The Centrality of God in Everything Text: Deuteronomy 6:4-9
Introduction: The Creed of Reality
We live in a time of pervasive distraction and intentional confusion. Our culture is not merely forgetful of God; it is actively at war with His memory. The goal of our secularist high priests is to create a world where God is irrelevant, where His commands are a relic, and where His people are neutralized. They want to build a society on the shifting sands of human autonomy, which is another way of saying they want to build it on nothing. And when you build on nothing, you get nothing, or rather, you get a great and terrible void.
Into this chaos, Moses speaks with a thunderous, foundational clarity. The passage before us, known as the Shema, from the first Hebrew word "hear," is the central creed of Israel. It is the axle around which the entire Old Testament covenant turns. But it is far more than an ancient national anthem. This is a declaration of the nature of reality itself. This is the ultimate statement of worldview. It tells us who God is, who we are in relation to Him, and what that means for every square inch of our lives, from our inmost thoughts to the architecture of our homes.
Our age wants a compartmentalized faith. You can have your Jesus on Sunday morning, but He is not welcome in the biology classroom, the halls of Congress, or the bedroom. Religion is treated as a private hobby, like building ships in a bottle. But the God of Scripture will not be put in a bottle. The God of the Shema is the God of everything, or He is not God at all. This passage is a direct assault on every attempt to carve out some neutral space, some corner of life where Yahweh is not Lord. It establishes the principle of total, all-encompassing, covenantal faithfulness. It tells us that what we believe about God must saturate everything we are, everything we do, and everything we have.
This is not a suggestion for a more fulfilling life. This is a command from the Creator of the cosmos. It is the blueprint for a godly culture, and it begins not in the senate or the university, but in the heart and in the home.
The Text
"Hear, O Israel! Yahweh is our God, Yahweh is one! You shall love Yahweh your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall speak of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as phylacteries between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates."
(Deuteronomy 6:4-9 LSB)
The Foundational Confession (v. 4)
The declaration begins with a summons to attention and a statement of ultimate reality.
"Hear, O Israel! Yahweh is our God, Yahweh is one!" (Deuteronomy 6:4)
The command is to "Hear." This is not a passive listening, like hearing traffic in the background. This is an active, attentive, obedient hearing. The health of our entire spiritual life depends on whether we have ears to hear what God has said. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. Israel is being called to lean in and listen to the single most important truth in the universe.
And what is that truth? First, "Yahweh is our God." This is a relational statement. It is covenantal. He is not an abstract deity or a philosophical principle. He is the God who has bound Himself to this people. He is our God. This is the language of belonging. We do not belong to ourselves; we are His possession, and this is our glory, not our shame.
Second, "Yahweh is one!" This is a direct polemic against the paganism of the surrounding nations. The Canaanites had a whole pantheon of squabbling, finite, pathetic gods, a Ba'al for this hill and an Asherah for that grove. The God of Israel is not one among many; He is the only one. This declaration of monotheism is a declaration of war on all idolatry. There is no other God. There are no other ultimate realities. There are no other lords to whom we owe allegiance.
But the oneness of God means more than just that He is numerically one. It means He is unified, consistent, and coherent within Himself. He is not divided. His justice and His mercy are not at odds. His wrath and His love are not in conflict. He is altogether one, perfectly integrated. And because He is one, the reality He created is also a unified whole. There is no radical split between the spiritual and the material, the sacred and the secular. It all belongs to Him. This is the foundation for a truly integrated worldview. If God is one, then all of life is one, and it must all be lived under His authority.
The Total Commandment (v. 5)
Because God is one, our response to Him must be one of total, undivided devotion.
"You shall love Yahweh your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might." (Deuteronomy 6:5)
This is the great commandment, as the Lord Jesus Himself identified it. This is the sum of the law. Notice the totality of it. The word "all" appears three times. God does not ask for a portion of our love, a percentage of our devotion, or a time slot in our weekly schedule. He demands everything.
You are to love Him with all your heart. The heart in Scripture is not primarily the seat of emotion, but the center of the entire person. It is the command center of your being, including your intellect, your will, and your affections. To love God with all your heart means that your mind thinks God's thoughts after Him, your will chooses His will, and your affections delight in Him above all else.
You are to love Him with all your soul. The soul here refers to your entire life, your very being. It is the animating principle of your existence. This means your life itself is an act of worship. Every breath you take is a gift from Him and is to be used for His glory. Your personality, your desires, your ambitions, they are all to be submitted to and oriented around the love of God.
And you are to love Him with all your might. This refers to your strength, your energy, your resources, everything you possess. Your physical strength, your financial resources, your time, your talents, all of it is to be leveraged for the kingdom of God. This command leaves no room for divided loyalties. You cannot love God with all your might and love money. You cannot love God with all your soul and love the approval of men. He is one, and He requires a singular, all-consuming devotion.
Covenantal Indoctrination (v. 6-7)
This totalizing truth is not meant to be a secret. It is meant to be the central curriculum of the covenant community, passed down from one generation to the next.
"These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall speak of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up." (Deuteronomy 6:6-7)
Before you can teach it, you must live it. "These words... shall be on your heart." The truth must first possess the parents. You cannot give what you do not have. If the Word of God is not the delight of your own heart, your instruction will be hollow and hypocritical. The foundation of Christian education is parental piety.
From that foundation, the command is to "teach them diligently to your sons." The Hebrew word here means to sharpen, to whet, to impress deeply. This is not casual, haphazard instruction. This is rigorous, intentional, sharp-edged discipleship. And the primary responsibility for this is given to parents, particularly fathers. The modern church's great sin has been to abdicate this duty to professionals, to Sunday School teachers and youth pastors. Those can be helpful supplements, but they are no substitute for the divine institution of the family.
And when does this teaching happen? The text gives us four scenarios that cover the whole of life: when you sit in your house (at rest, in the home), when you walk by the way (in public, during your travels and errands), when you lie down (at the end of the day), and when you rise up (at the beginning of the day). This is a picture of a life completely saturated with the Word of God. Theology is not a subject you study for an hour; it is the air you breathe. Every circumstance, every conversation, every moment is an opportunity to apply the truth of God. This is what it means to have a Christian worldview. It is to see all of life through the lens of Scripture, and to teach our children to do the same.
Pervasive Reminders (v. 8-9)
Finally, this internal reality is to be reflected in external, visible symbols.
"You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as phylacteries between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates." (Deuteronomy 6:8-9)
The command is to bind these words on your hand and between your eyes. The hand represents your actions, what you do. The space between your eyes represents your thoughts, what you see and how you think. God's Word is to govern both your deeds and your doctrines. It must control both your hands and your head. Now, the Jews later took this literally, creating little boxes called phylacteries with Scripture inside. And while Jesus condemns the ostentatious display of these things for self-righteous praise (Matthew 23:5), He does not condemn the practice itself. The point, whether literal or figurative, is the same: the Word of God must be a constant, unavoidable presence, shaping everything we think and do.
And it is to be written on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. The doorpost, the mezuzah, is the entry to the home. The gate is the entry to the city, the place of public life and commerce. This means that the Word of God is to define both our private, domestic life and our public, civic life. The home is to be a Christian home, governed by the Word. And the city is to be a Christian city, governed by the Word. There is no sphere of life that is exempt from the claims of Christ. His law is the standard for the family and for the nation. This is a command to build a thoroughly Christian culture, starting with the front door of your house.
Conclusion: The Shema Fulfilled
As we read this, we should feel the weight of it. Who has loved God like this? Who has loved Him with every fiber of their being, every moment of every day? No one. We have all fallen short. We have all had divided hearts and wandering affections. This law, in its perfect demand, condemns us all.
And that is why it must drive us to the one who did fulfill it. The Lord Jesus Christ is the true Israelite who loved the Father with all His heart, soul, mind, and might. He did it perfectly, in our place. He is the one whose entire life, every thought and every deed, was bound by the Word of God.
When we are united to Him by faith, His perfect obedience is credited to our account. And more than that, God does what He promised elsewhere in Deuteronomy, He circumcises our hearts so that we might love Him (Deut. 30:6). The Holy Spirit is sent into our hearts, writing this law not on stone tablets or parchment scrolls, but on the fleshy tables of our hearts (Jer. 31:33). He begins to conform us to the image of the Son, so that we begin, imperfectly but truly, to love the Lord our God.
Therefore, our task is not to try to obey this in our own strength, which is impossible. Our task is to cling to Christ, in whom this law is fulfilled, and by the power of His Spirit, to build our lives, our homes, and our communities on this unshakeable foundation: Yahweh is our God, Yahweh is one. And He is to be loved and obeyed in all of life.