Trinity 12
Sermon preached by Ridley Ordinand Christie Gilfeather
‘Long ago our ancestors served other Gods, but as for me and my house, I will serve the Lord’ – these are the words of Joshua in our Old Testament reading.
Picture the scene: A great political leader is coming to the end of their life and want to make sure that their legacy stays intact. They want the people they have led to live in the ways that they have modelled, preserving their values and remembering the lessons that they have taught them.
Our Old Testament reading depicts exactly this kind of scene: Joshua son of Nun has led the people into the promised land. He conquered Jericho to the sound of trumpets and fought many battles for the good of the people. Now, the Lord has given the people rest from their enemies and in this time of peace Joshua encourages the people to renew the covenant that God made with their ancestors.
In many ways, when Joshua asks the question ‘do you want to renew your covenant with God’ its like he’s asking them ‘do you want to win the lottery?’ The covenant was an amazing gift which the people would be foolish to turn down.
What is so amazing about a covenant? God made covenants with Noah, Abraham and with the people as a whole when God gave them the law. Each covenant is different but they all represent a promise of total faithfulness – something which calls to mind a political treaty between God and the people.
Both parties swear to be faithful and while the people often fail in that, God never does.
The key aspect of the covenants that God made with his people is faithfulness, and the ultimate expression of faithfulness is exclusive worship.
Idolatry is something we read a lot about in the Old Testament. The first of then 10 commandments says ‘you shall have no other gods before me’. Much of the narrative of the Israelites revolves around their success or failure in relation to this commandment.
One of the most memorable stories is the one in which Aaron led the people in creating a golden calf to worship, which led to Moses becoming so angry that he smashed the first set of tables on which the 10 of commandments were written and God provided a second.
It is unlikely that any of us made for ourselves a golden calf and worshipped it this week. But is that the only version of idolatry that we need to worry about?
Because the stories about idolotry in the old testament are often so strange, it is easy for us to keep it at a distance and assume that we have nothing to do with it. But is that true?
In what ways do we need to hear Joshua’s challenge that ‘as for me and my house, I will serve the Lord’
One of my favourite ways of talking about sin comes from the church Father Augustine. He describes the act of sin as turning away form God and into oneself. This often happens in subtle, creeping ways that we might not necessarily notice.
Idolotry is the kind of sin that turns us away from God. Far from just being concerned with golden calves and the like, idolatry is the choice to put something before God in our hearts.
Idolotry is creeping, and often it begins with something that looks on the surface to be deeply appealing.
I have lots of plants in my house and I’m always very happy to receive them as gifts. Recently my in laws brought us a peace lily which I was very pleased about. It was beautiful, with lucious green leaves and beautiful white flowers. I looked up how to care for in online and found a spot in our flat with just the right amount of sunlight.
After a week or so, much to my dismay, it started to wilt. This was odd because I’d watered it as much as I should and it was getting all of the sunlight it needed. The days passed, and I tried to revive it. I moved it closer to the window and then further away again. I watered it, and then let it dry out. Nothing worked! It drooped and withered until eventually it was nearly dead.
I went back online and searched for its symptoms and it soon became clear that the peace lily had root rot. Root rot is, unsurprisingly, a disease which causes the roots of a plant to rot. Plants can have root rot for a long time and still appear to be flourishing – despite the fact that they have a rotten foundation.
When we take things like power, money, status which are beautiful and attractive things at first and put them first in our hearts before God, we will eventually find that they are rotten.
Some of these things aren’t inherently evil – power, for example, can be used to influence things for the better, but they must be kept in their right place. They cannot bear the position which belongs rightly and only to God. Eventually they will wither and we will see them for what they are.
How then, do we do this? How do we unearth the rot that comes from idolatry and ensure that God is first in our hearts?
One sentence in our gospel reading shows us the answer. John 6:68 is one of my favourite passages in the whole bible. As we heard, lots of the disciples are abandoning Jesus and he turns to those who are left and says ‘are you going to leave me too?’. The passage says that ‘Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life’.
To whom can we go? Who else is there? Where in the world could we possibly go after encountering Jesus? This is at the heart of St Paul’s statement that he counts everything as rubbish compared to the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus his Lord.
This is the best remedy for the temptation of letting other things come first in our hearts before God. Reminding ourselves again and again that only Jesus has the words of eternal life. To whom else can we go? What can take his place? What else can replace the deep joy of being known and loved by the Lord?
Everything else will wither and pass. If we try to plant anything else in the ground of our hearts before the Lord, it won’t be long before we see that the roots are rotten. Let us cling instead to the surpassing worth of the knowledge of know Jesus as our Lord which is a treasure that will never fade.