We Will Serve The Lord

Joshua 24:14–18 NIV

“Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” Then the people answered, “Far be it from us to forsake the Lord to serve other gods! It was the Lord our God himself who brought us and our parents up out of Egypt, from that land of slavery, and performed those great signs before our eyes. He protected us on our entire journey and among all the nations through which we traveled. And the Lord drove out before us all the nations, including the Amorites, who lived in the land. We too will serve the Lord, because he is our God.”

Introduction:

Have y’all been locked in on the morning routine videos that have been POPPING off over the last two to three weeks on social media? If you haven't seen them I think it started with this guy who recorded what he does every morning… he wakes up at 3 AM, he dunks his face in ice cold Saratoga sparkling water for some reason, he goes to the gym, and afterwards he jumps in the pool but he’s suspended in the air for like 4 minutes for some reason… It’s fairly ridiculous but it’s kind of fun at the same time —

While this video is harmless, there are so many people in this digital age that we are in that have the platform and the audience to spread some pretty ridiculous stuff. — Just going about your daily lives scrolling on your phones, tablets (because some of y’all don’t have phones), maybe its watching TV, or even going to school — you don’t have to look very hard to find someone who is trying to tell you what you should believe, or how you should feel about something… But ultimately, we all have to choose what we do and we need to choose and stand by what we believe in.

This is at the heart of this passage at the end of the book of Joshua. Joshua is challenging the Israelites to choose what they believe in and choose who it is that they ultimately serve.

As we are making our way through the Old Testament, we have seen that time and time and time again the faithfulness of God. We have seen over and over that God is keeping the promises he has made with the Israelites. — And because we know that God is faithful, we should have faith in the promises of God, and we should be completely commited to him.

Joshua tells the Israelites that committing to God is literally commanded of them, it’s a requirement — it’s not some sort of throw away line. Because what they are told to throw away are the Gods and idols of their ancestors. The things that they may have been committed to in the place of God.

— What are the things that we might be committing to over our commitments to God? —> It’s a difficult question for some of us to answer because we may think that our relationships with God but when we really take the time to think about it we may be surprised. — If you are unable to spend time growing in your relationship with God because you are overloaded with AP courses then you may be more commited to your GPA than you are to God. Or if you routinely can’t find 15-20 minutes to read the Bible Recap passage because your’e too busy with something else… then whatever that thing is… you are more committed to that… than you are to God!

Brothers and sisters I hope that when you see the ways that God is moving in this church, this youth group, and how God is actively at work in each of our individual lives you feel that the only right thing to do is to give our lives to him. — and if there is anyone or anything that is trying to demand so much of our time and energy to the point where it is above God, we need to either absolutely make sure that it comes secondary to God or let go of it altogether.

— I know that there are a lot of people that really really want to march to the beat of their own drum and be countercultural and “different” — but the problem with that is the countercultural movement has become pretty played out. —> There are so many people now who believe in “their truth” — What I feel or what makes me happy is “my truth”.

— But there are absolutes that are bigger than the things we feel, absolutes like we were purposefully and carefully created in the image of God! We were created to be in relationship with God. And out of his infinite grace, God died on the cross so that we could live in relationship with him.

— If you want to “be different” , if you want to be countercultural, then how about we actually live differently. If you want to know what living differently looks like, it looks like a life lived completely committed to God!

Romans 12:1-2 says

Romans 12:1–2 NIV

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Do not conform to the world! Fully Commit to God by obeying his commands and by worshipping him.

— Fully committing means making a clear decision to follow God. —> We don’t want to be lukewarm flaky Jesus followers, who are half in but also half out. I bet that we all have experience with flaky friends who always seem to bail on y’alls plans at the last minute, and it drives you crazy… Why would we approach our relationship with God that way? Friends… We need to be all the way in!

— Joshua boldly challenges the Israelites to abandon the idols they have worshipped in the past and exclusively worship the one true God, He tells them where his allegiance lies as he says “But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” ...We will serve the Lord.

— Joshua and his household would actually represent the minority of those who would remain faithful and today this serves as a powerful example for modern Christians.Joshua shows us what it means to fully commit to God even when it may not be the popular option. Joshua shows us that being fully committed to God is not a private belief in God that he keeps to himself but he publicly proclaims that he will serve and follow God!

— And although Joshua and his family may have been in the minority, they were certainly not alone… In Joshua 24:16-18 verses 16-18 they responded to Joshua’s challenge:

Joshua 24:16–18 NIV

Then the people answered, “Far be it from us to forsake the Lord to serve other gods! It was the Lord our God himself who brought us and our parents up out of Egypt, from that land of slavery, and performed those great signs before our eyes. He protected us on our entire journey and among all the nations through which we traveled. And the Lord drove out before us all the nations, including the Amorites, who lived in the land. We too will serve the Lord, because he is our God.”

The Israelites recognize that God has been faithful. God has been committed to them! God had brought them and their parents out of slavery in Egypt, the Lord had protected them and provided for them as they journeyed through the wilderness. The Lord had driven out the nations that occupied the promised land before them. —> And when the Israelites had realized how committed the Lord had been to them it was only natural for them to commit to the Lord!

Friends, can you think about all the ways that God has showed up in your life? The ways that Gods grace has given you guidance… comfort… peace… — God has been nothing but faithful to his people, he has kept all of his promises… every single one of them. He will never fail!

We know that society expects that we fall in line and conform to the ways of the world where we prioritize so many things before God… But what would it look like if this church… if this youth group collectively put our foot down and said “no!” What would it look like if we said “But as for me and my community, we will serve the Lord!”

What if we were a community of accountability that invited and challenged one another to be fully committed to God? What if we were a community that responded to what God is doing in our lives with obedience and genuine worship of the spirit?

— The Lord has kept every promise he has ever made to his people. And he is not done yet… So how will you respond? ...Will you be all in?

Let’s pray: