Derek Smith
Lead Pastor
Joshua 24:14-15
14 “Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. 15 And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
The story goes that the great English actor Macready had a preacher ask him years ago: “I wish you would explain to me something.” “I don’t know that I can explain anything to a preacher, but I’ll give it a try.” “What is the reason for the difference between you and me? You are appearing before crowds night after night with fiction, and the crowds come wherever you go. I am preaching the truth of eternal life, and I can’t draw a crowd at all.” Macready looked at him and said, “It is quite simple. I present my fiction as though it were truth; you present truth as though it were fiction.”
After Israel conquered the promised land, Joshua gathered the people for one final address. He noticed that the people were beginning to drift into a universalistic lifestyle. They were accepting and even somewhat affirming of the pagan gods and lifestyles of their new neighbors, and Joshua was disgusted. He reminds them of the one true God and the life they were called to live, and then he leaves them with that famous statement: “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
Many in today’s culture don’t seem to know the difference between truth and fiction, and the time for presenting truth as though it were fiction is over. Casual christianity is no longer a popular way to live, and the stakes are getting higher by the day. The Lord has not called us to a life of compromise or compatibility or fraternizing with the world. He has called us to stand boldly for Him and live a life that is set apart for His purposes. So, it is time to put away the gods of this world and recommit ourselves fresh and new to the only true and living God, the Lord Jesus Christ. The time is now to declare that we will not back, shut up, or give up until we are taken up! The most unloving thing we can do is leave the world around us in darkness. So, Child of God, let us unequivocally proclaim that Jesus is Lord. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord!