Monday 26 October 2015

How do you make important choices? (Joshua 24)



Marty and Jennifer are about to kiss when suddenly they hear a sonic boom. A silver DeLorean crashes into the rubbish bins and Doc Brown jumps out dressed in a yellow labcoat and plastic tie.

“Marty!” Doc says. “You’ve got to come with me… back to the future!”

“What do you mean?” Marty says.

“It’s your kids! Something’s got to be done about your kids!”

Marty and Jennifer get into the time travelling automobile as Doc Brown reverses onto the street.

“Doc!” Marty says, “There’s not enough road to get up to eighty-eight.”

“Roads?” says Doc Brown. “Where we’re going, we don’t need roads!”

In the 1985 hit movie “Back to the Future”, Marty McFly travels thirty years into the past (to meet his parents) and then thirty years into the future (to meet his kids). Marty learns that small actions have big consequences. His mother falls in love with him and he is almost never born. His enemy steals the time machine creating an alternate future ruled by Donald Trump (I mean, Biff Tannen). Small actions can have big consequences.

That’s the lesson we see today as Joshua 24 neatly divides into past, present and future.

Verse 2: “Long ago your ancestors...”
(That’s the past)
Verse 14: “Now fear the LORD…”  
(That’s the present.)
Verse 29: “After these things…”
(That’s the future)

The question today is: How do you make important choices? Three things to look out for today: (a) Our past choices (verses 1 to 13), (b) our present commitments (verses 14 to 27) and (c) our future consequences (verses 28 to 33).

Past choices, present commitments and future consequences.

1. Our past choices

We begin with verse 2.

Joshua said to all the people, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says, ‘Long ago your forefathers, (or ancestors) including Terah the father of Abraham and Nahor, lived beyond the River and worshipped other gods.’”
Joshua 24:1-2

Joshua begins - not thirty years - but four hundred years into the past. Verses 2 to 13 summarise the first six books of the bible - the history of the nation of Israel. What does Joshua want them to see as they look back at four hundred years of history? He wants them to see the choices their fathers have made. More importantly, he wants them to see the choices that God has made.

Verse 3, God says:
“But I took your father…
I led him throughout Canaan…
and I gave him many descendants.”
The same way that your browsing history reveals the choices you have made online so the bible is God’s history revealing God’s choices in calling, blessing and saving his people. God says, “I did this… I did this,” in verses 2 to 13.

At the same time we see God’s choices working through different people; different generations. Abraham’s generation (verses 3 to 4) lived beyond the River; they worshipped other gods but God chose to call Abraham. Moses’ generation (verses 5 to 7) were slaves in Egypt but God chose to save them. Finally, Joshua’s generation (verses 8 to 13) were homeless in the desert but God chose to protect them and to give them a home in the Promised Land.

Three generations called by God, saved by God and blessed by God. Interestingly, we also see three rivers - the “River” (Euphrates in verse 2), the Red Sea (in verse 6) and the Jordan (in verse 8)  - representing three hurdles - three borders - that each generation had to cross in order to follow God.

Why is this important? Because we think that we are different; that our choices are unique. We have the Internet. We have Obama. And yet a sign which hangs in a World War II concentration camp reads, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”. Joshua looks back at four hundred years of history and he sees the same mistakes, the same regrets.

Like my mum who sometimes says to me, “You are your father’s son” (Both of us are stubborn!), God says the same thing in verses 6 and 7.

Verse 6:
“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.”
Verse 7:
“But they cried out to the LORD for help, and he put darkness between you and Egyptians.”

Meaning: Their history is your history. Their situation then is your situation now. The big question running throughout the book of Joshua is: Will this generation be any different?

That’s a key theme running through the book of Joshua: Will Israel make the same choices as the past. Moses’ generation disobeyed God and perished in the desert. Would Joshua’s generation do the same? You see, the past reveals the lessons we need to learn. The past reveals the choices that we need to make.

But what if you are ashamed of your past? Or what if you are constrained by your past?

A friend of mine works with girls who have been abused. These are girls who want to forget their past. One day, a twelve year-old girl asked her, “What is love?” My friend replied, “God is love.” She wondered if her answer made any sense. But the little girl walked away singing “Jesus loves me this I know, for the bible tells me so.” You see, God’s love makes most sense to the unloved. Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor but the sick.” (Luke 5:31, Matthew 9:12)

Conversely, the healthy are those who try to impress God with their CV. If that’s you, listen to what God says in verse 13:

So I gave you a land on which you did not toil and cities which you did not build.

The point is: You did not do this. You did not earn this. Your degree, your witty charm, your privileged education are all gifts that God gave you. You did not do this.

And yet, the tragedy is, those who have been blessed most by God are those most likely to take God’s blessing for granted. We read this week at Rock, these words from Romans Chapter 1, verse 21: “For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.” That’s the bible’s definition of sin. Not doing bad things but ignoring a good God. Looking back at all the good things in your past and saying, “I did this.”

Whether you are a Christian or not, the past ought to humble us. It teaches us that the biggest decisions in our lives were not made by us. If you know that, then looking back to the past always gives us two choices - Will we live God’s way or will we live our way?

That’s the first thing we see.
2. Our present commitments

But next, we see our present commitments.

Verse 14 again:
Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshipped beyond the River and in Egypt and serve the LORD.

And in verse 24...
All the people said to Joshua, “We will serve the LORD our God and obey him.”

End of story. They all became Christians and lived happily ever after. Well, not quite. As soon as Joshua gives them a command (“Worship God!”) he gives them a choice! He says to them, “How many of you would like to be Muslim?” and “Why don’t you try Buddhism?” Don’t believe me? Look at verse 15.

But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, the 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.
Joshua 24:15

Now, of course - of course - Joshua wants them to worship the only God who called them, blessed them, saved them...  but why does he give them a choice to worship other gods? Because making an important choice always means a commitment. Making an important choice means sticking to that choice.

The problem is: Most of us hear the word choices and we think “options”. Like McDonalds: “Would you like fries with that?” No one subscribes to Netflix and watches the same show over and over again. We want options. Many Cambridge students do that with church - “I like the worship in that church but ooh, that church has food.”

But friends, the biggest decisions in life are not about choices but commitments. The person you marry. The God whom you worship. These are exclusive choices in life. Following God means forsaking all other gods. Some of us hear that and go, “Whoa, that’s a big decision!” and that’s the right response. The bible wants us to consider carefully what it means to follow Jesus. It gives us evidence that he really died on the cross. He really rose from the dead. A good response is to say, “I need to think about this.”

A bad response is to say, “Mo man tai” (No problem!) Which is what they say in verse 16:

Then the people answered, “Far be it from us to forsake the LORD to serve other gods!

Verse 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.”

Verse 21:
But the people said to Joshua, “No! We will serve the LORD.”

What Joshua is calling Israel to do is what the bible calls repentance. Repentance is not about feeling really, really sorry about your sin or feeling really, really passionate about God. To repent is simply to turn. 1 Thessalonians 1:9 describes Christians as those who “turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God.” That is exactly what Joshua is calling Israel to do. To turn away from foreign gods, to turn their back on idols, literally, to “throw away the foreign gods” (verses 14 and 23) and to worship God and God alone.

And yet, Joshua has to remind them - twice - to throw away their idols. Why? Because even as they are jumping up and down in church declaring, “Only you, Jesus!” you can see a Pat Kua sticking out of their back pocket.

My parents aren’t Christian. Every year at Chinese New Year, my mum sets up an altar to “pai tee kong” - to pray to the Hokkien God of Heaven. And she says, “Even Christians come. It’s OK.” Joshua is saying to us, “It’s not OK to pai tee kong.” It’s not OK to worship God passionately on Sundays but then to live like your career is your god every other day.

The most important choices in life are commitments: Will you do what you say you are going to do. The reasons why Christians get married in church is because husband and wife are making commitments to one another - “for better, for worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health” - and as they make these commitments they are saying to God and to the church, “Be our witness.”

We see this in verse 22:
Then Joshua said, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen to serve the LORD.”

“Yes, we are witnesses,” they replied.

Again in verse 27:
“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.”

I had a very irritating friend back when I was a non-Christian. My friend would keep asking me, “Do you want to be a Christian? Are you a Christian yet?” Every time I saw my friend - “Do you want to be a Christian?” Then one day, I became a Christian. And my friend said to me, “Are you sure you are Christian? Are you still following Christ?” What do you call that? An irritating friend!

No, I call that a faithful witness. Joshua says, “You are witnesses!” meaning, “You are supposed to remind each other: ‘Are you still following God?’”

Hebrews 10:25 says
Let us not give up meeting together, but let us encourage one another - and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

The important choices in life are about making commitments not having options. When we commit to following God it means forsaking all other gods.

3. Our future consequences

Finally, our future consequences. What see in this last section is Joshua… dying.

Verse 29:
After these things, Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died at the age of one hundred and ten.

It’s like the Sixth Sense (“I see dead people.”) Joshua dies. Joseph’s dead. Eleazar dies in verse 33. Everyone dies. But that’s not the sad bit because Joseph was buried at a hundred and ten (symbolising a full life), he was buried in the land of his inheritance, meaning, he received God’s promises. Same with Joseph; same with Eleazar the son of Aaron. They saw all of God’s promises fulfilled within their lifetime.

No, the sad bit happens after they die. Turn over the page and the first words of the next chapter are: “After the death of Joshua.” It’s the book of Judges where the entire nation abandons god. That’s really sad because Joshua tried his best. Joshua was a fantastic leader of God’s people.

But the point is: That’s not enough. It is not enough to have a leader like Joshua. It is not enough to be sincere and serious in our decision making. Because the truth is, it doesn’t take very much to turn the best decisions in life into the biggest regrets in life. Think of the best decisions you’ve made - moving to Cambridge, coming to the Chinese Church (!) - it doesn’t take very much to turn a dream into a nightmare. An argument will do that. Or just time - you get bored. It doesn’t take much to turn our best decisions into our biggest regrets.

I think that’s one of the reasons why so many people put off being a Christian. They put off getting baptised. Oh, you come to church every week. You know that Jesus died for your sins. You believe that he rose from the dead. But you want to wait till the very last minute, that very last moment, before you have to say, “Yes, he is my God.” Why? Because most of us make the hardest choices only when we have no other choice. (In Hokkien: Bo pian)

Friends, if you don’t feel like choosing Jesus today, what makes you think you will want to choose Jesus tomorrow? If you are not faithful with the small things today, what makes you think you will be faithful with the big things tomorrow?

The book of Hebrews reflects on the book of Joshua by saying this:

“Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts.”

Let me say that again. Hebrews 4, verse 7:

“Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts.”

For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. There remains then a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no-one will fall by following their example of disobedience.
Hebrew 4:7-11

If you hear God’s voice today, respond to God’s Son today. Because in Jesus we have Joshua who died but rose again. In Jesus we have a Joshua who said, “Come to me all, all you who are weary, and I will give you rest.”

But most importantly, in Jesus we have a Joshua who was forsaken. Joshua lived a full life and he died a good death. But Jesus hung on a cross and cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Christians understand that the reason he was forsaken was because he was taking the full judgement of our sin upon himself. Jesus is the better Joshua who was forsaken so that you and I could be forgiven.

Conclusion

We have seen three things: the past, present and future.

The past reveals the lessons we need to learn. To recognise God’s grace. To repent of our own ungratefulness.

The present calls us to commitment. To worship God and forsake all other gods. To keep each other accountable in our promises to live for God alone.

The future points us to Jesus. He is the better Joshua who died but rose again, who was forsaken so we could be forgiven.

One of the most misquoted verses regarding Jesus is from Hebrew 13:7 - you see it in posters and bookmarks - “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” Many take that to mean how Jesus is so lovable, never changing and always the same. But look just a couple of verses earlier:

Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.
Hebrews 13:7-8

It looks to the past, present and future. Look at your leaders who preached the gospel to you. Consider what it meant for them to speak for Jesus, to live for Jesus, and - in the context of the book of Hebrews - to suffer for Jesus. It is no different for you today and it will be the same for those who come after you tomorrow. Keep preaching the gospel!

That’s what it means for Jesus to be same yesterday, today and forever. It means trusting in God’s word and responding to God’s word every single day of your life.

“Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts.”

For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. There remains then a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no-one will fall by following their example of disobedience.
Hebrew 4:7-11


Friday 16 October 2015

Are you a Christian? (Joshua 24)

Are you a Christian?

It is a simple question I ask frequently in church, actually. When I meet someone new, I’ll ask them their name; I’d be interested to know what brought them to church; but I always make it a point to ask: Are you a Christian?

You might think it strange. After all, you don’t want to embarrass anyone, especially if they’re not a Christian. I doubt that’s true, though. On numerous occasions, my non-Christian friends have been eager to say that they weren’t believers.

Conversely, it’s the regulars who tend to get nervous with the question. Some have said to me, “Of course! My parents have been coming to church for years.” But others have said, “I’m not sure.”

Now I would love nothing more than to affirm your relationship with God in Christ. But it is important for us to ask this question today because that is what’s happening in Joshua Chapter 24. Look with me to verse 14:

Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshipped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD.
Joshua 24:14

The book of Joshua ends with a megachurch meeting: All the tribes assembled in one place at Shechem. That’s over half a million people. They are gathered not to offer sacrifices nor to sing praises but so that Joshua can ask them one question: Will you worship God?

This happens three times in Chapters 22, 23 and 24. Joshua gathers everyone in one place (initially the three tribes beyond the River Jordan in Chapter 22, but everyone else in Chapters 23 and 24) and asks, “Will you commit yourselves to God?”

If a pastor did that at a meeting in church, some would assume that he was talking to someone else - the youth group, perhaps - but not to them. Or some might walk out offended that their faith was being questioned.

But that is what Joshua does here in Chapter 24.

Specifically, Joshua does three things. Firstly, he challenges them to serve God (verses 14 to 18). Secondly, he questions their commitment (verses 19 to 27). And finally, he dies (verse 28 to the end).

1. Choose for yourselves

The first thing Joshua does is say to them, “Make up your mind.”

He begins in verse 14. “Fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness.” It is a command - “Worship God!” But then he gives them a choice in verse 15:

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.
Joshua 24:15

It is important to see that the choice is not between serving God and some other god. Those are not the options. The people think that they have already chosen God; that they are true worshippers of God.

No, the choice Joshua gives them is between serving the pagan gods of their fathers or the foreign gods of their neighbours. Look again at verse 15: “If serving God is undesirable (literally, ‘evil’) to you, then choose for yourselves whom you will serve: Either the gods of your ancestors or the gods of the Amorites.” That’s a risky move. It’s like your pastor saying, “If you’re not going to be a Christian, then be a Buddhist or be an atheist.”

What is he doing? Joshua is challenging their assumptions, specifically, their assumptions about God’s blessing. God had blessed Israel again and again - with land, prosperity and success; and the danger was they might equate God’s abundant blessing with God’s automatic approval. They might think, “I am worth it.”

So much so, that in verses 1 to 13, Joshua spends one-third of the chapter recounting all of God’s blessings: Beginning with the promises made to Abraham (in verses 3 and 4), then the rescue from Egypt (in verses 5 to 7), then the defeat of their enemies (the Amorites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hittites, Girgashites, Hivites and Jebusites in verses 8 to 12), and finally, the Promised Land, in verse 13, where God says:

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.
Joshua 24:13

Conclusion? You did not deserve any of this.

The more that you’ve experienced God’s blessing, the more that you need to say to yourself, “I did not earn this.” You might come from a Christian family; you might have an inspiring testimony; you might belong to a good church, but you might still be taking God’s grace for granted. Because the more you’ve experienced God’s blessing, the more you’ll be tempted to take Him for granted.

It is a new academic term. Cambridge students will spend the coming weeks “shopping” for a new church. Maybe that’s you. Instead of looking for a church where you will “fit in”, where you can serve - important things to mature as a Christian - why not look out for a church where God’s word is heard and God’s people are held accountable. Look out for a church where the leaders call you to repentance every single Sunday.

That is the purpose they meet as the church in Joshua 24. To hear God’s word and to respond to God’s grace. Joshua confronts Israel with God’s word (verse 2, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel says,”) and challenges Israel to respond to God’s grace (verse 14, “Now fear the LORD and worship him.”)

Notice how worship is a response. God calls Israel to himself, saves them from slavery and blesses them with the Promised Land; and in response, Israel is to serve God. That is, you do not serve God in order to be saved. God saves you so that you might worship him.

Paul says the same thing to Christians in Romans Chapter 12:

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God - this is your true and proper worship.
Romans 12:1

Meaning: Worship is the proper response of the redeemed; Those have been saved by God are called to serve the living God. And yet, this does not happen automatically. Paul has to urge us to respond - to consider all that God has done - and to consciously offer up our lives as a sacrifice in worship.

Joshua does the exact same thing in Chapter 24 with one big exception: He challenges them to make up their mind right there and then. If they will not serve God, then they should choose for themselves that day whom they will serve. There will be no delays; no excuses.

That’s the first thing we see: Joshua pressing Israel for a decision; Joshua challenging Israel to worship God.

2. You are not able to serve the LORD

Look at Israel’s response in verse 16:

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 parents 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 travelled. 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 24:16-18

Just before (verse 15), Joshua proclaims, “As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD,” to which they answer, verse 18, “We too will serve the LORD.” In other words, “You’re not the only one on God’s side, Joshua. He is our God, too.”

Before that, Joshua reminds them of God’s abundant blessings (Abraham, the Exodus, the battles) and in verse 17, they repeat the same stories back to Joshua, effectively saying, “Duh! We went to Sunday School.” So on the surface at least the people seem to be saying, “We agree with you.” What a positive response from God’s people!

But look again at their first, initial response in verse 16. They actually begin by disagreeing with Joshua. Verse 16: “Far be it from us to forsake the LORD!” What they are saying is, “No way! This will never happen!”

Bearing this in mind, look at Joshua’s critique in verse 19.

Joshua said to the people, “You are not able to serve the LORD. He is a holy God; he is 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.”
Joshua 24:19-20

“You cannot serve God!” Joshua says; to which they reply “No!” Again, in the negative, they say, “No! We will serve the LORD.” (verse 21)

Now don’t get me wrong. Of course it is encouraging to hear of Israel’s commitment. Imagine how disastrous it would be if they turned around and said, “I’m off to worship the pagan god Molech. So long, Joshua!” Obviously, Joshua did not want them to abandon God. But if so, why challenge them to worship other gods?

Because some of them were, in fact, worshipping other gods.

Remember how he began in verse 14, “Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods (of) your ancestors… and serve the LORD.” Joshua says again in verse 23, “Now then, throw away the foreign gods that are among you.” Why does he keep coming back to the subject of foreign gods?

My parents aren’t Christians. Every year at Chinese New Year, my mum lays out an altar to ‘Pai Tee Kong’ - to pray to the Chinese god of heaven - and she tells me that it’s OK for anyone to come and worship this god, saying, “Even Christians do it.” Now, I’m not sure if these guests actually burn joss sticks at the altar but suppose that they are genuine believers who trust in Jesus and confess him as Lord? Is it OK for them to ‘Pai Tee Kong’ just once a year out of respect and tradition?

Israel have committed themselves to worshipping God alone. Yet Joshua reminds them - twice - to get rid of idols. Why? Because it is not OK to bow to idols. Because Joshua knows that some of them have idols hidden away at home. “Throw away the foreign gods that are among you.” (verse 23)

In doing so, Joshua is questioning their commitment to God. That’s not a nice thing to do, Joshua! Can’t you see how enthusiastic they are? And yet, he says in verse 19, “You are not able to serve the LORD.” Isn’t that too harsh; too much for a young Christian? Well, remember that Jesus said the same thing to the crowds in Luke 14:

Large crowds were travelling with Jesus, and turning to them he said, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters - yes, even their own life - such a person cannot be my disciple. And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.”
Luke 14:25-27

This is much more radical than forsaking idols. “Unless you forsake your father and mother... unless you forsake your own life, you cannot follow me.” The crowds followed Jesus because he was popular, because he did miracles but Jesus says, “Unless you follow me to the cross, you cannot be my disciple.”

A friend from twenty years ago got in touch on Facebook last week. I wrote, “Good to hear that you are still following Jesus.” The response I got was, “To whom shall I go? He has the words of life.” (a quote from John Chapter 6) Friends, the longer you walk with Christ, the more you realise how dependent you are on Christ. The longer you are a Christian, the more you depend on Christ to remain in Christ.

That is what Joshua is getting at when he says, “You are not able to serve the LORD.” They were blind to their sin (keeping idols at homes). But more seriously, they were blind to their pride. “We can do it!” They seem to be saying, “We will prove ourselves to God.” (Or as my friends back home would say, “Malaysia Boleh!”)

In a climactic scene from the Dreamworks animation movie, Kung Fu Panda, the bad guy, a Snow Leopard named Tai Long confronts Master Shifu, a tiny Red Panda (voiced by Dustin Hoffman). As Tai Long strikes blow after blow in rage against his frail Shifu, he says, “All I ever did, I did to make you proud! Tell me how proud you are… tell me!” Tired and solemn, Shifu replies, “I have always been proud of you. And it was my pride that blinded me.”

Joshua is wise enough and loving enough not to make that mistake. A mother whose wayward son left home to pursue a sinful life prayed this prayer to God, “Lord, do everything and anything that needs to be done to bring him to his knees.” Parents would you dare pray that for your children? “Do everything and anything to bring my son, my daughter to their knees and confess you as Lord.”

Joshua does not mince his words. Verse 20: “If you forsake the LORD and serve foreign gods, he will turn and bring disaster on you and make and end of you, after he has been good to you.”

...Which is why he makes a big deal about witnesses. Towards the end of the section, Joshua make them witnesses against themselves (verse 22), he writes everything they say down in the Book of the Law (verse 26) and even sets up a stone (in verse 27) as a “witness against us”. A friend from my church group sets up reminders on his iPhone to read the bible; his wife sets up reminders to pray for her friends. Why? Because they are a forgetful couple? No, because they want to be faithful Christians.  Joshua does the same thing: He makes them witnesses (against themselves!); he writes everything down as a legal contract; and he sets up the stones as visual reminders (ala iPhones) of their promises to God. Why? To keep them accountable to God and to keep them accountable one another.

A friend told me this week why he and his wife decided to join a bible study group. “To be accountable,” he said. (I replied, “Only a Christian would say that!” - not because it was Christian but because it was cliche. Still, it was a good answer!) Being accountable means you are living your life before God and before God’s people. Not unlike Christian weddings: The husband and wife make promises before God and their church, saying, “Help us to keep our promises to one another.”

So the second thing we see in this passage is Joshua questioning their commitment - partly because he knows how prone his people are to idolatry - but mainly because he knows how prone we all are to pride. We cannot do this by ourselves. We need God’s help to walk in faithfulness and holiness before him. Graciously, God gives us that help though his Spirit that he places in us and through his people he gathers around us.

3. After these things

But finally, we see that Joshua dies.

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 Timnah Serah in the hill country of Ephraim north of Mount Gaash.
Joshua 24:29-30

In this last section, Joshua dies. A whole bunch of other people die as well (his elders; Joseph, who is really just a bag of bones; and Eleazar the son of Aaron, also long dead). The good news is: They each receive their inheritance - the piece of land that God promised them - an indication of the fullness of God’s blessing. We see this in Joshua’s age - a hundred and ten - symbolic of a full life. All this is saying is that this generation died having lived well. They died having seen all of God’s promises fulfilled.

But what about the next generation?

The sad thing is, Joshua’s faithfulness died with him. Turn to next page and the first words you read are, “After the death of Joshua...” Read the book of Judges and you find the entire nation descending into moral decay. “In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit.” (Judges 21:25)

Joshua did not appoint a successor (he wasn’t supposed to). While his elders were still around, things were stable (verse 31) but as soon as they were gone, the nation abandoned God. What a sad end to his legacy.

The main point of all this is to say: It is not enough. You can have a great leader like Joshua, but it is not enough. You can force everyone to come to church, go to Sunday School, do quiet time, but there are no guarantees they will not go astray. I think Joshua realised that, hence the big meeting he called in Shechem. He was concerned: “Are they truly following God or just faking it?”

What we need is faithfulness that transcends death. What we need is a Joshua whose death results in more faithfulness, not less. And that is precisely what we have in Jesus. If there’s one thing you need to know about Jesus it’s this: He died. He really, really died - a horrible death - condemned as a criminal and hung naked on a cross.

But here’s the thing: When Jesus talked about the cross, he called it his glory.

Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. I tell you the truth, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honour the one who serves me.”
John 12:23-27

“Unless a grain of wheat… dies, it remains a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.” With Joshua, they continued to worship God while he was still alive. Not so with Jesus. His death is the reason we worship God. His death is the reason we worship Jesus as God. “My Father will honour the one who serves me,” Jesus says.

I don’t know if anyone has ever asked you this before, but: Will you follow - will you serve - this Jesus? This Jesus who lived the life you should have lived; and this Jesus who died the death you absolutely deserved to die? Will you give your life to him and serve him all the days of your life as your Lord and Saviour and God?

If your answer is Yes, then know this, my friend:


You are a Christian.