Sermon "Navigating This New Season" (Understanding What Lies Ahead)

Sermon “Navigating this New Season" (Understanding What Lies Ahead)

Scripture Lesson - Deuteronomy 11:8-17 “and so that you may live long in the land the Lord swore to your ancestors to give to them and their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey. The land you are entering to take over is not like the land of Egypt, from which you have come, where you planted your seed and irrigated it by foot as in a vegetable garden. But the land you are crossing the Jordan to take possession of is a land of mountains and valleys that drinks rain from heaven. It is a land the Lord your God cares for; the eyes of the Lord your God are continually on it from the beginning of the year to its end.

So if you faithfully obey the commands I am giving you today to love the Lord your God and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul then I will send rain on your land in its season, both autumn and spring rains, so that you may gather in your grain, new wine and olive oil. I will provide grass in the fields for your cattle, and you will eat and be satisfied. Be careful, or you will be enticed to turn away and worship other gods and bow down to them. Then the Lord’s anger will burn against you, and he will shut up the heavens so that it will not rain and the ground will yield no produce, and you will soon perish from the good land the Lord is giving you.”

Introduction: Being release from the Egyptian bondage, the hearts and mind of the people were saturated with the word “freedom.” What does it mean and where will it lead us? The more the word is used, the less meaning it seems to convey. For many in our culture, the concept of freedom is only understood in a negative way. Freedom is the unbinding of any authority over us. It is freedom from. In this view, any degree of authority over an individual is deemed oppression. Thus, the primary goal of life and citizenship is to rid oneself of as many constraints as possible to live a full, actualized life as an individual, liberated from the restrictions.

If the greatest good is my own personal freedom, then what hinders me from doing anything to anyone for any reason other than the sheer fact that my freedom says I can?

Moses must prepare the generation for the freedom they have been given. If he does not, the liberated people of God would fight against the limitations of God and protest what would save their lives and chase after their own death, all in the name of freedom from what they perceive to be a barrier to their freedom. Moses offers an alternative understanding of freedom. It is not so much a negative freedom as a positive freedom, not so much a freedom from Egyptian bondage as a freedom for becoming God’s covenant people. He commands Israel to ponder the purpose of their freedom. Freedom misunderstood will generally be abused.

It said that every time Napoleon sent out one of his officers with a message, he reaffirms it by saying, “Be clear, be clear, be clear” The man Moses was probably one of the greatest leaders that ever lived. He knew his congregation and knew best how to help them. The book of Deuteronomy means “second law” or the law given again. The key word in the book is "remember." The former generation of Israel had died in the wilderness because they forgot the assignment; so, it was important that Moses rehearse the law and expound the principles to the new generation before they enter the Promised Land. He endeavored to be clear, be clear, and be very clear so that they might understand. This rehearsal of the Law proclaimed at Mt. Sinai was a call to obedience, a review of past experiences and a prophetic word for the future.

Chapter 4 deals with remembering the giving of the Law and the covenant of God. Chapter 5 & 6 deals with remembering the past slavery in Egypt. Chapter 7 deals with remembering the great deliverance God performed for them. Chapter 8 deals with remembering God’s divine leadership. Chapter 9 & 10 deal with remembering the high cost of sin and disobedience. But in chapter 11, Moses deals with helping this new generation understand what to expect as you follow God into this new land. This land of Canaan is a type of life beyond the norm that must be embraced with a new mindset and a new understanding. It is a land of productive labor. It was a type of the higher Christian life or the higher call of God that can only be won by warfare, obedience and dependance on God.