The wise church
“See, I have taught you decrees and laws as the LORD my God commanded me, so that you may follow them in the land you are entering to take possession of it. Observe them carefully, for this will show your wisdom and understanding to the nations, who will hear about all these decrees and say, "Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.” (Deuteronomy 4:5-6)
I'm a foolish pastor. I am concerned that the church will become a foolish church because of the foolish pastor. The pastor must first live by hearing the voice of God and obeying His Word but I am acting hastily. I am a foolish pastor. After praying to God, I must patiently wait with faith and wait for God's answer but I am speaking and acting carelessly. I am a foolish pastor. I am a foolish pastor who doesn't obey the voice and instruction that God gives through the Word time to time. When God says “Don’t do this”, I do it. When God says “Do this”, I don’t do it. I am a foolish pastor. Why is it so messy? What a foolish pastor. I ask God for forgiveness. I am instructed to stop rash actions and wait quietly before God to work. I am instructed to be passive before God. I am also instructed not to miss the timing of obeying God's Word. I want to be a pastor who listens to God's voice and is taught and humbly obey Him. Therefore, I pray that our church will be established as a wise church that is more obedient to the Word of God.
In Deuteronomy 4:5-6, God gave the Israelites, “the congregation in the wilderness” (Acts 7:38), through Moses God's decrees and laws that they must keep (v. 1). And Moses taught the decrees and laws so that the Israelites might follow them in the land they were entering to take possession of it (v. 5). Then Moses exhorted them to “Observe them carefully” (v. 6). What was the reason? The reason is that obeying God's decrees and laws are their wisdom and understanding to the nations (v. 6). In other words, when the Israelites obeyed God's decrees and laws, the nations, who would hear about all these decrees and said, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people (v. 6). As I meditated on these words, I asked myself what kind of church is the wise church in God's eyes. I thought of four things:
First, the wise church knows that there is no other god beside God.
Look at Deuteronomy 4:35, 39: “You were shown these things so that you might know that the LORD is God; besides him there is no other. … Acknowledge and take to heart this day that the LORD is God in heaven above and on the earth below. There is no other.” From the day God created man on the earth and till the Israelites who went into the land of Canaan, there has anything so great as this ever happened or has anything like it ever been heard of (v. 32). And that great and awesome deeds were “all the things the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your very eyes?” “by miraculous signs and wonders, by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm” (v. 34) The purpose of God's work in the sight of the Israelites in Egypt for the nation of Israel (v. 34), and the purpose of revealing this great work to the Israelites was “so that you might know that the Lord is God; besides him there is no other” (v. 35). Therefore, the Israelites who had seen and experienced God's great work of salvation should acknowledge and take to heart that the Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth below that there is no other (v. 39). That is, they should know that “The Lord our God, the Lord is one” (6:4).
We must know that the Lord our God is one. We must know that our God is the only true God and there is no other gods. “Has anything so great as this ever happened, or has anything like it ever been heard of?” “from the day God created man on the earth”? (4:32) Is there anything so great that God, who loved us and chose us before the creation (Eph. 1:4; Deut. 4:37), made His Son Jesus Christ, the true Passover Lamb, to be crucified in order to forgive all our sins and to deliver us from this Satan’s kingdom and to lead us to the true Promised Land, the Heaven, to save us? The God's people who have seen and experienced this amazing work of God's great salvation have to admit that “The Lord our God, the Lord is one” (Deut. 6: 4). The people who know and believe in this one and only God are the wise people. The church that knows “The Lord our God, the Lord is one” is the wise church.
Second, the wise church is led by God.
Look at Deuteronomy 4:37-38: “Because he loved your forefathers and chose their descendants after them, he brought you out of Egypt by his Presence and his great strength, to drive out before you nations greater and stronger than you and to bring you into their land to give it to you for your inheritance, as it is today.” The one and only God brought the Israelites out of Egypt by His Presence and His great strength (v. 37). The one and only God, came and brought the Israelites out of the Egypt by “by miraculous signs and wonders, by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, or by great and awesome deeds” (v. 34). And God led them with a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night (Exod. 13:21, Neh. 9:12, 19). Thus one and only God, who brought the Israelites out of Egypt by His Presence and His great strengthen (4:37), drove out before them nations greater and stronger than them and brought them into their land to give it to them for their inheritance (v. 38). In other words, the great God, in His great power, loved and chose the nation of Israel to accomplish a great work of salvation so that they could enter into Canaan, the Promised Land, and give it as their inheritance. In short, the Israelites were “your people, your inheritance that you brought out by your great power and your outstretched arm” (9:29). Therefore, the Israelites should be careful that they didn’t forget the Lord, who brought them out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery (6:12). And they should be thankful to God who brought out the Israelites out of Egypt with a mighty hand and outstretched arm (Ps. 136:11-12). In other words, the Israelites should have been grateful for God's eternal lovingkindness. Never should they grumble in their tents and said “The LORD hates us; so he brought us out of Egypt to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us” (Deut. 1:27). Also, they shouldn’t cast for themselves an image of a calf and said, “This is your god, who brought you up out of Egypt or when they committed awful blasphemies” (Neh. 9:18). Rather, the Israelites should have confessed: “The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake” (Ps. 23:1-3). This is because God fed the manna while the Israelites were in the wilderness for 40 years (Deut. 8:3), and kept their clothes not to wear out and their feet not to swell during the 40 years (v. 4). Where is the nation that is led by the one and only God like the Israelites?
Now our good Shepherd Lord is leading our church. God, who loved us and chose us before creation, not only saved us because He is pleased with us (2 Sam. 22:20, Ps. 18:19), but He is now leading us in this wilderness-like world. He led us to train us in the wilderness to humble us and to let us know that “man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord” (Deut. 8:2- 3). Although we do not know our way, we believe and know that “he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold” (Job 23:10). God is testing us with the Word of the Lord until what He foretold comes to pass (Ps. 105:19). God is refining us like silver (66:10). And now our God is leading us to heaven, the true Promise Land. God, who is leading us in everlasting way (Ps. 139:24), is guiding us with His counsel (73:24) and leading us safely (78:53) so that our ways are successful (Isa. 48:15). Even though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we fear no evil, for God is with us; His rod and His staff, they comfort us (Ps. 23:4). Our God will guide us until death (48:14) and afterward will receive us to glory (73:24). This church led by God is the wise church.
Third, the wise church hears and obeys the word of God.
Look at Deuteronomy 4: 6, 33, 36, 40: “Observe them carefully, for this will show your wisdom and understanding to the nations, who will hear about all these decrees and say, "Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. .. Has any other people heard the voice of God speaking out of fire, as you have, and lived? … From heaven he made you hear his voice to discipline you. On earth he showed you his great fire, and you heard his words from out of the fire. … Keep his decrees and commands, which I am giving you today, so that it may go well with you and your children after you and that you may live long in the land the LORD your God gives you for all time.” The one and only God who guided the Israelites had them hear His voice from heaven to discipline them and to hear His words from out of the fire (v. 36). Who heard the voice of God speaking out of fire and have lived? (v. 33) Also, through Moses, God let the Israelites, the wilderness church, to hear God's decrees and laws (v. 1). The responsibility of the Israelites was not to subtract from it (v. 2) but follow it (v. 1) and keep the commands of the Lord their God (vv. 2, 40). Then “you and your children after you and that you may live long in the land the LORD your God gives you for all time” (v. 40). The Israelites, who were greatly saved by the love of the one and only God, should have loved God with all their heart and with all their soul and with all their strength (6:5). They should have kept the God’s commands upon their hearts (v. 6) and diligently taught their children (v. 7). And the Israelites, who loved God with all their heart, soul, and strength, should have heard and obeyed the word of God.
We, the church, must listen to the word of God. We must give our ears and hear God’s voice (Isa 28:23). And we must listen and obey the word of God. We must learn obedience from the things which we suffer (Heb. 5:8). We must lay down our will and obey God's will. We should not just say, “Lord, Lord,” “I love you.” If we truly love God, we must keep His commandments (Jn. 14:21). We must obey God's law. We must hear and follow Jesus' twofold commandment: “'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself” (Lk. 10:27). The church that listens to and obeys the Word of God is the wise church.
Fourth, the wise church prays to God.
Look at Deuteronomy 4:7 – “What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the LORD our God is near us whenever we pray to him?” The Israelites were blessed (Num.. 22:12). They were loved and chosen by God (Deut. 4:37). “Has any god ever tried to take for himself one nation out of another nation, by testings, by miraculous signs and wonders, by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, or by great and awesome deeds, like all the things the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your very eyes?” (v. 34) God gave the Israelites “all the goodness” (Exod. 18:9) and delivered them out of Egypt with His great power (Deut. 9:29). There were no people in the world who survived after hearing the voice of God speaking out of fire like the Israelites (4:33). “What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the LORD our God is near us whenever we pray to him?” (v. 7)
We, the church, should pray to God. We who lack wisdom must pray in faith, without doubting God (Jam. 1:5, 6). Then God will generously give us wisdom without finding fault (v. 5). Therefore, we must be wise church. And we must be the praying church. We must be the church who are devoted to prayer (Acts 2:42). The wise church prays to God because God turns His ear to us so that we will call on Him as long as we live (Ps. 116:2).
The folly of the church is not praying to God. It is our foolishness to pray “like the hypocrites” (Mt. 6:5). Also the folly of the church is to disobey God's Word. It is our foolishness not obeying God even though we are disciplined by Heavenly Father (Deut. 21:18). The foolishness of the church is to reject God's guidance and to consider ourselves wise (Prov. 3:7) and to rely on our own understanding (v. 5). It is our foolishness to be guided by the world. The foolishness of the church is not knowing the one and only God. It is our foolishness to be tempted by covetousness which is idolatry (Col. 3:5) and serve both God and money (Mt. 6:24). Now the church must abandon all our foolishness (Prov. 9:6). We must abandon our covetousness, our own wisdom, and reliance on our own understanding. We must also forsake the sin of disobedience and the sin of not praying. We must be the wise church. We must know that there is no other gods beside God. We must be led by God. And we must listen to God's Word and obey it. We must pray to God. May the Lord raise us as His wise church.