Deuteronomy 10: 12-22

 ¹² And now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, ¹³ and to observe the LORD's commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good?

 ¹⁴ To the LORD your God belong the heavens, even the highest heavens, the earth and everything in it. ¹⁵ Yet the LORD set his affection on your forefathers and loved them, and he chose you, their descendants, above all the nations, as it is today. ¹⁶ Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and do not be stiff-necked any longer. ¹⁷ For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes. ¹⁸ He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the alien, giving him food and clothing. ¹⁹ And you are to love those who are aliens, for you yourselves were aliens in Egypt. ²⁰ Fear the LORD your God and serve him. Hold fast to him and take your oaths in his name. ²¹ He is your praise; he is your God, who performed for you those great and awesome wonders you saw with your own eyes. ²² Your forefathers who went down into Egypt were seventy in all, and now the LORD your God has made you as numerous as the stars in the sky.

 

Fear is a common experience of life. Fear of failure, losing friends, not getting a job, making the wrong decisions, fear of death, fear of being burgled, the list goes on, In 1John 4:18 we read

¹⁸There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

 

So why does God’s word say “fear the Lord your God”?

John is speaking of all the fears we have. Moses is saying that the one fear we should have is ‘fearing for our relationship with God.’  You can triumph over the other fears if you are secure in your relationship with God.

This is how it works. Destructive fear is the fear of losing, the fear of going to hell, of not being ‘in Christ’. But we cannot earn our salvation because, even if we could, we would not be sure that we have done enough. Most religions are like that, a tension between, ‘have I done enough’ and ‘what more could I do’. And the amount of religious activity varies with how fearful you are. So people get enthusiastic about religion at key points in their lives, birth, marriage, death and so on.

 

But Jesus swept all that to one side. He came saying John 3: 16

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

You turn to him in repentance and faith, ask him for eternal life, and he gives it to you freely. Not earned, given. The fear goes because you believe him. And believing means that you have eternal life. Believing means that you no longer fear because you trust his promises.

So Fear the Lord your God id a healthy fear, bringing peace to your heart rather than anxiety.

Walk,  How is your walking these days? Nina is not here because of a foot, Liz Creese because of her knee, Jean needs a frame, others a stick or a scooter.

It’s not how you walk but where you walk. We are to walk in his ways. That means we do the things he has shown us in his word. That means taking an interest in others, phoning them up to see how they are, if you are able, walking round to visit someone and spending time chatting together. And when you do that, take a moment to pray together, whether on the phone or having a cup of tea together.

Love, Loving God is easy when you are trusting him. Jesus has come to earth, lived and died and rose again so that you can share in eternity with him. He has sent his Holy Spirit to be with you day by day. So enjoy him, pray, have your Bible open nearby, if you can, and read bits when you have a quiet moment. Enjoy his company.

Serve, Serving is not all about rushing around doing everything. It is playing your part in God’s ecomony. Caring phone calls, time spent listening to your neighbour, telling them about what Jesus means to you. That is service to God.

Observe/obey It is easy to think that the commands are there to make us acceptable to God but we need to get the story the right way round. God rescues Israel from slavery and then tells them how to live for their own good. Obeying is not the way we get in favour with God. It how we walk with him and keep safe. The commands are for our good not to win his favour.

 

 ¹⁴ To the LORD your God belong the heavens, even the highest heavens, the earth and everything in it. ¹⁵ Yet the LORD set his affection on your forefathers and loved them, and he chose you, their descendants, above all the nations, as it is today.

 

Is God interested in you? YES HE IS!

 

So what are we to do?

¹⁶ Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and do not be stiff-necked any longer.

 

Circumcision was a physical medical procedure. God wants us to give our thinking and emotions over to him. Religious rituals cannot make you different unless the heart is changed. So baptism is meaningless unless you have put your faith in Jesus. God is not so bothered with what actions you carry out as to what is going on in your mind. If your heart and mind are set on loving him and understanding his ways then your actions will be loving and right.

 

Do you have a stiff-neck?  Two things about a stiff-neck. Either you cannot look around, you are stuck facing forward. Or you cannot look up and down.

So lets do a bit of neck exercise. Don’t do any more than you are able but lets all turn our heads to the left and then to the right. And again, left then right. Now they other plane, look up and then down, look up and down.

Rest.

So we either fail to see the needs of those around us or we fail to look up and see God loves us and has a wonderful future for us. Look down to avoid being tripped up by temptation.

¹⁷ For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes. ¹⁸ He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the alien, giving him food and clothing. ¹⁹ And you are to love those who are aliens, for you yourselves were aliens in Egypt. ²⁰ Fear the LORD your God and serve him. Hold fast to him and take your oaths in his name. ²¹ He is your praise; he is your God, who performed for you those great and awesome wonders you saw with your own eyes.

 

Notice how its all about God. It is not that we should do these things but that is how God thinks and acts. God is not partial so we should not be. God defends the marginalised, the fatherless and the widow, so we should care for them. God loves the immigrant and so we should.  When we resist this way of thinking, because the Mail says we should, we are resisting God’s way.

Why?

Because God is so wonderful.

 

He is the creator and sustainer of the universe. He designed this wonderful world in which we live. Everything we see and hear either around us or on the nature programs, etc on TV are an expression of his actions. When some scientists parade the idea God is not necessary or does not exist, they are blind to the fact that all the science the have discovered is an explanation of how God makes it work. He is a wonderful creator.

 

He is also a wonderful Saviour. In Moses day, they looked back to being rescued from slavery. You and I look back to the cross where we see our sins taken away, new resurrection life given. Jesus dying in your place and mine so that we can live for ever! What a wonderful God we have. Let’s love and serve him because of his great love for us.

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