Always Go Well Series

Theme: Always go well

Text: Deuteronomy 12:26-32

The Lord is good and his love endures forever.

Illustration:

In the middle of a sermon, a man in the congregation got up and walked outside.

The wife went up to the pastor after the sermon to apologize for her husband's rude behavior.

The pastor thanked her for the apology and said he had noticed her husband's strange behavior and was worried he had said something offensive or if there was a family emergency he should offer prayer for.

The wife replied, "Oh, no, Pastor. Not at all! You see, my husband has the problem of walking while sleeping”(adopted).

Dearly brothers and sisters in Christ, I greet you all in the name of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ!

Introduction:

I am sure that we have pushed into a compulsion to take some crucial decisions as we entered into this New Year 2022. The compulsions such as growing spiritually and temporal matters related to career, marriage, child-rearing including their education, maintaining or leaving the relationships, improving health, stabilizing wealth, and tourism for relaxation and to spend time with family, etc.

2022 is another challenging critical year with the variant of Omicron. There may be many long-term goals pending, modified, cut short because of the difficulties, defeats, and failures we faced for the last two years due to the Pandemic turning into an endemic living with Corona. Already irreparable losses and hardships we had experienced because of these situations. We need to re-do and re-write the long-term plans for another five years or ten years, or till retirement. Retired persons have to plan to survive with health with limited resources.

Some of us are looking for new opportunities and additional responsibilities to exercise God-given ability and capability for kingdom values, and the benefit of people and God. Few of us may have financial challenges to take care of needs and unplanned and non-budgeted expenses because of static business and non-negotiable medical emergencies.

So he told them three things in this Passage (Deuteronomy 12:26-32):

1. To do what is good and right in the sight of God.

2. To worship God the way he likes it, not with the patterns of worship practiced by the neighborhoods.

3. To observe diligently the command of Yahweh to the core of their life.

This passage is the continuation of the previous passages containing about two ways known as Good and Evil, ways of blessings and curses (Deuteronomy 11:26-32). Chapter twelve has the Sanctuary Law and apostasy (12:1-27, 12:28-13:18).

Let us move on to meditate one by one:

1. DO GOOD AND THE RIGHT (Deuteronomy 12:26-28)

The words Good and right are interpreted according to each makeup and conviction, according to culture, religion, region, and even country. For some men, many things seem to be good, right. But that may be wrong in another religion and culture. Bible says that for men many ways seem to be good but the end is defeat, disappointments, and death.

According to the Dictionary of the Bible, the Right is the short form of righteousness. The original meaning of right refers to straightness and hardness. It also refers to just, justice. The forensic context of it means innocent. Right means living holy and acceptable to God, doing things that are the act of righteousness. Legally the right is rendering righteousness (1 Kings 8:32). Right is conforming to the standards of the righteousness of God. There are standard balances, weights, and measures as per the requirement of God (Leviticus 19:36). God hates the wicked scales, wrong balances, and deceitful dishonest weights (Micah 6:11) or false balances (Amos 8:5). Then we can continue to refer to the righteous speech and righteous lips pleasing to King (Proverbs 16:13).

Matthew Henry says ‘a devout Israelite might honor God, keep up communion with him, and obtain mercy from him, though he had no opportunity of bringing a sacrifice to his altar. Work for God should be done with holy joy and cheerfulness. Even children and servants must rejoice before God; the services of religion are to be a pleasure, and not a task or hard labor. People have to be kind to their ministers, who teach them well and set them good examples

Righteousness refers to the divine will (Read: Ezekiel 18:5-9). Right means conforming to the norm. Obedience to God’s rules is the divine will for every follower of God (Deuteronomy 6:25). Abraham believed in God that was reckoned as Righteous (Genesis 15:6). Phinehas stood for the holiness of God is righteousness (Psalm 106:31 -Dictionary of the Bible). Right is not only an ethical act but divine will? Whatever we may do on the earth, whatever may be our vocation, profession on earth but we need to fulfill the will of God. Show and prove the acts of right. Good is an act of benevolence and almsgiving. In the OT the words used are Saddik, sedhek but the NT uses the word dikaios, dikaioo, and dikatoma for the acts of justice and righteousness.