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The People’s Choice
Joshua 24
Promised Land Living in Problematic World
Sermon #22Choice. Life has so many choices. Sometimes it is both difficult and confusing because there are just too many options. And doesn't it seem at times, when we make one choice, we later have regrets about our decision and wished we had taken another? Our’s is a world of multiple selections.
Take shopping. The average American supermarket carries around 36,000 items for sale. Crest offers 36 variations of its toothpaste in the choice of size, shape and flavor. Revlon has 158 different colors of lipstick and there are 200 new magazines which hit the market each year although the vast majority of those new editions will fail. Be honest. How often have you stood in front of an aisle of choices in the supermarket with a glazed look in your eyes as you were trying to decide which laundry detergent would be right for your clothes? Even at the checkout counter you are faced with choices; paper or plastic; How do you want to pay–cash, check, credit or debit card? Most of our choices have little significance. It’s not earth shattering if you order a Big Mac instead of a Quarter Pounder, or if you go to Taco Bell instead of Wendy’s.
But some choices that we make today, especially spiritual choices, impact the decisions we make tomorrow. They establish a pattern and a foundation for our life. Young people are asked in the early stages of life to make choices of careers and life partners which will dramatically affect their lives down the road. We can make good choices in life which will lead to our success, and we can make bad choices which will lead to our demise.
For example, Melissa Vinson, an honors student at Seminole High School in Sanford, Florida, played a game called "Pass‑Out" with two other girls. In the board game, players land on squares that read, "Take a drink" or "Go to the bar" and they recite tongue‑twisters on "Pink Elephant" cards. In a two-hour period, Melissa consumed most of a liter bottle of vodka. Later that night she began to convulse and blacked out on her living room floor. She was pronounced dead at Florida Hospital in Orlando. Medical examiners concluded that possibly a reaction of the vodka to a prescription drug contributed to her death.
Abraham Bininger, a Swiss boy from Zurich, came with his parents to this country on the same ship with the famous Methodist preacher, John Wesley.
His parents died on the trip and were buried at sea. Young Abraham stepped down the gang‑plank alone in a strange and bewildering land. A short time later he decided to take the gospel to the natives on the island of St. Thomas.
When he got there he learned that it was illegal for anyone but a slave to preach the gospel to the slaves. So Abraham Bininger wrote to the governor of the island, begging to become a slave himself that he might have the freedom to proclaim the gospel. His letter was forwarded to the king of Denmark who was so touched by Bininger's desire that he sent an edict to allow him to preach the gospel where, when and to whom he chose. What do those two stories have in common? Choices. What is the thread weaving them together? The element of choice. Melissa made a choice and it cost her life;
Abraham Bininger made a choice that made a difference in eternity.
Joshua 24 is about choices. The aged general, Joshua, is a few steps from death. He’s faithfully served God decade after decade, yet he knows how easy it is to make the wrong spiritual choice. He saw a whole generation make a dead end choice years before in the wilderness. So he gathers all of the people and he asks them to choose. Verse 15 “Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve...”It’s The People’s Choice. Who will they serve? The one true God and have His blessing. Or the gods of the nations around them and bring God’s wrath upon themselves. You and I have to make the same choice. You see, this is not Wal-mart. We cannot pick and choose our gods or ways of worship without consequences. Our choices will make an eternal difference.
Joshua brings them to the valley of decision and asks them to choose. Like ancient Israel, you and I continually must make spiritual choices, choices which will make an eternal difference. Each day there are the smaller choices of, Will I serve God today or will I serve self? On my job, Will I be motivated by money or by the Master? Like Israel, we must make those major choices – who will I serve? Who is going to set the course for my life? Is Jesus going to be my Lord or will I serve another master?
We all have to make that choice...sometimes daily. Joshua led Israel to make the right choice. Joshua 24 is a handbook for making the right choice. What does it teach us about making the right choice?
1. It is easier to make the right choice when we remember all that God has already done for us. John Newton, the ex-slave trader was right. It is “amazing grace.” After his conversion he wrote a text in huge letters and hung it above his mantelpiece: “Thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt and the Lord thy God redeemed thee” (Deut. 15:15, KJV).
It is God’s great grace in the past that motivates us to choose to obey Him in the future. Joshua hits upon the defining moments in Israel’s history. Each nation has defining moments. 1776 was a defining moment, the Civil War, Pearl Harbor and man landing on the moon were defining moments in America’s history.
Joshua breaks down Israel’s defining moments into four phases. Abraham and the patriarchs (vss. 2-4), the time of slavery in Egypt (vss. 5-7), the wilderness victories (vss. 8-10) and the Canaan victories (vss. 11-13). In each phase God is the primary actor. It is God Who speaks in this recapitulation of Israel’s history. Seventeen times the personal pronoun “I” is used – “I took...I gave...I assigned...I afflicted...I brought you out...I sent the hornet ahead of you...I gave you a land...” It was all from God and it was all of grace!
Sometimes we think of Abraham as Mr. Goodwrench who initiated a relationship with God. Quite the contrary! God chose Abraham and moved on his heart. Salvation is always initiated by a gracious God. No matter what “school” of theology we belong to, all of us must admit that God always takes the first step on our salvation. It is all of grace!
Joshua urges them to make the right choice because of all that God has done for them. God did not owe Abraham anything. He was an idolater. They did not deserve to be freed from Egypt or given victories in the wilderness. God in His grace turned Balaam’s attempt at cursing to a blessing. It was God that knocked at the walls of Jericho and gave them victory upon victory. It was all of grace for them and it’s all of grace for us!
Sometimes as believers, we act like God owes us. We’re like the little fellow who came up to his mother in the kitchen one evening while she was fixing supper, and he handed her a piece of paper that he had been writing on. After his mom dried her hands on an apron, she read it, and this is what it said:
For cutting the grass: $5.00. For cleaning up my room this week: $1.00. For going to the store for you: 50 cents. Baby‑sitting my kid brother while you went shopping: 25 cents. Taking out the garbage: $1.00. For getting a good report card: $5.00. For cleaning up and raking the yard: $2.00. Total owed: $14.75. Well, his mother looked at it and looked at him standing there...and she was a wise Mom. She picked up the pen, turned over the paper he'd written on, and this is what she wrote: For the nine months I carried you while you were growing inside me: No Charge. For all the nights that I've sat up with you, doctored and prayed for you: No Charge. For all the trying times, and all the tears that I’ve shed over you through the years: No Charge. For all the nights that were filled with dread, and for the worries I knew were ahead: No Charge. For the toys, food, clothes, and even wiping your nose: No Charge, Son. When you add it up, the cost of all my love is: No Charge.
Well, when the boy finished reading what his mother had written, there were big tears in his eyes, and he looked straight up at his mother and said, "Mom, I sure do love you." And then he took the pen and in great big letters he wrote: "PAID IN FULL" God is saying to Israel, “Look at all that I have done for you. Look at all my works of grace on your behalf. I loved you when you were unlovable and were unworthy of my love.”
What was true for Israel is more true for us. We are the people of the new covenant. We don’t look back to Abraham or Egypt, you and I look back to an old rugged Cross. God gave His only Son for us and He said, “No Charge.”
My friend, what’s your story? What is your story of grace? Look at how God saved you when you deserved Hell. Look at the pit He pulled you out of. Look at how He has worked in your life. We all have a salvation history.
Looking back at my own life, I remember accepting Christ as a teen. I was overwhelmed by the love of God. My Mom had died. My father was a prescription drug addict. I felt totally unloved and then it came home to me that God loved me – just as I was. And I knelt by my bed and committed my life to Christ. Years later when I went through a period of spiritual darkness, questioning all that I believed, He sent just the right people across my path and brought me back to Himself. And I can look back on place after place in my life where God touched me, where He intervened for me...and so can you. That’s our salvation history.
When you and I look back and see the goodness of God on our lives, just as Israel did, it helps us make the right choices in the present and for the future. Joshua knew that a grateful heart is a powerful foundation for faithfulness and future right choices.
2. The right choice is not abstract. It usually has a time and a place, “Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve...” (v. 15). Over three hundred years ago Matthew Henry said that serving the Lord involves “serious godliness.” That’s true. It demands a decision. Choosing to serve the Lord cannot be out in the nebulous. While we may not remember the exact time and place, a time and place for moments of decision helps cement the decision in our hearts. That’s the point Joshua is bringing them to. That’s why he urges them to make a time/space decision, “this day.”
In our non-committal world too many believers live their spiritual life in a vague, general sense. But they have never determined – that Jesus Christ was going to be the Lord of their life.
Can you imagine being generally married? “When did you get married?” “I’m not sure but I know that I am.” That just doesn’t cut it. Marriage demands time/space commitment. A relationship with God also requires time/ space commitment.Joshua calls for immediate decision because he knew that indecision is a decision against. William James was right. “When you have a choice to make and don’t make it, that is in itself a choice.”
"When I was a boy, my father, a baker, introduced me to the wonders of song," tenor Luciano Pavarotti relates. "He urged me to work very hard to develop my voice. Arrigo Pola, a professional tenor in my hometown of Modena, Italy, took me as a pupil. I also enrolled in a teachers college. On graduating, I asked my father, 'Shall I be a teacher or a singer?' "'Luciano,' my father replied, 'if you try to sit on two chairs, you will fall between them. For life, you must choose one chair.' "I chose one. It took seven years of study and frustration before I made my first professional appearance. It took another seven to reach the Metropolitan Opera. And now I think whether it's laying bricks, writing a book–whatever we choose‑‑we should give ourselves to it. Commitment, that's the key. Choose one chair." That’s what Joshua is saying, “Choose one chair.”
And what other choice was there? In light of God’s grace and mercy to them through the generations, full commitment is the only logical choice. Can you imagine, after all that God has done for them, for them to reject Him and serve some other god? But this is not just them... Can you imagine, after all that God has done for us, for us to reject Him and serve some other god?
Joshua has given them an extremely powerful and logically compelling challenge. If this God, who acted as He did in space, time, and history for His people, calls for commitment, then commitment becomes the only rational thing to do. Joshua’s logic foreshadows the Apostle Paul’s in Romans. Paul devoted the first eleven chapters to showing what God has done through Christ for His people, and then says in the opening verse of chapter 12: “I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service of worship” (NASV). The Greek word for “reasonable” is logikos from which we derive our word “logical.” Joshua’s challenge to commitment, like Paul’s, is the only thing that made sense in the light of who God is. Total commitment is the only logical choice today if God is who He says He is.
My friend, have you done this? Can you point to a time and a place, a Shechem in your life, when you committed your life to serve God? When you gave yourself totally to Jesus Christ? This isn’t salvation, though it may take place in conjunction with salvation. This is dedication, sanctification. If you do not have a time and place, then each of us should at least be able to recall the stage in our lives when this yielding took place. If you are a believer and have never surrendered yourself to God, then why not do it today? In light of your salvation story what other choice is logical.
3. The right choice demands fidelity, vss. 14, 23. Vance Havner said “A wife who is 85% faithful to her husband is not faithful at all. There is no such thing as part-time loyalty to Jesus Christ.” Though the people were making verbal assents of faithfulness and commitment, twice Joshua urges them to throw away the idols in their midst. Apparently, though God had given them victory after victory, some were worshiping idols.
Being faithful to God is similar to marriage. Though Israel had God’s wedding band on, they were still fooling around. At the very least they were window shopping. With God it is all or nothing. Jesus said, “No one can serve two masters” (Mt. 6:24). Jesus must be Lord of all if He is Lord at all. Idolatry is a challenge in every age for every believer. That’s why the Apostle John urged the believers of his day, “Dear children, keep yourselves from idols” (1 John 5:24).
Too often, when we think of idols, we think of statues of Buddha. If only that were true. Idolatry is anything that has priority in our life before God. It can be our job, our home, our hobby, our money, our spouse, our children. It can even be our church. Idolatry usually starts out very small in our lives but it contaminates our entire inner man.
One Haitian pastor illustrated to his congregation the need for total commitment to Christ with this parable: A certain man wanted to sell his house for $2,000. Another man wanted very badly to buy it, but because he was poor, he couldn’t afford the full price. After much bargaining, the owner agreed to sell the house for half the original price with just one stipulation: he would retain ownership of one small nail protruding from just over the door. After several years, the original owner wanted the house back, but the new owner was unwilling to sell. So the first owner went out, found the carcass of a dead dog, and hung it from the single nail he still owned. Soon the house became unlivable, and the family was forced to sell the house to the owner of the nail. The Haitian pastor’s conclusion: “If we leave the Devil with even one small peg in our life, he will return to hang his rotting garbage on it, making it unfit for Christ’s habitation.”
Idolatry, even small idolatry leaves nails for Satan in our hearts. Friend, are there idols in your life? Are you completely faithful to Jesus Christ or just almost faithful? Israel would later be destroyed by their idols. Please don’t be destroyed by your’s. Clear your heart of them! Let Jesus be Lord of all!
A. It’s impossible to make the right choice in your own strength, vss. 19-20. Trent Butler, in his commentary, calls vs. 19 “perhaps the most shocking statement in the Old Testament.” After spending an entire chapter and really an entire lifetime trying to get the Israelites to commit their faithfulness to serving God, and after getting the affirmative answer he was seeking, Joshua pours cold water on the situation. “You are not able to serve the LORD.”
You almost want to say, “Hey, they promised to be faithful...what do you want a pound of flesh?” Joshua knows talk is cheap. He’s testing their commitment. Do they really mean what they are saying? It’s easy in the heat of the moment, with a huge crowd to make an emotional commitment. Joshua wants to know if it is real. Perhaps he remembered another generation who had made the promise, “all that the Lord has spoken we will do” (Ex. 19:8). But as soon as Moses was on the mountain, they were falling all over themselves to worship the golden calf.
Now Joshua really has their attention. Can you imagine the hush that fell over the crowd, “What did he just say?” Joshua wants them to realize the gravity of their commitment. It’s a warning against easy-believism and cheap grace. While it is not impossible to serve the Lord, it cannot be done with shallow resolve. It demands wholehearted commitment.
And there is truth here. This is spiritual work. None of us can do spiritual work in and of ourselves. Spiritual work must be done by the Holy Spirit. While we are responsible to surrender our lives to God and submit, the work and the power is completely of Him. Philippians 2:13 says, “For it is God who works in you to will and to act according to His good purpose.”
B. By staying in the Word we strengthen our fidelity, vss. 25-27. Joshua gives them a written authority. Whenever their hearts started to wander, they could return to Shechem and read the Law. For the believer, Scripture is our written covenant. Just as Israel would need to return to the words written down on this rock to help them remain faithful, you and I must continually be in God’s Word if we are going to be faithful. It’s re-reading the love letter. We must continually and consistently be in God’s love letter if we are going to be faithful to Him.
In Greek mythology there’s a story about Odysseus, who sailed past the island of the sirens. The sirens had the power to charm all who listened to their singing, and thus lure them to their destruction. Odysseus wanted to hear the sirens’ song without endangering himself and his crew, so he filled the ears of his crew with wax and had them bind him to the mast. Thus, they safely passed that fatal place. But there’s another story in Greek mythology. Orpheus went with the Argonauts to search for the golden fleece. When they sailed by the sirens’ island, Orpheus played better music than the sirens; he enchanted the crew with a superior melody and they passed safely by.
God does not keep us from hearing about other gods. He will not bind us by force. But He does make better music. And He asks us to choose for ourselves. If we do not choose Him, it is because we’ve closed our eyes to His person. It’s because we have stopped our ears from hearing His gracious words. Be a person of the Book. It will strengthen your resolve to be faithful!
4. The right choice has a far-reaching influence, vss. 29-31. The well-known psychoanalyst, Erich Fromm, wrote in Man for Himself, "To die is poignantly bitter, but the idea of having to die without having lived is unbearable." Joshua truly lived. Not only was he faithful but he influenced a whole generation to be faithful as well.
How about us? Are people more faithful? Are they closer to God? Are they drawn closer to Jesus Christ because of our influence? Are we so on fire for Christ that they can’t help but get warmed up for Christ by being around us? God has called us to be salt and light. Not only does He want us to be faithful, He wants us to encourage those around us to love Him and serve Him as well.
Conclusion: Friend, have you chosen to come to Christ? Is He your Lord and Savior? The words of Joshua are for us today, “Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve.” Please choose Christ! John Piper said, “God is calling us above all else to be the kind of people whose theme and passion is the supremacy of God in all of life.”
But it’s easy to make a verbal or emotional choice. What does it take to make a true, a sincere choice for Christ? And this is for those who have never trusted Christ and for those who have, but have wandered and have idols that need to be ridded from their souls.
This scene at Shechem offers a great opportunity for each one of us to re‑examine our own commitment to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. John Huffman in his commentary on Joshua shares five aspects of making the right choice, of making a commitment. Let me share them as we close this message and this series today. They are important parts of any legitimate, wholehearted decision to invite Christ into one's life and give Him total control: 1) You must be willing to quit straddling the fence. 2) You must be willing to exert influence on other people instead of being pushed around by them. 3) You must not make a decision for Christ lightly. 4) You must be willing to go public with your faith. 5) You must be willing to follow through with your all.
The operative word in each is being willing‑willing, that is, for God to be a part of the process. Let me amplify them briefly.
First, you must be willing to quit straddling the fence. It is easy to live indecisively, always investigating the claims of Christ, always seeking but never taking that vital step of faith in Him. It’s easy as a believer to play both sides, to be lukewarm. It’s a way to have, in a sense, the best of both worlds. But one must ultimately make a decision. Scripture always speaks of salvation in the present tense because we are not certain we even have a tomorrow.
Second, you have to be willing to exert influence on others instead of being pushed around by them. The Israelites were influenced by the pagan culture around them. They weren't agents for change among the people of the land they came into. When Israel came into the land, they had the Book of the law, the first five books of Moses. That was their Bible. God commanded them to live by it. It was non‑negotiable. But what they tried to do was blend a bit of Canaanite religion with a bit of Bible religion. You can't afford to live like that. Joshua, in contrast, was not a victim of this kind of spiritual indecision. He was willing to stand against the tide of Canaanite religious influence, personally resisting its influence. He always lived as a change agent before the nation of Israel. He spoke out, saying, "Think about what you're doing. I know what I'm doing and why I'm doing it. You are accountable before the Lord."
Third, you must not make a decision for Christ lightly. Joshua had fought many battles; he understood the cost of discipleship. He was committed to a lifestyle of warfare against satanic forces of sin and death and hell. He had not made his choice to follow the Lord superficially. Jesus said, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me." Joshua was a man of commitment and spiritual perseverance. Following Christ is the most exciting thing in the world. I have never been bored in the years since I gave my life to Christ. Yet following Christ is not easy or comfortable. There are costs, demands made on you. You have to understand that fact ahead of going into it. The choice is not about what other people think; it can't be made to please your family or friends or even your peer group. Don't make a decision because of what your friends have done. Make certain it's your choice and yours alone to commit yourself to Jesus Christ.
Fourth, you must be willing to go public with your faith. Joshua did, didn't he? We are not called to secret‑service Christianity. Jesus calls us to be willing to speak out for Him, to tell others of His life changing intervention. Going public with our faith is a wonderful overflow of His life changing power and presence in us. It's simply a matter of sharing the difference He has made in our experience. The call is for you to give your all to Jesus Christ throughout your whole life, beginning right now. What it means practically is that we allow him to be the Lord. We don't know all that it may mean, but we're willing to say, "Jesus, take over, I'm not doing well at this. Please run my life, and I'll learn to listen to you, trust you, and follow you, whatever that means as the years unfold."
The right choice to follow Christ is not an easy one, but I urge you, if you need to make a decision for Jesus Christ, make it now. I beg you not to put it off any longer. Joshua said, "Choose this day, right now." It's a matter of life and death. If the Spirit of God is at work in your heart, urging you to make a decision, then do it now. Think it through thoughtfully, but make a decision.
Fifth, you must be willing to follow through with your all. Jesus said, “anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me” (Mt. 10:38). Friend, give your all to Jesus Christ for your whole life, beginning right now. Make Him Lord over every aspect of your being.
If today, you need to re-commit your life to Christ, then please do it. Surrender anew. Set aside the sin that is making you miserable and let Jesus be Lord of your life and Lord of all!!
We all serve someone – who will you serve? “Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve...” I hope it’s Jesus Christ – you’ll never regret giving your life and your all to Him!
