Lesson 13: Choose This Day!
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Chief
Chief of Sinners.
Joshua 24:15 – “ ‘And if it seems evil to you to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve . . . . But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.’ ”
Core Theme: The covenant relationship with God is a conscious, daily choice of exclusive loyalty and service, requiring a decisive rejection of all idols and a wholehearted commitment to the faithful God who has redeemed His people.
Key Insights by Day:
Sunday: You Were There! (Joshua 24:1-13)
Core Theme: The covenant relationship with God is a conscious, daily choice of exclusive loyalty and service, requiring a decisive rejection of all idols and a wholehearted commitment to the faithful God who has redeemed His people.
Key Insights by Day:
Sunday: You Were There! (Joshua 24:1-13)
- Joshua gathers Israel at Shechem, the historic site of God’s promise to Abraham, to renew the covenant.
- God as Protagonist: The historical review centers on God’s actions (“I took,” “I gave,” “I delivered”) - highlighting that Israel’s existence and inheritance are solely gifts of His grace, not human merit.
- Corporate Responsibility: The covenant is made with the present generation as much as with the past; each new generation must personally appropriate God’s past faithfulness.
- Joshua issues a radical call to “fear the LORD” and serve Him with undivided loyalty (“in sincerity and in truth”).
- Defining Fear and Service: “Fearing” God means reverent awe leading to obedience. Serving “in sincerity” (tamim) implies wholeness and integrity, like a perfect sacrifice. Serving “in truth” (’emet) means with constant faithfulness, mirroring God’s own character.
- The Choice: Israel must decide whether to maintain its unique identity by serving Yahweh or assimilate into idolatrous cultures.
- The people enthusiastically pledge to serve God, but Joshua surprisingly challenges their sincerity, warning that God is “holy” and “jealous” and will not forgive their rebellion.
- Serious Commitment: Joshua tests their resolve, emphasizing that serving God is a serious, free-will decision with eternal consequences, not to be made lightly or out of compulsion.
- Relationship over Rules: True service springs from a personal relationship with the saving Lord, not merely mechanical adherence to rules.
- Joshua presses the people three times, urging them to “put away the foreign gods” that are among them.
- Inclining the Heart: The call to “incline your heart to the LORD” (natah) highlights the need for a conscious, internal turning toward God, as the sinful heart naturally bends toward idolatry.
- Open-Ended Plea: The book concludes without reporting the idols' removal, leaving the urgent appeal to serve God exclusively as a perpetual challenge for every future generation.
- The book ends with the burials of Joshua, Eleazar, and Joseph’s bones - symbolizing the end of wandering and the secure fulfillment of God’s promises.
- Legacy and Future: A faithful generation has passed. The future of God’s people now depends on the choices of the next generation, who must answer the same call to loyalty.
- Our Fight: Like Joshua and Paul, we are called to “fight the good fight” and finish faithfully, making daily decisions that ensure our eternal assurance.
- Root Problem: The hidden, persistent danger of idolatry and mere formalism within the covenant community.
- The Perpetual Challenge: The church is always “one generation away” from spiritual extinction. Each generation must consciously choose to serve the Lord.
- Our Call:
- Make a decisive, daily choice for God, rejecting all subtle “idols” that compete for our allegiance.
- Serve God “in sincerity and truth” - with wholehearted, faithful devotion that reflects His character.
- Understand that God’s jealousy is an expression of His holy love; He will not share worship with rivals.
- Pass on the torch of faith by living a legacy of unmistakable commitment, so that our lives point others to the same choice.