Choose You This Day

Preliminary:

Invite to Joshua 24:15

“Choose You This Day” (Joshua 24:15)

Theme: Commitment to serve the Lord wholeheartedly.

Application: Families and individuals making intentional choices for Christ.

Modern hook: The battle of choices in a distracted, entertainment-driven culture.

Joshua 24:15 KJV 1900

15 And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

Here we stand at Shechem - a place that is well known in the Old Testament.

It is well known as the place - where God and Abram made a covenant - a binding and promising covenant

Abram has just talked to Abram and commanded him...

Genesis 12:1 “...Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee:”

He also promises him...

Genesis 12:2–3 “2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: 3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.”

So Abram takes the journey from Ur to Haran (depending on whose measurements you use - approximately 700 miles)

And from Haran to Canaan another 500 -700 miles - possibly taking them a month to travel from Haran to Canaan - traveling, as one commentary notes, about twenty miles per day. (Walton, NIVAC)

It is here we read:

Genesis 12:6 KJV 1900

6 And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Sichem, unto the plain of Moreh. And the Canaanite was then in the land.

Now the word translated “plain” in the KJV (which used the Latin Vulgate) is actually the Hebrew word for “tree” many modern translations will use the word, “oak tree”

It was probably a landmark, no doubt a Canaanite shrine to pagan gods.

It was here at this shrine to the Canaanite gods that Abram is faced with a choice - he could in his heart travel back the 10 - 14 thousand miles back to where God called him from - or he could continue on his journey with God -

I love Abram’s choice - Gen 12:7

Genesis 12:7 KJV 1900

7 And the Lord appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto the Lord, who appeared unto him.

This choice brought blessing and promises to Abram and his descendants both biological and spiritual descendants.

It is here we find the first of three times where the Holy Scriptures tell us that the Lord physically appeared to Abram (Gen 17:1;18:1) (CSB Study Bible)

And it is here that the Abrahamic covenant is renewed. In fact you will find the covenant renewed about seven times in the Old Testament.

It is a progressive covenant meaning each renewal provides new information and layers to the covenant.

This renewal stage provides promises to give the land of Canaan to Abram’s offspring. - this promises was very meaningful and inspiring to the Children of Israel some 600 years later.

For six centuries the promise of the land of Canaan to be given to Abram’s offspring lay dormant and it was at the burning bush that Moses is reminded of this covenantal promise

Moses makes at least thirty-seven references to it in the Pentateuch.

In fact that is why we have termed it, “The Promised Land”

It no doubt was the encouragement and inspiration needed - to bolster faith, and hope, and courage, on their way to the land promised Abram.

A large portion of its significance comes down to this choice - this decision, this steadfast and settled purpose in the life of Abram - that I am going to follow God wherever he leads me.

The Hebrew author calls it faith - Hebrews 11:9

Hebrews 11:9 KJV 1900

9 By faith he [Abram] sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise:

We are now standing again at Shechem - a place of decision and choice

We are standing here, at Shechem, rubbing shoulders with the many elders, judges, leaders of Israel listening to some of the last words of Joshua in his farewell address.

He is now an old man - he dies at 110 years old - so probably around there - a man who has lived his life attempting to be faithful to God and to choosing God’s way -

Here at this historic, sacred, solemn occasion - That Joshua’s famous question rings out over the people - reverberating with courage, faith, and hope -

Joshua 24:15 KJV 1900

15 ... choose you this day whom ye will serve;

It was a time of decision making, a choice was before them, the option of choosing the God of their Fathers or the gods of Canaan

The verb used here for “choose” carries with it a sense of moral urgency: choices like this have covenant consequences.

In this context the verb “choose” presses responsibility -

volitional or what we sometimes refer to as free moral agency responsibility as well as the far reaching ramifications of the social, intergenerational and spiritual stakes of the decision.

The picture here before us - isn’t just that of a gray headed, semi cognitive old, red-faced, blustering and blasting preacher yelling at the people.

We are at Shechem a place dripping with ancestral memory of choices

We talked about Abraham’s - and how he built his first altar here

God talked to Jacob here at this tree in Shechem - and he made a choice - his choice involved the burying of all the foreign and strange gods under this tree - I’m not going to need them anymore - I’m going to choose the God of my Fathers. (Gen 35:4)

As they stood here in this cathedral of memory - it was as if the land itself whispered covenant faithfulness

Here we are standing with mountains rising on both sides, the voice of Joshua carrying through the natural amphitheater - reminding us of the faithfulness of God - and then looking each of us in the eye and firmly and steadily telling us to

Joshua 24:15 “... choose you this day whom ye will serve;...”

We are gripped with a sense of reverence - we are on holy ground, sobriety - choices today will shape generations and resolve - a line was drawn, as it were in the sand, were they going to be brave enough to cross it? Are you brave enough to cross it?

It was clear this was not just a normal church service - this was a covenant ceremony - a serious and legal act - the blessings and curses were not symbolic - the people truly believed them to be binding in real history - that they would really happen -

Joshua is not giving a spiritual pep talk - they are signing a treaty with the King of the universe

There was a somber tone, a serious mood, perhaps some were trembling with fear

Can I tell you we have come a long way since that day at Shechem by the memorial rock and oak tree - but we are still faced with the responsibility and seriousness of the choice

We have been given a call to decision - ringing down to us reverberating throughout the centuries of time comes the challenge the call to decision

Joshua 24:15 “... choose you this day whom ye will serve; ...”

Five things I want us to note about this choice:

1. The Inevitability of Choice – Life is full of crossroads; neutrality is impossible.

Perhaps C. S. Lewis put it best: We cannot remain neutral..

every time you make a choice you are turning the central part of you, the part of you that chooses, into something a little different from what it was before. And taking your life as a whole, with all your innumerable choices, all your life long you are slowly turning this central thing either into a heavenly creature or into a hellish creature: either into a creature that is in harmony with God, and with other creatures, and with itself, or else into one that is in a state of war and hatred with God, and with its fellow-creatures, and with itself. To be the one kind of creature is heaven: that is, it is joy and peace and knowledge and power. To be the other means madness, horror, idiocy, rage, impotence, and eternal loneliness. Each of us at each moment is progressing to the one state or the other. C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, p. 107-108)

Neutrality speaks of being static, camping at the fork in the road, but the problem is our refusing to make a choice is in fact making a choice

Did you know some sharks - like the Great White Shark that relies on Pure Ram Ventilation which is the process that forces water through open mouths over their gills by forward motion, or swimming, - they will suffocate if they stop or are stopped. In action, or neutrality often leads to poor choices, or being on the wrong side - and I’m talking about spiritual decisions - not about what we are going to have for lunch - I trust you understand.

Here while Israel was stopped at Shechem - they would not leave the same way - they were making choices - Here this morning - you will not leave like you came - you are making choices and decisions - that could have far reaching ramifications.

Life is a pathway of choices - every day is a choice - every time you log on to your computer, or pick up your phone or tablet, or books, or go into the store, or even get up in the morning you are met with an onslaught of choices -

Are we going to choose God - or the false gods?

2. The Object of Choice – False gods of the land vs. the Living God of Israel.

Here they were met with the choice of false gods of the land - no doubt Canaanite altars littered the area - they could see them, smell the incense that was so different from theirs, hear the prayers and chants that were unique, and intriguing, and called to them to come and join them. They could see the sensual dancing, and other immoral acts that accompanied the worship of that era and place and they were called to make a choice

You can have all of these gods, you can choose a few of these gods, you can take just one of these gods - or you can have the LIVING GOD OF ISRAEL

The God of your Fathers - the God who has promised you all of this land.

I don’t think I have to make the parallel application there are pagan altars all around us today - we see, smell, hear, are invited to join in daily - we cannot remain neutral - we must make our choice -

False gods of the land or THE LIVING TRUE GOD

It wasn’t just the inevitability or the object of the choice - notice there was also a deep sense of urgency....

3. The Urgency of Choice – “This day”—not tomorrow, not later.

Joshua doesn’t say, “Think about it for a while” or “One day you’ll need to decide.” He calls for decision now. Delay is itself dangerous.

D.L. Moody: “Tomorrow is the devil’s day. Today is God’s. Right now, we must choose.”

The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons, Vol. XXVI To-Day! To-Day! To-Day! (No. 1,551)

William Mason ....“Every day of delay leaves a day more to repent of, and a day less to repent in.”

There wasn’t going to be another opportunity to make this type of choice - we never know if we will have another opportunity to make our choice

Today is the day of salvation - now is the accepted time...

4. The Example of Joshua – “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

Joshua was a tremendous leader - and one of the ways he is a tremendous leader - is that there was no question about the way he was going.

He makes a declaration almost sounding like - you do what you want but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD”

He had made his choice

The songwriter N. B. Herrell put it this way:

I have made my choice forever, 'twixt this world and God's dear Son, Naught can change my mind, no, never, He my heart has fully won. Take this world with all its pleasures, take them, take them, great and small, Give me Christ, my precious Savior, He is sweeter than them all. CHORUS: Sweeter, sweeter than them all, sweeter sweeter than them all, Give me Christ, my precious Savior, He is sweeter than them all. Since I made my choice forever, since I walk with Christ, my Lord, Life to me grows richer, sweeter, as I listen to His word. Take this world with all its treasures, take them, take them, great and small, Give me Christ, my precious Savior, He is sweeter than them all. Since I made my choice for heaven, since Christ is my dearest Friend, Though by earthly friends forsaken, yet on Christ I can depend. Take my friends and earthly friendships, take them, take them, one and all, Give me Christ, my precious Savior, He is sweeter than them all. When my life's work here is ended, when I pass death's open door, When to God I have ascended, when my feet shall press the shore, When my eyes have seen the angels, seen them, seen them, great and small, Give me Christ, my precious Savior, He is sweeter than them all.

5. The Consequence of Choice – Blessing or judgment, life or death.

Or in our case it could be heaven or hell.

Or for the Christian it could be a choice between joy or despair.

Ira Stanphill - the songwriter who wrote, “I’ve Got A Mansion” also wrote...

“The Choice Is Mine”

I can be strong, I can be brave, I can be free, or be a slave. I can forgive as He forgave The choice is mine.

I can go through in storm or gale, I can be true, or I can fail; I can desert or set my sail. The choice is mine.

If I would live then I must die And bid this fleeting world goodbye It’s treasures dear, I must deny The choice is mine.

I’ll walk by faith where I am led, It matters not what lies ahead, And if the path be crimson red, The choice is mine.

I can have faith.  I can have fear. I can believe that God is near, Or I can doubt the things I hear. The choice is mine.

I can draw close, or I can strain. I can submit, or go my way. Within my heart, I hear him say, ‘The choice is mine.’

If I, the King of Heaven, choose If I, the things of Earth, refuse The best I’d gain, the worst I’d lose. The choice is mine.

Because He gave His life for me, Because of love at Calvary I take Him for eternity. The choice is mine.

Closing Exhortation:

My friends, we have walked with Abram at Shechem, we have seen Jacob bury his idols under the oak, we have stood with Joshua as his voice echoed off the mountainsides. And now—this very hour—we stand in their shadow. The voice of Scripture is no relic of the past. It is alive. It is urgent. It is calling you.

Joshua did not say, “Choose tomorrow.” He did not say, “Choose when it is convenient.” He said, “Choose you THIS day.”

The gods of this world are still calling—gods of wealth, gods of pleasure, gods of self. Their altars burn in every street corner, every glowing screen, every whisper of temptation. But before us also stands the Living God, the God who has never broken one promise, the God who has kept covenant from Abram to Christ, and from the cross to this very moment.

And so the question remains: Whom will you serve?

You cannot stay neutral. To delay is to decide. To hesitate is to bow before another altar. But to step across the line, to say with Joshua, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord”—that choice is life, and blessing, and covenant with the King of Kings.

So I press it upon you: fathers, what choice will you make for your homes? Mothers, what choice will you model for your children? Young men, young women, whose side are you on?

The rocks of Shechem still cry out, bearing witness. The covenant still stands. And the Lord still calls: Choose you this day whom ye will serve.

Oh, may it be said of us—today, and until the day we stand in glory— “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord!”