Joshua
23 & 24
Objective
Statement: Every person can
cherish their life by following the formula that Joshua gave the Israelites at Shechem:
1)
Choose
2) This Day
3) Whom You Will Serve
Open:
This morning, rather than focusing specifically on the Sanctity of
Human Life as it relates to the beginning of life or the end of life, I’d like
us to look at the value of your life
– a life you should cherish.
Let’s watch this clip…
<Video>
Quotes from the clip:
“At the end of life we won’t regret the mistakes
we’ve made as much as the opportunities we’ve missed.”
“Our destiny is determined by what we choose to do
in the present moment.”
Sounds a lot like the
challenge Joshua put before the Israelites at the end of his life:
Joshua 23:2 “I am now old and well advanced in
years…”
Joshua 24:14 "Therefore fear the LORD and serve him in sincerity and in
faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and
in
Joshua 24:15 “And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the LORD, choose
this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served
in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose
land you dwell. But as for me and my
house, we will serve the LORD."
We’re about to culminate a sermon series we started last
fall in the book of Joshua.
Joshua had been chosen by God to be Moses’
successor in leading the Children of Israel into the Promised Land.
Through
Joshua’s leadership, the
Through
the geographical details contained in chapters 15-22, we see that God was good to
keep his promises.
Chapter 23 opens by saying,
Joshua 23:1 A long time
afterward, when the LORD had given rest to Israel from all their surrounding
enemies, and Joshua was old and well
advanced in years,
“A
long time afterward” – If Caleb, Joshua’s peer, was 85 at the end of the
conquest and Joshua is now 110 years old (see Joshua 24:29), then 25 years had
passed.
Joshua 23:2 Joshua summoned all
Eg: Soldier’s Farewell - On
The
world has turned over many times since I took the oath on the plain at
The
book of Joshua ends in similar fashion – an old soldier bidding farewell, just
before he fades into history.
Joshua
gathers the leaders (ch. 23) and all the people (ch. 24)
and speaks to them with great concern of the growing complacency he sees. Joshua
perceives a willingness on the part of the Israelites
to compromise and co-exist with the remaining Canaanites.
Joshua
felt compelled to warn the fledgling nation of the moral and spiritual
dangers that still surrounded them.
Eg:
Founding of
The average age of the world’s
greatest civilizations has been 200 years.
These nations have progressed through this sequence: from bondage to spiritual faith; from spiritual faith to great courage; from courage to liberty; from liberty to abundance; from abundance to complacency; from complacency to apathy; from apathy to dependency; from dependency again into bondage.
In chapter 23,
Joshua speaks to
-
God
was faithful to keep his promises
-
That
they should remain faithful to the covenant
-
That
they shouldn’t make alliances with the Canaanite nations, for these alliances
would turn the people’s hearts away from God.
In chapter 24,
Joshua assembled all the people at Shechem, to
complete his final official act as the Lord’s servant.
Following
the example of Moses, he made a call to God’s people to renew the
covenant.
He
reminds the people of their history:
-
The
call of Abraham from beyond the River Euphrates to
-
The
giving of sons, Isaac, Esau and Jacob
-
The
sojourn in
-
The
Exodus from
-
Conquering
of the Amorites, east of the
-
Conquering
of the Canaanites
-
Giving
of the Promised Land
And he
gives to them the famous charge:
Joshua 24:14 "Therefore fear the LORD and serve him in sincerity and in
faithfulness.
The
reason for serving God was in response to his past faithfulness, not in fear of
future judgment.
Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and
in
Shechem was not only the place where
God promised Abram the land (Genesis 12), it was
the place where Jacob and his entourage rid themselves of the gods of
(Remember
Laban searching for his idols, which Rachel had
stolen and hid in the saddle and she told him, “Pardon me, my lord, if I do not rise
in your presence, for I am presently in the way of women”)? J
Joshua 24:15 “And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the LORD, choose
this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served
in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose
land you dwell. But as for me and my
house, we will serve the LORD."
------------- <Go slowly>
For
those who would cherish life…
For
those who would determine a positive
destiny…
For
those who would live life without
regrets…
For
those who would make every moment count…
Joshua gives a marvelous formula:
1) Choose
2) This Day
3) Whom You Will Serve
1) Choose
God
created humankind with free will -- the ability to choose.
We
have the choice to believe, obey, follow, serve and love God.
God
created men and women, boys and girls so that he could have relationship with
us and we have relationship with him.
Relationships
have a certain reciprocity about them – they go both
ways – there’s give and take.
A
relationship would be fake / artificial, if there wasn’t a choice to love in
return.
Eg: Ryan and Jackson - I’ve learned that in my
relationship with my boys. I can make
them obey me in terms of going to bed, carrying out the trash, eating their
food or giving an apology, but I can’t control what’s going on in their hearts!
Eg: The little girl who was told to sit down: “I may be sitting down on the outside, but
I’m standing up on the inside!”
And
I’ve found that it sure is awkward and even wrong to force them to give me
affection!
Joshua
reminded the Israelites that they had a choice to fear, serve, obey and love
God.
Joshua
was calling
Have you made that choice?
Have you made a commitment to serve God?
Jesus
asked for the same type of allegiance and devotion. To young fisherman on the
Believe
me, Jesus had no self-esteem issue, asking, “Would you please accept me?!” – With
authority, He commanded: “Follow
me.”
Have you made the
choice to follow Jesus?
2 Corinthians 6:2 For he says, "In the time
of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you." [[2] Isaiah 49:8] I
tell you, now is the time of God's favor, now is the day of salvation.”
Joshua said, “Choose”…
2) This Day
“That
day” was a special day where an old soldier was bidding the troops farewell,
giving a stirring challenge.
Yes,
there’s a one time choice to follow God – to “sign up”, to “cross over the
line”, to “say ‘Yes’ to Jesus. And I
would challenge, encourage, implore you to do that –
be reconciled to God!
But
there are small choices that we need to make “This day” (every day) that
indicate that we are obeying, following, loving and serving God – that we have
our priorities in the right place.
Eg: Brent Lindblad’s
Song:
We all must walk
down the path of life
Choices to the
left and the right
Will you choose
the wrong?
Will you choose
the right?
Will you choose
to walk in the light?
“Choose…
THIS DAY” indicates that following God is one time decision and a continual
decision -- every day and sometimes every moment presents subtle and
not-so-subtle alternatives:
-
The
choice to close our mouths and really listen to our spouse when we’re tempted
to become angry and engage in an argument.
-
The
choice to turn the conversation when we’re tempted with juicy gossip – and we
have something to add!
-
The
choice to turn off the titillating, mind-numbing T.V. and instead read a book
that will stimulate our intellect or nourish our soul.
-
The
choice to avert our eyes, rather than turn a casual glance into a lustful gape.
1 Peter 4:1-3 Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves
also with the same attitude, because he who has suffered in his body is done
with sin. 2 As a result, he
does not live the rest of his earthly life for evil human desires, but rather
for the will of God. 3 For you have spent
enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to
do--living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable
idolatry.
“Though Joshua said, “Choose
for yourselves,” he did not intend to encourage
idolatry. He was confident that the very
thought of making a commitment to an idol would be so abhorrent to them that
they would take a stand against all such worship.” -- Donald Madvig, in
Expositor’s
Which brings us to the third part of the outline:
3) Whom You Will Serve
We may think we’re in control, of our lives and we have many
things serving us, but isn’t it interesting how things switch?
Remember the video clip?
What was running the man’s life? à Cell phone, projects, schedule.
Eg: Sting,
then singing with The Police in the song, “Wrapped
Around Your Finger”, noted this paradox: “When you find your servant is your master.”
Isn’t
it interesting that the switch is so subtle that things that we secure to serve
us, end up being our master?!
Eg: B.B. King - Correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t it The
Blues Legend, B.B. King who crooned, “We
all serve somebody.”
Joshua
was just clarifying the Israelites’ choices of whom they would serve:
-
Nanna, the moon god of
-
Apis, the sacred bull of Egypt,
whom the Israelites sought to replicate in gold at Mt.
-
Baal, the fertility god of the
Canaanites.
Joshua: “Hey
guys, just for comparison sake – which one of these gods stacks up the best
against Yahweh? You might be able to see the representation of these gods,
but they really don’t compare to the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph,
Moses and Joshua!”
What
“servants” do we take into our employ, which end up becoming our master?
- Technology?
- Career?
- Agendas?
- Substances?
- Images?
Will we choose to
serve God, who delivers on His promises?
Or will we choose to serve other “gods” that are really no gods at all?
Eg: Aesop –
In one of his fables, Aesop told of the time when the beasts and birds were
engaged in war. The bat tried to belong
to both parties. When the birds were
victorious, he would fly around announcing that he was a bird. But when the beasts won a fight, he would
assure everyone that he was a beast.
Soon his hypocrisy was discovered and he was rejected by both the beasts
and the birds. Today, as a result, the
bat can appear only at night.
The bat sought
popularity and acceptance, but not being true to himself, he lost on both
accounts.
Jesus himself said,
Matthew
Why not serve a
God who delivers on His promises?!
Close: Eg:
Tanzania –
Last summer, I’d been hearing from Elders, General Board members and from God,
that I needed to preach more on stewardship and giving to the Lord’s work. I admitted that the topic wasn’t something
that I relished, but I proceeded, giving one message
on tithing from an Old Testament Perspective and one from the New Testament.
God
does some pretty amazing things when we choose to obey and serve Him… not only did our giving increase over the
next months, but something strange (in a good way) happened on the eastern side
of the African continent.
Bruce
Ruefer shared some of the teaching we went over on the Festival Tithe – That
the Israelites were supposed to save up so they celebrate, build community and
party!
Here’s
a recount of the story from
<email>
Sounds like they
were cherishing life!
Joshua delivered a formula to the Children of Israel and to us that
will help us cherish life: Choose / This Day / Whom You Will Serve
Joshua and his family had made
the choice to serve the Lord, will you?
Response Song – The Family Prayer Song
Benediction