One commentator
I listen to some weeks, commented that he doesn’t know anyone whose favourite
book of the Bible is Joshua. After the people of Israel cross over the Jordan,
there is much violence and savagery against the people of Canaan.
And then the
book ends with the chapter we heard read this morning.
This is
Joshua’s farewell speech, and he reminds the people of their history, and asks them
where their future lies.
God is
saying:
I brought
Abraham across the Euphrates River
I blessed
him by giving him Isaac
I gave Isaac
two sons,
I sent Moses.
I brought
your ancestors out of Egypt,
I brought
you into the land east of the Jordan River
..
..
God has been
active in the life of the people of Israel.
Where has
God been active in your life?
What has God
done for you?
How has God
been faithful; to this parish and to each of you?
These questions
are usually easier to answer looking back at our lives, then at the time things
were happening.
In my life,
when I doubted the presence of God in my life, when I wondered if God was cruel
or just not interested in me, God used a woman named Beth to give me a
different image of God. Turned out God was with me, and I was looking for God in
all the wrong places.
The part of
this reading that is best known is: ‘My family and I are going to worship and
obey the LORD!’. You may know it better as: ‘as for me and my household, we
will serve the Lord.’
Joshua tells
the people what God has done, but then offers the choice – worship God, or
choose who or what you will worship. Even back that far in time there were
plenty of options, the gods that Abraham worshipped before he met the Lord, or
maybe the gods of the people of Canaan?
What of us
now – who and what do we worship?
Last week we
looked at the commandments as part of the covenant relationship between God and
the people of Israel. Two of the commandments were that the people would have
only one God, and they were not to have any idols.
Joshua is
saying choose – choose the Lord or some other god. You can’t sit on the fence,
you can’t have a few gods up your sleeve for an emergency. Which God will you
worship.
I wondered
how the Lord might speak to us today. What might God say to us?
Move to a different
spot
From your birth, I have loved
you.
Throughout your life, I have been
present with you.
I have brought you out of
slavery,
slavery to guilt,
slavery to greed,
slavery to Pharaoh in whatever
form that takes in your life.
I am the God who defeats sin in
your life,
who overcomes your fear with
love.
Move back
Who
will you serve?
Will you serve the God of market forces?
Will you serve the God of astrology?
Will you serve the God of popularity?
Will you serve the God of shame? or
Will you serve the God who has loved you and
offers you freedom and liberation?
if
you respond as the people of Israel did to Joshua “we will serve the Lord for
he is our God”
I
bring you a challenge:
this
God is not one to be trifled with,
this God knows your heart,
this God expects all of your life, not just
part of it.
So
I ask you again: who will you serve?
Are
you sure you want answer as the Israelites did to Joshua: I will serve the Lord
my God”
Are
you willing to forsake all other gods,
are
you willing to be laughed at,
are
you willing to be considered out of step with the rest of society,
are
you willing to stand up for that which is right
even when it is unpopular and dangerous?
For
this Christian life is no easy path.
Unlike
the people of Israel who were responding to Joshua, we have forgiveness through
Jesus Christ, we do not fear that God will smite us.
But
we are still asked to respond with every fibre of our being and every second of
our life.
image: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10156836121356057&set=gm.1935921346445237&type=3&theater
So
I ask you again: who will you serve?
