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quick break from the rain i think ryan let's [Music] so [Music] hey everyone it's pastor robbie back for another sunday video today is the third sunday of the season of epiphany and today we're looking at an interesting piece of scripture now i'm just playing around it's actually a pretty boring piece of scripture from the book of deuteronomy but it reveals an underlying theme in old testament scripture that is i think really important when we wrestle with identity so i'm hoping it gives you something to think about today we do these videos once a week where we explore scripture and think about how it shapes us as people for the modern world if this is something you're looking for when you come to youtube i suggest you subscribe to the channel clicking on the subscribe button and then clicking on the bell icon will both subscribe you to the channel and set you up for alerts in the future and if you've hit the bell before you should be good to go just make sure that you selected all when prompted on the bell and you'll know as soon as i post something new a couple scheduling things for those of you who follow me in ministry and life outside of all of this youtube stuff starting early actually this morning the fam and i are going to be jumping into the van and we're going to be heading up to washington state for a few days away from the city it's almost time for ashley to head back to work after maternity leave and we wanted just you know like a few moments of quiet before our busy days started back up again unfortunately we have to take our kids with us [Music] so this is the compromise we're going to be up at orcas island thanks to the generosity of elizabeth and mark potter until february 10th and then we'll be making our way back to california after that we will try to keep up with our normal schedule so our tuesday prayer time next week sermon that's all as the internet allows but then after we return we're going to try to step back into our more regular schedule of huddles daily communications things like that so if there's something you've been missing out on recently some of those things are on their way back do me a favor and lift our family in prayer as we travel you know we've been really cautious the past 11 months and even though you know vaccines are starting to make their way around the country this trip is still kind of a bit of a risk you know so we'll continue to do the things that we do to remain cautious but pray that those that we encounter that they've been cautious as well and you know like all the traveling with infant stuff that anyways let's let's change our gears let's get into scripture today the lord your god will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people you shall heed such a prophet this is what you requested of the lord your god at orb on the day of the assembly when you said if i hear the voice of the lord my god anymore or ever again see this great fire i will die then the lord replied to me they are right in what they have said i will raise up a prophet for them like you from among their own people i will put my words in the mouth of the prophet who shall speak to them everything that i command anyone who does not heed the words that the prophet shall speak in my name i myself will hold accountable but any prophet who speaks in the name of other gods or who presumes to speak in my name a word that i have not commanded the prophet to speak that prophet shall die the word of the lord thanks be to god recently i sat through another academic module for a course of study i'm taking in the middle of the module i was introduced to a simple book that was written by the old testament theologian walter brugemann called journey to the common good it's a simple text at least by bruggeman standards but it reveals a theme in old testament scripture that helps us to understand what is happening between god and the people of god bregman in this book calls it the radical either or where where the choice is before the people to either be like their god or to be like other representatives of power that they see within the world it's an obvious struggle for the people to decide between the one who continually delivers them and then those far easier images to mimic to copy the human leaders who have risen to power in the world now in bruggeman's book he looks first at the contrast between the earthly power of pharaoh and the god who delivers the people from their enslavement it seems like an easy decision to go with yahweh but as soon as the people get out of egypt they are longing for life under pharaoh again the reason is that pharaoh's power was founded in a fear of scarcity he was the ultimate power in egypt and under his power there was oppression but there was also this regularity to the provisions of life any hope under pharaoh was developed in the opportunity to scrounge enough for tomorrow and so the lie under pharaoh was that if one saved enough they would find a way out of their oppression the contrast to pharaoh is seen in yahweh's provision in the wilderness it was a provision of abundance but it was also a provision of dependence the people never went without you know needs were supplied they they needed water water was provided when they needed food mana from heaven you know came and was provided to them when they needed variety in their food even quail was provided for them the only thing was that if they tried to save up enough for tomorrow any amount that they saved would spoil overnight they were never allowed to save for tomorrow only to trust that the lord would continue to provide which the lord did over and over and over again the contrast between the two was this radical either or and it was a real struggle for the people you know god's provision was seldom enough for the people and they constantly fell away you know think about their first trip to the jordan and how they turned away they were turned away and wandered for decades right like they couldn't muster faith at that point in the lord who provided for them every single day this theme of the radical either or is something that extends through the old testament and even extends through to the book of revelation and for this passage in deuteronomy it it like frames our understanding of the context see the book of deuteronomy is like this blend of law and story and at this point in the book moses who's the leader of the people he's getting the people ready for succession you know he's old and at some point he won't be the one who leads them anymore and simultaneously they're approaching this promised land for the second time and one of the goals of the books of leviticus and deuteronomy is to put in writing what makes the people the people right like it's harder to wander away if the identity is firmly established in writing and encapsulated in the law but the experience of the exodus has made one thing abundantly clear and that's that the people wander moses gets frustrated by their wandering yahweh gets frustrated by their wondering but time and time again they wander so establishing this identity is enormously important as they are about to enter a new land and take on a new task as a people that new land is to be filled with kings and governors and like established communities and symbols of power that are going to be so enticing for the people now without knowing who they are the israelites would enter into the promised land and then just like adapt their identity to whatever looked like strength or power now fast forward a little bit and you see this struggle play out after jericho you know they were told not to take anything of value from the land but what's the first thing they do they do it right like they find out that aiken steals gold after the people are soundly defeated at a.i right it it never took long for the people to fall away from the lord so reverse right back to the other side of the jordan moses is getting them ready for the time when it's not the big name moses that they're following but they're going to need to pay attention to a different prophet who is delivering the word of the father so where does that leave us right i almost hate to say it very but it leaves us in the same place where we've been for the longest time we need to know the voice of the father right it's about listening to the voice of the father and following the voice of the father now let me take you further into the story of the israelites you know a few weeks ago we talked about samuel he was the one who always listened to the voice of the father even when it was difficult there came a time when the comparisons between the ways of the israelites and then all of those other examples of power and governance on display by the kingdoms and empires that surrounded israel became too much for them and then rather than heeding the words of the prophet who at that point was samuel they demanded something like everybody else they demanded a king they wanted to be just like the rest of the world rather than to be the ones who followed yahweh now samuel who always listened to the voice of the father wrestled with that request because he knew what was really at play in their demand it wasn't just about the king but it was about them rejecting yahweh's image and yet the lord gave them what they wanted a kingdom was established now to the best of their efforts they tried to make their kingdom similar to the image of yahweh but we know the stories right by the end of the king's first the first kings reign it was already falling off the rails david redeems this image a little bit but you know still falls far far short and then we get to solomon and solomon i don't know solomon is a lot like jonah you know when we're teaching solomon to our kids we only teach the good parts right but there are a lot of bad parts that we leave out solomon is complex because of the whole wisdom thing but the truth of the matter is that solomon's rise to power is the beginning of the end for the sovereign rule of the kings of israel the kingdoms split in that vacuum of leadership after his death and we can look to one thing as the reason for this downfall in solomon we see the perfect repudiation of yahweh's abundance and a return to pharaoh's style of power that is based in a fear of scarcity the wisdom of solomon is something we have to contend with it's presented as you know a gift from god uh but in its use it lifts the responsibility from solomon of listening to the father and as solomon neglects listening to the father he also begins to govern in a way that is different from the father and and we know that the great wealth of solomon that was something that was built on the backs of those people and of those enslaved by his rule and that he had this military might that made solomon a force to be reckoned with in all of these sources of strength solomon distanced himself from yahweh solomon's strength is formed in his image not in the image of yahweh and so that that image of of one who does not heed the voice of the father for a time it gives him a lot of wealth and it gives him a lot of power but ultimately the people will find themselves exiled and enslaved in babylon what is the opposite of pharaoh's fear of scarcity well it's yahweh's abundance what's the opposite of solomon's triad of power of wealth and might and wisdom we only need to look to yahweh again who rules in steadfast love justice and righteousness it's the radical either or it's the definitive decision between the competing voices for who we are called to be back at the edge of the jordan moses is trying to set the people up for a time when they will have to discern between the voice of yahweh or a competing voice that would inevitably lead to death now we aren't sitting on the edge of the jordan we aren't enslaved in egypt we aren't calling for a king we aren't losing ourselves to the exile of babylon but we are still called to make the decision between the voice of the father and the voices that are really enticing but that ultimately lead to our demise today those voices aren't you know necromancers or sorcerers as the people at the edge of the jordan would have been concerned about but the voices of today have an equally dark draw and they're formed deceptively to make us think that they come from the father christian nationalism rising all around us and it convinces us that the lord raises one nation over the others it's an enticing way to think right that this might be the way but it devolves into something that divides people on issues of race and ethnicity it divides one nation against another as they wrestle with who is truly the christian nation who creates the image of a nation right well men and women do that not the lord in the united states we've grown up under a capitalist economy and it seems natural that capitalism is the best form of economics we still get into arguments over capitalism or socialism right we've grown up under a democratic form of governance with the two-party system of leadership and i don't have to tell you how those forms of societal structure have been used to convince us that christian identity looks and acts and votes in specific ways when we don't focus on the voice of the lord any voice can sound good any ideology can sound right a big enough group with enough passion can sway us and any cause can seem like the cause of the lord and once in a while they'll be useful to the kingdom of god but if we aren't listening to the voice of the father then we are setting ourselves up for failure so this week i want you to wrestle with your identity a little i want you to take stock of who you are the values you believe in ask yourself where you developed the the identity right where did you develop those id those values do they actually come from the voice of the father spend some time thinking about those things and then spend some time listening to the lord consider the contrasting values from scripture where do your values line up with the contrast of god's abundance or the fear of scarcity right like do you put your money away because you're worried about the future or have you learned to trust god do you rely on wealth wisdom and might to know who to follow who to listen to or are you guided by a steadfast love for others a desire for justice and righteousness and when you've taken stock of your identity and values and you've considered some of the radical either ores would you be ready to repent when it's obvious that you followed the world rather than the father it's a hard thing to do but may this week be a week of reflection and may we recognize that the answer is not now or ever has been to set aside the decision to passivity may we realize that this is something that the lord has always guided the people to decide are we people of this world or are we people of the kingdom of god