Epiphany 6 (5)
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15 See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. 16 For I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess. 17 But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, 18 I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess. 19 This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live 20 and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Well, it is that time of the year again. It seems that you can’t watch TV for more than an hour before you are reminded of it. You have probably received several documents in January which are necessary for completing it. Those who are paid regular income see a reminder of it on every pay check. The date April 15th may be burned into your memory. It is time to get your taxes done.
Federal income taxes can be quite complicated. According to one myth, the tax code itself is almost 70,000 pages long. A more accurate sources has a much lower number but even that is quite lengthy. It seems impossible to know and follow all the rules and regulations about taxes including what to report, what are valid receipts, what deductions are allowed, when to file, where to file, how to file. No wonder we are told that the US government may be hiring 87,000 new IRS agents. Apparently there is a 600 billion dollar gap between what some say is owed in taxes and what is actually paid in taxes in the US each year.
This is just one example of laws that we are required to follow. In addition to paying taxes, what other laws, rules, regulations can you think of?
Traffic laws.
Procedures at work.
Local village or township ordinances.
Household rules.
School rules. (I watched an episode of Leave it to Beaver on Wednesday in which the Beaver said a word so obscene he knew him mother would be shocked beyond belief that he had said it.) Unfortunately, the rules about obscene language have all but gone away in our society.
Rules at church.
Why all these laws? Why can’t we just do what we want, when we want, and how we want? Where do all the rules come from?
Natural law. See Romans.
18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.
Romans 2:12–16 (NIV)
12 All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law. 13 For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous. 14 (Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law. 15 They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing them and at other times even defending them.) 16 This will take place on the day when God judges people’s secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares.
This is the teaching that there is a natural sense of right and wrong because God is the creator of all and has instilled in all people this ability to know what is morally right. This can be evidenced by the consistent nature of laws throughout time and various civilizations. (Examples)
A topic worthy of further study is discovering how societies developed a written system of laws which state what is permissible, rewards for doing the right thing, and consequences for breaking those laws. I am most familiar with the development of the written laws of Israel which are referred to in our text.
We are familiar with what happened on Mt. Sinai several months after the children of Israel were delivered from Egypt. Moses led them to this place and he ascended Mt. Sinai where God spoke with him for 40 days. During that time, Moses received the Ten Commandments. In addition, God gave Moses a lengthy list of moral, civil, and ceremonial laws that were to control the people of Israel. We should not think that all of these laws were new as though before this it was not wrong to worship other gods, take his name in vain, disrespect those in authority, murder, commit, adultery etc. But this was the time when it was written down.
When did Moses record this and how were the people informed about it?
9 So Moses wrote down this law and gave it to the Levitical priests, who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and to all the elders of Israel. 10 Then Moses commanded them: “At the end of every seven years, in the year for canceling debts, during the Festival of Tabernacles, 11 when all Israel comes to appear before the Lord your God at the place he will choose, you shall read this law before them in their hearing. 12 Assemble the people—men, women and children, and the foreigners residing in your towns—so they can listen and learn to fear the Lord your God and follow carefully all the words of this law. 13 Their children, who do not know this law, must hear it and learn to fear the Lord your God as long as you live in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess.”
Verses 24-29. - After the installation of Joshua, only one thing remained for Moses to do that all things might be set in order before his departure. This was the finishing of the writing of the Book of the Law, and the committing it finally to the priests, to be by them placed by the ark of the covenant, that it might be kept for all future generations as a witness against the people, whose apostasy and rebellion were foreseen. Whether this section is to be regarded as wholly written by Moses himself, or as an appendix to his writing added by some other writer, has been made matter of question. It is quite possible, however, that Moses himself, ere he laid down the pen, may have recorded what he said when delivering the Book of the Law to the priests, and there is nothing in the manner or style of the record to render it probable that it was added by another. What follows from ver. 30 to the end of the book was probably added to the writing of Moses by some one after his death, though, of course, both the song in Deuteronomy 32, and the blessing in Deuteronomy 33, are the composition of Moses (see Introduction, § 6).
National Anthem
In addition to the written record of the law which was kept in a safe place and read every seven years, those who had learned it were to orally teach it to their children. One aid in doing this was a song that Moses wrote to be sung for future generations. That song is recorded in chapter 31.
44 Moses came with Joshua son of Nun and spoke all the words of this song in the hearing of the people. 45 When Moses finished reciting all these words to all Israel, 46 he said to them, “Take to heart all the words I have solemnly declared to you this day, so that you may command your children to obey carefully all the words of this law. 47 They are not just idle words for you—they are your life. By them you will live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess.”
Application: We still use songs to teach us today. Of course, one of the first songs we learn is the ABC song to teach us the alphabet. Many of our hymns are for instruction. Putting words to music helps us memorize easier than just using prose.
We have reviewed how the Israelites came to have a written law. In this section Moses tells them why God gave them the law in written form.
Misconceptions
Not because obeying the law is a means of salvation. God had already saved them. This was after they were delivered from Egypt and at the end of punishing them for forty years for their disobedience in not attacking the land of Canaan. So keeping the law was not a way to gain favor with God.
But it was important to keep the law as part of a covenant God had with them which can be summarized simply as “Obey and be blessed. Disobey and be punished.”
We see the same truism with our laws today. Obey the tax laws and you will have the reward of knowing you are supporting a government which we hope has our best interest in mind. Refuse to pay or make mistakes on your taxes either intentionally or unintentionally and expect a fine or even time in jail.
Obey the traffic laws and arrive safely at your destination. Break them and risk getting a ticket or being in an accident.
When it comes to God’s moral law, we must not think that keeping it earns salvation. This is the main point of Romans in which St. Paul emphasizes that the Jews who had the law (but did not keep it) and the Gentiles (who only had the natural law) and did not keep it were all alike under God’s judgment because God demands 100% compliance all the time to be saved. Romans 3:21–26 (NIV)
21 But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25 God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—26 he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.
We have been redeemed by God just as he has redeemed the Israelites before he gave them the law.
The expected response to that redemption is that we strive to obey the law. Does Jesus not make this clear in his sermon on the mount when he teaches not just an outward obedience to broad commands but detailed obedience to the details of the law? Obeying God’s law is to be a loved filled response to our God shown by loving him above all else and loving our neighbor as ourselves.
11 For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. 12 It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, 13 while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, 14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good. 15 These, then, are the things you should teach. Encourage and rebuke with all authority. Do not let anyone despise you.
Keeping the law is very important. The attitude and belief we have in doing so is critical.
We do not keep the law to earn salvation. That is impossible because we are sinners and incapable of keeping the law perfectly. Jesus kept the law and suffered its punishment for us.
We keep the law in response to what Jesus has done for us from a thankful heart.
13 You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. 14 For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 15 If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other. 16 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 19 The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.
