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Joshua 24:19, "And Joshua
said unto the people, Ye cannot serve the LORD: for he is an holy God; he is a
jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins."
This morning, we ponder a very vital point of our Christian service that today
is much neglected. As we read Old Testament accounts of idolatry (specifically
of the children of Israel), we are prone to wonder how they could bow down and
worship something made of metal, stone, or wood when the invisible God had
delivered them so many times in the past. One of the pivotal points of
worshipping God in spirit (or sincerity) and in truth (Joshua 24:14) is that He
alone be worshipped. The children of Israel in the northern kingdom (10 tribes
that split from Judah under Rehoboam's reign) mixed in the worship of God with
the gods of the Assyrians. (II Kings 17) The Athenians at Mars' Hill had alter
after alter when Paul preached to them to every god known to them. They even had
one to the invisible God to go along with all the rest. (Acts 17) Our true test
of worship to God is that we singularly reserve Him in our hearts and minds to
be adored above all else. While we may ponder with great perplexity how the
children of Israel bowed down to graven images, let us then follow that thought
with our own actions of reserving the majority of our time and effort to other
things besides our God. That, in a nutshell, is idolatry when something other
than God and His righteousness is sought by us first. (Matthew 6:33-34)
Joshua is bidding farewell to the people that God had blessed him to lead and
serve after Moses. Under Joshua's leadership, they had gone over Jordan into
Canaan with a mighty hand to drive out the inhabitants, burn their cities,
conquer their armies, and dwell in that good land of milk and honey. Joshua's
departure from them is coupled with a strong warning and exhortation to remain
faithful to the God that delivered them thus far into this good land. The very
famous verse above ours shows Joshua's challenge to them. (Joshua 24:15) He
basically says that if they choose some other god besides the LORD God, it does
not really matter. They are all the same. Whether one is serving the gods of
Egypt, Canaan, etc, they are all nothing and amount to nothing with no ability
to help, save, or deliver. Joshua declares his desire for his house to serve the
LORD.
Right before our verse, the people respond to Joshua's declaration, and when
reading Joshua's response, there might be cause for pause. The people's reaction
is strong and vigorous to their zeal to follow after God. Joshua responds that
their zeal cannot accomplish what they say. Why such a response in our verse?
What would prompt Joshua to declare their inability to do what they have said?
If we read the people's response to Joshua's choice very closely (Verses 16-18),
we find much to commend in their speaking. They start by saying "God forbid"
which is Biblical language employed by Paul on many occasions. However, there is
one word in their response that Joshua keys on: "also." The people's
declaration, no matter how noble and zealous in many different ways includes the
word "also" in their course to worship God.
God has not ever nor will ever be worshipped properly "also." Joshua's language
shows God's righteous jealousy. He will not be placed alongside all our little
gods to serve as time and opportunity are convenient. He alone will be
worshipped properly, for His praise will not go to graven images or the works of
man's hands. (Isaiah 42:8) He does not give or share His glory with another. Too
many times, the children of Israel showed after this that they were content to
serve God in conjunction with other things. Joshua says it cannot be done and be
glorifying to God. In addition to God's jealousy over His glory and praise,
Joshua also speaks of His holiness. When we place an unholy thing on the same
level as God, we are, by our actions, impeaching His holy nature in our minds.
Mind you, we cannot impeach His holiness in reality, but our minds do not show
the correct reverence and respect that He deserves. Our heart and soul needs to
be in prostration before Him and nothing else. Not Him and other things that we
deem important.
So, looking at them in that day, what is the lesson for us today? We are told
unequivocally that they (the children of Israel) in all their good points and
bad points are examples for us today. (I Corinthians 10) They are not an example
every time of how we should behave, but their actions do serve to give us
example of what we can expect as a consequence. Since God has not changed, the
way in which He deals with His people will not change. He was pleased then for
them to serve Him and no other, and today He is pleased with the same. He
chastised them (sometimes to the point of bondage and servitude) for their
disobedience, and He today can and does do the same.
Let us try (as painful as it may be) to get down to where the "rubber meets the
road." How much time in every day do we spend in thinking of Him? How much time
is spent in prayer? How much time is spent in study, meditation, walking with
Him, etc? How much time is spent in front of a computer screen, the television,
hobbies, sports, hunting, fishing, etc? If your list looks like mine, the scales
are tipped in the wrong direction. At the end of the day, what we spend more
time in is really what we worship. Sad to say, if our family and friends absorb
the lion's share of our time, they are idols. If our job occupies our time and
thoughts above all others, it too is an idol. While there is, of necessity, room
in our lives for jobs, families, and friends, they should not garner the
majority of our thoughts, efforts, and certainly our affection. Our heart's
affection needs to be solely upon Him who inhabiteth eternity. (Colossians 3:2)
We today are no better suited or able to serve God "also" than they were. Joshua
declares, in essence, the impossibility of serving God and mammon. (Matthew
6:24) Our lives have different areas of necessity, but our lives can only have
one realm that necessitates worship, praise, and adoration. If God is not solely
fixed in that position in our lives, then really and truly let us pick whatever
we wish from the list. Whether we pick family, friends, jobs, hobbies, etc, they
are all the same in the sole respect that they are no better than a graven image
of any kind. Any god that we replace or serve also with God is the same:
nothing. Perhaps the children of Israel could say, "Well we don't serve the gods
of the Egyptians." If they were serving any other god from any other nation
besides or alongside God, they are in the same boat as the Egyptians in the
sense of being idolaters. We today might say, "Well I don't bow down and worship
a graven image." If we devote more time to something other than God, we are just
as guilty of idolatry. Therefore, let us throw off the shackles of bondage that
weigh us down in our race of life. Let our patience in looking unto Jesus shine
forth in more ways, time segments, and areas than any other endeavor of life. As
any project we have to complete in life cannot succeed without keeping the main
thing the main thing, let us never be forgetful to keep the main thing the main
thing in our daily lives.
In Hope,
Bro Philip
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