Make The Choice!
Scriptures: Joshua 24:14-15; Judges 2:1-13
Last week for the final message of 2018, Bro. Jarell shared with us a message about transitional faith. He talked about how we go through transitions throughout our lives and how our faith equips and enables us to transition through each phase of the transition. Also during his message he played a song titled “Cycles.” In the lyrics of that song a statement was made that really caught my attention. The statement was, “The devil learns from our mistakes, even if we don’t.” I want you to think about the truth of that statement. If we do not learn from our mistakes, we will continue to make the same choices and repeat the same mistakes over and over again while never transitioning to the next phase of what God has prepared for us. The title of this New Year’s message is “Make the Choice!”
One of the things that we love about America is our ability to freely make choices, even bad ones. If we disagree with something we have the choice to not support it. Our Constitution says that we are all equal and have the right to pursue our happiness. The right to pursue happiness is a choice. If you wake up in the morning and decide not to eat breakfast – it’s a choice. When you chose what clothes you will wear on any given day, it’s a choice. If you choose not to go to work because you want to take off and play a round of golf, it’s a choice, maybe not the smartest choice, but a choice none the less. My point is that every day we are free to make choices; we have the right and the freedom to choose what we want to do. Even though we have laws in place to govern our actions, if we choose to break them, it is our choice. Imagine for a moment what our lives would be like without the freedom to make choices - it would not be a great life having everything dictated to you. Now with all of this freedom, the expressions of self that permeates everything that we do can sometimes place us in bondage to the world around us. We start to live and express ourselves based on the “image” that we want to present to others versus what is truly on the inside of us. When this happens we lose a little of ourselves and we make a choice to be something we are not. In 2019 I hope that we all choose to be who we are in Christ!
As all of you know we are in a transition as a Church. Some of you are also personally making transitions within your life. As we make those transitions, I want you to focus on the choices that have been made that led up to the transition you’re experiencing personally and together with the Church. I also want you to think about the choices that must be made to get through the transitions. As a Church, regardless of the choices leading up to our current transition, there is only one choice that I want us to make as we go through it. That choice is to actively listen to what God is telling us and act on it. Not do it half-heartedly, but to do it completely. I want each of us to take our individual gifts and talents and begin to fully utilize them within the ministry as God leads. During the last three months we have witnessed this as we watched people step up to fulfill needs. We have witnessed growth in how our youth have expressed worship. This is just the beginning. Now is the time that we must choose to be all in – no more standing on the sideline waiting to see what happens. Each of us have something to bring (our spiritual gifts and talents) before the Lord as part of our service to Him and I am asking you to make the choice to bring it – not on special occasions, on every occasion!
Let me give you a personal example of what I mean. Last year during the Christmas season one of the popular items sold for men was the Turkey fryers. Many stores were running specials on them because they understood that “real men” need turkey fryers! Well I do not fry turkeys, but I do love to fry fish (being from the south and all) and I had to have one of these bigger fryers which would cut down on how much time it took to fry fish versus in my small Fry Daddy. So I went out and purchased the large fryer. I was excited and couldn’t wait to test it out at the next gathering at my home. Well, a week later, Bro. Willis told me that they had the extra-large fryers on sale for a price similar to what I paid for my large fryer. Now in my mind, if I could cook more in less time with the large fryer, imagine how much more and faster I could cook with the extra-large fryer. After making a trade with Jarell, I got the extra-large fryer which is big enough to cook a whole lot of fish at one time. Now I want you to listen to me closely on this next part. I have two perfectly good fryers that I have used for years. But the thought of having an extra-large fryer to save me time was too good a deal to pass up. In the twelve months that I have had that extra-large fryer I have not used it once – not once! It’s still in the box unopened. Why? Because in reality I have not had a need for it yet since we have not had any large gatherings for a fish fry at my house. I am still waiting for that special occasion.
Some of you have gifts and talents that you are waiting for that special occasion to bring forth I want you to know that the special occasion has arrived. If you are waiting for that large gathering to fully commit and utilize your gifts the time has arrived. God has given us gifts and talents but sometimes we are comfortable continuing to allow the gifts of others to be used because their gifts seems to be more prominent that yours. That is not the case. We are at a point where we need everyone to give it all. We need everyone to start stretching yourself. This is the first Sunday of 2019 and I am asking everyone to stretch. Although you might be doing well with what you’re doing, I am asking that we take your other gifts off the shelves. Make the choice today to go all in. Take everything that God has placed within you and utilize it for Him.
I want to share a very familiar story with you from the book of Joshua. When Joshua was giving his farewell address as he was preparing to die, he knew the people would go through a traumatic transition so he reminded the Children of Israel of everything they had done since they left Egypt. He knew of their potential to turn from the Lord to follow their own wicked ways. He had witnessed their rebellion on many occasions and he was concerned. As he prepared to make his last transition, he called the people to Him and made this statement: “Now therefore fear the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River, and in Egypt; and serve you the LORD. And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom you will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of 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.” (Joshua 24:14-15)
Joshua asked the people to make a choice as to who they would serve – it was up to them. But even on his deathbed, he proclaimed that he and his house would continue to serve the Lord. How could he make such a statement on his deathbed about what his house would do after he died? Joshua had taught his family about what God had done for him; how he was one of two who lived to see the Promised Land after the Children of Israel’s disobedience. It is clear that his family had a faith in God that would not be shaken; so clear was their faith that Joshua felt that he could say with confidence that they would continue to serve the Lord. He could say that about his family because they had made a choice. He could not say that about the others so this is why he was making the request of them. Sometimes our faith gets weak and we are not able to serve God as we would, but Joshua was saying that he had come too far to turn back and on his death bed he wanted them to know that he and his house was still choosing to serve the Lord. I ask you as Joshua asked them – “Who will you choose to serve in 2019?” It really is your choice!
All through the Bible we see examples of where choices had to be made. Sometimes the choices were easy, sometimes they were not. In each situation the course of events changed once a choice was made. Everyday our future is written based on the choices that we make; every choice has a consequence. When Jesus chose His twelve disciples, He understood what motion had been set into action with Judas. When the disciples made the choice to follow Him, they came to understand what following Jesus would mean, for their ministry and even for their lives. We have accepted Christ and we are saved but the time has come for us to experience Him so that we can help others find Him. To do this we must follow God’s plan for us as He lays it out. This is a new day for New Light as a Church and for each of you as individuals.
After Joshua made his proclamation, all the people answered that they would serve the Lord and they did (for that generation.) Judges 2:6-7 says, “And when Joshua had let the people go, the children of Israel went every man unto his inheritance to possess the land." And the people served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the LORD, that He did for Israel.” The elders of the generation that had witnessed what had happened when God brought them out of Egypt remained faithful as did the people. This is important because if you recall when the Children of Israel rebelled and refused to enter the Promised Land, God told Moses and Aaron that every adult twenty years of age and older would die in the wilderness and not be allowed to enter the Promised Land (Numbers 14:29). The Children of Israel wandered in the wilderness for 40 years and during that time all of the adults twenty and over died with the exception of Joshua and Caleb. So when Joshua called the people to him, most of these adults (especially the elders) knew the story because either they or their parents had been in the wilderness and knew of their family members who had died there. They understood the penalty for rebelling against God. But that is not the end of the story. That generation served God for the duration of the lives of the elders who had outlived Joshua but once those elders (who had witnessed what God had done in Egypt) had died things changed. The people stopped serving God faithfully. But I want you to see how this came about because in this story there is a lesson for us.
At the opening of the book of Judges we see that the individual tribes set out to start possessing the lands that God had promised them. As they did battle with the inhabitants of the land, God had directed them to remove all of the inhabitants of the land that He had given them. He did not want them to share the land and thus be swayed to serve the pagan gods of the land’s inhabitants. As you read chapter one, you find that each tribe did battle with the inhabitants of their land but they failed to drive them out of the land. Now look at what happened because of this. Turn to Judges Chapter two. “And the angel of the LORD came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said, I made you to go up out of Egypt, and have brought you unto the land which I swore unto your fathers; and I said, I will never break my covenant with you. And you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall throw down their altars: but you have not obeyed my voice: why have you done this? Therefore I also said, I will not drive them out from before you; but they shall be as thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare unto you. And it came to pass, when the angel of the LORD spoke these words unto all the children of Israel, that the people lifted up their voices, and wept.” (Judges 2:1-4)
The Children of Israel failed to drive out the inhabitants of the land as the Lord had directed. So God sent an angel to them to reveal to them the consequences of their actions. God was faithful and told them that although they had not followed through on what they were supposed to do, He would not break His covenant with them. That being said, He also told them because they did not drive the people out as He had directed, the people would be thorns in their sides and their gods would be a snare unto them. When the people realized their mistake, they cried before the Lord. This was the first generation that served God as long as the elders were alive and knew Joshua and had made the commitment to him. But what I want you to see is what happened with the next generation. Judges 2:10-13 says, “And also all that generation were gathered unto their fathers: and there arose another generation after them, who knew not the LORD, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel. And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and served Baalim: And they forsook the LORD God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods, the gods of the people that were round about them, and bowed themselves unto them, and provoked the LORD to anger. And they forsook the LORD, and served Baal and Ashtaroth.” When the generation that knew Joshua died off and the next generation came along, they did not know the Lord as the first generation did nor did they know all of the things God had done for them. This was a drastic failure on the parts of the first generation of the families as they did not leave a legacy of worship to God for the second generation. They did not repeat and share all of the stories of the things God had done for them so that future generations would have this knowledge and choose to serve God. The next generation, one generation from Joshua, did not know the Lord and therefore began to worship false gods, those same gods that the inhabitants of the land who were supposed to be pushed out initially served. So we see that the failure of the first generation carried over into subsequent generations which caused a separation between them and the Lord. This failure plagued the Children of Israel for many, many years.
As I said at the beginning, we are in a transition. We must get this right. I told you that the devil learns from our mistakes even when we don’t. We cannot remain as we were and we cannot focus on what has been lost. We cannot focus on who will and who won’t, we must focus only on doing the will of God. So I am asking you to make a choice. I am asking you to choose to lay it all on the line. I am asking you to do something different this year versus previous years. I do not have all of the answers and I believe that some of the things we need to accomplish will come through what God is revealing through each of you. Let’s make this transition together and see what God has for us. This year will be unlike any year we have witnessed as a Church, but we have to make the choice for it to be.
As we read in the Scripture today, Joshua urged the people to choose the Lord. The first generation did, but they did not follow through on everything God told them to do. This opened the door for the second generation to turn their backs on God. The first generation could not see what their actions would ultimately lead to. All they could see was that they were taking their inheritance and also being considerate of the inhabitants whom they were supposed to remove from the land. They knew what God told them to do, but they half did it. By not fulfilling what God had told them it opened the door for the second generation to sin. The second generation did not know what they needed to know in order to be strong in their faith and not fall for a lie and served false gods. What I want you to consider is what happens to our next generation if we do not get this right? How many lives will be lost in the future if we do not get the job done? We cannot see past today, but God is already in our tomorrows. He knows what needs to be done in order for us to maximize our service to Him. We need to prayerfully listen, hear and follow though. I am asking you to choose to be all in not only for 2019, but for the duration of your time here on earth. Not all in to New Light, all in for Christ. If we are all in for Christ individually, what God needs to happen in this Church will happen because we are all in to Him.
Happy New Year and may God bless and keep you.
Until next time, “The Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift up His countenance on you and give you peace.” (Numbers 6:24-26)
(If you are ever in the Kansas City, KS area, please come and worship with us at New Light Christian Fellowship, 15 N. 14th Street, Kansas City, KS 66102. Our service Sunday worship starts at 9 a.m. and Thursday night Bible study at 7 p.m. We look forward to you worshipping with us. May God bless and keep you.)
