People believe in God, accept the fact that Jesus died in their place, but fail to serve Him! Those people are not entirely Christians. They have been persuaded, usually as fire insurance against the terrible heat in Hell, but that's it!
Let's think for a moment: You are told by the doctor that you only have days to live because your heart is failing. By coincidence, the doctor only has days to live because he has cancer. The good doctor decides to donate his heart to you upon his death. He soon dies, you have heart surgery, and survive. He is no longer extant to thank but he has a son who is now without a father. What would you do? Well, there are two choices: (1) You could flippantly go on your way after a short thank you, or (2) you could show gratitude to the son on behalf of the father.
Most people, being nice, would say "thank you" and move on. That is the humane thing to do. It is polite and honorable. However, those who are sincerely grateful would serve the son and nourish him until he prospers. Some who were thankful, if it were them, would provide sustenance, safety, and honor to the son because of what his father did. That is graciousness.
The problem with many Christians is that Satan tried to kill God. He waited patiently until God had flesh to do the dirty deed. Then Satan provoked people into crucifying God's Flesh. God did not die, but his flesh lives on because it was regenerated. The Father died! God suffered death but because He is infinite, He did not die. He made new flesh for Himself and lives in Heaven in form and on Earth in Spirit.
God sacrificed Himself just as the good doctor did. His Flesh was His "organ" for doing so. Like the good doctor who is in Heaven, God sits there on His throne. How should gracious people serve God? By serving and preserving His Flesh, namely Jesus in body and in Spirit.
You say, "Serving and preserving; I have not heard that before!" Yes you have. God told Adam (man) to "dress and keep the Garden." Well, The Tree of Life was in the midst of it, and still is (Rev 2). Christians are to "dress and keep" The Tree of Life, or Jesus. As good a translation for "dress and keep" is to serve and preserve The Tree of Life. Christians are to serve Jesus and preserve the Doctrine of Christ.
With that background, examine what Joshua told the future Christians:
And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. And the people answered and said, God forbid that we should forsake the Lord, to serve other gods. (Josh 24:15-16)
Joshua said to serve the Lord. The Israelites answered by saying, "Forbid that we should forsake the Lord." Those passages indicate that the Hebrews were willing to serve and preserve the Lord. "The Lord" is Jesus. (That they are separate is the Arian heresy.) They as well have said, "We shall always dress and keep the Tree of Life!"
They were believers for they had heard about and seen the miracles of God. What if they had stopped short there? What if they had not pledged to serve and preserve the Lord? The memory of God and the hope of a Savior - and salvation - would have died right then! But Joshua, symbolic of Jesus, said, "But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."
In Christian terms, that means not only to believe, but to serve... just as the gracious recipient of the heart would serve the son to honor the father. As Christians, we need not honor the Father because we have the Son. When we see Jesus, we see God. Jesus said that. When the donor recipient sees the son, he sees the graciousness of his father. To be blunt, its not Christlike to accept the heart that God gives us, then go on our merry way! We must serve the Son and preserve the Father through His Son.
There are no half-way Christians. It's nice to believe, and even trust God, but niceties are not efficacious. How well you serve God and preserve His prescriptions for longevity is what God expects. After all, He donated His Organ, His very own Heart, that yours may be circumcised of the virus of sin!
What is sin? Ultimately, it's root is "to be." Rather than God who IS, it is you who are! "To be" means existence. Rather than God, those who "sin" assume the identity of God, and do as they please. They exercise their will, rather than favor God's Will.
Probably by chance, but perhaps part of God's Plan, is that the antecedents of Abraham served the moon god "Sin." Rather than serve the One True God, they served a pantheon of gods headed by Sin. In those days, dishonoring God was by honoring Sin. The point I'm making is that when one sins they as well be honoring the moon god. "But that god does not exist!" you exclaim. Yes, he does. He is you. Sinners represent the moon god. We keep him alive each time we sin. He never really existed but we make him real by sinning. "For me and my house," sin isn't real... and "we will serve the Lord" who IS!
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