Choose Life - Deuteronomy 30:15–20

Sermon Feb 11, 2023 Choose Life Deuteronomy 30:15-20 Main Point: Obeying the command to "choose life" ought to be a no-brainer; it's deception that causes people to choose death. To cure deception, get to know Jesus better. He is the living truth, revealed across the whole bible, and in the daily lives of his people. Introduction In Deut 30 verses 15, Moses is speaking on behalf of God to the Israelites, and he rallies them with a challenge. He asks them to make a commitment. He says, “Look, today I offer you life and success, death and destruction.” This comes after twenty nine chapters of Deuteronomy, in which God has given the law to his chosen people, and then explained in painstaking detail that if they obey they will be rewarded; if they disobey they will be punished; if they repent they will be forgiven. Now comes the capstone summary of the Torah. “I am offering you life or death, blessings or curses. Now, choose life!” Scientists and psychologists have a precise technical term for a decision like this. It is called a “no brainer.” Given a choice between life and death, of course the decision is obvious. Every created organism constantly and instinctively chooses life. Every animal has a fight or flight response – from lowly frogs or insects. Why is it hard for people to choose life? Why would God even need to command it? Why don’t people choose life? God has defined the relationship he wants with Israel across the preceding 29 chapters. And now this is like a marriage proposal. Or it’s like the rallying call of a general before a battle. God is confronting his people, and asking for them to make a firm commitment. There is a rational, logical part of this decision, but people can make the wrong choice if they are deceived. There is also an emotional part of this decision, and people make the wrong choice if their hearts are in the wrong place. Let’s first read this passage of scripture. Then I’ll use a contemporary illustration to demonstrate the problem, and then we’ll talk about the solution. 15 Look, today I offer you life and success, death and destruction. 16 I command you today to love the Lord your God, to do what he wants you to do, and to keep his commands, his rules, and his laws. Then you will live and grow in number, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land you are entering to take as your own. 17 But if you turn away from the Lord and do not obey him, if you are led to bow and serve other gods, 18 I tell you today that you will surely be destroyed. And you will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan River to enter and take as your own. 19 Today I ask heaven and earth to be witnesses. I am offering you life or death, blessings or curses. Now, choose life! Then you and your children may live. 20 To choose life is to love the Lord your God, obey him, and stay close to him. He is your life, and he will let you live many years in the land, the land he promised to give your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. What problems could cause people to not choose life? That has just been defined for us as: loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and staying close to him. So people are either: not loving God, or not obeying him, or not staying close to him. 1) They don’t believe God a) Either that he could truly offer them life b) Or – so downcast by sin – they’ve lost the taste of how good life can be c) Or – they believe life is available some other way 2) They do believe some of what God says, but they don’t know him well enough, so a) They procrastinate. They intend to choose life, but later; after they have some fun doing their own thing and ignoring God. b) They deceive themselves. They think they are choosing life, but they are in error – putting some idol before God, and not. c) They are trying to choose life; but they don’t actually have the ability to follow through. Recount story of a sand truck on Hwy 17; its brakes failed on a downhill stretch, and it plowed through and smashed multiple cars in a deadly series of wrecks. Human nature is like that – sin can be a heavy load, with inertia that we just can’t stop – without a divine miracle.) The problem of spiritual misinformation The root cause of choosing death over life is misinformation. A self-willed acceptance of a lie, not truly knowing God and holding false beliefs about Him. False beliefs stem from alienation and ultimately lead to destructive actions. It's important to recognize that, just as a tree has many branches but one trunk, the various reasons for choosing death can be traced back to this single source. The tree of misinformation is the Tree of The Knowledge of Good and Evil. It is choosing, by self will, what is to be believed. It's crucial that we address the underlying misconceptions and strive towards a deeper understanding of God's love and plan for us, so that we may choose life. Let’s talk first about misinformation. I am going to use a metaphor from the contemporary world of media and technology to illustrate how pernicious, sophisticated and dangerous misinformation is. Then I will circle back to show the biblical source of the misinformation, and then how to cure it. If you haven’t noticed, the potential for misinformation has absolutely skyrocketed over the last year. There is a technology called “Generative Artificial Intelligence.” Generative AI is a technology that takes in the work products created by humans – millions of images and billions of text documents, and then can produce derivative work . This technology can now reproduce the works of graphical artists and painters. While in many cases it is inferior to art produced by people, in other cases it can be on par or superior. Some specific examples of this are programs called Dall-e, Midjourney, and Stable Diffusion. (There are about 25 different alternatives, as well.) These systems have been used to create images from verbal descriptions that are so good that they’ve won art contests, or been used as magazine cover art without people noticing. Artists are in an uproar– trying to sue these AI companies and block them. Now, the technology can be used very creatively, and it's great fun to play with. Unfortunately, it can be used deceptively: in what are called deep fakes. Generative Artificial intelligence can also be used on text. You may have heard of GPT, which stands for Generative Pre-trained Transformer. It’s based on technology that first came out of Google, and was subsequently further developed by the company called OpenAI, which has developed a product called ChatGPT. But this bot is pretty spectacular at showing human-like thought and creativity in conversation. Reports are that it can write so well that it can pass the bar exam, and can create code as well as an entry level software engineer. For example of a bot’s creativity, I used exactly this prompt with ChatGPT: “Tell me how to bake a cake, but structure it very closely in structure, tone and style to the lord's prayer, NKJV.” This is what it replied with: Our Baker, who art in the kitchen, Hallowed be thy baking skills. Thy cake come, thy will be done, In the oven as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, And forgive us our crumbs, As we forgive those who have crumbled before us. And lead us not into stale bread, But deliver us from burned crusts. For thine is the batter, the flour, and the sugar, Forever and ever. Amen. I think that’s a pretty impressive and funny spoof of scripture for a bot to create. So, welcome to the future. Artificial intelligence is out of its infancy or toddler stage. As a technology it is already profoundly influential and powerful, and only accelerating. But now – what are deep-fakes? The term comes from two ideas squished together: they are the products of “deep neural networks” and they are a form of “fake news.” A deep-fake is an artificial intelligence-powered form of media that depicts a person saying something they did not say, appearing in a manner different from authentic visuals, or diverging from reality somehow. Its purpose is to fool the media viewer or a technology system. ● Political propaganda and manipulation: In 2020, a deepfake video of former US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi went viral, portraying her as appearing drunk. ● Personal and financial fraud: In early 2020, a bank manager in Hong Kong received a call from a man whose voice he recognized—a director at a company with whom he’d spoken before. The director had good news: His company was about to make an acquisition, so he needed the bank to authorize some transfers to the tune of $35 million. ● Cybersecurity threats: In 2018, a deepfake video of former President Barack Obama went viral, in which he made false and inflammatory statements. ● Sexual exploitation: In 2019, several deepfake pornographic videos featuring actresses and public figures were widely circulated online. ● Business espionage: In 2019, deepfake technology was used to impersonate executives at a major international financial services company, tricking employees into providing confidential information. The society around us is at a point where there is massive distrust and disbelief rampant in the US. Sophisticated technology like deep-fakes can amplify misinformation. Online media can be flooded with machine generated counterfeits. How do you cure spiritual misinformation Let’s loop back around to the bible. In Deut 30, we are confronted with the most important decision – to choose life or death. But our world is flooded with spiritual misinformation. Misinformation that makes up the trunk of the tree of error. The most important way to combat misinformation is to find truth, and a firm grip on it, and not let go. Christians have an adversary. The enemy is a “deep faker” – a creature from the bottomless pit. Satan is called the “father of lies” and a “liar from the beginning”. The adversary is always trying to infect our minds with viral misinformation. Powerful falsehoods often have two factors. They start with a seed of truth, and they offer to satisfy your emotional needs. Falsehood uses pieces of truth, masquerading as truth, with a tempting twist. 2 Corinthians 11:14 And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. Satan lies to try to get us to doubt God, or to doubt that he would truly offer us life. He lies, telling that life is not worth living. Unfortunately, you can see that people buy into such lies through the plague of mass shootings affecting our nation. Satan lies that there are viable alternative ways to life: other faiths, other gods rather than the one true God revealed in the bible as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Or Satan lies that you can safely procrastinate, and choose life … later. That you can put God on hold. He lies even inside Christian churches by putting forth false gospels – gospels that may be mere politics or human philosophy – but not resting on a real personal commitment to and reliance on Jesus Christ. Satan also lies that you can choose life on your own effort and action, that you can ‘make it’ if you just try hard enough. That’s not true: salvation is by grace alone through faith alone. Eph 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. Now to combat lies, we don’t just confront them. We substitute lies with truth. We replace darkness with light. Now biblically, what is truth? Or I should say, who is truth? Truth is not a database of facts, or a set of laws. Truth is personal. Truth is Jesus. Jesus says "I am the bread of life" (John 6:35), "I am the light of the world" (John 8:12), "I am the door" (John 10:9), "I am the good shepherd" (John 10:11), "I am the resurrection and the life" (John 11:25), "I am the way, the truth, and the life" (John 14:6), "I am the true vine" (John 15:1). We combat the deep-fakes of the devil, which would trick us from choosing life, and cause us to choose death, but putting in the truth of Jesus into our minds, hearts and conduct. And where do we find that truth? It is through personal, relational experience of a daily life of prayer and choices. And it is rooted in the bible, we immerse ourselves into the written word of God. And there we encounter, and better come to know and love the living Word of God. Where is Jesus in the Bible? We find him not just in the gospels, but everywhere. He is the Old Testament: ● In Genesis, Jesus Christ is the Seed of the woman ● In Exodus, He is the Passover Lamb. ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● In Leviticus, He is our High Priest. In Numbers, He is the Pillar of cloud by day and fire by night In Deuteronomy, He is the Prophet like unto Moses. In Joshua, He is the Commander of the Lord’s army. In Judges, He is our Judge and Lawgiver. In Ruth, He is our Kinsman Redeemer. In 1st and 2nd Samuel, He is the Seed of David. In Kings and Chronicles, He is our reigning King. In Ezra, He is our faithful Scribe In Nehemiah, He is the Rebuilder of everything broken In Esther, He is our Advocate. In Job, He is our ever-living Redeemer. In Psalms, He is our Shepherd. In Proverbs, He is our Wisdom. In Ecclesiastes, He is our meaning for life. In the Song of Solomon, He is the loving Bridegroom. In Isaiah, He is the Prince of peace In Jeremiah and Lamentations, He is our weeping Prophet. In Ezekiel, He is the Glorious Lord In Daniel, He is our defender, the fourth Man beside us in the "fiery furnace." In Hosea, He is the faithful Husband In Joel, He is the Outpourer of the Holy Spirit. In Amos, He is our Burden-bearer. In Obadiah, He is our Judge and Savior. In Jonah, He is the risen Prophet. In Micah, He is the Ruler of the world from Bethlehem. In Nahum, He is our Stronghold. In Habakkuk, he is the Watchman In Zephaniah, He is the Mighty to save In Haggai, He is the Restorer In Zechariah, He is the branch of David; the One pierced for us In Malachi, He is the Son of Righteousness He is in the New Testament: ● In Matthew, He is King of the Jews. the Messiah. the Christ, the Son of the living God. ● In Mark, He is the Servant, and Miracle Worker ● In Luke, He is the Baby in the manger, and the Son of Man. ● In John, He is the Son of God; the Living Word; the way, truth and life ● In Acts, He is the Savior of the world and Ascended Lord ● In Romans, He is the Justifier. ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● In I Corinthians, He is the Resurrection In II Corinthians, He is our Comfort. In Galatians, He is our Liberty; In Ephesians, He is Head of the Church. In Philippians, He is our Joy. In Colossians, He is our Completeness and the glue that holds our world together In 1st and 2nd Thessalonians, He is the Coming King. In I & II Timothy, He is our Mediator. In Philemon, He is our Benefactor. In Titus, He is the Blessed Hope. In Hebrews, He is our Perfection In James, he is the Power behind our faith. In I, II Peter, He is our Chief Shepherd and Chief Cornerstone In I, II, III John, He is our Truth and Everlasting Life In Jude, He is the Foundation of our faith, our security In Revelation, He is The King of Kings and Lord of Lords! We can find Jesus and learn about him across every book of scripture. It points to our need for him. It points toward his work of salvation. It points toward the upward call, to be like him in holiness. Scripture calls us to join Jesus in His obedience, adoration and loving worship of His Father. Review and Conclusion So we started with Deuteronomy, and that famous challenge passage. Under the old covenant, Moses challenged the Isaelites to obey the Mosaic covenant. As a nation they failed, because they swallowed lies and neglected the truth they were given and instead pursued idols. We can use the New Covenant lens of Jesus – mindful of the purpose, intent and mission of Jesus Christ, and see these passages in a renewed light. Deut 30: 15 Look, today I offer you life and success, death and destruction. The life and success Jesus offers us is his own life and success. We are accepted in him, sinless because of his conquering of sin. That is exactly how we conquer death and destruction. He offers us life as a gift. That is grace. Remember my metaphor of the sand truck. Human nature is speeding out of control under a weight of sin. Human nature needs to be conquered, swallowed up, and covered by Christ’s nature; Deut 30:16 I command you today to love the Lord your God, to do what he wants you to do, and to keep his commands, his rules, and his laws. Jesus taught that love toward God was the first and greatest commandment, followed by love towards others. These summarize the whole of the commandments. What does God want us to do? Act out love. Which means, caring for all people, with the mind and spirit of Jesus. As in Philipians "Let this mind be in you." When his thoughts and feelings are your own ... you act on them. "Emotion" is energy in motion. Deut 30:16 Then you will live and grow in number, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land you are entering to take as your own. How do we as Christians grow in number? God’s will for us is that we be fruitful and multiply spiritually by fulfilling the Great Commission. To go into every nation, to baptize and to teach to obey Jesus. The promised land is no longer physical israel - but the spiritual kingdom of God. The kingdom of heaven which is to be yours. Deut 30:17 But if you turn away from the Lord and do not obey him, if you are led to bow and serve other gods, 18 I tell you today that you will surely be destroyed. And you will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan River to enter and take as your own. This is the warning about falling into deception. Don’t let misinformation create a false Lord to you! Obeying the command to "choose life" ought to be a no-brainer; it's deception that causes people to choose death. To cure deception, get to know Jesus better -- he is the living truth, revealed across the whole bible, and in the daily lives of his people. Our God is the only real God. So to serve other gods is to allow ideas in your mind to take precedence above God. There is no other name given under heaven by which we may be saved: so the path of destruction here is turning away from Jesus. How do people turn away from Jesus? By thinking somehow they are "good enough." That they don't need God. Either That their actions can be good enough to meet God's high call. OR that they don't even believe in or perceive God's high call What is crossing over the Jordan River? Death – or the second coming of JC, whichever is first. That is why you must not procrastinate. Confess your sinfulness and come to Christ *now*, don’t wait until you see the Jordan River in your path ahead of you. If you are not baptized, consider so, to proclaim your allegiance publicly. If you are lapsed in some dimension – get back to knowing, seeking and loving Him. Deut 30: 19 Today I ask heaven and earth to be witnesses. I am offering you life or death, blessings or curses. Now, choose life! Then you and your children may live. We have a fundamental decision - we are with Christ or against him. God urgently wants us to choose rightly. Christ went through all he did – torture, shame, crucifixion and death – for the joy set before him. And his joy is to bring you into unity with God. Your salvation is not just a personal matter– your salvation is not selfish, just for your personal benefit. Salvation is so that you may have many spiritual offspring. You and your children may live. Salvation is like a river, it is meant to flow in you and past you and on into others. Think of what the apostle Paul wrote; his crown and treasure were the spiritual children he had by sharing and introducing others to his Messiah. Deut 30:20 To choose life is to love the Lord your God, obey him, and stay close to him. He is your life, and he will let you live many years in the land, the land he promised to give your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Obeying the command to "choose life" ought to be a no-brainer. But it's deception – deep, dark, hellish deception – that causes people to choose death. To cure Satan’s deep-fakery, get to know Jesus better. He is the living Truth, revealed across the whole bible, and in the daily lives of his people.