Untitled Sermon

Summary:

Subject:

Testimony

Compliment:

God has saved his people through his power for their well being, therefore respond in obedience

The Big question:

Why should we obey God?

Marketable big question:

What’s so wrong with how I live my life?

A long time ago I was invited on a high ropes adventure course. I’m generally not fond of heights but there was a girl I liked so naturally I became a staunch fearless man. It wasn’t untill half way through a really tricky bit that all my motivation for the task drained as I stared down towards my certain death. I asked myself, Why??? Why am I doing this? What’s it for?

I’m sure we’ve all experienced a crucial ‘why’ moment before in life. Today however, I want to question your faith. Have you ever been asked, Why must you obey what Jesus has commanded? After the service today, I want you all to ask that of each other when we gather over coffee. Why must you obey Jesus’ commandments?

And to help you with the answer, I encourage you to listen. For our passage this morning, gives us a framework for an answer to that very question. However, we wont see the entire answer in Deuteronomy, like last week, we are going to shine the light of the gospel onto this passage to understand how we are to use it.

We are going to work our way through the passage in a few steps. the blessing, the promise, The Savior, the Faith.

The Blessing:

Starting with the blessing, The chosen passage kicks off strongly with Deut 6:13 “It is the Lord your God you shall fear. Him you shall serve and by his name you shall swear.” Remember the context is Moses’ exhortation for the people to Love the lord their God with all their heart soul and might, obeying all his commands. The direction to fear the Lord your God is the blessing that might seem odd to us. But to see this as a blessing we must understand the world that the Israelite's lived in.

The ancient near eastern world had a multitude of gods, a plethora of ideas that demand your attention and devotion. ideologies that cast confusion into ones mind as to who’s in charge. Baal demanded human sacrifice to be appeased, others prostitution and idol worship. The world was just as confusing as a world that demands people to affirm allegiance to black lives matter or Trans rights are human rights. The many demands of society then and society today are for your devotion to their way of living. They want you to fear the consequences of not submitting to their creed. Today that may take the form of a twitter ban or the loss of a job, or any other effect of cancel culture.

The point here is that Israel is being set free of any other god who demands your devotion. Fear the Lord your God only! Don’t fear Baal, and and don’t fear cultural ideologies that demand your allegiance. This is a freedom statement, blessing that the people of Israel were to understand, that we are to understand.

It is this freedom of fear that Jesus expresses in his response to Satan that I drew our attention to last week. Jesus proclaims that Satan is powerless for Jesus fears the only God that has truth and everlasting power. It is this freedom of fear that comes from devoting oneself that King Solomon draws upon in his opening statement in Proverbs 1:7 “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.” This statement would make no sense if God was not the eternal and powerful God he is. That is what Moses is calling Israel to understand.

Making his point abundantly clear in verses 14 and 15. God will not share his glory. He will not tolerate his people being as fearful of other gods as they are of him. His power is total, there is no match.

The Promise:

Then Moses turns to the promise, But he does so with the back drop of the people’s unfaithfulness. reminding Israel that they have previously failed this task before, specifically at Massah. Like when my son asks to carry his cup of water to the table, I’m like don’t drop like the time you dropped it yesterday. Moses, as a father gives his children another chance, Moses is showing that God also gives his people another chance.

Which sets the scene for the promise, which is the same promise as last week. That it may go well for you. This repetition is important to note. Deut 6:18-19 “And you shall do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord, that it may go well with you, and that you may go in and take possession of the good land that the Lord swore to give to your fathers by thrusting out all your enemies from before you, as the Lord has promised.”

There are two promises in that statement, One is the covenants that he made with Abraham, Issac and Jacob that refers to the land that they are about to posses because this is written directly prior to their conquering of the land, however it’s also prophetic there’s a string of theology that one can learn much about the prophetic nature of the covenants. But this morning I want to draw your attention to the promise of well being, its important to note that God’s promise isn’t like the promises you and I might have made as kids. Like do this things for me or else… and that may have been followed with a variety of, all tell your mum on you, I’ll tell the teacher, or simply, or else.

You see it’s a stand out promise, that marks the intention of God’s blessing. Fear God, don’t put him to the test as you have done so before and do what is right in his sight that it may go well for you. In other words, trust God, that it may go well for you.

You see we can’t understate the level of concern God has for your well being. The reformers captured it well with the answer to the first question of what is the chief end of man? Glorify God and enjoy him forever. It’s part of what Adam and eve were made for in the garden, to walk with and enjoy God. And this is certainly the lesson of the Gospel. I mean, what more could God do for us than to pay the price of sin with himself for our well being. That we might walk with God.

Which brings us to the Savior of Israel, who also happens to be the savior of the world. But we’ll get to that.

Moses states a logical scenario that is relevant to the importance of Israel’s exhortation to follow his commands. You see, Moses wasn’t going to live forever, he wasn’t always going to be there to help and teach the children of Israel. God wants Israel to understand the value of passing down the commands. But he doesn’t want you to simply say any old answer. God’s made a framework for his people that gets even better as we fill in the information that Moses only knew to trust God with. What I’m saying is that what we are about to unpack the answer to every ones question of why must I obey God. in light of the Gospel and what we learn about Jesus.

So here’s the scenario: God says that at some point, your son will ask you about the commands. and let me remind you of the corporate nature of Moses’ words, your sons, are God’s covenant people’s sons. For our modern ears, we can read this as the churches children. So this is a message for everyone to hear, the single people and the childless, that at some one will eventually ask you what is the meaning of all that God has commanded.

Moses starts off the response to state who they were apart from God. Slaves in Egypt. God’s people Israel, were slaves. Have a read of the beginning of Exodus to get a picture of how good that time was. And then what does Paul call everyone in the book of Romans? Slaves to sin. That when we were apart from God, we were slave to the one whom we obey.

Then Moses explains the power and work of God. God’s efforts and strength. Moses doesn’t talk about his persuasive skills against Pharaoh, No Moses directs the attention to the work of God, God is the one who rescued the Israelites, God is the one who showed signs and wonders against Egypt. It was God’s hand and his power. He brought them out of slavery, bringing them to the land that He promised to give the forefathers.

And you know what Paul explains for us in his letter to the Romans, is that Christ’s death and ressurection is the power to deliver us from sin. That we know our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might e brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. Paul is saying that God has freed us. That God’s power to save is total and for all who believe.

Moses says that God’s rescue power is not only to bring us to freedom from oppression, but God has done this for Israel’s ongoing good. Deut 6:24 “And the Lord commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as we are this day.” He has taken away the fear of man and the fear of pagan gods made of wood and clay. This is the blessing that he has promised his people. They are free from oppression of the Egyptians and free from any other ruler or power known to the ancient world. And that God is faithful to that. As we are today, is a testament to the forty years of travel in the wilderness, dependent on God’s provision.

The gospel once again, fills out this passage to show it’s fullness in Christ. That through Christ we are to live holy lives, slaves to God as

So tell the children that God has command a fear of him for our benefit, that this is a good a gracious God who wants us to be righteous as he has commanded.

Now we’ve reached the end of the text but so far we only have the bones of the answer. The framework in which we as Christians are to respond to this question. You see we are New Testament Christians. That is we have the blessing of knowing how God fulfilled his promises to Abraham, Issac, Jacob and Moses. We have the joy of shining the gospel light onto all of scripture to see it’s usefulness for teaching, and training and rebuking.

And the key link here is that Moses explains that the commandments, testimonies and stipulations will be righteousness for us.

Moses records this question for us in Deuteronomy 6:20

Deuteronomy 6:20 ESV

“When your son asks you in time to come, ‘What is the meaning of the testimonies and the statutes and the rules that the Lord our God has commanded you?’

Now don’t write this off as an innocent teenager asking a simple question. I mean I would be asking dad about Leviticus 19:19

Leviticus 19:19 ESV

“You shall keep my statutes. You shall not let your cattle breed with a different kind. You shall not sow your field with two kinds of seed, nor shall you wear a garment of cloth made of two kinds of material.

So if you’ve been asked by a younger person why do you follow God, then consider yourself blessed because God told you it would happen. So let’s look on to see how God tells us to respond. To do this we are going to approach this passage from the point of a child asking this question: “What is the meaning of the testimonies and statues and the rules that the Lord our God has commanded you?

First:

God’s history of God’s work (Deut 6:21-23)

We were Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt. Before God rescued them they had a tough time living in Egypt, The start of Exodus paints a dire picture of their life saying that the Egyptians made their lives bitter with hard service, in mortar and brick and in all kinds of work in the field. It’s quite extensive when you kick off the book of numbers, how tough life as a slave was. It is this context that God rescues his people from. Through his divine work he brought the people of Israel out of Egypt. Back in Deuteronomy 6:21-22 “And the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. And the Lord showed signs and wonders, great and grievous, against Egypt and against Pharaoh and all his household, before our eyes.”

Israel’s situation before God rescued them was terrible, Moses reminds the people of their nations testimony of God’s rescue, of God’s power to save. That the basis of their faith is on the work of what God has done for them. Moses didn’t mention anything about the power of people, or the great lobbying that a couple of people did to the king. No Moses pins his response to the question on the work of God. God’s rescue power. Even to go on to press the point Deut 6:22-23 “And the Lord showed signs and wonders, great and grievous, against Egypt and against Pharaoh and all his household, before our eyes. And he brought us out from there, that he might bring us in and give us the land that he swore to give to our fathers.”

Did you notice, Moses draws the response to the question to the promise that God has made. That he did all this because he promised he would. You see Moses is referring to the covenants that we heard about last week, Abraham, Issac and Jacob. The land that has cities, houses, good things that are for were not made by God’s people but are for God’s people. God is a promise keeper, he made a covenant and he always is faithful to keep it.

Moses continues to say Deut 6:24-25 “And the Lord commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as we are this day. And it will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to do all this commandment before the Lord our God, as he has commanded us.’”

Here is the joy of the because I said so response. You see God loves his people so much that he says Obey his command for our good always. Last week the words were, that it may go well for you. How often have you tried a because I said so debate with someone and that smoothes the day, here we see God’s use of his authority with a direct

God gives a dire warning (Deut 6:15)

Death

God is faithful to the end

Fear and serve God only (Deut 6:13-14)

God set his expectations (Deut 6:16-17)

God promises well being (Deut 6:18-19)

God’s repeated promise (Deut 6:24-25)

Blessings and curses (Deut 6:13-15)

God’s promise of life

The Gospel

Jesus’ perfect obedience

Secures pardon

Purchases God’s promises

Provides the power to enjoy life (Rom 8:1-4, 13; 2 Cor 1:20)

Fear God

Don’t test him

The promise

The Gospel according to Moses: Theological and Ethical Reflections on the Book of Deuteronomy The Nature of True and Spiritual Worship in Deuteronomy

the Israelites were the envy of the nations (Deut 4:5–8

The Gospel according to Moses: Theological and Ethical Reflections on the Book of Deuteronomy The Nature of True and Spiritual Worship in Deuteronomy

In Deuteronomy’s view, attitude and action are interrelated. Without fear and love, walking, serving, and keeping all the commands become legalistic, deontological performances of duty. Without walking, serving, and keeping all the commands, fear and love are useless and dead.

The Gospel according to Moses: Theological and Ethical Reflections on the Book of Deuteronomy The Nature of True and Spiritual Worship in Deuteronomy

Jesus told his disciples, “If you love me [i.e., are covenantally committed to me], you will keep my commands” (John 14:15), and the one who demonstrates love for Jesus by keeping his commands is assured of the love of the Father (John 14:21, 23; 15:10).

The Gospel according to Moses: Theological and Ethical Reflections on the Book of Deuteronomy Conclusion > Chapter 9: “In Spirit and in Truth”: The Mosaic Vision of Worship

As in Christian worship, for the faithful in ancient Israel, worship “in spirit and in truth” was driven by God’s animating, inspiring, and empowering Spirit; it was addressed to the one true and living God; it was the human response to God’s gracious redemption, his call to covenant relationship, and his revelation of his will; it was fundamentally a matter of the heart, but was expressed concretely in life—full-bodied and whole-hearted service of God—and only secondarily in ritual actions

The Gospel according to Moses: Theological and Ethical Reflections on the Book of Deuteronomy Conclusion > Chapter 9: “In Spirit and in Truth”: The Mosaic Vision of Worship

Jesus does not offer an alternative way to God, replacing the failed program of the Old Testament. God never fails! His plans never collapse; nor do they need to be repaired. The life offered to believers in Jesus is not another gospel. It represents the climax and fulfillment of the plan that God started with Israel, whom he chose to be vehicles of grace and glory

The rule giver

The reward

Perfect righteousness

Isaiah 1:10–17 ESV

Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom! Give ear to the teaching of our God, you people of Gomorrah! “What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? says the Lord; I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well-fed beasts; I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of goats. “When you come to appear before me, who has required of you this trampling of my courts? Bring no more vain offerings; incense is an abomination to me. New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations— I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates; they have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them. When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood. Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause.

Hosea 6:6 ESV

For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

After giving the people every reason to love God and remember what he has done, Moses gives the warning to “Fear the Lord your God, serve him only…” (Deut. 6:13). The fear of the Lord is a major theme that threads through scripture, it is often used in reference to gaining knowledge, for example; Proverbs 9:10, Isaiah 33:6, Luke 1:10. Moses’ use in Deuteronomy is complimentary to the idea of gaining knowledge because he is describing worship of God; this is also how Abraham described the ‘fear of the Lord’ in Genesis 20:11. Jesus quotes this passage directly in response to Satan offering all the kingdoms of Earth if Jesus worships Satan (Matthew 4:10). Jesus demonstrates true commitment to the first commandment. Further Jesus gives a perfect example of using the word of God in response to opposition against God. Paul later expands on the principle of using the word of God, which is the sword of the spirit (Ephesians 6:17) an important feature of a Christian’s journey of faith. In Deuteronomy, Moses is calling for Israel to be obedient to God’s word and worship God alone. 20 The Westminster Confession of Faith expands on Moses use of fearing God in Chapter 21.5 in regards to the elements of worship “The reading of scriptures with godly fear, sound preaching… in obedience unto God.” It poses godly fear as obedience to God which is consistent with the broader message of Moses’ exhortation to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and might. That in Christian worship, religious observances, along with every aspect of life, is to be done with hearts fixed on the Lord.

The second half of verse 13 says “…and take your oaths in his name.” Oaths are a way of adding depth to a promise made. The Jewish use of oaths is largely in order to guarantee the truth of what is being declared, also confirming the obligation of the spoken word.21 Jephthah from the book of Judges (11:29-40) is a good example of the seriousness of oaths working in the lives of the Israelites, he fulfils an oath that should never have been made. There is much nuance to be considered when unpacking the theme of oaths, especially given that Jesus himself condemns the practice (Matt 5:33-37) offering a simple “let what you say be simply yes or no” replacing the need to make an oath. However, Paul makes use of oaths in his writing (Rom 1:9; 2 Corinthians 2:23) and other authors appeal to oaths of the past.22 The WCF took a Pauline approach to oaths in Chapter 22.2 “The name of God only is that by which men ought to swear and therein be used with holy fear and reverence.” This is largely displayed in the Christian life in the form of wedding vows or Church membership vows. The key element to this from both Jesus and Moses is that oaths in God’s name are a serious matter.

Further in the middle section, Moses exhorts the people to not test God (Deut. 6:16), “Do not test the Lord your God as you did at Massah.” Referencing Israel’s history again, Moses brings up a memory that for many was a time they failed to trust God. The people quarrelled saying “Is the Lord among us or not?” (Exodus 17:7). As mentioned earlier Jesus quotes part of this passage in response to Satan’s testing. The contrast that Moses records for us is that Israel failed to not test God. However, at the same trail, Jesus succeeds as he uses the sword of the spirit in avoidance of testing God.

In the last section of Deuteronomy 6:20-25, Moses is giving a third exhortation to teach God’s commands to the children (Deut.; 6:2, 7, and 20). In this third instance he gives a format for how parents are to instruct their children, noting that Moses also exhorts parents to hone their children’s character (6:7). 23 Moses says “In the future, when your son asks you ‘what is the meaning of the stipulation, decrees and laws…” The parent is to teach them to love God by using scriptures record of God’s dealings with his people in history. 24 Next the parent is to explain as Moses did, that obeying God’s commands comes with a blessing and a warning. The role of a parent is a theme throughout scripture that is hard for contemporary Western Christians to fully understand as the two cultures are quite different. Regardless of a person’s particular context, Moses is stating a model of parenting that will ultimately provide the best environment to equip children with a proper understanding of what it means to fear the Lord.25 This is later picked up by Paul in his letter to the Ephesians (6:1-4).

The covenantal features of this chapter are helpful for understanding the role of Old Testament covenants in the life of a New Testament Christian. There is a timeless application of Moses’ speech due to the reference of the future generations of the covenant community.26 Moses exhorts parents to instruct the children and for this to be passed to their children and so on (Deut. 6:2). This is consistent with the examples of covenant that Moses draws upon in verse 10, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. For all these Patriarchs God states that the blessings of his promise are to be for their offspring. King Solomon echo’s this as he structures the beginning of Proverbs as a message to his sons (Proverbs 1:8), giving wisdom to his children in the fear of the Lord. Covenantal life included a focus of teaching children God’s history. Contemporary Christianity has much to learn about the value of family discipleship as large volumes of youth do not continue the faith when they leave home. 27 Moses’ exhortations in Deuteronomy are a foothold into a family dynamic that puts God at the centre of life.

To conclude the chapter of Deuteronomy, Moses states that obeying God and all his commands “will be our righteousness” (Deut. 6:25). Righteousness is an important theme through scripture that Paul does well to explain in his letter to the Romans, Paul states that “in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed – a righteousness that is by faith.” (Romans 1:17). Jesus perfectly lives out the first command of the law, as Moses describes in Deuteronomy 6, showing full obedience to God. Jesus is the fulfilment of Moses statement at the end of chapter 6, in perfectly obeying all God’s commands, Jesus becomes our righteousness upon his sacrifice on the cross (2Corinthians 5:21). This chapter reveals a portion of God’s big rescue plan for all his people throughout the world. This is the gospel presented by Moses to the people of God. They are to have faith in God for he will provide righteousness and salvation. Christians have the revelation of God’s means of salvation, where Moses had only the knowledge that god would provide. Both sides of the cross therefore need to have faith that Jesus is the promised salvation providing righteousness for all who believe.

Therefore as Christians look to Gods history and faithfully live in the knowledge of God’s saving grace through the life of Jesus, they are to love God above all things. What it means to love God is a major theme that is touched upon in Deuteronomy 6 as Moses links back to Israel’s history. A history that shows God continual undeserving love; Israel’s history reminds us of God’s covenantal commitment and grace. Jesus shows us through his actions, the same undeserving love, when he submits to his father by dying upon the cross. Therefore an application to the Christian from Deuteronomy 6 is to look to God’s model of love, teaching and doing good to others even to those who do not love you, even to your enemy (Luke 6:27–36), in the faith that Jesus is your righteousness and salvation. 28 That is what it means to love the Lord your God with all your heart soul and might