Introduction
A pig and a chicken were walking past a church, and read the pastor’s sermon title on the outside notice board. It read: ‘How Can We Help The Poor?’ The pig and the chicken debated the question as they carried on their way. Then the chicken had a bright idea: I know, she said, we can help the poor by giving them a bacon and eggs breakfast! Oh no you don’t, said the pig angrily. For you, that only means a contribution, but for me it means total commitment.
How much of my life does God have? 100%? 90? 70? 40? 10? God knows what we’re like. And so he time and time again brings us to the point of decision.
1) The Place of God 24:1
Then Joshua assembled the tribes of Israel at Shechem. God has given them the land. This is the third and final assembly of chapters 22-24, chapters that deal with how the land may be kept. Remember the logic of Romans 12:1 Therefore brothers, in view of God’s mercy, I urge you to present your bodies as living sacrifices... If they want to keep living in the blessed land they must keep their spiritual heads screwed on so to speak.
And so here we are, rubbing shoulders with Joshua and the tribes of Israel, at Shechem, on a day filled with solemnity and awe. We are standing in the presence of God. We are standing in Shechem – a place pregnant with historical significance; buzzing with the vibes of days gone by. Around 700 years before, when God had promised Abraham the land, and promised global blessing in and through Abraham, Gen 12 and 34, Abraham moved to Shechem. And perhaps 150 years after that it was at Shechem that Jacob and his household made a decisive response to God by burying his gods under the same great tree as Abraham had known. And so here we are again, standing in Shechem. Something always happens here! What’s going to happen today?
But before we get into the great details of this chapter, let’s get a hold of what’s happening here. As the title in our NIV Bibles suggests, this chapter is about covenant renewal. We know this for 2 reasons. First, in verse 25 we read that Joshua made a covenant that day for the people. Secondly, scholars point out that the story is set in a typical ancient near eastern treaty form. What does that mean? It means that in those times a mighty king would offer a weaker nation the chance to make a treaty – a legal agreement with him. Historical records show that such a treaty typically followed the pattern of preamble identifying the king (2a), a recounting of the kind deeds of that king (2b-13), demands of the king on his new subjects (14-21), rules about the signing and keeping of the document, witnesses to the signing, curses and blessings, etc. Most of this chapter is the story of this ceremony unfolding.
When you think about what’s going on here, you can only agree with Solomon,1 Kings 8:23, ‘O LORD, God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven above or on earth below – you who keep your covenant of love’. A covenant making, promising keeping God was unknown in other cultures and religions. Here, using powerful and culturally relevant commitment language God is speaking. That’s who he is: God of history; God of covenant; the God who speaks.
2) The Grace of God 24:2-13
In verses 2-13 Joshua takes the tribes on a trip down memory lane. Speaking for the Lord he reminds them of the grace of God in their lives. First, the grace of God in his redemptive initiative, vv2-3. He speaks of how Abraham came from a family of pagan idol worshippers. As a young person growing up in Ur in Mesopotamia it almost certain that he was himself an idolater. Sometimes we like to make Bible people into heroes. And sometimes they were. But their main purpose is to show how great their God was, not how great they were. He and his family were in Ur they were lost sinners, engaged in gross sin that was appalling to God. And yet, v3, in the midst of sins cesspit and mire, God speaks to Abraham’s family. God takes them, leads them and gives them the land. That’s God grace in his redemptive initiative. And that’s how God is with you and me.
Second, vv4-5 we see the grace of God in his gradually unfolding plan. The people of Israel go through hardship for many years, but God hasn’t forgotten them. Third we see the grace of God in his powerful act of red sea salvation, vv6-7. This event was second only to what God did on the cross of Christ. Fourth, we see the grace of God in his protection from harm, vv8-10 – when he turns Balaam’s curse into blessing again and again. How grateful we would be if we saw all the harm the Lord keeps us from! And finally, we see the grace of God in the miraculous Jordan crossing and the giving of Jericho and the rest of the land, vv11-13.
God’s point is this: Don’t think you did any of this! I want you to know it’s all of my grace. Look: I took, I led, I gave, I gave, I gave, I sent, I afflicted, I brought, I did, I brought, I gave, I delivered, I gave, I sent, I gave... Do you get the point?! v12 YOU didn’t do it!
Likewise the Christian life begins and ends by the grace of God. We are brought into relationship with God by grace you have been saved. Some make a good argument that even the faith in Ephesians 2:8 in some way is the gift of God. And after salvation we then grow more like Jesus in character and service through God’s gracious Holy Spirit’s presence. A writer was asked if he thought he could ever be like Shakespeare. He answered that such a thing was not possible. To write, and think, and act like Shakespeare would need the spirit of Shakespeare to come and live inside the body. Only then could one start to think, act and be like him. Brothers and sisters we have the Spirit of Jesus Christ living in us! It’s God’s grace that has saved us and will grow us, and keep us safe. ‘tis grace has brought me safe thus far and grace will lead me home! As Peter would later write, His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.
3) The Choice of God 24:14-24
Faced with such glorious facts, what to do? vv14-24 tell of the commitment God is looking for. It is a logical commitment, a total commitment, and a careful commitment. It’s logical because it is the natural response to such grace. Joshua’s v14 conclusion of vv 2-13 is simple: Now fear the Lord. We’re back to Romans 12:1 again, In view of God’s mercy... offer your whole selves, completely, to God, which is your reasonable acts of worship. There’s a reasonable, natural response to such covenant love. It’s a logical commitment. If someone is kind to you, if there’s nothing wrong with you, you’re grateful. If someone’s as kind as God was to Israel, you’re indebted. If God in the flesh dies on a cross for you, that settles it. Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all.
It’s also a total commitment. Joshua says they are to serve him faithfully, he says they must throw away the old gods, that they must choose who they’re going to follow (vv14-15). They couldn’t have one foot in God’s camp and one foot elsewhere. It’s said that as a teenager Luciano Pavarotti was torn between becoming a teacher or a singer. One day his father gave him some good advice: “Luciano, if you try to sit on two chairs, you will fall between them... you must choose one chair.” The rest is history. The Lord Jesus says ‘anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.... Whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. We are called to total commitment of our time, talents, wealth.... There’s a little verse in John, 17:26, which tests our love and choice of him: ‘I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them’. Do you know how much the Father loves the Son?! More than we could ever know. The word infinitely comes to mind. THAT is the love Jesus longs for us to have for him. But we have to choose whether or not we will give that commitment. Christian life and Christian service is not about drifting along carelessly. It’s about choosing to put God first on moment by moment basis. And I’ve made my choice, says Joshua. As for me and my house.... we will.
But how amazing that the old gods were still among them! There were the traditionalists, who had the old Abramic Mesopotamian gods. They looked back to the glorious past and stubbornly refused to move on. There were the liberals, who had the Amorite gods, the gods of the newly conquered land of Canaan. They loved all things new and took respect and relevance to the point of compromise. How easily we too can become unbalanced and worship one of these two. Which is your tendency? Joshua’s argument is this: choose one of those waste of time gods then! His provocative language has the desired result... and in vv16-18 you couldn’t have hoped for a more kosher answer. We will follow the LORD!!!
But it’s in v19 that we get a kick in the teeth that we weren’t expecting! Instead of saying, well done for choosing the real One true God, Joshua says: You want to serve him? Well YOU CAN’T!!! A logical commitment, a total commitment, and now we see a careful commitment. Joshua is a good leader. He knows that it’s dangerous to get an easy commitment for something so serious. He gives two reasons why they can’t serve God. V19, he is a holy God and he is a jealous God. You can’t muck about with him! The Hebrew root word for jealousy means ‘become dark red’. Once you belong to him you are married to him. If he finds you flirting with others he becomes red hot with holy jealousy. The scriptures testify that God becomes dark red with jealousy concerning the honour of his name and the welfare of his bride. You flimsy, fly-by-night, one foot in one foot out, adulterous, weak sinners haven’t got a hope in heaven of serving such Perfection! Says Joshua. And he’s right. How crucial it is for us to live in that paradox, to keep alive that tension – the paradox of his demand that we serve him on the one hand and the fact that we can’t on the other. Let us keep that humility, that Spirit of dependence. Let’s live between that great ‘no I can’t’ and the ‘yes I can’!!! Have you come to the point where you have said, Lord I can’t! You’re too holy! But by your grace I can and will.
And so, after re-affirming their commitment to God the covenant is signed. Soon, Joshua is dead and buried. And the chapter closes. God has given Israel the land. They have promised to follow him. What happens next is for another time.
Conclusion
CS Lewis brings us back to the main challenge of chapter 24. He said that “When the author walks onto the stage, the play is over. God is going to invade, all right; but what is the good of saying you are on His side then, when you see the whole natural universe melting away like a dream and something else comes crashing in? This time it will be God without disguise; something so overwhelming that it will strike either irresistible love or irresistible horror into every creature. It will be too late then to choose your side. That will not be the time for choosing; It will be the time when we discover which side we really have chosen, whether we realized it before or not. Now, today, this moment, is our chance to choose the right side.”
Not just this chapter but the whole book has been about a choice: the choice to put God first. In putting him first we take the promised land; in putting him first we flourish in it. But faithfulness to God isn’t just a decision you made 20 years ago or more; faithfulness means deciding today and tomorrow and the day after, and the day after that, to put him first in our lives. Faithfulness to God is never a matter of standing still. It’s not about standing around and patting ourselves on the back for past victories, noble as they were. It’s decision time – again. What will you choose to do?
Acknowledgements:
Some key ideas in this sermon were gleaned from Dale Ralph Davis’ book, ’Joshua, NO FALLING WORDS’.
