11 Surely, this commandment that I am commanding you today is not too hard for you, nor is it too far away. ¹² It is not in heaven, that you should say, "Who will go up to heaven for us, and get it for us so that we may hear it and observe it?" ¹³ Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, "Who will cross to the other side of the sea for us, and get it for us so that we may hear it and observe it?" ¹⁴ No, the word is very near to you; it is in your mouth and in your heart for you to observe.

Jim, while being athletic in many ways, is not an athlete. However, when it comes to baseball, he is willing to try as hard as he can to have some fun as other members of his family take part in the game. Last night was one such example. I was headed over to the softball game and he wanted to be right there, to throw the ball and hopefully hit it as well.

The thing that I have learned in trying to teach Jim how to play is that he needs little mental cues to keep him focused. I admit Jim would be just as happy jumping around with a baseball mitt on his hand as he would actually playing the game, but I need a little bit more structure. Initially I had Jim just throw the ball. He stood much like I’m standing facing you and snapped his arm as fast as he could. The ball was thrown rather quickly, straight into the ground about three feet in front of him. The look on his faced screamed out a combination of, "Well that didn’t go very well", and "I don’t want to do this anymore". I’m sure that the look on my face was a mixture of, "Oh great", and "Alright, how do we get this fixed".

Eventually, we came up with the step, throw, and follow-through system (which we certainly did not create, but had no problems borrowing from countless ball coaches before). There was enough of a hook to its verbal cadence that Jim was able to remember it so that whenever he might start to veer off and follow the proverbial butterfly, I could just holler out, "Jim what do you need to do?" He would yell back, "Step, throw, and follow through." Each step is important and if one of them is missing then the others suffer.

Amazingly enough it actually helped his throwing ability as well. This is not to say that there aren’t more than a few balls that go whizzing off in all sorts of directions, but more times than not, his step, throw, and follow through delivers a ball that has some really good zip, right into my glove.

This rhythmic cadence that finishes with the follow through has not merely been contained to the ball field. Every morning, before Jim gets on the bus during the school months, we have the same pattern. As the bus is coming down Old Post Road I say to him, "Listen to your teachers, use your words, keep your hands to yourself, stay focused, and follow through." Every school morning he is reminded that he needs to follow through. Each step is important, each step is one that, at this point, he knows innately, but if he’s not willing or able to follow through on what he knows he needs to do, then all the right thinking in the world will get him no where.

I believe that this message of following through is what the Deutronomic authors are trying to say to their audience, which after this morning includes each of us. The beginning of the summary, which begins in verse 11 with, "Surely, this commandment that I am commanding you today is not too hard for you, nor is it too far away" is articulating a mentality that these truths are not foreign, that the people carry them already, that they are things that they innately know or have been well taught. This is how that summary paragraph finishes up when the author states, "the word is very near to you; it is in your mouth and in your heart for you to observe". To put it another way, "my people, what you are hearing, you already know. What you are hearing should be common sense."

However, as all of know, both by watching the world and by being a part of it, common sense is not the easiest thing to tap into, especially when there is no follow through on what you know to be right and what you know to be true.

Many people have the facts of what it takes to live a good a good and fulfilling life. For us of the Christian persuasion we know that as, "love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your mind, all your soul, all your strength, and your neighbor as yourself." We know that stuff inside and out. We mention it every week and talk about often. And yet, the number of people who follow through and actually implement the knowledge that they have is far less. Follow through is an absolute necessity because if it doesn’t take place, then all of the good work that was done before it becomes functionally useless. We’ve got to follow through on what we know to be how God would have us live. We’ve got to follow through. If we don’t, the results may be tough to swallow.

When I was out in Michigan during my college years I remember reading and hearing about an incident that took place, I believe, just outside of Grand Rapids. For those of you who have never been to Grand Rapids, it is one of those towns that, sometimes literally, has a church on every corner. And the churches aren’t small. They pack them in. If you are not able to find a church to your liking, its your own fault. At the same time, even though it has the deserved reputation of being a very religious city, it is a city, and all of the trappings of any metropolitan area are contained within its boundaries.

So with that set-up, the story takes place at night on a rather busy road. This road has an overpass under which flows what is called a river but really isn’t much more than a creek. A couple who was driving along this road proceeded to get into a fight in their car. I don’t remember how it happened but somehow the car stopped itself on that overpass and the couple proceeded to have their fight right out in the middle of the road. Cars were not able to pass and within a few short minutes the rapidly escalating domestic dispute had drawn quite a crowd of onlookers. What these onlookers eventually witnessed, because the fight did last a good five to ten minutes, was the man placing his hands around the woman’s throat and then pushing her to the edge of the overpass where he pushed her to her death. All of those people just stood by and watched. They did nothing, even though what they saw happening they knew to be wrong and possibly deadly. They did nothing. There was no follow through on what so many of them knew to be the right thing to do.

When the police questioned the rather lengthy list of the witnesses why they didn’t do anything, a frightening percentage of people mentioned that, "it wasn’t any of their business". The reason that I took a minute to describe Grand Rapids is because I have no doubt that many of those same witnesses who said that it ‘wasn’t any of their business’ heard the previous Sunday how they needed to love their neighbor as themselves.

It can be a wonderful thing to have "the word very near to you", to have it "in your mouth and in your heart", but if you’re not willing to observe it, if you’re not willing to follow through and actually live it, then what’s the point?

A few years back, as we took on this whole visioning process thing, we created a mission statement for the church. It’s not talked about a whole lot, but it’s around, like on the back of your bulletin. For those of you who don’t know it, it is, "St. John’s Reformed Church strives to welcome all, to know and proclaim God’s Word, to seek God’s will, and to live by Christ’s example through the guidance of the Holy Spirit". Let me say that again, "St. John’s Reformed Church strives to welcome all, to know and proclaim God’s Word, to seek God’s will, and to live by Christ’s example through the guidance of the Holy Spirit". I don’t know about you, but I like it. I think it says the right thing, both about who we are and who we are being led to become. But if you don’t follow through on the statement, then what’s it worth? Not a lot. That’s why, at least as a pastoral staff and Consistory we are placing that which we do and that which we should do up to that statement, and the Word of God upon which it is founded. You want to know why the four pews got cut? So that "we can strive to welcome all". Why are we doing things like the mission trip to York, PA and Guatemala, the drilling of a well in Africa, as well as the cleaning up of the home of one of our own over in Tivoli? Because we are trying to "live by Christ’s example". Why do we have Bible Studies, and offer small groups? Because we are trying to "know God’s Word". Why do we gather every Sunday for worship and prayer? So that we might be able to "seek God’s will".

As Christians we are called to Love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and your neighbor as yourself. That is what we have been taught, and that is what we know to be true. However, we need to have the follow through. We need to take that which we know and allow it to become that which we are.

Using the whole Mission Statement ideology, what would your own personal mission statement be? What would the Statement be for your family? Really think about it. If you were going to describe yourself and your family, both who you are now and who you feel God is calling you to be, how would it read?

Now follow through. Begin to take the steps that are needed to begin to move in the direction of who God would have you be. It’s not going to be an overnight shift, but as you begin to take the necessary steps, you will begin to incrementally get closer to who that statement articulates.

What are the areas of your life that you need to step up to the plate and begin to really deal with? What are those areas that you know you are not living up to the standard that God has set before each of us, or the standard that you have set for yourself and your family in that mission statement?

I hope that this message is the time when you are able to know that it is time to follow through and begin to move toward who God would have you be.

Holy Lord, in the midst of all the hustle and the bustle of life, it can be real easy to slack off in following You. God, shake us free from this habit and help us to follow through in all that You would have us do and all that You would have us be. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.