Joshua’s Challenge to the People

Joshua 24:15

Most of us probably remember Joshua’s statement: “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15). His mind was already settled. No matter what the rest of the people decided when he challenged them, “Choose for yourselves today whom you will serve,” he was determined to follow God.

But what did serving the Lord include? What was he challenging the people to do? Notice Joshua’s entire statement:

Now, therefore, fear the Lord and serve Him in sincerity and truth; and put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:14-15).

Let us consider Joshua’s challenge to the people and see how it applies to us.

Fear the Lord

To fear the Lord is to have a reverence for God. This means we must respect Him for who He is as our Creator, King, and Counselor: “Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him. For He spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast. The Lord nullifies the counsel of the nations; He frustrates the plans of the peoples. The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of His heart from generation to generation” (Psalm 33:8-11).

Understanding our place before the Lord should also cause us to fear Him. The psalmist wrote, “When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained; what is man that You take thought of him, and the son of man that You care for him?” (Psalm 8:3-4). We must realize what Job came to recognize when he responded to God: “Behold, I am insignificant; what can I reply to You?” (Job 40:4).

Fearing God also means we must recognize His ability and willingness to destroy the disobedient. Jesus said, “Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28). The Hebrew writer said, “It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Hebrews 10:31).

Fear is the first item listed in Joshua’s challenge to the people. This is because the fear of God is a foundation. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge” and “wisdom” (Proverbs 1:7; 9:10). Fear is connected with obedience, as the wise man said, “Fear God and keep His commandments” (Ecclesiastes 12:13). The only way “we may serve God acceptably” is with “reverence and godly fear” (Hebrews 12:28, KJV).

As Joshua challenged the people to “fear the Lord” (Joshua 24:14), we must also fear Him today.

Serve Him in Sincerity and Truth

This is similar to Jesus’ statement to the Samaritan woman: “God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth” (John 4:24). To please God we need two things – the right attitude and the right actions.

To serve the Lord in sincerity means that we need to have the right motivation for serving Him. We must not be like the scribes and Pharisees who merely worked to appear righteous before others. One can be wicked but appear to be righteous. Jesus said, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. So you, too, outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness” (Matthew 23:27-28). Our motivation to serve God must simply be based upon the fact that God is worthy of our service. “Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed and were created” (Revelation 4:11).

To serve the Lord in truth means we must serve Him in the way that He wants us to serve Him. We cannot do whatever we want to do in service to God and expect Him to be pleased by it. Paul described this type of service as “self-made religion” and said it was “of no value” (Colossians 2:23). Instead, we must do all things by the authority of Christ (Colossians 3:17). If we fear the Lord, we will respect His will. Jesus said, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter” (Matthew 7:21).

Just as Joshua told the people they must “serve [the Lord] in sincerity and truth” (Joshua 24:14), we must do the same.

Put Away Other Gods

God expects His people to serve Him exclusively. The Israelites were commanded, “You shall have no other gods before Me” (Exodus 20:3). John, in writing to Christians, said, “Little children, guard yourselves from idols” (1 John 5:21). We cannot divide our allegiance between the Lord and any other “god.” Jesus said, “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other…” (Matthew 6:24).

The Israelites were first warned not to serve “the gods which [their] fathers served” (Joshua 24:14). We must always remember that truth is based upon God’s standard, not our family history. Too many people cling to false religious beliefs and practices because their parents or grandparents believed and practiced them. But we must be willing to do what is right regardless of what our parents did (cf. Ezekiel 18:14-18). Jesus said, “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me” (Matthew 10:37). We must serve God, even if our family does not.

Joshua then warned the people not to serve “the gods of the Amorites in whose land [they were] living” (Joshua 24:15). They were not to adopt the religious practices of the idolatrous people around them. Too often, God’s people are influenced by the world, despite Paul’s warning: “Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers” (2 Corinthians 6:14, NKJV). We are to “come out from their midst and be separate” (2 Corinthians 6:17). God expects His people to be different. “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12:2).

The Israelites were commanded to “put away [other] gods” (Joshua 24:14). Likewise, we must serve the Lord exclusively.

Serve the Lord

When Joshua said, “Serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:14), it was somewhat of a summary of the challenge.

  • Serve the Lord” in fear – Respect Him for who He is and what He can do.
  • Serve the Lord” with sincerity – Serve Him with the right motivation.
  • Serve the Lord” in truth – Serve Him according to the instructions He has given in His word.
  • Serve the Lord” exclusively – Have no other “gods” than the true, living God.

Conclusion

Joshua challenged the people: “Choose for yourselves today whom you will serve” (Joshua 24:15). But it was not enough to simply choose to serve the Lord. They needed to know how to serve Him. We must serve the Lord in the same way today.

Making the choice to serve the Lord needs to be taken seriously. Notice how the people responded to Joshua’s challenge:

The people answered and said, ‘Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods; 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” (Joshua 24:16-18).

The people spoke as though they were willing to meet the challenge of serving God. This may have sounded good. But notice Joshua’s reply:

Then Joshua said to the people, ‘You will not be able to serve the Lord, for He is a holy God. He is a jealous God; He will not forgive your transgressions or your sins. If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, then He will turn and do you harm and consume you after He has done good to you” (Joshua 24:19-20).

Joshua was not trying to discourage the people from serving God, but was impressing upon them the serious nature of the commitment they were making. Similarly, Jesus said we must “calculate the cost” of being His disciple (Luke 14:27-28). We must strive to do what Joshua told the Israelites to do – fear the Lord, serve Him in sincerity and truth, put away other gods, and serve the Lord. But we must be serious in our commitment, lest we “[lay] a foundation and [are] not able to finish” (Luke 14:28).

Let us ever have the resolve of Joshua: “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15).


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Comments

  1. Bobby McPherson says

    This is an outstanding article. Much contained herein speaks to our need to follow the word of God totally if we are to be pleasing. Authority for all we do in religion is a must. Bobby

  2. Wayne D. Teel says

    Andy, such an encouraging article! How uplifting to read words that direct us toward God and doing His will. How needful for everyone to fix their minds around our duty to serve the Lord in His way. This lesson teaches us so much about our need to draw closer to God. Thank you.

  3. Thank you, gentlemen. I appreciate your comments.