Matthew 5:21-37; Deuteronomy 30:15-20
February 12, 2023
- How we live into our decisions
Peter Preacher Picked a Peck of Pickled Peppers; a Peck of Pickled Peppers did Preacher Peter Pick. Do you know what that leaves me? In a pickle.
I’ll just go ahead and say that both of these Scripture passages that I just read are powerhouse passages, and it would be easy to preach a sermon on either one by itself. There is no way I can do justice to both as they deserve. I am not focusing on the Matthew passage other than to say that more important than checking the boxes of righteousness is the spirit, the heart, the choice behind your actions. It is easy to say that I have followed this and done that and abstained from that and such, but Jesus is pointing out the hard truth that technically you may not have broken any of the laws, when at the same time you may also have in actuality broken all of them. Following God’s law is more than a list of commandments on paper, it is the spirit behind the commandments.
The passage in Deuteronomy is also about choices. And that is where we are staying today.
Moses has just spent the last 40 years bringing a big group of people out of slavery in Egypt through the deserts and wilderness to the land of God’s promise (one day Israel) for a new start. This is the story of the book of Exodus. Sounds simple enough but this just scratches the surface. Moses has been here with the people just outside the border of the land of promise before. The first time was right after they left Egypt 40 years ago, and their spies were sent in to survey the land. Of the twelve spies, ten were dismayed by the size of the people: sure, the land is great, Moses, but the people already in the land are large and terrible and fierce. The whole group of Israelites were so spooked that they wanted to go BACK TO SLAVERY IN EGYPT rather than follow God’s path. By the way, the other two spies, Joshua and Caleb, said that while the people are big and strong, God is bigger and stronger. They were apparently the only two Hebrews from that initial entire group to even make it to the land of promise in the end. That is why we are also in the Book of Deuteronomy today since Deuteronomy means “the second giving of the law.” All of the people who heard the law the first time from Moses are gone. Moses, himself, is about to die now and is giving his farewell address. He will not be allowed to step across the Jordan River, but that is another story.
As you might imagine, Moses is pretty impassioned about this. He has literally given his life to getting the people this far. He faced off against Pharoah and the Egyptian Empire even though it scared him. He went up on the mountain with God and fasted (that is no food) for 40 days while he received the Law, and you know that was intense since it looked like the mountain was on fire in a storm from the description. Moses had to appeal to an angry God on behalf of the people multiple times. He has endured their grumbling and complaining and evil. He served as their judge, hearing all of their problems with each other. That does not even get into the miles and miles of walking. All of that was to get this difficult, stubborn people to this one moment of decision. He drew a line in the sand. If you cross this line, if you cross this Jordan River, if you go over into that land of promise, you will have to choose life or death. Life is following God; death is following other gods. That is a huge choice and not one that they wanted to make.
I have already tipped my hand here in describing what has already happened, but can you imagine anyone actually choosing death? It would take some kind of sociopath to get up in the morning and say they are looking forward to defying God: “OK, Moses. Sign me up for the “following other gods death spiral”.” Of course, not. No one would pick that. They will all say they want to follow God and God alone, but we should know the choice is much more difficult and complicated than that.
Human beings are not so good about sticking to our decisions. We are, after all, the people who invented “good intentions.” We very much want to choose life, and yet we condone death all the time. In fact, we really don’t even like the question because we don’t like things made this clear. We would much rather have the easy, the convenient, the leave-it-to-someone-else choice. Of course, you could argue that Moses is just saying that life is just and only for us. Maybe God only cares about Hebrew lives and only the people to become Israelites were called to choose life or death, but following God also means treating other people in the way God demands for us. Choosing God and choosing life also means loving your neighbor as yourself. Following other gods or choosing death means living for yourself.
The whole reason God chose this people to begin with was because they were the last people any rational or respectable god would pick. Just think about it… they were a weak and small and stubborn and contentious people. These children of Abraham and Sarah who would become God’s people were not a very good people to be faithful or righteous, but every once in a while, they seemed to want to choose life. Every once in a while, they would step up for God’s heart. There is no way they could ever say, though, that they did not need God. But needing God and choosing God are not the same thing; God is running a risk here. The whole question that Moses is posing implies that everyone could defy the one God and choose other gods. We are never forced to follow our God. We might choose God or we might not. The choice is so much more pronounced for a difficult people who tends to choose themselves.
That is why our choice is so important. This choice in particular is essential, but so many of our choices are important. One choice can completely change the trajectory of our lives; one choice can take us to a place we would never have imagined. We can choose how our words and actions will impact others around us. We live in a society that invites our choice for how government is carried out. Our choices together change where we go together. We can choose to love others, to treat others with respect, dignity, compassion, and understanding. And what Moses was telling them 3000 years ago that still reverberates through time to us today is that God has chosen you. Will you choose God? God’s choice invites us to respond.
Something similar happens with having a spouse or a friend, especially a best friend. These are people who have chosen to share your life in deep and meaningful ways. These are elective relationships. No one forces us to be with someone else in such a way, and it is our choice to respond.
But I’ll be honest with you. Here is where I am stuck.
Moses seems to be saying it is one choice, and on the one hand, there is one choice. You must make that one decision to begin a new relationship, but it is also so much more than just one choice. Moses is inviting the people to make a choice, but it is a choice they must rechoose and rechoose and rechoose every day of their lives. That spouse or best friend example is similar. When you marry or commit yourself to another in a deeply important way, there is that first decision, but it is the same decision every day that follows that makes the relationship happen. The rubber meets the road in our determination to keep choosing day in and day out, even if we do not feel like making that choice. It is still there to be made. Life is too important to brush off the choice. The decision must be made every day. We are either with God in Christ or we are not. Maybe that choice is even more important on day 10, 803 than on day one. On day one, the emotion is there in that passionate newness that can fizzle after 25 years.
But here is the thing with God. The God who has chosen us will not leave us or abandon us. We may not even do a very good job in choosing God. We may neglect God or get in our heads that other gods are much more interesting. The choice still begins with God, and it is never too late to choose God as long as we draw breath. Of course, it is a lot harder to live for God if we are on our deathbed. If we squander our lives living for ourselves only to turn to our Lord in dedication and devotion at the very end, we have to recognize just how much more useful our lives could have been. And it is also our choice to refuse to be people of life throughout our entire lives, but God’s Spirit is a powerful, loving force.
Choosing God means choosing to promote life, not just for ourselves but for all people, and not just the people we agree with or vote with or socialize with but all people – all children of God. This is hard, too. This is turning out to be a much bigger choice than we first envisioned. The decision to choose God is life for us, but it is also to promote life around us, to honor the people around us (especially the people with whom we might not agree), to choose God today, tomorrow, and every day of my life for the rest of my life, not that God will abandon me, but my abandoning God means I am missing out on God’s blessing.
If you will choose to be God’s people, know what you choose this day. You may have chosen God many, many, many years ago, but the decision is still here for you, too, after 93 years. It may be even more important now to make that choice today to commit or recommit to our Lord and the ways of our Lord. This is a day of choosing. Do not let it get away from you. To God be the glory. Amen.