Please turn with me to Deuteronomy chapter 6 - starting at verse 1.  Let me remind you that if you’ve missed any of where we’ve been over the last few Sundays these messages are online.  You’ll find the URL at the top of your Message Notes.

Over the past few Sundays we have been looking at what it means to step forward in faith trusting God.  Trusting that what God has promised us - His presence - His power - His provision - God walking with us through life - the intimate personal presence and blessing of the Almighty God of creation - we’ve been looking at what it means to step forward in faith trusting that God will actually be there fulfilling His promises in the midst of all the stuff we go through in life.

We’ve been looking at Moses speaking to God’s people.  God’s people poised on the east side of the Jordan River - poised to step across into the land of strong men, fortified cities, and giants - poised to step forward in faith trusting that God will be there with them as they take possession of the land that God has promised them.

We’ve been studying what Moses told God’s people - reasons to trust God.  Step forward in faith trusting God - why?  Because what God has done - redeeming His people out of Egypt - providing for them - and on and on - what God has done reveals Who God is - His essence and character - and Who God is reveals what God will do.  Our God has and is and will be there for us.

Our circumstances may change - we may come up against giants in our own lives - seemingly insurmountable obstacles - illness - tragedy - failure - our circumstances may change but God will never change in His love for us.  His presence.  His provision  His protection.  His fulfilling of His promises - are rooted in Who God is.

We looked at Moses instructing God’s people how they were step forward in faith trusting God.  Love God supremely.  Love God with everything you are.  For some - maybe even here this morning - that may mean receiving Jesus as your Savior and giving your life to Him.  Love God supremely.

Love others sacrificially.  Desire God’s best for others - even our enemies.  That takes sacrifice.  Setting ourselves aside - our wants - our prerogatives - our egos - so that God can love others through us - so that God will reach others with His gospel - use us - lead us into the unimaginable opportunities that He will lay before us.

This morning we’re coming to chapter 6.  Going on with Moses’ instructions to God’s people.  How do we step forward in faith trusting God.

Look with me at Deuteronomy 6 - let’s read these words of Moses out loud together - starting at verse 1:  Now this is the commandment, the statutes and the rules that the Lord your God commanded me to teach you, that you may do them in the land to which you are going over, to possess it, that you may fear the Lord your God, you and your son and your son’s son, by keeping all His statutes and His commandments, which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be long.  Hear therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them, that it may go well with you, and that you may multiply greatly, as the Lord the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.

Let’s unpack these verses.

In verse 1 - the statutes and rules describe how God’s people are to live as God’s people - the ordinances and laws and procedures - the ways in which the Ten Commandments were to be lived out in the Promised Land.

God commanded Moses to teach these statutes and rules to His people so that they would listen to them, consider them, and when they got into the Promised Land - if they felt like it they could obey them.  Well not really.  That may have been what happened.  Right?  But the purpose of God giving the statutes and rules to His people was so that they would... do them.

James - be doers of the word not just hearers who are deluding themselves.  (James 1:22)

God’s people - the people that really are God’s - trusting Him with their lives - God’s people actually obey God.

Moses gives two results of that obedience - that we want to focus on this morning.  The first result of obedience comes in verse 2 - obey them so that you may fear the Lord your God.  Obey God so that - result - you may Fear God.  Let’s try together.  “Fear God.”

What does it mean to fear God?

Years ago - down in Puerto Vallarta - I tried parasailing.  Anyone ever try this?  They hook you into a parachute that’s attached to a boat.  The boat takes off and up you go.  And up I went.  Really cool.  Way up.  Palm sweating way up there.  People look like ants.  I was doing great until I notice that the little clips that held my harness to the parachute - those little clips were all rusted out.  Fear.

When we talk about fearing God a lot of times that brings to mind wrath of God type images.

God is holy.  God is just - almighty - sovereign - awesome beyond comprehension.  God’s people had seen God at work taking out the Egyptians.  Seen God toasting the top of Mount Sinai - thunder and lightening and fire and darkness and earthquakes.  God is pretty scary. 

God is the God who we know will one day pour out His justified wrath on those who live in sin - in disobedience.  Judgment is coming.  Punishment.  Condemnation.  Another reason to fear God.  This all goes up in flames.

And yet, we need balance all that with God who is love - grace - mercy.

God’s people had experienced God providing for them in the wilderness - manna and quail and water.  There’s something powerful in recognizing that its God who gives us the very next breath we take here on earth.  We are the creation not the creator.

We need to be reminded that these commandments and the statutes and rules - these revealed to God’s people that God is the Lord their God - Yahweh your Elohim.  Loving and Almighty.  The one and only living righteous God who desires to have a loving personal relationship with His people.  If only they would respond to Him - to His love - they would live life as life was intended to be enjoyed - a fullness of life with God - abundant life with God.

Paul teaches about God being both the God of holy and justified wrath and yet the God of love - who saves and sustains His people.  Romans 5:8:  “But God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”  The wrath of God - we deserve - being poured out on Jesus. 

The Hebrew words for “fear” have to do with terror and dread and being afraid - a psychological reaction.  In Hebrew “fear” also describes feelings of awe - respect - and reverence.

How can we comprehend the utterly astounding reality of Jesus Christ - sacrificed in our place - if we don’t first appreciate the fear of God?  Without total awe, wonder, terror, dread, reverence, and respect for the perfect, holy, righteous, and just Creator, how can we really appreciate what Jesus Christ - the Son of God - did for us on the cross? 

Fear of God ultimately comes down to perspective and position.  Our perspective of Who God is and what we know about His nature and power and justice.  And our position - who am I as a created human being relative to this Almighty Sovereign God?

Proverbs 9:10 tells us:  “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” - fear of the Lord is the beginning of understanding of what life is really all about and how to do life God’s way.

Psalm 86:11 - David prays, “Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth; unite my heart to fear your name.”

At the core of who we are - when we begin to fear God - our desire is going to be to learn from Him - to be taught by Him how to do life His way.

Grab this:  To fear the Lord God is how we respond to the Holy God who so deeply loves us.  That response is a from the heart - from deep inside us is a passionate desire to live life God’s way.

What does it mean to fear God?  On a practical level - it means giving God total authority over how we live our lives. God sets the direction.  God sets the boundaries.  God establishes the purpose and priority of our lives.  When we step forward in faith - in obedience trusting God with our lives - we begin to live in the day to day reality of what it really means to fear God.

The second result of obedience comes in the second part of verse 2 - Obey God so “that your days may be long.”  So that you will experience a Long Life.  Let’s repeat that together, “Long life.”

Long life is a word in Hebrew that has the idea of being stretched out - enduring - lingering.  Like plowing furrows.  Like we see farmers plowing out here in the fields - depending on the size of the field - some of those furrows extend on and on.  Same word in Hebrew. 

“You” - meaning you, your children, and your grandchildren - generations enjoying long - enduring - life. 

Moses describes that enduring life in verse 3.

“That it may go well with you.”  Which describes days of joy and gladness.  Life that is thoroughly pleasing.  Living the good life.

“That you may multiply greatly.”  Which describes both posterity and prosperity.  Multiplied descendants and multiplied herds.  What God promised Abraham:  “I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great.”  (Genesis 12:2)

Then - all that takes place - “in a land flowing with milk and honey.”  Something like what we see around here.  Contrast the central valley with death valley.

That phrase “a land flowing with milk and honey” is repeated 18 times in the Old Testament.  It has to do with a land of plenty and fertility - that produces abundant crops - everything we need to live life is right there getting produced for us.

God promised His people that if they loved Him with all their hearts - lived obeying Him - His commandments - they would experience life as God defined it.  Life where things would go well with them personally and they would be blessed with many children.  Even their livestock would be blessed.  They would experience the sweetness of living under the lordship of their one and only living God. 

The point here is not just quantity of days but quality of life - abundant life - given by God to His people - as they step forward in faith - in obedience trusting God.  Abundant life given even to us who trust in Jesus as our Savior as we step forward in faith trusting God.

Fear God - giving God authority over our lives.

Long life - experiencing God’s blessing as we obey Him.

What can that mean for us as we live through the stuff of our lives.

Do you know who this is?  Jeremy Lin.  Plays point guard for the New York Knicks.

Currently Jeremy Lin is Linsanity - burning up the NBA - scoring mega points per game.  Torched the Lakers by scoring 38 points.  Scored more points in his first 5 starts - 136 - more than any other player since the NBA-ABA merger in 1976.  He’s been featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated - twice.  Is featured in the current edition of Time magazine.  Lin is the first Harvard graduate to play in the NBA since 1954.  The first Taiwanese-American ever to play in the NBA.  He led the Knicks to a 7 game win streak - which given the Knicks middle of the pack record is impressive.

Right now Jeremy Lin is hot stuff.  Linsanity.

Before Linsanity - coming out of high school - despite leading his team to a state championship - coming out of high school - Lin received no college basketball scholarships.  Basically he was panned.  In college - as a Taiwanese American - Lin faced frequent racial.  Rival players would call him derogatory racial names - rhymes with “ink.”  Despite a strong senior year in college no NBA team picked Lin in the draft.  Given the usual racial make up of a basketball team he’s just not perceived as being the right race.  And, he went to Harvard - a school that produces doctors and lawyers and engineers.

Finally he got a contract with the Warriors - where he played bench warmer - being shuffled back and forth to the minor leagues - the NBA Development League - until finally the Warriors dumped him - along with the Huston Rockets that also dumped him.  Even on the Knicks the reason he got to start was because the guy ahead of him was injured. 

Jeremy Lin grew up in Palo Alto.  Went to Palo Alto High School.  Anyone else here go to Paly?  He grew up attending the Chinese Church in Christ in Mountain View.  Which is a right on evangelical church.  This guy is a believer.

Lin credits his success on the court and his sudden rise to fame to his decision to put his fate in the hands of God.  He told the San Jose Mercury News, “Sometimes you come up against a mountain and you end up making the mountain seem bigger than God.  I was on pins and needles.  I was putting all this unnecessary pressure on myself.  Now, I feel like I'm free out there.” (1)

Grab that - step forward in faith trusting God. 

Stephen Chen - Jeremy’s pastor says this, “There’s a sense in New York that Jeremy is the savior of the Knicks.  He doesn’t want people to think of him that way.  He wants them to be able to know his Savior, Jesus Christ.” (2) 

Jeremy’s dream?  After the NBA?  His dream is to become a pastor - working in inner city communities to help underprivileged children.

Grab that.  The NBA is the road not the destination.  The destination is up to God.

How many of you have seen this movie?  The Wizard of Oz.  The Tin Man needed a what?  A heart.  The movie doesn’t tell us what the book tells us - which is why.

It seems that the woodman’s mother died and he grew really lonely.  And there was this beautiful Munchkin girl that the Tin Woodman fell in love with - who told him that she’d marry him if he could earn enough money and build her a house.  So off he went chopping wood.

Earn money.  Build house.  Marry Munchkin girl.  Have little Munchkins.  Which by the way - speaking from personal experience - having little Munchkins is a good thing.

The Munchkin girl lived with this lazy old women who wanted the Munchkin girl to stay with her and do her housework.  So the old women gets the Wicked Witch of the East to stop the marriage by putting a spell on the woodcutter’s ax.

As the woodcutter is cutting wood the ax slips and cuts off his leg.  Which he gets replaced with a tin leg.  Goes on cutting wood until the ax slips again and cuts off his right leg.  Which gets replaced with a tin leg.  Same thing happens - left arm - right arm - head.  Finally body.

As the tinner is assembling the woodsman - now all made of tin parts - the tinner forgets to put back his heart.  No heart.

In the words of the Tin Woodman, “Alas!  I had now no heart, so that I lost all my love for the Munchkin girl, and did not care whether I married her or not.  I suppose she is still living with the old woman, waiting for me to come after her.”  (3)  Very sad.  Yes?

Along comes Dorothy and they’re off to see the Wizard.  The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.  Dorothy who needs to understand that there’s no place like home.  The Scarecrow that doesn’t scare crows and thinks he’s a fool.  The lion who lives in fear that the other animals will discover he’s really a coward.

Hold onto that.  They all have issues.  Including the lonely Tin Man who’s heart was lost pursuing a failed dream.

We are extremely fragile people.  Sometimes we try to pretend that we’re not.  But, we are.

Maybe it happens when we’re young - we go through experiences as a child that leave us feeling like we’ll never amount to anything.  We’re destined to failure.  Like a unscarry scarecrow who thinks he’s a fool.  Or maybe it happens later - we’re working away at the things of life and whack - something tears into our dreams - leaves our hearts a black emptiness.  Or we’re living an image - like a cowardly lion - fearful that people will find out what we’re really like.  The image is a sham.

Somehow we’re left with the feeling that we’re not in Kansas any more and all we’d like to do is to go home - to a place of security and peace - wherever that is.  But we don’t know how.

After melting the wicked witch of the west - and arriving again in Oz a second time - they find out that Oz the Great and Terrible is a humbug - an elderly little bald man hiding behind a screen who’s really good with pyrotechnics, pulling levers, and ventriloquism.

A lot of people - when they think of God - fearing God - come up with the idea that God is kinda like the Wizard of Oz - all talk and no walk - all woe and no show.  A humbug hiding behind a screen of thunder and lightening and fire on a mountain - that ultimately is powerless to really help us - even if he wanted to.

The yellow brick road has all kinds of dangers and distractions - lions and tigers and bears - oh my.   As does life.  Is it worth pursing God - as we travel the journey down the road of life?  Does it make sense to step forward in faith giving God the authority to set the direction - the boundaries - the purpose and priority of our lives?

Like a Jeremy Lin who sees the glories of linsanity and the NBA as a road - a part of the journey where the goal is wherever God is taking him.

God is not a humbug.  God is worthy of our fear.  Worthy of our obedience.  God who promises us abundant life in the midst of the stuff of life.

For Abraham that meant setting aside whatever dreams he may have had of life in Haran - and following God down to Canaan.  But God blessed Abraham - the father of a nation - the means of blessing to even us today.

Joseph had dreams.  God given dreams.  That Joseph had to remain faithful to - obedient to God - even when he had no clue how God was going to work all that out.  Even while being betrayed by his own brothers - being sold into slavery - thrown into prison.  But God blessed Joseph - used him to preserve a nation - a plan of redemption that includes us today.

Moses was in line to rule the most powerful nation on earth - to become the most powerful man on the planet.  Want nothing.  Lack nothing.  A dream that so many have pursued.  Instead God took Moses on a journey through the wilderness - playing nursemaid to a nation of whiners.  But God blessed Moses - used him as His spokesman speaking to even us today.

Paul was a Hebrew among Hebrews - respected - upward mobile - destined to be a leader among his people.  When he met Jesus he willingly became a slave.  New priorities.  New purpose in life.  God blessed Paul - used him as the greatest theologian and evangelist of the church.  A man who’s writings - inspired by the Holy Spirit - are Scripture that we live our lives by today.

What God offers us is so much greater than what we offer Him.  So much greater than what we cling to.

What dream do you have?  We all have dreams - visions of what we’d like our lives to be like.  Maybe its a white picket fence in front of a home with a husband or wife and 2.5 kids.  Maybe it’s a degree or a job.  Maybe it’s a home without drama.

Maybe this morning you have no dreams.  They’ve all been chopped into little tiny pieces.  Maybe you’re carrying around a load of woundedness that you’d just like to off load someplace.  You’re tired.  Weary of being weary.  Maybe even fearful that someone will find out that the image is a sham.

Do you know the revealed God of Scripture or are you believing in a God who is kind of like Oz?

Which God is worthy of obedience?  Worthy of following through life - a yellow brick road with distractions and dangers.  Sliced and diced by life which God worthy of seeking for the restoration and healing we need? 

_______________________

1. Daily Mail online 2.15.12

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®  (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.  Used by permission.  All rights reserved.