The Gift of Choice

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This is a message based on Josh. 24:15 and it discusses the matter of choosing to serve the Lord as a personal decision each one must make.

Written Excerpts:

Introduction

In the passage of Scripture that was read earlier (Josh. 24:1-15), Joshua briefly reviewed the highlights of Israel’s history from the call of Abraham to the present time.

He recalls many of the things that God had done to bring the nation of Israel to their present position and status.

He is basically reminding them of all these blessings and privileges because he has reached the end of his life and he is giving final admonitions and challenges to the people in whom he has invested so much of his personal strength and devotion.

Joshua wants to impress upon them the absolute importance for them to follow the Lord and obey His commands in order to continue receiving God’s blessings.

Verse 15 contains a well-known phrase that probably most of us have heard many times before – “…choose you this day whom you will serve… But for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

This charge by Joshua highlights a truth that has been repeatedly implied throughout the entire Bible. That truth is this: God has blessed all human creatures with the gift of willful choice.

God has not made us like mechanical robots or even like animals, but He has blessed us with the ability to reason, calculate, compare, and choose by an action of our will.

With the help of God’s Spirit, I want to speak to you today about the gift of choice, particularly as it relates to spiritual and eternal life.

I. Choice is rooted in the concept of free-will.

Before we look at some of the specific implications in this passage of Scripture, I want to discuss some concepts that are related to the matter of choice.

A. Word Meanings

Hebrew scholars (Harris, Archer, Waltke, in Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament) tell us that the word used by Joshua here in 24:15 is a word that…

·        Has a root meaning of "to take a keen look at" (KB), thus accounting for the connotation of "testing or examining" found in Isaiah 48:10 (Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.) and … in Proverbs (e.g. Proverbs 10:20 "choice silver")….

·        “…the word is used to express that choosing which has ultimate and eternal significance. On the one hand God chooses a people (Psalm 135:4), certain tribes (Psalm 78:68), specific individuals (1 Kings 8:16; 1 Chron. 28:5; 1 Samuel 10:24; 2 Samuel 6:21), and a place for his name (Deut. 12:5; etc.).

·        In all of these cases serviceability rather than simple arbitrariness is at the heart of the choosing. Thus Yahweh chose Israel to be holy and thereby to serve as his witness among the nations (Deut. 14:6). But her election is not based on her own greatness but on the greatness of the Lord's love (Deut. 7:7f.).

·        The scriptural doctrine of divine capacity for choice demonstrates that purpose and personality, not blind mechanism, are at the heart of the universe. Since God carefully chooses certain ones for a specific task, he can also reject them if they deviate from that purpose (1 Samuel 2:27ff.).

 Most of these comments have to do with passages that speak of God’s choices and the exercise of divine free-will. Yet, it relates to our subject of human free-will because most scholars agree that when we speak of men being created in the image of God, it includes the capacity for free moral choices.

B. Humans do make choices with eternal consequences.

There has been theological debates for centuries regarding the issue of free-will.

There are extremes in understanding all the way from a “severe fatalism and predestination position” on one end of the spectrum to almost a “human sovereignty position” at the other end of the spectrum.

I believe the Bible denies either of these extremes, but we do admit that there exists a dynamic tension between scriptures that imply man’s inability to make moral choices and other scriptures that imply free-will.

For many people the idea of being held accountable for one’s choice implies that the choice must be free and personal.

Therefore, we affirm that all men (generic) have the ability to reason, calculate short-term and long-term consequences, compare options and ultimately make choices that may or may not have moral and eternal consequences.

II. Choosing whom we will serve.

In the Joshua text today, we read an example of people being challenged to make one of the most fundamental choices all humans must make – “Whom will you serve?” “Who is going to be your Master?” “Who’s going to be the sovereign authority in your life?”

Historically, God had called His people out of Egypt where during the 400 years of captivity, they had become surrounded and totally familiar with the pagan gods of the Egyptians. God was calling them out of that environment to re-affirm and re-establish His exclusive right to their worship and their service.

Joshua has reminded the people of Israel of God’s deliverance from Egypt and Egypt’s “gods.” He has also spelled out how the nations they passed through on the way to the promised land, and the nations within the promised land were also filled with pagan worship of many false gods.

Now Joshua presents them with a choice: “You can choose to serve the gods that our ancestors served prior to Abraham, or you can choose to serve the gods of the people in the land into which you have come, or you can choose to serve the Lord, Who has called you out to be His own special, chosen people.”

Then Joshua boldly proclaims his choice for himself and his family: “For me and my house we will serve the Lord.”

This is only one of many Scriptures that call people to choose whom they will worship and dedicate themselves to in service.

A. It is a personal choice.

“You choose this day”

“As for me and my house, we”

The Bible is very clear about the fact that God loves every person in the world and He has made every necessary provision so that everyone can be saved from sin and darkness and they can walk in a relationship with Him that ultimately brings them to eternal life in His presence forever.

Yet, in spite of the fact that God has done all that He has done, He still leaves the choice up to each of us individually. We must choose whom we will serve.

If you haven’t already made the choice whom you will serve, you must make it someday.

And, by the way, procrastinating your decision is in itself a choice.

Felix responded to Paul’s exhortation by saying, “Go your way this time, when I have a convenient season I will call for you.” That was his choice that day, and we don’t have any record that he ever revised his choice.

B. It is a radical choice.

By this point, we simply mean that it is simple, clear cut, and has infinite consequences.

The options offered by Joshua were “either serve the gods of this world, or serve the God of heaven.” There weren’t any other options or any middle ground.

v.14 – “put away the gods which your fathers served…”

There was no suggestion of a half-hearted, “wishy-washy” indecision that might be adequate.

v.14 – “Serve Him in sincerity and in truth”

Today, the devil “packages” the options in such appealing ways, that it often seems that we have more than just two choices, but the reality is still true today – we must either serve Jesus Christ, or we are serving a false god.

I need to ask you today, Have you chosen the Lord? Have you counted the cost and calculated the consequences and made up your mind to follow Christ in complete trust and obedience?

That is the choice He offers each of us.

III. Choosing a deeper calling.

The Bible is not only very clear about the need to choose whom we will worship and serve as portrayed in this passage in Joshua, but there are various Scripture passages that also emphasize the need for a deeper, more thorough consecration to Christ until He is the only One who rules on the throne of our hearts.

Romans 12:1 “…present your bodies a living sacrifice…”

1 Thess. 5:23 “the very God of peace sanctify you entirely…”

There is a point when we must decide if we are going to continue trying to live the Christian life as a “double-minded” person or as a “single-minded,” sold-out, committed disciple.

A “double-minded” person is “unstable in all his ways” the Apostle James says. (We talked about that last week.) It is a person that is divided in allegiance and in affection (betw. God and self).

A double-minded person is one who wants to be a Christian and has made a decision to accept Christ, but hasn’t let go of his/her right to be the final authority.

God offers a remedy for that condition – it is a sanctified heart; a pure heart of love; a heart that only wants God and God’s way.

This experience, that is sometimes referred to as “being filled with the Spirit,” or “holiness,” is offered to every believer but it must be received and experienced by choice.

You and I have the choice to either receive the cleansing fire of the Holy Spirit, or we can reject it.

For the life of me I can’t understand how or why a truly born-again believer wouldn’t want to receive all the grace available from God.

IV. Learning to choose wisely.

The 3^rd way in which choices impact our lives is through the multitude of daily choices we make in all kind of circumstances. We make hundreds and thousands of choices concerning all manner of life issues.

Some of our choices have little or no moral or spiritual consequence, while others have huge consequences for time and eternity.

Some choices are not evil or wrong in and of themselves, but they lead a certain direction and if repeated enough, they can develop habits.

Once a habit is formed, the choices continue on almost automatically until the end of the path could be disastrous even though it started with an innocent choice.

So, my point is this: even though many of our choices seem innocent enough, we must stop and seriously consider where that choice would lead me if I kept repeating it. I need to calculate not only whether the choice itself is right or wrong; good or evil, but I must try to evaluate what values and priorities that choice will promote because those values and priorities will ultimately shape my character and determine my destiny.

I want to avoid some of the extreme positions that some churches and Christians have taken when they observe how some activities or actions can lead to undesirable ends, then they condemn all those activities or actions as evil because of “where they lead.”

However, I do acknowledge and caution each of us today that choices do have consequences, and a pattern of choices certainly can form habits that have consequences.

So, I say all that to emphasize that we need the wisdom and fullness of the Holy Spirit to help us make choices wisely that will promote spiritual growth rather than destroy it.

We need His Spirit to make choices that will promote godliness rather than worldliness.

We need God’s help to make intentional choices that will take us off a harmful path once we realize it is leading us to an undesirable destination.

Conclusion:

As we sing the closing song I have selected I want to urge each of us to evaluate our own lives and the choices we have made.

Have you decided to serve the Lord and give Him control of your life?

Have you decided to let Him be Lord and Master to the extent that He sits on the throne of your heart?

Are you willing to be led by the Holy Spirit in making choices that will promote spiritual health and growth?

If God’s Spirit is revealing to you that you lack in any of these areas, I would urge you to come forward today and spend time praying.