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MAKE YOUR CHOICE I think the key purpose of the Bible is to show us who God is. That's what we mean when we call the Bible a kind of revelation...it reveals the nature of God to us. When I look at the Bible in that way, almost the first thing that jumps out at me is that, whatever else God might be, God is willing to give up enough control to give us real choices. Even when the entire universe hung in the balance in the Garden of Eden, God still gave Adam and Eve a real choice...would they eat the apple or not. Granted, God did give some pretty strong advice, but God would not step in and remove the choice...even though it meant that sin and death could enter into a perfect world. As time went on, the choices continued. The God of the Bible is not a God who forces people into right behavior. There may be some rewards for right behavior and some punishment for the wrong, but the choice is always truly ours. And I like that...as scary as it is to think that God is not going to automatically stop me from messing up. It would not be consoling to me to feel that I was a puppet on God's string, even if it ensured that I would only act for good. I don't want to be that controlled, and the good news of Scripture is that God does not treat us as puppets, but as free agents...able to make real choices for good or for ill. And so we come to this passage in Joshua where a fundamental choice is laid out before the people of Israel. The time is somewhere between 1500-1200 BC, and Israel is at a critical point in its history. Forty years before, the Israelites had been slaves in Egypt. Moses had been sent by God to lead them out and had done so. They had traveled through the Sinai desert, received the Ten Commandments, and had seen God perform miracle after miracle to save them. They had spent the past 40 years learning who this God was that had brought them out of Egypt, and now they had a decision to make...whom will they serve? Will they serve Yahweh, the God who had brought them out of Egypt or will they serve the gods of the new land where they were about to settle. The answer of the people would make any evangelist proud. "Of course we will serve Yahweh!" they cry. "Yahweh brought us out of Egypt and did all those miracles. Of course we will serve Yahweh." You would think Joshua could pronounce the benediction and be done with it all...or if not, you would at least expect that he would be pleased with their answer. Isn't that what he wanted to hear? The next lines make you wonder. Joshua says to the people, "You cannot serve the Lord, for he is a holy God. He is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions or your sins. If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, then he will turn and do you harm, and consume you, after having done you good." Well, that's a heck of a thing to say to people who have just made a profession of faith. If I started saying that to new members, I'd be getting a call from the Bishop pretty quick. What is going on? Well, I think what is going on is some of the same thing that was going on a few years back as I sat down with a couple that wanted to be married. They had lived together on and off for a number of years but now the conception of a child made them decide to get married. As we talked about their pattern of coming together and splitting up, we turned to look at the marriage vows. I read them the vows aloud. The man was suddenly very shaken. He turned to me and said, "Wow! That's serious!" That is, I think, what is going on in this passage from Joshua. So far, the Israelites' relationship with God has been only a dalliance. During their time in the wilderness, they have been faithful to God sometimes and unfaithful other times. Caught up in the emotion of the moment, they are ready to get married...to be united with Yahweh...to dance with the one who brung ‘em. But when they come for marriage counseling, Joshua says... "Wait a minute. Let's look at the vows." Joshua points out that this is a serious step. This is not just a choice between Charmin and Cottonelle. Real vows are not to be taken lightly...in fact, it is better not to take the vow at all than it is to take the vow and then break it. That would be true in any case, but it is especially true when taking vows to God. Often we read this passage and think that it makes God sound harsh. What do you mean God is not going to forgive my sins? What do you mean God will get mad and punish me? What do you mean God will be jealous of my attentions to other things? Doesn't God have to be nice to me? Well, I would say that this passage is not to be taken legalistically. The good news of the Gospel is that God does in fact forgive sins...and God says that outright in both the Old and New Testaments. Don't get hung up on those details. The point of the passage, I think, is to help us realize what is at stake. The absolutely stunning implication of this passage is that even after all the whining and complaining and faithlessness that Israel has shown over the past forty years, the God of all things is still willing to be in relationship with them. Is it really so amazing and harsh that God should have some standards? Which of you is content to have people make sweeping promises to you without really meaning to keep them? Which of you supervisors doesn't hold your workers accountable for the work they have promised to do? Don't you have a right to be angry when someone agrees to a task and then doesn't even attempt to carry it out? Do we really think God should put up with that? We know from other parts of Scripture that when someone tries their best and still fails, there is forgiveness aplenty from God. But many other passages, in both the Old and New Testaments, remind us that God has very little patience with people who swear their devotion and never even try to live up to what they have promised. It has to do with our intention and whether we are truly trying to keep our promises. God is kind, loving, gracious and forgiving. But God is not a doormat, a convenience, or a tool for our use. Before the people go making a promise one day and forgetting it the next, Joshua wants to be sure they understand that God takes promises seriously. Harsh language makes sure that a people giddy at coming into a new land after years of wandering sit up and smell the coffee...that they, like that erstwhile groom, suddenly realize, "Wow! This is serious!" Not only does God take our promises seriously, God also makes promises seriously. The whole first part of the chapter has been Joshua reminding the people of all the ways that God has been faithful to them. God is not a demanding partner who is looking for servants. God wants mutual relationship with people who are as serious about their faithfulness to God as God is about God's relationship to the people. God is not looking for an abusive relationship and Joshua is warning the people up front that if they enter this marriage and abuse their partner, God is not going to sit there and take it. I think there are few passages that are more relevant to where we sit in our culture today. We are the culture of choice. We want to be able to have choices in everything we do. Choice is liberating and empowering, and wanting to have choice is not, in and of itself, a bad thing. But what has happened is that we have come to want choice without limitation. We think we should be able to choose one thing without un-choosing something else. We would think ourselves greatly abused if we had to choose either the blue car or the fast car and could not have a fast, blue car. Better yet, give me a car where I can change the color day by day to match my mood. We are the culture of the buffet...take only what you want and be able to have as much as you want of everything available. It doesn't sit well when we think that in choosing this spouse, everybody else suddenly becomes unavailable. We struggle when in choosing this career or educational path we have limited our other choices. I hear that in some churches very far from here people get upset that they can't have the style of worship at the time they want to attend church or that two things they would really like to do are happening at the same time. We want to have choices, but we don't really want to make choices, because that might limit our ability to make other choices down the road. This passage in Joshua stares us in the face and says, if you want to live in the promised land of relationship with God, you have got to make some decisions...serious decisions...life altering decisions. God has been gracious enough to give us a choice. God has given up the right to have everything turn out as God would like and has placed real responsibility in our hands. But now the choice is before us. Choose you this day whom you will serve. But I don't want to serve anybody! That's understandable, but it is not reality. The fact is that we all serve some interest. We might serve our own interest or the interest of the economy and our culture. We might serve a social cause or a philosophical ideal...those are the shape of the other gods of our time. We all end up serving something. Joshua invites us to make that choice conscious and to consider serving Yahweh instead of something else. But wait, says Joshua to us. The choice is before you, but don't be too hasty in making that choice. We are not talking about what you want to try out for awhile. We are not talking about a pair of shoes that might go with your suit but not with your jeans. We are talking about a life-long choice to be faithful for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health. We are talking about a choice that un-chooses all the other options...a choice that will limit other choices you can make in every area of your life. Nobody is going to force this on you...you do have a choice...but if you make the choice, you have chosen to put some things behind you for good. I know that some of you have already made the choice to serve the Lord and know how difficult that can be sometimes. You also know that the rewards of that choice can hardly be described. Some of you may be like the couple I mentioned...moving in with God for a month or two, moving out for awhile, moving back in awhile later, and so on from month to month and year to year. Others of you know God only as a passing acquaintance, and perhaps there are some of you who have only heard the name, if that. The kind of relationship with God that you have is your choice. God will not knock down the door of your life and come in unbidden. Like Joshua, I stand before you to tell you that God has already done some amazing things for us. God has, in fact, allowed us to participate in God's eternity. God through Jesus has defeated death for us so that instead of an end it has become the beginning of a glorious new life. Giving us hope in death is not an inconsequential gift. We are offered resurrection and we are offered the love of the God who made heaven and earth. To receive it, however, we must make a choice. Is the God who has done those things the God you will serve? Or is it some other? Think hard, then make your choice. Amen. ©2002, Anne Robertson
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