2019-07-21 Deuteronomy 10

Deuteronomy 10:12–21 CSB

12 “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you except to fear the Lord your God by walking in all his ways, to love him, and to worship the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul? 13 Keep the Lord’s commands and statutes I am giving you today, for your own good. 14 The heavens, indeed the highest heavens, belong to the Lord your God, as does the earth and everything in it. 15 Yet the Lord had his heart set on your fathers and loved them. He chose their descendants after them—he chose you out of all the peoples, as it is today. 16 Therefore, circumcise your hearts and don’t be stiff-necked any longer. 17 For the Lord your God is the God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, mighty, and awe-inspiring God, showing no partiality and taking no bribe. 18 He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the resident alien, giving him food and clothing. 19 You are also to love the resident alien, since you were resident aliens in the land of Egypt. 20 You are to fear the Lord your God and worship him. Remain faithful to him and take oaths in his name. 21 He is your praise and he is your God, who has done for you these great and awe-inspiring works your eyes have seen.

I. God transforms you.

Deuteronomy 10:12–16 CSB

12 “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you except to fear the Lord your God by walking in all his ways, to love him, and to worship the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul? 13 Keep the Lord’s commands and statutes I am giving you today, for your own good. 14 The heavens, indeed the highest heavens, belong to the Lord your God, as does the earth and everything in it. 15 Yet the Lord had his heart set on your fathers and loved them. He chose their descendants after them—he chose you out of all the peoples, as it is today. 16 Therefore, circumcise your hearts and don’t be stiff-necked any longer.

A. We are a stiff necked people. We need more than outward change we need inward transformation.

Deuteronomy 10:15–16 CSB

15 Yet the Lord had his heart set on your fathers and loved them. He chose their descendants after them—he chose you out of all the peoples, as it is today. 16 Therefore, circumcise your hearts and don’t be stiff-necked any longer.

Illus: The hope of our world today is not in outward transformation. Haven’t we tried this and found it failing?

You should live morally, dress a certain way, act a certain way… and then call yourself a Christian.

It is easy to put on a pretend show, especially in front of other Christians.

Frankly we are all good at putting on the show of being a “christian”, all the while knowing deep down that it is just an act.

Yes, God wants outward change in your life, but it must come from inward transformation.

Until inward transformation drives you, your outward actions are fraudulent. You are putting lipstick on a pig.

Look at what scripture says about our condition.

Ephesians 2:1–3 CSB

1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins 2 in which you previously lived according to the ways of this world, according to the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit now working in the disobedient. 3 We too all previously lived among them in our fleshly desires, carrying out the inclinations of our flesh and thoughts, and we were by nature children under wrath as the others were also.

B. God has set His heart on you. God will transform you.

Deuteronomy 10:15–16 CSB

15 Yet the Lord had his heart set on your fathers and loved them. He chose their descendants after them—he chose you out of all the peoples, as it is today. 16 Therefore, circumcise your hearts and don’t be stiff-necked any longer.

Illus: There is a push and pull in this passage I want you to see. God chose you, now circumcise your heart. God loves you, repent and follow.

This passage give a clear picture of what the step of faith genuinely is. 1. God loves you despite your sin, brokenness, and fake righteousness. 2. God chose you, your are valuable to him, he died for you. 3. He calls you to circumsize your heart… i.e. that faith is the radical step of repentance from the heart, turning away from sin and clinging to the hope of the cross.

You are loved, you are chosen, not only that God is fulfilling his promises today of reconciling men back to himself.

God looks at men and women like us, who are dead on the inside and places his heart and his promises on us.

We are called to respond. We are called to repentance, to a heartfelt, life sacrificing decision of faith. When we give God the very center of who we are, he will transform us.

Frankly, this isn’t a one time decision. Life transformation is a everyday, every moment decision or giving God complete control of our lives.

Colossians 2:9–13 CSB

9 For the entire fullness of God’s nature dwells bodily in Christ, 10 and you have been filled by him, who is the head over every ruler and authority. 11 You were also circumcised in him with a circumcision not done with hands, by putting off the body of flesh, in the circumcision of Christ, 12 when you were buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead. 13 And when you were dead in trespasses and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, he made you alive with him and forgave us all our trespasses.

II. A transformed life loves people differently.

Deuteronomy 10:12–13 CSB

12 “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you except to fear the Lord your God by walking in all his ways, to love him, and to worship the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul? 13 Keep the Lord’s commands and statutes I am giving you today, for your own good.

Deuteronomy 10:16–19 CSB

16 Therefore, circumcise your hearts and don’t be stiff-necked any longer. 17 For the Lord your God is the God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, mighty, and awe-inspiring God, showing no partiality and taking no bribe. 18 He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the resident alien, giving him food and clothing. 19 You are also to love the resident alien, since you were resident aliens in the land of Egypt.

A. A transformed heart will love widows and orphans.

Deuteronomy 10:16–19 CSB

16 Therefore, circumcise your hearts and don’t be stiff-necked any longer. 17 For the Lord your God is the God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, mighty, and awe-inspiring God, showing no partiality and taking no bribe. 18 He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the resident alien, giving him food and clothing. 19 You are also to love the resident alien, since you were resident aliens in the land of Egypt.

Illus: Let’s talk for a moment about the change that should be seen in you when God transforms you. If God has set His heart on you, then our hearts should be set on other people.

1 John clearly shows that the evidence of God’s work in our lives is our love for others.

Here in our passage, God points out three specific groups: 1. Widows, 2. Orphans, and 3. Resident Aliens.

Why these three groups? God is raising up those who would be marginalized in their time to show that we are specifically called to love the people most want to ignore.

What benefit does the widow or the orphan give you? Yet, when the bible teaches about real faith, the first place it takes you is to the widows home.

We are all busy looking for religion that benefits us, the Bible teaches you to find ministry that benefits you little, that is unseen, that matches what Jesus did by washing His disciples feet.

BTW, this is not just an old testament concept, it is a Biblical concept.

James 1:22–27 CSB

22 But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 Because if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like someone looking at his own face in a mirror. 24 For he looks at himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of person he was. 25 But the one who looks intently into the perfect law of freedom and perseveres in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer who works—this person will be blessed in what he does. 26 If anyone thinks he is religious without controlling his tongue, his religion is useless and he deceives himself. 27 Pure and undefiled religion before God the Father is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

B. A transformed heart will love the resident alien.

Deuteronomy 10:16–19 CSB

16 Therefore, circumcise your hearts and don’t be stiff-necked any longer. 17 For the Lord your God is the God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, mighty, and awe-inspiring God, showing no partiality and taking no bribe. 18 He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the resident alien, giving him food and clothing. 19 You are also to love the resident alien, since you were resident aliens in the land of Egypt.

Illus: I don’t find it shocking that in this week of political turmoil, that this passage, which has been on the calendar for months is placed before us.

Love the resident alien.

I want to be crystal clear in what I say, there is room to disagree in regards to immigration policy and enforcement. We are not talking about immigration policy and enforcement today.

We are talking about your heart today. We have allowed the cultural wars and political controversies to taint the way we view our fellow man. People of different skin colors than us, cultures than us, and political opinions than us are not people we despise demean or tell to go home. They are people to whom Jesus died, and calls us to love.

I am not saying you agree with them, but I am asking you to take a step way beyond civility… . I am/God’s Word is calling your lo love them.

Notice, the way our passage is built, God shows his authority in verse 17 I am the God of Gods, then shows how he loves the resident alien, the doubles down so that we understand our equal call to love the resident alien.

If your heart is, bitter, angry, and enraged that you cannot love a person from a different country with the love of Christ, it shows that Christ does not have full and complete authority of your hear.

BTW, this is not a OT only concept either:

Matthew 25:31–40 CSB

31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate them one from another, just as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on the left. 34 Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 “ ‘For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat; I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink; I was a stranger and you took me in; 36 I was naked and you clothed me; I was sick and you took care of me; I was in prison and you visited me.’ 37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and take you in, or without clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick, or in prison, and visit you?’ 40 “And the King will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

III. Do you fear and worship God.

Deuteronomy 10:18–21 CSB

18 He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the resident alien, giving him food and clothing. 19 You are also to love the resident alien, since you were resident aliens in the land of Egypt. 20 You are to fear the Lord your God and worship him. Remain faithful to him and take oaths in his name. 21 He is your praise and he is your God, who has done for you these great and awe-inspiring works your eyes have seen.

A. The way you treat widows, orphans, and foreigners shows whether you fear and worship God.

Illus:

1 John 3:14 CSB

14 We know that we have passed from death to life because we love our brothers and sisters. The one who does not love remains in death.