Carelessness
Notes
Transcript
The Careful Christ Redeems Careless Sinners
9.5.21[Deuteronomy 4:1-10] River of Life (15th Sunday after Pentecost)
It’s the moment parents hope for. But it’s also the moment they fear, too. It’s also a moment of happiness and sadness. Hope and fear, happiness and sadness. When parents drop their college freshmen off at school, they confront a confusing cocktail of emotions. They know that this is a good moment—but it is also a seminal one. To a large degree, their kids are out of the nest, out on their own.
It can be a scary thing for parents. You begin to wonder if you prepared them enough. You begin to wonder if they listened well enough. So many parents, knowing this moment is so important, will sit down with their soon-to-be-college students and go over things one last time. They want their kids to enjoy the next years, but also be edified by them. Be safe and studious. Make new friends but not new values.
In many ways, the children of Israel were like soon-to-be college students. The Lord their God had rescued them by his mighty hand from slavery in Egypt. They were his special people.
And God had a special place in mind for his special people—a land flowing with milk and honey. When they first arrived at that land, it not only lived up to its reputation—it exceeded it. But ten of the twelve spies were concerned by what else they saw. (Num. 13:28) The cities were fortified and very large. The people who lived there are (Num. 13:28) powerful. We felt like (Num. 13:33) grasshoppers in comparison to them. So they spread a bad report about the likelihood of them conquering the people of the Promised Land.
Despite all God had already done in rescuing them from slavery in Egypt—the most powerful nation in the world at that point—and providing for them in the wilderness for the past year plus, they were still afraid of the (Num. 13:29) Canaanites peoples. Joshua and Caleb, the two dissenting voices, reminded the people of two things. One, the land was exactly as God said—(Num. 14:7) exceedingly good. (Num. 14:8) Secondly, the Lord is leading us into this land and he will give it to us. (Num. 14:9) Their protection is gone, but the Lord is with us. Don’t be afraid of them and don’t rebel against the Lord.
But they didn’t listen. Instead they talked about stoning Joshua and Caleb. Then the glory of the LORD appeared at the tent of meeting to all the Israelites. God did not put all of them to death as they deserved. Instead, he forgave them. But there were consequences.
The ten spies who spread a bad report were struck down and died of a plague. God also said no one who saw my glory in Egypt will see the glory of the Promised Land—except Joshua and Caleb. This put the fear of God in the hearts of the people of God, but even then they were careless. They decided: (Num. 14:40) We have sinned. But now we are ready to go.
This, too, was disobedience. When they went to atone for their mistake and fight the Amalekites and the Canaanites, they were routed. God’s people cannot succeed when they ignore his Word.
For the next forty years, the special people of God wandered in the wilderness, just as God said they would. That whole generation died in the wilderness because they were disobedient and careless.
But in the book of Deuteronomy, a shift is occurring. This second generation of the people of God are getting ready to go to the Promised Land—many for the first time. So, like parents do when their kid is going away to college, Moses reviews with the children of Israel the expectations of God. He repeats the law a second time.
So what does God say this time? You might think, he would make some adjustments. After all, the children of Israel didn’t do such a good job following the law the first time—maybe the problem was that there were too many decrees and laws. But God doesn’t subtract from the commands he gives to the people of Israel.
Well, if he’s not going to leave any laws on the cutting room floor, perhaps he’ll put in a few new ones that might help Israel succeed in their new setting. But God doesn’t add any new decrees or laws.
Why not? Because there was never anything deficient or superfluous in the law of God. The commands of the Lord God were perfect. (Dt. 4:8) Righteous. They were God’s way of assuring his people that he cared about them—what they thought, what they said, and what they did—because they were his special people. God’s desire was that his people demonstrate (Dt. 4:6) their wisdom and understanding and that other nations would take notice that God’s people were different. They lived differently.
When Moses finished this final sermon to Israel, the people said (Dt. 27:15ff) Amen! They made promises to Moses and his successor, Joshua, that they would live according to the law of the Lord. And for a generation, they did. (Judges 2:6-7) Under Joshua’s leadership, Israel served the Lord. Even after Joshua’s death, they continued seek the Lord’s counsel and follow his law.
But in the book of Judges, we see a small shift. God had called Israel to drive out the pagan nations of the land of Canaan. (Judges 1:27) But the Canaanites were determined to live in that land. And even (Judges 1:28) when Israel became strong, they pressed the Canaanites into forced labor but never drove them out completely. Why not? Because, even though they loved the Lord, they still loved comfort, convenience, and economic security too much to actually follow through with what God had called them to do.
Because they did not drive the Canaanite nations out, nor did they break down their pagan altars, the Canaanite nations (Judges 2:3) became traps for the Israelites. Their idols became snares to God’s people. The next generation grew up and they did not know the Lord and so they did evil in the eyes of the Lord and they worshiped the idols of the pagan people around them.
Why? Because they were not careful to live according to the laws of the Lord and (Dt. 4:9) teach them to their children and to their grandchildren. Soon, those who were known as God’s people, (Judges 2:19) returned to ways even more corrupt than those of their ancestors, following other gods and serving & worshiping them. They refused to give up their evil practices & stubborn ways.
Why does this happen? God does nothing but love and provide for his people. God is good and so are all of his decrees and laws. The problem is not with God. Jesus identified the problem in Mark 7:23 Evil comes from within a person.
Evil is convinced it knows better than God. Perhaps we see that most clearly in the Devil’s temptations. Did God really say? Does God really have what’s best in mind for you? The devil sows his wicked seeds of doubt and distrust and tells us exactly what our sinful natures want to hear. That we know better than God. That God may have some helpful suggestions, some sensible life hacks, but that ultimately you know what is best for you. Thinking you know better than God is pure, unadulterated evil. The kind of evil that caused the Israelites to enslave the Canaanites rather than drive them out as the Lord commanded them.The kind of evil that led the Pharisees to fabricate all kinds of teachings about how many steps a person could take on the Sabbath day and the washing of hands when a person returns from the pagan marketplace. That kind of evil has no problem (Mk. 7:6) honoring god with its lips, but its heart will always remain far from the Lord.
Do you recognize how your sinful nature pulls you away from God’s Law? It begins with carelessness in how we handle the Word of God. That’s why God says (Dt. 4:9) Be careful and watch yourselves closely. God recognizes that carelessness always leads to disobedience, because God’s righteous way of doing things never comes natural to sinners.
The ways in which we subtract from God’s Law ought to be obvious to anyone who seriously considers the Word and examines the condition of their own heart. Jesus makes it clear that thinking sinful thoughts is the same thing as doing sinful deeds. Dishonoring those in authority is rebelliousness. Hate is murder. Lust is adultery. God also tells us to keep a careful watch on two particular parts of our bodies—our eyes and our tongues.
Jesus says (Mt. 6:22) the eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, you whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are unhealthy, you whole body will be full of darkness. Now what does he mean? He told us that (Mark 7:15) Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them. Rather it is what comes out of a person that defiles them. So the activity of our eyes expose what is important to us. What catches and captivates your eyes? Is it the figure of a beautiful woman or the curves of the stock market? Do you find yourself constantly scrutinizing the habits and behaviors of other people? Do your eyes gravitate toward glinting screens but glaze over when they see the Word of God? Do your eyes get excited at the prospect of the return of football, but pass over that prospect that needs to know about your Lord’s return?
The second body part God calls us to discipline is our tongue. We all need training here. Your (Pr. 18:21) tongue has the power of life and death. How are you using it? (James 3:10) Out of the same mouth come praise for God and cursing what God has created. God has called us to use our words to build each other up. How often don’t we use them tear down the weak, gossip about the absent, and attack the foolish, instead of correcting them? We boast and we brag, we lie and we deceive and all because we think we know better than God—who is truth.
The ways in which we subtract from God’s Law ought to be obvious. But we also add to the law of God without even really recognizing we are doing so. How many of us can rattle off the words to the second amendment but not the second commandment? How many of us can repeat political talking points but have not recently read Romans 13?
How many of us can discuss at length the latest events in entertainment and sports but complain that we don’t have time for a habit of daily devotion or prayer? How many pop songs do you know by heart? How many Psalms? We may not view these things as adding to God’s Law, but look at what our heart are full of and minds are occupied with and tell me that we have not added something that influence the way we approach our lives?
We are careless and disobedient. But that does not mean that the Lord has stopped caring for us. Instead of condemning disobedient people, God crafted a plan to redeem us. Throughout the Old Testament, the Lord God was carefully revealing how he would do this and who would accomplish his plan of salvation.
Moses knew that even he had been careless. In a moment of anger and frustration, Moses disobeyed the Lord. Israel was grumbling and complaining. They were thirsty and even talking about how great life was in Egypt. God told Moses to (Num. 20:8) speak to a rock and it would pour out water. But Moses struck the rock twice with his staff. He was careless and disobedient and because of his sin he would not be allowed to lead Israel into the Promised Land. But God revealed to Moses that a better prophet was coming. Like Moses he would come from among the Israelites. Like Moses, God’s people were called to (Dt. 18:15) listen to him.
But unlike Moses, Jesus would live a life of careful devotion to the righteous commands of God. Christ had a deep love for the law of the Lord. It affected his heart; it shaped his speech; it directed his footsteps—all because he knew the righteousness of God’s way of doing things.
Because Jesus knew that God’s ways were righteous he delighted in truth. He spent each Sabbath in the house of God. Not because he needed to learn something new—so often that is our primary motivation for coming to church, right?—but because he wanted to find rest, refreshment, and renewal in the righteous Word of God.
Because he filled his heart with the Word of God, his speech was different. He spoke with authority, yes. But he also spoke with love—for those who were like him and those who were not. He spoke the truth—not to win favor from men, but to share the favor of God with sinful people.
Because his heart and mouth was full of the Word of God, he lived differently. He had no issue dining with notorious sinners, because he wanted them to know the compassionate forgiveness of their heavenly Father. He felt no need to number his steps on the Sabbath because he knew that was merely a man-made teaching. Instead he numbered his days aright, he ordered his steps according to the light of God’s Word. Jesus carefully and methodically fulfilled everything the Law and the Prophets said God’s Anointed One would be and do. Jesus came to be the fulfillment of the Law and our righteousness.
This is how God has come near to his people. God didn’t just give his people a Promised Land, he gave his people a Promised Savior—his One and Only Son. In Christ, God has made his dwelling among sinful people. Jesus is the Immanuel. God with us. God for us. God standing in our place. God standing by our side.
Because Jesus has lived the perfect life we could not and died the death our sins deserved we can have confidence. Because God has revealed all this to us in his Word, we have peace. We have not lived carefully enough. But Jesus has done enough. He has paid the price for our wickedness. He has credited to us his righteousness. All who believe in him have salvation in his name. Because God came near to sinners, not to condemn us, but to save us through his Son.
And God has given us another gift, too. His grace in Word and Sacraments. It is in God’s Word and his Sacraments that he repeats his mercy and grace to us again and again. No matter how disobedient we have been, God rejoices when prodigal children come home, when sinners repent and turn from their evil ways and live alongside God. Our God does not bear grudges, he does not treat us with resentment. Instead he rejoices in bearing our sins away. We are his special people. And as his special people we ought to live in a way that reflects that relationship. It would be a wicked thing for a married man to wear a wedding band but not live faithfully to his wife. In the same way it is a wicked thing for us to bear God’s name, to be united with Christ, and also all kinds of wicked thoughts, words, and behaviors. Brothers and sisters, we can do better. But we don’t have to invent what better looks like and does. We can study God’s Word and the Holy Spirit will transform our hearts and minds to more closely resemble our Righteous God. When we have filled our hearts and minds with this grace and truth, our words will follow suit, more and more. No one can perfectly master their own tongue. But if we fill our hearts and minds with the wonderful things we find in God’s Word, we will develop a distinctly God-pleasing accent. We will be prepared for difficult days and opportune moments. We will not doubt God when we face challenges. We will not miss out on times to share an encouraging word. God’s people are always blessed, kept near to the Lord, when they carefully consider and obey his Word. Amen.
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