May 29, 2005 Deuteronomy 11:18-21, 26-28
Fix these words of mine in your hearts and souls; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach 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. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates, so 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.
26 See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse -- 27 the blessing if you obey the commands of the LORD your God that I am giving you today; 28 the 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.
Several months ago I tried to fix a towel rack that had been broken off of our wall. I bought some expandable screws and drywall anchors thinking that I could do this with no problem. Within several weeks however, my fix it job soon deteriorated. The towel rack was loose and I was seemingly back to square one. In came dad. Thankfully, he was here for a week, and I asked him to look at it. Come to find out, the expandable screw just needed to be tightened more so that it widened out and anchored more firmly into the wall. I had no idea because I am definitely not a fix it kind of man. Thankfully, he fixed the problem in no time at all.
In today’s text, the Holy Spirit calls on each of us to be “fix it” people - not with walls or pictures - but with words and hearts. What does this mean? How can we do it? Why should we try it? We’ll see as we consider the theme -
Fix These Words In Your Hearts
I. What does it mean, to “fix in the heart”?
This is a strange thing that the LORD tells the Israelites to do through Moses. He tells us to “Fix these words of mine in your hearts and souls.” If you tell me to hang a picture - that is an easy thing. I can measure a wall with a tape measure, grab a hammer and a nail, pound it into the wall and hang up the picture. That’s easy. But how do you fix a word on a heart? Words are not physical things. You can’t grasp them with the hand, but only with the ear and the mind. How can you fix anything on your heart? When the Beatles sang the song “can’t buy me love,” they realized that the heart is not something that any human has the ability to “fix” anything on. Grab a nail and a hammer and try to force something on it, and it will die.
So what does Moses mean - to fix words on the heart and the soul? Obviously, this must be a spiritual thing - something beyond our realm of hammers and nails, swords and spears. It is indeed, a different kind of sword that God Himself must swing with a force more powerful than the sinful flesh and even the devil himself can hold back. Hebrews 4:12 says, “the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” Only the Word of God can penetrate the heart.
If you think about it, the only reason we are hear is because the Holy Spirit has cut our hearts apart. As Christians, we have three nails sticking out of our hearts. The same nails that were used to penetrate Jesus’ hands and feet - those nails have also penetrated our hearts. They make us say, “what a filthy sinner I am! I caused the death of God’s Holy One. My sin put those nails in his hands and feet.” They leave a gaping wound in our hearts - a sense of shame and guilt at our Judas-like treachery. Yet with those nails sticking out of our hearts, then God can hang the most precious word of all. Isaiah 53:5-6 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. The impenetrable heart becomes penetrable through the nails of Christ. When they hit His hands they strike our soul. When they pierce his side it pierces our heart - for the Holy Spirit convicts us of this sin - the death of Jesus Christ. However, with those words, the Holy Spirit also uses the blood of Christ - pumping it into our gaping wound. He shows us that the very One we pierced was also pierced FOR US. This “blood transfusion” continues to keep us living and breathing.
Every day we live with these nails sticking out of our hearts - it has to be that way - or nothing can be hung on it. It will all only slide off. A good example of this is in the Pharisees. They took these words very literally - making some phylacteries - little boxes that hung from their clothing with Bible verses on them. But they didn’t have any nails sticking out of their hearts. Therefore, Jesus called them to task for it and called them a bunch of hypocrites. Before ANY Word can be hung on the heart - especially Moses’ words - it must first be pierced with the nails of Christ .
II. How do you “fix on the heart?”
Imagine if someone bought a bunch of beautiful pictures for your wall, put some nails in it, gave you instructions on how to hang them, but then you never hung those pictures on that wall. The wall would remain clear and ready - ready for beautification - but not enhanced with the beautiful pictures. Those pictures, while remaining on the floor, could easily become broken or misplaced. In a sense, this was what the Israelites were being warned against doing - not hanging anything on their hearts - leaving them bare. So Moses gave them instructions on how to hang these words on their hearts. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach 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. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
Moses says, “tie them, bind them, teach them, talk them, and write them.” Basically he was saying, use whatever way possible to remind yourself and your children of these words. His words were, “God has given you these words. Now it’s your responsibility to make sure YOU know them and your children know them - not just on your minds - but on your hands - your mouth - wherever your life basically is.” The basic message to us today is - don’t just make these words your Sunday morning words. Learn how to grow in God’s Word at home as well. Learn how to talk about God’s Word around the kitchen table, in the car, at the park, at the movies - at any situation that presents itself. Take for instance the recent Star Wars movie that has just come out. It has a classic theme of good vs. evil in it. It has a young man by the name of Anakin Skywalker struggling with his feelings for vengeance - trying to do what is “right” - but not knowing what is right. He had one side telling him that he needed to be willing to let go of all that he loved, and the other side - the dark side - telling him that he could control the future - that he had the power to save life. If you go to watch this movie, why not use this as an opportunity to talk about the struggle we have within - between the sinful nature and the New Man - through our baptism? Why not use it to describe how in the Bible God says He is in charge and He makes decisions of life and death that we need to be willing to accept - knowing that He loves us? The opportunities are there to talk about and apply God’s Word - but YOU have to take advantage of them and use them.
This is a big problem that we have within our Lutheran culture. It’s a drop-off culture. It’s also a departmentalized culture. How do we train our children in God’s Word? We drop them off at Sunday School or Midweek School. We let the teachers teach them God’s Word. Then we pick them up. Do we then talk about the lesson with the children? Do we then discuss God’s Word with them during the week? Do we help them learn their Bible passages? Or do we just say, “make sure you learn you memory work!” Do we - as married couples - talk about Jesus with one another? Do we feel compelled just to sing a hymn at joyful times or say a prayer after a close call on the road? Or do we only reserve that for formal Bible time? Luther designed the catechism for PARENTS to teach their children - not Midweek School teachers and pastors. Every day Luther would review the Ten Commandments and the Creed and the Lord’s Prayer with his children. The point He was making was that God’s Word isn’t supposed to be like a Sunday suit you put on and then take off immediately after the service. Indirectly, we are telling our kids and showing our kids that Jesus is for formal times in church - not at home.
Another thing that scares me is that with the Catechism is that we inadvertently end up presenting a Trivial Pursuit Jesus - the three offices of Christ - the meaning of humiliation and exaltation - without any expressions of what this means to ME and how this AFFECTS me. I am scared that we treat God’s Word more like something simply to be hung on the brain. Go home and learn your memory work. Make sure you recite it well. Know the offices of Christ. But also discuss how it makes you feel guilty, or how it makes you feel good. Let your children know the struggles you have at forgiving yourself, dealing with co-workers, or even being patient with them. Let them see how you also struggle with sin, so they can learn from your own trials. That’s how you hang the Word on your hands and on your doorsteps and on the roads of life - and more importantly on the heart and soul of the self - instead of just the body and mind.
III. Why do we need this “fix”?
This was important to God - so important that He attached some blessings and curses to it. He encouraged them to do this, “So 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. 26 See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse -- 27 the blessing if you obey the commands of the LORD your God that I am giving you today; 28 the 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. God was telling the Israelites, “if you learn these commands and teachings and teach them to your children, I promise to bless your crops and lands. Your country will be powerful and strong. Your enemies will not defeat you. But if you don’t, you’ll go into captivity. Your crops will die. You and your kids will die in poverty and your nation will be utterly destroyed.”
It seems like an easy choice, doesn’t it? “Hmm, death and destruction, ruined crops and curses, or blessings and prosperity. Long life with prosperity or short life with death? Let’s see, “a” or “b”?” It seems easy when you look at it from this aspect - that GOD is in charge of the future - and that the long range and more importantly ETERNAL FUTURE is the most important of all. Yet how many people who “should know better” actually make the right choice? You have an opportunity for a promotion. You can make big bucks. But you will have a lot more time away from your young family and you will miss worship more often. What’s more important to you? Money or family? Promotion or worship? Hmm. You have an opportunity to date a real nice looking gal - but you know she’s not a Christian - and if you date her you will probably end up having pre-marital sex because she is known to have no moral sense about her. Hmm. Sex or God? Easy choice? Maybe it’s not so easy now. Yet we reason to ourselves that these are only short term things - that they will get better over time. We don’t look at the big picture - the long term picture - we tend to only look for the here and now.
So what happens? Our kids don’t end up going to worship and staying in church. We end up with more divorces. We experience more bankruptcy. We feel the curse of sin instead of the blessings of obedience. Then we wonder to ourselves, “why is this happening to me?” The Israelites thought and even vowed to follow the LORD. But what happened? Within several generations they found themselves under the Assyrian and Babylonian Captivities. Their country was wiped out, and they were left whirling. Why? Because they didn’t continue to hang the Word on their hearts. This is not a command to take lightly. There are temporal blessings and curses connected with the keeping or breaking of God’s word. If you wonder why you aren’t getting along with your spouse or your children aren’t listening, take a good look at yourself. Could it be that YOU let the ball drop? God wasn’t just blowing hot air when He pronounced these blessings and curses.
IV. The Ultimate Fix for the heart
This is a law text. It’s easy to feel guilty when we look at our fix-it jobs. Our usage of the Word has left us cursed more than blessed. It would be easy to walk away from this portion of the law with a huge millstone around our necks. Yet before I conclude, I want you for a moment to look at the God who makes these demands. Why does a doctor prescribe something that something tastes sour? Why does he sometimes cut? Why does he ask us to do things that cut into our diet or our leisure? The answer is obvious - so we can ultimately heal.
The God who demanded these things of the Israelites - knew that they would fail. He knew their land would be lost - their temples destroyed. So I want you to look at the big picture - the long range goal. This is where we can take some comfort. The God who had promised the Israelites a Promised Land, had also promised an eternal Promised Land. The God who made the demands, was also the God who wanted these crushed people to then be open hearted - looking with faith for the promise of the Savior to come to pass. At the loss of their physical kingdom, He wanted them to look for an everlasting Kingdom - in the heavens above. He made these laws and told them to fix them on their hearts so that the people would appreciate and take comfort in the promise without stipulations - the promise of eternal life in heaven because of the Messiah. When we fail to fix the words of God on our hearts, God wants us to use that failure to come back to the ultimate promise - God’s promise of salvation through FAITH in Jesus Christ - not by works. There are no stipulations to that fix. It’s been done. It’s finished. Believe it.
Again, why did God offer the promises and curses? Jesus said that even if you did everything God told you to do, should still only say, “We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.” (Luke 17:10) God doesn’t have to offer ANY blessings whatsoever to unworthy servants. So why does He do it here - to these Israelites? Behind these promises we see a God who WANTS to bless - who LIKES to bless - who enjoys being GENEROUS with people - even SINFUL people. Therefore, in these promises of blessings and curses, I see a backdrop of the God who was willing to help and bless sinful people. I see a God who was not only willing to give land and protection that He didn’t need to, but who later on was willing to give much more - His very Son - for the sins of the world - along with an ETERNAL land in heaven. I see a foreshadowing of a God who was ultimately willing to work with people by covering their sins and forgiving them - instead of condemning them. I see a God who knows how to deal with us and talk with us through the Word. What an unbelievably marvelous God we have! What a merciful LORD! When we take a behind the scenes look at this LORD, it fixes our hearts - assures us that He loves us and cares for us and deals with us - in spite of who we are. Don’t forget WHO the LORD is. It will fix your despair - and encourage you to keep fixing that Word on your’s and your children’s hearts and souls. Amen.
