No Math Allowed

​15th Sunday after Pentecost – B (Proper 17)                                                 LSB #’s 655, 867, 698
Text – Deuteronomy 4:2
 
You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you.
 
NO MATH ALLOWED
 
 
When someone mentions the word math, what comes to mind?    Is it  addition & subtraction?   If so,  you’re on track with God’s Word in Deuteronomy 4.   From Adam & Eve onward,  human beings have endeavored to do math with the commands of God.  We love to tweak His guidance & direction  to suit our own desires. 
In the Gospel lesson, Jesus describes them: “…from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts,  sexual immorality,  theft,  murder,  adultery,  coveting,  wickedness,  deceit,  sensuality,  envy,  slander,  pride,  foolishness.  (Mark 7:21-22 ESV)     It’s a long list, & because of those evil desires,  you & I often seek  to add to  or subtract from  the commands of God. 
That’s what sin has done  to God’s once perfect creation.  It has corrupted our heart, soul & mind with evil  that is always centered  upon me, myself & I.   Love God & love my neighbor as myself?     Maybe some other time!      So you may ask, “Where do I  add to God’s commands?”   “Where do I  subtract from God’s commands?” 
Let me give a few examples.   Some Christians have taught  that you can’t drink alcohol, play cards,  dance  or go to movies.  But that example  is not going to convict a church full of Lutherans of their sin,  because God does not prohibit any of them.   For us, adding to God’s commands runs more along these lines. 
Have you ever been really,  really  frustrated with someone & were struggling to forgive?   We’ve all been there,  might still be there.   Satan tempts us to feel  like this person needs to earn our forgiveness by doing something to deserve it.   When thinking like that,  we are adding to the commands of God,  because nowhere does He command anyone to earn forgiveness.  In fact, whenever we demand respect & authority where God has not given it to us,  we are adding to the commands of God.   Adding to the 1st commandment   is an easy trap to fall into.    Parents, teachers & pastors  are all particularly susceptible to it.   Thank God,  He offers forgiveness. 
As for subtracting from God’s commands,  our culture is rife with it,  but you have to know  that we can’t just leave it there.   That does nothing to foster our own salvation.   The heavenly Father desires that every one of us turn back to Him in repentance.  Wouldn’t you know  that’s probably the command you & I  most often  subtract from. 
Adam got caught in the very first sin,  & what did he do?  He blamed the only other human being on earth,  & he blamed God  for giving her to him.  That is not repentance & failing to turn back to his Creator  was cutting Adam off  from the very source of his life.  Sinning by subtracting from the commands of God  is the most natural part of being a sinful creature. 
Where does that leave us?  Not any place  that we can rightfully brag about.  Each of us violates the commands of God  each day,  & we do it  both by adding to & subtracting from  each one of our Lord’s commands.  The letter of James,  in the NT,  makes sure we cannot easily  let ourselves off the hook:
“For whoever keeps the whole law  but fails in one point  has become guilty of all of it.”  (2:10 ESV)   When it comes to the commands of God,  there is no math allowed – no addition, no subtraction.   And if you can avoid that, Moses gives the purpose: “…that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God  that I command you.”  (Deuteronomy 4:2 ESV) 
It’s easy to struggle with that statement, because I’ve just laid out,  & we well know,  that none of us is able to keep the commandments of the Lord our God.   It is helpful if followers of Jesus distinguish between failing by design & failing by accident.  Failing by design is when we willfully add to or subtract from  God’s commands.  Failing by accident  is when we sin because we are too weak  to do what is best for us.  Failing by design is plotting to have Jesus killed.  Failing by accident is falling asleep while Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane.  Failing by design is to reject the Holy Spirit’s efforts to call us  out of darkness. 
Resisting the temptation to do math to God’s commands, is done solely by the power of the Holy Spirit.  That is what Moses is speaking of when he writes, “…that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God  that I command you.”  (Deuteronomy 4:2 ESV) 
We have a conflicted relationship with the commands of God.  Our sinful nature always experiences a kneejerk reaction against them & seeks to do math to those commands.  Our saintly nature loves the commands of God & recognizes in them  His perfect wisdom.  A Jewish blessing connects torah, the commands of God,  with eternal life, saying:
“Blessed is our God, who has… separated us from them that go astray,  & has given us the Torah & planted everlasting life in our midst.”[1]  The saying recognizes that the commands or instruction of God offer life to us.  Our problem is that we have a very powerful sinful nature that renders us incapable of following the Torah. 
If I asked, “What is life?” what would you write?   How would you describe the essence of life, as the heavenly Father created it?   The reason those questions are difficult to answer, or pin down, is that sin has completely corrupted our ability to live.  If fact, it’s so corrupted that each one of us is,  this very moment,  in the process of dying.
That’s what sin has done to us  even if we do not see it,  or refuse to face that ugly truth.  If we were truly to follow the commands of God, life would be perfect as in the Garden of Eden, up until The Fall.  In Deuteronomy, Israel waits, on the eastern side of the Jordan River, before crossing into the Promised Land.  Moses looks back on their history.  He recalls all of God’s gracious deeds toward His people & renews before them the promises they have with their God.  Moses warns them not to add to God’s Word  nor take away any of it.  God’s Word is life.   If only we could keep it,  it would perfectly guide & curb how we live.  
God established the Sinai covenant for their good.  They were to live within it.  His promise of unmerited blessing was subject to their response to it; summarized in the Ten Commandments.  The inability of people to live according to the covenant necessitated their replacement by the true Son, who would keep the covenant perfectly in their place. 
Today, we have reason to be grateful that we know how to order our lives successfully according to the God-given wisdom & understanding of His commands.  Unbelievers do not have this wisdom or understanding & it is showing up very clearly in our nation today. 
Our politicians & bureaucrats, our military & educational institutions,  are led by people with little sense of right or wrong, with little sense of wisdom or understanding.  Still, God does not leave us alone, to find our own way & stumble around in the dark.  The Lord draws personally near to us in His Word, in Baptism & in Holy Communion.  
The Law, though good & holy, is powerless to make us acceptable to God.  Instead, God accepts us, not because of what we do, but because of what Christ Jesus did for us!  Thus, St. Paul wrote, “Finally, be strong in the Lord & in the strength of His might.  Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.”[2]  Amen. 
 
 
Our sons & daughters we shall tell  & they again to theirs  that generations yet unborn  may teach them to their heirs.    O teach them with all diligence  the truths of God’s own Word,  to place in Him their confidence,  to fear & trust their Lord.      To learn that in our God alone  their hope securely stands,  that they may never doubt His love   but walk in His commands.  Amen.  LSB 867:3-5.


[1] The Oxford Dictionary of the Jewish Religion, ed. R. J. Zwi Werblowsky & Geoffrey Wigoder. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997), 696.

[2] Ephesians 6:10-11 ESV