Teach Your Hearts

Today, we celebrate the graduation of two young members of our fellowship from high school. Both of them were awarded their high school diplomas yesterday during the commencement exercises of Suffolk Public Schools.

We are proud of them and of their accomplishments, and we wish them the very best as they prepare for the next stage in their lives.

But this occasion also gives us the opportunity to consider what the point of education really is and to think a little about the point of what we do here from one week to the next.

If I still worked for the Suffolk News-Herald, instead of a relaxing morning listening to nature, I would have spent Saturday covering the public school graduations.

Clearly the secular goal of education is to prepare young people to be contributing members of society.

During the course of my career in journalism, I covered dozens of high school graduations, and while each one is special for those who are graduating — and for their attending families and friends —

Zachary and Eddie, that means we want you to get jobs and pay taxes.

Whether you do those things now or after going on to college, society in general — and your parents, in particular — have an expectation that the years of investment into your education will eventually pay off.

We hope it will pay off in terms of your ability to take care of yourselves and participate in your part of the social contract by which we all help to provide for the common good and for those who are unable to care for themselves.

Welcome to what we might call Adulting 101.

Perhaps you thought that adulting was all about the freedom to make your own choices. I’m sorry to tell you that most of it is about paying your bills and scheduling the plumber and keeping track of how federal holidays affect the trash pickup schedule.

In fact, there will come a time — perhaps in the not-too-distant future — when you look back and think how much you miss those high school days that you so recently celebrated finally having left behind.

You might not believe it, but ask around, and I’ll bet you will be surprised by how many adults are simply tired of adulting.

But now that you’re in on the secret, it’s too late to go back. Welcome to our world.

I can’t tell you how much we appreciate your future contributions to Social Security. I’m 54 years old, and I would very much appreciate it if you could keep the system solvent for at least 20 or 30 years longer.

To do so will require, as I mentioned earlier, that you both get jobs and pay your taxes.

You see, the purpose of your education wasn’t simply that you would have a bunch of facts and knowledge stored up in your heads. The purpose was to prepare you to go out and DO something, to contribute to the mission of our society.

Now, we might debate over the particulars of that mission or the best ways of accomplishing it, but there’s no question that completing the mission requires action. Our society would fall apart if each of us simply decided to act as if we did not have some responsibility to this shared mission.

In fact, ever since you were toddlers, you have been groomed to participate in this mission. Your formation into good citizens who will contribute to this society has been a significant goal of your education, but that formation has not been limited to what went on in your classrooms.

In fact, your ability to add, subtract, multiply and divide — your ability to recite important dates in American history or to understand the works of Shakespeare or any one of the other myriad skills you have polished during your academic careers — has less relevance to your life as an American than some of the things you probably do not even remember learning.

What are you supposed to do when someone starts singing, “Oh, say, can you see...” for instance? Where does your right hand go when you recite the Pledge of Allegiance? What is the generic term we use for someone who serves in the U.S. Army?

We all know the answers to these things, but for most of us, it would be almost impossible to say when we learned them. The answers have been learned over time as we participated in the various patriotic liturgies to which we are all exposed. We are exposed to these patriotic liturgies in kindergarten, at baseball games, on television and even in church.

The answers to these questions have simply become part of our DNA as Americans, as people who have been formed into citizens of this nation. And the learning of these things is all part of what contributes to the love that most of us have for this nation.

Every person here knows the Pledge of Allegiance and could repeat it without thought. We learn the Pledge of Allegiance not so we will know it by head, but so we will know it by heart.

We did not learn the Pledge of Allegiance simply so that we would know the words and be able to recite them before meetings. We learned the Pledge of Allegiance so that the ideals that shape our nation would become part of our core as citizens, so that we would, indeed, be a people that, despite our differences, are “one nation,” a people willing even to fight and die for that nation if necessary.

The things that we learn liturgically — whether we’re talking about patriotic liturgies, cultural liturgies or sacred liturgies — are intended to change our hearts so that we will then respond in ways that are appropriate to the situation.

Those of us who have been formed into good U.S. citizens will follow the nation’s laws and, perhaps even fight and die to protect this country.

From the time we were all young, each of us has been

So what does this all have to do with us here today?

Turn with me, please, to Deuteronomy, Chapter 6, and let’s see.

Now, the book of Deuteronomy is written in the fashion of the suzerain-vassal treaties of the Ancient Near East. That’s just a fancy way of saying that it was written as a sort of agreement between a sovereign ruler (God) and His people (Israel) and that its format was very much like that of treaties between kings of this time and the people in lands they had claimed.

Moses, who wrote this book under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, spends some time reminding the people of Israel what God had done for them — remember that God had rescued them from slavery in Egypt and then provided for them as they wandered through the wilderness.

Then he spends some time describing the people’s duty to God in response to His great provision. And finally he spends time describing the blessings for obedience and the curses that would result from disobedience.

The book was intended to be read prior to the time when the people of Israel entered the Promised Land, and it was to be read periodically throughout their history to remind the people of God’s provision and His promises, as well as their own obligations.

As we pick up in Chapter 6, Moses has finished recounting the 10 Commandments, and He is urging the people to be obedient.

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Now one of the first things you should notice here is that the people are not being called to teach their children the commandments so they’ll be able to recite them perfectly or get good grades or graduation certificates.

What God says through Moses is to teach them

Deuteronomy 6:2 NASB95

2 so that you and your son and your grandson might fear the Lord your God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be prolonged.

God gives them three reasons for this education: so that the next generations will “fear the Lord your God,” that they may “keep all His statutes and His commandments” and that their “days may be prolonged.”

Solomon wrote in the book of Proverbs that “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.”

“Fear of the Lord” suggests a complete reverence for the perfect and holy God, and it suggests a recognition of His complete power. But at a more basic level, fear of the Lord entails, as Solomon suggests here, an intimate knowledge of God.

When we have an intimate knowledge of God, then we will be driven to keep His commandments. We will want to be holy, because He is holy.

And in the corporate context of this passage, which is directed to the nation of Israel, a pursuit of holiness — the keeping of God’s commandments — would result in the prolonging of the nation’s days.

Then God reiterated the point.

Deuteronomy 6:3 NASB95

3 “O Israel, you should listen and be careful to do it, that it may be well with you and that you may multiply greatly, just as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.

So the people were called to learn the responsibilities outlined in this treaty with their sovereign, not for the sake of knowing them but because this knowledge was supposed to change them, and as they kept their part of the treaty, God would be faithful to keep His, allowing them to be fruitful and multiply in this promised land.

A big part of what the people were supposed to teach their children was revealed in this next verse.

Deuteronomy 6:4 NASB95

4 “Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one!

God was bringing them into the Promised Land, a place where the people worshiped many gods, and they were all false gods. “Do not forget who I am,” God says here. And the implication is nearly as strong: “Do not forget whose you are.”

Deuteronomy 6:5 NASB95

5 “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

Deuteronomy 6:5 NASB95

5 “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

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You see, what God wanted from His people was their hearts. Surely He wanted them to learn about how He had provided for them and how He had delivered them. Certainly He wanted them to know His commandments.

But the point was NEVER that they would learn these things and then go on with their lives. The point was that in learning these things they would be changed. Their hearts would be turned toward Him, and they would pursue their relationship to Him with everything they had.

You can learn the Pledge of Allegiance and be able to recite the Preamble to the Constitution and describe the differences between the legislative, judicial and executive branches of U.S. government. You can understand the circumstances surrounding the founding of this nation and even be able to name all the presidents in order.

But if knowing those things has not helped you love the United States of America, then the most important thing of all has been missed. And if your love for the country has not caused you to be civically engaged by voting, following the law, paying your taxes, paying at least basic attention to the affairs of your government and possibly even serving in the military, then it’s reasonable to ask how you would define love in this context.

In the same way, knowing there is a God is not the same thing as having an intimate knowledge of or relationship with Him. The knowledge that Solomon talked about in his comment on the fear of the Lord is the kind of knowledge that comes from walking with God, not just passing Him along the road somewhere.

And how did God suggest that His people could know Him in that way?

Deut 6

Deuteronomy 6:6 NASB95

6 “These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart.

Deuteronomy 6:7 NASB95

7 “You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up.

Deuteronomy 6:8–9 NASB95

8 “You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. 9 “You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

The idea here is that the people are being called to walk with God. They would be thinking of and teaching His words as they sit around the dinner table, when they get up in the morning, when they go to bed at night and when they’re out walking along the road.

They would be reminded of His Word when they entered and left the gates of their property and whenever they entered or left their homes. They would think of God when they looked at their hands and when they saw the hair around their forehead out of the corners of their eyes.

I have found that my spiritual growth is directly proportionate to the amount of time and effort I put into the study of Scripture.

John MacArthur once said, “I have found that my spiritual growth is directly proportionate to the amount of time and effort I put into the study of Scripture.”

If each of us were meditating on God’s Word the way that God told the people of Israel to do so, I daresay we would have a church full of pastors. Indeed, the people of Israel had been called to be a kingdom of priests, and if they’d ever taken these verses seriously, that’s exactly what they’d have been.

But who has time for all of that meditating on God’s Word? None of us would dare say that out loud, especially not at church, and certainly not around other Christians. But I guarantee you that this very question — or one very much like it — is exactly what went through the minds of more than a few people in this congregation just now.

Charles Spurgeon had something to say about this: “Ah! You know more about your ledgers than your Bible; you know more about your daybooks than what God has written; many of you will read a novel from beginning to end, and what have you got? A mouthful of froth when you have done. But you cannot read the Bible; that solid, lasting, substantial, and satisfying food goes uneaten, locked up in the cupboard of neglect.”

Ah! You know more about your ledgers than your Bible; you know more about your daybooks than what God has written; many of you will read a novel from beginning to end, and what have you got? A mouthful of froth when you have done. But you cannot read the Bible; that solid, lasting, substantial, and satisfying food goes uneaten, locked up in the cupboard of neglect.

We find time to read the newspaper. We find time to read novels. We find time to read Twitter and Facebook and all of the other noise the ruler of this world uses to distract us from what’s really important. We find time for self-help books and ignore the one book that can really help.

Other books were given for our information. The Bible was given for our TRANSformation.

The Bible was given to form us into people who love the Lord, our God, with all our heart, soul, strength and mind.

The Bible was given not so we could learn lots of interesting stories about Jesus. It was given so we could meet Him and come into relationship with Him by faith and so that the transformation resulting from that encounter would cause us to fall in love with Him and do the things He commanded of us.

Jonathan Edwards once said, “He that has doctrinal knowledge and speculation only, without affection, never is engaged in the business of religion.”

Let me tell you something: There are plenty of lost people around who know more about Christian doctrine than you do, more than I do. In fact, I would wager there is no greater theologian than the devil himself. He knows God better than any of us.

Your book knowledge about Jesus will not save you. Sitting here every week, soaking up sermons and Sunday school and yet being unchanged by it all will accomplish exactly nothing for you in the eternal scheme of things.

Jesus did not die to make you a better sinner; Jesus died to deliver you FROM sin.

On the other side of the coin, though, you who have followed Jesus Christ in faith will be completely ineffectual if you choose not to do the things — the liturgies, the work of the people — that would deepen your relationship with Him.

If you love the USA, but you do not understand anything about how it is governed, how can you be an effective citizen? If you love the USA, but you do not exercise your citizenship by voting or by paying attention to how it is governed, then what kind of citizen are you, after all?

In a similar fashion, if you are saved, then you should be doing the things that will help form you spiritually. And you should be doing the things Jesus has commanded.

“An emphasis upon basic daily obedience, prayer, private Bible reading, and weekly attendance at church where the word is read and preached and where fellowship with other saints can take place might seem awfully mundane; but without these things, the Christian is deprived of the very oxygen of the spiritual life.” [Truema, Carl. “Minority Report: The Way of the Christian Academic.” Themelios 33, no. 3 (2008): 7.]

An emphasis upon basic daily obedience, prayer, private Bible reading, and weekly attendance at church where the word is read and preached and where fellowship with other saints can take place might seem awfully mundane; but without these things, the Christian is deprived of the very oxygen of the spiritual life.

Truema, Carl. “Minority Report: The Way of the Christian Academic.” Themelios 33, no. 3 (2008): 7.

You see, whether you are aware of it or not, the ruler of this world is constantly working to form you into the image of this world. Advertising seeks to make you a consumer; sports and business work to make us competitors, rather than cooperators; and nationalism works to make us separate peoples, rather than one race composed of many types of people, all made in the image of God.

None of these things is necessarily bad, unless they are allowed to take first priority in our lives.

I am a Christian who happens to be American. I should want to be known first by my identity in Christ, not by my nation of birth. I should want to be known as a Christian who edited newspapers, not as a former newspaper editor who was a Christian.

But the only way to have that kind of identity is to make my following Jesus Christ more than a once- or twice-a-week spiritual top-up.

The only way to have that kind of identity is to be talking about Jesus and meditating on Jesus when I’m at home or on the road, when I lie down and when I rise up.

If your relationship with Christ is confined to Sunday morning worship, then you are depriving yourself of the very oxygen you need for your spiritual life, and if you’re going through life without that oxygen, then it’s no wonder that you don’t have the energy to do the things your Savior has called you to do.

You might know many of the facts about this Kingdom in which you are a citizen, but you will never have the power that is available to you as one in whom the very Spirit of God resides.

Peter and John were fishermen. They were not well educated. But they spent three years walking with Jesus Christ, following Him in faith, and when, filled with the Holy Spirit, these two were arrested for preaching in His name, the religious leaders of Jerusalem could not help but notice something about them.

Acts 4:13 NASB95

13 Now as they observed the confidence of Peter and John and understood that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were amazed, and began to recognize them as having been with Jesus.

Peter and John had been transformed by the Word, because they had walked with Him, and because they had been filled with the Holy Spirit.

What we do here on Sundays should be the smallest part of your walk with Jesus.

Today, I want to encourage you to make a fresh commitment to put as much effort into your walk with Jesus as our two recent high school graduates put into finishing school.

Today, I want to encourage you to recognize that your formation into citizens of the Kingdom of God is more important than your formation into consumers or football fans or even Americans.

Today, I want to encourage you to understand that you cannot walk with Christ on Sunday morning and then walk with the world Monday through Saturday.

Your education here has a purpose, and it’s not just so you can know the facts about Jesus. The purpose of your education here is for you to know Jesus Himself and, knowing Him, to go out and DO the things He has called us to do — to feed the hungry, care for the sick, clothe the naked and tell the world about Him.

These are the responsibilities we have as followers of Jesus Christ. These are the things we have been called to DO as people who love Him.