Scripture: Josh 24:14-15
Josh 24:14-15
"Now fear the Lord and serve him with
all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the
River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. 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."
Josh 24:16-27
Then the people answered, "Far be it
from us to forsake the Lord to serve other gods! 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 traveled. And the
Lord drove out before us all the nations, including the Amorites, who lived in
the land. We too will serve the Lord, because he is our God."
19 Joshua said to the people, "You are not able to serve the Lord. He is a holy God; he
is a jealous God. He will not forgive your rebellion and your sins. If you
forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, he will turn and bring disaster on you
and make an end of you, after he has been good to you."
21 But the people said to Joshua, "No! We will serve the Lord."
22 Then Joshua said, "You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen
to serve the Lord."
"Yes, we are witnesses,"
they replied.
23 "Now then," said Joshua,
"throw away the foreign gods that are among
you and yield your hearts to the Lord, the God of Israel."
24 And the people said to Joshua, "We
will serve the Lord our God and obey him."
25 On that day Joshua made a covenant for the
people, and there at Shechem he drew up for them decrees and laws. And Joshua
recorded these things in the Book of the Law of God. Then he took a large stone
and set it up there under the oak near the holy place of the Lord. "See!"
he said to all the people. "This stone will be
a witness against us. It has heard all the words the Lord has said to us. It
will be a witness against you if you are untrue to your God."
Americans LOVE CHOICES
We choose where to live, what to
eat, who our friends are, who we marry, how educated we will become, what car
to drive, what religion or religions we will participate in, if any, who our
government officials will be, what television shows to watch, what words we
use, what clothes to wear, and on and on it goes – we face choices, many of
them – every day of our lives.
People see God as demanding and
judgmental and rigid. Wait, who gave us the ability to choose? Adam and Eve had
a simple choice – they lived in a garden paradise and could eat from any tree
in the garden. Apple trees, orange trees, pear trees, peach trees, apricot
trees, cherry trees, lemon trees, lime trees, coconut trees, grapefruits
trees, mango trees, nectarine trees, persimmon trees, plum trees, and
pomegranate trees. Let’s not forget the two special trees: the tree of life and
the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Out of all those choices, God
warned them that one was poisonous to the soul – to life itself. If they were
to eat from that tree they would die. But the tempter lied to them – as the
tempter always does, and assured them they would not die, but in fact would
become like God. Even though God knew it was bad for them, he still gave them
the power to choose – to choose Life or Death.
People say, if there is a God and
God is loving, why would anyone go to hell instead of heaven? That’s the wrong
question. If there is a God and God is loving, why would He force anyone to go
where they do not want to go or believe what they don’t want to believe? Like
Adam and Eve, God gives EVERYONE the ability to choose eternal life or eternal
death. That is a loving God. God replanted the tree of life – and that tree’s
name is Jesus – and all are free to choose to eat the fruit of life from that
tree.
Maybe
people don’t choose life because death is more attractive. Adam and Eve chose
the tree of death over the tree of life. I can only assume that the tree of
death, on the surface looked more inviting and interesting and delicious than
the tree of life. Isn’t that true now – the tree of death is full of all kinds
of delightful delicious sinful delicacies. The tree of life is a simple blood
stained wooden cross. Maybe that is why people chose death over life. No matter
what, God is a loving God and makes the tree of life available to all. The
single requirement is: by faith, we choose that tree – we choose Jesus – even
as Joshua proclaimed: As for me and my house, we will choose the Lord!”
CHOOSE WORSHIP
We not only have the freedom to
choose Life in Jesus, we are free to choose to worship him. My one spiritual
pet peeve I don’t believe I will ever come to terms with is the person who has
called on the name of Jesus for salvation and are not weekly in corporate
worship (understanding that there are legitimate physical and employment reason
– not talking about those). Jesus gave his life for me; I better give a couple
hours to him on Sunday. People, Baptist people have given their lives for us to
have the freedom to worship and we choose something else over being the gather
church.
BAPTIST HERITAGE
Roger Williams (1603 – 1683)
a Puritan,
and Baptist who was expelled Massachusetts Bay colony because local
officials thought that he was spreading "new and dangerous ideas" to
his congregants. Williams settled Providence
Plantation in 1636 as a refuge offering freedom of conscience.
Williams was the 1638 founder of
the First Baptist Church in America.
An advocate for fair dealings with American Indians, and one
of the first abolitionists in
North America, having organized the first attempt to prohibit slavery in any of
the British American colonies. He is best remembered as the originator of the
principle of separation of church and state.
Later, our first amendment reads:
Congress
shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the
free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or
the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government
for a redress of grievances.
Separation of church and state was
never meant to keep the church out of politics – it was meant to protect the
church from government formed religion and the freedom from persecution for any
religious beliefs or having none at all.
Historian George Bancroft wrote in
the 1800s “Freedom of conscience, unlimited freedom of mind, was form the
first, the trophy of the Baptists.
Herbert Skeats wrote, “It is the
singular and distinguished honor of the Baptists to have repudiated all
coercive power over the consciences and actions of men with reference to
religion.
Methodist historian Frank Mead
declared of Baptists – “They are God’s patriots, putting allegiance to Him
always above allegiance to Caesar. Freedom of conscience and complete divorce
of church and state. How they have suffered for that. They have faced mockery
and mud, fines, whippings, and iron bars, they have been burned at the stake
and pulled on the rack, but they have held to it.
Baptists were in greater part
responsible for religious liberty than any other group of people and suffered
great persecutions because of it. Our freedom to worship /as we choose/ has
come to us at a great cost – therefore let us choose to worship Jesus together
recognizing that this freedom has come at great cost to our brothers and
sisters.
The purpose of worship is like that
of a battery: to transfer stored energy into something else. When a
battery goes flat it serves no functional purpose unless it can be recharged
from another power source to be used over and over again.
As Christians, we are like
batteries. We may have a little power stored but if we are not recharged
regularly we will soon be drained. Christians are energy dependent – God
is the energy source. He waits for us to come to Him in worship to
recharge our spiritual batteries so we have the power to continue our daily
walk. those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount
up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and
not faint. (Isaiah
40:31)
CHOOSE SERVICE
You’ve chosen
Jesus – and you have eternal life!
You’ve chosen worship – and God is
glorified by your heart and mind!
Now choose to put hands and feet to
those choices and serve Jesus!
Matt 25:34-40
Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come,
you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared
for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me
something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a
stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick
and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.' Then
the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we
see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When
did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you?
When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?' The King
will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for
one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'
Serve Jesus by serving others
Ruth went to her mailbox and there
was only one letter. She picked it up and looked at it before opening, but then
she looked at the envelope again. There was no stamp, no postmark, only her
name and address. She read the letter:
"Dear Ruth:
"I'm going to be in your neighborhood Saturday
afternoon and I'd like to stop by for a visit.
"Love Always,
"Jesus"
Her hands were shaking as she placed the letter on the
table. "Why would the Lord want to visit me? I'm nobody special. I don't
have anything to offer."
With that thought, Ruth remembered her empty kitchen
cabinets. "Oh my goodness, I really don't have anything to offer. I'll
have to run down to the store and buy something for dinner."
She reached for her purse and counted out its contents. Five
dollars and forty cents. "Well, I can get some bread and cold cuts, at
least." She threw on her coat and hurried out the door.
A loaf of French bread, a half-pound of sliced turkey, and a
carton of milk...leaving Ruth with a grand total of twelve cents to last her
until Monday. Nonetheless, she felt good as she headed home, her meager
offerings tucked under her arm.
"Hey lady, can you help us, lady?" Ruth had been
so absorbed in her dinner plans, she hadn't even noticed two figures huddled in
the alleyway. A man and a woman, both of them dressed in little more than rags.
"Look lady, I ain't got a job, ya know, and my wife and
I have been living out here on the street, and, well, now it's getting cold and
we're getting kinda hungry and, well, if you could help us. Lady, we'd really
appreciate it."
Ruth looked at them both. They were dirty, they smelled bad,
and frankly, she was certain that they could get some kind of work if they
really wanted to. "Sir, I'd like to help you, but I'm a poor woman myself.
All I have is a few cold cuts and some bread, and I'm having an important guest
for dinner tonight and I was planning on serving that to Him."
"Yeah, well, okay lady, I understand. Thanks
anyway."
The man put his arm around the woman's shoulders, turned and
headed back into the alley. As she watched them leave, Ruth felt a familiar twinge
in her heart.
"Sir, wait!"
The couple stopped and turned as she ran down the alley
after them.
"Look, why don't you take this food. I'll figure out
something else to serve my guest." She handed the man her grocery bag.
"Thank you lady. Thank you very much!"
"Yes, thank you!" It was the man's wife, and Ruth
could see now that she was shivering.
"You know, I've got another coat at home. Here, why
don't you take this one."
Ruth unbuttoned her jacket and slipped it over the woman's
shoulders. Then smiling, she turned and walked back to the street--without her
coat and with nothing to serve her guest.
"Thank you lady! Thank you very much!"
Ruth was chilled by the time she reached her front door, and
worried too. The Lord was coming to visit and she didn't have anything to offer
Him. She fumbled through her purse for the door key. But as she did, she
noticed another envelope in her mailbox. "That's odd. The mailman doesn't
usually come twice in one day."
"Dear Ruth:
"It was so good to see you again. Thank you for the
lovely meal. And thank you, too, for the beautiful coat.
"Love Always,
"Jesus"
The air was still cold, but even without her coat, Ruth no
longer noticed.
Matthew
25:21, 23 ‘Well
done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will
make you ruler over many things’
Choose Jesus – Choose Worship – Chose service
Choose for yourselves
this day whom you will serve, as for me and my household, we will serve the
Lord.
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