Choose Love

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth; Then took the other, as just as fair, And having perhaps the better claim, Because it was grassy and wanted wear; Though as for that the passing there Had worn them really about the same, And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black. Oh, I kept the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back. I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.

The late Robert Frost was a New England farmer poet who won the pulitzer prize 4 times in his lifetime. His appearance and public demeaner was grandfatherly and relateable for most Americans. Yet, his personal and private life was one filled with struggles. His marriage was bitter, his relationships with colleagues was caustic. So his public life and his personal life seemed to be in constant tension.

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference. How could a man with so much tension in life write a poem that is often summarized by seeing two roads and making the better decision of the two?

What most people say about this line is that the person in the poem analyzed, and then decided to pick one path before they went on it, and then looked back and was happy, positive, or glad they made the decision.

But when you read the poem in its entirety it is very clear that the person in the poem struggled to make the decision as to which path to go down.

And even this last line, we assume all the difference was a positive conclusion. When it could have been a negative difference. And that he regretted the road he took and that he did not take other one. After all the poem is called the road not taken.

Sometimes there are choices that don’t make all the difference for good. Sometimes they make all the difference for bad.

Transition:

In the text today, we find the Israelites, facing two different paths. And the consequences of each path are very different. Let’s read it together.

Deuteronomy 30:11–14 ESV

11 “For this commandment that I command you today is not too hard for you, neither is it far off. 12 It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will ascend to heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ 13 Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ 14 But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it.

Deuteronomy 30:15–18 ESV

15 “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. 16 If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you today, by loving the Lord your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. 17 But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, 18 I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess.

Deuteronomy 30:19–20 ESV

19 I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, 20 loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.”

There are two ways before the Israelites.

Life and Good

Life = being alive, but the word has more to it than that…exuberance, energy, flourishing, vitality.

Good = pleasing, desirable, in order (anytime things are out of Gods order, that ain’t good)

Death and Evil

Death = state of being dead, plague, disease, absence of life

Evil = bad, badly made, of small worth, contemptable

Unlike the ambiguous mess of the Robert Frost poem, God is straightforward with the Israelites about where their choice will take them. They are presented with a choice, and their choice will have consequences.

They know the consequences of their choice.

With obedience comes life and blessing | They will thrive and live in peace

With disobedience comes destruction because sin will fester and infect them and their land.

[PAUSE FOR THEOLOGICAL discussion]

Have you ever heard the statement or said the statement, “God I’m doing all the right things, but bad things keep happening. I’m not getting blessed and I’m doing everything right.”

Great misunderstandings when it comes to the promise of life, prosperity is the focus on the individual. The covenant God makes with man, is not just a covenant he makes with me. It is a covenant He makes with you. Even more important, it is a covenant that he makes with all of His people. That is why I like the word ya’ll. I (singular) will be ya’lls God. And Ya’ll will be my people. I suggest one of the great reasons why we struggle with the making right choices is because we often only thing of how this benefits us. When our individual life doesn’t get better we wonder where is God. And then we abandon the promise.

I suggest we start to really believe that this promise he makes is for all of us. When WE choose his ways. We all when we all apply the way of God and obey His ways, that we all work together, and then we all have blessing. This is echoed in the writings of Paul when he says, 1 Corinthians 12:21 “21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.””

Ephesians 4:16 “from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.”

Romans 8:28 “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”

God love and God’s word are always near.

They are told and have been many times and in different ways. God begs them to choose life. God wants that for them. It isn’t a new request. It is not a secret he has hidden from them and is holding them accountable for something they did not know.

Give examples of God communicating the choice.

-Genesis 2:15–17 “15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.””

-Psalm 1:1–4 “1 Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; 2 but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. 3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. 4 The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away.”

-Proverbs: compares the path of wisdom to the path of foolishness. One leads to life.

-Jeremiah 21:8 “8 “And to this people you shall say: ‘Thus says the Lord: Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death.”

-Joshua 24:15 “15 And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.””

-Matthew 7:24–27 “24 “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. 26 And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.””

-Matthew 7:13–14 “13 “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. 14 For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.”

-Romans 12:1–2 “1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

[Pause]

Now we know the story…they do indeed choose the wrong path. And they do as a community face destructions. They are taken into captivity.

[Pause]

How is it that a people can be reminded again and again that there are two paths… still chose the wrong one?

How is it that a people who heard the word of God read… who were taught by their parents… who had prophets reminding them… still chose death instead of life?

The answer is uncomfortable.

Because that people… is us.

We choose the wrong path too sometimes.

We know the right path.

We know the things that lead to life.

We know the things that lead to destruction.

And yet sometimes we choose the wrong road anyway.

Sometimes we choose pride instead of humility.

Sometimes we choose anger instead of forgiveness.

Sometimes we choose what is easy instead of what is faithful.

And like Israel, we discover that those choices have consequences.

But here is the good news.

God never stopped calling His people back.

Even when they chose the wrong road… God kept pointing to the right one.

And ultimately, God didn’t just point to the path of life.

He sent the path of life to us.

Jesus says in John 14:6,

“I am the way, and the truth, and the life.”

Not just a teacher of the path.

Not just a guide pointing down the road.

He is the road.

And through Him we are called again to the same choice Moses gave the Israelites long ago:

Choose life.

Choose love.

Choose faithfulness.

Choose the Lord.

And when we do — not just individually, but together — we become the kind of community God always intended His people to be.

A people who flourish.

A people who bless one another.

A people who walk the road of life together.

So today the choice is the same as it was for Israel.

Life and death.

Blessing and curse.

Choose life and love.

Read entire passage. (John 15:1-17)