You cannot worship both God and false gods.  Joshua is clear that choosing to serve false gods means you have determined that it is evil to serve God (Joshua 24:15).  Serving no god is not an option, so there really is no such thing as an atheist.  Everyone worships, whether the true God, idols, the ideas they represent, or self (Romans 1:18ff).  Worship of idols is incompatible with worship of God, which Joshua makes clear by giving the same reason God gave in the second commandment: God’s jealousy (Joshua 24:19 cf. Exodus 20:5).  

Now therefore fear the LORD and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the LORD, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond 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….You are not able to serve the LORD, for he is a holy God. He is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions or your sins. If you forsake the LORD and serve foreign gods, then he will turn and do you harm and consume you, after having done you good.
-Joshua 24:14-15,19-20, ESV
Last time, we looked at Israel’s tumultuous beginning culminating in Judah’s Adam-like failure when tempted and Joseph’s Christlike success when tempted.  After the conquest of Canaan five centuries later, Joshua tells them to choose whether they will serve God or idols.  Joshua said that he and his house would serve God, so he was exhorting Israel as families not individuals.  Worship, whether of God or idols, begins at home…and there are many American “Christian” households that have chosen the wrong gods.
It Begins at Home
God builds His Kingdom primarily through families and has always dealt with His people as families.  His covenants are corporate, made with households rather than individuals.  Even the tribes of Israel were essentially households of households.  The ultimate blessing of the Abrahamic covenant was that all of the families of the world would be blessed through him (Genesis 12:3, 28:14).  The family, not the church, has always been the center of worship.  The Westminster Divines understood this and devoted an entire document to family worship, but many churches today do not.
It is unsurprising then that Scripture’s first reference to false gods comes in the context of a family: when Jacob fled Laban, Rachel stole the household gods (Genesis 31:19) and hid them from him by sitting on them (Genesis 31:34-35).  Her claim that she was menstruating at the time would have caused Jewish readers to see that Rachel was essentially defiling the idols.  Thus begins a theme found throughout Scripture: mockery of idols and their worshippers.  We should laugh at how these idols were powerless to avoid being stolen, sat on, and defiled.  We see the same with the plagues of Exodus targeting specific Egyptian deities.  We see it when the idol of Dagon fell prostrate before the Ark of the Covenant (1 Samuel 5:3-4).  We see it when Elijah mocked the prophets of Baal at Mount Carmel (1 Kings 18:26-29) and when the ruins of Baal’s temple were used as a latrine (2 Kings 10:27).  And we see it when Jesus picked a longstanding hotbed of idolatry and demonic activity to proclaim: “And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18).  Through His life, death, resurrection, and ascension, “He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him” (Colossians 2:15). Isaiah illustrates the absurdity of idol worship by describing a man cutting a log in half, burning half in the fire, and carving the other half into an idol (Isaiah 44:10-17).  Jeremiah calls them “stupid and foolish” (Jeremiah 17:8).  The psalms are equally harsh: “Those who make them become like them; so do all who trust in them” (Psalm 115:8 cf. 135:18).  Scripture is clear that false gods are powerless, so it is absurd to worship them. This means that a man who leads his family to worship idols is a fool who makes his family into fools as well.  As goes the man, so goes the family. While Elkanah’s home was tumultuous, he led his family in the true worship of God.  However, the prevalence and persistence of golden calves and high places shows that he was in the minority.  Most men followed Laban, paying lip service to God while betraying Him by worshipping false gods.
No Room for Pluralism
That brings up another important point: you cannot worship both God and false gods.  Joshua is clear that choosing to serve false gods means you have determined that it is evil to serve God (Joshua 24:15).  Serving no god is not an option, so there really is no such thing as an atheist.  Everyone worships, whether the true God, idols, the ideas they represent, or self (Romans 1:18ff).  Worship of idols is incompatible with worship of God, which Joshua makes clear by giving the same reason God gave in the second commandment: God’s jealousy (Joshua 24:19 cf. Exodus 20:5).  Unlike sinful envy, God’s jealousy is “a zeal that arises when sin threatens a covenant relationship”.[1]  Trying to worship God while also worshipping idols is like a wife saying she is faithful to her husband while regularly sleeping with other men.  There is no room for an open relationship between God and His covenant people, so idolatry is often described as adultery.  Therefore, there is no room for religious pluralism.  We don’t know whether Rachel stole the idols because she was trying to be a pluralist or for some other reason such as spite against her father, but we do know that Israel tried to worship God and false gods throughout their history.  As we saw here, while the southern kingdom of Judah was sinning by selectively obeying God, the northern kingdom of Israel was attempting pluralism: “Come to Bethel, and transgress; to Gilgal, and multiply transgression; bring your sacrifices every morning, your tithes every three days; offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving of that which is leavened, and proclaim freewill offerings, publish them; for so you love to do, O people of Israel!” declares the Lord GOD”  (Amos 4:4-5).  By trying to worship both God and idols, they were blaspheming God just as a wife greatly dishonors her husband when he is just one of the men she sleeps with.  Religious pluralism is and has always been abhorrent blasphemy against God, so every man is exhorted to choose whether he and his family will worship God or idols—he cannot worship both.
Today’s Household Gods
I have previously examined various idols in our culture.  Even faithful churches that abhor those idols likely have families that worship them at home then come to church on Sunday and fail to see the hypocrisy.  Idols are myriad and often subtle, but some are made blatantly obvious by a popular yard sign that declares: “In this house we believe: black lives matter, women’s rights are human rights, no human is illegal, science is real, love is love, kindness is everything”.  This is a clear acknowledgement that worship begins at home, and its credal structure proves that it is religious.  What one must believe in order to be a Christian is summed up in the historic creeds—the Apostles’ Creed, Nicene Creed, Athanasian Creed, and Chalcedon Definition.
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Written by A.W. Workman |
Friday, October 22, 2021
The good shepherd has been calling his sheep from other, unexpected, folds for 2,000 years now. My own Anglo-Saxon and Celtic genes are evidence of this. The hardest to reach demographics and people groups have and will continue to surrender a remnant at the power of the shepherd’s voice. The flock – in all its unexpected diversity – will be complete. “And there will be one flock, one shepherd.”

Yesterday I got to preach to our small local church plant on John 10:16 – “And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.”
We simply walked phrase by phrase through this verse, seeking to understand, wrestle with the importance, illustrate, and apply each line. The phrase that got the most audible reactions was “that are not of this fold.”
I shared with the attendees that Jesus was here communicating to the Jews that the people of God would be gathered from unexpected peoples and places – namely, the gentile nations. “Not of this fold” meant not of ethnic Israel. One of the great mysteries revealed in the New Testament is that God had chosen a holy spiritual nation, comprised of those from every nation, tribe, and tongue. Ethnic Israel wasn’t the ultimate Israel.
This part wasn’t very provocative. After all, my listeners were Central Asians, not first century Jews. However, we then discussed why this point is important for us today. We, like Jesus’ initial Jewish followers, tend to believe that there are certain types of people who believe, and certain types of people who really don’t. Those similar to us almost always fall into the category of “likely open to belief.” And groups we are naturally opposed to often end up in the category of “unlikely to believe.”
This has a practical effect on our evangelism. We end up sharing with those we have pre-filtered, and we remain tight-lipped with others. But what has occurred is that our own experience and cultural categories (or prejudice?) have become the filter, rather than the gospel message itself. Given the logic of Jesus in this passage, this is a mistake.
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While you should bypass that football shirt with Philippians 4:13 on it, don’t miss the bigger lesson from Paul’s letter. No matter what twists and turns you find yourself taking in the Christian life, you can learn to be content with a joyful spirit just as the apostle Paul exemplified. If you find yourself on a mountain peak or valley floor—the blessings or trials should not prevent you from walking by faith with a joyful heart. If you find yourself suffering for the sake of following in the footsteps of Jesus, as you take up your cross, do so with a heart of contentment and joy.

If you pay attention to social media, it’s very common to see athletes posting #Phil413 in relation to their athletic accomplishments. The Bible verse appears on t-shirts for Christian schools, the social media platforms for MMA fighters, and it’s likewise used by Track & Field athletes as they seek to give credit to Christ for their abilities.
The verse became more widely known due to Tim Tebow, the former Heisman winner and quarterback for the Florida Gators during the 2008 season. As Tebow led his team to the national championship game against Oklahoma, he and his teammates would write messages in their black eye paint before every game. As players were in the locker room writing their mother’s name or their zip code under their eyes, Tebow decided to go a different direction. He wrote Philippians 4:13.
During the national championship game, Tim Tebow chose a different Bible verse. He wrote John 3:16 under his eyes knowing that the cameras would be focused on him throughout the entire game. Following the game, he was informed that some 94 million people had searched for “John 3:16” on Google. While that’s certainly a great thing, what about Philippians 4:13? Is it about scoring touchdowns or winning the big game?
One of the pastoral epistles in the New Testament is known as “Philippians” because it was addressed to the church in the city of Philippi. This letter also contains one of the most famous verses in the Bible—Philippians 4:13.
As Paul penned this letter, he was writing from prison.  Paul was not writing from a magnificent library. He was not writing from a comfortable vacation resort. He was writing from prison and he had a specific purpose in mind as he addressed the church in this strategic city east of Rome. This city of Philippi was located on the main highway (Via Egnatia) that stretched from Rome to the east.  Therefore, it received many visitors, prospered economically, and became a wealthy city. It was there that God raised up a church.
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