The Perils of Ignorance

 

I will delight myself in thy statutes: I will not forget thy word. (Psalm 119:16)

 

 

          Have you ever seen pictures, or even the live version, of Orthodox Jews wearing phylacteries between their eyes or around their hands? These folks stand out in a crowd, because most of us don’t wear little scrolls of the Old Testament on our bodies. Sure enough, many Orthodox Jews retain this ancient – and quaint – custom as it’s described here in Deuteronomy 6.

          Here in Greene and George counties, we don’t have many (any?!) Orthodox Jews, and we don’t have men walking around wearing little scrolls. But we do have another quaint, and dying, breed of person: the Christian who devotes himself to devouring Scripture.

 

          You and I have a lot more time on our hands nowadays because we’ve abandoned the antiquated practice of Sunday School and of daily devotions. We have more time to work, more time for home repairs, more time at the river/golf course/ball game/stores, more time to watch Dr. Phil.

          Funny, though – we’re still miserable.

          And you will remain miserable so long as you neglect the precious gift of God’s revelation of Himself in Scripture. This morning Moses teaches us that God’s revelation holds forth blessings; that it requires diligent attention; and that it counteracts spiritual rot.

          Why, then, do you and I neglect the Living Word?

 

          Moses first teaches (in Deuteronomy 6:1-4) that God’s revelation in Scripture holds forth blessings for you and me.

          Perhaps the greatest blessing of all is that you and I, through this Word (and through the Word made flesh, Jesus), may apprehend the one, true God. We don’t have to guess about the God who made us and who will judge us at the hour of our death; we can know Him in all of His perfections and mercies. Moses relates explicitly that the Lord God gave Him the law for Israel so that the Israelites would not have to muddle around in ignorance like the other nations of the earth.

          Scripture’s commandments reveal the character of the one, true God. For instance, in the bloody Levitical sacrifices, you learn about the holiness – the complete intolerance of sin – of the Lord. As you read of the virtual bloodbaths that would have arisen from all the sacrifices for human sin in Jerusalem, you learn of the wickedness of your own nature. By that same token, you also learn of the mercy of God to provide forgiveness for you in the Lamb of God. In the laws against touching mold and decay, you learn that our God is the living God, in whom alone we have life – and life more abundant. Some of the Old Testament laws might seem antiquated; and to be sure, the ceremonial and civil laws no longer make demands on Christians. Ah, but how richly they teach you of your Lord!

          Scripture also reveals the very nature of God to you and me. Here, we read the “Shema,” the great prayer of Israel that the youth are taught to recite (“shema” is the Hebrew word for “hear”). In this text the Lord reveals that He is in essence one Lord, who stands in stark contrast to the multitude of idols of the nations surrounding Israel. Granted, He also has revealed Himself as one God in three Persons – but in this passage, and at this point in salvation history, it was a radical thing to know that the God who made all things is one Lord. The nations’ idols are worthless; our Lord made the heavens!

          What a blessing to know personally the one, true God! I have a dear friend named Cecil, and I wish you knew him. He’s a great, first-class kind of guy. But your knowing Cecil won’t explain to you your nature, or the meaning of life, or the reality of your sinfulness and need of the Savior. Only as you know the Lord can you know Truth and have hope. That’s why Scripture is such a blessing.

          Moses also holds out blessings for obedience to this revelation. As Israel feared the Lord, observed His commandments and performed them in the land of milk and honey, he would bless them. Now observe that the Lord is not telling you that you can earn salvation by keeping His commandments; God spoke His words in Deuteronomy 6 after having delivered His people from slavery in Egypt. Forgiveness and true deliverance in Christ are the work of God’s grace, which you cannot earn. But be ye well assured that if you truly fear the Lord and appreciate His saving grace in Christ, you will walk increasingly in His light. And as you shape your life according to God’s moral law, you will enjoy the happiness of His nearness, guidance and blessing.

          I have dealt with a number of instances in my ministry of genuine believers straying from God’s command not to marry outside Christ. Every time, the believer thinks he or she will be happy in departing from God’s law. Every time, he or she ends up miserable. This is true for all of us when we disregard God’s precious, light-giving law.

          To know the living God and His saving grace and perfect will is a blessing unequaled in this world. Why do you and I turn our backs on it?

 

          Moses secondly instructs us that God’s revelation requires diligence from us.

          Our response to the knowledge of the one, true God – our Creator and, in Christ, our Redeemer – is to be total love and earnest service. You are to love the Lord from the heart with all that you have, which Jesus said to be the first and great commandment.

          Curiously, the Lord doesn’t elaborate on what it means to love Him so thoroughly. He instead requires the Israelites to teach His Word to their children – literally, to “carve it into their hearts and minds” – and to store His truth in their hearts. They are to talk of His laws continually; and to underscore this point, the Lord commands His people to speak of His Word when at home or away, when sitting or walking – in short, at all times. They moreover are to bind those phylacteries on their hands and between their eyes, on their doorposts and on their gates. The Word of God is to be in their hearts and before their eyes at all times and in all places.

          Is the Lord seeking slavish and fearful worship of “trinkets?” Not at all. He well understands our frame, and He knows that you and I will not grow in love for Him unless we spend dedicated time in His Word.

          You might have more time for Oprah’s Book Club or for working on your shooting house, but one thing you will not enjoy by neglecting Sunday School and other, regular occasions of Bible study is a vibrant love for Jesus Christ. The less you know of him, the less you will care – just as I know little about hockey, and my interest level is commensurate with my level of ignorance.

          Do you think the prophet Isaiah cherished the mercy of God? He had to have, after being confronted with the perfect righteousness of the Lord in the light of his own sinful wretchedness! The same surely would be true of St. Peter and of St. Paul, as well as of King David.

          If you would love the Lord your God, you first must get to know Him. And this growth – wonderfully! – never ends.

 

          Third, Moses teaches that God’s revelation counteracts spiritual rot.

          The opposite of revelation is fabrication: the making-up of your own beliefs, gods and “commandments” for how to navigate life. Not one of you is a true atheist; every one of you has some thing or person or idea that he or she loves, longs for, serves, dreams of. You likewise have your own set of rules to live by – that, or you hearken to the revealed truth of God in Scripture.

          It is easy for fallen sinners such as you and me to fabricate gods for ourselves out of the material with which God has blessed us. The Lord warned His people against forgetting Him once they had settled into their homes filled with niceties, rich with wells they didn’t dig and orchards they didn’t plant. That’s because He knew their, and our, wickedness: how you and I love to stare at the flat-screen TVs He has given us and forget all about the Giver. How we engross ourselves in the spouse and forget the Maker of our spouse. How we forget His grace and start foolishly to think that we earned all this “stuff” around us, and that it can save us and make us happy. The children of Israel in Haggai’s day neglected the rebuilding of God’s house because they were too busy living in their fine homes with new decks and flat-screens.

          You and I are just as susceptible to worshipping plastic and letting God’s house fall apart.

          It also is easy for you also to adopt the fabricated idols of the pagans around you. Ignorant heathen literally encompassed the Israelites, and the Lord knew that with increased traffic among those peoples, His people would be tempted to chase after their gods and to adopt their fleshly customs. The same rings true in 2008: as you and I interact with pagans – which we should – we always must be on guard that we don’t start worshipping the false gods of personal fame, physical pleasure, hobbies, you name it. The Lord God won’t share any part of you with any false god. He has bought you, body and soul, with the price of His dear Son!

          It doesn’t take long for rot to set in here in Greene County, where mold and mildew are so prevalent. You’ve got to protect your wood with some sort of quality sealant – or else.

          Spiritual rot sets in even more quickly. Yes, even here in “Christian” Greene County. Only as you remind yourself daily of your proclivity to sin against God and of His claim on your life, only as you inundate your mind with His Word, can you be sealed against decay.

 

          Not one of you hates the Bible.

          It’s just that here in Greene County, we all know what it says, don’t we? Who needs Sunday School?

          The answer, of course, is you. And me. Not one of us, whether a Sunday School teacher for 55 years or a seminary-trained pastor, knows enough about the Lord. And all of us can quickly grow ice-cold to the precious things of God. Plus, decay sets in awfully quickly.

          We call this “Rally Day.” For your sake, and for your children’s sake, let’s rally around the precious gift of God’s Truth.