Our Sermons

Bible Passage: Joshua 24:1-2,14-18
Pastor: Pastor Horton
Sermon Date:  August 25, 2024

Grumblings down below by the people.  Cries offered up to the Almighty God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  “Help us!  Save us from Egyptian bondage!”  Joshua grew up under this oppression and forced slavery.  And as a young man, he saw those prayers answered with his very own eyes.  God acted and God saved.  Through a display of powerful plagues and miracles God led his people out of Egypt.  And Joshua was standing right there – he was one of multitude that streamed into the desert and headed for a home they had never seen.

A while later, we find the Israelites nearing the Promised Land and Joshua was chosen from his tribe to be one of twelve spies who were to enter this unknown land, gather intelligence on it, and report back to his leaders.  If Bible history memory serves you well, you may remember that most of the spies came back reporting certain doom and gloom: fearful this great land could never be conquered.  Only Joshua (along with Caleb) spoke confidently that with the Lord’s help they would win so decisively that Israel would “eat them up.”  Through his steadfast faith and courage Joshua rose in honor and status among his people and later became their God-appointed leader, soldier, and successor.

It’s safe to say that Joshua’s life would make for one incredible obituary:  A rugged veteran of foreign wars – one of those men who naturally commanded respect; a fearless leader whose trust in God set the tone for all the believers who followed him – and that includes us.  Joshua was many things, but we most associate him with is the conquest of the Promised Land.  As a military leader, Joshua must have given thousands upon thousands of orders to his people.  Some were routine, but others were breathtaking in their manner and scope.

For example, it was Joshua, instructed by God, who commanded the people to march around the city of Jericho for seven days and on that last day to shout and make noise.  The strategy was unorthodox, but with God all things are possible and effective – because the walls came tumbling down.  It was Joshua, instructed by God, who ordered his people into battle against many enemies who were wrongfully encroaching on the land God had promised Israel and whose wickedness was not only an abomination to a holy God, but a very real spiritual threat to God’s people.  In Joshua chapter 12 you can read for yourself the list of 31 kings Joshua defeated with God’s help.  That’s a lot of campaign and fighting for God’s people.  And it was Joshua who gave us a farewell address at the end of his life.  In it he issues a bold and a beautiful personal confession of faith.  How impactful was his message?  People still make his words into plaques and hang them on the walls of our houses.  Let’s take a closer look at the scene:

You can almost picture an elderly Joshua, walking gingerly, who, from the looks of it, has put on some pretty hard miles.  But his focus is sharp, and he clearly has something on his mind.  So, he calls together God’s people and speaks.  Beginning with their forefather Abraham, he reviews all that God had done for them.  He wants them to know that it was God and God alone who brought them to this rich and abundant land they now called home.  Knowing the human desire to often take credit where none is due, he makes it very clear that all they had in life was exclusively given to them out of the grace of God.

His marching orders for the future?  The first one is this: “Now, therefore, fear the Lord and serve him wholeheartedly and faithfully.”  To “fear the Lord” in this context does not mean that they were to dread or to be terrified of Him.  He is talking to a people who have seen firsthand the dramatic accomplishments of the Lord’s hand in their lives.  To “fear the Lord” means to rightfully treat Him with reverence and respect and honor.  And fearing him also means listening to God’s instruction and giving Him our faithful service.  To Him, and to Him alone.  After all, Joshua understands the spiritual landscape of their times and how other things and other false “gods” will want to seep into the lives and hearts of God’s people.

So his next marching order for them is to: “Remove the gods that your fathers served in the region across the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord.”  The children of Israel could be stubborn, priding themselves on their heritage in Abraham.  But Abraham came from a household of idol worshipping.  And some of the children of Israel broke down to the pressure of the society and catered to Egyptian idolatry while living in that land.  The incident of the golden calf comes to mind.  The point: Like garbage, throw away idolatry, clean it up and focus on your single-minded devotion and service to the One True God.  “Do you still have that Egyptian idol or good-luck trinket in your pocket?  The time to toss it is now!”

Joshua continues.  He moves away from making a command to giving his people a choice, but not an equal choice.  And, it’s worth noting that Joshua is not an unbeliever deciding to now have faith, but rather a fellow believer challenging those who already have faith to examine their hearts: ^“But if you see no benefit in serving the Lord, then choose for yourselves today whomever you will serve—whether the gods that your fathers served beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living.”  And then this well-known confession: “But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.”  

The response of the people? “Far be it from us to forsake the Lord in order to serve other gods!  For the Lord our God, he is the one who brought us and our ancestors up from the land of Egypt, where we were slaves.  He is the one who performed these great signs right before our eyes and protected us on the whole journey that we made and among all the peoples through whom we passed.  The Lord drove out of our presence all the peoples and the Amorites who were living in the land.  We too will serve the Lord, because he is our God!”  They remembered.  They remembered how God had taken care of them.  They based their future on their past with the Lord.  And the people joined in on Joshua’s beautiful confession of faith.

There are a couple of things we can take away from this moment in the life of Joshua:  First of all, what God asks through Joshua then is nothing less than what God asks of His people today.  As Christians it is both our duty and, more accurately, our privilege to honor the Lord who has done so much for us by willingly and faithfully placing ourselves in and at His service.

Also, we Christians are to also throw away anything that hinders our single-minded devotion to our God.  The Israelites dealt with idols of wood and stone.  The idols of our culture are different but no less real.  We live in a society that idolizes self and things and ambition and comfort and seeks to place them to the very top of the list in importance in our lives.

So, there is a warning in Joshua’s words.  Life is full of choices.  But not all choices in how we use our time and our money, and our energies are equal.  We need to be on guard lest unsuspectingly we, like Israel of old, get drawn into the culture and begin to adapt its ways and values.  It’s like, in the picture of today’s reading, a lot like digging around in the trash heap and slipping those idols and that sin back into our pockets.  Often, let’s make the most of our opportunities to examine ourselves with the truth of God’s Word, before we slip seamlessly or drift away aimlessly into the world around us.  The danger of being separated from our God is real danger.  In Isaiah 59 we hear that “your guilt that has separated you from your God – your sins have hidden God’s face from you.”

The good news is that we can do what Israel did and: remember.  Remember the cross of Christ and what it means for us now and eternally.  Remember the ways God has taken care of us in the past.  Remember His promise that He will never leave us or forsake us.  Remember that we are never alone but that He is with us always, to the very end of the age.  And then we too may rejoice, that “we, too, will (get) to serve the Lord because he is our God.”

We remember one more lesson when it comes to the name: Joshua.  In the first chapter of the Gospel of John we read: “For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”  Moses the Lawgiver could take his people to the brink of the Promised Land, he couldn’t lead them into it.  And we are reminded that the Law – that is our own personal performance and our own attempts to keep all of God’s commands as a way of entering the Promised Land – cannot save us.

So who will lead us?  In the Old Testament it was Joshua who took God’s people into the Promised Land.  The name Joshua, incidentally, means “the Lord saves.”  Some 1500 years later a baby born in Bethlehem was given the same name.  We know him better by its Greek version: “Jesus.”  And He is the One who through His life, death, and resurrection takes us into the Promised Land of life eternal with God in heaven.

That’s where we’re going.  We remember we’re saved by grace through Christ alone.  Until that day you will be in heaven entirely thanks to Jesus, Joshua’s confession serves as our marching motto: “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”  Amen.