The Time Is Now

Introduction

I appre very much appreciate Cody and his song leading always, and especially this morning, jumping to the occasion, filling in in a way that he can quite adequately adequately do. Thankful for Cody, thankful for his family, thankful for many families that are here this morning. And all of us who come to worship God should be commended for recognizing that God alone offers light. God alone models and offers love, the very love that we must show in our lives. If you’ll open in your old testaments with me to Joshua chapter 24. In Joshua chapter 24, I I actually want to focus this morning, if you can imagine, on taking advantage of the opportunities, taking what you can do today, and starting to do it now. Sound like someone we know.

That’s Joshua and Cody. But in Joshua chapter 24, in Joshua chapter 24, beginning in verse 1, as you have Joshua as the leader of the people, certainly he has well now into his reign, or you might say leadership over the Israelites. He has taken that mantle from Moses. They have conquered through the promised land, and in Joshua chapter 24, there’s a recounting of what God has done for the people, and it is enormous. There’s a recounting of what God has done for the people, and it is spectacular. It is powerful, it is moving. In verse 1, 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 fathers lived beyond the Euphrates, Terah, the father of Abraham and of Nahor, and they served other gods. Then I took your father Abraham from beyond the river and led him through all the land of Canaan and made his offspring many. I gave him Isaac. And to Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. And I gave Esau the hill country of Sire to possess. But Jacob and his children went down to Egypt. And I sent Moses and Aaron, and I plagued Egypt with what I did in the midst of it. And afterward I brought you out of it. Then I brought your fathers out of Egypt, and you came to the sea. And the Egyptians pursued your fathers with chariots and horsemen to the Red Sea.

And when they cried to the Lord, he put darkness between you and the Egyptians, and made the sea come upon them and cover them, and your eyes saw what I did in Egypt, and you lived in the wilderness a long time. Then I brought you to the land of the Amorites, who lived on the other side of the Jordan. They fought with you, and I gave them into your hand, and you took possession of their land, and I destroyed them before you. Then Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, arose and fought against Israel. And he sent and invited Balaam, the son of Baor, to curse you, but I would not listen to Balaam, and indeed he blessed you, so I delivered you out of his hand.

And you went over the Jordan and came to Jericho, and the leaders of Jericho fought against you, and also the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Gergashites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. And I gave them into your hand. And I sent the hornet before you, which drove them out before you, the two kings of the Amorites. It was not by your sword or by your bow. I gave you a land on which you had not labored, and cities that you had not built, and you dwell in them. You eat the fruit of vineyards and all of orchards that you did not plant. And of course, verse 14 and 15 are the part of Joshua, and really the part of Joshua chapter 24 that we’re most familiar with.

1. The Time to Worship God Has Always Been Now

In verse 14, Now therefore, fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your father served beyond the river and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day, whom you will serve. Whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond 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. A powerful point is to be made, especially from verses 12 and 13. But before we look at that this morning, let’s think about the fact that the time to worship God has always been now. In fact, the time to worship God was yesterday.

The time to worship God was the first time that we had the ability to choose between right and wrong. To recognize that without God there is no salvation, there is no blessing, there is no hope. And whatever we’re enjoying in this life is absolutely from God, from his created voice. But as we think about verse 12, we need to recognize that we didn’t accomplish anything. Yes, it was the Israelites who fought through the land of Canaan. They physically, in many cases, would bring their army through and defeat the armies of the Canaanite people. But in verse 12, note what God tells them clearly.

And again in verse 13, I gave you a land on which you had not labored and cities that you had not built, and you dwell in them. God is telling the people, I have done everything for you, all this conquest, going back even to my promise to Abraham, that it went through the seed of Isaac. It went through Jacob. And yes, even Esau had a hand in receiving promises and blessings from God. And all this time I have been your God. And you have to choose to put away the other gods and choose to serve me today. You need to do so as verse 14 says, in sincerity and faithfulness. But I want us to think this morning, as people who recognize who God is, just like the Israelites would have known, would have seen firsthand these very victories that God is outlining in chapter 24 in this speech delivered through Joshua.

We recognize how great God is. Amen. We know that. We believe that. We say God is love. We recognize that God puts forth the example and the epitome of what love is, not only in loving us and creating us, but in sending Jesus, who was the absolute epitome of love, who gave himself sacrificially so that we might live. The time to obey God, to submit to the will of Jesus the Christ, our King, is today. And we know that. It really doesn’t have to be said. You don’t need the preacher, you don’t need the Bible class teacher to say, hey, everybody who came to a worship service of God, who came to remember the sacrifice of Jesus, hey, do what he says. Do what Jesus says.

But the truth is, even though we don’t need to know that part of it, oftentimes, if we’re honest, if I’m being honest, I need somebody to point out to me, not only that I need to keep on the narrow way, but I need to know how I can serve. What are God’s expectations? We know God expects love from his people, love for the brethren, love for the whole world. We know that God expects us to be forgiving, to be evangelistic, to be burden bearers. We’ve talked about all these different lessons. Anything you look at in the Bible, yes, is an expectation of God for his people. But what I want us to focus on this morning is what Joshua said, of course, in verse 14 and 15, recognizing first and foremost that when you look at the first 13 verses, this is not some sort of version of the Bible to be skipped over.

This is an itemization to some extent of what God had done for his people, and it is immaculate. It went all the way back in verse 2, even to Tarah and to Abraham. In your Bibles, that’s Genesis 12 when you think of the promises that went to Abram or Abraham. And of course, by the time we come to Joshua chapter 24, not only in Genesis 12 were there no people, but then there was the people who were in bondage in Egypt for about 400 years. And then they were released through miracles, through the ten plagues that were cast on Egypt, and the parting of the Red Sea that then fell on all the Egyptian soldiers who, the Bible records, the Israelites turned around and saw the destruction.

They saw the death that was caused by the waters of the Red Sea closing on the Egyptians, chasing in after them. This is the very God who led his people, yes, even to the verge of entering the land of Canaan, and the spies went out and came back with a bad report, and they had to wander in the wilderness, and yet all this time God is providing them with the very food they need to live. This people, whether you take out the people who were living in the Exodus of Egypt, or the people wandering in the wilderness, or in particular the people who were with Joshua for all of these great conquests, as it are noted in verse 11, the victories over the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Gergishites, the Hibites, and the Jebusites, they should know what the end of that verse says.

And I gave them into your hand. That’s what God has done for his people. That’s what God has done for us. He has given us victory. Our victory is over a greater adversary. Our victory is over sin. But we have to choose to trust in God to accept and excel in that victory that he’s offered. Consider what Joshua says in verse 14. They had a choice to make. Now, therefore, fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and faithfulness. This would be something that’s not marked as verse 14 continues by worshiping God and then some of these other gods on the side. Now, as verse 15 mentions, some of the gods of your fathers, some of the gods of the Amorites, and also, yes, this Jehovah who delivered you and did all these great many miracles for you.

Sometimes I think we have to decide that if we’re going to worship God today, if we’re going to start now, we need to realize there can be no two masters. In Matthew chapter 6 and verse 24, what does Jesus say about that? No one can serve two masters. You either hate the one and love the other, or love the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. As we think about our life, we have to make sure we are unencumbered by anything but serving God. The only cross to bear is the one that Jesus did over about 2,000 years ago. And we need to pick up our cross and daily follow after him. That is our lot in life, to follow God faithfully.

And that’s going to be hard. If we’re going to serve in sincerity and faithfulness, that will be difficult. In verse 15, note Joshua’s choice. Yes, it extends a little bit beyond Joshua. But as you think about verse 15 and the last part of that in particular, but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. If you note at the beginning of verse 15, though, it’s noted that if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve. Joshua is saying, this day, not that I haven’t in the past, but this day moving forward, I have made the choice that you should make to serve God faithfully and in all sincerity this day. And this is the crux of the lesson this morning.

2. The Time to Serve Is Now

That if we are going to recognize who God is, say that God is love, say that God is forgiving, say that God is merciful, then we need to recognize that God needs to be worshipped, praised, and submitted to this morning on. It can’t be something we push off into the future. It can’t be something that we push on to somebody else. And it can’t be something that we look around and we say, you know what? Something’s got to be done about that. We’ve talked before about the three words Christians should not have in the vocabulary. Someone, something, someday. We need to start serving God faithfully for myself. I need to serve doing something particular that God has ordained, generally speaking, that is an act of love.

And we need to start that now. Certainly we can sense the urgency in worshiping an Almighty God, especially when you couple it with passages like 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 and verse 2 when we know that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night, as if we needed extra motivation to serve our great God who has given us everything. We need to recognize the time to serve is now, and it does start absolutely with me. Look with me in Philippians chapter 1. In Philippians chapter 1, note Paul’s attitude. Of course, verse 21 is the most familiar part of this. Philippians chapter 1 and verse 21. For me to live is Christ and to die is gained. That’s a powerful contrast built there.

For me to live is Christ, to do what he says, to die is gained, because I can be with that God who has given me the victory over sin. But it continues in verse 22. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet, which I shall choose, I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ. For that is far better. Thinking about Joshua and his message to the people in Joshua chapter 24, he was saying, you can choose to reject God, the God who has done everything for you. And we think that we don’t necessarily go for those idols. We don’t worship certainly the gods of the Amorites per se, at least not any of the physical forms.

But I do wonder if we have the attitude that Paul did in verse 23, the attitude that would be in every Christian who understands what God has done for us. In verse 23, when Paul says, I am hard pressed between the two, my desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. I think a lot of us this morning would say, absolutely, I want to be with Jesus. Absolutely, I want to be in heaven. I want to be in the presence of God. But I wonder how many of us think and pray actively that the day of the Lord come. Perhaps we’re too caught up with the enjoyments of this life. Yes, we’re doing things for God, and to some extent we fulfill verse 22 that while we’re living, that would mean fruitful labor for me.

But if I need to check, if I need to do a test to see, am I putting God first and God only? One of the first questions would be, would I be willing to end this life now to be with him? And if that answer is yes, that’s good. The second question is, what am I doing about that? Do I think about that? Do I think about moving on towards heaven? Do I think about serving God today? Recognizing that I must do it, I must pick up this load and bear it. Verse 21, Paul said, For me to live is Christ. Yes, the gain and death is everything for the Christian. But while we are here, we have to recognize that service starts with me. I can’t look around for someone else and expect them to do it in Luke chapter 10.

3. The Samaritan Had Compassion and Went to Him

Turn with me there to Luke chapter 10, the well known story of the Good Samaritan. In Luke chapter 10, consider how this story would go if we inserted the word someone here. In Luke chapter 10, beginning in verse twenty-five, of course, the lawyer stands up testing Jesus, saying, What shall I do to inherit eternal life? Jesus said to him, What is written in the law? How do you read it? You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself. And he said to him, You have answered correctly, do this, and you will live. But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, And who is my neighbor?

Jesus said, A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan as he journeyed came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set on him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. And the next day he took out two Denari and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.

Which of these three do you think? Proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers. He said, The one who showed him mercy. And Jesus said to him, You go and do likewise. Of course, we see this man beaten and left for dead in verse 30, and in verse 31, you note that it’s a priest who goes by, and when he saw him, pass by on the other side. Essentially, that this priest has two options in this tree of why he would pass by. Either he thought somebody else would come along and do it. Or he just didn’t care enough. Verse 32, the same would go for the Levite when he came to the place and saw him pass by on the other side.

There is a willful rejection of our duty towards one another. But in verse 33, note the difference in the Samaritan. There’s two things that are very important. We think about the Samaritan showing him mercy, but there’s two steps that started right from the bat that I need to apply today in my service to God. In verse 33, note it with me. But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. Note that that compassion comes before verse 34. The second critical component here that he went to him. When the Levi, the priest saw him, what did they do? They certainly did not show compassion, whether they felt that they were compassionate or not doesn’t apply. They didn’t show compassion in this case.

But in verse 34, what did the Samaritan do? He went to him and he took care of his wounds. He took care of this man whom he first had compassion on. I think it’s easy to think about a lesson that just screams over and over, do what God says, trust in God, do what God says. But we need to recognize that while, yes, the lawyer standing up and testing Jesus in verse 25 and 26 on this facet of the old law to understand what was the old law hinging on. We need to recognize that Jesus’ answer certainly applies to us today. What does it mean to serve after God? As the lawyer says in verse 27, I can’t disagree. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.

I think one of the easiest things to do in Christianity, certainly within America, is to look around and say, I need to be doing better, but you know what? It’s okay. I need to do this, but you know what? Someone else will take care of the problem. That’s what we have preachers for. We have elders, deacons, that’s what we have seasoned Christians for. They will take care of it. I’m not needed, I’m not necessary. But what does God say about that? God says, Christians love God first, and as an extension of that love for God and understanding that He created us all in His image, we must serve faithfully, having compassion and love for our neighbor. And of course, we can’t address the Good Samaritan story without recognizing who would the Samaritan be to the Jews.

The Levite and the priest would be your number one and one A answers of who’s going to help this man who’s beaten and left for dead. The dreaded, hated Samaritan is the one who helped. Jesus illustrates for us in a masterful parable how and who we are to help. That is to say, we are to help everyone who we see having a need, and to help them to the best of our ability. When you look at 1 John chapter 3, you consider again the two steps that the Samaritan followed are there in 1 John chapter 3. This time with respect to our brothers. But when we consider 1 John chapter 3, note what John says about love. In 1 John chapter 3 and verse 16, by this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.

But if anyone has this world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk, but in deed and in truth. Verse 18 is the one that messes me up. How about you? In verse 18, again, little children, let us not love in word or talk, but in deed and in truth. Was that not the difference between the Levite and the priest and the Samaritan? Certainly the Levite and the priest knew the law. They knew the very law that the lawyer was testing Jesus with and had given a positive answer to. They knew that they needed to have compassion. They knew that they needed to help their brethren.

And yet what we see in verse 18 is the danger. That we love knowing God has loved us first. And we do so in word. We do so in talk, that our deeds are lacking. And all of a sudden it makes the idea of serving God today a lot stronger. If you note the middle verse there of the section we read in verse 17, if anyone has this world’s good and sees his brother in need, again, that is linked, I think, to Luke chapter 10 strongly, that’s good Samaritan, the priest, and the Levite all saw the man left for dead. And two of them did nothing about it. I wonder how many half-beaten left for dead men, whether physically, mentally, or otherwise, I have left by the side of the road for whatever the reason.

We have to consider that when we look around, we are responsible not only for what we have as stewards of God, that’s the first part of verse 16, but in the middle that we see our brother in need to show love. It means to look out and to serve faithfully today. This job is not just for one type of high class person. It wasn’t just for the Levites and the priests. Even Samaritan was willing and able to help as he had need. But it doesn’t just mean that it’s only if I happen to come across it on I-4 or across it on Colonial or Cymaron. We need to be looking. We need to recognize that the time to serve is now, and it starts with me.

4. I Need to Start Looking: How Can I Serve?

I need to start looking. How can I serve? The best way to do that is to consider what am I good at? What am I capable of? That’s what makes Cody, what Cody did today such an apt example. He’s an excellent song leader. And he was willing and able to fill a need because it was there. What can I do? And am I looking for how to apply that? Or am I waiting for the opportunity to serve God to fall into my lap? Joshua told the people, choose this day. And Joshua said, as for me and for my house, we will serve the Lord. If we’re going to serve in sincerity and faithfulness, we need to recognize it starts with me, and that means I have to start myself looking for opportunities to serve.

And that means I have to do something. And that something is to serve God, as verse 14 of Joshua 24 said, to serve with sincerity and to serve with faithfulness. In Philippians chapter 3, note Paul’s abandon of anything that stood between him and God. In Philippians chapter 3 now. In Philippians chapter 3, beginning in verse 7, Paul says, But whatever gain I had, I counted as lost for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as lost because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ.

The righteousness from God that depends on faith, that I may know him in the power of his resurrection and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. Paul understood what it means to serve God. It means as verse 7 says, to whatever gain we think we have, whatever standing between us in service to God, count it as rubbish. Count it as loss. Indeed, verse 8, I count everything as lost. Why? Because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord. Again, we know this. We know that the time to serve is now. We know it needs to be me doing it. But sometimes the hang up is I’m looking for opportunities to serve.

I think I can do a couple things, and I can’t find it. And so it’s hard. We think there’s just nothing that I can do. I just can’t find some way to serve. But if I’m going to serve God with sincerity and faithfulness, I’m going to have the same abandon that Paul had, which is to say, I will abandon everything that stands in my way of service. That means when I can’t find a place to serve, I don’t just sit back and fill my time with things of this world and then get distracted by them and not start serving as I should. In John chapter 13, Jesus again speaking on the idea of loving our neighbor. In John chapter 13, consider verse 34 and 35 with me.

Turn your Bibles with me to John chapter 13, verse 34 and 35. See how strong, how clear this is. If you think that there’s nothing for us to do, then Jesus says you’re not looking hard enough. In John chapter 13 and verse 34, a new commandment I give to you that you love one another just as I have loved you. You are also to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another. Jesus not only says you have to love as I have loved you, an almost impossibly high bar of service and of love for our neighbor, but in verse 35, he says, By this people will know you are my disciples. If we’re hiding our light under a rock, people will not see God.

They will not glorify him, and our opportunity to witness for Jesus will be lost. And that’s besides the fact that I have a role to play in God’s kingdom that I will answer for how I am serving. And so when you think that I need to start serving God today, realizing I must act, and I’m looking for something to do, I need to recognize if I don’t see something readily available, who should I start looking for immediately? My neighbor. The blessing, and you might say one of the downsides in one sense of it is in a group of 200 people, like we’ll have in a couple, in about an hour and a half or so, Lord willing, is that somebody always needs something. That’s kind of a downside that somebody is always in need.

But you know what it really says to a Christian? It says, this is an opportunity for me to serve. This is an opportunity for me to show love, to show compassion, to take care of what someone’s needs are, that I have it within me to help. It means I’m going to be looking. I’m going to be actively serving. And until I find something else to do, I will serve God and I will serve others with all of my mind. There will almost never be an opportunity in a group of even five people or more that somebody doesn’t need something. And we know that. Because we’ve been there. Just about every one of us this morning can probably think of a time that somebody, some Christian, some co-worker, some neighbor or friend, did something for you in a tough hour.

Whether it was in the time of a job loss or in the time of a familial loss. You recognize that people’s love can change a day. It can change an outlook and mean the world. If we recognize in our human form how simple and profound that just someone reaching out their hand in love and fellowship in that sense can be. Then how much more do you think loving as Jesus loved us will compel us to service to God? We’ll recognize that there is something that we can do. And that means that, yes, while I recognize I need to start serving today, I have to have compassion. I have to be looking out, that I need to be willing today to come up with an idea of how I can show love.

5. We Must Submit Now

This morning, are you stumped on how you can show love? How about making sure you meet somebody new this morning? There’s at least one visitor among us this morning. There will probably be more as we go. Meet somebody new. Make a meaningful connection. I appreciated Jared’s prayer very much. That we be like the first century church, having love, having true fellowship, that is a bond in Christ. Together we can serve, and together we can obey our God to stay. Consider one final point with me this morning. We must submit now. In Luke chapter 9. Consider with me the Bible reading from this morning. Luke chapter 9, beginning in verse 57. As they were going along the road, someone said to him, I will follow you wherever you go.

And Jesus said to him, Foxes have holes and birds of the air of nest, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head. To another he said, Follow me. But he said, Lord, let me first go and bury my father. And Jesus said to him, Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God. Yet another said, I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home. And Jesus said to him, No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God. We need to submit to God today. It needs to start now, it needs to start with me. Wayne Gretzky is often accredited with saying you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.

Conclusion

I suppose there’s a semantic argument to say you didn’t miss it if you didn’t try. But in God’s service, we are responsible for what we do and what we do not in his service, in his role. When you go back to Luke chapter 10 and you think about the priests and the Levites, they saw an opportunity and they didn’t take it. Am I like the priest and the Levite in Luke chapter 10? Or am I like the Samaritan who looks, who has compassion, and acts when the moment is there. I wonder, as we conclude this morning, that if I recognize it’s time to serve God today, I want us to know that that means it’s time to love others today. It means I will have compassion that compels me to evangelize, to invite to this church to worship God, to invite to private Bible studies, to invite recognizing that we have a special unique opportunity in just a few weeks in our gospel meeting the second week of September.

I need to recognize that compassion and love for others will motivate me to look out for how I can help the needs of the saints and the needs of the world at large, recognizing God left Christians with that unique charge to help one another and individually to help the world in their concerns and their cares and in their trials. I need to recognize that love today will change me. Love today will move me, and love today will put me in the image of my God who first loved me. Will you go to God in prayer with me? Our dear God and most gracious and loving Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for your love, for showing yourself time and again in the Old Testament, the New Testament, and throughout our world.

We see your hand. We see you creating the world. We see you ruling in kingdoms of men, and we see the many miracles, wonders, and signs that you have done. But most of all, we see your love. We see it in the form of Jesus dying on the cross for our sins. We see it in our existence, our health, our answered prayers. We thank you, and we pray that we serve you humbly. Please forgive us of sins of when we transgress your law, of when we don’t submit to you, when we don’t love as we should, when we don’t serve today, when we don’t do what we can, when we close our eyes instead of reaching out. Thank you for your blessings. Thank you for your wonderful example.

Please forgive us. Please have mercy and grace on us. Help us to likewise show mercy, grace, and love to others. Help our worship today to be pleasing to you, to be fulfilling of John chapter 4, when we worship in spirit and in truth. We pray all these things in Jesus the Christ’s name. Amen.