The Gift of Life

Intro

Many things mean Christmas. The smell of seasonal treats baking in the day or two before the big family meal. Those familiar classic carols blaring over the radio on every station and over the speakers in every store you go in. The talk of snow, even though it never snows around here anytime near Christmas.

Well, almost never. I grew up in Mobile, and I can remember one December getting out of school early. It was during my middle school years, and there was just a light dusting on the ground, but that was enough! By the way, people in Mobile can’t drive in the snow, but that’s another story!

One of the best things about Christmas is giving presents. I used to think getting them was great, but then I had kids and got to watch them get so excited. The joy of giving is one of the things that makes Christmas so great.

God gives us so many wonderful gifts. And I like to think that his heart overflows watching us receive his gifts with gratitude. In fact, God’s gifts come with responsibilities. Just as a kid has to pick up the bullets from his new Nerf gun, or learn how to handle her new bow and arrows safely, we must learn how God wants us to use his gifts.

For the next few weeks, we’ll look at some of the gifts of Christmas - the gifts that God gives us. Today we’ll start with God’s most basic, but most precious gift: life itself. Stand with me as we read from the book of Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy 30:11-20.

This is God’s Word, and if you let it, it will change your God-given life.

Deuteronomy 30:11–20 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. 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. 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.”

Pray

When God gave his commandments to the people of Israel, he wasn’t just giving them a do and don’t list. He wasn’t giving them a set of restrictions just to hold them back. He wasn’t sitting in heaven, looking for a reason to punish them for the slightest error.

Deuteronomy recounts the giving of the Law to Moses. Throughout the book, God is laying out his commandments to his covenant people. Just that fact - that God would want to make a covenant with man - was unthinkable in the ancient world. But here is the Creator of the universe, seeking to live in relationship with people.

When God gave his word to Israel, he was not asking too great a thing.

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.

Notice that God’s word isn’t too hard to understand, nor is it too hard to obtain. Think about the things God tells us to do: love God, love your neighbor as yourself, honor your father and mother. Think about the things God prohibits us from doing: don’t murder, don’t steal, don’t covet. You don’t need a supercomputer to solve complex equations to figure out what God wants. You don’t need a superhero to go one some epic quest to discover the hidden mysteries of God’s commands. They are God’s gift - given freely to his people.

“Wait a minute,” you might say, “I thought we were talking about the gift of life.” That’s exactly what we’re talking about:

Deuteronomy 30:15 ESV

15 “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil.

This is one of those cases where words talk on bigger meanings than they normally do. The words for “good” (tov) and “evil” (ra’)here can be translated as “prosperity” and “adversity.” But they mean so much more than this. Coupled with the ideas of life and death, we see that prosperity isn’t merely temporal, financial, or even medical prosperity - but genuine, spiritual prosperity. Evil, or adversity, is not merely setbacks or difficulties we encounter. It is having God’s wrath poured out upon you.

The people of Israel have a choice to make. God is giving them life. What will they do with it? God lays out the options, starting with the positive response:

Deuteronomy 30:16 ESV

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.

Life, then, is directly connected with obedience to God’s commands. “If you will follow my word in obedience,” says the Lord, “then I will bless you. I will give you tov, “good.” And it’s worth noting how that obedience is demonstrated:

by loving the Lord - with all our heart, mind, and strength

by walking in his ways - following him as he demonstrates righteousness through the life and deeds of Jesus Christ

by keeping his commandments - the statutes and rules are just means of using similar words to broaden our view of all God has spoken to us

Obedience, we find, comes by loving God and doing what he commands in the way in which he commands it be done. Let’s put some meat on the bones for a minute. Obedience is not turning your nose up when Momma says “clean your room.” Obedience is not stomping off all the way to your room. Obedience is not slowly putting a couple of things away, and then playing with toys. Obedience is saying “yes ma’am” and immediately doing everything Momma expects - picking up dirty clothes and putting them in the hamper, rushing to store away toys, and making the bed neatly. All with a positive attitude of love and respect for her. That’s obedience, and it’s results are marvelous:

you shall live - God’s gift of life is directly linked to our obedience

(you shall) multiply - a promise that God will provide the means to fulfill his garden command to Adam and Eve

God will bless you - the blessing specifically here is to obtain possession of the promised land

We wonder why God doesn’t bless us more. Is it that we refuse to obey him? God cannot bless his disobedient child, no matter how “small” the disobedience is. We must take great care to examine our hearts, to make sure that we are not actively disobeying his commands. For the consequence of disobedience is devastating:

Deuteronomy 30:17–18 ESV

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.

Here, Moses shows the process of disobedience:

your heart turns away - this directly contradicts loving God; just as our hearts can turn toward God, they can turn away from him.

you will not hear - instead of seeking to walk in God’s ways, the disobedient refuse to know God’s ways

(you) are drawn away to worship (and serve) other gods - because they reject God’s word, they also reject him and will reject his commandments.

That disobedience is a turning away from God - with the heart, then the ears, and finally the life. It values sin more than the God who expresses his love through his commandments, so it must be punished. How?

you will surely perish - instead of receiving life, those who reject the means of life will receive death.

you shall not live long in the land… - instead of receiving the blessing of long life in the land of promise, the days of disobedience are cut short.

So Israel has a choice to make: life or death? Good, or evil? Verse 19 adds one more dimension:

Deuteronomy 30:19 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,

Israel can choose between the blessing or the curse. This language draws back from Deut 11:

Deuteronomy 11:26–28 ESV

26 “See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse: 27 the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, 28 and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside from the way that I am commanding you today, to go after other gods that you have not known.

God is giving the choice to Israel, and he is giving the same choice to us. We have before us two divergent options: obedience which leads to life, and disobedience which leads to death. As long as God tarries, man will have the choice between life and death, good and evil, blessing or curse. So Moses gives both the Israelites and us a clear call:

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.”

It’s easy to miss the trees for the forest here. God isn’t just telling Israel that obedience leads them to life, or even that obedience is the substance of their life in God. Look at verse 20:

Deuteronomy 30:20 ESV

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.”

God’s gift of life isn’t just a gift from him, it is him giving us himself! God is our life! Not just the source of life or the purpose of life. God is our life! So this first gift of Christmas isn’t just an item to have, but life in him. This changes everything for the Christian. No longer are we expected to “make a life for ourselves:” he is our life! In him we live and move and have our being. That’s why seven times in this chapter you find the words “life” or “live.”

The beautiful truth in this passage, and throughout the whole book of Deuteronomy is:

God Gives Us Life, But Requires Us to Use It in Obedience to His Commands

But what if you find that you haven’t been living for God? What if your life has been wasted in disobedience to God?

There’s another word that is often repeated throughout this same chapter ; seven times this word appears in just the first ten verses in fact: shuv. You might recognize that word - it’s the word for repentance. Look at Deut 30:1-10:

Deuteronomy 30:1–10 ESV

1 “And when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where the Lord your God has driven you, 2 and return to the Lord your God, you and your children, and obey his voice in all that I command you today, with all your heart and with all your soul, 3 then the Lord your God will restore your fortunes and have mercy on you, and he will gather you again from all the peoples where the Lord your God has scattered you. 4 If your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there the Lord your God will gather you, and from there he will take you. 5 And the Lord your God will bring you into the land that your fathers possessed, that you may possess it. And he will make you more prosperous and numerous than your fathers. 6 And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live. 7 And the Lord your God will put all these curses on your foes and enemies who persecuted you. 8 And you shall again obey the voice of the Lord and keep all his commandments that I command you today. 9 The Lord your God will make you abundantly prosperous in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your womb and in the fruit of your cattle and in the fruit of your ground. For the Lord will again take delight in prospering you, as he took delight in your fathers, 10 when you obey the voice of the Lord your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes that are written in this Book of the Law, when you turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

Do you see how life and love of God and obedience all work hand-in-hand? Life is God’s precious gift to us, and that gift comes with the requirement to use every breath, every word, every action in obedience to God. If you haven’t been doing that, may I offer you the altar as a place to start fresh on that journey of a lifetime? If you’ve never surrendered your life to the one who gave that life to you - who gave his life for you - then today is a great day to know him. You come while we sing.