tants wor­ship­ped. Jeri­cho is thus an image of the heart of a per­son who has tur­ned away from God. Jeri­cho also means «place of fra­grance». It is a place whe­re what is in the heart beco­mes visi­ble. A fra­grance of love or the stench of selfishness.

How can such a for­ti­fied city be con­que­r­ed? How can a heart be con­que­r­ed so that it opens up and the God of love can move in?

Part 1: The preparation

• Cir­cumcis­i­on: «The LORD said to Joshua, «Take kni­ves of flint and cir­cumcise the Israe­li­tes again» » (Joshua 5:2 NLB). Cir­cumcis­i­on means that ever­y­thing that rest­ricts fer­ti­li­ty is remo­ved. Cir­cumcis­i­on took place with stone kni­ves. For us, «cir­cumcis­i­on» means the cir­cumcis­i­on of our hearts, that ever­y­thing that hin­ders us in our disci­ple­ship is remo­ved. The Word of God shows us what we should sepa­ra­te our­sel­ves from in our hearts. Tho­se who want to con­quer hearts must be pre­pared to lis­ten to the Word of God.
  
  
• Pas­so­ver: «While the Israe­li­tes were cam­ped in Gil­gal in the plain of Jeri­cho, they cele­bra­ted the Pas­so­ver on the evening of the 14th day of the first month» (Joshua 5:10 NLB). Remem­be­ring that we stand on the ground of the for­gi­ve­ness and redemp­ti­on of Jesus Christ. And that his sacri­fice has set us free. We are free to follow!
  
  
• Food from the land: «On the day after the Pas­so­ver, they ate unlea­ve­ned bread and roas­ted grain that they had har­ve­s­ted in the new land. From that day on, the­re was never again any man­na and the Israe­li­tes fed on the fruit of Cana­an that very year» (Joshua 5.11–12 NLB). The peo­p­le were pro­mi­sed milk, honey, etc. in the Pro­mi­sed Land. Now they were also to feed on this land. Christ lives at the right hand of God. He is pre­sent in our lives through his Spi­rit. Now we are also to live from his pre­sence and power.
  
  
• The sacred is whe­re God is: «The com­man­der of the LORD’s army repli­ed, «Take off your san­dals, for you are stan­ding on holy ground. So Joshua obey­ed» (Joshua 5:15 NLB). Reco­g­nis­ing the aut­ho­ri­ty of Jesus Christ as Lord of my life.

Part 2: The conquest

The con­quest of the city is descri­bed in Joshua 6 and can be sum­ma­ri­sed as follows:

• The order of batt­le: The 600,000 sol­diers are to go first, fol­lo­wed by 7 priests blo­wing the horns, fol­lo­wed by the Ark of the Coven­ant, fol­lo­wed by the rest of the peo­p­le (approx. 2 mil­li­on people)
• This crowd is to para­de around the city once every 6 days: In silence.
• On the seventh day, the crowd is to march around the city seven times. When the priests blow their horns at the end, all the peo­p­le will rai­se a war cry. Then the walls will collapse.

What did that mean for the inha­bi­tants of Jeri­cho at the time? They knew that God’s peo­p­le had alre­a­dy defea­ted all the nati­ons on the other side of the Jor­dan. Now a mass of peo­p­le sur­roun­ded Jeri­cho over a width of about 500‑1000 met­res around the enti­re city. They only see peo­p­le wal­king – with and wit­hout swords with the Ark of the Coven­ant in the centre.

Part 3: What does this mean for us?

• The war­ri­ors – or tho­se with the sword – are tho­se of us who pass on God’s word.
• At the cent­re is the Ark of the Coven­ant – Jesus Christ.
• Then comes the rest of the peo­p­le. The walk of all Chris­ti­ans is seen. Ever­yo­ne has the task of being a wit­ness to hearts.
• You walk around the city once every 6 days: We are to be a tes­tim­o­ny during the working week.
• They walk around the city 7 times on the 7th day. We are to be even more of a tes­tim­o­ny on Sunday.
• The chan­ge is silent until the last moment: for a tes­tim­o­ny, actions are more important than words.
• When the trumpet of the priests sounds, the peo­p­le should rai­se a war cry. We meet in the church – then we should go out and pass on what Christ puts on our hearts.
• Then the walls of the hearts that have resis­ted God will open.

Thought back to us in the New Tes­ta­ment. What should our beha­viour show, what should point to Christ? If we have love for one ano­ther, if we seek the good for one ano­ther, if we are invol­ved and com­mit­ted to one ano­ther. We can only do this if Christ lives in us.

If we have love for one ano­ther, this is pro­of that Christ real­ly lives in us. What do you see in your and my chan­ge? «By this ever­yo­ne will know that you are my disci­ples, if you have love for one ano­ther» (John 13:34 LUT)

Possible questions for the small group 

Bible text: John 13:34

1. Jesus says: «By this ever­yo­ne will know that you are my disci­ples, if you have love for one ano­ther» (John 13:34; LUT)
   How does love work?

2. Who is the tar­get group of love meant here?

3. Befo­re Isra­el mar­ched around Jeri­cho, the peo­p­le were pre­pared four­fold. What does this mean for us in prac­ti­cal terms?

   • Cir­cumcis­i­on?
   • Pas­so­ver meal?
   • Fee­ding on the pro­mi­sed land?
   • Reco­g­nis­ing that you are stan­ding on holy ground?
     
     
4. What do peo­p­le out­side see when they see our «chan­ge»? Can they reco­g­ni­se that Jesus lives in you? If so – by what?