In our journey in search of a life of purpose, we’ve discussed, first of all, that the search must begin with God. That sounds like a no-brainer, yet we know the truth in our society today that many, many people are searching for purpose in life with no acknowledgment whatsoever of God’s place in their lives. Such a search is fruitless and doomed to frustration and failure. The starting place for meaning and purpose in life is in a relationship with Almighty God, our Creator who created us for a specific purpose. Next we discussed that the search for purpose takes us to worship—bringing our Creator pleasure through the worship we offer, not only on Sunday morning, but each and every day as we consciously and intentionally make God the center of our everyday, ordinary lives. Then we discussed that a life of purpose does not take place in isolation, but within the family of God where we openly share with one another, lovingly care for each other, and gracefully encourage one another. And, last week, we looked at how God loves us as we are, but He refuses to leave us there. God wants us to be just like Christ. Today, we build some more on the process of becoming more like Christ and finding purpose in life by hearing and responding to the call to serve others.

Our Scripture reading is from the book of Joshua, chapter 24, verses 14 and 15. The setting is the settling into the Promised Land by the Israelites following their exodus from Egypt, their wandering through the wilderness for 40 years and their finally moving into the land promised them through God’s covenant with Abraham. Before the 12 tribes of Israel are to disperse into their respective tribal lands in Canaan, Joshua summons the leaders of each tribe to gather for a "covenant renewal ceremony," where they are reminded of their history with the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Moses. Then, before the 12 tribes scatter to their lands, Joshua puts before them this challenge. (Read Joshua 24:14, 15)

It is a momentous moment in the history of the Israelites. It is, in fact, a momentous moment for all who would follow later and become a part of the family of God. For Joshua is putting before them—and those of us who follow later—the decision and choice to be made of whom we will serve. Will we serve the God of our profession of faith, or will we serve the gods of our culture? Inherent in that decision is the significant choice—the choice, really, around which everything else spins—of the two very different natures of the God of our faith and the gods of our culture. For the "gods of the Amorites," or the gods of our culture today are gods to be worshiped and served almost exclusively because of the benefits it will bring us. The Amorite gods were gods of harvest, or gods of fertility, gods of the seasons—each god with a particular function or purpose for the benefit of the Amorites. In need of a bountiful harvest for that year’s crops? Call upon the god, or gods connected with the harvest. Wanting to grow a family? Call upon the god, or gods of fertility. Experiencing difficult, inconvenient weather? Call upon the god, or gods of the seasons. Whatever it was an Amorite wanted, there was a specific god for it. The decision to serve such gods had nothing to do with others, and little to do with the worthiness of the gods. It was all about what the Amorite wanted.

Not so for the God of Israel. While the welfare of the people of Israel is certainly a concern of the God of Israel, that is not the primary purpose in choosing to serve this God. For this God will demand our worship and service, not primarily for what it will benefit us, but because this God is worthy of our worship and service. Void of any benefit to us, this God is still One to be worshiped and praised. Furthermore, the decision to serve this God will mean placing the concerns of others as a priority in our lives, because that is also a primary concern for this God.

And so, the choice of whom we will serve carries at its core the choice of self-benefiting, self-righteous service, or service that is pleasing to God and beneficial to others.

As I look back on my life, I can see with greater clarity now, how such choices played out.

In my years of playing baseball, God wasn’t even a factor in my decision of who I would serve. I'm certainly not proud of that fact, but that's the way it was. It was all about the god of baseball and how that would benefit me. But then my career came to an end, I had gone as far as my abilities would take me, and the benefit was gone. There was a tremendous sense of loss, a kind of disorientation, really, before moving on to the next thing, the next purpose in life.

The next thing turned out to be a career in broadcasting. And even though there came a moment in my life during that time when I re-discovered God, when I made a commitment to Jesus Christ as my Savior and Lord, my immaturity in the faith resulted in my sense of service still being mostly about me. A time came when the radio station I worked for was sold, and new ownership came in with lots of changes. Eventually, those changes resulted in the loss of my job. I remember sitting in my brother’s living room talking about what had happened and weeping, not so much over the loss of the job, but over the loss of direction in what I thought my career would be. Call it a loss of purpose. I remember my sister-in-law describing it as the "death of a dream." She was right, but I now see that it was my dream and not God’s. Even though I was a Christian, active in my faith and in my church, I had given little thought and pursuit to what was God’s purpose for me. It was still all about me and what I wanted.

But, God was gracious and it was that experience of the "death of a dream" that drove me to seeking more of God’s direction and purpose for my life. I immediately landed another job—the circumstances of which I won’t bore you with—I can only say that it was a God-given blessing to get. It wasn’t very glamorous—I was a meat salesman—but I now know that God used that time to make me more and more aware of His place in my life, of His purposes for me. A part of my job involved a weekly trip to Casper, Wyoming, calling on customers along the way, and the solitude of that trip afforded me plenty of opportunities for prayer and for growing in faith. I listened to teaching tapes along the way. I prayed and reflected on what I had learned in those tapes. I listened in the stillness for the quiet voice of God—and there are plenty of places of stillness in Wyoming! I grew to the place of giving God prominence in my life. I discovered more and more about His purpose for my life. Life became more about God and His purpose for my life and less about me.

Again, I won’t bore you with the details, but that experience led to my sense of God calling me to a particular form of ministry, of attending seminary to prepare for ministry as a pastor. To be honest, I resisted going to seminary because I so believed—and still believe—in the call to ministry for all believers. God used that time, however, my "Wyoming time" to move me toward understanding His purposeful call to me to attend seminary and seek ordination as a pastor.

I still believe passionately, however, in the ministry of all believers. God does indeed have a purpose in mind for you to serve Him in some fashion. And, while discovering that purpose and serving Him in that ministry will certainly be of benefit to you, it will mostly be of benefit to God…and to others. That is the uniqueness in choosing to serve the Lord. It’s not, primarily, about what we will get out of it. Rather, it is about what God and others will get out of it. Yet, ironically, that is the only pathway to a life of meaning and purpose. Everything else—choosing to serve the gods of culture will only lead to the death of a dream.

Jesus—the One about whom we learned last week a major purpose God has for us is to grow more like Him—Jesus puts it this way. "[W]hoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man," a title for Jesus, "For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." (Mark 10:43-45) We remember in this Sacrament we share today the ransom paid by the servant Jesus. We find greatness in life by being, like Him, a servant to all.

For it to be true service it must be service that looks like Christ’s. It must be service that does not primarily seek to serve ourselves, but to serve others. Richard Foster, in his book, The Celebration of Discipline, writes this about the "discipline of service:" (p. 128, underlines mine)

So, choose this day whom you will serve. Whether you will serve the gods of culture—a self-righteous service that comes through human effort, is impressed with the "big deal," requires external rewards, is concerned about results, service that picks and chooses who will be served, that is affected by moods and whims, that is temporary, without sensitivity, and fractures community…self-righteous service that cannot lead to a life of meaning and purpose. Or, will you choose to serve the Lord in true service that comes from a relationship with God, serves as energetically in small ways as well as large, is content in hiddenness, free from calculating results, is indiscriminate in who is served, that simply and faithfully responds to needs, service that is a life-style, sensitive and builds community? Such service, true service, is the only pathway to a life of meaning and purpose. So, choose this day whom you will serve. One way or another you must choose. To not make a choice is to choose by default the gods of culture. So, choose this day whom you will serve. I pray that you will join with Joshua and thousands—no millions of others who choose to serve the Lord.