Sermon Tone Analysis

Text: Deuteronomy 6:1-13

Theme: Loving God with all of one’s being

Date: 02/12/2023 File: Deut_03 ID: OT05-6

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.