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.
2. WORSHIP GOD THE WAY HE LIKES IT (Deuteronomy 12:29-31)
Moses taught the Israelites to worship God, the way God likes it. Jehovah was a terrible and holy God. He never compromises with any form of worship which abhorring and insulting to his personality and power. Everyone on the earth would like to do well. No one has the idea of being dull, useless, and fruitless. We preach more powerfully through silence than louder. Our reactions are vehicles of God’s qualities and characters to the people around us. Moses taught the children of Israel to have the life which will go always well with them.
The LORD God had driven out before them many nations, namely the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, seven nations larger and stronger than Israelites (Deuteronomy 7:1), and he taught them not to follow those worship patterns and practices of infants sacrifices, lustful singing, and dancing, falsely foretelling and cheating with wrong promises. The Semites as well as other ancient races sacrificed children.
Mesha of Moab slew his firstborn to Chemosh (2 Kings 3:27), and this practice was found among the Greeks, Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Syrians, Ancient Arabs, and the Canaanites in times of national danger or disaster. The evidence of the sacrifice of children by slaughter and burning is proven. It is authenticated by the archaeologists that the High Places on the earth was discovered to be a regular cemetery in which the skeletons of young infants were buried. These infants were never more than a week old. Two at least showed marks of fire.’ They were buried in jars, each with a lamp and a bowl as if symbols of fire and blood. Temples were found at four corners with the bones of infants (Cambridge Bible Study for Schools and Colleges). Here the Lord had put those reminders in two clauses: The clause "after they are destroyed from before thee". The second clause, "that thou inquire not after their gods”, etc., explains more fully to the Israelites the danger which threatened them (Keil & Others).
Worship has become stylish, modernized; tradition is lost along with sacred instruction. Worship has been adopted to fulfill their desires. Lustful events have intruded during worship. Christian worship is corrupted with so many foreign worship ideas. All kinds of music, all kinds of practices are followed during the worship and it is known as great events.
We have 40 days of fasting with ascetic views of their faiths. Where does God tell us that we should not eat Non-vegetarian during lent? Where do we read that during fasting we need to have a simple dress code? There is no easy way to have blessings and victories. Jesus has taught us to pray, earnestly, sincerely, and without ceasing. The Old Testament saints spent hours together to get victories over their enemies. Moses spent hours and days together, Elijah stood always before the Living God, and David sought God again and again for every occasion. Now pastors, crusaders, and TV preachers use the media and teach easy methods of getting blessings. Absolutely nonsense, one thing is true that the preachers became rich and richer but the viewers and listeners are still under poverty and suffering. These are snares to keep people under their bondages.
God spoke to Israelites on giving to God. It was known as sacrifice and offerings. He commanded them to pay offerings, Tithes where God fixed the space. But NT believers have no temple, no altar except Christ. Everyplace we can offer incense to God (Malachi 1:11), and even Jesus affirmed that worshippers must worship God in Truth and Sincerity (John 4:21).
God called us to live a humble and sacrificial life. Moses taught them that God has the substitute for all our sins that is Jesus Christ. So, never practice the religious practices of others. Remember that you are the temple of God, and that Spirit of God dwells in your midst (1 Corinthians 3:16). You are the living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ ( 1 Peter 2:5). Present your bodies as a living sacrifice to God which is an acceptable form of worship (Romans 12:1).
3. OBSERVE DILIGENTLY His COMMAND (Deuteronomy 12:32)
The command is the command. It can’t be altered, adjusted, and manipulated but treated as a Mandate. No one can bend the command of God to suit them. It’s a sharp two-edged sword, a powerful weapon of judgment. The strict order of God is not to add to it or take anything from it.
Finis Jennings Dakes lists the followings observe: (1) Feast of unleavened bread (Exodus 12:17), (2) Passover (Exodus 31:16), (3) Feast of Weeks (Exodus 34:22), (4) Feast of Tabernacles (Deuteronomy 16:13), (5) All sacrifices in season (Numbers 28:2), (6) Laws regulating disease (Deuteronomy 24:8), (7) God’s ways (Proverbs 23:26), (8) All commandments, statutes and judgments (Exodus 34:11, Leviticus 19:37, Deuteronomy 5:32, 6:1, 8:1,11:32, 12:1,28,32).
Then you can expect all things to go well with you (Deuteronomy 6:18, 12:25,28). Already we have entered into the New Year with the blessings of God, “Do well in everything and everyplace” (1 Kings 2:3). We have learned that it was a piece of advice offered to young and new King Solomon by his experienced emperor king David, who happened to be his father.
The writer of the Books of the Kings states that David told his son Solomon: “I am going the way of all the earth. So be strong. Show yourself to be a man. Do what the Lord your God tells you: to walk in His ways, to keep His statutes, His commandments, His judgments, and His testimonies, as it is written in the Law of Moses. Then you will do well in all that you do and in every place you go” (1 Kings 2:2-3). In brief, we can understand that Solomon was advised to be strong, keep the word and do the service, getting along with experienced and talented people. Then you will do well in everything and in every place you go.
