Choose to Remember the Lord, Part 1

Scripture: Joshua 24:17-18

for the LORD our God is He who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, and who did these great signs in our sight and preserved us through all the way in which we went and among all the peoples through whose midst we passed.  "The LORD drove out from before us all the peoples, even the Amorites who lived in the land. We also will serve the LORD, for He is our God."

 

Insights:  These Israelites in today’s verses began to recall various Ebenezer’s from their past regarding God’s activity in their lives.  Ebenezer’s are spiritual markers we can point back to and say, “I remember when . . . .”  There may have been a time you were financially desperate and God revealed Himself to you as Jehovah-Jirah, the Lord God our Provider.  Or there may have been a time you were experiencing great stress and God revealed Himself to you as Jehovah-Shalom, the Lord God our Peace.  It is good for us to remember these times and encounters with God.  As I state this truth about remembrance, it is also true we are not to remember for the sake of getting lost in the past.  In other words, we don’t remember those past experiences to cripple us from moving toward the future.  We use these Ebenezer’s as a way of giving us strength to tackle new missions into which the Lord is leading us.  For the next few days, I am going to take us on an Ebenezer journey regarding Jesus.  The first remembrance about Him is He is our Savior.  Titus 3:4-6 states, “But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior (ESV).”  Notice in Paul’s words, JESUS saved us.  We did not save ourselves.  Our righteous acts did nothing for us.  Salvation was granted purely because of the mercy of Jesus.  It was out of His goodness and loving kindness that salvation was extended to us.  As a result Jesus is our Savior.  We go through this world so often and take this truth for granted.  O, Beloved, may we never take for granted the gift of eternal life found in Jesus alone.  May we always strive to express gratitude for His grace.  Remember Jesus!

Questions:

1. What are some of the Ebenezer’s in your life?
2. Do they give you the comfort and strength necessary to press on to the task God has called you?                              

Prayer: Gracious Father, thank You for the many times You have displayed Your presence and power in my life.  Those encounters give me the confidence and assurance of Your involvement in my life regarding the future.  Thank You for Your love.  Amen.  

Choose to Identify Yourself with the Lord

Scripture: Joshua 24:14c

and put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD.

Insights:  Yesterday we looked at Luke 16:13.  In that verse Jesus said, “No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.  You cannot serve God and money.”  Today’s portion of Joshua 24:14 also plays off of this Luke 16:13.  In other words, yesterday we looked at it from a service perspective.  Today we look at it from an identification perspective.  Joshua is telling the people of Israel they have to decide with whom they are going to give their allegiance.  This choice is the basic choice all individuals have to make.  It is the receiving of the gift of salvation Jesus offers or the rejection of that very same gift.  Taking the concept of Luke 16 a little further it is the total surrender to one master and total rejection of another.  Joshua is drawing a line in the sand and telling Israel to cross the line and identify themselves with God or remain and identify themselves with other gods.  The offer still stands today: with whom will you identify yourself, God or this world?  God is offering you this free gift of eternal life.  A gift you do not deserve and cannot earn.  The reason for your inability to do anything about your eternity is because you are a sinner and you can’t save yourself.  But God IS love and therefore does not want to punish you.  At the same time, however, God is just and must punish sin.  He solves this apparent problem in the person of His Son, Jesus Christ.  He is the infinite God-man.  In other words, He is fully God and fully human at the same time.  Jesus came to this earth and lived among us.  He died on a cross for the payment of your sins.  He was buried, but on the third day He rose again.  And now, by faith, you can receive and identify yourself with this merciful God Joshua is telling you to choose.  Faith is not just head knowledge of facts about Jesus.  Faith is not temporary either.  In other words, you can’t let Jesus “fix” your present problem and then walk away from Him and think you really belong to Him.  Faith is an eternal heart change where you trust in Him alone for eternal life.  Beloved, choose with whom you are going to be identified.

Questions:

1. Have you received the free gift of eternal life found in Jesus Christ?
2. If not, what is holding you back?                           

Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank You for giving Your life as a ransom for mine.  As I choose You, may I have the boldness to share Your love with those who do not know You.  May they experience the same peace and joy You have given to me.  Amen.  

Choose to Serve the Lord, Part 2

Scripture: Joshua 24:14b

serve Him in sincerity and truth;

Insights:  Notice with me the second part of this phrase found in Joshua 24:14b.  We are to serve with sincerity and truth.  One of the sad realities of being a human being is our ability to deceive others as well as ourselves.  Let me try and explain my point by looking at Luke 16:13.  In this verse Jesus said, “No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.  You cannot serve God and money.”  Yet the church is full of people who are attempting to serve both God and [fill in the blank] __________, money, family, recreation, entertainment, etc.  The reality is because of our sinful nature with which we daily battle, the end result is we begin to despise our time we have to give to God.  We begin serving out of duty and not sincerity and truth.  Paul, also using a money illustration, stated in 2 Corinthians 9:7, “Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”  Let’s maintain this money illustration for a moment longer.  Think of the money as your offering of service to the Lord.  When you perform this act of service is it done with a cheerful heart or under compulsion of obligation?  In King David’s famous Psalm of repentance he wrote, “For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.  The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise (51:16-17).”  The point David was making and I am attempting to echo is that an act of service, no matter how great and brilliant the world might deem it, is not accepted by the Father if it is not given in sincerity and truth.  The author of Hebrews calls service of this nature a dead work (6:1) and Paul in his first letter to the church in Corinth stated that such work is as wood, hay and stubble and would be burned up (3:12-15).  My fear is that much that is offered in the local church is not done in sincerity and truth, but out of duty or obligation.  I believe these unaccepted acts of service are given because true, genuine relationship with the Living Lord is not truly present in many within the church walls.  Because of these weak relationships, the evangelistic mission of the church is suffering.  Beloved, be a joyful servant!

Questions:

1. Have you chosen to serve the Lord?
2. Are you serving Him in sincerity or out of duty?                              

Prayer: Lord, orchestrate my day in such a manner that I am completely aware of the areas in which You desire me to serve.  Then give me the fortitude to obediently comply with Your wishes.  Amen.  

Choose to Serve the Lord, Part 1

Scripture: Joshua 24:14a-b

Now, therefore, fear the LORD and serve Him in sincerity and truth;

Insights:  Today’s portion of verse 14 of Joshua 24 is kind of like the stick and the carrot of motivation.  In other words, we are to serve God because of the love we have for Him.  After all, if we are Christ-followers, we have been saved from eternal damnation.  A portion of our service to the Father ought to be out of gratitude for His amazing grace.  At the same time, however, as we have been looking at, God is God and ought to be feared.  Hebrews 10:23-25 gives us a good New Testament picture of this concept.  It reads, “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.”  Because so many do not really have a healthy fear of the Lord, they tend to waver in the hope with which the confessed Christ Jesus as Savior.  When this wavering begins, the first thing you see them doing is leaving the church.  In that kind of picture we do not see the proper fear of the Lord being displayed in those departing the Body.  At the same time, we see an admonishing to stimulate one another to love and good deeds.  The reason we perform such ministerial tasks is because we have grown in our love for Jesus and feel compelled to share His love to others.  In that display of love, hopefully, they are encouraged.  Let us choose to serve the Lord out of proper fear and perfect love.  One last thought regarding the Hebrews passage.  Notice it concludes with “all the more as you see the day drawing near.”  There ought to be urgency in our service and love to the Lord and others.  Let’s show that love today.

Questions:

1. Are you stimulating others to love and good deeds?
2. Does your service convict you of being a disciple of Jesus?                              

Prayer: Father, help me to be a better disciple today.  A disciple that serves You and displays my love for You to other people.  Amen.  

Choose to Fear the Lord, Part 2

Scripture: Joshua 24:14a

Now, therefore, fear the LORD

Insights:  This issue of NOT fearing the Lord is one of the greatest downfalls of the Church.  We live in a society of easy-believism and a carefree, live as you please attitudes.  Even within the church we live as if the answer to Paul’s question is, “Yes.”  Paul wrote in his letter to the Roman’s, “What shall we say then?  Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase?  May it never be (6:1-2a)!”  The reason we live with such a cavalier attitude toward sin is because we really do not believe God, a God of love and mercy, is really going to punish us for our transgressions against Him.  We have completely missed the difference between forgiveness and consequences.  1 John 1:9 is absolutely true, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”  So, it is true God is love and does not want to punish us for our sins (1 John 4:8b).  At the same time, however, Exodus 34:7b is also true, “Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished.”  Let me give an example: An unwed couple decides to have sex before marriage even though they know God says this is wrong and sinful.  Along the way, the girl becomes pregnant.  They go to God and confess and repent of their sin and God does forgive them.  Does God’s forgiveness remove the pregnancy and all the consequences that come with their decision to have sex before marriage?  If we are a Believer, then Romans 8:28 gives us hope.  It states, “We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God: those who are called according to His purpose.”  In our illustration was it God’s will for the premarital sex?  No.  The couple has now confessed and repented and the process of sanctification begins.  God uses the consequences, the baby in this illustration, as a way of molding these two people into His image.  Considering this illustration often times happens to young people, does God’s working this out to their good mean there are only good, happy days in front of this couple?  Absolutely not, there will in fact be more difficult days before them than God would have desired.  The point today is that if we had a proper fear of God and the consequences that accompany our sins, we would be careful to avoid sin.  Beloved, let us live life with a proper fear of God.

Questions:

1. Do you live your life as if there are no consequences to your sin?
2. Do you have proper fear of such consequences?                              

Prayer: Merciful Father, I thank You that You do forgive me of my transgressions.  Lord, in our easy-believism culture, however, I often forget there are consequences to my sin.  Help, me to understand the devastating consequences to my haphazard approach to You and sin.  Amen.  

Choose to Fear the Lord, Part 1

Scripture: Joshua 24:14a

Now, therefore, fear the LORD

Insights:  For some time now we have been on a journey regarding the subject of unity.  The lack of unity within a local church is the number one reason floodwaters of revival do not fall on that congregation.  I believe this statement is also true nationally as well.  If a church is not experiencing the overwhelming presence of the Holy Spirit, then they will also not be evangelistic either.  At the Alabama Baptist Evangelism Conference in February of this year they shared with us that only 5% of all Southern Baptist even attempt to share the gospel with lost people.  They further went on to tell us that in 2011 there were over 10,000 Southern Baptist churches that baptized zero converts.  It is my belief a lack of unity is the major problem.  In Jesus high priestly prayer found in John 17, Jesus asks the Father to make us one as He and the Father are one.  Having established the significance of unity and also having looked at a significant number of sins that cause disunity within the Body, we now move to the next step.  In other words, if we have truly repented of our sins which caused disunity, what does the Father require next for unity to take root within the DNA of a church?  Over the next several weeks, we are going to attempt to answer that question.  Even more specifically, over the next two weeks we are going to unpack Joshua 24:14-25, because the first step regarding unity, is CHOICE.  Do we choose to pursue unity or not?  This passage found in the book of Joshua really lays that question on the table.  In today’s passage Joshua tells us the first step regarding choice is to fear the Lord.  We are going to talk even more about this subject tomorrow, but the first thing I want you to understand about fearing the Lord is in reference to Proverbs 1:7 which states, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”  Solomon is pointing his son to the nature of God as Creator.  In other words, God is the One who placed ALL the stars in the heavens and named each one of them.  He holds the power of life and death within His hands.  He orchestrates events in human history for His glory and no others.  He IS God and you and I are NOT!  It would do us good to pause this day and reflectively think about God’s omnipotence and then give Him the proper fear and praise!

Questions:

1. Do you recognize God as the supreme sovereign of all creation?
2. Do you have proper fear of such power and greatness?                              

Prayer: O Great Elohim, Creator of all things.  I am thankful You are God and I am not.  Help me to have the proper perspective of Your majesty and may I not just flippantly take for granted Your immense mercy and grace.  Amen.  

Unified in Service

Scripture: 1 Peter 4:10-11

As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.  ¹¹ Whoever speaks, is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God; whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Insights:  One last time I remind you Peter has written these verses in the context of Jesus’ return, which is near.  Because He is coming back to redeem His Bride, we ought to be proactively serving to in order to point people to Him.  How do we know where or how we ought to be serving?  Today’s verses give us the answer.  We are to serve where and how the Spirit of the Lord God reveals.  In other words, the Spirit manifests Himself within a Believers life with skills.  We call those skills, gifts of the Spirit, or spiritual gifts.  The passage in 1 Corinthians will assist us a little more in understanding these gifts.  It states, “Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit.  And there are varieties of ministries, and the same Lord.  There are varieties of effects, but the same God who works all things in all persons.  But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.”  The Gift IS the Holy Spirit and He manifests Himself within our lives with a variety of gifts.  I emphasis this point because people often ask whether they can lose their gift and the answer is, NO!  If they have truly encountered the Lord God and have been born again because of the blood of Jesus Christ which cleanses them from all sin, then no, they cannot lose the Holy Spirit who came to live within them.  At the same time, however, because the Gift is the Spirit, He has the freedom to manifest Himself however He wishes within a Believers life and He may choose to change your spiritual gift mix.  The manifestation of the gift is not as important as the Gift itself, which is the Holy Spirit.  Let’s wrap up the thought for today.  Jesus is coming back soon and because He is, we are to serve.  We serve using our gift mix and we do so to point people to Jesus.  So, SERVE!

Questions:

1. Do you know what your spiritual gifts are?
2. Are you intentional about using them for the greater glory of God?                              

Prayer: Jesus, thank You that You sent the Holy Spirit to live within me.  Thank You for the transforming work He does within my life.  Thank You that He manifests Himself within me with gifts to be used for Your glory.  May I use them with boldness and point people to You as a result of my activity.  Amen.