Final Words: Loving God

Jack Eckerd was the founder of the Eckerd Drug chain. In 1983, after months of prayer and witnessing by his good friend Chuck Colson, Jack Eckerd committed his life to Christ, and almost immediately the Holy Spirit began conforming his mind, and convicting his heart. Several weeks after being born-again he was walking through one of his drugstores. Going down the aisle with the magazine display he saw copies of Playboy and Penthouse sitting on the top shelf. He'd seen them in his stores many times before, but they never bothered him ... until now. Now he saw them with new eyes, through born-again eyes.

Although Eckerd was retired from active management, he went back to his office, and he called in the company president. He said, "Take Playboy and Penthouse out of my stores." His CEO said, "You can't mean that, Mr. Eckerd. You make three million dollars a year on those magazines." He said, "Take 'em out of my stores."

He remained firm in his objection, and he prevailed. The offensive magazines were removed from all 1700 Eckerd drugstores. When Chuck Colson asked his friend what motivated him to take this action, Eckerd replied, "God wouldn't let me off the hook!"

But Eckerd didn’t stop with his own store. He wrote the heads of other drug store chains and challenged them to do the same. At first they ignored him, but Eckerd was persistent. What changed the minds of the other drug chains? Eckerd's Drugstores were flooded with people coming in to buy things at their stores because they'd taken Playboy and Penthouse out. In short order People's and then Revco and then Dart Drug also removed them from their shelves. Finally, the chairman of 7-11, who sat on the Eckerd Drug’s board of directors, also gave in and 5,000 7-11 stores removed them, too. Within a few years 11,000 retail outlets across the nation no longer carried pornography on their magazine racks.

Jack Eckerd’s love for God would not let him off the hook.

In this morning’s passage, Moses summarizes the whole duty of Israel by crystalizing God’s moral law into a single succinct command to love God supremely.

I. THE PROMISE

“ “Now this is the commandment—the statutes and the rules—that the LORD your God commanded me to teach you, that you may do them in the land to which you are going over, to possess it, 2 that you may fear the LORD your God, you and your son and your son’s son, by keeping all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be long. 3 Hear therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them, that it may go well with you, and that you may multiply greatly, as the LORD, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.” (Deuteronomy 6:1–3, ESV)

1. it is easy to be overwhelmed by the enormity and complexity of all the truths contained in the Scripture

a. as Christians living under the New Covenant we can spend a lifetime just fleshing-out the truths Jesus taught in his Sermon on the Mount, let alone what we read in the epistles of Peter, Paul, James and John

2. for the Hebrews the task of obeying all the commandments God had laid down in the Torah, had to seem daunting

a. there are a total of 613 laws to be obeyed in Genesis through Deuteronomy

1) some were only for men; some only for women; and some were only for a certain time frame

2) the majority were for Israel’s priests to follow

3) some are negative commands, and some are positive commands — what we refer to as do’s and don’ts

b. these commandments taught Israel right from wrong and how to live according to God’s statutes, and how to worship Him properly

1) in short, they were Israel’s instructions for Holy Living!

ILLUS. A Jewish prayer shawl, known as a tzitzit, contains four tassels with five knots in each tassel. They are a constant reminder to Jewish men and women of the Five Books of the Law and the 613 commandments found therein. Ideally, seeing them prompts a Jew to reflect on God's presence, recall his obligations and behave in accordance with the Torah.

3. thankfully, in this first of three sermons that Moses preaches to Israel just before they entered the Promised Land, he crystalizes these 613 commands in one brief, pithy summation

“ “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5 You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” (Deuteronomy 6:4–5, ESV)

a. in Matthew 22:38 Jesus would call it “the first and greatest commandment”

1) he would also tell them, On these two commandments hang Torah and the prophets (Matthew 22:40)

A. GOD’S COMMANDS ARE FOR HIS PEOPLE’S FLOURISHING

1. God has laid out His covenant document to His people in The Law

a. Moses declares “Now this is the commandment—the statutes and the rules—that the LORD your God commanded me to teach you, that you may do them ... ” (Deuteronomy 6:1, ESV)

2. if God’s people will follow his commands then God promises four results that will lead to individuals and communities flourishing

a. 1st, the people would maintain an awesome fear of the Lord

1) this is not a fear that causes men to faint or flee, but is an awe-filled respect that results in a desire to keep God’s statues and laws

b. 2nd, the people will enjoy long life

1) Israel was to understand that each successive breath is taken by the permission of the Creator

2) life — and especially a good long life — should never be taken for granted

c. 3rd, that life will may go well for you

ILLUS. For 2,000 years a common Jewish toast of well-being is the expression “l’chaim” and literally means to life. In English we might say To your health. Our Jewish friends say, To life ... L’chaim. In the Broadway musical Fiddler on the Roof, one of the big production numbers is I’chaim where the men of the village are congratulating ‘Tevye’ on the marriage of his oldest daughter. One of the stanzas of the song says

God would like us to be joyful

Even though our hearts lie panting on the floor;

How much more can we be joyful,

When there's really something

To be joyful for. I’chaim

1) God’s promise is I’chaim to those who will follow His commands

d. 4th, that they would increase greatly

1) Israel is coming into a land of mike and honey — a poetic way of describing the land’s rich potential

2) if they will obey God’s commands their families will grow and the nation will prosper

3. all these things the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you

... there is promise attached to God’s commands

II. THE PASSION

“ “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5 You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” (Deuteronomy 6:4–5, ESV)

1. this is Israel’s great declaration of faith, and is the centerpiece of the morning and evening Jewish prayer services, encapsulating the monotheistic essence of Judaism

a. it’s called the Shema which is Hebrew for hear which is the first word of the confession

1) for a religious Jew it’s a confession, a prayer and a testimony all rolled into one statement

2. in this confession we see three keys to knowing God in a deep and personal way

A. 1ST, YOU MUST BELIEVE GOD IS TRULY ONE

“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one”

1. really? just one God? that goes against the common wisdom of that time, and it goes against the common wisdom of our time

a. One true and living God who is over all peoples, all nations, all ethnicities?

1) well that sounds a little closed-minded, doesn’t it?

2. when Moses gives this confession to Israel the dominant belief of the time was that there were many gods

a. every country had its primary deity, usually with a female consort, and then a multiplicity of secondary gods and goddesses

b. that has not changed much over the millennia

1) we continue to live in a world of “many gods” and everyone has the right to believe in the god or gods who are meaningful to them

3. but Yahweh — which is translated Lord in vs. 4 — chose to reveal himself to abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as the singular, and only One True God who is the Creator and Sustainer of the Universe

a. God tells the Hebrews, “No. There is only one real God, and it’s me — the great I Am. You don’t get to construct me out of you vain imaginations of what you think god is like.”

b. the problem with inventing gods, is that those gods always look and act like us!

4. throughout the history of mankind, men have created the gods they worship, and created the back-stories surrounding those gods

a. the God of Israel came to men like the Patriarchs, like Moses, and like the Prophets of Israel and said, “Let me reveal myself to you. Let me tell you about myself, so you don’t have to make up fanciful stories about me.”

1) fanciful stories about people don’t help us to know those people

ILLUS. In 1999 Edmund Morris released his biography of President Ronald Reagan entitled Dutch, which was what many or Reagan’s friends called him. Morris was given the greenlight by the Reagan Administration to write the first authorized biography of a sitting president, granting him behind-the-scenes access never before given to a writer at The White House. He interviewed President Reagan, sat in on meetings, and even had access to Reagan’s private diaries and papers. When the book was released, it created a sensation ... not because of any new information about Reagan’s life, but because Morris simply “made up” many of the stories and events in the book, playing fast and loose with the truth. It would certainly classify as what we now call “fake news” or in this case “fake history.” Morris assumed people would prefer reading about the life of the fake Reagan over the life of the real Reagan.

2) anyone reading Morris’ biography of Ronald Reagan today will not know who the real Ronald Reagan is, but only the Ronald Reagan imagined by Edmund Morris

a) now, in the scheme of eternity, that’s not going to be a big deal

b) but if going to heaven or going to hell depends on knowing the real God, than the truth about who He is matters

b. God wants us to get to know Him as He is, and not as what we’d like Him to be

1) to that end, God has gone to extraordinary ends to reveal Himself to us

2) the most perfect revelation of God is found in the incarnation of Jesus

“Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. 3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,” (Hebrews 1:1–3, ESV)

5. the first great truth that God reveals about Himself is that He alone is God, and you must believe that He alone is truly God if you’re going to have a relationship with Him

a. the deepest need of your heart is for a God that you didn’t invent, but who revealed Himself to you

B. 2ND, YOU MUST LOVE GOD TRANSFORMATIVELY

1. the second part of the Shema says, “You must love the Lord our God with all your heart, soul and strength”

a. God wants his people to have a passionate commitment and wholehearted obedience to Him

2. it is not enough for God’s people simply to go through certain motions in their life and worship

a. rather, they must truly love God, and devote their whole lives to him

1) the phrase with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength is another way of saying the whole person

3. loving God transformatively means allowing God into every corner of your life

a. it means that you’re allowing God to transform your personal life, your family life, your social life, and your economic life, and your religious life

1) loving God transformatively means He’s not just the God of your weekend, but of your weekstart and every day in between

b. Moses says that God’s statutes and laws are to be on the head and on the hand

1) this means that loving God affects what you’re thinking on the inside, and how You’re acting on the outside

c. Moses says that God’s statutes and laws are to be topics of discussion when you sit at home, and when you walk along the road

1) loving God is a matter of your private life and a matter of your public life

d. Moses says that God’s statutes and laws are to be on your mind when you lie down and when you get up

1) loving God is the last thing you do at night, and the first thing you do in the morning, and everything you do in between

4. Christians need to constantly be asking themselves the question, “How does who God is, and what God says affect what I think, and how I act, and where I go, and who I associate with, and how I spend my money ... and how I ... well ... everything”

a. loving God transformatively means letting God transform every part of your life

1) every nook and cranny is to be shaped by the grace of God

ILLUS. In his book Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis illustrates what we want God to do in our lives verses what God wants to do in our lives to the difference of redecorating a house and rebuilding a house. When we ask God to come into our lives we know that some changes need to be made. We’re more than glad to repaint the living room, and replace the carpet in the family room. Lewis writes, however, that God always has bigger renovation plans then we do. He wants to gut the house and turn it into a temple!

C. 3RD, YOU MUST TRUST GOD UNCONDITIONALLY

1. God is calling Israel to love Him as He loves them — simply because He chooses to

“ “And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, 13 and to keep the commandments and statutes of the LORD, which I am commanding you today for your good? 14 Behold, to the LORD your God belong heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth with all that is in it. 15 Yet the LORD set his heart in love on your fathers and chose their offspring after them, you above all peoples, as you are this day.” (Deuteronomy 10:12–15, ESV)

a. when the Shema calls Israel to love God with all their heart and with all their soul and with all their might God is calling them to love Him unreservedly

b. it’s a call to trust God implicitly because God loves His people unconditionally

2. in Deuteronomy 4:16 God tells them not put him to the test

a. it’s a word the means to consider a party guilty until he or she proves him or herself innocent — guilty until proven innocent

b. to test the Lord essentially says, “I’ll follow you as long as my life is going the way I think it ought to go. I’ll follow you as long as I’m getting explanations and answers to my questions. I’ll follow you as long as I have that abundant life you promise. I’ll follow you as long as you prove yourself worthy.”

3. unconditional trust does not say, “I’ll trust you IF ... “

a. trusting God unconditionally is trusting God ... period

b. one thing Israel cannot do is the one thing they’ve been doing forty years which is following God as long as he comes through for them

1) that’s not loving God, and it’s certainly not trusting God

4. unconditional trust in God says, “I don’t understand what’s going on here, but I know my Great Shepherd. He cares for me. Whatever is going on here, this is not punishment. He cares for me,”

III. THE POSSESSION

“When the LORD your God brings you into the land he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you—a land with large, flourishing cities you did not build, 11 houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide, wells you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant—then when you eat and are satisfied, 12 be careful that you do not forget the LORD, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 13 Fear the LORD your God, serve him only and take your oaths in his name.” (Deuteronomy 6:10–13, NIV84)

1. Moses challenged Israel to continue to love God and fear God after they’ve entered the promised land

a. they must not forget the Lord in the midst of God’s blessings

A. GOD’S BLESSINGS BRING THE TEMPTATION OF SPIRITUAL LETHARGY

1. the forgetfulness of which Moses speaks in vs. 12 is not primarily a problem of mental alertness, but of spiritual laxity

a. unfortunately, once they had settled into the land, Israel began a large-scale defection to the idolatry of the Canaanites

b. this happened because they had forgotten Yahweh’s name — He had simply receded from their consciousness

2. in time, the Israelites became so distracted by the passing pleasures of life, that they barely gave God a thought

a. if you don’t diligently watch over your soul, then the things you’ve witnessed with your own eyes will begin to fade from memory, and once the memories have faded, your heart will become jaded — perhaps for the rest of your life

b. therefore the command is to be careful that you do not forget the LORD

1) the verb be careful means to keep your guard up

2) spiritual lethargy is a temptation sitting on the believer’s doorstep waiting for the door to open that it might come in, and it will if we are not keeping watch

B. FAITHFULNESS REQUIRES SPIRITUAL DILIGENCE

1. they need to recognize God’s mighty hand — it is the Lord your God who brings you into the land he swore to your fathers

a. yes, they will have to go into the land and fight for it, but God’s promise is to go before them, instilling fear into the hearts of their enemies, and giving victory to Israel’s army

b. they’ve seen God’s mighty hand at work for them in the past, and they need to trust it now

2. they need to remember God’s blessings — they will live in cities, you did not build, they will live in houses filled with good things, you did not provide, they will drink from wells you did not dig, and they shall eat from vineyards and orchids you did not plant

a. in all these blessings they shall be satisfied

b. in other words, they need to count their blessings!

3. they need to reiterate their history — it was God who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery

a. it’s a story they must tell their children and their children’s children

b. Israel is to look back at their history and see God’s providential hand in the life of the nation

1) only as the people remembered their past experiences with the Lord and the covenant obligations they had accepted at Mount Horeb could they remain faithful to God

IV. LESSONS AND APPLICATION

1. 1st, God Promises us Eternal Live and Abundant Life through Christ

a. Israel’s great statement of faith was The Lord our God, the Lord is One

1) it's their confession, prayer, and testimony all rolled into one statement

b. the Christian’s great statement of faith is Jesus is Lord

1) it’s our confession, prayer and testimony all rolled into one statement

c. if you will come to Christ God will give you abundant life and eternal life

2. 2nd, What Adversity Cannot Accomplish, Prosperity Will Accomplish — So Keep Your Guard up

a. the life of the Spirit is one that must be cultivated

1) human experience bears out the truth that the most critical threats to godly living come when life is going well, when it's smooth sailing, and everything is hunky-dory

b. like Israel, Christians must not forget the Lord who brought us out of the world, out of the land of slavery and has brought us to the edge of His heavenly kingdom

3. 3rd, the Singularity of God Is a Non-negotiable of the Believer’s Life

a. the God who proclaimed to Israel that He is the One True and Only God remains the One True and Only God

b. one of the subtle heresies that has invaded much of Western Christianity is Henotheism

1) Henotheism is the worship of a single, supreme god, but that at the same time, does not deny the possible existence of other deities

2) a sub-variant is the notion that there is only one true God, but He has provided many pathways to Him — Christ is Christianity’s pathway, and Mohammad is Islam’s pathway, and Buddha is Buddhism’s pathway, and Brahma is Hinduism’s pathway, and on the list can go

c. God, Himself, does not give us that choice

1) we must believe God truly is One

2) we must love God transformatively

3) we must trust God unconditionally

d. God is one, and He’s always been one, and He has revealed Himself most completely in the person of Jesus Christ

“For although there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth—as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”— 6 yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.” (1 Corinthians 8:5–6, ESV)

4. 4th, God Has Given Us the Scriptures That We Might Become More Christlike

a. God’s grace does not let us off the hook

1) we are not saved by obeying all God’s statutes and his commandments

b. but God does lay out for us in the New Testament, those behaviors that lead to a deeper sanctification of the Christian life

5. and like the Shema is a concise statement that encapsulates the entirety of the Jewish law, Christianity has a concise statement that encapsulates the entirety of the Christian life

“Then he said to them all: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it.” (Luke 9:23–24, NIV84)

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