"Many Choices: One Option"

Sermon Preached By Rev. Kendrick D. Weaver / Reverend Karen R. Weaver - November 6, 2005

Joshua 24:1-3a, 14-25

         Most of us thrive at the thought that we live in a world where there are many choices.  We like the idea that we can shop at Safeway, Super Fresh, or the Magruder’s grocery store.   We like the idea that we can choose to purchase a car from Toyota, Ford, GM, BMW or a host of other dealers.    Most of us like the idea that we have a choice of what to eat, where to eat and when to eat.  We have choices of where to bank and where to go to church.  Somebody here made a choice to join St. Matthew’s United Methodist Church.  In addition, quiet as it may be kept (in mixed company), everyone here may not be a Redskins fan.  It’s also a choice when we will speak to a homeless person.  It’s a choice when we put others before ourselves.  It’s a choice when we stand up for what’s right. 

We have choices!  And this is where the Israelites found themselves in our text for today.   The scripture says, “And Joshua said to all the people, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Long ago your ancestors—Terah and the sons Abraham and Nahor--lived beyond the Euphrates and served other gods.’”    The scripture tells us that before God re-directed the Israelites, they were serving other gods.  Now this choice of gods could have been anything from worshiping images, giving honor to an object (such as the sun, trees, etc.) to worshiping an ancestor or a local hero.   For some things, the Israelites may have chosen to serve the sun god, and at other times they may have chosen to serve the rain god.   On some occasions, they may have chosen to serve an image that they created or perhaps one of their ancestors. 

If you really think about it, this practice was very similar to what we do today.  We have choices that capture our faith and lead us to serve other gods just like the Israelites.  Some of us are serving our careers.  Some of us are serving the stock market.  There are also some of us who are just serving ourselves.  Serving other gods is anything that absorbs us.  It is anything that we depend on as the source of our health, wealth, life or general well being.   So, what did the Israelites do with all their choices?   

Joshua said, “I am familiar with the gods that my ancestors served.  I am familiar with the gods that people among us serve.  I am familiar with Yahweh.  I know about all the different deities that I can serve.  Out of all of those options available to me, I’ve made the decision to serve Yahweh exclusively.” 

Some of us know what it is like to be a workaholic.   Some of us know what it is like to live a life of continual  self-gratification.  Some of us know what it is like to have a life based on the attainment of material things.  Some of us know what it is like to live a life based on patterns and blueprints that others have laid out before us.  Some of us know what it is like to be familiar with the gods of our ancestors.

            We are familiar with the gods of the current society in which we live.  We know what it is like to be obsessed with technology.  We know what it is like to be engrossed in entertainment.  We know what it is like to have our complete faith in human achievement and knowledge.  We also know the gods of the people that surround us.  On the other hand, we’ve also experienced a glimpse of what peace in God truly means.   We’ve encountered Jesus’ presence in our lives.  We’ve seen how divine love and grace affects us and our families.  We also know the Lord. 

            Now that we’ve dippled and dappled in various lifestyles, walked on many different paths at different times of our lives, been on the left, the right, in front of and behind the fence, and experienced all our options, how are we going to live our lives?    Joshua said, “I don’t know about you, but I have been on the fence long enough.  My household and I have decided to serve the Lord exclusively.”  So, why should we serve the Lord, exclusively?

            The scripture says, “Then the people answered, ‘Far be it for us that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods; for it is the Lord our God who brought us and our ancestors up from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, and who did those great signs in our sight He protected us along all the way that we went, and among all the peoples, the Amorites who lived in the land.  Therefore we also will serve the Lord, for he is our God.’  

We want to serve God, because he has delivered us from our enemies.  For some of us, the enemy may have been an eating disorder.  For some of us, the enemy may have been an unforgiving spirit.   For some of us, the enemy may have been our pride.  We want to serve God, because (for some of us) God delivered us out of the mess that we created.  Whatever we needed to rid ourselves of --in order to be who we are today-we thank God for his deliverance. 

God also protected us.  God has protected us as we have traveled in our comings and goings.  If we think about all the natural disasters that have happened over the last few months, we can still see evidence of God’s protection.   For those who are parents, if we think about how much we want to protect our children, we can never protect them as well as God can.  His protection is stronger than our security systems, more reliable than someone’s promise to keep a secret, and more enduring than our health, life or car insurance policies. 

And when the scripture tells us “…and the Lord drove out before us all the peoples,…”, this reminds us that God was fighting the Israelites’ battles.  For some of us, it’s the same way God has fought our battles in the workplace.  For some us, God has fought our battles with our debt.  For some of us, God has fought our battles with failing health.   And when God fights our battles, it is usually in a way that’s not our way, because as the book of Isaiah tells us-- our ways and thoughts are not God’s ways and thoughts.   So, what does it mean to be a witness?

            I have always been impressed with people who have religious vanity license plates.  I have seen some license plates that read “Blessed”, “Jesus”, “God loves”, “Savior”, and “God is good”.  I’m so impressed with the people that have these plates because these people have put themselves in a position where they have to be nice, loving and kind.   You can’t have a license plate that reads, “God is good”, and then curse somebody out when they cut you off.  You can’t have a plate that reads “Blessed”, and then slam down on the horn, when someone takes to long to move.   You might not do those things for any other reason than the fact that you don’t want people to think you are acting contrary to the belief you’ve professed on your plates.  Your plates have binded you to a particular courses of action.

            Joshua was telling the Israelite people that “a result of declaring to choose God, you are binding yourself to a particular way of being and living.  You have ordered your vanity plates that read servant of the Lord and you have put these plates on your front and back bumper.  Therefore, anytime you are inclined to act out of a spirit of impatience, mal-intent, anomosity, or in an unforgiving way; remember what you placed on your bumper.”

THE CONGREGATIONAL PRAYER

Holy God, it is so easy to fall into a skeptical state of mind.  Messages from our news outlets constantly speak words of doom.  Our pop culture entices our most vulnerable members with hedonistic lifestyles. Academic, medical and scientific communities have convinced many that the need for you is obsolete.  So often, what we believe allows us to see clearer blurs our vision.  Lord, your goodness, grace and power abound in every facet of our lives, yet we frequently allow others to tell us differently.  You sent us hope embodied in the form of Jesus Christ, but doubts still remain.  May our hearts and minds be opened just a little more to be receptive to your presence in a way we could not accept yesterday.  Allow our finite nature to be more embracing of your infinity.