Sermon – Joshua 24 – Choose the God You Will Serve

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard

First Presbyterian Church of Ocean City

Sermon – Joshua 24 – Choose the God You Will Serve

August 23, 2015

            I want you to continue thinking about a basket of summer vegetables.  The tomatoes from your garden are at their peak of flavor.  The crabs are coming out of the bay in abundance.  The sweet corn was picked this morning.  But today you are approaching a summertime feast with some trepidation because something new is about to happen.  For years you have always gone over to your parent’s house for the summertime family cookout.  But this year everyone is coming to your house.  The responsibility is now on you.  You have to get the crabs.  You have to grill the burgers and slice the tomatoes.  God still provides all the food we eat, but now you have to prepare it.

            This is what was happening to the Israelites.  The people of God had wondered in the wilderness for 40 years.  During this time God provided for their every need.  Then they entered the Promised Land and God drove out all their enemies.  Now they are settled on the land and enjoying their lives.  Finally they are at peace.  But now they must grow their own barley and wheat.  The must raise their own chickens and cows.  God still provides for them, but not by putting manna on the ground every day.  God provides by sending light and warmth from the sun and rain from the clouds so that the crops they plant will grow.

            The people of God have matured, and so Joshua takes this opportunity to ask them to make a choice.  This is the same choice we have.  We have to choose the god we will serve.  And as your pastor I will call on you to make this choice today.  We will get to this, but first let’s pray.

            May the words of my mouth, and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer.

Joshua 24:1 Then Joshua assembled all the tribes of Israel at Shechem. He summoned the elders, leaders, judges and officials of Israel, and they presented themselves before God.

            As Joshua approached the end of his long life he assembled his people for a great feast at Shechem.  His purpose was to ask them which god they intend to worship and serve.  There were several gods they could choose from.  One possibility was the group of gods Abraham worshiped as young man.  Many people thought that they should return to these ancient gods.  But here is what Joshua told them.

² … “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Long ago your ancestors, including Terah the father of Abraham and Nahor, lived beyond the Euphrates River and worshiped other gods. ³ But I took your father Abraham from the land beyond the Euphrates and led him throughout Canaan and gave him many descendants. I gave him Isaac, ⁴ and to Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. I assigned the hill country of Seir to Esau, but Jacob and his family went down to Egypt.

            So according to Joshua these ancient gods of Abraham’s forefathers were powerless.  They were unable to help Abraham and Sarah have children.  But when the Abraham followed the Lord God of Israel into Canaan he was blessed with numerous children and a large extended family.  So why would you worship impotent gods of your ancestors when you can serve the one true God?

            Other people wanted to worship the gods of Egypt.  They had learned about Egyptian gods when they were slaves.  These gods seemed pretty powerful at the time.  But God reminded them of this:

⁵ “‘Then I sent Moses and Aaron, and I afflicted the Egyptians by what I did there, and I brought you out. ⁶ When I brought your people out of Egypt, you came to the sea, and the Egyptians pursued them with chariots and horsemen as far as the Red Sea. ⁷ But they cried to the Lord for help, and he put darkness between you and the Egyptians; he brought the sea over them and covered them. You saw with your own eyes what I did to the Egyptians. Then you lived in the wilderness for a long time.

            So the Egyptian gods also were pretty powerless too.  They were unable to keep the Israelites as slaves.  The Lord God of Israel was far stronger than in impotent Egyptian gods when he parted the Red Sea and help them escape.  So why worship and serve them when the Lord God of Israel was clearly more powerful?

            Other people wanted to worship the gods of the land they were settling. Here is what Joshua told them:

⁸ “‘I brought you to the land of the Amorites who lived east of the Jordan. They fought against you, but I gave them into your hands. I destroyed them from before you, and you took possession of their land. ⁹ When Balak son of Zippor, the king of Moab, prepared to fight against Israel, he sent for Balaam son of Beor to put a curse on you.¹⁰ But I would not listen to Balaam, so he blessed you again and again, and I delivered you out of his hand.

¹¹ “‘Then you crossed the Jordan and came to Jericho. The citizens of Jericho fought against you, as did also the Amorites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hittites, Girgashites, Hivites and Jebusites, but I gave them into your hands. ¹² I sent the hornet ahead of you, which drove them out before you—also the two Amorite kings. You did not do it with your own sword and bow. ¹³ So I gave you a land on which you did not toil and cities you did not build; and you live in them and eat from vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant.’

            So the gods of the Amorites east of the Jordan, and the local gods of the people living in the Promised Land west of the Jordan were pretty impotent too.  Only the Lord God of Israel was worthy of worship.  So Joshua told them this:

¹⁴ “Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates 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 ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”

            And so we have a choice.  We can worship other gods or we can worship the Lord God of Israel.  Who will we worship?

            Before we can answer this question we have to ask, who are these other gods we could choose to worship and serve?  The 20^th Century theologian Karl Barth said that these others gods are any authority that we deem important.  For example you are driving here in Ocean City and you see flashing lights in your rear view mirror.  These lights represent the authority of the Ocean City Policy Department.  Since you deem this authority important you pull over.  Any authority, according to Barth, that you deem important is what the Bible calls “other gods”.  And the first commandment is very clear about where God stands with regard to these “other gods.”

Deuteronomy 5: ⁷ “You shall have no other gods before me.

            So you must not deem any other authority more important than God.

            These ideas were crucial when Adolf Hitler became the leader of Germany.  He was a powerful authority who people deemed most important.  This allowed him to seize control of the German church and replace bishops with men sympathetic to government policies.   But a small group of pastors resisted and formed the Confessing Church Movement.  They said that there was an authority they deemed more important than Hitler, and his name was Jesus Christ.  Here is what a member of the Confessing Church Movement, Karl Barth, wrote in the Theological Declaration of Barmen challenging Hitler’s church.

“Jesus Christ, as he is attested for us in Holy Scripture, is the one Word of God which we have to hear and which we have to trust and obey in life and in death.”  (Book of Confessions 8.11)

            With that statement the members of Confessing Church said that they deemed Jesus’ authority with greater importance than Hitler’s authority, putting their own lives at risk.

            Are there any “other gods” we serve?  Is there any authority we deem important?  Of course!  There are lots of other gods.  The government is one.  Business, money, power, education are all authorities we deem pretty important.   

            Is there any authority we deem more important that Jesus?  Why would we do this given all the blessings we have received from the Lord God of Israel?  No authority can forgive our sins besides Jesus.  No authority can grant us eternal life besides Jesus.  No authority will reign in the Kingdom of God besides Jesus.  So why would you worship and serve any other authority ahead of Jesus?

            Here is how the people of Joshua’s day answered this question:

¹⁶ “Far be it from us to forsake the Lord to serve other gods!   ²¹ … “No! We will serve the Lord.”

            Here is how the Confessing Church Movement answered this question in Nazi Germany:

“ We reject the false doctrine, as though the church, over and beyond its special commission, should and could appropriate the characteristics, the tasks, and the dignity of the State, thus itself becoming an organ of the State. (Theological Declaration of Barmen, 8.24)

The church’s commission, upon which its freedom is founded, consists in delivering the message of the free grace of God to all people in Christ’s stead, and therefore in the ministry of his own Word and work through sermon and Sacrament. (Theological Declaration of Barmen, 8.26)”

            That was their answer.  They declare that Jesus was the supreme authority in heaven and on earth.  How will we answer the question?  Will we serve other gods?  Will we deem any authority as more important than Jesus?  Or will we enter into a covenant with God today and pledge that we will have no other gods before him.  I urge you this day to choose the Lord God of Israel as revealed in the pages of scripture and in the person of Jesus Christ and serve only him.

            Our basket of summer vegetables is a reminder that all the food we eat comes from God.  As we mature in our faith we now must choose which God we will worship and serve.  As for me I will worship that God who provides that food that nourishes us.  I suggest you worship this God too.   Let's pray.

            Father in heaven we thank you for all the ways you bless us.  We recognize your power and authority.   And we deem your authority as more important than any other authority on earth.   And so we choose to worship and serve you.   This we pledge, in your Son’s name.  Amen.