POWER TO THE PEOPLE
#034 POWER TO THE PEOPLE
Scripture Deuteronomy 8:1,2,16-20 NIV Orig. 5/3/64 (3/79)
Rewr. 3/21/87
Passage: 1 Be careful to follow every command I am giving you today, so that you may live and increase and may enter and possess the land the Lord promised on oath to your ancestors. 2 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. . . . 16 He gave you manna to eat in the wilderness, something your ancestors had never known, to humble and test you so that in the end it might go well with you. 17 You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.” 18 But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today. 19 If you ever forget the Lord your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed. 20 Like the nations the Lord destroyed before you, so you will be destroyed for not obeying the Lord your God.
Purpose: To examine the spiritual motivations of the people of God in light of His blessings and His expectations
Keywords: Blessing God, People of Judgment
Introduction
Many of us have seen awesome generational changes taking place in our lives and the lives of our children. So many particular advantages have come, and are coming, to the youth of this present age.
Both of our girls have already become world travelers. Fritha has been out of the country three times: Canada, Europe, Liberia. She is presently planning a Russia trip. Rhonda has been away three times: Canada, Europe, Brazil.
Both returned from their travels to share great moments with their parents. I remember vividly the slides taken in Europe. I particularly remember the great cathedrals.
The architects of the 12th and 13th centuries had great confidence in their technical skills. They continued to press for higher and higher monuments of praise, and of self-glory. In 1163 A.D., the vault of the nave of Notre Dame reached the then record height of 110 feet. At Chartres, 31 years later (1194), a new record of 114 feet was achieved. At Rheims in 1212, a height of 125 feet was recorded. Then, just nine years later, in 1221, the cathedrals of Amiens stood at 140 feet. By this time, competition between the cities had become the driving force in these construction displays. The people vowed to raise their cathedral 13 feet higher than at Amiens. Three times they tried. It fell each time. In 1500, gigantic transepts were begun, and in 1552, the lantern tower reached the unbelievable height of 500 feet. The tower collapsed one year later, and with it came the end of this great period of architectural competition. Such enterprises had become monuments to the praise of men rather than the praise of God.
It was not always so intended. At Chartres for instance (LinLib1583), without proper stones nearby, nobles and peasants, abbots and abbesses with their subservient bodies of monks and nuns, allowed themselves to be harnessed to the heaviest of carts, which they pulled from quarry to building site. Then, on that site, they built, with their own hands, the walls of the “House of God.” How easy for such labors to degenerate to desire for self-esteem. So it was for Israel. So it is for us, too often.
I. Act One in This Drama of Power to the People Is Persuasion. 8:1 “All the commandments which I command thee this day shall ye observe to do, that ye may live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the Lord swore unto your fathers.”
The initial concept in Persuasion is the authority of the persuader. All of us have been recipients of promises that could not be kept. The greatest single factor in the breakdown of many marriages, is in promises not kept. Many parents cannot give liberally to their children, but promises broken are the destiny provokers. And, we have all been guilty of making promises that we could not or did not keep.
I still remember some promises not kept while still a youth.
I remember preaching the funeral in Oakdale, Louisiana, of a young man who was killed in a car wreck directly attributable to a broken promise.
The lagoon of life is filled with the decaying hulks of broken promises and broken lives.
The persuader here is God Himself, who would not and cannot deceive. Listen to 8:7f: “For the Lord thy God bringeth thee into a good land, . . . a land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack anything in it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass.”
Such sufficiency was the promise of God to Israel for their good. It was a promise He intended to keep. It was a promise to guide them in their will to follow. It was a promise, if kept, that would have been the supplier of power for Israel. It is a promise God makes to his people in any age. Psalm 27:8 “When thou saith, ‘Seek ye my face;’ my heart said unto thee, ‘Thy face, Lord, will I seek.’” Matthew 7:21 “Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.”
It is in the context of promise given to persuade, that we learn of Jesus as Saviour. The Old Testament, you remember promised that ONE would come. The New Testament teaches us the story of His life and death. Old Testament, New Testament, and 2000 years of Christian history certify that He is going to return.
Are you persuaded?
II. Act Two in This Drama Is Provision. V2 “And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness to humble thee and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldst keep His commandments or not.”
What happened to Israel happened, to the end that they would better become a power of God. He is able to bring His people through struggle.
The misdeeds of His people are another matter. The Jim Bakker debacle is a case in point. We were in New Orleans when Bob Harrington left his ugly mark on the Baptist name. I have a friend in Morgan City who has recovered from this heinous wrong.
Have we stopped recently to contemplate what God has given over to us as His people? We are 7-8% of the world’s people. We occupy 6% of the world’s land mass. We control nearly 50% of the world’s wealth. We do struggle, over energy, marketing farm products, etc., but we are still, uniquely, the chosen people of God to the end that the gospel be proclaimed.
In such provision, we discover what a nation’s safeguards really are. Someone reminds us, “A nation’s safeguards are not in commerce or Tyre would not have fallen; not in art or Greece would have stood; not in political organization or Rome would have lasted; not in military power or Germany would have triumphed; not in religious ceremony, or Israel would not have collapsed.” Amos 5:21f tells us that assemblies were rebuked, offerings unacceptable, ceremony a defilement. Amos 5:24 “Let justice run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream.”
III. Finally, Act Three in the Drama Declares Their Probation. V18, 19, “But thou shalt remember . . . . And it shall be that if thou do at all forget, . . . you shall surely perish.” This is not the threat of an angry, surly, self-seeking God. It reminds Israel and us that He is not intimidated by our intellectual uniqueness. Even with that superiority, how evident is our record of failure.
Upon examination, His commands have always been consistent with this experienced probation. Look at the Ten Commandments and acknowledge their societal advantage. However, Jesus reminds us that they can be simplified. Mark 12:30-31 “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, mind, soul, and strength; and thy neighbor as thyself.”
The probation given is directed against human pride. V12f “Lest when thou hast eaten and art full, and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt therein; And when thy herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied; Then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the Lord thy God. . . .”
One of the clear indications of this time is that the world’s people are on spiritual probation: Nations. Churches, Individuals.
A pilot discovered that his instruments were not working. He told the passengers, “I have good and bad news. The instruments are out. I don’t know where we are going. The good news is we are getting there at 600mph.”
Conclusion
A National Geographic article on Brazil concluded with the story of a man from the interior of the Amazon who had made his way to one of the cities. For 15 years he had worked separating tin cans from garbage. “Which do you like better?” the author asked. “It is better here,” the man said. “There I was a slave.” (NG—March 1987).