Theme: Serve Him Only
Text: Deuteronomy 6:1-14
Greetings:
The Lord is Good and His love endures forever.
Introduction:
Moses proceeds to set forth more particularly to enforce the cardinal and essential doctrines of the Decalogue. He emphasises the nature and attributes of God and the fitting mode of honouring and worshipping Him. Two objects are the glory of God and the welfare of man (Barnes). Moses taught Israelites a way for prosperity and poverty based on obedience and disobedience.
- Lord Alone (4-6)
- Word Alone (1-3,6-9), and
- Serve Him Alone (10-14)
1. Lord Alone (Deuteronomy 6:4-5)
'Hear, O Israel'. It is the Shema, a classic confession of faith. He is the LORD and no other gods. Israelites were familiar with the gods of Egypt, the gods of Canaan, the gods of Babylon and the gods of Assyria. They know the names such as Baal, Ashtoreth Morduch Dagon, etc., However, they know that they were not gods and YHWH alone GOD.
Jews never believed in TRINITY. They never accepted God in three persons. Hebrew word Echad (refers to Compound unity – Genesis 2:24, Exodus 26:6,11) means 'One God' and not the word Yacheed (refers to absolute unity). It describes who God is and what is our duty towards him in this verse (David Guzik).
Rabbi Simeon Ben Joachi, commenting on the word Elohim says “Come and see the mystery of the word Elohim; there are three degrees, and each degree by itself alone, and yet notwithstanding they are all one, and joined together in one, and are not divided from each other.”
1 Corinthians 8:6 affirms that we have three persons in one God in unity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. However, we do not worship three Gods but one God.
In many parts of the Old Testament, ‘The three-fold mention of the Divine names and the plural number of the word translated God, seem plain to intimate a Trinity of persons, even in this expressive declaration of the unity of the Godhead. But it was not understood and interpreted by the Jewish Robbie.
Matthew Henry says ‘Happy those who have this one Lord for their God. It is better to have one fountain than a thousand reservoirs; one all-sufficient God than a thousand insufficient friends.’
The grand design of all the institutions prescribed to Israel was to form a religious people with a national character distinguished by fear of the Lord their God with divine observance of His worship and their steadfast obedience to His will. The basis of their religion was an acknowledgement of the unity of God with the understanding and the love of God in their hearts (Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary).
2. Word Alone (Deuteronomy 6:1-3, 6-9)
According to the teachings of Moses, the ‘commandments denotes the moral law, statutes to the ceremonial law, and judgments to the decrees by which the judges decided on those days (Matthew Henry).
God reduced the commandments, rules and regulations into one commandment. That one ruling commandment is “Love the Lord your God”. God told the Israelites to keep the Law of the Lord and observe the statutes and commandments. The blessings and benefits are prolonged life, everything will go well with them, and he will multiply them greatly.
The Lord God has worked out a plan and strategy for keeping the Law of the Lord. God has summed up the religious life for the Israelites in and out of their houses. They were expected to seal the Word of God's on their hands (in our actions) and between their eyes (in our minds).
a. Meditate within you (Laid up in hearts, and thoughts and employed on daily basis)
b. Educate your children (Teach the truth and repeatedly do as often as you could)
c. Interact (relate in your talks with due reverence and seriousness, for the benefit of your children, your friends and your employees).
d. Frequently read the word (Keep with you the word of God, printed or digital forms).
Simply it means that no matter what we do, no matter what we say, no matter what comes into our life, every day we should be reflecting the mind of God in our life, in our speech, and in our attitude, and reinforce our example by teaching the children verbally and practically. (Sanctification and Teens by John W. Ritenbaugh).
A Christian child should know and practice fundamental values, such as respect for authority, courtesy, honesty, respect for a public property with civic responsibility, etc. If they do not see in their parent's life, they would not do it by themselves till they matured enough (I Kings 1:1-6, Proverbs 22:6, Ephesians 6:1-4).
First parents must practice the way of God to the best of their abilities in every aspect of life. Training a Child- in the way of God is correct parental leadership and a major responsibility. Most of the children were at home during the Lockdown and Pandemic. Now the entire responsibility lies with parents for the behaviour of their children.
Martin Luther: “Scripture Alone, Faith Alone, Christ Alone” was the slogan of the reformation. Marks of the believers in the present world. That is Serve him only or Serve him alone. Thus the sum and substance of the divine enactment.
3. Serve Him Alone (Deuteronomy 6:10-13)
“What God most wants from us is our love for Him. We often think God demands a hundred other things from us – our money, our time, our effort, our will, our submission, and so forth – but primarily God wants our love.
When we love the LORD with all of our heart, soul, and mind, then everything else is freely given to the LORD. If we give the LORD all the rest – money, time, effort, will, and so forth – without giving Him our love, it is all wasted – and perhaps, all is lost” (Enduring Word Commentary).
Matthew Henry comments that Love to God must be sincere love (not in word and tongue only), must be strong love (He that is our All, must have our all), must be superlative love (above any creature), must be an intelligent love (love with all the heart, with all understanding) and with an entirety love.
Serve him through fear means not through slavish fear or a fear of hell and damnation. But through parental fear with a reverential affection for that God had brought you out of a state of bondage into great and glorious liberty, out of Egypt into Canaan's land, out of a place of misery into a land of plenty. Therefore fear the Lord and his goodness, and from such a fear of him serve him, in every part of worship, public and private, enjoined (John Gill).
Keil says that fear is placed first, as the fundamental characteristic of the Israelitish worship of God. It was not a slavish fear, but simply the holy awe of a sinner before the holy God, which includes love. "Fearing" is a matter of the heart; "serving," is a matter of working and striving in worship (Keil and Delitzsch OT Commentary).
The fear of the Lord - that reverent awe which is akin to love - is the beginning of wisdom and the foundation of piety (Pulpit Commentary).
Jesus quoted this passage while he was tempted by Satan and affirmed that he would serve the LORD Alone (Matthew 4:8-10). God is to be first, the highest priority, in our lives. And some versions render the phrase as, "The Lord is our God, the Lord alone." In this sense, the prohibition is against worshipping other gods.
In your developed state, in your exalted status and your plenty and your prosperity never forget the Lord your God who redeemed you and blessed you. Serve Him Alone. An ultimate solution for every problem is the right character. If people decided not to lie and steal, earn through corruption, the trauma of countless victims would disappear. If people are faithful to their spouses, divorce and compounded problems would cease. If people forgive many wars would become a distant memory (Solution? Character by Richard T. Ritenbaugh).
"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength." (Deuteronomy 6:5, Matthew 22:36-38). Christ made clear that this is "the first and great commandment," but that the second "You shall love your neighbour as yourself" (Matthew 22:39, Leviticus 19:18). He explained that God's entire law is summarized by these two commandments (Matthew 22:40).
Intended to cover the whole sphere of religion: the spiritual temper, acts of worship, and loyalty to God in all one’s intercourse by word and deed with one’s fellows. All the details of life are more explicitly connected with religion since primitive man. He naively and constantly appeals to God for the truth of his statements and the honesty of his business transactions. It is the duty of carrying out religious teachings into the momentary details of life (Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges).
Conclusion:
Let us serve Him Alone because he alone is God. The word of God is the guidance for us.
