There's that one line from this Sunday's Hebrew Scripture Reading (we're only going to read Joshua 24:14-21 in worship). The one that says"Choose this day whom you will serve...but for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." (Joshua 24:15)
Oh, if it were only that easy.
Let's look at the biblical record. Moses gives a similar exhortation to the people (it take Moses the entire book of Deuteronomy to say what Joshua says in one chapter): This is what God has done for you, and how God has told you to life. Choose God instead of idols. Joshua says basically the same thing: This is what God has done for you. Choose God instead of idols.
Should be so easy right?
God has been so faithful. All through the wilderness, God takes care of the people - even when they whine and complain. Even when they make a golden calf. Alright, Moses had to talk God down a bit after that one, but in the end, God remains faithful.
God has been faithful as the Israelites, under Joshua, settle in the land God promised their ancestors. Spoiler alert: That doesn't last long. In the next book - Judges - we'll see that the people who promised so enthusiastically to serve God and only God quickly are distracted by other gods. And they just don't learn - the whole book of Judges tells the repetitive story of the people worshiping other gods resulting in a foreign army coming against them. They cry out to God. God raises up an judge to lead them into battle. They win, and there is peace. For awhile. Until they start worshiping other gods again.
Rinse. Repeat.
Why is it so hard to choose each day to serve the Lord?
Maybe you have artwork of Joshua 24:15 displayed somewhere in your house. I have it in my office. A daily reminder of whom I have chosen to serve.
And, boy, do I need that reminder daily! It's pretty easy to walk out of my office (where the verse is displayed) and forget that I have chosen the Lord. There are so many gods clamoring for my attention. And they are often so attractive - promising fun, or leisure, or the easy way to my heart's desire.
You know what I mean. Luther teaches that whatever you set your heart and put your trust in is your god (Large Catechism, first paragraph, especially the last sentence.) At Bible Coffee this morning, one of the participants said for two months each year, as the director of the school play, she worships the play.
Or as Bob Dylan put it way back in 1979, "you gotta serve somebody."
Down about the fourth or fifth verse, he writes:
You may be a preacher with your spiritual pride
You may be a city councilman taking bribes on the side
You may be workin' in a barbershop, you may know how to cut hair
You may be somebody's mistress, may be somebody's heir
But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes
You're gonna have to serve somebody
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody
So, who do you serve?
Cause - make no mistake - you gotta serve somebody!
The good news is that God is faithful, even when we're not. God is faithful even when we choose to serve another god. Even when, despite our good intentions and the decorative reminder that "as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord," we follow the gods of security, wealth, leisure, sports, gaming, education, family, relationship, work, house, possessions, etc. - you know, all those things that consume our time, our attention, that promise to provide security and the good life.
Thank God that God's love and mercy is not dependent on me holding up my part of the covenant! Thank God that there's forgiveness and grace. That each day (as Luther says) I can die to the sin of following false gods, and each morning rise again to new life in Christ - daily reliving my baptism, dying to sin and rising again in Christ.
Each day is a new day.
So, today, who do you serve?
As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.
At least we will try to...
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