The Two Ways

15 See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, death and adversity. 16 If you obey the commandments of the LORD your God that I am commanding you today, by loving the LORD your God, walking in his ways, and observing his commandments, decrees, and ordinances, then you shall live and become numerous, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to possess. 17 But if your heart turns away and you do not hear, but are led astray to bow down to other gods and serve them, 18 I declare to you today that you shall perish; you shall not live long in the land that you are crossing 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, blessings and curses. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live, 20 loving the LORD your God, obeying him, and holding fast to him; for that means life to you and length of days, so that you may live in the land that the LORD swore to give to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.

This is ancient wisdom. An ancient teaching to a people seeking a home, trying to establish themselves as a nation and community that would thrive amidst the many forces of the world around them.

Today’s reading comes from the Hebrew Scriptures, the book of Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy is the fifth of the five books of the Hebrew Torah, the law of Moses, and includes the teachings of the Ten Commandments and earliest ways these commandments were fleshed out and lived as God’s people structured their way of life.

And at the core, at the center of all the teachings of the law, we can boil down to very focused teachings about what our priorities are to be, who we are to worship (God alone), and how we are to be a people who interact with each other.

The book is structured by laying out a number of these ancient teachings and then describing ways the people would be challenged to practice them. Again, this is ancient wisdom, ancient law, the Hebrew structure for life in community. Other ancient cultures had their own codices of law — for instance, Hammurabi’s code of Babylon, which consists of 282 laws, structures for how Babylonian life was to be lived. The Hittites had their own codes as well, the Code the Nesilim, and even the ancient civilization of Ur, which predates all of the aforementioned communities, had coded laws to guide their life together.

So, a question has to come to mind — what sets the Hebrew code apart from all others? What makes it distinct?

And what makes it any different from the ways we try to order our shared life together even now? We have laws in our country, right? We are governed by agreed upon rules that shape the polis, the common life of the people, today?

What makes this any different or distinct?

Well, at the core of the Hebrew scriptures is a deep belief and acceptance that the laws of people are subject to the law of God, the deep, abiding trust in God’s providing for the people through structure and support.

Our call to worship this morning gives us a glimpse of the distinctness of God’s law. We said together, God forms and shapes our lives. The way of God is to form us, to guide our path, to not let us simply go our own ways, but to direct us into greater flourishing.

And this is what is at the core of this text we hear today: There is a way of life that we are all invited to.

And, with this, there is also a recognition that there is a way of death.

Our text opens with God’s words: “I have set before you today life and prosperity, death and adversity.”

There is a way of life and a way of death.

Is it that simple, though?

I was reminded of one of my favorite old commercials as I prepared for this morning’s sermon. How many of you remember the Got Milk? ad campaign? I’m sure many of us do. There was that funny one where the guy calls in to a radio show win a trivia prize, but can’t say the name of Alexander Hamilton’s killer because his mouth is full and he doesn’t have anything to drink. (Aaaron BURRRRR).

But the one I’m thinking of with this morning’s text is this. It’s the classic cop show interrogation. The accused sits on one side of the table. The detective enters the room with a plate full of warm, delicious chocolate cookies. He sets them on the table and says, “sure, eat as much as you like.” The accused, clearly very hungry, chows down immediately, devouring cookie after delicious cookie.

Then, the detective sets down a cold glass of milk on the table, out of reach. He moves it closer to the accused and says, “we can do this the easy way, or the hard way.” We see their eyes widen as they struggle to speak with a mouth full of cookie. We can do this the easy way, or the hard way.

When we think about the laws that govern our lives, not the laws of the land, but the deep, ethical, moral codes we follow, isn’t it true that it can boil down to this very concept: there is an easy way, a way of life; or there is a hard way, a way of death.

What does it look like for us to live in the way of life or the way of death.

I know that sometimes the readings from the Hebrew scriptures can seem difficult to access or so very distant from our daily lives. But consider this — the law of the people of God was simply there way of preserving life together. All the rules about how to prepare food, how to atone for sins, how to treat our neighbors and our enemies — all of this was in service to the preservation of life. Life and prosperity come from obeying the shared ethics of our communities, right? When we support each other and abide by our rules of life together, we have a better chance at living and prospering. The good life comes from how we order ourselves and work together to sustain this order, in agreement and community.

Moses, who is speaking these words as his final address to the Hebrew people, says this, “if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I am commanding you today, by loving the Lord your God, walking in his ways, and observing his commandments, decrees, and ordinances, then you shall live and become numerous, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to possess. Stated plainly — if you abide by the laws we are establishing, you will have life.

And then there’s the way of death.

The way of death is the way of self-preservation at the expense of others’ good. Moses, again, states it clearly: “But if your heart turns away and you do not hear, but are led astray to bow down to other gods and serve them, I declare to you today that you shall perish; you shall not live long in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.”

The way of death is turning away from the shared ethics of the community, the things that would lead to cooperation and thriving. The way of death is choosing our own path over and above the common path we walk together. The way of death is to “not hear”, to ignore the voice of reason and wisdom, to resist ordering our lives in a way that submits to God’s authority over us and, instead believes we are able to discern our right steps on our own.

Now, I wonder, do we balk at this teaching? What I mean is, do we struggle when we hear that we are to be in community and under common authority together? Do we feel the pull to be individuals, distinct and unique in how we live? That is such a tension in our culture, isn’t it? I did it my way, I take care of myself, I speak from my heart and trust my gut.

Sadly, we witness what this kind of individualism can do in community. We know how egos in conflict can divide us, separate us from each other. We know how complicated it can be to try to meet each other, to yield our own perspective or rights to one another for the common good of community. It is much easier for us to take our marbles and go home than it is to work things out, to repent and come back, to repair ruptured relationships.

The easy way, or the hard way.

What if the easy way is to be stubborn, to resist the cool glass of milk, to button our lips and bear it ourselves?

What if the hard way is to actually enter in, to yield and say, yes, I need help, I need a cool drink, I need to tell the truth? What if that yielding, that relenting from our pride and our control, what if that is actually the way we find life.

This is a VERY Presbyterian text and teaching today. At the core of how we share our life together is a commitment to doing things in community, sharing in common rules and ethics, and in all things, living decently and orderly together. As Presbyterians, our tradition sees the blessing of our sharing in common rules and united laws that guide us. We order our lives around Christ’s witness, the Scriptures, and the confessions of the church. We believe that we have much to learn from each other, to see the witness of Jesus in each other’s lives. We push against the ways of death that would promote one person or group’s perspectives above another, but instead we deliberate and discern and work together to reach common understanding and shared commitment. This is what we do as God’s church. We are governed not by authorities who are more spiritual or hold higher status, but by each other, elders from among the people, leaders who God calls into service for their unique gifts they can share.

I think about the elders of our church and how they make up such a variety of perspectives and giftings. We have young and old members serving in leadership, trusting that wisdom is not only given to the aged, but also arises out of young people, all God’s people.

We seek common understanding in how we might pursue the way of life together.

And this is what Moses wants his people to remember to do as well — to choose life. He says choose life, “so that you and your descendants may live; loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and holding fast to him; for that means life to you and length of days, so that you may live in the land that the Lord swore to give to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.”

So it is with us. We live to honor God and do so by honoring the shared goodness of life in community with each other.

And we know these are not simply ethics of the Hebrew scriptures. They are the way of Jesus, who lived out the law and fulfilled it in his ministry. Jesus tells us to love God and love our neighbors — follow God into the way of life and love others with that life-giving way too.

This month, we’re going to look at more of these ethics that lead us to life. The life we find is like what we heard in the opening Psalm today, that as we live in this shared way of mutual blessing and care, we find ourselves able to drink deeply like a tree planted beside a rushing river. Living in this way of love leads to more life, more love, more hope.

I feel excited about this text and what it has for us.

And I know that it is not always an easy road. Maybe it is easier to live the way of death, to give up.

But friends, here, now, let us pursue this way of life, so that we all might celebrate in the joy we find as we receive it.