Preached at Markham Baptist Church, June 9, 2002

Jesus Christ is Lord! We sing about his Lordship in worship, and we read about it in Scripture but during these three weeks we are concerned with practicing it. What does it look like to have God as Lord, Master, Sovereign of my life? Specifically, over my work, over what I say and today - over my home? That is our focus for today - how can God be Lord over my home?

He will not force His way into your home; He will not twist your arm making you submit your family to His Lordship. It is a conscious decision that we each have to make. So how can we welcome God to be Lord of our homes?

Our study takes us to the Old Testament this morning and the book of Joshua Chapter 24. Here we see the great warrior Joshua gathering the people of God together for a one-day retreat in a gorgeous valley called Shechem.

You remember of course that Joshua was the one who lead the people of God into the promised land and by his leadership they enjoyed victory after victory as they conquered the land that God had given to them. For the 18 years leading up to this conference, the people of God had enjoyed a level of peace that they had not known before. And now Joshua saw the need for the people of God to confirm God's Lordship over the land, over the people and over their homes.

So he arranges a nationwide conference, and the keynote speaker is Joshua himself. All the people of Israel are there, and everyone is quiet as Joshua addresses the crowd and his speech is recorded for us in verses two through to 15. Now the punch line, the climax of the speech is in verses 14 and 15.

"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." (Joshua 24:14-15) (NRSV)

So Joshua's goal here is to encourage the people to accept God's Lordship over their whole lives, particularly their homes.

You will notice that verse 14 begins with the words, "Now therefore". Joshua is making the plea for the Lordship of God on the basis of what he has said before. He has given the reasons for why we should make God the Lord of our homes in verses 2-13.

So what are the reasons he gives? There are two.

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. Then I took your father Abraham from beyond the River and led him through all the land of Canaan and made his offspring many. I gave him Isaac; and to Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. I gave Esau the hill country of Seir to possess, but Jacob and his children went down to Egypt. Then I sent Moses and Aaron, and I plagued Egypt with what I did in its midst; and afterwards I brought you out. When I brought your ancestors out of Egypt, you came to the sea; and the Egyptians pursued your ancestors with chariots and horsemen to the Red Sea. When they cried out to the LORD, He put darkness between you and the Egyptians, and made the sea come upon them and cover them; and your eyes saw what I did to Egypt. Afterwards you lived in the wilderness a long time. Then I brought you to the land of the Amorites, who lived on the other side of the Jordan; they fought with you, and I handed them over to you, and you took possession of their land, and I destroyed them before you. Then King Balak son of Zippor of Moab, set out to fight against Israel. He sent and invited Balaam son of Beor to curse you, but I would not listen to Balaam; therefore he blessed you; so I rescued you out of his hand. (Joshua 24:2-10)

What is Joshua doing here? He is reviewing all the deeds of God. He is showing all the mighty acts of grace that the God performed toward the people of God.

What Joshua is doing here is showing that God is worthy to be called Lord of your home. This is the first principle we need to understand - that God is worthy to be Lord of our homes. This isn't just some small God who has answered a prayer here and a prayer there. This isn't just any God to whom Joshua is asking the people to commit themselves. This is the God of grace who called Abraham, even though he was worshipping idols; God called him, revealed himself to Abraham and led him to a land and promised to make his descendents as numerous as the stars of the sky. This is the God who led the people of God out of Egypt and conquered enemy after enemy after enemy. He is worthy to be called Lord.

Our God is worthy to be called Lord of your home. We must realize this because I know this about you and the people of Markham - you won't settle for just any old thing, you won't settle for second best if the best can be had. I asked my neighbour, "Who installed your interlocking brick?" He said to me, "I got three quotes." And when I asked, "Which one did you choose?" he answered, "I chose the best!"

I could have asked him then (but would have looked foolish), "Why didn't you choose the second best?" or, "Why didn't you choose the worst?" I didn't ask the question because I knew the answer. We want the best we can have.

So when thinking about who and what should be Lord of your home, don't choose the second best. There are all sorts of influences that want to rule your home: the god of materialism, the god of entertainment, the god of work, the god of leisure. But why would you settle for second best, when you don't settle for second best in any other area of your life? Only God, the living God, the Creator of heaven and earth, the Redeemer of your soul is worthy to be called Lord of your home.

Did you watch any of the Jubilee celebrations in England this past week? The fireworks, the concert at the palace, the service of thanksgiving, all of it in honour of a Queen. Why was she worthy of such a celebration? The answer may come back, "Because she has loved the people."

Our God is worthy to called Lord of our homes - why? Because He has loved the people; He has loved you with an unwavering love. Our God is worthy to be called Lord of your home.

Here's the second reason we should call him Lord of our home. All that we have is a gift from God. Let's read on in our text:

When you went over the Jordan and came to Jericho, the citizens of Jericho fought against you, and also the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; and I handed them over to you. I sent the hornet ahead of you, which drove out before you the two kings of the Amorites; it was not by your sword or by your bow. I gave you a land on which you had not labored, and towns that you had not built, and you live in them; you eat the fruit of vineyards and oliveyards that you did not plant. (Joshua 24:11-13) (NRSV)

Do you see the use of the personal pronoun here? All the way through this text God, speaking through Joshua continually uses the first person pronoun. "I", "I", "I" all the way through. And then in case we missed the point, he makes it plain to us in verse 13

"I gave you a land on which you had not labored, and towns that you had not built, and you live in them; you eat the fruit of vineyards and olive yards that you did not plant." (Joshua 24:13) (NIV)

The implication of this verse is that God is the giver of all that the people of God enjoy. They cannot lay claim to any of it. The only reason they are not in some mud hole on the other side of the Euphrates worshipping some dumb and deaf idol is that God reached down and did something about it. There is no room for pride here.

And for us, we cannot go around strutting and proclaiming all that we have and all that we have accomplished, "You see how I have won God's favour because of who I am and what I have done". No, no, no. The only reason you are what you are in Christ is that God reached down and in grace and did something about it.

The reasons to make God Lord of your home - he is worthy, and second, all that we have has come from Him.

But Joshua doesn't leave it there. He goes on to tell us how to practice the Lordship of God in our homes. He goes on to address the question, "How can we make God Lord of our homes.?"

"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." (Joshua 24:14-15) (NRSV)

How can we make God Lord of our homes? First, make your service real. This is the emphasis of verse 14. He says, "serve Him with sincerity and with faithfulness." That is, what we profess with our lips is to be shown in our lives. That's what it means to be sincere - there is a direct correlation between what we say and what we do.

In Joshua's day it meant that the people needed to throw away the idols that they were worshipping - idols that they inherited from their forefathers. They were not just to say they were going to serve the Lord, they were to show it by throwing their idols away and serving God alone.

So Joshua goes on to say in verse 15, "As for me and my house we will serve the Lord." He doesn't say "As for me and my house we will say we will serve the Lord." No. We are to serve Him with sincerity and in faithfulness.

And isn't it wonderful when we meet a Christian family who say, "We will serve the Lord, and their homes are a living demonstration of what they say. I will never forget a Christian family Janet boarded with while studying at the University of Guelph. Les and Lois Young. I will always remember Lois coming up to me and saying, "You know Tom, Janet is boarding with us and if you ever want to come and visit, we have a spare bedroom in the basement and you are more than welcome to come." I said jokingly, "Mrs. Young you are likely to see me there every week." And she looked at me with a wonderful smile, "That's fine!" And I can tell you that for nearly every weekend for two years I got in the car and traveled from London to Guelph to stay at Les and Lois' home.

And it wasn't just with me that they were that generous; they were caring and compassionate about everyone they met. And Janet and I would often attend worship with them, and as I watched them, weekend after weekend, I was always able to say, "There is a couple whose actions agree with their words. They not only say they will serve the Lord they actually are serving the Lord." Their home was a place where God is served with sincerity and faithfulness and they had a deep impact on my walk with God.

Notice too that Joshua doesn't say, "As for me and my house, the Lord will serve us." That is a very subtle distortion, but they are words that are heard all the time in our present age. "What can I get out of it?" "What is it going to do for me?" "What will it do for our house?" I hear it repeatedly from people who are searching for a church home. "What can your church offer my family?" Rarely have I heard, "What can my family do for your church?" Joshua says, "Put away the gods that your ancestors served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord." God is the one who is to be served - He is not to serve us. We are not to put ourselves on the throne and tell God to serve us. We are to serve Him.

It is so sad when many people come to accept Christ say, "Must I give up this? Must I give up that to be a Christian?" Oh, that we would come at it from a totally different perspective and say, "What is it that I can give up for the sake of Jesus Christ? What can I give to God who is worthy and who has given me everything?"

As for me and my house we will serve the Lord. Make your service real, that's one way to make Him Lord. And that service will take different forms as the Spirit of God directs each one of us. For some of you it may mean offering forgiveness to the people in your home. That's one way to serve the Lord.

Or for others it may mean you start offering the people in your home encouragement. How many children have been blessed by parents who have continued to persevere in seeing the good in them in spite of all their flaws. One lady said she rejoices that her parents constantly told her what a wonderful person she was and how beautiful she was, even when she was a gangly teenager braces on her teeth. Some of us are so good at the put down and the insult, and we need to think how we can offer the people in our home encouragement.

For others it may mean offering hospitality. When was the last time you invited your neighbours over for a swim? Or when was the last time you had someone over for dinner to your home - perhaps a new family in the church? Or maybe that couple who is here every Sunday and have been going here for years - always doing something in the church - maybe you should have them over for dinner and tell them how much you appreciate them. Or what about that person in need, their kids are running them ragged - wouldn't it be great if you invited their children over for a couple of hours to give them a break?

As for me and my house we will serve the Lord. What does it look like to you? That's one way to make God Lord of your home, make your service real.

Here's the second way to make God Lord of your home - and that is make Him your own. Joshua said, "As for ME - first, then his home - we will serve the Lord." You see before the God can be Lord of your home you have to make Him your own. You have to make that first decision that He will be Lord of your life. It is no good asking God to rule over your house, to be present in your children's lives, if you have not first asked Him to be Lord of your own life. If you have not first submitted your own will to Him, your own decisions and are seeking to follow Him personally then He won't be Lord of your home.

Please don't rest on the Christian beliefs of your parents, your uncle, your aunt, or your spouse. Peter Marshall once said, "There are no grandchildren in the family of God." The Christian faith cannot be inherited - we must each come to a personal experience of God ourselves. Will you say along with Joshua, "As for me I will serve the Lord"?

And you will note that Joshua never said, "As for me I will serve the Lord if the rest of you go along." No he said, "As for me, regardless of what you others will do, we will serve the Lord." He had a willingness to swim against the stream of public opinion, be was willing to take a stand - and so must you and so must I.

And so I ask you, Have you had that personal experience, trusting in Jesus Christ and having Him make all things new in your life? Of knowing that you, personally, are forgiven and that Jesus Christ dwells in your life? All you need to do is recognize God as worthy to be called Lord of your life. Recognize that He has given you everything you need - He has given you forgiveness of sin through the sacrifice of his son - and He asks you to repent of that sin, to turn your back on it. And then He asks you to make him Lord of your life, of your home, actively seeking to serve Him, not with the confession of your lips only, but with your life - showing others that He is the Lord.