Delivered May 6, 2007
by Pastor Eric Henderson
See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. For I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.
19-20This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
During the past 40 years, the Israelites were wrestling with an identity change from being slaves to being God's people with an inheritance of land. Consider with me some of the changes that would have affected the group's identity.
Slaves are told what to do, when to do it, where to live. A slave has no land, likely very little personal property. A slave usually is treated as property or a tool, as subhuman. A slave must abide by the laws of the master.
Moses speaking for God promises these former slave a land and a future. God was speaking to them as people of worth and great value. God was offering them the opportunity to live as his people in a way that gave life, dignity, hope, and blessing.
God is clarifying choices for the group just before they begin a new era in their existence. The choice is being God's people who are faithful to God's covenant or choose another god. People can choose to follow the ways of the peoples around them leading to death, curses, adversity or follow God's ways leading to life, blessings, prosperity.
Everyone since that time that becomes aware of God has the same choice.
The commandment to love the LORD, obeying his ways, holding fast to God is within the power of everyone, including us. We don't need great spiritual people that have a heavenly experience come and help us love the LORD and obey his ways. We don't need an expert from a great distance to help us love the LORD and obey his ways. The understanding, the ability, and the power is within us.
George Fox and the Quakers emphasized the inner light that gives everyone the capability to recognize and accept the presence of God. The inner light or Spirit of God is at work in all creating the capacity or ability to love God and obey his laws.
God spoke through Moses to the people emphasizing that a choice to love God and obey his ways is a choice for life. God is the author and creator of life. Soil, rain, sun combine to produce life. Plant life, animal life, bird life, reptiles, fish, human life. God's laws are intended to sustain and protect life. Sabbath rest sustains life. Honoring parents, treating children kindly and fairly creates and sustains healthy family life. Human life, marital life, economic life, social life, inner thought life are healthy and sustained when we follow God's way. We choose save a life rather than murder, we choose to be faithful to our spouse refusing to commit adultery, giving to others refusing to steal from another, telling the truth refusing to tell lies about our neighbors, being content refusing to covet something belonging to our neighbor.
We are created not only with the ability to love the LORD and observe the laws of God but also with the ability and freedom to choose to love the LORD and observe his laws or choose to live another way.
Children living at home you can choose to respect and obey your parents which helps family life immensely or disrespect, disobey and make family life a constant battle that saps the life of everyone.
Teenagers and young adults. You are able to choose to love God and follow the ways of God or choose to live another way. Typically teenagers and young adults struggle with their identity and make important choices that affect the remainder of their life. God invites you to identify self as a child of God, a follower of Jesus choosing life Jesus claimed to be the way, the truth and the life. Jesus came to offer life abundant. When a person chooses to follow Jesus it is a choice for life.
Steve and Kathy chose to live the party life during their dating and early years of marriage. Reflecting back on those years, Steve admits neither of them were really happy, they often didn't feel good physically, doubted the faithfulness of the other to their relationship, and deep inside knew that the life they were living was empty and creating more problems than true happiness and fulfillment. Both decided to love God and follow God's ways rather than their own. As they followed God's ways, life became fuller, richer, more joyful. Their was new life in their marriage relationship and family relationships. They chose to give a family life to two boys through adoption. Both laughed easily and were enjoying life to the full, even though there were ongoing challenges.
There is another alternative but Moses warned the people that turning away from God, worshipping something or someone else was the way of death.
A young man sat on his bed in the Mental Health Unit of a hospital. He told the chaplain that he was willing to talk but emphatically stated that he didn't believe in God but needed help from someone or something. He was afraid because recently when intoxicated he had a verbal conflict with a roommate that escalated to threatening to shoot the roommate with a pistol. The young man knew that if he didn't change he would murder himself or others and that was frightening when sober. The chaplain explained to the young man God's option of choosing life or continuing as before which the young man recognized as leading to death and encouraged him to choose life by living God's way.
TV, movies, magazines, and some peers may try to glamorize illicit sex, drugs and alcohol, violent activities, squandering large sums of money, fame, constantly pursing an adrenaline rush as a great way to have a fun and an exciting life. God, the Bible, the life experience of many people are telling the truth that loving God and doing things God's way is choosing life and living a different way is choosing death and destruction.
I encourage everyone to choose life. Choose to love God, obey his ways, and hold fast to the way of Jesus Christ who came to give life.
All Adults The covenant that God created with Israel affected all areas of life. The covenant gave guidance for diet, money, treatment of others, animals, judges and courts, priests, prophets, worship, detestable practices of other nations that must not be allowed, marriage, children, diseases, property, wages and more. Again and again Moses' warning to the people was to remember that God had chosen them to be his people. Remember that the covenant was choosing an identity as Jehovah God's people. A people that worshipped Jehovah God. A people that lived with different laws and different practices than other people.
I believe we are here because we have chosen to be identified with God and have chosen life. Our choices for God and life affect our bodies, social relationships, spirits, minds, treatment of the earth, and finances. I believe it is important for us to remind ourselves and one another of specific things we do that identify us as people of God who have chosen life.
Remind yourself and encourage us by naming at least one thing you do as a child of God that indicates a love for God, obedience of God's ways and a choice for life. Or name at least one thing this fellowship of believers does that identify us as people who love and obey God and have chosen life.
I believe I show my love for God and a choice of life by walking around Petitcodiac which helps my body, gives me an opportunity to pray and helps the environment by not burning gas. I believe we identify ourselves as people who desire to obey God's ways by reading studying the Bible.
Remind yourself and encourage us by naming at least one thing you do as a child of God that indicates a love for God, obedience of God's ways and a choice for life. Or name at least one thing this fellowship of believers does that identify us as people who love and obey God and have chosen life.
Join me in the Scripture reading taken from Deut. 30.
Petitcodiac Mennonite Church