"Learn the Lord's Words!"

Weekend of August 20, 2000

Sermon on Deuteronomy 11:18-21

Saint Mark's, Watertown, WI

Pastor Karl Walther

The Bible itself assures you: All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, so that a godly person may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. Amen.

God's Word for our special consideration this morning, on what we're calling our Education Sunday, is Deuteronomy chapter eleven, verses eighteen through twenty-one. There Moses instructs the Israelites as follows:

Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates, so that your days and the days of your children may be many in the land that the LORD swore to give your forefathers, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth.

This is the Word of the Lord.

Introduction: The School Year Is Nearly Upon Us

Dear fellow Christians-- whom the Lord urges to learn his words:

The school year is nearly upon us. In this morning's nine o'clock service, we'll be installing two of the new teachers for our school. Early this afternoon up on the hill, Luther Prep will hold its opening service-- something that's brought some of you here from all across the United States (and we're glad to have you with us). Registration for classes at Saint Mark's Lutheran School takes place on Wednesday of this week. And students in nearly every local school begin classes either this week or the next.

So, if you're a parent, you've probably already begun to gather what's necessary to send your child back to school. If you're a worker, you might already have begun to notice the summer workers leave for autumn classes. If you're a student, well, you've already noticed all too well how soon school will begin. And even if you're an adult, there's no small possibility that you have arranged to take some classes this autumn in connection with your work or your interests.

Theme: Learn the Lord's Words!

Well, in God's Word to us today, the Lord urges us not to leave him out of our school plans for fall. In the message of Moses to the Israelites, we hear God saying to us:
* LEARN THE LORD'S WORDS! In God's Word to us today we'll receive the answers to these questions: (1) WITH WHAT RESULTS? will we learn the Lord's words,
(2) IN WHAT MANNER? will we learn the Lord's words & (3) FOR WHAT REASON? will we learn the Lord's words this coming autumn and always.

Exposition One: Learn the Lord's Words! -- With What Results?

God's Word to us today is a part of Moses' final sermon to the Israelites. It was probably the year fourteen hundred six bc (about three thousand four hundred years ago now). The Israelites were across the Jordan River, looking to their west at the expanse of land they were about to conquer. And the entire generation that had left Egypt forty years earlier had died off. It meant that Moses now needed to instruct the next generation in regard to the way of the Lord-- before he died.

In so doing, Moses said-- and this is God's Word to us today: Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Later Moses adds: Write these words of mine on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

It's interesting to note that Jewish people, both in Jesus' day and to this day, have taken these words literally. To this day, observant Jewish people take four Scripture passages (two from the story of the Exodus and two from this book of Deuteronomy-- one of those is this section of Scripture). They take these four Scripture passages, write them down, and put them in two little leather boxes-- which they then tie to their foreheads and left arms during morning prayers. Those boxes are called phylacteries. Jewish people also attach small wooden or metal boxes with slips of paper with passages of Scripture to the doorframes of their houses.

Application One: The Lord Wants His Words to Govern Our Whole Lives!

And you know, a person really can't blame Jewish people for doing all of that. We do some of the same things when we place crosses, or plaques with Scripture passages, on our walls at home. Nevertheless, it's clear that here the Lord is simply saying to us in a picturesque way that he wants his words to govern our whole lives.

• Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds, God says. God is saying: "I want you to get a good dose of my Word-- so much so, that it enters through your ears straight into your minds, where it's a part of your memory; so much so, that my Word enters through your ears and minds straight into your hearts, where it will never get lost."

• Tie these words of mine as symbols on your hands, God continues. God is saying: "I want you so to know my Word that that's what governs everything you do (with your hands). I want my Word to keep your hands from sin. And I want my Word to keep your hands free always to do what's good."

• Bind these words of mine on your foreheads, God continues-- literally: between your eyes. God is saying: "I want everything your mind takes in filtered through your knowledge of my Word. And I want everything you see and desire similarly filtered through my Word."

• Write these words of mine on the doorframes of your houses and on the gates to your cities, God concludes. God is saying: "The first thing I want people to notice about you, when they're about to knock on your door or when they're about to enter your town, is that you are one of mine, one of my people. I want that to be the very first impression of you."

Exposition Two: Learn the Lord's Words! -- In What Manner?

Folks, all of that -- all of that knowledge of God's Word -- is not going to take place from catechism training twenty or sixty years ago, plus one one-hundred-and-sixty-eighth of the week (an hour of worship) today. So, it's shouldn't surprise us when we read: Teach these words of mine to your children-- but the better translation of these words in keeping with the Hebrew here is: Learn these words of mine with your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.

Application Two: The Lord Wants His Words to Dominate Our Whole Lives!

You see, God wants us constantly learning his words. And if we have some kids, he wants us constantly learning his words especially with our children-- because they're a natural first choice with whom to share God's Word, and they're a chief responsibility of ours. God wants us learning his Word, as he says here, whether around the supper table or in the car, whether at bedtime or at breakfast.

And how does that happen? Well, I'm going to mention to you three areas in which you might learn the Lord's words-- church, Bible class, and personal time for Word and prayer. Not everything I say is necessarily going to apply to everybody-- although a lot of it will. Remember God wants his Word to govern our lives, our desires, our words, our deeds, and even our first impressions. Not everything I say is necessarily going to apply to everybody, but all of us need to take and to do some of what I'm going to say.

• Church, first of all. In church, we offer to you God's Word-- and really, a banquet based on the Bible. How about always being here-- not just some or even most of the time? How about catching the Wednesday night service at seven, if you're going to be gone for the weekend, or at least the Monday night service at six on Community Cable thirteen? And how about making sure to come to worship well-rested and unhurried-- in order to hear of your Savior?

• Bible Class, secondly. Now, Bible Class isn't absolutely required by the Scriptures. But wow!-- what an opportunity it is! I mean, if God's Word is supposed to govern our thoughts, isn't it a great thing to have Bible class weekly reminding you to cherish marriage and to flee lust? If God's Word is supposed to govern our words, isn't it a great thing to have Bible class weekly reminding you to uphold your Savior Jesus Christ and not to refrain from promoting him verbally? If God's Word is supposed to govern our deeds, isn't it a great thing to have Bible class weekly reminding you to smile when you're serving others-- in the family, on the job, or elsewhere in your lives? And folks, we have a lot of Bible classes here at Saint Mark's for you to consider taking in!

• And finally, personal Word and prayer time. If you're single, how about reading the selections from Scripture listed at the end of our bulletin day by day? Or how about reading a chapter of the Bible (maybe starting in the New Testament with Matthew) or a page of the Meditations booklet day by day? If you're a couple, how about doing something like this together at breakfast or at supper every day?

Or suppose you're parents. If you've got a small child, how about getting a good little Bible story book and reading her some stories every night before bedtime? If you've got some elementary aged children, how about reading them one bit of the Bible after school or at the end of the evening every day? And how about considering getting them into our Christian day school, so that they'll have passages of Bible for you to go over-- and instruction from Scripture for you to ask about every day?

If you've got a child in catechism class, he's going to have a chapter of the Bible per day to read and memory work day by day. How about doing that with him? Or if you have teens in high school: first of all, how about considering a Lutheran high school for them? And secondly, how about considering including them in on your own personal Word and prayer time?

Exposition Three: Learn the Lord's Words! -- For What Reason?

All of this, of course, is no little work! And a person might well ask: How can I fit it in? With forty or fifty hours of work every week and lots of interests outside of work, with kids running here and there to piano lessons or to choir or to football or to soccer or to cross-country or to whatever else, how can I fit it all in, Pastor?

Well, I guess I have to respond: how can we not fit into our lives a constant connection to Christ through his Word? Consider the stakes! Moses says to the Israelites: Learn the Lord's Word so that your days and the days of your children may be many in the land that the LORD swore to give your forefathers, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth.

Application Three: The Lord Wants His Words to Give Us Eternal Life!

That, of course, was quite a promise! God had an agreement with the Israelites. He said, essentially, if you follow my Word-- if you observe its commands, its festivals, its dietary laws, its cleanliness laws, its laws of separation from other nations, et cetera: if you follow my Word, you will live happily ever after in this land I am giving you.

° But God's other promise to the Israelites -- and it is God's promise to us -- is so much greater! God says: "As you faithfully hear and read and learn my Word, I will send my Holy Spirit through that Word to grow faith in Jesus Christ in your heart. Through Jesus, I will enable you to look: not across the Jordan Valley, but across the valley of the shadow of death into the land of eternal life. Through Jesus, I will split: not the Jordan River, but the side of my Son Jesus Christ-- whose blood will flow to wash away all the many times you've failed to learn my Word. Through Jesus, you will conquer: not the Canaanite peoples, but Satan and all his forces-- who will hold you captive no longer. And through Jesus: you will receive not the land of Canaan, but the promised land of heaven itself.

° My friends, I submit to you that if it's necessary for you to get up an hour early to learn God's Word to continue to trust in Christ in order to reach that heavenly land, the loss of rest will be worth it-- to gain a heavenly rest. I submit to you that if it's necessary to skip a meal to learn God's Word to continue to trust in Christ in order to reach the heavenly banquet, the rumbling tummy is worth it-- to receive the heavenly food. Friends, if it's necessary to cut back on your hours at work, or to cancel your kids' plans to participate in sports, or to throw out your t.v. to learn God's Word of Christ-- it's worth it to gain a heavenly joy. And you probably won't have to do all that, will you? You'll probably just have to be careful to schedule in some time for Word and prayer on your calendar, day by day and week by week by week.

Conclusion: Are You Ready to Learn the Lord's Words This School Year?

So, the school year is nearly upon us. Those of you whom the law requires to go to school are getting ready to be there. Others of you are heading back to continue preparation for your life's work. And still others of you are taking some classes this fall better to help you do your job.

All of us, though, need to be thinking of keeping the Lord in our school plans for fall. So: friends, read God's Word! Friends, learn it together! Friends, see you back here next week-- and through faith in Christ: in heaven afterwards! Amen.

The Bible itself assures you: You have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. Amen.