The Joshua Principle
Joshua 24:1-3a, 14-25
by Jim Westmoreland
From my years working in the banking industry and attending small business seminars put on by the Chamber of Commerce, I learned that, to get a business loan, you need a business plan. If this was a new business, the more detailed the plan needed to be. For some reason, they were very interested in how thorough and realistic a person's cost projections were, both for startup and continuing overhead. They were interested in a person's marketing plan, sales plan and management plan.
In 1997 I was a member of a new church in Henderson that had been meeting for two years in a rented store front in the downtown area. They had called a full-time minister a year earlier and wanted to build a building. They wanted to build a multi-purpose building where worship, fellowship and indoor sports all used the same space. Offices and Christian education rooms would be around that space. It would cost about $1.2 million to build. They went to the bank with building plans. The bank loan committee said that is not enough. They wanted to see some financial history, which the new church did not have.
I met with the church secretary to get month by month membership, attendance and giving information. I learned the number of people who gave to the church and what the average amount given was and how that had progressed since the church began. From that information I was able to build a model of attendance, growth and giving that was based on positive, yet conservative assumptions that was acceptable to the bank loan committee and provided a basis for them approving the loan.
When we intend to do something and accomplishing something, we need a plan. We must take a lot of information and options and make choices and decisions about what we will do and not do.
What if God were to decide to withhold His presence and blessings from us until we prepared a plan for how we were going to use our time, talents and money to serve others in ministry for the next twelve months? What He wants from us is not our generalized promises and intentions, but a thoughtful analysis and plan to do or continue doing some very specific things where we give our time, talents and money to Him.
Today's scripture speaks to us as we deal with all the pressures of living, all the demands on our time, and all the conflicting cultural messages about what we need to be happy and fulfilled. It comes from the history of ancient Israel. Joshua was the successor to Moses as leader of Israel. He was the chief architect of the Hebrew people from the period of desert wandering to the occupation of the land promised to Abraham.
Our text focuses on what is called a "covenant renewal ceremony." This was the crowning event in the life of Joshua. Here is what happened. Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem. After conquering Canaan he had apportioned the land among the loosely federated tribes that collectively made up the "sons of Jacob" who were called Israel. These tribes were scattered across Canaan on their allotted land.
It was not an accident that Joshua summoned the elders, the heads, the judges and the officers of Israel to Shechem. Shechem was a prominent site both historically and spiritually. Shechem was an ancient Canaanite/Israelite city, located in the hill country of Ephraim about 40 miles north of Jerusalem. Its early significance was as a fort settlement that guarded the pass between the mountains Gerezim to the south and Ebal to the north.
It gained additional significance to the descendants of Abraham when Abraham stopped at Shechem to worship Yahweh, who had called him out of Ur. Recorded in Genesis 12 this is the first record of worship of God in the promised land. The city remained an important center for Yahwistic religion throughout the patriarchal period and became a shrine when the remains of Joseph, the last patriarch, were returned from Egypt and buried there.
The list of tribal officials that Joshua summoned to Shechem is not intended to be exact nor comprehensive, but it conveys to us that everyone who was anyone in Israel responded to Joshua's call. Israel's total existence is based on its covenant relationship with God that goes back to Abraham. Joshua's call for covenant renewal begins with an unapologetic admission that Israel's ancestors served other gods in other lands.
Our own calls for covenant renewal today must begin with the admission that we live in a world that competes for our time, our loyalty and commitments. Ours is just as much a world of other gods as the ancient world. We are caught up in the rushing current of materialism that justifies our consuming behaviors and keeps us chained to attitudes that keep us repeating the same responses over and over.
In vs. 14-15, Joshua says to the assembled leaders, "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 house, we will serve the Lord."
What kind of people will we be, and to whom will we commit ourselves? The answer to that is not a secondary decision in any way. We often think in terms of our private lives to answer this and not our lives at work. Most of us spend the major part of 250 days every year at our place of employment, so when we decide what our values are as workers, we are actually talking about how we will live our lives.
While we may not be able to influence the corporate mission where we work, we can and should make the personal decision about how our Christianity will play out in the workplace and in our lives.
At minimum, that decision is this: I will be a moral, ethical person, committed to following Jesus. And its corollary is, I will accept the consequences of being moral and ethical.
But a third part of that decision can be that we decide that our work would also be our ministry.(1)
Consider, for example, a Cleveland, Ohio, mail carrier by the name of Bill Merriman. He was featured several years ago in that city's newspaper because someone had noticed that Merriman did more than simply bring the day's mail.
Most of his time was spent sorting and delivering mail, but he also took time to listen to the people on his route. That alone was a big help to some shut-ins, but Merriman also offered more specific help to others.
He aided some recent immigrants in his delivery area in finding English language tutors. He referred battered women to places where they could find shelter. Since several families on his route were Hispanic, he took the trouble to learn Spanish. He carried a list of social work agencies with him in case he needed to refer someone. After a letter carrier on a nearby route saved a toddler's life, Merriman took a course on CPR so he, too, would be prepared if a situation where such help was needed ever arose. One day, he found a business on his route that needed a secretary, and around the corner, he found a woman who needed a job. He helped the two get together. Merriman's work was clearly more than employment aimed at earning a paycheck.(2)
Consider the foreman of a moving crew who moved a clergy family from Pennsylvania to New York. The clergyman was impressed with the care that this man took with their things, and mentioned it to him. The man responded, "Moving is hard for most people. It's a very vulnerable time for them. People are nervous about going to a new community, and about having strangers pack their most precious possessions. I think God wants me to treat my customers with love and make them feel that I care about their things and their life. God wants me to help make their changes go smoothly."
One man put it this way:
In a job you give something to get something;
In a ministry you return something that has already been given
to you.
A job depends on your abilities;
A ministry depends on your availability to God.
Joshua had made himself available to God all his life. Nearing the end of his life, he was about to change direction. He suggests that ministry and meaning are all about making choices. Joshua doesn't make it complicated. You don't have to read The Purpose Driven Life.
Here is The Joshua Principle: It is seven words of advice for those would be highly effective in mission, ministry and life: "Choose this day whom you will serve."(3) Amen.
Century Christian Church, November 6, 2005 - Sermon by Jim Westmoreland
www.centurychristian.org
1. Homiletics, "The Joshua Principle," November-December, 2005, Volume 17, Number 6, p. 13.
2. Andrzejewski, Tom, "Postal Service meets social work." The Plain Dealer, (Cleveland Ohio), July 8, 1985.
3. Homiletics, p. 13-14.