Feb. 13, 2011 Deuteronomy 30:15-20 C & Z “God Is Good….”
This is the day before a very special day of the year, Valentine’s Day. For many people and couples this is a day full of memories. I’m going to go out on a limb here and hopefully I won’t get into too much trouble with Sharon but this has really not been that special a day as far as I’m concerned. Some people say that it is a holiday that has been perpetuated by the greeting card companies. Others say other things. I find that Valentine’s Day is not that special because the day before was my little sister’s birthday, that would be today. Her birthday kind of overshadowed this holiday. Also most of us grownups realize that to a young lad, Valentine’s Day is one of least thought of holidays that there could be. Anyway our household would always make a big deal out of birthdays so we didn’t do much for this holiday. That was a choice that my parents made and I think it was a rather wise choice. This morning we are going to take a look at a choice that every person in the world must make at some time. It is a choice that has eternal consequences and it is a choice that has been around since the beginning of time.
I would like you people who are in school to listen up for a minute. This story is told by Davon Huss about some students who were in charge of the choices they made. This happened at Riverside Brookfield High in Chicago. There was a teacher there who found a great way to make students pay for their school crimes. The troublemakers were forced to stay after school in the Frank Sinatra Detention Club. They had to be there for 30 minutes and they had to sit still, not talk, not do homework and no snoozing while they listened to Frank Sinatra croon his songs. The kids absolutely hated it. They were miserable. But the teacher, Mr. Janu, was a huge Sinatra fan and he wanted to make detention more fun for him and less fun for the kids. One of the students said, “It was so boring that I just couldn’t stand it!” Mr. Janu wasn’t heartless however as he would allow the students to sing along if they wished. All the kids who were in detention and hated it, had made their own choice to be there. They could have followed the rules or got the grades or whatever was the problem and they wouldn’t have been there. But they didn’t and it was their choice and their choice only.
Before we take a look at this piece which was written about 3000 years ago, I would like to say ahead of time that this might get a little heavy handed in places. There is lots of good news in this passage but there is also a lot of bad news. I would like to begin this by looking at the bad side so that we can end on a positive note.
This passage takes place in the wilderness just before the Israelites cross the Jordan to the Promised Land. As a people they had been slaves in Egypt. God had worked through Moses to have them set free. If you remember, they hadn’t always been slaves in Egypt. Remember that Joseph had been a part of the ruling class. It wasn’t until sometime later that the Egyptians decided that the Jews were a threat and they made slaves of them. We don’t know a lot about this time but I would guess that there had been a time of falling away from God because that is the history of Israel. They would follow God for a generation or two of prosperity and then they would fall away into times of despair.
I did read something interesting this week as I was preparing this. Remember when Moses went to the Pharaoh to free the Israelites and God sent ten plagues on the Egyptians. Each of these plagues was a direct and opposite response to one of the Egyptian gods. For instance, they thought that lots of frogs were a good thing because it meant that the Nile was high and there would be plenty of water for the crops. They had a god for the frogs. Then God sent so many frogs that they destroyed crops and things which was just the opposite of what their god would do. Each plague was like that, it was an answer to an Egyptian god.
After this they fled Egypt and God had led them through the Red Sea and into the wilderness. They had wandered around in the wilderness for 40 years and now their time was up there. The reason that all of these bad things had happened to the Israelites was that they had not obeyed God. They had made bad choices. At best when they were led out of slavery in Egypt, they were grumbling all the way, at best. They thought that they were better off being slaves than following God. They were disobedient when the 10 Commandments were given. They were disobedient when they tried to enter the Promised Land the first time. Even Moses knew that he was not allowed to enter the Promised Land because of his disobedience. What we need to remember about all of these things is that these were all choices that the people made. Everything would have been different if they had actually followed God and made the right choices. Their last hurdle would be crossing the Jordan River.
I would like us to look back on the history of our country. We were founded because of religious persecution in Europe. God made a place where we could come and worship Him in freedom. It was no accident that we ended up here in America. If you remember when the pilgrims first arrived, there was a Native American who spoke English who helped them. This was definitely God working. Then we had the war where a bunch of rag tag farmers beat the most organized and best army and navy of the world, England. It happened not only once but twice.
God also knew of the type of slavery that was in this country. It was a form of totally inhumane treatment and brutality. He helped to abolish slavery. The free world has been attacked over and over again and God has helped us to prevail against the enemies of God. For the first 150 or so years of this country, we were, more or less, a people who were dedicated to God. We worshipped on Sunday. We had regular pray lives. We allowed prayer in schools and our children were taught in the ways of God. We were an obedient people.
Then it all began to change 60+ years ago. Things began to unravel at a very slow pace. Satan is very patient in his lowly, underhanded, slimy ways of doing things. The other night at youth group we had cowboy night. Basically, we watched a couple of old western TV shows from the 50’s. These shows were clean and entertaining and there was a moral to them. It was refreshing to watch. I don’t think I even have to tell you what I think of today’s shows if we compared them. Satan has killed our entertainment industry.
I could just go on all morning listing the places where we have left Jesus out. It is so bad that we are even leaving Jesus out of our churches. I think that I have mentioned this before that we went to a wedding several years ago on a big, mainline church and they never even mentioned the name of Jesus once. When I am in public and say things like Jesus belongs in our schools and our government, people look at me and think I’m crazy. After all it is against the law for any of these things to happen. Here is something that we don’t think about very often. If there is a law that conflicts with God’s law, then it is our responsibility and duty to follow God’s law or His ways. Every time we don’t then we are sinning against God. If you look at it from this view, then we are very fortunate that we still have a country, or that He allows anyone in the world; for we all sin and fall short of the glory of God.
But no matter what is wrong in this world, no matter how bad things are or get, we still have a choice to make. If we make the wrong choice then things will continue to go very badly for us. Our nation will continue to falter. It doesn’t matter if we are individuals or a nation, there are consequences for the things we do. This is right out of our reading this morning and in many other places.
Of course we have so many people who will tell us that a loving god would never do anything like this because he is a god of love. Well He is the God of love but they are wrong! God does these things because He loves us. He has given us free will to choose or to reject Him. He will not force Himself upon us because He loves us. It is your choice and your choice only as to if you are going to be for Jesus or against Jesus. And there is no in between. Plus there are bad consequences if you choose against Him
However, there are good consequences if you choose Jesus. This is what is being said in verses 15-17. We can have great prosperity if we follow God and do what He says. Moses is telling the Israelites to follow God. Look at all the things God had done already. I have already told you of a few things. Plus He gave them manna in the desert. He gave them meat when there was none. He gave them water. He gave them freedom. He gave them the promise of a land of plenty. They were about to find out again that God delivers when they are faithful.
As I said just last week or the week before, I don’t understand why people aren’t lined up to become Christians. God is so good to us even when we don’t deserve it. I think that we have some pretty faithful people who come to these two churches. Do you see how prosperous you are and I’m not talking about money? Can you see how God has rewarded you and or maybe your neighbors for being faithful? Most people will look at people who follow God and have done well with a look of disdain. They look down their noses at us. They will say that he or she was lucky. They were in the right place at the right time. They just have a knack for what they do. You have heard all of these things. My question is why don’t we say that these people are blessed for following Jesus? Why is it that Jesus is the last person we will credit for our good fortunes and the first person to blame for our misfortunes? We need to be pointing right at ourselves in bad times and right to God for anything good that happens.
The preaching industry has to bear some of the blame for this. Many preachers today preach what I call that good time gospel or prosperity gospel. What I mean by this is that we only preach the good things that God will provide for us. Now there is nothing wrong with preaching this as you know that I try to do this all the time. But what the good time gospel leaves out are the consequences for not following God. They will preach that everyone will get to heaven. They will preach that you aren’t working hard enough if things go bad. Work harder and God will reward you.
This is not right. As a matter of fact this is terribly wrong. This is why we are having so many struggles in our country and our churches today. We are being told that if we work just a little harder things will be better. This is Islam talking or Mormonism talking, not Christianity talking. Things generally fall all apart because we don’t have faith. We have to believe that God will provide for us. He will help us in the bad times and the good.
I met a youth worker from Fargo this week and he had quite a story. One of the things he told about was how he squandered his early life and now he was in love with the Lord. He is about 30 years old and it was a pleasure to hear him speak. Anyway he said that he was raising a family of four kids on $23,000 a year. During our New Year’s storm, he found that he was $500 short on paying some of his bills that had to be paid. He was driving to someone’s place to ask for some money. He decided to stop and pick up his mail first. There in the mail was a check for $500 from someone he didn’t know who was donating it because he thought he was doing such a great job. God takes care of us. I have heard many, many stories just like this from people who are faithful. They are an inspiration. God is good all the time and all the time….
A couple of weeks ago I talked about New Year’s resolutions. I would guess that if I went around the sanctuary this morning asking of your plans for this year we would find that we all would like 2011 to be our best year ever. We would hear things like I would like to lose those 20 pounds. This year I’m finally going to get into that pair of jeans that don’t seem to fit any more. We are going to try to get into good physical shape. Or maybe we will start that new savings account so that we will have some money down the road. All these things are good and admirable.
Do these things but remember this. These ancient people had one more faith issue to resolve before they get to go to the Promised Land. They had to get across the Jordan River which was flooded. The only way they could do this was if they kept their faith in God. I am here this morning to tell you that the only way that 2011 will be the best year you have ever had will be if you put your whole faith in Jesus.
But… let’s not stop at trying to make our lives good, let’s see if we can reach out to someone we know and invite them into this tremendous life we have with Jesus. Let’s work on helping someone else to have their best year ever also. All it takes is Jesus. It is that simple. He loves us so much that He will never be far away. Praise the Lord! Let’s pray.
