Sermon Tone Analysis

The Gospel Family Worships Together

don’t you love seeing kids get baptized!

i’m so excited for Brody and the journey he has in front of him with Jesus!

and that makes it the perfect sunday to start our Gospel Family sermon series

A Gospel Family is a family that keeps the Gospel...

keeps the Gospel...

-Jesus came to die for sinners

-Rose from the dead

-Appeared to his followers

-Ascended back to heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father

… at the center of everything they do

at the center of every decision they make

at the center of their priorities

That is a Gospel Family.

Over the next few weeks we will look at some specific things a Gospel Family does together and then on Saturday, Sept. 28th, my brother Johnny Williams, who literally wrote the book on Gospel Family (show picture of the book), will be here to lead us in a Gospel Family Parenting Workshop and then will preach that Sunday and wrap up this sermon series for us.

The sermon title for today is The Gospel Family Worships Together and our key passage can be found in .

Covenant Renewal Ceremony in Joshua chapter 24.

24 Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem and summoned the elders, the heads, the judges, and the officers of Israel.

And they presented themselves before God. 2 And Joshua said to all the people, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, ‘Long ago, your fathers lived beyond the Euphrates, Terah, the father of Abraham and of Nahor; and they served other gods.

3 Then I took your father Abraham from beyond the River and led him through all the land of Canaan, and made his offspring many.

I gave him Isaac.

4 And to Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau.

And I gave Esau the hill country of Seir to possess, but Jacob and his children went down to Egypt. 5 And I sent Moses and Aaron, and I plagued Egypt with what I did in the midst of it, and afterward I brought you out.

6 “ ‘Then I brought your fathers out of Egypt, and you came to the sea.

And the Egyptians pursued your fathers with chariots and horsemen to the Red Sea. 7 And when they cried to the LORD, he put darkness between you and the Egyptians and made the sea come upon them and cover them; and your eyes saw what I did in Egypt.

And you lived in the wilderness a long time.

8 Then I brought you to the land of the Amorites, who lived on the other side of the Jordan.

They fought with you, and I gave them into your hand, and you took possession of their land, and I destroyed them before you.

9 Then Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, arose and fought against Israel.

And he sent and invited Balaam the son of Beor to curse you, 10 but I would not listen to Balaam.

Indeed, he blessed you.

So I delivered you out of his hand.

11 And you went over the Jordan and came to Jericho, and the leaders of Jericho fought against you, and also the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.

And I gave them into your hand.

12 And I sent the hornet before you, which drove them out before you, the two kings of the Amorites; it was not by your sword or by your bow.

13 I gave you a land on which you had not labored and cities that you had not built, and you dwell in them.

You eat the fruit of vineyards and olive orchards that you did not plant.’

Choose Whom You Will Serve

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.”

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.”

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.

is a vassal treaty.

The covenant was similar to ancient Near Eastern treaties in which a superpower (Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Hatti) entered into a relationship with a weaker nation (Ugarit and Amurru [Amorite], to name just two).

This kind of treaty, known as a ‘vassal treaty’, typically had six parts: a preamble identifying the Great King (2a); a historical prologue reciting the King’s kindnesses to the vassal (2b–13); stipulations, the basic one being to serve only the King and his kingdom (14); curses and blessings (19); witnesses (22, 27); and deposit of the treaty document (25–26).

Any individual treaty could vary slightly from this outline, but the basic pattern can be discerned (cf.

Ex. 19–24; 1 Sa.

12).

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.”

God reminds them of all HE has done for them.

Then we get to one of the more familiar passages in the Old Testament.

Joshua is going to lead the way, he’s going to set the example for the rest of the people.

He says in vs. 14:

: 14-15

“Now therefore fear the LORD and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness.

Put away (forever) the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD.

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.”

Choose: I have to admit that many times at night, Brooke and I will fall asleep watching the show Blue Bloods.

Cop show with Tom Selleck and Donnie Wahlberg, one of our favorites.

There was an episode in season 4 when Frank (Tom Selleck) and Nicky (his granddaughter) are having ice cream because Nicky needs advice from her very wise grandfather.

They can’t get too far into the conversation before Nicky gets a text alert on her phone.

Frank tells her to “turn that thing off” to which Nicky replies, “what if it’s important.”

The all-wise Frank simply responds with one word… “Choose.”

She reluctantly puts the phone down and continues for a second and then says, “I really should check that.”

Again, Frank just says, “choose!”

That’s what Joshua is saying to the people.

Choose!

I know you think that’s important.

I know you thing that’s attractive.

I know you think that’s satisfying.

But God isn’t going to compete with those things for your worship.

He’s GOD!!

So choose!

Quit trying to have it both ways.

Jesus said the same thing, “you can’t serve two masters.”

it’s called Idolatry

it’s called breaking the first commandment!

it’s also called LUDACRIS because when we put our hope, our reliance, our dependence on anything or anyone other than God that thing or that someone will let us down.

it cannot deliver us, cannot save us, cannot fix our #1 main problem in life which is that we are sinners separated from God and in need of grace.

sure, other gods can give you warm feelings, can make you feel good about yourself.... for a time… but let me remind you, as your chasing your feelings worshipping other people or things,

God will not compete with those things for your worship!

And there will be consequences for anyone who chooses to worship the created things of this world rather than the CREATOR Himself!

So choose.