Togetherness is the Plan - Deut 10:14-16

Introduction

My dad says that he can remember being in the fourth grade and seeing his mom ride off on the back of a motorcycle with her arms wrapped around a man that he didn’t know shouting back to him and his siblings that she was too young to have children. As a result, he grew in foster care. Some of you may be able to relate to him. His dad lived 15 minutes away, and he lived a successful, middle class life but never even bothered to pick up the phone or to wish dad a happy birthday. His mom came in and out of his life, depending on whether her newest man said he liked kids or didn’t. The foster home that my dad grew up in was operated by his grandparents who often took in kids so that they were able to get a government subsidy that provided them with steady income. There were as many as 13 foster kids living in a small three bedroom house, and it was always different kids coming and going. So, on the day that my dad graduated from high school, his grandmother told him that he could either pay rent to make up for the loss of his check, or he could move out.

As a result, my dad never felt like he had a place that he fit, a place that he belonged. He always felt in the way, not loved, like an inconvenience, not a son. What I want you to see tonight and tomorrow is that this experience of loneliness, this experience of not having a place to fit, in fact, is in contradiction to the design of God. Of course, God has designed our families to give us a place where we fit and are cared for. But, what I want you to see is that even beyond that God is calling us to a spiritual family, a family that is even more powerful than flesh and blood, a family with whom we will be connected for all of eternity. God’s design has not just been to bring us to Jesus; God’s design has been to bring us together through Jesus. And, what I want to do tonight is start from the beginning so that you can see that God has designed his people to be together for his own glory from the beginning.

God’s Word

Read Deuteronomy 10:14-16

God is totally free.

v. 14 - “Behold, to the Lord your God belong heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth with all that is in it.”

v. 14 = total freedom of God

What do we mean by freedom?

Humanity is forever in pursuit of freedom.

Adam and Eve ate the fruit because they sought independence from God.

Enough education = freedom/Overworking = better career & more money = freedom/Laziness = do what I want = freedom/Alcoholism = escape = freedom/sex with whomever I want = freedom

Questions to test whether you actually have freedom:

Do you need anything?

Can you be forced to do anything?

Are you answerable to anyone?

Our freedom and autonomy are illusions; God’s freedom is unthreatened.

True freedom is without threat, competitor, or accountability.

God is totally self-sufficient. He owns everything and needs nothing.

God is above everything, everyone, every god, and is answerable to no one.

God cannot be manipulated, bribed, or extorted. No one has anything he needs. No one can threaten him. He is actually free.

In the position of freedom, you learn the nature of someone’s character.

Who are you when your parents leave you home alone for the first time?

Who are you when you’re able to go away with your friends or your boyfriend by yourself?

Who are you when you get your driver’s license?

Who are you when you go to college?

With total freedom, God chose to save a people.

v. 15 “Yet the Lord set his heart in love on your fathers and chose their offspring after them, you above all peoples, as you are this day.”

The freedom of God reveals the goodness of God.

What does God do with his freedom? He loves and saves.

He isn’t motivated by accountability. He isn’t being forced against his will. He isn’t being manipulated by clever sinners. HE’S DOING EXACTLY WHAT HE WANTS IN THE WAY THAT HE WANTS. And, what does He want? What brings him delight? To love and save.

“Yet....you above all peoples.”

Now, how does this relate to our togetherness?

Notice that emphasis is that God is saving a people, not on him saving persons. Most instances in which the Bible talks about God’s saving work, it’s talking about a people, not a person.

Start of God’s ppl: God’s promise to Abraham: “a great nation who will bless every nation.”

Exodus/Old Covenant: Israel: the object of God’s love to spread the fame of God’s Name.

New Covenant: Christ: New Covenant = the church

Opposite of American culture, opposite of American Christianity.

Emphasis is not on “I”, “me”, and “my”; it’s on “we”, “us”, and “our.”

“Not about me; it’s about us!”

It has always been God’s design that there wouldn’t just be a “you”, but that there would be a “y’all”.

God’s plan was always to bring you together.

Why? Because God is good. The togetherness of God’s people is rooted in the goodness of God’s character. He could’ve done anything, and He saved you. He could’ve spread his glory in any way, but He brought you together. He’s good.

You are here tonight, together, for no reason greater than the fact that the Almighty intervened in his own creation with a plan to bring you together. Do you see how big of a deal this is?

God’s people were always supposed to be marked inwardly, not just outwardly.

v. 16 “Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no longer stubborn.”

Israel is God’s people in the Old Testament (Old Covenant). They were identified outwardly by their ethnicity, their ceremonies, their Law, and their circumcision.

Looks forward to a circumcision, not of the body, but of the heart. An inward mark, not just an outward mark to set aside God’s people.

Circumcision of the heart = marking your heart for the LORD = cutting away all of the self-interest and self-freedom and self-centeredness

“the LORD set his heart” “circumcise…your heart” The Lord was looking forward to the time in which Jesus would send the Holy Spirit to bring his church together and set them apart by giving them his heart.

What’s his heart? A love for his glory, a love for God’s people (2 great commands)

Your togetherness is an indicator of the mark of God on your heart.

John 13:35 (ESV)35By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Do you want to know if you have God’s mark on your heart? Do you love one another? Your togetherness is not just about your relationship with each other. Your togetherness is about your relationship with God.

How do you talk about each other (mean girls/social media/locker room)? How do you treat each other (include/exclude/feel big or small/point out good or bad)? How do you forgive each other (write off/lash out/reconcile)?

God has given everyone of you a place here. You belong here. It’s God’s design. It’s God’s plan. But, you have a responsibility to display God’s design to each other so that every person doesn’t just know it, but they feel it. Will you come together?