Joshua 24:11-21 Click here for Bible Verses
Hi GAMErs,
Today’s passage is Joshua 24:11-21. Let’s go!
Joshua 24:11-18 (NIV)
11 “‘Then you crossed the Jordan and came to Jericho. The citizens of Jericho fought against you, as did also the Amorites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hittites, Girgashites, Hivites and Jebusites, but I gave them into your hands.
12 I sent the hornet ahead of you, which drove them out before you–also the two Amorite kings. You did not do it with your own sword and bow.
13 So I gave you a land on which you did not toil and cities you did not build; and you live in them and eat from vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant.’
14 “Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped 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 traveled.
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.”
On verses 11-18: Here Joshua continues his final address to the Israelites. He recalls events that are well known to the Israelites, because most of these Israelites would have experienced these events personally: how God helped them to cross the Jordan, gave different cities and peoples into their hands, drove out enemy nations before them, and gave them land that they did not work for and cities they did not build. On this basis Joshua commands the Israelites to serve the Lord and not any other god (v14), and personally commits his own household to serving the Lord (v15). The people respond similarly, saying that they will serve the Lord because it was He who rescued them from slavery, protected them in the wilderness, and drove out the nations so that they could have the promised land (v16-18).
Notice that it was on God’s amazing grace shown to the Israelites is the reason Joshua calls the Israelites to serve the Lord and the reason the Israelites agree to do so here. In other words, Joshua calls the Israelites to serve the Lord, and the Israelites agree to serve the Lord, all as a response to the undeserved goodness and kindness that God has already shown to them, and not as a way to curry favour or to earn anything from God.
What can we learn from this? Like the Israelites here, we too have received amazing grace from God. Through Christ’s death on the cross, we have received one undeserved blessing after another: we are forgiven of our sins, we are declared righteous and blameless in God’s sight, we are included in God’s family as His children, we are called priests who get to serve Him, and we are given citizenship in heaven and access to God’s holy presence forever. In the words of Joshua 24:13, by God’s grace we have received land that we did not work for, cities we did not build, and vineyards we did not plant.
So remember that whenever we serve God, it is a response to the undeserved grace God has already shown to us. If the reason you are serving God is because you want to earn His love or you think that by doing so God will then owe you, your mindset when it comes to serving God is faulty and unhealthy at its foundation. That is because serving God was always meant to be a response to the amazing and undeserved love and kindness God has already shown to us. We can never repay God for all that He has done, how He gave His only Son for us. What we give to God can never compare to what God has already given to us. So serve God as a loving, thankful response to His love, not as an attempt to blackmail God into doing what we want.
By the way, I love Joshua’s statement in verse 15, “But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” In other words, regardless of what others around him would do, Joshua was committed to leading his family in serving God. Parents, be committed to leading your family to serve God, regardless of how your peers or the people around you choose to run their lives. In serving God and living for Him, there is peace, joy, hope and blessing that the world cannot give.
Joshua 24:19-21 (NIV)
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.”
On verses 19-21: What is Joshua doing here? Is Joshua trying to discourage the Israelites from serving God? No. Rather, Joshua is testing and firming up the Israelites’ commitment to serve the Lord. He is telling the Israelites not to take serving God lightly, but to see serving God as a serious commitment and a long-term responsibility. He is warning the Israelites not to say yes to serving God, only to go back to serving other gods, lest they incur God’s wrath by doing so.
What can we learn from this? Don’t take serving God lightly. See it as a serious responsibility. Also, Joshua is absolutely right to say that God is a holy and jealous God. Were it not for Jesus Christ and his death on the cross, we couldn’t stand a chance in God’s holy presence because of our sin. But praise God! Even when we stumble and fall after we commit our lives to Jesus, we are protected from ultimate disaster because of the blood of Jesus. In this way we are even more fortunate than the Israelites of Joshua’s day, for we have the blood of Jesus constantly covering our sin and failure.
Heavenly Father, thank You for reminding me today that the reason we serve You is not to blackmail You or to make You owe us something. Rather all of our service is simply a loving, thankful response to what You have already done for us, the amazing grace which You have shown us and which we can never repay. Thank You that because of the blood of Jesus which covers our sins, we can serve You with confidence, even when we fall and make mistakes along the way. Thank You that Your mercy outlasts our mistakes. In Jesus’ name, AMEN!
