What will you and your house do?

For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says, “ ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.” ’ Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”

John 4:22 ESV

You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.

This is true of both parents and churches

Matthew 1:1 ESV

The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

is another genealogy of Jesus

They didn’t even attempt to remove people like Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba

Matthew 1:5–7 ESV

and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of David the king. And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah, and Solomon the father of Rehoboam, and Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asaph,

MTT 3:5-7

Matthew 3:5–7 ESV

Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

They did recognize that their lineage was not enough

Matthew 3:7–10 ESV

But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

1 Corinthians 1:12–15 ESV

What I mean is that each one of you says, “I follow Paul,” or “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Cephas,” or “I follow Christ.” Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, so that no one may say that you were baptized in my name.

1 cor

Galatians 3:7 ESV

Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham.

Philippians 3:4–7 ESV

though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.

1 Corinthians 1:12–15 ESV

1 cor

Galatians 3:7 ESV

Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham.

Not Lineage of blood, lineage of tradition, not even lineage of baptism was viewed as the necessary and important thing; only joining the legacy of faith!

While they did not put away their fathers (disconnect from their history) they did not trust in their fathers for favor with God

They did re-evaluate their customs and traditions

Matthew 15:1–9 ESV

Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat.” He answered them, “And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? For God commanded, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ But you say, ‘If anyone tells his father or his mother, “What you would have gained from me is given to God,” he need not honor his father.’ So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God. You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said: “ ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ ”

Traditions are neither good nor bad for being traditions

Traditions are at best an application, and thus a good blending of truth and culture.

Traditions, good ones, become dangerous when they are viewed as just truth and necessary

Pianos were banned

Guitars were banned

Ordinations

Don’t take down a fence until you know why it was there

They did put away the gods of their fathers

Tradition

Circumcision - Jerusalem Council

Caesar - render to Caesar that which is Caesar’s / Publicans (Zacchaeus / Matthew)

Self-righteousness - Paul the Pharisee

Acts 4:12 ESV

And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

Acts 5:29 ESV

But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men.

The fledgeling New Testament church as recorded in our Bibles did in deed put away the gods of their fathers, and were used mightily to spread the gospel of Jesus to the known world in a few short years. They were so demonstrably used that they were accused of turning the world upside down in acts 17

Acts 17:6 ESV

And when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city authorities, shouting, “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also,

What did Israel do?

Judges 2:6–10 ESV

When Joshua dismissed the people, the people of Israel went each to his inheritance to take possession of the land. And the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great work that the Lord had done for Israel. And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of 110 years. And they buried him within the boundaries of his inheritance in Timnath-heres, in the hill country of Ephraim, north of the mountain of Gaash. And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers. And there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel.

This is one of the clearest descriptions of Israel being the Israel she was meant to be.

Sadly, faithfulness can never be guaranteed to be perpetual among generations. That was true in Israel then. It is true in families and churches today.

What will we do?

There has never been a generation more blessed than we with liberties, access to material needs, access to The Word and to historical data.

Will we put away the gods of our fathers?

Of tradition and pride of lineage?

Of the corresponding self-righteousness?

Of willful ignorance and pride in it?

Of nationalistic idolatry?

Will we venture maybe to even put away the gods we have recently added to the collection?

Of complacency in regard to spiritual affairs, even of our loved ones?

Of self satisfaction, where being happy is goal #1?

Of devaluing the church of Jesus Christ and membership in it?

By the grace of God, Israel in the days of Joshua did choose to follow God and Him alone. By the same enabling grace, the early church in the days of our New Testament texts did follow God and not men, and left a lasting mark in human history for Christ. God is the same; He stands ready enable and embolden us today if we will do the same. May God help us to honestly say, "As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD."

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