A Time to Prioritize: It’s a No Brainer

I have some tough choices to make. Let’s see if you can help me.  These are choices you might wrestle with.  I think I can see the pros and cons of both sides of it. I really need to hurry up and make this choice.  Here we go:  What do you do when the light is red?  Stop!   Should we turn off the AC and open the doors and windows?  No!   I’m trying to decide between eating or not eating ever again! And you are probably looking at me and saying, “Are you crazy? That’s not a choice at all! That’s a no-brainer.”

It’s exactly the type of choice Joshua lays before the people of Israel as they now stood in the Promised Land God had been promising to give them for hundreds of years. He said,

“¹⁴ “Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates 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 ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living.” 

Some Christians make a lot of the word “choose” saying, “See, faith is a choice that you have to make—you have to choose to believe in Jesus.” Is that what Joshua is asking here? Asking unbelievers to choose to believe? Not at all! He’s speaking to believers who already have been given the gift of faith that only comes by the Holy Spirit and not by our choice. The Bible says that as unbelievers we were spiritually dead (Eph 2:1). Asking an unbeliever to “make your choice or decision” would be like waving a $50 bill over a dead person and telling them, “It’s all yours—all you have to do is choose to grab it.” Rather, Joshua is talking to God’s people with faith already and he’s telling living believers to make an all-or-nothing choice. In other words, this is not an evangelism sermon—this is a stewardship sermon.  Joshua is asking God’s People that It’s

A Time To Prioritize: It’s A No Brainer!

When Inconsistency Rules The Day

Joshua’s first priority is to fear the Lord. He tells God’s people if you’re not going to fear the LORD then you need to choose between neighborhood deities. He’s not giving them viable alternatives to following the true God. He’s just trying to point out the inconsistent way of thinking that would tempt them: “I can follow the one and only true God of Israel and I can worship these other gods that help me in my life whether it’s sacrificing to the idol that will help with fertility or the idol that will help with crops or the idol that will make it rain.” Joshua is trying to shock them with the absurd to show them, “No! It doesn’t work that way! This is a no-brainer choice!  These alternatives will not work!”

But “fearing the Lord” is not something we are very good at. Think of how many people will say the “Pledge of Allegiance” who don’t follow what they confess. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands…and yet how many millions will cheat on their taxes in the coming months…one nation, under God…and yet how many deny God’s existence…with liberty and justice for all…and yet millions of aborted babies have been killed in our country before getting to see the light of day. And here’s the crazy thing—so many don’t see the inconsistency!  Yet, they come up with all sort of illogical conclusions.  Let me show you……

You can imagine me enjoying breakfast with a couple of my pastor friends this past Monday.  I struck up a conversation with a waitress. During the course of the conversation, she told us how she was a vegan because she believed it was wrong to kill animals. Then the topic of politics came up, and she said, “I’m worried about America.” And I said, “Why is that?” And she said, “The USA is taking away the rights of women.” I asked her what she meant, and she said, “Women have the right to choose.” I looked at her and said, “So let me get this straight. It’s wrong to kill animals, but it’s okay to kill babies?” She said, “I’ve never thought of it that way before.”

But it’s not just the people out there that are inconsistent, is it?  At our confirmations many of us made the promise to choose to follow Jesus no matter what and to put our trust in no other god. How have we done? Joshua told the people, “Throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt,” What are the gods that have found a home in your tent?  Maybe your dad abused alcohol growing up, and you worship the same god which promises everything and gives you nothing but a headache. You can’t serve both God and alcohol.  Maybe your dad was always at work and didn’t have time for you as a kid, and you use that as an excuse to keep the god of work-holism and neglect in your own life. That god promises success, but only leaves you fatigued. You can’t serve both God and work. Maybe your mother was rude to your father growing up, and you use that as an excuse to hold to that empty god of mistreating people in your life. That god promises you the good feeling of superiority but only leaves you with guilt and broken relationships. You can’t serve both God and self.  Is your god failing to prioritize the true God by saying how busy you are? Is your god greed?  Is it sports?  Is it laziness?  You can’t serve both God and anything else.  Be honest with yourself and ask, “What are the idols in my tent?

Choose! Choose to follow the true God! Or choose to follow empty gods that Satan uses to lead souls to hell. As Christians, I believe that everyone here today would say with the Israelites: “Far be it from us to forsake the LORD and serve other gods!…we will serve the LORD because he is our God!”  And you might expect Joshua to have been elated, but instead, he responded to that confession what we need to hear today as well: “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.” Joshua knows them! He knows that they have big talk and small walk.  Joshua is saying, “Don’t lightly mouth your profession of faith. Don’t you know what kind of God you are dealing with? He is a holy, jealous God! You don’t dare come to him thinking, ‘though it makes him sad to see the way we live, he’ll always say, ‘I forgive.’” Our God is not a soft cuddly Santa in the sky who drools over easy lip service. He is not a God who is pleased with our strongly worded confirmation vows when they are followed by weakly lived lives.  Joshua is teaching us today: Now The Time To Prioritize: It’s a No Brainer

It’s Time To Be All In

I’m sure you’ve heard the hog and hen story (I originally heard this from Jim Schroeter). Both hog and hen were walking past a church and noted the pastor’s sermon title on the outside bulletin board. It read: “What can we do to help the poor?” The hog and hen discussed this question as they continued on their way. At last, the hen had a bright idea: “I’ve got it!” She cackled, “We can help the poor by giving them a ham and eggs breakfast!” “Oh, no you don’t,” shot back the hog, “for you, that only means a contribution, but for me, it means total commitment.” The hog is making Joshua’s point—there can be no “chicken’s way out;” we must go “whole hog” for Jesus.

So the question is not will you say you will only follow God and that you will put away the gods in your life. But are you willing to do it?  What’s your choice? To say it makes it “a no-brainer.” To actually do it makes it a little tougher. It’s strange to say, but it is really hard to put away the idols we just talked about because those idols promise instant satisfaction (and never deliver) and our God seems so slow sometimes in keeping his promises.  But Joshua says, “Choose!” Before you respond to Joshua’s challenge, it might be good for us to think about the conversation Joshua had with God’s people before he presented them with this challenge.

He showed them who this God is.  He starts 600 years before and reminds them of their forefather, Abraham. He reminded them that he took Abraham and literally, multiplied his descendants. Do you remember the story of Abraham? He gave him Isaac. Let’s do some multiplication—1 X 1 = 1. And according to the mathematics of Genesis, it took 25 years just to get Isaac! But God goes on, “and to Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau.” That’s not much better. The LORD multiplies Abraham’s seed by giving him two grandsons! And that was after 20 years of childlessness for Isaac and Rebekah! Do you see my point? God does not appear to be in a hurry; he is not driven by the calendar or intimidated by the clock. The LORD kept his promise, (the great nation of Israel was proof!) but from our perspective he did it slowly. Our God always does what he promises, sometimes so gradually that we don’t see his faithfulness. It is the only way because it is God’s way. Every other false god in your life offers instant gratification but in the long run never delivers. I want to repeat that: Every other false god in your life offers instant gratification but in the long run never delivers. Name one that ever has! Joshua goes on to talk about how God saved them from slavery, defeated every enemy and brought them to the land he had promised Abraham, yes, 600 years before! In spite of the divided and inconsistent hearts of the Israelites, God’s heart was never divided to save them.  God was Always Whole Hog All In!

And God does not change. There Jesus was in the throne room of heaven enjoying eternity in perfect glory and Jesus had a choice to make: Do I stay here in the painless perfection of heaven, or do I go to earth and endure eternal pain? And we’re thinking, “That’s a no-brainer! Why would anyone choose pain?” And Jesus would agree—it was a no-brainer.  He loved you there and so he came here. With undivided heart, he served his Father in heaven for all the times our hearts are divided. With consistent determination, Jesus marched to his death on the cross so that your life would start in heaven. He now lives to bless you as you serve him. His heart is still not divided, and neither is his attention when it comes to you. Think of that. When you sit down and read or listen to his Word and call out to him in prayer, because Jesus is not divided, you have more of his attention than he has of yours. At that moment, he has nothing better to do. This is your God.  Jesus Was All In For You!

We have been thinking about the Church God Wants.  Today we hear the clear message to make every effort to prioritize our life in service to God.  But, we cannot serve if we are not growing spiritually. When we grow spiritually then the Holy Spirit motivates us through Christ to want to serve.  Jesus gave this encouragement, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it” (Luke 11:28).  Mary and Martha are a good example of this truth.  Martha was busy but her priorities weren’t lined up.  Mary was growing spiritually at the feet of Jesus.  May we all eagerly look forward to our Personal Member Ministry emphasis workshop called “S.H.A.P.E.D. TO SERVE.”  Come grow spiritually and learn about your spiritual gifts and then we can think about prioritizing our life to serve in the Church God Wants.

Dear Christian Friends, we are going to have to make choices when it comes to red lights, leaving on the AC or not eating.  But, here is the choice that God is looking for in His Church!  Joshua made his pledge of allegiance, “As for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.”  Now Is The Time To Be All In From A Thankful Heart for all God has done for you.  This week, do some soul searching about the idols that you have allowed to stay in your tent and choose to throw them out and only serve the LORD. And that is going to be really hard because Inconsistency Rules The Day.  Just remember you have a God more worthy of your heart. The apostle Paul said, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself up for me.”  So, people of God, choose this day whom you will serve. It’s time to prioritize. It’s a no-brainer.  Embrace the true God and make the choice: As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord. Amen.