Moses was certainly one of the greatest leaders of all time.  He led the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt, and it was under his forty years of leadership in the wilderness that the Israelites learned what it meant to be God’s people.  It was Moses who gave them the Ten Commandments. 

          Now, after forty years, they had reached the Jordan River, and they were preparing to cross over into the Promised Land.  Moses was an old man, and he was giving them his final words of advice.

          In this speech, Moses sets before them life and death, pleading with them to choose life.

          These words that Moses spoke to the people still speak to us today.  They remind us that we always have a choice, and we are personally responsible for the choices we make.

          This portion of Moses’ words to the people is found in Deuteronomy 30.

 ¹¹ Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. ¹² It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, "Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?" ¹³ Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, "Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?" ¹⁴ No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it.

 ¹⁵ See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. ¹⁶ For I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.

 ¹⁷ But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, ¹⁸ I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.

 ¹⁹ This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live ²⁰ and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

          It’s been well over three thousand years since Moses spoke those words, but the message is as fresh today as it was then.  It reminds us that we have choices to make that will make a difference in how our lives turn out and our choices will also impact the lives of our children.

          Of course, many things happen to us in life that are beyond our control.  To begin with, our parents and grandparents and great grandparents made choices that impact us today.  Have you stopped, lately, to thank God that you live in this country, where most of us were born? 

          Most of us have received much that we did nothing to earn or deserve.  Of course, most of us have also suffered certain things that were not our own doing.  Things happen to us that we have no control over.

          In addition, we all deal with the reality of the brevity of life.  None of us will live forever, at least not on this earth.  Moses, when he gave this speech, was 120 years old.  He was turning over the leadership to Joshua, and preparing to die.

          There is some irony in the fact that a man who is facing death tells his people, “Choose life!” But I think that Moses understood that we are to choose life all the days of our lives, until God chooses to take us home.

          What does it mean to choose life?  First, it means to choose to follow God.  Moses taught us to “Love the Lord your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws.”  Moses, of course, did not know Jesus, because he lived some 1400 years before Christ. 

          We have the model of Jesus, the author of life.  Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life.”  He also said, “I have come that you might have life abundantly.”

          Second, to choose life is to choose to live your life in a way that reverences the gift of life that you have received.

          I believe that means we are to make the best of what we have received.  It includes our bodies, our minds, our actions, and even our world.  When you think about it, we have received a great deal, haven’t we?  We are the stewards of what we have received.

          Recently we talked about our responsibility to be good stewards of our Time, our Talent, and our Treasure, and we talked about those things with respect to our church.

          Today, as we think about choosing life, I want to talk about being good stewards of our own lives.  Do you remember what Jesus said when he was asked what was the greatest commandment?  Jesus said, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.”…and …”Love your neighbor as yourself.”

          We are to love God with our heart, soul, mind and strength.  The word ‘soul’ also means life.  To love God with all your soul is to love God with everything you are.  We can’t separate our physical body from our spiritual worship.  When you come to church on Sunday morning, you come in a body, and that is as it should be.  You can’t just send your heart and your mind to church and leave your body at home.

          In the first century, Gnosticism was a heresy that threatened Christianity.  Part of Gnostic belief was that matter, including the body, is evil.  Because of that belief, Gnostics denied the humanity of Jesus.  They could not accept the concept of Jesus being God and  having a human body.

          But the Bible does not support this at all.  The Bible teaches that we are created by God, and God’s creation is good.  Of course, evil also enters creation, but that does not totally destroy the goodness of God’s creation.

          All of this is to say that you were created with a human body and your human body is good.  Your body is God’s gift to you.  It is, if you will, the container of your life.  For as long as you live, you will have this human body.

          In I Corinthians 6:19-20, Paul says this:  “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?  You are not your own; you were bought at a price.  Therefore honor God with your body.”

          In other words, what you do with your body matters to God.  Of course, everyone knows that God is not amused by sexual promiscuity.  However, our Christian culture probably overemphasizes sexual sins while ignoring other sins that are just as harmful.

          The Catholic Church identifies what we call the seven deadly sins:  pride, covetousness, lust, envy, gluttony, anger, and sloth.  We would do well to talk about these sins, and examine our lives.  And I hate to tell you this, but today we are talking about two of those deadly sins:  gluttony and sloth.

          Now, I know this is not what you want to hear.  I know that, because it’s not what I want to hear, either.  And I want to make it absolutely clear that this is something I struggle with.  I’m not holding myself up as the perfect example.  Far from it!

          But I know this is something we need to talk about, even if it’s not pleasant.  Like many—perhaps most Americans, I am too fat.  I eat too much and exercise too little.

          I have always enjoyed eating a little too much.  And I have never liked exercising very much.  Too often, I’m like a slug.  I would rather sit than move.  And I do love ice cream.

          I’ve been on lots of diets.  Twice, I have lost significant amounts of weight, only to gain back all of it and more.  It’s discouraging.  If you struggle with excess weight, you know exactly what I mean.  It is really, really difficult.

          I’ve also made quite a few valiant attempts at exercising and trying to get in shape.  I’ve taken exercise classes, tried yoga, aerobic dance—I have absolutely no gift for any sort of dance.  I don’t think there is a very good connection between my brain and my feet.

          The best I ever did at exercising was about twenty-five years ago, when I decided to run regularly so that I could run in a 10K race.  A 10K race is ten kilometers long, or 6.2 miles.  I worked really, really hard, and I did run that 10 kilometers. 

          But that was certainly the peak of my physical prowess, and it’s been mostly downhill since then—but feeling like uphill….

          I do try to exercise, and most of the time I try to eat a healthy diet.  But as I said before, I will be the first to say that for some of us, this will always be a battle.

          But I believe we need to talk about this because I really think that when the Bible tells us to “Choose Life,” it means we need to make the most of the life we have been given.  And in order to do that, we need to keep our bodies as healthy as we possibly can.

          We all know there are illnesses and handicaps that can strike our bodies at any time, and often we have no control over these things.  But our responsibility is to do the best we can with what we have, for as long as we live.

          A couple of weeks ago, I went with my mom to see a Neurologist.  My mom is 85 years old, and her doctor referred her to this Neurologist because she was complaining about some difficulties with memory and other mental functions.

          What the Neurologist told her was a real eye-opener to me, and I want to share this with you as well.  His instructions to her were this:  exercise every day for a half hour and eat more foods containing anti-oxidents.  That means eat more fruits and vegetables.

          He said these two things—a half hour of daily exercise and a diet rich in anti-oxidents—are the best things you can do to help keep your brain healthy.  As I think about it, it makes sense, but I had never thought about physical exercise and diet as being helpful to my brain.  But your brain is part of your body, isn’t it?

          I love to do mental exercise—I do the Sudoku puzzle in the newspaper almost every day.  But who would have thought that I might be doing more for my brain by getting up and taking a walk, and by eating fruits and vegetables instead of sitting and working on my mind stretching puzzles and eating ice cream? 

          Since that day in the Neurologist’s office, I have been really trying to eat more fruits and vegetables and exercise every day.  My hope is that you will hear this and be as inspired as I was to try harder.  I won’t change my basic nature overnight.  I’m probably always going to be a bit of a slug.  But I really want to try, and I hope you will do the same.

          Perhaps you are thinking to yourself, this is not very spiritual—what kind of a sermon is this?  Or maybe you’re thinking, what gives her the right to nag me about diet and exercise? 

          Let me just say that I think the way we treat our bodies is a very spiritual issue.  It is a part of choosing life.  Our bodies are a gift from God, and we are responsible for the way we care for them.

          As I said before, I completely understand how difficult this is for some of you, because I struggle with it myself.  The newsletter that comes from my doctor’s office had this advice on motivation to exercise:

          “Don’t let self-defeating ideas about body image wreck your resolve to exercise.  Too often the focus of fitness programs is on improving appearance or dramatic weight loss.  These may be good reasons to exercise, but they don’t address the most important benefits of regular physical activity—improving your physical and emotional health.

          Renew your determination to live the healthiest way you can and boost your motivation by focusing on the many benefits gained by every step you take toward your goal of daily activity:

·        Enhanced mental alertness

·        Lower blood pressure

·        Reduced risk of diabetes

·        More good cholesterol (HDL) and less bad (LDL)

·        Stronger heart muscle

·        Increased lung capacity and higher blood-oxygen levels

·        Improved muscle and bone mass

·        Better balance—lower risk of injury and falls

·        Increased flexibility and range of motion

·        Better sleep

·        More energy

·        Reduced stress due to increased endorphins (brain chemicals)

·        Lower incidence of depression”

          I hope you will think carefully about these things.  If you already follow a wonderful diet and exercise program, I congratulate you.  But if, like the rest of us, you need to work on this, I really want to encourage you.

          God loves all of you:  your heart and your soul, your mind, your brain, your blood vessels, your skin.  Don’t you think that God, your maker, is pleased when you care well for the body he has given you?

          I have decided that for me, exercise is no longer an option—it’s a necessity.  It’s something I really need to commit to.

          And let me say one more thing.  As a person who has experienced the struggle, I want to be totally honest about something. 

          Maybe you have a friend who needs to lose weight or get more exercise or whatever it is you think they need to change.  Please be careful what you say to that friend.  This can be an enormous struggle for many of us, and your comments, which you might think are helpful, can actually be very hurtful.  It’s always easier to see what someone else ought to do, but we need to be careful when it comes to giving any sort of unsolicited advice. 

          The best way you can help another person is to simply love them the way they are.  I hope you take my comments today in that spirit.  I will not love you less, even if you ignore all of my advice.  I simply want to share from my heart what I believe God has been telling me, and hope that in some way you also will benefit.

          God loves you just the way you are.  But God also calls you to choose life, because God wants the very best for you. 

Prayer:

Loving God, we thank you for life.  Help each of us, as we think about our own lives, to examine ourselves and to know what it means for us to choose life today.

Help us—whether we are young or old, to be wise in how we care for our bodies.  Help us, like Moses, to choose life for all the days that you give us on this earth.

Amen