Hear, O Church

Introduction

In 1642, Massachusetts passed a law ordering men to be selected to ensure that the children would be able

to read and understand the principles of religion and the capitall lawes of this country.

Thomas Jefferson, writing to Charles Yancey in 1816, said:

Where the press is free, and every man able to read, all is safe.

Jefferson’s statement is often the mantra of Americans today.

Here are some examples:

If only our schools were set right; then our culture would start to change.

People are basically good; they just don’t know any better. If only they were more educated!

If the Christians all pull out of the public schools, our nation will crumble!

I’m not equipped to work for Christ—I need more education before I can evangelize people.

All of these are errors common to people in the church. In other words, American Christians agree with Thomas Jefferson.

At first glance, we are not surprised.

Nearly every great foreign missionary work included a school for the locals.

The Sunday Schools included in most Baptist churches today were originally started to teach the young children that worked in the factories how to read.

Churches all across the US have some sort of education program tied to it—preschool, grade school, scholarships, etc.

The SBC and other denominations have seminaries to train pastors for service.

Christians have always had some emphasis on education. However, in this sermon, I am going to argue against Thomas Jefferson. I’m going to say he was wrong.

Literacy is not salvation—even Bible literacy.

Only the redeeming work of a powerful, glorious God can save a nation, the church, a school, and you.

To accomplish this goal, we will dig into this passage in Deuteronomy.

Shema

Command

Deuteronomy 6:1 CSB

“This is the command—the statutes and ordinances—the Lord your God has commanded me to teach you, so that you may follow them in the land you are about to enter and possess.

The interesting thing in this passage is that the command is singular, but the statutes and ordinances are plural. We will come back to this. For now, notice that the singular command is the summary of the statutes and ordinances. It is one command with many implications.

So what is the command?

A Biblical-Theological Introduction to the Old Testament: The Gospel Promised (Introduction > Chapter 5: Deuteronomy (John Scott Redd))

Deuteronomy is often referred to as the hub around which the entire Old Testament revolves. Perhaps a better metaphor is that of the engine, one that is ignited and fueled by the stories of the Pentateuch and whose motion drives the subsequent histories, prophecies, and teachings that come after it. The book of Deuteronomy is a powerhouse of the Old Testament, a distillation not only of covenant theology but also of covenant history in the past and the future. For example, the so-called Shema of Deuteronomy 6:4–9 makes sense only after the creative and redemptive wonders of the Lord have been retold in detail. Yet it is the theology of the heart articulated in the Shema that returns later in Scripture, not only to evaluate the faithfulness of the king (1 Sam. 13:14; Acts 13:22; cf. 1 Sam. 10:9; 12:24; 1 Kings 2:4; 14:8; 2 Kings 10:31; 23:3, 25) but also to evaluate the faithfulness of the people (1 Kings 8:23; Jeremiah).

Whatever the command is, according to Redd, is central to the content of the Old Testament. It assumes the preceding passage as its fuel, and sets the stage for everything that follows.

In other words, the opening words here and the context of Deuteronomy suggest that our passage is going to be so foundational that any true study of God’s word should include, indeed, begin with, the Shema.

Biblically literate people are those who receive the Shema as foundational to faith

Listen

Deuteronomy 6:4 (CSB)

“Listen, Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one.

The next thing we see is that the Shema itself starts with the word Listen.

What we should take away here is that the foundational command is not something you do for yourself, but it is something tied to God’s work. It is His word, not our interpretation of His word, that contains the command we are to receive.

Likewise, the assumption is v.4 is that the Lord is the deity of the people he is referring to.

Biblical Literacy is Listening to God, whatever He says.

One-ness of God

Deuteronomy 6:4 CSB

“Listen, Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.

Again, we see that the command is not something to do. No, it is a truth to know.

That truth isn’t about carrots or salmon. It isn’t about plumbing or carpentry, finance or administration.

The truth the command of the Lord begins with is knowledge of the Holy one

Proverbs 9:10 CSB

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

Biblical Literacy is knowing about God

Affection-driven (Love and Heart - Desire God)

Deuteronomy 6:5–6 CSB

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. These words that I am giving you today are to be in your heart.

Here we have the first real thing that is commanded for the Israelites to do:

Love.

God tells them to love Him. The implications of this command are numerous. We don’t have time to dig into all of them. However, let this suffice: you are in charge of your affections, they are not in charge of you. People are often called to do that which they do not want to do, that which they hate even.

What’s more is that your affections are not sheltered from God. The things you love matter! God says to love Him; to love something else is foolishness.

Biblical Literacy includes the affections

Passable to children

Deuteronomy 6:7 CSB

Repeat them to your children. Talk about them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.

This next verse shows two things. First, that the command is for those who don’t believe it yet. In other words, the lack of sincerity doesn’t let the resistant child off the hook. There is much to be said of parenting, but the two things I want to show is that

The command is supposed to be taught to children

The command is understandable, even to children.

For the former, we see that God assumes there will be children. No childless generations for the Israelites. Those children are assumed to be under the charge of the parents in this verse (teach your children). The primary command of God includes the teaching of children.

For the latter, we have to say that the command is understandable because of v.20-25. God even gives the lesson plan!

Biblical Literacy is multi-generational

Life centered around the Shema

Then we see that God required that the daily lives of the Israelites would belong to Him. The Shema was supposed to inform what they did at every moment.

They were to discuss the Shema when they did regular things (walking, laying down, rising up, sitting), but also they were to let the Shema change their lives.

Deuteronomy 6:8 CSB

Bind them as a sign on your hand and let them be a symbol on your forehead.

This is an odd thing to do, until you realize what it is saying. Here are some other examples:

Exodus 13:9 CSB

Let it serve as a sign for you on your hand and as a reminder on your forehead, so that the Lord’s instruction may be in your mouth; for the Lord brought you out of Egypt with a strong hand.

Revelation 13:16–17 CSB

And it makes everyone—small and great, rich and poor, free and slave—to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead, so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark: the beast’s name or the number of its name.

Revelation 14:1 CSB

Then I looked, and there was the Lamb, standing on Mount Zion, and with him were 144,000 who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads.

They are not talking about printing a barcode on your head, tying boxes on your hand, or wearing a special hat.

The idea is that the Shema changes everything about how the Israelites live. Their days, calendars, harvests, crop rotation, practices with animals, interpersonal relationships, and parenting had to change.

Biblical Literacy is for life

Houses, Cities, and Nations

Deuteronomy 6:9 CSB

Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your city gates.

Last of all, we see that our passage teaches that the same consideration for life is to affect our households and cities.

Biblical Literacy is for nations

However, we have a major problem. This was given to the Israelites with promises that, if they were to keep it, they would prosper.

And we know what happened to them.

The Shema didn’t work to save them because they couldn’t keep it. In other words, Thomas Jefferson is wrong.

Bible Literacy cannot save

The most devout monotheist, living the holiest life, teaching their kids just the right stuff can still be lost.

Shema for the New Covenant

The solution to our problem is not education in a direct way.

True literacy is listening to Jesus as God in the Scriptures

In fact, Jesus shows that the Shema isn’t going anywhere.

Matthew 22:37–40 CSB

He said to him, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and most important command. The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commands.”

Jesus taught that the whole Old Testament was bound up in these two commands. The Shema is highlighted by Jesus because of two important things.

Jesus kept the Shema perfectly

Jesus is the God of the Shema

Jesus kept the Shema his whole life. He never worshiped other gods. He perfectly loved his Father in heaven. In other words, Jesus kept the summary of the Law—which is to say he kept the whole law. The blessings tied to the keeping of the Shema were received by Jesus.

In teaching on the Shema, Jesus develops it into a personified reality:

Deuteronomy 5:6–10 CSB

I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the place of slavery. Do not have other gods besides me. Do not make an idol for yourself in the shape of anything in the heavens above or on the earth below or in the waters under the earth. Do not bow in worship to them, and do not serve them, because I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, bringing the consequences of the fathers’ iniquity on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me, but showing faithful love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commands.

This is the reason why Jesus receiving worship was looked on as a major change for Jews. They say monotheism as the central, foundational truth of their religion. The Christians agreed—and said that Jesus is Lord. Jesus is that God. The one that led them out of Egypt and gave them the Shema in the first place.

True literacy is loving Jesus as he is revealed in the Scriptures

The affections designated to God alone are, for New Testament believers to be directed toward Christ as our Savior and Lord.

Whereas before, the strong arm of the Lord brought both blessings and curses on Israel, the Church has a different outlook.

Jesus took all the curses of God and gave all the blessings to us!

We have indeed inherited the blessings of the Shema—we can’t help but love Him!

True literacy is multiplying to fulfill all the Scriptures

The self-replicating aspect of the Shema in the New Covenant is a fulfillment of the passage in Deuteronomy.

However, we need to say a few cautionary words first.

Israel received the original Shema: who receives it today?

It isn’t those born of the flesh as Jews:

Matthew 3:9 CSB

And don’t presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that God is able to raise up children for Abraham from these stones.

or

John 1:13 CSB

who were born, not of natural descent, or of the will of the flesh, or of the will of man, but of God.

No, the New Testament says that those in the New Covenant—the recipients of blessings in Christ—are only those who believe.

John 3:16 CSB

For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

Acts 2:38–39 CSB

Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, each of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children, and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call.”

The Lord’s call, God’s decree, the Holy Spirit’s work. . . all of these are necessary for people to be right recipients of the blessings in Christ. Only believers are in Christ—and God is making more believers every day.

Second, the nations may not receive the blessings of the Shema. Even though the nation of Israel was supposed to arrange its households and cities according to the Law of the Lord, no nation today can rightly be said to receive across the barrier of the New Covenant the blessings Christ has given to those He died for.

The only holy nation—the only kingdom under the rule and reign of Christ, the King that kept the Shema, is the Church.

God has given us an inheritance of the nations by calling, from every nation, a new people. A kingdom of priests to God to reign with the son.

Revelation 5:10 CSB

You made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they will reign on the earth.

So who receives the Shema today? Who is it for?

The Shema is for the church.

The Church’s Shema Duties

First, the Shema teaches that the Christian’s first duty is a personal one:

Ephesians 4:1 CSB

Therefore I, the prisoner in the Lord, urge you to walk worthy of the calling you have received,

Colossians 3:1–2 CSB

So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.

Our worship, praise, honor, and attention should be fixed upon our glorious savior. This is our first duty.

Salvation is found in personal repentance and faith in Christ, not literacy.

Are you in Christ? Do you know Him? Have you encountered Jesus as he is revealed in the Scriptures?

Second, the Shema teaches that Christians are to orient their lives around their faith.

Matt Chandler has said that the greatest danger to the church in Texas today is not Gnosticism or any other heresy, but travel ball. The lives of people caught up in a lifestyle of sports-first, church-second are worshiping sports.

Romans 12:1–2 CSB

Therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your true worship. Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.

Salvation means a life reoriented to Christ, not one that mimics a pagan life

Is your lifestyle Jesus first? Are your closest friends Christians? Can you say your true mother and brothers are those that do what Jesus commanded?

Finally, the Shema gives us the duties of calling people out of the world in three ways.

Children

We call children out of the world through the parental responsibility to educate children.

Ephesians 6:4 CSB

Fathers, don’t stir up anger in your children, but bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.

We are to “tie the sign on the hand and the symbol on the forehead” through teaching them to love everything God loves and hate everything God hates. They should know about God, especially from the scriptures.

But this means we need to make life changes to allow for the education of young people---especially our young people. Financial sacrifices, considering teaching, studying education, establishing schools, publishing books . . . all these are sacrifices to fulfill the Shema as Christ has given it to us.

I am much afraid that the schools will prove the very gates of hell, unless they diligently labour in explaining the Holy Scriptures, and engraving them in the hearts of youth. I advise no one to place his child where the scriptures do not reign paramount. Every institution in which means are not unceasingly occupied with the Word of God must be corrupt.

—Martin Luther

Unbelievers

We call unbelievers out of the world through evangelism

This happens “when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.” The Great Commission is an “as you are going” charge.

But it also means making changes to our lives. We may talk when we walk along the road . . . so find some lost people to talk with. etc. We make sacrifices for the evangelism of others.

William Carey went to India to preach the gospel. He was there seven years before anyone converted. His work that began the tidal wave of the Holy Spirit saving people? A print shop and a school. His immense sacrifice ultimately ended up establishing the Indian education system, and many were won by his insistence on education.

The Nations

Even thought the nations may not receive the Shema directly, it is still our duty to call them to submit to Christ. The promotion of education is one way in which we do that.

If we establish schools that adequately compete with public schools . . .

If we train teachers that are more effective and prepared for the classroom . . .

If we publish papers that are consistently Christian and academically honest . . .

If we raise a generation of kids that have already encountered Christ . . .

Our nation is going to change. This is the method God has called us to use to change the world.

One soul at a time. We reproduce, both physically and spiritually, to the glory of God.

If you want to change the world, pick up your pen and write.

—Martin Luther

Salvation leads to an emphasis on education

So, Thomas Jefferson said:

Where the press is free, and every man able to read, all is safe.

We respond with a similar cry for literacy, but for a different reason:

When schools flourish, all flourishes.

—Martin Luther