“A Compass To Find Our Way”
Joshua 24: Joshua 24:1-3a, 14-18 and Matthew 22:34-40
Pastor Deb Troester, STHPC, February 1, 2026
When Joe and I were younger we enjoyed spelunking. For those who might not know, that’s cave exploring. One day my brother and I, along with Joe, my boyfriend at the time, decided to explore a place called Bat Cave. We had to hike a couple of miles to get there. There wasn’t a trail, so I asked Joe, “How are we going to find the cave?” “That’s easy,” he said, “I have a topographic map and a compass.” I wasn’t so sure, but I followed along anyway. After about 45 minutes we still hadn’t found the cave and I was beginning to get worried. Suddenly Joe called out, “Stop! Don’t go any further. I think we are standing above the cave entrance. If you go any further you might fall right over the cliff edge into the mouth of the cave.” And he was right – with the map and the compass we had come directly to the cave – in fact, we were standing right on top of it!
Wouldn’t it be nice if in life we had a map and a compass to find our way, tools that could take us to exactly the right path?
Often we are faced with dilemmas when we really don’t know which way to go. Thankfully God has given us some guidance. Our scriptures today are like a compass that can show us the right direction.
In the Old Testament scripture, Joshua has led the people through the wilderness. They have overcome hunger, thirst, enemies, plagues, crossing the Red Sea to arrive at the Promised Land. But they are in danger – danger that they will forget the God who led them there, and worship other gods instead. So, Joshua sets before them a question – a challenge really: “Remember, it is God who led you out of slavery in Egypt, who brought you through many trials and difficulties to this new land where you can thrive. Don’t forget God and start to worship other gods. Choose this day whom you will serve. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
Joshua’s words are like a compass - they point us in the right direction. Now most of us probably decided we would serve God at some point in our lives, or we wouldn’t be here in church today. We might have made this decision at our confirmation or baptism,
at a time of spiritual commitment or recommitment. It can happen in many ways, but if we are ever to find the right path in this confusing world, we need to be sure of our commitment to God. Even if we feel our faith is not strong, we can at least be like the person who said to Jesus, “I believe, Lord. Help my unbelief.” We know that we don’t earn God’s favor by our good deeds – it is by God’s grace alone that we can call ourselves Christians, but we still have a choice: Do we want to make God the most important thing our lives or not? Sometimes, like Joshua, we need to reaffirm this choice. Today is a good day to do that.
In Joshua’s time, choosing to serve God meant obeying God’s laws - the Ten Commandments, dietary laws, sacrificial laws, laws about not worshipping idols. It had only been a generation since the Hebrews had left Egypt with its many gods. That is why so much emphasis was placed on not making graven images or bowing down to them. When confronted with this choice, Joshua affirmed, “As for me and my family, we will serve the Lord.” But what does it mean to choose to serve the Lord here and now, in San José in 2026?
I would guess that most of us try to follow the Ten Commandments and are not tempted to worship graven images, but we do worship the idols of money, power, prestige, and even political affiliation. Anything we love more than God is our idol. In answer to Joshua’s challenge, most of us would say, “Yes, as for me and my family, we choose to serve God” – or, if we can’t speak for our whole family, we would say, “yes, I am committed to serving God.” But how do we live that out? Fortunately, we don’t have to worry about all the laws of the Old Testament – and there are a lot of them! Jesus made it simple. When asked which commandment is the greatest? [he answered], “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” Here is our compass to guide us when we are not sure which way to go. If the commitment to serve God points us in the right direction, Jesus’ words tell us how to follow that path: Love God and love your neighbor. It is that simple, and that hard. God loves all people, so if I follow God, I must also love the people God loves, and that includes everyone.
This week a Facebook friend, who thinks a bit differently than I do, wrote that Jesus’ command to love one another only to be applied in the church, not in society in general. I do not think Jesus ever taught that. Treating others as we would like to be treated applies to everyone. No exceptions. That is the Golden Rule Christ gave us. Jesus tells us that choosing to serve God means that we must choose to love one another, whether we have different points of view, different ethnicity, different gender orientations, are from different countries. Jesus never commanded us to agree with one another. He commanded us love one another. 1 John 4 reminds us: “Those who say, “I love God,” and hate their brothers or sisters are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen.”
This kind of loe is not a feeling. Rather it means that we wish someone well, pray for them, and acknowledge that they, too, are made in the image of God. It means that we won’t cut off friends and family who have slighted us in the past, or who think differently than we do. A good friend of mine – a Zambian pastor - once said,
“If you are judging someone, you aren’t loving them.” God is love. Let us point our compass in the direction of loving one another, rather than trying to prove we are right. As Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “Let no man pull you so low as to hate him.”
In fact, if we as a church don’t set an example of loving one another, who will? One of the many good things I heard about Santa Teresa Hills, before I came here as your pastor, is “This is a church where they love one another.” You care about and accept people, even if you come from different places, even if you don’t agree on everything. Our country desperately needs examples of this kind of love and respect for those who are different from us, and Santa Teresa Hills is a light, shining in the darkness. It isn’t always easy, but I think we are doing something right!
Church is like a family – and we all know that we don’t get to choose our relatives! Someone said that a family is a group of people who love love each other, and who drive each other nuts!
Loving one another is the best way to show our love for God, at least, that is what Jesus taught.
These past few weeks have been difficult. Perhaps you are feeling angry or sad over things that have been happening in our country, or in other countries. As Christians, we are not exempt from feeling strongly about what’s going on around us. Indeed, because we live in a democracy, we have a responsibility to keep informed, to vote, and sometimes even to protest, if we feel something is wrong. Yet, our first allegiance is not to our nation or to a political party. Our first allegiance is to God. And God does not belong to a political party. As Abraham Lincoln said, “My concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God's side.”
During the contentious 2020 election, comedian Bill Maher got serious for once and said, “No matter which side is declared the winner, let’s skip the civil war, and go right to reconciliation.” For a person who claims to be an atheist, I think he was onto something. Because if we Christians know about anything, it’s reconciliation.
We are reminded in 2 Corinthians 5: “God …reconciled us to himself through Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation.” As followers of Jesus, we are to be a people of reconciliation. We are to be peacemakers.
The church is a community of hope in this dark world. What better way in these troubled times to reflect God’s love than by making an effort to get along together, despite our differences, reaching out to our neighbors, even those who are different from us in some way. In so doing, we shine a light in the darkness, and hold out hope that we can all work together for the common good. Above all, Christians are a people of hope – we believe in the resurrection and in a God who loves and cares for us, and no election, pandemic, wildfire, or civil unrest can take away God’s love. This is the hope we offer to the world. This is the Good News. Let’s choose to love God with all our heart, soul, strength and mind, and our neighbors as ourselves. This is a compass that will always lead us in the right direction when the path seems difficult to find. Amen.
Let us pray: Loving and reconciling God, this day we choose to serve you. Fill our hearts with the love that you freely give. Help us to accept, forgive, and love not only our friends but also those who disagree with us. Help us to be quick to love and slow to judge, even when it’s difficult, so that we can be examples of your love to our community. And in so doing, may we be transformed to be a little more like Christ. Amen.
Sermon @Deborah Troester 2020, 2026