To Whom Are You Listening?
Good Morning Friends,
We live in a world of competing voices. Ministers go to seminary to learn the right way (meaning all other ways are wrong) and continue the theological divide. Every day we are bombarded by various voices from radio, television, videos, DVD’s, books, music, newspapers, internet, billboards, and friends. These voices are constantly shouting at us, telling us how to live, what we need to buy, how we should spend our time, what we should believe, how we should act and worship, and what we should accept. Even our subconscious is affected. To Whom Are You Listening?
Scripture: Sing aloud to God our strength; shout for joy to the God of Jacob. Raise a song, sound the tambourine, the sweet lyre with the harp. Blow the trumpet at the new moon, at the full moon, on our festal day. For it is a statute for Israel, an ordinance of the God of Jacob. He made it a decree in Joseph, when he went out over the land of Egypt. I hear a voice I had not known: “I relieved your shoulder of the burden; your hands were freed from the basket. In distress you called, and I rescued you; I answered you in the secret place of thunder; I tested you at the waters of Meribah. Selah Hear, O my people, while I admonish you; O Israel, if you would but listen to me! There shall be no strange god among you; you shall not bow down to a foreign god. I am the Lord your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. Open your mouth wide and I will fill it. “But my people did not listen to my voice; Israel would not submit to me. So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts, to follow their own counsels. O that my people would listen to me, that Israel would walk in my ways! Then I would quickly subdue their enemies, and turn my hand against their foes. Those who hate the Lord would cringe before him, and their doom would last forever. I would feed you with the finest of the wheat, and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.”
Psalm 81 (NRSV)
Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead, and write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
Deuteronomy 6:4-9 (NRSV)
If you will only heed his every commandment that I am commanding you today—loving the Lord your God, and serving him with all your heart and with all your soul— then he will give the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the later rain, and you will gather in your grain, your wine, and your oil; and he will give grass in your fields for your livestock, and you will eat your fill. Take care, or you will be seduced into turning away, serving other gods and worshiping them, for then the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you and he will shut up the heavens, so that there will be no rain and the land will yield no fruit; then you will perish quickly off the good land that the Lord is giving you. You shall put these words of mine in your heart and soul, and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and fix them as an emblem on your forehead. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, so that your days and the days of your children may be multiplied in the land that the Lord swore to your ancestors to give them, as long as the heavens are above the earth.
Deuteronomy 11:13-21 (NRSV)
When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”
Matthew 22:34-40 (NRSV)
Message: Today we reflect on Deuteronomy 6:4-9 and the poetry of Psalm 81 as we meditate on the needs of the church. And what is interesting about the passages is that they are about obedience but not in the way you and I might think. Now I am not a Hebrew scholar but it seems to me that the Hebrew language does not have a precise word for obedience as we might expect. Instead we have the word Shema. And looking at and understanding this concept is the nature of today’s message. It is important in understanding our Jewish roots. In fact, it is so important that Jewish families still place Mezuzahs, with today’s Deuteronomy scripture on the doorposts of their homes. Now we can look at the scripture and the concept of Shema from the perspective of the new covenant and the old, for the teachings of Jesus can be looked at from more than one perspective. Hopefully from whatever vantage point we hold, we can discover some uniquely beautiful promises and important and helpful directions to share. Perhaps the first thing we recognize is the connection between the passages offered today. The central verse of the Psalm…the heart of that psalm is God’s plaintive cry to be heard. Do you see the connection with the passage from Deuteronomy? Do you see the connection to the Christian life in the words of Jesus? As we study psalms, we soon learn that the central verse of a psalm is often significant as a key to its interpretation. The central line of Psalm 81 is the heart of that psalm, and here the plaintive cry of God is heard: “O Israel, if you would but listen to me!” The center of Psalm 81 is a reflection on the Shema… a deep reflection on Israel’s relationship to her God in the reality of the destruction of the temple and the apparent failure of God’s promises that David’s sons would forever sit on his throne. The cause of the crisis is the central line of the psalm. God’s people are not listening to God. This issue stands at the very heart of Israel’s songbook. It calls Israel to deep reflection on her relationship to her God. It calls us as well. The praises offered at the new moon and full moon refers to the seventh month of the year, the Feast of Trumpets and the Feast of Tabernacles, and between these two feasts the Day of Atonement. And this corresponds to Yom Kippur which this year, 2016, falls on October 11-12. And it calls us out of our regular concept of time to a repentance in the hope of the return of the conquering King. Friends, understand that Psalm 81 reflects the time of exile, when God punished Israel with the loss of the temple, its king, and the land of promise. It also reminds us of an earlier time, when Israel doubted God and grumbled about Him. At Meribah, Israel tested the Lord, doubting that He was with His people, so the Lord tested Israel and found her wanting. Similarly, we can look at the history of the church as well as that of the Hebrew people and see many times and ways in which the church failed to listen to the Word of the Lord. Here we too are on a pilgrimage seeking atonement. And our response is to involve humility and memory and gratitude. But it does not involve abdication of the intellect or silencing of the questioning mind. Here the scripture and message actively engages us to be part of the solution. There is no blind obedience here…faith yes… a combination of joy and lament yes… even submission, but always a turning and seeking to follow and understand. Friends, we are to be a people who have a heart for the true God and observe the outward symbols of Biblical faith. But hear this, we are to put the focus on loving and knowing God by internalizing His Word, not the trappings of religion alone. There is much to learn so listen and hear.
Pray we understand that God is not a tyrant but a teacher. Pray we understand that God seeks not just our obedience but also our understanding why the law is as it is…especially the law of love. Pray we understand the meaning of Shema. Pray we see that throughout history God has been the Deliverer and that the promises still apply. Pray we believe that God will hear us and meet our needs as we pray. Pray we believe that the failure of Israel to hear the Word of God was rectified by God’s own Son but has yet to be completely manifested. Pray we realize that Jesus always heard and honored God’s Word. Pray in the reality of the new covenant and the old. Pray we not confuse success with the trappings of success. Pray God build in us a living memorial glorifying God. Pray we believe on God’s promises. Pray we hear and are motivated by love to respond to God. Pray we have the heart to understand. Pray we experience in every moment of beauty, goodness, and love a sign of God’s presence and unity with us.
Blessings,
John Lawson
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