Let’s begin by all saying these verses together – “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” – Deuteronomy 6:4-5
Today we are looking at a very important text, which in Jewish tradition is called the “Shema,” from the first word – “hear,” which in Hebrew is “shema.”
1. The importance of the Shema
When a passage has its own name, you know it must be significant – you know, the golden rule, the ten commandments. And this passage is indeed important
- It summarizes the central message of the Old Testament – there is one true God.
- It is a restatement of the first of the ten commandments and the one upon which all the others are built – “you shall have no other gods before me.”
- Jesus calls it the greatest commandment in Mark 12:28-30. Jesus was asked, “’Which commandment is the most important of all?’ Jesus answered, ‘The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall 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 central importance of this passage was recognized, in that it was said twice a day by devout Jews (with other texts that call the people of God to true loyalty); once in the morning and once in the evening.
Early Jewish Christians, and I do not doubt Jesus himself, would have engaged in this practice as well. It is a continual remembrance of the true God, and a call to faithfulness. It is a practice that I would like for us to use as well, at least from time to time in our worship services.
Next, a question –
2. What does “the Lord is one” mean?
Next week we will ask the question, ‘What does it mean to love God . . .?’ from verse 5. But today we look at the first part in v. 4 – “The Lord our God, the Lord is one.”
Alright, let’s break this down and look at it, and I will ask you to bear with me as we work through this.
First of all, literally it says, “Yahweh our God, Yahweh one.” Notice that the personal name, “Yahweh,” is replaced by “Lord” in our translations, out of reverence for the divine name. It shows up in our English translations as the word “LORD” in all capital letters. So when you see this it means “Yahweh.”
Also, note that there is no verb in the original. It has to be supplied. Without getting into the details, the best solution is to insert “is” in the last phrase – “Yahweh our God, Yahweh is one.” [See – Notes on the Shema]
So we have “Yahweh/God is one.” But what does this mean? In later church history this caused much speculation about the nature of God, or how God is put together. Speculations that go beyond what the Scriptures have to say.
In Scripture, there is a much more basic concern. In the context of Deuteronomy 6, Yahweh is presented as Israel’s one & only God. The point is that Yahweh has an exclusive claim on Israel as their only God.
Similarly, when the Shema shows up in the New Testament, the point is that there is only one true God. Here are some examples from the New Testament. Paul gives us a version of the Shema in 1 Corinthians 8:5-6. He says, “For although there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth—as indeed there are many ‘gods’ and many ‘lords’— yet for us there is one God.” In this passage Paul understands “Yahweh/God is one” as “there is one (true) God.”
In Mark 12:32, after Jesus speaks of the Shema, the scribe rephrases what Jesus has just said in these words, “You have truly said that he is one, and there is no other besides him.” And Jesus approves of this. The phrase, “God/he is one” is he same as saying, “there is no other beside him,” that is, that there is only one God.
So you can see in these examples that the phrase, “Yahweh/God is one” is the same as saying ‘there is only one true God.’ It can be translated literally as “Yahweh our God – Yahweh is our only God.” Or it can be translated, “The Lord our God, the Lord is our only God.” The point is that only Yahweh is to be our God.
Now, you might be thinking to yourself,
3. What about Jesus?
Just a word here. The apostolic writers were adamant that there is one true God, the Father. But they went on to say that Jesus, the Savior, is God’s Son. They even used the Shema to confess this belief:
- 1 Corinthians 8:6 says, “. . . there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist” and then Paul goes on to say, “and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.”
- 1 Timothy 2:5-6 says, “For there is one God” and then it says, “and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all.”
So, there is only one God, but they added that Jesus is God’s Son, come in the flesh and is Lord of all. That’s where the Scriptures leave it. And that’s where we’ll leave it for now.
Alright, getting into some application here –
4. The Shema calls us to beware of false gods
It’s trying to get us to understand – “Hear!” “Listen!” That’s why its repeated so often – morning and evening. Remember that there are other gods that want our allegiance! As Paul said in I Corinthians 8:5, “indeed there are many ‘gods’ and many ‘lords’” out there. So we need to beware.
A “god” uses their powers to give us help and peace in exchange for our allegiance, service and honor. We don’t have many literal idols around, or even things that we literally would say are gods. But there are still many gods and lords today.
Once could be your country, depending on your attitude toward it. Do you look to it for your help and security? Do you listen to it even when it tells you to do what is against the way of Jesus? We need to remember Acts 5:29, where Peter said, “we must obey God rather than men.”
Perhaps it’s drugs & alcohol. Do you look to these to solve your problems, or make them go away? Do you sacrifice of yourself and your family to serve them, to obtain them?
Maybe it’s possessions and wealth. Jesus talks about this as a god in Matthew 6:24. And I think it is the most dangerous and alluring god in America. Do you think having more money and possessions, will give you peace and solve your problems? Do you devote yourself to obtaining it, storing it up and protecting it so it will give you security against the future?
A god can be almost anything – a person, our career, popularity or acceptance with a peer group. What do you look to, to provide for you, give you peace, protect you, make your problems go away, give your life meaning? What do you serve? What are you willing to sacrifice for above the true God? There is your god!
What is yours?
The Shema calls you to set any such god aside and give yourself fully to the true God, to trust in God and to serve God with your whole heart.
Finally, since there is only one true God,
5. Only the true God is able to truly give us the help and peace we need
In speaking of idolatry, Jeremiah 2:13 says, “for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.”
The gods, although they seem to promise so much, are broken cisterns; cracked containers that can’t hold water. They can’t truly satisfy us. We end up thirsting to death if we rely on them because they don’t deliver.
Only the true God can give us what we so desperately need. God is the “fountains of living water.” How futile it is that we go around seeking after other gods, giving them our service and obedience, when only the true God can meet our deepest needs.
I would like us to end by standing and saying together a paraphrase of the Shema:
‘Father, you alone are God and we give ourselves fully to you. We choose not to give any part of ourselves to other gods. We commit to love you with all that we have, and all that we are.’
William Higgins
Christian teaching 