Concordia Lutheran Church
Pentecost 13, August 30, 2009
Make them Known….
Deut 4:1-2, 6-9
† In the Name of Jesus, the Messiah †
May the grace, the mercy and the peace of God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ fill your life, your children’s lives, their children’s lives….
It wasn’t quite a miracle, but it indeed it was a remarkable occurrence. Men, from age forty-four to fifti-ish, gathered on a softball field in Buena Park yesterday, coming from all over Southern California. They played three complete slow-pitch softball games, plus ate a healthy meal of carne asada, before the third game. What makes it a miracle was that, at least through the second inning of their third game, no ambulances were needed.
OK pastor – what does that have to do with today’s readings, and with our dedicating our teachers to what our Old Testament passage describes as
Only take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. Make them known to your children and your children’s children…
While I didn’t play, I did show up for the lunch, and got to watch a classmate blast a home-run. Rick is one of the small group pastors at the largest church in southern California. Doug, who was the catcher, is the senior pastor of a church in Duarte, and there were other pastors there as well. Another guy, Gordon from Riverside, was a guest here a few months back. What the men had in common – we all came from the same high school youth group. Some were in high school in the late seventies, and were later volunteers when Rick and I were there in the eighties.
As we ate lunch, we laughed over some of our past – and the fact that if our youth and youth workers pull some of the stunts we attempted…well, better to not go there. But we also talked about what had worked, and how some of our training in the scriptures and in ministry in high school and after was some of the best training we have ever had.
Why it worked? Even with all our idiosyncricies, those who worked with us, did exactly that…. The made it known to us…
As I look at my past, and realize how Jon and Scotty, Doug and Gordon, the Spriggs brothers and so many others made it known to me, I urge you Tammie, and all the teachers, and everyone here…. Make them known to your children and your children’s children…
Make what known…
The things written in stone
The things you have seen?
The question is what do we make known ? If you read some commentators, they focus in the words statutes, the things of God, written in stone, and the rules, or actually, the rulings and judgments. They talk about the fact that the Lord has the Law – the very description of the way in which we are to behave. And people, when they hear the law – hear the “Thou shall not’s”. If that is all there is to the law, then it will forever condemn us, for no one is able to keep it – completely.
But the law is more than just doing or not doing certain behaviors or doing certain others. What is written in stone is not just the behaviors – hear the beginning, Exodus 20:1 I am YHWH, your God, who brought you out of Egypt, the place of your slavery. It all starts with God, and the relationship He chose to have, with the people He would save, and call His.
It is of vital importance to realize that this is one of those places, where LORD is spelled all in capitals, and is written because the Hebrew isn’t the word for Lord, but is the very sacred name of God. The Israelites would not write the name of God, nor pronounce, but simply know – L-O-R-D – there it is! It is the same there in verse 2 and verse 4, where you see the word LORD.
In context, it is not just the statutes and rules that are to be made known – look at verse 9, it is the things that the Israelites had seen – the very hand of God at work, delivering them from their captivity, and providing for them.
What needs to be made known – the very care of God in establishing us as His people, delivering us from sin. The work He has done, not just in rescuing 2 million people from Egypt; but also His work, rescuing us, from our being caught up by sin and the power of satan, and the fear of death.
Not just what He delivered us from – but what He delivered us to.. a relationship with Him, and all His people.
Why Make them Known?
You may forget them
The people need to hear them
Because they prove God’s presence?
In verse 9, the advice to take care, to keep/guard your soul diligently, and to make these things known is based on some critical why’s – why’s also noted in the epistle reading from Ephesians 6.
It’s simple really, lose focus of what God has done in your life, and it will be harder to see what He is doing right now, and even harder to trust in what He will do. If you forget that which God has promised, to be our God, our YHWH – the IAM, then you become easy prey for the devil, and the spiritual warfare that occurs. Look at those weapons – each is what gives us faith! Without such a focus on God, and knowing His promises and faithfulness, doubts will sneak in. Guilt and shame, for sins long since paid for, will arise, and cause our hope diminish. Don’t be distracted from the promises of God counting, His ruling that were are righteous because of the blood of Christ, shed on the cross, covers all our sin.
As we begin to understand that God’s statutes are not just His laws but the relationship they define, that His rules including the ruling that His people are cleansed by Him, in the waters of Baptism, through the power of the word, we begin to understand the reaction of the world, which is prophesied in verse 6. They don’t marvel just at the guidelines of behavior, other peoples have such. But hear again why they marvel,
7For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the LORD our God is to us, whenever we call upon him?
It isn’t just the codes of behavior – it is the fact that we have a God, not made of wood or stone, not bought with cash, or credit; whose presence isn’t tied to our intrinsic value and past performance. Instead we have a God who will rescue us from our own captivity, from our own brokenness, from moral bankruptcy or condescending self-righteousness. Who then having redeemed us, and restored us, calls us His people, and gives us the opportunity to call upon Him, using His personal name, knowing He is near.
That is what the peoples of the world marvel at, when they really begin to see God at work in us. It is what Paul tells the people of God, gathered in Colossae,
God wanted everyone, not just Jews, to know this rich and glorious secret inside and out, regardless of their background, regardless of their religious standing. The mystery in a nutshell is just this: Christ is in you, therefore you can look forward to sharing in God’s glory. It’s that simple. That is the substance of our Message. 28 We preach Christ, warning people not to add to the Message. We teach in a spirit of profound common sense so that we can bring each person to maturity. To be mature is to be basic. Christ! No more, no less. 29 That’s what I’m working so hard at day after day, year after year, doing my best with the energy God so generously gives me. Col 1:27 (MSG)
May we, by God’s grace work hard at this as well, to make this known – that God has been, and is at work in our lives, in the lives of our children, and will be in our children’s children.
Working in us through His grace and mercy, bringing us into the incomparable peace of God our father, peace which guards us, hearts and minds, as we are in Christ Jesus.
AMEN?
