Choosing to Serve
Sanctity of Life Sunday
Joshua 24:14-15
Rev. Brian Bill
1/21/07
I’ve always been fascinated by what people say right before they die. These last words are often indelibly etched on people’s minds.
Bing Crosby: “That was a great game of golf, fellas.”
Alexander Graham Bell: “No.”
P.T. Barnum: “How were the circus receipts in Madison Square Garden?”
Harry Houdini: “I’m tired of fighting! I guess this thing is going to get me.” (Houdini would often tighten his stomach muscles and invite strong men to punch him. One day he was punched before he could brace himself and his gut ruptured and he died).
Mother Theresa: “Jesus, I love you. Jesus, I love you.”
Michael Faraday: “I shall be with Christ, and that is enough.”
When Joshua came to the end of his life, he preached a very poignant and practical sermon. Today we’ll finish our overview study of this key book and next week we’ll take a look at the Book of Judges. Two weeks ago we learned that if we want to see God do His work in our life, we must take the first step. Last week we were challenged with this truth: The walls fall only when our will falls.
In chapter 24, Joshua assembled all the people together, along with all the leaders, and he preached to them as they “presented themselves before God.” In the first 10 verses, he summarizes the nation’s history and then in verses 11-12 he recounts what had taken place in the years since they crossed the Jordan River. Joshua’s concerns at the end of his life are the same ones he had for the people after they crossed the Jordan River. It’s obvious that he’s not focused on himself but on others. It’s a characteristic of an older godly person to be focused on the future. This is actually the fourth call to covenant renewal in the Book of Joshua, showing that we need multiple opportunities and regular challenges to make sure we are living out what we know to be true.
Joshua longs for his people to be faithful and so he lays out a challenge for them in verses 14-15: “Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. 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 knows the human heart and how hard it is for us to surrender our wills to the Lord. He knows that we get complacent, we’re prone to compromise and some of us procrastinate in order to avoid commitment. Let’s look at his challenge.
1. Fear the Lord devotedly. The word “now” means in light of all that God has done, we must tremble before Him and see him as holy. Proverbs 15:33: “The fear of the LORD teaches a man wisdom.” Proverbs 19:23: “The fear of the LORD leads to life: Then one rests content, untouched by trouble.” And this is not just an Old Testament concept for Hebrews 12:29 says that “our God is a consuming fire.” A.W. Tozer once said, “What comes into your mind when you think about God is the most important thing about you.”
2. Serve the Lord exclusively. Joshua is calling his people to serve the Lord with all they have. The word “serve” in Hebrew comes from the same root as “worship.” Worship must lead to our working. Three times the people respond by saying that they will “serve the Lord” (18, 21, 24).
Here’s the rub. You’re going to serve somebody. In fact, you do serve somebody right now. It’s either self, Satan or the Savior. And by not serving God you are choosing to serve self and Satan. To not decide is to decide by default for the dark side. Matthew 6:24: “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.”
3. Throw away idols totally. It’s amazing how many times God’s people were tripped up because they wouldn’t throw away their idols. The phrase, “throw away” literally means “to turn off.” The idea is that we throw them so far away that their power over us is extinguished. The problem for many of us is that we don’t throw them away; instead we keep them close by. In fact, we can infer from this verse that God’s people still had some idols with them. Look at verse 23: “Throw away the foreign gods that are among you…” This was a huge problem throughout their history. It’s as if they wanted a spiritual security blanket; something they could fall back on if God didn’t work out.
An idol is really anything that is loved or feared more than God. It can involve the worship of a person, an image, object or idea. John Piper reminds us that the things that take our attention are not always evil in and of themselves: “They are your basic…gardening and reading and decorating and traveling and investing and TV-watching and Internet-surfing and shopping and exercising and collecting and talking…and all of them can be deadly substitutes for God.” John Calvin once referred to the human heart as an “idol factory.” Joshua is urging them to consider their options and then to make a choice:
• They could go way back and worship the gods that Abraham did. These gods offered spiritual highs and a reliance on mysticism and astrology.
• They could go back to the gods of Egypt. This religion was steeped in materialism. In one sense, these gods were the most attractive because Egypt represented power and prestige. Even though the Hebrews were slaves for 400 years, the land itself and its culture offered a pretty impressive place to live.
• They could commit to the idols of the Amorites. This way of life offered sensuality, emotional fulfillment and an emphasis on outward success. These Canaanite gods are still worshipped today.
If they didn’t get rid of their idols, they would eventually forsake the Lord. Hebrews 3:12: “See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.”
I watched portions of American Idol this week and had to turn it off twice. Two things bothered me about the show. The first is that success and stardom seems like a god for many people. This is evidenced by the reaction many have when they don’t make the cut. They can barely handle it. But the second reason I turned it off is because the judges are just plain mean. As I watched and listened to them slice and dice the contestants I found myself hurting for the singers. How can I say that I am pro-life and believe that everyone has dignity and worth in God’s eyes and secretly applaud when these image bearers of God are incinerated on national TV?
Having said that, don’t you find it interesting that the show is called American Idol? Do you think we have any idols in America? What are some of them? Just shout them out. The very last verse of John’s first letter ends with a warning about idols. 1 John 5:21: “Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.” Throw them away and then keep them away.
4. Choose whom you will serve. This is an immediate imperative: “Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve.” The Lord is Yahweh, who is highly relational. He is involved with them and has fought for them. He has revealed Himself and continually offers love to them. Joshua declared his devotion to the Lord. As we learned last week his will is surrendered and because of that He has decided that he and his household will serve the Lord. Too many of us waver and hesitate and capitulate to what is politically correct. We want to keep one foot in and one foot out. It was G.K. Chesterton who said, “The Christian life has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult, and left untried.” Spiritual indecision leads to disorientation.
Hundreds of years later, Elijah framed the question this way in 1 Kings 18:21: “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him. But the people said nothing.” I like the translation that says, “How long will you go limping between two opinions?” Did you catch that last part? The people said nothing. There’s something within us that resists making a commitment. We’d rather not choose a side. Maybe it’s because we want to keep our options open. Or more likely we know that to choose God means we have to surrender to Him, and frankly we don’t want to do that.
Joshua has decided to serve God. It’s as if he is saying: “I have chosen, I am choosing, and I will forever choose.” The Hebrew literally reads, “I myself.” He is coming down squarely on the side of the Lord. D.L. Moody once heard someone say: “The world has yet to see what God can do with a life totally surrendered to Him.” His response is similar to Joshua’s: “I will be that man.” God is still looking for men and women and boys and girls who are totally surrendered to Him. Will you be that man or woman?
Choose the Lord, Choose Life
On this Sanctity of Human Life Sunday, we affirm, along with thousands of other churches, that every person from conception on, is an image bearer of God, stamped with divine dignity and worthy of protection. Proverbs 31:8-9 challenges us to speak for those who have no voice: “Speak for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.” We’re called to reach out with care, courage and compassion to those who not only never have a chance to say their final words; they aren’t allowed to say their first ones either.
Some pastors have chosen, for various reasons, to remain silent on this topic or to even approve of abortion. I don’t see either as an option this morning. Where God has spoken, I must speak. This past week we hosted the Pontiac Area Ministerial Association and I encouraged fellow pastors to speak up for life in their sermons today because there might be someone in our services who is contemplating abortion. I didn’t get the sense that we all see this issue the same way but I felt led to say it anyway. My goal is not to be politically correct but to be biblically correct. We’re compelled and constrained to communicate God’s heart as clearly as we can, with as much love as we can. Proverbs 14:25 summarizes our purpose and our hope: “A truthful witness saves lives, but a false witness is deceitful.”
I want to submit to you this morning that while abortion is, and should be debated politically, discussed emotionally, and described medically, at its primary roots, abortion is a moral issue, and as such, must be defined biblically. We must begin by recognizing the value of every created person – the preborn, the newborn, the orphan, the widow, the disabled, the mentally challenged, those with AIDS, the elderly, those in hospice, and those we might not care for because they have a different colored skin or religion than we do.
Here are 8 biblical truths that establish the preborn as not only viable, but valuable.
1. The preborn are called “babies.” “When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb...” (Luke 1:41).
2. The life of the preborn is protected by the same punishment for injury or death as that of an adult. “If men who are fighting hit a pregnant woman and she gives birth prematurely…if there is serious injury, you are to take life for life.” (Exodus 21:22-23).
3. Christ was fully human from the point of conception. “…Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son…” (Matthew 1:20-21).
4. Preborn children have a propensity to sin. “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.” (Psalm 51:5).
5. Personal pronouns are used to describe preborn children. “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart…” (Jeremiah 1:5).
6. God calls people to ministry even before they are born. “Before I was born the Lord called me; from my birth he has made mention of my name.” (Isaiah 49:1).
7. God creates the preborn. “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.” (Psalm 139:13).
8. God knows the preborn intimately and personally. “My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body…” (Psalm 139:15-16)
We need to know what the Bible says about the beginning of life. However, since some people don’t accept the Bible as the ultimate truth source, we can also argue for the value and sanctity of the preborn by focusing on the baby’s development in the womb.
A Womb With a View
If we could somehow give mothers a window to their womb, it would become unmistakably clear that so-called “fetal tissue” is really a frolicking toddler-to-be. This past Sunday night, National Geographic ran a special called “Multiples in the Womb” that showed a twin leaning over and kissing the cheek of her sister while both are in the womb. They also showed a picture of triplets snuggling together. These images are from www.nationalgeographic.com.
A television commercial for GE’s new ultrasound system shows a pregnant woman and her husband marveling at an amazingly clear picture of their unborn baby’s features. The announcer says: “When you see your baby for the first time…it really is a miracle.” Here’s a picture of a 17-week-old fetus no bigger than a newborn kitten that appeared in TIME magazine (11/03/02). By the way, the word fetus is the Latin word for “young one” or “offspring.” These actual images appear in live-action and in full color.
When we survey Scripture and ponder pictures of the preborn, there is no doubt that human life begins at conception and as such must be celebrated and protected. As we remembered Martin Luther King’s impact on human rights this past Monday, let’s also recognize that we still have a long way to go to protect the greatest of all human rights – the right to life for the preborn. One quote from Martin Luther King seems particularly poignant when it comes to this issue: “There comes a time when silence is betrayal.”
Moving Toward Life
Have you heard the good news about the declining abortion rate in America? You wouldn’t necessarily know this from mainstream magazines, but the number of abortions has been falling for a number of years.
I’d like to suggest that there are some reasons for this:
1. A purity resurgence. About three years ago, USA Today reported that the U.S. abortion rate has been declining in part because there are an increasing number of young people abstaining from premarital sex (1/16/03, http://usatoday). In a recently published book called, “The New Faithful,” Colleen Carroll traces the grassroots movement of a new generation of teenagers who reject abortion and sexual license. These young people make purity pledges and swarm the National Mall each year to march for life. About four years ago, Newsweek did a cover story called, “The New Virginity: Why More Teens Are Choosing Not to Have Sex” (12/9/02). If more people would submit to the lordship of Jesus Christ and commit to sexual fidelity, there is no doubt that the abortion rate would go down even more drastically.
2. Attitudes on abortion are changing. A recent Gallup survey shows that teenagers today are more pro-life than the general adult population. 72% of teens said they believe abortion is “morally wrong” while just 26% of adults agree with this statement. Focus on the Family reports that there is a clear trend among both men and women toward restricting abortion.
3. The influence of Caring Pregnancy Centers. We are very blessed to have the Caring Pregnancy Center here in Pontiac, and to have one of our members, Gwen Edwards, providing leadership for this strategic ministry. We also have several members who helped start this ministry over 20 years ago and a number who volunteer right now. Would you please stand if you are, or have been, involved with the CPC? I’m delighted that we support this ministry through our mission’s budget.
4. The use of sonograms by Caring Pregnancy Centers. This technology reveals the humanity of preborn children more graphically than ever. A 2005 survey by Care Net, a network of 1,000 Caring Pregnancy Centers, found that 72% of women who were “strongly leaning” toward abortion decided to carry their pregnancies to term after seeing a sonogram. One 16-year-old was shown a sonogram of her 21-week-old preborn and had this reaction: “As soon as I seen that, I was ready. It wasn’t no joke. It was real. It was like, he’s not born to the world yet, but he is inside me growing” (washingtonpost.com, 9/9/06). I would love to see our CPC here in Pontiac be able to add this tool so that a client could have a window into her womb. Perhaps God wants to use someone here today to make this a reality. I understand that a machine costs around $50,000.
5. Parental involvement laws. There are now 44 states that have either a parental notification or parental consent law. Yesterday’s Pantagraph reported that Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan “asked a federal court Friday to allow enforcement of the state’s long-dormant law requiring that parents be notified before a minor can obtain an abortion” (1/20/07).
6. Pro-life laws. Mississippi has passed 15 pro-life laws in the past 13 years and as a result, abortions have decreased 60%.
7. Testimonies from those who’ve had abortions. Carrie Earll, bioethics analyst for Focus on the Family, says, “It’s not natural to kill our children, and all of us, women especially, know that intimately.” And, now with increasing regularity, more and more women are coming forward to talk about their experience with abortion.
8. Media attention on the gruesome practices of partial-birth abortion. This has caught the attention of the public, and people are repulsed by what they’ve learned.
9. The influence of Christians just like you. This cannot be minimized as you interject God’s views on life into conversations, and as you provide counsel to people who are in crisis. I applaud each you for your boldness on a controversial topic and as your pastors, we will do all we can to keep you encouraged and informed. For many in our country, the word “choice” has become an idol itself. It’s time to reframe the question. The ultimate “choice” is this: Will you choose to serve the Lord and follow His Word?
It’s interesting that when the people told Joshua that they were ready to serve the Lord, he essentially told them that they can’t serve Him in verse 19: “You are not able to serve the Lord. He is a holy God; He is a jealous God…” Perhaps they were being too flippant. Joshua didn’t want them to sign up for religious reformation but instead was offering spiritual transformation. The choice to serve the Lord should not be made lightly…but it must be made.
I talked to someone this week who passed along something really helpful. When God asks for my whole life, I may feel like I can’t do that. If God were to ask for a year, I might hesitate because I’m not sure I can follow through. A month? Still too long. How about a day? Maybe but I’ve never been able to do that. Here’s something that we can all do: Surrender to God for the next 15 seconds. Everyone can do that. And then string a number of these 15- second increments together and you have a minute and then an hour and then a day and then a week and then a month and then a year and then a lifetime.
Life Responses
I can’t tell you specifically how to respond to the issue of abortion, but I urge you to follow the Holy Spirit’s nudges. We can’t just sit back and do nothing. Proverbs 24:11 lays it out in pretty strong words: “Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering toward slaughter.”
Let me close this morning by listing some ways that you can get involved. It may be more comfortable to adopt a passive stance with regard to the abortion issue. It certainly would be the least offensive response. But who, with a clear conscience, can sit back, say little, and do nothing while babies continue to be killed? Choose today whom you will serve. We’ve looked at the final words of Joshua. He’s urging us to choose the Lord. In some of Moses’ last words, he urges us to choose life in Deuteronomy 30:19: “This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live.”
Here are some ways that you can choose life.
• If you’re pregnant right now, see your preborn baby as part of your family. And then say like Joshua, “As for me and my family we will serve the Lord…”
• View yourself as a “survivor” of abortion. Everyone born after January 22, 1973 is a survivor. Historically, those who have endured an atrocity have always labored in earnest to end acts of violence.
• Volunteer at the Caring Pregnancy Center. Please stop by the display across from the Welcome Center and pick up some information.
• Support the CPC financially and with other gifts like diapers, formula, etc.
• Pass the word regarding our post-abortion Bible Study (see insert). Studies show that the majority of women who’ve had abortions have significant emotional, physical and spiritual scars. The Elliot Institute in Springfield recently conducted a comprehensive survey of 260 post-abortive women. Not surprisingly, 92% of these women report that they have experienced feelings of guilt and 87% indicated that they suffered some depression (see the web site called, www.afterabortion.org for more information and additional resources). If you’re ravaged by guilt right now, allow me to share something that a PBC member sent me this week. He was feeling bad for everything he has done and then he caught these words on the radio:
I’m not what I could be.
I’m not what I should be.
I’m not what I will be.
But I’m not what I was because I’m a follower of Christ.
• Work with our children and student ministries.
• Seriously consider adoption.
• Become a foster parent.
• Write letters to your legislative representative.
• Offer to baby-sit for a single parent.
• Invite a pro-life speaker to your school.
• Be an extended family to a young woman in need.
• Talk to your children about sexual purity.
• Pray.
A Place of Grace
Brothers and sisters, I’m not really sure why we’re so hard on people when they mess up, but we need to practice some grace. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Why do we get so angry with people who sin differently than we do? Some of us act like our sins smell better than the sins of others.
Abortion is wrong. It’s repulsive and sinful. But, it’s forgivable. While we need to speak out against moral concerns in our society, we must also offer love and compassion to those who need help. This is a place of grace. Jesus offers a fresh start and a new beginning. Some of His final words were these: “It is finished.” That means the price has been paid. The debt is now cancelled. Don’t be indecisive any longer. Get off the fence. Make your choice. Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve. Choose the Lord and “choose life, so that your children my live.”
10 Years Later
Almost exactly 10 years ago today, a nineteen-year-old college student was sitting right here in this room. She had just found out she was pregnant and had told her parents that weekend. Not really knowing what to do, the family came to church. She told me that she didn’t want to attend that day because her whole life was in chaos. This young woman was seriously contemplating her options and was urged by her boyfriend to make a choice he thought would be the easiest.
As she sat through the service, Pastor Bob Wiedman got up and preached on the value and dignity of human life. As soon as she heard the Word preached she knew what she had to do. She took it as a sign from Him. God had already given her such a love for her baby and because she now knew what God wanted her to do; she gladly gave birth to her son. He is now nine-years-old and was saved last year in AWANA and wants to be put on the list to be baptized this spring.
Before I introduce this mother and son to you, I just want to say that you may be in a similar spot right now. Or maybe you know someone who is, or will be. I urge you to make the right choice. Choose the Lord and choose life. I am very grateful for the obedience of Pastor Bob as he shared the truth of God’s Word in that sermon. Incidentally, that particular year something had come up on the actual date for Sanctity of Life Sunday so they had to move it to the next weekend. That was all God’s planning because this young woman was in church that Sunday and not the Sunday before.
I’d like to introduce them to you right now.
Video: “He Knows My Name.”
Closing Song: “He Knows My Name.”
