Joshua 24:1-3a, 14-25
A college student was heading home to New York for the holidays.
When she got to the airline counter to check her luggage, she presented her ticket to New York. She said to the agent taking her luggage, "I'd like you to send my green suitcase to Hawaii, and my red suitcase to London."
The confused agent said, "I'm sorry, we can't do that."
She said, “I am so relieved to hear you say that because that's exactly what you did to my luggage last year!"
Getting to our destination isn’t always the easiest thing …
But we make it …
Maybe we’re late …
Maybe some of the luggage gets lost …
But we make it.
We made it here this morning …
From near and far
We gather here
At Covenant on the Corner …
We lift our voices and
We lift our hearts
In prayer and praise and hope …
For some weeks now, we’ve been on the road with Israel … Willie Nelson’s song, On the Road Again, might well have been written for God’s people … heading to the Promised Land.
Last week Sunday, we stood with Moses on Mt. Nebo …
There it is Moses, said God … there’s the Promised Land …
After 40 years of wilderness wandering …
But it’s time to say goodbye Moses.
Time to fold ‘em and leave the table …
Time for a new leader for a new day …
Joshua fit the battle of Jericho, and the walls came tumblin’ down …
Joshua took command that day … and mapped out the strategy.
They crossed the river and entered the land …
Getting into the Promised Land was easy …
Staying there was another matter …
Enemies on every side …
Doubt and fear within …
But they did it.
Our reading today is from the last chapter of Joshua … mission accomplished, if you will … the Promised Land is theirs after many a bloody battle … from Dan in the north to Beersheba in the south … they made it, they’re in … and now it’s time for Joshua to say goodbye …
To say a few final words …
Let’s open our Bibles and see what’s happening … [read text] …
Remember who you are – that’s the first piece here.
Remember who you are!
Once upon a time, says Joshua …
Our ancestors lived in a far away land … beyond the Euphrates River … and they worshipped other gods.
But God took our father Abraham …
The story of grace …
Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me....
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind, but now, I see.
God took our father Abraham from the land beyond the river …
This is our story, too, isn’t it?
Your story …
My story …
It’s been our story from the get-go …
We’re wandering in a far-away land … in the land of Nod, east of Eden … far from the presence of God …
But God pays us a visit …
God finds us …
Not one of us is here by our own will … nor our own strength …
We are born anew of the grace of God …not of blood or the will of the flesh or human will but of God (John 1:13).
In one of my favorite stories in the Bible, God sets aside the fig leaves, the flimsy fig leaves, the sad attempt we make to cover ourselves – fig leaves won’t do.
So God become a tailor, God makes clothing for Adam and Eve, durable clothing, costly clothing … the skins of animals, it says … life given in exchange for life.
The journey is long … good clothing needed … and there is no better clothing then clothing made by God.
Clothed in Christ, says Paul the Apostle to the church in Galatia … and to the church in California, to the church in Los Angeles, to the church called Covenant – clothed in Christ.
We are here today because God took us …
God took us by the hand and walked us into the kingdom of light …
Like a father takes his daughter’s hand and walks her through a storm …
Like a mother takes her son’s hand and guides him along a rocky pathway …
God has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins (Colossians 1:13-14).
You didn’t choose me, says Jesus.
I choose you.
Peter describes it like this:
You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, _ in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
Dear Christian friends … remember who you are …
We are here today because of grace …
Because of Jesus Christ …
It’s easy to forget who we are …
Spiritual things slip away in the cares of life …
We forget who we are and why we’re here …
We end up like Caden Cotard in the film, “Synecdoche” – a remarkable film, not for the faint of heart … starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, portraying a playwright always working, but no results… always rehearsing the play, but the play never has an opening night … until one day, he realizes that all the characters have grown old, many have died … and it’s too late; it’s just too late … there never will be an opening night …
The powerful film, “Remains of the Day” starring Emma Thompson and Anthony Hopkins … she’s the housekeeper in Lord Darlington’s manner in the fateful days leading up to World War 2, and he’s the head butler … she loves him, and all around them flow the great events of the day as the world builds toward war and the Holocaust… but he neither sees, nor hears, nor speaks … he avoids all feeling, even for that of his father, even as he watches his father fail and die.
In the end, it’s too late for feeling; it’s too late to regain love lost; it’s too late for everything – there is no going back!
He pays her a visit after many years have passed … they chat; the evening draws to a close she gets onto the bus for home … their hands clasp one last time – her eyes fill with tears for what might have been and never will be …
The bus pulls away … and there he stands, all alone …
Opportunity missed …
A wasted life …
Powerful stories that remind us of what Joshua said … “Don’t waste your time on this good earth.”
The God Project.
That’s what life is all about …
Love God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself …
God has told you, O mortal, what is good: and what does the LORD require of you, but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God (Micah 6:8).
Don’t waste your life on this good earth …
Serve the LORD!
Remember grace … God took Father Abraham from beyond the river and made something of him … God took us from the land of land of slavery, from the house of bondage and made something of us …
I gave you a land, says God, on which you had not labored, and towns that you had not built, and … you eat the fruit of vineyards and olive yards that you did not plant.
Joshua speaks to the people … Joshua speaks to us here and now:
You have an unparalleled opportunity …
Don’t waste the moment …
Don’t rest on your laurels …
Now is the time for renewed effort …
Years ago, I read something that forever changed the way I look at things … the author, long-forgotten, wrote: The greatest cause of failure is success.
Corporations and churches …
Nations and families …
Success comes, but only for a time …
New times requires new strategies …
Nothing stays the same …
Yesterday’s success lulls us to sleep …
And while we sleep, the thief breaks in and steals …
The greatest cause of failure is success.
God’s people were enormously successful in taking the land … they achieved so much … their dreams had come true …
But Joshua knows the danger of success … now, more than ever, vigilance and faith.
Now is the not the time to rest.
Now is not the time to settle down and take a breather …
Now is not the time to let down your guard … now, more than ever, vigilance and faith … a fresh determination to serve the LORD.
Serve him in sincerity and faithfulness.
Put away the gods from another time and place …
Choose this day what it will be.
Choose clearly … choose decisively …
One way or the other …
As for me and my house, says Joshua, we will serve the LORD.
The people protested.
Of course, we’ll serve the LORD. Far be it from us that we should forsake the LORD to serve other gods.
But Joshua doesn’t let up … You cannot serve the LORD … God is so much more than you think … you’re not determined enough, you’re not decisive enough, you’re not clear enough, to serve the LORD …
Joshua understands the moment … the people talk about God, but they don’t know God very well … they say, “LORD, LORD,” as if they knew what they were talking about … but Joshua knows better … and so does Jesus …
In one of the most remarkable passages in the New Testament Jesus says:
Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many deeds of power in your name?’ Then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; go away from me, you evildoers.’
And by the way, did you know that Jesus is the Aramaic equivalent of Joshua … Jesus and Joshua both push the people for clarity of commitment and full-hearted decision … it’s not a little of this and little of that, and maybe so and maybe not … it’s a clear and faithful decision to do the God Project …
Half-heartedness will not do …
Poorly framed thoughts and confused thinking will not do …
Resting on our laurels will not do …
Merely saying the words, “LORD, LORD” will not do …
Yesterday’s success will not do for the challenges of a new day …
Joshua pushes hard …
The people protest all the more.
Yes, we are ready.
We will serve the LORD and no other …
Are you sure? asks Joshua.
Yes, we’re sure …
Simple psychology, isn’t it?
We use it all the time with children …
Is this what you really want?
Do you really want the dog?
You’ll have to take care of it … take it for a walk … clean up after it … are you sure this is what you really want?
Joshua put it to the people – is this what you really want?
Good question for us here at Covenant on the Corner … we’ve come so far; we have a fine campus and glorious stories … but there’s no time to rest … no time to kick back and take a breather … we cannot rest on our laurels, nor relish our victories … so much more needs to be done … the God Project goes on.
Yes, said the people.
Yes, we really mean it …
Yes to God all over again …
When was the last time we said yes to God?
Twenty years ago, thirty or forty years ago … just last week?
It’s a renewable moment …
It needs to be renewed in a timely fashion …
To be fresh and relevant …
Being an 8th grade cheerleader doesn’t cut it in the board room …
Getting a gold star on your jr. high report card doesn’t stand the test of time …
Just because you scored the winning touchdown in the last game of your senior year guarantees nothing for the future.
Saying Yes to God needs frequent renewal … yes, all over again!
Because it’s a brand new day.
That day, the people said, Yes, this is what we really want!
Yes … we will serve the LORD!
Amen and Amen!
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