Choose This Day Whom You Will Serve
Sermon for 8-23-09
Scripture: Joshua 24:1-2a, 14-18; John 6:56-69
Choices, choices, choices! In our country we have many choices and sometimes we really like being able to choose; other times it’s so darn hard. Our scripture lessons for today both show choices about whom to follow, whom to serve. Let’s first look at the reading from Joshua. The only thing most of us know about Joshua is that he “fit the battle of Jericho and the walls came tumbling down.” According to one of my resources there is no evidence at all of a battle in Jericho, nor of the Hebrew conquest of Israel. According to this archeologist, the Hebrew tribes were one of many tribes in the area and their ways and religion gradually displaced those of the other tribes residing there.
By the way, I decided to look up the relationship of the words Hebrew and Israelites and found that Hebrew became the name of the Israelites. Its origin is not cultural or racial but social and political. “It seems that the word "Hebrew" became a general word for everyone the powerful viewed as social outcasts and troublemakers. It was a pejorative nickname applied to those who caused problems. Cultural identity made no difference… The new followers of Joshua and the Moses-tradition also were "Hebrews." In those days, during the upheaval that overthrew the kings and the cities and finally gave the land to farmers, the name Hebrew became associated with those who rebelled in the name of Yahweh.”1
We are told in Joshua 23 that a long time had passed since the battles and the Lord had given rest to Israel from their enemies. Joshua was old and well advanced in years. (v.1). Joshua gathered all the tribes together and they presented themselves before God just before they were about to go into the Promised Land. Moses had died and Joshua took his place as Israel’s leader. His people were looking for marching orders, instructions on what to do next. But Joshua doesn’t just do that; he recounts with them the whole history of God working in their lives. He reminds them exactly how they got to where they were right then, a history of God’s protection and love. At the end of this history lesson, Joshua tells the people to revere the Lord and serve him in sincerity and faithfulness; however, he says, “If you do not wish to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve…but as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” (v.16)
Now let’s go to our gospel lesson, the 5th and final week that our lectionary has chosen the 6th chapter of John with the many comments of Jesus about being the bread of life as well as his miracles in feeding the multitudes with 5 loaves and two fish. In today’s reading Jesus talks about eating his flesh and drinking his blood. He says whoever eats this bread will live forever. Many of his followers said that this teaching was too difficult and they turned away, leaving only the 12 apostles.
Many times in our life of faith, we find things that are too difficult, so difficult that many decide to leave either that particular church or that denomination or just stop believing in Christianity, Islam, and so forth.
Let me tell you a story about a man who joins a monastery and takes a vow of silence. He's allowed to say two words every seven years. After the first seven years, the elders bring him in and ask for his two words. "Cold floors," he says. They nod and send him away. Seven more years pass. They bring him back in and ask for his two words. He clears his throat and says, "Bad food." They nod and send him away. Seven more years pass. They bring him in for his two words. "I quit," he says. "That's not surprising," the elders say. "You've done nothing but complain ever since you got here."
So finally as Jesus notes how the crowds have diminished and followers have disappeared, he says to the twelve: “Do you also wish to go away?” (v.67) Peter answers for them, “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.” (vv.67-68)
Why do people leave Jesus? Why do people leave the church? What happened to all the many former members of DCC? Even one of the great preachers of our day, Barbara Brown Taylor, left the organized church, writing a very interesting book entitled, Leaving Church (2006). Please be assured that I am not equating leaving the church, especially any particular church, with leaving Jesus. In fact the essence of Barbara Brown Taylor’s book was that she left the church in order to save her faith.
One preacher wrote, “The ‘hard sayings’ of the enigmatic Jesus are only one reason why some people quit the faith. Still others leave church because of boredom, legalistic pettiness, superficial platitudes, unanswered prayers, bitter disappointments, intellectual doubts, nagging questions, or life traumas that ‘crush the spirit’.”2 I’m sure most of you out there could add to this list. We do not have to agree with, or even understand everything the preacher preaches or the officers and committees decide upon. We can acknowledge that the church is an earthly institution that will never be perfect. After all no one ever said Christians were perfect, just forgiven—a bumper sticker I remember. Benedictine nun, Joan Chittester, says that we can not be happy about many things in church, yet remain as a "loyal member of a dysfunctional family." So yes most churches are not perfect. I doubt if you have ever found one that was even though you may have found one, possibly this one, that really suits you.
Getting back to choices, do you remember Moses (Deuteronomy 30) saying to the sojourners in the desert that he has set before them this day life and prosperity, death and adversity. If they choose to obey God’s commandments they will prosper and be blessed; other wise they shall perish. He ends with saying that he has set before them life and death, blessings and curses. “Choose life so that you and your descendants may live…”(v.19b).
Whom do you choose to serve? In every generation, we have to make our own decisions within our own particular context. Decisions like these are not easy even if we are sure we are making the right decision. So many times we just can’t figure it out ourselves, and we wonder whether that voice we hear deep inside is God or just our own will. We know that some of the beliefs and practices our forebears had do not make any sense to us today. The United Church of Christ emphasizes that God is still speaking; God has not spoken once and then stopped talking. Our understanding of God must grow and change just as we do. We get new insights from books, from speakers and preachers, through prayer as well as from observing life itself. As our individual lives and our world grows, we see things a different way. I just heard this week about how much the brain, especially the frontal lobes, have grown in the last 2 million years, allowing human beings to use imagination and other scientific/logical thinking that was not possible in early life.
Joshua was challenging his people to worship the One God and not the idols that were the gods of their forefathers. What is idolatry? The dictionary has the unhelpful definition of worshiping idols and also blind or excessive devotion to something. One of my references said that idolatry exists when there is a separation of spiritual values such as love of God and neighbor from the way we carry out our lives day by day. When we make the choice that Joshua is talking about, it’s really a choice of priorities: what is most important to us--loving the things of the world or loving God. If we choose something in the world such as money and make its acquisition the highest good, that would be idolatry. When we do that, we are making this thing our god. Money, to continue with the same example, is not bad in itself. It has many valuable uses. It becomes bad when it becomes so important to us that more important things, such as honesty, are neglected. Last week Don Johnson preached about the idolatry of putting our nation first, believing that Americans are God’s chosen people as well as making an idol of consumer capitalism. He reminded us of H. Richard Niebuhr saying that we must be willing to take a stand against the world. Don points out that any church, and I would add any Christian who blindly serves the nation state, is betraying God by “having other gods before Him.” So, if we have too great a focus and loyalty to worldly things and too little trust and faith in God, it is the same as worshipping idols. In our Joshua text, a single moment of choice is given to the Israelites. I believe that for us it is not a single choice, a single decision. If not daily, at least weekly or monthly we are presented with choices where we have to decide whether or not to serve God, to try to love others as God has loved us, or to put worldly or self-centered values above the great commandments. Jesus said the two greatest commandments are to love the Lord, your God, with all your heart and all your soul and all your mind and to love your neighbor as yourself.
Joshua’s choice: “As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”
What about you?
Prayer: Gracious God, be with us in our choices. Give us courage, give us clarity, that we may serve you as you want us to. Thank you for the many ways we know you; keep us open to the Spirit in all ways now and forevermore. Amen.
1 Roy H. May, Jr., Joshua and the Promised Land.
2 Dan Clendenin, Journey with Jesus.
Scripture: Joshua 24:1-2a, 14-18; John 6:56-69
Choices, choices, choices! In our country we have many choices and sometimes we really like being able to choose; other times it’s so darn hard. Our scripture lessons for today both show choices about whom to follow, whom to serve. Let’s first look at the reading from Joshua. The only thing most of us know about Joshua is that he “fit the battle of Jericho and the walls came tumbling down.” According to one of my resources there is no evidence at all of a battle in Jericho, nor of the Hebrew conquest of Israel. According to this archeologist, the Hebrew tribes were one of many tribes in the area and their ways and religion gradually displaced those of the other tribes residing there.
By the way, I decided to look up the relationship of the words Hebrew and Israelites and found that Hebrew became the name of the Israelites. Its origin is not cultural or racial but social and political. “It seems that the word "Hebrew" became a general word for everyone the powerful viewed as social outcasts and troublemakers. It was a pejorative nickname applied to those who caused problems. Cultural identity made no difference… The new followers of Joshua and the Moses-tradition also were "Hebrews." In those days, during the upheaval that overthrew the kings and the cities and finally gave the land to farmers, the name Hebrew became associated with those who rebelled in the name of Yahweh.”1
We are told in Joshua 23 that a long time had passed since the battles and the Lord had given rest to Israel from their enemies. Joshua was old and well advanced in years. (v.1). Joshua gathered all the tribes together and they presented themselves before God just before they were about to go into the Promised Land. Moses had died and Joshua took his place as Israel’s leader. His people were looking for marching orders, instructions on what to do next. But Joshua doesn’t just do that; he recounts with them the whole history of God working in their lives. He reminds them exactly how they got to where they were right then, a history of God’s protection and love. At the end of this history lesson, Joshua tells the people to revere the Lord and serve him in sincerity and faithfulness; however, he says, “If you do not wish to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve…but as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” (v.16)
Now let’s go to our gospel lesson, the 5th and final week that our lectionary has chosen the 6th chapter of John with the many comments of Jesus about being the bread of life as well as his miracles in feeding the multitudes with 5 loaves and two fish. In today’s reading Jesus talks about eating his flesh and drinking his blood. He says whoever eats this bread will live forever. Many of his followers said that this teaching was too difficult and they turned away, leaving only the 12 apostles.
Many times in our life of faith, we find things that are too difficult, so difficult that many decide to leave either that particular church or that denomination or just stop believing in Christianity, Islam, and so forth.
Let me tell you a story about a man who joins a monastery and takes a vow of silence. He's allowed to say two words every seven years. After the first seven years, the elders bring him in and ask for his two words. "Cold floors," he says. They nod and send him away. Seven more years pass. They bring him back in and ask for his two words. He clears his throat and says, "Bad food." They nod and send him away. Seven more years pass. They bring him in for his two words. "I quit," he says. "That's not surprising," the elders say. "You've done nothing but complain ever since you got here."
So finally as Jesus notes how the crowds have diminished and followers have disappeared, he says to the twelve: “Do you also wish to go away?” (v.67) Peter answers for them, “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.” (vv.67-68)
Why do people leave Jesus? Why do people leave the church? What happened to all the many former members of DCC? Even one of the great preachers of our day, Barbara Brown Taylor, left the organized church, writing a very interesting book entitled, Leaving Church (2006). Please be assured that I am not equating leaving the church, especially any particular church, with leaving Jesus. In fact the essence of Barbara Brown Taylor’s book was that she left the church in order to save her faith.
One preacher wrote, “The ‘hard sayings’ of the enigmatic Jesus are only one reason why some people quit the faith. Still others leave church because of boredom, legalistic pettiness, superficial platitudes, unanswered prayers, bitter disappointments, intellectual doubts, nagging questions, or life traumas that ‘crush the spirit’.”2 I’m sure most of you out there could add to this list. We do not have to agree with, or even understand everything the preacher preaches or the officers and committees decide upon. We can acknowledge that the church is an earthly institution that will never be perfect. After all no one ever said Christians were perfect, just forgiven—a bumper sticker I remember. Benedictine nun, Joan Chittester, says that we can not be happy about many things in church, yet remain as a "loyal member of a dysfunctional family." So yes most churches are not perfect. I doubt if you have ever found one that was even though you may have found one, possibly this one, that really suits you.
Getting back to choices, do you remember Moses (Deuteronomy 30) saying to the sojourners in the desert that he has set before them this day life and prosperity, death and adversity. If they choose to obey God’s commandments they will prosper and be blessed; other wise they shall perish. He ends with saying that he has set before them life and death, blessings and curses. “Choose life so that you and your descendants may live…”(v.19b).
Whom do you choose to serve? In every generation, we have to make our own decisions within our own particular context. Decisions like these are not easy even if we are sure we are making the right decision. So many times we just can’t figure it out ourselves, and we wonder whether that voice we hear deep inside is God or just our own will. We know that some of the beliefs and practices our forebears had do not make any sense to us today. The United Church of Christ emphasizes that God is still speaking; God has not spoken once and then stopped talking. Our understanding of God must grow and change just as we do. We get new insights from books, from speakers and preachers, through prayer as well as from observing life itself. As our individual lives and our world grows, we see things a different way. I just heard this week about how much the brain, especially the frontal lobes, have grown in the last 2 million years, allowing human beings to use imagination and other scientific/logical thinking that was not possible in early life.
Joshua was challenging his people to worship the One God and not the idols that were the gods of their forefathers. What is idolatry? The dictionary has the unhelpful definition of worshiping idols and also blind or excessive devotion to something. One of my references said that idolatry exists when there is a separation of spiritual values such as love of God and neighbor from the way we carry out our lives day by day. When we make the choice that Joshua is talking about, it’s really a choice of priorities: what is most important to us--loving the things of the world or loving God. If we choose something in the world such as money and make its acquisition the highest good, that would be idolatry. When we do that, we are making this thing our god. Money, to continue with the same example, is not bad in itself. It has many valuable uses. It becomes bad when it becomes so important to us that more important things, such as honesty, are neglected. Last week Don Johnson preached about the idolatry of putting our nation first, believing that Americans are God’s chosen people as well as making an idol of consumer capitalism. He reminded us of H. Richard Niebuhr saying that we must be willing to take a stand against the world. Don points out that any church, and I would add any Christian who blindly serves the nation state, is betraying God by “having other gods before Him.” So, if we have too great a focus and loyalty to worldly things and too little trust and faith in God, it is the same as worshipping idols. In our Joshua text, a single moment of choice is given to the Israelites. I believe that for us it is not a single choice, a single decision. If not daily, at least weekly or monthly we are presented with choices where we have to decide whether or not to serve God, to try to love others as God has loved us, or to put worldly or self-centered values above the great commandments. Jesus said the two greatest commandments are to love the Lord, your God, with all your heart and all your soul and all your mind and to love your neighbor as yourself.
Joshua’s choice: “As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”
What about you?
Prayer: Gracious God, be with us in our choices. Give us courage, give us clarity, that we may serve you as you want us to. Thank you for the many ways we know you; keep us open to the Spirit in all ways now and forevermore. Amen.
1 Roy H. May, Jr., Joshua and the Promised Land.
2 Dan Clendenin, Journey with Jesus.
posted by Sermons given at Deering Community Church @ 12:00 PM
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