Expository Sermon on Deuteronomy 6:4 – 9
Dedication Service for Anthony Joya
by Maylan Schurch
Bellevue Seventh-day Adventist Church 10/12/2024
©2024 by Maylan Schurch
(To watch this entire worship service, click the link just below:)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vX6XzroCAU
Please open your Bibles (or the Bibles on your phones) to Deuteronomy chapter 6.
While you’re turning there, I’ll give you the background about why Joel Roberto read this verse to us a few minutes ago, and why Martha Hammen is standing beside me interpreting.
Two Sabbaths ago, a young family arrived here at church. The husband’s name is Luzbin Joya, and his wife’s name is Andrea. And they brought with them their three-month-old son Anthony.
And as we got acquainted after church, Luzbin and Andrea asked if they could have Anthony dedicated soon. I looked over the calendar, and this week was the only one for the next several weeks which works best. So we scheduled the dedication for today.
To prepare, I asked Luzbin and Andrea to choose a Scripture reading for today, and to also choose a closing song. Both the Scripture and the song are perfect, as you will see as we go along.
And since they are doing their best to learn the world’s craziest language – English – I am so grateful that Martha is helping me this morning. Also, Yvanna Hammen translated a couple of emails for me so that the Joyas and I could communicate clearly. Thank you, Yvanna. And since we’ll be singing a very familiar children’s song in both Spanish and English, I asked Martha to lead this song. Thanks to each of you for rescuing me this morning!
As I studied the Joyas’ Scripture this week, I discovered that these verses are not simply instruction. Actually, they are more like a path – a path to paradise.
What do I mean by that?
Well, as Moses spoke these words to the Israelites, they were near the border of the land of Canaan, the promised land which God had prepared for them. After 40 weary years of wandering in the wilderness, they were almost ready to cross over.
And God tells Moses to describe the path. God doesn’t give a map to the territory. He doesn’t give directions to Jericho or anywhere else. Instead, the path He gives is the same path you and I need to follow to enter God’s heavenly Promised Land.
For the next few minutes, let’s follow that path.
Deuteronomy 6:4 [NKJV]: “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one!
Did you know that in ancient Egypt, where Israel served as slaves, there were at least 1500 different gods, different deities? Imagine how stressful it must’ve been to try to figure out what all these gods wanted, and keep them all happy.
But Israel would never have to do this with the true God. By now they knew Him very well. He had taken care of them in their long trudge through the wilderness.
But now, let’s listen as He describes the first step on the path to the Promised Land.
Verse 5: You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.
If you like to take down sermon points, here comes Sermon Point One. What is the first step on the path to the Promised Land?
Let God’s love fill your heart.
God’s love must make a path into your heart
.
Because if God’s love truly fills your heart, it will also fill your soul and your strength. But if that love doesn’t fill your soul and your strength, it has not truly filled your heart.
Near the entrance to our cul-de-sac in Renton, there is a house whose owners love to feed birds in their backyard.
And for quite awhile, about 20 pigeons have been hanging around there. Often they simply sit on the roof, or perch along the gutter.
But every once in a while, they decide to fly together. They take off from the roof, and soar high into the air, and swoop back and forth in circles.
They did that again two days ago, and I was nearby. So I watched them for a while to see if I could discover if there was a “leader bird” who was deciding which way to swoop. But I did not see one bird which seemed to be doing this. Instead, these birds just all seemed to turn together, at the same time. It was amazing.
Humans are far more complicated than pigeons, of course. But I believe that when God’s love totally fills our hearts, we will have the unity which Paul talks about in Philippians chapter 2:
Philippians 2:3 – 3: [Paul says] ” . . . fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.
And if God’s love truly fills our hearts, then we are ready for Step Two on His path to paradise. Let’s go back to Luzbin and Andrea’s Scripture passage:
Deuteronomy 6:6: “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart.
Here’s Step Two on God’s path to paradise.
Step One is to let God’s love fill your heart. And Step Two is to let God’s words fill your heart.
What is one good reason to let God’s words travel the path into your heart? Psalm 119:11 says, “Your word I have hidden in my heart, That I might not sin against You.”
How do you hide God’s word in your heart? Probably the same way that an enthusiastic football fan or soccer fan or basketball fan can describe a game in great detail. They watch the game with their heart and soul.
Or, take Rich Wong for another example. Sometime when you get him alone, and there’s plenty of time, ask him what goes into making a loaf of sourdough bread. He will pause, take a deep breath, and for as long as you are interested, he will tell you. Because Rich has immersed himself so deeply into the creation of sourdough bread, he is the expert. He bakes bread with his heart and soul.
How do you become an expert on God’s Word? By reading it, by coming to a Sabbath school class or other Bible study group and discussing it, by keeping in mind how powerful it is.
What’s another good reason to store God’s words in your heart? This brings us to Sermon Point Three.
Deuteronomy 6:6 – 9: “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
What is God’s third step on the path to paradise?
Step One is to let God’s love fill your heart. Step Two is to let God’s words fill your heart. Step Three is to live out God’s words completely.
How do you do this? Moses tells us: you teach them to your kids. You talk about them at home. You let those words guide what your hands do, and what you think and look at and spend time with.
And you even put reminders of God’s Word on your walls. Let me tell you how effective this is. When I was a boy, my mom and dad hung on the wall a carved wooden plaque about 8 inches wide and about 3 inches high. I can still see it in my mind. On this plaque was engraved this statement: “Christ is the Head of this house, the unseen Guest at every meal, the silent Listener to every conversation.”
That was my parents’ way of doing what Deuteronomy 6 says to do: make sure that the truth about God is always kept before your children’s eyes. In their bedroom, mom and dad hung on the wall a large picture of Christ in Gethsemane. I can see that picture clearly in my mind, because I saw it so often.
One of the most impressive things about my dad is that he lived out the words of God in his life, even when he was under stress. If he was pounding a nail with a hammer, and happened to miss the nail and hit his thumb, dad did not swear. He did not say any words. He just gasped. That’s all.
A few months ago, in the parking lot of a health food store Shelley and I were visiting, I saw a huge pickup truck. It was the type of pickup which usually has bumper stickers which tell you that this truck is protected by Smith and Wesson, or some other weapon.
But this truck was different. Even though it was huge, and even though it had tremendous horsepower, its owner had attached white or silver letters across the grill. The letters said, “STAY HUMBLE AND KIND.”
I don’t know if this truck’s owner was a Christian, but those are certainly Christian words. Jesus Himself stayed humble and kind, all through His life. Deuteronomy seems to have been one of Jesus’ favorite books, by the way, because he quoted three Bible verses from Deuteronomy to respond to the devil’s wilderness temptations.
And even as a young child, Jesus had done what Luzbin and Andrea hope that Anthony will do. Jesus let God’s love fill his heart, then let God’s words fill his heart, and then live out God’s words completely.