Our Old Testament reading today proclaims some widely known words. They are words often found in stitch-work
items, on plastic and on stone wall plaques, on pewter plates and on ceramic mugs,
on walls clocks and on crosses, and such.
And I remember how over twenty
years ago they were also found in my ear.
What I mean is that every time I called a particular friend’s home and got
the family answering machine, I’d hear a recording of my buddy’s mom preaching
them right over the phone. Unsuspecting
callers would be put on notice and have to think very carefully about their
reason for calling. I still chuckle
thinking about the reaction of telemarketers hearing that.
We find the familiar words at the end of verse 15 -- “As for me and my
house, we will serve the LORD.” Do you own anything with these biblical words
on it? This phrase is a wonderful, firm
declaration of faithful allegiance. It
carries great authority whenever it is read or heard. Whether it lives on a pillow in someone’s
home, is painted on stone to greet folks at the front door, or tattoos a
caller’s ear over an answering machine, it declares that the family making this
Scripture known serves the God of the Bible above all else.
Serving God above all else. I
believe we all know this isn’t exactly easy.
It’s the right righteous sentiment, but any glancing review of the Ten
Commandments or Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount reminds us all that we fall short in
our service. Sin constantly trips up our
most faithful intentions and declarations.
It’s one thing to obey the
command not to murder; it’s quite something else to obey the commands for always
keeping the Sabbath, for never coveting something belonging to a neighbor, and
for never ever worshipping a false god.
And it can be awfully tough to feel blessed when you’ve been insulted or
flat out persecuted because of your faith in Jesus. So I
have to confess, when I see Joshua 24:15 staring at me in a home (including my
own), I then look to see if there is a disclaimer about sin in the fine
print.
Well, rooting ourselves deeper in Scripture, as we ought, let’s review
who originally said this well-known verse.
There’s nothing mysterious about it, about who got quoted for the
record. It’s in the Book of Joshua. So, yes, we can conclude it was Joshua ben
Nun, of the tribe of Ephraim and thus a descendent of Joseph and his amazing Technicolor
dream coat. He’s better known as the
man who “spent the first eighty years of his days in training to be a leader
marked by the life and skills of his mentor, Moses.” This military man so deeply devoted to
worshipping the presence of God was Moses’ protégé, groomed to be next in line
for leadership of the Hebrew nation. Recall that this succession happened when
Moses’ died without ever seeing the Promised Land. The epic journey into God’s land -- then
known as Canaan -- happened on Joshua’s watch and is recalled in the first half
of the book that bears his name.
The well-known verse we are considering this morning, however, happens
at the very end of that book … after many bloody conquests and after the
division of the people into tribes across the land. Verse
15 is a perfect sound-bite from his farewell speech to the nation of over 2
million people. I’m not sure how they all
heard this message, but I’m certain it wasn’t over an answering machine! Actually, it was delivered only to the
elders and chief priests whom he had convened.
Now if you’d lived forty years in Egypt, forty years in the wilderness,
and twenty-five years as leader of the Hebrew nation and had famous last words
to say, what you have said? I trust
you’d have stressed the same big points as did the 110 year old Joshua. Since God had been present with them in
Egypt, miraculously delivered them from that evil oppression, patiently
companioned them through the wilderness, and gifted them with the successful
conquest of a whole new land … they were by no means to ever question God’s
covenantal promises and never to turn away from their loyal, constant trust in
the Lord.
Having reminded them of God’s commitment, he then asked his people to
renew their commitment to God. He did
so knowing full well that though they were in possession of their new land, the
surviving original Canaanites and their false gods were having a bad influence
on many of the people. I reviewed just
a partial list of these great many false gods that were in the mix of the
Israelites new life. Each had a single
power and purpose over such things as the weather, fertility, plagues, healings,
and there was even one to help folks out with their dancing. I think that last one must have been active
in America during the 1970’s!
The serious temptation for the Israelites – one that apparently a great
many sinfully succumbed too -- was to fall into the habit of praying to these false
gods for the particulars they wanted and needed out of life. Instead, of course, of faithfully petitioning
the one, great, trustworthy, absolutely ever present God who had never failed
them and who continued to call them to faithful loyalty and service.
So Joshua commanded the nation to choose loving and serving their God this day and every day. And
he wasn’t referencing only his immediate family and home address in the famous
verse. He meant the whole House of God
the people were blessed to live in and to serve. He reminded them that their God was not
just some localized spirit, but the Lord of all heaven and earth.
As for me and my house, as for you and your homes, as for all of us who
declare Christ as the chief cornerstone of God’s great house built upon the
foundation of the prophets and apostles (Ephesians 2:20) … how are we doing
with fending off false gods in the mix of our daily lives here in our nation? How are we fairing in our fidelity and daily
service to the one, great, absolutely ever present, promise-keeping God of
All?
One of the toughest false gods that I believe likes to sidle up to us all is the god of fear. I don’t mean the emotion. I mean the fear that has lording power over our lives; terrorizing power to paralyze our trust that our promise-keeping God is with us through every facet of human experience and most especially in times of great crisis. I mean the fear that can unstitch and smash our most faithful declarations and decorations of Joshua 24:15.
Eleven years ago to this very morning, I found myself preaching to some 900 people about our need to never ever forsake our historic, faithful trust in God’s good, abiding, promise-keeping, delivering-from-evil presence. I did so over the course of two worship services at a large suburban church on the outskirts of Norristown, PA, where I was the associate pastor filling in as head of staff and preacher during that critical time in our nation and our world’s history. In the aftermath of the evil terrorist attacks of 9/11, I recall feeling as though the false god of fear had tried to mock my every attempt to share some kind of reassuring holy word to so many frightened, hurting, angry people. I don’t quite recall exactly what Scripture I relied on other than it was a Psalm. I certainly won’t quite go so far as to say I felt like Moses or Joshua or Jesus speaking to our faithful and national identity at such a critical juncture in history, but it sure was the most formative preaching moment of my life up to that point.
The Promised Land that has been gifted to us is salvation from sin and pure eternal peace in Jesus Christ. On the morning eleven years ago, I prayed hard for the Holy Spirit to use the words of my mouth and the mediations of my heart to help everyone listening trust that we were still in the Promised Land … despite the soul-shocking, heart-wrenching, waiting-for-the-other-evil-shoe-to-drop feeling in all of our hearts and homes.
I found that that day, and that week, and for many weeks afterwards, there was a blessed outpouring of resolve among Americans to love and serve our neighbors as ourselves. People of all faiths. Do you recall how powerful, how beautiful that was? And there were many Presbyterians and other Christians that continued to fill church pews for a long while. I think maybe everyone owned a t-shirt at that time that read, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” But then it seems a lot of those t-shirts got lost in the laundry. Sadly, there has been a steady decline in church attendance that continues today. With the passage of time, there seems to be less urgency about needing to be convened as God’s people every week. Yet even when it’s not right on our doorstep, there is never a day or week when evil is any less horrendous in this world than it was eleven years ago and on other infamous days in national history before that.
Joshua’s famous last words
remind us of the deep purpose of being the people of God gathered in
worship. It’s for pledging our
allegiance. This is when we praise our
promise-keeping God of the past, present and future. This is when we reject false, narrow purpose
gods. This is when, through prayer and
praise and hearing God’s word, we reaffirm our deep trust in the truth that God
is with us through and in all. This is
where we recommit ourselves to faithful service since we have been so greatly blessed
with the Promised Land in Jesus Christ.
We must keep gathering … because as for us and our house, for our corner
of God’s great house where many rooms have been prepared for us … we will serve
the LORD! Amen!
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