August 27, 2023 Trinity 12 (Deut 11)

Intro

High Land Titles

Deut 11

So in a Sunday school setting it is often taught that the first five books of the Bible are special. They have special names, books of Moses, Torah, Pentateuch, But when it comes to the content we are not always as ready to give an answer. There is low hanging fruit for sure. The 7 Days of creation, the drama in the garden, Babel, Noah, Abraham, Joseph and his coat. We can often give a summery of Moses life that is early family to Charlton Hestons 10 commandments or Spielburg Prince of Egypt. But as you go deeper into the books more and more of our fellow church ment start to fine their knowledge challenged. And some of that is that the books get more complex and less heroic. The pace grids to a crawl with the laws of Leviticus. The heroes begin to fall, even Moses is disobedient and is told he will not enter the promise land. And yet this last book of the five Deut, is full of Blessings and curses that will color in the background of the prophets and be poured out on Jesus. So if we can get a general knowledge of this book the rest of the Bible starts to have significant connective tissue that deepens our interaction with it.

Where we are, Ch 11 is the end of part one of Deut. Moses is appealing to the shared history of the people and the Commands already given i.e. the 10 Commandments. He is appealing to that history to implore that the people need to remain faithful to Yahweh who has rescued them miraculously from slavery in Egypt and fed them with bread from heaven. So the verse 8 he begins.

“You shall therefore keep the whole commandment that I command you today, that you may be strong, and go in and take possession of the land that you are going over to possess,

God has commanded, Moses has reiterated…keep the whole of his commands, take that obedience into the land. Remember what Moses does not want and what God is warning against is the people entering the land and following after the false Gods of the people.

He is also making a note about how the Holy Land is different than Egypt. Egypt gets almost no rain and food is grown through irrigation, where Palestine gets rain, is hilly and has rocky soil. The crops and conditions of Egypt are predictable but are brought about by man. God must act to bring about a crop in Palestine, and the people will need to depend on him over instead of their own sweat.

That is why the next verse talks about the Land God cares for .and ever that he is always upon it. The nile river has high and low season. The Egyptians interpreted this as the gods going to the nether regions for a time then returning, while Yahweh is always present.

Verses 13-15 we have the blessings of obedience. The rain will fall and the crops will yield fruit. Not just for the people of Israel but also the animals. (Blessings and curses )

But if the hearts of the people are deceived and they serve false God’s. they will experience the curse, no rain…no fruit…eviction.

God being a God who not only gives commands, he also give the means by which we can follow his commands. That is to saturate in the word of God. As a community the people should review them and teach them to the children, through out the day.

The main point here is that God cares about the condition of our hearts who we serve and to what we are loyal. This has real consequences.

Now we all know what ends up happening. The people of Israel go into the promise land and for a time have some about of loyalty to God though it is not perfect. Yet God remains patient and blesses them in the land, until the people truly forsake him and he he first tries to warn, then to discipline then finally he evicts them from their land. And we see in the theology of Saint Paul why under the Law the people did not obey, why they could not obey. The law could show us God’s character, but it could not transform the heart of rebellious people.

Lets look at our epistle reading for today

[6] who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. (ESV)

The New Covenant and the Old, which was the covenant of Law or Letter are compared here. The New Cove. is the Covenant by which we are given the Spirit, that give us new life. The Letter or the Law could not transform us so we remain dead.

The Old Covenant had a Glory to it. It let us know the Character of who God was. And yet when Moses came face to face with God under that old understanding his radiance would fade. He was not permanently changed. It was a covenant of condemnation. But the New Covenant where we not only beheld God in Christ, through Christ working in the Power of the Holy Spirit we are transformed and made righteous. We have a greater Glory.

And how wonderful is that when you think about today’s Gospel lesson. Jesus is brought a man who cannot hear, cannot speak. Jesus the means of the New Covenant gives him ears to hear and a mouth to speak.

Do you see the parallel that before Christ we are spiritually dead, we cannot hear God we can not praise him, but then God intercedes and give us ears to hear his word and a heart ready to praise. It is the transforming work of Christ in our HEARTS

The main point here is that God cares about the condition of our hearts who we serve and to what we are loyal. This has real consequences.

Now I know I say this a lot, in my old church this was one of my tropes. Humanity is not burdened with and education problem, but a heart problem. Yet we keep attacking every problem for the point of view of education.

Outside the church we are so concerned about forgotten and marginalized people. And to be clear its a real issue. But the solution offered is a steady diet of education on forgotten and marginalized people. We should be educated on the issues of our neibors who are on the margins, but education does not transform the heart from dead to living.

Inside the church we are constantly concerned about the spiritual health of our members both young and old. Again the solutions are educational. We add classes and vbs programs to the schedule and attend conferences on preaching more educationally. And to be clear these catechisms are an important part of teaching the Character of God, but it is only Gods intercession that transforms the heart.

Jesus touching our ears give us what we need to hear his call. Touching our tongues gives us the voices of praise. And when that comes Charles Wesley describes the sensation thus.

Long my imprisoned spirit lay Fast bound in sin and nature's night; Thine eye diffused a quick'ning ray, I woke, the dungeon flamed with light; My chains fell off, my heart was free; I rose, went forth and followed Thee.

The main point here is that God cares about the condition of our hearts who we serve and to what we are loyal. This has real consequences.

The Israelites failed the test in the land and experienced the curse of God and not the blessings.

And we too fail the test. Our hearts are prone to wander and follow the false God’s of the land, we disobey the 10 commandments. Yet Jesus comes as a man and is a faithful Israelite. He does what is commanded by God and is completely loyal to the end. He deserves the blessings of the covenant.

So he goes to the Cross where he experiences the curses meant for us, and we get the Blessings of the covenant in his stead.

The land that was to produce Grain and Fruit from the vine for the faithful does. Ironically the way we experience the presence of God is through the fruit of grain and vine. We have here the blessing of the covenant given to us by Christ. Ready your hearts Christians to prepare your ears made whole by Christ to hear the words this is my body. Prepare your mouth made who to sing his praise and to eat this meal with Christ. Though free for you it was bought at a price.