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Sunday, 29 March 2009 - Joshua, chapters 23 and 24.

Today we’re concluding our series of talks looking at the life of Joshua. This means we’re in the last two chapters of the book of Joshua - chapters 23 & 24. They start on page 239 in the church Bible. If you’ve been coming here regularly on Sunday mornings - you might be surprised about the number of chapters in this book we’ve missed out. It’s because our talks revolve around Joshua the person - and much of the bit we’ve omitted deals with the detailed allocation of the territory of Canaan to the tribes of Israel.

These last two chapters read a bit alike. For a start - both begin with Joshua formally summoning Israel’s elders, leaders, judges and officials to a meeting. Some commentators see repetition here. Others definitely disagree - locating the first discourse at Shiloh and the second (as in the text) at Shechem. And they are different - but because of time I’ll roll some my comments on both chapters into one observation.

So - if you’ve now found Joshua charter 23, it starts - ‘After a long time had passed and the LORD had given Israel rest from all their enemies around them, Joshua - by then old and well advanced in years - summoned all Israel - their elders, leaders, judges and officials - and said to them: “I am old and well advanced in years...”.’

People tend to treat ‘farewell speeches’ as something special. Mind you - that does depend on the person making it. I’m afraid I can’t tell you anything about any departing speech made by George W. Bush. However, I can remember something of the flavour of Barack Obama’s speech after he knew he was going to become the US president. And it’s true - even with people like Winston Churchill - that it’s not a final speech people remember most - but speeches made at significant moments in history. Well, with Joshua it can be argued his last speeches are indeed his most significant.

Joshua knows he has to hand over the baton of leadership to others. He is - or is nearly - 110 years old - and you get the feeling from these verses that the years have taken there toll on him. He’s not far off dying and he knows it - as he tells them in 23:14. These then are his ‘handover’ speeches. In athletics language - he’s about to pass on the baton.

Some commentators say the whole of the book of Deuteronomy was Moses handover speech (which of course was finished after he died). Joshua’s got just two chapters - but there are echo’s of Deuteronomy in them. In both these chapters (but particularly in chapter 24) he reminds the people of their history with God. And as it is God’s baton that he is passing on - he’s determined to do it properly. If you’re an athletics fan you might just recognise the picture on the screen. It’s of the moment that led to Britain being disqualified in the men’s 4x100 relay at the Beijing Olympics. The reason? They made a hash of the handover!

So Joshua begins by telling the people in chapter 23 what the LORD will do in the future - for them if they obey Him - to them if they don’t. And this chapter is very definitely a reiteration of the theme of blessings and curses found in Deuteronomy chapter 28 (but enacted - if you remember John’s comment last week - in Joshua 8). In repeating this - Joshua now faithfully hands on the baton of the responsibility he received from Moses. So now let’s read some of chapter 23 (and I’ll need to skips past some verses for the sake of time). Read from verse 3 to 16.

You might have noticed the repetition of the word LORD (in capital letters) in the text. In English Bibles this denotes God personal name - the “I am who I am” one He revealed to Moses at the burning bush - and it appears 13 times in 16 verses in chapter 23. I did read somewhere some long time back that in awe of God’s name - a scribe would throw away his old quill and start using a new one every time he wrote God’s name. Well copyists of these chapters needed a lot of new pens!

For us - this repetition is the equivalent of underlining, highlighting and putting in bold text. It’s saying - this is important - don’t skip over it. In chapter 24 Joshua makes the point another way - speaking in prophetic format. So there’s a lot of first person singular speaking - God Himself, saying - “I” this and “I” that.

The very important point both these chapters are making is - you have a choice. Which life road are you going to travel? And it’s actually a simple choice in one sense - because it’s only between obedience or disobedience to what God has said to do. But the emphasis of Joshua’s message in chapter 23 is - choices have consequences. And because we’re NT people and not OT people - that doesn’t mean that this principle doesn’t apply to us. Because while we are not saved from the main consequence of disobeying a Holy God by the keeping of a strict pattern of good behaviour - we are saved to - as Ephesians 2:10 empathically tells us - “do good works which God prepared in advance for us to do”.

And the danger for us as Christians - of not living this way - is one Paul saw as a risk even for himself as he lived out his faith on a daily basis. It was of making a shipwreck of his own life after having taught others how to do it right. And today, in 21st century Britain, we all still face the same danger.

Half a lifetime back (I can’t remember exactly when) I was sitting on a Piccadilly line train going to work. I can tell you exactly where I was. I was just passing under the Western Avenue and pulling into Park Royal station - and as clear as anything I hear God say to me - “All I ask is that you do what I tell you”. And that’s really all He wants to say to all of us. Do what I tell you. But not said in a domineering way - but in an entreating way. Because He knows it’s the best and most fulfilling way for us to live. And as He later tells the Israelites via Jeremiah - His intentions are for good and not for evil.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

I said Joshua was passing on what he’d received. That’s so obvious true of verse 6. Did you notice the, “be very strong” injunction coupled with the command to “obey the Law of Moses”, has reappeared from chapter 1? In repeating this Joshua would have realises that what he’s telling them they need to do isn’t easy-peasy. But it is well within God’s promise of success.

I had to re-read verses 4 & 5 just to make sure I hadn’t miss-read them. “Remember how I have allotted as an inheritance for your tribes all the land of the nations that remain - the nations I conquered - between the Jordan and the Great Sea in the west. The L ORD your God himself will drive them out of your way. He will push them out before you, and you will take possession of their land, as the LORD your God promised you.”

Hang on a minute Joshua - you’ve said you’ve conquered them - and then you’re telling them they’re still there - and they’ve still got to push them out!

But isn’t that exactly what Jesus says to us about living the Christian life? In our individual lives the enemy appears very much alive and kicking and always actively against us. But Jesus tells us He has overcome the world - is with us - will not leave us - and the gates of hell cannot stand against us!

And you could do away with much of Paul’s writings - including the armour passage in Ephesians - if we’ve not involved in an ongoing, life-long, struggle to live the way God wants us to. If you were here last week you’ll remember John Baigent also put an illustration of a Roman soldier on the screen to make the same point that ‘sanctification’ (the long word sometimes used to explain the process of us growing more like Christ by the choices we make) is a battle - not a walkover. And it’s a real battle - with consequences. And I’m not quite sure what you’ll make of this - but Revelation 21:8 tells us that the cowardly don’t make it to heaven.

The final and last time Joshua calls the people and their leaders together it’s at Shechem in chapter 24. The significance of Shechem to Israel is that it was the place where God renewed His covenant with Abram when he camped here under the oak of Morah in Genesis 12:6. Abram built an alter here. Two generations later Jacob bought a piece of land at Shechem - the only bit of Canaan they’d owned then, almost five centuries back. And Shechem was significant for him also. But more of that in a moment.

Just an aside: have you got a ‘significant place’ in your life where God said something to you - perhaps He made you a promise - or where you made Him one? These are sometime useful places to revisit - not necessarily physically - but maybe via recollection. And they may not be ‘places’ in the normal sense of the word – but, say, some verses from the Bible you know God made personal to you. I’ve got a few of those sorts of ‘places’ I can immediately recall - where the location wasn’t important but the content was.

So at Shechem - this place of previous covenant renewal, Joshua sets about drawing the nation - and the leadership he’s handing over to - into another renewing of their covenant with God. Scholars will tell you that the format of most Ancient Near East agreements between kings and subjects have a similar, well structured, format. Today we us pre-printed forms! Their’s started with a review of the benefits the more powerful of the partners bestows. So Joshua starts off by reminding the Israelites of all that God has done for them.

So from verse 2 of chapter 24 to verse 13 - he reprises the history of God’s actions for them, from right back to before Abram knew and worshipped the one true God, up to their present day. But most of what he says is a reminder of what they and their parents had personally experienced of God.

I’m not going to read through this history - because I’m guessing most of you know the content - from their time in Egypt and the crossing the red (or reed) sea - right up to their more recent history of crossing the River Jordan and the entering the land - which of course we’ve been looking at in the last few weeks. So having reminded them what God has already done for them - Joshua says (from verse 14 of chapter 24) -

14 “Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshipped beyond the 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 forefathers served beyond the River, 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 fathers 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 travelled. 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.”

There’s something really shocking about verse 14. I wonder if you can tell what it is. It’s nothing to do with the tone of the challenge Joshua makes to them. And it would be standard in these agreements to ask the subservient party to affirm allegiance. It’s something in the content.

Earlier, I said Shechem was significant in Jacob’s experience. If you went to Genesis 35:4 you’ll see why. It was under the oak at Shechem (presumably where Abram had camped) Jacob buried and abandoned their foreign gods!

Had Jacob and his family (now the nation Joshua was addressing) made a sincere expression of commitment to follow the LORD God Almighty when they buried all their foreign gods? Undoubtedly ‘yes’ in the context of the Genesis passage. But old idols - and old sins - do have a way of unearthing themselves in the present. And note - the buried gods of Geneis 35 were ‘the gods from beyond the River’. They’d gathered a few more during their four centuries in Egypt as we know of course from the golden calf incident - which was only a reworking of the Apis Bull worshipped in Egypt.

But since then they had experienced all the blessing (and the judgments) of being the LORD’s special people during their wilderness wonderings under Moses, plus their entry into ‘the promised land’ under Joshua. They knew - ‘up close and personal’ - what it was like to be in a very special relationship with the living God. But Joshua still has to say to them - now ‘throw away the gods your forefathers worshipped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD.’ Do you see why I find verse 14 so shocking?

It’s a bit more understandable to see why he would mention ‘the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living’. ‘gods’ were thought to be local and territorial - and if people thought they might have a bad harvest - some of them might just think they needed to keep the local ‘god’ sweet otherwise he might have it in for them. But for Joshua the choice was quite simple - and for him - all idols - whether new and old - had to go.

How long have you been a Christian? I’m talking now of course to all of you who have made a genuine commitment in the past to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as your own personal saviour. Can you remember what your idols were the day you said your ‘yes’ to the LORD for the very first time? Now a slightly harder question - have any of them slipped back into your life in the intervening years? Or maybe they’re just wearing different clothes now? Or maybe - as our lives rapidly change - new ones have infiltrated and become part of our modern lives, and you (along with everybody else) have just got used to them being around. Time for a stock take?

I’m using the word idol - but of course I’m not talking about traditional carved figures you would bow down before to worship. Still today for some people these are their idols - but probably not for you. Dictionaries I’ve look at say an idol is ‘a false god’, ‘an object of excessive or supreme adulation’. And the Bible makes no bones about calling idolatry, sin. And most of our modern sins are only old ones in new settings. For instance - gambling and pornography were around when I was a boy - but today the internet’s given both a whole new set of clothes. But an idol doesn’t need to be something bad - just something that takes God’s place. Are you doing that stock take?

Or can you say with Joshua - it’s God alone for me and my house.

Or do you need to personally respond to Joshua’s challenge to his people - made over three millennium ago but still as relevant as your next breathe - “choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve”.

But then when they turn around and say - “Yes! Yes! We’re for God” - Joshua tells them they can’t be! He tells them it’s impossible for them to serve God faithfully - because He is ‘holy’ (distinctly different) to them - and a jealous God to boot. They come back and say - “No! We will serve the LORD.” At which point Joshua again tells them to “throw away the foreign gods that are among you and yield your hearts to the LORD”.

It’s got to be true that when people first come to the LORD they do so recognising that they can’t save themselves. But then - rather like the Galatians that Paul wrote to in his letter - we think that - having started with the Spirit - we can take it on from there on our own, and live the Christian life by nothing more than trying to follow a set of rules. Definitely not. And God would say to us this morning - “No you can’t!” And it’s no good you saying to God along with Bob the Builder, “Yes we can!” We can’t! We need Him - His power and life in us - to make our good intentions to “throw away our foreign goods” become reality - or else we are only kidding ourselves. And we can go through as may renewal rituals as the Israelites did - including the one in chapter 24 as they renewed their covenant with God again - and we will end up as they did - falling down on job - unless God Himself helps us not to. Christianity is not a self-help religion - it’s a God-filled life.

And so - as 24:29 tells us - Joshua goes off and dies. But even as this book draws to a close - there’s a time-bomb ticking in its final verses.

Verse 31 tells us - Israel served the LORD throughout the lifetime of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him and who had experienced everything the LORD had done for Israel. You then find this verse is repeated, almost word for word, in Judges 2:7. But then from Judges 2:10 we read -

10 After that whole generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation grew up, who knew neither the LORD nor what He had done for Israel. 11 Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD and served the Baals. 12 They forsook the LORD, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed and worshipped various gods of the peoples around them. They provoked the LORD to anger 13 because they forsook Him and served Baal and the Ashtoreths.

Question. If you were asked to make a court judgment on why the nation went astray - say sitting alongside Ken on a magistrate’s bench - where would you put the blame for the people’s failure to go on following God?

Well of course the answer must include their own personal choice to deviate from their historical faith. But is that the whole truth? Or has this got something to do with it? Did the leadership that Joshua handed on the baton to fail to pass it on to others? Tell you what - the text seems to read that way.

I first entered this church when I was thirteen - became a Christian when I was fourteen - and was baptised here when I was seventeen. I’ve seen much in the way of change of leadership over the years - both in personnel and style. But I praise the LORD that one consistent thing has been an adherence to a telling the Bible truth as it is - that salvation is a personal thing - and by grace alone. And also that sanctification isn’t an option. And that it’s the product of faithful, obedient and life-long Christian discipleship.

You’ll not be surprised to hear that I can’t pass as a youngster any more - much as I’d like to sometimes! And fact is - neither can many of you! But one thing we can do - one thing we have to do - is pass on the baton of responsible Christian discipleship to the up-coming generations. Both here - in this church - as others take our place in various ways in this assembly of believers - but also as Christians in a nation so different in so many ways to the one in which the baton was passed to us.

Some people talk about the Church in this country also heading for a time of persecution. If we are - younger Christians will be looking to us for example and encouragement under such stress. But if we aren’t - they will still look to us to demonstrate ‘stickability’, what Alex Buchanan (one time of this church) used to call “keeping on bashing on”, in our Christian life. And to do so in a culture that’s lost recognisable consistency and cohesiveness. And to live it faithfully, withobvious reality, and without complacency.

A moment’s quiet reflection.

You’ve hear me say before that there’s a hymn who’s chorus I think contains much of the essence of what living the Christian life is a about.

We’re going to sing it now. Songs of Fellowship 599 - When we walk with the LORD... And the chorus says – “trust and obey - for there’s no other way - to be happy in Jesus - but - to trust and obey”. Let’s stand to sing.

Granville Richards