We Will Serve the Lord
Joshua 24:1 – 3a, 14 – 24
There is a story about a man flying on a small regional flight and the attendant comes up and asks him if he would like a meal. The man says “maybe, what are my choices”. The attendant looks at him and says “either yes or no”. Our lesson today is about a similar question with limited options, either yes or no!
In this month of November when we honor the saints that have come before it is fitting that the lectionary brings us to this section in the Book of Joshua. This book gives the history of Israel’s conquest of the Promised Land. Joshua was a protégé of Moses because of his dedication to his nation and to his God. Joshua became the leader of the nation of Israel when Moses died just before Israel crosses the Jordan into Canaan.
Joshua has a unique perspective; he was born in Egypt. He witnessed the entire journey, faced the challenges, and received the graces and instructions from God during the journey. He was a brilliant military leader with a strong spiritual influence but the key to his success as a leader was his submission to God. He has divided up the conquered Promised Land among the 12 tribes of Israel. As a result, Israel remained faithful to God throughout Joshua’s lifetime.
Our lesson today is part of Joshua’s farewell speech to the Israelites as he tries to prepare them for what is to come after he dies; for the challenges that they will face in being faithful to the God that had kept His promises since the nation was established by God through Abraham. Joshua has assembled all the tribes of Israel at Shechem. As you may know Shechem is a significant place in the history of the nation of Israel. Both Abraham and his grandson Jacob build altars there and worship God. Jacob’s two sons, Simeon and Levi the honor of their sister Dinah there.
And it is here that Joshua has assembled all the tribes, elders, leaders, judges and officials of Israel, and they presented themselves before God himself. It must have been an amazing sight. The elder Joshua standing on top of one of the mountains, overlooking the valley below and multitudes of Israelites that have come to hear Joshua’s instructions and blessings. Some theologians suggest that there may have been upwards of 2 million people there.
Joshua begins by reminding his people of their distant past, “long ago” literally in the original Hebrew, “from eternity,” when the Israelite’s ancestors lived in the land “beyond the river”, beyond the Euphrates river.
To make his point, instead of only recalling familiar ancestors; Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Joshua goes back even further, to Abraham’s father Terah. Joshua reminds them that back then, Abram and his forefathers served other gods.
But God had a plan for Abram. Even though he served other gods, God took Abraham from that place and led him into a new land. He became his God, as He did with the rest of Abraham’s progeny over the generations to come.
Joshua recites the Israelites’ experience with God since Abraham was chosen by God. It is a history of what God has done for them in the past and is the reason why they should remain faithful to God in the present and in the future.
By the time Joshua is talking to the people about these stories, it has been well over three centuries since Abraham had lived and died. His name and his stories had been carried forward through the ages but Joshua knows that his time is short and he knows that the people of Israel have a penchant to stray from their obedience to God.
Many generations have come and gone since Abraham had been chosen by God and Joshua had sensed faithfulness and obedience beginning to wane so he wants to be sure that they have the same passion, fire and faithfulness to God as Abraham did.
Joshua urges the people to fear and serve the Lord. “Serve God” becomes the core refrain of Joshua’s farewell message. He repeats it twice in verse 14, and it appears three times in the subsequent four verses.
Joshua says that serving God means worshipping God alone, not the gods of society and culture. Joshua’s admonition to serve other gods includes instructions to “put away” other gods.
The Israelites have been freed from slavery in Egypt, but their freedom is not absolute. Rather, they must move from being Pharaoh’s servants to being God’s servants, in faithful worship. Unlike the type of slavery and service they had in Egypt, which was against their will, now they must choose to serve a God.
Few of us are tempted by any gods of other nations or any gods with other names, but as Martin Luther made clear “anything one respects, loves, and trusts above everything else, whether that is riches, self, prestige, or whatever–is one’s God”. We all serve many gods! This fear ridden Pandemic and this election season are testimony to that.
Even if we were “good Christian people” and “in the church”, we can still struggle with alternative allegiances and influences. Just being “in the church” does not mean that we have the passion, faithfulness or obedience of the saints that came before us. Joshua’s challenge was a way of reorienting the attitudes of the Israelites. It should have the same effect on us!
Joshua is presenting this as a genuine choice, not something they are compelled to do. In fact in the scripture tells the Israelites “if you are unwilling,” to serve the God of Abraham, Jacob and Moses then chose whom you will serve.
Is it the gods of society and culture, is it the gods of self-centeredness and ego? Who will you “worship” or “prove loyalty toward”? Which god do you “obey” Like any good preacher, Joshua practices what he preaches: “As for me and my household, we will serve God“!
As Joshua speaks, the Israelites remember their history, what God has done for them in the past: bringing them and their ancestors up from Egypt out of slavery, doing great signs in their sight, protecting them along the way and among the people, and driving out the people in the land. Because of what God has done for them, they choose to serve God – they exclaim we also will serve the Lord, for he is our God.
But Joshua immediately follows that up by providing the people an opportunity to affirm their choice. In effect he tells them that they need to be careful because God is holy, and jealous, and if the people forsake God, He may not forgive. Joshua says, “You are witnesses against yourselves, your words and actions will testify either for you or against you so to which God you actually serve”. “Yes, we are witnesses,” they replied, “we will serve the Lord and we will be a witness to our own faithfulness”.
The God that Joshua and his people faced was a God that will not forgive transgressions or sins and evil deeds will have bad consequences and so they should not put God to the test or take God’s forgiveness for granted.
Are we like those Israelites? Will we be an effective witness to our own faithfulness? Do we always choose to serve God in the way that he deserves to be served? Is God always first in our lives, or do we in fact often serve other gods, by sins of omission and commission? Do we choose to serve the God of self-pity, ill health, greed, gossip, or ego? None of us needs to be reminded that we are disobedient by nature but we are the fortunate ones because we have a Savior that gave his life to pay our debts and rose to give us life as well.
The God known to us through Jesus Christ regularly comes to us with words of absolution and forgiveness, seventy times or seventy times seven we received forgiveness. God loves and forgives us with the hope and expectation that such love will lead to renewal in our lives, leading to growth in faith and to faith active in love. We, too, like Joshua’s audience, can be moved and empowered by God’s holiness through Jesus Christ and we should choose daily to commit to serve and obey.
Hear the Good News my friends……….
God is always calling to us, sinner come home. The Spirit keeps striving to reconnect with our Father in a personal way. Even when our story is that we’re ignoring God, God doesn’t ignore us. Indeed, God is calling us toward the fullness of life in Christ even then, even when we’re actively serving other gods or ends.
All of us have struggled with patterns of selfishness or habits or actions or attitudes that destroy our relationships with God our neighbor and ourselves. And in our struggles, we may forget the best news of all; God chosen to be our God and he comes today to ask us “Whom will you serve”! He is constantly asking us to choose to worship, serve and trust him with all our needs and cares and worries.
Joshua was looking to make, to remake the multi-generation believers into believers with first generation passion, fire and with a personal relationship with the one that came to save them.
We don’t have to keep looking for solutions to the daily problems, looking for gods of our own strength, in our culture or society, in the government, in our possessions, in self-help theologies, all the while ignoring God’s call and God’s promise. We can “choose THIS day whom we will serve” and rekindle that passion and fire that brings us into a personal relationship with our Father each and every day.
Will you help me in closing out our lesson today? As individuals within a fellowship, children of an awesome and generous God, Joshua tells us God is asking for our choice, not only by words but by actions that testify to our faith. So join me in these proclamations. I will ask a series of questions and your faithful response should be We Will Serve the Lord.
Whom will you serve……?
When loss cancels our victories…. We Will Serve the Lord
When darkness vanquishes the light…..
When fear makes us doubt….
When tears cloud our vision…..
When troubles dim our hopes.…..
When waiting removes our patience……
When sorrow overpowers our joy……
When pain dulls our pleasure……
When distractions overwhelm our attention……
When idols seek to replace our God……
When our needs thwarts our giving……
When our challenges outnumber our gifts……
When the lord of darkness attempts to remove the light……
Dear ones, when our Heavenly Father, Creator of the Universe, Protector of his Children, Guide of forefathers and the Redeemer of our souls asks you to commit your life to him what will you say? Yes dear ones We will always serve the Lord! Amen