“Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.”
Proverbs 27:17
After Moses died, Joshua was left alone. We can only imagine his state of mind, the pressures he faced, the fear that must have confronted him, as he looked ahead at the reality of facing fearsome enemies with his untested troops. And now he was alone. Moses, his leader for all those years, the one he trusted and faithfully followed, was gone. We don’t often consider it, but, yes, he was human and he must have been terrified.
But God spoke to Joshua and told him that “Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you. Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you.” Joshua 1:5-7
Just as God told Moses to be strong and courageous, He now repeats the command to Joshua. It’s fairly easy to discern why God would tell us this. He’s invisible, after all. We can see our enemies, alright and we can see our troubles. They’re everywhere our eyes turn and the tendency is to fixate on them rather than God. So, when God says to be strong and courageous He’s not telling us to be tough. He’s not selling abstract grit. He’s telling us to trust Him. In the heat of the battle, when the winds blow and the storm is great, if we don’t stand firm in faith, we won’t stand at all (Isaiah 7:9).
This is the strong backbone of biblical strength and courage. It isn’t trust in ourselves and our feeble resources, but in the unchanging character, love and power of our great God. But what does it mean for us to sharpen each other?
Well, the answer is in the rest of God’s pep talk to Joshua. He says, “Do not turn from it (the law) to the right hand or left, that you may have good success wherever you go. This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” (Joshua 1:7-9)
This teaches us many deep and critical lessons about Christian life.
FIRST, it tells us that we are to sharpen each other by talking about the word of God. Deuteronomy 6 tells us to meditate on God’s word, talk about it at dinner, while walking, while going about our business – basically at all times, it says, we should have the word of the Lord on our lips. This is how Christian friends sharpen each other. We encourage each other through the life giving word of the Lord. Sure, we can talk about other things – current events, sports, our personal interests. That’s all fine. But we must see these things in the context of the word of God. We should be still talking about Sunday’s sermon on Wednesday and Thursday. We should be gushing over something we just read in Scripture, some truth the Spirit revealed to us through a line we may well have read 100 times before without noticing it. This is the blessed life.
SECOND, in order for us to talk so much about the Lord and His word, we must know it. This should be rather obvious but it’s one of those things that’s easy to miss. Charles Spurgeon once said that sin will keep us from Scripture or Scripture will keep us from sin. The choice is before us always. It’s also obvious that what someone cares about is something they’ll talk about . If you’re struggling in this area, if your heart has grown cold, pray to God to renew your spirit and rush to the company of Christian friends that have their swords sharpened and you’ll be restored.
THIRD, the mind that is set on the Spirit has life and peace. The mind that’s set on the flesh, though, is hostile to God (Romans 8:7). The opposite of biblical courage isn’t necessarily cowardice as we’d normally understand it. You know what it is? Grumbling and complaining! When we focus on the world and our needs, the flesh and the enemy will have us see things through faithless eyes. The enemy says, “see…you’re hungry, poor, hurting and God isn’t taking care of you.” Iron sharpens iron because it makes sure our Christian brothers and sisters have their shield of faith up and ready, which is the only way we can withstand the withering attacks upon our trust in God (Ephesians 6:16). Complaining and whining is a massive offense to God – it shows we don’t truly believe Him and it has a corrosive effect upon everything we touch. When Moses sent spies into the promised land, ten saw unbeatable giants and two, Caleb and Joshua, saw victory. What was the difference? Faith. They all saw the same thing but ten saw big giants because they had a little god, and the two men of faith saw little giants because they knew God is bigger than all.
FOURTH, in Ephesians 6 Paul asks that they pray for him that he speaks the gospel without fear. Well! If even Paul wrestled with fear, we shouldn’t be surprised that we struggle with it too. We may not be openly persecuted but we still live in this present evil age and must remember that our battles, which are the real ones, are behind the scenes – they’re the spiritual battles in high places. The enemy never wants the great power of the gospel of Jesus Christ to be heard and when it is, he works to mute it, confuse it, neuter it. We’ll encounter this pressure in diverse social and personal ways. But we must follow and obey the Lord, not this world.
FIFTH, we live in a world of laws. Just as there are physical laws, established and maintained by God, there are spiritual laws too. The law of obedience to God brings peace and success. Disobedience brings judgment. This doesn’t teach that the believer in Christ will never have troubles but that all things will work together for good in the end. This is why faith is so important because many times in our lives we won’t be able to see right away why God has let some thing or another happen.
SIXTH, one of the major ministries in all of our lives is to faithfully encourage one another in the Lord (Romans 1:12). The word of the Lord has graciously directed us as to how we are to do this. First, we are to attend worship, not neglecting the gathering of ourselves. Next, we are to feast upon the great spiritual buffet that is Scripture. It’s so precariously easy in a world of distractions and wealth to forget that we have the literal word of God at our fingertips – more precious than fine gold and sweeter also than any physical pleasure we can ever experience (Psalm 19). Christians that feast on the word of God, who know it’s perfect, will find that it revives their very soul and makes the simple wise.
LASTLY, these Christian soldiers, trained up and in love with the Lord, loving Christ, overwhelmed by the free gift of grace they’ve received, will be fearless and strong and they will lift each other up. It’s this way that we go and fulfill the Great Commission – we go out, encouraged, strong and courageous, sharpened by the bold faith of our Christian friends and proclaim the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ.
We don’t “sharpen” each other by building each up in the world, that being with an emphasis on self-esteem outside of Christ, self-reliance, and things like that. Certainly not! We aren’t conformed to this world but we share with each other the mind that’s transformed by the word of God and we teach, exhort, encourage, and correct. In all, we’re only as sharp as we are faithful to God, trusting in Him, looking to Him and only Him. To do this is the work of best friends. Indeed, best friends point each other to Christ and Him alone.
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