The LORD Your God is Testing You

Deuteronomy 13:1–18 – Deuteronomy: Then You Shall Live
Second Sunday after Epiphany – January 19, 2020 (am)
 

If you’re visiting with us this morning, you should know that we’re blessed by your presence. It’s always good to have guests with us and it’s our privilege to welcome you like you were a member of the family. We work hard to do that well, warmly, and consistently. But I want to tell any visitor this morning, just like I want to reaffirm to our family of faith here at GCD, that each of us are actually the privileged ones—that our God Who calls people into relationship with Himself, into member-ship in the body of Christ, and into corporate worship each Lord’s Day morning to reaffirm that we belong to Him, that we are His new covenant community—that this God actually honors each of us in His calling. And the fact that He has appointed each of us to be here, this day, at this hour, is for His purpose to in each of us to be fulfilled.

To say it simply: God has called you here for His purpose. And I believe His purpose is to invite you, to press you, to leave behind lesser pursuits and 4 …walk after the Lord your God and fear him and keep his commandments and obey his voice, and… serve him and hold fast to him, just as Moses said to Israel. That’s what He wants from us today, in honor of His name. C.13 begins Moses’ teaching on the third commandment: 5:11 You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. So this is what it looks like to honor the name of God. But the question is: are we truly doing that, you and I? Let’s ask this passage two questions.

What Is Israel’s Call and Response Here?

It is not at all hard to answer this question in this text. Clearly c.13 is divided into three parts and throughout the focus is on not giving any sympathetic ear to anyone who tries to entice any Israelite to go after other gods (2).

In the first section (1-5), even if a prophet (1) says it—one whose predictions have come true in the past so you know the Lord has used him to speak truth—3 you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams. And it’s not just because he’s wrong, which he is. But I’m telling you now, Moses said, that, at such a time, 3 … the Lord your God is testing you, to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. 5 … [T]hat prophet… shall be put to death, because he has taught rebellion against the Lord your God….

In the second section (6-11), it may even be a beloved member of the family, or a dear friend, who tries to entice you to go and serve other gods (6). But Moses says 8 you shall not yield to him or listen to him, nor shall your eye pity him, nor shall you spare him, nor shall you conceal him. 9 But you shall kill him. Your hand shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. 10 You shall stone him to death with stones, because he sought to draw you away from the Lord your God….

In the third section (12-18), Moses shifts the focus a bit to [hearing] that someone has been saying such [abominable] things in one of Israel’s cities (12). If that happens, 14 then you shall inquire and make search and ask diligently. And behold, if it be true…, then 15 you shall surely put the inhabitants of that city to the sword, devoting it to destruction, [even the] cattle…. 16 You shall gather all its spoil into the midst of its open square and burn the city… with fire, as a… burnt offering to the Lord your God. It shall be a heap forever. It shall not be built again.

You shall not give ear to anyone who speaks 5 … against the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you out of the house of slavery… (cf. 10). He’s the One Who’s delivered you and it would be pure evil to go serve some other, lesser gods as though it weren’t the Lord Who had done it. So, 5 … you shall purge the evil from your midst. You shall completely eradicate this element from among you—even if that means stoning your beloved wife or child or friend—so that you will hear only what is good and right and God-honoring in Israel, only what exalts His name. You should do it so that 11 … all Israel shall hear and fear and never again do any such wickedness as this among you. You shouldn’t even hold on to the stuff such people owned (17). Who knows but that some of that stuff is what moved them toward such God-dishonoring ideas that favor [serving] some other, lesser gods (13). So, don’t let any of that stuff 17 … stick to your hand, that the Lord may turn from the fierceness of his anger and show you mercy and have compassion on you and multiply you, as He [promised].

Do this so that you won’t go this way yourself, or even be mistaken for someone who would. This chapter [suggests] that if one is not offended by those who do not take God or their commitment to God seriously, then he is guilty along with them (Walton 221). The penalty prescribed was severe, stoning by the whole community with the family leading the way. It was more necessary for the family than for others to show that [they] neither had been nor wished to be a partaker in the evil deed (Thompson 194).

That was Israel’s call. And their response: 4 You shall walk after the Lord your God and fear him and keep his commandments and obey his voice, and you shall serve him and hold fast to him.

What Is Our Call and Response Here?

So, what does this mean for us today? How do we hear and respond to this? If this was what Israel was to do in order not to take the name of the Lord [their] God in vain, how do we keep from doing the same thing in our day? Well, let’s try to state in principle what Moses was suggesting could go wrong in Israel once they crossed the Jordan and took possession of the land. He was concerned that some of God’s treasured possession (7:6; 14:2; 26:28; 33:19), His chosen people (4:37; 7:6, 7; 10:15; 14:2) whom He brought… out of the land of Egypt (5, 10), would actually believe that some other gods could make a better future, a better life, for them than the Lord could make. He was concerned that this people who had been given the name of the Lord their God and had been identified as His covenant people were vulnerable to being led astray, to honoring lesser gods, to trusting in other sources for their provision and satisfaction and rest.

Now gods aren’t always little wood-carved, metal-encrusted statues. They are anything which we trust in ahead of the Lord our God to improve the quality of our lives or the productivity of our careers or the satisfaction of our hearts or the health of our bodies or the opportunities of our children. Other gods are anything that we look to to meet our needs according to our expectations. In our day, other gods masquerade as strategies more than as figurines. They’re not the personified mock-deities of the Canaanites, or like we meet in Greek and Norse mythology. Our gods are very practical. They’re entirely domesticated. They behave in impeccably refined and cultured ways and promise measurable results. They’re crafted to appeal to the sensibilities of thoroughly modern people like us.

Our gods are more like strategies than deities. But they’re worshiped in similar ways. We make sacrifices to our strategy gods. We walk after [their ways] and fear [them] and keep [their] commandments and obey [their] voice and… serve [them] and hold fast to[them] (4). And we can do all this not even knowing, not recognizing that we’re [serving] other gods—strategies, that promise us something better: better retirement plans or better job opportunities or better weight loss or better parenting success or better college options or better carrots in our garden. We have strategies, for everything, and they always promise us better!

So, we might ask: Are we supposed to avoid strategies? Is there something inherently evil about strategies? No, strategies can be very helpful in many areas. It’s when our strategies start to squeeze out our trust in the true and living God that their danger to us reveals itself. We’re not very inclined to replace the God of our salvation intentionally with these substitute allegiances. Other gods are subtle. They’re stealth. They [entice us] secretly (6). And they don’t usually shout down the voice of the Lord in our ear. The just create a bit of noise in the vicinity so we can’t hear Him very well. Then they gently take us by the arm and walk us after a newer and better way.

It’s not until they’re in full command that other gods become bossy and jealous—until their subjects are ready to say outright: There is no god. We live by our strategies. They are what bring us success. It was the college my child attended that opened the way for his high-paying job. And it was the soccer club he played for that earned him that scholarship. And it was our sensitive parenting that helped him steer clear of all those youthful diversions along the way. Before we get to the place where we’re comfortable saying things like this, other gods never yell or scream at us. They just tell us: Sure, it’s okay to believe in the God of the Bible. But you know, don’t you, that unless you follow the strategy, there’s really no way He can bless you, or help you, or provide for you. You’ve got to follow the right strategy or there really is very little God can do for you.

We recognize this language, perhaps, but all of a sudden we may not know whether we’ve been ensnared in idolatry or just tempted toward it. It’d suggest that we can tell by how we react when it’s pointed out—anger, irritation, defensiveness—or by how we respond when we’ve honored the strategy but God hasn’t kept end of the deal. He hasn’t given us what our strategy promised. So, we’re disillusioned with Him, discouraged, defeated.

Disturbing, isn’t it? So, what do we do? We have to stone to death any voice that whispers such lies in our ears! We need to be ruthless in the battle against other gods, the battle not to bear the name of the Lord [our] God in vain. We must be fierce in our determination to purge [such] evil from [our] midst (5). In Jesus’ words we need to be ready to gouge out our eye or cut off our hand if either is impeding our allegiance to Him (Mat.5:29-30).

That is our call. And our response: 4 You shall walk after the Lord your God and fear him and keep his commandments and obey his voice, and you shall serve him and hold fast to him.

Conclusion

But what hope do we have of not yielding to such an insistent breed of other gods in our day? It is my delight to answer that question. Our hope is found in the only One Who has ever resisted the [enticing] voice of every other [god] that called out to Him. Then He made atonement for us before His Father in heaven that we might be credited with His righteousness.

Let’s worship Him together at the Table.