What did Joshua appeal to the Israelites to do (Josh. 24:14, 15)? What does it mean to serve the Lord in sincerity and in truth?
Joshua’s appeal clearly expresses the fact that the Israelites have to decide whether, through loyalty to their Creator, to keep their uniqueness and live in the land or to fade back into being one among many idolatrous peoples, with no clear identity, purpose, or mission. The choice is theirs.
Joshua’s appeal is twofold: Israel should fear the Lord and serve Him “in sincerity and in truth.” To fear the Lord does not mean a life of perpetual trembling and emotional insecurity. It rather refers to the reverence and awe that stem from the recognition of the unfathomable greatness, holiness, and infinity of God on the one hand and our smallness, sinfulness, and finitude on the other. To fear God is a constant awareness of the magnitude of His demands, a recognition that He is not only our heavenly Father but also our Divine King. Such awareness will lead to a life of obedience to God (Lev. 19:14, Lev. 25:17, Deut. 17:19, 2 Kings 17:34). While “fear” describes the inner attitude that must characterize an Israelite, the practical outcome of reverence to God is service.
The service that is required of Israel is characterized by two Hebrew terms: “in sincerity” and “in truth.” The first term (tamim) is mostly used as an adjective to describe the perfection of the sacrificial animal. The second term that describes Israel’s service is “truth,” or “faithfulness” (Heb. ’emet). The term generally connotes constancy and stability. It usually refers to God, whose character is intrinsically characterized by faithfulness, which is manifested toward Israel.
A faithful person is somebody who is dependable and trustworthy. Basically, Joshua is asking Israel to demonstrate the same loyalty to God that God has displayed toward His people in the course of their history. It is not merely outward compliance to His requirements but what springs from an undivided inner consistency of the heart. Their lives should reflect gratefulness to God for what He has done for them. Basically, it is how we today should relate to Jesus, as well.
What does it mean to you to serve the Lord “in sincerity” and “in truth”? What are some of the distracting factors in your life that prevent your full devotion to God?
Supplemental EGW Notes
Jesus is the ladder to heaven, . . . and God calls upon us to mount this ladder. But we cannot do this while we load ourselves down with earthly treasures. We wrong ourselves when we place our convenience and personal advantages before the things of God. There is no salvation in earthly possessions or surroundings. A man is not exalted in God’s sight, or accredited by Him as possessing goodness, because he has earthly riches. If we gain a genuine experience in climbing, . . . we must leave every hindrance behind. Those who mount must place their feet firmly on every round of the ladder.
We are saved by climbing round after round of the ladder, looking to Christ, clinging to Christ, mounting step by step to the height of Christ, so that He is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity are the rounds of this ladder.
Courage, fortitude, faith, and implicit trust in God’s power to save are needed. These heavenly graces do not come in a moment; they are acquired by the experience of years. But every sincere and earnest seeker will become a partaker of the divine nature. His soul will be filled with intense longing to know the fullness of that love which passes knowledge. As he advances in the divine life, he will be better able to grasp the elevated, ennobling truths of the Word of God, until, by beholding, he becomes changed, and is enabled to reflect the likeness of his Redeemer.
Child of God, angels are watching the character you develop, they are weighing your words and actions; therefore take heed to your ways, . . . prove whether you are in the love of God.
To love God supremely and our neighbor as ourselves is genuine sanctification.—The Faith I Live By, p. 120.
Day by day, and hour by hour, there must be a vigorous process of self-denial and of sanctification going on within; and then the outward works will testify that Jesus is abiding in the heart by faith. Sanctification does not close the avenues of the soul to knowledge, but it comes to expand the mind, and to inspire it to search for truth, as for hidden treasure; and the knowledge of God’s will advances the work of sanctification. There is a heaven, and O, how earnestly we should strive to reach it. I appeal to you . . . to believe in Jesus as your Saviour. Believe that He is ready to help you by His grace, when you come to Him in sincerity. You must fight the good fight of faith. You must be wrestlers for the crown of life. Strive, for the grasp of Satan is upon you; and if you do not wrench yourselves from him, you will be palsied and ruined. The foe is on the right hand, and on the left, before you, and behind you; and you must trample him under your feet. Strive, for there is a crown to be won.
Soon we shall witness the coronation of our King. Those whose lives have been hidden with Christ, those who on this earth have fought the good fight of faith, will shine forth with the Redeemer’s glory in the kingdom of God.—The Faith I Live By, p. 124.
The above quotations are taken from Ellen G. White Notes for the Sabbath School Lessons, published by Pacific Press Publishing Association. Used by permission.