SERMON STRUCTURE: Lest We Forget¹

A Message for the Celebration of Communion

Deuteronomy 6:1-14

CIT (Central Idea of the Text): God commanded the Israelites not to forget God’s sovereignty and God’s provision for them. (14 words).

SERMON FOCUS: God likewise expects us to remember what God has done for us.

MO: Consecrative

SO: Remember what God has done for you in Christ Jesus.

TITLE: Lest We Forget!

Then … the completed sermon should be evaluated in terms of how well it adheres to the CIT and SF, and accomplishes its SO.

INVOCATION

OUTLINE OF Deuteronomy 6:1-14

1. The charge to obey.

“¹Now this is the commandment—the statutes and ordinances—that the Lord your God charged me to teach you to observe in the land you are about to cross into and occupy.

“²so that you and your children and your children’s children may fear the Lord all the days of your life, and keep his decrees and his commandments that I am commanding you, so that your days may be long.

‘³Hear, therefore, O Israel, and observe them diligently, so that you may multiply greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, has promised you.

2. The “Shema.”

“⁴Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone.

“⁵You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.

“⁶Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart.

“⁷Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise.

“⁸Bind them as a sign upon your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead,

“⁹and write them on the door posts of your house and on your gates.

3. Warnings about disobedience.

“¹⁰When the Lord your God has brought you into the land that he swore to your ancestors, to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, to give you — a land with fine, large cities that you did not build,

¹¹houses filled with all sorts of goods that you did not fill, hewn cisterns that you did not hew, vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant, — and when you have eaten your fill —

“¹²take care that you do not forget the Lord, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

“¹³The Lord your God shall you fear, him shall you serve, and by his name alone you shall swear.

“¹⁴Do not follow other gods, any of the gods of the peoples who are around you..”

SERMON DEVELOPMENT

Lest We Forget!

Deuteronomy 6:1-14

Introduction

1. Today is the Forth Sunday after Pentecost, and we are about half way between Memorial Day and the Fourth of July.

1. This is a time for remembering those who served our nation in the armed forces, and in other ways, sometimes by the sacrifice of their lives in battle.

2. It is also a time of decision in our nation as we move toward the national elections in November.

3. And so this is a time for remembering — and celebrating — who we are as a nation.

2. In celebration of the 60th year of the reign of Queen Victoria in 1897, the English author and poet James Rudyard Kipling wrote a well-known poem he titled “Recessional,” which called upon the British nation to remember its own heritage, and its own dependence upon God.

1. The words of that poem are worth our hearing even today.

2. [Read here Kipling’s “Recessional.”]

3. The phrase that echoes so passionately through Kipling’s poem is

“Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet / Lest we forget, lest we forget!”

4. It is a call that we too should remember in these times.

5. Our Scripture this morning is likewise a call for us to remember who we are as Christians — a call not to forget what God has done for us.

Scripture

1. The passage is from the second giving of the Law to the people of Israel — the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 6, verses 1-14. I am reading from the New Revised Standard Version.

[Read here Deuteronomy 6:1-14, NRSV.]

2. In this second giving or recitation of the Law, God charged the Israelites not to forget God’s sovereignty and God’s provision for them.

3. And as we prepare to celebrate communion, we too need to be mindful of what God has done for us in Christ Jesus.

Exposition

1. From this passage in Deuteronomy, there are at least three challenges that come to us — things we are never to forget.

2. First, we are challenged never to forget our own redemption.

1. Verse 12 reminds us, “¹²take care that you do not forget the Lord, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.” (6:12).

2. Our redemption is from the slavery of sin, and Christ is our Redeemer.

3. Israel had been in slavery in Egypt, having lived there for 400 years.

4. Israel was delivered from its bondage by the sacrifice of the Passover lamb.

5. When its life was given, and its blood was shed, and marked on the doorposts, the death angel passed over.

6. Jesus Christ is our Passover lamb (1 Corinthians 5:7). We are redeemed by his blood and forgiven of our sins (Ephesians 1:7).

7. We ought never to forget the cost of our redemption in Christ Jesus.

3. Second, we are challenged to remember our material blessings.

1. Verses 10 and 11 remind us,

“¹⁰When the Lord your God has brought you into the land that he swore to your ancestors, to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, to give you — a land with fine, large cities that you did not build,

¹¹houses filled with all sorts of goods that you did not fill, hewn cisterns that you did not hew, vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant, — and when you have eaten your fill —

“¹²take care that you do not forget the Lord, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

2. While these words were addressed to the ancient Israelites, we can certainly identify with the material prosperity they portray.

   1. In comparison with the way in which much of the world lives, we have indeed inherited “fine large cities that [we] did [ourselves] not build,” “houses filled with all sorts of goods that [we did not ourselves make]”, “hewn cisterns,” we ourselves did not dig, and “vineyards and olive groves” that we ourselves did not plant.

   2. Everything that we have we have received from God; it has all been given to us.

3. But we forget so easily.

   1. We become attached to the things of this life, thinking they are ours.

   2. But we are only stewards, caretakers of what God has given us.

4. Psalm 24:1 says, The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it, the word, and those who live in it.

5. And Romans 8:32 tells us, “³²He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else?”

3. And finally we are challenged to remember God’s commandments for our daily lives.

1. God’s requirements for our daily lives are God’s moral principles for our personal lives, our families, and our national life.

2. God promises us that if we “keep his decrees and his commandments that [he is] commanding [us], [our] days may be long. (6:2).

3. What are these commandments?

   1. First, we listen to what the Lord says to us.

Deuteronomy 6:4 is the heart of the Hebrew Bible: “⁴Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone.”

2. Second, we are to love the Lord with everything we’ve got.

When someone asked Jesus, “what is the greatest commandment?” he quoted these two verses:

“⁴Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone.

“⁵You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.” (Deuteronomy 6:4, 5).

3. Third, we are to meditate upon God’s word for us, and teach God’s word to our children (Deuteronomy 6:6, 7)

“⁶Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart.

“⁷Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise.

The home, not the school, and not even the church, ought to be the place our children learn about God.

4. And finally, we are to apply God’s word to our own lives.

“⁸Bind them as a sign upon your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead,

“⁹and write them on the door posts of your house and on your gates.

1. The ancient Israelites took this command quite literally.

2. And even today on the doorposts of the homes of orthodox Jews there is a small cylinder containing Deuteronomy 6:4-5.

Reflections and Conclusions

At the Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial in Washington, that long wall of black marble engraved with the names of those killed in the war, people come to remember their friends and loved ones. Writer Don Moser says that often they leave tokens of their remembrance: flags, sealed letters, pieces of clothing, photos, and other items. Volunteers collect these tokens daily and store them at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Collection.

A book called Offerings at the Wall pictures many of these mementoes. One man left dog tags, a headband, and a letter that reads, “To all of you here from Echo Company, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division. … I leave you my headband which contains my sweat from the war, my dog tag, and a picture of me and Mike. Another time, another place. I’ll never forget you.”

A woman left a braid of hair and a picture of a house with an American flag hanging at the porch. Her note read, “Wayne, I think of you every day and miss you so much. I love you.”

Written on one flag was this message: “May all of you who have died, all of you still missing, and all of you who returned home, never be forgotten. — Connie.”

It is important that we remember. Jesus told us that tokens we wants us to use to remember his death: the bread and the cup.²

“Lest we forget!” Jesus seems to be saying to us in this memorial of his own death on our behalf.

Let us gather around his table now, and remember what God has done for us in Christ Jesus. Lest we forget!