Scripture Joshua 24:14-15 (Reader's Theater style)
Then Joshua assembled all the tribes of Israel at Shechem. He summoned the elders, leaders, judges and officials of Israel, and they presented themselves before God. Joshua said to all the people
"This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: “Long ago your forefathers, including Terah the father of Abraham and Nahor, lived beyond the River and worshiped other gods. But I took your father Abraham from the land beyond the River and led him throughout Canaan and gave him many descendants. I gave him Isaac, and to Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. I assigned the hill country of Seir to Esau, but Jacob and his sons went down to Egypt.
Then I sent Moses and Aaron, and I afflicted the Egyptians by what I did there, and I brought you out. When I brought your fathers out of Egypt, you came to the sea, and the Egyptians pursued them with chariots and horsemen as far as the Red Sea. But they cried to the Lord for help, and he put darkness between you and the Egyptians; he brought the sea over them and covered them. You saw with your own eyes what I did to the Egyptians. Then you lived in the desert for a long time. I brought you to the land of the Amorites who lived east of the Jordan. They fought against you, but I gave them into your hands. I destroyed them from before you, and you took possession of their land. When Balak son of Zippor, the king of Moab, prepared to fight against Israel, he sent for Balaam son of Beor to put a curse on you. But I would not listen to Balaam, so he blessed you again and again, and I delivered you out of his hand. Then you crossed the Jordan and came to Jericho. The citizens of Jericho fought against you, as did also the Amorites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hittites, Girgashites, Hivites and Jebusites, but I gave them into your hands. I sent the hornet ahead of you, which drove them out before you — also the two Amorite kings. You did not do it with your own sword and bow. So I gave you a land on which you did not toil and cities you did not build; and you live in them and eat from vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant.'
14 "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."
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."
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."
But the people said to Joshua,
"No! We will serve the Lord."
Then Joshua said,
"You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen to serve the Lord."
"Yes, we are witnesses,"
they replied. Then Joshua said,
"Now then, throw away the foreign gods that are among you and yield your hearts to the Lord, the God of Israel."
And the people said to Joshua,
"We will serve the Lord our God and obey him."
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. He said to all the people,
"See! 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."
Then Joshua sent the people away, each to his own inheritance. After these things, Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of a hundred and ten. And they buried him in the land of his inheritance, at Timnath Serah in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash. Israel served the Lord throughout the lifetime of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him and who had experienced everything the Lord had done for Israel.
Until the 1960’s with the age of authoritarian defiance, people often came to faith in Christ with a single exposure - such as a Billy Graham crusade or a church revival. Since then and even more today, putting your faith in Jesus Christ for the salvation of your soul typically involves a long process. That being said, there does need to come a time when a person decides one way or the other. I 100% believe that Jesus is who the scriptures say he is or I do not. The issue of salvation is not one that you can be ambivalent about…forever.
It can be a process leading up to the moment of salvation - but there is a mark on the time line of your life where you make that decision, and following that mark is working out what that salvation means and looks like in this life. Phil 2:12-13 Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed — not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence — continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.
First you were in a process of believing until that moment of decision and in that instant, you then belonged to Christ’s eternal family and since that moment you are now becoming what God has fashioned you to become from the beginning.
There are those who think salvation itself is a process. It is not. Jesus died at a split second in real human history. Only in that moment did salvation become possible. When you decide that you believe that, trust in that, choose to live your life based on that fact, it is a moment in time when that happens. Now, I will say, not everyone can point to that exact moment. Many people grow up in Christian homes and cannot remember a time of not believing in Christ. Somewhere, that belief went from the parents’ belief to your own - it became the difference in believing in those things that are fun for children to believe in from a secular point of view at Christmas and Easter to knowing the fact that Jesus was born, died and rose form the dead!
God chose Shechem as the first place in Canaan to appear to Joshua. Previously, Shechem was the site where Jacob and his entourage renounced other gods, burying their idols and idolatrous jewelry under the landmark oak.
Joshua’s Voice God’s message
Joshua launches the proceeding by addressing the assembled crowd. His first words are the so-called messenger formula (“Thus says the LORD”), the standard phrase invoked to introduce a verbatim message from God. It clearly signals that the sound the assembly hears may be Joshua’s, but the voice speaking is in fact that of Yahweh. Indeed, this marks Yahweh’s lone, personal, direct address to assembled Israel in the book of Joshua.
The people know the story well: It marks the beginning of Yahweh’s connection with them as a people. What typifies those ancestors is that they “served other gods”. The driving theme of the speech concerns Israel’s exclusive devotion to Yahweh alone.
That means that Israel’s possession of the land is God’s gift, pure and simple Israel had a hand neither in the land’s conquest nor in its construction (v. 13). Yahweh generously handed over to Israel ready-made fields, vineyards, and olive groves to feed themselves, and ready-made cities in which to live. In short, the defeat of Canaan and the land gift are all Yahweh’s doing. They mark the capstone of the stunning saga of salvation that he has singlehandedly orchestrated for Israel’s benefit since the call of Abram.
WHAT SALVATION LOOKS LIKE
You want to know what salvation looks like look no farther than Joshua 24. God did not just give them a plot of ground, he gave them orchards, cultivated fields, wells already dug, cisterns with water in them, homes and buildings for businesses, city centers and everything they needed to settle into the “promised land.” You come to faith a wretched and poor sinner far from God, yet the moment you make your decision for him you are not only forgiven of your sins, you are given an inheritance into the eternal promised land - not just a space in heaven but a heaven already prepared and fashioned for you with everything you need to live eternally. John 14:1-4 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” Rev 21:1-5 “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. He who was seated on the throne said, "BEHOLD! I am making all things new!”
God’s speech to the people is personal = “I-you”
Joshua will draw out the logical implications of Yahweh’s historical review. A shift from indicative to imperative mood also occurs. Israel must both “worship” God to treat him with the highest respect and “serve” him i.e. to carry out his wishes as would a loyal servant.
“Put away (other gods)” is a stock phrase meaning radically to renounce loyalty to other deities and exclusively to embrace Yahweh - the one true God. Jacob demanded it of his entourage upon his return to Canaan from Haran, and Samuel will do so as well.
Israel’s ancestors were polytheists (the worship of many gods), adding gods to their worship roster wherever they went. Israel may serve Yahweh or their ancestors’ gods, but not both; polytheism is no longer an option.
In demanding a choice, Joshua mirrors the pattern of Moses, who made a similar passionate plea before Israel entered Canaan. Here Joshua asks for commitment from the present generation, the first one in Israel’s history to occupy the Promised Land. But his words also confront readers today with a similar choice: Is Jesus your Lord or not?
Choose today!
We choose God!
You can’t God is holy and jealous and if you still serve other God’s He will drop you like a hot rock!
We will forsake other gods and serve Yahweh only!
Then you must get rid of all foreign idols - destroy them and wipe them out of your life!
We will!
It is just believing but believing means action - means change - means giving up anything that you would put before God. Destroying it and removing it from your life. That is working out our salvation.
Just like the stone they set up when you come to faith in Christ you have witnesses to remind you of your commitment to worship and serve only Him. Christianity is serious business - it is not just holding hands with hippie Jesus and singing Kumbaya -it is putting Jesus on the throne of your heart and making him Lord of your whole life.
I believe polytheism is stronger in the US today than it has been anywhere at any time in history. Contemporary Culture says - no demands - that everyone not only be accepting of all people’s beliefs but must embrace them and agree with them. My bible says Deut 6:4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Matt 6:24 "No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.” John 14:6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
To believe in and follow Jesus means to live by his teaching, follow his example, and do what he asks of you. Choose you this day whom you will serve, as for me and my house we will serve the Lord! Zacchaeus-today salvation has come to this house - thief on the cross-today you will be with me in paradise / 2 Cor 6:2 I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.
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