In the Name of Jesus
Deuteronomy 6,4-9
1. Sonntag nach Trinitatis 046
Jeremiah, Prophet, 629-580 B.C.
26. June 2011
1. O Lord, the Strength of all who put their trust in You, because of the weakness of our mortal nature we can do no good thing: we do not love You with all our heart, soul, nor might; we do not meditate upon Your Word in our heart; we fail to teach our children the Holy Scriptures; we do not consider Your doctrine and teaching to be of utmost importance in our lives. We find ourselves in the same lot of all humanity: lost and adrift from You as our lives are caught in the current that leads to hell and unquenchable fire. Send the Holy Spirit to us through the Word and Sacraments, so that we may freely receive Your grace on account of Christ Jesus and be assured of our forgiveness and salvation, and from this blessed assurance of faith in Christ help us to follow Your Word and live Your law. Amen.
2. Our sermon text for this morning, dear brothers and sisters, is from Deuteronomy where the Prophet Moses said to all Israel: 4“Hear, O Israel: Yahweh our God, Yahweh is one.[1] 5You shall love Yahweh your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” This is our text. 3. The Divine words spoken by Yahweh through Moses in verses 4 and 5 constitute the core of Old Testament theology. The doctrine revealed in these verses are furthermore upheld in the New Testament by Jesus and His Apostles. These verses, first and foremost, teach us about God. Last week, we confessed on Holy Trinity Sunday the Athanasian Creed which affirms that there is indeed One God. The Creed furthermore instructed us that this One God is comprised of Three Distinct Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
4. Yahweh teaches us about Himself in Deuteronomy 6:
I. Our God has a Name.
II. Our God has a nature. III. Our God has a relationship with us.
I.
5. Our God has a Name, and His Name is not „God“. God reveals His Name in Genesis 2 when He creates Adam and Eve, and He calls Himself „Yahweh“ which means „I Am Who I Am“. In many older English translations, like the King James Version, you might see God’s Name transliterated as „Jehovah“. In most modern English translations, God’s Name is written as „Lord“ with four capital letters. God reveals His Name when He creates man from the dirt and the woman from the man’s bodily side. God names the man „Adam“ which means „man“ and is a derivative of the word „adamah“ which means „ground“ and Adam names the woman „Eve“ which means „life“ because she was the mother of every human being. 6. When God sent Moses to free Israel from Egyptian slavery and lead them to Mt. Sinai where they would worship their God and then bring them to the promised land of Canaan, Moses asked God, „When I go to the people of Israel, they will ask me Your Name. What do I tell them“. God replied, „ I Am Who I Am. Say this to the people of Israel, ‘I Am’ has sent me to you“. God also reveals to Moses that He, Yahweh, is the God of Moses’ father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. The God that redeemed Israel was not any of the Egyptian gods, like Ra or Osiris, nor was He the Babylonian god Baal, but He was and is and always will be Yahweh, the God of Abraham, the God of Israel, and the God of the Christian Church.
II.
7. Our God has a nature, and His Divine Nature is one. We confess this monotheism in the Creeds and sing it in the liturgy of the Divine Service. The Creeds also confess that this One God is comprised of Three Distinct Persons, namely, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. This Triune God is revealed in the Holy Scriptures; He is worshipped and adored. 8. Deuteronomy reveals that there is only One, True God. This God created the universe, Adam, and Eve. this God promised to redeem His fallen humanity. This God rescued Noah from the Flood of His Divine judgment. This God revealed Himself to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. There is only One, True God, and He is the God of Abraham, the Patriarchs, the Apostles, and the Church.
III.
9. Our God has a relationship with us. Yahweh our God loves you, me, and the world with all His heart and with all spirit and with all His might. Every day these words and this great love is on God’s heart.
10. God desires us to be holy as He is holy. He created Adam and Eve holy in His image and likeness. Our first parents fell into disobedience and sin; they exchanged Yahweh’s holiness for the devil’s wickedness. Through Moses and the law, Yahweh shows us our corrupt and rebellious nature. We do not love Yahweh with our heart, soul, and might. As a result, we do not love our neighbor with our heart, soul, and might. The Son of God teaches us in the Holy Gospels that loving God and our neighbor is the fulfillment of the law. But we do not love God. We do not fear and trust Him. We treat our neighbor no differently. 11. Jesus shows us how evil man’s heart is. The rich man saw poor, sick Lazarus outside his house each day. He never spared a few copper coins from his immense savings account to buy ointment to soothe Lazarus’ sores. He never ordered his servants to fix up a dinner plate and take it to hungry Lazarus. Moses and the Prophets rang in his ears each Sabbath in the synagogue and exhorted the rich man to consider the plight of his neighbor at his very doorstep. The rich man ignored God, the Prophets, and his neighbor.
12. Inside each one of us beats the heart of the rich man in Luke 16. God’s law accuses each one of us: You are no better than the rich man who ignored Lazarus! Learn what Moses and the Prophets teach: Draw nigh unto Yahweh with a humble heart and a repentant spirit. Do not remain lost in your sins and unbelief. If you do, then you will suffer the same eternal fate of the rich man. The unquenchable fires of Hades await those who reject Yahweh and His Prophets.
13. Our response to the law’s condemnation is not: My repentance and renewed effort to obey God’s law will merit God’s love and earn me salvation. We cannot gain entrance to the bosom of Abraham in Paradise by doing what the law commands. It is impossible to save ourselves by the works of the law. We cannot do it. Yahweh knows we cannot do it, and He did not give us the law and the Prophets to attempt our own merits of salvation.
14. Moses and the Prophets speak the law, but they also exhort us to cast our eyes upon Yahweh’s promise to send us His Son who will save us from the law’s condemnation and the curse of sin. »Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the Prophets, but in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed the heir of all things, through whom also He created the world« (Hebrews 1,1-2). The Apostle John applies the refreshing salve of the gospel to our suffering consciences: »Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in Him, and he in God. By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as He is so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.« (1. John 4,15.17-18). The only way to be spared the rich man’s eternal destiny and to enjoy Lazarus’ eternal joy is to trust fully and only upon Christ Jesus. God the Father first loved us while we were still sinners. He sent His only Son into the world to redeem those stuck in the rich man’s way of treating his neighbor. Christ has paid the redemptive price by suffering on the cross. The law has been fulfilled in Christ. Faith receives His free gift of salvation, and faith bears the fruit of love: First for God, and then for our neighbor. Go in peace with the law before your eyes as a guide to loving God with all our hearts and lovingly helping our neighbor with all our might. The Holy Spirit will enable us to do so. Amen.
15. Let us pray. O Lord, Your testimonies are righteous forever; give us the saving faith in Your gospel that is centered upon Christ and Him crucified, so that we, like Lazarus, may dwell in the bosom of Abraham, live in Your heavenly Paradise, and receive our resurrected body on the last day. Amen.
One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you!
All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4th Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 27th Edition © 1993 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart.
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