“OBEDIENCE TO GOD’S WORD BRINGS PROSPERITY”

   The Word of God for this day is taken from the Old Testament lesson of Deuteronomy 30:11, 14, which reads:  “Now what I have commanded you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach.  No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it.”  So far the text.

    Grace, mercy, and peace be multiplied unto you from God the Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.

    I can remember from the days when I was a younger man and later as a pastor that a person has asked me, “what church are you a member at?” and I would say, “I am a member of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod.”  And the response to my answer was, “Oh, that is the strict church.”  And then I thought to myself, “It is?”  I didn’t know our church was strict.  I didn’t feel inhibited in my Christian life because of the Ten Commandments.

    The setting of this Old Testament text is Moses standing at the threshold of the Jordan River, ready to cross over into the Promised Land, but Moses would not be going.  He was 120 years old and no longer able to lead and now Joshua would lead the Israelites.   Just as a Pastor who is retiring and leaving his congregation desires to give one last word of advice from God’s Word, so Pastor Moses gives his final advice from God’s Word to his congregation, the Israelites. Moses says, “Children of Israel, be faithful to the Torah, the Ten Commandments.  It is the basic Christian faith and doctrine of God that I have been teaching you along the way.  They are:  When you enter into the Promised Land where there are many false gods, do not worship them for only Yahweh is God.  Worship only Him.  Don’t curse God’s name or tell a lie using God’s name as being the truth, when what you are saying is not the truth.  Work six days a week, but on the Sabbath Day, rest from your labors and worship God.  If you worship and obey God, God will make you prosperous in all the work of your hands and in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock and the crops of your land. (verse 9) This promise included peace in the land from enemies ravaging their fields and burning down their homes.  If they obey God’s Torah, doing what God commanded, they would have abundant harvests, many children around the dinner table, laughter and joy in the midst of their labors and they would see their prosperity and have hope in a future. 

    Moses continued to teach:  Obey those in authority for God has placed them over you for your good.  Don’t hurt and harm your neighbor bringing death for such actions destroy relationships.  Don’t commit adultery by taking your neighbor’s spouse or divorcing the wife or husband of your youth simply because you don’t always get along.  Don’t steal and cheat from your neighbor, making their life hard and bitter.  Don’t tell lies about your neighbor, ruining their reputation.  Don’t covet your neighbor’s property for your happiness doesn’t consist in the abundance of things.   Learn to be content with what you have and work diligently with your hands and pray for God to bless your labors.  Don’t covet your neighbor’s wife, workers or animals, they are not yours, but instead encourage everyone to be faithful to each other.  If you do these things…if you are obedient to God’s Word, you will prosper!

     Is this true, obedience to God’s Word brings prosperity?  If you didn’t want to be obedient, you would soon develop a reputation as a person who doesn’t want to get along.  Who wants to hire a person who is belligerent and doesn’t want to follow rules?  If a husband and a wife doesn’t want to submit to each other, obey each other by giving and taking a little all you have is chaos and nothing good is accomplished.  If a person is disobedient to societies’ rules, well, there is prison.  But why would a person not want to be obedient?  Because they have another god they are worshipping and it is themselves.  Their needs and wants will be met and thus breaking the 1^st commandment.  What about murder?  Just think of Cain and Abel and how after the murder Cain was always a marked man.  There is no prosperity in hurting, harming and ultimately killing someone.  What about adultery?  If it took place by cheating on your spouse or leaving your spouse because you are tired of each other as it was in the days of Jesus when he was questioned about Rabbi Hillel who said it was okay to divorce your wife if she burnt the bread.  Jesus said, “God hates divorce.”  Why did He say this?  Ultimately there is another god being served which is lust and sex and the sinful I, but it also destroys the fabric of society, destroys the home, destroys relationships, creates insecurities, destroys the cause of the Gospel, creates anger, bitterness, hatred which leads to eternal condemnation.  Then it is her kids and against his kids, and their kids against his and her kids and the ex-spouse against the new spouse.  Then there is frustration of trying to support two households and some of the children grow up and leave, never wanting to come back.  Some children grow up and marry to escape mom and dad’s mess but marry for the wrong reason and they have no money and all the problems that go with it begins.  Soon mom and dad dread when they drive up in the driveway because all they want is more money.  You don’t want to celebrate around the holidays because it is always a big fight.  Life is just grand when your god is you, isn’t it?

    What about lying and stealing?  Look what it got Martha Stewart and she still claims she hasn’t done anything wrong.  Look at the troubles that have come to Mr. Long of the Enron Corporation!  There is a day of judgment.  What about coveting your neighbor’s property?  It leads to theft!  What about coveting your neighbor’s workers by enticing the worker over with promises of greater wages?  Loyalty to anyone is shot out the window!  What about coveting your neighbor’s spouse?  I am always amazed at how a spouse can’t believe their spouse from their second marriage could and did cheat on them, when they cheated on their spouse from their first marriage.   What goes around comes back around and why do sins come back multiplied?   There is no obedience to God’s Word and how can God bless disobedience?  Who are the new class of the poor in America today?  Single moms and dads with children!  Am I the only one who can see this, that no one prospers?   Oh, but you might say, “I know people who do harm to others, cheat and steal and lie and covet and get and they are prosperous and never seem to get in trouble for what they do!”   To which God would say, “What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul.” (Luke 9:25)

    Brothers and sisters in Christ, can we keep God’s Torah, the Ten Commandments?  You know that we can’t.  God even says that if we offend at just one point in the law, we have broken all of the law. (James 2:10)  We deserve the accusations of the law to stand against us and we deserve to be thrown into the “slammer.”   We deserve what we pray in the confessional prayer, “Thy temporal and eternal punishment.”   You know we could never be declared righteous before God by the law but the righteousness that we need comes from above, from God through faith in Christ Jesus.  Jesus is our righteousness who erased the written code of all our sins that stood against us with His holy, precious blood.  And that righteousness is yours through faith in Jesus.  Jesus met the righteous requirements of the law for those who do not live according to the sinful nature but who live according to the Spirit.  (Romans 8:2-5)  And it is in this grace of God that you and I live, having been set free from the condemnation of the law through Jesus.   

    What does the law do?  It shows us our sin.  It condemns us.  It crushes us and kills us.  It shows no mercy.  It makes you feel guilty, helps you see your shame, even leads you to feel anguish in your very bones if you try and hide your guilt from God.  The law is good in that it will not let you escape condemnation so that in fear you would turn to God in Christ Jesus and plead for mercy.  That is the Gospel!  What does the Gospel do?  It shows us Jesus, the cross, the empty tomb, the resurrected Christ, the ascended Lord who is, who was and who is coming to bring every believer in Christ back with Him to the green pastures of heaven, to the banqueting table in heaven, to the assembly of all the saints.  Seeing God’s grace and mercy, the Gospel leads us back to the Law in its third use as a guide to show us how we can please God and our neighbor out of love for God’s mercy in Jesus.  You can’t please God until you first of all keep your God - God of heaven and earth - Yahweh of the Scriptures.  And when you hear and obey God’s Word, God’s blessings flow to you and you prosper. 

    But can you keep the Torah, the Ten Commandments?  Yes you can for Christ has made your imperfect attempts perfect.  Yes, you can for God’s Word, His Law is in your heart and mind and in your heart.  Many of you have memorized Luther’s explanation to the Ten Commandments and if you have not, you are still without excuse of lack of knowing for you have God’s Word the Bible.  You have heard the Ten Commandments taught.  You have God’s Word in your heart and mind and God’s Spirit to help you to say, “no,” to the devil’s temptations so that you can take your stand against the devil so that he will flee from you.  Is God’s Word too strict?  Are you a member of the Lutheran Church whose teachings are too strict?  How can God’s Word be strict for you as Christians when by God’s grace you don’t want to do and don’t want to live according to all the “thou shalt nots” you memorized from Luther’s Small Catechism?  If you do consider God’s Word too strict as a Christian, or balk at any instruction of following God’s Word, then no Christian you are desiring to be for you cannot serve two Masters.  You cannot say “I love God” and then hate His Word and resist walking in His ways. 

    My friends, where do you stand?  Who is leading you right now in your life?  What or who is demanding to be served in your life?  Sort it out.  Discern for yourself from God’s Word what is standing in your way for full love and service toward God.   Are you presently having troubles in your life?  Where has God been fitting in the picture?   Return to the Lord with all your heart and with all your soul and the Lord will make you prosperous with daily bread, good friends and neighbors, a good life, satisfaction in possessing the gift of salvation and satisfaction is knowing and having the guarantee of a heavenly home given to you all by God’s grace.  Obedience to God’s Word brings prosperity and God’s prosperity begins and ends in God’s Word.  As God’s redeemed in Christ, may we continue to grow in expressing our faith and love to Jesus by walking sanctified lives through obedience to His Word both now and forevermore.  Amen.

    The peace of God, which transcends all understanding keep your heart and mind in Christ Jesus to life everlasting.  Amen.