Joshua 24:14-28

May 30, 2004

Serving is not an Option 

Although the weekend’s weather says otherwise, we stand at the brink of summer. While the summer solstice is three weeks away, Memorial Day traditionally marks the time for fun in the sun and self indulgent recreation. Odd, though, that the commencement of our amusement coincides with the commemoration of others ultimate sacrifice.

Memorial Day was set aside to remember those who died serving their country. It began shortly after the Civil War and was originally known as Decoration Day. In 1868 General John Logan of the Grand Army of the Republic, an organization of former soldiers declared in General Order No. 11 that:

The 30th of May, 1868, is designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers, or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village, and hamlet churchyard in the land. In this observance no form of ceremony is prescribed, but posts and comrades will in their own way arrange such fitting services and testimonials of respect as circumstances may permit.

It was not until 1971 that Memorial Day became a National Holiday honoring those who served to their death in all of America’s wars. Around the country flags are flown, graves are decorated and streets are filled with parades and patriotic music.

As we endure another conflict where our men and women are dying in the service of their country, we have set before us an example of what service means. Yet, far too often we relegate the notion of service only to that form or categorize it as something done in the most extreme or by the most dedicated. Our passage this morning is a call to service which encompasses not only those whose service is celebrated by parades and memorials, but service which must mark all of our lives. More than a dozen times does the word serve appear in our passage, as Joshua and the people grapple with the importance of serving God in our lives. READ Joshua 24:14-28

The children of Israel have at last possessed the land. After forty years of wandering in the wilderness and seven years of battles, God has given them their inheritance. Once again all the peoples gather to renew the covenant which God enacted on their behalf. As they gather at Shechem, they are reminded of God’s grace both physically and audibly. Shechem was the first resting spot for Abram after he was called by God centuries before. It was under the terebinth tree at Shechem that Jacob collected the idols and buried them as he prepared to return home and meet Esau. It was where Jacob was soon to be buried. Just as this spot symbolized God’s grace in calling them, so also Joshua reviewed the events of the past five hundred years, how God kept his promise in bringing them to this land.

With that said, Joshua calls for a response: serve the Lord. While he calls the people to serve, the choice laid before them is one with no real options. Service is the only path available.

We must serve God from the heart                  14

The opening command of our passage is stated in parallel form: fear the Lord and serve Him.

The first term often makes us uneasy, as we imagine fearing God would destroy any concept of his love, producing in us crouching trepidation, anxiously awaiting his displeasure. But fear in Hebrew maintains a proper objectivity as to the distinction between Creator and creature combining it with an attitude of worship.

We should be cautious in adopting a chummy approach to God, as though respect and awe are passé. Often fear is used not to describe the emotion, but the activity which flows from it. What fear produces is important: the motivation to live rightly.

We see this as coupled with the next term, the key word in our passage: serve.

When this word is used in the context of our response to God, it speaks of worship. But worship not in the formal sense, but as a lifestyle. As they stand at the threshold of a new land, they are called to respond by serving. What does it mean to serve for them and for us?

We serve God in truth: sincerity and faithfulness.

What qualifies our service is very important. It is easy to imagine that our work is perfunctory, mechanical, flowing from duty based on servile fear. But service is to be from the heart.

Serving is to be sincere – with integrity, wholehearted commitment.

Serving is to be faithful – based in truth, not wavering, but confident in the one we serve.

As we unpack this concept, our categories should be shaken. Often we think of serving out of obligation or an activity from which our heart is divorced from out actions, as though to serve is to do, but not to feel. But to serve unconsciously is to serve without proper fear. It is imagine that God neither sees nor cares about our inward motivations. The fact is; he does.

What if you husbands were to set out the perfect night for your wife? You arranged for the sitter without asking who that girl is who comes to watch your kids. You pick a restaurant that prides itself not on the thickness of its steaks, but delicacies which are her delight. You even go to a movie that has no blood and a lot of dialogue. On the surface you scored points.

But what if you did it without sincerity and faithfulness? You gripped about the amount sitters charge these days to do mindless work … taking care of rug-rats. You moped through dinner since you could not pronounce the names of the dishes and the servings were far too small. Throughout the movie you snickered at the romance and snore through the climatic reunion of lost lovers. That would not be from the heart.

With that said: what does your Sunday serving look like?

We are to put away the false gods we have served in the past, gods we think do not care about our hearts. Unlike other religions were heart of service matters little as long as the act is accomplished, biblical faith demands devotion from down deep.

Every religion claims to have a corner on the guilt market. Jewish mothers are said to be tour guides for guilt trips. Roman Catholics claim their parochial education taught them to serve but not think. Protestants are no different, as even Calvinists with a sense of foreboding gloom can speak of doing duty as if that were enough.

But biblical faith sees service not out of guilt, but flowing from gratitude. Anything less is sin. When we consider what it means to obey God, fear of God should still be our motivation, but a fear that says to obey without looking in faith to all God has done for me, would be a travesty. Just as the context of this call to service is God’s loving-kindness in calling Israel, so also the context of our service should be hearts excited by God’s love for me.

We must serve God or other gods       15

Joshua acknowledges that for some to serve God sincerely is asking too much. He gives the people a choice, but it is a choice between non-options.

If it is too much to serve God, then serve false deities. The question is not whether you will serve, but whom will you serve. The choices the Israelites had are similar to the choices we face, too.

The gods beyond the river – the gods of our fathers

For Israel this meant the gods of Abram’s past, the gods of Mesopotamia.

For us, these would be the gods of our own family backgrounds, the gods of our traditions; this is the religion of conservatism, of doing what has always been done.

You serve God the way you raise your kids. It is easy in that circumstance to fall into a default mode, to become the parent you despised as a teen, to become your own parents. While Scripture commands you to take responsibility for your kids’ spiritual nurture, your folks did little, and you turned out alright.

You serve God the way you spend your money. Your parents scrimped at times or spent freely, but in either sense did so without much thought to serving God. So it is easy to choose to serve the gods your fathers served and save and spend on yourself without a thought of others in need.

The gods of the land – the gods of those around us.

For Israel this meant the gods of the Amorites whom they just defeated. These are the exotic gods, those who offer a different lifestyle, whose freedom to live as one pleases is enticing.

For us, these are the gods of the culture, the gods of relevance, of innovation. These are the gods who promise liberty from the repressive past and an open future.

You look around and see others enjoying lifestyles that you’ve been told are wrong, but you see little negative consequence. The gods of our age promise bliss without remorse, pain-free pursuits of personal pleasure. Everyone at work talks about the show, maybe you should watch it so that you can critique it later? The flirtatious games are harmless, just a way men and women respond in our culture, through double entrandre and innuendo.

As the federal head of his home, he speaks for himself and all who reside in it – serving God is not a preference, not one choice among many viable options. It is a commitment made on the basis of God’s grace in our lives without looking back to see what others may or may not do.

Almost 300 years ago the Puritan pastor Jonathan Edwards set out his resolutions. It was his desire to see God’s grace transform his world, but until that happens, he would live obediently to God’s commands. He wrote:   Resolved: that all men should live for the glory of God.

Resolved second: That whether others do or not, I will.

Joshua’s obedience is not based on a poll of others obedience or lack thereof.

Each of us needs to take account as to what false gods vie for our attention, what dunghill deities call out to us so that our loyalty to serve God is diminished.

Money is an easy one to critique but near impossible to control. We live with such affluence that its allure is hard to break. If we try through method or personal prescriptions we may set up a dangerous Pharisaic code that looks at neither God’s commands nor the heart.

Success and perfection likewise are hard to turn from. What is so wrong with doing our best, striving for something better? Education is a worthy goal, a spouse is a worthy thing, and well behaved children are prized. Yet all idols are taking that which is good and pleasing to God and setting them before God.

For us to serve God, we must constantly take account not in a single act of commitment to serve the Lord, but in a daily reminder of what we have will pass away and whom alone we must dedicate our lives.

I have read that in the dominant language of Ghana the only way to ask the question, "What is your religion?" is to ask, "Whom do you serve?" I like that. Regardless of denominational loyalties and official creeds, your true god is the one you serve.

We must serve God as a response to grace              16-18

People understand the motivation. They could respond in no other way for the simple fact of all God had done for them. They review again God’s grace who brought them out of Egypt, performed miracles before their eyes, preserved them each step of the way. Serving God is a response to grace.

When obeying God appears to be a chore, stop and take account of all God has done for you.

In light of his grace how else should we respond?

This is at the core of Paul’s summation of God’s grace in Romans 12 which we read earlier.

His appeal is based on the mercies of God. We can point to the terrors of wrath for disobedience, but when it all comes down, to serve God in sincerity and faithfulness; it is the constraining nature of his mercies which enable us to obey. Knowing all he has done for us, what he asks is so small.

Dr. John Smith was a missionary doctor in a remote part of Africa in the late 1800's. He served there for ten years until his health failed. A fellow physician encouraged him to return to the States or he would surely die within six months. Two months later, Smith finally agreed to leave Africa. Some of the village people put him in a canoe and rowed him out to a ship anchored in the bay. As Smith boarded the ship he turned back for one last look and saw the villagers lined along the shore. He heard their cries for him to return.

Without hesitation, Smith put his bags back into the canoe and returned to the village.

Three months later, the villagers gathered together again and cried. This time they gathered around his grave.

For many such a choice would appear to be a waste. It’s better to preserve one’s life. But serving God means serving others. This is at the core of Romans 12, that we should be living sacrifices. Being conformed to the world means to look out for number one, to serve one’s own interests. But in Romans 12 the transformed mind is one which thinks more of others than oneself.

That is certainly the challenge at Cornerstone … to serve others motivated by God’s grace. Unfortunately too often we whine and moan when our needs are left unmet, but all the while we are surrounded by those whose lives we are called to serve. If have no choice but to serve, so who will it be? Will you serve your petty little god of self or the God who rescued you from sin and places others before you to serve?

The only way we can speak of serving God is by serving others.

We must serve God or else                                 19-20

It would be quite comfortable to end our time in Joshua 24 at v18. The choice given to serve God is taken up by the people and they lived happily ever after. Yet what follows in v19 has been called the most shocking statement in the Old Testament. Joshua’s response arrests us.

He breaks the evangelist’s code of decision making. When you get someone to say yes, you run with it. Instead he slams their affirmation to the ground, denying their ability to obey. His response drives home the great necessity to serve God as a response to his grace and by his grace.

To serve God takes more than a pledge card, a promise made, or a decision. To think that we have within ourselves the fortitude to do what God demands is proud and foolish. It discounts not only our frailty and sinfulness, but God’s exacting commands. Until now the focus has been in what God has done for Israel, his character of grace. But there is more which compliments grace.

God is holy – there are no half heart attempts at obedience. Getting close to the mark is still a miss, so your intention to obey but failure to comply does not count.

God is jealous – he does not tolerate partial affection. He demands the same focused and perfect affection from us that he gives to us.

Far too often we are like the half hearted kamikaze pilot who flew 50 missions. He was involved—but never committed. To mouth the words of serving God, but to ignore the gravity of his grace means our sins are left untouched.

In the midst of a chapter detailing how God had forgiven sins, Joshua drives home the reality that to those who make a sloppy confession of faith, but refuse to consider the costs, which may begin in faith, but refuse to continue in faith – there is no other hope. There is no more grace when grace has been trampled upon.

It is important to realize that serving God places us at great risk.

If you have professed faith in Christ, a half hearted faith is deadly. The danger always exists in preaching the gospel for an easy believism, a cheap grace. The story of Israel is clear – God’s people will sin and God will forgive. Yet we must never wink at our sin nor demand God’s forgiveness.

The first and most important step in promising to follow Christ is that you can’t keep your promise. Rather than giving up trying or lying that last night’s sins don’t matter, realize that rather than trusting your performance you must trust Christ. Rather than just trying harder next time, we are called to trust the one who tried and succeeded for us. Rather than seeking to be a promise keeper, we must be promise receivers. When we receive the promise of God’s grace to all who look to Christ as their only help and hope, then we can stand with confidence.

When the people are clear as to their commitment, Joshua calls them as witnesses against themselves. Their promise to serve will stand judgment against them if they do not obey. As you have professed faith and committed your life to Christ, do you daily count the costs of what that service entails? Do you know at it means to serve?

When the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius destroyed Pompeii in A.D. 79, many people were buried in the ruins. Some took cover underground, and the place became their burial chamber. Those who chose a high hiding place were also unable to escape destruction. But a Roman sentinel was found at the city gate, his hands still grasping his weapon. That was where he had been placed by the captain. While the earth shook beneath him, while the flood of ashes and cinders overwhelmed him, he stood at his post; and it was there he was found 2000 years later. (Mark S. Wheeler, "Marks of a Servant," Discipleship Journal Nov/Dec 1987)

While few of us may ever be called to the ultimate sacrifice for our nation, we are all called an even greater, more eternal service … Serving God with our hearts, our minds, and our very lives. In Joshua 24 a memorial stone was erected as a witness to their commitment. This day the same question remains: choose this day whom you will serve.