Text: Deuteronomy 8:1-10
Be conscientious about carrying out the entire body of commands that I am giving you today so that you may thrive and increase and you may go in and possess the land that the Lord promised by oath to give to your fathers. 2 Remember the whole journey on which the Lord your God led you these forty years in the wilderness, in order to humble you and to test you, in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commandments. 3 So he humbled you and allowed you to be hungry. Then he fed you manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known before, in order to teach you that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. 4 The clothes you wore did not wear out, and your feet did not swell these forty years. 5 So know in your heart that just as a man disciplines his son, so the Lord your God disciplines you. 6 Therefore you are to keep the commandments of the Lord your God by walking in his ways and by revering him.
7 For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of gullies filled with water, a land with springs and groundwater that flows out into the valleys and down the mountains, 8 a land with wheat and barley and vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees for oil, and honey, 9 a land where you can eat bread and not be poor, where you will not lack anything, a land whose rocks are iron and from whose mountains you can mine copper.
10 Then you will eat, and you will be filled, and you will praise the Lord your God for the good land that he has given you.
Sermon
My God will fully supply your every need, according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus. Amen. (Philippians 4:19)
The Lord be with you.
And also with you.
Lift up your hearts.
We lift them up to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
It is right to give him thanks and praise.
It is truly good and right that we should at all times and in all places give you thanks, O Lord, holy Father, almighty and everlasting God, through Jesus Christ our Lord ...
Those are the words to the Preface of the Sacrament. This dialogue between pastor and people is some of the oldest words in our Christian worship service. They have existed this way since around the year 200 A.D. These words are spoken with joy and anticipation as we await to receive the Sacrament again.
We sing or speak these words at Water of Life every week. The Church does not give thanks to God only once a year on Thanksgiving, but every week. The Christian gives thanks every day. At least we should. Christians gather weekly to give thanks together. At least we should. Thanksgiving is throughout Scripture. It simply goes with faith. As sanctified Christians, we thank God often. But as Christians who also remain sinners, we thank God sparingly.
We are sometimes like the lone leper who returned to give thanks to Jesus for his miraculous healing. Other times we are like the other nine healed lepers. We acknowledge the gifts but do not acknowledge the Giver of those good gifts. We are too busy to give thanks in the Lord’s house. We are too forgetful to give thanks in our own house. We take for granted God’s gifts of daily bread and miraculous manna.
That’s why we need reminding. As children, I’m sure your mom used to remind you to call Grandpa and Grandma to thank them for your Christmas and birthday gifts. In Deuteronomy 8, Moses is reminding the children of Israel to talk to their heavenly Father to thank him for his good gifts.
Moses and the Israelites have been wandering around in the wilderness for the past 40 years. Now they are camped on the plains of Moab on the border of the Promised Land of Canaan. Moses takes this opportunity to preach to several sermons. The theme for this particular sermon could be “Don’t forget.” Don’t forget who you were, where you came from, and where you are going. Especially don’t forget who got you here and gave you this good land. Don’t forget you were once slaves in Egypt. Don’t forget the journey these past 40 years. Don’t forget how God fed you miraculously with manna and kept your clothes from wearing out. Don’t forget even a little thing like how your feet were stinky … but at least they didn’t swell.
“Remember the whole journey on which the Lord your God led you these forty years in the wilderness, in order to humble you and to test you, in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commandments. So he humbled you and allowed you to be hungry. Then he fed you manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known before, in order to teach you that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. The clothes you wore did not wear out, and your feet did not swell these forty years.”
Don’t forget. … But they did forget once they entered the Promised Land.
The Promised Land was definitely a land of promise! “For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of gullies filled with water, a land with springs and groundwater that flows out into the valleys and down the mountains, a land with wheat and barley and vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees for oil, and honey, a land where you can eat bread and not be poor, where you will not lack anything, a land whose rocks are iron and from whose mountains you can mine copper.”
Despite the land being good, they forgot. … Or maybe because the land was so good, they forgot.
What about you? What do you think about this land we call America? Is it a good land? It’s a land surrounded by oceans on three sides, flowing with rivers and filled with lakes. A land of mountains, plains, deserts, fields, and forests. A land filled with oil and natural gas. A land of wind and sunlight. A land rich in natural resources and the ingenuity to harvest and utilize those resources.
When we see America the Beautiful we live in, it’s good for us to be reminded by St. James, “Every good act of giving and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the lights” (James 1:17). God wanted the Israelites to enjoy their good land. God wants Americans to enjoy our good land. Some imagine that God is a crabby old Scrooge who wants to spoil all our fun. But that’s a perversion of the truth. Solomon wisely wrote, “So then, here is what I have seen to be good: It is beautiful to eat, to drink, and to look for good in all a person’s hard work which he has done under the sun, during the few days of his life that God has given him, for that is his reward. Likewise, for everyone to whom God has given wealth and riches, if God has also given him ability to eat from it, to enjoy his reward, and to rejoice in the results of his hard work—this is a gift of God” (Ecclesiastes 5:18, 19).
What kind of trouble arises when we are prosperous? We can forget the God who allowed us to be so prosperous. Moses warned that they Israelites could become proud and take for granted how God rescued them from Egypt and the desert. We need the same warning. We can boast in taking credit for our success because of our hard work and ingenuity.
God humbled the Israelites by feeding them manna from heaven. Clearly, they hadn’t earned this miracle food. God humbles us with the gifts Martin Luther outlines in the Fourth Petition of the Lord’s Prayer: “Food and drink, clothing and shoes, house and home, land and cattle, money and goods, a godly spouse, godly children, godly workers, godly and faithful leaders, good government, good weather, peace and order, health, a good name, good friends, faithful neighbors, and the like.” Clearly, we haven’t earned or deserved any of these good gifts.
There is an old German proverb that says, “You need strong legs to hold up under good days.” John Wesley commented on the relationship between material success and religious faith: “I fear, wherever riches have increased, the essence of religion has decreased in the same proportion. … Religion must necessarily produce both industry and frugality, and these cannot but produce riches. But as riches increase, so will pride, anger and the love of the world in all its branches.”
We need the Psalmist’s warning, “Though your riches increase, do not set your heart on them” (Psalm 62:10).
The lone leper returned to Jesus’ feet to verbalize thanks. While the other nine lepers were healed of their leprosy, he alone was healed and made whole – both body and soul.” Your faith has saved you,” Jesus said (Luke 17:19). He wasn’t only cleansed of the leprosy of his skin, but also cleansed of the leprosy of his sin. He was saved from both painful physical death and fiery eternal death.
We have returned to the feet of Jesus tonight to verbalize thanks. These are the pudgy, baby feet in the manger, the wet feet in the Jordan River, and the dirty and dusty feet that walked through the Promised Land. These are the beautiful feet that were pierced as nails held him to the cross, the resurrected feet that walked out of the grave on Easter, and the feet that were used as proof of the resurrection to his fearful disciples. Jesus promises to one day put all his enemies under these powerful, holy feet.
I pray that you daily gather at Jesus’ feet in your home to return thanks. Tonight, we gather at Jesus’ feet in the Lord’s home to return thanks. To return thanks for the physical gifts of daily bread of living in America the Beautiful from the mountains to the prairies to the oceans white with foam.
But we also give thanks for in this good land we have been granted the freedom to enjoy and express the spiritual gifts of hallowing God’s name in our homes, our church home, and in the public forum; God’s kingdom coming in Word and Sacrament; God’s will being done to defeat every evil plan of the devil, the world, and our sinful flesh; forgiveness of sins expressed in our pulpits, classrooms, and playgrounds; not being led into the temptation of false belief, despair, and other great and shameful sins; and being delivered from the evil that threatens our body and soul.
That’s a lot to be thankful for!
Don’t forget to give thanks no matter your situation. Don’t forget to give thanks if you find yourself suffering from leprosy or miraculously healed by modern medicine. Don’t forget to give thanks if you are in prison like Paul or enjoy the freedoms of America. Don’t forget to give thanks if you are enjoying the rich bounties of this good land or if you are about to eternally enter the rich bounties of the Promised Land of heaven.
Let Moses remind you: “Then you will eat, and you will be filled, and you will praise the Lord your God for the good land that he has given you.”
For all this and so much more let us give thanks to the Lord our God. It is right to give him thanks and praise. Amen.
Now to our God and Father be glory forever and ever! Amen. (Philippians 4:10)