Friends, in worship, we have recently turned to a portion of the story of the former-slaves who left Egypt with Moses. Two weeks ago, we focused on their miraculous crossing of the Red Sea….they were finally, completely freed from the Egyptians. Last week, we read about Moses receiving the 10 Commandments – the former slaves needed a list of rules to help them peacefully live together.
You may recall what happened after Moses received the 10 Commandments – he was gone for a long time on the top of Mount Sinai while he conferred with God and received instructions to lead the people. While he was gone, the people became nervous….they were scared Moses was dead. They were afraid God had left them. The people’s fear motivated people to look backwards, at the false gods of the people they had lived among – the Egyptians had a calf god – the Canaanites had a calf god. While Moses was away, the people melted down their gold and made a their own symbolic calf god. They began worshipping a golden calf.
When Moses came down the mountain with the 10 Commandments inscribed on stone, he found the people worshipping the golden calf. Moses was so angry when he saw this he threw the stone tablets and broke them.
God decided that because the people were unfaithful, he wouldn’t allow any of the adults who worshipped the golden calf enter the promised land. And, God was angry that Moses broke the tablets and destroyed God’s commandments, so Moses also could not enter the promised land either. The people’s time in the wilderness was extended to 40 years. It took 40 years before the adults, and Moses, died.
Moses and God appointed Joshua to lead the people into the Promised Land. Joshua led the people as they claimed the land for themselves. Our scriptures tell of miraculous battles where Joshua led the Jewish people to victory as the land was conquered.
Today’s reading comes from the end of Joshua’s life. By this point, many generations separated the Jewish people from the people who left Egypt. The people heard the stories of their ancestors – of their time in Slavery, of the 10 plagues God imposed upon the Egyptians, of their flight from Egypt, of their crossing the Red Sea, of their 40 years in the wilderness eating manna from heaven and following God’s leading….the people heard these stories, but these were stories they were told by their grandparents and great-grandparents – the people didn’t experience these events for themselves.
In his final message to the people, in his final sermon, Joshua reminded the people of their glorious past. And, then, he asked them what they were going to do after he was dead and buried – would they follow God for themselves – or would they turn away from God and worship the gods of their neighbors.
Listen to Joshua’s words as we turn to the Book of Joshua, Chapter 24, verses one through 28:
The Scripture Joshua 24:1-28
1 Then Joshua assembled all the tribes of Israel at Shechem. He summoned the elders, leaders, judges and officials of Israel, and they presented themselves before God.
2 Joshua said to all the people, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘Long ago your ancestors, including Terah the father of Abraham and Nahor, lived beyond the Euphrates River and worshiped other gods.
3 But I took your father Abraham from the land beyond the Euphrates and led him throughout Canaan and gave him many descendants. I gave him Isaac,
4 and to Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. I assigned the hill country of Seir to Esau, but Jacob and his family went down to Egypt.
5 “ ‘Then I sent Moses and Aaron, and I afflicted the Egyptians by what I did there, and I brought you out.
6 When I brought your people out of Egypt, you came to the sea, and the Egyptians pursued them with chariots and horsemen as far as the Red Sea.
7 But they cried to the LORD for help, and he put darkness between you and the Egyptians; he brought the sea over them and covered them. You saw with your own eyes what I did to the Egyptians. Then you lived in the wilderness for a long time.
8 “ ‘I brought you to the land of the Amorites who lived east of the Jordan. They fought against you, but I gave them into your hands. I destroyed them from before you, and you took possession of their land.
9 When Balak son of Zippor, the king of Moab, prepared to fight against Israel, he sent for Balaam son of Beor to put a curse on you.
10 But I would not listen to Balaam, so he blessed you again and again, and I delivered you out of his hand.
11 “ ‘Then you crossed the Jordan and came to Jericho. The citizens of Jericho fought against you, as did also the Amorites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hittites, Girgashites, Hivites and Jebusites, but I gave them into your hands.
12 I sent the hornet ahead of you, which drove them out before you—also the two Amorite kings. You did not do it with your own sword and bow.
13 So I gave you a land on which you did not toil and cities you did not build; and you live in them and eat from vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant.’
14 “Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD.
15 But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.”
16 Then the people answered, “Far be it from us to forsake the LORD to serve other gods!
17 It was the LORD our God himself who brought us and our parents up out of Egypt, from that land of slavery, and performed those great signs before our eyes. He protected us on our entire journey and
among all the nations through which we traveled.
18 And the LORD drove out before us all the nations, including the Amorites, who lived in the land. We too will serve the LORD, because he is our God.”
19 Joshua said to the people, “You are not able to serve the LORD. He is a holy God; he is a jealous God. He will not forgive your rebellion and your sins.
20 If you forsake the LORD and serve foreign gods, he will turn and bring disaster on you and make an end of you, after he has been good to you.”
21 But the people said to Joshua, “No! We will serve the LORD.”
22 Then Joshua said, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen to serve the LORD.” “Yes, we are witnesses,” they replied.
23 “Now then,” said Joshua, “throw away the foreign gods that are among you and yield your hearts to the LORD, the God of Israel.”
24 And the people said to Joshua, “We will serve the LORD our God and obey him.”
25 On that day Joshua made a covenant for the people, and there at Shechem he reaffirmed for them decrees and laws.
26 And Joshua recorded these things in the Book of the Law of God. Then he took a large stone and set it up there under the oak near the holy place of the LORD.
27 “See!” he said to all the people. “This stone will be a witness against us. It has heard all the words the LORD has said to us. It will be a witness against you if you are untrue to your God.”
28 Then Joshua dismissed the people, each to their own inheritance.
Here ends this reading of the word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God. Amen.
Prayer for Illumination
Pastor: Speak to us through scripture today, O God. May the ancient stone raised at Shechem and the high mountain in the wilderness challenge our vision and steady our hearts. Amen
The Message Joshua Renews the Covenant
The people of Israel had a choice. They could embrace the gods of their neighbors – worship Baal, worship Asherah, worship the Egyptian deities like Ra and Anubis. They could start eating pork and giving their children in marriage to Amorites. They could start to blend in with everyone else, and become just like everyone else. They could assimilate and become just like their neighbors…no longer Jewish... no longer a distinct, separate group of people.
Or, they could serve the Lord and remain followers of God…
This morning, we read a speech given to the people by Joshua. He appealed to their past, to their history, to the experiences of their ancestors. He pointed out God had been very good to them as a people. And, then he asked them to decide…to follow God…. or to be like everyone else, and blend in with the crowd, to blend in with their neighbors.
At the end of Joshua’s speech, the people made their choice. They decided to stick with God. They decided to follow God for themselves.
They didn’t do this because their parents decided for them…or their grandparents. They didn’t do this because their ancestors from a long time back decided to follow God. They didn’t do this because they had personally experienced the trials and tribulations of being slaves, or fleeing from slavery, or living in the wilderness. They decided for themselves….”As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
Like the people of Israel, we have had this question put to us. When we were confirmed or when we joined the Christian church for ourselves, we were asked this question: Do you desire to affirm your baptism into the faith and family of Jesus Christ?
It wasn’t “Do your parents want you to join the faith and family of Jesus Christ?” or “Does your wife want you to join the faith and family of Jesus Christ?” It was… “Do you want to join the faith and family of Jesus Christ?” This was a choice we made for ourselves. We decided to wake up this morning and come to church. We decided to embrace our faith in God, and pray to God, and welcome the Holy Spirit into our hearts and lives. We chose to be Christians.
And, in 2026, this really means something. We have decided to follow Jesus. We have chosen this faith for ourselves. We believe in God and we choose to follow God…to worship God….and commit our lives and hearts to following Jesus.
Like the Jewish people who were asked by Joshua if they chose to follow God for themselves, we live in places where we are surrounded by people who didn’t make this choice, who do not choose to follow Jesus. Our neighbors are at soccer games and brunch this morning. They are at the mall getting deals or are at Giant scratching their head as they realize the bread costs $7 a loaf. Some of them may worship other gods – we have Hindu neighbors and Buddhist neighbors. But, many of our neighbors are “nones” – secular people – who chose to be without a faith.
When many of us were little, it was more simple. We went to church with our families. Grandma was here. Our dads were on the property committee or the cemetery committee. Everyone in our family was a Christian. Everyone who lived on our block went to church – maybe our neighbors were Catholic or Baptist or some other type of Christian, but our world was more homogenous – being Christian was normal.
Not anymore….
Friends, I had an experience a few years ago when my brothers’ girls were in preschool that made me pause. At their school, they learned about Mary and Joseph and the birth of the baby Jesus….my Christian parents and I were excited because the kids finally heard something about our faith – but, then, on New Year’s Eve of that same year, the girls told me we were going to watch the new Mary Poppins movie and watch Jesus’s mom Mary Poppins work as a nanny for a family in London. So, the kids learned about the birth of a Christian baby Jesus, but conflated that story with the story of Mary Poppins….each story was the same to them – a fairy tale of imaginary people doing something with a special woman named Mary.
We live in a day and age when many people, including people in our own families, have decided to “not” follow Jesus….it’s almost like Joshua poised the question to the Jewish people in the promised land and they said, “It’s ok. We will just do what everyone else is doing and start worshipping Baal.”
But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.
Why does it matter the choice we make? I think we need God. We need Jesus. We need the Holy Spirit. And we need the church.
Jesus’s message to the world, and his physical presence in the world totally changed the world for the better. His message to us was focused on unconditional love for God and for other people. Jesus told us to love and forgive our enemies. Jesus demonstrated humility and grace. And, Jesus taught us to care for people outside of our group – vulnerable people, the stranger, the foreigner, and the weak.
Through Jesus’ message, we learned that God loves us, forgives us our sins, and extends grace to us. God forgives us and loves us even though we can’t do the same back towards God. Instead, God loves is not a tit-for-tat, but like a parent loves a child. We don’t raise our children because we expect them to provide us long-term care or nursing care or to devote all of their time, money, and attention to us in our old age. We love them, raise them, and expect them to pay-it-forward in the world. We love our children, they love their children. We care for our children, they care for the world. We give to them so they can give to others. God loves us, nurtures us, and expects us to love other people and care for them and God’s world.
I know my life is better because I believe in God. I am part of God’s church. I trust that when I have surgery like I had a year ago, people from our church will pray for me….will send me encouraging notes….will check on me and make sure I have bread and milk. And, I trust this not because I am your pastor, but because I am part of this body of Christ, this group of people who works really hard to love and support each other, even on days when we don’t like each other :).
I know my life is better because as part of this church, we work to pay forward the love we have received from God. We pray. We check on each other. We encourage each other. We discuss how our theology impacts the decisions we make and choices we make. We are part of the same team.
Somedays, it may feel like it would be easier to roll over in bed on a Sunday morning and go back to sleep instead of coming to church. It may momentarily sound fun to go to yoga at the park or a craft fair instead of coming to church. But, what we do together is more important than personal gratification or momentarily fun. We are working together to love and support each other, to love and appreciate our God, and to work together to change the world for the better.
But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.
Let us serve the Lord together. Amen.
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