But as for me and my house, we will serve
the LORD."
Joshua is about to die and here in this last chapter he gives
the people his farewell address! In the first
thirteen verses Joshua reminds the people and admonishes them never to forget
the LORD’s blessings they have experienced in the past. He knows that a blessed
people should be a grateful and thankful people and also motivate them to serve
the LORD. Remember the old hymn we used to sing, “Count Your Many Blessings”. We
should do that often! Joshua reminded them how the LORD chose Israel to be His
special people. How the LORD delivered them out of Egypt. How God had guided
them in the wilderness and miraculously provided for them time and time again.
And how the LORD had brought them into this “good land” and kept His promise to
give them an inheritance!
After reminding the people how blessed they have been in
the past, Joshua now challenges the people to fulfill their present
responsibilities in verses 14-33. One of the key words in this section is
serve, used fifteen times. To serve God means to fear Him, obey Him, and
worship only Him. To serve means to love Him and fix your heart upon Him,
obeying Him because you want to and not because you have to. Paul gave this
same challenge in Romans 12:1, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the
mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy,
acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.” When you consider the mercies of God in
saving you from your sins and providing for you His Holy Spirit to empower you
to live for Him, the least you can do is to present yourself to Him your life
as a “living sacrifice”.
In verses 14-18, Joshua calls the people to make a decision.
Joshua made it clear that the people of Israel had to make a decision to serve
the Lord God of Israel. There could be no neutrality. But if they served the
Lord, then they would have to get rid of the false gods that some of them
secretly were worshiping. Even after the great experience of the Exodus, some
of the Jews still sacrificed to the gods of Egypt (Lev. 17:7; Amos 5:25-26;
Acts 7:42-43; Ezek. 20:6-8). Jacob had given this same warning to his family
(Gen. 35:2), and Samuel would give the same admonition in his day (1 Sam. 7:3).
Joshua wasn't suggesting that the people could choose to
worship the false gods of the land, and God would accept it; for there was no
other option but to serve Jehovah. Being a wise and spiritual man, Joshua knew
that everybody must worship something or someone, whether they realized it or
not, because humanity is "incurably religious." If the Jews didn't
worship the true God, they would end up worshiping the false gods of the wicked
nations in Canaan. His point was that they couldn't do both.
The people assured Joshua that they wanted to worship and
serve only the Lord God of Israel, and they gave their reasons. The Lord had
delivered them from Egypt, brought them through the wilderness, and taken them
into their Promised Land. (The first half of Joshua's address [Josh. 24:1-13]
had made an impression on them!) Joshua had declared that he and his house
would serve only the Lord (v. 15), and the people said, "Therefore will
we also serve the Lord; for he is our God" (v. 18).
This should remind us of the words of Jesus in Matthew 6:24,
"No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love
the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You
cannot serve God and mammon.”
Who are you serving today? Just check your bank or credit
card statement and see how you are spending your time and money each day and
you will find the answer!
God bless!
