Bible Text: Deuteronomy 5:22-33 | Pastor: Eric Danielson | Series: For Our Good | God has given us a lot of rules to follow and oftentimes we look at them as being overly restrictive and prohibiting us from fun and fulfillment in life. Deuteronomy 5 gives us a much different perspective.

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For Your Good
Deuteronomy 5:22-33

A couple years ago I started building a fence around our garden to keep the deer out. We spent several years trying to detract the deer using other methods and finally gave up and decided to build a fence. So I bought 8 foot wooden posts and sunk them in the ground around the perimeter of the garden so they were sticking up 6 feet, and in two spots I put 10 foot posts that stuck up 8 feet that I was going to use as gates. I was going to attach the fence material, but as soon as I put in the taller posts, we got a call from the city telling us we had to stop. A friendly neighbor had called and complained.

We were then informed of the rules we were violating – to put up a permanent fence in the city of Amery, you need to get a building permit and a zoning permit, which we hadn’t done, and there is a height restriction of 6 feet, which we were violating in two places. So we had to stop building the fence until we had the permits, and it was looking like we were going to have to cut off the taller posts. We could apply for a variance to keep them, but that would cost another $250 beyond the other permit fees we already had to pay.

I remember at that time getting frustrated with the rules. The rules seemed overly restrictive and unnecessary in our situation. We wanted to put up that fence for a number of good reasons and had carefully planned the way we wanted to do it to make it nice and functional, but we were held back from doing so because of the rules. The rules were restricting us. They were keeping us from what we really wanted. The rules were making us grumpy, costing us money, and making things worse in that situation. At that time I wished we didn’t have them.

How do you feel about rules in your life? Are you a small business owner? How do you feel about all the rules? The code you have to follow? Are you a school teacher? How do you feel about all the rules? The requirements you have to follow? You have rules that you enforce for students and others have rules they enforce for you. Are you a teenager living at home? How do you feel about the rules in your home? The restrictions? Curfew?

I remember growing up we always had dogs and different dogs had different personalities. And I remember back then we had something called a choke collar – I don’t know if they still sell them, but they’re a chain with a big loop on the end that the chain could slide through. One way you could attach the collar would just restrain the dog, but with some dogs you had to attach it a different way so that the harder they pulled the harder the chain would tighten around their neck, so it didn’t just restrain them; it actually choked them in order to force them to comply. Rules often feel like that – restraining, choking, prohibiting, keeping us from doing the things we really want to do, keeping us from freedom and fulfillment in life.

This morning I’m going to begin a new summer sermon series about some rules in the Bible. God has given us a lot of rules to follow. How do you feel about them? I think a lot of people, even Christians, feel like they are restrictive and prohibitive, keeping us from doing things we’d really like to do and preventing happiness and fulfillment in life. I did some reading this week about people’s reactions to some of the rules in the Bible and many thought they were overbearing and restrictive and prevented them from being able to fully enjoy life and have fun. Even as Christians, we’ve probably had some of those same thoughts. What do you think about the rules in the Bible? Why do you obey them? I think we often do it out of obligation – because we have to, not so much because we want to. Sometimes we can develop a negative attitude toward them. Sometimes we just go ahead and ignore them and do what we want to do, trusting that God will understand and forgive.

The upcoming summer sermon series is going to focus in on some of God’s foundational rules –the Ten Commandments. I wanted to do this series to confront the disintegration of the moral standard in our society and the attitude that biblical commands are outdated and bad for our modern world and should be removed from our lives and society. The moral standard that God has given us in Scripture is increasingly portrayed in a negative way and a steady diet of those kinds of messages can begin to affect our own attitudes. So my hope is that this series will turn that around and help us to see God’s commands in a much different way, so that we don’t ignore them or just obey them out of drudgery and obligation, but with eagerness and joy.

Our study is going to revolve around the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments were first given to the Israelites in about 1,500 B.C. after God rescued them from slavery in Egypt. God was beginning a new covenant relationship with them, and at the heart of that covenant were these Ten Commandments. There were a whole bunch of other rules as well, but these ten were at the center. They represented the essence of the moral code for the new people of God. They revealed the way God wanted his people to act in relation to him and to other people.

They are listed in two different places in Scripture. One is in Exodus 20, which records when they were first given to Moses at Mt. Sinai. The other is in Deuteronomy 5, which records when Moses repeated them to the next generation of Israelites just before they entered the Promised Land. It’s in this passage that I want us to see some things this morning.

The book of Deuteronomy records the words that Moses spoke to the people before he died and Joshua led them into Canaan. Most of the book is a retelling of the rules that were given at Mt. Sinai, but in the first 11 chapters Moses tells the story behind them and it’s in this story that we can see something very important about God’s intent behind giving all the rules. After Moses listed the Ten Commandments for the people in the beginning of chapter 5, he reminded them what happened at Mt. Sinai 40 years earlier.

Read Deuteronomy 5:22-27.
These words the Lord spoke to all your assembly at the mountain out of the midst of the fire, the cloud, and the thick darkness, with a loud voice; and he added no more. And he wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me. 23 And as soon as you heard the voice out of the midst of the darkness, while the mountain was burning with fire, you came near to me, all the heads of your tribes, and your elders. 24 And you said, ‘Behold, the Lord our God has shown us his glory and greatness, and we have heard his voice out of the midst of the fire. This day we have seen God speak with man, and man still live. 25 Now therefore why should we die? For this great fire will consume us. If we hear the voice of the Lord our God any more, we shall die. 26 For who is there of all flesh, that has heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the midst of fire as we have, and has still lived? 27 Go near and hear all that the Lord our God will say, and speak to us all that the Lord our God will speak to you, and we will hear and do it.’

So the people of Israel at Mt. Sinai were surprised that they had heard the voice of the Lord from the mountain and lived, and they were afraid that if they heard the voice of God any more they would die. So they told Moses to go and be near to the Lord for them and then relay what he said to them. And whatever God told Moses they should do, they would do. Moses goes on to tell them what happened next.

Read Deuteronomy 5:28-31.
And the Lord heard your words, when you spoke to me. And the Lord said to me, ‘I have heard the words of this people, which they have spoken to you. They are right in all that they have spoken. 29 Oh that they had such a heart as this always, to fear me and to keep all my commandments, that it might go well with them and with their descendants forever! 30 Go and say to them, “Return to your tents.” 31 But you, stand here by me, and I will tell you the whole commandment and the statutes and the rules that you shall teach them, that they may do them in the land that I am giving them to possess.’

So you can see that the Lord agreed with using Moses as an intermediary and you can see that his desire was that his people would always have the same heart as they did that day – a heart of submission and obedience, that they would fear him and keep all his commandments. And look at what he said at the end of verse 29: “that it might go well with them and with their descendants forever!” I want you to see that very clearly this morning. The reason that God wanted his people to obey his commandments was so that it would go well with them and their descendants forever. God’s desire was that his people would experience blessing and joy and fullness of life and the means by which they would experience that was through obedience to his commands. So after saying that to the people gathered before him, Moses told them what they should do.

Read Deuteronomy 5:32-33.
You shall be careful therefore to do as the Lord your God has commanded you. You shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left. 33 You shall walk in all the way that the Lord your God has commanded you, (Why?) that you may live, and that it may go well with you, and that you may live long in the land that you shall possess.

Again, you see in Moses’ mind the understanding that God had given them his commands to follow for their good, that things would go well for them – not to be a restraining noose around their neck, keeping them from joy and fulfillment in life, but as a path to enjoying goodness and fullness of life. You see this same sentiment throughout the book of Deuteronomy as Moses declared time and time again to the people that God had given them the commands to follow for their good. In Deuteronomy 4:40 he said: “Therefore you shall keep his statutes and his commandments, which I command you today, that it may go well with you and with your children after you, and that you may prolong your days in the land that the Lord your God is giving you for all time.” In Deuteronomy 6:3 he told them: “Hear therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them, that it may go well with you, and that you may multiply greatly, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.” In Deuteronomy 6:18 he said: “And you shall do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord, that it may go well with you, and that you may go in and take possession of the good land that the Lord swore to give to your fathers.” In Deuteronomy 6:24 he said: “And the Lord commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as we are this day.” In Deut. 7:12-13 he told them: “And because you listen to these rules and keep and do them, the Lord your God will keep with you the covenant and the steadfast love that he swore to your fathers. 13 He will love you, bless you, and multiply you. He will also bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, your grain and your wine and your oil, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock, in the land that he swore to your fathers to give you.” And finally, in Deut. 10:12-13: “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, 13 and to keep the commandments and statutes of the Lord, which I am commanding you today for your good?”

Moses kept reminding the people time and time again on that day that God had given them the rules and commands to follow for their good. I take this to mean that the same is true for us today. God doesn’t give us rules to beat us down and force us into a life of restraint, drudgery and obligation. He gives us rules to set us free, to show us a way of life – to follow a moral code – intended to lead us to greater joy and fulfillment in this life.

To fully understand this, you have to compare it to the other alternative. Israel had a choice to make and we have a choice to make: we can either follow God’s rules, or we can follow our own – our own moral standard that we think is best. The reason people don’t follow God’s rules is because they think they know a better way to freedom, joy, and fulfillment in life. It’s the way that seems right to them. I see this attitude so prevalent in our nation today. People want to rid our public places and government and laws of all signs of God’s moral standard because they think the Bible is archaic nonsense and modern man can come up with a much better standard of morality on their own. So for decades we have seen the stripping away of the biblical standard in our society to make way for the pursuit of freedom and happiness and fullness of life on man’s terms.

And what has been the result? What do we see in our world today? Do we see greater and greater happiness and fulfillment? Are we getting closer to a euphoric society now that human beings are setting the standard for morality? No way. We see exactly the opposite. As mankind has his own way, unrestrained by God’s moral standard, there is an ever-increasing decline into sadness, emptiness, and disappointment. Things are getting worse and it’s clear for all to see.

I see people driving themselves to misery to do what they want to do, to live life according to their terms. People who stubbornly refuse to bend the knee in submission to God and follow his commands. And they are miserable – and their misery comes not as the result of a punishment from God. It comes as the natural consequences of their chosen course of life. They think they know better than God about how to find happiness and fulfillment in life so they reject his laws and follow their own way – all to their own ruin. They think that by rejecting God they have freedom, but they are in bondage. The enemy of our freedom and joy is not God; it is our own sinful flesh. Rejecting God is not freedom; it is bondage. Our way is always in bondage to our sinful nature and fleshly cravings and if left to ourselves we will descend into greater and greater depravity and misery.

And yet humanity continues to charge down that path, thinking it’s the right thing to do. Proverbs 14:12 accurately states: “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.” We think we’re throwing off the restraint of God’s rules and unleashing a life of freedom, joy and contentment, when in reality we’re driving ourselves deeper and deeper into misery and destruction.

What’s the answer for us? What is the pathway to freedom, joy, and fulfillment in this life? It’s following the standard God has set out for us in his Word. It’s obeying his rules and commands. His moral code is the key to finding joy and fulfillment in this life. God gives us his rules for our good. I hope you can see that clearly this morning before we dive into the Ten Commandments in the upcoming weeks.

Before we get there we have to look at our own lives and our own attitudes towards the rules in the Bible. Have you been looking at them the way the world looks at them, like a choke collar around your neck, thinking that you can come up with a better way to find joy and fulfillment and life? If so, I hope you can see through that destructive lie this morning. God’s rules and commands – his moral standard and way of life that is spelled out in the pages of Scripture has never been to restrict our joy and freedom – it has always been for our good. To show us the pathway to joy and fulfillment in this life. God’s ways are far better than our ways.