Great Leaders Are Aware of Their Expiration Date

Joshua 13:1 (ESV) Now Joshua was old and advanced in years, and the LORD said to him, “You are old and advanced in years, and there remains yet very much land to possess.

Joshua 13:7 (ESV) Now therefore divide this land for an inheritance to the nine tribes and half the tribe of Manasseh.”

It's one of the hardest facts of life to embrace. This world will continue when you're dead. It will continue and you will not be there to make sure it continues. The Bible keeps making clear people die and a new generation always comes up and takes their place in history.

There was a time when Joshua was the new kid on the block, the successful military leader who believed God and made it to the promised land when his entire generation could not believe. There was a time when Joshua was full of life and ready to take on the giants of life. There was a time when Joshua was winning battle after battle.

Now here in Joshua 13, he's old and God has to tell him, there's too much left to do for him alone. 

Everyone has an expiration date. 

So what does this mean? It means you have to spend considerable time investing in those who would come after you. I wonder if this wasn't a bit of a failure on Joshua's part. For the chapter will outline how much land was still to be taken and there's also this note:
Joshua 13:13 (ESV) Yet the people of Israel did not drive out the Geshurites or the Maacathites, but Geshur and Maacath dwell in the midst of Israel to this day.

Interestingly, these same people will be hired to fight against David in later history. 

2 Samuel 10:6 (ESV) When the Ammonites saw that they had become a stench to David, the Ammonites sent and hired the Syrians of Beth-rehob, and the Syrians of Zobah, 20,000 foot soldiers, and the king of Maacah with 1,000 men...

It must be clear to every person in the Lord's work, you are not the sum total of what God is going to do in the world. Your generation is not the last one to dwell on the Earth. I know we get really anxious to predict the Lord's return and almost every generation of faithful Christians have believed theirs was THE generation to see the end. But it hasn't happened yet and people are still having children. The next generation needs our knowledge, our love, our support and our encouragement to take the work of God further and farther than we ever could. 

Consider John the Baptist's attitude about his successor:

John 3:30 (ESV) He (Jesus) must increase, but I must decrease.”

When Jesus gets going in ministry, John then sends messengers from prison to see if He is actually the one. (Did John struggle with letting go too?).

Consider Jesus' attitude toward the disciples:

John 14:12 (ESV) “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.

Paul told Timothy as much:

2 Timothy 2:2 (NLT) You have heard me teach things that have been confirmed by many reliable witnesses. Now teach these truths to other trustworthy people who will be able to pass them on to others.

The Church has lasted for 2000 years for two reasons: 

1. The Holy Spirit is still raising up future generations of leaders.

2. Many leaders in the Church have seen the need to invest in those future leaders.

I believe that we still need to work on #2. There's this temptation (and I feel it too), to withhold from the future generational leaders because we fear for our place in the purposes of God. After all, what need of me is there if someone else comes along who is talented and able? But this is a worldly way of thinking. It may have been Joshua's thinking as well. He was a mighty warrior and he won many battles. But God wanted him to think beyond himself.

Consider for Joshua how much of his life was the sum of Moses' investment in him? I think about that for myself. I am only the result of God's goodness expressed through the parents, teachers, pastors and other leaders who invested in me! That grace calls on me to pay it forward!

There are so many more people to reach with the Gospel. Who are you investing in? Find your "Timothy", find your successor and invest in, encourage and release them to the great things in store for them through the power of the Holy Spirit.