Covenant and Grace
15th Sunday after Trinity 2013
September 8, 2013
St. Barnabas Anglican Church
Rev. Stephen E. Stults
From our O.T. Lesson
for today, please hear this:
Deuteronomy 7:7-8 ”The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor
choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the
fewest of all people: (and) Deuteronomy 7:9 9 “Know therefore that the LORD
thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy
with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations;”
These words, taken from the Old Testament Lesson
for the 15th Sunday after Trinity, have both great significance and prophetic
power for us today. They are significant because they tell us what we are as
the people of God. They are prophetic
because they tell us what we are to expect from God in that role.
These are weighty and powerful statements, to be
sure. Let us examine the context in which they were said and see how they apply
to us today. The Israelites had been encamped on the slopes of Mt. Sinai for
some time. According to God speaking through Moses his prophet, the People have
stayed there long enough. Here they
received the Law. Here, no doubt, they
have had many excellent and fulfilling discussions about it, but now it is time
to move the Law out into the world.
Before they go, Moses reminds them how they were brought out of Egypt,
with a mighty hand. He also reminds them
of the former generation’s fear of possessing the land. Recall that the fact-finding mission of Caleb,
Joshua, and a few other faithful men many years ago urged Israel to rise up and
possess the land. Recall how they
brought back the fruit of the land and joyfully told the congregation of Israel
that it was a good land. Yet, instead of moving forward in faith, the
congregation cowered in fear. They talked of the Anakins, the giant people of
the land, and they spoke of all the obstacles they would have to overcome. The
group that came out of Egypt was afraid.
They had already forgotten what their purpose was and who they
were. As a result, they did not do what
God commanded them to do, despite the fact that He said that He would fight for
them. Instead, they shrunk back.
Now, in today’s lesson, we have a different
scene. Since God had them wander about for forty years, the majority of that
original murmuring group of ex-Egyptian slaves were now dead. In place of that
generation are a group of people who want to do God’s will and who want to go
in to possess the land. Some of them must have been very eager, “chomping at
the bit”, so to speak.
It is to this group that Moses speaks. He tells them what they must do, as well as
what they mustn’t do in order to reap the benefits of God’s favor. First, he
tells them that when, not if, God destroys their enemies before them, in
order to establish them in the land, they must not mix with, intermarry, or adopt the ways of the people around them. After all, these were the detestable, pagan,
satanic Canaanites, who practiced devil worship, human sacrifice and unclean
personal relations. In short, they were corrupt. God did not want His People to
be so corrupted. As we know, later in their history, the Israelites eventually would
be very much influenced by their pagan neighbors and pay a heavy price for it. At this point, however, they were not tainted.
Moses hoped to keep it so by presenting to them the advantages of keeping pure.
He also showed to them the negative consequences of breaking covenant with God.
In the verses immediately preceding our reading,
hear the words of Moses in Deuteronomy 7:2-3: “And when the LORD thy God shall deliver
them before thee; thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou
shalt make no covenant with them, nor shew mercy unto them: 3 Neither shalt thou make marriages
with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter
shalt thou take unto thy son.”
The reason is clear when Moses continues:
Deuteronomy 7:4 “For
they will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods:
so will the anger of the LORD be kindled against you, and destroy thee suddenly.” It is clear that evil tends to corrupt, and that
absolute evil tends to corrupt absolutely, to paraphrase Lord Acton’s aphorism
about power. There is no doubt that corruption
does spread, like a contagion. This is
exactly what Moses fears and what he preaches against in this address.
Perhaps the most interesting point is when he
says, (Deuteronomy 7:7) “The LORD did not set his love upon
you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were
the fewest of all people:” God did not choose a mighty people on which to
manifest his glory. Instead, He chose a wretched slave people, now freed, to be
His ambassadors throughout the earth.
Moses’ statement
are compelling, because he says: (Deuteronomy 7:8) “But because the LORD loved you,
and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath
the LORD brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house
of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.” In short, God did not
choose the Israelites because they were powerful, or even numerous in terms of
what a nation should be. He did not
choose them because of their righteousness or their just deserts. He chose them because of the oath He made to
Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. God is being true to Himself, which is what He
must always do.
Moses continues to expound on the relationship
when he mentions that God will destroy those who hate him. He will not be “slack”
in repaying those who reward love with hate.
As an aside, it is truly an amazing thing when one finally realizes that
he or she is truly and fully loved by God.
Not in some ephemeral, surface sort of way, but in the deep meaningful
sort of way that one loving spouse says to another, “I love you.” Yet, even this is inadequate to describe the
love of God for us. It goes way, way
beyond the human capability to love. It is a love that is so deep and so
profound that it cannot be described with words. The only way it can be described is with
actions, and the action that describes God’s true love for us is the
Cross. All of the other actions that are
meant to signify God’s love for us pale in comparison to this. All of the puritanical rules and codes of
conduct that have turned so many against Christianity, yet that are done in the
name of Christ, are meaningless and destructive without the true spirit of love
in them. Loveless, joyless life, if one can call it that, does not please God. We
are to show God how much we love Him by loving Him, and our neighbor as
ourselves. The formula of love is simple, but not easy. It is: love God, love yourself in and through
God, and love your neighbor as yourself.
Yet, in the mercy and love of God, He does more, if
that is possible. God did not just provide for our eternal destination and then
leave us to survive as best we can until we get there. No, instead He promises to keep covenant with
those who keep covenant with Him. In
keeping covenant, He provides for our earthly needs as well. Thus, if we remain
faithful, He will keep faith with those who keep faith with Him. Moses tells us
this in Deuteronomy
7:12-13:“Wherefore it shall come to pass, if ye hearken to these judgments, and
keep, and do them, that the LORD thy God shall keep unto thee the covenant and
the mercy which he sware unto thy fathers:
13 And he will love thee, and bless thee, and multiply thee:
he will also bless the fruit of thy womb, and the fruit of thy land, thy corn,
and thy wine, and thine oil, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy
sheep, in the land which he sware unto thy fathers to give thee.”
There is a great lesson in this for us, in
several ways. First, we should consider
the numerical question. Yes, we are small at this point, but so were the
Israelites at one time. Yet, God blessed them and increased them. Recall how
Jacob rehearsed God’s words to him, when he encamped beside Jordan on that
fateful night when he would become Israel: (Genesis 32:12) ”And thou
saidst, I will surely do thee good, and make thy seed as the sand of the sea,
which cannot be numbered for multitude.” In like manner He will do the same
with us, on one condition. Just as the
Israelites were to remain faithful, so we must continue to remain faithful. As we obey the law of love, so God will love
us, keep us, and multiply us.
We are the blessed people of God. We are the new Israel, blessed in God,
blessed in the love He has for us, and most importantly, blessed in the love we
have for each other.
It is all important that we remain faithful. It is all important that we obey the law of
love. Finally, it is all important that
we rejoice in the love God has for us.
Deuteronomy 7:6 “For thou art an holy people unto the
LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto
himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth.”
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