(Audio version; Music: "Before The Throne" by Shane & Shane--WorshipMob--Real. Live. Music)
Introduction
Resolutions are funny things don’t you
think? Not that we shouldn’t have resolve to pursue or accomplish certain tasks
but we have this odd tradition, at least here in America, that on January 1st
of each year, millions of people make a list of things they hope to accomplish
in the new year. They are called Resolutions.
I think they’re funny because so many make them but so few fulfill them. I’m
pretty diligent about getting to the gym at least every other day during the
year. However, I stay away from the gym in the days right after the first of
the year because going to the gym to get into shape or lose weight is
inevitably at the top of the list of Resolutions
for countless people. It usually only takes 30 days or so before the majority
of the new-comers stop coming and about 90 days before it’s back to just the
regulars. Of course not all New Year Resolutions
are about getting into shape or losing weight. Some are concerned about
finances, others involve luxurious living and still others involve world
travels. However, there are some Resolutions
that seem more important than others. Resolutions
that touch our hearts and reach deep into our souls. Resolutions that involve relationships. There are husbands who
resolve to love and cherish their wives as the gifts they are intended to be.
There are wives who resolve to honor and respect their husbands for the
sacrifices they make to care for them. There are children who resolve to honor
and obey their parents. There are parents who resolve not to be overly harsh
with their children and give them the one thing money can’t buy—themselves.
There are even some who resolve to care for and love their neighbors as
themselves. And there are some, maybe even quite a few, who resolve to do
something few people will have the courage to do, they resolve to commit their
lives to following and serving God either for the first time or once again. It’s
not as easy as it seems especially in a world filled with so many distractions
and attractions to other, easier things. It was like that for Israel as well.
God was always present with Israel yet they were constantly distracted from God
and attracted to just about everything else. So at just such a time when Israel
was thoroughly distracted from their exclusive commitment to God, a man named
Joshua stepped up and confronted the people with a challenge—Joshua challenged
them to pick a side, God or anything else. And not being a man simply of words,
Joshua took the lead and announced that his resolution was to follow and serve
God only.
Subject Text
Joshua 24:14-27
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. 15But 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.” 16Then
the people answered, “Far be it from us to forsake the LORD to
serve other gods! 17It 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. 18And
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.” 19Joshua 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. 20If 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.” 21But the people said to Joshua, “No! We will
serve the LORD.” 22Then 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.” 24And
the people said to Joshua, “We will serve the LORD our God and obey him.” 25On that day Joshua made a covenant for
the people, and there at Shechem he drew up for them decrees and
laws. 26And Joshua recorded these
things in the Book of the Law of God. Then he took a large stone and set it up there under the oak near the holy
place of the LORD. 27“See!” he said to all the people. “This stone will be a witness against us. It has heard all the
words the LORD has said to us. It will be a witness against you if you are
untrue to your God.”
Context
By this
point, Moses had passed away and Joshua has taken over as the primary leader of
Israel. If you haven’t read the book of Joshua, I want to challenge you to do
so as part of this lesson. I don’t want to take anything away from the miracle
of liberating the Jews from Egypt and the subsequent Exodus toward the Promised
Land because so much of Israel’s heritage to this day is closely tied to it.
However, the way God cleared the path for Joshua and the people to take
possession of Canaan rivals any of God’s miraculous provisions you read about
in Moses’ account of the Exodus. Joshua was God’s instrument to lead the people
into the Promised Land—Canaan. Remember, Joshua was the one who carried out
God’s instructions to conquer Jericho by marching around the fortified city for
seven days with the priests and the Ark of the Covenant in the lead. Then on
the seventh day, the priests where instructed to blow the rams’ horns in their
possession and all the people were to shout at the fortified city. I’m sure the
watchers on the walls of Jericho were having a great laugh until the walls of
Jericho collapsed beneath them and Joshua and his army simply walked in and
took control of the city. This is only one of many victories that Joshua would
spearhead on his way to taking control of Canaan. However, you have to remember
who we’re talking about here. We take Israel’s military prowess for granted
because we imagine the armies led first by King Saul and then by King David. However,
at the time of Joshua, Israel was only one generation (40 years) removed from
their 400-year captivity as slaves in Israel! The fact that they conquered at
least thirty-one kings on their way to capturing the Promised Land says little
about their sudden military proficiency and everything about God’s faithfulness
to accomplish in and for Israel what He promised He would do—deliver the people
from the iron grip of the world’s super-power at that time, Egypt, and clear
the path of all opposition on the way to taking possession of their inheritance
of the Promised Land. Once a significant portion of Canaan was in their
possession, Joshua was the one that divided the land among the twelve tribes of
Israel. In the text immediately preceding our Subject Text, Joshua, now old and at the end of his reign as
Israel’s leader, addresses the people and the leaders that would succeed him,
and reminds them of God’s sovereignty in their history beginning from the time
of Abraham, through their Egyptian captivity, and culminating in their
deliverance from Egypt and their eventual settlement in Canaan. Now that Joshua
has reminded all the people and the appointed leadership of all God did to
bring them to that point in time, Joshua wisely set the stage to issue his
challenge in our Subject Text.
Text Analysis
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.
With the
skill of a seasoned trial lawyer, you could say that once Joshua got to v. 14, he had presented enough evidence
of God’s sovereignty and faithfulness that he had the people and the leadership
cornered. With all that God had done for them and was continuing to do for them
set as the backdrop, Joshua issued a challenge to them to forsake the false
gods that littered their history. It’s hard to imagine how the people could put
their faith in any of the gods of their forefathers or the gods of their
captors having witnessed the ferocity of God’s love for them. But Israel’s
history from the time of our Subject
Text forward tells us exactly why Joshua issued this challenge. The allure
of false god’s would derail Israel time and again throughout its history. When
Joshua begins his challenge with the phrase “fear God,” he is trying to
crystalize in the minds of the people the gravity of their actions and attitude
toward the God who brought the world’s super-power to its knees and smashed,
literally in some cases, every barrier that stood in their way to possessing
the Promised Land. The point Joshua was trying to make was that God was not one
to be trifled with. Joshua knew that unless the people remained faithful in
their allegiance to God alone, their possession of the Promised Land as God’s
covenant promise to them would be short lived. God would not tolerate being
faithful to His chosen people in the face of their unfaithfulness. “Throughout
the Old Testament, the land was a fundamental element in the character of the
covenant. The Israelites were to obey the words of Yahweh that their days might
be long in the land, and that there might be prosperity in the land. When
idolatry and apostasy became serious problems, the prophets declared that,
unless they repented, the people or seed would be driven out of the land.”[1]
15But 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.”
I don’t
know about you but I sense a bit of cynicism in Joshua in v. 15 when he gives the people the option of following and
worshipping other gods if following and worshipping the one true God seems
“undesirable” to them. It’s only vaguely cynical taken as a stand-alone verse
but in the context of the verses that led up to this verse, this may be how it
sounded to them: “Look at all the things God has done for you and your
ancestors beginning with Abraham. Look at how He brought Egypt to its knees
after you had been slaves there for 400 years. Look how God paved the way for
you to live here in this magnificent land flowing with milk and honey. You get
to live in houses you didn’t build and enjoy the fruits of the fields that you
didn’t plant or cultivate. God took everything that belonged to the Canaanites
and handed it to you. And in return, all He asks is that you love and worship
Him alone. But, hey, if that’s too much to ask after giving you everything you
could possibly want, then go ahead and follow some other worthless god and see
what that gets you. Not me, I’m too smart for that. Me, my family, and everyone
associated with me know the Truth when it’s staring us in the face. We’re going
to commit our lives to following and worshiping God alone.” “When he [Joshua]
was old, though much had been accomplished, there was still much land to be
conquered. Yet in his time the Lord had in essence fulfilled all of his
promises to his people. Joshua’s parting words again stressed the obedience to
the Book of the Law of Moses. His final sermon was his life—he would serve
Yahweh and him alone as he called Israel to covenant renewal.”[2]
Could there be a more powerful witness to the truth of God than the “sermon”
delivered by a faithful and obedient life?
16Then the people
answered, “Far be it from us to forsake the LORD to serve other gods! 17It
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. 18And 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.”
From the
very beginning, humanity has had the choice to be obedient to God. Unbelievers
use the consequences of unbelief as proof that God is not loving but is instead
manipulative and self-obsessed. Of course this is hardly an objective appraisal
of God when it comes from people who want God to bless their sinful lives.
God’s love is not conditional. However, His ongoing blessings are. Adam and Eve
lived in a world of perpetual blessing unconditionally loved by God. And
although God’s love never wavered or waned, His blessing was conditioned on
their obedience to never eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They
chose to disobey and it cost them the
blessing of eternal life in paradise on earth. Similarly here in our Subject Text, God’s love for His chosen
people is unconditional but continuing to possess the Promised Land is
conditioned on their faithfulness to follow and serve God alone. Let me try to
explain it this way: God is like an umbrella in a storm and as long as we remain
under the umbrella, we remain dry. However, we’re not bound to remain under the
umbrella. We are perfectly free to leave the safety of the umbrella but we’re
not free to complain about getting wet. The people acknowledge in vv. 16-18 that God has been their
divine Savior and Protector. Joshua set them up by recounting the history of
God’s faithfulness and blessing through the centuries and the conditions for
God’s continued blessings and the people make what is clearly a confession of
faith. The people understand what God has done, they are given a choice of
being in relationship with God or not, and they are given the terms of being in
that relationship with God. The people make a public profession of faith in
God, agreeing to the terms of being in relationship with Him. Although the
people would be faithful to their agreement to follow God during Joshua’s
lifetime, it is likely that they did so as a result of Joshua’s leadership
example rather than out of a rabid commitment to be faithful to the oath they
had taken. In fact, during the period of the Judges, long after Joshua had
passed away, God would use this oath they made to convict them of being grossly
unfaithful.
19Joshua 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. 20If 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.” 21But
the people said to Joshua, “No! We will serve the LORD.”
It can be
difficult to understand vv. 19-21
because it seems like Joshua is trying to disqualify their confession or even
somehow talk them out of it. At first he wanted the people to chose whether
they would be faithful to follow God or if they would follow other gods.
However, when the people make an oath to follow God, Joshua in essence says,
“No, no that’s probably not a good idea because God is holy and jealous. Talk
is cheap and I know you people. You’ll just do whatever comes easy and serves
your selfish purposes. It’s probably better if you don’t make an oath in the
first place than make an oath and break it because it becomes difficult or
inconvenient to keep.” But the people won’t be dissuaded. Joshua has done too
good of a job presenting his case in favor of being in relationship with God
and the people have agreed. Now it’s time to put up or shut up. “[Joshua’s]
seeming rejoinder in fact dispenses to theologically naïve Israel a strong dose
of reality in order to dispel a dangerous delusion. Probably Joshua senses in
Israel’s response a mistakenly narrow preoccupation with Yahweh’s ability to
protect. The danger is that they fail to reckon fully with Yahweh’s unique
character compared to the gods they have known. His audience viewed the latter
as so easy to please that they serve several of them at the same time. They
would, thus, assume they could easily get along with Yahweh in a mutual
back-scratching relationship: They protect Yahweh and he protects them.
Rhetorically, Joshua’s reply underscores that two unique character traits of
Yahweh—his holiness and his jealousy—make serving him all-demanding. Those
traits also make the present moment a deadly serious transaction, not a simple,
casual formality to be endured and then ignored. He is a ‘holy God.’ To be
‘holy’ means that he is one of a kind, not just any old ‘god’…This poses a
problem for humans since, when they approach him, his holiness explosively
collides with their sinfulness. In other words, Yahweh is not as easy to get
along with as Israel’s quick, sincere reply might suggest. Humans may only come
near him on his own terms…Humans must always reckon with the ever-present
threat that Yahweh might ‘break out against’ those who fail to honor his
holiness. He is a ‘jealous God.’ He does not tolerate deviations from his
policy. Instead, in defense of his honor he angrily lashes out at those who
slight his sovereignty or oppose his plans. That is why, rather than forgive
their ‘transgressions’ and ‘sins,’ he will hold Israel accountable for them. It
is simply out of character for him to let such conduct slide. In short,…’an
intolerant demand for exclusivity’ comprises his demand to be Israel’s only God
and not to share his claim for their worship and love with any other deity.
Yahweh is passionately possessive of his prerogatives…Joshua disabuses Israel
of the misperception that Yahweh’s goodness toward them will continue no matter
what. On the contrary, Joshua says, make no mistake: The ‘[very] bad’ (NIV
‘disaster’) will replace the ‘good’ should Israel drop Yahweh and take up with
foreign gods. That coming ‘bad’ will meet the same high standard of quality as
the ‘good’.”[3]
22Then 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.” 24And the people said to Joshua, “We will
serve the LORD our God and obey him.”
There is a
certain duty to insure that our lives conform practically in accordance with
what we say we believe. In other words, what we confess to believe is
meaningless if it fails manifest itself in our behavior toward God and one
another. Actions speak louder than words and that’s exactly the point Joshua
was making in vv. 22-24 when he
tells the people that they must turn their backs on their previous allegiances
to foreign gods and turn their hearts toward the one true God. Do you recognize
what Joshua is commanding the people to do? To turn away from sin and turn
toward God is the definition of repentance. This has always been the duty of
all prophets in all ages—to turn wandering and unfaithful humanity back toward
God. Every prophet down through the ages was commissioned to do the same thing
including John the Baptist whose job it was to baptize those who came to him
with the “water for repentance” (Mt 3:11). Repentance is always a two-step
process: The first step is to turn toward God while the second is to turn away
from our sinful lives. Committing our lives to the first step without fully
embracing the second step makes our commitment to the first step a lie and
self-defeating. “Israel gives an extended answer demonstrating she has
understood Yahweh’s demands. They accept Yahweh as their God. They promise to
serve him. They pledge to listen obediently to his voice…The identity of Israel
stands not in her confession of faith nor in her cultic loyalty. The basic
identity of Israel resides in the conversation she carries on with God,
listening to his word and obeying it. This, and only this, is true service of
Yahweh.”[4]
25On that day Joshua
made a covenant for the people, and there at Shechem he drew up for them
decrees and laws. 26And Joshua recorded these things in the Book of
the Law of God. Then he took a large stone and set it up there under the oak
near the holy place of the LORD. 27“See!” he said to all the people.
“This stone will be a witness against us. It has heard all the words the LORD
has said to us. It will be a witness against you if you are untrue to your
God.”
The
confession of faith in God has never been a casual matter. The Bible documents the
many times when a person or group of people make a commitment to God how they leave
behind some form of physical evidence as a testimony to that professed
commitment—either an altar or some kind of totem of stacked stones or even a
single large stone. And Joshua’s actions in vv. 25-27 are no different. Joshua formalizes the peoples’
confession in writing and adds it to the Book of the Law. Now that is serious
business! On top of that, Joshua set up a large stone under an oak tree that was
designated as a holy place dedicated to God. Why a stone monument? Because a
public reminder creates personal accountability. Let me try to explain. I have
been married for 30 years. After we completed our marriage vows, we signed a
marriage certificate. Honestly, if my life depended on finding that certificate
in a short period of time, I’d be dead. Thankfully, that’s not the only
evidence of the vows I made 30 years ago. I wear a wedding band that has rarely
left my finger in 30 years. In fact, if I remove the ring, there is a very
distinct impression that the ring has left on my finger. The physical evidence
isn’t really a reminder to me that I made a marriage vow to my wife, I was
there so it’s kind of hard to forget that. Instead, the ring is a testimony to
the rest of the world of the vows I’ve made. It creates a certain degree of
accountability. Why do you think married people remove their wedding rings when
they seek to engage in extra-marital affairs? Now let’s look at the principle
in the context of Jesus’ Great Commission and your personal salvation. What are
the elements of the Great Commission found at the end of Matthew’s gospel? 1)
“Go” and make disciples; 2) “Baptize” those who make a profession of faith; and
3) “Teach” those who have been baptized how to be obedient to all the things
commanded by God. It’s the second one that I really want to focus on in the
context of vv. 25-27 of our Subject Text. We are not saved because
we are baptized. We are baptized because we are saved. Our baptism represents
the large stone that Joshua erected as a monument to the peoples’ oath. Our
baptism commemorates the confession of faith we have made in Jesus Christ. It
is not a requirement for the efficacy of our salvation just like the large
stone wasn’t a requirement for the efficacy of the oath Israel took.
Nevertheless, our baptism is a public commemoration of personal devotion to God
and it serves as the marker that the public can point to as a witness against
us if our lives don’t conform to all the practical aspects of the confession we
made. If you have made a confession of faith in Christ and haven’t yet been
baptized, I encourage you to do so knowing full well that a public profession
of your faith can be extremely dangerous. Your salvation is not dependent on
your baptism so I will leave the decision to be baptized for those of you who
face danger daily because of your faith between you and God. For the rest of
you, if you haven’t been baptized I want you to count the cost of doing so
before you do it because you will provide tangible evidence against yourself if
your life and actions don’t conform to what you say you believe. If you’re
prepared to make that commitment of faith in Jesus Christ or if you are
prepared to recommit your life to being a faithful follower of Jesus Christ
then it’s time you announce that publicly through baptism. With respect to
Israel, it would have been difficult for the people of Israel to deny their
oath with that huge stone standing there that everyone could point to as
witness to the public oath they made.
Application
Do you want
to know something revealing about Resolutions.
They reveal what’s important in our lives. When we resolve to quit smoking, we
reveal that our cardio-pulmonary health is important to us. When we resolve to
go to the gym and lift weights, we reveal that we want our muscles to be bigger
or our bodies to be more toned. When we resolve to make or save more money, we
reveal that our finances are important to us. When we resolve to quit drinking,
we reveal that we want to regain greater control over our lives. When we
resolve to be better husbands, we reveal that we want to cherish our wives.
When we resolve to be better wives, we reveal that we want to honor our
husbands. When we resolve to be better parents, we reveal that we value our
children. When we resolve to be better neighbors, we reveal that other peoples’
needs are important to us. There are countless other Resolutions that millions of people make every year. Some of those Resolutions seem more valuable while
others seem trivial to us. Nevertheless, they all manage to give insight into
our character and the things that matter in our lives. Making a resolution
necessarily implies that someone is committing to do something that they hadn’t
previously been doing. The people of Israel were making a resolution when they
made an oath to serve only God. It was a resolution because prior to that point
they weren’t serving God exclusively. He was just one of an assortment of gods
that survived their history from before their Egyptian captivity along with
those that were adopted during their Egyptian captivity. However, our Subject Text tells us that from that point on they were resolved to
follow and serve God exclusively. The consequences for failing to live up to or
fulfill our Resolutions are usually
benign or limited to our earthly lives. For example, if we fail to fulfill our
resolution to be a better spouse, our marriage may come to a painful end
leaving emotional scars that may last the rest of our lives. But the pain of a
failed marriage will end at the end of this life. There is, however, one
resolution that transcends time. The resolution to commit or recommit our lives
to following Jesus Christ is the only resolution with consequences for this
life and the life to come. For you who are unbelievers, will you consider
making that your life’s resolution? And before you believers think this message
isn’t for you because you’ve already resolved to follow Jesus Christ
exclusively, I want to ask you a question. Does your life reflect the faithful
fulfillment of your resolution? Before you say ‘yes’ because you don’t
recognize any other gods aside from the God of the Bible. Do you realize that
anything can fulfill the definition of a god. A god doesn’t have to be a
person. By definition, a god can be just about anything that sets itself up to
be the highest priority in your life. Your job can be your god. Creation can be
your god. Money can be your god. Sex can be your god. Power can be your god. Your
spouse or your boyfriend or girlfriend can be your god. Your child can be your
god. Your possessions can be your god. Your health can be your god. Government
can be your god. You can be your own god. So before you decide that this
message isn’t for you because you’re already a Christian, examine yourself and
your life to be sure that no one can point to your life and say that it is not
consistent with the baptism that gives witness to the resolution you once made
to follow and serve Jesus Christ as the one and only God in your life. So as
you look down the path of this coming year at the things you would like to
accomplish or change in your life, will you have the courage to pursue
something beyond going to the gym more or trying to be a better person? This
year when you’re preparing your list of objectives to accomplish, will you make
following and serving Jesus Christ number one on your list of Resolutions?
[1]
William Sanford LaSor, David Allan Hubbard, and Frederic William Bush, Old Testament Survey: The Message, Form, and
Background of the Old Testament, (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans
Publishing Co., 1996), p. 152.
[2]
Willem A. VanGemeren, gen. ed., New
International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology & Exegesis, Vol. 4,
(Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1997), p. 809.
[3]
Robert L. Hubbard, Jr., Joshua—The
NIV Application Commentary, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2009), pp. 557-559.
[4]
Trent C. Butler, Joshua—Word Biblical
Commentary, (Waco, TX: Word Books, 1983), p. 276.
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