The Simple Life - Joshua 24:14-28

Introduction

Sometimes, you just want to watch something that doesn’t make you think, especially if you’re a rampant, out-of-control thinker like me. So, my go-to has become watching House Hunters International. I dig being able to see the housing markets in different places around the world and hearing why people are moving there. Here’s the most common plot-line: “Hi, I’m Gary, and this is my wife Joanna. We’re moving from Austin, TX to the Dominican Republic. I’m a software engineer, and my wife is an interior designer. Currently, we live in a Texas-sized 5000 square foot home. But, now, we’re looking to simplify. We’re tired of working so many hours and trying to maintain all of our stuff. We’re looking to move to Dominican in a hut on the beach where our only worry is sunblock.” That is, the most common plot line involves people who have the exact life they aimed to have, yet having attained it, want to simplify.

I wonder how many of you can relate to that. I wonder how many of us feel like all our life has boiled down to spinning a series of plates to try make sure that all our bases are covered. It seems like everywhere that we look and listen someone is telling us about another area of our life that has to be covered so that we can ensure that our families are happy and we are who we’re supposed to be. You’ve got to have a career, not a job. It’s got to be something that gets you excited every, single day. You’ve got to get a starter home and then a ‘real’ home so that your family can thrive. Your kids have to be academically prepared, athletically trained, artistically cultured, and spiritually engaged. You need to eat around the table every night, and you need to be at the ball field every night, and you need to prepare for the ACT every night, and you need to read your Bible every night, and you need to spend time with your husband/wife every night, and you need to check on friends every night. I mean, yo, do you feel that? It’s Mother’s Day today, and I don’t think anybody feels the weight of this more than moms. How many of my moms here this morning are thinking that a straw hut on some obscure island in the Dominican is starting to sound really good?

God’s Word

And, that’s what I think is in view in Joshua 24. Not a grass hut in the Dominican, per se, but a simpler, clearer way of living. Before his death, Joshua is leading Israel in a renewal of the covenant. He is wanting to ensure that they keep the main thing the main thing. And, he shows them, and us, how to simplify our lives (headline).

Decide what “matters” most.

Joshua 24:14–15 (ESV)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. 15And 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.”

Recognize that God is all that really matters.

“fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness” That’s what it means to fear him, and it’s why you serve him. To fear God is to recognize that his approval and his provision and his protection are the only realities that are essential to life. It’s to serve and commit your life to him because there is no thing or person greater to which you can devote your life. (Vs. 1-13) It’s a mind captivated with his faithfulness through the generations and his plague-sending sovereignty in Egypt and his bread-raining kindness in the wilderness and his wall-crushing power at Jericho. It’s to see his awesomeness and realize that He is above every God and devote every part of who you are to Him.

“in sincerity” = “integrity to the covenant” “wholeness/blameless” a call to a total lifestyle of allegiance.

“in faithfulness” = “loyalty” - Suzerain/Vassal - Good lords expected loyalty in return - v. 1-13

It’s single-minded, whole-hearted, unreserved dedication to God. It’s to realize that your life has only one goal, one aspiration - God. It’s not easy, but it is simple.

Reject all competitors.

It’s not easy because there are competitors to God that we face in our lives that feel really important, even critical, that can begin to divide our hearts. Two main competitors are popping up in Joshua 24, and they’re very relatable to us.

Past Comforts - “the gods your fathers served” Egypt always represented a slavery that Israel was comfortable with. They were always tempted to abandon what they had in YHWH to go back to the inadequate gods they were comfortable with in Egypt. Think of how this would look for us. There are inadequate gods all around us that can feel more comfortable, more familiar, even more reasonable than the radical new path that Christ is calling us toward. Christ is blazing for us a new trail to follow, but it’s easy to fall into old ruts. Money. Success. Approval. These are often forms of slavery that we’re comfortable with, and they enter our lives competing for our hearts. What old slaveries are comfortable with? What old paths are you tempted to retread?

Future add-ons - “the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell” It’s not just past comforts but future add-ons. The gods of the Amorites represented new opportunities for them. They were profiting from the blessing that they could attribute to the mightiest of the Canaanite cities, gods of the Amorites. So, there could be this thought, “Well, what if we could have them, too?” Very much the temptation here is not to flat-out leave YHWH behind, but to add to him. “We’ve got YHWH. Imagine if we had these gods, too.” It’s a polite southern way of saying that God isn’t enough for us. God + well-rounded kids; God + a meaningful career; God + greater prosperity; God + leisure time away

“choose whom you will serve” You see, it’s not God that has complicated our lives; it’s all the things that we’ve added to Him. This is exactly what Joshua is addressing here at 110 years old when he’s old enough to know something about life. It’s about making a choice. If you’re going to live for all the false gods, then choose them. If you’re going to live for what you want then choose it. “But, as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”

Y’all, the path to a simpler, more peaceful, more content, more dignified life is that we would reject the temptations to add on and just ask one question: What would most honor the Lord? That’s the only thing that matters. Not, what would produce the most well-rounded kids? Not, where do I want to live? Not, what kind of job would be my dream? Not, how much money can I make or how much free time can I have, but what will most honor God?

“Make sure” you believe it.

TRANSITION: So, they all say: “Of course, we’re in. We’re going to serve the Lord.” But, Joshua presses farther.

Joshua 24:19–20 (ESV)19But 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. 20If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, then he will turn and do you harm and consume you, after having done you good.”

Joshua: “You better make sure. A moment of emotional, goose-bump energy isn’t going to be enough. This a covenant. There are repercussions if you disobey.”

The simple life that God is calling you too is not a flaky, non-committal, when-you-feel-like-it commitment. In the first grade, I had a girlfriend named Jessie. Prettiest girl in first grade. Realized she was everybody’s girlfriend. How often do we treat our relationship with God like a first grade romance? “God, you get all that I am until something better comes along.” We treat him like a trial offer on an Airfryer. All-in for a week and then gone. This is a covenant! Are you really in?

“You are not able, for he is a holy God.” You’re weaker than you think you are. Holiness is perfect purity from the inside out. Is that you? You can’t do this. The decision to live a simple life begins with the realization of your limits. We take on what we cannot carry or sustain because we have a God-complex. This is a call away from our God-complex to realize that we’re incapable. This is a call away from the mom guilt culture. You can’t be the mom or the family or have the kids everybody says you must be and have. Every day, Israel would need God’s grace, mercy, and provision. Every day, they would need to renew this covenant. Their heart were easily drawn away, flaky in nature. They couldn’t.

“He is a jealous God.” Obedience is harder than you think it is. A call to count the costs. God isn’t willing to share you with the other gods. He is unwilling to share you with the world. You’ll miss out on some things. Your lifestyle won’t be able to mirror your neighbors. Your kids may not have the same opportunities as their friends. (Note that Joshua makes this a family decision.) You’re going to have to do without some things, but you’re already doing without somethings. Those things may just be dinner together or devotionals or life in the local church. The simple life of the gospel calls for you to count the costs and decide if you’re willing to do without what others think are necessary that you and your house might be devoted to Christ.

APP: This is what Jesus means when He says that if you want to follow him, you must deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow him. This is what He means when He tells those early disciples to count the costs. Are you willing to go where you’re took weak to go? Are you will to obey when obedience might cost you everything? Well, if you are, you have an offer beyond comprehension to these OT saints. Jesus offers you his holiness. He offers you his strength. He promises you his presence indwelling you. You’re too weak, but He isn’t. Obedience is costly, but you gain him and so you gain everything.

“Live” like you believe it.

They say they will serve the LORD. Joshua responds, “Well, then you better live like it.”

Joshua 24:23 (ESV)23He said, “Then put away the foreign gods that are among you, and incline your heart to the Lord, the God of Israel.”

It's unlikely they had any idols with them since Joshua had them destroy them all and Achan showed the result if they had not. It's more likely that Joshua knew they still had split affections in their hearts. Think of it. God delivered Israel from the slavery of the Egyptian gods, but Israel was still thirsty for Egypt. They had entered into the land of the Amorites. They were sleeping in their houses, houses which undoubtedly had shrines to the Amorite idols. Yet, their hearts were still thirsty for Amorite prosperity. Paul calls this the desires of the flesh, and he says that to seek the things of the flesh is death (Romans 8:6).

God saves us out of this world and yet we still have a taste for it. He saves us from this materialistic, achievement-driven society and yet we often find our hearts longing for what is material and not eternal, for achievement on earth rather than rewards in heaven. Our affections are split. THIS IS ME. I have not taken my heart completely from this world. I still have a taste for death, though Christ has given me life. That's why I want to cheat on a test. I want to achieve. That's why I after I upgrade my kitchen all I want to do is upgrade my bathroom. I still have a taste for death.

The OT is taught through geography.

24:1 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.

Gen 12:6 - God calls Abram - shows his heart by building an altar in Shechem to worship him in the midst of the pagans where his inheritance would be.

Gen 35:4 - Jacob had them bury their idols in Shechem.

In other words, Shechem is the place where love for God is expressed by inclining your heart to worship and burying your idols for good.

What families this morning would say “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord?” Would you come and bury your idols at the altar? Would you simplify your life?