Doing, Seeing, Communicating

Why do we do what we do? This morning I want to talk about the things that influence us. Why do we do the things we do? Why do we eat certain things? Why do we buy certain merchandise? What makes us desire to visit certain places, or to make a career choice?

It is interesting to consider. Biblically, our desires come from within, yet they are influenced by outside stimulus as well

But why do we desire what we do? There are certainly many factors, but as we look at our passage of study this morning, I am going to make the case that our desires are shaped in very large ways by what we see, do, and have communicated to us in other ways.

Deuteronomy 6:4–9 ESV

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Over the past weeks we have been examining this passage. We want to understand it well so that we can obey it well. We study what it meant to say the Lord is one, and how we can love the Lord our God with all of our hearts and souls and might. We looked at what it means to have these words on our heart, and last week what it means to teach them diligently to our children, to talk of them when we sit in our homes, when we walk by the way, and when we lie down, and when we rise.

This morning we are going to consider the influences to what we do with our hands, what we see with our eyes, and what we read and have communicated to us. If you have ever been on a road trip to any tourist place, you have noticed that well before you arrive to your destination, you begin to see the billboards. And those billboards are designed, if not to get the attention of the driver, certainly to get the attention of the others in the car. I remember on road trips begging to go to one of those cool places on the billboards.

Sometimes the billboards get you so excited that by the time you arrive, you have built up this excitement in yourself, only to be perhaps a little disappointed by the experience. This year in the US, almost $300 billion will be spent on advertising. Billboards are a small part of that. Most advertising is digital in some form. Have you not ever bought an item because you saw the ad over and over again? Social media is very good at this. I see an ad and click to learn more, and then I see that ad repeated again and again. And sometimes I actually buy something.

The desire starts out sort of mild. “Oh, that looks sort of cool.” Soon ad after ad causes your desires to go up. Finally, you are checking prices, and reviews, and so on. The art of advertising is to get you to desire. What you see, what is communicated to you, and what you do have a lot to do with the many influences we encounter.

God is all knowing and all wise, and he knew that what we focus our energy on affects our desires, and that those desires drive behavior, and so he commanded his people to listen, or hear: “Hear, O Israel”. He commanded them to have His words on their heart. And he gave them some practical ways to be sure that they could do this. The words, or commands, were to be taught diligently to each new generation of children. They were to be talked about constantly in the family setting, as well as in the community. And finally, these words were to be bound as a sign on their hands and as frontlets between thier eyes, and written on the doorposts and gates. In other words, God was deploying what marketing experts today would call a multi-faceted marketing plan to keep the people having the right desires.

There is a difference, though, between today’s marketing and what God lays out in this passage. You see, we learn in the Bible that the desires of our flesh are against the desires of the Spirit. Marketers appeal to the desires of the flesh, but God appeals to the Spirit. That isn’t to say that all marketing is bad. It’s just that in most cases, the marketers are not worried about your spiritual state. They just want you to buy their product or hire their services, as useful as they may be.

Let’s talk for a moment about this idea of signs on your hands or frontlets between your eyes. What in the world does that mean? Well, it was originally understood as a figure of speech. We work with our hands, we communicate with our hands, we sin with our hands, we do good with our hands. When the bible speaks of the work of our hands, it is not simply the work we do to earn a living, or tending the garden or something like that, but it means much more. It really represents all of our actions. And if we want our actions to be pleasing to God, we would do well to evaluate our own actions in light of His commands.

The frontlets on our eyes simply means that we need to look at the world through the lens of scripture. God’s Word, in a sense, should be the lens we view the world through. It is the standard we should use to evaluate all things, whether judgments or claims of truth. It should help us to understand the world around us. If we understand God’s word, we will not be so surprised when we see depravity around us.

According to Lange’s Commentary, We use the hand in our acts, and hence to bind them upon thy hand is to keep them for a sign for thy conduct, as ever to be regarded, and which must determine my manner of action. The brow, between thine eyes, represents the chamber of thought, is as the door to the intellectual nature of man (hence the easy transition to the door-posts, ver. 9). The commandments, as frontlets or browbands, become therefore a badge or confession by which one may be known, and embrace the private life, both on the side which is turned, and open to the man himself, and upon that which lies open to other men

Now, these have indeed been taken literally. Some Jews today still at special occasions will wear a small box with tiny scrolls of scripture written in them, either tied to their forehead or to their wrist. But in a sense, this cheapens the real meaning. If obeying this command was simply strapping some sort of clothing item on, that would be very easy. But living out God’s word is much more difficult.

It is likely that verse 9 was also to be taken figuratively. Having the word written on the doorposts and on the gates, probably referring to the city gates, could be away of saying that this house or this city is founded on the godly principles we hold. Now, that isn't to say that it is bad to write scripture on the walls, or to have posters of bible verses, or anything like that. In many Jewish homes to this day, and I understand almost every hotel room in Israel, there are, or used to be, they have something called a mezuzah, which is a parchment or scroll with scripture on it attached in some container on the doorpost.

And really, if this were being done in an honest attempt to honor God, that would be ok. However, sadly, it became for many nothing less than a good luck charm of sorts:

Spence writes: This custom originated, probably, in a desire to have the sentiments inscribed always in mind; but for the most part these inscriptions came to be regarded as amulets or charms, the presence of which on the person or the house was a safeguard against evil influences, especially such as were supernatural.

And Lange writes: the Talmud connects with ver. 9 the mezuzah, a metal case containing a parchment roll, inscribed with vers. 4–9, and 11:13–22, and dedicated to Shaddai, (the Almighty) which every Jew fastened to the right door-post of his house as a protection against death, the devil, ghosts and witchcraft.

So you can see a danger of taking something too literally. God does not mean that simply having some scripture on the wall would ward off evil spirits. If that were the case, every church would be safe from spiritual attack, and every Christian home with a scripture on the wall would never be attacked, then maybe ever car with a Jesus fish would be spared from accidents. Who needs a good neighbor insurance company if we could do that? And if that really were the case, even non-believers would catch on. It reminds me of a scene in a move I saw long ago, and the man is being chased by something evil, and around his neck he has all these amulets of different religions and he holds them up one at a time to see if anything will help.

God’s Word is not something we hold up to prevent evil from coming. Evil will come. But His word can and will, for those who take seriously this passage of scripture, help them to be prepared and more likely to make the right decisions.

I started out talking about what influences us, what makes us want what we want? We are bombarded every hour with temptations and lies and evil, and if we are not well-grounded in the Word of God, when we face those trials we will not be able to withstand. But if we ground our lives on the Word of God, and truly have it on our hearts, if we teach and are taught these things diligently, if we talk of them at every opportunity, if our actions are guided by God’s Word, if our worldview is a biblical worldview, if we have founded our homes on this, then we will be able to win more of those battles. Will we do perfectly? Well, for those in Christ, the day of perfection is coming, but it is not yet.

I think of this often, about what blessings in heaven we will see. And I’m hard-pressed to choose. And really, scripture tells us we cannot even imagine the wonderful things God has in store for us. But I can tell you one thing I long for, that heaven will bring for me. that is, the inability to sin.

We need to keep scripture in our hearts. In Revelation, we read about the 144,000 who are sealed on their foreheads. But Satan always takes what God does for good and perverts it to something evil. Here in Deuteronomy 6 God’s people are commanded to have God’s word on their hearts, and metaphorically as a sign on their hands, or some translations say wrists or forearms, and as frontlets between their eyes, meaning the forehead, and what does Satan do?

He causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark.

God says have my word ready at your hand and on your forehead, but the beast of Revelation perverts that. He perverts everything! Marriage, sexuality, gender, justice, racial diversity, Satan perverts everything good of God’s. Such is the hatred Satan has for God.

To protect themselves from the lies of Satan, which can be packaged very beautifully, and he can confuse many, even well-meaning people, to protect themselves from the lies, God’s people must be acquainted with the truth. We must know the Word better. Along with this, we must pray for discernment, because Satan perverts even the Word. He twists it to fool weak minded people. And if we love our own salvation, we will go back again and again to scripture, to remind ourselves of what it says, and we will take our children there and show it to them, so they are not unprepared to deal with the lies.

Paul reminds his readers again and again, to know the Word, to have their minds changed by it.

Ephesians 4:17–24 ESV

Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned Christ!— assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

And he tells us to be transformed by the renewing of our minds; Rom12.1-2

Romans 12:1–2 ESV

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Do you know the word transformed there is the same word translated to transfigured in Matt 17.2

Matthew 17:2 ESV

And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light.

Be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God. How? By knowing his word, but not just so you can show others how much you know.

The very next thing Paul writes after telling us to be transformed by the renewal of our minds is this: Rom12.3

Romans 12:3 ESV

For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.

Don’t think of yourself more highly than you ought. We all face the danger of violating this precept regularly. No matter how bad we may be at many things, we always manage to figure out something we are better than someone else at, at least in our own minds.

Later he says Never be wise in your own sight. 1Cor8.1

1 Corinthians 8:1 (ESV)

... we know that “all of us possess knowledge.” This “knowledge” puffs up, but love builds up.

As I was finishing this sermon last night, I received some very disturbing news. A colleague, a C&MA pastor, in my last district, was arrested for abusing his position of pastor and counselor to abuse women. As I was texting my friend who also knew this man, I commented that he was very likable, but I noticed he liked to talk about what he knew. He actually referred to himself as the foremost expert in his field or world religions. He was a pastor and a professor. I don’t know everything about the situation, but it was shocking and as it fit perfectly in with this point, I thought it was a valid illustration.

Knowledge of God should be pursued, but when it is for the sake of making an argument, or impressing someone with your credentials, or to manipulate others your motivations are all wrong. There are many things people lust for, and for some it is accolades, recognition, winning the argument, or something else.

We want to obey scripture. If we start with Deut6.4-9 we will be on our way.

Deuteronomy 6:4–9 ESV

In fact, I challenge kids and adults to memorize this. We have conveniently put up signs with this passage so you will be reminded when you come here that our mission as a church is to be obedient to God’s Word. We want to know His word better, we want to become experts on what the bible says. Not to impress people, not to argue points, but to know God better, to serve Him better, to obey him better.

The last two weeks, I have tried to offer this encouragement, and it bears repeating.

If you feel you have missed the mark on any of this, whether as a parent, or just for yourself, do not despair. God always shows grace to those who repent and turn to Him. We are giving you a wonderful opportunity to join us in this effort to train up our children and ourselves in the faith. Let’s do this together, and encourage each other to grow.

In the end, Satan will deceive many who will take his mark. And scripture tells us the grave consequences for those who take it.

Revelation 14:9–11 ESV

And another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink the wine of God’s wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night, these worshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name.”

But there is hope for those who do not take the mark. Rev14.12

Revelation 14:12 ESV

Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus.

The wrath of God will be poured out on all who do not repent of sin and trust in Jesus. The wrath of God will be horrific. His judgement on sin will not be a light sentence. I’m going to close this sermon differently than any I have ever preached, because I want to drive home, after all these works, how well worth it it will be for those who do the difficult work of obeying Deuteronomy 6. And I am going to close reading an extended passage of what happens in the end. Will you be there? Will your children? Will you at least be able to declare you did what you were commanded, to have these words be on your heart? To teach them to your children? TO speak of them at all times, and live them? Let us look together to this glorious passage of scripture with eager anticipation and steely resolve to persevere to this end:

Revelation 19:6–22:21 ESV

Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure”— for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.” Then I fell down at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God.” For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords. Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and with a loud voice he called to all the birds that fly directly overhead, “Come, gather for the great supper of God, to eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all men, both free and slave, both small and great.” And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth with their armies gathered to make war against him who was sitting on the horse and against his army. And the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who in its presence had done the signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped its image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur. And the rest were slain by the sword that came from the mouth of him who was sitting on the horse, and all the birds were gorged with their flesh. Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were ended. After that he must be released for a little while. Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years. And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison and will come out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle; their number is like the sand of the sea. And they marched up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, but fire came down from heaven and consumed them, and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son. But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.” Then came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues and spoke to me, saying, “Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.” And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. It had a great, high wall, with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and on the gates the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel were inscribed— on the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates. And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. And the one who spoke with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city and its gates and walls. The city lies foursquare, its length the same as its width. And he measured the city with his rod, 12,000 stadia. Its length and width and height are equal. He also measured its wall, 144 cubits by human measurement, which is also an angel’s measurement. The wall was built of jasper, while the city was pure gold, like clear glass. The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with every kind of jewel. The first was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst. And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, each of the gates made of a single pearl, and the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass. And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, and its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there. They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life. Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever. And he said to me, “These words are trustworthy and true. And the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, has sent his angel to show his servants what must soon take place.” “And behold, I am coming soon. Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.” I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed them to me, but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers the prophets, and with those who keep the words of this book. Worship God.” And he said to me, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near. Let the evildoer still do evil, and the filthy still be filthy, and the righteous still do right, and the holy still be holy.” “Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates. Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood. “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.” The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price. I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book. He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.

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