Person of Interest: Joshua

Opening

Who in here is great at making choices? Liars…most of y’all cant even decide what to eat for dinner today. That is the most tense 30 minutes of the day in my house...

We have to make choices every day…some big, some small…some as ultimatums. There are only two options and you have to pick one!

Our person of interest today is a man named Joshua. The story of Joshua. He walked with Moses, saw all of the miracles, went in to spy out the land, came back with a good report…was one of two who said our God can defeat them, but found himself wandering in the wilderness for 40 years because of the unbelief of others.

Joshua 24:14-15

Therefore = all that came prior - the story of God’s deliverance

Looking back at what God has done is good…we looked back earlier (video)

Joshua looks back - Joshua 24:1-13 - he gathered all the people and said, “Thus says the Lord…I brought your ancestors from here, made them my own, delivered you from slavery...

Fear the Lord = have respect and reverence for Him

Serve Him (CSB says worship Him) in sincerity and in faithfulness = sincerity (תָּמִים tamim - blameless, whole, unscathed) and faithfulness (אֱמֶת emet - firmness, reliability, stability, truth - Jesus, in the Book of Revelation is called faithful and true Rev 19:11 ). What do these terms mean in modern examples (marriage).

Put away the gods your father’s served…doesn’t mean much to us…we don’t have little statues but we do have some gods: prosperity, happiness, position, possession, patriotism, pleasure…there are some gods, some idols in our lives that we need to put away to serve God in sincerity and faithfulness.

And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord (CSB says if it doesn’t please you) = why would it not please you? because of the things you have to put away.

Joshua says “Choose this day whom you will serve,” = we are hit with an ultimatum. I have for years and I have watched others for years create a brand of Christianity where we can have it all…we have created a Christianity that is pleasure, position, and possession based and we call it godliness if we do a few good things.

Personal Example

This year, I feel like God has been calling me to do this…to choose this day who I am going to serve. My idols may be different than yours…possessions, prosperity, prominence, performance, position…who are you going to serve. Here’s what I have seen in serving the Lord - when we choose to serve Him, He takes care of the things. He tells us this and we still miss it…Matt 6:33, But all of the things I strive so hard to have, He’s never failed me on when I pursue Him wholly. But…I think I want to be the hero in my own story. I want to have the things because I did it. This is what He has revealed in me, and it has kept me from being all I can be in Him because at the end of the day, I am limited, I am finite, I am at my best just ok…He is awesome, amazing, all-powerful, all-knowing, omni-present. He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords and I am just a guy who grew up a poor black kid in Suffolk, VA - whose every life blessing has come from the One who chose to bless me even though I was so undeserving.

And this is what we find ourselves reading in Joshua 24 - Joshua reminding the people where God has brought them from and what He has provided and it should pull the same response in our lives that it pulled in theirs.

Joshua 24:16-18 “Then the people answered, “Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods, for it is the Lord our God who brought us and our fathers up from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, and who did those great signs in our sight and preserved us in all the way that we went, and among all the peoples through whom we passed. And the Lord drove out before us all the peoples, the Amorites who lived in the land. Therefore we also will serve the Lord, for he is our God.”

Is God your God? If so, does your life reflect that you serve (worship) Him only?

And this is where the proverbial rubber meets the road for us. We have to be honest in answering if we serve Him only.

As the soldier follows his general, as the servant follows his master, as the scholar follows his teacher, as the sheep follows its shepherd, just so ought the professing Christian to follow Christ.

J. C. Ryle

If we serve Him only, our lives will look a certain way - not perfection, but moving towards Christlikeness.

We forgive

We love

We show compassion

We are gentle

We are kind

We are merciful

We put God’s kingdom first - above our own.

We are generous

We serve - Jesus came to serve not to be served.

But if there are other gods in our lives - not the little wooden things, but position, possessions, prosperity, pleasure, patriotism, power, point of view, - side note - none of those things are bad in and of themselves - they are only bad when they become gods in our lives.

How do I know if it’s a god in my life? What dictates your pursuits, God’s word or those things…can you live without those things?

Joshua 24:15 ESV

And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

Whom will you serve?