In Joshua 24, Joshua tells the people of Israel' Choose you this day who you will serve." “Serve.” as Joshua understood
it is not the same as the way we understand it. Today, if we are in a "service" job such as a
waiter or housekeeper or butler, we sell a portion of our time and effort to
another, but at the rest of the day belongs to us. We serve in the armed forces, but only for a
few years. We are not slaves, but temporary servants.
In Joshua's day, service was not a
profession, but a life. A servant was a slave. They did it not by choice, but
usually by birth. Few people had the
luxury of choosing who they would serve. Birth and fate determined your master
But God gives us a choice of masters. We can either serve God or someone (or something) else. We can not, however, choose not to serve, because we always serve someone or something. Service is a natural part of who we
are. We can no more choose not to serve than we can choose not to have a brain. It is a basic part of human nature.
Service is surrender
to an ultimate authority. This may be a conscious surrender,
but most of the time it is not. When we serve something, we don’t do it reasonably or
rationally, we just submit. A soldier submits voluntarily to his commanding officer. An alcoholic submits unconsciously to the power of alcohol. Both will do anything that their service requires. AS Dylan put it "we gotta serve somebody."
Service and worship are the same thing. The Greek word usually translated as worship means to
serve. The English “worship” comes from “worth” meaning ultimate value.
Whatever we serve is of ultimate worth to us. Whatever is of ultimate value to us ultimately is our god.
Service is not just an
exercise of the will, but it involves our whole being. We may serve God with our minds, but our
habits, emotions, thoughts, and relationships are still loyal to old masters. But as we choose to serve one
master, we must learn to serve Him alone. It’s not
easy. It takes time, but we can choose to change who we serve.But we can't choose not to serve somebody. If we say that we have no master, we deceive ourselves. We cannot choose to serve, we can choose who to serve. Once we make that
choice it is the last independent choice we make. Once submit to a master, we are forever committed unless
we renounce them that master for another.
Joshua's words comes at a
critical time in the history of Israel. Joshua
has led the Israelites into the Promised Land and they have conquered it. So now,
Joshua gathered them at Shechem to release them from military service.
The Israelites have been following God for years. They traveled forty years in the
desert, led by God, following the pillar or smoke by day and the fire
by night. Under God's leadership they crossed the Jordan River and fought the inhabitants of the land,
risking their lives in battle after battle. So now, why does Joshua tell them to choose, when they seemed to have been already doing it for more than a half century?
Joshua told them to choose because he understood that they
were not really following God. They had not needed to. All they needed was to follow the leaders God sent them--Joshua and Moses. Now Joshua was going away and there
was no one to lead them. We may think serve God because we do what our leaders tell us, but we are really just following our leaders. That is not the same as following God. Sooner or later, we must serve Him directly.
Service has two parts to it—submission and
action. These two parts of service balance each other.
Submission is putting
ourselves under another. It starts as a choice, but it is really the surrender of choice. We
voluntarily yield our will. Once submit, we are through making choices. They are already made. Once we
choose a wife, we cannot choose another later. That choice restricts our future freedom to choose. I make
this choice freely, but once it is made, it becomes my duty and my obligation. At this point, my ideas,
thoughts, preferences, and desires are irrelevant to the greater submission. If
I say “not, I won’t do this, I don’t feel like it,” then I have withdrawn my
submission, and have placed myself in service to
my feelings. If I say “no, I’ve got a
better plan,” then I have withdrawn my submission and chosen to follow my own
reason. When I surrender to God,
I am no longer answerable to my ideas,
emotions, thoughts, feelings, appetites, desires or other allegiances. I submit wholly and completely to Him.
Action is the other side of service. I focus my whole being on carrying out the will of the master Action involves work, sweat,
thought, imagination, improvisation, frustration, and organization. When a general commands a
army division to charge and enemy camp, he does not issue detailed orders. He expects the captains and colonels under
him to figure out how to best moves their troops over the ridge and attack the
enemy. When a movie director is making a movie, he doesn’t design everything
himself, but he expects the actors, the computer technicians, the set designer
s and costume designers to do their best job in filling in the details. When God commands us to help the poor, love
our neighbor, spread the Gospel, and to bring our lives into submission to Him,
He doesn’t give us absolutely every detail, either. Instead, He created us with
brains, hands, and hearts to fill in the blanks themselves. Submission and action must go hand in hand. 
What does it look like if we have submission but no action? Think of a sloth. Sloths are very slow, stupid animals that hang from the same tree all their lives. They trust the tree, feed off the tree, and live in the tree. But if the tree falls down, the sloth will likely die with the tree. That is why there are very few sloths in the world, because they never get out of their trees. As a result, the sloth is has never been very prolific as a species. They spend their lives trusting the tree, but not doing anything else.
What does it look like to
over emphasize action? Think of the
lemming. Lemmings are excitable
creatures who will every so often get in a frenzy and start running. They don’t
know why they are running or where they are going, but they just charge ahead.
One lemming excites the other. In their
frenzy to get somewhere, they charge madly forward until they fall off a cliff
or run into the ocean. Without action, we are sloths. Without submission, we are lemmings. To serve Christ, we must have both.
How do we serve Christ? It takes three things.
First we must choose Christ. You have a choice of who to give your
submission. You do not have to serve
your appetites or worldly goals. God’s Spirit helps you break the power of the
goals you already serve. You can be a new creature in Him. On the cross Jesus
put to death your old self, so you can follow the new. Once you decide to break
your old allegiances, Jesus will help you.
But you must choose Him.
There is no substitute for that. You may
not fully understand what that means, but you must choose Him without
reservation and without full understanding.
Jesus came to Peter and the
fisherman and said. “Follow.” He came to
Matthew and said “Follow”. He came to
Simon the Zealot and said “follow.” He revealed Himself to Paul on the road to
Damascus as a blinding light and said “Follow.” All these men were given an
intentionally blind choice to follow, even if they did not understand who He
really was.
The first step is always
making your choice.
Next we must know Christ. Once we have chosen, we must then get to know
Him. In ancient Israel when a man got
married he was exempt from military service for one year just so he could get
to know his wife. When a person chooses
Jesus, they should not be immediately rushed into the front lines for service.
They should take the time to study the Bible, pray, and seek Him. In time, we get to know Him and know how God
wants to use us.
Third we must Follow Christ. Once we know what He wants from us, we must
do it. but constantly looking back towards Him. Following Jesus is not she same
act acting on Jesus’ behalf.
Service is a balance of
passive submission and rigorous action.
If we are not balanced, we cannot serve. We must have both to be fully
what God intends us to be.
