God’s Treasured Possession

Good morning, Watermark.

Got all sorts of Lantern Festival flyers up here

staring at me on the podium.

It's a good reminder.

Happy New Year.

We hope to see you at this Lantern Festival celebration.

It's going to be a great time, like Chris was saying.

Today we're continuing our study of Deuteronomy.

We've been looking at the book of Deuteronomy

so far this solar year.

And we've been seeing a couple themes

that run throughout the book of Deuteronomy.

One of these themes is that God shapes his people

through his word.

And we've seen God speaking to his people again and again

through Moses, giving them his law

and shaping them into the people

that he wants them to be through his word.

And the second theme that we've seen

is that the people that God is shaping,

he's shaping the Israelites into a people who love him

and love others.

And that the laws and the commandments that he gives them

are given for the sake of shaping them

into this unique people that love God and love others.

And so today we're going to continue this study of Deuteronomy.

We're going to look at blessings

in the theme of the Lunar New Year.

And we're going to see that God chose his people

apart from anything in them meriting his love.

But the proper response to this selection of God

is obedience.

That God chooses his people apart from anything in them

that merits his love.

But his people's proper response is obedience.

And we're going to have three steps on this journey.

First, we're going to see our effort.

Second, we're going to see God's choice.

And third, we're going to see our proper response.

That's our effort, God's choice, our proper response.

First, our effort.

We as humans have a tendency to try to gain control

through our actions.

And today's passage starts out with this reminder from Moses.

He says in verse 7,

It was not because you were more in number than any other people

that the Lord set his love on you and chose you.

For you were the fewest of all peoples.

He starts out by telling the Israelites,

God didn't choose you because of anything that you did.

In my life, I have a tendency to feel like

I need to do things to earn God's favor.

I need to be obedient so that God will look at me

and be like,

Hmm, that Eric Scott, he's a good guy.

I need to be the smartest so that God will think,

Yeah, I made a good choice picking him for my team.

I need to be the most successful at my work

so that God will be proud of me.

And what we see in this verse

is that God did not select me

because of any of these things about me.

There's nothing about me

that earns God's approval or God's favor.

God steps in.

He tells the Israelites,

There's nothing about you that merited my love.

In fact, you weren't the biggest.

You weren't the strongest.

You didn't have an army that could beat other nations.

You were slaves.

Before I could do anything with you,

I had to actually go in and rescue you

so that you could be free

because there was nothing in you

that set you apart

to make you worthy of my love.

And this desire that Israel probably had

to merit God's love,

I'm guessing they had a little bit of this desire,

which is why Moses reminds them

there was nothing about you

that merited God's love.

They had this desire.

I have this desire.

I think it's pretty commonly universal,

this desire to merit God's love,

to do enough good things,

maybe if it's not even for meriting God's love,

for at least being in control of the future.

You know, I was doing some research

on the history of the New Year traditions in China.

And I found this story online.

There are several variations of it,

but they all sort of come back

with several of the same common elements

of how a lot of the celebration

of the New Year in China started out.

And it starts with the story

of a small village in China.

And every year on New Year's Eve,

this monster called Nian

would come and attack the village

and eat the villagers.

And the villagers were living constantly

in fear of the monster.

And one year, someone had the brilliant idea,

hey, what if instead of staying

to be eaten by the monster,

we ran away this year?

Don't know why they didn't think of that earlier,

but they said, let's run to the mountains

so that when the monster comes,

he won't eat us.

And everyone in the village said,

yes, that sounds smart.

So the whole village is getting ready to leave,

but this one older lady in the village said,

you know what?

I'm old.

I'm tired.

My husband and my sons

have already been eaten by this monster.

I have no one left to live for.

I have nothing left to live for.

I'm too tired to make the journey.

I'm just going to stay here.

And when the monster comes,

he comes.

So the whole village leaves the old lady behind,

caring for their elders, you know.

They head off to the mountains,

and she is alone in the village.

And as the sun begins to set,

dusk is coming,

and she hears a knocking on the doors of the village.

And the knocking is getting closer,

and closer,

and closer,

and finally,

it comes to her house,

and she opens the door,

and there's an old man standing there.

And he says,

I'm a traveler.

I've come to your village.

I'm looking for a place to stay.

And she says,

well,

you know,

everyone ran away,

but you can stay with me.

So he comes in,

and they start talking,

and he,

she tells him the story of why everyone in the village has run away.

And he says,

well,

you know what?

I happen to know how to deal with this monster.

We need to get to work now.

So he tells the lady,

you need to find everything red in your house.

Put it in all the doors and windows,

because the monster is afraid of the color red.

And when he comes,

and he sees the color red,

it will scare him off.

Next step,

take a mirror,

and put it by the front door.

Because when the monster comes,

and he looks in the mirror,

he will see his reflection,

and be terrified,

and run away.

Third,

the monster is afraid of fire.

So hang a lantern outside your house.

Maybe that's part of where the Lantern Festival came from.

I didn't research that far.

Sorry.

Fourth,

take a bunch of dried bamboo,

and put it in the open area,

in the courtyard,

in the middle of your house.

And when you hear the monster coming close,

light the bamboo on fire.

Because dried bamboo makes a crackling noise.

And the crackling noise,

sort of like firecrackers,

will scare away this monster,

and he won't attack your house.

So the woman follows all of these instructions,

because it's much simpler to do this

than to run to the mountains.

And the monster comes,

and the monster sees the red,

and sees itself in the mirror,

and sees the fire,

and hears the crackling,

and gets scared,

and runs away.

The next day,

all the villagers come back,

and they see the lady alive,

and they're like,

how did you survive?

She tells them the story of the old man

who came and gave her instructions

to fight off the monster.

And the village decided that the old man

must have been sent from the gods,

and he told her these instructions

as a reward for her hospitality.

And it struck me

that all of these celebrations

that go with the Chinese New Year celebration,

whether it's the color red,

the lanterns,

the firecrackers,

all of them come with this desire

to control our future

and stay alive for another year

so that the monster doesn't eat us.

And I know,

most of us don't celebrate these things

and do these traditions today

for this reason,

but a reason that they originated

is this desire

to have control over the future.

And you know,

in America,

we do things to try to control the future too.

When our favorite sports team is playing,

we have lucky seats on the couch.

We have to be in the exact spot

wearing our lucky shirt

because if we are not,

our team will not win.

And if it's late in the game

and we need our team to score,

we take our hat

and we flip it inside out

and stick it at a weird angle on our head

because us wearing our hat

in a weird way

on our couch

thousands of miles away from the game

affects the way

that our team plays

on the field.

It's ridiculous, right?

But then there are things that we do

to try to control our future

that aren't quite so ridiculous.

Some things we do

to try to control our future

that are actually

good, wise things to do.

Like,

go get a university education

so that we can get the best jobs.

Like,

going to networking events

so that we can meet people

and give them our business card.

I'm sorry,

two hands in Hong Kong.

So that we can know people

so that we can get jobs.

And these are good things.

But,

when we begin to rely on them

more than we rely on God

for our future,

what we're doing

is we're grasping,

we're trying to take control

of our future,

trying to do things

that merit our success.

And if we can't rest

because we need to be

at all of the networking events

and we can't trust God

to provide for us,

there's probably a problem

in our perspective,

in our balance.

And this tendency

to try to control the future,

I think for me at least,

probably for several of us,

often has a tendency

to flow over

into our relationship with God.

We try to do things

to get God on our side

so that he will do good things

for us

and help us in the future.

And Moses is telling the Israelites

at the start of our passage today,

that doesn't work.

God doesn't do good things for you

because you've been successful

at doing good things for him.

God didn't choose you

because you were great.

And I think this is a message

that we need to hear

and understand today.

It's not our efforts

and success

that make God love us.

There's nothing in us

that is just lovable.

It's something else

that leads God to love us.

So how do we get to be accepted by God?

Point number two,

God's choice.

God loves us

because he chooses to love us.

It's that simple.

God loves us

because he chooses to love us.

In verse eight,

Moses says,

it is because the Lord loves you

and is keeping the oath

that he swore to your fathers

that the Lord has brought you out

with a mighty hand

and redeemed you

from the house of slavery

from the hand of Pharaoh,

king of Egypt.

God didn't choose

the Israelites as his people

because they were bigger,

stronger, better.

Again, like we said,

they were slaves.

They had nothing to offer

in and of themselves.

He chose them

simply because

he wanted them

to be his people.

That's it.

And it works

the same way

with us today.

If you're a Christian here today,

it's not because

you have done something fantastic,

but because God

wanted to love you.

And this is

a scary

but liberating truth.

Scary

because there is nothing

that I can do

or accomplish

to make God

love me more

or owe me anything.

But liberating

because there is nothing

that I have to do

to merit

God's love

for me.

He gives it to me

freely

because

he wants to.

And that sets me free

from having to constantly

strive

and do better

and try harder.

I can relax.

It's liberating.

And when God

looks at us

and chooses us

as his people,

look at the change

that that makes

in our relationship

with him.

In verse 6,

Moses refers to Israel

as God's

treasured possession.

This word

treasured possession

is a very special term.

It's used

to refer to

a king

who has

everything.

But there's

one thing

out of everything

he has

that is especially

precious to him.

one thing

that even though

he has everything,

this is

the most important.

This is

the most

precious to him.

Maybe you could

picture it like,

do you guys know

the story of the

Trojan War?

You've got

Menelaus,

the king of Sparta,

and he has this

wife, Helen,

and his wife

gets kidnapped

by Paris

and taken

to the far-off

city of Troy.

Now Menelaus,

he's a king,

he's a wealthy man,

he could have

his pick of the ladies.

All he has to do

is go down to the streets

and be like you.

You look like a good choice.

Come be my new wife

and keep on living

his life.

But he doesn't

because his wife

is precious to him.

And so even though

he has everything

and he's comfortable

in Sparta,

he sets off

a thousand ships

to go and

rescue his bride.

because she

is precious

to him.

And the Bible

says

that Christians,

that the church,

are precious

to Jesus.

In the New Testament,

1 Peter 2,

1 Peter 2:9

verse 9,

says,

But you,

talking to the church,

are a chosen race,

a royal priesthood,

a holy nation,

a people for

his own possession,

that you may proclaim

the excellencies

of him who called you

out of darkness

into his marvelous light.

That God has taken us

and made us

his own special,

treasured possession.

That God looks at you

and he values you.

You.

You know,

the thing about a treasure

is you can tell

how much someone

treasures something

but what they're willing

to give up

to get it.

If you take something

from someone

and they're like,

oh, whatever,

they didn't actually

treasure that.

Even if it's worth

is millions of dollars,

if they don't care

when you take it,

they don't actually

treasure it.

But if they say,

I'm willing to give you

a huge treasure

in exchange

for this one thing

to get it back,

they value it.

And the Bible tells us

that God was so passionate

about creating

a people for himself

that he was willing

to give up

his only son

to do it.

If you're a parent in here,

I want you to just

think for a moment.

In your head,

make a list

of the things

that you would

sacrifice your son

or daughter to get.

If you're not a parent,

you can still imagine

that scenario.

Make a mental list

of the things

that you would sacrifice

your son or daughter

to get.

I think some people

are sort of looking at me

like,

Eric, you're sick.

Why would I sacrifice

my son or daughter

for anything, right?

That's probably

a good response.

I'm hoping no one

has a long list.

If you do,

Sylvie runs our

care ministry.

You might want to

get her contact info.

But on a more serious note,

if you were here

and you said,

there is literally

no scenario

in which I would sacrifice

my son or daughter

for anything,

consider this.

God sacrificed

his only son

for you.

God literally

loves you

more than you love

anything or anyone.

If you had a list,

but it was just like

one or two short items,

think about

what made the list.

Maybe it's a person

that you really love

or a person

that you think

is worthy.

Consider this.

God sacrificed

his only son

for us

when we

were his

rebellious

enemies.

There was nothing

good in us.

There was nothing

worthy in us

that would make

God say,

these people

are worth it.

He looked at us

and he loved us

because he loved us

and he

treasured us

so much

that he was

willing to

sacrifice

his only son

to rescue us

and make us

a people

for his own

possession.

If we truly

grasp

that

this week,

understand

the depth

to which God

loves us,

how will that

transform the way

that we respond

to him this week?

And if you're

here today

and you're

not a Christian,

the Bible

says that God

wants you

to become

a part of his

people,

that he has

sent his son,

that he has

sacrificed his

only son's

life to pay

the penalty

for your

rebellion

against him.

And he offers

you the chance

today

to become

a part

of his

people,

to be a part

of his

treasured

possession.

And it

doesn't take

you doing

these heroic

feats,

it simply

takes you

believing,

trusting in

him,

and asking

him to

forgive you

for your

rebellion

against him

and to

make you

part of

his

people.

And being

loved by

God in this

way,

being part

of his

people,

is the

greatest

blessing

possible

this

Lunar

New

Year

season.

So we've

seen that

our efforts

accomplish

nothing,

but God

loves us

because he

loves us.

But because

God loves

us,

that should

lead to

a change.

That should

lead to

us having

a proper

response.

Which brings

us to

point three,

our proper

response is

careful

obedience.

If you

look down

in the

passage to

verse 11,

Moses says,

you shall

therefore be

careful to

do the

commandment

and the

statutes and

the rules

that I

command you

today.

Now this

may seem

like a

weird idea.

You're not

saved by

anything that

you do,

so go do

something.

I don't know,

it just feels

weird to me.

But the

thing about

this is our

obedience shows

where our

trust lies.

if you

have a

little kid

and they

want to

touch the

hot stove

and you

as a

parent say

don't touch

the hot

stove and

the kid

listens and

doesn't touch

the hot

stove,

it shows

that they

trust you.

If they

reach out

and they're

like,

ah,

they didn't

trust you

and how do

you know

they didn't

trust you

because they

didn't obey?

You told

them this is

for your

good,

this is

because I

love you

that I'm

telling you

this and

their

disobedience

shows that

they don't

trust what

you're saying

and in the

same way

with God

he says

I'm giving

you these

commandments

for your

good because

I love

you.

Your

obedience

doesn't earn

my love

for you

but your

obedience

reveals the

fact that

you trust

me.

If you

look at

verses 9

and 10

it sort

of almost

seems to

point towards

this idea

that God

is judging

us based

on our

actions

but if

you look

closer at

the verses

you'll see

that behind

these actions

is not

just trust

but also

this idea

of love

and hate.

God says

if you

love me

you will

trust me

which will

lead to

obedience.

If you

hate me

you will

not trust

me

which will

lead to

disobedience.

Our

actions

on the

outside

show

what is

in our

heart

on the

inside.

Just as

God's love

for Israel

showed itself

in him

rescuing

them from

slavery in

Egypt

and God's

love for

us

showed

itself

in

rescuing

us

from

our

slavery

to

sin

through

the

death

of

Jesus

on

the

cross.

Our

love

for God

or our

love for

other

people

will

always

show

itself

in

action.

Our

obedience

doesn't

merit

salvation

but it

shows

the

world

that

our

hearts

have

truly

been

transformed.

You

can think

of it

this

way.

This

past

week

millions

maybe

even

hundreds

of

millions

of

sons

and

daughters

around

the

country

of

China

went

home

to

visit

their

families

for

the

holidays.

If you

think about

the groups

of people

that went

home

you can

split them

into

basically

two

groups.

There's

one

group

who

does

not

love

their

families.

They

don't

care

about

spending

time

with

them

but

they

know

that

if

they

don't

show

up

at

home

for

this

celebration

they

will

be

shamed

and

looked

down

upon

by

their

family

and

their

village.

There's

another

group

that

loves

their

parents

and

is

excited

to

go

home

because

they

get

to

spend

time

with

their

family

and

time

with

their

family

is

precious

to

them.

They

both

go

through

the

same

set

of

actions.

They

book

their

tickets

on

a

plane

or

train.

They

travel.

They

take

time

off

from

work.

They

get

there

to

be

with

their

family

but

once

they're

with

their

family

their

hearts

are

going

to

be

revealed

through

their

actions.

The

ones

who

don't

care

about

being

with

their

family

and

are

just

there

to

avoid

shame

will

do

the

bare

minimum

necessary.

They'll

show up

at the

meals

but

you

know

what

they're

going

to

do

when

they're

at

the

meals?

They're

going

to

sit

at

the

table

and

be

like

the

ones

who

love

their

family

are

going

to

go

and

they're

going

to

prioritize

their

family

they're

going

to

engage

in

conversations

they're

going

to

hear

about

what's

happening

in

people's

lives

because

they

care.

On

the

one

hand

you

have

a

group

of

people

who's

trying

to

earn

acceptance

through

their

obedience

and

on

the

other

hand

you

have

a

group

of

people

who

know

at

the

depth

of

their

being

that

they

are

already

accepted

and

that

makes

them

want

to

do

these

actions

God's

saying

if

you're

going

through

the

motions

to

try

and

get

me

to

love

you

it's

not

going

to

work

I

can

see

your

heart

I

know

that

your

action

is

not

motivated

by

love

but

if

you

understand

that

I

have

already

loved

you

that

I

have

accepted

you

that

you

are

already

my

people

that

is

good

that

is

what

I

want

and

so

we

look

at

this

and

we

say

okay

but

what

does

that

look

like

in

real

life

Moses

says

in

verse

11

you

shall

therefore

be

careful

to

do

the

commandment

and

the

statutes

and

the

rules

that

I

command

you

today

why

be

careful

couldn't

you

just

say

like

obey

and

that's

enough

I

think

that

he

says

to

be

careful

with

obedience

because

we

are

careful

with

things

that

are

important

to

us

if

you're

doing

a

science

experiment

you

do

it

carefully

because

you

don't

want

to

spill

acid

on

yourself

or

to

get

wrong

results

if

you're

entering

a

bank

transfer

you

do

it

carefully

because

you

don't

want

to

send

the

money

to

the

wrong

place

or

send

the

wrong

amount

the

money

we

do

things

carefully

when

we

care

about

them

and

why

do

we

do

it

carefully

one

because

we

understand

the

consequences

of

doing

it

wrong

and

two

we

care

about

the

results

this is

why

I'll

do

even

dumb

mundane

things

carefully

like

with

my

laundry

I'll

use

some

level

of

care

because

I

don't

want

my

white

clothes

turning

pink

I

understand

the

consequences

of

mixing

my

laundry

wrong

in the

washing

machine

and

I

care

about

the

results

so

I'll

do

it

carefully

and

Moses

says

that

we

should

obey

God

carefully

I

could

be

wrong

but

I

think

for

a

lot

of

us

we've

never

thought

about

this

idea

of

being

careful

to

obey

God

we

sort

of

assume

that

when

stuff

comes

up

I'll

just

deal

with

it

I'll

try

to

obey

but

we

take

so

many

other

things

in life

carefully

how

much

more

important

is

obedience

to

God

than

my

laundry

and

what

is it

that

keeps

us

from

being

careful

to

obey

God

I

think

it's

the

same

two

things

that

make

us

careful

with

anything

else

only

the

reverse

of

them

we

don't

understand

the

consequences

of

doing

it

improperly

and

we

don't

care

about

the

results

I

think

for

a lot

of

Christians

it's

easy

to

believe

that

salvation

is

this

good

benefit

and

blessing

that

comes

from

God

and

then

his

rules

are

just

sort

of

like

this

baggage

that

comes

along

with

the

deal

we

we

think

God

is

really

good

for

saving

us

and

rescuing

us

but

then

we

have

to

deal

with

this

other

side

of

him

the

rules

we

think

we

want

these

blessings

and

God

gives

us

these

rules

to

keep

us

from

getting

these

blessings

so

we

act

out

and

disobey

because

we

want

blessings

that

we

think

God

is

withholding

from

us

but

according

to the

Bible

God's

rules

are not

negative

baggage

that

comes

with

an

otherwise

good

deal

in

following

him

no

God's

rules

are

actually

part

of

the

benefit

of

following

him

think

about

it

the

God

who

made

the

world

the

God

who

knows

how

the

world

works

best

the

God

who

loves

us

enough

that

he

is

willing

to

sacrifice

his

only

son

to

rescue

us

and

save

us

and

wants

to

give

us

the

best

life

possible

in

this

world

gives

us

rules

for

the

sake

of

living

the

best

way

possible

in

the

world

the

problem

isn't

that

God's

rules

are

bad

and

withholding

from

me

the

problem

is

that

I

have

a

messed

up

perspective

and

I

don't

see

the

rules

as

the

good

gifts

that

they

are

here's

what

I

mean

I

go

to

a

store

I

see

something

that

I

really

like

and

it's

really

nice

I

think

God

says

I

can't

steal

but

I

really

want

this

right

now

and

it

would

be

so

simple

to

just

take

it

and

put

it

in

my

pocket

and

walk

out

of

here

but

God's

command

not to

steal

is a

good

gift

given

for

my

blessing

because

God

knows

that

life

in

a

world

where

no

one

has

any

respect

for

other

people's

personal

property

sucks

God

wants

me

to

be

able

to

enjoy

the

benefits

of

enjoying

the

things

that

I

have

earned

through

my

hard

work