Joshua 24:14-18 - Who Are You Serving?

But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD." Joshua is about to die and here in this last chapter he gives the people his farewell address!  In the first thirteen verses Joshua reminds the people and admonishes them never to forget the LORD’s blessings they have experienced in the past. He knows that a blessed people should be a grateful and thankful people and also motivate them to serve the LORD. Remember the old hymn we used to sing, “Count Your Many Blessings”. We should do that often! Joshua reminded them how the LORD chose Israel to be His special people. How the LORD delivered them out of Egypt. How God had guided them in the wilderness and miraculously provided for them time and time again. And how the LORD had brought them into this “good land” and kept His promise to give them an inheritance!   After reminding the people how blessed they have been in the past, Joshua now challenges the people to fulfill their present responsibilities in verses 14-33. One of the key words in this section is serve, used fifteen times. To serve God means to fear Him, obey Him, and worship only Him. To serve means to love Him and fix your heart upon Him, obeying Him because you want to and not because you have to. Paul gave this same challenge in Romans 12:1, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.”  When you consider the mercies of God in saving you from your sins and providing for you His Holy Spirit to empower you to live for Him, the least you can do is to present yourself to Him your life as a “living sacrifice”.   In verses 14-18, Joshua calls the people to make a decision. Joshua made it clear that the people of Israel had to make a decision to serve the Lord God of Israel. There could be no neutrality. But if they served the Lord, then they would have to get rid of the false gods that some of them secretly were worshiping. Even after the great experience of the Exodus, some of the Jews still sacrificed to the gods of Egypt (Lev. 17:7; Amos 5:25-26; Acts 7:42-43; Ezek. 20:6-8). Jacob had given this same warning to his family (Gen. 35:2), and Samuel would give the same admonition in his day (1 Sam. 7:3).   Joshua wasn't suggesting that the people could choose to worship the false gods of the land, and God would accept it; for there was no other option but to serve Jehovah. Being a wise and spiritual man, Joshua knew that everybody must worship something or someone, whether they realized it or not, because humanity is "incurably religious." If the Jews didn't worship the true God, they would end up worshiping the false gods of the wicked nations in Canaan. His point was that they couldn't do both.   The people assured Joshua that they wanted to worship and serve only the Lord God of Israel, and they gave their reasons. The Lord had delivered them from Egypt, brought them through the wilderness, and taken them into their Promised Land. (The first half of Joshua's address [Josh. 24:1-13] had made an impression on them!) Joshua had declared that he and his house would serve only the Lord (v. 15), and the people said, "Therefore will we also serve the Lord; for he is our God" (v. 18).   This should remind us of the words of Jesus in Matthew 6:24, "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” Who are you serving today? Just check your bank or credit card statement and see how you are spending your time and money each day and you will find the answer!   God bless!