“Loving God’s Word”
The Old Testament Challenge
FCC – March 5, 2006
Text: Deuteronomy
Introduction: This is our 9th week in the Old Testament Challenge!! After this morning we will be one-fourth of the way done with the OTC. I wanted to say one thing to many of you who are behind on your reading…relax. In about 8 weeks we are going to take a break from the OTC for the months of May through July. That will be a great time to catch-up or read ahead. Just set a pace that is right for you and keep on reading!
This morning we will be finishing up the Pentateuch this morning and say goodbye to Moses, by looking at the book of Deuteronomy. Our theme for this service is “Loving God’s Word.” As we read Deuteronomy, we find the children of Israel ending their 40 years in the wilderness and preparing to go into the Promised Land. Deuteronomy literally means the 2nd law or the review of the law. God prepares them by reminding them of their most treasured possession, God’s Law, and He renews His covenant with His people. Reading the book of Deuteronomy gets you to thinking, I love God’s Word!
Because I love your commands more than gold, more than pure gold…Psalm 119:127
After the sermon we will share in the Lord’s Supper together. The Lord’s Supper is the New Covenant is Christ’s blood. If you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, you are welcome at the Lord’s Table this morning. Before we move into the message, we are going to do something a little different…we are going to have an extended time of just reading God’s Word as found in the book of Deuteronomy. We are going to have person after person come and read…it may seem like a long time. You can follow along in your Bible, or you can close your eyes and let God’s Word minister to you. You might even want to breathe a prayer: Lord, I love Your Word!
READINGS FROM DEUTERONOMY
There is so much in the book of the Deuteronomy. I’m just amazed about several things I noticed as I read this week…
• The Law was meticulous. Deut. 5:32 (NIV) So be careful to do what the Lord your God has commanded you; do not turn aside to the right or to the left.
• The Law was ruthless. Deut 13: 5 says that we must purge evil from among us. Deut 23: 14 says that your camp must be holy.
• The Law was broad. It deals with specific sin, how to treat animals, and how to prepare for battle. Deut 23: 7 says to not to hate an Egyptian. Amazing.
There is so much in this book of Moses, but I have lifted out 4 principles that spoke to my heart this week. In reading Deuteronomy, we find that Loving God’s Word helps us…
1. Leave an inheritance
Israel possessed families, herds, clothing, shelter, etc., their greatest possession was God’s Law…His Word. Jesus used Deut. 6: 4-5 (NIV) when asked what the greatest law was…which says: Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. The Law was a concrete way for the Israel to love God with. The command to love God is found 10 times in Deuteronomy, and was the basic Jewish creed known as the Shema. What were the Israelites to do with His commandments? Look at…
Deut. 6:6-9 (NIV) These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. What do we do with God’s Word?
a. Take them in your heart. It is not enough to obey outwardly. We have to take God’s Word personally at the very center of who we are. Psalm 119:11 (KJV) Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.
b. Teach them to your children. Parents mean well…they want to leave an inheritance for their children…the most important thing you can give to your children is the Word of God. Deut. 5:9-10 (NIV) You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.
c. Talk about them constantly. We are supposed to talk about His Word when we sit, when we walk, when we lie down and when we get up. We supposed to write them on our hands, foreheads and doorframes of our houses, as reminder of our most treasured possession: God’s Word.
Deut. 7:9 (NIV) Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands. Loving God’s Word helps us leave an inheritance.
2. Loosen the grip
One of my favorite Old Testament concepts is found in Deut. 15:7-8 (NIV) If there is a poor man among your brothers in any of the towns of the land that the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward your poor brother. Rather be openhanded and freely lend him whatever he needs. By nature God knows that human beings are tight-fisted, so He pulled laws in place to loosen the grip, and to make His children openhanded.
John Ortberg points out some things about OT giving. Most people understand that the Law burdened the people with a 10 percent God tax, the tithe. Now under grace they assume they are free from the tithe. Actually, here is what a good Jew under the law gave:
• The tithe - Deut. 14:22 (NIV) Be sure to set aside a tenth of all that your fields produce each year. A Jew who loved God’s Word brought a 10 percent.
• Sabbath Year - Lev 25:4 (NIV) But in the seventh year the land is to have a sabbath of rest, a sabbath to the Lord. Do not sow your fields or prune your vineyards. Farmers had no income every 7 years…14 % of their salary.
• Year of Jubilee – After 7 x 7 years, there was the Year of Jubilee when all their land reverted back to the original owner. This was a serious loss of income for some folks.
• Gleaning laws – You can read about this in Deut 24. This simply meant that they were intentionally to leave part of their crop for the poor. Some commentaries estimate that to be 4 or 5 percent of their crop.
Add it all up, and a good Jew gave around 30%, plus free will offerings!! Because they loved God’s Word they learned to loosen the grip and live open handed. When we are tight-fisted, we are shaking our fist with God…when we live open handed, we are free to worship and serve the Lord.
Matt 6:24 (NLT) "No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. 2 Cor. 9:7 (NIV) Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
3. Learn celebration
Remember how ungrateful the children of Israel were in the wilderness. They just weren’t by nature a celebrative people. They were joy challenged. So God instituted celebration into His laws. They were going to celebrate whether they liked it or not!!! In Deuteronomy 16, we have the description of several festivals.
a. The Passover – This was the celebration of the Exodus. Listen to Deut 16: 1, Observe the month of Abib and celebrate the Passover of the Lord your God, because in the month of Abib he brought you out of Egypt by night.
b. Feast of Pentecost or Feast of Weeks - Deut. 16:9-11 (NIV) Count off seven weeks from the time you begin to put the sickle to the standing grain. Then celebrate the Feast of Weeks to the Lord your God by giving a freewill offering in proportion to the blessings the Lord your God has given you. And rejoice before the Lord your God at the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name--you, your sons and daughters, your menservants and maidservants, the Levites in your towns, and the aliens, the fatherless and the widows living among you. This was a time of rejoicing because of the harvest…
c. Feast of Tabernacles - Deut. 16:14-15 (NIV) Be joyful at your Feast--you, your sons and daughters, your menservants and maidservants, and the Levites, the aliens, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns. For seven days celebrate the Feast to the Lord your God at the place the Lord will choose. For the Lord your God will bless you in all your harvest and in all the work of your hands, and your joy will be complete.
God’s people had to learn the habit of celebration. They had to learn to rejoice. They were natural complainers…and the law was concrete so people wouldn’t be abstract in their love for the Lord. We have to stay in the rhythm of celebration. We need weekly worship, daily thanksgiving, and regular Christian holidays, because we are by nature complainers. You can tell if someone loves God’s Word, because they have learned to celebrate.
4. Live life - Deut. 30:11-20 (NIV)
Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. 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?" 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?" No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it. See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. 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...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 and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life…
God says that loving God is not too difficult, it’s not beyond our reach. Why? Because we have the Word in our mouth and in our heart! See God says that we have a choice between life and prosperity, or death and destruction. We need to choose to love God’s Word and to keep His commands! We can choose a life that God blesses, or a life that can’t bless.
Deut. 32:45-47 (NIV) When Moses finished reciting all these words to all Israel, he said to them, "Take to heart all the words I have solemnly declared to you this day, so that you may command your children to obey carefully all the words of this law. They are not just idle words for you--they are your life. By them you will live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess." God’s Word according to Moses is not just idle words, but they are life…
Conclusion: We are going to move into a time of preparation for the Lord’s Supper. This is a time to renew your commitment to the Lord, or if you have never made a commitment to Christ, embrace God’s Word, embrace Jesus as your Savior!
