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LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD
Deuteronomy 6:1-25
Key Verse: 6:4,5
"Hear, O Israel; The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart
and with all your soul and with all your strength."
Merry Christmas! We thank God for sending Jesus into this world. Can you imagine the
world without Jesus? I cannot imagine. But St. Paul described it like this. “They have become filled
with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit
and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent
ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless.
Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not
only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.” (Romans 1:2932) The world was like a giant sin-can. God’s children lived as slaves to sin. They were trapped by
Satan. To them an angel delivered a wonderful Christmas message. “Do not be afraid. I bring you
good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been
born to you; he is Christ the Lord.” (Luke 2:10,11) “A Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the
Lord.” The promised Messiah, Jesus, came to this world. Jesus loved us so much that he could not
stay in the kingdom of God. In order to save us from our sin and death, he came down as a baby. But
how did his people treat him? Jesus was born in a stable and was laid in a manger. The Bible says
that there was no room in the inn. But in fact no one was willing to offer Jesus his room. If a woman
was about to deliver a baby and knocked on your door, what would you say? Would you offer your
own room or a car-garage? In common sense, it doesn’t make sense. John described it like this: “He
was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He
came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.”(John 1:10,11) Jesus was rejected
from his birth. It is indeed a heart-breaking story.
But there is a heart-moving story too. Three Magi came from the far-away east. In order to
worship Jesus, they took a long journey at their own expense. Moreover, they brought precious gifts
for Jesus. After worshipping Jesus, they just returned to their country. Through their act of worship,
we thought about the true meaning of worship. Today is called “Christmas Day.” People are very
joyful and very excited. They give lots of presents, have parties and send cards to many people. I
received some cards from students and colleagues. But I was not happy because the cards say,
“Happy Holidays!” The world is in a party mood, but sadly, in most parties, there is no Jesus.
Without Jesus, all things are meaningless. Without Jesus, there is no true joy. Do you know that there
is only one room in your heart? Who is in the room? If Jesus is not in the room but something else,
we can never taste the true joy that God gives. Let us clean our heart’s room and accept Jesus today.
Let us worship Jesus like the three Magi with all our heart, soul and strength. In that sense,
Deuteronomy 6 is a good and practical passage for the Christmas message.
The Book of Deuteronomy is Moses' last Bible study with his sheep. He led them out of
Egypt. He had given them the Ten Commandments which he received from God. He led them
through the wilderness. Now, they were gathered on the plains of Moab, getting ready to enter the
Promised Land. They were ready to cross the Jordan River and enter the land. "Deuteronomy" means
the second giving of the law. Moses studied the Bible with the people to prepare them to enter the
Promised Land. He reviewed their history to remind them of what God had done for them. They must
not forget the grace of God. He reminded them of the Law he taught them at Sinai. Deuteronomy 6 is
the heart of Moses' message. It contains the core of Moses' faith. It is also the core of Jesus' teaching.
Let us think about what it means to love the Lord our God with all our hearts and souls and strength.
May the Spirit of God come and help us to do so.
I. Love the Lord your God in the Promised Land (4,5)
Before crossing the Jordan River, Moses delivered a message to the Israelites. Let us read
verses 4 and 5. “Hear O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all
your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” This is the core of his message. He did
not say, “Would you love the Lord your God with all your heart please?” Instead, he commanded
them, “Hear O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart
and with all your soul and with all your strength.” A command requires obedience. They had to obey
the command no matter what. How much do we have to love God? With all our heart and with all our
soul and with all our strength. Heart, soul and strength are same. He emphasized it through repeating
the same phrase three times. It reminds us of Jesus’ question that he repeated three times to Peter.
“Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these?” (John 21:15) “Simon son of John, do
you truly love me?” “Simon son of John, do you truly love me?” When Peter loved himself more than
Jesus, he failed to follow Jesus. So Jesus requested Peter’s perfect love toward him. In the same way,
God is requesting the Israelites’ perfect love. In Mark 12:30 Jesus added one more phrase, "Love the
Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your
strength." Do you think God demands too much? A humanist would say, "If I love God with all my
heart and soul and mind and strength, I won't have any love left for my spouse or my parents or my
children." But the mathematics of the Bible doesn't work like that. When we love God with all our
heart, he fills us with his own love. He enables us to love others with real love. Love multiplies when
we give it to God.
Then why do we have to love God this much? Among many reasons, Moses mentions one
thing, “The Lord is one.” There is only one God in the whole universe. Our life is more precious than
anything else in the whole world because we have only one life. If we had many lives, like in a
computer game, we would not value our life that much. There is only one God. So we have to love
him with all our heart, soul and strength. This God gave up his glory and came down to this world
with a human form. He was rejected by his created people, was born in a stable and was laid in a
manger with a smile. Jesus gave his life as a ransom sacrifice for all men. His body was torn and he
shed his blood on the cross for us. St. Peter says, “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so
that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.” (1Pe 2:24)
We committed sins and we must be punished on a tree, but our Lord Jesus volunteered to do so in our
place. Through his death, Jesus set us free from the bondage of all our sins. The Bible declares,
“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ
Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.” (Romans 8:1,2) Jesus’
grace does not end in death. He defeated the power of death through his resurrection. Through his
resurrection, Jesus set us free from the fear of death too. Because Jesus rose again, we will also rise
again in Jesus. Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even
though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” (John
11:25,26) Jesus is our savior king. Our salvation is in Jesus only. Eternal life is in Jesus only.
Forgiveness of sins is only in Jesus. Our eternal hope is in Jesus only. Jesus is our true joy. Jesus is
our true husband. Jesus is our good shepherd. Jesus is the light of the world. Jesus is living water.
Jesus is mighty God. Everything is possible in Jesus. There is no fatalism in Jesus. There is no
despair in Jesus. There is no meaninglessness in Jesus. Jesus is everything to us. Jesus is the Christ.
Jesus is most precious to us. We cannot exchange Jesus with anything. That’s why we have to love
Jesus with all our heart. What did Moses say? “"Hear, O Israel; The LORD our God, the LORD is
one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength."
II. Obey the word of God in the Promised Land
Another thing the Israelites had to do in the Promised Land is to obey the word of God. (1)
Do you know the relationship between loving Jesus and obeying Jesus’ words? Jesus said in John
14:15, “If you love me, you will obey what I command,” and in verse 21a, “Whoever has my
commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me…” and in verse 23a, “If anyone loves me, he
will obey my teaching…” and in verse 24a, “He who does not love me will not obey my teaching…”
According to what Jesus says, those who obey the Bible are those who love Jesus. How much do you
love Jesus? How much do you struggle to obey the word of Jesus? God’s word is the word of eternal
life. God created the universe with his word. God’s word is an almighty word. Even the dead will live
when they hear the word of Jesus. The word of Jesus is the word of eternal life. The word of Jesus is
the lamp to our feet. The word of Jesus is our real food. Jesus said, “Man shall not live on bread
alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4:4). Even if you eat all
kinds of healthy and delicious food, you will surely die. But if you eat the word of eternal life, you
will live forever. Therefore, how precious the word of Jesus is! Moses taught the Israelites how to
struggle in order to obey the word of God. Let’s read verse 6 together. “These commandments that I
give you today are to be upon your hearts.” We must write the word of God on our hearts. We must
not just have the word of God in our clean Bible or Bible study binder. We must copy from the Bible
and paste it on our heart. Our heart is the center of our personality. When our heart is corrupt, our
whole body is corrupt. Our whole body moves according to our heart desires. Jesus said in Mark
7:21,22 "For from within, out of men's hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder,
adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come
from inside and make a man 'unclean.'" The word of God has cleaning power. Jesus said in John 15,
“You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.” When we inscribe the word of
God on our hearts, our hears will be clean. We must evangelize our heart first.
Secondly, we have to impress the word of God on our children. Let’s read verse 7a. “Impress
them on your children.” Teaching the word of God to our children is the best education strategy. We
want our children to be good in school study. Some parents say to their children, “If you get all A’s, I
will not expect anything.” But if they don’t obey the word of God, such education ends with failure.
We should not compromise with the biblical education strategy. One mother taught her son like this,
“If you do not read the Bible, do not study and if you do not pray, do not eat.” It was her education
principle. Then amazingly, her son graduated as a valedictorian from the most famous university in
Korea.
Let’s read verse 7b. “Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the
road, when you lie down and when you get up.” It means we have to talk about the word of God all
the time. Whenever we open our mouth, we have to speak the word of God. One example among us
is missionary Theresa Jung. She always thinks and says based on God’s word. If her Bible student
says to her, “My professor just cancelled the class so I have some free time,” then missionary Theresa
will say, “O! God gave to you time to preach the gospel. Let’s go fishing.” Instead of wasting time
with gossip or watching TV, we always have to speak the word of God with sheep, coworkers and
family members. Someone might reply, “Are you crazy?” Yes! We have to be crazy about the word
of God.
Let’s read verse 8. “Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.” It
looks funny. When we have the word of God on our hands, we cannot commit sins with our hands.
When the word of God is on our foreheads, we think only the word of God.
Let’s read verse 9. “Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.”
Whenever we come into our house, we will be reminded of the word of God. It is good to write the
word of God not only on doorframes and house, but also on our computer desktop, on the ceiling, in
front of our desk and even in the bathroom.
From today let us practice those instructions. When I went to Bonn, most leaders memorized
each week’s bible passage. In order to memorize even a small passage, how many hours do you have
to spend? Memorization is not easy to older people. You have to spend almost the whole week. There
is no time to commit sin. There is no time to be involved in gossip. Memorizing the word of God is
the way to write God’s words on our heart. In North Korea and China, Bibles are very rare. But they
have eager desire to have a Bible. So when they have a chance to borrow a part of a Bible, they
memorize it. Let us do so. Let us teach the Bible to our children without failure. Let us talk about the
word of God only from today.
III. Do not forget the Lord in the Promised Land.
Let’s read verses 10 and 11. “When the LORD your God brings you into the land he swore to
your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you—a land with large, flourishing cities you did
not build, houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide, wells you did not dig, and
vineyards and olive groves you did not plant—then when you eat and are satisfied…” These are the
blessings the Israelites would receive in the Promised Land. They would live in large and flourishing
cities like Las Vegas. Each family would have a nice house filled with all kinds of good things; food,
furniture, beds, nice rooms, swimming pool, 2 car garage, wireless internet, computers, dishwasher,
washing machine, dryer, nice backyard etc. Such houses were very tempting to the Israelites who
lived in tents for forty years. Imagine how they would respond when they moved into their house the
first time. They would keep saying, “Wow! Wow! Fantastic! Wonderful! Beautiful!”
They also would possess wells they did not dig. In the desert, they always had big problems
due to lack of water. One of their number one wishes was to have wells. During the desert life, they
kept singing well songs, “Well! Well! Well! Well! Well!” Having such wells with overflowing fresh
water is not easy. If you are a well digger, you will know that. Water is not everywhere. You have to
find a water vein under the deep ground. You have to dig until water comes out: 10 feet, 15 feet, 20
feet or deeper. They did not use a machine, but just shovels or worse equipment than that. It would
take a couple of weeks to dig one well. If it was in a wrong spot, you would have to undo it. But God
said that without any labor, they would have wells in the Promised Land.
Finally they would have good vineyards and olive groves they did not plant. For forty years,
they ate Manna in the desert. They were sick and tired of Manna. Since they came out of Egypt, they
had never tasted delicious grapes and olives. They had never tasted wine since then. Once missionary
Grace brought each week one full 60-pound garbage bag of bagels. One of her students whose
parents run a bagel store brought it each week. When we saw it, we were overjoyed and ate bagels
everyday. Our refrigerators were full of bagels. A few weeks later, I found that they were not
interested in bagels anymore. The bagels decayed in center. Free bagels are good, but keeping on
eating them day after day is torturing. The Israelites ate Manna for 40 years. When Moses mentioned
vineyards and olive groves, they automatically swallowed saliva.
Here in each sentence, the emphasis is, “You did not build, you did not provide, you did not
dig and you did not plant.” Everything was free. Without any labor they received all the blessings. It
was God who provided them. Because they were free, there was a danger that they would take them
for granted. They would easily forget God’s grace. They would be satisfied with all the blessings.
God knew them very well and gave a strong warning. Let’s read verse 12. “…be careful that you do
not forget the Lord, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.” God said, “Don’t
forget me!” God warned them again from verse 13 through 19. Let’s read them. “Fear the LORD
your God, serve him only and take your oaths in his name. Do not follow other gods, the gods of the
peoples around you; for the LORD your God, who is among you, is a jealous God and his anger will
burn against you, and he will destroy you from the face of the land. Do not test the LORD your God
as you did at Massah. Be sure to keep the commands of the LORD your God and the stipulations and
decrees he has given you. Do what is right and good in the LORD's sight, so that it may go well with
you and you may go in and take over the good land that the LORD promised on oath to your
forefathers, thrusting out all your enemies before you, as the LORD said.” Despite God’s strong and
repeated warning, they forgot God after enjoying all the blessings. When they forgot God, their
children forgot God too. So they kept sinning before the eyes of God. One night my daughter was
reading the book of Judges and kept saying, “Again!” I asked her, “What?” She answered to me,
“Why did the Israelites keep sinning?” I spent some time to explain to her the reason. Judges 10:6,7
say, “Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord. They served the Baals and the Ashtoreths,
and the gods of Aram, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the Ammonites and the gods
of the Philistines. And because the Israelites forsook the Lord and no longer served him, he became
angry with them. He sold them into the hands of the Philistines and the Ammonites…” They did not
fear God, but instead worshipped idols. They did not serve God, but served foreign gods. They
committed spiritual adultery. They were chosen by God to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation
but they degenerated into sinful and petty men.
It is very sad that the same thing is happening in America. America is called a land flowing
with milk and honey. When visitors come to the USA, they are shocked by the overflowing milk and
honey. Brother Martin from Bonn, Germany was very interested in the king size of a Burger King
cup and took the cup to Germany as a souvenir. When I came to America, I was surprised at the 1
Gallon milk jug. I had never tasted milk until I was a high school student, except my mom’s milk.
When I came to America, I drank it almost every mealtime. Sometimes I eat milky rice cooked with
my receipt. American forefathers feared God and sought God first in their daily life. But America has
turned away from God rapidly. Nowadays, she is like a godless nation. Recently, the Harrisburg,
Pennsylvania Public School District tried to teach the creation theory called, "intelligent design", but
U.S. District Judge John E. Jones said, “Intelligent design in the science curriculum violates the
constitutional separation of church and state.” We must repent and turn to God. Otherwise, God will
be angry. God was angry at his people Israel and punished them. Then, how about we gentiles! When
God blessed me to move to the Princeton Bible House, called Bethel House, I made an oath.
Princeton is a nice area. It is good for education and good to live in. I knew that God did not send my
family and shepherd Jason’s family to enjoy such blessings only. God sent us to serve the dying
Princeton students. I knew that there would be a danger that we could forget God. In order to
maintain God’s blessings and not to forget God, I told all my family to get up at 5am and listen to
God’s word. There is no exception whether they are young or old. Unfortunately, two 2nd generation
missionaries are forgetting God’s grace. They often miss even the school bus and walk to school.
Unless they repent, they will be kicked out. God blessed us so much and gave us the very nice center.
God’s purpose for the center is very clear: a house of prayer and a house of Bible study. We have to
check our heart motives, whether we doing the right things before God. We have to examine what we
are dong in the center. Unless we do what is right before God, such blessing will turn to God’s curse.
Let us repent of our sins. Let us remember God who gave us this center for the world mission.
IV. Remember what God has done in the Promised Land(20-24)
The way to maintain God’s blessing is to remember what God has done to us and teach it to
our children. Let’s read verses 20-24. "In the future, when your son asks you, 'What is the meaning of
the stipulations, decrees and laws the Lord our God has commanded you?' tell him: ‘We were slaves
of Pharaoh in Egypt, but the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. Before our eyes the
Lord sent miraculous signs and wonders—great and terrible—upon Egypt and Pharaoh and his whole
household. But he brought us out from there to bring us in and give us the land that he promised on
oath to our forefathers. The Lord commanded us to obey all these decrees and to fear the Lord our
God, so that we might always prosper and be kept alive, as is the case today. And if we are careful to
obey all this law before the Lord our God, as he has commanded us, that will be our righteousness.’"
If our children ask us, "Dad, why are you a missionary (or a shepherd)? Why must I be a second
generation missionary (or shepherd)?" or "Mom, why do you spend so much time with sheep and so
little time cooking for me?" or "Why is our house always so full of sheep and our refrigerator always
so empty?" or "How come you married by faith?" what will you say? We have to share our life
testimony. We have to tell them what God has done for us. We have to tell them God’s glorious
promise. We have to give our children a history lesson.
In this passage, we thought about what God wants us to do after receiving God’s abundant
blessing. First we must love God with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our strength. We
have to struggle with the word of God and obey it without compromise. We must not forget God
when our stomach is full. Finally, we must remember what God has done for us and teach it to our
children. Let us follow these directions. Let’s read verse 4 and 5 again. "Hear, O Israel; The LORD
our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and
with all your strength."
STUDY QUESTIONS
* THE LORD OUR GOD, THE LORD IS ONE (1-4)
1. Who spoke these words? (Dt 1:1; 5:1; 6:1) To whom? What important event was about to happen?
2. Why was it important for God's people to learn his laws and obey them?
3. What does it mean to "fear the Lord your God"? How do God's people show their respect for God?
What blessings does God promise to those who obey his commands, laws and decrees?
4. What does it mean that the Lord our God is one? What does it mean practically to God's people?
What does it mean to you?
* LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD (5-9)
5. Read verse 2 and Mk 12:20. What does it mean to love the Lord with all one's heart and soul and
strength? How does this kind of love eliminate selfishness? Can you think of anyone who loves God
like this?
6. What is the program of education which God prescribed for adults and their children? How does
this prevent a hypocritical, double life? How can God's commandments be impressed on people's
hearts?
7. What is the blessing and joy and the spiritual dangers that lay ahead of God's people when they
entered the promised land? What warning did Moses give in verse 12?
* FEAR THE LORD YOUR GOD (10-19)
8. What are the things that are especially offensive to God? What lesson should they learn from
Massah? (Ex 17:7) What will God do if his people violate his commands regarding idolatry? Why?
9. How can they be sure of maintaining God's blessing? And claiming his help when they encounter
enemies? What is "good and right in the Lord's sight"--In Moses' day and in our day? (See Ex 19:5,6;
1Pe 2:9; Mt 28:18-19)
* REMEMBER WHAT THE LORD YOUR GOD HAS DONE (20-24)
10. What provision was made for continuing education down through the generations? Why is this an
effective method of education? Why is this necessary? What has God done for you? (1P 1:18,19; Jn
3:16)