Sermon: The Law of Love!
October 6th, 2019 Rev. Betsy Perkins
First Baptist Church, Delavan WI
Scripture passage: Deuteronomy 5:1-21, 6:4-9
A Gift for Uncharted Territory
Last week we heard the story of Moses, standing barefoot before the burning bush, being given the job of rescuing the Israelites out of Egypt where they were being oppressed and exploited as slaves. When Moses expressed doubt about God’s plans, the LORD gave this reassurance, “I will be with you.” (Exodus 3:12) And then God offered Moses a sign for how he would know for sure that God was behind this plan and with him in all this. “And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.”
That is exactly what happened! Moses rescued the Israelites, and they traveled to Horeb, where they gathered at the foot of Mount Sinai, and they worshipped the LORD. That worship service was very different from our service this morning. Everyone spend 3 days washing up and getting their best clothes ready. They set up a rope in front to keep people (and animals) from crowding too far forward. There was thunder and lightning and smoke, bigger than a severe storm and 4th of July fireworks combined. The mountain was shaking like an earthquake. All the while a trumpet band blasted away. At the end of the service, Moses was invited to go up the mountain to meet with God.
In the reading from Deuteronomy you heard a few moments ago, Moses spoke of that day. He recalled how he had served as the go-between for God and the people, braving the fiery mountain to receive God’s message and present it to the people. The message was a gift from God, an expression of God’s love. That gift was a guide on how to live life in a special relationship with God and with one another. That story is told in Exodus 19 and 20.
When Moses is speaking to the people here in Deuteronomy, it is actually 40 years later. And in fact, he is not talking to the folks who were there at Horeb on that day at all. Rather, Moses is talking to their children and their grandchildren who were born in the wilderness. This is interesting because Moses says to them, “The LORD our God made a covenant with us at Horeb. It was not with your parents that the LORD made this covenant, but with all of us who are alive here today. The LORD spoke to you face to face out of the fire on the mountain.” Since that was not technically true, why did Moses say that?
As Moses shared God’s words again, the people are assembled on the banks of the Jordan River. They are preparing to enter the land God is giving them. For generations they have not had land of their own. They didn’t know what it meant to live as a free people. For generations they had been told what to do, they had worked 7 days a week under the thumb of slave masters and a dictator. Now they were about to enter uncharted territory. They were on the verge of a new kind of life, and in need of a new way to live, a new culture that would fit the new realities of the new day.
For a while now in our news reports, I’ve heard the phrase, “This is not normal.” It’s not normal: the language being used in public forums, the animosity and partisanship, the ways of interacting with foreign leaders, the disregard for ethics and truth. This last week, with the start of an impeachment inquiry, our nation is on the edge what some commentators have called, “uncharted territory.” How do we live with shifting power structures, in a shifting culture? How do we work with and live among those with whom we have deep disagreements? How do we live in close community among those with whom we have great differences – race, language, culture, faith?
We too need a guide that will show us how to live in a way that honors God in these times, that is life-giving to us and to others. We need the words and commandments of Deuteronomy 5 and 6, just as those who stood at the banks of the Jordan, just as those who stood at the foot of Mount Sinai. Every generation needs to hear these words as spoken directly to them in their time and their place. And then every generation needs to claim this directive as their own, to enter anew into committed relationship with God and with one another. That’s what Moses is saying to God’s people that day, and this day to us.
Receive the gift this day; these words are for all of us who are alive here today. We receive them as a lamp for our feet and a light for our path – this commandment, these rules and decrees. We are to pass it down to the next generation, to neighbors and friends. It is a gift for the flourishing of God’s people, a gift rooted in a relationship of love, the amazing love God first showed to us and the love that God calls forth in us in grateful response.
The Shema – the Law of Love
Just like all rules and guides there are dos and don’ts in God’s Command. The Ten Commandments are primarily the don’ts. Don’t worship any other gods but the LORD God. Don’t use God’s name disrespectfully. Don’t murder. Don’t steal. Don’t be unfaithful in marriage. Don’t lie about your neighbor. Even the more positively worded command, ‘Observe the Sabbath’, adds ‘don’t work or make anyone else work on the seventh day of the week’.
After these don’ts, God gives the dos. It is interesting to me that for some Christians, the list of don’ts has been more important than the dos. There are fights to keep the Ten Commandments in public places, and they are the subject of many a sermon in some churches.
Yet for Jews, it’s the dos that take the greater place. The ‘dos’ are the commands starting in Deuteronomy 6:4, with the word “Hear”. Hear this, Israel. The Lord your God, the Lord alone. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. Jews call this the Shema, which is Hebrew for ‘hear’. Practicing Jews recite the Shema twice a day, following the directive in verse 7 to talk about it when you lie down and when you get up. Many have these words inscribed on their doorframes. Some place these words in small boxes that they literally tie onto their hands or foreheads, especially at times of prayer.
The command to love God with heart and soul and strength was so familiar, so ingrained in the heart of a faithful child of God, that when Jesus was asked which command from the Law was most important, he answered without hesitation: “Hear this, O Israel: The Lord our God is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” (Mark 12:29-31) Jesus then extends this Law of Love for God, by adding the Law of Love for the neighbor: “And this is the second most important: Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment that ranks with these.”
The Law of Love for God and neighbor is a perfect summary of the Ten Commandments. The specific directives of those Ten Commandments show us is that the Love we are commanded to have for God and for one another are to be seen in our actions, in what we do and what we do not do. That love is not just an emotions we hold in our hearts. We are to love completely, with everything – heart, soul and strength.
What is it to love God with all your heart? For us today, the heart is a symbol of our emotions and feelings. Thousands of years ago, when Moses was delivering these commands, the heart was associated with one’s thoughts. Perhaps that is why Jesus added the word ‘mind’ to heart, soul and strength. We are to think loving thoughts about God, and think loving thoughts about others. We are to decide with our minds and our hearts that we will make loving God our first priority in life.
What is it to love God with all your soul? There has been a tendency to think of our souls as something separate from the rest of our body, something that leaves the body when we die and goes to heaven. However, in the Hebrew language and in Judeo tradition, the soul is not separate, but is completely integrated with the body. The soul is your whole self. It is what you care about, what you are passionate about, your personality. It is who you are. Loving God with all your soul is loving with everything that you are.
What is it to love God with all your strength? When I hear the word strength, I think of my muscles and my ability lift or open something. But the word for strength used here is much broader. It includes physical strength, yes, but it also includes the strength of all your resources, everything in your bank accounts and your cupboards and your garage. It is also the strength of your influence, your social power. That’s why loving God with all your strength involves giving and sharing. Being generous is an expression of loving with all our strength.
Each area supports the others: the soul makes the commitment, your thoughts direct your body, it requires strength to carry it out, and the doing of it reinforces the feelings and decisions so that your whole self is filled with love and is expressing that love. This is not love expressed for 1 hour a week in church, but love that flows 24-7-365. It is all day every day, because it is who we are! It is to be our defining characteristic, for Love is God’s defining characteristic, and we are to image God, to reflect God into the world.
The Better Way
I saw this kind of love for God and for another this week, in perhaps the most unlikely place. In a courtroom, at the conclusion of a murder trial, by someone grieving the injustice of a loved one lost. Amber Guyer was found guilty of murder in the death of Botham Jean in Dallas. At the sentencing, the prosecution shared the extent of Amber’s prejudice and anger and condescension from her texts and social media posts. Then during the victim impact time, the younger brother of the man who was killed stood up and showed everyone The Better Way. Brandt Jean is just 18 years old. He addressed Amber directly and said, “I know if you go to God and ask, He will forgive you. I love you just like I love anyone else and I’m not going to hope you rot and die. I want the best for you – because I know that is what Botham would want for you. Give your life to Christ. I think giving your life to Christ is the best thing Botham would want for you.” Young Brandt then put his words of love into action, asking the judge for permission to give Amber a hug. They embraced there in the middle of the courtroom, and Amber was moved to tears. The judge later said that in her 37 years in the court, she had never seen anything like that, calling it an extraordinary act of healing and forgiveness.
It reminds me of the words of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr: “Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.” That is the kind of love God commands of us.
At this difficult moment in our nation, uncertain of where we are headed, perhaps at a difficult moment for some of you here personally: this is the word of the LORD to us: love the LORD your God with your whole life and love your neighbor as yourself.
Loving Lord, you gave commandments to your people as a gift of love. Teach us to be obedient to your word and to your will, and to care for each other. God grant us and our leaders the will and the wisdom to live these commands in our lives and in our world, so that it might go well for us and for our neighbors. Amen
Closing Song: Chuck Carman, “Love the Lord”
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