Series: What
I'd Like to Know Is… (6/6)
September 2, 2012
Dear friends in Christ.
On October 11, 1987, my Grandfather, Edwin Breiling,
died. Only a few days before he had been
working in his yard, hanging storm windows in preparation for the coming
winter, when he collapsed. He collapsed
because an aortal aneurism had ruptured while he was doing his work. I remember when we got the news that Grandpa
had collapsed and that he had been moved to the Hospital in La Crosse. I remember my parents traveling to La Crosse
to help Grandma, and I remember them coming back on Sunday afternoon and giving
us the news that Grandpa had gone home to be with the Lord. I was 15 that day. I was a freshman in high school and even
though I had been to a number of funerals in my young life, this was the first
time I had felt the sharp sting of death so personally. I can still remember the trip to Wisconsin,
gathering in the funeral home with the family, sitting and listening to the
words of comfort that the Pastor gave before everyone came to pay their
respects.
But out of all of these things, the clearest memory
I have is sitting in church and hearing the very words of our lesson today
being used as my Grandfather’s funeral sermon.
You see, Edwin Breiling was a Pastor who had served the Lord faithfully
for over 40 years, and his final words to his congregation were the very words
of our lesson today, “Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness.
Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt,
and serve the LORD. 15 But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then
choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your
forefathers served 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, NIV84) Through the
pastor who conducted his funeral service, Pastor Edwin Breiling stood before
his congregation one last time. He stood
before his congregation as Joshua stood before the Israelites in Shechem. Grandpa stood before his congregation and
told them, “As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”
“As for me and my household, we will serve the
Lord.” As Christians, these words are
very important to us. Many of us have
them prominently displayed in our homes in one form or another. My son has these words on a sticker which he
has attached to the inside of one of his school folders, and I have a framed
copy of these words hanging on the wall in my office. These words are very
important to us as Christians because they so clearly convey our desire to be
like Joshua. They clearly convey our
desire to stand firm in the teachings of the Lord. They clearly convey our desire to stand
against idolatry and unbelief, and to choose to serve the Lord with our
lives. Even if everybody around us
should forsake the Lord, as Christians we long to cry out with Joshua, “As for
me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”
Now, the interesting thing about these words is the
situation in which they were given. You
see, when Joshua spoke the words of our lesson today, he was very near the end
of his life. He had led the Israelites
for many years, and under his leadership the Lord had subdued the nations
before them, and they had conquered the majority of the Promised Land. Though there were still areas of Canaan to be
conquered, by the time that Joshua spoke these words, the land had already been
divided among the tribes. The people
were living in cities and homes that they had not built. They were eating the fruit of vineyards that
they had not planted. They were enjoying
the blessings of the good land that the Lord had given them, and they and the
land were at rest.
So, Joshua gathered all the people of Israel at
Shechem, which was the perfect place to cast out idolatry and renew the Lord’s
Covenant. It was the perfect place
because Shechem was the place where Abraham essentially got rid of all the gods
his forefathers had served and served the Lord.
It was there at Shechem that Abraham built an altar to the Lord, which
was the first altar to the Lord in the heathen land of Canaan, and worshiped
the Lord who had chosen him by grace and promised him that his descendants
would one day possess the Land of Canaan.
(Genesis 12:1-9). It was there at
Shechem, where all the Israelites had gathered, that each Israelite could look
around and they could see the reality of that promise come to fruition. Not only that, but Shechem was the place
where Jacob settled after returning from his 20 years of service to his Uncle
Laban (Genesis 33:18-20). It was at
Shechem that he bought the plot of ground where he pitched his tent. It was at Shechem that Jacob called on all
his family to get rid of any foreign gods and idols that they had with them,
and they buried them under an Oak tree. (Genesis 35:1-5) It was also from Shechem where Joseph had
been sold into slavery by his brothers, thus beginning the movement of Israel
to Egypt and ultimately their own years of slavery. So, as Joshua gathered the people at Shechem,
in many ways it marked for them a home coming.
It marked for them the ending of the chapters of slavery and wandering
in the desert, as well as the beginning of a new nation under the blessing of
the Lord. So, there at Shechem, a place
filled with so much history for the Israelites, that Joshua reminded them of
the Lord’s great blessings to them and then challenged them, saying: “Now fear
the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your
forefathers worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. 15 But
if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this
day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served 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, NIV84)
“As for me and my household, we will serve the
Lord.” For Joshua it was very clear what
his choice was. No matter what any other
Israelite would choose, Joshua’s choice for himself and for his family was that
they would serve the Lord. This was the
same choice that my Grandfather made! As
for him and for his household, they would serve the Lord! But this was not a choice made hastily or
declared as an ultimatum at his funeral.
No, this was something that he displayed with his life. Because he was the spiritual leader of his
house, he taught his three daughters the truths of God’s Word, and to this day
his daughters serve the Lord with their lives.
Those three daughters sought for themselves men who loved the Lord and
men who served the Lord with every aspect of their lives, and together, with
these men, they each started families that serve the Lord. In each of these families the children were
taught the precious truths of God’s Word.
Each family grew together in faith by gathering in church and worshiping
the Lord on a weekly basis. Each family
lived their faith in word and actions. Whether it was stated or not, each one of
those families adopted Joshua’s declaration as their own, demonstrating by
their words and actions that regardless of what others did, they would serve
the Lord. From those three daughters
came eight grandchildren, and I know for sure that seven of the eight of those
grandchildren live to serve the Lord. And even though I’ve personally lost
contact with one of them I believe that she too lives her life in service to
the Lord. From those eight
grandchildren, four are married and have brought five great-grandchildren into
the world so far. These five
great-grandchildren are already being taught the faith of their
great-grandfather. They are already
being taught the faith-walk of a Christian’s life, the importance of growing in
the Word of God, and the strengthening of faith that comes from gathering for
worship on a weekly basis. All because a
man named Edwin Breiling faithfully served the Lord and taught his household to
do the same, nearly 25 years after the Lord called him home to heaven, it can
still be said that he and his household are serving the Lord.
“As for me and my household, we will serve the
Lord.” Can these words be said about
you? Absolutely! It doesn’t matter what your family history
might be. It doesn’t matter if you are
the first in your family to come to faith in the Lord or you are one in a
longer line than I have displayed today.
It doesn’t matter because today, as we have gathered in worship, we have
gathered before the Lord at Shechem with Joshua and the Israelites. Today, we have Joshua calling on each and
every one of us to throw away the false gods that our forefathers worshiped,
and that we too have worshiped, and serve the Lord. Today, the Lord is calling on each and every
one of us to cast out whatever false gods and idols we’ve been carrying around
in our hearts; false gods that have sought to replace the true god and who
have, at times, succeeded at replacing him.
But what gods are you still carrying with you today? Has greed become a god that rules your
life? Have you sat at the altar of
selfishness and worshiped there for long periods of time? Has pleasure filled your heat with the joys
of this world and crowded out the joy of the True God. Has obstinacy become your god as you refuse
to heed the Word of the Lord that you learned as little children? Have you given over to sexual indulgence,
worldly wisdom, secularism, hedonism, consumerism, instant gratification,
addiction, anger, frustration, or any other gods to claim your heart? Have you allowed anyone or anything to take
over God’s place in your heart? We all
have, this is why Joshua is calling each and every one of us to, “Fear the LORD
and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers
worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD.” (Joshua 24:14,
NIV84)
So, dear friends, let us all throw away these gods
which seek to claim our heats by confessing them to the Lord in our
hearts. Take time during the offering to
confess them to the Lord. Take time
during the silent prayer to confess them.
Take time after worship when you are at home and alone to write them
down and confess them to the Lord. Then, when you have confessed them crumble
up the sheet of paper, send it through the paper shredder, burn it on the grill
before cooking your favorite meal, and live in the Lord’s forgiveness, and
serve the Lord with your lives. For you
know that it is Jesus, your Savior who forgives all your sins. You know it is Jesus, your Savior, who purifies
your hearts so that you can grow in your faith and so that you can serve the
Lord with your lives. It is Jesus, your
Savior, who moves your heart to action so that you begin to live your faith in
the things you say and the things that you do.
So, today, heed the words of Joshua and fear the
Lord and serve him with all faithfulness.
No matter what age you might be, no matter what your family situation
might be, no matter how well you might have served the Lord to this point,
serve the Lord by growing in your faith.
Make the Lord and his Word the highest priority of your life. Grow in your faith through worship and Bible
study, and as you do, you will be seen as someone who does indeed serve the
Lord with your life. Your children will
see your example, and no matter what age they might be, they will see the
importance of serving the Lord with their lives as you are serving the Lord
with your life. It may happen quickly,
and it may happen slowly. It may even
happen so slowly that you cannot perceive it, and in some cases it might take
your funeral until your children understand the importance of serving the Lord
with their lives. But regardless of the
time it takes, today is the day for you to make the choice to continue serving
the Lord with your lives, and making that choice you can say with Joshua, “As
for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”
“As for me and my household, we will serve the
Lord.” Since 1987 these words have
resonated with me in a way that I never expected. I can only thank God for the faithfulness of
a man named Edwin Breiling who faithfully lived for the Lord and taught his
family to do the say. I pray that the
Lord would continue to allow me to do the same so that my family might continue
to learn as his family did. I pray also
that the Lord would bless you through his Word that each of you might live
faithfully for the Lord as well, teaching your families to do the same, so that
we might all grow in God’s Grace declaring with Joshua, “As for me and my
household, we will serve the Lord.”
Amen.
Pastor
David M. Shilling
Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church--Le Sueur, MN
