Epiphany 6, 2020
Deuteronomy 30:15-20
"Life or Death?"
Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
You just finished a wonderful prime rib dinner at Misty’s. After paying the bill you walk outside into the sunlight and remember the wonderful memories made as you listened to the marching band and cheered the Cornhuskers with the cheerleaders during at one of the pep rallies.
Suddenly you trip over something. It’s a duffle bag filled with cash. You look around the parking lot but there doesn’t seem to be anyone else out there but you.
Do you pick up the bag and go back into Misty’s to find the owner? If so turn to page 18. If you call the police to report what you found turn to page 34. If you decide to take the bag and donate it to your favorite Church…Redeemer go see Pastor in his office after Church.
When I was in junior high, I used to love the Choose Your Own Adventure books. I would read the book over and over again picking all the different choices. Sometimes I'd look ahead to make sure that my choice wouldn't suddenly end the story right then and there. This is how many would like to live. Jumping to each page of the book to see what happens while keeping one finger on the page your still on. We want to know ahead of time which choice we make will give us our desired result.
"See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. If you obey the commandments of the LORD your God that I command you today, by loving the LORD your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess. I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, loving the LORD your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them." (Deuteronomy 30:15-20)
Sounds just like a Choose Your Own Adventure book! Choose life and its blessings or choose death and punishment. The only thing missing are where to turn the page to after you make your choice. But in this life... we don't get to look ahead to make sure we make the right choice. In this life we don't get to start the book over...and over...and over again until we get the right ending. In this life we choose....like the Israelites...death. Think you'd make a better choice since you know how the Israelites ended up? They did too... only... they knew the results from another story in Scripture... one that we know too.
"The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die." (Genesis 2:15-17)
From the very beginning mankind has chosen death. Adam and Eve chose death. The Israelites chose death. When we choose our own wants and desires ahead of God's Word...we choose death. When we ignore God and His Word we choose death. When we lie, cheat, and steal we choose death. When we disobey our parents, teachers, and others God has placed over us we choose death. When we ignore the sin of this world, when we fail to share God's love, when we are afraid to call that which is wicked and evil; that which is contrary to God's Word a sin we choose death. When we fail to call sinners to repentance we choose death. Every time we sin...we choose death.
But God chose life. "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I set you apart..." (Jeremiah 1:5) "For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." (Jeremiah 29:11) "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly." (John 10:10) "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16)
From the very beginning God chose life. He chose life for you. He chose life for you knowing that it would cost the death of His only begotten Son. He chose life for you even though you sin often. He chose life for you because He loves you. Jesus willingly went to the cross, knowing the wrath He would endure, because He loves you. God loves you. He chose life for you. He gives life to you in this place. He gives life through the Holy Waters of Baptism. He gives life in His Word. He gives life in Jesus' very body and blood given this day.
By faith we choose life as well. By faith we choose life as we come to this place week after week to receive God's gifts of life. We choose life as we bring our children to be baptized in this place. We choose life as we confess our sins and receive forgiveness. We choose life as we forgive those that have sinned against us. We choose life as we share the wonderful message that God loves all people and sent His Son to die on the cross for the sins of the world. We choose life as we love others as Christ has loved us.
In a world that is numb to sin and death... in a world that values their best life now rather than their best life to come... in a world that devalues life in the womb as well as life that draws closer to its end... know that God chose life for you! He chose eternal life for you! He chose your life even as He gave up the life of Jesus for you!
In Kris Allen’s song “Live Like We’re Dying” are these words: “We only got 86,400 seconds in a day to Turn it all around or to throw it all away. Gotta tell them that we love them while we got the chance to say. Gotta live like we're dying.” Dear brothers and sisters in Christ: Live like your dying. Live each second loving others and sharing Christ as if your dying. Die like your living. Die knowing that your sins are forgiven. Die knowing that life is yours in Christ for all eternity. Die with the hope and joy that Christ alone gives. For God chose you to be His child; and God chose for you to have life…life for all eternity with Him in paradise. Amen.
Now may the peace of God which passes all human understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior. Amen.
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