Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity (2023)
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Deuteronomy 10:12-21
Deuteronomy 10:12-21
My Brothers and Sisters in Christ, in our Old Testament lesson today, God speaks to his people as they prepare to enter the Promised Land. However, Moses is giving them an account of all that transpired, for those people who persisted in the stubbornness of their hearts did not abide by God’s Word, but acknowledged him only with their lips and went about their work only while they were under threat. Their hearts were far from him and He calls to them this day that they ought to circumcise their hearts. What does this mean?
The Covenant of God
What does the Lord require of His people?
This surprises people, because often they don’t take the 10 commandments as being commands. This happens because people associate shall with should, instead of saying you will. Look at what he requires. To love him, to serve him, to keep the commandments and statues which are given for your good. But
Why does God require fear?
That surprises us a bit. The others we have no issue with, but when we think back on our small catechism, the first commandment what does this mean? That we should fear, love, and trust in God above all things. So why on earth would we fear God?
God is our judge.
He is the one that looks at our lives and weighs and measures them. He is the one that establishes thrones and kingdoms and tears them down. He is the one who can end our life for our transgressions and banish us eternally into hell. He cares deeply about whether or not you have done right or wrong.
God established the Law.
He is the source of what is good and right. Now we here in the United States enjoy a fair amount of freedom, and are generally not in danger if we speak ill of our leaders. But God is the source of all that is God and his demand is that creation be good and holy as He is holy. At the moment of your death, you must stand before him and give an account.
The Target of the Law
We limit the Law to specific things.
When we hear commandments like, you shall not murder, commit adultery, or steal, bear false witness, we associate it with a particular body part. Murder and stealing is what I do with my hands, lying is what I do with my lips, and even with adultery, we have a very narrow definition of what it is. When Jesus preaches about this in the sermon on the mount he throws it wide open, and what Jesus teaches is that
The Law applies to the whole person.
Jesus tells us that if you call your brother fool, which we would use by calling someone an idiot or moron, you are guilty of murder and deserving of hell. If you look at a person lustfully, which means adultery can happen on your computer or even on your phone, that you are subject to God’s wrath.
It isn’t enough for your hands to do what is right.
You are to love God with all of your heart, soul, mind. Everything you have is to be oriented towards what is holy right and proper. Because what The Law of God requires of you is that you be perfect as God is perfect.
We can get away with it at work, but not with God.
Our boss might not know when our heart is not in it, or when our mind is distracted, or when we cut a corner on occasion, but not God. He knows it all.
The Heart of the Matter
The Scriptures talk about unfeeling hearts.
Hearts that are dead ot the Scriptures and the word of God, Hearts that don’t live for God, and thus don’t live at all, but are still dead. What does come from them are all fo these sins that plague the body, and the soul.
Jesus says it is what makes us unclean.
It isn’t the food that we eat, that goes in and passes through us, but it is rather this organ that beats inside of our chest, this organ that we cannot remove, this organ that we cannot cure.
This is why everyone falls short of the Glory of God.
We are sinners who are by nature sinful and unclean who have sinned in thought, word, and deed by what we have done, and left undone, we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves, we have not loved God with our whole heart, and we stand before our judge justly deserving punishment. Only a fool would stand before God and not fear him.
Where Can We Find Hope?
It’s in God’s heart.
Not in our heart where there is nothing but sin and death, but in the heart of God which is shown to us through the Cross of Jesus. This is why we want the cross ever before our eyes that we might see the great love with which God loved us, and the mercy that was shown to us through the death and sacrifice of Jesus Christ our Lord.
We rely solely on the mercy of the Judge.
For we have nothing, that’s why in our confession of sins, we don’t deny that we deserve punishment we confess that God’s word is true and we are in the wrong, but we also rely on God’s Word and promise for our salvation.
The proud won’t do this, and they will perish.
They will try and stand before the judgment seat of God and boast of their own deeds and and their own greatness thinking that since they were better than their neighbors they should be granted entrance into heaven, but they come with uncircumcised hearts. They have no place in God’s Kingdom.
He is the only one that can forgive.
God has promised to do for us, through the Cross of Jesus who was offered up as a sacrifice to cover your sins, and that is why we don’t try to claim that we will be fine based upon our works, but cry out Lord, have mercy on us.
God Gives Us a New Heart
God restores us through the forgiveness of sins.
Not because we earned it, or deserved it, or had made the right decisions or a whole list of other reasons that people put forward but because God’s heart had compassion on us. And he gave to us food and clothing. What is the garment we are clothed with? Baptism and what is the food that he gives, that which was sacrificed for our sake, the body and blood of Christ.
God does this through His Word.
That Word is Christ, through whom all things were made and who is the light that enlightens the gentiles and brings hope to those trapped in the darkness of sin and death that was dragging us down to hell.
This is what creates love in us.
Just as God breathed into Adam’s lifeless clay, and Christ is able to call those who are dead out of their graves, God has called us by the Spirit through the Word to life for the sake of His Son who laid down his life for you. You couldn’t offer up to God a pure heart, and so God gave one to you that you might be saved.
Don’t Be Stubborn
Don’t try to get into heaven based on your goodness.
Too many try and neglect the gifts that God gives thinking that they can get in because they are decent people, or good to their friends or family, but you cannot do enough. Rather see what God has given to you, and treasure it. For it is by these things that you are saved.
What does it say about God?
On the one hand God in his holiness is terrifying and if we try to stand before him because we’re a good person, we will be banished to hell. But He is also merciful, and for the sake of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, He forgives our sins.
But can it really be true?
It is. The proof is in the resurrection of Jesus who was taken into the grave because of our sins, but was raised from the dead to show that all sins that rested upon were brought to nothing and His sacrifice was acceptable.
So my Brothers and sisters in Christ, fear the Lord, for He is our judge, and cling to the mercy he offered through Jesus Christ our Lord who paid for our sins and gives to you a new heart. Then you will find delight in his commandments, and your heart will want to walk in his ways. For His commandments were given for your good and the good of your neighbor, for they command us to love, both God and our neighbor. In Jesus name. Amen.