Wilderness Wanderings

After the Lord your God has driven them out before you, do not say to yourself, "The Lord has brought me here to take possession of this land because of my righteousness" (Deuteronomy 9:4).

Here is another chapter in which Moses worries about Israel's propensity to abandon God. Much of the chapter is taken up by his recapping the events surrounding the fiasco of the Golden Calf. Moses was up on the mountain for 40 days with God. Israel became impatient and decided that Moses was dead, and God had vanished. So, they insisted that Aaron make them a god they could see, which meant, control.

God, being very angry with them, wanted to destroy every last one of them. As Moses tells the story, he spent the next 40 days facedown on the rocky mountain without food or drink interceding for Israel. He appealed not to Israel's goodness or potential, but to God's reputation. If God gave up on Israel, the nations would laugh at him saying, "He couldn't do it! Israel's God was not strong enough to give his people Canaan, so they all had to die in the wilderness."

Moses goes to great trouble to remind Israel of their failure and rebellion. What he really wants is that they remember how quickly they fell into sinfulness. This, of course, is hardly politically correct to speak about today. Yet, I will. We too, do well to remember how easily we fall into sinful behaviour. Christians, of all people who dwell on this earth, ought to be comfortable talking about sin. Why? Because we are the people who live by the grace of God in Christ Jesus. We believe that all physical and spiritual things that we have are ours by God's grace alone.

That is what Moses wanted Israel to remember. The land of promise was God's gift to them. We do well to remember that too.

There was a time when Christian Reformed folks, that is the denomination Immanuel is part of, believed that we were basically the only ones who were getting into heaven. We may scoff at such an idea today, but our history books document that we once thought that way. There is a deep pride at work in such ideas. We do well to still acknowledge that today and wonder what other forms of spiritual pride have crept into our hearts.

One way to counteract this pride is to listen to others. Listening that includes the belief that we can learn something from someone else, even someone that we disagree with. Such humility is difficult to find today. It would be wonderful if Christians became known for it.

Let's also talk about our physical possessions. Many of us have worked hard for them. We have laboured and toiled and sometimes schemed late into the night to get ahead. Now we are ahead. Looking back at all our hard work, we easily begin to think that we deserve all this. Why not, we worked for it?

When we hold our possessions, whether physically or virtually, do we hold them tightly with the words 'mine, all mine, my precious?" Or do we hold them lightly with the question, "What would God have me do with these things?"

When David confessed his sin before God, he included this, "The greatest sacrifice you want is a broken spirit. God, you will gladly accept a heart that is broken because of sadness over sin" (Psalm 51:17). We do well to regularly echo this prayer and remember the warnings of Moses.

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. (Matthew 6:33)

Pastor Michael alluded to this text yesterday. Israel was reminded through their wilderness journey that God was the one who sustained them and that seeking God and living out his commands was the best path to flourishing. Together, these formed the essential quality of humility in the Israelites—a pursuit of and dependence on God that led to life, even in the desert.

Jesus echoes this desert lesson when he says: do not worry, but rather seek first God's kingdom, trusting that he will provide everything else.

This isn't quite the way our world works though. Many of us are engaged quite deeply in a pursuit of our own provision. It can look all sorts of ways. We seek to secure our career or financial future. We seek to keep up a certain lifestyle of the right house, clothes, friends, and activities. We seek to secure our own health through fitness, diet, and in pandemic times: keeping to or fighting against restrictions. Whatever way the pursuit of provision might look, it often betrays a striving on our part that's somewhat thin on trust in God.

Not that we don't trust God, but we tend to do it after we've secured the important stuff ourselves.

Maybe some of that's changing now, though. This past year or so, a new reality may have begun leeching into our psyche. Our sense of control has been thwarted many times over during this pandemic time. Unpredictability and disruptions have increasingly become normal, forcing our tight, controlling fists to loosen somewhat, whether we had intended it or not. The reality is, we just can't plan as definitively or control as absolutely as we once could… or at least thought we could.

And maybe that's a good thing. Perhaps it's closer, in fact, to the truth of our situation—as people who've long been marginalized understand too well. We can't control the future, in fact there's very little that we can control. And in any case, provision was never actually ours to secure ourselves. It was always a gift of God to be received humbly, in thanks.

When we seek our own provision first, we no longer have need to entrust ourselves to anyone or anything else. Our neighbours and the creation are reduced to commodities to be used or competitors to be subdued. We begin to believe that we can live without others, in fact. And without God too. Our loneliness is complete.

But when we seek first God's kingdom and his righteousness we are placed in a posture of trust and dependence, because to truly know what this pursuit means: we need to talk to God, listen to God, obey God, trust God. It's his kingdom, after all. But when we do this, healthy relationships with God, with one another, and with our daily provision is restored. And, embedded in this trusting, life-giving community of the Triune God, we discover that there is always enough for today. And not just for us, but for everyone else too.

Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. (Deuteronomy 8:2).

Why do bad things happen to good people? Why do Christians suffer?

These are questions that keep coming around. Many good Christians have written extensive books in an effort to answer them. Sometimes these writers offer helpful things, but not enough for us to forget the questions.

Our text gives, not 'the' answer, but an answer to such questions. It pertains to the situation of Israel travelling through the wilderness, and thus, ought not to be applied to all situations. However, it is worth our time to consider what Moses says here. It gives us a perspective on responding to the pandemic we have been travelling through.

Recall, Deuteronomy is Moses' farewell speech to Israel before he dies, and the people enter the promised land. As one reads the book, one cannot help but recognize that Moses is deeply troubled about Israel's future. He is not convinced at all that the people will keep covenant with God. They will not do as he has commanded.

Of course, Moses' desire is that Israel flourish in the land. It is, after all, a good land with much to offer. But for Israel to prosper, there is one essential quality she needs: humility before her Lord God. This humility has two dimensions to it. The first is that Israel remembers everything that the Lord has done for her. God took her out of Egypt; led her through the waterless and scorpion infested wilderness; God provided food and water and clothing and health on her travels.

The wilderness represents a place where the natural props and supports that people depend on are taken away, so they will turn to God. To some extent, the pandemic has been that kind of wilderness for us. Moses wants Israel to keep remembering this aspect of wilderness life. But also, that in their need, God provided.

This remembering will lead to a second aspect of humility: Israel will worship the Lord and be obedient to him. She will be careful to keep his commandments because she recognizes that these commandments are not punitive but rather life giving. Keeping them will cause her to flourish in the land. Following God's commands as a means to flourishing is contrasted with self-dependence.

Looking back on the troubles she experienced on the journey, Israel needs to recognize in them the testing of God. This is not a test like in school so that God knows how much Israel has learned. Rather, it is for Israel's benefit, for her to know how well she trusts this God who has covenanted with her.

This is a way that we can look back at the trials experienced during this pandemic. Jesus tells us not to worry about tomorrow because our heavenly father will take care of us (Matthew 6). That all sounds fine when the sun is shining, but what about when the storm winds are blowing? As we journeyed through these many months has our eagerness to worship God and obey his words increased? If so, then we have benefitted from this time and we can truly say, "it is well with my soul."

And if not, if we find ourselves rebelling against him, there is still time. As the Bible says, today is the day of salvation. As long as it is 'today', God calls us back to himself. He invites us to let go of our methods of self-dependency and to trust in him.

Jesus summed up this whole chapter when he said, "Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth" (Matthew 5:5).

"My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified." (John 17:15-19)

Last Friday, Pastor Michael reminded us that we are already God's holy people. And that by no work of our own, even though we often think of holiness as a thing to be sought after and achieved by our own law-abiding efforts.

These words of prayer from Jesus on the night he was betrayed declare the moment and intention of our sanctification, that is: of our chosen-ness as God's holy people.

The intent is not that we separate ourselves from the world around us, but that we live within the world as those "set apart," that is, "made holy" by God in Christ. Jesus knows that's a tall order. So he asks the Father to protect us from the evil one, that ruler of this world who seeks to work us woe.

We become this "set apart" people by the truth of the Word. Particularly, by the Word of God made flesh in Jesus. For us he sanctified (that is, set apart) Himself for the work of death and resurrection. And because of that completed work of Jesus, our lives are now defined and set apart (that is: "truly sanctified") from the rest of the world. We now bear a different citizenship, a different name (Christian), a different identity.

Even so, the world is where we are sent. We man outposts within this world that we call our homes, workplaces, schoolplaces, and digital places. We are sent into those worldly places as ambassadors of Christ, set apart to bear the truth of a different story, a different kingdom, a different way of life and living within those places: a way defined not by what we do, but by what God has done.

Do you think of your home, or office, or social media presence as an embassy or consular presence of the Kingdom of God? As a place set-apart. And you, as a set-apart person within it who has the protection of the Father to enter into diplomatic conversations with the surrounding world into which you have been sent?

Perhaps you should start. You are a chosen people, a holy nation, a royal priesthood. Ambassadors of Christ. People whose citizenship is of a heavenly country. Resident aliens in a land not your own. And yet, you have been sent into the world, even though you are not of it. How might this fact of your God-given set-apartness change the way you interact with the people you meet online and in person today?

A special, extended Sunday Sermon edition of Wilderness Wanderings! The text is Romans 13:8-14 from the New International Version of the Bible. Dive In discussion questions are below for further reflection!

To see this sermon in the context of the worship service it comes from, find it here on YouTube. Or, head to our website to connect with the worshiping community of Immanuel CRC: immanuelministries.ca

1. What time is it?

1. What does this mean for a Christian's behaviour?

1. What does the word 'flesh' mean in this context? What are we not supposed to do with it? What are we supposed to get dressed in instead?

1. The commandments mentioned are in the negative. How does their summary redirect their focus?

1. What is the one debt that remains? How will you make payments towards it this week?

For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession (Deuteronomy 7:6).

Today, let's talk about being holy.

The way I phrased this is not helpful. This phrasing is a common misconception regarding holiness. Both outside the church and inside, holiness is considered as something that Christians do. Along with that, there is a perception that some of us are more holy than others. I occasionally encounter people who assume I am more holy because I am a pastor.

There is some validity to this misperception because we do read, "But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do" (1 Peter 1:15). But that text is not the full story. As in most matters, it is important to look at the entire scope of scripture. Certainly, followers of Jesus are to live holy lives, but there is more. This is the second part of being holy.

Our text gives us an essential part of what it means to be holy, which is the first part. For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession. Holiness begins not with what we do, but with what God does. He names us his holy people, he choses us, we are his treasured possession.

Peter applies this to the church as well, "But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light" (1 Peter 2:10).

Did you catch what Peter did? He makes clear what I am saying in this devotion. "You are a chosen people…God's special possession, that you may declare the praises of him." God's choosing comes first, our change of lifestyle comes second, it is a result of being holy.

It is important to understand that if we sin, we do not lose our holiness. We remain God's holy possession, redeemed in Christ.

Peter may have written this sentence as a summary of Deuteronomy 7. The entire chapter is about Israel's holiness. As she took over the land of Canaan, she was to purge it of all foreign gods and religious worship practices so that she would worship the Lord God alone. Israel's was a national religion. No foreign gods were to be worshipped in her land.

We have the more difficult task of being holy, worshipping God alone, while living among those who worship other gods. Most Christian communities do not separate themselves out from the world. But none the less, we are God's chosen people, his special possession. Do we recognise ourselves as such? As we live out our lives among those who worship other gods, do we intentionally live as holy people?

Often, holy people are viewed as rather proud, snobbish, stand offish. Holiness is not considered a positive attribute. But God will have none of that. We are chosen not because of anything we have done, but because of God's love and faithfulness. The first quality of holiness is humility.

Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. (Ephesians 4:15-16)

I've been thinking a lot about what church might look like going forward into the future. What will the church look like by the time I've finished my work in ministry in 20-30 years? What will it look like when our seminarians finish theirs? And what on earth do we need in our ministry toolboxes to prepare for it?

Obviously, answers on those questions are mighty thin and mighty speculative. The only thing that seems more sure at the moment is that disruption, of the sort we've experienced through this period of pandemic, will increasingly become the norm, rather than an exception. We see that in increasing instances of climate crisis, increasing fracturing of forms of belief and opinion, the sheer speed of our tech-driven world these days, and a seeming power-shift happening globally between a West on the decline and Asia on the ascent.

So as the little church of Jesus Christ caught in these cross winds of an increasingly disruptive world, what on earth do we do?

Well: I think Pastor Michael's pointing to Deuteronomy 4 yesterday was spot on. We don't need super structures of administration to keep us safe, bulwarks of programs and activities to keep us engaged here (and therefore out of trouble elsewhere), perhaps all we need to do is the very simple things we've been called to in the first place. Walking and talking with each other in the way of Christ as we all, together, follow him.

Paul, I think, says a similar thing in this great discipleship passage from Ephesians. He invites us to speak the truth in love: to talk, lovingly about the truth of God with one another in a way that builds one another up in the faith and in our lives. And that talking happens as each of us do the work that God has gifted us to do for building one another up. It happens while we're serving, working across the week, worshiping together: whenever. In short, it happens while we're walking the walk in the way of Christ. Walking out our daily lives.

So, walking and talking: regardless of what challenges and disruptions come on our path—these are faithful things God's called us to that can withstand it all and in fact, build up the body of Christ in the process. Because, here's the thing: it's still Jesus' church. Christ is still the head. And, he is faithful. His church will remain.

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 strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up (Deuteronomy 5:4-7).

Imagine that you have never seen a Bible, nor read it. Imagine that there are no church buildings and no worship services with sermons. Imagine that you have never heard a sermon because there are no preachers (don't think about that too long). Imagine that you have never attended a Sunday School class or a youth group. Imagine a society without Christian schools of any level, or Christian books of any kind, or Christian music or radio for that matter. Imagine a society in which the word Christian was unknown because there were no Christians.

If we can enter this imaginary world, I think we can begin to comprehend the situation Moses is addressing in the book of Deuteronomy. Recall, he is speaking to adults who had left Egypt as children. Genesis does not record God giving any religious education. When God interrupts Moses' shepherding to appoint him leader of Israel, one of Moses' push backs is "Who are you? What is your name?"

Israel doesn't know who God is, let alone how to be in relationship with him. There is no printing press to reprint the 10 commandments; the only copies are chiselled in stone. There is no record that they were passed from tribe to tribe. How are they to learn? How are they to grow in their trust and faith in God?

Moses boils everything down to the bare bones, "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 strength." This is to be on their hearts and impressed on their children. But how?

Simple: talk about it.

The Israelites are called into a life of exploration. What does it mean to love God in the everyday affairs of life? For Israel, it was never a matter of just 'me and God', it was always a matter of 'God and us'. As they did life together, they were to discuss what it meant to 'love God' in each situation.

And when the children asked about their religious rituals, they were to tell them the story, "We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, but the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand…and give us the land he promised on oath to our ancestors (21,23).

What would happen if we took Moses' advice and talked? What if we constantly wondered what it looks like to love God and follow Jesus in the common matters of life? What if we talked to our children about how we are loving God in our work and play and parenting? Somehow, I suspect that talk might have more impact that all the classes we attend and the sermons we hear.

I wonder if we have become too dependent on Sunday School teachers and preachers? Are we putting too much stock in Christian education and the wealth of Bible studies at our fingertips? Maybe. It is not that any of these things are bad or should be done away with. But maybe God was on to something when he told Israel to 'talk and walk.' Here is something to ponder.

"…We were eyewitnesses of his majesty. He received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased." We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain. We also have the prophetic message as something completely reliable, and you will do well to pay attention to it…" (2 Peter 1:16b-19a)

Moses and Elijah both climbed up Mt. Saini and had experiences there with God. We heard about Moses and Israel yesterday as God met his people in fiery majesty. The people heard his voice thunder and were filled with a healthy fear-of-the-Lord. In Elijah's case: God appeared not in fire, wind, or earthquake, but in a still, small voice. This too was God's glory inviting Elijah back into a healthy and humble fear-of-the-Lord.

Peter had an experience like that too. It was a day that Jesus climbed a different mountain to pray. While praying, Jesus all of a sudden began to shine. Suddenly Moses and Elijah appeared there with him and talked to him. The three sleepy disciples Jesus had bought with him—Peter, James, and John—were jolted awake and Peter stammered out some silly remark about building shelters, so as to camp out in this glorious scene. But he was interrupted by a bright cloud surrounding them all and a powerful voice declaring: "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to Him!" That voice and cloud knocked the disciples to their knees, face down.

Like the Israelites before Mt. Saini, they too heard the voice of God and lived. They too had the fear-of-the-Lord imprinted on their hearts for years to come. That's the experience Peter writes about in our text today. We were eyewitnesses of his majesty, Peter says. We heard the voice. And this, he says, is what makes credible the testimony of Jesus Christ through witnesses like he and the other apostles. It's not just that Peter was a witness though, it's also that he was transformed by wrestling through his response to this revelation of Jesus. The man we meet in 2 Peter, is not the bumbling builder we met in the Gospels. He has been humbled by a healthy fear-of-the-Lord.

Eugene Peterson says that "fear-of-the-Lord" is one, long, hyphenated word, not to be dissected into its component parts of "fear" and "Lord." It's a new and different word that cannot be clearly nailed down or defined. It is the appropriate, responsible awe and reverence evoked in us when we find ourselves in the presence of God and the revelation of his glory. But, it is also the appropriate and faithful way that we participate in and responsively pay attention to that revelation.

Reverence and a faithful, humble response. This is indeed, as Pastor Michael said yesterday, the mystery of living the Christian faith. The revelation of Jesus Christ in our experience and in the words of our scriptures is not something that we can take control of and wield like a tool or a code of conduct. There is always a reverent wrestling required. God demands our attention and our engagement, personally with him on his terms. And when we submit to that reverent, wrestling journey, we have entered into the unsafe territory of the fear-of-the-Lord.

"The Lord our God has shown us his glory and his majesty, and we have heard his voice from the fire. Today we have seen that a person can live even if God speaks with them. But now, why should we die? This great fire will consume us, and we will die if we hear the voice of the Lord our God any longer. For what mortal has ever heard the voice of the living God speaking out of fire, as we have, and survived? Go near and listen to all that the Lord our God says. Then tell us whatever the Lord our God tells you. We will listen and obey." (Deuteronomy 5:24-27).

Here we have one of the great tensions and mysteries of the Christian faith. Here we have an early demonstration of God's grace to his people.

Moses is recalling for Israel what happened when they first heard the 10 commandments. They had been gathered in the foothills of the Sinai Mountain range. God had appeared to them in blazing fire, "the mountain was ablaze with the fire." This was the glory of the Lord, the radiant light that surrounds him, the revelation of his deity. They saw firsthand the majesty of their God. And it terrified them.

Of course, they had not seen God himself, 'no one can see God and live.' But they had seen the majesty which surrounds his divine presence. And there was more, they had heard his voice. God himself had spoken to them, and his voice was thunder (cf. Exodus 19:19). They were rightly terrified. And yet…

Yet, they still lived. The people experienced that they could live even if God speaks to them. This is the miracle of grace they received from God. They are deeply convinced that what they have experienced is something unique, something that mortal humans, these fragile creatures, have never experienced before.

But they feel that God's majesty has been sufficiently imprinted on their souls and ask to be spared further exposure to God's voice; they are filled up with the fear of the Lord. Moses can be their mediator, he can go up to hear what else the Lord has to say, and he can relay this to them. They promise to listen to what Moses will report to them and also to obey.

Does God terrify you? Are you afraid of God? There is something right about being terrified by God. He is holy. He is terrifying. But notice the movement of the story. God comes to Israel. He comes down to the mountain to reveal himself. And Israel survives. That is the good news, the grace, in this story. And Moses will be their mediator for a time.

Moses will give that work over to Jesus when Jesus comes down, not to the mountain but to Mary's womb. Jesus will not come surrounded by lightning and thunder but clothed in human flesh, Immanuel. To catch a glimpse of the grace in Jesus' incarnation, we do need to stand with Israel trembling at the foot of the mountain. We need a bit of terror. God is holy! Jesus, on the cross, is our mediator. He paves the road to God with his own sacrifice.

To truly know God, we need to live in that tension between God on Mount Sinai in all his majestic glory and Jesus who walked the dusty roads of Galilee, Samaria, and Judea with his disciples. This is the tension, the mystery, and the grace of our Christian faith.