02-20-22 2022 Theme Introduction “ALL IN”

Scripture   Deuteronomy 6:4-5
Are you ready to dive “all in” to our 2022 church and preaching theme? The theme is “All in”
Someone diving is a perfect metaphor for being all in with Christ. Title slides

As you stand there getting ready – you may be terrified of the jump, or the water below, but you know, once you step or jump off the ledge – you are all in – there is no going back.
You can’t be mid-air and go, I changed my mind, I want to go back to the diving board or the cliff I just jumped from. Even before you hit the water, your commitment is already all in. That is a scary and beautiful thing. We even sometimes call it what? A leap of faith!
Then when you hit the water there is a new understand to being all in – you can’t dive and just go in half-way. Physics says your whole body is going to get wet and be immersed in the water. You have now gone ALL IN.
          (Example: Mormon Baptism when the girls hand did not go in they had to rebaptize her).
 
So, what does “All in” look like as far as a year for preaching? What will we hear – where will the emphasis lie?
Unlike red letter edition that was based solely on the words or Jesus, or HIStory that always had to contain a story of God working through his people, this theme can take us many places in many different ways: For instance---
1       All in can refer to how God was "All in".  When you think about God as a baby in a manger – God the Father was all in. When you think about Jesus taking 12 people to train so his church could be established after he was gone – the Spirit was all in. When you see Jesus on the cross dying for our sins – Jesus was all in. We can see throughout scripture and throughout church history how God was all in for our sakes and the sake of his church.
2       All in can refer to a person coming to faith - when you turn from the world to faith and Jesus, it cannot be in part but must be with all of your heart, soul, (mind) and strength. Once you leap – the water awaits – there is no turning back.
3       All in can refer to your commitment to Christ’s church - no longer settle for just attending, but making the health and growth of the church a priority in your life - being 'all in'. It means your commitment to loving others as Christ loved you will show itself in real tangible ways of service to others.
 

All in has examples throughout the OT and NT.
          David was all in against Goliath. Peter was all in when he stepped onto the water. The priests were all in when they stepped into the Jordan to cross on dry ground. Jacob was all in when he wrestled with God. Moses was all in when he went to Pharaoh, Stephen was all in when he stood up for Jesus, Paul was all in - always! A centurion was all in when he trusted his servant could be healed just by Jesus speaking a word.
There are examples of Christians “all in” throughout church history: Conrad Grebel, John Huss, Polycarp, Martin Luther, Adoniram Judson, Mother Teresa, etc.
 
          There are many scriptures we can turn to that speak of being all in, but our undergirding text is the single most significant text to the Jewish people and is called the SHEMA! To have any theme, it must be based on scripture, so today we are going to take a close look at the SHEMA.
The Shema is prayed twice daily (morning – rising, and evening when lying down) by Jews and (most of us are familiar with the beginning) but the whole Shema prayer consists of 3 separate texts all prayed at one time. They are Deuteronomy 6:4-9   /  Deuteronomy 11:13-21  /  Numbers15:37-41
Following the example of the scholar-martyr Rabbi Akiba (2nd century AD), the Shema has been uttered by Jewish martyrs throughout the ages as their final profession of faith in the one God of humankind and their love for him. Pious Jews hope to die with the words of the Shema on their lips. This text for Jews means they are all in – it should do no less for us who follow Christ.
THE SHEMA

Deuteronomy 6:4-9
Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.  5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
 
Deuteronomy 11:13-21
 So if you faithfully obey the commands I am giving you today — to love the Lord your God and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul —  14 then I will send rain on your land in its season, both autumn and spring rains, so that you may gather in your grain, new wine and oil. 15 I will provide grass in the fields for your cattle, and you will eat and be satisfied. 16 Be careful, or you will be enticed to turn away and worship other gods and bow down to them. 17 Then the Lord's anger will burn against you, and he will shut the heavens so that it will not rain and the ground will yield no produce, and you will soon perish from the good land the Lord is giving you. 18 Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 19 Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 20 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates, 21 so that your days and the days of your children may be many in the land that the Lord swore to give your forefathers, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth.
 
 
Numbers15:37-41
The Lord said to Moses, 38 "Speak to the Israelites and say to them: 'Throughout the generations to come you are to make tassels on the corners of your garments, with a blue cord on each tassel. 39 You will have these tassels to look at and so you will remember all the commands of the Lord, that you may obey them and not prostitute yourselves by going after the lusts of your own hearts and eyes. 40 Then you will remember to obey all my commands and will be consecrated to your God. 41 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt to be your God. I am the Lord your God.'"
 
         We will look at just the beginning part of the SHEMA. Deuteronomy 6:4-5. Being a prayer that everyone recognizes, the closest thing to that for Christians, would be the Lord’s prayer which we can’t even agree on all the wording (debts vs trespasses and do you include the extra-biblical part at the end).
The Shema gets its name from the first Hebrew word of the prayer in Deuteronomy 6:4   “Listen/Hear, Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is one.” SHEMA in Hebrew is translated “Listen” in English. But like so many words translated, our English word does not give the full meaning of Shema. This VIDEO will say it better than I can. So “Hear, Oh Ashland!”
Play Shema video
The Shema is attributed to Moses before the next generation of Israel entered the Promised Land. Moses challenges them with his wisdom and warning because he doesn’t want these Israelites to repeat their parents’ mistakes. Rather, he invites them to respond to God’s grace and mercy with love, faithfulness, and obedience.
 
Translating the Shema
Bible geeks, you will find this part really interesting. But be warned--it’s kind of complicated! From ancient times, there has been much debate on how exactly to translate and interpret the Shema, due to ambiguity in the grammar of the main sentences. There is no present-tense verb equivalent to the English verb “is” in Ancient Hebrew. There is a word for “was” (Heb. hayah) and “will be” (Heb. yihyeh), but “is” doesn’t exist. Rather, two words are put next to each other and the word “is” is inferred.
For example:     English: “The car is red.” Ancient Hebrew: “The car red.”
Ancient Israelites obviously had a concept of the verb “is,” they just didn’t use a word to express it in their language. The problem in translating and interpreting the Shema arises from the fact that it’s made of two back-to-back sentences that lack the word “is.” In Hebrew, the prayer consists of four nouns in a row.
Hebrew: YHWH ‘elohenu YHWH ekhad English: Lord our god Lord one
Depending on where you place the word “is,” you can end up with different sentences.
1.     The Lord our God is one Lord.
2.     The Lord is our God, the Lord is one.
3.     The Lord our God, the Lord is one.
The meaning between these options isn’t drastically different, but each one has a different emphasis. Is the point that the Lord God is one and not many (#1 or 3), or is the emphasis on the fact that only the Lord is our God (#2)? Does the Shema claim that Israel’s God is one being, or is it highlighting that the Lord alone is Israel’s God and not any other?
This last meaning seems to fit the overall context of Deuteronomy much better. In other words, the Shema isn’t trying to make a philosophical statement about God’s essence or being (that God is “one”). Rather, the Shema is a pledge of allegiance to the Lord God of Israel that excludes allegiance to any other gods. Remember Isa 46:9 “Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me.” That is clearly stating that God is one but the important here like in the Shema, it is calling for an allegiance to this one God!
Polytheistic Threat
Moses clearly believes that loyalty, obedience, and love to their one true God is the only way to life. One of the greatest threats to Israel’s future was dividing their allegiance between many gods. And so, the Shema is a daily reminder that “The Lord our God alone is our God.” The prayer goes on from here to show the value of passing this conviction on to later generations to spare them the tragic results of idolatry to other gods. (Like the B I B L E song: “I stand alone on the Word of God” NO – it is: “I stand on the Word of God alone”) Allegiance to the word of God only – The Shema – allegiance to YHWH ‘elohenu – the Lord our God!
“You shall teach them diligently to your children and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up.”
Shema Usage in the New Testament
The Shema became a twice-daily prayer within Judaism. It was so widely practiced in the second-temple period, Jesus himself grew up praying it. This prayer was formative for Jesus and he drew upon it in his teachings.
Mark 12:28-34
One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, "Of all the commandments, which is the most important?" "The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: '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 mind and with all your strength.'  The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these." "Well said, teacher," the man replied. "You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices." When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God."
In other words, this teacher of the law understood the word of God so well, particularly the SHEMA, even with Jesus adding the second greatest commandment to it, that Jesus was saying, you are standing on the edge of the cliff – you clearly see the water below, you are so close but not yet ALL IN. You need to jump, by faith, into the Living Water who is Jesus!
 
 
 
Picnic with the pastor
(Like the B I B L E song: “I stand alone on the Word of God” or it should be “I stand on the Word of God alone”)
The B I B L E, yes that’s the book for me, I stand alone on the word of God, the B I B L E. Bible!
That is wrong, we don’t stand all alone on the word of God, other people stand with us. When we say stand, we don’t mean to literally stand on the bible – it means we believe what it says and live by what it says. Like – “I stand on the fact that my moth loves me” It means you know it is true. We know the bible is true so we say we stand on it. But we don’t stand on it alone. Many stand with us.
How can we say what the person probably meant when they wrote this song?
The B I B L E, yes that’s the book for me, I stand on the word of God alone, the B I B L E. Bible!
That means we don’t listen to what the world says, we don’t have any other writings that are equal to the bible. We believe in (stand on) the word of God (the Bible) and nothing else. We stand on the word of God alone.