Decide...a message for 2023

For the first time in 3 years we are gathering on the first Sunday of the year. In January of 2020 we gathered with great expectation having no idea what the coming year would bring. We had plans…big plans…and the future seemed bright with promise. Then the bottom fell out, and the journey we have been on as individuals, as a church, as a nation, as humanity has been difficult. And as I look at our gathering today, and think about people who are both here and not here, I cannot help but think of all that God has brought us thru, and all that our own choices have marked us and shaped us over the last three years.

In a lot of ways- both ways we know and ways we cannot even imagine- we seem to be at an inflection point. We are not the same people, or church, or country, or humanity that we were in January of 2020. In some ways we are much better, but I think if we are honest in many ways we are much worse- and I see that- and many of you see that- in ways both big and small. And honestly it makes me weary…because we have also become a people who are much less likely to listen to voices that challenge our own thoughts and assumptions- because we have retreated to echo chambers and become less and less interested in engaging in honest discussions and having hard conversations. It is much easier to simply leave and to find people who agree with us than to be confronted by the fact that we might be wrong, might have to apologize, and might have to change.

The problem with that is the heart of our faith is exactly that- we are wrong- horribly, utterly, unfixably wrong. And the only way to become “right” is to admit that and even further, to admit that we cannot fix ourselves, and have to rely on Someone else- permanently- to deal with our wrongness.

And the results of that fixed belief are that in our day, fewer and fewer people are following Jesus, and more and more people are walking away from their faith in pursuit of something that makes them feel “better” about themselves by blessing what they already do and baptizing their own opinions as a holy writ. When human’s opinions come into opposition with God’s Word, the humans win...

In rising opposition to this response comes its equal and opposite number. Those who are militarizing their faith into a weapon- also formed by their own preferences and opinions- to crush their enemies and to seek to force others into outward compliance with their personal interpretations- absent any contextual criticism or historical orthodoxy.

The result is a declaration of war against people who Jesus died to save and tactics that are committed to perpetuating falsehoods so that others view them as enemies as well. It unites the “church” with people who do not even know or follow Jesus in the name of “owning” people and creating an us vs them theology that is completely foreign to the first century church described in scripture but looks a lot like American politics of the 21st century.

In a lot of ways, we are at a turning point…and this is one we are all going to have to make as individuals, so that we can make that turn corporately as a church.

Turn with me to Joshua 24.

I was thinking about a verse in this passage over the Christmas break, and realized it had been awhile since I had looked at the context. One thing I had forgotten was when this passage as spoken. The Israelites- under Joshua’s leadership- had conquered the promised land- and Joshua is about to die. And before he dies, he wants to ensure that the people he is leaving behind are going to realize what they have inherited and what they must do to keep it and perpetuate it.

So he starts with history. (read vs 1-13)

Most of us don’t like history. We show that in a myriad of ways- both in our indifference to its importance in school, to our casual ignorance at the way it is is reinvented to serve the political narrative of the day, to our general disdain towards those who have gone before us and their unenlightened ways.

But history is vital for followers of Jesus. In fact, accurate, researched, confirmed history is a big part of our faith. The works of the Gospel writers are works of history. They tell the story of what Jesus did for us…and have implications for TODAY…and that means we are people who need to know history.

Joshua has standing in front of him people who have not lived thru all that God has done for the Israelites. They have inherited a faith, but they have not fully lived all these events. They are stories…legends…histories…but they belong more to the people of the past than the present. But they are vital, because they show how God has been there for His people.

We have histories too. Every one of us have stories- histories- of how God has rescued us, carried us, taught us, changed us…and those stories are a vital part of our faith. We need to remember them, share them, celebrate them, and truthfully, be challenged by them…because they are the story of our faith.

Your history may have other people in it not as righteous or gracious as Jesus, but we have to stop allowing what broken PEOPLE have done in the name of Jesus to lead us away from Jesus who came to redeem those people.

(Lecrae, Deconstruction- “Tears streaming as I weep, felt I heard the Lord speak I've been running from you but you never ran away from me It was people that hurt me, it wasn't God, though I let the church trauma turn into a God wound”)

So having hammered the history, Joshua then tells them- based on all you have seen and heard and experienced- you need to hold God in awe and commit yourselves to serve Him exclusively. (read v14-15)

Joshua tells them it is time to stop playing with little gods…coping mechanisms and habits they picked up while in exile. Ways that are foreign to people who have committed themselves to really following God.

Jesus people are going to have to do the same thing. What I described earlier is a real problem- you cannot remake Jesus into your own echo chamber image and still say you follow Jesus. And if you say you are following Jesus and never see a need in your life to repent or change or reverse course…then you aren’t following Jesus…you’re following a mirror.

And if in the course of following Jesus you find your enemies list growing longer and longer and your lists of fears growing, you are not following Jesus…you are following an idol…who has to be protected lest their feet of clay be revealed and they be revealed to be naked while thinking they are dressed in finery.

But notice, there has to be a decision…an actual choice…we do not slip into sincerity or faithfulness…we make commitments. We stop. We start. We move.

And we see this illustrated and in the people’s initial response, and Joshua’s response to them. (Read v16-20)

The people’s initial response is not strong enough for Joshua. He does not think they realize the depth of the solemnity of their commitment. Do they realize what they are saying or committing to? Who they are committing to? This is not one of the impotent gods from Egypt or one of the stone statues of Canaan. This is the god who has defeated all of those idols because He is alive and brings life and they are dead…and they destroy.

So he calls them out…I don’t believe you can do this…or want to do this…you will turn away from Him at first opportunity.

Ouch.

But let’s be honest. If we honestly examine our lives over the last three years, (have people stop and think about who they were and where their faith was in 2020) many of us may wind up shocked at what we started worshiping…and how easy it was for us to slip away from following Jesus and begin to serve something else. Can we be honest about that? If we all took stock of what we gave our time and thought and resources to, for many of us who would say we are followers of Jesus, He has been coming in way behind. We aren’t serving Him in the sense Joshua is talking about here…He’s in the line…but He doesn’t wait in line. He ends the line.

What is your response?

Verse 21- No. We will serve the Lord. Firm response. Full commitment. Burn the ships. Tatt me up.

And so Joshua does something to help them…he covenants with them, gives them direction, writes down the directions so they will remember them, and gives them a reminder. (Read v22-27)

Put away your foreign gods- get rid of your idols- destroy them, cast them out, turn your back on them

Incline your heart to the Lord- lean in to hear from God- literally lean towards him

Put in place rules and statutes- He gave them a plan- we need a plan…what is one thing you could covenant to do this year that would draw you closer to God and further from the idol you have been replacing Him with?

He wrote them down- it was not just a passing thought…he made notes…we are going to do these things...

Set up a reminder- Joshua used a stone…what will you use?

And then he sends them out to the land. They make the commitment together, but each of them has to also live it out in their individual contexts.

They could not stay at the place where they had made these promises..they had to go back to their homes to work and live and serve…we are all going back to daily life…but a commitment one day can inform a week, a month, a year, a life...