Begin with the End in Mind
There is a short story, titled,
“The Man Who Met Death.” In that story the man has conversation with Death. The
man says, “I don’t want to die a sudden death. So please give me a warning
before you come.” Death agrees, saying, “I promise. I will give you several
warnings.” The man is relieved and goes on his way. Few years later, death
visits him all of sudden. The man is not ready and terrified, saying, “It’s a
breach of promise! You’ve come without any warnings.” Death says to him calmly,
“No, I kept the promise. Do you remember the day when you had your first gray
hair? That was my first warning. Do you remember you saw a doctor because you
didn’t hear well? That was my second warning. Do you remember you had short
breath and chest pain? That was my another warning.” In Psalm 90 Moses says,
“The days of our life pass by quickly and we fly away” (10).
We are in this journey together.
And it’s always good to begin our journey with the end in mind. In this
respect, Deuteronomy is so rich and beneficial for us today, because it’s
Moses’ final speech for the next generation, about to cross Jordan river and to
start a new chapter of their life in the Promised Land. We haven’t studied this
book chapter by chapter; instead, we focused on five main themes from this
book.
- Wilderness: Wilderness is love. It refines us, shapes us, equips us to be God’s people.
- Battle: The land of Canaan is not empty land, but to be conquered. Be prepared! But we fight from victory, but not for victory.
- Journey: from Egypt to Canaan. It’s journey from my kingdom to God’s kingdom.
- Holiness: “Like father, like son.” Be holy for God is holy. Our journey is not a journey of happiness, but of holiness.
Greater than Moses
Our last theme word is “leader.” It’s
so important to have a good leader in order to complete the journey. Moses was
a great leader for forty years, but he couldn’t finish the journey. So he said
to his people, “The Lord your God will raise up a prophet (leader) like me for
you from among you. You must listen to him” (Dt 18:15). Then, who is Mosses
talking about? Who is “a prophet like me”? The best way to answer this question
is to let scripture interpret scripture. In Acts 3 Peter speaks to those
utterly astonished by healing of a crippled beggar and quotes the phrase “a prophet
like me.” Then he boldly proclaims, “The prophet like Moses is God’s Chosen
One, the Messiah. And Jesus is the Messiah.” Again in Acts 7 Stephen defends
himself before Sanhedrin and quotes the same phrase, saying, “Our ancestors
killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One, the Prophet like
Moses, the Messiah, and now you have killed Jesus, who is the Christ.”
One day Jesus went up on the
mountain to pray and took with him Peter and John and James. And while he was
praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling
white. Two men, Moses and Elijah, were talking with him. Then a cloud came and
overshadowed the disciples. A voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, my
Chosen One. Listen to him!” (Luke 9:35) Jesus is God’s Son, God’s Chosen One. The
Book of Hebrews clearly proclaims this truth. It begins like this:
“Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds. He is the reflection of God's glory and the exact imprint of God's very being, and he sustains all things by his powerful word…” (1:1-3, NRSV)
Jesus is the Prophet like Moses. He
is superior and greater than Moses. Jesus is the Way to salvation.
The Jesus Way
When Jesus said, “I am the way…”
what he meant was that he is both “ends”
and “means.” Ends are goals and purposes, while means are the way we get to
the goal. For Christians, the end is God’s work of salvation, eternal life,
life with Christ. What about the means? How can we get there? Jesus. John 3:16
tells us what are the end and the means of our Christian journey: “For God so
loved the world, that he gave his one and
only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
Jesus
is A to Z, not ABC of our Christian journey. Some people believe that it’s
ok to follow Jesus any which way they like once they received Jesus as their
Savior. Jesus is the beginning and the end, Alpha and Omega. St. Catherine
rightly said, "All the way to heaven is heaven, because Jesus had said, 'I
am the way."' In other words, the way we talk, the way we treat another,
the way we raise our children, the way we read, the way we worship, the way we
vote, the way we garden, the way we drive, the way we walk, the way we eat,
ought to be congruent with the way Jesus talked, acted, felt, gestured, prayed,
healed, taught, lived and died. Eugene Peterson captured well this truth,
saying, “The way of Jesus is the way that we practice and come to understand
the truth of Jesus, living Jesus in our homes and workplaces, with our friends
and family.”[1]
In his final speech Moses talks
about a prescribed place of worship. He says, “Be careful not to sacrifice your burnt offerings anywhere you please” (12:13). Then he continues, “Instead, take
your sacred gifts and your offerings to
the place the Lord will choose” (26). Then Moses also talks about
regulations concerning tithings, offerings, marriage, sexual relations, keeping
Sabbath and other holy festivals. What we can learn from all this is, it’s not
about us. It’s not about my preference, my convenience, my way. It’s about God
and His Way. It is God who will choose where to worship, when to worship, how
to worship, what to bring and how much to bring for offerings... and how to
live. In other religions, we don’t have to change. We manipulate gods to get
what we want. But in Christianity, that just doesn’t work. We cannot follow
Jesus any which way we like. “Jesus is the way” means we follow the way of
Jesus in every area of our life. Not only does Jesus show the way, but also he
takes the initiative and invites us to join him. In Matthew 11:28-29 Jesus
says, “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away
with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me--watch how I
do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or
ill-fitting on you” (MSG). Jesus is the way – means and end.
The Cross Way
The
way of Jesus is the way of the cross. The Jesus way is the way of
sacrifice, humiliation, and “deny yourself.” The Jesus way is the narrow way,
but it’s the only way that leads to life. In John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, on his journey Christian met two gentlemen,
coming into the narrow way over the wall. Their names were Formalist and
Hypocrisy. They were born in the land of Vain-glory and were going to Celestial
City to receive praise. Christian asked them, “Why didn’t you enter by the
narrow gate?” They replied, “Our way is shorter and easier. You came in by the
narrow gate, we climbed over the wall. But we are all traveling along the same
road. We will be just fine. We will go our way, and you yours.” A short while
later, the three came to the Hill Difficulty. Here were also two roads – one
turned to the right and the other to the left. But the narrow way led between
them straight up to the top of the hill. Christian began to climb the narrow
hill, while the other two decided to take the side roads. One took the way of
danger and got lost in the forest, and the other took the way of destruction,
stumbled over a cliff and fell to his death.[2]
The Jesus way is the narrow way.
When Jesus was in the wilderness, he
was tempted by the devil three times. But basically, those three temptations
were one – taking the crown without the
cross. The first temptation: turn stones into bread. Meet people’s needs
without the cross. The second temptation: throw yourself down, show miracles,
and people will be drawn to you without the cross. The third temptation: I will
let you rule the world if you fall down and worship me. Again save the world
without the cross. This temptation continues to the end even when Jesus was on
the cross. People said, “Come down from the cross now, so we can see it and
believe!” But Jesus resisted the temptation to taking the crown without the
cross. The devil tempts us in the same way: follow Jesus, but it’s ok to follow
him any which way you like, it’s ok to take a shortcut or side ways to get to Celestial
City. But Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower,
you must turn from your selfish ways (“deny yourself”), take up your cross
daily, and follow me” (Lk 9:23 NLT).
Change Your Ways
As I close, I exhort our church
family to read the Book of Hebrews throughout this week, because it clearly
interprets the Old Testament passages about the Messiah and effectively
proclaims that Jesus is the Messiah. Then, the author encourages those who
faithfully follow the Jesus way, and at the same time, warns those who stray
from the narrow path. He exhorts three times: “Today, if you hear his voice, do
not harden your hearts” (3:7-8, 15; 4:7). Are you walking in the narrow way? Do
you stay in tune with Jesus today? Let us change our ways, change our minds,
change our attitudes. Let us return to Jesus and follow the Jesus Way, the
Cross Way. Amen.
[1] Eugene H. Peterson, The Jesus Way: A Conversation on the Ways
That Jesus Is the Way, (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2007), Kindle
Location 73 of 3482.
[2] John
Bunyan, Pilgrim’s Progress: Updated, Modern English. (Bunyan Updated
Classics.), 44.
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