207; Doorframes; One Focus; Deut 6.1-9
Notes
Transcript
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
Veterans Day
Veterans Day
Say thanks and pray
Intro
Intro
One of the main reasons I love the holidays, the way my home is decorated
Tracey does it up right.
The front door
Refer to the house we saw in Wabash
Aren’t you glad our front doors don’t tell the truth? If they were honest they may say something very different. Emojis
STRESSED OUT!
Go Away!
loneley
Angry
Stressed out
Transition
Transition
We’re starting a series today that we’re calling doorframes. We’re calling it that because a long time ago Moses said there should be something that should mark our homes in specific ways.
Open to
In Moses has been leading the Israelites from Egypt to the land God has promised. It’s a new start, a new home, a new life. They’ve been stuck in slavery and a dead-end life for so long. Now, God is giving them something different and wonderful. They need to know there is ONE thing that should mark their lives. It should mark the doors of their homes.
Text
Text
1
1 These are the commands, decrees and laws the Lord your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, 2 so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the Lord your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life. 3 Hear, Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, promised you.
Notice there is an incredible weight to the topic. This affects you, your kids, and your grandkids! There is a generational impact.
The purpose? A lifelong fear of God. Fear in this case means reverence/awe. He’s talking about spending your life standing in awe of God.
The purpose? A lifelong Fear/Reverence of God that is expressed in acting accordingly and therefore enjoying all the benefits of what God has planned.
C.S. Lewis gives us a great picture of this in The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe when Mr. Beaver tells Susan that Aslan (the ruler of Narnia) is a great lion. Susan is surprised, since she assumed Aslan was a man. She then tells Mr. Beaver, “I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion.” She asks Mr. Beaver if Aslan is safe, to which Mr. Beaver replies, “Safe? Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King.”
C.S. Lewis answers this in The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe when Mr. Beaver tells Susan that Aslan (the ruler of Narnia) is a great lion. Susan is surprised, since she assumed Aslan was a man. She then tells Mr. Beaver, “I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion.” She asks Mr. Beaver if Aslan is safe, to which Mr. Beaver replies, “Safe? Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King.”
This is the idea of standing in awe of God. Of course he isn’t safe, but he’s good. He is both;
The evidence of reverence is seen in obedience
Awesome and approachable
He is majestic and humble
He is transcendent and yet close at hand.
There is nothing and no one like him.
The evidence of reverence is seen in the way we live.
Hearing and obedience go hand in hand. Did you ever hear your parents say...
Depth of relationship is expressed in simple obedience that flows from reverence.
Notice the pattern; grace then living in light of the relationship. God brought them out of Egypt, then explained holiness. Jesus saves, we live in light of the relationship. With God, love always leads the way.
Milk and honey/long-life/well with you are pictures for saying, if you’re looking to see God’s good hand of blessing in your life, it has to start with your personal response to God.
Moses is saying - You Gotta Get This!!!!! This is the One thing you cannot miss! This is the one focus!
4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.
This is called the Shema (Hebrew for hear).
Literally the Hebrew says; YHWH our-God YHWH one. People have translated it to mean several slightly different ideas.
YHWH our God, YHWH is one.
YHWH is our God, YHWH is one.
YHWH is our God, YHWH alone.
YHWH is one, unified.
There is no reason to think it’s not all true! The point is; He is the one. He is our point of focus.
5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
“love” is central to the entire relationship. It’s a love first shown by God and expected to be reciprocal.
Love with your heart, soul, and strength. This isn’t a passive, “you know, I’m a Christian but I’m going to let my kids decide for themselves” kind of devotion. It’s a consuming relationship that guides every other aspect of your life.
Moses provides a pattern:
God should be the one focus of your heart
Your relationship with God
Your relationship with God
When my focus is on God, it changes me. Prayer illustration.
Never start with the shortcomings/sins of others...
The condition of your heart towards God is the single most facet of your relationship to your family. Primarily, this is true because it changes the way I see everything in our lives.
My kids
My job
The church
My wife
How do I keep my heart tender towards God?
Spend time in his word
Bind it to your head. Max
Spend time with his people
Spend time serving
God should be the one focus of your home.
Write this on the doorframes of you home.
This means we parent with the end in mind. We make the most of our time.
Families have different looks. Some are married, some aren’t. Some have kids, some don’t. (Lisa) Either way, the focus stays the same.
God should be the one focus of your church.
This should be in your church.
This should be on your gates. We tend to think of fence gates...
Particularly in the US there is a tendency to think the family and the church stand in contrast (Chris).
God intended both to work together.
For growth
For comforting
For repentance (church discipline).
We can err in focusing solely on people. We can err in focusing on learning. When we “hear” him correctly, we’ll do church right.
One focus in our lives, in our homes, in our church.
Close
Close
A couple of weeks ago an 85 year-old pastor named Eugene Peterson went home to be with the Lord.
He’s been a bit of a hero for me. He was an academic with an education in ancient semitic languages. As he worked on his PhD and studied the languages of Scripture he became more moved by Scripture to simply love God and love people.
If you’ve ever read a “translation” called the Message, E.P. did that translation work so his congregation could understand Scripture a bit easier.
While the rest of the “professional” ministry leaders worked on business models, Peterson said, “We don’t need more managers, we need more shepherds.”
At his funeral, his son said something that struck me and made me think of this text. He said, “My dad fooled people for 50 years. He only had one sermon. He lived one sermon. He whispered it on my sleeping head as I slept, ‘God loves you. He’s on your side. He’s coming for you. He is relentless.’”
God has loved us first. Obedience/reverence is a result of long. He rescued them, then told them how to live in response to the rescue.
Only when we love God, with all our heart soul and strength, will we understand the rest of life.
Deuteronomy: An Introduction and Commentary b. Yahweh Is Our God, Yahweh Is One (6:4–9)
The expression has been variously understood. Possible translations are ‘Yahweh our God, Yahweh is one’, ‘Yahweh is our God, Yahweh is one’. ‘Yahweh is our God, Yahweh alone’. Whatever translation is chosen the essential meaning is clear. Yahweh was to be the sole object of Israel’s worship, allegiance and affection.
Heart -
The heart was regarded as the seat of the mind and will as well as of a wide range of emotions.
J. A. Thompson, Deuteronomy: An Introduction and Commentary (vol. 5; Tyndale Old
Soul -
Deuteronomy: An Introduction and Commentary b. Yahweh Is Our God, Yahweh Is One (6:4–9)
The term soul is difficult to define, but it seems to refer to the source of life and vitality, or even of one’s ‘being’
Strength -
Doors
Text
The land of milk and honey is a hyperbolic way of describing the richness of God’s promise.
Hear O Israel the LORD is ONE
Hear - shema. To hear and not respond is to not hear.
One - the one focus of my adoration
Church
Homes
In me.