“Obeying God’s Commandments” February 28, 2010

Deuteronomy 5:1-22

SI: We’re studying the book of Deuteronomy.

The name Deuteronomy means a second giving of the law.

The first time God gave Israel the law was when he gave the stone tablets

to Moses on Mt. Sinai. The generation that receive the law had died.

Their children were standing on the brink of the Promised Land,

about to cross the Jordan River

and take possession of the land promised to Abraham.

The Lord told Moses to read them the law, give it to them a second time,

so that they would know how he wanted them to live in the Promised Land.

We come to the reading of the law this morning.

INTRO: Do you all remember the controversy with Judge Roy Moore

and the Ten Commandments monument at the Alabama Supreme Court?

Back when that was going on I was talking to a man who goes to

First Bible Church up in Decatur, which is a large, independent church.

Very good church with a good reputation for teaching the Bible.

He said, you aren’t going to believe what our pastor did recently.

There was a presentation in the service about Judge Moore and the Ten

Commandments controversy. They urged the congregation to write letters

of support and that sort of thing. Get politically involved.

After the presentation was over, the pastor came to the pulpit and said:

If you believe that the Ten Commandments ought to be displayed in

the Alabama Supreme Court, please show your support by standing.

And the whole place stood up.

Then he said: Now, please remain standing

if you can recite all of the Ten Commandments in order.

After a few moments of awkward silence, virtually everyone sat down.

Then he said: This morning we’re beginning a study of the Ten Commandments.

That’s mean! I’ll never do that to you. But you have to admit, it’s funny.

We’re going to study the Ten Commandments too—

but in the interests of keeping our pace and moving through Deuteronomy,

I’m not going to preach a sermon series that covers each Commandment.

As we move on into Deuteronomy, you will find that Moses himself does that.

He expounds on the Commandments.

That’s really what the rest of Deuteronomy is about.

It’s applying the Ten Commandments to life.

Showing Israel how God’s moral law applies to life in Promised Land.

So this morning I want us to get a big view of the Ten Commandments,

we’re going to look at them as a whole and we’re going to do so

by focusing on what this passage tells us about obedience.

Moses says at the very beginning:

“Hear, O Israel, the decrees and laws I declare in your hearing today.

Learn them and be sure to follow them.”

In other words: Obey them. You start to understand the Ten Commandments

when you understand obedience.

What is obedience? What does it mean to obey God’s commandments?

All religions demand obedience.

All the great world religions demand obedience to their particular commands—

whether it is the commands of Islam or Buddhism or Hinduism.

I guess that if you laid the Ten Commandments alongside the moral laws

of the great religions, there would be similarities and differences.

I’ve never seen any kind of comparison like that, but I’m sure somebody has done

it. That would be interesting but it wouldn’t get to the heart of the matter.

Because the most significant difference between all other religions and the Christian

faith is not just in the places where their commandments might differ—

there is a much more profound difference.

The very nature of obedience is different. Biblical obedience is unique.

The obedience that Moses demands of Israel is unique.

The Ten Commandments are enormously important for the Christian life.

You ought to be able to recite them all in order.

But you will never really understand them until you understand obedience,

and what it really means to obey God’s commandments.

So let’s look at this passage under three headings:

1. The call to obedience

2. The reason for obedience

3. The content of obedience

Credit where credit is due: Sermon by Tim Keller on 1 John 2:1-6,

New Testament passage we read earlier, which is about obeying

God’s commandments.

MP#1 The call to obedience

Moses calls the people of Israel to obey God’s commandments.

What exactly are we being called to do

when the Lord tells us to obey his commandments? What is obedience?

Obedience is the willingness to have your will crossed.

It’s when there are things you want to do. Things that feel right to do.

And you allow your will in those matters to be crossed by someone else.

The clearest example of this is in the area of physical training.

When you go into physical training, there is a discipline or a regimen

that crosses your will. The alarm clock goes off at 5:00 in the morning.

It’s dark and cold. Your bed is warm and comfortable.

It feels so right to stay in bed and sleep another hour.

You want to stay in bed. You don’t want to get up and go to the gym.

What will win? Your wants or the demands of the physical training?

Obedience means that you are willing to have your will crossed.

This is an even better example when you think about people who go so far

as to hire a personal trainer. What does that personal trainer do?

He crosses your will. He says, Don’t stop. Push it. Give me ten more.

And you say, It hurts. It’s burning. It’s killing me.

This can’t be good. This can’t be right. I’m dying.

And he says, You’re wrong. You don’t know what you need.

This isn’t killing you. It’s making you stronger. Don’t stop.

And then when you’re done with your exercise and you think you can

reward yourself with French fries and milkshake he says, No.

You can’t eat that junk. It’s off limits. Don’t even think about it.

And you say, But it’s good. I crave it. I deserve it. It can’t hurt me.

I’ve eaten it all my life. Other people eat it.

And he says, What do you know about what’s good for you?

Are you the expert? Look at the shape you got yourself into.

Stay away from that stuff and eat right.

And you allow your will to be crossed. Why?

Because you know that from those boundaries, as painful as they are,

will come the physical freedom of a stronger and healthier body.

That’s why you do it. Greater freedom. Greater life.

Now let’s transfer that to the moral realm.

We all have desires and feelings that are often quite strong, they seem to arise

from deep within us and we very much want to respond to those feelings.

Everything in American popular culture cries out to say yes to those feelings.

And if there is one real sin in America, it’s not being true to yourself.

Not being true to your heart and saying yes to what feels right.

I can remember how Allison and I struggled to find good movies for the girls when

they were little. It’s easy to find good movies for little boys.

You just say: Son, close your eyes. The good guys are about to fight the bad guys

and there’s going to be some blood. But there it is, good verses evil.

It’s much harder to find good movies for little girls because the ones made for them

are squeaky clean but they just pound this philosophy home.

You’ve got to go with your heart, girl. You’ve got to be true to yourself.

That may sound harmless but what happens when that little girl grows up

and applies that to her sexual ethics or choice of a husband or attitude toward

motherhood? What happens if it become her standard for money and finances?

What if she always goes with her heart and is always true to herself

and never allows her moral will to be crossed?

Instead of being free, she will find herself in bondage to relational patterns and

lifestyle habits and emotional responses that that restrict and narrow her life.

Isn’t it interesting how that is so clear physically. That if you refuse to allow

your will to be crossed, and if you never say no to the things you want to eat,

and never say yes to exercise you don’t want to do, then instead of being more

free, you become less free.

But when it comes to the moral realm,

you think that you can do what you want and it won’t hurt you.

Obedience means being willing to let your will be crossed by God’s moral law.

When your heart says: No God, this can’t be right. It hurts. It burns.

And he says: Keep going. This is building your character. It’s making you strong.

You allow him to cross your will and you keep going.

Or when your hearts says: That would be so good. I want it. I deserve it.

And Lord says, No. That’s off limits. It’s not good for you. Stay away.

You allow him to cross your will and you look away.

That leads us to look more carefully at

MP#2 The reason for obedience

Obedience is not an end in itself. The reason for obedience is relationship.

It’s a means of intimacy with God.

The preface to the Ten Commandments makes this clear. Verse 6.

“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.”

I brought you out. I saved you.

And why did he bring them out of Egypt?

He says it just before—to make a covenant with them.

A covenant is a personal and formal relationship.

Marriage is the best example we have of a covenant.

It’s intensely personal, but it’s not just personal, it’s also formal.

The two parties are bound together with promises of intimacy and faithfulness.

Back in Exodus 19, just before the Lord gave the Ten Commandments

on Mt. Sinai he said to Israel, You will be my treasured possession.

He’s saying, I saved you, I brought you out so that we could have a relationship.

And what’s the very next thing he does after bringing them out

and establishing this covenant relationship with them?

He gives them the law and tells them to obey it.

Here’s why. Obedience perfects us and brings us closer to God.

Obedience is a means of intimacy with God.

In fact, that’s true in every intimate, loving relationship? Think about it.

When you love a person, you discover that person’s preferences and needs.

You discover what she loves, what she hates.

And you begin to pursue those things as a means of showing your love and

increasing intimacy. You try to give that person the things she likes and needs.

You try to avoid and shield her from the things she hates.

And the deeper your love, the more you feel the preferences and desires

of your loved one as an obligation. They become laws that you follow.

You feel the authority of love, you feel the bonds of love.

And there is this wonderful dynamic of intimacy and obedience as both

individuals seek to obey these laws of love they discover in each other.

Obedience and love always grow together.

Sometimes, when you are criticizing a relationship you might say that one person

is using another person. He’s using her. She’s using him.

What does that mean?

It means that the user is saying: I want a relationship with you of sorts,

I want your love, but don’t fence me in. Don’t make demands of me.

In other words, I want a relationship without obedience.

I will not let my will be crossed by you. I’m my own person.

And of course, a relationship like that is fundamentally flawed.

There can be no growth in intimacy without obedience.

This is how it works in our relationship with the Lord.

How do you grow in intimacy with him? You learn what he loves and hates,

and you allow your will to be crossed in order to show him your love.

You can’t grow in your relationship with him if you try to use him.

If you say, I want a relationship of sorts, but don’t fence me in.

All true, loving, intimate relationships make demands.

And it’s not all one way. It might seem like God makes all the demands.

It might seem like he gives all the laws. He tells us what he wants.

He tells us his loves and hates, but he doesn’t hear ours.

But he does. He has responded to our deepest needs in Jesus Christ.

And greatest, most obedience, most vulnerable Christian does not even come close

to being as vulnerable and obedient as Jesus was when he took on human nature.

He allowed himself to be torn apart in order to meet our needs

and gain an intimate relationship with us. So, yes, it is mutual.

God always supplies all our needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.

Obedience is essential for relationship.

Not to get out of Egypt. The Lord didn’t say:

Keep my commandments and I will deliver you from slavery in Egypt.

He said: I’ve brought you out. I’ve made you my own.

You responded to me in faith and followed my servant Moses.

Now, now, on the basis of this relationship, and to deepen it,

here’s how I want you to obey me. Let me cross your will.

1 John 2:5 “If anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him.”

That’s the reason for obedience, to complete his love in us.

That bring us to the

MP#3 Content of obedience

How do you know the things the Lord loves and hates

so that you can be bound by them and grow in intimacy?

When you love a person, you ask: What to you like?

What makes you happy? What makes you sad?

When I was in college I asked Allison what kind of perfume she liked.

She gave me the names of three perfumes.

I had never bought perfume before. So I went to a department store and handed

the list to one of those slightly intimidating women in the white coats,

and said that I’d like a bottle of each.

And she said something like: Ok, we’re running a special on this first perfume.

The 1 oz. is $50 and the 2 oz. is only $80

and that’s the one you ought to buy because you get a free lipstick.

I think I had $30. I mumbled some lame excuse and fled in humiliation.

The next time I talked to Allison I asked her some of the other things she liked!

Where do you find out God’s loves and hates so you can show your love to him?

The Bible, certainly. But more specifically, the Ten Commandments.

It’s very important that Christians appreciate their significance.

As Deuteronomy makes clear and the Bible confirms in many ways,

the Ten Commandments are not simply ten of the many laws God gave us,

they are not even the ten most important laws.

Instead, they are a summary of the entire will of God.

All of the rest of the commandments in God’s Word are nothing more than

applications or elaborations of these fundamental duties of love.

This role of the commandments as a summary of God’s will is driven home

by the fact that they can be summarized by only two commandments:

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind.

That’s the summary of commandments 1-4.

And love your neighbor as yourself.

That’s the summary of commandments 5-10.

Each of the commandments is a heading for an entire area of moral duty and purity.

Each commandment works its way down into the questions of daily life.

For example, as we study Deuteronomy we will be given many examples of

how to apply the sixth commandment: You shall not murder.

These applications clearly demonstrate that the sixth commandment

requires much more than simply that you don’t commit murder.

It requires you to take responsibility for the life of your neighbor.

When you give a cup of cold water to thirsty person, obeying sixth commandment.

When you take care to ensure that your property poses no danger to another,

you are obeying the sixth commandment.

Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount that the sixth commandment requires

not only that we don’t murder our neighbor, but that we don’t think hateful

thoughts toward him either.

The seventh commandment: You shall not commit adultery—

Requires you to take responsibility for the purity of your neighbor.

The eighth commandment: You shall not steal—

Requires you to take responsibility for he property of your neighbor.

The ninth commandment: You shall not bear false witness—

Requires you to take responsibility for maintaining truth between neighbors.

Each commandment, even when stated negatively, includes positive duties.

And the duties required and the things forbidden go much deeper than

physical actions, they go all the way down to the thoughts of the mind,

and the motives of the heart.

God’s love is made complete in you, and you enjoy greater intimacy with him,

and a freer and fuller life as you work the Commandments of God out.

As you allow God’s will to cross your will, especially in the areas that are hard.

And Jesus Christ is there to help you through his Holy Spirit.

To urge you on. To say, Don’t stop. Keep going. This is good. This is right.

You’re loving me and loving your Father in heaven.

And even more importantly, he’s there when you break the Commandments.

Remember how John puts it in his letter:

“We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands . . .

but if anybody does sin, we have one who speak to the Father in our defense—

Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins.”

How does Jesus speak to the Father in our defense when we break

his commandments?

Does he say: Look at Andrew, Father. He’s blown it one more time.

He’s broken one of your commandments, again.

Please, oh please don’t destroy him.

Please have mercy on him one more time I beg you.

No, Jesus doesn’t beg for mercy. When an attorney begs for mercy, he has no case.

Jesus Christ has a powerful case when he speaks to the Father in our defense.

He says, Father, his sin deserves death. But I have paid that debt.

I have died for all his sins. It would be unjust of you to punish the same sin twice.

I demand justice. And justice says forgive him.

And God the Father smiles because it was his love that drew that plan.

In the Gospel, we don’t get salvation through obedience.

The Israelites didn’t get deliverance from Egypt by obedience,

they got it through faith. They believed and the Lord saved them.

He saved them so that they could be his treasured possession,

so that he could enter into a relationship with them.

And the Lord has saved us for the same reason,

so that we could be his treasured possession,

and so that we could know him, and have a relationship with him.

And he has secured that relationship at great cost to himself—

through his own death.

He was obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

He allowed his will to be crossed, so that he could get you.

When the wonder of that sinks in to your heart,

then you have the greatest motive of all to commit yourself body and soul

to obeying all of God’s commandments.