So often in scripture the thundering voice of judgment is followed by the loving voice of hope. Israel did forsake the Lord for idols and the Lord did bring upon his people judgements stated in his covenant. Israel had a choice, and they chose poorly. But interestingly enough, no nation in history has ever suffered more than the nation and yet no nation has given so much spiritual wealth to the rest of the world. In this chapter, as Moses has begun his decline, nearing the close of his life and writings, he looks down through the centuries and sees the future restoration of Israel in their land and under the blessings of God.
I have always believed, and scripture supports this belief, that God is a God of choice. He doesn’t force people into a relationship with Him, He gives people that choice. He doesn’t keep people in relationship with Him, we choose to stay or go, just like make we make the conscious choice to sin and to seek forgiveness. God sent his Son as a means of restoring that broken relationship, but doesn’t force people to accept Him. God gives us the choice of whether we want grace, forgiveness, joy, peace, and happiness, as He did with Israel. Their choice was to love and serve Him and be blessed, or serve other gods and be destroyed. Had they chose the former, who knows that kind of world we would live in today.
But choice. We all make choices every single day, whether out of impulse, habit, or a process of discernment. We all have already made several choices this morning. We chose to get up. We chose to brush our teeth, take a shower, comb our hair, get dressed, get in our car, and come to church. You made a choice of whether to open you heart to God or close it off. Perhaps you’ve already made the choice of whether or not you are going to listen to the message. And later, you will be making another choice of what you want to do for lunch.
If were to ask you to choose between a million dollars and a candy bar it would be a no brainer. If I asked to choose between a million dollars and two million dollars it would be easy. If I asked you to choose a penny and a candy bar it would be easy for me because I haven’t had breakfast. But if I were to ask to choose between two of your favorite candy bars, that might be a little more difficult. One of the most difficult choices in my house is what do we want for dinner. We will start by deciding whether we want to go out or stay in. Either decision opens to the door to more choices. If we chose to go out we play a little game called, “What does my wife want for dinner?” We will narrow it down to two places. One of them might be what she wants, or both of them might be a very poor decision.
Surely we’ve all made some poor choices and I want to give you some of the world’s worst choices. Sam Phillips sold a small recording company to RCA in 1955 for $35,000. It included an exclusive contract with a young man named Elvis Presley. Tom Sellick turned down the role of Indiana Jones. A thief in American stole two live lobsters and decided to hide them in his pants. In America, a thief robs a liquor store at gun point. The clerk asks to see their ID and the thief complies. A South African hang gliding instructor saw a beautiful sun bathing on her roof below his flight path. He decided to make an obscene gesture to her, unaware of her nearby husband cleaning his gun.
The girl who told Bill Gates, Microsoft creator, that it’s me or the computer. The Leyland P76. If you don’t know what that is, it was an Australian made vehicle supposedly to rival the Ford Falcon and the Chrysler Valiant. Due to poor design and build quality, the car failed to even come close to meeting expectations and is considered the bane of the Australian Automotive industry. If you were planning on buying one, you’re welcome. Pausing for moment when your wife asks, “does this make me look fat?” All bad decisions.
I would also add to that list choosing death over life. Patrick Henry at the close of his famous speech, which I encourage everyone to read, said this: “It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace – but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others make take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!”
This is what was offered to Israel and also to people today. Life or death? Blessing or curse? Prosperity or destruction? Pick! To me the choice is a no brainer. Why anyone would willingly chose death is beyond me, but people do it. They choose death, curse and destruction, either subconsciously or out negligence. But there really is no need to get into that because we know what happens when we chose the latter. So I am going to assume that everyone here today has chosen life. But what does that mean? More importantly, how to obtain? How do we keep it? Those are the questions that I want to answer, Deuteronomy 30 as our guide.
Life is found in the love for God.
Loving God requires knowledge of Him. You can’t love something that you do not know. I know this sounds a little simplistic, but it’s true. You can’t love God unless you know God. One thing we need to understand about this is because of the sinful nature of man we are incapable of fully knowing God. So in order to begin to process of knowing him we must accept him and receive him. Jesus made it clear that he is the way to Heaven and that He is also the way to the Father. So we can’t separate Jesus and knowledge of God. I don’t want to spend a whole lot of time on this idea because generally this isn’t the problem.
The problem is how that love is expressed. You see, a true love for God is transformative. This means that the person who has this love for God is completely transformed by it. The way you think, act, react, behave, talk, worship, read, communicate with others, all of this completely a totally changes. Unless you are transformed by your love for God dare I say you just don’t love him enough? Or perhaps you misunderstand what a love for God really is. Think of it this way, if you truly loved your spouse, everything you do, and everything you are, becomes an expression of the love.
I changed on July 3rd, 2002 when I truly fell in love with Jesus Christ. Sure, along that rode I’ve fallen way short of expressing that love properly. I’ve allowed sin to come between the relationship, but out of a love for Christ I sought his forgiveness. I do for Christ not because I have to, but because I love Him. On July 9th, 2011 I changed when I vowed to my wife to love her, honor her, and obey her, to cherish her and pray for her and to leave her only when my heart stops beating. Sure, we argue. We fight. But because of my love her I seek reconciliation. I do for her not because I have to but because I love her.
The question is then how do we properly express our love for God? We worship and praise him. In Luke 4:8, Jesus was being tempted by Satan to bow down and worship him, but Jesus said, “Worship the Lord your God and serve Him only,” quoting from Deuteronomy 6:5. This means that we put God first. In Mark 12:30 Jesus says, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” Jesus’ purpose was to show that a person’s total being must be involved in loving God. Nothing can be held back because God doesn’t hold anything back. God wants our wholehearted love and devotion, not just our obedience. The mind was considered to be the center of a person’s intellect, the soul was the person’s being and uniqueness, the heart was the center of desire and affection, and strength referred to physical abilities.
Before we continue, does he have all of you? Is he the focus of your affections? Is your love for him warm and real? Does it change you? Are you willing to give him your life? Does your worship reflect that? Do you love him with you total being? Is your faith fully informed or based on blind trust? Is your mind trained to think of his moral perfection? Do you strive to love him and serve him energetically? Can you sustain intense love for him even under pressure or when doubts arise? If you answered yes to these questions, please join me. If you haven’t, it’s a good place to start.
Life is found in the obedience of God.
This is often where a lot of people slip up. Obedience is the evidence of love for God. Love and obedience cannot be separated. Love and duty cannot be separated. Obedience is an essential part of the Christian faith. In John 14 Jesus makes a simple connection between love and obedience. In talking with his disciples Jesus uses the illustration of a vine and branches. In verse 15 he says, “If you love me, keep my commands.” Essentially, don’t just tell me you love me; show me that you love me. Obedience is that love expressed in action. I had a professor in college who once told his wife he loved her and her response was “talk’s cheap.”
As I alluded to earlier, obedience is not solely out of duty. We obey because we love. Obedience is defined as “dutiful or submissive compliance to the commands of one in authority.” Within this definition are elements of biblical obedience. “Dutiful” means it is our obligation to obey God as Jesus obeyed him. “Submissive” indicates that we yield our will’s to God’s. “Command” speaks of the Scriptures in which God has clearly delineated His instructions. The “One in authority” is God himself! So for the Christian, obedience is complying with everything that God has commanded.
But have you ever said, “I would obey if I knew what he wanted?” Or complained that “obedience is just too difficult?” These are unacceptable excuses. Deuteronomy 30:11-14 says, “For this commandment which I command you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it out of reach. 12“It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will go up to heaven for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it?’ 13“Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will cross the sea for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it?’ 14“But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may observe it.”
Commentator and scholar Matthew Henry says this (originally in KJV language, I translated); “We do not need to go up to heaven to fetch him there, for he has come from there in his incarnation; nor down to the deep to fetch him there, for he has come up in his resurrection. But the word is near us and Christ in that word; so that if we believe with our heart that the promises of the incarnation and resurrection of the Messiah are fulfilled in our Lord Jesus, and receive him accordingly, and confess him with our mouth, we have Christ with us and we shall be saved. He is near, very near, that justifies us. The law was plain and easy, but the gospel much more so.”
If we want to know that he wants, we need to look no further than what’s right in front of us and what’s within us. The Bible is God’s Word and His revelation of Himself to mankind. What better place to start to looking? If we love God we will obey him. We won’t be perfect at it. But our desire must be to submit to the Lord and display a life that reflects that submission. Obedience to God’s command makes us light and salt in a dark and tasteless world. We can’t truly love him without obedience and we can’t be obedient to what we don’t know.
Life is found in walking with God.
Walking with God is love and obedience in action. Often times when the Bible spoke about walking with God is simply meant a lifestyle. Enoch was described as a man who “walked with God.” Noah is described as “a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God.” Micah 6:8 gives us a glimpse into God’s desire for us, that we “walk humbly” with him. Just imagine you’re walking with a friend or a loved one down a country road. You are in close proximity. You laugh. Talk. Listen. Share your heart. Your attention is focused solely on this person almost excluding everything around you. When you see the sunset or something that catches your attention, you only point it out to your companion. You enjoy it together. You are in harmony. You are at peace.
Walking with God is just like that. When you enter into an intimate heart relationship with God, He becomes your heart’s desire. Knowing Him, hearing His voice, sharing your heart with Him. He becomes everything. He becomes life. But say you are walking with your friend and you have a kazoo and you played in the whole time. It won’t be very peaceful, especially if you’re walking with me. A kazoo is one of the most annoying sounds in the world. But this is what people do. They try to walk with God but bring their kazoo, their sin with them. They know these things aren’t God’s choice for them, but they pretend everything is fine.
Walking with God means that we glorify him in every way that we can, regardless of personal cost and at times it may cost something. It means we can’t walk with evil people. We choose the narrow road of life over the broad road of destruction. By the way, narrow doesn’t necessarily mean more difficult. We don’t live to please our sinful flesh. We seek to eliminate anything that does not enhance our walk with God. Finally, we apply 1 Corinthians 10:31 literally. “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”
Choosing life is choosing God. Choosing death is denying God. Life cannot be separated from God because he created it. He gave it. He breathed it. He gave it abundantly on the cross. I assume we’ve all here have made this choice. But I also assume we know someone who hasn’t. Time is running out.
Pick.
