Joshua affirms: We will serve the Lord

22nd August 2021, Joshua 24:1-2 14-18, pastor adrian kitson, We will serve the Lord

Joshua 24:1, 2a, 14-18

Then Joshua assembled all the tribes of Israel at Shechem. He summoned the elders, leaders, judges and officials of Israel, and they presented themselves before God.

²Joshua said to all the people, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: “Long ago your ancestors, including Terah the father of Abraham and Nahor, lived beyond the River Euphrates and worshipped other gods. ³But I took your father Abraham from the land beyond the Euphrates and led him throughout Canaan and gave him many descendants. I gave him Isaac, ⁴and to Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. I assigned the hill country of Seir to Esau, but Jacob and his family went down to Egypt.

⁵‘“Then I sent Moses and Aaron, and I afflicted the Egyptians by what I did there, and I brought you out. ⁶When I brought your people out of Egypt, you came to the sea, and the Egyptians pursued them with chariots and horsemen^[^a^] as far as the Red Sea.^[^b^] ⁷But they cried to the Lord for help, and he put darkness between you and the Egyptians; he brought the sea over them and covered them. You saw with your own eyes what I did to the Egyptians. Then you lived in the wilderness for a long time.

⁸‘“I brought you to the land of the Amorites who lived east of the Jordan. They fought against you, but I gave them into your hands. I destroyed them from before you, and you took possession of their land. ⁹When Balak son of Zippor, the king of Moab, prepared to fight against Israel, he sent for Balaam son of Beor to put a curse on you. ¹⁰But I would not listen to Balaam, so he blessed you again and again, and I delivered you out of his hand.

¹¹‘“Then you crossed the Jordan and came to Jericho. The citizens of Jericho fought against you, as did also the Amorites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hittites, Girgashites, Hivites and Jebusites, but I gave them into your hands. ¹²I sent the hornet ahead of you, which drove them out before you – also the two Amorite kings. You did not do it with your own sword and bow. ¹³So I gave you a land on which you did not toil and cities you did not build; and you live in them and eat from vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant.”

¹⁴‘Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worshipped beyond the River Euphrates and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. ¹⁵But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.’

¹⁶Then the people answered, ‘Far be it from us to forsake the Lord to serve other gods! ¹⁷It was the Lord our God himself who brought us and our parents up out of Egypt, from that land of slavery, and performed those great signs before our eyes. He protected us on our entire journey and among all the nations through which we travelled. ¹⁸And the Lord drove out before us all the nations, including the Amorites, who lived in the land. We too will serve the Lord, because he is our God.’

¹⁹Joshua said to the people, ‘You are not able to serve the Lord. He is a holy God; he is a jealous God. He will not forgive your rebellion and your sins. ²⁰If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, he will turn and bring disaster on you and make an end of you, after he has been good to you.’

²¹But the people said to Joshua, ‘No! We will serve the Lord.’

²²Then Joshua said, ‘You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen to serve the Lord.’

‘Yes, we are witnesses,’ they replied.

²³‘Now then,’ said Joshua, ‘throw away the foreign gods that are among you and yield your hearts to the Lord, the God of Israel.’

²⁴And the people said to Joshua, ‘We will serve the Lord our God and obey him.’

²⁵On that day Joshua made a covenant for the people, and there at Shechem he reaffirmed for them decrees and laws. ²⁶And Joshua recorded these things in the Book of the Law of God. Then he took a large stone and set it up there under the oak near the holy place of the Lord.

²⁷‘See!’ he said to all the people. ‘This stone will be a witness against us. It has heard all the words the Lord has said to us. It will be a witness against you if you are untrue to your God.’

²⁸Then Joshua dismissed the people, each to their own inheritance.

The pandemic has disrupted just about everything and everyone for over 18 months now. It is creating conditions for choices to be made at all levels.

For Christians connected to a local church, like us, it creates choices:

Will I continue to connect in-person with groups I used to be part of or leave that and do things alone or only at home?
Will I continue to worship in-person as much as I used to or not?
Will I rely on what church life used to be and so, not look for anything much in the current time because it is so different?

But deeper questions also might be coming now…

Will I continue to believe in the Lord and the value of being part of his church?
Will I continue to join with other Christians in learning and serving of just go it alone?
Will I continue to serve the Lord with my life in different ways than I used to?
Will I continue to worship above all else; trust his promises above anyone or anything else’s promises?

Joshua stands at the holy place of Shechem and makes a holy stand. He calls the people take that stand with him.

As he stands where the Lord appeared to Abram and gave the promise of land, status and mission (Genesis 12) to a people, Joshua calls for a big choice to be made by all.

He calls all the 12 tribes to continue to choose the Lord. He calls the people to serve the Lord, worship the Lord, trust that the Lord is good for all his promises no matter what. He calls the people to trust the Lord for their lives, more than anything or anyone else.

What will help them say yes? What will help you say yes to stand together with fellow Christians around you and worship together, learn together, and trust the Lord at this time in your life?

Joshua knows. What helps people choose the Lord’s promises above all others is the story – God’s story active in their own stories. Joshua goes into a long list of God’s presence, God’s loyalty, God’s action in the people’s lives thus far.

He speaks the story of faith; reminds them they belong to God’s story of faith as much as those who have gone before them.

Abram, a pagan god worshipper beyond the Euphrates… Taken to a new land in a completely new promise by the only God.

Isaac, Jacob, Esau…. The promise survives, thanks to the Lord’s grace and power – not theirs!

Moses and Aaron… The baptism of a nation in the Red Sea, the Covenant relationship made, right worship established, the defeat of slavery to a nation and their beliefs in gods, a generation being refined and galvanised in the desert journey sustained by God’s hand every day.

The Joshua and the new land of God’s promise with a mission to be the means by which the Lord brings blessing to all nations and lands.

¹³ … I gave you a land on which you did not toil and cities you did not build; and you live in them and eat from vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant.”

In other words, “Everything you are and have is gift – gift of God based on promises made and commitment followed through by God”. You can choose to serve him with your every breath.

They often have not served the Lord or trusted his promises.

Even though God’s presence and promises are so life-giving and so good, they can be soon forgotten, especially in times like ours.

These people at Shechem and where in Nuri live in the constant tension of chasing after two different kinds of gods with different stories promising life but actually delivering slavery and eventual death.

… Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living.

There are two false gods making false promises;

The known past
The immediate more visible help

You can give your heart to the old ways, old beliefs, old values, old comforts to which your ancestors gave theirs. You can give your heart to the false gods of the people currently around us, promising more immediate and visible helps for our suffering and worry.

In these disconnected times when nothing seems the same, church seems so less active or present and we feel more isolated from our fellow believers with less to bind us together, I wonder whether the gods of the past or the gods of the present are our favoured choice?

We can go back to the old days and desperately try to recreate them or pretend they still exist in the same way or believe that they were the best we can be, as if our best days of being a Christian community are behind us.

We can also just go for whatever works now – get some more immediate and seen assistance to fashion our life the way we need it to be fashioned.

Joshua wants to help you not go back to the past or cave into the current alternatives as your hope and your peace. He knows neither the known past nor the current help can never deliver what they promise as much as God delvers exactly what he promises.

So, Joshua tells the story of God’s presence, his promises, his actions through real people in real time to say that the Lord is present, active and very promising for real people now.

We recite our story:

We were baptised into Jesus’ grace and have been sustained by his hand every day since.
When we are unable to find God, love God, know God or be God, he forgives, heals, protects, loves and connects me to other resurrection people all the days of my life.

Joshua simply says, “Make the choice today”.

¹⁴‘Now fear/worship/serve the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. … ¹⁵But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve … But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.’

And for once, the people respond well. These words of trust are a high point of their loyalty and faithfulness to the Lord in the whole Bible.

¹⁶Then the people answered, ‘Far be it from us to forsake the Lord to serve other gods! ¹⁷It was the Lord our God himself who brought us and our parents up out of Egypt, from that land of slavery, and performed those great signs before our eyes. He protected us on our entire journey and among all the nations through which we travelled. ¹⁸And the Lord drove out before us all the nations, including the Amorites, who lived in the land. We too will serve the Lord, because he is our God.’

Is this your choice too? Is God’s promised Saviour to whom Joshua points your choice today?

It is Jesus, the new Joshua, whose names both mean “God saves” gives me faith in him by his word through my parents and mentors. His words give me a life that is free from slavery to other people and the Evil One and all his destructive tricks.

It is the Spirit of God who has called me into the community of Jesus where I belong always – lockdown, isolation, threat or not. Local Christian community in-person or on-line is where I learn, I grow, I get support, I give support, I experience joy and love and am sustained day by day no matter what day it is or through what times the days move.

It is the Lord God who took THE stand nailed to a cross as he performed THE sign of signs of his power and promise – not just raising up a nation through whom to bless all nations but a man to kill death itself for all human beings.

His Son was raised to stand above the grave, thereby killing death and making life holy, making me holy now and beyond death.

It is the Spirit of Jesus that clears my way, protects me, feeds me, calls me together in community with others and warms my heart with hope just by being with in Jesus’ presence with other believers in whatever way I can.

So what is it today, friend?

“Yes”. I will continue to echo Joshua. As for me and my family, we will serve, worship and trust the Lord.

Is this our heart as a local church? I hope so. I know so. In all matters, in all times, in all pressures, challenges, gifts, good seasons and bad, we will serve the Lord with everything he has first given – with gladness and joy – not fear of failure or the reconstruction of the old or the pursuit of the current more immediate and seeable helps – but rely on his help above all other helps.

Yes, we will serve the Lord. That is what faith always is; serving when we can’t see everything, trusting when we don’t know everything, believing when we can’t understand everything.

We will give our heart to his promises and his presence alone and together for this is what we want to do for all he has been and done and still for us.

I pray you can give your heart to him again today because he surely gives you his.

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