Joshua 24:14-15 As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord! Proposition: parents, grandparents, would be parents one day need to be strong and courageous and determine today As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord for the sake of the generations to come. I want to begin with a quiz this morning. I want to quote a famous person and then I want you to turn to the person beside you and tell them who said it. A bulldog of a man, while addressing some graduation midshipmen in WW2 said Never give up. Never, never, never, never, never give up. Who said that? Winston Churchill We have nothing to fear but fear itself. Franklin Delano Roosevelt during the great depression. We have knocked off the B... (beep) Sir Edmond Hillary One small step for man, one huge leap for mankind. Neil Armstrong as he stepped onto the moon. Great people are often remembered for saying great things and Joshua, this incredibly significant man in world history is best known for saying our passage that we want to study this morning. Let s put it into context. 24 Joshua called the tribes of Israel together for a meeting at Shechem. He had the leaders, including the old men, the judges, and the officials, come up and stand near the sacred tent. 2 Then Joshua told everyone to listen to this message from the LORD, the God of Israel: Now Joshua is old and near death and so he gathers the congregation of Israel at Shechem and he begins to review for them their history, how faithful and supernatural God has been to them for so long. At the end of this history of God s faithfulness we get to vs 14 and 15 4 Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. 15 But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD. 1
How many of you have quoted and declared that one sentence from this great man of God before? AS FOR ME AND MY HOUSEHOLD, WE WILL SERVE THE LORD Family there is something in this statement for all of us. If you are a teenager and you are thinking well actually I don t have a spouse or kids or a household, this world doesn t relate. You would be so wrong. The bible says as you sow, so shall you reap. If you are irritable, rebellious and argumentative today and you don t change that. Guess what, one day your children are likely to treat you just like you treat your parents now. Unless you make this declaration today, one day you kids are very likely to be just like you. Intermediates, teenagers, young adults: You need to consider Joshua s words for you and the kind of legacy you are going to pass onto your family one day. What attitudes and choices and lifestyles you sow today will be reflected in your children in the future. You need to consider how you are living and who you are serving now. Secondly every mum and dad, every grandparent in this room beware; You and I are living in a culture where instead of parents being parents mums and dads are going overboard trying to get their kids to like them. Now it s awesome having the love of your children but being a parent or grandparent is not about getting your needs met through your kids. You have been charged before God to do what is best for them to train them up in the way you who are older and wiser know they need to go and realistically, you are not always going to be popular for making those choices but you will make them anyway because your children s wisdom and their eternity is at stake. Our kiwi culture suggests, give the kids what they want, put it to the vote, don t force them. The Bible however suggests and our children deep down know anyway that it is up to the adults in the world to make a stand for their children s sake. I want you to particularly notice the words that I have underlined in the text this morning. Joshua stood at Shechem and made: 1. A DECLARATION As for me and my household we will serve the Lord. I declare that this is how it s going to be for the Watts family, for the Soole family for the Dawson family, for our family. He didn t say. I will have a talk to Mrs Joshua and hold a family group meeting and we will put it to the vote and if the majority agrees we will serve the Lord. There are lots of things that you can negotiate with your children particularly as they reach teenage years and prove their maturity but there should be some non negotiables that you set for your family because you know the truth and you know the harm sin does and you know that our 2
children are like blank CD s that are constantly recording and replaying what they are seeing and hearing. You and I are the grown-ups with life experience and knowledge of God and His Word and certain things are not up for negotiation. There are certain songs filled with profanities that ought never to be allowed to be played in your house even if your children are 50 years old. You set the standard. You know what they fill their minds with will largely determine the sorts of people that they become. When your teen says I ought to be allowed to listen to this song about abusing and hurting people in my room, it s up to me, you and I should say: As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord. Young man, young woman because I love you and I am accountable not for making you love me but for how I raise you; I know the damage those songs will have to your soul and therefore under my roof they are not going to be played in any form. Your teenager might say to you or even your intermediate may say to you; I want to play grand theft auto or assassins creed, all the other kids are, why can t I. When that happens you and I should reply, In our family we don t fill our minds and our hearts with that antisocial junk. One day you will get to choose what goes on under your roof, but mum and I are responsible for this household and because I care for you and I know the impact of this stuff on your future, those games aren t ever going to be played here. One of big issues you face as your children grow is all the other options they are faced with on Sundays other than church. For Juliette and I we agreed that until our young people reached year 9 they had to go to church, because we knew the benefit of filling their minds with biblical truth and how that would help them long term. Once they reached year 9 we said you need to go to church once a month, that s the way it s going to be for our family but the other 3 weeks are up to you. So when they are young and friends are off to Bethels or playing Sunday rugby; we would effectively say; sorry guys, As for me and our household we will serve the Lord, this one is non-negotiable. Over the years I have had unmarried couples come to stay at our place and they don t believe what I believe about God and they may even have many children, but if they want to stay at my house I tell them up front. This is a Christian home, sex outside of marriage is a sin that will keep you out of heaven, because I care for you, you are going to sleep in separate rooms. God has truly honoured us for that as it has brought conviction not condemnation. Joshua didn t put it to the vote. Future parents, parents, grandparents: your children, your mokopuna need to experience your guidance and protection, therefore there should be some things in your home that are non-negotiable. 3
Remember Joshua 1 as God three times told Joshua to be strong and courageous as he took over the leadership of the nation from Moses. At the end of that chapter the people say to Joshua we will follow you like we followed Moses only be strong and very courageous. Mums and dads, grandparents, we need to stop being a generation of wounded people trying to win our children s approval and become a generation with some backbone that will do what is best for them and like Joshua declare: As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord. Not only is this a declaration it s also 2. AN EXPECTATION You and I know that it is impossible to please God without faith. Joshua was saying As for me and my household we WILL serve the Lord. He was expecting his children and his grandchildren and his great grandchildren to walk with the Lord by faith and in holiness. What are you expecting God to do in your family? Do you expect that the God who has begun a good work in your family will see it through to completion? Do you expect that if you train up a child in the way he or she should go when they are old they will not depart from it? In Acts 16 when Paul and Silas witness to the prison guard and he asks how he can be saved, they reply believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved, you and your whole household. And it happened. One of the most inspiring stories of faith to me is Noah s story at the beginning of the bible. He took 120 years to build the ark that would be a place of salvation for everyone and everything on it. Eventually not only would two of every kind of animal make it onto that giant boat but also his three sons and their wives. To me one of the most inspiring things about Noah is this that he started building three separate rooms for his three sons BEFORE they were born. He had an expectation that they would be born and saved with him. And God honoured his faith. What are you expecting God to do by faith in your family? Not only is this statement a declaration, this is how it s going to be, and an expectation, this is what I believe God will do in my whole family it s also a 4
3. A REALIZATION As for ME it starts with me. If I want my kids to love the bible, then I need to love the Word. If I want my kids to be honest, then I need to be honest. If I want my kids to be holy, then I need to live a holy life not just in public but in the secret place as well. The bible says that the things that are done in secret will one day come to light. They will, like Achan and his theft, one day affect not only me but a whole lot of other people I care about as well. As for me: Man I have got to get myself sorted if I want my kids to do well. I find this really hard to explain but the reality is that the character, good or bad, that is in you will somehow be transferred to your offspring even if the bad things you do sometimes are not even seen or known by them. I am fascinated by what Samuel recorded about King David s death and King Saul s death. When David was a teenager (probably 16) he took 5 stones and went out to kill Goliath and his four brothers if they dared take him on. He killed a giant that was at least 9 foot and 6 inches tall. Around his death bed when David was 70 it is recorded that he was surrounded by the men that spent a lot of time with David and they were all giant killers also. Now none of them were old enough to have seen David kill his giant Goliath but they caught something of David s character and became known as giant killers as well. King Saul also as he died was surrounded by his mighty warriors and it is said of them that none of them were giant killers. Saul had been terrified of Goliath and his men were just like him. Somehow who you are is transferred to those close to you. There is a testimony I heard of a dad who believed in Jesus but liked to drink alcohol on occasion to excess. Once this particular family had enjoyed a great meal and the dad felt the real need for some quality wine. So as it was snowing outside and the bottle store was only three blocks away, dad put on his coat and started walking through the snow. Halfway there he felt that someone was following him. He turned and sure enough his 4 year old son, had put on his coat and was carefully putting his feet in the same places in the snow that dad had trod. He was following dad. Son what are you up to? What are you doing? said the father. Dad, said the little boy. I just want to be like you and walk in your shoes. That day, this dad says in his testimony he realized he didn t want his son to do what he did and he stopped drinking permanently. Whether you are a teenager looking forward to marriage one day, a parent, a grandparent; realize today that your kids are going to follow in your footsteps. Make the choice to be like Joshua today, As for ME and my household, we will serve the Lord. 5
Family, teen, parent, grandparent; how you choose to live today is going to impact your family tomorrow. Who you choose to be today will impact them for good or evil into the future. Make a choice. Make a declaration. Have faith with an expectation that God is going to save your family but realize it starts with you today. When you understand that the book of Joshua is a prophetic picture of our Jeshua, Jesus this statement by Joshua also becomes: 4. A CELEBRATION Our Joshua was once told that his mother and brothers wanted Him. Jesus then said; Who are my mother and my brothers. Surely it is those people who hear the Word of God and obey. We are in Je-shua, Jesus family. And He declares of us who sometimes struggle and fall As for Me and my household, we will serve the Lord. Jesus is setting for you and me a perfect, faithful example. He transfers His character to us as we spend time with Him. He is our Joshua and we are His family and He will always be totally good and faithful to each one of us. Will you make a stand for your family today and make this declaration, express your expectation of faith and realization of who you need to be for your family? 6