Love that Rescues

[Announce text] Welcome, church members and visitors! I am excited to announce that we are beginning our new six-week series during the season of Lent called Signs of Covenant Love. Throughout this series, we will select Scriptures from the Old Testament that demonstrate God’s covenant love for his people to prepare our hearts for Easter Sunday.

If you have brought a Bible, please open it to the book of Deuteronomy. We will be reading from chapter 26, from verses one through eleven.

[Scripture introduction] In these passages, Moses recites the ancient customs and obligations of an Israelite community. As God’s rescued covenant people, they are expected to belong to him, and this relationship is evident through their participation in the Mosaic Laws given by God on Mt. Sinai.

[Reannounce and read text] In light of this, let’s read from the book of Deuteronomy 26:1-11 concerning offerings of first fruits and tithes.

[Prayer for illumination] Gracious Father, who has the authority and power to free the people from captivity and bring them to the Promise Land? Only you, Lord, can do these almighty deeds with your hand and outstretched arm. May these scared Scriptures teach us the life you desire us to live during this Lenten season and that we live according to your perfect will. We pray this in Jesus’ holy name. Amen.

[Introduction] Where do you believe God is taking you this year? I often wonder this from time to time. You may also wonder where God is taking us, collectively, as a family, church, and nation. We often wonder where is God leading us and to what end.

In the season of Lent, we reflect on Christ's forty days in the wilderness during his temptation, but Christ’s story represents another biblical history. Jesus's forty-day wilderness experience points to God’s chosen people, the Israelites, whom the Lord chose not because of their greatness but because of his love for them. The Lord rescued them and, after delivering them, brought them into the wilderness to roam for forty years.

During that time, these people moaned, complained, and even became violent toward God’s representative, Moses, for dragging them away from Egypt. They couldn’t understand what God was doing. They couldn’t imagine the blessings the Lord had in store for them.

Sometimes, we feel like the Israelites in the wilderness. We are unsure of where God is leading us in life. We are not happy with our present situation. But what if the Lord wants to take us somewhere special? Somewhere where we can love him as much as he loves us.

God has a destination in mind for ancient Israel and for you and me, and it's called the Promise Land.

[FCF] But how do we know when we have made it? If we arrive, what does God want us to do instead of wandering in the wilderness like Jesus and the people in the Bible? That’s a great question.

[Scripture bond] For our passage in Deuteronomy, the people confidently knew when they were coming to reside in God’s Promise Land. The entire community shifted from nomads to settlers, travelers to homesteaders, and a community that would experience riches through God’s blessed fertile land.

This leads us to our first idea of what God is doing because of his love for us.

[Main point 1] God’s covenant love has always been leading His people to the Promised Land.

[Explanation] Heaven’s eyes were always on his people, beginning with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God promised them that he would bring their descendants to the land. God saw their pain, suffering, and toil in Egypt and made his way to leading his people out of slavery and into freedom.

God’s covenant love is higher than the authority of Pharaoh, deeper than the Red Sea, and wider than the sins of his people. The Lord’s will is to lead his people into a life they could never imagined.

The Lord wants to take you there, too!

[Illustration] Leading my children to a great adventure at Great Wolf Lodge.

[Application] Remember God, who is taking you to his Promised Land.

[Main Point 2] Everything in the Promised Land belongs to the Lord and is given to His redeemed people.

[Explanation] The Lord gave Israel an inheritance and invited them to live faithfully in the land to remember and respond with liturgical confession and worship. Everything in the Promise Land belonged to the Lord, and the people returned their best to God with devotion.

Did you know that everything is God’s? It’s all freely given to the Israelites, you, and I who are looking by his grace.

[Illustration] God gave them barley, milk, and honey, symbolizing a settled, peaceful life. Flowers in the meadows, cows grazing the pastures. This is all a gift to man in the Promised Land.

[Application] Respond to God’s blessings by acknowledging He owns everything.

[Main Point 3] God’s love has brought you to the true Promised Land in Jesus Christ, enabling you to live a life of abundant gratitude and generosity.

[Explanation] Jesus has kept his love covenant and rescued us. His mighty hand and outstretched arms on the cross have freed us from sin and death. When you come to Him in faith, you will live in God's Promised Land. Someone who understands they live in Christ will praise and give like they have it all.

[Illustration] Imagine if we lived in light of this. We would give thanks in all circumstances, bless the poor and needy, and show mercy and compassion to our enemies and friends. It would indicate that we live in the blessed of Jesus.

[Application] Become the most gracious, generous, and grateful person because life is spectacular.

[Proposition] Through Jesus, we now dwell in the Promised Land, living with hearts of gratitude and generosity.

[Conclusion] As we begin our Lenten journey, let’s go to the Promise Land, that is, Jesus. Surrender to him and return our blessings to the one who has rescued us.

Let’s pray.