A Five-Part Holiness Series for the Forming Disciple

Over the last ten weeks, we have been walking through formation.

And I hope that word has started to settle into you in a deeper way. I hope you are beginning to see that discipleship is not just learning Christian things or trying to become a little better version of yourself. It is the life of Christ being shaped in you. It is God working on the whole person, not just the part that shows up on Sunday or the part that knows how to say the right words.

That is what I have been trying to get at.

If we belong to Jesus, then He is forming us. He is shaping how we think, how we love, how we obey, how we suffer, how we forgive, how we wait, how we respond, and how we live when no one else is watching. Formation is not just about what we know. It is about who we are becoming before God.

And that brings us to holiness.

For the next five weeks, I want to slow down and walk through one passage of Scripture. Not a full biblical theology of holiness. Just one moment in the life of Joshua.

Joshua 5:13–15.

There is so much more we could say about holiness. We could talk about purity, repentance, worship, obedience, the fear of the Lord, and what it means to live as people set apart for Him.

And we may do that at some point. But not here. Here, I want us to stay with Joshua. I want us to feel the weight of this one encounter.

Joshua is near Jericho. He is not running from God. He is not confused about whether God has called him. He is not trying to get out of obedience. He is standing in a place God has brought him to. The Jordan has been crossed. Covenant has been renewed. The reproach of Egypt has been rolled away. The manna has stopped. The promise is right there in front of him.

Everything looks ready.

And then God stops him.

That is what grabbed me.

Joshua is ready to move, but God deals with his posture first.

That is the burden of this series.

Because I think a lot of us assume that once God has brought us to a certain place, the next thing is movement. We want to know what to do. We want the plan. We want the strategy. We want the next step. And I understand that. I really do. When Jericho is in front of you, you start thinking about Jericho.

But before Joshua can deal with what is in front of him, he has to deal with the One who stands before him.

Please hear that… You see:

• Before the walls ever fall, Joshua falls.
• Before the battle plan is given, authority is clarified.
• Before movement comes surrender.
• Before strategy comes holiness.

That is why this passage matters so much for the forming disciple.

Holiness is not first about behavior, although it will absolutely change the way we live. A life that has been touched by the Holy God cannot remain the same. But holiness begins deeper than outward action. It begins when a person comes face-to-face with the presence of God and realizes that He is utterly other and unmistakably near.

That kind of presence does something to you.

It stops you.

It exposes you.

It reorders you.

It brings you low.

And that is not a bad thing. That is mercy.

So over these next five weeks, we are going to walk slowly. Week One will begin with the question of what happens when God stops the formed disciple. Week Two will take us into the holy “No” of God, and how His correction can be the mercy that saves us from self-authority. Week Three will press into the truth that the Commander is not a consultant. He does not come to help us build a life around ourselves. He comes to rule. Week Four will bring us to the sandals, to the things that have stayed between us and God for too long. And Week Five will call us to bow before we move, because Joshua 6 only makes sense after Joshua 5.

That is where we are going.

And I need you to know why this matters to me.

I am not writing this because I think we need another blog series. I am writing this because I believe discipleship has to touch the real life. I believe the Lord is worthy of more than our agreement. He is worthy of our surrender. He is worthy of our obedience. He is worthy of our reverence. He is worthy of a people who do not just talk about being formed, but actually bow before the God who forms them.

So, if you are walking through this with me, don’t rush it.

Don’t read it like content.

Bring your life to it.

Bring your calling. Bring your questions. Bring your ambition. Bring your fears. Bring your need for control. Bring the places where you keep asking God to take your side. Bring the sandals you may not even realize you are still wearing.

And let the Lord speak.

Because the formed disciple never graduates from his need to surrender.

We bow before we move.

We surrender before we advance.

We take off our sandals before we ask for strategy.

This is the posture of holiness.

DRJBD