Romans 12: 1 – 2; Luke 9:23 – 26; Joshua 24: 1 – 2a, 14 – 25 (Sermon)

In the first part of Chapter 24 Joshua recounts the great victories that the nation of Israel has experienced and Joshua emphasizes that it was God Himself who was miraculously giving Israel all of the victories. Then in verses 14 and 15 we have Joshua’s call to commitment. "Now fear the Lord and serve Him with all faithfulness."

First we need to understand fear of The Lord means to know who God is, to recognize our need for Him, to respect Him and to reverence Him. We are to come before God in humility. Secondly Joshua also says that they are to serve God with all faithfulness. And thirdly they were to get rid of anything that they put before God and/or that took their attention away from God. Joshua calls upon the people to wholeheartedly serve The Lord and Joshua calls upon them to serve The Lord only.

It was relatively easy for the Israelites to worship the other gods – they didn’t demand much. It was easy for the Israelites to carry a carved wooden statue around, it was easy for them to place some grain at the feet of an altar, it was easy for them to bow down to the sun. False gods do not demand very much but neither do they offer much in return. But the one true living God demands our all. Joshua says "choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve". Joshua’s call is the same to us today. We must choose whom we will serve. It is easy for us to wear a cross and to live a self centered life. It is easy for us to come to church for one hour on Sunday and live the rest of the week like the rest of the world. It is easy for us to put a few dollars in the offering plate on Sunday morning to sooth our conscience. But our creator, the one true living God offers us life and He demands our all.

There can be little doubt about what Joshua is after. The word "serve" appears seven times in verses 14 and 15. Joshua demands a definite commitment when he says, "And now fear the Lord and serve him alone whole heartedly and without reservation."

Joshua puts it bluntly; either serve the Lord with all faithfulness or, if you don’t like that, then chose some other god to serve. Joshua is saying to them and to us "don’t be fooled into thinking that you do not have to make a decision, because the truth is you are going to serve someone or something. You must choose to either serve the Lord God Almighty or you will serve some other false god. The choice is yours to make, I can’t make it for you. So choose for yourselves this day. Then in verse 15 Joshua says I have made my choice "As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord."

In verses 16-18 the people respond. They said we will not serve any other god’s because we know how much God has done for us. Then they list a bunch of the miracles, and state we will serve Him only. This is the response we expect and it is the response Joshua has been calling for them to make.

However, the shocking part comes in Joshua’s response in verses 19 and 20. After spending an entire chapter, actually an entire lifetime, trying to get the Israelites to commit to serving God, and after getting the affirmative answer he was seeking, Joshua says: "You are not able to serve the Lord." Can you imagine the shock that came on the children of Israel when Joshua said this? It must have been instant silence. Then a whisper or two, "Did Joshua just say what I think he said?" Suddenly it gets tense; the people are on edge, having just had their commitment thrown back in their face. Then Joshua gives two reasons for his startling statement: God is holy and God is jealous. This is a huge shift in focus. Up until now, the focus has been on all the things God has done for the children of Israel. Suddenly, the focus becomes who God is. The people had just affirmed all that God had done for them and they said they would serve The Lord "because He is our God." Now Joshua says "You are not able to serve Him" because God’s character is so far beyond our comprehension. God is holy – meaning that God is so morally perfect that we cannot hope to have anything of merit to offer Him. And God is jealous – meaning that God’s love for His people is so strong and perfect that God will not accept anything less than total commitment and total fidelity.

Joshua is trying to shift their thinking from a God who does stuff for them to a God who is holy and jealous for their love and for their service. Joshua is trying to get them to see that if they are simply going to say "we’ll serve God because He does stuff for us," that won’t sustain them through difficult times, through testing, and at times when it looks like God isn’t doing anything for them. You know what it is like to be in difficult times and in times of testing; you wonder why God doesn’t stepping in and rescue you. You see if our service is based on what God does for us and not on who God is, we will waver according to our circumstances. Joshua’s purpose in saying "You are not able to serve the Lord" is to call them to a deeper commitment based on who God is rather than on God’s blessings.

Joshua is saying God is so much more than we can even dare to imagine. You see we have nothing God needs, nothing that will make God more complete. God is holy and we are not. God is a perfectly faithful God of love, and we are the ones who are fickle. And we can’t serve Him just by lip service. We have to put our words into action.

The Israelites appear to understand Joshua, because their re-affirmation of their desire to serve God in verse 24 takes things one step further. In verse 24 notice they added "to obey His voice." to their commitment to serve God. This speaks of a relationship. They recognize that they need to hear God’s voice in order to know to Him before they will be able to serve Him.

God has given each person the freedom to choose. If we are a Christian we have made a choice to accept Jesus Christ as a personal savior. We chose to make a public profession of our faith in Jesus. The next choice is to choose to make Jesus The Lord of our lives. If Jesus is the Lord of our life we will make a decision to serve Him; to make His will our will, and to make His priorities our priorities. We have to choose to serve God or we choose not serve God.

So how do we serve God? Joshua gives us two ways to serve. First, "serve Him faithfully" i.e.; wholeheartedly. We know that serving means that I do something for someone else but the Biblical concept of serving raises serving up another notch. Serving God is not just a matter of doing things for God. Serving God means that God becomes the focal point of our life; that our relationship with God comes first. My attitude has to be right and my heart has to be right. If I resent serving God, or if I serve Him for what I get out of it, that does not honor God. We are to serve God out of love, we serve because our heart longs to serve God. We do not have to serve God. Serving God is our choice. But if we choose to serve God then our service must be wholehearted.

Not only does our service need to be wholehearted, but our service must also be single-minded. Joshua said we must serve God and only God. Joshua folds the concept of serving God into the concept of worshipping God. Today we do not have fertility gods or worship a sun god but, we do have an abundance of things and people who demand our allegiance. Joshua is saying that giving God the leftovers of our service is not acceptable. The service that honors God is single-minded; every other service has to come second to God.

We need to carve out time from our busy schedules to reflect on who God is and what God has done for us. We need to carve out time from our busy schedules and ask ourselves if our service to God is wholehearted and single-minded service.

We will never know The Lord unless we take the time and make the effort to read and meditate on His word, The Bible. We will never have a personal relationship with The Lord unless we spend time in prayer listening to His voice.

I want you to notice the standard of service Joshua demands: "with all faithfulness." He doesn’t leave room for casual faith, for serving God when it is convenient or when things are going well or when life is easy. He doesn’t leave room for practicing our faith on our terms. Joshua calls us to serve The Lord "with all faithfulness."

This morning God is calling each one of us to become fully committed to Him. The Lord will not do what He desires to do in your life until you become fully committed to Him.

If all of us here this morning would really commit ourselves to serving the Lord, there’s no telling what this church could be. But until we do, we can only dream about it instead of experiencing it. I do not know about you, but I do not just want to dream about it. I would like to see The Lord work even greater miracles here at Mt Paran.

God is challenging each one of us this morning to take the next step. Are you really committed to serving The Lord? Are you sharing your faith, studying His Word, regularly praying for guidance? Are you being faithful to Him alone?

Can you honest say with Joshua "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord"
AMEN