Liturgy: “​As for me and my house . . .​”

What is the King’s Liturgy? King’s Liturgy defines our experience together as a Christian community. It outlines the rhythms we celebrate with the Church at large: Scripture readings, Sabbath habits, and celebration of Holy Days and historical events.

This Week’s Lectionary Readings

Joshua 24:1-3a, 14-25
Psalm 78:1-7
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 
Matthew 25:1-13

This week’s liturgy is contributed by Dr. Matthew Parks, assistant professor of politics:

If you search on one popular Christian retailer’s website for “But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD (Joshua 24:15b),” you will quickly have 125 items to choose from. In fact, I had only gotten to “as f” in the search box before it came up as the top choice, directing me to an eclectic group of signs, doormats, coffee mugs, bowls, bracelets, notepads, and even a gift bag (give the gift of faith!). What the items had it common, as far as I could tell, was that they all skipped what Joshua said next, in reply to the Israelites’ promise that they too would serve the LORD: “You are not able to serve the LORD, for he is a holy God.”

Perhaps the Israelites might have given up at that point. But that wasn’t really an option. They knew their history. How could they “forsake the LORD to serve other gods” when He had brought them and their “fathers up from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery” and had done “those great signs” in their sight and “preserved” them all along their journey? Some of this they had experienced; some of it they had been taught by their parents. And the story didn’t begin there. They knew that God had made promises to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob hundreds of years before that had been fulfilled, were being fulfilled, and were yet to be fulfilled—promises that had been passed down from one generation to the next that they should “set their hope in God” (Psalm 78:7).

The Old Testament repeatedly instructs Israelite parents to teach their children their history, marked most distinctly by God’s covenant faithfulness toward His people and their own unfaithfulness in return. Knowing that history should humble them and lead them to a deeper appreciation for and reliance upon God’s mercy. The people of God also need to understand their future. In 1 Thessalonians 4, Paul gives perhaps the clearest teaching about the return of Christ and the inauguration of our glorious resurrection lives. “Therefore encourage one another with these words.”

Remember the past; encourage one another concerning the future. What about the present? “Watch,” says Jesus in Matthew 25, with your lamps trimmed, ready to meet the Bridegroom. But if we can’t serve a holy God as we ought, can we really look forward to that meeting? Will the day of the Lord’s return be a day of darkness? Will our history lead only to condemnation? The dilemma that Joshua presents to the people of Israel can only be resolved by Christ. We can’t serve God, but He did. We can’t escape our history, but He rewrote it. We can’t secure our future, but He did—for all those who are “in Christ” by faith. Therefore: “Serve the LORD with gladness!”