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We read earlier from Deuteronomy 26:1-11. It’s a world away from us in terms of where we get our food from and where we live. But it highlights some crucial things for us today. Eternal things. Which makes them really important.
We’re going to see how every good thing in your life is from the Lord. What’s more, every good thing in your life is for the Lord. And that should affect your attitude to God, to other people, and to the things in your life.
Let’s go back into the world of Deuteronomy 26. Moses had been your leader, a very old man. He led your parents out of Egyptian slavery, and through 40 years of wandering in the desert. He laid down his final teaching in Deuteronomy, preparing the nation for entering Canaan, the Promised Land.
When Moses died, he was succeeded by Joshua. Under Joshua, you fought and took the land. City by city, battle by battle, area by area – you took the land. You chose villages and towns to settle in. And finally, you cleared land and planted crops in this amazing, fertile land.
Months later, with something like peace in the land, you harvested your first crop! What a big day! You’ve gone from slavery, to a nomadic life, to being a fighter, and now a farmer – and here are your first fruits!
What do you do? Someone might say, “Why not take pleasure in those first fruits yourself? You’ve certainly earned it! You’ve suffered, fought, worked, laboured – and now here’s your reward!”
But look again at the language of Deuteronomy 26:1-11.
There are a few things to notice:
- First, the emphasis is on how the land and its produce are a gift from God (highlighted in yellow). That doesn’t belittle the effort the people took, but it’s still crucial that they recognised that all they had was from the Lord.
- Second, the things the worshipper is to say from Verse 5 begin with “My father was a wandering Aramean” That’s probably Jacob, renamed Israel. His wives were Aramean, and so were all his sons. He’s gone from homeless to having an inheritance!
- And then notice the pronouns. Most of the saying is about God’s dealings with the nation. But it ends with the individual worshipper: “I have now brought the first of the land’s produce that you, LORD, have given me.” In the end, we all come to the Lord one by one.
Now, you’ve got lots of things in your life. A home, a car, WiFi, a bank balance. Some have careers and varying levels of success in work, school, college.
Deuteronomy 26 calls you to take whatever is good in your life and acknowledge that it is all from God. All of it. You might think you’ve worked hard to get what you’ve got. You’ve earned your way, and you deserve your home comforts.
But God gave you opportunity, and ability, and strength. God brought you the failures that made you stronger and taught you tough lessons and made you better next time. He has led you into dark valleys and brought you out again.
Every good thing in your life is a gift from God. Deuteronomy 26 emphasises the material aspect of that.
But don’t overlook something amazing: The worshipper could approach God and thank him personally. God has provided a way for sinful people to approach him.
Back then, you’d go to the tabernacle, later to the temple. Now, you still go to God – but you can do so anywhere. It’s still 100% appropriate to go to him and give thanks for all the good things in your life – both material and spiritual.
In fact, the words from v5-10 still hold true for you:
- You yourself were wandering away from God.
- You’ve been a slave to sin. If you can’t see that, you’re still in slavery. What does that look like? Are you constantly feeling like there’s more to life than what you’ve got? Do you compare yourself with others and feel that you’re lacking? If you lost all your worldly goods, would that be the end of the world to you? Do you find yourself daydreaming of winning the lottery, or getting a big promotion? Is there some aspect of your life that no-one knows about, you’d be ashamed to have public, but you just can’t stop?
- But the saying in these verses is about how God freed his people from slavery – and he frees you from slavery to sin as you come to faith in Christ. Freed from idolatry, all your worth is in Christ. You’re a child of God – the highest state a person can be. You can set you mind on Christ, on things above, and be freed from sin’s grip by the work of the Spirit.
- And because he has saved you, you bring your whole life and being to him and lay it at his feet. You come to God, and you worship him with your whole life.
What does that mean for your life, as a Christian?
- An attitude of gratitude: No matter how hard you feel you have worked for everything you have, it is all from the Lord. Give thanks with joy for all your material and spiritual benefits.
- Give your life as a living sacrifice: Use all that you have as God intends. You are his to use for his works, his glory. Use your time and energy to do good, to do the works he’s prepared in advance for you to do.
- Love others with God’s own love: God didn’t hold back when he displayed his love for you. He gave you his Son, and continues to lavish love on you. Be liberally generous with the gifts God has given you – bring the best, the first fruits of you life. Give to God what’s right, not what’s left. You have been blessed materially and spiritually, so be generous the the materially and spiritually impoverished, to the glory of God.
Galatians 6:7-8 says “Don’t be deceived: God is not mocked. For whatever a person sows he will also reap, because the one who sows to his flesh will reap destruction from the flesh, but the one who sows to the Spirit will reap eternal life from the Spirit.“
Ultimately, what you have is from God, what you have is for God, and how you use it reveals what you’re truly living for.