Which will you choose?

Joshua 24:14 "Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. 15 But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD." 16 Then the people answered, "Far be it from us to forsake the LORD to serve other gods! 17 It was the LORD our God himself who brought us and our fathers up out of Egypt, from that land of slavery, and performed those great signs before our eyes. He protected us on our entire journey and among all the nations through which we traveled. 18 And the LORD drove out before us all the nations, including the Amorites, who lived in the land. We too will serve the LORD, because he is our God." 19 Joshua said to the people, "You are not able to serve the LORD. He is a holy God; he is a jealous God. He will not forgive your rebellion and your sins. 20 If you forsake the LORD and serve foreign gods, he will turn and bring disaster on you and make an end of you, after he has been good to you." 21 But the people said to Joshua, "No! We will serve the LORD." 22 Then Joshua said, "You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen to serve the LORD." "Yes, we are witnesses," they replied. 23 "Now then," said Joshua, "throw away the foreign gods that are among you and yield your hearts to the LORD, the God of Israel." 24 And the people said to Joshua, "We will serve the LORD our God and obey him."

If your family is like mine, you have all kinds of choices to make on a daily and weekly basis. Are you going to eat hot dogs and macaroni and cheese or pork chops and potato pancakes? Order Chicago-style pizza from Papa Murphy’s or thin crust pizza from Mike & Angelo’s? Stay in your pajamas all day on a snow day or go play in the snow pile? Clean your bedroom or do your homework? Play soccer on dad’s team or … play soccer on dad’s team? Watch Hannah Montana or the Super Bowl?

Some choices are fairly easy to make. Some are a lot more difficult.

One choice that shouldn’t be hard for us is whether or not we are going to choose to faithfully serve God. It shouldn’t be difficult, but it is. For example, two of my daughters each made $5 helping a neighbor shovel out his driveway. I gave them a choice – keep the money they earned or give it to Epiphany’s debt reduction to make their $10 become $20 with matching funds. They still haven’t decided. And that’s fine. It’s a difficult choice. What would you choose?

Joshua gave a clear and creedal confession of faith that has stirred God’s people for almost three and a half millennia, “But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” His words are a bold and unashamed statement of personal commitment to the Lord. Even if he has to stand alone, as he and Caleb did before they ever entered the Promised Land (Numbers 14:1-9), he will serve the Lord.

You would think we would be eager to join our voices with Joshua’s in one of the most famous committed choices in the Bible. I may hear these commitments from your lips and see Joshua’s words plastered all over your homes, but as your pastor, this is often what I see – “We will serve the Lord … as long as my child is singing in church this Sunday.” “We will serve the Lord … as long as we don’t have any sports, vacation, work, weather, sleeping in or anything else to do.” “I will serve the Lord … as long as other people won’t notice that I’m a Christian.” “I will serve the Lord … as long as I get something in return or it isn’t too costly or too time consuming or too difficult or dangerous or I’m not inconvenienced in any way.”

Joshua challenges the Israelites to make a choice. After Moses died, Joshua took over as the leader of the Children of Israel. He had led them across the countryside of the Promised Land of Canaan defeating the Amorites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hittites, Girgashites, Hivites, Jebusites (Joshua 24:11) or any other “-ites” I may have missed.

Now Joshua is much older and ready to retire. He gathers the people in the center of Canaan, at Shechem. Before he goes, though, he challenges the Israelites, “"Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living.”

Israel faces a choice – waffling between having fun with the local false gods or undivided allegiance to the one, true God. It is between idols of wood, stone and metal and the living, powerful, gracious Lord. It is between the gods who were powerless to help their worshipers keep their land and the Lord who had just given His people that same land. Choose!

While the choice is so clear at Shechem, the author of Judges tells of Israel’s tragic choice not long in the future: “Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD and served the Baals.” (Judges 2:11) 650 years after Joshua, the prophet Hosea will write, “They consult a wooden idol and are answered by a stick of word” (Hosea 4:12). “They offer human sacrifice and kiss the calf idols” (Hosea 13:2). Human nature, the pressures of society and the great Deceiver are hard at work to blur the obvious choice.

Understand that Joshua is not advocating the “decision theology” of many preachers today when he says, “Choose for yourselves.” Our Lutheran-ized ears prick up when we hear the words “decide” or “choose.” We know that modern “decision theology” preachers are wrong because a person cannot choose to become a Christian or decide to be saved. Sinful humanity has no such power of its own to turn from unbelief to faith in the Lord. That power comes from God alone (1 Corinthians 12:3).

Joshua is here calling for a choice from people who already own the gift of faith from the Lord. Faith in what Christ accomplishes at Calvary changes everything. Joshua is challenging both the Israelites and you to make a choice. Choose the God who has chosen you. You can choose to abandon the Lord or, by the Holy Spirit given you, confirm your God-given faith and live as salt and light in the world.

An elderly Christian lady, who was crippled with arthritis, used to hobble to church services on crutches. It was a great ordeal and required a considerable amount of hard work and pain. A friend of hers observed her regular and faithful attendance and asked, “How do you manage to be at every service?” Her answer was, “My heart gets there first and my old legs just follow after.”

That’s the kind of commitment God wants in every aspect of our lives. I know a family that would drive two hours one way to go to a WELS church in Ohio, because there are no WELS churches in West Virginia. I know a family who decided to send their child to public high school so they could sizably increase their offerings to their church. I know a gentleman who reads his Bible every day in the lunchroom. Not only is it his devotion time, but it is also his witnessing time. Stories like these abound. But sadly, they are also few and far between.

For most of us, if not all of us, our faithfulness, loyalty and commitment levels are much lower. I wonder what would happen if we applied the same standards of loyalty to our Christian activities that we expect from other areas of our lives.

If you car starts once every three tries, is it reliable? If the postman skipped delivery every Monday and Thursday, is he trustworthy? If you don’t go to work once or twice a month, are you a reliable employee? If your refrigerator stops working for a day or two every now and then, do you say, “Oh well, it works most of the time”? If your water heater provides an icy cold shower every now and then, is it dependable?

If you worship only once or twice a month, are you considered a faithful Christian? If no one at work can tell you are a Christian, are you a light in the workplace? If you only pray when you are desperate, are you committed to your faith? If you take the Lord’s faithfulness for granted and give Him only lips service in return, are you trustworthy? If you proudly confess your faith as a Christian here in church but then leave that faith at the door when you walk out, is that being a follower of Jesus? If you don’t have any Baals or Ashoreths or Buddahs in your home, yet you hang onto the gods of materialism and wealth, and let the whims and ways of the world guide your day-to-day decisions, do you have an undivided allegiance to the Lord?

I can scold, remind, email and call you. The church elders can write letters and talk to you. That may get your attention and you may start coming a little more often. But that’s not being committed. That’s us being committed for you. That’s not making the choice on your own. That’s mediocrity at best.

Another pastor once said to me, “God is faithful and He expects His people to be faithful. God’s Word speaks of faithful servants, faithful in a few things, faithful in the least, faithful in the Lord, faithful ministers, etc. All points to the day when the Lord will say, ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant.’ But what terrible times we have in our churches trying to keep people faithful in attendance and loyalty! How we reward and coax and tantalize church members into doing things they don’t want to do but which they would if they really loved God! The only service that counts is faithful service.” Then he added, “True faith shows up in faithfulness. Not everyone can sing or preach, but all can be faithful.”

The only way that you will be able to make the right choice is if you finally realize just how committed our Lord is to you and what your commitment means to your faith and your family.
The Israelites made the right choice after Joshua reviewed the marvelous record of God’s undeserved love, powerful acts of rescue, fulfilled promises and covenant faithfulness. Seeing all God had done, the people vowed to live as salt and light: “We will serve the LORD our God and obey him.”

You can make the right choice once the marvelous record of God’s love in Christ takes hold of your hearts. As the children of God today, we see that God has defeated enemies far fiercer than the Amorites, Perizzites, and Canaanites. Sin is squashed. Death is doomed. The devil is defeated. The gates to the heavenly Promised Land stand open. It is a land flowing with milk and honey and filled with green pastures and quiet waters. God feeds you with His heavenly manna of His Son’s body and blood. In this land of desert and destruction, He quenches your thirst with His forgiveness, love and Holy Word. He sanctifies you with the Holy Spirit to live the kind of life Jesus wants you to live.

Though we have often chosen false gods over the one true God, though we often place our own convenience and desires over the worship of the Lord, though we often choose to hide our light and cover our salt, still God in love has chosen us, made us His own in Baptism, redeemed us through the blood of Christ, called us to saving faith by the Gospel and sanctifies us with His Holy Spirit. Still He forgives us, daily and richly blesses us and lavishes on us all the riches of His grace. Though we are often not committed to Him, our Lord is committed to us. Though we often do not choose Him, in His grace and mercy, God has chosen us … for an eternity.

Looking at God’s great acts of grace and power, we cannot help but join in vowing our commitment to God. You express your love for God by being committed to Him. Nothing significant ever happens in life without commitment. Your commitments shape your life. Your commitments can develop you or they can destroy you, but either way, they will define you.

Many are afraid to commit to anything and just drift through life. Others make half-hearted commitments to competing values, which lead to frustration and mediocrity. Make the choice today to be committed to the Lord who is committed to you. Put away the gods of self and sin and through the Holy Spirit, yield your hearts and join with Joshua in his life of salt and light. Make the right choice. Be committed. Make your promise today: As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. Amen.

5th Sunday after Epiphany at Epiphany on February 6, 2011