March 15: ALL my worship!

Joshua chapters 22,23,24, Judges 2:6

Joshua 22:21-29

Amplified Bible (AMP)

²¹ Then the Reubenites, Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh said to the heads of the clans of Israel,

²² The Mighty One, God, the Lord! The Mighty One, God, the Lord! He knows, and let Israel itself know! If it was in rebellion or in transgression against the Lord, spare us not today.

²³ If we have built us an altar to turn away from following the Lord, or if we did so to offer on it burnt offerings or cereal offerings or peace offerings, may the Lord Himself take vengeance.

²⁴ No! But we did it for fear that in time to come your children might say to our children, What have you to do with the Lord, the God of Israel?

²⁵ For the Lord has made the Jordan a boundary between us and you, you Reubenites and Gadites; you have no part in the Lord. So your children might make our children cease from fearing the Lord.

²⁶ So we said, Let us now prepare to build us an altar, not for burnt offering nor for sacrifice,

²⁷ But to be a witness between us and you and between the generations after us, that we will perform the service of the Lord before Him with our burnt offerings and sacrifices and peace offerings; lest your children say to our children in time to come, You have no portion in the Lord.

²⁸ So we thought, if that should be said to us or to our descendants in time to come, we can reply, Behold the copy of the altar of the Lord, which our fathers made, not for burnt offerings nor for sacrifices, but to be a witness between us and you.

²⁹ Far be it from us that we should rebel against the Lord and turn away this day from following the Lord to build an altar for burnt offerings, for cereal offerings, or for sacrifices, besides the altar of the Lord our God that is before His tabernacle.

"Here is the care of the separated tribes to keep their hold of Canaan's religion. At first sight it seemed a design to set up an altar against the altar at Shiloh. God is jealous for his own institutions; we should be so too, and afraid of every thing that looks like, or leads to idolatry. Corruptions in religion are best dealt with at first. But their prudence in following up this zealous resolution is no less commendable. Many an unhappy strife would be prevented, or soon made up, by inquiries into the matter of the offence. The remembrance of great sins committed formerly, should engage us to stand on our guard against the beginnings of sin; for the way of sin is down-hill. We are all concerned to reprove our neighbour when he does amiss, lest we suffer sin upon him. The offer made that they should be welcome to come to the land where the Lord's tabernacle was, and settle there, was in the spirit of true Israelites.

The tribes took the reproofs of their brethren in good part. With solemnity and meekness they proceeded to give all the satisfaction in their power. Reverence of God is expressed in the form of their appeal. This brief confession of faith would remove their brethren's suspicion that they intended to worship other gods. Let us always speak of God with seriousness, and mention his name with a solemn pause. Those who make appeals to Heaven with a careless "God knows," take his name in vain: it is very unlike this. They express great confidence of their own uprightness in the matter of their appeal. "God knows it," for he is perfectly acquainted with the thoughts and intents of the heart. In every thing we do in religion, it highly concerns us to approve ourselves to God, remembering that he knows the heart. And if our sincerity be known to God, we should study likewise to let others know it by its fruits, especially those who, though they mistake us, show zeal for the glory of God. They disdained the design of which they were suspected to be guilty, and fully explained their true intent in building this altar. Those who have found the comfort and benefit of God's ordinances, cannot but desire to preserve them to their seed, and to use all possible care that their children may be looked upon as having a part in him. Christ is the great Altar that sanctifies every gift; the best evidence of our interest in him is the work of his Spirit in our hearts." (Matthew Henry's Commentary) 

Okay, so when we are falsely accused or misunderstood by God fearing brothers or sisters in Christ, we must, first of all, keep a right attitude. These types of situations will occur. Good intentions have been misunderstood for wrong intentions many times. 

We must follow the example here in Joshua chapter 22 and keep a right attitude and carefully explain our real intentions. If people refuse to believe our intentions are pure, that is between them and God. We must pray for God to show them the truth.

Joshua 22:30-34

Amplified Bible (AMP)

³⁰ And when Phinehas the priest and the chiefs of the congregation and heads of the clans of Israel who were with him heard the words that the Reubenites, Gadites, and Manassites spoke, it pleased them.

³¹ Phinehas son of Eleazar, the priest, said to the Reubenites, Gadites, and Manassites, Today we know the Lord is among us, because you have not committed this trespass and treachery against the Lord; now you have saved the Israelites from the Lord’s hand.

³² Then Phinehas son of Eleazar, the priest, and the chiefs returned from the Reubenites and Gadites in the land of Gilead to the land of Canaan, to the [other] Israelites, and brought back word to them.

³³ The report pleased the Israelites and they blessed God; and they spoke no more of going to war against them to destroy the land in which the Reubenites and Gadites dwelt.

³⁴ The Reubenites and Gadites called the altar Ed [witness], saying, It shall be: A Witness Between Us that the Lord is God.

Moving on...

Joshua 23:1-16

Amplified Bible (AMP)

23 A long time after that, when the Lord had given Israel rest from all their enemies round about, and Joshua had grown old and advanced in years,

² Joshua summoned all Israel, their elders, heads, judges, and officers, and said to them, I am old and advanced in years.

³ And you have seen all that the Lord your God has done to all these nations for your sake; for it is the Lord your God Who has fought for you.

⁴ Behold, I have allotted to you as an inheritance for your tribes those nations that remain, with all the nations I have cut off, from the Jordan to the Great Sea on the west.

⁵ The Lord your God will thrust them out from before you and drive them out of your sight, and you shall possess their land, as the Lord your God ^[a]promised you.

⁶ So be very courageous and steadfast to keep and do all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, turning not aside from it to the right hand or the left,

⁷ That you may not mix with these nations that remain among you, or make mention of the names of their gods or swear by them or serve them or bow down to them.

⁸ But cling to the Lord your God as you have done to this day.

⁹ For the Lord has driven out from before you great and strong nations; and as for you, no man has been able to withstand you to this day.

¹⁰ One man of you shall put to flight a thousand, for it is the Lord your God Who fights for you, as He promised you.

¹¹ Be very watchful of yourselves, therefore, to ^[b]love the Lord your God.

¹² For if you turn back and adhere to the remnant of these nations left among you and make marriages with them, you marrying their women and they yours,

¹³ Know with certainty that the Lord your God will not continue to drive these nations from before you; but they shall be a snare and trap to you, and a scourge in your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from off this good land which the Lord your God has given you.

¹⁴ And behold, this day I am going the way of all the earth. Know in all your hearts and in all your souls that not one thing has failed of all the good things which the Lord your God promised concerning you. All have come to pass for you; not one thing of them has failed.

¹⁵ But just as all good things which the Lord promised you have come to you, so will the Lord carry out [His] every [warning of] evil upon you, until He has destroyed you from off this good land which the Lord your God has given you.

¹⁶ If you transgress the covenant of the Lord your God, which He commanded you, if you serve other gods and bow down to them, then the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you, and you shall perish quickly from off the good land He has given you.

Footnotes:

1. Joshua 23:5 All through the time of Joshua’s leadership he kept giving as his warrant of faith the fact that the Lord had spoken, the Lord had promised. The word of God is the guaranty of faith. Genuine faith always advances on the authority expressed in Heb. 13:5, 6, “He [God] Himself has said,... So we take comfort and are encouraged and confidently and boldly say...” (emphasis added).
2. Joshua 23:11 Everything depended on whether or not Israel would continue to be faithful to the covenant. Joshua’s words do not conceal his apprehension. Seven times he refers to the idolatrous nations still left in Canaan. He knew the snare they would be to Israel, and he therefore prescribed three safeguards. First, there must be brave adherence to God’s word (Josh. 23:6). Second, there must be a vigilantly continued separation from the Canaanite nations (Josh. 23:7). Finally, there must be a cleaving to the Lord with real and fervent love (Josh. 23:8-11) (J. Sidlow Baxter, Explore the Book).

1. Brave adherence to God's word.

2. Vigantly continued separation.

3. Cleaving to the Lord with real and fervent love.

These 3 steps are our only hope! We cant serve God successfully without all 3 steps. We can't mix with the world! 

“Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness?” (2 Cor. 6:14, KJV).

Joshua 24:14-24

Amplified Bible (AMP)

¹⁴ Now therefore, [reverently] fear the Lord and serve Him in sincerity and in truth; put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the [Euphrates] River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord.

¹⁵ And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served on the other side of 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.

¹⁶ The people answered, Far be it from us to forsake the Lord to serve other gods;

¹⁷ For it is the Lord our God Who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, Who did those great signs in our sight and preserved us in all the way that we went and among all the peoples through whom we passed.

¹⁸ And the Lord drove out before us all the people, the Amorites who dwelt in the land. Therefore we also will serve the Lord, for He is our God.

¹⁹ And Joshua said to the people, You cannot serve the Lord, for He is a holy God; He is a jealous God. He will not forgive your transgressions or your sins.

²⁰ If you forsake the Lord and ^[a]serve strange gods, then He will turn and do you harm and consume you, after having done you good.

²¹ And the people said to Joshua, No; but we will serve the Lord.

²² Then Joshua said to the people, You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen the Lord, to serve Him. And they said, We are witnesses.

²³ Then put away, said he, the foreign gods that are among you and incline your hearts to the Lord, the God of Israel.

²⁴ The people said to Joshua, The Lord our God we will serve; His voice we will obey.

Footnotes:

1. Joshua 24:20 Anything which we keep in our hearts in the place which God ought to have is an idol, whether it be an image of wood or stone or gold, or whether it be money, or desire for fame, or love of pleasure, or some secret sin which we will not give up. If God does not really occupy the highest place in our hearts, controlling all, something else does, and that something else is an idol (J. R. Miller, Devotional Hours with the Bible).

The children of Israel remind me so much of us today. Joshua kept warning them, and they kept assuring him they would serve the Lord, all the time having "foreign gods" among them. Folks, if we keep back a few idols (pornography or inappropriate movies only every once in awhile for example), we will be destroyed. God's word is plain and simple. Why did their leaders keep saying the same thing over and over? Same reason as our leaders today keep repeating the same thing. Because we harden our hearts and fool ourselves into believing we can keep a few little harmless idols around. We are playing with fire!!! God's consuming fire! We will either be purifed by His fire, or totally destroyed by His fire. The choice is ours!

"Dear Jesus, please help me to have a right attitude when my good intentions are misunderstood. Please help me to be pleasing in Your sight. And please help me to cleanse every teeny little idol out of my life no matter how harmless it may seem. Draw me close to You Oh Lord. Continually purify me with Your fire. I give You ALL my worship. In Your precious Name, the Name above every name, the name of Jesus. AMEN."