As always, the transcript can be read below.
Psalm 119:97-104
97Oh, how I love Your law!I meditate on it all day long.98 Your commands are always with meand make me wiser than my enemies.99 I have more insight than all my teachers,for I meditate on Your statutes.100 I have more understanding than the elders,for I obey Your precepts.101 I have kept my feet from every evil pathso that I might obey Your word.102 I have not departed from Your laws,for You Yourself have taught me.103 How sweet are Your words to my taste,sweeter than honey to my mouth!104 I gain understanding from Your precepts;therefore I hate every wrong path.
Matthew 5:17-20
17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.18 For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.19 Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.20 For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.
Psalm
119:97-104; Matthew 5:17-20
Springford Baptist Church: Nov. 8,
2020.
REMEMBRANCE DAY SUNDAY
THE BLESSING OF REMEMBERING WHY WE
DO WHAT WE DO
Here is a true story as we approach Remembrance Day: A social studies schoolteacher did something not to be forgotten. On the first day of school, with permission of the school superintendent, the principal, and the building supervisor, she took all of the desks out of the classroom. The students came into first period and there were no desks. They obviously looked around and said, “Where are our desks?”
The teacher said, “You can’t have a desk until you tell me how you earn them.”
They thought, “Well, maybe it’s our grades.”
“No,” she said.
“Maybe it’s our behavior.”
And she told them, “No, it’s not even your behavior.”
And so they came and went in the first period, still no desks in the classroom. Second period, same thing. Third period, still the same. By early afternoon, television news crews had gathered in the class to find out about this teacher who had taken all the desks out of the classroom. The last period of the day, the teacher gathered her class.
They were, at this time, sitting on the floor around the sides of the room. She said, “Throughout the day no one has really understood how you earn the desks that sit in this classroom ordinarily. Now I’m going to tell you.”
She went over to the door of her classroom and opened it. As she did, 27 veterans, wearing their uniforms, walked into that classroom, each one carrying a school desk. They placed those school desks in rows and then they stood along the wall. By the time they had finished placing the desks, those students finally began to understand.
Their teacher said, “You don’t have to earn those desks. These veterans did it for you. They put them out there for you, but it’s up to you to sit here responsibly, to learn, to be good students and good citizens, because they paid a price for you to have that desk, and don’t ever forget it.”
Remembrance
Day reminds us that the cost of freedom is high. We pause to express
gratitude for those who have given and continue to give themselves to
ensure peace and freedom.
We, like these students, can be reminded
that because of the sacrifices of others, we now have freedom to give
careful thought to why we do what we do. God has given us
instructions in the right ways of living. In following His commands
there is blessing.
In Matthew 5:20 we read, “For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.
Jesus is reminding His followers that unless they do far better than the Pharisees when it comes to right living, they will not know the first thing about entering the kingdom of heaven. They will not receive what God has planned for those who do what they do out of love and devotion for God.
People have different motivations for choices that they make in life. The mistake that the Pharisees and teachers of the law in Jesus’ day made was to have a narrow set of rules that they followed and to harshly judge anyone who did not see things just as they did. Jesus looked on people with love and compassion. The Pharisees tendency was to look down on people and to heap unreasonable expectations on them.
There
is blessing that comes as we consider carefully why we do what we do.
God has given us commands for right living to follow and Jesus
proclaims,
“whoever
practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the
kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:19b)
Jesus came to complete the fulfillment of the law that involved God’s instructions for living to please Him. (Matthew 5:17)
When human beings choose their own way and their motivation for why they do what they do is to gain power or to control other people then the tragic outcome is conflict and even war.
Today we are remembering the cost of war.
God has a different way
that we are invited into. God’s way is to keep our focus on Him and
the guidelines for living that He has given us. Then the question is
not, “What do I want to do here and what do I think will most
benefit me”?
Rather, the humble question we will need to ask
is, “What does God want me to do”?
In Psalm 119:97-104 we can read the thoughts and prayers of someone who has chosen to follow God’s way and God’s commands.
97Oh, how I love Your law!I meditate on it all day long.98 Your commands are always with meand make me wiser than my enemies.99 I have more insight than all my teachers,for I meditate on Your statutes.100 I have more understanding than the elders,for I obey Your precepts.
It is obvious that this individual has received God’s law as a gift and is blessed by meditating on it constantly. God’s commands are always with him.
More than knowing God’s laws, he chooses to live by them. God influences all of his decisions about what to do and why he does what he does. We see evidence of this in verse 100b, “for I obey your precepts.” This is what gives deeper understanding of God. This is what leads to blessing.
This consistent pattern of carefully choosing what to do and what not to do is repeated in verses 101 and 102:
101 I have kept my feet from every evil pathso that I might obey Your word.102 I have not departed from Your laws,for You Yourself have taught me.
It is not just in war times that we see a struggle with evil blatantly displayed.
Whenever people lose sight of God and the truth of God’s way, it provides room for evil to take over.
As we have witnessed the days following the American election, we have seen anger and mistrust and frustration mounting. We need to continue to pray that God’s ways will prevail. It is only as we rely on God that He can lead us in paths of peace. We can pray that this will be a “time to heal.”
When people disagree sharply, there can be a choice to turn to God to find a way forward together. Human effort alone cannot accomplish this.
In Psalm 119:102 we read,“I have not departed from Your laws,for You Yourself have taught me.”
God has effective and personal ways to help us to learn and to figure out what to do in very difficult situations.
God Himself will teach us the way of blessing if we are willing to learn.
If
you were to describe the taste of honey what would say?
“Sweet”
is the word we would be likely to use to express what honey tastes
like.
Would we also say that God’s words and God’s ways are sweet to our taste?
103 How sweet are Your words to my taste,sweeter than honey to my mouth!104 I gain understanding from Your precepts;therefore I hate every wrong path.
We do not pretend that following God’s ways is an easy path, but knowing what God asks of us and doing it is ultimately the way of blessing. We can choose to learn the sweetness of this way of blessing.
104 I gain understanding from Your precepts;therefore I hate every wrong path.
There are times when we can see that a wrong path is going to lead to disaster. If we can remember and learn from mistakes of the past, then we can actively look for ways to avoid tragedy like the horrors of war.
Those who have sacrificed to bring peace and freedom have given us the possibility today to choose God’s way and to invite others to follow the path that God has designed.
We recall John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, He gave his only Son that whoever believes in Him will not perish but will have everlasting life.”
God did what He did out of love for us. Will we do what we do out of love for Him?
Jesus, God’s Son, because He was willing to sacrifice and to give His life for us, has ensured that we can, out of love for Him, remember what He has done and choose to live each day drawing nearer to Him.
When
we come nearer to God and God’s ways, we are LEARNING
THE WAY OF BLESSING!