Follow Through

Joshua 24:14-24

Matthew 21:28-32

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            A few years ago my nephew gave me an impromptu golf lesson.  He had received a Bachelor’s degree in golf from the Methodist College in North Carolina. Now, I didn’t even know you could major in golf, but to my way of thinking, that has to be about the best course of study anyone can take.  It’s got to be more fun than learning theology and Hebrew and Greek.

With a new degree fresh in his hand he thought he could help me improve my score. Little did he know what a challenge that would prove to be!

            After he watched my swing, and after he wiped a sly smirk off his face; he said I needed to follow through, that I was not completing my swing,  that I stopping it before I struck the ball and that’s why I kept slicing and ending up in the woods.  He told me I  needed to follow through.  If I did that, my ball would fly straight and true.  Of course, there is a world of difference between knowledge and practice, between knowing and doing, but that was his point – everyone needs to practice their follow through.

            Both of the scripture passages we read this morning are about following through, finishing your swing, running the race through the tape.  Stop short and you may find yourself lost in the woods. You may never get to where you want to be.  Before we turn to these stories so that we walk the talk, let us pray:

            Lord, long ago in the Gethsemane you asked Peter and James and John to watch and pray with you.[1] Though willing in spirit, their strength was weak, so they fell asleep leaving you alone.  We know the feeling, for we also fail in our follow through.  While our intentions are good our actions are weak.  Grant us both understanding and power so that we might both know and do your will.  Amen. 

            Joshua and his people came at last to the end of a long journey.  It had begun generations earlier in the mud pits of Egypt with a contest of wills between Pharaoh and Moses, and an exodus that was marked only by faith.  That’s what led them through the wandering years in hot sands of the Sinai and into the Promised Land. 

            It had not been easy.  Along the way they endured the elements, with days so hot and dry every mirage looked as real as the free flowing Nile and nights so cold they thought they’d never end.  They wrestled with the temptation to give in and give up and go back to their dull existence that promised no future but did guarantee a meal at the end of the day.  They faced enemies who claimed land they believed God had given to them through Abraham and battles they saw them outnumbered at every turn.

            Their journey had not been easy, but with each step of faith they experienced some small victory, some piece of hope that would keep them until the day they would make a home in the place God had given them.

That day had at long last come. They had defeated their enemies. They were ready to turn their “swords into plowshares”.[2]  But, as someone once said, “You can win a war, but still lose the peace.”

           

That was Joshua’s fear.  He knew the challenges of the desert and their battles had forged a bond of faith that held them together and brought them close to God.  Crisis can do that.  We saw it the day after 9/11.

When facing overwhelming obstacles people will pull together and they will turn to God.  I don’t know how many times when watching the news I’ve heard the name of the Lord invoked by a victim or rescue worker.  “But, for the grace of God, I would not have survived that great storm.” 

During the battle prayers come fast and easy, and Joshua knew that.  But, he also knew that when the battle was over, when the storm has passed, when the sun begins to shine again, people would drift apart and drift away from God. 

So, before they scattered to build their homes and plant their fields Joshua gathered them together for one final pep talk to encourage them to remain faithful to the Lord.

Joshua’s motivational speeches were not like those you hear in a locker room before the big game.  He did not shout, “Keep hope alive”, or send them out with “win one for the gipper”. 

What did Joshua say?  “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 just serve the Lord.  So, choose this day whom you will serve….as for me and my house we will serve the Lord.”[3]

            It was as if he took his sword and drew a line in the sand and said, choose where you will stand. Get down off the fence on one side or the other. Jesus pretty much said the same thing, “Anyone who is not for me stands against me.”[4]

            The people answered Joshua by saying, “Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods.”[5]  It was almost as if they were insulted by the question.

            Joshua was not so sure.  He knew promises whispered in the middle of the night are not always remembered or kept when the day breaks. He knew they needed more than just good intentions.  So, instead of patting them on the back for answering rightly he throws a bucket of cold water over them and says, “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.”[6]

            When they heard that they probably blinked as many of you just did.  We have no problem at all with the concept of God being holy because we don’t really understand what holiness means, but jealousy we get.  We know what that means. Jealousy is possessive. It is unwilling to share and that is not usually a quality we revere.  To speak of God like that make him appear petty and small. 

 

Joshua goes one step further.  Not only is God jealous, he will not forgive your transgressions or your sins. There is no “Assurance of God’s Forgiveness” in Joshua’s worship services.  He is no believer in cheap grace.  If you don’t follow through with your commitment, he said, if you turn from the Lord to follow other gods, you’ll end up so lost no one will ever find you.

And that’s why the Lord is jealous.  It’s not because he is possessive or petty or small.  This is really any expression of the love of God. He doesn’t want you to get lost.  He doesn’t want you to follow a dead end trail, or end up walking over a cliff, but God knows that’s exactly what will happen if you turn to the gods with a small “g”.

            So Joshua wanted his people to think seriously about this choice, “Choose this day who you will serve.” Don’t be too quick to answer.  Count the cost before you sign the bottom line.  Make sure you are able to follow through.

            Jesus’ parable of the Father and his two sons carried that same thought.  “A man had two sons; he went to the first and said, “Son, go and work in the vineyard today.  He answered, “I will not, but later changed his mind and went.” The father went to the second and said, the same, and he answered, “Yes sir”, but he did not go.  Jesus then asked, “Which one did the will of the Father.”[7]

            This was a trick question, because neither of the sons really did the will of the father.  The first disobeyed his Father by his initial refusal, the second by his actions.  Better to trust and obey, to say “yes sir” and head out to work; but since neither of the boys did that, Jesus’ audience rightly concluded “actions speak louder than words.”  Talk is cheap and won’t fill the basket with grapes.  The first son’s initial refusal was redeemed by his willingness to finally do what his father had asked.  The second son never did anything.

            The next question is obvious.  Which are you?  Are you the kind of person who is quick to raise your hand and promise,  “if there’s ever anything I can do”, but when that day rolls around you’re nowhere to be found; or are you the kind of person who perseveres, who hangs in there, who sticks to it, who gets the job done?

            Chances are you’re both.  Some promises you’ve kept and others you have not.  Since we all feel bad when we let someone down and especially God, it’s better we think about the promises we make before we commit, and count the cost before we pledge.  Jesus and Joshua were on same page in that.  Where they seem to differ is what happens if and when you break your promise and don’t follow through on your commitments. 

            Joshua believed that following gods with a small “g” would lead you down a river of no return and over a waterfall that will leave you smashed upon the rocks. “The Lord is holy and jealous and will not forgive your transgressions and sins.”[8] That was the view of Jesus’ audience as well.

You see, the Pharisees and Temple priests were the ones to whom this parable was directed, and they were stronger and righteousness than they were on grace. They were the ones who rightly answered, “The first son did the will of the Father.” They got the answer right, but they missed the meaning completely.

 Jesus believed there is no place you can go where God is not.  No one is ever so lost God cannot find them.  God’s grace always trumps humanity’s sin.  So, he said straight to their faces, “the tax collectors and harlots will go into the kingdom of God before you because they believed and repented.”[9]  They are the ones who are like the first son about whom you think so highly. These folks picked up what the Pharisees dropped and that’s a sense of humility and recognition that while “we all fall short of the glory of God, we are still justified by grace as a gift through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus.”[10]

Miss that great spiritual truth and you invariably end up serving a god with a small “g”, a god you can create with your own hands, a golden calf you can manipulate or an idol that can change with the times, with fleeting fashions and philosophies of your own devising.[11] Miss that promise of the Gospel and you will with confidence wander off into the woods with no notion that you are lost at all.

The only way you’ll ever know you’ve drifted from God is by looking in the mirror and watching your follow through.

If you’re a member of this church, you stood up one Sunday morning before God and this congregation and declared, “Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior.”  You acknowledged your trust and pledged your intention to be his disciple, to obey his word and show his love. You promised to be a faithful member of this congregation by giving of yourself in every way.”[12]  If you have ever been in worship when we celebrated the sacrament of Baptism you’ve probably affirmed our corporate responsibility to nurture the children in our congregation, to tell them about Jesus.

So, how are you doing on your follow through?  Are you more like the first son who went into the vineyard to work or like the second who makes the right noises but is nowhere to be found when the sun gets too high in the sky?  Are you doing the will of your heavenly father?  Are you working in the vineyard?

If you think you should be doing more, but don’t know what we have a long list around here.   There’s something you can do to follow through on the promise you’ve made to God and to his people.  Certainly, when you receive our Stewardship packet, you’ll find a commitment card that will measure in dollars and cents your follow through of faith, your willingness to express your faith in real and tangible ways.

At the end of the Gospel of Matthew there is a familiar verse usually identified as Jesus’ “Great Commission”.  “Go therefore and make disciples, baptize them, and teach them to obey all that I have commanded.”[13]   Notice, what is to be taught.  It is more than just information.  We are to teach more than Bible stories or doctrines or theology.  Knowing the Truth is not enough.  We need to follow through.  We are to teach “obedience to all that Christ commands.”  How do we do that?

There’s only one way, and the old Nike shoe commercial sums it up – “Just do it!”  That’s the only way obedience can be taught.  We learned from Jesus’ parable that talk is cheap and not enough and actions speak louder than words. Those who truly do the will of the father are those who roll up their sleeves and walk out into the vineyard with a basket in their hands and then just pick some grapes. 

Are you ready?  Are you ready to roll up your sleeves?

Let us pray:

With the words of an old hymn we sometimes sing, “Trust and obey, for there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.”[14] Like Joshua we encounter the same choice: to follow you or not.  Help us to echo his response, “As for me and my house, we will serve you.”  Lead us Lord into your vineyard so that we might roll up our sleeves and get to work.  Amen.

           

           

           

           

           

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[1] Matthew 26:36ff

[2] Isaiah 2:4

[3] Joshua 24:14-15

[4] Matthew 12:30

[5] Joshua 24:16

[6] Joshua 24:19

[7] Matthew 21:28-30

[8] Joshua 24:19

[9] Matthew 21:31-32

[10] Romans 3:23

[11] Exodus 32, Isaiah 44:9ff

[12] The Worship Book UPUSA, pg 49.

[13] Matthew 28:19-20

[14] Sammis, John & Toowner, Daniel: Trust and Obey.