「主の言葉と業を忘れずに生きる」 二月第二主日礼拝 宣教 2025年2月9日
申命記 Deuteronomy 8章11〜20節 牧師 河野信一郎
Good morning. I thank God for the grace to worship with you this morning. For those of you attending worship for the first time, welcome to Okubo Church. Welcome back, church members. Thank you for those who have been worshipping with us online. We pray for the speedy recovery of those who are unable to return to church, especially those who are sick. We also remember and pray for those who are in the area from Hokkaido to the Sea of Japan who are living in the midst of disaster level heavy snow. On the 7th and 8th of last month, the Japan Baptist Convention, of which we are affiliated, held its annual general meeting, and there were no reports of churches being affected by the disaster. However, I imagine that there are many people who are unable to attend worship services due to the heavy snow this morning. Let us pray for God’s protection, remembering that there are such people.
How was your last week? I had a very tough week, both time-wise and spiritually. It is only by God’s mercy that I am standing here before you this morning. But perhaps you have had even tougher days than I have, but we are here this morning as worshippers. It is God’s mercy and grace. Even though we have been through great difficulties and trials, we are still alive this morning as we are. My heart is beating. God has given us what we need to gather here. It is all mercy. When we remember this love and mercy of God and thank Him for it, we will be given the strength to start a new week at this time and place, the strength to move forward even further.
Last week and this week, we will be listening to the eighth chapter of the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy. Last week we listened to verses 1 through 10, and this morning we will be listening to verses 11 through 20. Last week’s message is posted on the church website, so if you would like to read or listen to it again, please feel free to do so, or you can find it on YouTube.
However, for those of you who are busy or in a hurry, I would like to reflect on a few important things. In the book of Deuteronomy, the Israelites, who had been forced to live in slavery in Egypt for 300 years, were freed from that life and spent 40 years in the wilderness. The leader of the Israelites, Moses, who had been leading them for 40 years, gives a farewell sermon to the people. The sermon encourages the people to prepare their hearts and minds before entering the land that God has promised. The content of the sermon is also instructive for us today.
Before entering the Promised Land, Moses wanted to speak to and impress upon the hearts of each and every one of the Israelites that they were to keep the word of the Lord God even after entering the Promised Land. God’s word, which also means law, rule, and decree, is to be kept, as the first half of verse 1 says, “The whole commandment that I command you today you shall be careful to do.” As the first half of verse 1 says, “Keep faithfully all the commandments which I command you this day. I am free. Moses tells us that we should always fear God and live in obedience to His word, not live in a state of freedom and self-indulgence. He is giving us a nail in the coffin.
Why is it important to live that way? Because, as the second half of verse 1 says, “that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land that the Lord swore to give to your fathers.” This is what it means to receive God’s blessing. What is important for us, who are alive today, is to live in the fear of God and to keep listening to His Word.
In verse 2, Moses says, “And you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not.” He encourages them to remember that God delivered the Israelites from slavery in Egypt and protected and guided them through their 40 years in the wilderness with love, patience, and provision.
Now, I said something wrong in last week’s message, and I would like to apologize and correct it here. I said, “The distance from Egypt to the Promised Land of Canaan can be done in as little as one month.” But, to be precise, the minimum distance from Egypt to the Promised Land of Canaan is about 10 days. The distance from Egypt to the land of Canaan is about 354 kilometers, so if a healthy person walks an average of 35 kilometers a day, he or she can get there in 10 days. However, since some of the more than 6 million wanderers were children and elderly people, I said “one month” to take this into account. I apologize. But I told you that it took 40 years because the Israelites complained against God at every turn, tested Him, made a golden calf and worshipped idols, and did not listen to and obey God’s words, commandments, and statutes. It took 40 years for the Israelites to be renewed and enter the Promised Land.
Now, Moses says that the land into which we will be led is a “good land. It is a land of abundance where they will not have any inconvenience in their lives, he says in verses 7-9. What should the Israelites do in such a wonderful land? Verse 10 says, “And you shall eat and be full, and you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land he has given you.” We have been released from our painful past and entered a good land, and what we should always do is to fear God as God, rejoice and give thanks for being kept alive in God’s love and mercy. This is also important for us as we start a new week today. Without God’s mercy, we would not be able to live this day.
In verse 11, Moses warns, “Take care lest you forget the Lord your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes, which I command you today.” The Ten Commandments were given to the people who fled Egypt about 40 years ago, and this is a reminder to remember and keep them today. The word “beware” means to be “circumspect. It means don’t act as if you are free, or get carried away, forgetting God. For if we forget God and His word, we will make mistakes, repeat them over and over, and destroy ourselves.
The first half of verses 12-14 lists several factors that can cause a person’s heart to turn away from God and become self-destructive.” 12 lest, when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, 13 and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied,14 then your heart be lifted up”
Moses warns us ahead of time that complacency, attachment to wealth, and pride of heart are the causes that lead our hearts away from God and into a life of self-indulgence. Food, houses, livestock, and possessions are blessings and blessings that God gives us. However, when more and more people mistakenly think that they have obtained these blessings through their own strength, wisdom, and efforts, and behave freely, envy and hatred arise, deprivation and strife break out, and the land that should be a land of blessings becomes a land of sorrow and grief.
But that is not God’s will or desire. Instead of focusing on such immediate wealth, Moses tells us to pour our eyes and hearts out to God, the source of grace, and to thank and praise Him.
Read the second half of verse 14 through verse 16. “and you forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, 15 who led you through the great and terrifying wilderness, with its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water, who brought you water out of the flinty rock, 16 who fed you in the wilderness with manna that your fathers did not know, that he might humble you and test you, to do you good in the end.”
The “fiery serpent” was a poisonous snake that lived in the wilderness, and Numbers 21:6 tells us that many people died from its bite. It seems to have been so called because its bite caused severe, searing pain.
The phrase “made water gush forth from a hard rock” is found in Exodus 17:6 and Numbers 20:7-11, where God caused water to flow from a rock for the Israelites at Horeb and Kadesh to quench their thirst.
It is also recorded in Exodus 16:15, 31 that God provided food called “manna” in the wilderness to satisfy the Israelites’ hunger, and Moses tells them not to forget this. We, too, are protected from various calamities and are provided with water and food.
In verse 17, Moses says,” Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’ “ It is arrogant and wrong to think that we can buy anything if we pay for it. Producers work day and night to carefully produce and sell their products so that we can pay for them. God provides for us in this way so that we can live today.
Moses says in verse 18, “You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day. “ It is a blessing to remember that there is a God who gives us what we need to live according to our needs at the right time, and to walk while entrusting everything to this God.
Verses 19 and 20 are warnings from Moses.” 19 And if you forget the Lord your God and go after other gods and serve them and worship them, I solemnly warn you today that you shall surely perish. 20 Like the nations that the Lord makes to perish before you, so shall you perish, because you would not obey the voice of the Lord your God.” One translation is “will surely perish,” emphasizing the implication.
But it is not God’s desire, His will, or His purpose in creating us, that we should die and perish. He wants us to live in His love and mercy, in peace in His blessings, with joy and thanksgiving. To show us precisely this, God sent Jesus Christ as the Word of God to the world and to us. These words from the mouth of Jesus are recorded in the New Testament, and we are invited and encouraged to read them daily.
Jesus was not a man of words alone. He bore our sins and weaknesses and died an atoning death on the cross to save us from the noose of sin and death. By doing so, he clearly showed us God’s love for us. Let us be people who walk daily with joy and thanksgiving, knowing that God and Jesus want us to live without forgetting their words and works, that is, to rejoice and be thankful for their love and mercy, to look up to Jesus, and to praise the Lord.