There are two kinds of people in the world—“thinkers” and “doers.” (This doesn’t men thinkers don’t do or that doers don’t think—it’s what they like to do first that puts them in these categories.
Statistically, the doers outnumber the thinkers four to one. Yet in the church, the majority of preachers are thinkers and the majority of their congregations are doers.
Preachers are rarely practical. They are fond of concepts and ideas, so they figure everyone else should be, too. But most people are much more interested in what to do than why. No wonder so many people are lost in church.
Let’s assume that the majority of you are doers rather than thinkers. What can God do for you doers, who are not interested in theological nuggets of truth? Well, neither is God. God is more interested in us doing and obeying than in us understanding and thinking.
The original name for the Christian movement was the Way, It was a way of life, not some kind of vague theology. Early Christians were more interested in following Jesus than they were in arguing about theology. Jesus really expects us to pick up our crosses and follow Him, not just talk about Him. He demands our obedience and not just our thoughts.
Which brings us to Moses.
When Moses led God’s people to the gates of the Promised Land, I think he knew that chaos was coming. Each tribe, village, and family would be governed by their own set of rules. There would be no central authority. It would be a mess for centuries.
God foresaw this, too. That is why He had Moses preach five final sermons before they entered. These sermons were called Deuteronomy—the second law. He laid before them God’s way one more time.
Over and over, Moses tells them to obey God, and follow His commandments. Let them be your pattern for living.Deuteronomy 5:32-6:25 is very typical. In it, God tells us of all the benefits that will come to us if we follow God’s pattern of life.
1. When we follow God’s pattern, we live long and prosper.
32 So be careful to do what the LORD your God has commanded you; do not turn aside to the right or to the left. 33 Walk in all the way that the LORD your God has commanded you, so that you may live and prosper and prolong your days in the land that you will possess.
God has a way of punishing the wicked. He does not usually swoop down from the sky like some superhero. More often, God punishes sin by His absence, not His presence. He stays out of our affairs and the natural results of sin does the rest.
Every evil we can name--financial ruin, famine, war, climate change, drugs, violence, AIDS—comes as a result of sin. The ultimate product of sin is the wrath of God.
God’s rules are safety instructions for the long road of life. If we run up our credit cards, don’t be surprised if we run out of money. If we don’t take care of our bodies, don’t be surprised if we have health problems. If we get into our cars, and do not fasten our seatbelts, don’t be surprised when we fly around in a crash. If we disobey God, don’t be surprised if we suffer.
There are positive rewards, too, if we obey Him, If we do, we live longer, more pleasant, and more fruitful lives. His rewards are piled up on us—more than we deserve.
2. When we follow God’s pattern, He keeps the blessings flowing.
6:1 These are the commands, decrees and laws the LORD your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, 2 so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the LORD your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life.
3 Hear, O Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the LORD, the God of your fathers, promised you.
If we have learned anything from the financial mess this country is in, it is this--you can give a man a loan for a house, but that doesn’t mean he can afford to pay it back. If there is no discipline involved in getting a gift, there will be no responsibility to care for what is given.
The Israelites were in a similar position. For hundreds of years, God promised them a land, a paradise, flowing with milk and honey. But when they got there they discovered that is was not a paradise yet. You can’t have milk unless you tend the cows. You can’t have honey unless you harvest the hive. It wasn’t ever intended just to flow out of the ground. Happiness involves work. Work is the means God uses to bring us His blessings.
3. When we follow God’s pattern, we love Him.
4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
Do you love the Lord? Moses is not talking about a feeling. It is having the resolve to serve him with every portion of our being. You don’t always feel it, but it’s something you do, with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.
Loving God means we take on a new purpose in life—obeying Him. When you die, it will not matter how much you leave behind. You children may squander it anyway. It will not matter what you’ve accomplished in life. All that will matter is who you have accomplished it for.
4. When we follow His pattern, we get more than we deserve.
10 When the LORD your God brings you into the land he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you — a land with large, flourishing cities you did not build, 11 houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide, wells you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant — then when you eat and are satisfied,
When we love God, He loves us back. He gives to us, not based on what we earn, but based on His unbounded love.
Life isn’t fair. We deserve we don’t get and we get what we don’t deserve. We don’t deserve heaven. We don’t deserve God’s presence in our lives. We don’t deserve to be called God’s children. Yet he gives all this and a thousand times more to us anyway.
Moses says that when they go into the promised lands, they will move into the abandoned houses and fields of the previous tenants. They will have gardens they did not plant and fields they did not clear. It isn’t fair. But it’s love. God will move others out of the way so that His people can have what they need. Like any parent, he is partial to His children, and he will not withhold any good thing from us—even if it belongs to someone else.
5. When we follow God’s pattern, we survive.
20 In the future, when your son asks you, "What is the meaning of the stipulations, decrees and laws the LORD our God has commanded you?"
21 tell him: "We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, but the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand.. . . 24 The LORD commanded us to obey all these decrees and to fear the LORD our God, so that we might always prosper and be kept alive, as is the case today. 25 And if we are careful to obey all this law before the LORD our God, as he has commanded us, that will be our righteousness."
A tour guide in Israel once told me about visiting a Bedouin sheikh in his enormous tent in the wilderness. He was rich and educated, yet he still lived in a tent. She asked him why.
He replied that his people had been there since before the days of Abraham. Other people became greedy or insecure and wanted to settle down. But their people were content to live in tents, following the ways of their ancestors. When people tried to hold on to this land, they eventually were run off. But they were there to pick up the pieces.
We are not just individuals. We are part of something larger—a family of God. We follow a pattern of life that is at least as old as the Bedouins. That pattern gives us security and comfort, knowing that it will be there for our children, and our children’s children. God’s pattern will never be rescinded. It will be there forever. And so will we.
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