Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. 15 And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” 16 Then the people answered, “Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods, 17 for it is the Lord our God who brought us and our fathers up from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, and who did those great signs in our sight and preserved us in all the way that we went, and among all the peoples through whom we passed. 18 And the Lord drove out before us all the peoples, the Amorites who lived in the land. Therefore, we also will serve the Lord, for he is our God.” 19 But Joshua said to the people, “You are not able to serve the Lord, for he is a holy God. He is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions or your sins. 20 If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, then he will turn and do you harm and consume you, after having done you good.” 21 And the people said to Joshua, “No, but we will serve the Lord.” 22 Then Joshua said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen the Lord, to serve him.” And they said, “We are witnesses.” 23 He said, “Then put away the foreign gods that are among you, and incline your heart to the Lord, the God of Israel.” 24 And the people said to Joshua, “The Lord our God we will serve, and his voice we will obey.” 25 So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and put in place statutes and rules for them at Shechem.26 And Joshua wrote these words in the Book of the Law of God. And he took a large stone and set it up there under the terebinth that was by the sanctuary of the Lord. 27 And Joshua said to all the people, “Behold, this stone shall be a witness against us, for it has heard all the words of the Lord that he spoke to us. Therefore it shall be a witness against you, lest you deal falsely with your God.” 28 So Joshua sent the people away, every man to his inheritance. 29 After these things Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died, being 110 years old. 30 And they buried him in his own inheritance at Timnath-serah, which is in the hill country of Ephraim, north of the mountain of Gaash. 31 Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua and had known all the work that the Lord did for Israel. 32 As for the bones of Joseph, which the people of Israel brought up from Egypt, they buried them at Shechem, in the piece of land that Jacob bought from the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for a hundred pieces of money. It became an inheritance of the descendants of Joseph. 33 And Eleazar the son of Aaron died, and they buried him at Gibeah, the town of Phinehas his son, which had been given him in the hill country of Ephraim.
Covenant renewal demands a response, Joshua says, choose you this day whom you will serve…make a decision…you can live for the Lord or for yourself…you can serve God or the gods of this world…But, when you are before the Lord it is not a passive experience…Not only are you responding in the worship, you are expected to respond in your life AFTER the experience.
Every covenant renewal worship service does the same…We are being called to remember, to live our redemption again and then to live according to the covenant that God has established with us. Let’s look at some of the finer points of the last section of Joshua.
Abraham was called the friend of God…but Abraham was the son of idolatry…he lived in an idolatrous world for years and he would have remained in that hopeless place but for the grace of God that brought Him out. Joshua, why bring that up? Why point out that our father Abraham, the great man of the covenant, the one whose name is remembered when the Lord acts for His people, why mention his idolatrous beginning? The answer is simple; Covenant renewal is all of grace. Everyone who is blessed is blessed by grace. The relationship IS, because God is love and our status and standing in the covenant is the same for everyone.
Another aspect of covenant renewal is our submission not just to God’s ways, but to God’s timing. In verse 3 we read: And I multiplied his seed and I gave him Isaac. What a statement! I multiplied his seed and gave him Isaac. Isaac is only one, how is that a multiplication of his seed??? And, according to Genesis it took twenty-five years to get Isaac!!!
The verses that follow point out that Jacob and Esau came along but that hardly seems to be as many as the stars in the sky or the sand upon the shore. This is important for us, especially in a day of instant everything. Some years ago, AW Tozer wrote this:
“The American genius for getting things done quickly and easily with little concern for quality or permanence has bred a virus that has infected the whole evangelical church in the United States, and through our literature, our evangelists and our missionaries has spread all over the world. We have created instant Christianity. The kind that disposes of the past, guarantees the future and sets the Christian free to follow the more refined lusts of the flesh.”
God is not bound by our time-table…When we renew covenant with our God, we acknowledge God’s ways, in God’s time. This is hard sometimes. Even Abraham made this mistake with regard to the promise…He waited 10 years and then took Hagar and had Ishmael. Before we get all roll of the eyes at Abraham, HE waited 10 years, how many do you think you would have waited? He believed the promise but when it didn’t happen right away or even in 10 years, he took matters into his own hands thinking to bring about God’s promise, not in God’s way, but in Abraham’s way.
This next point gives us a reason WHY such renewal is imperative for us as we journey in this life. Look back at verse 4, “I gave Esau Mt. Seir to possess, but Jacob and his sons went down to Egypt.” Dr. Ralph Davis in his commentary asks the question at this point: “Why do Esau and his family, the non-covenant line, get their inheritance, while the covenant family Jacob and all do not? In fact, they have to go to Egypt and be enslaved! Why is it, we ask, that the covenant people experience hardship and slavery while the others get off easy. In Egypt, Jacob and his family, the chosen ones of God for centuries appear to be anything but blessed, anything but having the favor of an all-powerful loving Father in heaven.
The psalmist sings of this truth in the lives of God’s people, “weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.” This is the life of God’s people. His ways are mysterious, and we do not always understand them. But we are not always asked to understand why God does what he does, we are simply told to submit to them, cheerfully, to trust Him.
The “why” is left in the counsels of God. It is that simple. Shadrach, Meschach and Abendego are saved from the flames, John the Baptist gets his head chopped off. As Hebrews 11 says, some shut lion’s mouths and stopped swords, others were destitute, persecuted and tortured. The history of the covenant people of God is not candy coated in our Bibles. It is told as it was, and as it will be. Submission to the ways of God is our theme. Submission to all the things that you are faced with right now is the testing ground. Are you ever tempted to shake your fists at the circumstances of your life? Do you complain and cry, not fair? Foul??? How come others don’t have to endure this as I do? Why me? It is all a failure to submit to that which, although mysterious, nonetheless comes from the hand of your covenant keeping God who does all things well. Remember, the covenant’s goal is the glory of Christ. Are you willing to be used by God however He deems fit, if it glorifies Him? Whatever it takes?
The deliverance from Egypt, conquest east and west of the Jordan and the key to the whole thing is given in verse 12: “It was not by your sword or by your bow.” Or in other words, “…don’t ever begin to imagine that your own efforts achieved this…” A brief look at these events will remind us of that. The Red Sea incident provides ample proof that the work is God’s and God’s alone. As you remember, the Lord put Israel deliberately as sitting ducks for the Egyptian army. Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. All to show them that the Lord is their strength and their hope. Now, we say this all the time…but what does this really mean, what does it look like?
In verses 14-24, God again is reminding us that He has done and of this and that leads Joshua to making propositions and the people responding to the proposition. Now, therefore, fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in truth, put away the gods which your father served…and serve the Lord…
In verse 14-15 the word serve is used seven times. It is very clear what the covenant is after, what it demands from us. You are a servant. Even in the new heavens and the new earth we read in Revelation, “And His servants shall serve Him…” So, this serving of the Lord goes on for us, FOREVER! What does this mean? Covenant renewal answers the question: God has redeemed you, think back, think about all his provisions to save a people. Think back on where you would be, had God not been so gracious. Think back on what you have been saved from, the bondage, the slavery, the oppression. Think on all these things, and then look full into the face of your redeemer.
What else is there to say to you, but for you to fear God and serve him with everything you are, to give yourself to the service of our Savior, with no reservation and nothing held back. To heed every word he speaks and to make his word your pleasure. And Joshua tells them that it is either the Lord God, or it is the world, one of the two. The Lord can be served or you can be given to the world and to its gods, those that are non-gods, those that promise but give only the wind.
Joshua tells the people to put away anything and everything that is contrary to what the Lord has spoken and he is very clear about his own position in regard to the covenant. And he speaks, as you well know, for his family. He is taking his children and his wife with him in this, no questions asked. And now, we enter into a renewal of this covenant, in Christ’s name, every Sabbath Day. We come into the presence of God, the gathered people of His grace and we confess to Him who we are, by grace, and once again promise to live according to His covenant. We come as families. We come with covenant heads leading and making it clear that for me and my house we will serve the Lord, we will walk in the way of redemption and in the ancient paths of faithfulness.
He is asking you, what will it be? Whom will you serve? Fathers, what is YOUR response? What do you say for yourself and your family? And what does it mean? What are you doing to ensure your family, your children are serving the Lord? God lifts us up before the throne, He ministers to us by word and sacrament and calls us to understand the covenant and to profess our allegiance, our loyalty, our service, as well as that of our families? He calls us to remember what he has done…and then asks, now…what will you do.
There is somewhat of a twist in the text, Joshua drives all the church growth fellas out of their mind. He has them, they are eating out of his hand, they have responded as hoped for, they are agreeing with you Joshua, have them pray the prayer right now! But instead, what does Joshua do next? Look at verses 19-20 again!
This passage should be sufficient to show us the foolishness of the so-called sinners prayer. Just pray this prayer and that is all it takes. You cannot come to God, a holy God, thinking that your words mean anything if you don’t know His character, your sin and therefore are anything but in the dust, broken and humbled. Christians think that we can treat sin lightly, just sin and ask forgiveness, no big deal…If you think you can have the Lord and the world then you will not be forgiven, and you will not have the Lord. Joshua puts down the blathering self-confidence that makes emotional commitments rather than shutting its mouth and counting the cost.
Covenant renewal is serious and God is not some Santa in the sky who drools over easy decisions during invitation gospel songs or half-hearted hymns of commitment sung by mind wandering Presbyterians. The covenant will cost you everything. It is a call to give to God, literally, everything you are and to make this profession every time you gather before his face. God is asking you, “Whom will you serve?”
In following Joshua’s leading the people: If you will serve the Lord in sincerity and in faithfulness, then put away your idols and those of your fathers and serve the Lord only. And if you think it is not good to serve the Lord, then choose…who WILL you serve? The idols of our godless and dying culture? Choose, choose this day whom you will serve…As for me and my house we will serve the Lord. But remember who this God is…He is holy and He is jealous and if you forsake Him, after all He has done for you…you will find Him unbending in his judgments. Incline your heart to the Lord.
Prayer: Father, give me strength and courage, not to say the words, as for me and my house we will serve the Lord, but to truly set myself and those I live life with to a true and real following of the Lord. Help me to destroy whatever idols seek a place in my life that I might serve Christ with no rival. I pray that the Lord’s Day worship would see me, week after week, renewing the relationship that You have established and promised to keep with Your people! In Jesus name, Amen.
Song: Agnus Dei
