Choose Wisely

Now here’s where Joshua makes it a kind of Election Day mandate, saying, “If these commands are undesirable for you, then choose for yourselves this day who you will serve.” No threats or ultimatums. Simply, choose for yourself who you will serve. And then he casts his vote: As for me and my household we will serve the Lord. What a great declaration for Christian families.

It's gratifying then to hear the people’s vote, reiterating what Joshua had reminded them of their history, crediting God for their victories and protection. We too will serve the Lord, because he is our God. Seemingly a unanimous vote. I thought it was a good verse to end our Scripture reading with, because it would be the response I’d expect from you here if I had asked you to vote. But further on, Joshua’s response is shocking. After spending all this time to get the Israelites to commit to serving God, and after getting the affirmative answer he was seeking, Joshua says: “You are not able to serve the Lord.” Because the Lord is holy, and jealous.

Wait, what? This is a strong shift in focus. Until now, Joshua’s focus had been on all the things God had done, but his focus now shifts to who God is. Holy and jealous. “The people affirmed all that God had done for them and then said they would serve Him ‘because He is our God.’”

Joshua saying “You are not able to serve Him” is because God’s character is so far beyond our comprehension and ability to manage. God is holy – meaning by definition that God is unfathomable, so morally perfect that we cannot hope to have anything of merit to offer Him. And God is jealous – meaning that God’s love for His people is so strong and perfect that He will not accept anything less than total commitment, total fidelity, total faithfulness.

God is so much more than we can even dare to imagine. We have nothing He needs, nothing that will make Him more complete. He is holy and we are not. He is a perfectly faithful God of love, and we are fickle. We can’t serve Him just by saying “OK, I’ll serve Him.” We might then ask what’s the use of trying if we can never measure up. The answer is simple: Grace. We aren’t capable of meeting God’s standards, but God gives us grace. Grace that forgives us, yet is not deserved, but freeing us from the penalties of our sinfulness. Because of God’s grace, we’re invited into relationship with God despite our inabilities. Jesus came and died for us, to bridge the chasm that separated us from God. Now, we are invited to be in relationship with God, invited into a reunion with the Holy and jealous God Joshua describes. We can’t serve Him on our own terms, but God gives us the grace to serve Him. So here is the heart of the Gospel: we can serve a holy and jealous God because He has invited us to by His grace.

With grace relieving us from not having to measure up to God’s perfect and holy standards, Paul says we are called to freedom. Not to legal bondage under the Law, but to freedom. But we must not make freedom a pretext for self-indulgence. Like Joshua’s presenting the people with a choice of who they would serve, Paul is writing to the Galatian church presenting a choice of using their freedom to choose between serving the Lord, walking in the Spirit…or gratifying the desires of the flesh. Paul compares the acts of the flesh, which are listed and obvious, with walking in the Spirit, which are also shown in our reading. Obviously, those two choices conflict with each other. Paul further states that those who choose to live according to the desires of the flesh will not inherit the kingdom of God. Those who are led by the Spirit are no longer under the Law and its penalties, but belong to Christ, having crucified the flesh’s passions and desires.