Joshua 24:1-3a, 14-25
Introduction
E. Stanley Jones said, “The Christian faith is not a set of propositions to be accepted — it is a Person to be sought and followed.” I’ll say that again… “The Christian faith is not a set of propositions to be accepted— it is a Person to be sought and followed.”
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Last week we heard King Herod say to the Magi, “Go and search diligently for the child.” He says this to lifelong seekers on a journey to find the truth. But he could just as easily be saying it to you and me. “Go and search diligently for the child.” Because once you find the child, everything changes. Once you search diligently, find, and then permit the new born King to rule in your heart, to lead you in the path of life…you will undoubtedly be going a different way. The Magi returned home by another way to avoid Herod. But it is symbolic of what meeting Jesus does.
Jesus sends you home different. You go through life in a completely different way. By meeting Jesus, experiencing his glory and power and learning he is going to be the Savior of the world, then there is no other option than going a different way. You are a different person because you met Jesus. You are forever changed because you met Jesus.
Move 1
I know I have shared this story before, but it’s worthy sharing again… Tom Chappell is the founder and CEO of Tom’s of Maine, a company that makes natural-toothpaste. When Chappell was 43, he had successfully guided his company through aggressive growth, which brought him substantial financial wealth. Such success might move a person to feel satisfied and accomplished. He no longer had to worry about how to provide for his family, or keeping up with his mortgage, or what to do if the water heater conks out and the family car needs both new brakes and new tires at the same time!
But this wasn’t the case for Tom Chappell. Despite his success he still felt there was more he needed to do—that there was a “ministry” calling for him. Chappell shared this struggle with his pastor and the pastor’s wife, and during their conversation she asked, “What makes you think Tom’s of Maine isn’t your ministry?” And from that conversation and question Chappell soon discovered what was next for him.
Chappell would spend half of each week in Kennebunk, Maine, tending to his CEO duties, and the other half in Cambridge, Massachusetts, being a theological student at Harvard Divinity School. Four years later, after graduating, Chappell led his company board in discerning and crafting a mission statement, and business road map, for having an impact beyond just a robust bottom line. As a result, the company adopted a plan based on concepts from theologian Martin Buber that committed the business to take on endeavors that would “promote the common good.”
These endeavors have included: community gardening, support of a local dental clinic for those in need, and helping clean-up and revitalize rivers.
All of this—getting to a successful point in life, but then to keep going, to keep moving toward having a broader impact that is beyond oneself—is what Tom Chappell did, and continue to do. And it’s called The Joshua Principle.
Move 2
In today’s text, Joshua, the leader of the Israelites and successor to Moses, challenges his people to decide what sort of a community they will now be—now that they have a homeland.
You’ll remember Moses led God’s people through the wilderness to the Promised Land. Moses died though before crossing over; and Joshua lead the Israelites into the land and defeated the people who were there. And now, here they are—in the Promised Land—established and ready to move forward into the bright future God promised. It was the fulfillment of the covenant God made with God’s people all the way back to Abraham.
They now have homes and homesteads, and all that comes with such a lifestyle— family to care for, mortgages to keep up with, whatever then was equivalent to water heaters and cars all breaking down at the same time. The Joshua Principle is created at this time, when Joshua asks the people to decide to whom their allegiance will be given, asking: “…Choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served in the region beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living…” And at the heart of The Joshua Principle is the famous quote we often see in wall art, “…but as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.”
The people responded they would do this: “The LORD our God we will serve; and him we will obey” But of course that’s what they are going to say, right? You and I know when a preacher asks if you will serve the Lord the answer is always a resounding “YES!” I’ll show you—“Church, will you serve the Lord!?”
And Joshua was well aware of church folk’s propensities. He knew that though the people declared they were prepared to accept the responsibility of covenant devotion to God, Joshua knew the people did not grasp the implications of serving “a jealous God” —a God who wanted their complete devotion.
Joshua reminds the people they cannot serve any deity besides God; they must recognize God’s supremacy; they must “put away the foreign gods” they had preserved from their past or any new gods they had incorporated from their neighbors. Joshua tells the people, pointedly, there can be no half measures; there can be no sitting on the fence. Complete devotion to God and the greater good is not the expectation, it is the responsibility.
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The challenge Joshua issued to the Israelites also confronts us today. We still must choose whom we will serve and what kind of people we will be. Even in the church, we must still choose whom we will serve, and what kind of church we will be. Will we be a church that goes through the motions, saying what is supposed to be said, when it’s supposed to be said. Or will we be a church with devotion to God and to the responsibility God has given? Will we be a church of half measures, or a church that is all in for the greater good?
Move 3
When we commit to serve the church, what are we committing to? Are we committing to being in church each Sunday, or as our schedule permits? Are we committing to keeping the building operational? Are we committing to being a Lay Leader for a month, while making a homebound visit now and then? Are we committing to being at a monthly meeting or two? Are we committing to the whole church? Are we committing to our little part of the church—you know the part that is most important? Are we committing to God who blesses us with so much?
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Now, I am no Joshua, but these questions are meant in the spirt in which he asked his people. He knew their initial response would be a resounding “Yes!” and so he posed his question again, reframing it with emphasis that the people needed to fully understand what they were getting into.
We need to have this same understanding when we claim we are committed to God and to God’s church. We need to know the work we do, the service we offer, is a ministry not for a few, not for us—but a ministry for a greater good. Our ministry is not about us. Our ministry is not even about this church. It’s about serving God and God’s children. But here’s the thing we all need to understand… This is not just a one and done principle. This is not just a sometimes principle. Rather all of us are asked every day, “Choose this day whom you will serve.”
Sure, The Joshua Principle is lived out in big ways, but it’s done in smaller, less obvious ways too. The Joshua Principle is done when we show up, and are present— and we can be present in-person or online, at an event or in a card sent to someone whose have a rough time. Ministry of presence can take on a lot of different forms.
It’s done when we volunteer at Loaves and Fishes, or Jr. Church, or with the Youth Group. It’s done when we act with intentionality toward our responsibility. It’s done when we pray for not our will to be done, but for God’s will to be done. It’s done when we live with, and extend to ourselves and others, grace. It’s done when we make being the church among our greatest priorities.
Conclusion
Who… or what… are we seeking and following?
Ask this of Joshua, and he would say, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” saying such because he lived out The Joshua Principle.
Tom Chappell sought out and followed this principle, and showed that making a profit doesn’t have to be the only mission of business.
Stanley Jones would say, “The Christian faith is not a set of propositions to be accepted — it is a Person to be sought and followed.”
So let us ask ourselves this question: Who, or what, are we seeking and following? Asking it today, tomorrow, and every day—along with questions that stem from it, like… What principles are we applying to that pursuit? Are they personal, or rooted in the divine? What kind of church are we? What kind of church do we want to be? What is my responsibility in helping the church become what God would have us be?
Everything we do as First Christian Church, all of it is to be a ministry where we are living out our resounding “YES!” Everything we do is to be rooted in The Joshua Principle, showing and sharing our commitment to be engaged with God and the responsibilities God entrusts to us. Everything we do as church can be, and should be seen and done, as a ministry—a ministry that puts first and foremost God and God’s direction and call for us.
These are our imperatives. These are our call. And when lived out, we can be certain they will always have an impact for the greater good. Amen.
Pastoral Prayer, January 15, 2023
God of wisdom, you graciously impart to your church all the gifts we need to serve you, and you give us your Spirit to empower our use of these gifts. These gifts are always perfect and right, and when used for the common good have the ability to not just improve a bad day or make a moment better—they have the power to transform lives.
By our faith and trust we know this to be true. Yet, as holy word so often warns, time and again we are lured into other ways of thinking and acting. We try to live in our own power, in our own way, and in our own time and of course when we do the inevitable happens. We become frustrated, we feel burdened and weary, we burn out. The shadows of the work we are lost within weave around us until we are consumed by exhaustion and regret, unable to serve anyone, not even ourselves.
Gracious God, remind us once more of your invitation to rest in you, to abide in your love, to trust in your ways. Lead us with your Spirit to let go, and allow you to direct our paths. Focus our minds and hearts in ways that reflect your grace and presence so that our lives become fixated on the important rather than the immediate—for we do not want to lead shallow lives, squandering our time and energies on that which ultimately counts for nothing. We want our time on this earth to count for something— something meaningful, something important, something eternal.
And so, we come in humility, asking you to help us recommit, each day, to serving you. Reorder our lives that we may truly strive to serve you. Grant us wisdom to seek you above all else. Prune what is withered and lifeless in us so in whatever ways we can, we become conduits of your life giving ministry— all for the common good.
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We ask that you would listen now to the prayer of our individual hearts, offered in this time of Holy Silence.
All this we ask in the name of Christ Jesus, who taught us to pray saying, “Our…”