Home is where God is

Deuteronomy 6:4-19

The Greatest Commandment

Mark 12:28-31:

One of the teachers of the law came and asked Jesus, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”

“The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

Jesus was actually quoting from the Old Testament, Deuteronomy 6:4-5:

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.”

If we read Deuteronomy Chapter 6 carefully, we will understand why God asked us to love Him with all our hearts. And this passage also tells us how to love God wholeheartedly.

Why Are We to Love God Wholeheartedly? (vv.4-5)

Deuteronomy 6:4-5 indicate that the LORD “our God” is “One”, the LORD is “your God”. This is something we have to pay attention to: the LORD is our God.

The preceding verses recapitulate the incident of the Israelites reaching Mount Sinai, where God covenanted with them and gave them the Ten Commandments.

The first commandment is “You shall have no other gods before me.” Prior to this, God revealed to the Israelites who He was: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.” (Deut 5:6)

Hence, God told the Israelites to obey His Commandments so that they could pay attention to who their God really was. Who was the One who rescued them? Of course, it was the LORD (YHWH)!

Since the Israelites knew that only the LORD was their God, who had rescued them, they have to love Him with all their heart, with all their soul and with all their strength, and to worship and serve Him only.

Today we have experienced God’s wonderful salvation. It is the Lord Jesus who have saved us through his death on the cross. He loves us and He makes His covenant with us with His blood, so that we can become the children of God.

How shall we respond to the Lord who rescues us and who makes His covenant with us?

Of course, we also have to love him and serve Him with all our heart, with all our mind, with all our soul and with all our strength. Now the question is:

What to do so as to Remain Faithful to the End of our life to the Lord? （vv. 6-9）

Keeping the Word of the Lord in our heart is the most important thing we should do. We are to teach and obey God’s Word in our daily life.

Deuteronomy 6:6-9 are vivid and comprehensive in requesting God’s people to talk about the instructions of God whenever they sit at home, whenever they walk along the road, whenever they lie down, and whenever they get up.

And they have to tie the Word of God as symbols on their hands and bind them on their foreheads, and write them on the doorframes of their houses and on their gates. All these help us to keep the Word of God in our hearts, and to apply it in our daily living.

We have to love God and to keep remembering His commandments, and to teach His commandments to our children, and to live in accordance to His Word daily.

God emphasizes very much the duty of parents to impart the Word of God to their children. Parents are not to shift their responsibility to the Church or to the Sunday School.

The Bible provides for us many practical teachings where we can use. It is insufficient to just rely on a weekly bible study class or a Sunday sermon. A family that fears God and a harmonious family starts with the teaching of the truth of God at home.

The Israelites made religion the centre of their life, and they had done it successfully. Their religious education was life-centred, and not merely a head knowledge. Using daily living as their context, they taught about the things of God.

If you want your children to follow God, you have to make God to be a part of their normal daily life. Be diligent to teach your children, and help them to encounter God through all things in their lives, not merely things which are related to church.

Verses 10-19 emphasize that, keeping the Word of God in our heart helps us to not forget all the kindness He had shown us; and to keep us from sinning against God. Moses issued three warnings to the Israelites to keep them safe from forgetting God and sinning against God.

1.      Beware That People Tend to Forget God’s Kindness (vv.10-13)

Moses warned those Israelites who were to enter the land of Canaan, that after they had enjoyed all kinds of blessings and goodness, that they would “be careful that they do not forget the Lord, who brought them out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.” (v.12)

People tend to be forgetful. When we are well-fed, we will forget the God who blesses us. It will be harder for the rich to have clear spiritual visions than the poor, for riches make people conceited and they will crave for more wealth.

It is very easy to become self-sufficient and complacent when our churches now grow in number and ministry, and we have accumulated much achievements and all things seem to go smoothly.

In the situation of complacency or comfort zone, we seldom think that we need God. We are only keen on self-exaltation rather than thanking God for the growth and achievement we have, and serving Him faithfully.

Now the most parts of the world are hit by the Covid 19 pandemic. Human lives are threatened and distanced. Economic activities are halted. Service industries are extremely affected. Many businesses are closing down, workers laid off.

So, as people of God, instead of complaining and moaning in depressed state, we should take this opportunity to realign our lives: live simple, contemplate God’s word, clinging to God through prayer and discovering how to live by God’s grace. God will surely take care of us. 

The Lord Jesus has rescued us so that we not only receive the forgiveness of sins and the blessed eternal life, but also to receive many blessings in this life on earth. All these are not some coincidences.

The Bible reminds us to be careful, to not forget the Lord who saves us. We have to keep the Word of God in our heart, and to remember that Jesus Christ is our Savior.

Whenever we partake the communion, we are reminded of Jesus’ words, saying that His body is given up for us, and His blood is shed for us. It is the Lord Jesus who enables us to receive this abundant life. We have to worship Him wholeheartedly, and to give Him all thanksgiving and praises.

2.      People Are Easily Tempted (vv.14-15)

Moses warned the Israelites that the inhabitants in the land of Canaan worshipped many other gods, but they had to worship and serve the LORD only and not to follow after other gods.

If the Israelites did not keep the Word of God in their hearts, they would easily follow after the nations in worshipping all kinds of false gods and seek for their increase in harvest or descendant. They would forget completely that all these blessings were given by the Lord.

We, too, face temptations along the way when we follow the Lord. There are all kinds of things that will distract us and tempt us not to follow the Lord wholeheartedly, for example, our pursuit of money, material things or other life goals.

These cause us to eventually rely on all kinds of experiences or strategies to achieve our goals, and we no longer rely on the leading of our God, and we also won’t be following Him wholeheartedly. Man is very easy to be tempted. Therefore, we have to keep the Word of God in our heart, so that we can be reminded to keep focusing on following the Lord.

Proverbs 3:5-6: “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.”

3.      People Tend to Test God in Their Difficulties (vv.16-19)

Moses warned the Israelites, “Do not put the Lord your God to the test as you did at Massah.” (v.16)

The meaning of “Massah” is “testing”.

When the Israelites crossed over the Red Sea and they left Elim, they came to a place where there was no water, and they grumbled against Moses who took them out from the Egypt and caused them to die of thirsty in the wilderness.

Moses called out to the LORD, and the LORD asked him to hit on the rock, so that water would gush out for the consumption of Israelites. Moses named that place Massah, because there the Israelites tested the LORD, and asked, “Is the Lord among us or not?” (Exodus 17:1-7)

We will still face difficulties in life after our conversion. We may be shaken in our faith whenever we face predicament and whenever we are in despair, like the Israelites who were on the verge of dying of thirst, when they started murmuring against God’s leading and doubting of God’s presence with them.

However, Moses reminded us not to test God, but to pay attention to His Word (v17).

We will definitely struggle whenever we face difficulties in life, and Satan tests us by shifting our focus on the problems themselves rather than remembering our God who is the great and mighty One. Satan caused us to grumble against God and to not listen to Him.

Do you remember how the serpent tempted Eve to doubt God’s good intention? Yet, who are we going to follow? Whose voice are we taking heed of?

It is easy for us to test God in our difficulties. We have to keep the Word of God in our hearts, so that we will not test God in our difficult moments, but instead listen to His voice.

We are to imitate Jesus, who persisted in listening to the voice of God when He was tempted, and He said, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.” (Mt 4:10)

Conclusion

May the Holy Spirit remind us the teaching of the Lord, so that we will always remember God’s grace and keep our focus on following Him. May He help us take heed of His voice when we are in difficulties.

Let’s love God and serve Him with all our heart and with all our mind and with all our soul and with all our strength in our lifetime, to be a people that God is pleased with.