Choose Life, Today!
Posted on Feb 16, 2014 by David Whetter
Sometimes we have to make choices in our lives that are fairly easy and not really life changing decisions. Decisions like what to eat for breakfast and what to wear in the morning. We make choices like this all the time. Sometimes making choices in our lives is not so easy, is it? Sometimes we have to choose between two good choices. I recently spoke to man whose daughter has received two scholarship offers to two different well-known and nationally recognized universities and he told me his daughter “agonized” over her decision. I know I always have a hard time making a decision when the waitress walks up to the table at a good restaurant. Decisions, decisions! Or a few weeks ago, I joined our confirmands for one of their learn nights and at that event we heard a woman speak about her life in the German concentration camps in WWII. Her name was Sonia Warshawski and she told us about the last time she saw her mother. Her and her mother were being marched into one of the camps when one of the German guards told her to go left and her mother to go straight. Sonia had to decide whether our not to follow the guards orders. Sonia knew that going straight meant being put to death in the chambers. She knew her mother was about to be killed. She knew that to turn left meant she would live, but that it also meant she would never see her mother again. Sonia, had to make a difficult choice. She chose life, but it was not an easy choice.
In our text from the Book of Deuteronomy today, the Lord sets before his people what appears to be a clear and easy choice. The choice he offers is life and prosperity, or death and adversity. He says life and prosperity will come to those who are faithful, but loss of the land will be the consequence of disobedience. Choosing life means loving and holding fast to the Lord and all the Lord’s ways.
This should have been an easy decision for those ancient Israelites. It should be an easy decision for you and I today, shouldn’t it? I know I want life and prosperity, not death and adversity. So what do I have to do to get this prosperity and this life? Well, the answer is simple; follow God’s rules for life. You know these rules
- 1.You shall have no other gods.
- 2.Do not use the Lord’s name in vain
- 3.Remember the sabbath and keep it holy
- 4.Honor your father and your mother
- 5.Do not murder
- 6.Do not commit adultery
- 7.Do not steal
- 8.Don’t talk badly about people behind their back
- 9.Don’t covet your neighbor's house
- 10.Don’t covet your neighbor's anything that belongs to your neighbor
These are easy rules to follow aren’t they? I can honestly say I have never killed any one. I only worship Jesus Christ. I come to worship every week. I can go down this list and say I live up to these rules. Don’t you? This is easy stuff! So what is the problem? Why does it seem like too often our life is not filled with prosperity and that too often our lives are filled with sadness and despair?
Well, Jesus answers that for us today, doesn’t he? As he is teaching about following the law he says, "You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, 'You shall not murder'; and 'whoever murders shall be liable to judgment.' But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment” (Matthew 5:21-22). Anger can often leads us down the wrong path, so avoid it, Jesus says. Insulting a brother or sister makes can mentally or spiritually hurt others, so don’t do it. Following God’s commands is getting harder with every word of explanation. The decision to choose life and prosperity seemed so easy, but the way Jesus describes it, it isn’t so easy. Following the letter of the law is easy, but that is not enough, Jesus says. You see when we insult someone we are literally killing their spirit and from God’s perspective that makes us liable to his judgment. Jesus says to choose the kind of life that exists in God’s kingdom means we choose to live very differently from the rest of the world. It means we follow not just the letter of the law, but we actually choose to live up to the spirit of the law and hold all life sacred. Jesus raises the bar for his followers as he tells us what it means to be faithful.
I don’t know if you remember this or not, but last verse of last week’s Gospel lesson was verse 20. Today we started with Verse 21. When we ended the reading last week we heard Jesus say, “For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (5:20). The scribes and Pharisees knew the law very well. In fact they knew it so well, they were confident that they did not break the letter of the law. We will see them follow this law very closely during Holy Week. You see, the Pharisees wanted to have Jesus killed for blasphemy, which was allowed under the law, but if the Pharisees wanted to be ritually clean and be able to partake in the Temple sacrifices times of worship during the Feast of the Unleavened Bread, then they could not be responsible of Jesus’ death, so they finagled it so it was Pilate’s decision. According to the letter of the law, they were clean, but according to the spirit of the law, they, too, were guilty of killing.
Jesus challenges his followers to not worry about the letter of the law, but to take God’s word and live it in such a way as to maximize it. Don’t just avoid murdering someone physically, anyone can do that, instead avoid all those things that could lead one to kill, not just physically, but spiritually and emotionally, as well. Imagine how awesome life would be if we didn’t follow God’s ways to the minimum, but to the maximum.
But truth be told, choosing to follow God’s law to its fullest is impossible. To our knowledge the only person to ever fulfill the command that God issued when he said, “If you obey the commandments of the LORD your God that I am commanding you today, by loving the LORD your God, walking in his ways, and observing his commandments, decrees, and ordinances…” (Deuteronomy 30:1516) is Jesus himself.
So, does this mean we’re doomed? Does this mean you and I cannot experience the fullness of life? No, of course not! The decision to choose life or death is a hard one, not because we are terrible, awful people. The decision is hard, because it is impossible. God’s expectations of us are high. In fact, they are so high that God had to send his only Son, Jesus Christ, to us so that following the law would not be what made us righteous, but instead believing in Christ makes us righteous. Following the law as God demands is an impossible task for us, but by the grace of God, our faith trumps our brokenness.
So, does this then mean we can ignore the law and do whatever we want? No, of course not! God still says to us, “See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, death and adversity.” And, as hard as it is to always choose life in our brokenness, because we are saved by our faith in Christ and not our works, God says, today, to the best of your ability, choose life! In your brokenness, choose life! In your anger, choose life! In your sorrow, choose life. Today, brothers and sisters, choose life every chance you get. But know this, Christi s with you and salvation is yours. Amen.