Let us look to God in Prayer.

Almighty God, thank you for this morning. We accept your gift of new day with gratitude
and gladness. Fill us with your peace and loving presence. As we meditate the Word of God,
be with us and guide us. God, you strengthen me and speak through me. In Jesus name we
pray. Amen.
One day, one of the disciples of a sage asked to the sage, “What is God centered Life?” He
said that, God centered Life is living in God by listening the voice of God, believing in God
as well as Loving the God.

When we are living in the Christendom,can we say, we are leadinga God centered life? Are
we hearing the voice of God? Are we loving the God as well as our neighbors?

When Israelites were in bondage of Pharaoh, theyhad cried and suffered a lot. God has
liberated them from their bondage and they crossed the red sea which was unforgettable days
in their life. In those periods, Israelites worshipped only true God Yahweh. But later days,
they started to worship the idols. They did not have much commitment to God. Then, God
has given Ten commandments to them. Many years has gone, new generation were coming
up. So, Moses again repeated the Ten Commandments. Within the ten commandments Moses
has given great commandments to them which is written in Deuteronomy 6: 4 & 5.The term
Deuteronomy comes from two Greek words deutero which means second and nomos which
means law. So, it is called Second law or second reading of the law. It is also called the
sermon of Moses. The Deuteronomist reminded the people of God that they have to put the
laws of Yahweh into daily practice. They taught the great laws to the children and passed it
along generation to generation. The commandments for Israel put forward a call to lead a
God’s centered life.I entitled my sermon as God Centered Life.

How can we make our life God centred?We have to submit ourselves for God. Submitting
ourselves means following the instructions of God.

The first instruction of God is “Listen the God (Word of God)”(“A call to Listen”)

The great sermon of Moses started with a phrase, “Hear, O Israel.”Moses, the lawgiver of
Israel,was speaking to the second generation of Israelites shortly before his death.The first
word of this passage in Hebrew gives the title to this famous passage, “Shema”, which
means‘to hear’ or ‘to Listen’.“Hear O Israel” was a call for the public or Israelites to hear
from Moses.so, the Israelites summon themselves to pay heed to what follows. Hence, they
should “give a hearing” to receive a significantmessage that requires their attention.It does
notsimply mean the act of hearing, but it has a much broader meaning including obedience.

Why did Moses purposefully said about shema as well as repeating the commandments?

After many years, new generations came up. Especially young generation of Israelhad only
partial faith and love in God. So, Moses was instructing them, ‘you must keep them in mind
and must teach to your children and speak of them as you sit in your house,’which we see
from verse 6 onwards.
The present-day church is also facing this problem of children’s and youths’ less involvement
in church as well as interest to study the Word of God. So, we must teach them. Otherwise,
every church will face the withdrawal of youths. Now a days, many of the churches are
cutting down the worship services due to the lack of believers.

We may dedicate ourselves for God’s ministry.So, we should give ourselves to God and we
should spend our time with God as well as we should heed to God’s message. Moses has
received the divine message from Yahweh, then he proclaimed it to the Israelites. Likewise,
we have to receive the divine message from Yahweh, then only we could deliver the God’s
message to the people. If we want to lead ourselves as God Centred Life, we should listen to
Godwhich asks our obedience towards God.

The second instruction of God is “Believe the one true God”(A call to Faith)

“The Lord is our God; the Lord alone”Israelites recited the Shema verses twice a day right
after sunrise and sunset which is the most important prayer in Judaism. This is the first prayer
that any Jewish child learns in his/her life and all Jews commit to memory this prayer.It
constitutes the core of their faith. The key affirmation is that The Lord alone is God and there
is no other God.It speaksto the issue of Israelite faith. The two divine names are written here.
Such as, Tetragrammaton which means the four letters of Yahweh (YHWH) and Elohim.
Yahweh is from the J and Elohim from E tradition. It implies Both names are denoting One
God.

The Hebrew word for one or alone is Echaad. It can either mean a oneness that expresses
unity, or uniqueness.It is not only an assertion of monotheism and it is also an assertion of the
numerical oneness of God. Yahweh is a Being infinitely and eternally perfect, self-existent,
and self-sufficient. He is the only living and true God. The firm belief of this self-evident
truth would effectually arm them against all idolatry, which was introduced by that
fundamental error, that there are many gods. The Jewish people believed that “the Lord”
(Yahweh) is totally unique, one in essence and that He alone is God.The Israelites should
acknowledge no other god. Canaanites and other nearby nations worshipped another god
Baal. And some of the Israelites often believing in the reality of other deities is obvious. In
the midst of that, the consistent teaching of Moses and the prophets as well as the psalmists
and the wise men admit the Lord is the only true deity.

The great philosopher Socrateshadargued againstthe beliefs and worships of Greek pagans.
They believed that, the world has been sustaining by the 12 deities. Zeus, Apollo, Hera,
Athena, et al.The Greeks offered theirchild and animal sacrifices for God. Socrates asked
them, who gave the rights to sacrifice the living beings to idols which was made by the stone
and mud which are useless? Then Socrates said that, “I am not a rationalist. But Iam a theist
who is giving the knowledge to do the right thing.”

We should believe the one true God.We have to affirm our faith, “The Lord is our God, the
Lord alone is”.

The third instruction of God is“Love the matchless God”(A call to Love)
The verse 5 says, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your
soul, and with all your might”.That is, because Yahweh is the only God, therefore you shall
love Him with allyour heart and soul and might. Israeldoes not have to share thatlove for Him
with other gods.It is having spiritual relationship of love with God by faith.

The Hebrew word for Love is“aheb”. All the commandments are consolidated and gathered
together in this great commandment of Love. The love that God commands from Israel is not
primarily a matter of intimate affection, but it is expressed by obedience to God’s
commandments, serving God, showing reverence for God and beingloyal to God alone. That
is Israel should walk with God. In early Christian thought, heart, soul, and strength were
“complimentary aspects of the human personality”.We should love with all our heart, soul
and might which means love to be given to God should be total and complete. Human life is
centred in the heart, soul and might. For Human beings these three are important in their life.
Without heart, soul and might, human beings cannot live in this world. God created us which
shows God’s love. So, we are responsible to return God’s love towards Him by submitting
ourselves for God.

How can we love God? or How can we submit ourselves to God?

You shall love your neighbour as yourself.If we love God, we could love our neighbours as
ourselves. Loving the neighboursshows Obedience to God. When the Pharisees asked Jesus,
what is the “greatest commandment”, Jesus reminded them of what Moses had taught about
the supreme love of Man toward God. He quoted from Deut 6:4&5. Therefore, we should
Love the matchless God.

Conclusion

India is a multi-cultural and a diverse nation with a flourishing history of pluralism. There are
many faiths like Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, Sikhism, Buddhism, and Jainism in India, In
the midst of these religion, how can we proclaim the Gospel in such a pluralistic context?

LMS missionaries came to Travancore presently calledas Trivandrum which is the capital
city of Kerala. The first missionary of London Mission Society was Ringeltaube. They spread
the gospel through their actions clothed with love. In 19th Century, Mental patients were
considered as demon possessed by the people of olden times. They were tied or chained, and
beaten. Iron rods were heated and applied on their body and many such torturing. Medical
missionaries pioneered in the treatment to mental patients to give them an opportunity to be
rehabilitated in the society. They established schools for the blind, deaf and dumb which are
examples of the compassionate service of the church towards the differently abled. They were
given education, provided means for livelihood and rehabilitated in their own society.The
missionaries contributed good education system, schools, college, hospitals for people of both
higher caste and the lower caste. The native people asked Missionaries, ‘You are not our
relatives, Then How can you love us so much? Missionaries replied, ‘God has blessed us with
His steadfast love and peace. So, we are loving God back through you.’ People were
impressed with these words. They also started to love others and came to know about
Yahweh. And many of them started to believe in one true God and listenthe Word of God.
We should show the love of God or preach the gospel before the others through our lives and
actions. Moreover, we should teachour upcoming generations.

Be a role model in the society and love our neighbours as ourselves. Others maycopy from
our lives and love their neighbours as themselves. And they may realize our true God through
our lives. Then, they will listen to the Word of God. they could transform their lives and
society through a God centered life. Moreover, we have to listen, Believe and love God
which will lead us in God centered life.

May the one true god will bless you for that. Amen.