Ch24 (Joshua speaks to everyone)(in Shechem)
-Joshua says, remember ALL that God has done [2ff]. From the very beginning, way back, starting with Abraham. And ALL that He’s done since. Remember all that God has done for you. Remember. Don’t forget that. And the people answer [16-18], we know what the Lord has done for us. We got it. We’re good. We got this. And right off the bat, we see a potential problem. Cuz vision leaks. We forget. And yesterday’s following, yesterday’s devotion, doesn’t carry over. My need to trust Christ, my need to depend on His promises is just as great and fresh today. Obedience means beginning again today as if nothing yet has been done for Christ. Yes, we remember, we celebrate, we thank the Lord for what He HAS done in us, and thru us. Remembering what God did yesterday DOES give us hope, assurance today. But remembering should remind us that TODAY we still need the Lord. TODAY we still need to remember.
-[14-15] Joshua says, IF you know this - then fear the LORD. Fear Him, stand in AWE of Him. Cuz this is not some penny ante deity from beyond the River. Remember Who we’re dealing with. This is Elohim. Jehovah. Lord God Almighty, King of the Universe. It truly is a terrifying thing to fall into His hands. He is not safe (but He IS good and we can trust Him - strong healthy respect). Where the nations go away in their hearts is that there is NO fear of God in their hearts [Psa. 36:1 Transgression speaks to the ungodly within his heart; there is no fear of God before his eyes.]. So fear Him, remember Him, Who He is, What He has done, …AND serve Him [eved, mentioned 13x in vv14-22]
-This Hebrew word for serve = slave/bondage —> whose slave am I? Remember, we saw that Moses was called the “eved” of the Lord. Slave. (Joshua never - he is the servant/attendant of Moses. Only at the end of his life does he get called the eved of the Lord). But the question is: Will we surrender to the Lord? Be His slave? We all [surrender] to something. Most of us surrender to self. To my feelings. To my desires. Maybe we surrender to the world, to what it wants. But Who knows us best? Who knows better what is best for us, than our Maker? This is why the Bible says those who are not surrendered to the Lord are lost. Because unsurrendered to Him we wind up living a life we were never designed to live. Empty. Hopeless. Wallowing in a pigsty instead celebrating with our Father and His family. [13] And Joshua says, the motivation for surrendering to the Lord is not strictly out of fear, but more in response to all He has done, to [His mercies], to the extreme everlasting love of God. Which is precisely what we need to remember. God demonstrates His love for us how? In that while we were sinners, Christ died for us. While we were His enemies, God sent His Son to pay our death penalty, AND to woo us back to Him. So, [24] Surrender says, "Lord, I will shama." I will hear Your voice. Unlike how my [dog] rolls, we will listen and respond. (So, fear the Lord, hear Him, serve Him, and…)
-Put away foreign gods [14,23]. Foreign gods - they’re everywhere. Things that do not belong on the throne of my heart. They’re foreign. They [don’t fit]. The God-shaped hole in my heart is not designed to hold any other thing. Nothing else fits there. Much as we try [2]. Only the Lord. Serve Him, seek Him first. Not these other things. And Joshua adds, incline your heart, stretch out your heart to the LORD daily. Every day we ask Him, what do You want, Lord? Not what I want, but what do You want? (Take the time to) Listen for the answer.
Does it start to feel a bit like a broken record at this point? Joshua (God) repeating Himself? What we see in play in this book of Joshua is not a battle for land, but an (ongoing) battle for the hearts of His people. The people He loves, who He would bless for a lifetime. For all eternity. Who He would have spend eternity with Him, in a land flowing with the sweet promise of His presence.
-[20] Sadly, what we see playing out, and what is true for each of us, is that we forsake the LORD. That fateful promise of forgetfulness. What will I put in His rightful place in my heart? What DO I want, more than the Lord? My academics - those come first. My career - that comes first. My kids - they come first. This relationship - I want that more. This hobby, this food, this piece of tech, this ministry, this thing I’m into - I want this more. But no matter what it is, it will never fit.
-We forsake the Lord, AND we deny Him [27]. Maybe, like Peter, we flat out deny Him with our words. But we can also deny Him with our actions. All the things we try to fit in His place. Sometimes they even seem like they fit, for a season. It feels good. It feels right. And there is a way that feels right to a man, but its way ends in death. All these things are nothing more than [shifting sand]. [Cotton candy].
-So Joshua throws down this stellar example for us to follow [15]. Choose for yourselves who you will serve. [Each of us needs to make a choice]. And the Lord heartily agrees. Serve Me or don’t. Be all in, be hot for the Lord. Or be cold, be clearly out. But being in the middle is no-man’s land. Lukewarm doesn’t help anyone - in fact Jesus says it does more harm than good. There are a lot of people running around who name the name of Jesus but don’t really have Him IN their heart. And His heart doesn’t come out. Even the world recognizes this. It’s a problem. But the problem is not with the Lord, it’s with me. Us. His fickle followers. So choose, Joshua says.
-[22,26-27] There are always witnesses. People are [watching]. But re stones having [ears] - do they? There IS a stone which has a “mouth”, and it contains your -EPITAPH… (meaning “upon - tomb”). Many things set humans apart from all other living things - words, images, and graves. No other creatures create these. [Images], the grandeur of human art, are a way we express our imagination, our appreciation of beauty, our memories. [Graves] also preserve memories, honoring those we love. Graves press us to remember our mortality, to consider the meaning of life. Your epitaph is what people remember about you. What they say about you, and what your life said about the meaning of life. And at this point we do need to look at someone who was with Joshua back at the very beginning, when they spied out the land, but he has been noticeably absent for most of this book. Who’s been missing? Caleb [14.6-8, 11-12] - Caleb also was “fully after the Lord”. Fully surrendered. That is HIS epitaph - if he HAD a tomb, that’s what the tomb would say. (Of course, it IS written of him…)
-[29] And Joshua has an epitaph too! He gets called, the eved of the LORD. Joshua served the Lord. And that’s what he's urging Israel to do. To their credit, Israel eveds the LORD all the days of Joshua [31]. And while they have leaders who “KNOW” all the deeds of the LORD.
Sadly, the story doesn’t end well. Things go well for a while - but the sad story of God’s chosen people is that they do NOT choose the Lord as we would hope. They serve the Lord, they remember - Who He is, what He has done, what He has said. Until… less than two chapters later: Judg. 2:10-12a All that generation also were gathered to their fathers; and there arose another generation after them who did not know the LORD, nor yet the work which He had done for Israel. Then the sons of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD and served the Baals, and they forsook the LORD, the God of their fathers. They did not remember…
What does my life and yours say about the meaning of life? Why are we here? And Who are we serving? Our answer to this will determine our epitaph…
A couple of notable epitaphs...
[David Livingstone - who before his death after witnessing atrocities in the interior of Africa said, "All I can add in my solitude is, May Heaven's rich blessing come down… On every one, American, English or Turkwho will help to heal, This open sore of the world." On his tombstone, after witnessing Muslims massacre the men in the Congolese village where he was staying), they wrote
(“Missionary/Traveller/Philanthropist”) - A philos-anthropos, i.e. he loved people
—> what would it be like to be epitaphed as a Theophilist (God-lover), Christophilist (Christ-lover), Adelphilist (Brother lover)?
Or how about Brother Andrew (Bible smuggler)
“Whenever, wherever, however You want me, I’ll go. And I’ll begin this very minute. Lord, as I stand up from this place, and as I take my first step forward, will You consider this is a step toward complete obedience to You? I’ll call it the step of yes.” ― Bible smuggler Brother Andrew (1928-2022). |
The Netherlands: “God’s Smuggler” Dies, Leaving a Spiritual Legacy Andrew Van der Bijl, known around the world as Brother Andrew, died on Tuesday, September 28 at the age of 94. He left this world much as he’d lived his life, with little fuss or fanfare. He died peacefully at his home in the Netherlands, according to a family spokesperson. Although gone, his faithful life and legacy have impacted millions, and will continue to impact millions to come, through Open Doors, the ministry for persecuted Christians he founded. He was “everyone’s brother,” who With complete dependence on Jesus, he risked his life crossing the borders of closed countries, illegally transporting thousands of Bibles to believers who had never seen the Word of God. He made hundreds of these dangerous trips, facing military checkpoints and car searches—earning the nickname “God’s Smuggler” for his daring Bible deliveries. Not once was he caught. |
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