Order, Words, & Voices

10.08.23, In Between , Deuteronomy 5:1- 21; 6:4-9

Order

Pre Worship Music

Call to Worship – Song Lynn & Team

The Battle Belongs to the Lord

I WIll Trust in You

Call to Worship – Spoken Word Linda/Segun

Worship Response/Lord’s Prayer Rick

Reading Exodus 1:8-2:10; 3:1-15 Martha

Songs   Lynn & Team

One God

Amazing Grace

Message In Between Rick

Music Lynn and Team

?

Community/Peace Rick

Benediction/Closing Peace Rick

Post Worship Music

Music (slides) – Lynn and Team

In heavenly armor we’ll enter the land
The battle belongs to the Lord
No weapon that’s fashioned against us will stand
The battle belongs to the Lord

And we sing glory honor
Power and strength to the Lord
We sing glory honor
Power and strength to the Lord

When the power of darkness comes in like a flood
The battle belongs to the Lord
He’s raised up a standard the pow’r of His blood
The battle belongs to the Lord

And we sing glory honor
Power and strength to the Lord
We sing glory honor
Power and strength to the Lord

When your enemy presses in hard do not fear
The battle belongs to the Lord
Take courage my friend your redemption is near
The battle belongs to the Lord

And we sing glory honor
Power and strength to the Lord
We sing glory honor
Power and strength to the Lord

When I can’t see You I know You’re here
When I can’t feel You I will not fear
I will trust in You and I will not be afraid

And when the battle is close at hand
I know You’re with me to help me stand
I will trust in You and I will not be afraid

I will not be afraid
I will not be afraid
I will trust in You
I will trust in You

And when the darkness is closing in
And I am running against the wind
I will trust in You and I will not be afraid

‘Cause when I’m standing upon that shore
And all the battles they have gone before
I will trust in You and I will not be afraid

I will not be afraid
I will not be afraid
I will trust in You
I will trust in You

Call to Worship – Spoken Words (Slides) – Linda/Segun

We gather this morning for a moment, a moment of worship, a moment of praise. We gather with countless others in our community, our nation, and around our world who share this common path towards Becoming the Righteousness of God. We gather in places where there is suffering in ways few can begin to imagine. 

We gather with those who have experienced victories and those who are hiding their suffering while standing in front of us with a smile on their face. We gather with those whose comfort is guarded with a vigilance that is ultimately impossible to maintain. 

We gather for a moment of rest in our struggles, a moment of shared refreshment before God. We share a called, and yet chosen path, a path of grace and a path of works. May we continue to move forward on our path of becoming as we worship the God who is love.

Call to Worship – Responsive Reading (Slides) – Rick

Leader: God led the Hebrews to the land of promise. At the edge they doubted God’s word and refused to enter.

Response: Almost there, but in the wilderness their faith faltered.

Leader: That generation died in the wilderness, wandering and wondering what could have been. God had not forgotten the promise because God does not forget.

Response: 40 years later the promise waited for the next generation.

Leader: Moving from Exodus to Deuteronomy we find Moses recalling the painful story to this new generation. Poised to leave the desert and enter the land where God nourishes the soil and the soul.

Response: Leaving brutal Kings behind to enter God’s promise and provision.

Leader: Blessings of life, love, family, and fertile soil. Freedom from slavery and victory over enemies.

Response: Moses’ call is to trust God remembering the fragility of faith.

Leader: Moses will no longer travel with them nor will he stand between them and God as their parents had requested.

Response: Moses imparts his source of his strength – God’s law, statutes, and ordinances.

Leader: Moses defines life in relationship with God, with one another, and with the nations around them. Final lessons teaching worship, practices, and protection.

Response: Lessons about love, strength, and faith.

Leader: On this road to becoming, Moses’ urgent hope is that they hear, listen, and obey, as God leads them to to become a people of promise. That God’s word take root in  minds and hearts and passed on to coming generations.

Response: May God’s truth take root in us, may it be seen in our words and actions. May it be known by those who come after us.

Leader: May we realize that Jesus does not stand between us and God.

Response: May we realize that Jesus stands for us before God.

Lord’s Prayer (Slides)  – Rick

Our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name.

Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, On Earth as it is in Heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us our trespasses, while we forgive those who trespass against us.  And, lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen.

Reading   Martha

Moses convened Israel’s second generation 40 years after deliverance, and 40 years of wandering in the wilderness, and said to them:

“Hear, O Israel, the statutes and ordinances that I am addressing to you today; you shall learn them and observe them diligently. The Lord our God made a covenant with us at Horeb. Not with our ancestors but with us, who are all of us here alive today.” 

“The Lord spoke with you face to face at the mountain, out of the fire. I was standing between the Lord and you to declare to you the word of the Lord, for you were afraid because of the fire and did not go up the mountain.” 

“And God said: ‘I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself idols or bow down to or serve idols, you shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God.”

“Observe the Sabbath day and keep it holy, honor your father and your mother, you shall not murder, neither shall you commit adultery, neither shall you steal. Do not bear false witness against your neighbor, do not covet your neighbor’s spouse or your neighbor’s house, or field, or anything that is theirs.”

“Moses continued, “When those present heard the voice out of the darkness, while the mountain was burning with fire, they approached me and said, ‘You go near, you yourself, and hear all that the Lord our God will say. Then tell us everything that the Lord our God tells you, and we will listen and do it.’

Exodus 5:1-26

Music (Slides) Lynn and Team

Hear O Israel the Lord
Thy God is one God
Hallelujah
Hear O Israel the Lord
Thy God is one God
Hallelujah

And thou shalt love
The Lord thy God
With all thy heart
With all thy might
And give Him glory
King of glory
In His ways delight

Hear O Israel the Lord
Thy God is one God
Hallelujah
Hear O Israel the Lord
Thy God is one God
Hallelujah

And thou shalt love
The Lord thy God
With all thy heart
With all thy might
And give Him glory
King of glory
In His ways delight

There is no other Savior
No other life redeemer
We give our all to praise You
And lift our voice in declaration

Hear O Israel the Lord
Thy God is one God
Hallelujah

Amazing grace how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me
I once was lost but now am found
Was blind but now I see

‘Twas grace that taught my heart to fear
And grace my fears relieved
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed

Through many dangers toils and snares
I have already come
‘Tis grace has brought me safe thus far
And grace will lead me home

When we’ve been there ten thousand years
Bright shining as the sun
We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise
Than when we’ve first begun

Message  (Slides) Rick

The delivered people of God are becoming a people, at the same time they each on their own journey of becoming. However, they are also humans, and, like all of us, they are fallen humans. Imperfect humans. On their own, they are unholy humans. Two steps forward one step back. 

You can’t really blame them. They have known nothing but slavery, the gods of their Egyptian masters, and the tidbits of passed down information about their ancestors Abraham and Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, and his sons, mainly Joseph. In that last part, the tidbits, they had heard of a promise made by the God that was not the god of the Egyptians.

There was one more thing they had to hold onto, a deliverer that had bested Pharaoh and his armies. A deliverer that had secured their freedom, walked them though dangerous waters, and who talked to God, the God. Yet, still, their faith was fragile. Fragile enough that when Moses was called up to the top of Mt. Sinai by God remaining there for an extended time to receive the Commandments and other laws from God, the fragile people of God who were waiting at the base of the mountain regressed to the religious gods of the Egyptians and took up dancing around a golden bovine they’ve built for themselves out of gold they took from the Egyptians.

And then, as they stood at the entrance to the promise of God, their entrance into the promised land, their land according to God’s promise, they opted out, they turned away. They had no trust, they had no faith, they were not ready or able to enter. It was a journey that required faith and trust, they had neither. 

The promise remained, it had been made to the descendants of Abraham. Generations had waited, now the promise would wait for one more generation. It is this next generation we see detailed in the book of Deuteronomy. Although it can easily sound like Moses is speaking to the first generation he led out of slavery but it is Moses recounting that experience. The failure to trust God, the absence of a faith in the God, is recounted as Moses speaks to the next generation now about to enter the promised land which their parents refused do.

[Slide] Karen Strand Winslow describes the book of Deuteronomy “as a bridge between the Torah (Genesis through Deuteronomy) and the prophets Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Gad, Nathan, Elijah and Elisha. Deuteronomy reiterates much of the Torah while grounding the narratives of Joshua, Judges, 1-2 Samuel, and 1-2 Kings with the message: 

[Slide] ‘keep the covenant as leaders, and as a community so that you will be blessed with the fulfillment of God’s promises; break it and you will be cursed with loss of land and prosperity. Above all, tell your children what God has done for your ancestors and obey with gratefulness, serving only “the LORD, your God.’ 

(Karen Strand Winslow, Professor Emeritus of Biblical Studies, Azusa Pacific Seminary, Azusa, California)

So, here at the first part of the book of Deuteronomy, we see Moses speaking to the second generation from the Egyptians slavery. Their parents were the one that, forty years ago, witnessed their own deliverance and the miracles that set them free. While their parents had experienced the presence of God in a very blatant way, this next generation only heard their stories of God’s miracles Their parents had seen the supernatural miracles, a sea splitting, soldiers drowned, pillars of fire, provisions from God, their children, this generation, had seen the more subtle miracles, victories in battle, daily provision of manna. Their entire lives had consisted of a constant wandering in the wilderness, and these expected miracles that probably didn’t seem that spectacular. To them, these grown children, the acts of God were just the way the universe worked. 

So, Moses told, or retold, the full story to this second generation. God told of their fragile faith, of their inability to trust God even though they had seen their  own deliverance in visually miraculous ways. God also told of the Mt. Sinai experience and his conversations with God. Moses told of the commandments, ordinances, and principles God had given. Moses told of the stone tablets and how they were destroyed when their ancestors showed they were undeserving of the commandments. Moses told of those who committed to God and how they asked Moses to stand in between God and them. Moses told them that they were the tellers of this story as well as the stories of what was yet to come. He told them that it was up to them to not only build up their faith but to also build up the faith of their descendants. It was up to them to embrace the promise made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. To embrace the unknown in this unknown land because the God of the promise was present and with them.

Deuteronomy is entirely God’s preparing the second generation for entry into the promised land. In this long sermon, Moses speaks of everything of history and then how to go forward. Lessons on warfare, peace, relationships, promise, hope, and God – everything needed to enter and live in and with God’s promise.

[Slide] Patricia Tull says of this second book of the Old Testament, “[Deuteronomy] is more than a list of laws — rather it is hortatory in nature, sermonic, cajoling and motivating with compelling arguments, and most particularly the injunction to remember and repeat divine instructions.  Three audiences are evident behind, within, and in front of the text.”

(Patricia Tull, A.B. Rhodes Professor Emerita of Old Testament, Louisville Presbyterian Seminary, Louisville, Kentucky)

There are a multitude of directions I, we, could go this morning in regard to these vital teachings of Moses to this group of people about to cross into the long awaited promise God. I feel however, that we must focus primarily on one.

[Slide] “Hear, Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. 

[Slide] “And you shall repeat them diligently to your sons and speak of them when you sit in your house, when you walk on the road, when you lie down, and when you get up. You shall also tie them as a sign to your hand, and they shall be as frontlets [on your forehead. You shall also write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” (Deuteronomy 6:4-9)

[Slide] This, the first words, of this passage is known as the Shema after the first word in the verse, Shema, Hebrew for “hear”. It is a central passage in Jewish theology and practice. An observant Jew recites the Shema two times a day, in the morning and in the evening. Jesus, being a good Jew, recites the Shema when asked by a scribe which is the greatest commandment. 

[Slide] “Which commandment is the first of all?”  Jesus answered, “The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12:28-31)

[Slide] The Shema affirms the oneness of God and God’s sovereignty.

[Slide] ‘The passage also commands us and every hearer or reader of the text to love God with our whole being — mind, heart, spirit, and strength. Then, as Jesus combined this with the commandment to love one’s neighbor as oneself, the whole of the Law is encapsulated in this passage. 

[Slide] The gift of the Law is a gift given for the flourishing of God’s people, and it is rooted in a relationship of love, the unfathomable love that God first showed us and the love that God calls forth from us in grateful response.’ 

(Kathryn M. Schifferdecker, Professor and Elva B. Lovell Chair of Old Testament, Luther Seminary, Saint Paul, Minn) 

[Slide] ‘Moses calls for a response from the chosen generation of embrace and integrated devotion to God, with the whole heart, soul, and strength — in other words, with all the powers of care, intelligence, and will one might possess. Such devotion does not privilege one faculty over another. Rather, each capacity supports the others: intellect guides will; strength reinvigorates feeling; the heart inspires both inquiry and action. 

[slide] To agree with the law is not enough; to feel awe is insufficient; blindly to act is too little for the capacities of the full human. All work in concert. Reminders of this command are to be constant — in the heart, in the home, when traveling, when sleeping, when waking — and repeated to the next generation.’ (Patricia Tull)

Three takeaways for us as we leave here considering Moses’ words and heart as he spoke one last time to this generation about to step into and onto God’s promise. Takeaways that affirm but also challenge us in and on our own path of becoming.

First – The Law, Ordinances, Principles, and Practices. They are not a burden, nor are they the rules handed down from an overbearing and arrogant God. They are letters of love to allow a people, including us, a people who are constantly evolving in our relationship with God, with God’s created, and with God’s creation. Jesus fulfilled the law which does not mean that the law is eradicated but instead the veil of misunderstanding can now be withdrawn from our eyes and we are now free to perceive the law as being our guide regarding how to fully live, how to navigate culture, how to nourish and save relationships, and how to not return to slavery. 

Second – The law is summed up in one life sustaining reality – Love. Love God with everything you got and love others as you love yourself which is a natural by product of loving God with everything you have. 

Third – God the father orchestrates creation even now, the father stands ahead, leading, prompting, and confronting, inviting new instruments, mixing others sounds together. It was the father who gave the words and actions to Jesus, it was the father who sent the son to save us. God the Spirit stands with us. Giving our faith ephyphany in the midst of our reality. And God the Son stands with the father for us. We no longer do we need someone to stand between us and God, now it is essential that our savior and deliverer stands for us.

Basics – Moses is preparing the people for a reality they are unaccumstom to and to a freedom that they have never experiences. They are heading  into a land where they will not be wanted or accepted, a land that could/would tear them away from God and from each other. He gives them the law, ordinances, practices to guide them as long as they choose to remain on the path to becoming. At the same time, he will not be going with them, therefore he is releasing them to their choices and their own perception and perspectives of each other and of God. He is calling them to enlarge their view of God and the world. To see the way God see, to hope in the promise of God, and the love as God loves.

Music (Slides)   Lynn and Team

Lord of all creation

Of water earth and sky
The heavens are Your tabernacle
Glory to the Lord on high

God of wonders beyond our galaxy
You are holy holy
The universe declares Your majesty
You are holy holy
Lord of heaven and earth
Lord of heaven and earth

Early in the morning
I will celebrate the light
When I stumble in the darkness
I will call Your name by night

Hallelujah (to the Lord of heaven and earth)
Hallelujah (to the Lord of heaven and earth)
Hallelujah (to the Lord of heaven and earth)

God of wonders beyond our galaxy
You are holy holy
Precious Lord reveal Your heart to me
Father hold me hold me
The universe declares Your majesty
You are holy holy holy holy

Hallelujah (to the Lord of heaven and earth)
Hallelujah (to the Lord of heaven and earth)
Hallelujah (to the Lord of heaven and earth)
Hallelujah (to the Lord of heaven and earth)

Community (Slides) Rick

• Next Sunday, Even Hopelessness, Ruth 1:1-17
• Next Book Discussion Luncheon, ‘Making Sense of the Bible’, luncheon will take place on October 22, following worship. Please RSVP.
• Celebrating Excellence Banquet, Sunday, October 29, ? free GF Seats Available – speak with Rick

Benediction (Slides) Rick

As we leave this place we continue on this journey fully dependent on the life and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We are on this path because of God’s extravagant grace and by our own choice. We are connected to the soil and the pursuit of becoming the righteousness of the Holy God. This is a pursuit that gives us no choice but to face the struggles and wrestle them through. Through which we are blessed.

We move forward even when we cannot see, we dive into the flowing provision even when the waters appear difficult, we hope even when our despair threatens to consume us, we love because that is the sole path and purpose of becoming. We wrestle through even when our body, and every muscle within us, is exhausted. 

And, when our faith seems worthless, when hopelessness rules our reality, and when hatred seems to consume our world, we still choose to move forward in trust, to hope in the empty grave, and to love because that is our path, that is our call.

Closing Peace Rick

Leader: May the Peace and Hope of the Lord go with you.  

Response: And also with you.

Leader: Go in the Peace and Hope of the Lord.