Deuteronomy 6

Sermon Series: The Essential Expectation-Part 2

Faith Worth Passing On

Deuteronomy 6

PSBC 7/29/01 AM

In a nutshell: Developing a faith in God's power, not human wisdom is the only kind of faith that will be effective now, and will leave a legacy for the future generations to follow. Five words or phrases from God's instructions to Israel, give us the picture of how to develop a vibrant faith in God: Love; Upon Your Heart; Fear; Keep; and Obey.

I. Introduction

A. Ron Lee Davis' quote

In a sermon tape I heard about three years ago, a preacher, by the name of Ron Lee Davis, sited this research...

"One elder statesman of a Christian church has devoted himself to a fifty-year study of Christian and non-Christian families. He says that in American culture today most young adults following Jesus Christ either come from non-Christian homes where they were converted to Christ in their teenage years, or they come from homes where they grew up in love with Jesus because mom and dad were so in love with Jesus that that love permeated their lives. It passed through their pores. Very few believers come from homes where there was a kind of indifferent, apathetic commitment to Christ."

I don't know about you, but that's some pretty sobering stuff. That research is suggesting that in the Coachella valley, today, the chances are better for a child to become a Christian if he or she grows up in a non-Christian home, than if he or she grows up in a home where the parents have just a casual faith in God.

B. Transition

Today, we come to the seventh and final message in this series about core values. We've covered 6 values so far, that I believe are essential for our church to hold if we are going to be a true FORCE for Jesus Christ in the Coachella Valley, and the rest of the world. By way of review, what we've covered so far are these: 1. Lost people matter to God, so they matter to us, as well. 2. Every person we make eye contact with needs a relationship with Jesus Christ. 3. Our leaders will lead with humility. 4. We pray about everything. 5. God's Word is our final authority in all matters. 6. The Great Commission is at the core of everything we do.

And this morning, we'll look at number 7-Our faith must be based on God's power, not human wisdom.

Friends, based on the research I've sited for you already, this value is so important, that if we don't hold it as a true core value-that is, if you trust more in what you can do rather than what God can do-then the chances are huge, that your children or grandchildren or the kids in our youth programs or children's programs, will reject the faith we have in God as they become older.

So, the question I want to answer this morning is this: How do we develop a faith in God's power, that is greater than our faith in our own human wisdom? And the answer has five parts.

II. The Only Way to Have Faith

If you have your Bibles, turn with me to Deuteronomy 6-Deuteronomy is the 5th book of the Bible, so it's toward the beginning of your Bibles, if you're not familiar with where things are located. While you're turning there, let me give you some background.

When Israel was on the edge of the land of Canaan, after traveling through the desert from the land of Egypt, they sent out 12 spies to check out the land and report what they saw. 10 of the spies said it looked great, but it would be impossible to conquer because of giants and other obstacles and difficulties that they saw. Two of the spies-Joshua and Caleb said, "There will be no problem conquering this land. Sure there are obstacles, but we believe God will use His power to conquer it for us."

Then, the generation of people who had been led out of Egypt, who experienced manna from heaven and provision after provision from God for their safety and well-being-made the decision that God wasn't big enough or strong enough to give them the land He had promised. So they complained and grumbled. And God said, "Fine, you will not enter the land of Canaan. I'll reserve that privilege for your children." So, for the next forty years, the generation of the complainers and the faithless, wandered in the desert until they all died off.

So, in Deuteronomy 6, we have Moses talking to a brand new generation of people-the children of the complainers and the faithless. If you understand that fact, then you can understand why this book is called, Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy basically means "second time around". All the things about God's relationship to His chosen people, His promises to His chosen people, and what He expected and demanded in return from His chosen people are taught in Deuteronomy, for the second time-to a new generation who needed to hear it for the first time.

Now here's God's advice to this new generation-starting all over again-on how to keep their faith in Him strong.

Deuteronomy 6:1-2 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.

Friends, we can't have any plainer language than that. God says, "What I'm about to tell you is the only way you can have a strong faith in me, and pass that faith on to your kids and grandkids."

I don't know about you, but when God doesn't give options, and says this is how something is to be done, I pay attention. And, in chapter six, God gives five elements of faith that He expects from His followers, with no room for argument. That means, for Israel and for us, if we are going to have faith in God that is greater than our faith in ourselves, these five things must be in our lives.

A. Love

Deuteronomy 6:5 5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.

The first element of faith is we need to have Love for God.

But, love is such an overused word in our culture today. We've lost the full impact of what love truly means, because advertising and pop-culture have miss-applied it so often. We say, "I love hockey," or "I love watching football," or "I love Frank Sinatra music," or TV programs use the term love in their titles, like "Everybody Loves Raymond.", or we say, "I just love what you've done with your hair." Or, "I love this car!"

We've become very casual in our use of "Love". But in the context of the Bible, love is some pretty serious business. Just listen to this one instance from the Bible about love.

Exodus 21:1-6 1 "These are the laws you are to set before them: 2 "If you buy a Hebrew servant, he is to serve you for six years. But in the seventh year, he shall go free, without paying anything. 3 If he comes alone, he is to go free alone; but if he has a wife when he comes, she is to go with him. 4 If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the woman and her children shall belong to her master, and only the man shall go free. 5 "But if the servant declares, 'I love my master and my wife and children and do not want to go free,' 6 then his master must take him before the judges. He shall take him to the door or the doorpost and pierce his ear with an awl. Then he will be his servant for life.

And guys, you thought ear piercing was such a modern thing!

But here in this passage we have a servant who..., when it's time to be set free from the obligation of slavery, chooses a life-long commitment to stay a slave-because of his love for his master, his wife and his children.

When God says, "Love me!", He's talking about a commitment of the highest priority that will affect the rest of your life.

Now friends, does this describe your relationship to God? Is your love for God you're highest priority? Is your love for God changing your life?

This love that God is talking about is different from a love that is merely a preference, or a convenience, or a half-hearted commitment. If you lack an intense love for God, you will never persuade the next generation to love Him.

B. Upon Your Hearts

Deuteronomy 6:6 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts.

The next element of faith that God talks about is wrapped up in the term...upon your hearts...

When a Hebrew person talked about the heart, he or she was talking about the innermost recesses of a person-what was at their core.

What's at your core?

Illustration: It's amazing to study what was required to build the pyramids and tombs of ancient Egypt. It is estimated that it took one hundred thousand workers, forty years to build just one of the great pyramids. It makes you ask, "Why?" "Why so much effort? Why would somebody put that amount of emphasis on a tomb, or on the afterlife?"

The answer lies in the core of what Egyptians thought about all the time. They went to sleep thinking about it and they woke up thinking about.

What consumed their life was the life after this life. They believed that they would spend a lot more time in the afterlife than they would spend in this life. They believed, at the core of their being, that the afterlife was a whole lot more important than this life. So they prepared for the afterlife, during this life.

What do you wake up thinking about? What do you go to sleep thinking about? Your answer to those questions will tell you what's at the core of your being-because what occupies your thoughts and dreams is what's upon your heart. And if it isn't your relationship with God, the chances of you being a person of faith, or passing on a faith in God to the next generation is very slim.

C. Fear

Look at verses 13-16 for the third element of faith...

Deuteronomy 6:13-16 13 Fear the LORD your God, serve him only and take your oaths in his name. 14 Do not follow other gods, the gods of the peoples around you; 15 for the LORD your God, who is among you, is a jealous God and his anger will burn against you, and he will destroy you from the face of the land. 16 Do not test the LORD your God as you did at Massah.

The third element of faith is the element of fearing God.

I think the key to Fearing God, is an understanding of what happened at this place called, Massah, and then avoid that behavior.

Exodus 17:1-7 1 The whole Israelite community set out from the Desert of Sin, traveling from place to place as the LORD commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. 2 So they quarreled with Moses and said, "Give us water to drink." Moses replied, "Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you put the LORD to the test?" 3 But the people were thirsty for water there, and they grumbled against Moses. They said, "Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?" 4 Then Moses cried out to the LORD, "What am I to do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me." 5 The LORD answered Moses, "Walk on ahead of the people. Take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. 6 I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink." So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7 And he called the place Massah and Meribah because the Israelites quarreled and because they tested the LORD saying, "Is the LORD among us or not?"

This first generation of Israelites didn't fear the Lord. In fact, they thought so little of Him that they quarreled with Him. This incident at Massah is just one of the many times they did similar things.

But before you get too critical of them, ask yourself the question, "Do I fear the Lord?" Here's a little self-test. I'd like you to write "Yes" or "No" on a scrap of paper to each of these 3 questions.

FEAR GOD Self-test Do you question what God promises in the Bible? Do you get angry at God for circumstances in your life? Do question God with questions like these... "God why is this happening to me?" "God, do you really love me?" "God, do you really know what you're doing?" "God, do you really care?" "God, are you really listening?"

If you answered "yes" to most of those questions, then friend, you're quarreling with God. Quarreling with God shows a lack of respect, or fear for Him. Don't misunderstand me. To ask God some of these questions once in a while, isn't what I'm talking about here. What I'm talking about is the pattern of your life. Do you regularly quarrel with God? If you do, your faith in God will be rejected by the next generation-they simply will not follow it.

D. Keep

Deuteronomy 6:17 17 Be sure to keep the commands of the LORD your God and the stipulations and decrees he has given you.

The fourth element of faith is found in the word Keep.

One of the root meanings of this word, keep, is to build a hedge, or a fence around something so it doesn't escape.

Illustration: Our Old English Sheepdog, Bentley, thinks the whole world comes to our front door just to greet him. At nine and a half years old, he's still playful, energetic, and he wants the person who walks through our front door to pay undivided attention to him. The problem is that no one has been able to communicate to him yet that he weighs over 100 pounds and often sticks his nose in the wrong places of a person's anatomy.

We have tried to break him of that habit, but when we haven't been too successful. So, when we have meetings at our house, or guests over, we usually take Mr. Bentley to one of the bedrooms and put a small gate across the doorway. This KEEPS Bentley a captive in that room, so he doesn't bother the guests.

In verse 17, we are told to take the commands of the Lord, His stipulations and His decrees, and capture or keep them in our lives. Now, you need to understand something here. This concept of keeping is different than just obeying. -Keeping means you intentionally do something to make sure these things of God stay on the frontal lobes of your brain. -Keeping means that you are hungry in your search for knowing what commands God wants you to obey. -Keeping means you look for ways to apply those commands to your life. -Keeping means you intentionally set aside time to learn what these command, stipulations and decrees are.

So my question to you is, "What are you intentionally doing to capture the things that matter to God so they become an integral part of your life?" Your commitment to capturing these things in your life will strengthen your faith and make that faith a part of the next generation's lives.

E. Obey

The final element of faith, in this passage, is found in verse 24.

Deuteronomy 6:24 24 The LORD commanded us to obey all these decrees and to fear the LORD our God, so that we might always prosper and be kept alive, as is the case today.

It's the word, Obey.

Illustration: Let's say that you are a student in our Adult Enrichment class on leadership. And at the end of the class, David Hughes gives you an assignment to read 1 Timothy 3 during the coming week, and note the characteristics of godly leaders that are mentioned in that passage. If you actually did that. We would say that you had obeyed David's request.

But let's say you decide to do more than just read 1 Timothy 3 and note the characteristics of godly leaders. In addition, -you study all the footnotes and cross references in your Bible concerning this passage, -and read at least one commentary on the passage. -Plus, you do a biographical study from a Bible Encyclopedia on who Timothy was. -Then you anticipate a possible discussion, so you write a 5 page historical report on the church at Ephesus, before and after those qualifications were enforced by Timothy. -Then, you anticipate what might be discussed in class, so you arrange to arrive a half hour before class starts, so you can share what you learned with the teacher, so he can be better prepared. We might say, you are a little pre-occupied with the class on leadership.

Well friends, the word obey in this verse means that you are pre-occupied with the things that are important to God-specifically, those things in the Bible having to do with lifestyle, morals, commands, duties, and commitments. Obey, literally means that you anticipate how God wants you to act, react and live-then do it. That's Biblical obedience.

The great devotional writer, A. W. Tozer once wrote (front of WIG)… What God in his sovereignty may yet do on a world scale I do not claim to know: but what He will do for the plain man or woman who seeks His face I believe I do know and can tell others. Let any man turn to God in earnest, let him begin to exercise himself unto godliness, let him seek to develop his powers of spiritual receptivity by trust and obedience and humility, and the results will exceed anything he may have hoped in his leaner and weaker days.

Are you pre-occupied with obeying God? If you're not, your faith isn't going to make it past your generation, let alone the next.

III. Conclusion

Well there you have it. If we are going to have faith in God, rather than human wisdom, and cling to this as a core value; and in the process, pass that faith on to the next generations, then we have to be doing five things: -Love God with everything we have, -Make sure our relationship with God is central to our whole life. -Respect God enough to obey Him, not question Him; -Take what God says in His Word captive in our lives; and -then be Pre-occupied with putting those commands into practice.

Illustration: A man and his young daughter were hiking in the desert. They came to a place where the hiking became difficult, and even dangerous. The father stopped to consider which way he should go. Then he heard his little girl say, "Choose the good path, Dad; I'm coming right behind you!"

Whether they articulate it that way or not, that's what's at stake here. Your kids, grandkids, and your future kids are saying to you...

"Choose the good path, Dad, Mom, Grandma, Grandpa...I'm coming right behind you!" Amen.

When God says, "Love me!", he's not talking about a preference or a fad or a feeling or a passing fancy. God is talking about a commitment of the highest priority that will affect the rest of your life.

Now friends, does this describe your relationship to God?