AS FOR ME AND MY HOUSE
Joshua 24:15
Joshua is near the end of his life. He has been the successor to Moses. He had big shoes to fill. He filled them well. He has led Israel into Palestine, the Land of Promise, and gained control of the major central areas – a beachhead. Now he calls upon the people to remember all that God has done for them from deliverance from Egypt, 40 years in the wilderness, to the present moment of settling down in the Promised Land. His urgent counsel to Israel is that they make up their minds. It is time to stop limping between two commitments. “Choose . .. whom you will serve.”
I. THE CHOICE
1. Joshua issued a final challenge to Israel
2. You would think that after all Israel had been through and all God had done for them that the decision would have been made
3. After 40 years in the wilderness, a new generation had to confront the choice for themselves
4. The choice must always be personalized – “choose for yourselves”
5. We live in a world filled with the evidence of bad choices
6. The Bible is a record of the tragedy of wrong choices
7. But the Bible is also a proclamation of the reality of God’s yearning to redeem mankind from foolish choices and tragic ends
8. The Bible is the story of the power of the right choice
9. Choose – not an option – a must
10. Alternatives are always before us – in every area of life – and to choose one is not to choose the other
11. It is not enough to know the right
12. Right has power only as it is done – as we invest in it
13. Principles are of little value unless we are prepared to live by them
14. Choose
II. THE TIME
1. Joshua said, “Choose this day”
2. The time for choosing is now
3. 2 Cor 6:2 - “behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation”
4. Time is short – no guarantees
5. Prov 27:1 – “Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth.”
6. Too many have wasted too much time already – “choose this day”
7. God doesn’t want the dregs of your life, the leftovers, the pieces
8. He wants you - your life – all of you – all that you are - offered up and dedicated to Him
9. Rom 12:1-2 (NLT) - “Dear brothers and sisters,* I plead with you to give your bodies to God. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will accept. When you think of what he has done for you, is this too much to ask?”
10. God doesn’t want a part of you – soul, spirit, etc. – an idea absolutely foreign to the Bible – (God doesn’t save a part of you, He saves all of you)
11. God wants you – all of you – now – living in this world in commitment to Him
12. The present is all we have – this moment – and with each tick of the clock a moment has passed
13. Choose before it is too late
III. CHOOSE . . . CHOOSE TODAY . . . CHOOSE WHAT?
1. “Choose for yourselves this day Whom you will serve”
2. The call is for decision
3. “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” –
4. “But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”
5. Joshua is issuing a clarion call for decision
6. A line has been drawn in the sand
7. Stand up and be counted
IV. CHOOSE – FOR THE GOOD OF YOUR FAMILY
1. The challenge put to Israel was a challenge to build a nation based on homes dedicated to the One True God, Yahweh, the God of Israel
2. The challenge was put forth by Joshua
3. Joshua had made a decision - “as for me and my house”
4. Joshua committed himself to be a spiritual leader in his home
5. Christian homes don’t just happen
6. Marriage doesn’t make a home Christian (1 + 1 = ?)
7. Christian homes are the result of a deliberate choice
8. Choose who you will server, but for me and my house, we will serve the Lord
9. Choose God – love God with all your heart – make Him the center of your life and home
10. Men, on this Father’s Day, will you not make that commitment
11. With Joshua will you declare “as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord”
