This past week I preached on the book of Deuteronomy. While I was reading, I noticed that numerous times in Deuteronomy, Moses
pauses to remind the Israelites how unworthy they are to be in a covenant relationship with God. He seems determined to show the people how undeserving they are of God's blessing and provision. It’s actually pretty funny.
Here are just a couple of examples:
“The Lord did not
choose you and lavish his love on you because you were larger or greater than
other nations, for you were the smallest of all nations! It was simply because
the Lord loves you, and because he was keeping the oath he had sworn to your ancestors.
That is why the Lord rescued you with such amazing power from your slavery
under Pharaoh in Egypt." Deuteronomy 7:7-8
"The Lord your God is not giving you this good land because you are righteous, for you are not--you are a stubborn people." Deuteronomy 9:6
I love that. He’s reminding the Israelites: "You’re
not that amazing. God didn't choose you because you were the biggest nation or the most wealthy. He does not love you because of your own righteousness. In fact, you’re a
stubborn and rebellious people. God is not giving you the promised land because of your
worthiness." And I’m sure the people were thinking at this point: “Ok, Moses, we get
it, we stink. So why did God choose us.?” And Moses’ response is simple:
“Because that’s who God is. God is good. God is love and he loves you.”
The
same is true for us. We need this reminder because after you’ve been in the
church for a while it’s really easy to become prideful and judgmental. However, the truth is, we have no reason to look down on others. We are not special
because of our wealth or knowledge or own self-righteousness. We have not
earned God’s love or favor. We do not deserve his goodness...we have it simply
because this is who God is. Everything is a gift...it’s all grace. God loves us not because we have
made ourselves worthy of it. He loves us because he is love. God's love for us is not based on our character. God's love for us is based on his character. This is good news!
