We have two weeks between the end of the Judges preaching series and Rally Day, so I am using the lectionary passages for the next two weeks. The Deuteronomy passage is the Old Testament passage from this week's lectionary readings. Late in my sermon process, I realized the mask mandates (r lack of mandates) could be a prime example in the sermon. I opted not to directly address mask mandates, but did open the door for those who wanted to go there.
This sermon was slow developing for me, so it kept changing even as I preached it. What you read below is only an approximation of what was actually preached live.
“The Cost of Relationship” Deuteronomy 4: 1-14; Galatians 5: 13-15; SAPC, Denton; August 29, 2021
So now, Israel, give heed to the statutes and ordinances that I am teaching you to observe, so that you may live to enter and occupy the land that the Lord, the God of your ancestors, is giving you. 2 You must neither add anything to what I command you nor take away anything from it, but keep the commandments of the Lord your God with which I am charging you. 3 You have seen for yourselves what the Lord did with regard to the Baal of Peor—how the Lord your God destroyed from among you everyone who followed the Baal of Peor, 4 while those of you who held fast to the Lord your God are all alive today.
5 See, just as the Lord my God has charged me, I now teach you statutes and ordinances for you to observe in the land that you are about to enter and occupy. 6 You must observe them diligently, for this will show your wisdom and discernment to the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and discerning people!” 7 For what other great nation has a god so near to it as the Lord our God is whenever we call to him? 8 And what other great nation has statutes and ordinances as just as this entire law that I am setting before you today?
9 But take care and watch yourselves closely, so as neither to forget the things that your eyes have seen nor to let them slip from your mind all the days of your life; make them known to your children and your children’s children— 10 how you once stood before the Lord your God at Horeb, when the Lord said to me, “Assemble the people for me, and I will let them hear my words, so that they may learn to fear me as long as they live on the earth, and may teach their children so”; 11 you approached and stood at the foot of the mountain while the mountain was blazing up to the very heavens, shrouded in dark clouds. 12 Then the Lord spoke to you out of the fire. You heard the sound of words but saw no form; there was only a voice. 13 He declared to you his covenant, which he charged you to observe, that is, the ten commandments;[a] and he wrote them on two stone tablets. 14 And the Lord charged me at that time to teach you statutes and ordinances for you to observe in the land that you are about to cross into and occupy.
Introduction: We move on from our Judges series by turning to the lectionary for the next two weeks, before beginning our fall preaching series.
This week’s lectionary passage takes us to the book of Deuteronomy. As you may recall, Deuteronomy come s (from the Greek deuteronomos, literally, “second law”).
Deuteronomy consists of a series of speeches given by Moses to the generation of Israelites who are about to enter into the Promised Land.
Remember, Moses will not make it to the Promised Land. the speeches he shares with the Israelites are his words to be shared and remembered as they move forward without him.
In many ways, the passage we read today may be understood as a microcosm of the entire book of Deuteronomy with its emphasis on following the law and the motivations for doing so. (Sarah Koenig, Associate Professor of Biblical Studies, Seattle Pacific University; https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-22-2/commentary-on-deuteronomy-41-2-6-9-2)
Move 1: Rules, rules, rules.
a. I remember seeing a Frank and Ernest cartoon: Standing with a stone tablet he says, “I’m afraid you’ll need to go into a little more detail.”
1. the leaders of the Israelites will go into that detail.
2. Ten Commandments will give way to many rules.
3. Each rule giving more definition to the original ten.
b. Rules are often seen in a negative light.
1. Steed Davidson, Professor of OT at McCormick Seminary, describes some of our hesitations to embrace rules.
1. The idea of rules, laws, expectations, or even standards creates anxiety and fear for some persons.
2. Some hear a call to perfection.
3. Others sense failure before they even start.
4. And yet others see this as an imposition on a relationship that should be liberating. (Steed Davidson
Professor of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament; McCormick Theological Seminary; https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-22-2/commentary-on-deuteronomy-41-2-6-9-4)
move 2: But notice part of the rationale Moses gives for the importance of the rule - the statutes from God speak to a relationship with God.
a. In vs. 7, Moses asks What great nation is there that has gods near to it like the LORD our God? (verse 7);
and then in vs 8, he asks, What great nation is there that has statutes and ordinances righteous as all this law? (verse 8)
1. The answer to these questions, of course, is “none!”
2. No other nation has a God like the God of the Israelites.
3. No other nation has a God who chooses to be in their midst.
4. No other nation has a God who desires to be in a real relationship with them.
b. The many statutes and ordinances indicate God’s presence and God’s ongoing concern for the Israelites.
1. The law is seen as representing God and God’s desire to be in a relationship.
2. As Old Testament scholar Sarah Koenig describes it: “The righteous laws being written on the heart and being kept are in some sense a manifestation of the presence of God. God draws near in the law that God gives.” (Sarah Koenig; https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-22-2/commentary-on-deuteronomy-41-2-6-9-2)
b. Thus, these statutes and ordinances as a gracious invitation into the relationship.
1. Not simply commands issued from on high, these are teachings given through patient education to form the character of the people of God.
2. Notice how vs 1 puts it - Moses is teaching the ordinances so that they may live.
3. The goal is not creating some standard of perfection that everyone will fail to achieve but to give life.
c. Remember, Moses is speaking to a people who have figured out they cannot make it doing it their way.
1. Their time in the wilderness has shown them that all they can manage on their own is to be unfaithful to God and get into trouble.
2. Their only hope is found in God.
2. The statutes and ordinances share with them how they can live in right relationship with God and with one another.
4. Obeying the statutes and ordinances is not about being forced to submit to rules, but about how to live in relationships that give forth life and show forth love.
Move 3: Moses has to teach these statutes and ordinances because he will not make it to the Promised Land.
a. Moses seeks to shape the people while he can.
1. In reading about Moses and the Ten Commandments, she asks if the commandments were the “word of God or crowd control.” The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society, Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows, 10
2. Or perhaps we might see a third option - the Word of God and that shapes a people
3. If we were to examine the statutes and ordinances, we would see that They teach worship. They establish norms for political, prophetic, and religious leadership. They mandate communal holidays, festivals, and times of rest. They place limits on the practices of war and blood-vengeance. They ordain a just economy, communal care for the widow, orphan, and poor, and protection of those who are vulnerable. They sanctify labor, meals, and family life. (Anathea Portier-Young, Associate Professor of Old Testament, Duke University Divinity School
4. Important values and practices for God’s people who continue to need to be shaped and formed.
3. For people who are struggling with how to live as God’s people these were important and helpful guidelines.
b. We know how rules and regulations can be used to stifle and control.
1. in fact, when Jesus comes into our midst he often points out the hypocrisy associated with the many rules and regulations and how the authorities held them over the people’s heads.
2. We know the challenge of dealing with rules.
3. Seemingly on a daily basis now we read and participate in conversations and debates about when is it ok to have rules; who should be able to make rules; and so on.
4. The need for rules and the struggle with what to do with rules was not unique to the Israelites.
5. When Paul writes to the Galatians, he reminds them that the whole law can be summed up in one commandment - “you shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
6. criteria for how we know when the rules are helpful and when they are not - if the rules help us express our love for neighbor; if our rules help us deepen our relationship with God and one another, then they are rules and give us life and demand our obedience.
Conclusion: The Israelites, indeed we, are people who have been given a tremendous gift - relationship with God, who cares about us enough to be in our midst.
May all our rules be about right relationship with God and one another.
Amen.
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