Joshua 24 - Everybody Serves Somebody

While serving in Maui, I also worked full time as the night manager at Tommy Bahama on Ka’anapali Beach. As a result, I found out the easiest sales situation in the world…selling Hawaiian shirts to tourists on vacation in Hawaii. Easy cheezy. Because of our location, we were one of the highest volume Tommy Bahama stores in the entire company, the trail of tourists into the store was like ants to sugar. Because of the tremendous volume we had a store staff that was triple most regular volume stores. The great thing about this was I was able to work with many different people whether they be locals or transplants. I quickly learned, nobody gets lost and ends up in Hawaii, as the saying on the island goes, everybody’s got a story on Maui. That is, the story that led them to live on a 700 square mile floating volcano in the middle of the South Pacific.

There was one young lady that worked my night shift occasionally and one night God allowed an amiable spiritual conversation to begin. (By the way, pray for God to allow you to speak of Him to others and He will open amazing opportunities!) I found out she was an atheist and she was of the staunch belief that God simply did not exist. The world was on cruise control and everything just kinda ran itself. Through the weeks and months as her schedule brought her to my shift, we would, in a friendly manner, continue our conversations about whether or not God existed. One night as she was expounding on her beliefs, I stopped and said, “You amaze me, your faith far outweighs mine.” She froze in shock. “What?” she muttered. I proceeded to tell her that I had God’s living Word to guide and instruct me. I had brothers and sisters in Christ to pray and support me. I had the power of prayer directly to God. I had thousands of years of proof that Jesus Christ was the Son and God and was raised from the dead to save me from my sins. I had the power of a local body of believers that I was an active part of. I had countless resources and proofs of my God and my eventual home in Heaven…but she had none of that. Yet she believed with no proof that God did not exist. That is faith. The statement that God had given me had rocked her world…why did she believe what she did and where was the proof?

You see, no matter what you believe, it takes faith. Small children show great faith in Santa Claus, yet he is not real. Children also believe in the Easter Bunny, the tooth fairy and other myths, yet they are mere folklore. Millions of people today will place their faith in themselves, even though in their own power they will falter and fail. I’ve heard it said that mankind is born with a hole in the hearts. And life is spent trying to fill this hole. Family, money, power, alcohol, material goods, sex, houses, drugs, food, recreation, cars, pornography, travel, pride. We will throw anything and everything into that hole in our chest in hopes that the longing, yearning and emptiness we all have, can be quelled. But to no avail. The things of this world will not satisfy us.

It reminds me of the ol’ Bob Dylan song “Gotta Serve Somebody” where he makes the point very clear, no matter who or what you serve, you will have to choose. Whether you are an ambassador, a gambler, a dancer, a heavyweight champion, or a socialite with a string of pearls, you will serve somebody. Such great lyrics to this song and what a powerful point it makes. Today, who will you choose to serve?

Today we finish up the book of Joshua and within it lies one of my favorite verses. A simple verse that holds within it the keys to a life that all humans desperately seek. Within it lies the simplicity of choice. Within it lies a heart that has made its choice.

Joshua is delivering his final words to the Israelites at 110 years old and folks, if you know anything about final words, they are just that, final. A person’s final words are tough, honest, and raw. At the end of life, as you are near death’s door, you speak truth. And truth Joshua speaks freely. It’s almost as if Joshua had just been listening to Dylan’s song because his message is in the same vein. Joshua says, you have a choice. You can serve Almighty God, or you can serve idols and false gods. You have a choice and it is your choice to make. Let’s visit scripture and see God’s message for ourselves.

“Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers 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.” Joshua 24:14-15

Wow. If he had one, I think Joshua would have dropped the mic after this statement. Powerful and authoritative, yet simple to understand. We all have a choice of where we choose to offer our worship. We can worship the things of the world that will satisfy our fleshly sin nature, or we can choose to serve the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, Jesus Christ. The choice lies with you.

I’ve heard it said that billions of people will miss Heaven by 18 inches. That is the distance between your head and your heart. You see, you can know of Jesus or you can know Jesus. You can read your Bible, or you can read your Bible. You can serve or you can serve Jesus. You can follow your own path, or you can follow the way of Jesus. You see, the difference is in that 18 inches. Do you process Jesus with your mind or with your heart. And folks, until Jesus is the only thing that fills the hole in you heart, you will continue to serve somebody or something else.

Today, make that heart change. Allow your heart to truly discover Jesus. Let your life be changed by the saving grace of Christ. You’ve sinned and messed up, Jesus can cover all of your sin. You’ve served and worshiped other things; Jesus will wipe them away and be the Lord of your heart. Call upon the name of Jesus to save you and He is faithful to do so.

Oh, and by the way, my atheist friend at Tommy Bahama ended up leaving for another job and I lost touch with her. She came back by the store several months later and excitedly let me know that on her quest to find the truth of what she believed and why she believed it, she found Jesus and His grace saved her. God is so good to save all those that call upon His Son.

Today you will serve somebody but whom will it be? As for me and my house we will serve our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.