Joshua.24.1-2.14-18;
The Second Sunday in Lent, March 17, 2018;
Life in Christ
Lutheran Church, Grand Marais, MN;
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. 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. 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. 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.”
Then the people answered, “Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods, 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. 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.” ” (Joshua
24:1-2, 14–18, ESV)
Grace and peace to
you from Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
One of the things
that is most sure about American life is the choices we have. There is a whole
row at Walmart dedicated to choosing toothpaste. In fact, you might say,
Walmart itself is an institution dedicated to the prospect of choice. Nothing
displays our choices more clearly. My wife and I recently went to the Walmart
at Ames. While our Walmart is fine, the choices one finds there make our small
store look downright poor. So, our lives are full of choices. What car do you
drive? Ford or Chevy? Vikings or Packers? Some choices are important, some are
unimportant. Some choices are big, some are small. Some are heart wrenching
some are easy.
Because our lives
are what they are, that is filled with choices, it might be easy to project the
idea on to places in your life where a choice is not yours to make. For
example, what about God? Is he your choice to make? Did you decide one day to
follow God after living your whole life as his enemy? Did you choose one day to
make a commitment to God? Well, that's what it sounds like is happening in our
reading form the book of Joshua, isn't it?
Joshua assembled the
twelve tribes of Israel to give them the word of the LORD. “Thus says the
LORD,” said Joshua, and the word of the Lord comes to the people. What does the
LORD say? He reminds the people of their fathers who lived beyond the
Euphrates, the fathers who served other gods. He reminds them that he took one
of those fathers, Abraham, out of that foreign land of foreign gods and gave
him the land of Canaan. The LORD reminds them of Isaac and Esau and Jacob and
the descendants of Jacob, and what he did for them. He reminds them of Moses
and Aaron, his instruments that he used to bring his people out of slavery in
Egypt. He reminds them that he drove the peoples out before them and he told
them “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” (Jo 24:13).
Joshua delivers to
the people of Israel this command: serve the LORD; put away the gods! Serve the
LORD, the LORD who speaks these words, who rescued them, and who delivered them
into a land he has promised. If this for some reason, some odd reason, seems
evil, displeasing in their sight, Joshua demands that they choose which god
they will serve. How about the ones beyond the Euphrates? How about the ones
down in Egypt? Joshua, however, declares, “As for me and my household, we will
serve the LORD” (Jo 24:15). Well, that's just like us. Isn't it? It's a perfect
example of a world full of choices! Doesn't this prove the we can choose God?
Choose the gods of your father, the gods of the Amorites, or serve the God that
brings you pleasure, or serve the god that tells you that you are always right,
or choose a combination, or choose the one true God. Is Joshua really
suggesting to the tribes and to you that they and we have the right to choose
God? Absolutely not! One who thinks that Joshua 24 is about making a choice for
the LORD has sadly misunderstood this word. Choose for yourselves amongst the
gods that your fathers worshiped, sure. Choose one of the gods of the Amorites,
yeah you could do that. That is no different than choosing between a blue door
and a white one or between ham and turkey. Making the LORD just another choice,
no way!
The people respond
adamantly that they will not follow any other God than the LORD. They seem
appalled by the very suggestion itself. “Far be it from us!” Never! Never! Let
it not be! They say they will follow no one other than the LORD who saved them
and showed them great signs (Jo 24:17). Is it simply that they didn’t want to
bite the hand that fed them? Is it just a matter that these people made a good
and educated choice? Joshua bursts that bubble straight away. “But Joshua said
to the people, ‘You are not able to serve the LORD, for he is a holy God’” (v.
19). Joshua recognizes the sinful condition of this people and their lack of
power and authority to do any choosing. Freedom of choice just failed them.
The confession that
Joshua and the people make is bold: my household and I will serve the LORD, and
far be it from us that we would serve anyone other, for the LORD is the one
true God. This response, however, has nothing to do with their choice but
everything to do with God’s choice. God took Abraham from beyond the river. He
chose Abraham. God delivered his people from Egypt. He chose them. Now this
word of the LORD has come to the twelve tribes. Their response? To serve and
follow him. Their response flows from faith, which is never a choice of man but
always a work of God. God has done his work on them through his word!
Always a work of
God! So, it is in your life. As neither Joshua nor the twelve tribes chose the
LORD, so we have no ground for choice. Jesus says, “You did not choose me, but
I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your
fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give
it to you” (Jn 15:16). Choose for yourself this day whom you will follow (Jo
24:15). Who you will follow is Jesus who has already chosen you and leads you
to himself by faith. The one you follow is Jesus who has drawn you to his cross
through the waters of your Holy Baptism. The one whom you follow is Jesus who
finds you dead in your trespasses and brings you to himself—to life—even when
we had no intention to follow. “But God shows his love for us in that while we
were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom 5:8). God’s choice for you is no
accident or afterthought: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the
heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the very foundation of the
world, that we should be holy and blameless before him” (Eph 1:3-4).
So what does the LORD’s
work mean for Joshua? What does it mean for the twelve tribes? What does it
mean for the disciples? What does it mean for you? It means being chosen by the
God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob who sent his Son to be your salvation, the
promise fulfilled. It means receiving that gift by a faith that is his work
alone. It means living a confession that looks like these words: As for me and
my household, we will serve the LORD, the LORD, who is the true God. It means
confessing with our lips and lives that we follow none other than the LORD. He
is our Savior who came after us and rescued us on the cross. Amen.
The peace of God
that passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Jesus Christ.
Amen.
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