St. Matthew’s Sermon 11-12-2017

What God Will You Serve?

Joshua 24:1-3a, 14-25, Psalm 78:1-7, 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, Matthew 25:1-13

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O God. Amen

It is Veterans Day weekend, and first off I will take a moment to say “thank you” to our military veterans.

Serving our country in the military is a difficult job, whether in active combat or not. It is a service that sometimes has a clear moral mission, and other times does not. And it is so often a thankless job but one that needs to be done. For each and every individual who served our country in the military, in wartime or in times of peace, I am thankful, I offer all due respect, and I hold their sacrifices, no matter how great or small, in high honor.

Yet, that being said honestly, I am not a warmonger. And I am not a total pacifist. And, I am not an “Utterly Confused Christian” (as some folks claim UCC stands for). The thing is, as I see it, there are justifiable wars; and there are non-justifiable wars.

For example, it would be hard to say that America’s involvement in World War II was not justified. In the Pacific, we were first attacked by Japan and we had no choice but to fight back. And in Europe we certainly couldn’t allow our allies to fall to German expansion and domination; not only in concern for them, but also knowing that we would very likely be the next victim if Germany was successful there. On the other hand, our most-recent war in Iraq, the one we started to rid them of “weapons of mass destruction” that were not found because they didn’t exist, is quite a bit harder to justify.

Here in America, of course, we take notice of the cost of this war in terms of casualties suffered by our troops.  4,487 US soldiers killed is the most recent report I could find; and 32,226 wounded; this in Iraq alone. But the cost is far greater than that when we add the estimated Iraqi civilian deaths in that war at figures ranging between 100,000 and over 1.3 million; even the lowest of these estimates is over 22 times the American casualties.

Add, again, the seriously injured civilians, the destruction of homes and businesses, the interruption of education of children, and all of the other side effects of war and we see unthinkable suffering on the part of the common people, people who have nothing to do with the reasons for the fighting; people who just want the same right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness that we claim for ourselves.

It was with foresight into this kind of suffering, along with my personal doubts in the truth of the justification for the fighting, and my personal beliefs in what God would have us do, that I could not support the American decision to go to war in the first place.

Then, having made that personal decision, I was told, directly by acquaintances and indirectly by the leaders of our nation, that I was not being patriotic. I heard phrases like “You are either for us or against us”, “opposing this war means you’re not supporting our troops”, and “objection shows a lack of gratitude for the freedoms you enjoy”.

Now, tell me this, where is it written that I cannot stand between being a warmonger and being a pacifist? Who says wanting our young men and women out of harm’s way is not supporting those who fulfill the unfortunate necessity of being prepared to defend our nation? How is it that taking the lives of the innocent into consideration becomes a sign of being unappreciative? Why does it have to be about ‘one way or the other’; all to ‘one side or the other’?

In our Old Testament reading for today we find another thought to be considered. We gave Xavier a break from reading that long and difficult passage for us this morning so let me give you a paraphrased synopsis of the story.

It’s from the book of Joshua where, in previous chapters, the Israelites had conquered the inhabitants of the Promised Land. The writing portrays the gruesome realities of war; the slaughter of, not only of the enemy soldiers, but old men, women, and children, the burning of their cities and the hanging of their kings. Now, in today’s reading Joshua calls Israel together in one place and delivers God’s message to them saying

“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 household, we will serve the LORD” And the people replied “”Far be it from us that we should forsake the LORD to serve other gods… we will serve the LORD, for he is our God.”

Then Joshua challenged them again saying

“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. If you forsake the LORD and serve foreign gods, then he will turn and do you harm, and consume you, after having done you good.” And the people said to Joshua, “No, we will serve the LORD!”

A third time Joshua challenged them saying

“Then put away the foreign gods that are among you, and incline your hearts to the LORD, the God of Israel.” And again the people said to Joshua, “The LORD our God we will serve, and him we will obey.”

Notice here, Joshua’s call wasn’t to honor him, their earthly leader; nor was it to honor the soldiers who fought the battles; the call was to honor God who took them as his own people, led them out of slavery in Egypt, and made them victorious over those who stood in the way of their God appointed destiny.

Considering this in our time we can see the modern-day tension between honoring our God and honoring the man-made god of nation.

Again, I recognize the necessity of national defense; and I honor those who serve our nation in the military. But I cannot, will not, lift them or our nation higher than my God. I have made my choice. We must all make our choice; choose this day whom you will serve. As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.

Amen.

Joshua 24:1-3a, 14-25
24:1 Then Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, and summoned the elders, the heads, the judges, and the officers of Israel; and they presented themselves before God. 24:2 And Joshua said to all the people, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Long ago your ancestors–Terah and his sons Abraham and Nahor–lived beyond the Euphrates and served other gods.

24:3a Then I took your father Abraham from beyond the River and led him through all the land of Canaan and made his offspring many.
24:14 “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. 24:15 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 household, we will serve the LORD
24:16 Then the people answered, “Far be it from us that we should forsake the LORD to serve other gods;
24:17 for it is the LORD our God who brought us and our ancestors up from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, and who did those great signs in our sight. He protected us along all the way that we went, and among all the peoples through whom we passed;
24:18 and the LORD drove out before us all the peoples, the Amorites who lived in the land. Therefore we also will serve the LORD, for he is our God.”
24:19 But 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.
24:20 If you forsake the LORD and serve foreign gods, then he will turn and do you harm, and consume you, after having done you good.”
24:21 And the people said to Joshua, “No, we will serve the LORD!”
24:22 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.
24:23 He said, “Then put away the foreign gods that are among you, and incline your hearts to the LORD, the God of Israel.”
24:24 The people said to Joshua, “The LORD our God we will serve, and him we will obey.”
24:25 So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and made statutes and ordinances for them at Shechem.
Psalm 78:1-7
78:1 Give ear, O my people, to my teaching; incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
78:2 I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings from of old,
78:3 things that we have heard and known, that our ancestors have told us.
78:4 We will not hide them from their children; we will tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the LORD, and his might, and the wonders that he has done.
78:5 He established a decree in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our ancestors to teach to their children;
78:6 that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and rise up and tell them to their children,
78:7 so that they should set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments.

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
4:13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who have died, so that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.
4:14 For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have died.
4:15 For this we declare to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will by no means precede those who have died.
4:16 For the Lord himself, with a cry of command, with the archangel’s call and with the sound of God’s trumpet, will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first.
4:17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up in the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the air; and so we will be with the Lord forever.
4:18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.
Matthew 25:1-13
25:1 “Then the kingdom of heaven will be like this. Ten bridesmaids took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom.
25:2 Five of them were foolish, and five were wise.
25:3 When the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them;
25:4 but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps.
25:5 As the bridegroom was delayed, all of them became drowsy and slept.
25:6 But at midnight there was a shout, ‘Look! Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’
25:7 Then all those bridesmaids got up and trimmed their lamps.
25:8 The foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’
25:9 But the wise replied, ‘No! there will not be enough for you and for us; you had better go to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.’
25:10 And while they went to buy it, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went with him into the wedding banquet; and the door was shut.
25:11 Later the other bridesmaids came also, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open to us.’
25:12 But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I do not know you.’
25:13 Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.