A few months ago someone told me that they had said this about me. They said "If Barry says he is going to do it, he'll do it." They were referring to a specific promise I had made. The statement was made to a person who wondered if they needed to check up on my progress. They wondered if I had followed through. My friend assured them not to worry about it. At first I was kind of flattered that my friend thought well of me. However; the comment also caused me to spend some time thinking about the implications of that statement. “If Barry says he will do it he will do it.” I asked myself "is this really who I am? Do I really do everything I say I am going to do? Do I hold on to the commitments I make? I really try but I was challenged to try harder. Giving our word to someone, making a vow, taking an oath, committing to take action, signing a contract, entering a covenant. This is serious business. Our ability to keep our commitments reveals something of who we are to those around us. Joshua 24 tells a story of a group of people called to make a commitment and to follow through. It was a commitment to God. Serious business indeed! Settle in, listen, and use your imagination, as we imagine how Joshua might tell the story of what happened on that day. I have used my imagination, which is quite free flowing, and wide ranging ? to imagine that he might share his story with us this way. Here is how I think Joshua might tell his story. Joshua speaks. “I knew that I was close to death. I could feel it in my body. But I had one more important job to do. For many years I had led the people…picking up where Moses had left off. And now I was soon to join Moses in death. I was not afraid but I was determined to speak one more time to the people I knew, and led, and loved. I had seen the birth of their baby’s, shared in their grief as family members died. I had fought alongside them. We had been through it all…together. And now it came to the time to remember. To remember what we had promised as a nation to our God. To remember the promises we had made to be his people and to follow his direction. Blessings were to be ours as we followed and trouble would accompany us if we diverted from his path. And so I called together all the people. And they came and presented themselves to me but more significantly they came ready to hear from God. God made it clear to me that day. He said “remind the people of what I have done for them.” And so I did. I reminded them of God’s actions.
I spoke of the way he picked Abraham and his family in order to bring into existence a new nation…one that would worship him and not the other gods they had grown up with. God had chosen them. I spoke of how God had caused this one family to grow into a nation. I spoke of how God had come through in the nations darkest time. As slaves in Egypt God reached down into the middle of their suffering and took them by the hand and led them out of their pain and suffering. Most of those gathered in front of me had not set foot in Egypt but they knew from fathers and grandfathers what it had meant to be a slave. I spoke to them of wandering for many years in the wilderness and of the victories God gave them as they entered the new homeland He had promised them. Battles won, Jericho destroyed by a shout. Curses turned to blessings…God had given everything they now enjoyed. Cities they did not build. Farms they harvested but did not have to plant. Everything they had was a gift from their God. And now, in this moment God asked something of his people. As I looked around the crowd I could see that the people were caught up in the story of God at work in us as a people. Their minds were alive with the stories they had heard and what they themselves had seen God do. Into this revelry and reminiscing I delivered the message that God wanted them to hear clearly. I said, “In light of all that God has done honor him. Serve him wholeheartedly. Be the people that God has asked you to be. I knew that many of them still carried with them the idols and beliefs and ideas of a past life. A past that was dragging them down. I said “Get rid of those false Gods.” Let go of those beliefs that have kept you from serving God with all your heart. Don’t believe the lies anymore. There is one God and one God alone. Serve Him. Choose today. I knew that this was hard for many to hear. I knew that there were many within earshot that would perhaps find it very difficult to make this choice. But I also knew that no matter what they chose that day they needed to know that they were serving someone even if they did nt know it consciously. My desire was to make it clear to them that God should be their choice. Sure, they could choose their old gods, they could choose their own selfish way of living, and they could choose to put off making any choices. But in the end they needed to understand that even making no choice was really a choice…a choice to ignore God. They could not sit on the fence. There were a host of other god’s, all false, but they could choose to chase the wind if they wanted. But in their presence I made my choice clear. I said, “Choose what you will but here is my choice.
My family, all who belong to me, we will choose to follow and serve God.” The people had a choice to make. They knew what God had done. They knew what he was really like! He had revealed himself to them clearly, persistently, and directly. Choosing God meant choosing a God who had revealed much about himself to his people. And I think they recognized this. Almost as one person, the people spoke out. “We can’t turn around and worship other Gods. He rescued us. He gave us bread when we were starving. He moved us through an inhospitable wasteland. He showed the nations around our new home just what he was like. He won our battles for us.” In a swell of enthusiasm, as one people, they shouted out. “We too will serve the Lord. He alone is our God.” With the words of their affirmation still hanging in the air I thought for a moment. I looked at many of those close to me. I fixed my eyes on them. And behind the eyes that confidently declared their choice I saw human frailty. I knew that in front of me stood a group of people full of determination but also desperately caught up in the darkness of sin. Anger, selfishness, faithlessness, adultery, abuse, fear, indifference, weakness. These were qualities that lived in the people of God, despite their affirmations. They were human and as such struggled to be all that God wanted them to be. I spoke into the silence that had ensued as the people waited. “You are not able to serve the Lord. He is Holy. He will not accept you coming to him with only some of your life. He wants all of you. Nothing less will do.” I wanted the people to know. The vows we make to God. The choice we make to follow him is a serious one. It is one that would call each of them into a new lifestyle. It would mean change, a change decided upon today, but lived out day after day, decision after decision, choice after choice after choice. Month after month, year after year. They could choose today to serve their God but the reality of that choice was to be seen in their lives years from now. The choice can be made once. The follow through lasts forever. I said, “You are accountable to follow through on this decision. You have made a choice to serve God.” You remember his holiness, his nature, his love for you, his anger at sin. This is who you have chosen to serve. Yes, they replied, “we are accountable.” And so they would be. Accountable to their God for the daily choices that would have to flow out of this one choice made on this significant day. On this day the people of God chose who they would serve. They chose to leave behind all the past religious systems they had clung too. All that they had held onto that distracted them from God had to go. In a moment they could throw away the idols that they carried around “just in case.’ But it could take a lifetime to wean them of the attitudes and ideas that they held to be true. But God was up for the task. He wanted to change his people. I knew that they needed to turn to God with the very center of their being, their hearts, their minds all that made them who they were. They needed to embrace as part of their choice a life of service to God. They needed to adopt a determination to obey God, even when they did not understand all that he was asking of them. The people made it clear. They knew what was at stake. They said, “We will serve God. We will obey God.“ On this day I confirmed with God’s people what they had agreed to long before. I needed to know that they understood what was required of them before I died. The covenant they had agreed to, bound them to their God. Like a woman and her husband their lives were intertwined with God’s life. I wrote down the date and conditions of our agreement. We could not afford to forget. And I had a stone, so large that it would be hard to miss, stood up as a constant reminder of what had occurred in the place we had gathered. It was a reminder that in this place we had made our commitment to God. I challenged the people to remember. But if they were tempted to forget all they needed to do was to look at the rock. As the day wound down and as the light of the sun soon began to slip away it was time to end this significant gathering. I dismissed the people. I sent them back to the homes and possessions, and families that God had given them as an inheritance. One by one they left until all were gone. As they left I knew that it was in their everyday lives that this covenant would truly need to be lived out. We had declared our intentions together. Together they had chosen God. But it was to be as individuals that they would make the choice real. Second by second, moment by moment, day by day, month by month, year after year. As for me and I my house we would serve the Lord. I had done so all my life and now my life was coming to a close. But it was a life well spent. I had chosen God and I did not regret it for a moment.
Fast forward to the present. Kingston Standard Church. 2006. As a group of people we have been on a journey recently. Like the people of God in Joshua’s time we have been challenged to consider what God has been saying to us. Who is God? What do we believe about his purposes for our lives?
What does it mean to honour God in every corner of our lives? The together we build campaign has focused significantly on finances. And we all need to pay attention to God and his priorities in this area. But for many of us it has gone beyond finances. As we have opened our lives and minds to Him, God has spoken to us about many facets of our lives. Everything is interconnected and God wants to speak to us clearly about all that he has in mind for us. I believe in recent weeks that God has revealed himself to us. He has shown us recently what he requires of us. God is speaking and he could be saying, as many different things as there are people in this church:
I do not know what God is saying to each of you but I do know this. He wants to speak to each of us, clearly, personally, and directly. And he wants us to choose to respond to his voice. Together we have chosen to look for God. Together we have chosen to listen to God when he speaks. There is strength in community. Together we choose God…but it is up to each of us to live out that choice daily. That’s the reality. And God can make it happen in each of our lives. Today. Let’s pray...