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Joshua 24:15-25

Sermon August 27, 2006
"Choosing Servanthood"

Choices, choices, choices. “Choose this day whom you will serve.” “Choose life!” “Pro-Choice,” “Choosey mothers choose Jiff!”

There are so many choices to be made in this life. Sometimes they're easy, sometimes difficult. Some can be avoided, others are inevitable. Some of us choose quickly while others mull over their choices. Some seemingly wise choices turn out to be bad choices. Some seemingly unwise choices turn out to be good!

“Choose this day whom you will serve,” Joshua says to the Hebrew people as they settle into the lands they have entered alongside peoples they have conquered at the conclusion of the long and arduous exodus out of Egypt. “Choose this day.” It seems like he is almost being flippant, after all they’ve been through, to even suggest that there was a choice. But Joshua, and God, knew the human heart well.

Even though God had led the people out of the wretched bondage of slavery into a new and promised land, there was still the distinct possibility that they might align their loyalties with a god other than the one of Moses, Miriam, Aaron, and Joshua – other than the one who had freed them from slavery, cared for them in the wilderness, given them victory after victory in conquest. They might choose the gods their ancestors worshiped back in Egypt, or one of the many gods worshiped by those peoples along the route. They might choose to follow no god at all.

So Joshua, though near death, uses his last bit of capital with the people he has been leading for his entire life, and stakes his claim: “As for me and my house, we shall serve the Lord.” I remember seeing a plaque with that on the kitchen wall of a friend’s home as a child. “As for me and my house, we shall serve the Lord.” Funny, what I recall it saying is “We choose God.” Isn’t that what it’s all about, choosing God? But no, the response of Joshua is “we will serve.” We will serve God, and this service is what we choose.

This is where the concept of “choice” gets all mixed up, especially when we are speaking of our faith. We tend to assume that our faith is a decision, just like choosing peanut butter or the color of our new car. But it’s not. It’s not even the same thing as “choosing a church,” although they are more related than not.

Joshua reminds us that what we are choosing here is whom we will serve. The Hebrews, just as much as Christians of our day, get confused into believing what we are choosing is which God will serve us. We treat God and religion like a spa treatment, a restaurant, or a movie... which one makes us feel the best, which one fills us up, which one suites our needs the best.

The entire biblical story, and most of Christian tradition, is the ongoing dialogue between the people seeking a god who will serve them and those who seek God whom they will serve. “Choose this day whom you will serve.” Suddenly, that last word stands out more prominently. “I thought we left Egypt in order to rid ourselves of slavery,” the Israelites must have said under their breathes. “Why is he asking us to engage in service here in the promised land?”

God knows our strengths and our weaknesses. God knows that it is in our nature to serve forces that are greater than our own abilities, and their will always be such mighty forces. The question is not “will human beings serve others,” but rather, “who will human beings serve?” Joshua had no need to offer rhetorical questions here. He knew if the people were to be successful in their new life, they would have to choose and choose wisely.

And so we must choose whom we will serve. Each day we awake, I passionately believe, we must make that choice anew. Will we be subject to the selfish forces of the marketplace, serving the whims of corporations and advertising executives, or will we serve God? Will we be subject to the forces of fear-mongering and scapegoating, serving the whims of politicians and military leaders, or will we serve God? Will we be subject to the forces of divisiveness and competition, serving the whims of religious extremists and cultural antagonists, or will we serve God?

George Elliot once said, “The strongest principle of growth lies in human choice.” The beauty of this God-human endeavor is that we have been given freedom of choice – no, really! We actually do have a choice, and it can be for good, for ill, or for indifference. But let us not be deceived into believing that there is a choice to be free from service, for it is our nature to serve something or someone.

Choose this day whom you will serve, but as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.

Amen


Rev. Allen V. Harris
 

Copyright 2006 -- The Rev. Allen V. Harris

Franklin Circle Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)

1688 Fulton Rd., Cleveland, OH 44113-3096