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Archives For Bible – Deuteronomy

See Him Everywhere, Love Him Everywhere

December 3, 2012 — 1 Comment

In our Old Testament reading this morning, we read the famous Shema of Israel, the Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. Here, God reminds Israel that they are to love God with all that they are, and that they are to teach that faith to their children by talking about it all the time and putting reminders of it everywhere: on the refrigerator, on the dashboard of the pickup, and at city hall.

One of the things we learn as we read the Bible and see what the world around us means is that God is our Father and we are His children, and that means He shows us how to do it. He created this world in order to constantly teach us about loving Him, and He decorated this world with constant reminders so that we would remember to love Him. The heavens declare the glory of God, the firmament sheweth His handiwork. Day unto day, uttereth speech, night unto night sheweth knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. Their line is gone out into all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. His invisible attributes have been clearly seen by all, since the creation of the world. Creation can’t stop talking about God. For example, trees are constantly reminding us of people, of God’s people, of wicked people, of fruitfulness and life, and reminding us and pointing us to the cross of Jesus, our tree of life. Continue Reading…

In Advent, Baptismal Meditation, Bible - Deuteronomy, Christmas, Theology - Sacraments, TRC

First Sunday in Lent: Fifth Commandment: Dt. 6:16-25, Eph. 5:1-11, 6:1-4, Mt. 20:20-28

February 28, 2012 — Leave a comment

Introduction
While we frequently assume that the fifth commandment is particularly for our children, there is no reason to assume that this word was any less directed at the rest of Israel than the others. In fact, if this command does anything, it actually assumes that all of Israel qualifies as children, and therefore the command is for all of Israel. This is still true for us: unless we are first children who honor God as our Father, we cannot hope to teach our children how to honor God or anyone.

The Command
“Honor” literally means “heavy” or “fat,” and it is frequently translated as “glory.” In Leviticus, the word is used repeatedly to refer to the “fat” of the offerings that are always offered on the altar to the Lord. In 1 Samuel, Eli’s house is judged because his sons have become “fat” with the offerings that should have gone on the altar. They have honored themselves rather than God (1 Sam. 2:29-30). In Exodus, the word is used many times to refer to the “hard” heart of Pharaoh, the “hard” plagues that fall on Egypt, and ultimately in the “glory” that the Lord gets when the Egyptian army has sunk down into the Red Sea (Ex. 14:17-18). The word is also used to refer to the “heavy” burdens that the pharaoh laid on the Israelites when he forced them to build his projects (Ex. 5:9), but by the end of Exodus, Israel is being taught how to build Yahweh’s house and lay the “fat/glory” on His altar (Ex. 29:13, 29). In other words, the story of the Exodus is the story of Yahweh’s son, Israel, being freed from a false, tyrannical father and being adopted by his true, loving Father, going from a false, burdensome glory to the true glory of their Father in heaven. In Deuteronomy, the word is used in the restatement of this command (Dt. 5:16) and in the summary of Israel’s covenant with God and their obligation to fear God’s “glorious and fearful” name (Dt. 28:58). The honor of parents and the honor of God is inescapably linked, and the honor of all other authorities in between. This is also true in a general way for all people because they are made in the image of God (1 Pet. 2:17). You can’t say that you are honoring God when you are not honoring those who bear His image all around you, and you can’t truly honor them without first honoring Him. Continue Reading…

In Bible - Deuteronomy, Bible - Ephesians, Bible - Matthew, Sermon Outlines

Like St. Paul’s Hipster Clone

August 20, 2011 — 11 Comments

Phil Johnson has replied here, mostly to Doug Wilson’s post but mentions me as well at a couple of points, so I’ll throw out a few other comments for whatever it’s worth.

First off, Doug’s follow up post here is really helpful in defining the issues and terms, and I’m in full agreement with it. And I would only reiterate what Doug mentioned in his earlier post that these principles ought to be the ground work for further discussion on what the Westminster Confession calls “private spirits” and what Driscoll calls the “gift of discernment.” Our common commitment to the finished and final authority of Scripture should give us the common ground to be able to have a conversation about what Driscoll talks about. And there are numerous indicators that Driscoll really is committed to the authority of Scripture, so it’s not like trying to find common ground for a conversation about fiscal responsibility with a congressman. Continue Reading…

In Bible - Deuteronomy, Church, Sola Scriptura

Our Offer of Peace

July 18, 2011 — Leave a comment

“When you go near a city to fight against it, then proclaim an offer of peace to it. And it shall be that if they accept your offer of peace, and open to you, then all the people who are found in it shall be placed under tribute to you and serve you. Now if the city will not make peace with you, but makes ware against you, then you shall besiege it.” (Dt. 20:10-12)

As we have considered the First Commandment further this morning, we have seen that God calls His people to war, to fight. At the same time, we do not pursue this battle out of bloodlust or an aimless need for conflict. We take up the full armor of God which includes our feet being shod with the gospel of peace. It is the peace of God which passes all understanding which Paul says will guard our hearts and minds as we rejoice in the Lord and lift up our requests to God in prayer. While Jesus is God the Warrior come in human flesh, He says that blessed are the peacemakers. And here, every Lord’s Day we come to this table to celebrate this gospel of peace. This cup is the new covenant in the blood of Christ, the blood that cleanses from all sin, the blood that brings peace between warring nations, the blood that grants us peace with God. Here we celebrate the peace that has been accomplished in the death and resurrection of Jesus, but this celebration of peace is always simultaneously an act of war, an act of defiance. When the Israelites came upon cities during the conquest of the land, they always began by proclaiming an offer of peace. And that is what we are doing here, week after week. We, along with all other believers in Moscow, proclaim an offer of peace to Moscow and the Palouse. And the proclamation of that offered peace is simply this: Jesus Christ is King of this World. He is your Lord and your God, and there are no others. There is no other life, no other peace, no other way. Some come and rejoice with us.

So come. Let us rejoice in this peace, in this conquest.

In Bible - Deuteronomy, Eucharistic Meditations

New Covenant Holy War

July 18, 2011 — Leave a comment

Fifth Sunday in Trinity: Ex. 20:1-3: First Word Pt. 2

Introduction
When Moses preaches through the Ten Words in Deuteronomy, he spends a great deal of time on the First Commandment, and he says this means war.

Holy War
The promise to Abraham was to give him the land of Canaan when the iniquity of the Amorites was complete (Gen. 15:12-21), and this promise is explicitly referenced by God when He comes to deliver Israel out of slavery in Egypt (Ex. 3:16-17, 6:6-8). Moses reminds the people of these promises when they are on the verge of entering the land. He says that obedience to the first commandment means conquest (Dt. 7:1ff). Having no other gods means conquering and destroying the pagan nations, making no covenants with them, showing them no mercy (Dt. 7:2). They are not to make marriages with them, giving daughters in marriage to them or allowing sons to date their daughters (Dt. 7:3). The reason for this absolute prohibition is clearly tied to the first commandment: they will turn your children away from following the Lord, to serve other gods (Dt. 7:4). And this tendency has not changed in three thousand years. There is no neutrality: Jesus said that whoever is not with Him is against Him (Mt. 12:30, Lk. 11:23). He who walks with wise men will be wise, but the companions of fools will be destroyed (Prov. 13:20 cf. Dt. 4:26, Prov. 28:7, 29:3). As opposed to covenants and marriages, Israel is required to be at war with paganism: destroying altars, cutting down images, burning their carved images (Dt. 7:5). And the reason for this is God’s love for Israel and their unique status as a “special treasure” (Dt. 7:6-8). Obedience to God’s love will result in blessing while disobedience will result in destruction (Dt. 7:9-11). This blessing will be far reaching (Dt. 7:12-15), but they must destroy the nations in the land, take no pity on them, nor serve their gods (Dt. 7:16). They must not fear the nations because the God of the Exodus is with them (Dt. 7:18-21). He will drive out their enemies little by little (Dt. 7:22-24), as long as they remain steadfast in destroying all false gods and hating their abominations (Dt. 7:25-26). Continue Reading…

In Bible - Deuteronomy, Bible - Exodus, Bible - Mark, Bible - Matthew, Bible - Revelation, Evangelism, Family, Justice & Mercy, Sermon Outlines, Worship

Enemies of God

July 18, 2011 — 7 Comments

James rebukes Christians who are tangled up in the web of lust and envy: “Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God” (Js. 4:4). James echoes Moses in Deuteronomy, where immediately after Moses reviews and restates the Ten Commandments, he summarizes the whole law as loving God with all that you are: all of your heart, all of your soul, all of your strength, with no remainder, with nothing left over. All of the law is summarized in this command, but the First Commandment points most directly to this. There are to be no other gods before the one true God. This is God’s own loyal claim of His people, His jealous love for His bride, and unfaithfulness to this claim is adultery and betrayal. Moses continues and says that this means that Israel is required to declare holy war on the pagan nations in the land that the Lord is giving them. “You shall conquer them and utterly destroy them. You shall make no covenant with them nor show mercy to them” (Dt. 7:2). You shall not make friends with them, Moses insists, and James says this is still true in the New Covenant that friendship with the world is to be at war with God. To make friends with the world is to become an enemy of God. Friendship with the world is adultery, betrayal of the love that God has shown for you. Continue Reading…

In Bible - Deuteronomy, Bible - James, Exhortations

I Will Never Leave You

June 1, 2011 — 1 Comment

In John’s gospel, Jesus says, “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you” (Jn. 14:18). In Hebrews, the apostle writes: “Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’” (Heb. 13:5).

While it seems likely that the writer of Hebrews is alluding to Jesus’ promise of the Spirit in John 14, it is more specifically a quotation of Deuteronomy 31:6, 8, and Joshua 1:5. In those places, Moses is assuring Joshua that God will continue to be with Joshua, and after Moses’ death, the Lord confirms that promise to Joshua, to be with him as He has been with Moses: The Lord specifically says, “No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you” (Josh. 1:5).

But of course this is precisely the sort of comfort Jesus is promising His disciples. Jesus says that even though He is leaving, He will not leave them as orphans. He will still come and be with His disciples. Just as Moses went up to Mount Nebo to the top of Pisgah and was taken away from the people of Israel, so too Jesus went up on the mount of ascension and was taken away from the disciples.

In all of these cases though, the presence of God is not merely for comfort in general; it is comfort for leaders in particular. Joshua is the new leader after Moses, the disciples will be the new leaders after Jesus, and in Hebrews the specific command may be directed at leaders or followers but his warning is about covetousness and the following section includes an exhortation to remember those who rule over them and have taught the word to them. Continue Reading…

In Bible - Acts, Bible - Deuteronomy, Bible - Hebrews, bible - John, Bible - Joshua, Church Calendar, Pastoral Theology

The Box of the Covenant

May 26, 2011 — 1 Comment

Christian education is not optional. It is not a luxury item that upper-middle class believers put on their covenant tabs and too bad for those poor indigent Christians barely scraping by on the deacons’ fund.

Christian education is what every obedient father and mother is committed to from conception on. The moment you become a father or a mother, you have specific commands from the Lord of heaven concerning your duties. Those duties, among other things, include the requirement that you teach your children to fear, love, and obey the triune God, in short, to embrace life in the covenant in Jesus Christ. And this is not optional because there is no life outside of life in Jesus Christ. He is the way, the truth, and the life, and we cannot underestimate the importance of this command and calling, all the nice pagans down at the charter school notwithstanding.

There are a number of lawful, godly ways to heed this command in faith. Christian day schools, homeschooling, coops, tutors, and online tutorials are all possible options. But none of them can provide obedience for parents automatically, as though obedient faith were something you could order on eBay or with 1-click on Amazon. There are natural strengths and weaknesses for every form of Christian education, and there will be specific strengths and weaknesses for every family and every individual child. Raising children in the fear of the Lord and refusing to provoke our children to wrath means that fathers in particular must study their children, study their wives, and study their options diligently and then make their decisions joyfully and confidently, not second guessing God’s goodness.

At the same time, the duty of raising children in the fear of the Lord is not an isolated, individualistic duty. Life in the covenant is not like life in a box of prepackaged fruit snacks. It’s not like we all jostle around in the box of the covenant, protected from one another in our own sealed packages. The Body of Christ means that we are connected organically. We swear allegiance to one another in membership and in baptism, and in particular we swear to uphold one another particularly in the raising of our children. We are family; that’s what the Lord’s Supper means. This means that we promised to help one another in prayer, in informal encouragement and exhortation, in hospitality, in sharing curriculum and educational ideas, in babysitting, in teaching Sunday School, in teaching coop classes, in teaching at the local Christian day school, and in supporting these needs practically and financially through private gifts, carpooling, fundraisers, education funds, etc. Continue Reading…

In Bible - Deuteronomy, Bible - Ephesians, Education

Parents and Elders

February 7, 2011 — Leave a comment

“… since what we teach in catechism is the Scriptures and the confessions, that should properly be considered the official teaching ministry of the church of Jesus Christ. Parents entrusted with the spiritual education of their children fulfill their responsibility under the care and guidance of the church’s elders.

. . .

‘Two parties,’ said Matthew Henry, ‘parents in their families and… ministers in more public assembles, are necessary, and do mutually assist each other, and neither will excuse the want of the other.’

We have to take care that the elders do not usurp the role of parents. In God’s covenantal structuring of the church he has never set elders or catechism teachers between parents and children or in place of parents. Elders, therefore, may not shove parents aside, nor may parents vacate their position in favor of elders. Instead, by administering a good catechism program, the elders fulfill their role by insisting and ensuring that the parents of the church obey God’s command to instruct their children in his ways (Dt. 6:6-9, Eph. 6:4).”

-Donald Van Dyken, Rediscoving Catechism, 91, 101.

In Bible - Deuteronomy, Bible - Ephesians, Books, Education

Anathema

November 10, 2010 — 3 Comments

In the Septuagint, “anathema/cursed” is used to describe those cities/people/objects which are wholly devoted to the Lord. And frequently, they are devoted to complete destruction (e.g. Num. 21:3, Dt. 7:26, 13:16, 20:17, Josh. 6:17-18, 7:1-13).

Paul uses this word when he says that he wishes he could be “cursed” from Christ for the sake of the Jews (Rom. 9:3) and then later with regard to those who do not love the Lord Jesus (1 Cor. 16:22, cf. 1 Cor. 12:3). The only other use of the word seems to be in Galatians 1 where Paul is describing those who preach another gospel (Gal. 1:8-9).

In Bible - 1 Corinthians, Bible - Deuteronomy, Bible - Galatians, Bible - Joshua, Bible - Numbers, Bible - Romans