“Choose Jesus”
Joshua 24:14-18
Introduction:
I went shopping with my wife last week…grocery shopping…something I rarely do. It’s not that I’m sexist or anything…I don’t think that grocery shopping is women’s work and therefore not in my purview as a ‘real man.’ It just works out that grocery shopping isn’t usually what I do. But last week I went grocery shopping, and I was absolutely fascinated by the vast variety of choices that were available for just about every imaginable thing.
The aisles were filled with mundane and exotic grocery items, some familiar and many others unfamiliar, and it seemed that in the case of just about every item there were multiple choices to be made. Choices between different brands of the same item, between different preparations of the same item, between stewed and pureed, diced and chopped, sweetened or unsweetened, heavy or lite syrup, salted or sodium free, organic or, well, not organic, locally grown or from far away. The choices seemed endless! In fact, it seemed there were too many choices. It seemed to me that grocery shopping would be a lot easier if there were simply fewer choices. After all, how truly different are all those varieties of canned corn? How many different brands of water chestnuts must I have to choose from in order to be truly satisfied?
Take hot sauce, for instance. I like hot sauce. It adds a little pizzazz to otherwise very ordinary things…like…let’s say, eggs. A few drops on your fried eggs, mixed in with your scrambled eggs, or on top of your omelet…what a great way to start the day! It’s also great with cheddar cheese…a couple of pieces of cheese, a splash of hot sauce on a plate, and you’ve got yourself a nice, spicy little snack. Roxanne cooks with hot sauce, too. She takes boneless, skinless chicken, cooks it in a pan with oil, and then liberally pours in the hot sauce and lets the whole thing simmer for a while. Zowee! Now that’ll make your socks roll up and down.
Roxanne sent me after hot sauce. That’s a fairly easy task, right? Shouldn’t take anyone 20 minutes to find hot sauce and bring it back to the cart, right? Even a man should be able to do that simple chore, right? But there were just too many choices! Too many choices, I tell you! Roxanne had to come and find me, because I’d been unable to make a decision. Let’s see, will I choose Louisiana style, Caribbean style, Mexican style, East Indian style, or Thai style… Okay. Mexican! But will it be jalapeño, habeñero, or chile? Okay. Jalapeño! But will it be green or roasted red chipotle? Green! Okay. Hot, medium, or mild? I dunno. Maybe it’s just me, but does anyone else find themselves growing incredibly frustrated in a grocery store of all places? Roxanne had to rescue me.
Body:
It’s a silly little thing, I know, but it serves to help illustrate the dizzying array of choices that we’re faced with in life. Besides all of the mundane little things, at some point in life we’re faced with big decisions regarding education, career, mates, children, investment & retirement…just to name a few. Big decisions, all; requiring lots of choices. And the results of those choices will be life impacting. We know that these are important choices, and so most of us will agonize over them…trying carefully to make the right, the best, choice that we possibly can. After all, we know we’re going to have to live with the results of our choice. So, we’ll gather as much information as we can, weigh it all out, seek counsel and advice, and examine things from every possible angle…because we know that choices we’re making are very important.
It’s strange, then, that the most important choice you’ll ever be called upon to make is the one you’ll try hardest to ignore. It’s the choice that affects all the others, that flows to all others, that informs all others…and that’s the choice about the way you want to live your life, about the kind of person you want to be. It’s the choice about the kind of heart you want to have, the kind of spirit and attitude that you wish to portray. It’s the choice about what your life will be founded on, about the rule of life that will guide all your other decisions.
This choice is critical not only because of the impact it will have on every other facet of your existence in this life, but also because you’ll carry the results of it with you into the next one. You see, this choice isn’t just about now…it’s about eternity. At its most fundamental level it’s a choice between righteousness and unrighteousness, between being saved and lost, between heaven and hell. When framed in those terms it’s easy to see just how critical this choice is. Where you want to spend eternity is life’s most significant choice, because the result of the choice will affect every other aspect of your living. It will affect how you conduct yourself, how you treat others, the kind of person you are in success or failure, in good times and in bad.
It’s a choice about who you’re going to serve, about who will determine the rule of your life. And it’s a choice that people have had to make for a long, long time.
In our Scripture reading, the great leader of the people of Israel, Joshua, challenges his people with this choice. “Choose you this day who you will serve,” he thunders. You can’t ignore the choice. You have to make it. And while he frames the choice in terms of the unique circumstances they were facing, the message in it is timeless and applicable to us today.
He told them, “Here are your options: you can serve the gods of your ancestors, you can serve the gods of the nations around you, or you can serve the Lord. But in any case, you’ve got to make a choice. And that choice is going to influence every other decision you ever make. So, choose. And choose today.”
While we may not be familiar with terms like ‘the gods of your ancestors’ and ‘the gods of the nations around you’, we can understand and appreciate that each choice meant a choice of values and lifestyles. They could choose between living the way their ancestors had always lived, living the way the nations around them lived, or living life God’s way. You know what? Those are the same basic choices we are faced with today, the same basic options of life direction.
Choosing the ancestral gods means allowing my background, my culture, my family, to make my choices for me. I follow the path that the ancients have chosen for me. What they’ve been, I’ll be. What my people have chosen become my choices. Their lifestyles become mine, their loves and hates are mine, their limitations and bondages become mine. I can’t help it, this is what all of my people are…this is what all of my people have been. I follow blindly in the ruts that have been worn deep by the generations that have preceded me.
Choosing the ancestral gods means that your grandfather’s addictions, your grandfather’s hatreds, your grandfather’s politics, and your grandfather’s beliefs have all become yours. It means that those who have gone before you have determined what you will be. It’s easy to live this way because the most difficult choices in life have been made for you. You’re absolved of any responsibility. You’re divorced from the need to exercise your reason and determine what’s actually best for your life. You’re freed from the need to examine your people’s ways to see if they’re really the ways that will make you better than you are. You’re released from the difficult position of perhaps finding that you need to choose a different way.
But Joshua spoke of another choice. You can not only choose the gods of your ancestors, but if that isn’t what you want you can choose the gods of the Amorites…the gods of those who live all around you.
Choosing the gods of those around me means allowing the dominant culture I’m surrounded by and immersed in, to make my choices for me. I follow the path that those around me follow. Their entertainments become my amusements. Their language, their speech becomes mine. More importantly, the things they talk about become the things I talk about. Their interests become my interests. The fad of the moment becomes my passion. I mimic their appearance and their mannerisms. Their behaviour becomes my behaviour…I adapt myself to their lifestyles; I adjust my conduct to theirs.
I adopt their ideals and align myself to their ethics. Wherever they declare the moral/ethical high ground to be is where I stand. So, whether the ideal is materialism, socialism, environmentalism, or some strange combination of them all matters little…I just think what everyone else thinks. I follow their trends and submit to their tastes. In all things I am led and formed by the dominant culture, by the majority, by the herd, by the mob. This allows me to go with the flow, so to speak…to live a life free from conflict with the world around me, to live an unexamined life, a thoughtless life.
The problem, the burden of both of these is that they leave me living someone else’s life. They leave me living the life that someone else has dictated is best, that someone else has chosen for me. In the first case, I’m left in bondage to, what those before me have been in bondage to. In the second case, I’m left in bondage to what those around me are in bondage to. In the first case, I am left dissatisfied because I am hemmed in and cannot break free to search. In the second case, I sample whatever is latest and greatest and still find myself thirsting for more…and I discover that more doesn’t mean merrier, and because everyone else is doing it doesn’t mean that it satisfies.
Is there another way, a third choice? Is there a way that offers both freedom and satisfaction? Is there a life that can offer both the security and comfort of the old, yet in turn be new every morning? Is there a life that grants excitement and challenges me, yet satisfies me so deeply that it can keep me from youth to grave, and go with me into the next life?
These were the choices that the ancient Israelites were faced with. Their leader, Joshua, presented to them their dilemma. Then, as now, they couldn’t just walk away and pretend there was no choice to be made. They had to choose who they were going to serve. Were they going to follow the ways that their ancient ancestors had followed for a thousand years before them? Were they going to follow the ways of the dominant culture that surrounded them? Just who were they going to serve? The answer they provided Joshua, though the story is yellowed with age, remains the answer of those who have found the good and perfect way.
“Go back to the old gods? Serve the gods of those around us? How could we do such a thing after what the Lord has done for us? You see, we remember that we were in the prison-house…we were captives, in bondage, enslaved…and the Lord delivered us. We remember that we were lost and didn’t know which way to go, and the Lord directed us. We remember that we were hungry and thirsty and had no way to be satisfied, and the Lord provided for us. We remember that we were surrounded and attacked by our enemies, and the Lord protected us. He made a way where there was no way! Serve another god? Choose another way? There is no other God, and there is no other way!”
There are many here this morning that can bear witness that the power of the Lord has not lessened through the intervening years since Israel testified of His ability. There are people here who can testify that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever!
He can still deliver souls from the prison-house. You name the bondage…Jesus can deliver! You name the addiction…Jesus can make you free! It’s hereditary, they tell you. It’s in your blood, they tell you. All your people were this way, they tell you. But Jesus Christ isn’t bound by the old gods, He’s not bound by the ways of your fathers…and we testify to you that you don’t have to be, either! The delivering power of Jesus Christ can break the hold of chemical addictions like drugs and alcohol. The delivering power of Jesus Christ can break the hold of psychological addictions like pornography. The delivering power of Jesus Christ can rescue you from the emotional prisons built up by abuse. The delivering power of Jesus Christ can make you free from the torment of your own bitter spirit and troubled mind and lead you to walk in peace. I wonder if I can get a witness here this morning, that whatever prison-house may be holding you bound, Jesus Christ can make you free! Can I get a witness?
Jesus can still give purpose to the directionless life! You don’t have to live another day wondering if there’s a purpose for your life…Jesus Christ can fill your life with purpose. You don’t have to spend your days spinning in circles trying to figure out if there’s a reason for your existence…Jesus can reveal your reason to you. You can have confidence in place of uncertainty. You can have clarity in place of confusion. You can have direction in the desolate places of life. You can find the way when all around you the fog rolls in. You can know the right course when life takes you into uncharted territory. The power of God hasn’t changed! I wonder if I can get a witness here this morning that Jesus Christ is still in the life-directing business. Can I get a witness?
We could bear witness this morning of the power of Jesus Christ to provide…how He provided food when we were hungry, provided shelter when we were in the cold, and provided rest when we were weary. We could tell you of how when we couldn’t make the rent, we prayed and provision was made. We could tell you of how we lost our jobs, didn’t know how we were going to make it…but Jesus came through. We could tell you of those who prayed in milk for their babies, oil for the furnaces, coats for their backs, and groceries for their cupboards. In these and in many other ways we have learned of the power of Jesus Christ to provide.
Closing:
So if you’re weary of stumbling along in the same old ruts that the generations before have cut for you, there is another way; choose Jesus. If you’re exhausted by the pursuit of what others call pleasure, there is another way; choose Jesus. If you’re tired of prison house living…tired of the bondage of addictions, of anxiety, of bitterness, of anguish…there is another way; choose Jesus! If you’re spent with following the flow of the world around you, bruised by being borne along in the torrent of life…there is another way; choose Jesus!
His way is ancient, yet somehow always current and relevant. His way is the way that will both challenge you to be different, and empower you to change. In His way you will find forgiveness for transgression and grace to live as one who has been cleansed. You’ll find comfort in sorrow, mercy in mistakes, strength imparted in times of weakness, and peace of mind when all the world’s in chaos. And the blessing of it all can begin today, this morning, even now, when you choose Jesus!
Choosing Jesus requires faith. You’ve got to be willing to place your life in His hands. And why not? You’ve trusted others with your past, and where has it gotten you? Why not trust Jesus with your future?
Choosing Jesus calls for repentance. That’s a fancy theological word that simply means to change your mind and change your direction. Repentance; changing your mind about the life you’ve been living, and turning to walk along following Jesus. If you’ve never repented before, we can pray with you and show you how.
Choosing Jesus calls for you to take on His name in water baptism. When you’re baptized in the name of Jesus in faith with a repentant heart, God forgives you and washes all the guilt and stain of every sin away from your life. You’re past is cleansed, you’re future cleared, and you come out of the water to walk in newness of life.
The Bible promises that that those who’ve trusted Jesus in repentance and baptism will receive God’s most wonderful gift…the Gift of the Holy Spirit. That’s God’s own Spirit coming to dwell within you, bringing power to demonstrate the change of life that Jesus brings.
You don’t have to continue living the same old way. I invite you today to choose Jesus.
