Before we hear our lesson today, I’d like to catch you up to everything that has happened between last week’s story and today’s from Joshua. We ended last week with Israel at Mt. Sinai. It was here that they received God’s ten commandments. The Ten Words of hope - the hope of what a realized kingdom of God was to look like. It was at the mountain where they entered into a covenant with God - that if they would remain faithful to God, God would give them a land and make them into a chosen people.
That hope Israel had coming off the mountain quickly turned to despair. They began to lose faith. To doubt. To complain. And to break the covenant. The result, if you remember the history of Israel, was that they were punished by God. Made to wander for 40 years in the wilderness until their generation had passed away, never getting to enter the Promised Land. Even Moses was unable to enter before he died.
And so, our story today is from Joshua. Joshua was Moses’ successor. A new spiritual and military leader for Israel. The one who would bring them, with God’s help and guidance, into the Promised Land. In the chapters before today’s reading, Joshua has led Israel across the Jordan River into Canaan - that Promised Land. There have been a series of military conquests, including the famous Battle of Jericho. The land has been divided among the twelve tribes of Israel. It is at this point, before the people depart to their inherited lands - to their legacy - that Joshua calls them together at Shechem. It is at this point, where our story opens.
I read today from Joshua, chapter 24.
Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel at Shechem. He summoned the elders of Israel, its leaders, judges, and officers. They presented themselves before God. Then Joshua said to the entire people, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Long ago your ancestors lived on the other side of the Euphrates. They served other gods. Among them was Terah the father of Abraham and Nahor. I took Abraham your ancestor from the other side of the Euphrates. I led him around through the whole land of Canaan. I added to his descendants and gave him Isaac. To Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. I gave Mount Seir to Esau to take over. But Jacob and his sons went down to Egypt. Then I sent Moses and Aaron. I plagued Egypt with what I did to them. After that I brought you out. I brought your ancestors out of Egypt, and you came to the sea. The Egyptians chased your ancestors with chariots and horses to the Reed Sea. Then they cried for help to the Lord. So he set darkness between you and the Egyptians. He brought the sea down on them, and it covered them. With your own eyes you saw what I did to the Egyptians. You lived in the desert for a long time.
“Then I brought you into the land of the Amorites who lived on the other side of the Jordan. They attacked you, but I gave them into your power, and you took over their land. I wiped them out before you. Then Moab’s King Balak, Zippor’s son, set out to attack Israel. He summoned Balaam, Beor’s son, to curse you. But I wasn’t willing to listen to Balaam, so he actually blessed you. I rescued you from his power. Then you crossed over the Jordan. You came to Jericho, and the citizens of Jericho attacked you. They were Amorites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hittites, Girgashites, Hivites, and Jebusites. But I gave them into your power. I sent the hornet before you. It drove them out before you and did the same to the two kings of the Amorites. It wasn’t your sword or bow that did this. I gave you land on which you hadn’t toiled and cities that you hadn’t built. You settled in them and are enjoying produce from vineyards and olive groves that you didn’t plant.
“So now, revere the Lord. Serve him honestly and faithfully. Put aside the gods that your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates and in Egypt and serve the Lord. But if it seems wrong in your opinion to serve the Lord, then choose today whom you will serve. Choose the gods whom your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you live. But my family and I will serve the Lord.” Joshua 24:1-15 (CEB)
"What has God done for you lately?" This is really the question that Joshua is asking. Speaking in the first person as God, Joshua recounts what God has done. Every statement begins with “I” and is followed by a verb. “I took. I led. I added. I gave. I sent. I plagued. I brought. I did.”
In his recounting, Joshua is helping this new generation of Israelites remember what God has done. How God has acted to save them. How God has fulfilled God’s promises to them. How God has remained faithful to them.
And so, with Israel knowing this history, Joshua asks them this question,"Whom will you serve? Will you serve the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates? Will you serve the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you now live?" God has freed Israel from captivity. God has safely brought them through the wilderness to the Promised Land. "Choose," Joshua tells them. "Choose today whom you will serve."
And, then, Joshua speaks those famous words that we see embroidered on pillows or hanging on our walls. “As for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.”
You see Joshua knows. He knows that Israel will quickly adjust from the nomadic life they have been living these past 40 years. He knows they will quickly adjust to a life settled in this new land. He knows that Israel will quickly become distracted. By day-to-day life. By the gods of the people into whose land they are settling. Joshua knows that it will be a challenge for them to remain faithful. And so, he tells them to commit. To choose. "Choose today whom you will serve."
Whom (or what) do you choose? As people who have been given a gift of complete freedom by God in Christ, whom do you choose to serve? Living as God’s faithful people involves choosing to turn away from the distractions in our world. And not simply to turn away, but then to live according to how God desires.
You see, just like the Israelites, we are often surrounded by people and a culture that does not share the same values and view of the world as God. What are the things that compete in our lives for our attention? For our love? For our adoration? What does our society worship through its time and energy that compete for our attention? Maybe it’s money? Or our family? Or maybe it’s status? Or maybe its things that entertain us? Or our work or school?
Do these things help us live life like God wants us to? With our focus on God? Or are they distractions for us?
Our reading continues.
Then the people answered, “God forbid that we ever leave the Lord to serve other gods! The Lord is our God. He is the one who brought us and our ancestors up from the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. He has done these mighty signs in our sight. He has protected us the whole way we’ve gone and in all the nations through which we’ve passed. The Lord has driven out all the nations before us, including the Amorites who lived in the land. We too will serve the Lord, because he is our God.”
Then Joshua said to the people, “You can’t serve the Lord, because he is a holy God. He is a jealous God. He won’t forgive your rebellion and your sins. If you leave the Lord and serve foreign gods, then he will turn around and do you harm and finish you off, in spite of having done you good in the past.”
Then the people said to Joshua, “No! The Lord is the one we will serve.”
So Joshua said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen to serve the Lord.”
They said, “We are witnesses!”
“So now put aside the foreign gods that are among you. Focus your hearts on the Lord, the God of Israel.”
The people said to Joshua, “We will serve the Lord our God and will obey him.”
On that day Joshua made a covenant for the people and established just rule for them at Shechem. Joshua wrote these words in God’s Instruction scroll. Then he took a large stone and put it up there under the oak in the sanctuary of the Lord. Joshua said to all the people, “This stone will serve here as a witness against us, because it has heard all the Lord’s words that he spoke to us. It will serve as a witness against you in case you aren’t true to your God.” Then Joshua sent the people away to each one’s legacy. Joshua 24:16-28 (CEB)
Israel chose God. Recognizing how faithful God had been to them, Israel chose God.
And Joshua’s response? He didn’t believe them. He’d seen too much with his own eyes. How Israel constantly rebelled against God. How Israel had worshipped other gods. How Israel had sinned against God. Joshua told them that God would not forgive them. That God would punish them and finish them off.
This is where Joshua was wrong. Because over and over as Israel had sinned in the wilderness, God had forgiven them. When they had turned back to God in repentance, God had always forgiven them.
Our story today includes an invitation for us to recommit ourselves to serving God. Because, just like Israel, we wander. Just like Israel, we rebel against God. We worship other gods. Just. Like. Israel. And over and over and over again, when we turn to God in repentance, God forgives us. This promise to forgive is embodied for us on the cross. In Jesus. A promise of God’s faithfulness to never turn away from us. Ever. And to always forgive.
Then, forgiven, we try one more time. To be more diligent in our study of scripture. To pray more. To be more committed to doing the work of God’s kingdom. And to be more regular in our worship attendance where we hear and remember God’s covenant with us in our baptisms. Where we hear and remember Jesus’ death and resurrection at the communion table. Where we hear and remember all of God’s previous acts. And then, we re-commit to serving God. Because the grace and the forgiveness we have received from God should not be cheapened by our unwillingness to even attempt to be God’s people. To be more focused. To focus our hearts on the LORD. Israel’s God. Our God. A God who deserves our faithfulness.
And so, my friends, I hope you choose God. I hope you choose faithfulness. That you choose to be faithful to God and to grow in your faith. To engage in practices that bring you closer to God. That deepen your relationship with God. And that help you turn away from the things of this world that distract you from God.
But, know, that even when you fail - know that God will be there. When you turn back from the distractions of life to God, God will be there to forgive you. Once again. To forgive and to lift you up. And to set you back on the path of discipleship one more time.
This is what it is to live as God’s faithful people. This is what it is to live faithfully in God’s promise. May God help us to do so. Amen.
Preached Saturday, October 13, 2018, at Grace & Glory Lutheran Church, Goshen, KY.
Pentecost 21
Readings: Matt. 4:8-10, Joshua 24:1-28.
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