The Appeal

When i was 9 years. I was reading the sports page of the newspaper. Yes I did that a lot on sunday mornings. It was my father’s and I’s tradition to circle our picks for who would win the football games that sunday. It was the playoff time of the season. My Greenbay packers had just lost to the 49ers the week previous. That game is still fresh in my head. I was still bitter because I believed the packers should have won. Jerry Rice of the 49ers had been shown to have fumbled the ball on replay, but because the refs had ruled him down by contact, the drive continued and the 49ers won on the final play of the game. This was the year before coaches could challenge a ruling and have the refs check the replay video. And as I mentioned earlier, as I was looking up the games for the current week in the newspaper, I saw a heading, Mike Holmgren, coach of the greenbay packers resigns as head coach. It had only been 2 years prior that the packers had won the super bowl under coach holmgren, and they made it back the next year but lost. It was those years that I became a fan. I’m 27, and have been a packers for 20 years now. It was under Holmgren, the packers had become a winning team again after more than 2 decades of hardly being relevant.

Ive heard interviews since then suggesting, many of the players almost quit because they didn’t want to be coached by anyone other than Coach Holmgren. Holmgren though, did give a final appeal, to stay the course, keep fighting, keep working hard and be faithful in their fundamentals. The Packers have always remained a successful competitive team throughout the next two decades. It wasn’t just having a good coach and leader that was the recipe for success, it was the commitment and faithfulness to to their core values as an organization in their leadership and front office that carried on the winning ways for the Packers.

The book of Joshua is the final scene of the 2nd act of the Israelites story. It recounts how the Israelites came to possess the land promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Not unlike the original garden of Eden, not by military endeavors or strategies, but according to the words of Joshua, by the power and direct actions of God. recount the last recorded intimate moments shared between the Israelites and their human captain. In these chapters Joshua calls on Israel to abandon any thoughts of other gods and to choose Yahweh as their God and remain loyal to Him. It is in these two appeals that we will be spending the bulk of our time today, and also identify the present appeal for God’s people today, before we begin, lets take a moment to pray.

Body

If you have your bibles with you, I would encourage you to turn to , beginning in verse 1.

A long time afterward, when the Lord had given rest to Israel from all their surrounding enemies, and Joshua was old and well advanced in years, 2 Joshua summoned all Israel, its elders and heads, its judges and officers, and said to them, “I am now old and well advanced in years. 3 And you have seen all that the Lord your God has done to all these nations for your sake, for it is the Lord your God who has fought for you. 4 Behold, I have allotted to you as an inheritance for your tribes those nations that remain, along with all the nations that I have already cut off, from the Jordan to the Great Sea in the west. 5 The Lord your God will push them back before you and drive them out of your sight. And you shall possess their land, just as the Lord your God promised you.

This is an important address for Joshua to the people whom he has journeyed with the better part of his entire life. While this would seem to be a point of long over due celebration, the wise Joshua, sees this point as a crossroads, and because of this there is a need for reflection. It is not simply a reflection on themselves, but even more so of where God had been with them, sustained them, and will continue to be with them imploring them to remain faithful. What Joshua is doing is not unlike what the Israelites have done throughout their journeys and conquests. They take time to reflect.

“David Merling, a professor of archaeology and Biblical history, in the SDA seminary makes a connection to Joshua’s final appeals and similar events leading up to this. In Deuteronomy, Merling writes, the Israelites had spent 40 years in the wilderness and were camped just across the Jordan river on the edge of canaan. they had been tried by fire of the wilderness, and a new Israelite community had succeeded where the older one had failed. Looking form the distance, one might assume that the Israelites would immediately dash across the river, but they didn’t. They took time to stop for a history review and the final appeals of Moses were given, found in Deuteronomy.

A similar parallel experience occurred after the Israelites left Egypt. We know why they didn’t take the direct route to the promised land, Canaan. God took them on an easier way. still they could have been in canaan in a very few months, even traveling through sinai and going around dangerous obstacles and warful peoples. Surely they could have already possessed the promised land, however God met with the Israelites at Sinai, and establishes a covenant with them and had them build a sanctuary, before leading them on.

Even after the Israelites first arrived in Canaan, crossing the Jordan river, they did not immediately settle the land but first paused for several days at Gilgal, where the covenant between them and God was renewed, found in . The same goes for their military conquests. There is a pause to reflect and renew their covenant to God. From Exodus to the end of Joshua, there are 5 appeals to reestablish the covenant between them on and God. The Israelites had now come to a plateau in their physical and spiritual journey with God. Joshua knew there was more ahead. He had brought them together to acknowledge their success and lift their vision toward the next phase of life: complete settlement of the land.

Joshua continues in his first appeal following his reminder of their successes by God’s hand.

6 Therefore, be very strong to keep and to do all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, turning aside from it neither to the right hand nor to the left, 7 that you may not mix with these nations remaining among you or make mention of the names of their gods or swear by them or serve them or bow down to them, 8 but you shall cling to the Lord your God just as you have done to this day. 9 For the Lord has driven out before you great and strong nations. And as for you, no man has been able to stand before you to this day. 10 One man of you puts to flight a thousand, since it is the Lord your God who fights for you, just as he promised you. 11 Be very careful, therefore, to love the Lord your God.

Joshua proceeds to enlighten them of the consequences of breaking the covenant and brings to light one particular pitfall, they had historically struggled with, in intermarrying with idol worshippers, Joshua comments how such wickedness would be a downfall of their nation. When looked at, outside of its proper context it appears almost as God issuing a fearful threat. I would suggest it was actually more of a prophecy, and warning. You can read the book of judges for yourself and see the constant cycle of, and the children, Israel did wicked in the sight of God, and they were conquered. God’s protection returned in their repentance. It was a lesson that had to be learned and learned often that their great power as a nation, was not in their numbers, but in their faithfulness to God.

Thus we examine the purpose of these spiritual pauses. It seems clear form the early history of Corporate Israel that there was a systematic precision or determined plan for moving God’s people forward. Whenever the israelites plateaued , at a high level of success, God renewed his covnenant and carefully warned the Israelites of the problems they would encounter in the future, then he sent them well warned into the fate that lay ahead. He did not let them be led by their past triumphs; that is emotions based on their past efforts and experiences, but pushed them into a future focused on his power in past events and his promised help for the future. So it was with the Israelites at shechem. They had reached a new level, and once more God assembled them and called for a renewal of His covenant.

In chapter 24

Joshua addresses the people, citing key events from their past, and in light of this reminder again, Joshua appeals to the people to choose to remain faithful and not wander. It is a choice they are presented with. Joshua says:

Barry, J. D., Mangum, D., Brown, D. R., Heiser, M. S., Custis, M., Ritzema, E., … Bomar, D. (2012, 2016). Faithlife Study Bible (). Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.

Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. 15 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.”

16 Then the people answered, “Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods, 17 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. 18 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.”

Maybe Joshua could have stopped there, but this covenant was no small matter, he wanted them to understand the weight of their commitment.

mAYMaybe

I was asked here recently if I could take a week and be the camp pastor at Nosoca. Unfortunately, my schedule and duties here would not allow me to go on such short notice, I told them I would love to next year though. It got me thinking about the appeals I got from my counselors at camp when I was a camper at the end of the week following the pageant we’d have on friday evening. Depending on our age, our counselor would talk about the different influences that exist in the world and the temptations that lay ahead of us as we got older. For each mentioned, we as kids would nod our heads and promise to keep Jesus first and not fall victim to any of the worldly infuences, not fully perceiving what actually would lie ahead. I would later reflect on this experience when it was now me working as a counselor appealing to a group of kids, challenging to keep God first and make a decision to be baptized. I was now not as naive as to what temptations existed in the world. Lust, greed, deceitfulness, and many other temptations were now not as foreign to me as they had been when I was a child. My own innocence was not as present as when I had sat in those circles as a camper.

Joshua goes on imploring them not to take the matter lightly.

19 But Joshua said to the people, “You are not able to serve the Lord, for he is a holy God. He is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions or your sins. 20 If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, then he will turn and do you harm and consume you, after having done you good.” 21 And the people said to Joshua, “No, but we will serve the Lord.” 22 Then Joshua said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen the Lord, to serve him.” And they said, “We are witnesses.” 23 He said, “Then put away the foreign gods that are among you, and incline your heart to the Lord, the God of Israel.” 24 And the people said to Joshua, “The Lord our God we will serve, and his voice we will obey.” 25 So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and put in place statutes and rules for them at Shechem. 26 And Joshua wrote these words in the Book of the Law of God. And he took a large stone and set it up there under the terebinth that was by the sanctuary of the Lord. 27 And Joshua said to all the people, “Behold, this stone shall be a witness against us, for it has heard all the words of the Lord that he spoke to us. Therefore it shall be a witness against you, lest you deal falsely with your God.” 28 So Joshua sent the people away, every man to his inheritance.

One of the reasons for this appeal to this now settled Israelite generation was that while they had recieved a certain level of stability, their peace was still conditional. The israelites were now currently living in peace, it was a peace within reach of their enemies. The Israelites were not living in Heavenly Canaan, but the earthly one. As we should be aware now, and the people became aware then, all peace on this earth is conditional. The book of Judges proves what , only suggests. There were more examples beyond judges though. Quite a number of passages in 1 Samuel mention how the Israelites completely conquered the philistines and how they came no more into their land. Yet time and time again, the philistines fought again with the Israelites. Theses passages only suggest the tentative nature of peace. The Philistines may not have come again that month, that year, or even again that decade or generation, but come again they would, because earthly peace is tentative.

So as Joshua makes his appeal to the people, like he had done before, and Moses had done before Him, he does so in a time of peace, because their peaceful state was only in the here and the now, not neccessarily in the tomorrow. Joshua’s concern was for tomorrow. Would His people continue to climb to new heights in faithfulness to their God, or would they plateau or worse yet, fall back into old bad habits.

Those of you who are lifetime adventist christians, know all to well peace never seems to last either. Throughout our church history, whether it be at the local level, conference, or GC itself, we experience plateaus and spiritual plains to. It is in these moments we don’t sit idly by during peace twittling our fingers. It is in these moments we recommit, re-examine ourselves preparing ourselves for the days ahead. We’re very good at re-examining others, but often we forget to re-examine ourselves. Its in times of peace, ask God to chisel out what has entered us that shouldn’t be present. Examine our faith and do what is neccessary to build it back stronger. Once we have looked at ourselves personally, its now to time to examine ourselves at our local church level and ask the Holy Spirit to lead us. But in order for us to move in the way he would have us, we have to surrendur even our will to God. You see its not this building that is the church, it is you and me. The church must be moving, working, and faithfully following God’s will. Are we always doing that? It’s a question I hope each of us will examine. I don’t want you to take that as, okay now I get to speak out about all the problems of our church. Actually you are welcome, but I do have a policy when we discuss agenda items in board meetings. You cannot bring up an item for the agenda if you are not willing to be involved in the solution. At the local level, we get to be the hands and feet of Jesus. We have to be willing to go where he would have us. And like the Israelites, any triumphs we experience are not by our doing, but by God’s power working in us. In some ways, I feel that really takes the pressure off! It is by God’s power are we able to accomplish. We are but the vessels.

The book Patriarchs and Prophets says:

Joshua desired to lead them to serve God, not by compulsion, but willingly. Love to God is the very foundation of religion. To engage in His service merely from hope of reward or fear of punishment would avail nothing. Open apostasy would not be more offensive to God than hypocrisy and mere formal worship.

Joshua cared that his people live in righteousness and repent with humility, not in fear of an angry God but faith to the one who had led them through the wilderness, and out of slavery. It was his intention to convict even the hearts of the Israelites. His appeal at shechem exemplifies this. He implores them to not fall away into idolatry but even isn’t blind to the fact that some may had made its way into their camps.

Patriarchs and Prophets commentaries this:

14 “Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. 15 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.”

The aged leader urged the people to consider, in all its bearings, what he had set before them, and to decide if they really desired to live as did the degraded idolatrous nations around them. If it seemed evil to them to serve Jehovah, the source of power, the fountain of blessing, let them that day choose whom they would serve—“the gods which your fathers served,” from whom Abraham was called out, “or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell.”

16 Then the people answered, “Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods, 17 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.

The aged leader urged the people to consider, in all its bearings, what he had set before them, and to decide if they really desired to live as did the degraded idolatrous nations around them. If it seemed evil to them to serve Jehovah, the source of power, the fountain of blessing, let them that day choose whom they would serve—“the gods which your fathers served,” from whom Abraham was called out, “or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell.”

The same holy zeal that inspired the leader’s heart was communicated to the people. His appeals called forth the unhesitating response, “God forbid that we should forsake Jehovah, to serve other gods.”

The aged leader urged the people to consider, in all its bearings, what he had set before them, and to decide if they really desired to live as did the degraded idolatrous nations around them. If it seemed evil to them to serve Jehovah, the source of power, the fountain of blessing, let them that day choose whom they would serve—“the gods which your fathers served,” from whom Abraham was called out, “or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell.”

Joshua’s work for Israel was done. He had “wholly followed the Lord;” and in the book of God he is written, “The servant of Jehovah.” The noblest testimony to his character as a public leader is the history of the generation that had enjoyed his labors: “Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that overlived Joshua.”

The same holy zeal that inspired the leader’s heart was communicated to the people. His appeals called forth the unhesitating response, “God forbid that we should forsake Jehovah, to serve other gods.”

Joshua’s work for Israel was done. He had “wholly followed the Lord;” and in the book of God he is written, “The servant of Jehovah.” The noblest testimony to his character as a public leader is the history of the generation that had enjoyed his labors: “Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that overlived Joshua.”

Some of us here have been worshipping each sabbath all our lives. Many of you have been convicted come back to Lord in recent years. Some here may be in the midst of wrestling with sin, or secret sin that only you and God are aware of. It’s so easy to feel trapped in sin. God is telling each of whether we are wrestling with sin that may seem little or large to come to and allow him to cleanse you. He is the only one who can cleanse us. I can’t, none of our elders can. It can’t be done by simply trying harder.

Some of us are faithfully religious, but inside we don’t have Jesus. Without Jesus, our religion is pointless. Like Israel, we need to ask God to renew in us a right spirit. Ask Him to cleanse us. Are there idols present in our homes? Allow Him to order our steps, and go where he wants to lead us. What is God asking me to do personally for him? What is he calling our church to do as a light for Him? My appeal to you, is to seek God and where he is leading you, what is he asking you to put away? Is he #1?

As Joshua said to His people.

Choose this day whom you will serve, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord,

Amen, and Amen.

The Appeal

opening