Joshua Series : Joshua 24:14-28

Joshua 24:14-28

‘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. 15 But 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.’

16 Then the people answered, ‘Far be it from us to forsake the Lord to serve other gods! 17 It 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. 18 And 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.’

19 Joshua 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. 20 If 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.’

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

22 Then 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.’

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

25 On that day Joshua made a covenant for the people, and there at Shechem he reaffirmed for them decrees and laws. 26 And 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.’

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

JOSHUA FINAL TALK – AS FOR ME AND MY HOUSE

We have reached the end of our series through Joshua and we have been on a journey with Joshua and God’s people through highs and lows, challenges and triumphs. If you missed one of the talks, they are all on our website.

So we’re going to have a whistle stop tour through some of the themes we’ve looked at throughout Joshua, ending with our reading today.

We began by looking at how we can be a people who live under God’s blessing in Joshua 1. Reminded of that call to holiness. Now holiness isn’t about being religious or simply following rules and regulations, although that does play a part. Holiness is about the heart. God is holy, he is set apart, perfect in every way and as his followers we too are called to be set apart, to have God at the very centre of all that we do. The bible says that everything we do flows from our hearts. Where our hearts are, there our actions follow. So do we have hearts that seek God above all else? And also of that great verse that tells us not to be afraid or discouraged, for God will be with us wherever we go.

We heard the story of Rahab, someone unlikely that God used as a key part in his plan. Her story is one of redemption, one of making a change and making a stand for God even though it may have cost her her life. No matter who you are, no matter how inadequate you may sometimes feel, God has a plan for your life and will use you to do his work here on earth if you let him. And yes, that even includes whilst you’re in isolation. I’m sure many of you have seen that post on social media doing the rounds that says ‘With church doors closed, its time to show the world it was never about the building anyway’. We are the church and just like Rahab, God can use us unlikely people in amazing ways.

We looked at that awesome story of the walls of Jericho where God instructed them to march round 7 times and the walls of Jericho fell. There has been the challenge of whether or not our faith needs stretching, we need to be willing to step out of our comfort zones for God, believing that we will see God move in power when we do.

There has also been looking at sin. Something we all have and all struggle with in our daily lives. But also something that needs dealing with. I know seasons and dates may seem a bit all over the place at the moment, but we are still in lent and that time where we can do a bit of self reflecting, bringing before God those areas of our lives we know could do with a bit of work. Handing over those things we know we shouldn’t do, but have held onto for too long. Knowing that once we do come to God and ask for forgiveness, he is there ready to pour out his grace each and every time. Ready to break those chains that hold us, and lead us in the way of freedom.

We’ve been reminded of the importance of remembering, looking back at all that God has done. Because when we look back and remember all that God has done throughout history as a whole but also in our individual lives, it strengthens our faith, it encourages us especially in hard times and it helps us to look forward with faith today. And to also be reminded of who it is we belong to. A God who deals with the past, and a God who saves, heals, forgives and provides.

And the last time we met together we looked at the renewal of the covenant at Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim. The people being brought back to that place of relationship with God, reminded of all that he has done, and reminded of that choice of which path they now take.

Which brings us to our reading today. This is right at the end of the journey for Joshua, indeed he dies just after this passage. So these are the final words that he wants to leave the people with. Just before this passage he lists everything that God has done for them, all of the promises that God made and then fulfilled, all of the times he has been faithful and all that he has done. Joshua makes it clear that each and every time it is God who has done the conquering, God who has won the victory. It could be easy for the people to slip into that mindset of being proud of all that they have achieved, look at all these places we conquered, and too easily forget that it wasn’t them at all.

So he says look at all that has gone before us, see how amazing our God is, see all that our faithful God has done. And even now, even with all the victories we have experienced I present you a choice.

‘Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worshipped and serve the Lord.’

Throughout Joshua we have had these themes which I think fall into three sections. Joshua began with the need to prepare, prepare your hearts, be a holy people, consecrate yourselves. Preparation.

Then there is the call to step out in faithful obedience. Trusting that God can use anyone, stretching our faith beyond our comfort zones, and being obedient, dealing with the sin in our lives. Stepping out.

And finally we have looking forward. To a time of victory, trusting we will get there because our God is faithful and we know ultimately he has the victory.

And those three themes are echoed in Joshua’s address to the people here. There’s the preparation, serve him with all faithfulness, throwing away the gods your ancestors worship. The idols in our lives. Those things that we put before God. Anything we are looking for to fulfill us, to sustain us, to give our life meaning and purpose that isn’t God. Because everything will fall short. It is only him, it can only be him. He is the only thing that should be on the throne of our lives, what do we need to get rid of in order to give him his rightful place?

Joshua acknowledges it’s a choice, well if serving the lord seems undesirable to you then choose who else you serve. We’re all serving someone or something. He isn’t forcing them into the choice. He knows that they have been and will continue to be tempted to put other things before God. But he makes it clear where his choice is ‘As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord’. No matter what you all do, this is the choice I am making. Make sure your choices in life aren’t based on what everyone else is doing. When we make the choice to follow Jesus we need to do so wholeheartedly, even if those around us make a different choice. Think back to Rahab.

But the people respond no, we won’t serve other gods, we choose Yahweh, God himself who has done all these amazing things for us, who has shown us great signs before our eyes, protected us on our entire journey and brought us to where we are now. That’s who we choose, our God.

Great, but Joshua doesn’t leave it there because he knows, just as we know, that this isn’t a case of making a choice to follow God’s way, not our own way and that’s it done once and for all. This is a continual choice we have to make each and every day. To continue serving him, to continue preparing our hearts, to continue stepping out in faith, to continue rejecting those things in our lives that draw us away from God and to continue looking forward with faith and pressing on into all that God has in store. We make that choice in different ways each and every day. We make that choice when we decide whether or not time with God each day is a priority or not. We make that choice when we’re tempted to do something we shouldn’t. We make that choice when we know that God is prompting us to do something but it might mean stepping out of our comfort zone, it might mean taking a risk and shaking up our comfortable life.

And the people said to Joshua ‘No! We will serve the Lord’.
And Joshua makes a covenant for the people. To remind them of their commitment. To remind them of their relationship with God.

We have come to the end of our journey as a church through the book of Joshua. And so just as Joshua asked the people, we have that same question before us ‘Who will you serve?’ We can just forget about the call to holiness, the call to consecrate ourselves, the call to step out in faith, to be obedient, to strive for more of God’s kingdom each and every day. Or we can take up the challenge for it to actually make a radical difference in our lives.

In each of those times when we have those choices to make, every single day, when all the other stuff of life gets in the way, let’s be people who say
‘No! We will serve the Lord’.