Mid-Lent 2
Dt
6:1-25
3/20/19
If you picked up this book and
looked through it, you would find that it is 197 pages of rules. This is the
Handbook of the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod. It was issued as a result of the convention
that was held in July 2016. After the
convention this summer, another one will be issued to incorporate any changes
that are made at the convention.
This is the most boring book ever
written. It describes in minute detail
the Regulations for Corporate Synod and Agencies of Synod, the Dispute
Resolution of the Synod, the Membership in the Synod, the process for Expulsion
from the Synod, the function of elected and appointed officers and boards of
the synod … the list goes on and on.
It’s one mind numbing page after another.
If you asked me, “What is the
meaning of the statutes and rules that are in his book?”, I would say, “Well,
as an organization the Synod has to have rules that govern how it operates.
This book tells you how things have to be done.” Honestly, there is no way that my response would start with Gospel. I wouldn’t begin by saying, “Well, we were
slaves to Satan, sin and death, but God sent his Son to redeem us by dying on
the cross and rising from the dead.”
When you read through Deuteronomy,
you will also find a lot of rules about how Israel was to do things. The name “Deuteronomy” means “second
law.” It derives this name from the fact
that in this book we find the second occasion the Ten Commandments are listed.
Along with this you find many other rules and laws that govern things like what
food to eat, what festivals to celebrate, how cities of refuge are to work, how
to atone for unsolved murders … the list goes on and on.
In tonight’s text Moses take up the
question about what the content of Deuteronomy – the Torah – means. He addresses the question: “When your son asks you in time to
come, ‘What is the meaning of the testimonies and the statutes and the rules
that the LORD our God has commanded you?’”
He tells the Israelites what to say.
But unlike my answer about the Synodical Handbook, Moses does begin with Gospel.
He says, “then
you shall say to your son, ‘We were Pharaoh's slaves in Egypt. And the LORD
brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. And the LORD showed signs and
wonders, great and grievous, against Egypt and against Pharaoh and all his
household, before our eyes. And he brought us out from there, that he might
bring us in and give us the land that he swore to give to our fathers.’”
Moses
begins with Gospel. The exodus is the
great Gospel event of the Old Testament.
With good reason, the language of “redeeming from slavery” that is used
to describe the exodus is then taken up in the New Testament and applied to
what God has done for us in Jesus Christ.
Moses says that the starting point for understanding the Torah is
Yahweh’s saving action. Then he goes on to say, “And the LORD commanded us to
do all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God, for our good always, that he
might preserve us alive, as we are this day. And it will be righteousness for
us, if we are careful to do all this commandment before the LORD our God, as he
has commanded us.”
Notice how
for Moses doing these statues, fearing Yahweh, receiving good and receiving life
go together. The God who had rescued
them from slavery and was giving them the land of Canaan as a home, had
commanded these things for their good. He had commanded them in order to keep
them alive.
Yahweh was
about to bless them very richly. But
there was a danger in this. Our text
says, “And when the LORD your God brings you into the land that he swore to
your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you--with great and
good cities that you did not build, and houses full of all good things that you
did not fill, and cisterns that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive trees
that you did not plant--and when you eat and are full, then take care lest you
forget the LORD, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of
slavery.”
Like
Israel, God has blessed us richly. We live at a level of comfort that surpasses
anything the world has ever seen. Our
“hardships” are the fact that we can’t take as many vacations as we would like,
or we can’t do all the improvements we want to our house, or we can’t get the
latest technology right now: my
goodness, my phone is so old.
Just as
Moses warned Israel, this abundance leads us to forget God. We forget that he is the Giver of all these
things. He is the One who had blessed us with them. In our sinfulness we end up loving the
blessings more than the One who blesses.
Yet in our text Moses says, “You shall love the Lord your God with all
your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”
Moses tells
Israel, “It is the LORD your God you shall fear. Him you shall serve and by his
name you shall swear. You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the
peoples who are around you-- for the LORD your God in your midst is a jealous
God--lest the anger of the LORD your God be kindled against you, and he destroy
you from off the face of the earth.”
Yahweh
commanded Israel that they were not to worship the gods of the peoples around
them. Yet we must realize that this
involved more than just religion. In the
ancient world, religion and life of a society were interwoven. To be involved in one was to be involved in
the other. Again and again Yahweh warned
the Israelites not to intermarry with the pagan people around them because this
would lead them into idolatry. Instead, they were to remain separate as God’s
people.
In our
world today to remain faithful to Jesus Christ increasingly means separation
from the world. The world - its ways and
beliefs - encroach more and more. How
many demands on Sunday morning does youth sports have to make, before we are
forced to say that Christ must come first?
Is there a point when we are willing to say this, or will Jesus just
continue to lose in the competition for our time? Are we willing to be alienated from the world
because we say that sex is not part of dating?
Are we willing to incur the world’s wrath by confessing that
homosexuality is sinful and a rejection of God’s will?
In our
text, Moses says that when a son asks, “What is the meaning of the testimonies
and the statutes and the rules that the Lord our God has commanded you?”, the
Israelites were to begin the answer with God’s saving action of the
exodus. As we consider how we are to
live as God’s people, our starting point is God’s saving action in Jesus
Christ.
We begin
with our Lord Jesus who redeemed us from sin and the devil by fulfilling the
law in our place and dying on the cross for our sins. We begin with Jesus Christ who defeated death
by his resurrection on the third day. We
begin with Jesus Christ who as the risen and ascended Lord, poured out the Holy
Spirit on the day of Pentecost.
We begin
here because in Jesus Christ we receive forgiveness for the ways we have
allowed the blessings to supplant the One who blesses us with every good
gift. We begin here because through the
Gospel we receive not only the power of salvation, but also the power and strength
to live in ways that are true to God’s will.
It is through the Gospel that the Holy Spirit has made us a new creation
in Christ. We have born again of water
and the Spirit, and the Spirit continues his work in us as he daily renews and
strengthens us to say no to the world and yes to God. The Gospel – the death
and resurrection of Jesus Christ for you – enables us to live as the people of
God each day.
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