Israel’s Choice (Joshua 24:14-28)

“But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.” Joshua 24:15

This Sunday is the last on our series on the book of Joshua.

Israel’s Choice (Joshua 24:14-28)

Are you Trendy or Traditionalist?

It was great to baptise Arthur this morning. As we gather and celebrate new life and make promises for his future, it is worth reflecting on what kind of world Arthur is growing up into and what choices he may face in his life.

We live in a rapidly changing world.

Technology is rapidly advancing with many of us now carrying what only a few years ago would have been considered a supercomputer in our pockets. Artificial Intelligence has started replacing some jobs and robotics is advancing rapidly, with a humanoid robot this week running faster than any human being for the first time.

At the same time social mores are changing. Attitudes to sex, relationships, individuality and even death are all being questioned. Individuals need to be released from the constraints of social expectations to be whatever they choose.

The trendy are those who choose to embrace these new ways. Technology is liberating us to be able to achieve so much more, whilst the social changes are creating a society of tolerance and inclusion that is to be celebrated.

The traditionalist, however, questions all this. Are we really any happier with all these changes? After all, aren’t we facing a crisis in mental health across our society? Isn’t the economy under enormous pressure? Aren’t we rather in a broken Britain? Surely, we need to embrace the old ways, look back to the ways and methods that have stood the test of time and embrace an old fashioned traditionalist culture once more. Shouldn’t we be encouraging family views, want to make Britain great again and preserve the uniqueness of our culture?

And in many ways this is the kind of choice that is presented to people in today’s world are you a trendy or traditionalist? Or probably it will be are you woke or anti-woke? Left wing or right wing? And our social media age seems to be pushing people to the extremes and forcing them to choose a side.

I was speaking to someone this week, who said that they found it difficult that in conversations, people were always quick to listen to their comments and pigeon hole them as either left wing or right wing.  None of us really fit neatly into other people’s categories. Even our choice at election does not neatly fit these categories. We need to question the choices being presented to us and ask is there a more fundamental choice that we need to consider?

Israel’s Choice – vs. 14-18 – ?

Our reading comes at the end of the book of Joshua. If you have been with us for the last few weeks or ever read the book of Joshua, you may have felt uneasy about all the violence and Israel’s conquest of the land of Israel, especially when we hear about the way Israel are treating the Palestinians today. In the light of Jesus’ teaching in the New Testament about loving our enemies we are right to have these concerns.

But, although the book of Joshua talks about a successful conquest it does not glorify or encourage violence. It emphasises that they won the victory, because God gave it to them, not because of their prowess in warfare. The thrust of the book is to encourage faith and loyalty to the God of the Bible, who had enabled, helped and supported Israel. This is made especially clear at the end of the book of Joshua, where Joshua now near the end of his life, presents Israel with a fundamental choice: Who are they going to serve?

He says in verse 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.”

Rather than a two-fold choice, he gives a three-fold choice. Will they serve the gods of their forefathers, the gods of the land they are settling in or the LORD, the God of the Bible, the God who had brought them out of slavery in Egypt, through the wilderness and into the Promised Land.

For the Israelites, this was a choice between their traditional gods, the trendy new gods they would be encountering that would be in the land or the God of the Bible.

Of course, the traditional gods of their forefathers were man-made and the trendy new gods that were worshipped in Canaan would also be man-made. There was an attraction to holding on to what had mattered in their culture from the past and an attraction to embrace what seemed to represent the culture of the new world they were entering. Man-made gods are after all invented to appeal to human desires and fears. They are made to be attractive.

And although, the choice of gods they had are now long forgotten, the choice of serving the traditions of the past and the choice of serving the ways of the new world we are moving into are also choices that appeal to our desires and fears. But they are to choose human ways.

Will you consider the third way? The choice that Joshua is encouraging? The choice of the God of the Bible?

Israel choose to serve the LORD, the God of the Bible. Why? They tell us in verse 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 travelled.” (Joshua 24:17)

They had seen all that God had done to bring them out of slavery and into the promised land, despite the threats from all the nations around them, firstly, the Egyptians, then the other nations they came across. God had proved again and again both that he cared for them, but also that he was able to help them.

For us as Christians, the good news story of Jesus shows us the same thing. God gave Jesus because he loves us more than we can imagine. Jesus proved that most powerfully, by dying on the cross for our sins. But he also proved that he is powerful enough to save us, not just from our human enemies, but from death itself. He did this by raising Jesus from the dead. The God of the Bible cares for us and has the power to save us. He is the living God.

The traditions of the past, did not create a perfect world. Neither, have the recent changes in technology and social attitudes. No human philosophy or power has the ability to care for all and change the world, whether new or old. None of them can save us from death. Only God can do that. So, the most fundamental choice is not trendy or traditional, but human ideas or the Living God. Who will you choose to serve?

And it is a choice we need to make. As Boby Dylan said,

“it may be the devil or it may be the LORD

But you’re going to have to serve somebody.”

Israel’s Challenge – vs. 19-21 – !

Israel say that they will serve the LORD, but Joshua is not satisfied. He tells them that they won’t serve the LORD, they will give into the temptation to follow the other gods that appeal to their desires and fears.

He knows Israel’s story. God kept rescuing them, but they kept turning away from him. In particular, only a few weeks after they had committed themselves to following the LORD and obeying his Ten commandments at Mount Sinai, while Moses was away with God up the mountain, they chose to worship a golden calf that they had made rather than God!

Joshua would be proved right, as the rest of the Old Testament shows a constant struggle for Israel to stick to their promise and not run after false gods. A struggle that would ultimately lead to God kicking them out of the land, because they served foreign gods and not the LORD.

But at this moment, faced with this choice, Joshua’s words are designed to make Israel realise the seriousness of their choice and more determined to keep the promise they are making. They need to see that this choice matters and that failure to keep their promise will end in disaster.

Jesus similarly emphasises the importance of choosing to follow him, even though it won’t be easy. He says,

 “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” (Matthew 7:13-14)

Israel’s Covenant – vs. 22-27 – tick

But Israel are insistent, “We will serve the LORD.”

So, Joshua formalises the agreement, by drawing up a covenant. A kind of contract between Israel and God.

Just like a formal contract today, he writes down all that is involved and he makes sure there are witnesses to the contract. He says that Israel themselves are witnesses to the covenant.

He even sets up a stone as a witness. A physical symbol to remind them of the new relationship or covenant they were entering into with the LORD that day. A lasting symbol to show that this was meant to be a lasting agreement.

For us that have chosen to follow Jesus today, the two symbols given by Jesus to remind us of the covenant that we have entered into with God, to serve him alone are baptism and communion.

As we saw Arthur being baptised today, we are reminded of our own baptism, which reminds us that as we receive God’s gift of new life and new birth, we are washed clean from our old life and old ways, to be his.

Similarly, in Holy Communion we are reminded of the new covenant that we have entered into, which was made possible through the death of Jesus for us on the cross.

We are reminded of our call to serve Jesus, because he first served us.

“We will Serve the LORD”

The most fundamental choice we face is not which human philosophy or ideas we will follow, but whether we will serve man-made ideologies or the living God of Jesus Christ, the God who loves us so much that he died for us and has the power to grant us eternal life.

It is a choice between a kingdom of man or the Kingdom of God.

Joshua is all about that choice. And in this passage, 3 times Israel declare, “We will serve the LORD.”

But they do so only after Joshua has already said it. At the end of verse 15, Joshua says,

“But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.”

 Ultimately, this is a choice for each of us as individuals and families to make. Are we prepared like Joshua to serve the LORD, even if everyone around us chooses not to.