Second Sunday after Pentecost – June 26, 2011

Two men traveling west in the days of the pioneers were looking to build a house and settle in the land. As they came over a small mountain they saw a crystal clear river, flowing swiftly downstream. As they stood there admiring the view, one of them thought, “It sure would be nice to be close to such clear, clean water,” so just 50 ft. away from the river he dug into the sand and built his house. The other man thought, however, “That’s much too close to the water for me.” He went a goodly distance away from the water, at a slightly higher elevation, found some solid rock and built his house there. That year when the spring rains came and the snow melted, the man’s house built on the sand next to the river washed away, while the other man and his house were safe. One man was wise, the other one foolish.

Of course, those of you familiar with the Bible know that Jesus used an illustration similar to this one. In the gospel of Matthew, Matthew records Jesus’ words: “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. ²⁵ The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. ²⁶ But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. ²⁷ The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash” (Matthew 7:24-27).

One was wise, the other foolish. The wise man heard the words of Jesus AND put them into practice. The foolish heard the words of Jesus but did not put them into practice. And this leads us to our text from Deuteronomy 11 this morning as Moses lays out the course of wisdom for the children of Israel.

Deuteronomy 11:18-21,26-28 - ¹⁸ Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. ¹⁹ 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. ²⁰ Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates, ²¹ 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… ²⁶ See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse— ²⁷ the blessing if you obey the commands of the Lord your God that I am giving you today; ²⁸ the curse if you disobey the commands of the Lord your God and turn from the way that I command you today by following other gods, which you have not known.

So who is the wise person? It is the one who fixes God’s Word to their heart and does what God’s Word says.

The words of our text were spoken by Moses as Israel was about to enter the Promised Land. The 40 years of wandering were over. Moses was near the end of his life. Joshua was about to take over. In fact, the majority of the book of Deuteronomy is Moses’ farewell speech to the people. And what is it that he says to them? “Fix these words…in your hearts and minds; tie them…on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. ¹⁹ Teach them…[talk] about them…Write them.” In other words Moses was telling them, “The Lord wants you to go about your lives as if his words were hanging from your heart and forehead because they are so firmly planted in your heart and mind.” God wanted them to constantly be thinking about them, meditating upon them, and receiving their warning and comforts. God’s words were to be an everyday part of their lives.

These words were certainly appropriate for the children of Israel. We know their history. Even though this was a different generation than the one who came out of Egypt, their will to avoid sin was still weak. The only way they could be sustained to follow God’s laws and receive the blessings and avoid the curses was to fix God’s Word to their hearts and do what it said.

And unless we are telling ourselves one big lie, we have to acknowledge that our will to avoid sin is also very weak. So often we are the foolish man or woman who hears the Word of God but does not do what it says. So these words are certainly appropriate for us. God wants us to fix his words to our hearts. He wants his words to be an everyday part of our lives. And why is it so important that we cling to God’s Word? It is so important because it is God’s own word and the only way to be truly wise. It is so important because here he speaks to us, and when he speaks he reminds us of very important things.

When we cling to God’s Word, he reminds us of his perfect standard for living, his Law. His law carries a “blessing and a curse.” Do this and you will live; do it not and you will be condemned! Oh, we may not have heard God’s Law thunder down from Mt. Sinai, but its thunder still rolls today.

Consider this example: “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy” (Exodus 20:8). Martin Luther helps us understand what this means when he says this means “We should fear and love God that we do not despise preaching and his Word, but regard it as holy and gladly hear and learn it.” How many of us have done this? How many of us have always clung to God’s Word? Who among us can say that we have never despised worship by complaining about the preacher? Who among us can say that we always come to church with a smile on our face? Who among us can say that we always gladly make time for devotions? Who among us can say that something selfish or petty or insignificant has never kept us away from Sunday worship? What should we expect from God: the blessing or the curse?

Or what about this example: “You shall have no other gods” (Exodus 20:3). Oh, we know about the gods the Israelites had – the Baal’s, Ashtoreth’s, Golden Calf, and so on, and we like to think we have done better. But how many of us have placed our money before God? That’s what we’re doing when our offerings to the Lord are not the first-fruits of what we have or proportionate to what the Lord has given us. How many of us have placed our families before God? That’s what we’re doing when holiday gatherings, family get-togethers, or even graduations and reunions keep us from worshiping. How many of us have placed ourselves before God? That’s what we’re doing every time we choose to ignore one of God’s commandments so we can do what we want. What should we expect from God: the blessing or the curse?

Yes, when we cling to God’s Word it makes us wise to see the truth about ourselves – and we need to know that. We need to be made wise to the fact that we are sinners deserving of hell who can never, ever, ever make ourselves acceptable before God. If we separate ourselves from God’s Word, Satan will try to convince us that on our own we are good enough. Or, he will try to convince us it doesn’t matter how we live because God wouldn’t curse anyone. But both of those are just not true. Veering away from the Word will only result in disaster. It will only bring curses.

That’s why we need to fix God’s Word in hearts and minds. That Hebrew word fix is a fascinating and powerful word. It conveys to us a stronger idea than merely attaching something to us externally. It tells us to attach something to ourselves internally, in our hearts and minds. God wants us to do this not only so we are wise about ourselves, but so we also can be wise in knowing what God has done for us in Jesus.

In his Word, the Lord reminds us that he sent a Savior who is his one and only Son. Jesus perfectly kept all of God’s laws. He kept them to fulfill God’s demands of righteousness for us because we could not do it on our own. In exchange for giving his righteousness to us, Jesus then took our sin from us. He bore its burden and paid its debt on the cross.

You see, despite our constant sinful wandering and a foolish failure to follow God’s commands, the Lord has placed the curses we deserved upon Jesus our Savior. And despite our inborn condition of sin and death, the Lord has placed into our minds and hearts a faith that clings to Jesus’ sinless life and innocent death as our sure hope for being able to stand acceptable before God. To know this and believe this is true wisdom.

God’s word is powerful. It alone leads us to Christ and his forgiveness. It alone tells us that while we cannot make ourselves acceptable before God, but that God has declared us not guilty through Jesus our Savior. It alone gives health and healing to sin-filled and troubled souls. And it alone gives us everything we need, then, to do what God’s Word says.

The first thing he wants us to do is fix his words on our hearts and minds. When we do this God’s Word will guide our thoughts and direct our desires. It will guide every action of our hand and every look of our eyes. It means that every time we leave our house, or every time we enter it, we will want to do it to God’s glory.

You see, God doesn’t want us to think that we need his Word only one day a week. He wants us to see that we need it for our every day regular lives. He doesn’t want us to think that we’ve done everything he asks by coming to church this morning, he wants us to go out there this week and do all he commands. He doesn’t want us to think that because we sent our kids to Sunday school or the Christian day school this past year, we did what God says, he wants us to teach them every day, to talk about God’s Word when we sit at home and when we walk along the road, when we lie down and when we get up. He wants us to realize that while we cannot gain heaven by what we do, we can lose heaven by what we fail to do.

Simply put, God wants us to make what we believe also what we live – because that’s true wisdom. That’s a wisdom that leads us to see again and again the hands of Christ held out on the cross and the mind of Christ submitting to the will of his heavenly Father. When we do this we will be blessed, not because we will have earned anything from God - we know that we could never do that - but because we will constantly be made wise in knowing our Savior from our sin. Amen.