Choice / No Choice

Joshua 24:1-2a, 14-18

Then Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, and summoned the elders, the heads, the judges, and the officers of Israel; and they presented themselves before God.

And Joshua said to all the people, "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Long ago your ancestors--Terah and his sons Abraham and Nahor--lived beyond the Euphrates and served other gods.

"Now therefore revere the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness; put away the gods that your ancestors served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD.

Now if you are unwilling to serve the LORD, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served in the region beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD."

Then the people answered, "Far be it from us that we should forsake the LORD to serve other gods; for it is the LORD our God who brought us and our ancestors up from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, and who did those great signs in our sight. He protected us along all the way that we went, and among all the peoples through whom we passed; and the LORD drove out before us all the peoples, the Amorites who lived in the land. Therefore we also will serve the LORD, for he is our God."

  

Ephesians 6:10-20

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power.

Put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

Therefore take up the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to withstand on that evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.

Stand therefore, and fasten the belt of truth around your waist, and put on the breastplate of righteousness.

As shoes for your feet put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace.

With all of these, take the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one.

Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

Pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert and always persevere in supplication for all the saints.

Pray also for me, so that when I speak, a message may be given to me to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it boldly, as I must speak.

John 6:56-69

Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them.

Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me.

This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever."

He said these things while he was teaching in the synagogue at Capernaum.

When many of his disciples heard it, they said, "This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?"

But Jesus, being aware that his disciples were complaining about it, said to them, "Does this offend you?

Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?

It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.

But among you there are some who do not believe." For Jesus knew from the first who were the ones that did not believe, and who was the one that would betray him.

And he said, "For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted by the Father."

Because of this many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him.

So Jesus asked the twelve, "Do you also wish to go away?"

Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life.

We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God."

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So. Many. Choices!

We have so many choices these days.

My cousin came on Tuesday from Washington DC, and has been staying at my house this week as he took care of everything related to my Uncle Ray’s memorial service, wrapping up his personal matters, and getting things ready to move my Aunt Helene to live closer to him and his family. The day he was coming, I went to the store to buy a couple things to have in the house for his breakfast. He told me he likes Corn Flakes, Cheerios, stuff like that for breakfast cereal. When I got to the cereal aisle, of course, what did I find?

There is a crazy variety of Cheerios to choose from.

There is:

• Original Cheerios
• Honey Nut
• Multi Grain
• Ancient Grains
• Honey Nut Medley Crunch
• Protein Cinnamon Almond
• Protein Oats And Honey
• Frosted
• Apple Cinnamon
• Chocolate
• Multigrain Dark Chocolate Crunch
• Multigrain Peanut Butter
• Banana Nut
• Dulce De Leche
• And – Fruity Cheerios (which may or may not be Froot Loops with a new marketing strategy)

This is the world we live in, isn’t it?  15 choices of one cereal. and at least 50 or more different cereal makes and models on the shelf in that one aisle – not counting the varieties of each of those.

For the record, I brought home original cheerios.

This, of course, is a small choice, but even in the big choices, it seems that there is an almost infinite number of options.

• What career should I choose?
• What college, or even grade school should I choose?
• What partner should I choose?
• What car should I buy?
• What Presidential candidate should I choose?

An almost infinite number of choices, in these and so many other questions.

And just like the universe itself, it seems that the number of choices for just about everything is continually expanding. No wonder we often feel so confused about direction and good choices, in so many aspects of our lives. How do we know what is the right thing to do?

The book of Joshua is the book about the conquest of Canaan. It describes the fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob that their descendants would possess this land. Joshua took over from Moses to bring the Israelites across the Jordan.  

But one of the most well known and beloved verses in Joshua is not about the conquest itself; it’s about choice.

The reading we just heard is a portion of chapter 24, the last chapter of this book. It includes the first two verses, and then skips verses 3-13. The verses we heard contain the words of Joshua and his challenge to the people of Israel. The words we skipped were the Words of the Lord, the God of Israel, as spoken through Joshua. They begin with these words – “Thus says the Lord: long ago your ancestors served other gods.”

Then they tell the story of God working through Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses and Aaron. The story of all that God has done for them to bring them to this point.

And then Joshua puts before them a choice. Will you serve the other gods your ancestors served, back before the Lord God did all these mighty acts to save you? Or will you serve the Lord God?

He even clarifies the nature of this choice, in the verses that follow: The Lord is a jealous God. There will be no serving God and other gods. This is an either / or choice about serving. The choice is not a both/and; “all of the above” is not given as an option.

A commentary about this text explains that the word “zealous” may be more accurate here – that “God is not just jealous when Israel follows other gods, but God is also zealous about the quality and depth of the relationship with Israel. The God of Israel demands the people to be fully engaged with him and to reflect God’s purity in every aspect of life.”

What this tells us about the choice between God and other gods can be thought of in terms of the marriage relationship. There’s a movie out called “Train Wreck”, and there’s a scene near the beginning where a young father is trying to explain to his young daughters why he is moving out, why their mommy and daddy are getting a divorce. He points at his daughter’s doll that she is holding onto, and he says, “you love that doll, don’t you? Well, what if I told you that was the only doll you could ever play with; that you were never allowed to touch another doll or look at another doll or ask for another doll for Christmas? How would that feel to you? And he ends up getting his two little girls to say along with him, “monogamy is overrated. monogamy is overrated”….

What God seeks from us is what the dad described to his little girls – one God only; no other gods. But it’s about more than monogamy, so to speak. What would it be like if, at the end of each day, you turned to your spouse and said, “Well, dear, I have fulfilled my commitment to you for today; I have not committed adultery”.

Clearly the relationship calls for much more than that, and it is nurtured and renewed every day by multiple expressions of love, expressions than can never be fully defined in the marriage covenant, but are essential to the relationship. It’s the same with God – just staying away from other gods does not go as far as God seeks from us, relationally. We are called to multiple expressions and actions of love, in response to God’s great love for us.

So Joshua places the choice before them, and then claims what it is that he can claim – he cannot speak for any of them, they must choose for themselves – but “as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

Jesus and his disciples are having a similar discussion. He has placed before them a challenge that also speaks to God’s zealousness in pursuing us completely.  He says,  I am the bread of life. In order to abide in me, you must eat my flesh and drink my blood. You must take me in completely. The crowd, who has been following Jesus around since the miracle where he fed over five thousand people with five loaves and two fishes, has been hoping for more miracles producing more food. Now, having heard Jesus’ words and the disputing of his words by the Jewish authorities, many have had enough and have turned to go home.

Jesus says to his chosen, the twelve disciples – what is your choice? are you also offended? will you go away too?

And Simon Peter replies, “Lord, where else would we go? You have the words of eternal life.”

The disciples were chosen by Jesus, chosen by God. But they had a choice to make as well – whether to accept this gift of chosen-ness.

Presbyterians have somehow earned the label of “the frozen chosen”. It makes me cringe when I hear it – mostly because of the “frozen” part, implying we show no emotion or physical reflection of our rejoicing in worship. But the “chosen” part also seems to imply that we see ourselves as elitist, better than others by being a “select” group.

And, it is true that, as Calvinists, we do proclaim that we are adopted by God, chosen to be a beloved child of God. It is not in our control to be saved by the grace of God. That is entirely an act of God. Our only choice is whether to accept the gift, whether to live as adopted children, part of God’s family, God’s children. Along with all the others whom God has offered adoption. And the way we accept that gift, is through grace alone.

You see, Christ knocks on all our doors, and gives us each the grace to open it, whether early or late, whether opened large or small. This is a mystery, that we are chosen and that we choose to respond in a way that is not of our choosing. It is unique for each of us. We can't judge another's ways. We can’t understand who comes to God, and how, and when. We can only listen for our own door, and open it by God’s grace.

It’s not for us to know or to worry about whether God offers this to all people or not. God’s work among us is a mystery, and a person who shows no sign of Christian faith today may find God’s Spirit working on them tomorrow in an unexpectedly powerful way, to create faith and turn them toward Jesus Christ!

Whenever it comes, God’s call to us is a call to choose. It’s an either/or choice, but it is framed in a call that is mysteriously both/and. We are both chosen and we choose.

·      We are chosen, and we have the choice whether to accept it or not.

·      We have no choice whether we are saved or not. Only God can save us. We have no hope whatsoever of saving ourselves.

·      We have the choice whether to live as beloved children, chosen by God, or not.

·      We have the choice whether to serve God in our daily lives or not.

·      We have the choice whether to stay on the path of our own making, or to hand over the controls to God or not.

·      And our response to that choice is given to us by the grace of God, not of our own doing.

Seems beyond comprehension, doesn’t it? And that’s OK.

We are chosen, and we are called to choose. It’s a holy paradox, an infinite do loop, a mystery that is driven by the Holy Spirit working in us and in all people, in ways we cannot understand for ourselves, much less try to figure out with respect to God’s workings in others.

And it comes down to a very practical question: Do I believe in Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior? We can trust that if we are asking ourselves that question, then we are responding to the knock on that door, and we can sincerely answer yes, Lord, I believe, even as we pray in our very next breath, help my unbelief.  We can be assured that we are hearing Christ standing at the door and knocking, and that the action of cracking the door open is all it takes for Christ to enter in. And we take that action by the grace of God alone.

Jimmy Carter spoke this week about his cancer diagnosis and the road ahead, and many people have spoken and written about the grace with which he is handling this. What Jimmy knows, and what we all can cling to in all the moments of our life, is that this grace is truly the grace of God. It’s not our doing. God gifts this grace to us, and allows us to trust in it.

Trusting in the gracious mercy of God, do you turn from the ways of sin and renounce evil and its power in the world?

Do you turn to Jesus Christ and accept him as your Lord and Savior, trusting in his grace and love?

Will you be Christ’s faithful disciple, obeying his Word and showing his love?

These are the questions our new members respond to when they are received into the church. These are the questions our confirmation students will consider and discuss and ultimately choose how to answer, as we begin a Confirmation class this fall.

These are either / or questions, with a clear assumption that we are not capable of doing these on our own, and so we trust in God’s grace and mercy, to guide us and to forgive us.

Our Confirmation class will begin and end our study with the verse that comes straight out of this Joshua passage – choose this day whom you will serve… as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.

And when we accept our adoption in Christ, we receive new clothes. As Paul says, we put on the walking shoes that make us ready to proclaim the gospel of peace. Christ gives us those shoes, made especially for that reason.

Just like buckling our seatbelts, we wear the protection of the word of God.

We are not called to fight enemies of flesh and blood. Rather we take on all of Christ, becoming one with him, so that we can withstand temptation to turn to evil, and stand firm in the light of Christ.

All these protective garments – the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, the sword of the Spirit, are given to us by God to keep us safe as we follow Christ.

All the fruits of the Spirit – love, joy, peace, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, patience, and self-control, are given to us as food, along with the living bread and the cup of salvation, to be our nourishment and to give us strength to serve the Lord God.

And, thanks be to God, God knows we are incapable of carrying this out. Even as Joshua told the people, you can’t do this – you have proved that you are not able – they still pledged their allegiance to God and God only. Even as Jesus’ disciples heard the underlying message loud and clear – this is not an easy path – they pledged their allegiance to Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. And as the poem on the front of your bulletins this morning says, we will turn and return, over and over again, and God’s great mercy will continue to seek us out and to welcome us in, over and over again. And if that is not Good News, I don’t know what is!

We are called. We are chosen, chosen for service, for a life of service, lived out in our everyday striving faithfulness. We are given an either/or option – choose our birthright in God’s family, or choose to follow others, to let evil have the upper hand in our lives. How do you choose, how do we choose as a congregation, to respond, this day, and every day, to the gift being offered, the gift of New Life?