Church Sermon - September 14, 2003

A Christian Family’s Pledge

Rev. Bernt P. Tweit

Epistle Lesson; Ephesians 5:21-31
Gospel Lesson; John 6:60-69
Sermon Text; Joshua 24:1-18

Decisions,

Choices,

There are so many of those, that we make every day. Our lives are full of them, aren’t they? It starts the moment we get out of bed in the morning. I suppose you could say that it begins even before we get out of bed, deciding if we hit the snooze button or not! When we get in to the kitchen in the morning, we have to decide what we are going to eat for breakfast. There are decisions to be made, what are we going to wear? What are we going to do for the day? Do we rout for the Packers or for the Lions?

Decisions, decisions!

Sometimes it seems as if the simplest of decisions, the smallest of choices, have the greatest impact for what happens, not only in our lives, but also in the lives of others.

Today, in our text, Joshua gathered all the Israelites together and asked them to make a decision. He gives them a choice to follow God, or not to follow Him. As we’re going to see, it’s not much of a choice, once one stops to think about it and weighs all the options out.

Again, think of all the decisions and choices that you make, in this life. You and I make many choices and decisions, small ones, and big ones. However, we can be thankful that God has made for us the greatest decision in our lives. Thankfully, in our lives, the Lord has made for us the biggest choice of all! God has called you to be His very own. God called you to faith. God called you to be His child. He has done that for you! Rather than have us sit in darkness and be doomed for eternal destruction, He has chosen each one of us for eternal life. He has provided for us the light of the knowledge of salvation, so that you and I will eventually rejoice in eternal glory! That is the choice our gracious God has made for each one of us.

We can’t choose God.

But now God does ask us to be faithful to Him, so He poses that question to us:

Will you be faithful, or will you be unfaithful?

When Moses came to the end of leading the Children of Israel, he gathered them together. Before they entered into the Promises Land, he wanted to remind the people of everything that God had done for them. He talked about how God had released them from slavery in Egypt. He reminded them of how God had brought them safely across the Red Sea, on dry ground. He showed them how God had provided for them in the wilderness, with food, water and even clothing that didn’t wear out!

Now, He told them they would have a choice. They were going into the Promised Land, the land promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Moses was concerned about the people, because he knew that now, as they lived in the lap of luxury, they might forget about God. They would have enough to eat and drink. They would no longer see the glory of God in the pillar of fire or the cloud of smoke, and they just might not remember who gave them all those things. Moses knew that, as they would sit in the lamp of luxury, the land flowing with mild and honey, they would be tempted to follow other gods, they would be tempted to forget God all together. So he gives them a choice. Moses said,

"Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to His voice, and hold fast to Him." Deuteronomy 30:19b –20a

In other words, Moses told the people, "Make the right choice."

Joshua, in our text for today, tells the people something very similar.

"Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD."

In essence, Joshua was saying the same thing Moses said,

Today we will be reminded to make the right choice, to make a pledge as a Christian family, to serve the LORD. He has chosen us. He has made a pledge to us. As a Christian family, may we make a pledge to Him to renew our commitment to the Lord in light of His covenant grace, or in light of God’s pledge to us.

When our text begins, the Israelites were in the Promised Land already. It was after they had been in the Promised Land, that Joshua gathered them all together. Notice all who all came together and presented themselves before God – the elders, the leaders, the judges and the officials of the people.

"Then Joshua assembled all the tribes of Israel at Shechem. He summoned the elders, leaders, judges and officials of Israel, and they presented themselves before God."

Joshua called them together to make an announcement, to encourage them not to forget God.

When Joshua reminds them that he is still God’s prophet, he is not trying to tell them what he thinks, but he is telling them what God says,

"This is what the LORD,

the God of Israel,

says."

Those are not Joshua’s words, but God’s Words.

Joshua reminded them again, that it was the God of Israel who had done many things for them. In the verses that we don’t have as part of our text today, he talks about their deliverance from Egypt.

They were delivered first of all from the land of slavery.

They were delivered through the Red Sea.

God provided for you while you were in the wilderness.

They were delivered through the wandering in the wilderness.

After he talks about all those things, then comes the next verse, where our text picks up.

Joshua said, "Now fear the LORD and serve Him with all faithfulness." That may seem strange for us to hear those words. After all, the Children of Israel had been with God.

God, who for a generation, had been with them day in and day out.

God, who had been with them as a pillar of fire by night and a pillar of cloud by day.

God, who provided them with food, and clothing that, did not wear out.

So, that may sound strange, but Joshua had to remind the people not to forget about God. Joshua says, "Fear the LORD and serve Him with all faithfulness."

Then, he explains why. "Throw away the gods your forefathers worshipped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD."

The Children of Israel had lived in Egypt for a long time. Because of that, some of them had picked up the bad habits of worshipping false gods. Who can forget when they first got across the Red Sea? Moses went up on Mt. Sinai, to get the Ten Commandments, and what happened? His own brother, Aaron, gathered up all the gold in camp, melted it down, and formed a golden calf. And, the people began to worship that golden calf. This worshipping of false gods was something they became all too familiar with. Joshua says, "Make the right choice." He says throw away those gods your father worshipped in foreign lands. Forget about them. He gives them a choice. He says,

"But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living." So they had a choice, (if there really was a choice) to serve false gods that their father worshipped, or to serve the false gods in this land in which they were now living.

Again, it sounds strange that Joshua would even give them a choice. God had called them to faith and now it was their responsibility to remain faithful to the Lord. But then Joshua made a very powerful statement. He made a very powerful pledge, when he said,

"But as for me and my household,

serve the LORD."

As a leader of God’s people, how wonderful it was for him to state that! And, how wonderful it was for the people then to declare with Joshua,

"We too

will

serve the LORD,

because He is our God."

Joshua asked the people to take a close look at all the LORD had done for them. He told them not to make your pledge one that is hasty and ill informed. Carefully think through the LORD’s actions, and their implications for your life. God does not force anyone to serve Him. Service to Him, while motivated by the Spirit, is a free response to God’s grace. This decision is not something to put off, until a more convenient time.

The LORD gives us a choice, too. He calls us to faith. He makes us His believers. And then, He gives us the choice of being faithful or unfaithful, of following God, or of following false gods. We too, have sometimes picked up some (I suppose we could call them), bad worship practices, just like the Israelites did. Now our god may not be a golden calf. Our god may not be like the ones that the Israelites forefathers worshipped in Egypt. And yet we, you and I, make false gods out of different things. One of those false gods could be time - time spent doing another activity, instead of setting aside time to worship the true God. Our false god could be a place – a place that takes us away from worshipping the true God. Our false god could be people – people who take us away from worshipping the true God. Our false god can even be setting aside time to watch a favorite TV show, but not reserving any time to read, and study God’s Word, or worshipping God.

We live in this world. And the choices and decisions that we make in this world can have a profound effect on us and also on the lives of others. And, the reality is that we spend more time in this world, than in God’s house. That is just a true statement. We spend more time in the world, than in studying God’s Word. Again, that is just another true statement. The world can have a very profound effect on us. That effect that can distract us from following God. And that can effect the generations that follow after us.

If we are distracted, those that follow after us may not make the right choice either. There was an interesting study done on two parent households. It revealed that where both parents attend church regularly, 72% of the children continue in the faith. Where only the father attends, and the mother stays home, that percentage drops to 55% continue in their faith. And where only the mother attends, and the father stays at home, just 15% of the children remain involved in the church.

Today we are here, because of the many right choices that people have made before us, in this life. We rejoice today, because of that. We can celebrate every day, because of the choices that others have made – a pledge to follow the LORD.

Our pledge to God becomes easier for us to make, when we consider the pledge that God has made with us. God has chosen us! God asks us to live a life of love, because Jesus lived a life of love for us.

Jesus sacrificed His life for us.

Jesus died on the cross for us.

Jesus has forgiven our sin for us.

Yes, there are many choices and decision that we make every day. May our pledge be like that of Joshua and the Israelites the day that they were gathered a Shechem.

"As for me and my household

we

will

serve the Lord.

We

will

serve the Lord,

because His is our God."

Amen.

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