Deut 26 5-10 2007
Lent 1
Deuteronomy 26:5-10
February 24/25, 2007
Holy Nation (The Apple of His Eye)
Introduction: A teacher gave apples to the children in her class. "Look at your apple closely," she said. "Notice the color, spots, blemishes, bumps, and how the stem points. Close your eyes and picture your own apple and everything about it." The teacher collected the apples in a basket and laid them out on the top of her desk, mixing them thoroughly in the process. Then she said, "Come and pick out your apple." Every one of the 30 pupils in her class picked out his or her particular apple. Each one of us is unique, just as is every apple. We all have our bumps, spots, shades of color, and differing stems. And God can pick us out of a million people. He has chosen us to be his own precious apples, and he cares for us, just as he chose Israel to be his holy nation in ancient times. That's what Moses told the people of Israel, "He guarded him as the apple of his eye" (Dt 32: 10).[i]
Introduction: Remember the hymn Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty. It’s hymn 246. In it we hear the words, “"Only thou art holy: there is none beside thee, Perfect in power, in love and purity. To be "holy" means to be set apart for a unique purpose. The one who is himself "holy, holy, holy" is set apart from us as infinitely as heaven is above earth: Yet our holy God wishes to be with us, close to us, and to that end he has set apart people for himself. Our text for this First Sunday in Lent shows us that God chooses and sets apart His holy nation. In response, they bring Him their gifts.
God set apart Israel as a holy nation, and they responded. They came from humble beginnings among the nations. They were few in number, homeless, and oppressed. It was only by God's grace that they survived and became strong and numerous.
When the people of this nation were in misery, they cried to God for help. The Egyptians mistreated them and made them suffer with hard labor. It wasn’t only physical pain, but also humiliation that made their lives miserable. In their suffering they cried out to the God of their fathers.
When they cried to God for help, he brought them out and set them in their own land. The Lord brought them out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great terror, and with miraculous signs and wonders. He brought them into their own land flowing with milk and honey.
In response to this deliverance, they brought gifts to God and worshiped him. They bowed down in worship and brought the first fruits of the land before the Lord. As they presented these offering to be used to help those people around them in need, this too was an act of worship.
God sets apart Christians as a holy nation, and we respond. We are also of unremarkable origin among the nations of the world. Paul notes, "Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth" (1 Cor 1:26). The same is true of Christians today and has been true throughout the history of Christendom.
We are a people who cry to God when we need help. Just as the devil tempted Jesus, so the devil tempts and torments us. As Luther notes in the Small Catechism, the devil attempts to lead us into "false belief, despair and other great shame and vice" (explanation of the Fifth Petition). On our own we cannot stand up to the devil's schemes, so we cry to God for help.
The Lord's outstretched arm, signs, and wonders set us apart from the sinful world as His holy people. We are set apart as those possessing the very holiness of Jesus. We are triumphant against the Devil because Jesus was triumphant for us. Though we all have sinned and fall short of the holiness of God, we are set apart as holy by the forgiveness Jesus earned when he literally, stretched out his arms on the cross to save us. God's mighty acts continue His Church: The Gospel proclaimed carries out the powerful work of God beyond any earthly or human might might. Our Baptism sets us apart as holy, and the Holy Meal of Communion sustains us in Christ's holiness.
In response to his deliverance, we bring worship Him in Spirit and in truth, using His own Word, and we bring Him our gifts. This is the holy purpose for which we have been set apart: we are God's, and we live in service to him and to our neighbor. Our lives are offerings lived before God in faithful love towards Him and in service to all people, especially our brothers and sister in Christ, but also for all people.
Conclusion: Though on our own we are anything but holy, our holy God has set us apart for himself, just as he did Old Testament Israel. Living as a holy nation, then, giving to God and our neighbor our lives of service, is simply being what we are in Christ, what he has made us to be and chosen us to be from the foundation of the world…His Holy nation. He wants us to remember, that because of Jesus Christ and what He has done for us in His death on the cross, through which we have the forgiveness of sins, we are, and always will be, the apple of His eye. Amen!
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[i] Adapted from My Devotions, St. Louis: Concordia, October 21, 2002.