Deuteronomy 7 offers us an explanation for why God chose the Israelites and what they needed to do to remain God’s holy people. God chose them simply because He loved them and had promised their ancestors He would form them into a great nation. They were not a great nation in and of themselves. The requisite for their continuing to receive God’s love and blessing as they entered the Promised Land was they would destroy the pagan people of the land, along with their idols. God knew if the Israelites intermingled with the pagans, they would adopt the pagan ways of those people. This happened eventually, because the Israelites failed to put God first, and to obey His instructions. The promises God made included material blessing, physical health, and a close relationship with Him. Who would not want all that? Yet, the Israelites soon traded all that for immediate moments of fun with groups of pagans. We could condemn them if it weren’t for our own propensity to turn away from the amazing promises of God, for our own “15 minute decisions.” Thank God that He is so much more faithful than we are!
In Deuteronomy 8, Moses reminds the Israelites again of the blessings God will offer them as they obey Him. He also tells them they will lose everything if they disobey. This constant challenge to remember the blessing and avoid the curse of God has been before us as God’s people from the beginning. The choice seems so clear and obvious, yet the fallen, sinful natures within us move us away from the clear choice of blessing, and toward the curse. We can never work our way into God’s blessing. We can never be “good enough” to gain God’s blessing. We have God’s blessing, because we are His people, when we trust Jesus as Lord, just as the Israelites had God’s blessing as they entered the Promised Land. The only thing left to do is to step into that blessing, and live it in the power of the Holy Spirit.
In Deuteronomy 9, Moses reminded the Israelites they were about to enter a land where the inhabitants were more numerous and stronger than they. The only path to victory was to accept God’s gracious leadership and let Him provide it! Moses reminded the Israelites of how they had failed to do that in the wilderness by creating and worshiping the golden calf. This was a time to remember their sinful past, learn from it, and rely totally on God. How much each of us needs that reminder in our lives each day!
John 17 is often known as “The High Priestly Prayer” of Jesus. That’s because in it Jesus prays for God to protect His followers, and not only the disciples who were with Him at the moment, but all who would one day belong to Him, because of their efforts. That includes us! Jesus’ prayer is we will all be one as He and the heavenly Father are one. That is an amazing prayer, especially if you have ever been part of a group of Jesus’ followers before. What I mean by that is we have a tendency not to be “one” when we’re together. We find all kinds of reasons to divide and break unity with one another. The reasons can be as substantial as matters of theology, and as insignificant as the color of the worship center carpet. Over the years, as the lead pastor of New Life Christian Ministries, I have said many times in a new members’ class, “One of the most important reasons New Life has continued to grow is we have never divided, and the reason we haven’t divided is because we have unity in our mission.” While the statement might seem a bit simplistic, the truth is most churches never get larger, because the people divide among themselves, and never grow. They’re too busy arguing over insignificant matters. As my good friend, Pastor John Nuzzo puts it, “If people aren’t fighting over something important, they just fight.” We don’t have uniformity or even unanimity at New Life, but we do have unity on the important matters. We don’t argue over the small stuff, and if someone wants to argue over that, they eventually find it’s a non-starter at New Life. We have had people leave, because we believe the Bible is true and not just metaphorically true, but literally true. That’s okay. Even when we believe the Bible is true, we can disagree over certain matters, but we can’t disagree over whether there is a God, who has a Son named Jesus, who lived a perfect life, died on the cross to pay the penalty for sin, and to redeem us. We can’t disagree that He rose again from the dead, returned to heaven, and sent His Spirit to empower us to live together in unity until He returns. In John 17, Jesus prayed for that kind of unity, and we believe only as the Holy Spirit works among us, and as we live out the written word in the power of the Holy Spirit will that unity continue to be a reality among us. Let’s all pray, as Jesus did, that we will all be one to His glory and praise!