Sermon for the Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost

When You Come To A Fork In The Road, Take It

Text: Deuteronomy 30:15-20 Choose Life

As the book of Deuteronomy opens the children of Israel had spent forty years in their desert wanderings. Because of their choice to not obey God, He decreed that everyone over the age of twenty years should die in the desert except for Caleb and Joshua. The next generation stood at the boundary of the promised land as Moses gave them his last prophetic instruction from the Lord before he, too, would die.

In our Gospel lesson this morning (Luke 14:25-35), we heard Jesus say that He wants us to place Him first, even ahead of those who are closest to us. It was God who chose us to be His people. It was Jesus who chose to be our sin-bearer. He chose to submit to His passion and death on the cross for us. By God’s mercy, we now live for Him. Choosing life is really all about God's willingness to offer us life and salvation. Stop choosing to resist the love and mercy of God, instead take the fork that leads to the font and altar.