How incredible it is to live in America, the "land of the free and home of the brave."  We Americans enjoy blessings today so far beyond the dreams of our forefathers that if they were alive they'd think they were in heaven.

          If the American settlers could have driven their covered wagons on interstate highways, and stopped overnight in well-equipped rest areas, and crossed rivers on sturdy bridges, all the while knowing they were protected by police and the most powerful army in the world, they might indeed have thought this was heaven.  If they could have shopped for food in supermarkets, and purchased clothing at the outlet stores, and built their homes from ready-cut lumber, and then sat down in the evening to watch the latest video, they'd have thought they had died and gone to live with the Angels.

          Yet these things are only earthly blessings.  They help us enjoy life, but they are not the substance of life.  True life is eternal.  It doesn't depend on the stock market or the job market.  True life doesn't depend on spending one's paycheck but on spending eternity with God.

          Besides being Independence Day, today is the first Sunday of the month, when we'll look at one of the five purposes of the Church.  Do you remember all five?  Joyful Worship, Faithful Service, Positive Outreach, Loving Fellowship and Biblical Nurture.  This week we'll consider "Faithful Service," and consider what Joshua once told the Israelites, "Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness ...choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living.  But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD."

          "Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve..."  As Americans, we value our choices.  We probably value them more than we should, since our human nature leads us to choose selfishly.  We have the freedom to choose, but our choices are tainted by Sin.  When Adam and Eve learned good and evil in the Garden of Eden, it was not an ethical good and evil, but a selfish kind -- what's good for me and what's evil for me.  Thus I now make my choices based on what I want, not on what God wants.  We have freedom of choice, but it's been tainted by Sin.

          "Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve..."  Joshua spoke these words to the Israelites at the end of his life.  They had been delivered from slavery in Egypt and weathered forty years in the desert.  They had crossed the Jordan River and conquered most of their enemies.  They had established themselves as a power feared among the nations, and they were ready for peace.  They had served the "gods beyond the river" and they had served the God of Abraham.

          Now they were given a choice whom they would serve in their new land.  Would it be the gods who promised pleasure or the true God who gave them life?  Would they serve the gods who gave them nothing or the true God who gave them everything?

          The Israelites had been saved to serve God.  They had been released from slavery to serve the Almighty.  You and I also have been saved to serve God.  In Jesus, God has released us from slavery to our sin.  He has brought us through the wilderness of unbelief and delivered us from Satan.  In Christ we're freed from sin and saved from bondage and eternal death.  Sadly, after Joshua's generation died, the Israelites deserted God.  Judges 2:10 tells us the generation after Joshua did not know God and the people did what is evil.  Each generation must teach the next about the Lord.  I wonder what kind of job we're doing teaching our next generation, or if they, too, will "not know God and do what is evil."

          One of the hardest things about living in suburban America is that we have it so good.  We can't understand how bad off we'd be without God.  Israelites slept in tents on rocks;  we sleep in houses on beds.  Israelites fought their enemies face-to-face with swords;  we drop bombs from 15,000 feet.  Israelites hand-made all their needs from the land.  We grumble if a store doesn't have the shirt in our size.  How can we feel the need to serve God when we ourselves are served at every turn?  Life in the suburbs makes serving God seem old-fashioned and unnecessary.

          300 years after Joshua spoke these words, after king David's time, prosperity settled over Israel that rivaled the richest nations.  King Solomon fortified Megiddo, Gezer and other cities along the major trade routes and made Israel wealthy and powerful.  It became a place of unrivaled peace and prosperity.  But with prosperity came decadence.  With wealth came idolatry.  God then spoke these words:  "If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land." (2 Chronicles 7:14)   Remarkable words, since Israel didn't seem to need healing.  But Solomon's riches turned his heart away from God.  We're not even sure he died trusting God.

          It's so like America today.  Our personal peace and prosperity have made God optional.  Most of us don't feel we need Him until we want something from Him.  We push Him aside until we're in trouble.  Our ship could be going down, but we don't cry for help until we're half sunk.

          We Americans are in a moral dilemma and don't realize it.  Our ship is taking on water and we're still partying.  Our country was founded by people who weathered storms and death on the Mayflower, but we're sailing along on the Titanic blissfully denying the icebergs ahead.  Despite corruption in high places, we've become indifferent to the dangers of moral decay.  We're more worried about physical comfort and instant gratification than our moral and spiritual health.

          The Titanic sank when it hit a single iceberg.  We Americans face a sea full of them.  Tiny icebergs of moral decadence chip away at our hulls and sink us slowly, but just as surely, as the one that ripped open the Titanic's hull.  The success of Wall Street has lulled us into a false sense of security.  The question we each must answer today is the one Joshua asked:  "Whom are you going to serve?  The gods of Wall Street and government?  The gods of pleasure and self-gratification?  Or will you serve the LORD, the God of heaven and earth?"

          You and I are saved to serve.  We have been pulled from deadly waters of idolatry by Jesus Christ.  We've been saved from the waters of immorality just as surely as the 1,200 Titanic survivors were saved from the icy waters of the Atlantic.  My mother immigrated to America on a ship in May of 1912, one month after the Titanic sank.  She and her family spent the journey in the steerage quarters with the poor people.  She said every day people talked about the Titanic, and they prayed to God they would make it safely.  What kind of a tragedy will it take for us to choose serving the LORD?  Maybe Columbine was not titanic enough.  I truly wonder what it will take...

          In today's Gospel Lesson, Jesus said, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."  The yoke of Christ means trusting Him in a world that trusts only itself.  Taking the yoke of Christ means giving your life to the LORD amid a people who give their lives to the gods of pleasure, power, possessions and prosperity.  It means giving your life to Jesus.

          The LORD invites us to turn away from the gods of this world, and to turn to Him today.  He invites us to choose life with the Eternal Father and with Jesus who has saved us from the oceans of despair.  You and I all know that the prosperity of this world is short-lived.  Wall Street is not the road to heaven, but Christ is.  When the stock market fails -- and it will;  when the toys grow old -- and they will;  when people we trust disappoint us -- and they will;  when our goals fail to bring us happiness -- and they will;  when we're brought face to face with God in our final hour -- and we will;  then all that's left is Jesus and you.  Choose Him, my friends.

          Jesus invites us to turn away from the gods of this world and come to Him.  I want you to take just a moment and think carefully about how much you trust God compared to how much you trust the things of this world.  Think what's really important in your life.  Is it things of the earth or the Lord who made heaven and earth?

          Think carefully, my friends, then pray with me:  Heavenly Father, we don't trust in You as we should.  At times we don't trust You at all.  Forgive us, Father.  Help us choose Jesus by the Holy Spirit.  Help us serve You by love and sharing.  Thank You for throwing us a Life Preserver called Jesus.  Now help us toss it to others who are sinking.  Help us love You Lord and follow you always.  Amen. Friends, you and I are saved to serve.  May we do so freely, beginning today.  Amen.

Copyright © 1999 by Pastor Bob Tasler.  All rights reserved.