Sermon Tone Analysis

THE DUTY OF A FATHER     JOSHUA 24:14-15

 

 

            This morning, since it is Father’s Day, I want to examine a passage of Scripture that is probably familiar to all of us and if you are not familiar with this passage then you will be by the time this sermon ends.

So I ask you to turn in your Bibles to Joshua 24:14-15.

I can remember as a boy in my grandparents house that there was a plague hanging on the wall that quoted verse 15.

And some of you might have this Scripture in your house.

So I want to speak to you fathers who are here, this morning, father to father.

I hope to challenge you to man up and be the head of your house.

Now, I speak as a father in progress and not one who has it all together.

I am in the process just as you are in being the man of God that God desires me to be.

I realize that on Father’s Day dads get berated while on Mother’s Day moms get exalted.

So this morning my goal is not to beat up on fathers, but to encourage you from God’s word to be the best dad you can be for your children.

And if the Spirit convicts you in an area that you need to work on, then confess it and try your best to do better in the future.

Before we look at this passage, I want to give you a little background to Joshua’s instructions to the tribes of Israel.

Joshua was the leader of the people after Moses passed away.

He was given this post because of his great potential by Moses.

Remember, he was one of the twelve spies who went into Canaan and brought a report about the products and the people who lived there.

Ten of the spies thought it too risky to enter the Promised Land except Caleb and Joshua.

Because of their faith in the Lord they were allowed to enter the land.

Joshua was general of the Israelite’s army when they conquered the land of Canaan.

They had a remarkable run of victories with only two setbacks.

God through the leadership of Joshua and the people of Israel drove out the people of Canaan.

Now, Joshua at the age of 110 gives a farewell address to the children of Israel.

And in this speech, you notice Joshua’s concern for the welfare of Israel.

After a lengthy reminder of God’s grace and goodness to the people of Israel from the calling of Abraham in a pagan land to the deliverance of Israel from the bondage of Egypt to the conquest of the land on both sides of the Jordan River.

God gave them a land in which they did not labor and cities which they did not build, they ate fruit of the vineyards and olive orchards that they did not plant.

And with this stirring of affection for all that God had done for them; they should dedicate themselves to the Lord and him alone out of gratitude for God’s gracious deeds.

Joshua is not the only aged leader to issue such a farewell.

Samuel who was dedicated to the Lord by his mother and served in the house of the Lord all his life spoke to the people of Israel in the same fashion.

So Samuel prayed for Israel and reminded them to dedicate themselves to the Lord wholeheartedly.

People of God are there things in your life in which God has been gracious to you.

Many of you grew up in Christian homes, most of us have jobs provided for us by the Lord, and a majority of us have been saved by God’s grace along with our household.

So out of gratitude for what the Lord has done for us let us heed the instructions given here by this godly man.

Let our lives be dedicated to the Lord and may we dedicate our families to the Lord and his service.

If there is ever a day in which this message is relevant it is in our day.

There are many in the church and outside the church that need to heed this message because of the disturbing trends that are happening in our families.

Families are being redefined by the culture we live in by suggesting that marriage is no longer between a man and woman.

Even the President is making strong legislation that promotes homosexual unions.

Families are being split in half by divorce in which one out of every two marriages end in divorce.

Or there is the case of the pregnant woman and the father who has abdicated his responsibilities to the family he has created.

And even more alarming are the statistics about teenagers leaving the church.

According to researchers, it is estimated 88% of teens who profess Christianity walk away from the faith by the end of their freshman year in college.

Researcher George Barna discovered that 85% of born again teens do not believe in the existence of absolute truth.

Over 60% agreed with the statement, “Nothing can be known for sure except the things you experience in your own life.”

More than half of those surveyed believed that Jesus sinned during His earthly life.

In light of these trends, the only thing that will reverse these things is the Word of God.

This is why I want us to look at Joshua’s instructions carefully.

In these instructions given by Joshua to the people of Israel, I want you to notice two things Joshua did to help the people serve the Lord.

They are the power of exhortation and the power of example.

First, let us look at the power of exhortation.

THE POWER OF EXHORTATION – 14-15a

            These verses reflect the ancient vassal treaties in which the subjects of the king would hear all that he done for the people and they in turn will show exclusive loyalty to the king.

One particular treaty commanded, “Do not turn your eyes to anyone else!” Well, this is what is happening in these verses.

God had done great and mighty things for the people of Israel and Joshua charges the people in light of everything that the Lord did for you to show loyalty to him by turning to no one else.

So Joshua exhorted the people in a positive and negative way.

Let us look at the positive exhortation that Joshua gave them.

He instructs them to fear the Lord and serve the Lord in sincerity and faithfulness.

The idea behind fearing the Lord means to wave the white flag of surrender before his laws and submit your self to his commands.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Psalm 111:10), and the fear of the Lord keeps us from sinning (Exodus 20:20).

When we sin, we are treating the covenant Lord with contempt.

But Hebrews 10:31 warns those who would continue in sin, “It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God,” and Hebrews 12:29 says, “Our God is a consuming fire.”

The key to a holy life is to have a holy reverence for God, to whom we all must give an account.

Holy fear should lead us to submit to the Lord’s will and do it eagerly, just as a son who reveres his father will be eager to please him by doing the father’s will.

Next, Joshua instructs them to serve the Lord in sincerity and in faithfulness.

In other words, God’s people are to serve God without hypocrisy or the show of piety.

In this statement, Joshua knew that man is naturally bent to be a servant.

It is only a matter of who we are going to serve.

We can either serve God or Satan.

Men and women, I want to remind you that prior to becoming a Christian that the Bible says you are a servant of Satan and under the wrath of God.

Also, we were slaves to sin even though we may have considered ourselves free.

But Jesus came to deliver us from that bondage of slavery and so now we are servants of God.

Therefore, out of gratitude for all that God has done for us we ought to serve the Lord in sincerity and in faithfulness.

Embrace Him, Joshua is saying.

Come before God with a willingness and a desire and a longing to say to God, "Anything, anything, Lord, whatever You ask of me.

Whatever trial you ask me to bear, whatever road you ask me to traverse, whatever obstacle to overcome, whatever difficulty to embrace, whatever pain, whatever joy, anything, I want to serve You.

I want to be out and out for You."

Joshua is wise in his assessment of the human heart and tells the Israelites to carefully give themselves to the Lord without any reservations and to put away anything that might hinder God from being first place in your life.

Now this does not mean that there were idols in the camp of Israel at the time, but there could definitely be a hankering for it because of their past history.

Remember Abraham was called from a people who worshiped pagan deities before God called him to worship Him and Him alone.

While in Egypt they were surrounded by false gods and some of them offered sacrifices to demons.

Even after they left Egypt, while Moses was receiving the Ten Commandments the people had persuaded Aaron to make them a god.

And they wound up with a golden calf and said this is the god who delivered you from the slavery in Egypt.

After they had crossed over the Jordan into the land that they were now living there were people who had all kinds of gods in which they sacrificed almost anything to these gods.

So the temptation was there for the people to fall into idolatry and Joshua knew it.

And he said put away those hankerings, those inclinations to rebel against God in this way and give him your absolute loyalty.

We are to serve God exclusively.

First Kings 18 describes Elijah’s confrontation with the false god Baal: “Elijah went before the people and said, ‘How long will you waver between two opinions?

If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.’”

A Christian cannot serve both the true God and false gods.

It is not both~/and, but either~/or.

God demands exclusive covenant love and obedience from his people.

Jesus told us, “No one can serve two masters” (Matthew 6:24).

Suppose a husband or wife commits adultery.

Even unbelievers will display certain anger.

How much more will the infinite holy God be angry with those who try to serve him and false gods at the same time!

Folks, are there any idols in your lives that have taken precedent over the Lord?

Are there any inclinations you give more time and loyalty to than to God? Maybe it is the idol of materialism, or the idol of pleasure or the idol of work or the idol of family.

In other words, anything that we put before God is an idol and we must get rid of it.

So Joshua exhorts Israel to serve God and nothing else.

Next, Joshua gives them the    

 

THE POWER OF EXAMPLE – 15b