Okay. Okay, good morning, everybody. Great to see many of you that we haven't seen for months and months.
Welcome back to church. It is really wonderful to be able to gather and to worship and to see you face to face.
So great to have you with us this morning.
The feeling I get is our family did some camping over the last few months.
And, you know, when you camp, you sleep really badly.
And so, like, every half an hour, you're looking at your watch or your phone and how long until morning.
And it's like half past two.
And you kind of doze back to sleep and you wake up and you look at your phone and it's only three o'clock.
And you're kind of waiting for the sun to rise.
And then eventually, at around half past five, you see the first rays of sun.
And it feels like morning is coming.
And in some ways, I feel like morning is coming.
The rays of sun are starting to begin to shine.
And hopefully, we are moving towards some level of normality.
But it's really wonderful to be with you all today.
Now, one of the questions I want us to ask is, we kind of like life is transitioning.
Hopefully, the fifth wave is coming to an end and is going to be buried.
Hopefully, there won't be a sixth wave.
But, you know, but for now, we're in this transition.
And what might God want to say to us as the fifth wave passes, as we go back to school and back to work, as we start together, as life starts to get back to normal, what might God want to say to us this morning?
Well, we're going to look at a passage.
Annabelle's going to come and read to us in a few minutes' time.
And we're looking at this passage.
That's a very well-known passage.
But the reason we're going to look at it is because this passage in Deuteronomy 6, the nation of Israel, are also at a time of transition.
And a time of transition for two reasons.
The one reason is because Israel is coming out of the wilderness.
If you know the story of the Bible, they left Egypt.
They came into the wilderness.
And they've been there for 40 years.
And for 40 years, they've wandered through the wilderness, kind of in this limbo stage, neither in the promised land, but also not back in Egypt, wondering, are they coming or are they going?
They've been waiting to go into the promised land, this land that is described as a place of rest, a place of milk and honey.
And they've been waiting.
And now at this juncture, they are finally ready to get into the promised land.
They're about to go in.
And so Moses speaks to them these words on the cusp of this new season.
But the other reason why Israel is in this transition is because Moses, the great leader, the guy who helped Israel come out of Egypt and into the promised land, he's not going to go in with them.
He is old and he's about to die.
And he's going to hand over the reins to Joshua, the new young leader.
And so in some ways, the book of Deuteronomy that we're going to look at is Moses' final sermon to the people of God, the nation of Israel.
It's kind of like his last words.
As they go into their next season, these are his final words to them.
He's led them out of Egypt.
He's led them through the wilderness for 40 years.
They're about to go in.
And he's not going with them.
And so this is what Moses wants to say to them.
What might God want to say to them in this next season?
And what might God want to say to us as we come out of the fifth wave and into this season of normalcy to some degree?
Well, Annabelle is going to come and read God's word to us from Deuteronomy chapter 6, and then I'll pick up again.
The scripture reading today comes from the selected portions of Deuteronomy chapter 6.
If you read along in the bulletin, note that we have the entire chapter printed for your reference.
So please skip to the appropriate verse.
Starting from verse 6, we read.
Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
And these words I command you today shall be on your heart.
You shall teach them diligently to your children and talk of them when you sit in your house
and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise.
You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontless between your eyes.
You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
And when the Lord your God brings you into the land that he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob,
and to give you with great and good cities that you did not build,
and houses full of good things that you did not fill, and cisterns that you did not dig,
and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant.
And when you eat and are full, then take care, lest you forget the Lord,
who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
It is the Lord your God you shall fear.
Him you shall serve, and by his name you shall swear.
You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are around you.
For the Lord your God in your midst is a jealous God.
Lest the anger of the Lord your God be kindled against you,
and he destroy you from off the face of the earth.
Then from verse 20,
When your son asks you in time to come,
what is the meaning of the testimonies and the statutes and the rules
that the Lord our God has commanded you?
Then you shall say to your son,
We were Pharaoh's slaves in Egypt,
and the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand.
And the Lord showed signs and wonders, great and grievous,
against Egypt and against Pharaoh and all his household before our eyes.
And he brought us out from there,
that he might bring us in and give us the land that he swore to give to our fathers.
And the Lord commanded us to do all these statutes,
to fear the Lord our God for our good always,
that he might preserve us alive as we are this day.
And it will be righteousness for us if we are careful to do all this commandment
before the Lord our God as he has commanded us.
This is the word of God.
Amen.
Okay, great.
Thank you.
Let's just pray briefly as we look at this passage.
Heavenly Father, we come before your word this morning.
In this season where things are starting to open up,
we can start to gather as a church and worship and sing and pray.
Kids can go back to school and we can go back to the office.
God, this season of transition,
we want to steward this season ahead of us well.
We don't just want to get sucked into the rat race of life.
And before we know it, life is just the way it's always been.
And yet we forget about you.
So Father, we pray, come and speak to us.
Let your word come and find a place in our heart.
God, you know where each one of us are at this morning.
And won't you come by your spirit and meet us, God,
and both encourage us and challenge us.
And let your word speak to us.
We ask you to be here in your awesome name.
Amen.
So this passage that Annabelle read to us,
along with two other passages,
Deuteronomy 11 and Numbers 15,
in the Jewish faith is called the Shema.
And the Shema makes up the prayers,
the daily prayers that Orthodox Jews will pray
every morning and every evening.
It's like some of the most important part of their scriptures
and what they will pray on a daily basis.
And the word Shema in Hebrew means hear or listen.
And it comes from the first word in verse 4.
Annabelle read it to us.
Hear, O Israel.
In verse 3 again, I think,
Hear, therefore, O Israel.
Listen up.
Turn your attention to me.
If you have children,
I'm sure you've gone through this experience.
Claire and I had this recently at the dinner table
where we had to explain to our children
the difference between hearing and hearing.
Right?
There's a difference between hearing the audio sounds
and actually responding or paying attention.
So you say to your kids,
Okay, dinner is here.
Let's come to the table.
And they're grossed in a book
or they're drawing something
or they're watching something.
And what do they say?
They say,
Yes, yes, I'm coming now.
And then three minutes later,
you call them again.
Say,
I'm coming.
I'm just finishing the page.
And then seven minutes later,
you've got to call them again.
And they're listening.
They're responding.
They're nodding their heads,
but they're not listening.
Right?
Or maybe you've had this
where you're trying to have a conversation
with somebody
and they are on their phone.
And they're nodding their head
and they're saying,
Mm-hmm.
Uh-huh.
Yeah, I'm listening to you,
but they're not really listening.
Right?
Well, God here speaks to His people.
And at this critical juncture
in Israel's life and history,
they've just come out of this
season in the wilderness
and God doesn't want them
just to politely nod their heads
and say,
Mm-hmm.
We're listening.
He wants their attention.
I'll often say to my girls
when they're not listening,
I'll say,
Okay, look me in the eye.
I want your attention.
Are you listening to me?
Hear, O Israel.
Listen up.
I've got something important
to say to you.
And what does God want to say
to His people?
Well, look what He says.
Hear, O Israel,
The Lord our God,
the Lord is one.
You shall love the Lord your God
with all your heart
and with all your soul
and with all your might.
These commands that I'm giving you today
shall be on your heart.
Now, this passage is obviously very famous
because later on, you know,
in the Bible and the Gospels,
somebody comes to Jesus and says,
Jesus, there are 600 commands
in the Old Testament.
Which one is the most important?
I mean, out of 600,
I can't do all of them.
What must I prioritize?
And Jesus picks this very verse.
You shall love the Lord your God
with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.
And so all Israel knew
this was kind of the central command
along with, you know,
the first of the Ten Commandments
in chapter 5.
You shall have no other gods before me.
This was the central command
for Israel in the Old Testament.
On Wednesday afternoons
at the office,
we have a preaching meeting
where we always review
the last Sunday sermon
and give critical feedback.
And then the preacher needs to present
some ideas and thoughts
for the coming Sunday.
And we always ask this question,
in one sentence,
what are you actually trying to say?
Because if you can't summarize
in one sentence,
you don't know what you're saying, right?
It's a good test.
In our CG,
we often say at the end of Thursday night,
okay, in one sentence,
what does God try to say to you tonight?
Summarize it.
Well, you could take
the book of Deuteronomy,
Moses' final sermon,
and in some ways,
summarize it in one sentence.
Moses, what are you saying to us?
As we go into this next season,
the promised land,
what are you saying?
You shall love the Lord your God
with all your heart,
all your soul,
all your might.
Well, Lord willing,
this won't be my final sermon
at Watermark.
Hopefully,
we've got many more years here.
But we face the same situation.
We're kind of coming out
of this holding pattern,
being neither in Egypt,
but neither in the promised land.
We're in this kind of limbo.
It hasn't quite been 40 years,
even though it might feel like that
for some of us.
But we're in this pattern.
What does God want to say to us?
Here, O people of Watermark,
people of Hong Kong,
listen up.
The Lord our God,
the Lord is one.
We shall love God
with all of our heart,
soul, mind, and strength.
Now, this passage,
this verse is very famous,
but what does it actually mean?
What does God actually say?
Well, the point that God is making here
is that God's people
are to be those who treasure God
and trust Him
and are devoted to Him
with all that they have
in every area of their life.
The point here isn't that
we are meant to spend hours debating.
What does Moses mean by heart
and what does he mean by soul?
You know, what part of you
is your heart?
What is your soul?
Why does Jesus add mind,
but Moses forgets to add mind?
The point here,
Moses isn't giving us
a diagnostic of the faculties
of the human being.
The point really is
all of your life
and every area of your life,
bring that before God
and treasure Him
and trust Him
and devote yourself to Him
in all of those areas.
In fact,
you see,
in the ancient world,
almost every culture
understood
and was quite comfortable
with the idea
of the plurality
of various deities
and gods.
And so every culture
in the ancient world
would recognize,
there's many gods, right?
There's the God of the Jews
and there's the God
of the Babylonians
and the God of the Canaanites.
There's the God of the sun
and the moon
and the water
and the war
and fertility
and all these things.
But the general consensus was,
you can worship
whatever god you want,
but when you come
into our territory,
you know,
if you're going to come
and live in Canaan,
well, then you honor our gods.
If you're going to go
and live in Babylon,
well, then you honor
the gods of the Babylonians.
So everyone was okay
with the idea
that there's many gods.
Just don't come
and disrespect our God
when you live here.
And of course,
they also agree
there are many gods
for many parts of your life.
You want to have a child?
Okay, well,
you pray to the God
of fertility.
You're going to go off to war?
You honor the God of war,
et cetera, et cetera.
And so what would happen
is that the nation of Israel,
they were tempted
to do the same thing,
to take on this same worldview.
And so on Sunday
or Sabbath then,
I guess they go to the,
on Saturday,
they go to the Sabbath
and they bring their offerings
and they worship
and they praise God.
But then the rest of life,
they want to do other things.
They worship those gods.
If you're going off to war,
you praise the God of war.
You want to have a child,
you honor the God of fertility.
And so like the rest
of the nations around them,
Israel was tempted
to honor God supremely,
primarily,
but have these other gods
in their lives.
I recently read a story
of a pastor from Africa.
And I didn't know him,
good thing.
He was offering various body parts
of a young lady
that had died in his village.
And so he went to the cemetery
and he bought these body parts
and he would offer them
to the spirits
as a special offering
to drive out the evil spirits
and to try and secure blessing
and prosperity for his life.
Okay?
But he's a pastor.
And so someone challenged him
and said,
hang on,
aren't you like meant
to be a man of God?
How can you do this
spirit worship
at the same time?
And he said,
yes,
I am a man of God.
I only do this
outside of church hours.
Okay?
And we laugh at that,
right?
When I read that as well,
I thought,
you've got to be kidding.
We laugh at that
and we think that is
so primitive, right?
That is so ancient, right?
You people from Africa,
you're so primitive, right?
But don't we do
the same thing
in our own kind of way?
We come on Sundays
and we worship God
and we sing,
God and God alone.
Yes, yes,
and we worship God
and we take communion.
But on Monday to Friday,
we go into our city
and we are tempted
to offer a special offering
as the word
to the various gods
and idols of our own world.
And so on Sunday,
we worship God
and we take communion.
But on Monday,
we sacrifice
on the altar of Korea
our families
and our marriages
and our children.
Or we sacrifice
our ethics
and our principles
on the altar
of financial security
and stability.
Or we sacrifice
on the altar
of people pleasing
our convictions
and our honoring of God.
And so in the same way,
we can do exactly
what Israel
and these other people
are doing.
But God is saying here
that when we do that,
when we limit God
to one facet of our life,
to say forgiveness of sin
or to Sundays
or to eternal life
or one facet of our lives,
actually we reduce God
into an idol
just like the other idols
of the nations around us
and the idols of our lives.
But look at what God
wants to say here.
He says,
the Lord our God,
the Lord is one.
And the Hebrew there
can be translated
in various ways.
If you have a Bible,
you'll see there are probably
notes at the bottom.
There's a couple of different ways
it can be translated.
But the big idea here
is the Lord,
Yahweh is His name,
He is the one true God.
He's not just
the God of Israel.
He's not just
the God of the Jews.
He's not just
the God of salvation
or atonement
or forgiveness of sins
or the God
who got you out of Egypt.
He is not just
the bombshell to God
that we kind of
keep on standby
and when things go badly
we kind of rush
and take refuge in Him.
He is the one true,
true, eternally sovereign
Lord of all creation
of all universes.
If there are multiple universes,
that's okay.
He's Lord of all of them
as well.
He's the God
of every dimension of life
because He is the one true,
uncreated, eternally glorious,
sovereign God.
He's the God
of every facet of life,
of all peoples,
of all cultures,
of all countries
and circumstances.
He's the God
of all of life
and all of our lives
and therefore
the God of every facet
and part of our lives.
He's not just the God
we run to for salvation.
He's the God
who's Lord
over Sundays,
service,
but He's also the God
who's Lord
over the Thursday afternoon
board meeting.
He's God
of the prayer meeting
on a Thursday night,
but He's also God
of your staff meeting
on a Monday morning.
He is Lord
over creation
and cosmos,
but He's also Lord
of our finances
and our sexuality
and our relationships
with our parents.
He's the God
of our longings
and our fears
and our anxieties
and our worries.
The Lord,
your God,
the Lord is one.
God over every facet
of life
and therefore,
He calls us
for this undivided love
and affection,
this undivided devotion
and loyalty,
this worship
and this trust.
Hear, O Israel.
Hear, people of God.
The Lord, our God,
Yahweh,
the God of the Bible,
is the one true God.
Therefore,
love Him
with your heart,
your soul,
your mind,
your strength,
with every facet
of our lives.
In some senses,
as Israel
stands on the verge
of going into
this new season
in the nation,
the life of Israel,
God is actually
not doing anything
very new
and original.
Sometimes,
Claire and I
laugh to one another
because,
I don't know if you
ever hear this,
but we often hear
people saying,
you know,
God,
He's doing a new thing
in the world.
I really just sense
God's doing something
new in the world.
And we often laugh
and say,
no,
He's not really.
He's actually doing
the same thing
He's been doing
for millennia.
God,
by His grace,
is saving sinners
and redeeming
and rescuing
those who need Him.
And He's calling
all people
to love Him
with all their heart,
soul,
mind,
and strength.
God,
He's not really
doing all that much
new.
He's doing the same
thing He's always done.
Here,
oh,
watermark,
as the restrictions
lift,
as we go back
to school
and university,
as life,
we go into
this new season,
what does God
want to say to us?
Listen up.
I've got something
to say.
I am the one
true God.
Love me with
every facet
and dimension
of your life.
Now,
what does this
actually mean?
What are the
implications of this?
Why is this
necessary and
important for us?
Well,
let's look at this
passage,
and it's going to give us
four things briefly
why this is important
for us.
Look,
firstly,
the reason why this is
important is for our
own good.
For our own good.
Look at verse
three with me.
It wasn't read to us,
but it's in the
bulletin.
God says,
listen up,
hear my commands,
and make sure you
obey them,
you,
your children,
and your
grandchildren,
verse three,
that your days
may be long,
that it may go
well with you,
that you may
multiply greatly
in the land
that the Lord
your God,
the God of your
fathers,
has promised you,
the land flowing
with milk and honey.
God actually says
the same thing
in verse 24.
He says,
In other words,
why does God
command us
to love Him
and treasure Him
with all that we have?
To trust Him
above all things.
Well,
one of the reasons
it is God's love
that commands us
to love Him.
It's not His harshness,
it's not His severity,
it's certainly not
God's insecurity
because, you know,
He needs some love
and affirmation,
and if we don't love Him,
who's going to love Him?
So He commands us
to love Him.
It's not His insecurity
or His need
for affirmation,
it's because of
our best interest,
for our own sake.
God,
in His love,
because He's designed
the world
and designed humanity
to flourish
and to be blessed
as we obey Him,
God calls us
for our own good
because God calls us
to be fully human.
There's a pastor
by the name of N.T. Wright.
I'm sure you've heard of him.
He's a very famous
British pastor.
He's still alive
and he writes this.
Listen to what he says.
He says,
what on earth
are we here for anyway?
I mean,
why are we here
as human beings?
The fundamental answer
is that what we are here for
is to become genuine human beings,
reflecting the God
and whose image we made,
and we're doing so
on the one hand
by worship
and on the other hand
through mission.
We do this,
not least of all,
by following Jesus.
And N.T. Wright goes on
and he says,
the way that this
actually works out
is not just by blindly
following the rules.
You don't become fully human
by just doing what God says
because that's what
the pastor tells me.
Actually,
as we give our lives to God
and say,
God,
I'm going to trust you.
With this area of my life
that's so hard,
I'm going to trust you.
What happens is that
God actually starts to change us
and transform us
from the inside
so that our hearts
correspond with
what is really true.
So that what happens
is you do start to
follow your own heart
or become authentic,
right?
We all want to become authentic
in this day and age.
So you can actually become
your authentic self.
You can follow your heart.
But at the same time,
you will also
do what God commands
because God's commands
are written on our hearts.
You see what he's saying?
He's saying,
God doesn't just call us
to just be your authentic self,
whatever your version
of truth is.
No, no, actually,
there is a thing
called truth.
But as you follow Him,
your truth,
whatever that is,
will correspond
with what is actually true
and you will be
your most authentic self
as you follow Him
and you will do
what God commands
because your life
will align
with what is ultimate reality.
What are we actually here for?
We're here to become
genuine human beings.
And how do we do that?
By saying,
Christ,
have your way
in my life.
But not only that,
not only for our own sake,
but also for the sake
of the next generation.
Look at verse 6 to 9 with me.
Look at what Moses writes here.
He says,
These words that I command you
shall be on your heart.
You shall teach them diligently
to your children.
You shall talk about them
when you sit in your house
and when you walk by the way,
when you lie down
and when you rise.
You shall write them
on the doorposts of your house
and on your gates.
D.A. Carson very famously said,
if you've been to Watermark,
you've probably heard this quote.
He says,
One generation loves
and treasures the gospel.
The next generation
just assumes the gospel.
And the third generation
denies the gospel.
Most of us who are parents
know that it doesn't matter
what you tell your kids
is most important.
Our kids are going to grow up
to love and treasure
what is actually
most important to us.
Okay?
So, men,
those of us that are fathers here,
you can tell your kids
as much as you want
to honor their mother,
your wife, right?
But if our kids see us
actually treasuring other things,
work or video games
or ourselves,
more than our wives,
you can tell them
as much as you want
our kids are not going to grow up
to honor and treasure
their mother, right?
Why?
Because our kids don't do
what we tell them to do.
They do what they actually
see us doing.
Our kids are going to value
what's most important to us,
not what we tell them
is most important to us, right?
I remember our youngest daughter,
Shiloh,
when she went to kindergarten first,
okay, here in Hong Kong.
She's three years old
and there's this boy
in her class.
We met him
and all he could talk about
was Liverpool.
Okay, I know
things are bad around here.
The state of affairs
are really bad.
All he could talk about
was Liverpool Football Club.
And I was like,
he's three years old, right?
Well, anyway,
he followed Shiloh
and went from the same kindergarten
to the same school.
And so,
even this year,
when I see him
on the way to school,
say,
hey, Lucas,
how are you?
And what is he talking about?
Football, right?
The Premier League
and which managers
have just been fired
and which ones are coming in.
And he's just talking
all about football.
And when I met his dad,
what do you think
his dad spoke about?
Football, right?
Football.
That's all they could talk about.
Now, I tried to convert them
to a proper football club,
but anyway,
we're still working on that.
But why?
Parents,
because our kids
treasure what we treasure.
Our kids love
what we love.
Friends,
if we want our children
and our kids
to love the Lord Jesus Christ
and to trust Him
and to treasure Him
above all things,
in this world
of confusion and chaos
when there's so much
that's unknown,
if we want to give our kids
rock-solid identity
that they can stand firm
in a world of sinking sand
and confusion,
we can't just drop our kids
at church on Sunday
or pray a quick prayer
before they go to bed.
We need to make sure
that we are loving
and treasuring
and delighting
and trusting
in the Lord Jesus Christ
above all things,
that we love Him
heart, soul, mind,
and strength,
that He is the most important
one in every facet
and area of our lives
so that what is glorious
and wonderful
and beautiful
about Christ to us
becomes wonderful
and glorious
and beautiful to them.
Now,
you may be here
and you may say,
okay, but I'm single
or I'm not married
or maybe you are married
but you don't have kids.
I don't, you know,
the next generation,
that's someone else's business.
Okay, but what about
the next generation
in Hong Kong?
What about the next generation
in our church?
Maybe you don't have
biological kids
but friends,
our city,
the next generation
is awash with despair
and hopelessness
and there's a call on us
even if you don't have
biological kids
to stand
and to give the next generation
hope
in the midst of all
the hopelessness
in the midst of the despair
to say,
there is a God
and He's real
and you can trust Him
and you can bank
your life on Him
and friends,
our church
is a young church.
I know a lot of the students
are away now,
they've all gone back home
but our church
is a young church
and this church
needs men and women
that are older,
that have walked the life
to show us
what it looks like
to love and trust
and honor Christ
in every area of our life
when you're 40
and you're 50
and you're 60
and you're 70.
If you are 50 plus
here this morning,
maybe your kids
have grown up
and are no longer at home,
this church needs you
because we need to know
and see what does it look like
to still trust Christ supremely
when you're in your 50s
and can I just say
if you're in your 40s,
I know your 40s
are probably a crunch period
of life,
you know,
kids,
it's full on
and work is full on,
I'm going to get there soon,
I'm almost there,
please,
if you're 40 plus,
Oscar,
one or two others,
we need you
in this church
because can I just say,
sorry,
I shouldn't have said that
but can I just say,
okay,
listen up here,
look me in the eye,
right,
when you're 20
and 25,
it's easy
to be radical
for Jesus,
you've got so much time
on your hands,
you know,
you don't have
that many demands,
I know it feels like
university is demanding
but it's not really,
okay,
and it is easy
to be radical for Jesus
and you go on mission trips
and you lead a thousand CGs
and you're always serving
in a thousand ways
but when you're 40,
it's hard,
your boss is breathing
down your neck
and he's wanting you
to work,
you know,
70 hours
and you're not just graduated
but you're also not
top of the pile
and so you're in that
middle management zone
and you've got kids
and you've got demands
and you've got aging parents,
it's hard to love
and trust Jesus
in every area of life.
Friends,
if you're in your 40s here,
we need you to show us
and to show the young people
in this church
what it looks like
to love God
with all of your heart
and all of your soul
and all of your mind
and all of your strength
because we need examples
and so the next generation,
not just our biological kids
but this city
and this church,
we need it,
okay,
so for our own sake,
for the sake of the next generation,
third reason,
this is quick,
because of the danger
of grace,
the danger of grace.
Now I know that sounds blasphemous
but look at verse 10
and 12 with me.
What Moses is going to say here
is that God's blessings
apart from covenant relationship
with God
are actually a dangerous thing.
Look at verse 10.
It says,
when the Lord your God
brings you into the land
that He swore to your fathers
to give you
with great and good cities
that you didn't build
and houses full of good things
that you didn't fill
and cisterns that you didn't dig
and vineyards and olive trees
that you didn't plant
and when you eat
and are full and satisfied,
then take care
lest you forget
the Lord your God
who brought you
out of the land of Egypt,
out of the house of slavery.
What God is saying here
is that,
oh let me say it this way,
I know it sounds blasphemous
to talk about grace
as a dangerous thing
because at the very heart
of Christianity
and the heart of who God is
is the fact that God relates to us
on the basis of grace,
not what we earn
or our effort
or our good works.
It's God's grace.
But the whole point of the Bible
is that people are saved by grace
not by works.
But look at this passage
that's saying to us,
God in His incredible kindness to us
if that kindness,
if the blessings of God
are untethered,
disconnected
from covenant relationship to Him,
those blessings actually have a way
of becoming a snare to us,
of tripping us up
because it's easy to fall more in love
with those blessings
than the one who gives those blessings
in the first place.
And so His very blessings
can actually destroy us.
And so He says here
that these things become more important
and we get cut off
from the very one
who gives those blessings to us.
Look at verse 11.
When you eat and are full,
take care lest you forget
the Lord your God.
In the Bible,
to forget God
doesn't mean to have a lapse of memory.
It means God fades
into the background
and is no longer
in our consciousness.
And so how do we stop
the gifts of God's grace
becoming a snare to us?
How do we stop ourselves
loving God's kindnesses
more than God Himself?
Hear, O Israel.
The Lord is one.
Love the Lord your God
with every facet of your life,
all your heart, soul,
mind, and strength.
And that brings us
to the last and the final point
is this.
Because God loved us first.
Look at verse 20 to 22 with me.
This is amazing.
It says,
When your son or your daughter
asks you in time to come,
what is the meaning
of the testimonies
and the commands
and the statutes?
that the Lord God commanded us.
In other words,
your son or your daughter
comes to you and says,
Why should we obey God?
I mean,
why should we do
all this stuff anyway?
Then you shall say to your son,
Well, Moses told us to.
I don't know.
I'm just doing what Moses said.
Because Kevin the pastor
just told me to.
No, no, no.
That's not what you say.
What you say is,
We were Pharaoh's slaves in Egypt.
And God brought us out of Egypt
by a mighty hand.
In other words,
when your children come to you
and say,
Why do we do these things?
Why do we obey God?
And why should we do
all these things?
You tell them.
There was once upon a time.
You remind them
of the salvation
and the deliverance
that God accomplished for you
when they had no way
of saving themselves.
What's Moses saying here?
He's saying,
You tell them the gospel.
Right?
You know,
in the Old Testament,
the story of God
saving His people
out of slavery in Egypt
and bringing them
into freedom
by the blood of the Lamb
is always a picture
of an analogy
of a signpost
to point them towards
the cross.
Right?
The way that we were slaves
to sin and death
and darkness
and we were delivered
out of that slavery
and brought into freedom
by the blood
of the true and better Lamb,
Jesus Christ.
In other words,
so when God says,
Why should we do these things?
Why do we honor God?
Why do we obey God
in every area of our life?
Because once upon a time,
friends,
you and I were slaves to sin.
Once upon a time,
we were unlovable
in our natural state.
We were unlovable
in our depravity.
We were dead in our sin.
We were deservedly
objects of God's wrath.
But God,
in His supreme mercy,
in His unmerited grace,
God poured out for us
riches and mercy
by sending His Son
to the cross,
by dying in our place
so that we could come
out of that place
and be reconciled
and be welcomed
into His family,
that we could be set free
from bondage to sin
and live for God.
Do you know that amazing verse
in 1 John?
It says this,
In this the love of God
was made manifest for us
that God sent His Son
to die that we might
live through Him.
This is love.
Not that we love God first,
but that He loved us
and sent His Son
to be an atoning sacrifice
for us.
You see,
in Deuteronomy chapter 7,
the very next chapter,
God says to His people,
It's not because
you were the biggest nation
or the most powerful nation
that I rescued you.
In fact,
you were the smallest
out of all the nations.
I rescued you
simply because I loved you.
And chapter 8,
He says,
It's not because
you were the wisest nation
and had it all going for you.
No, no,
you weren't very wise at all.
But I rescued you
simply because
I set my love upon you.
And chapter 9,
He's going to say,
It's not because
you were the most righteous nation.
No, no, no.
You were just as unrighteous
as everyone else.
I chose you
and loved you
simply because
I chose to love you.
So friends,
why do we love
the Lord Jesus Christ
with all of our heart
and soul
and mind
and strength?
Because when we were unlovable
and had nothing
to bring to God,
He loved us
by sending His Son
to die on the cross.
And so friends,
when our children say to us,
why do we need to obey God
and do what He asks?
Why do we go to church on Sunday
rather than going to
soccer club
and rugby club
and tennis club?
Why do we do family devotions
around the dinner table
rather than just watching TV?
Why do we take communion regularly
and ask God
to forgive us of our sins?
The answer is
not because we're Christians
and that's what Christians do.
The answer is
you tell them the gospel.
You tell them that
once upon a time
I was God's enemy
worthy of hell
but Jesus sent His love upon me
and died on the cross
so that I could be ransomed,
healed, restored, forgiven,
that I could be brought
into His family.
God loved me
so that now I can love Him.
And friends,
when your colleagues
or your workmates
or your school friends
or your university friends
say to you,
why don't you just sleep
with your boyfriend
or your girlfriend?
If it feels right,
it must be right.
Or why do you give a portion
of your income to the church?
I mean, that sounds crazy.
Why would you do that?
Or why not cheat on this test?
Or why not just exaggerate
on your resume
and get that job?
The answer is not
because I'm a Christian
and this is what Christians do.
The answer is
because I once was lost
and hopeless
and worthy of hell.
And Jesus Christ
set His love upon me
and woke up my heart
so that I can love Him.
Ransomed, healed,
restored, forgiven.
Now because Jesus loves me,
I love Him
with every facet of my life.
And friends,
when your own heart
questions you
and that voice
in your head says,
why do you honor God?
Why don't you do
just what feels good?
Why don't you just
live for yourself?
And when that voice comes
and says,
why don't you hold
on to that grudge
and just bear
and not forgive that person
that's treated you so badly?
The answer is not,
I'm a Christian,
I guess I better forgive them.
You preach to your own heart
the gospel
that once you were
an enemy of God
and for no doing
of your own accord,
God set His love upon you
and He sent His Son
to die on the cross
so that you may be rescued,
ransomed, healed,
restored, forgiven,
that you may love Him
because with all of your life
because Jesus loved you
with all of His life.
Friends, as we come
to this juncture,
hear, O people of God,
the Lord our God,
the Lord is one.
Let's love the Lord our God
with all of our heart
and all of our soul
and all of our mind
and all of our strength.
Let's take a few minutes
and respond
and we're going to take communion
in a few minutes' time
but I want to,
before we get there,
I want to just give us
three minutes
just to sit quietly
and Nate,
maybe you want to come
and just play the keys for us
and let's just think,
what has God
been saying to you today?
And then what does it look like
to respond?
Maybe you want to think
specifically,
is there an area of life
where I'm still holding on?
I've allowed Jesus
to be Lord of this area
and this area
but there's one area
that I don't want to let go.
Let's respond to God
this morning.