"As for Me and My Family."

 

Joshua 24:14-18

 

     In Genesis 12 God made a promise to Abraham.  God said that he would made a great nation of Abraham's descendants.  That took place at Shechem.  Abraham built an altar there as a reminder of God's promise.  

 

     For a long time it appeared that God was not going to keep God's promise.  There was a famine, Joseph and his brothers ended up in Egypt, along with others, and there the Hebrew people eventually became slaves.  Moses led them out of slavery to the border of the promised land.  Then Joshua took over.  Under his leadership they invaded the land of Canaan.   They were joined by the descendants of Lot who never left the land.  They had become second class citizens and were eager to join with Joshua to fight against the Canaanites.  Now in Joshua 24 we have come full circle.  The conquest of the promised land was now complete. 

 

       But there were some problems. That was not unexpected.  Even though they were related by blood, they had grown up in different situations with different customs and beliefs.  Joshua called a summit conference to iron things out between the two groups who previously had never laid eyes on each other.  The location of the meeting was at Shechem where Abraham had been given the promise and where he built the altar.

 

      The problem was that the people who had stayed in Canaan were now worshipping the Canaanite gods.  That was the normal practice, you worshiped the gods of the land you were living in.  Joshua called up the people to do something different, to put away their false gods and serve the Lord.  The people immediately responded, "Yes, we will serve the Lord." 

 

      Now if we were to ask someone to join Waverly Road, we would be ecstatic if they said, "Yes, we will join the church."  That is why Joshua's response is so surprising. 

He sounds like a prophet of doom and gloom.  "You cannot serve the Lord."  "Have you thought about the kind of commitment you are making?"  "You have to put away your false gods."  Before you rush into this commitment I want to remind you that God does not take kindly to half-hearted commitment.  If you make a commitment to God, God's expectation is that you will be faithful.

 

      Keep in mind that the commitment is not to believe in God.  They already believed in God, along with the idols.  The commitment is to serve God. 

 

       Joshua made the commitment, "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."  I think all of us would affirm, 'As for me and my house, we believe in the Lord."  But I wonder how many of us could honestly say, "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." 

 

       This encounter between Joshua and the Hebrew people sounds very much like a conversation between Jesus and Peter after the resurrection that is recorded in the gospel of John.  "Simon Peter, son of John, do you love me more than these?"  He responded, "Yes, Lord, you know that I do."  Jesus said to him, "Feed my sheep."  Jesus asked Peter the same question three times.  The question was not do you believe in me but do you love me.  If you love me you will feed my sheep.  It was about commitment.  Are we really committed to this God.  Are we really committed to serving this God?  If the answer is, "Yes,"  Jesus said,  "Follow me."

 

      The covenants are not a thing of the past.  Today Jesus offers us the bread which represents his body and the cup which represent his blood.  When we take these elements into our bodies we are saying with Peter, "Lord, we love you" and we are affirming with Joshua,  "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."