Church Sermon - July 25, 2004

Rev. Bernt P. Tweit

Epistle Lesson; Colossians 1:1-14
Gospel Lesson; Luke 10:25-37
Sermon Text; Deuteronomy 30:9-14

It was in our Gospel Lesson for today that we heard an expert of the law who came to Jesus and asked, "What must I do to inherit eternal life?"

Jesus replied, "What is written in the law? How do you read it?"

That expert in the law knew his Old Testament scriptures very well, specifically the first five books of Moses. He answered correctly. "‘Love the Lord your God with all of your heart and with all of your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’"

The expert in the law was saying that love is the fulfillment of the law. Really that is what Moses is saying in our text for today, as well.

Moses was coming to the end of his illustrious career, his career of leading the Children of God. He had been called by God in Egypt, raised up to lead God’s People out of there. And faithfully, for forty years, Moses did that. His life was coming to an end and he was about ready to hand over the leadership role to Joshua, to lead God’s People into the Promised Land. Before he did that though, he wanted one last opportunity to address the people, to show them how much God had loved them, and in return, how they should be faithful to Him. One of the things that Moses brought up was that God delights in you and He wants to bless you.

I. God delights in you and wants to bless you.

In the chapters before and after our text for today, Moses went through a list, of a number of ways in which God had delighted in them and blessed them. Let’s take a look at some of them.

After the Children of God had left Egypt, and they were in the wilderness, there was a time when they didn’t have any water for three days. They were getting pretty thirsty. They came upon some water, but it was bitter, too bitter to drink. So God had Moses throw a piece of wood into the water and the water became sweet. It was drinkable. God delighted in His people and He blessed them with water to drink.

Some time later, they didn’t have any food. That is when God provided quail in the evening and manna in the morning. God delighted in His people. He desired to bless them. He did so with manna and quail.

There was another instance in which they didn’t have any water. They were thirsty, again. This time God had Moses go in front of the people, with his staff in his hand. He struck a rock, and water flowed out of the rock. God delighted in His people. He desired to bless them. He did so, by having water come forth out of the rock.

Think about this too. For those forty years that the Children of Israel were wandering through the desert, they wore the same clothes for forty years. Their clothes never wore out! The sandals that they had on their feet, also never wore out! God delighted in His people. He desired to bless them. He did so, by providing clothes and sandals for them.

It was those people that Moses was addressing, those people who had been wandering in the wilderness for forty years. They were about ready to enter into a land that had been promised to them. Notice I said promised. It was a land that had been promised to their forefathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It was about ready to become a reality. Moses was reminding his people that God delights in you. He desires to bless you.

Today, as we look at our own lives, too, we can see how God delights in us, and how He desires to bless us. We can look at many different physical ways in which God has blessed us.

Even think about the people who died, while they were in the wilderness. The people who held to that promise of the coming Messiah, God also delighted in them, and He blessed them, when they died, by bringing them to the promised land of eternal life, in Heaven.

That same blessing also is ours. God delights in us, and desires to bless us. It is God who puts His holy Word into our hearts.

II. God has put His Word into our hearts

Again, we go back to that expert in the law, this morning. That expert in the law asked Jesus, "Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?"

Jesus asked him, "What is written in the Law?"

"He answered, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’"

Jesus said, "Do this and you will live."

The very next thing that it says there is that the man wanted to justify himself. He thought that he could love God perfectly. He thought that he could love his neighbor perfectly. It is unfortunate that there are many church bodies and many individuals who believe that we can justify ourselves before God and we can inherit eternal life on our own.

Any time that is the case, the logic really falls into three different categories. One of them would be this. "If I do more good deeds than bad deeds, the good deeds will weigh heavier in the balance, and God will have to bless me with eternal life in Heaven."

Another way of thinking is, "I’ll try harder". Imagine yourself climbing up a ladder, rung by rung, thinking the harder I try, the closer I will get to God, the closer I will get to Heaven.

Or, the third way of thinking is to compare myself to those people who are around me. "Look at how good I am, compared to the people who are surrounding me."

Yet, scripture is very clear, because in the book of Proverbs it says, "There is a way that seems right to man. But in the end it leads to death." There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end, it leads to death. Our human thinking, or our human logic, may say that it sounds right to use those ways of thinking, and yet in the end they lead to death and they lead to destruction. God has saved us, not because of our righteous acts, but because of His mercy.

Salvation is found in no one else

for there is no other name under Heaven

given to men,

by which we must be saved.

It is not hard. It is not difficult. That is what Moses is trying to get at, this morning, as he addresses his people, and as he also addresses us. (If you desire to look at verses 11-14, you can go ahead and do that with me.) Moses is telling us that salvation is not difficult. He goes on to say,

"Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, ‘Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so that we may obey it?’" It is not that hard. We don’t have to find somebody to go to heaven to get it to bring it back to us, to proclaim it to us, that we may obey it.

"Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, ‘Who will cross the sea, to get it and proclaim it to us, so that we may obey it?’" It is not even that difficult. Who are we going to send to cross the sea, to get it, and proclaim it to us, that we may obey it?

"No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so that you may obey it."

God’s word is very close at hand. It is God who has put His Word into our hearts. For most of us, that happened at our baptism, when we were infants. For others of us, it came through God’s Word, while we were older. Certainly, with the Lord’s Supper, we are strengthened in that faith. It is God who has brought us to faith. It is God who has put His Word into our hearts.

III. God wants us to be faithful

Now, because God has put His Word into our hearts, He asks for our faithfulness. He asks us to be faithful to Him. Faithfulness to God can only be created through His Word.

In the verses that come right after our text for today, Moses finally addresses the people. He gives them two choices. He gives them the choice of life and prosperity, or death and destruction. It is these same two choices that are given to us, as well. It is five short verses that I want to read to you this morning.

Moses says, "See I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. For I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, to keep His commands, decrees, and laws, then you will live and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess. But if your heart turns away, and you are not obedient, and you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess. This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now chose life, so that you and your children may live and you may love the Lord your God, listen to His voice, and hold fast to Him. The Lord your God will give you many years in the land He swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob."

With that Moses handed over the leadership role to Joshua.

Throughout the years of the existence of Holy Cross, that very same thing has happened. We may say that Pastor Ylvisaker didn’t get an opportunity, or the chance, to do that, because the Lord took him suddenly. Certainly Pastor Orvick did that, as he handed that leadership role to Pastor Steve Petersen. Pastor Steve Petersen handed that leadership role to Pastor Bartels.

We are reminded of the faithfulness of God to us, and how we in return should be faithful to Him. With all of our programs here at Holy Cross, that is really what we do. With our Vacation Bible School, Camp Indianhead, LYA Convention, our Christian Day School, and our Sunday School. Oh, the themes may change from year to year, but the foundation is the same. God delights in you and desires to bless you. God has put His Word into our hearts, and now He asks for our faithfulness.

No, we can’t go to Heaven by ourselves. We can’t obtain eternal life, by our own doings. We can’t, because we are sinful human beings and will always fall short. But, we do have One, who has lived perfectly in our place. We have One, who has obeyed God perfectly and who has obeyed our neighbor perfectly in our place. That is our Brother and our Savior, Jesus. He went to the cross for us, so that our sins are forgiven. He didn’t win for us an earthly physical promised land. But the Promised Land that He has given to us is everlasting life, with Him, in Heaven.

Dear fellow redeemed, here at Holy Cross, be faithful, even into the point of death, and God will give you the crown of life. Amen.

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