ENJOY THE BLESSINGS IN GOD’S WORD
Dueteronomy 11:18-21,26-28 - June 13, 2003 – PENTECOST 2
DEUTERONOMY 11:18-21, 26-28
18Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 19Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 20Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates, 21so that your days and the days of your children may be many in the land that the LORD swore to give your forefathers, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth....
26See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse-- 27the blessing if you obey the commands of the LORD your God that I am giving you today; 28the curse if you disobey the commands of the LORD your God and turn from the way that I command you today by following other gods, which you have not known.
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Dear Fellow-Redeemed and Saints in the Lord:
Are you really enjoying life? The Lord reminds believers to enjoy life. Yet, we might not enjoy life as we used to or as much as we ought to. It seems the world around al-ways reminds us of the bad things. It seems as if there is not very much to look forward to at least according to the view of the world. But the Lord reminds us today, as Moses speaks to the children Israel, of the enjoyment of life; the enjoyment of life found really in the presence of God and in the power of God’s Word. Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes about the enjoyment of life, that it comes from God. In Ecclesiastes chapter 3, verse 12 and 13, he writes: "I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live. That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil--this is the gift of God" (Ecclesiastes 3: 12,13). God’s gift to us is that we are able to enjoy life, day after day right here on earth.
Today we look at God’s gift more closely. In these words of Deuteronomy Moses reminds us to enjoy God’s blessings in His Word. In order to enjoy God’s blessings in His Word the Lord tells us
I. To hear and read God’s Word
II. To study and live God’s Word
I. HEAR AND READ GOD’S WORD
In the book of Deuteronomy the setting is important to us to always remember. The chil-dren of Israel were going to leave behind the 40 years of wandering in the wilderness that they might step into the Promised Land. In fact they are east of the Jordan, and they are excited to get into the land that the Lord had promised to their forefathers. The people are anxious to not have to go out day by day and gather manna, such a boring food. They are anxious not to have to wander day after day as they did for 40 years. Again, Moses wants them to always remember and never forget the blessings that God had shown to them through and by His Word.
In Deuteronomy, which means second law, Moses has reminded God’s people about God’s commandments. Then he says to them: 18Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds. The Lord wants them to plant the Word of God just like a seed into their hearts. As that Word of God is planted there, then it springs up and bears abundant fruit. The children of Israel had to listen to God’s Word, because at this time about the only thing they had written down were God’s Ten Commandments on the tablets of stone. The Bible, as we have it today, was not around. Then as God’s Word is planted in their hearts, it is going to grow and help them.
Moses continues: tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. It is going to go from their hearts to their minds and to their hands and to their feet, this hearing and studying God’s Word. Quite sadly, we know that some of the Jewish people took these words so literal that they made for themselves little boxes and they tied them to their hands and they tied them to their foreheads. You may see them from time to time and wonder what that is. These boxes containing God’s Word are called phylacteries. We know the Lord did not mean to literally tie God’s Word to their hands and foreheads. In the next verse Gods says through Moses: 19Teach them to your children. So it was not supposed to stay wrapped up in a little box hidden away, but they were to read it and hear it and they were to share it with their children all the time. He says: 19Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. They were to do this whenever they would get the opportunity to hear God’s Word and read it. It would be a testimony not only for themselves but also for others.
He says to them: 20Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. Once again the children of Israel took the Lord at His Word, and they did that. They still do that today. Very often entering a Jewish household you will see the mezuzahs, as it is called taken from the Hebrew. It is a writing of Scripture that is on the doorframe or a writing of Scripture that is hung on the door. Moses said to hear God’s Word, to read it, to write it, to plant it as seed in their hearts so that it may grow. Sounds easy, but when we look at the children of Israel we hear Moses warning time after time not to forget the Lord. When we look, we see that they did just that when they entered the Promised Land.
We, like the children of Israel, live in a promised land; and from time to time, we may not be close to God. Maybe from time to time, we are not enjoying life, because simply, we haven’t studied God’s Word as we ought to or heard it as we ought to or read it, as we ought to. It sounds easy, but it is difficult, because our sinful nature always stands opposed to what God wants for us in our lives. Of course, Satan tempts us; the world tempts us. Our own sinful flesh is our greatest enemy because we are born with a sinful nature, a sinful nature that doesn’t do what God wants us to do. Our sinful nature wants us to do what we want to do. What we want to do in our sinful nature is not to follow God, but turn away. To hear God’s Word and read God’s Word should be very easy for us, because we have easy access to it. Bibles are very plentiful and inex-pensive. What seems easy can become hard because of what is in us by birth. Paul reminds us in Galatians: "For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is con-trary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want" (GALATIANS 5:17).
Doesn’t that describe us in our life? It seems we can’t do what we want. We don’t have time to read God’s Word. We are just too busy. We don’t have time to study God’s Word. We are just too busy. Or worst of all, we don’t have time to hear God’s Word. We are just too busy. Too many things! That is our sinful nature making excuses for us. But we rejoice today as we gather together doing the most important thing we can, we are hearing God’s Word. The impor-tance of hearing God’s Word, Moses stresses today to the children of Israel and to us that it is by hearing that the power of God’s Word is planted in our hearts. It is by hearing that the Word planted in our hearts does spring up and bear abundant fruit. Paul writes in Romans: "Conse-quently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ" (ROMANS 10:17). You and I grow in our faith when we are able to hear God’s Word. Simply put, it is God’s Word alone that is able to provide salvation.
At times hearing and reading may seem difficult. It may seem we are too busy to hear God’s Word or to read God’s Word. But we know that when we hear and read God’s, we discover great comfort and joy. We know that when we do those things, we are strengthened in our faith. We know that when we do, we are encouraged in this life and enjoy life. God has promised His blessings in His Word! Enjoy God’s blessings in His Word by hearing it and reading it. We can do that on our own. We are also encouraged to hear and read God’s Word together. In Colossians we hear this encouragement: "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admon-ish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God" (COLOSSIANS 3:16). Yes, no matter what we face in this life, no matter what we might think is not enjoyable, the Lord says we still can have gratitude in our hearts. That verse in Colossians describes our worship services, doesn’t it? We gather together to sing hymns, to encourage and admonish one another. We remind each other that the day is swiftly coming to an end and night is almost here.
Today, Moses says to us to enjoy God’s blessings and His Word by hearing it, by read-ing it, and also by II. Studying God’s Word and living it.
II. STUDY AND LIVE GOD’S WORD
As the children of Israel crossing the River Jordan to take possession of the Promised Land, they were not the first ones to live there. There were people already living in the Promised Land. This land was a land flowing with "milk and honey." But the people that were living there were unbelievers. They worshiped false gods, and they did not know the Lord God Almighty. So the children of Israel were to drive them out. The children of Israel were also to be shining examples of what God’s Word meant in their lives. We come to the end of this section at almost the end of this chapter and Moses says to them: 26See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse. The Lord had already chosen them out of all of the nations to be His children. The Lord had al-ready delivered them from the land of Egypt to the Promised Land. The Lord had protected them for those 40 years. Now, the responsibility of what they were going to do with their faith and how they would react to God’s blessings was going to be on them.
So the Lord says, "You are going to be a blessing or a curse. It is your choice." Moses writes: 27the blessing if you obey the commands of the LORD your God that I am giving you to-day. Now remember they had faith already. It wasn’t by obedience that they were going to be-lieve, but they would enjoy blessings of God. Who wouldn’t? If people try to walk in the ways of the Lord, they are going to find life is a great blessing; and there is great joy in living doing what God wants.
Of course, the opposite is also true. Moses also writes the Lord’s word: 26See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse-- 28the curse if you disobey the commands of the LORD your God and turn from the way that I command you today by following other gods, which you have not known. There was the warning, the warning that they ought not to turn away from God. Yet, as they lived in the Promised Land, they did turn from God from time to time. They worshiped false gods who could not help them--false gods that could not provide for them--false gods that would not protect them. Their lives became a shamble. The Israelites put their trust in the wrong things. They put their trust in the things of the world. So they had to suffer the con-sequences of that disobedience. They forgot to study God’s Word and they forgot to live God’s Word. That is not what God wanted for them, was it?
In verse 21 he says about fixing those Words in their hearts and writing them on their door-frames: 21so that your days and the days of your children may be many in the land that the LORD swore to give your forefathers, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth. The Lord wanted to bless His children here on earth. The Lord wanted to bless His children forever. If God’s children turn away, if they reject Him and follow other gods, then those gods have to bless them. The other gods would bless, because they could not.
The Lord reminds us of the privilege we have today, a privilege of hearing God’s Word and reading God’s Word. Believers also have the continuing privilege of being able to study God’s Word and live God’s Word. Our gracious God promises to each one of us blessing upon blessing: bless-ings even though we don’t deserve it, blessings even though we have not earned them, blessings even though we disobey day after day. Paul writes in Titus: "But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy" (TITUS 3:4,5a). We are saved because of God’s mercy, not by our obedience, but we are saved purely out of God’s grace and mercy.
Oh it is true, those who want to disobey are going to walk down that wide and broad path to destruction. Those who reject God will find that eternity for them is not very pleasant. Today, the Lord says that if things do not seem so nice in this life and it seems that everything is a strug-gle, His blessings are found in His Word, the blessings of eternal life. When the Jewish women believed in the greatness of Jesus as the Messiah, they shouted out blessings for the mother that bore Him. Instead, "He (Jesus) replied, ’Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it’" (LUKE 11:28). Blessed are you and I who listen to what God’s Word says, study God’s Word for our lives, and live it. That is a great and awesome responsibility.
We might think, especially if we look at the children of Israel who came to the end of their journey and into the Promised Land, they could sit back and put their feet up and relax. They could have. But their continuing responsibilities also were to be lights in the world. At times we might fall into that trap of the Israelites too. We may say to ourselves, “Well, the Lord has saved us. What more do we now need?” There really is nothing more that we need, because we have all that we need in eternity. There are many around us who for some reason or another have wandered off that path of salvation. They need us. They need us to be shining lights in this world by our words and our deeds, by our living and actions. That is our responsibility. Paul writes in Ephesians: "For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord" (EPHESIANS 5:8-10). We spend a lot of time in this life finding out what pleases ourselves or our family or the people around us, and we may forget to busy ourselves to find out what pleases the Lord. If we think about that this week, we might do things a bit differ-ently in our living. The Lord says to find out what pleases Him, because we are the light in the Lord. We are able to do that because we are able to look into God’s Word and hear it and read it and study it and live it.
When we do those things, we put behind us our sinful nature--a constant struggle. We can also put behind us the temptation of Satan and the world and its distractions. When we do we dis-cover the enjoyment of the blessings that God has for us in His Word. Earthly speaking, we might not enjoy life all of the time; but we can spiritually. When we feel life is not so fair or so promis-ing, we should turn back to God’s Word and see what it has to say to us. Study it, so it becomes a part of our lives. The Lord desires to bless us through His Word. The divine, eternal way God con-tinues blessing us is through hearing, reading, studying and living His Word. We do not want to cut ourselves short of any divine blessings. We don’t in earthly blessings, so we certainly don’t want to in spiritual blessings.
In Jeremiah: "I gave them this command: Obey me, and I will be your God and you will be my people. Walk in all the ways I command you, that it may go well with you" (JEREMIAH 7:23). Enjoy God’s blessings in His Word by hearing it, reading it, studying it and living it; and it will go well with you, not just here on earth but at last forever in heaven. Amen.
Timm O. Meyer
