FOLLOW GOD WHEN LIFE IS GOOD

Follow God When Life is Good

By Tanner Walton

3/19/23

Text – Deuteronomy 8

Purpose – To encourage our people to stay close to God when life is good.

THT – Beware of forgetting God when life is good!

Introduction

1. As long as I have been a youth pastor, there is one type of meeting I have yet to have with a teenager.

2. I have never had a “life is good meeting”.

3. This isn’t to throw shade on the teens. None of us do this.

4. I have yet to get a text from a teenager that says, “Pastor Tanner, can we meet sometime?”

5. We meet and the teen goes on to explain how good life is going.

- God is blessing my family life right now.

- God is blessing my grades.

- God is blessing my friendships.

- God is blessing my sport.

- God gave me a girlfriend/boyfriend and they just love the Lord and the Bible so much.

- I’m just really blessed by God right now and I am so enjoying it.

6. Meetings with teenagers are typically the opposite. We typically will only schedule meetings with people for spiritual encouragement or help when times are bad.

7. Is that a bad thing? No, of course not.

8. Should this meeting ever happen, I would rejoice in the blessings with the teenager, but I would also offer a warning.

9. Warning? Why a warning?

10. *I would offer a warning because there is a subtle danger that can creep in when we are enjoying a blessed life given to us by God.

11. Let’s take a look at a warning Moses gave to Israel before entering the promised land.

Announce Text: Deuteronomy 8

BO

1. We talked Wednesday night from Deuteronomy 3.

2. God’s people are getting ever so close to the land and there are still some things that God is prepping them for.

Read text for point one.

The first thing we notice is…

I. God humbles his people in order teach them to rely on him and his word, and to prepare them for even greater blessings.

A. God humbled the Israelites in the wilderness to teach them and to prepare them.

1. God was testing his people in the wilderness. He was exposing their hearts. He was trying to see if they would follow him, love him, listen to him, and keep his commands before setting them loose in a promised land that was going to be very comfortable.

2. Illustration: In-laws are thinking about getting into kayaking. They are going to test and see if they even enjoy it before upgrading.

3. These past 40 years in the wilderness were to be a proving ground of sorts for their faith in God, a proving ground they brought upon themselves.

4. What was God trying to teach His people when humbling them in the wilderness? He was trying to teach them to rely on Him and His word. If they could trust him in the wilderness to provide their food and clothing, surely, they could trust him to be a good God to them in the land he has promised them. He was trying to instill into them that they truly don’t just live by the food he provides alone, but by every word that comes from his mouth. Learning to live by the word of God was essential for these people. It is the one thing that will keep them tethered to the Lord while they are in the land and God is blessing so abundantly. I’ll show you that in just a moment.

But first, we need to understand that…

B. God sometimes humbles us to teach us or prepare us.

1. Illustration: God used a year of ministry in Montana for a year to prepare us to come here.

2. God may humble you by keeping you at the same job and the same pay wage for a certain time to build into you a trust and dependance upon him and his word so that when the door does open for you to move up the ladder and earn more money you are already well grounded in him and his word.

3. God may humble you with an illness. Whether that is something minor or major. The sickness could teach us that we need to take better care of our bodies when we are well, or to trust him with something that seems so insurmountable.

4. I think of Allie Champion. She could either see a move to Liberal, KS as a slap in the face from God or she can see it as God humbling her and teaching her to rely on him.

5. It could be that God humbles us the same way he humbled the Israelites, as a form of chastening. When we are living apart from God, God has every right to take up his fatherly duties of chastening us and getting us back into a place of his authority.

6. Whenever God does humble us, it is never something we should be afraid of. He isn’t using his authority to chasten us to get his pound of flesh out of us. He chastens us to test us, prepare us, or teach us.

Transition: We have talked about God’s humbling of us, what about when life is good, and God’s blessing is just all over us?

II. Praise from God’s people is the expected overflow of enjoying his goodness.

A. God’s humbling of the Israelites in the wilderness was meant to prepare them to respond to God with praise when enjoying the goodness of the land he gave to them. V.6-10

1. The land they are going to and the wilderness they are departing from couldn’t be any more different.

2. In the wilderness they had manna, and in the land, they will have the finest selection of food and nourishment they could ask for.

3. Illustration: It would be like a broke college student who has been feasting on ramen noodles, chips, and granola bars all semester long who gets to come home and enjoy a feast on Thanksgiving Day.

4. Notice v.11. Guys, what does this sound like? Your wife just throws down on an amazing meal, if you are a thankful husband what do you say repeatedly until bedtime?

5. Now that this abundance was at their disposal, how were they to respond? With praise!

6. Praise from God’s people is the natural overflow of enjoying God’s blessings!

B. We too should live with an attitude of praise to God for all the goodness in our life.

1. Take time every day to just praise God every day for his goodness.

2. Are you safe in Christ? Praise him.

3. Does his Spirit live in you? Praise Him.

4. Are you breathing? Praise Him.

5. Do you have shelter? Praise Him.

6. Do you have food? Praise Him.

7. Do you have work? Praise Him.

8. Do you have a family? Praise Him.

9. Do you have godly friends? Praise Him.

10. Do you a church family? Praise Him.

11. The list could go on and on.

12. The point I want to make here is that it should be a natural rhythm of our everyday lives to praise God for his goodness in our lives. This means we are going to have to shift our minds to seeing every good thing in our life as a gift from God. The failure to do so is tragic as we will see in the next movement of the text.

Transition: Look what failure to give praise to God for his goodness might lead to.

III. God’s people are to follow him when times are good lest they become proud, forsake God, and suffer the consequences.

A. The Israelites were to beware of forgetting God and his word when enjoying the land lest they become proud, forsake God, and suffer the consequences. V.11-20

1. They were to beware not to forget God in not keeping his word.

a. The first sign that they had forgotten God would be that they stop listening to and obeying his commands.

b. It was the commands of God that would keep them faithful to him while they were enjoying the goodness of his blessings.

c. They were to beware that they continued obeying God, because the second they stopped it would be clear that they were moving away from him.

2. They were to beware not to forget God in thinking they were the ones that accomplished everything they were enjoying for themselves.

a. They were to beware of the pride that comes with enjoying the blessings and comforts that came from the promises land.

b. When times were good for them the temptation would be to forget all that God had brought them through in delivering them from exile. Good times have a way of making God’s people soft and selfish if they don’t keep God and his word in front of them.

c. Illustration: Rocky 3 in OKC

d. Once they forgot God and his word, they would begin to think that it was by their own power and might that have secured them a dwelling in the land in the first place. (Verse 17)

3. They were to beware lest they suffer the consequences of forgetting God. V.19-20

a. Were this to happen they would surely face the exact same thing they faced in the wilderness: chastening.

b. God is saying that what you see me do to all of the nations around you to give you this land, I will do the same to you should you forget me and my word.

c. Do you see how all this ties back into a relationship to God and his word?

Transition: So, what do we learn from this?

B. *We should beware of forgetting God and his word when life is good!

1. As weird as it might sound, it could be easier at times for Christians to seek the Lord more, lean on the Lord more, and trust the Lord more when times are bad. Like, what other options do I have?

2. It usually isn’t the good times of life that drive us into humble submission and obedience to God. It is the bad times.

3. It is when God breaks us and empties us out and causes us to see our own inner bankruptcy that can produce a return and new love and fire for the Lord.

4. The bad times cause us to say, “Okay, Lord, you got my attention. Ill listen. Ill come back. I’ll get back into your word. I’ll start praying again. I’ll start being more faithful in church. I’ll start tithing again. I’ll witness again. I’ll treat my spouse better.”

5. But this text isn’t encouraging us to return to God when times are bad. It is encouraging us to keep following him when times are good!

6. So, we need to beware of three things when life is good.

a. Number one, that we don’t forget God and his word. It’ll be tempting to think we don’t need God and his word when times are good. It’ll be tempting to think that you can relax a little bit from your dedication to Jesus. When the health is good, when the bank account is steady, when the marriage is in sync, when the relationship with your kids, or family members, or friends, or coworkers is good – stay close to the Lord and stay in His faithful to his word.

b. Number two, beware of the pride that comes from living in good times. You’ll start to see yourself as the star of the show. It’s because of my hard work, or my faithfulness to God that is bringing about all these blessings. Not true friend. It’s got nothing to do with you and it has everything to do with him.

c. Number three, you must know that if you forsake God and his word and allow pride to creep in and you start claiming glory for yourself, chastening will come. God will do whatever he needs to do to get your attention, to humble you, and return you to a humble place of submission. If he needs to take something away, he will. If he needs to end a relationship, he will. If he needs to send a trial into your life, he will. He will do whatever it takes to get your eyes focused on him.

7. Beware of forgetting God and his word when life is good.

Conclusion

1. Praise God that he loves us so much that he isn’t willing to leave us as we are. He tests us, he teaches us, he prepares us.

2. Praise be to God that even on this earth we get to experience blessings with him and relationship with him. He lets us go through some dark days, but he also gives us times when life is just good. Praise him for that.

3. Praise God that He has given us away of remaining close to him when times are good – abiding in his son and abiding in his word.

4. And praise God that he is willing to do whatever he needs to in order to bring us back to himself.

5. Would you set your heart tonight to not just cry out for God and his grace during the tough times, but during the good times?

6. Would you endeavor to not just stick close to the Lord when you need him to work on your behalf, but also when life is good and it seems like you don’t need anything?

7. Would you continue relying on him when it seems like you have everything under control?

8. Would you stay plugged into learning and obeying his word in the good times of life?

9. Would you praise God with me tonight?