Who Will You Serve
Joshua 24:14–33
14“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. 15And 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.” 16Then the people answered, “Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods, 17for 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. 18And 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.” 19But Joshua said to the people, “You are not able to serve the Lord, for he is a holy God. He is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions or your sins. 20If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, then he will turn and do you harm and consume you, after having done you good.” 21And the people said to Joshua, “No, but we will serve the Lord.” 22Then Joshua said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen the Lord, to serve him.” And they said, “We are witnesses.” 23He said, “Then put away the foreign gods that are among you, and incline your heart to the Lord, the God of Israel.” 24And the people said to Joshua, “The Lord our God we will serve, and his voice we will obey.” 25So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and put in place statutes and rules for them at Shechem. 26And Joshua wrote these words in the Book of the Law of God. And he took a large stone and set it up there under the terebinth that was by the sanctuary of the Lord. 27And Joshua said to all the people, “Behold, this stone shall be a witness against us, for it has heard all the words of the Lord that he spoke to us. Therefore it shall be a witness against you, lest you deal falsely with your God.” 28So Joshua sent the people away, every man to his inheritance. 29After these things Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died, being 110 years old. 30And they buried him in his own inheritance at Timnath-serah, which is in the hill country of Ephraim, north of the mountain of Gaash. 31Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua and had known all the work that the Lord did for Israel. 32As for the bones of Joseph, which the people of Israel brought up from Egypt, they buried them at Shechem, in the piece of land that Jacob bought from the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for a hundred pieces of money. It became an inheritance of the descendants of Joseph. 33And Eleazar the son of Aaron died, and they buried him at Gibeah, the town of Phinehas his son, which had been given him in the hill country of Ephraim.
The time has come for Joshua to pass into the presence of God. He has served the Lord with all of his heart, faithfully and courageously. We are introduced to Joshua as a young man who goes into Canaan with the 12 Spies. He and Caleb alone tell the people that their faithful God has brought them to a land flowing with milk and honey. He and Caleb were not believed and the final result was that the people had to spend 40 years wandering the wilderness. Upon the death of Moses, the leadership of the people is placed into Joshua’s hands. He spent his years as the warrior leader heeding God’s voice and following His lead. What we find in Joshua is strength and humility – a rare combination.
Now he warns the people one more time that they have the opportunity to choose service to God or service to false idols. Following God will lead them to good places. Following idols with end in destruction. He even chides them a little, saying the “they are not able to serve the Lord”, meaning it won’t be easy. The temptations to go the wrong way will be great. But they are confident that they will remain on the path. And I think they really believed that would be the case. And perhaps for a time, it was.
We get to decide if we want to follow God or a path of our own making a thousand times a day. Those decisions to remain faithful are made in tiny incremental steps. Do I keep that $20 bill I saw a lady drop or do I return it to her? Do I lie about the number of hours I worked or do I honestly report my time? Do I choose a curse word when I’m shocked or hurt? Do I ignore my child when they are bothering me for the hundredth time that hour? You see, we have decisions that can take us with God or away from Him. Maybe the first decision we make each day is to remain as faithful as possible.
On the oh so positive side, is the fact that Jesus Christ has died for all of those times we make the wrong choice. And His Holy Spirit is with us every single moment, enabling and empower us to move with God rather than away from Him. We get to choose this day whom we will serve, just as Joshua did, and as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord, with His help.
14“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. 15And 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.” 16Then the people answered, “Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods, 17for 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. 18And 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.” 19But Joshua said to the people, “You are not able to serve the Lord, for he is a holy God. He is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions or your sins. 20If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, then he will turn and do you harm and consume you, after having done you good.” 21And the people said to Joshua, “No, but we will serve the Lord.” 22Then Joshua said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen the Lord, to serve him.” And they said, “We are witnesses.” 23He said, “Then put away the foreign gods that are among you, and incline your heart to the Lord, the God of Israel.” 24And the people said to Joshua, “The Lord our God we will serve, and his voice we will obey.” 25So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and put in place statutes and rules for them at Shechem. 26And Joshua wrote these words in the Book of the Law of God. And he took a large stone and set it up there under the terebinth that was by the sanctuary of the Lord. 27And Joshua said to all the people, “Behold, this stone shall be a witness against us, for it has heard all the words of the Lord that he spoke to us. Therefore it shall be a witness against you, lest you deal falsely with your God.” 28So Joshua sent the people away, every man to his inheritance. 29After these things Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died, being 110 years old. 30And they buried him in his own inheritance at Timnath-serah, which is in the hill country of Ephraim, north of the mountain of Gaash. 31Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua and had known all the work that the Lord did for Israel. 32As for the bones of Joseph, which the people of Israel brought up from Egypt, they buried them at Shechem, in the piece of land that Jacob bought from the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for a hundred pieces of money. It became an inheritance of the descendants of Joseph. 33And Eleazar the son of Aaron died, and they buried him at Gibeah, the town of Phinehas his son, which had been given him in the hill country of Ephraim.
The time has come for Joshua to pass into the presence of God. He has served the Lord with all of his heart, faithfully and courageously. We are introduced to Joshua as a young man who goes into Canaan with the 12 Spies. He and Caleb alone tell the people that their faithful God has brought them to a land flowing with milk and honey. He and Caleb were not believed and the final result was that the people had to spend 40 years wandering the wilderness. Upon the death of Moses, the leadership of the people is placed into Joshua’s hands. He spent his years as the warrior leader heeding God’s voice and following His lead. What we find in Joshua is strength and humility – a rare combination.
Now he warns the people one more time that they have the opportunity to choose service to God or service to false idols. Following God will lead them to good places. Following idols with end in destruction. He even chides them a little, saying the “they are not able to serve the Lord”, meaning it won’t be easy. The temptations to go the wrong way will be great. But they are confident that they will remain on the path. And I think they really believed that would be the case. And perhaps for a time, it was.
We get to decide if we want to follow God or a path of our own making a thousand times a day. Those decisions to remain faithful are made in tiny incremental steps. Do I keep that $20 bill I saw a lady drop or do I return it to her? Do I lie about the number of hours I worked or do I honestly report my time? Do I choose a curse word when I’m shocked or hurt? Do I ignore my child when they are bothering me for the hundredth time that hour? You see, we have decisions that can take us with God or away from Him. Maybe the first decision we make each day is to remain as faithful as possible.
On the oh so positive side, is the fact that Jesus Christ has died for all of those times we make the wrong choice. And His Holy Spirit is with us every single moment, enabling and empower us to move with God rather than away from Him. We get to choose this day whom we will serve, just as Joshua did, and as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord, with His help.
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