Church, Come Out of the Closet

 TEXT: Joshua 24:13-15 TOPIC: Church, Come Out of the Closet Pastor Bobby Earls, Northgate Baptist Church, Florence, SC Sunday morning, August 2, 2020 We have been witness to a great many people boldly protesting publicly across our country of late. Sadly, many have gone beyond peaceful protests to angry demonstrations involving the destruction of property, both private and public. Violence in now common on the streets of America by those who are willing to make extreme demonstrations of their beliefs. We have also been introduced to another common phrase in our day as many others openly and boldly declare their sexual identity by choosing to "come out of the closet." I also believe, sadly, it seems much of America including the church has embraced what the bible describes as an abomination, the deviant sexual lifestyles many are choosing. By the way, I am not just talking about homosexuality. There are many sexual sins committed outside the marriage vows. And each one is just as morally wrong as the other. Joshua was one of the great leaders of ancient Israel. You may recall how Joshua followed in the footsteps of Moses helping Israel to conquer the Promised Land. But Joshua was more than just a military leader. He was also a spiritual leader. Near the end of his days, in what was likely Joshua's final message to Israel, Joshua reviews all God had done for Israel covering Exodus 12 through Joshua 22. I want us to pick up near the very end of his message as Joshua extends a challenge and an invitation for Israel. 13 I have given you a land for which you did not labor, and cities which you did not build, and you dwell in them; you eat of the vineyards and olive groves which you did not plant.' 14 "Now therefore, fear the LORD, serve Him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River and in Egypt. Serve the LORD! 15 And if it seems evil to you to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD." Joshua 24:14-15 (NKJV) Joshua is challenging Israel to come out of the closet of the world in order to experience a new land, a new day and a new life. There are three action steps I want to share with you this morning that will help the church come out of the closet. If we are to ever impact our world again; if we are to be the "salt and the light" of this dark and confused world, then we need to take these three steps together. And the first step we must take is a careful reverence. Look at verse 14. "Now therefore fear the Lord...." I. BY TAKING A CAREFUL REVERENCE, Joshua 24:14 "Now therefore, fear the LORD," The first thing Joshua told the Israelites was that they must fear the Lord. Fear the Lord. The word for "fear" here means a healthy respect for the nature of God. It means to hold God in awe; respect the holiness and the majesty of Almighty God. Dr. Tony Evans says, "To fear God means to take him seriously, rather than having a mere casual relationship with him and trying to keep him on the periphery of life." 1 Do you know how you can lose your walk with God? Get casual, get careless, lose the awe, lose the respect, lose the fear of the Lord. Over and over and over again in the Bible we are admonished to fear God. Far too many today have grown too casual in their relationship with God. Psalm 33:18 (NKJV), Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear Him, On those who hope in His mercy, Psalm 115:13 (NKJV), He will bless those who fear the LORD, Both small and great. Psalm 147:11 (NKJV), The LORD takes pleasure in those who fear Him, In those who hope in His mercy. Do you want to please God? (By the way if you please God it doesn't matter whom you displease. And if you displease God it doesn't matter who you please and you cannot please God without fearing God.) T/S-Not only are we to take a careful reverence by fearing the Lord, but Joshua also tells us to take a courageous resolve by serving the Lord! II. BY TAKING A COURAGEOUS RESOLVE, Joshua 24:15 15 And if it seems evil to you to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD." Resolve to "serve" the Lord. At the close of verse 14, Joshua forcefully challenged the Israelites to Serve the LORD! He also challenged them to serve Him in sincerity and in truth in verse 14. Then four other times in verse 15 he encourages a resolution of service first by reminding them they have a choice to make. Will they continue to serve the false gods of their fathers or will they choose a new start by choosing to serve the Lord their one true God? Then he lays down the gauntlet by declaring his own decision and that of his household. Joshua will serve the Lord! T/S-The Church today can come out of the closet when we practice a careful reverence. Fear the Lord. Next the Church can come out of the closet through a courageous resolve, Serve the LORD! And the third step we must take to come out of the closet is a continual repentance. Look at verse 15 again. III. BY PRACTICING A CONTINUAL REPENTANCE, Joshua 24:14b and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River and in Egypt. Serve the LORD! Look if you will in verse 14 again, "Now therefore serve the Lord in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt and serve the Lord." Put away those gods. Now this is strange. He's saying put away the gods of Egypt and they had been out of Egypt for 40 years. But you see, there are always the weeds of the old life that want to sprout again. There are those hang over sins, that are down deep in our heart. And we need to be careful of those things or those old gods will come back into your life if you're not careful. After you've been in the land of Canaan, those old gods that you worshiped in Egypt or were familiar with in the wilderness. Those old gods will come back and demand your service. And you're going to serve someone or something and if you don't serve the true God, you're going to be serving one of those gods. An idol is anything we love more, fear more, serve more, or trust more than almighty God. In one of Steve Farrar's books he writes about the god Baal, one of the many Canaanite gods served by the descendants of Cain. The Jews often fell into Baal worship. Farrar writes that the false god Baal had four characteristics, or Baal worship had four characteristics. Number one the worshipers of Baal were pro-choice. They believed in killing babies, only they waited until after the baby was born. But they were pro-choice. They commonly killed their newborn children. He said secondly, they were environmentalists. They were more concerned about fertility and crops than human beings. Thirdly, the Baal worshipers were a part of a promiscuous society. Anything and everything were permissible. They worshiped Baal, their god that way, and deviant sexual sin was an important part of their idolatrous Baal worship. And fourthly, they sought to legitimatize Baal worship and make it coexist with the worship of Israel's God. Remind you of anything? Today, we have placated every sin. We are told we must accept our culture's idolatrous sins or be at risk of loosing our own freedom of worship. If we refuse to do so we are call intolerant, bigoted and homophobic. And that's the short list! Where is the tolerance for my beliefs? Conclusion: The Church today needs to come out of the closet of our world by repenting of our sins; the sins of conformity, compromise and carelessness. We need to acknowledge our failure to impact this lost world with the Gospel. We have grown comfortable in this world embracing the old customs and the conclusions of this world. We need to repent of these idols and return to a Church that is separated from the compromising ideologies of this day. We need to repudiate the dark worldviews of our culture and affirm our commitment to Christ alone! Our reverence, our service belongs to the One true God and Savior of us all, Jesus Christ. Can we say along with Joshua, "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord!" 1 Tony Evans, The Tony Evans Study Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible, 2019), 267. --------------- ------------------------------------------------------------ --------------- ------------------------------------------------------------ 2