CHOOSE THIS DAY

Text: Joshua 24:14-15. Readings: Matthew 6:19-24, 7:13-14, 24-29, Joshua 24.
Theme: Joshua urged Israel to choose between the gods or the Lord God, declaring that he and his household would serve the Lord.
Purpose: To stress the necessity of individuals and families choosing to follow the Lord.

Congregation,

Life itself is full of choices. From the time you get up in the morning to the time you go to bed at night your day is full of decisions: 
Will I get up when my alarm goes off or will I lie in bed for an extra 10 minutes?! 
Will I have muesli or weetbix for breakfast? 
Will I wear my red tie or my blue one? 
Will I vacuum or do my shopping first? 
And so it goes on. 

All of these are small choices. 
But we also face bigger decisions - more major choices - about the direction of our live? What job we will follow? Who will I marry? 
Will we will buy a house and if so which one?

A long time ago Joshua presented the people of Israel with a choice: "Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve." He spoke these words at the end of his very full life. He had been with the people of Israel when they left Egypt; he had travelled through the wilderness with them; he had led them in their conquest of the land of Canaan; and he had supervised the division of the land among the 12 tribes.
Now they faced a new phase - a new period of being settled in the land. He knew that he wouldn't be around for that much longer and he wanted to urge them to go on serving the Lord.  "Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve."

1. In putting it like this he expressed it, first of all, as a RELIGIOUS CHOICE.

The word "serve" is used six times in verses 14-15 in our English translation (7x in Hebrew), and it is used 18 times in this chapter. To serve something or someone is to live totally for them. It is to be controlled by one thing. The word can also be translated as 'work'. Joshua was asking; What are you going to work for? Into what are you going to pour your life and energy?

He presented them with three choices:

They could serve "the gods your forefathers served beyond the river". The river he refers to is the Euphrates, one of the main rivers in the Middle east at that time; and the 'forefathers' he mentions are Abraham and his father Terah. They came from the city of Ur on the other side of the Euphrates and they worshipped the moon and man-made idols. 

Or they could choose to worship the gods of the Amorites in whose land they were living. The Amorites and other pagan nations around Israel practiced the immorality and cruelty of the fertility cults. Amongst the gods of the Amorites there was a huge range of choice because these pagan nations were polytheistic - they worshipped many gods.

Or they could worship the Lord God. He put this first (vs 14); "Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness." Worship and serve and honour God. Live for him. Love him. Follow him. Work for him.  

God calls us to make the same choice today. What are you serving? We are all serving someone. Everyone of us is worshipping something. You may not have made a deliberate choice about this, but no choice is still a choice. No choice simply moves you to the default setting which is to serve yourself, to please self, to live for self. This is our natural, human, sinful inclination. To be selfish. 
That selfishness could take a variety of forms and shapes and disguises: You could live for your career, or your sport, or money, or success, or fame, or education, or material wealth, or your health or pleasure.
All of these are religious choices because they all have to do with the basic direction of your life. It isn't a question of whether you are worshipping, but of whom you worship. What are you focusing your life on? What is the central thing for you? What occupies most of your time and energy? That is what you are worshipping. That's what you serve. That's your religion.
So what are you serving? Who are you worshipping?

2. For Joshua, secondly it was an OBVIOUS CHOICE. For him it was clear-cut, as plain as day, there was no doubt about it. He would serve the Lord. 

It was obvious because of all that God had done for his people. The first half of this chapter (vs 1-13) recalls how God had looked after them through their entire history as a nation, from the call of Abraham through to the present day. 
God had chosen them and established a relationship with them. He had brought them out of Egypt, looked after them in the desert, put up with all their grumbling and moaning, and given them the land of Canaan. God had loved them and cared for them, looked after them and watched over them. The proper response was obvious! "Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness!"

Consider for a moment what God has done for you and given to you. 
Think about this beautiful country we live in - the beauty of the mountains and rivers and lakes. The forests, the rolling hills. Think of the peace and plenty we enjoy here. Think of your health, food and clothing, a home to live in. None of this is by chance. All these things come from God. 

Those of you who have grown up in Christian homes and the church should consider all that God has made available to you in spiritual blessings. All that God has given to you in his Son the Lord Jesus. You have received all the blessings of the covenant. 

The response is obvious: You should love and serve God with all faithfulness. You should seek first his kingdom & his righteousness.
Listen to the way the Apostle Paul puts it: "Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to present your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God - this is your spiritual act of worship." (Roms 12:1)
This is an appropriate and fitting response. Love God, work for him, obey his commands, live for him. It is an obvious choice.

3. Thirdly, It is an URGENT CHOICE.

Joshua said to Israel: "Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve."
The NEB puts it: "Choose here and now..."

Some people are great ditherers; they are always putting things off; they are procrastinators - putting it off till tomorrow! It can wait for another day! 

Others find it difficult to make up their minds. They are paralysed by the range of choice available to them. Maybe you have gone into the supermarket or a large hardware store to buy something and they have eight different choices of the product you want to buy. You can't make up your mind! There is too much choice! So you put it off and walk out without buying anything.

People are like this with the choices of life. Some want to put it off. To leave it for another day. They know they need to make a decision but they want to do it later. Time enough in the future to think about where my life is going. 
Others find the range of choice too much: Christianity, Islam, Yoga, Homoeopathic cures, the occult, Baha'i, secularism, humanism, communism - who's right? It is too confusing. So they don't do anything. 

But Joshua didn't want the people of Israel to put this off. No, he wanted them to make up their minds - that day!
This is the message of the New Testament as well. "I tell you, now is the time of God's favour, now is the day of salvation." (2 Cor 6:2). Don't put it off. Don't leave it too late. Don't wait until a more suitable time.

John Ryle, an Anglican Bishop of last century spoke about this tendency that people have to put things off till much later, thinking perhaps that they might turn to the Lord on their death-bed. He said; "There is one death-bed conversion recorded in the Bible so that we may have hope, but only one so that we may not presume." 
Don't presume on the patience of the Lord. Choose this day whom you will serve.

Joshua in the OT represents the Lord Jesus and points forward to him. In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus called people to make a choice. You can't sit on the fence. You can't have a dollar both ways. No man can serve two masters - you have to choose one or the other. You have to make up your mind. You have to make a commitment. You have to make a decision - one or the other.
You are either for God or against him. 
You are either loyal to the Lord or you are devoted to an idol. You need to choose, and it is urgent!

4. Fourthly, this is an EXCLUSIVE CHOICE

You might hear someone describe himself as a "jack of all trades, master of none." That may be fine in the area of trades, but that is no good in your spiritual life. Some people are spiritual butterflies, flitting from one religious experience to another. Their lives are full of frittering. They never settle down to one thing; instead, they do a bit of this and a bit of that. They never accomplish very much.

Joshua called the people of Israel to a wholehearted and thoroughgoing commitment to the Lord. Their love and service of God was to be expressed in obedience to God's commands. Joshua recorded all that God wanted the people of Israel to do and wrote it down in the Book of the Law of God (v 26)

Loving God and keeping his commands calls for a total commitment. 
This is illustrated in a story about a pig and a hen. They were out walking together one day and they passed a church. The minister's sermon title was advertised on the board: "What can we do to help the poor?" As they walked on together they debated this question. Finally, after a long discussion, the hen said; "I've got it, we can help the poor by giving them a bacon and eggs breakfast!" The pig was not so enthusiastic. "No, that's no good," he said, for you that only means a contribution; for me that means a total commitment." 
That's what God wants of us - a total commitment! Thorough-going obedience to his commands and law. That's what Joshua was prepared to do. 

5. 	Finally, Joshua gave the people of Israel an EXAMPLE of the choice they should make. "As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord." 

Joshua had served the Lord in the past as when he had refused to worship the golden calf. He stood against the ten spies who brought a bad report of the land. He had been faithful to God for forty years in the desert. He was still serving the Lord now, and he would go on serving the Lord in the future.

It was a personal commitment. This is what he was going to do. But he was also speaking for his family - as for me and my household. He was going to lead his family in the worship and service of God. 
Here is something for husbands and fathers and mothers. Are you setting a solid spiritual direction for your home? 
Are you leading your family to love God and follow his commands in the Bible?
Can you say; "As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord."

Maybe some of you here today don't know much about the Bible or the Christian faith. You don't know enough to make an informed decision. If this is so then you need to find out more about God as he has revealed himself in the Bible and through His Son. Consider what God wants you to do and follow the Lord Jesus.

Maybe you do know enough about the Bible but have never committed yourself to the Lord God. Then choose this day! Don't put it off. Commit yourself to the Lord Jesus Christ. 

Perhaps some of you here made a commitment in the past but you have let this slip. You have drifted away. Your life with God has gone cold and stale. You need to renew your earlier decision. Recommit yourself. Strive to follow the Lord. 

And there will be some of you here today who have committed yourself to the Lord and who want to keep serving him. Go on with that decision! Every day of your life you face choices and decisions about whether you will be obedient to God - in your relationship with your wife and children, in that business deal, in the priorities of your life, in how you use your time and money and abilities. 
Each day again you must resolve to serve the Lord.

Just as Joshua confronted the people of Israel with this choice in the past, in the same way Jesus confronts us with this today.  

Today you must choose whether you will follow the Lord Jesus or walk away from him. Whether you will submit to him or reject him. 
Whether you will love and serve the Lord Jesus or whether you will serve all the gods of this world. 

"Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve.... but as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord." 

Amen.