OUR HOUSE WILL SERVE THE LORD

And Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, and called for the elders of Israel, and for their heads, and for their judges, and for their officers; and they presented themselves before God. And Joshua said unto all the people, Now therefore fear the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the LORD. And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD. And the people answered and said, God forbid that we should forsake the LORD, to serve other gods; For the LORD our God, he it is that brought us up and our fathers out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, and which did those great signs in our sight, and preserved us in all the way wherein we went, and among all the people through whom we passed: And the LORD drave out from before us all the people, even the Amorites which dwelt in the land: therefore will we also serve the LORD; for he is our God. (Joshua 24:1-2a, 14-18).

Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ (Eph. 1:2). Amen.

Dear brothers and sisters, most of us have our own houses otherwise called homes and families. Homes and families are a great blessing of the Lord. Someone has told about contents of a Christian family in such a way, "Beauty of home is its order; blessing of home is its contentment; glory of home is its hospitality and crown of home is its faith in Christ." Home is very important. And the words "house" or "home" in the Bible are often words synonyms for family. Wise and pious people build their homes by order, by piety, by hospitality and most of all by faith in the Lord as Scriptures teach us.

And today's text from the Scriptures uses the word "house" in a sense of the family. We read today how Joshua, a leader of the Israelites, has gathered them for a very important meeting. That meeting was about future of all the nation. Joshua has called, as it is written, "the elders of Israel, and for their heads, and for their judges, and for their officers; and they presented themselves before God."

Before God family heads were gathered. They were eye-witnesses of how the Lord delivered them from their enemies and bestowed them with the Promised Land. They knew, understood and confesses that they were saved by God alone. They believed they were saved for life in the Promised Land, and moreover in heaven. We read in the Psalm how wonderfully God saves His people, "If it had not been the LORD who was on our side, now may Israel say; If it had not been the LORD who was on our side, when men rose up against us: Then they had swallowed us up quick, when their wrath was kindled against us: Then the waters had overwhelmed us, the stream had gone over our soul: Then the proud waters had gone over our soul. Blessed be the LORD, who hath not given us as a prey to their teeth. Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers: the snare is broken, and we are escaped. Our help is in the name of the LORD, who made heaven and earth" (Ps. 124). Israelites were gathered together to confess their continuous faith in the Lord.

Dear brothers and sisters in the same manner we are gathered here with our families as we arrived from our summers vacations. Today we gathered again in the Name of the Lord. Today we have come to be reminded of the history of our salvation, to confess our faith in the Savior. We used to be also slaves, too. Our slave-masters: the world, the devil and sin would keep our souls forever but God delivered us from this terrible slavery by sending His Son to live and die for us. We are washed by His holy blood that was shed on the cross of Calvary. His death has torn away a sting from our death - our sins. By His resurrection we were declared righteous and free from the slavery. For the sake of Christ God has made us His own children. He placed us into His Kingdom only because of Christ, out of grace alone. As it is written, "I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy" (Rom. 9:15-16). God had mercy on us. God had on us compassion. He did it out of His immense love. We did not deserve it. Yet He is God loving and graceful. He saved us. This is why we are gathered here today and not in another place. We are gathered here as His faithful Israel.

Joshua tells Israel to do three things. These same things pertain to us, New Israel, as well. He says, "Now therefore fear the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served." First the Holy Spirit tells us to fear the Lord in a way that we trust Him, love Him and worship Him above anything or anyone else. Psalmist (130:4) sings of this pious fear in the believers, "But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared." These words are very sweet for us as we sin daily and seek God's forgiveness. There is always forgiveness with our God. For there is always Jesus Christ asking for us there. In His Name only we are forgiven. And for Christ's sake only God gives us forgiveness and eternal life.

The next thing in the message of Joshua is to serve the Lord in the sincerity and truth. Only children of God can serve so. History of modern Ukraine shows us some examples of how people misunderstand this service to the Lord. Some people do many good works. Some build churches or give much money away without any faith in Jesus. This is a false service and it is not accepted by God. The Lord says of such a service, "I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies. Though ye offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings, I will not accept them: neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts" (Am. 5:21-22). In another place it is written what is acceptable to God, "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise" (Ps. 51:17). The Lord accepts service from the hearts that seek salvation in Jesus only. Only those who put all their trust exclusively in Jesus are innocent or sincere and can serve the Lord sincerely.

And this service is in truth, for it trusts the Word of God. As it is written in another Psalm (119:104-105), "Through thy precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every false way. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path."

The third thing Joshua says is this, "Put away the gods which your fathers served." These words are very important as well. Sometimes we can commit idolatry even without fully realizing about it. How many of us have read horoscopes, for example? Or addressed so called healers that practice witchcraft? Money, children and power can become gods, too. The Lord says we should repent in all kinds of idolatry, to throw away all the anti-Christian books and rely on Christ alone and trust the Word of God alone. For only Christ gives us eternal life. Only Christ is our Savior and Redeemer. Only He is the guarantee of our true and lasting happiness.

Some people may hear these words skeptically and thinking that horoscopes or newspapers that place ads about witchcraft are innocent. Some may