REMEMBER

Last weekend pastor Scott Chamberlain brought us to the end of our brief journey through the book of Joshua and to a pivotal point in the life of God’s people.  It was a good moment for them.  Joshua 23:1 says “the Lord had given rest to Israel from all their enemies.”  That’s a good moment, isn’t it?

Joshua is now old, though, and his days of leadership are coming to an end.  So he calls a meeting “for all Israel,” and he shares what is in his heart.  He spoke about how faithful God had been, about how their story of conquering the Promised Land was a God thing from start to finish.  He challenged the people to stay faithful. “Keep and do all that is written in the book of the law of Moses” he said to them, “so that you may not turn aside from it to the right or to the left” (23:6). Then he called them to a personal moment of choosing.

It seems like we’re always choosing something.  Choosing is a part of the human experience, I suppose.  From trivial issues to matters of great concern, we humans are always choosing.  Joshua brought the people to a matter of great concern.  It was time for them to search their souls.  It was time for them to focus on things that ultimately and finally matter.  Joshua said it this way,

Now, therefore fear the Lord and serve Him in sincerity and truth; and put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve…but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:14-15). 

 

With that Joshua “took a large stone and set it up there under the oak that was by the sanctuary of the Lord.  Then he said to the people, “Behold, this stone shall be for a witness against us, for it has heard all the words of the Lord which He spoke to us; thus it shall be a witness against you, so that you do not deny your God” (Joshua 24:26-27).

Every time the people looked upon that stone they were to be reminded of two things: The faithfulness of God, and their commitment to be faithful to God.  At this point the text simply says, “Then Joshua dismissed the people, each to his inheritance” (24:28).  That’s it.  They were off to whatever the future held for them ever mindful of God’s faithfulness and their commitment to be faithful.

Pastor Scott spoke to us of how important it is for us to have things in our lives that help us remember.  He spoke of stones of remembrance and places of remembrance -- tangible reminders of what it means for us to be caught up in the story of God.  Do you have stones and places of remembrance, things that keep you aware of God’s story in your life and keep you aware of how serious you were once upon a time when you chose to serve the Lord, and in that choosing chose not to serve other things that would be god?  Do you have some Stones and Places of remembrance where time and time again you are brought back to that profound moment of remembering again who you are?

I have some Stones and Places of remembrance.  There is an altar in a little church in central California where I invited Jesus Christ into my life.  That is a precious place to me.  Every time I go back home, I go to that little church and kneel at that same spot, because that spot was the place of a new beginning for me, a beginning that literally changed the direction my life was going. 

I have a picture of me standing in front of a U-Haul truck. I’m smiling for the camera, and everything looks fine.  Yet, deep down inside my heart on that day I was dying.  I thought there would be no future.  It was one of the lowest moments in all my life.  I hold on to that picture, however, because it ever reminds me that on my darkest day God was present even though I didn’t know it.  He was being faithful even though I was being shaken to the foundation. 

I was baptized at the age of twelve and I still have the baptismal certificate.  It means more to me than I could ever express.  I met God in those baptismal waters.   When I was seventeen I received my first local minister’s license and I have a picture of my pastor handing it to me and shaking my hand.  I met God in that handshake.  I have a small pocketknife that belonged to my dad. When he went home to heaven in 2003 it was the only thing I asked for from all that he had.  It reminds me everyday of my dad and of how this very simple and unpretentious man lived a solid rock Christian life in his world.  I have an ice bucket that I got from my mom when she passed away in 2010.  It is round with penguins forming a circle around it. She never used it for ice, though.  To us kids, it was always a cookie container.  Every time I see this cookie jar I am reminded of my mother and of her simple, child-like and, yet, strong, faith in Jesus Christ. 

These things always remind me of who I am.  I am a man coming out of a heritage, a heritage with Jesus Christ right down in the middle of it all.  By a grace I don’t deserve God has called me to Himself, and along time ago I decided to follow Him.  Today, a whole lot of years later, there is nothing I would do to compromise my heritage, my journey, or my faith.  I’ve been knocked around some, got a few bruises, and my track recorded isn’t spotless.  But today, I’m still standing.  God is still faithful. Jesus is still Lord.  The Holy Spirit is still pouring out into my life God’s amazing grace.

What’s your story?  What are your stones and places of Remembrance?  Where, in your life, have you built some altars and made commitments to God at them, commitments that mean so much to you that you would never compromise the memory or the grace? 

Are you gaining ground in your life?  That is what this series of messages have challenged us to do.  Come near to God, finds ways in your life to keep His grace front and center.  Let God be God, and move into your future within the embrace of God.

Would you pray with me this prayer from A. W. Tozer?

O God, I have tasted Thy goodness, and it has both satisfied me and made me thirsty for more. I am painfully conscious of my need of further grace…O God, the Triune God, I want to want Thee; I long to be filled with longing; I thirst to be made more thirsty still. Show me Thy glory…so I may know Thee indeed…. In Jesus' Name, Amen.